Finally got around to opening up the signal generator, looking inside, and dusting off the components. Nothing really substantive to report as yet, but I picked up an original Operation and Service Manual for the beast, and have begun delving into an understanding of how it’s supposed to work. Neat stuff!
Despite its being a long and relatively undernourished day at the Von Braun Center on Saturday, the hamfest was enjoyable. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of time or money to invest in radio interests, making some aspects of the event frustrating – I would love to go ahead and buy a nice rig and some accessories! – Still, I got a couple of little things and had a nice time in general.
Steve presented an excellent forum on the local high school club and the school district’s affiliation with the ARRL’s Education & Technology Program. He also helped David Freese, W1HKJ (developer of fldigi and a host of great amateur radio software), give a presentation and demonstration of digital modes and their usefulness in emergency communications.
I didn’t buy much, but did finally (it’s been a couple years!) get a replacement battery pack for my Icom IC-W2A. It’s a great little radio – my first HT – but I dropped it during the New York Marathon a couple years ago, cracking the battery clip, which is somewhat delicate and essential to reliable operation. Much as I like the -W32A that I got soon thereafter, it is nice to get the old radio back on the air. And having a backup HT can’t hurt, too.
Finally, I was inspired to finally drag out and start cleaning up my first and sole “boat anchor,” a Hewlett Packard 608C VHF signal generator.
I haven’t even gotten this bad boy apart yet, but I took a battalion of Q-tips to the front panel and played around with the mechanical action of the control knobs a bit on Sunday. I really look forward to getting it opened up and seing what makes it go.
Between work, multiple car troubles, a full Windows reinstallation, not to mention a few other things, I’ve been drawn away from radio-activity for several weeks. I’m hoping that this weekend’s Huntsville Hamfest will get me back into it at least a little.
Field Day was a little anticlimactic for me, but still fun. Hot as ****, of course, although the evening weather was quite nice, at least for me.
Site setup went swimmingly and all the social aspects were great, plus I got a good look at a couple of cool emergency-response vehicles (Red Cross and DHS/Alabama Region 6). I didn’t get to operate much, and didn’t manage to make a single contact myself, but the regular operators seemed to be having a good time and getting through despite spotty conditions and some minor cross-station interference. The 60kWh generator, which I’d looked forward to seeing in action, performed marvelously, though I haven’t heard anyone else’s report on that yet. I also got some good feedback on the new VOX and met a few new folks.
One of these (Sy, W4IFG) actually offered me a pretty solid lead on which new antenna to build: an Extended Double Zepp tuned to 20 meters. I may try to start on one this weekend. If he’s right, and it will tune moderately well at 40 meters as well as on all the HF bands at and above 20, it’s likely to be just the thing for me.
Took a few hours today to install most of the discrete components on the NorCal QRP FCC-1 board, up to (not including) the LCD unit.
One small complaint: I’m not sure why they don’t warn you sooner about the “user-supplied” PCB headers (or just include the silly things and tack $.50+ onto the kit price). I’m happy to get the parts myself, but I would have ordered them along with the kit if it had been clear during or prior to the ordering process that I needed to.
That’s just my little gripe, though. The kit is proving fantastic so far, both easy and interesting to build. Testing looks good thus far, and I look forward to finishing up next week, playing with it a little, and moving onto the FCC-2.
But now, to the Field Day site!
Still very busy with work, but I’ve made considerable progress on my newest project: VOX, the newsletter of the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club. As its new editor, I’ve put some hours into redesigning and presenting it, and although there are still some loose ends to clean up, I’m quite happy to say it’s live and let the kinks work themselves out.
Check out the July edition for info on the club’s Field Day plans (among other things). And see if you can get our “Big Fat Turkey,” K4BFT (4A AL), into your logs this weekend!
In other news, I’ve finally managed to get my hands on the FCC-1 and -2 kits I’ve been eyeing for so long! Haven’t really gotten a chance to start on them yet, except to check the box contents against the parts list, but I’m really looking forward to heating up the iron and digging into some solder – especially for the SMT parts. Yes really!
It’s been an unbelievably busy couple of weeks, largely because I started a technical writing job that promises to be both rewarding and very demanding. On the other hand, things have picked up in ham radio world for me a little bit—and in the web design and meatspace social networking worlds—as I’ve agreed to take on editorship of the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club’s monthly newsletter, the VOX. It’s off to a slow start, as I’ve had to rebuild the publication basically from the ground up, but I’m looking forward to it.
It has been a busy few weeks, but without much going on in ham-radio land. I did attend the HARC meeting early in the month, where we talked about my possibly taking over their newsletter, and where Tom showed a pretty interesting video of David Hathaway—NASA’s expert on the solar cycle and space weather—giving a talk at last year’s Huntsville Hamfest. And while his earlier predictions and hopes for a big cycle 24 are not really bearing out among his peers, it was pretty interesting to see him talk about the models experts use and their interactions in specialists’ literature and behind the scenes at their conferences.
In a somewhat more optimistic light, I did manage to remove the case screws on my Yaesu HF rig—big whoop, I know—and briefly test the output of its companion power supply. I didn’t have the tools I needed at the bench to do more than that, but it’s a start.
Happy Samuel F. B. Morse’s birthday to you!
I’ve effectively joined the local ARES/RACES group, although there’s still a bit of paperwork to square away. Severe weather events and associated amateur emergency communications are much more common here than were in New York, especially now that we’re going into tornado season, and I have already gotten a taste or two of how that plays out on the 2-meter band.
What amateurs actually do on the air differs a bit, too. Here the ARES and SKYWARN people seem to spend most of their time providing weather spots and reporting the existence and effects of damaging weather conditions, whereas most of what I saw in Brooklyn involved supporting Red Cross shelter operations. Another worthy cause, of course, just a different focus. However, perhaps because severe weather is a less frequent occurrence up there, public service communications (parades, fundraising walks/runs/rides, etc.) were ARES domain, whereas here that sort of thing seems to be relegated to the ham clubs.
Speaking of which, I have also been attending HARC meetings and hope to get a bit more active with them. Last night’s meeting featured a dazzling demonstration of SoftRock’s software-defined radio (SDR) kits, including a technical discussion comparing their performance (noise figure and dynamic range) to that of the fancier conventional superhet transceivers of today. Impressive, even before considering the tremendous price difference.
I may also look into joining the local DX club (and perhaps also the Alabama contest group), but probably not until I’m outfitted for some DXing of my own—I don’t even have a working HF rig now, much less a decent station setup or an antenna suitable for long-range communication. While I have or can build some station components, I may need to purchase some things before I can really excite some airwaves, and that’s not happening until I have a job.
Still, next weekend Steve and I hope to get together and open up my Yaesu FT-757GX for testing and possible repairs. And in the meantime I’m brushing up my CW with daily practice; I can copy about 8 wpm regularly now, if not always solidly.
