Category: homebrew
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Cut down my knee board today
It fits okay lengthwise; width is a bit tight still, might need to trim off 1/4″ or so on either side. Added a few holes for carabiners and bungee cords. Next use in the field may initiate more modifications! Thanks for visiting !
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Touch paddle project, with updates
October 24th: I want to start off with a word of praise for UPS; yesterday evening my package was in Louisville KY; this morning at 5:30 it was in Rockford IL; but I lacked faith, I didn’t believe it would get here today … and there it was on my doorstep at 3! Thanks, UPS!…
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Another mini-mic (lol)
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I purchased all of the parts needed to make a few more mini-mics to use with other radios. I had one of each sitting out on the benchtop for a day or so while I noodled about what to use to give it some structure … then a…
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Adapting the (tr)uSDX mini-mic to the X6100
I posted a few weeks ago about building K6ARK’s Mini-mic kit for the (tr)uSDX, and my plan to adapt it to the X6100 to save weight and pack space, and I have been moving that project forward a little bit at a time. Today I finally had time to try out the result and write…
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Homebrew EFHW from scratch
I have been thinking about making a couple of minimalist EFHW antennas with SMA connections for use with the (tr)uSDX. After weeks and weeks of out-of-stock conditions for my preferred kit, I ordered up some parts and started to make one from scratch. Starting with an FT50-43 toroid core, I wound the 49:1 unun: The…
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projects, projects, projects… so many projects …
Since I finished off those half-built kits a few weeks ago I have been purchasing a variety of electronic parts to start a new round of projects; here is a representative collection of them, tastefully arrayed in a cardboard flat (which is one of my favored containers for organizing projects on the workbench). I have…
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K6ARK Mini Mic kit for the (tr)uSDX
Next-to-last (for now) in the current series of kit-build posts, the K6ARK Mini-Mic: Time for a functional test! This mic has lots of nice features like being tiny and lightweight; another one that I plan to take advantage of is that it uses a standard double-ended 3.5 mm 3 conductor cable. My next project will…
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Building the QRPGuys Digital Power/SWR Meter w/Dummy Load
Next up in my series of kit builds; the QRPGuys Digital Power/SWR Meter w/Dummy Load: QRPguys kits have excellent instructions, and as soon as it arrived I printed them from the website. I followed them precisely, checking off each component as it was inserted and soldered. I made one minor error; placing c 4, a…
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Building the QRPguys Multi-Z tuner kit
Building this kit was good exercise; if it works properly when I try it out in the field it will be entirely due to the truly excellent and detailed instructions that I downloaded and printed from the QRPguys website! Get ready for lots of pictures and discussion as we go through the process! The whole…
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Wrapping up some kit building …
The workbench has been developing a backlog of kits that need to be finished; a QRPguys Multi-Z Tuner, a QRPguys Digital Power/SWR Meter w/Dummy Load, and a K6ARK Mini-Microphone are the principal ones (there are others, but … ). QRPguys Multi-Z Tuner This one got stalled right out of the bag! Step one is assembling…
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I made a knee board
This is a great example of the kind of “just good enough to do the job” work that I do when I am in a big hurry; this whole thing took me one hour to make. First, how big to make it? A couple of minutes with a tape measure and (in this order) my…
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I made an “octopus”
I got a little scare a few weeks ago as I was setting up; the power cord for the 6100 was not in its usual location! I found it only seconds later, attached to the external battery, but it got me thinking about backup for critical parts of the station equipment. This is one of…