Category: homebrew
-
Finishing touches to the minimalist EFRW
Last weekend, when I put the little EFRW together, I searched the radio room for the assorted heatshrink tubing collection and came up with nothing. I’m sure it will turn up one of these days … Twelve dollars and three days later, I had a new box of clear, glue-lined tubing, and I was ready…
-
A minimalist EFRW antenna for the KH1
I no longer recall the chain of URLs that led me there, but I read this article by Thomas Witherspoon over at qrper.com maybe ten days ago, and that was what got me started on this project. The crucial part of the article that caught my eye (and imagination) was this: “My friend Adam (K6ARK)…
-
A battery project
Sometime early last year I bought a pack of 4 lithium ion cells for no better reason than that they were crazy cheap, and seemed (to my befogged consciousness) like they might be useful for portable radio. Then, to get some use out of them, I needed to get a battery management system board (or…
-
Radio surgery, part 3
Xiegu X6100 battery replacement, and a sampler of other stuff going on … First, the battery stuff: There’s a computer occupying my electronics bench right now, I need to get that out of the way so I can finish this battery change job. Watch for the next post! Activating US-12077 again It’s always a good…
-
Cutting a dipole for the (tr)uSDX
I have been working up a field kit for the (tr)uSDX for a while, and one remaining part of the effort is preparing a couple of small wire antennas tailored to provide low SWR to protect the rather delicate output transistors. Today I am making one of my favorites; the BNC-to-binding-post-adapter dipole. I set up…
-
Another antenna project (oh, no!)
A few weeks ago I found the remains of one of the original telescoping whips that came with my Buddipole set. They were made of brass, and took a lot of damage from blowing down in the wind. The stainless steel 17-foot whip I replaced them with has proved much more durable. Examining it with…
-
Touch paddle project
Updated! This project got started in October last year and is finally (mostly) finished! After the first failure came a redesign, and some very intermittent work on it. A few days ago I started to work toward wrapping it all up: I salvaged the touch sensors and paddle pieces, gently cutting a saw kerf in…
-
An end-of-July omnibus
Just stuff that’s been on my mind, but nothing big enough for a whole post. Projects, old and new The design was based on the article “What about the simple receiver?” in the June 1934 issue of QST, and “Rationalizing the autodyne”, January 1933. As something more in line with my current interests I am…
-
Found-materials antenna challenge
It might have been 2 weeks ago that I stopped in a wayside and saw a tangle of something orange-ish laying on the blacktop as I was leaving; naturally I stopped to pick it up just for the sake of keeping the area clean. It proved to be two lengths of something like 24 gauge…
-
Finishing the (tr)uSDX amplified speaker
June 24th: To quickly recap, the story begins here, and is continued here. All it took, in the end, was actually sitting down at the bench and (gasp!) actually working on it for maybe 40 minutes; I had the last remaining part, an input jack, right there. Finding one was the last thing I did…
-
April omnibus post
Spring is getting pretty firmly established here; though we are still getting some light overnight frosts, the daytime temperatures can get into the 60s. The lakes and streams are still low; we need more rain! Home DIY is taking up a lot of time, and the expanded garden is making increasing demands. I managed to…
-
A hike around Camel Bluff, and an amplified speaker for the tr(u)SDX
On Saturday I was en route to the nearest Aldi store and realized I would soon be passing by Mill Bluff State Park, which quickly led to trying to remember the last time I had hiked the Camel Bluff trail, or any of the other hikes at this small-but-fun park … I still have no…