Ham cake

Today was my birthday, it was very fitting to be presented with a nice cake from my family to help celebrate the milestone.

 

 

Of course the cake was well thought out and appropriate to my long dedication to our illustrious hobby.

Sprat on DVD 2017

                I have just been in touch with G3MFJ G-QRP club sales and he confirms

                                           A new Sprat DVD is now available.                        

                      As I have explained before, but for those that don't read things.
     SPRAT is the journal of the G-QRP club, and is well worth reading for all it's circuits
                  and QRP designs sent in via it's membership from around the world.

 Price for "members only" is £5 (6.5 Euro, USA $8.0, AU$9.5, and NZ$10.5) plus p&p
         non members price is £12 plus postage £1.20 (UK), £3.50 (EU), £5.00 (DX)
 

What they normally say to non members, is join and you get a membership UK price for £6. Which includes 4 Sprats per year, and then you can purchase the DVD at the reduced members price.

More details from the G-QRP Website http://www.gqrp.com/sales.htm

Join G-QRP club here http://www.gqrp.com/join.htm

UK speaker source for BITX40 & other QRP projects

If your currently on the BITX40  bandwagon of putting a kit together, or you have just  recently ordered one. You will have soon noticed the kit doesn't come supplied with a speaker, what does one expect for such a good price! But for UK builders that don't like spending their hard earned cash. I have found an abundant source of small 8 ohm speakers from the highstreet discounter Poundworld.

Two speakers including cases for One Pound!!

The speakers are marketed for use with portable stereos, MP3 players, etc. A simple test to see if they were any good, I connected them to a reliable audio source and found although not HI-FI, they are perfectly adequate for use in the BITX Kit, or other QRP constructional projects. 

They come packed in either Black or Silver.


Once unscrewed the back of the case, the speaker simply drops out to reveal a 5.5cm 2" unit.

A quick test on the multimeter revealed the value of 7.6 ohm:

Recently while out shopping I have visited 4 different Poundworld's, one as far North as Southport. All carried a plentyful supply of stock in their electrical area. I am sorry I cannot help my readers from overseas, but the unit is obviously made in China so try your Dollar shops.


Good hunting!

Bargain 2000 Resistor deal.

Not had much time to hunt out components of late, but this seems a very good deal for constructors and QRP engineers.

2000 1/4W, 100 different values, 5% resistors. 20 of each value. £6.55 UK just over $8 US including shipping click down to: Resistor deal.

I have just got in there and ordered a bag full before you all wade in..

Really cheap cheap BM-800's!

For those of you who read my BM-800 microphone, G4IZH modification Blog I wrote early April. A UK ebay seller is currently selling the BM800 at a silly price of £6.99 ($10) including UK delivery! These are branded Floureon BM-800 which are the same specification as the 48V ones I have already mentioned, making them ideal for conversion as the details on the link above or for using straight into an audiomixer.

The price proved so irresistable, I decided to purchase another pair and they arrived boxed with all the accessories within a couple of days of clicking the mouse: 

Really the price is so stupid, you could fill the cupboard with a load. If you make a mistake with the mods or a slip with the soldering iron you are not going to end up red faced or feel it on your pocket. The G4IZH project is now really viable for a club, to get your heads together, purchase a shed full and have a modification night.

Link to seller:

(3/7/16) The offer has now ended, so I have removed the sellers link. Hope you got yours? 

* Please note this is a UK seller and I don't know if they ship internationally? I have no connection with this company only to spread you Amateurs with the news.

Spring is nearly in the air, the new HF rig is ordered and on the way.

The decision was made and the piggy bank shaken empty right down to the last penny. I came to the conclusion the best HF radio within my budget was the Yaesu FTDX1200. Negotiation was done on the phone with the friendly team down at ML&S, happy with the deal I sent the cheque.

Obviously I have been a long time fan of Yaesu, I think they have made some very good radio gear over the years, still forefront leaders of the game with an excellent updated range to suit all pockets. How I came to choose this radio I will leave to another blog, but there was a budget which had to be strictly adhered too. 

Of course there is a little free offer thrown in with the radio at the moment, that made it a bit more attractive with a choice of one of three options. This has to be redeemed direct from Yaesu UK. I will opt to go for the FFT-1 unit, allowing additional AF-FFT scope along with CW, PSK31, encode/decode live on the radio's screen.


This morning I received an email the radio was on it's way from the warehouse and into packing:

All photo's ML&S

High on the rack along with the other stock my rig was about to leave the stores, destined for despatch and then on to it's new home.

Glad to see it is still made in Japan.

A bit heavy I hope he had his Weetabix?

Phew! Made it, ready for packing and then forwarding on to the courier, should be with you shortly.

New Radio but which one?

It has been over 30 years since I invested in a big Amateur base station radio, that being the good old FT-736R which has certainly stood the test of time, and is still in good use today, doesn't that say something how well these radios were made. However HF, I have always managed with secondhand offerings, apart from a new Yaesu FT-817 I bought several years ago, and few QRP kit built projects, nothing has really taken my interest, until now!

                                                                     Good old trusty                                          

                                                               Unparalleled FT-817                                            


A major new rig purchase every 10 years I guess is not going to break the bank.

Yaesu have started off the New Year slashing the price of FTDX1200 making it  quite affordable, and within budget, plus a little free option thrown in on top, thus making this radio quite an attractive buy. But there is also the new Yaesu FT-991 to consider, which is also priced around the same, shack in a box offering 2m/70cm on top. Then along has come this new wild card, to throw my decison off course. The ICOM IC-7300 SDR is the new kid on the block, but there is not much to be seen in the flesh with this radio at the moment, apart from a few video's and snap shots.

Is it best play safe and stick with the name that has always served me well over the years?

Decision time, is not always easy, when there are a lot of good products on the market to tempt the money away from the purse, one can only afford to buy one, but which one?

Is time about to be called on cheap Chinese imports?

It is a known fact that China has been cutting through import red tape for many years now. We have all purchased Baofeng's, cheap electronic components, tablets, computer hardware and many other items that we all have bought directly from China to benefit our radio hobby.

Ticking the CN22 as a gift, or marking down the value of items, is in effect deceiving the import rules. It appears that this activity has not gone unnoticed by the UK VAT man, and some traders are complaining about this practice too, saying that they cannot fairly compete. Could the door be about to close!

  Time to Stock up Quick!

There are quite a few articles on this doing the rounds today, this is the best one I have found that sums it all up:  http://www.pressexaminer.com/uk-troubled-by-chinese-sellers-on-ebay-and-amazon-as-christmas-approaches/77476

A new 40m DSB kit arrives on the QRP scene

Just when everyone is taking Summer siestas and there seems very little news around to talk about.  Along comes a new Direct Conversion 40m Transceiver kit from Australia.


The MDT DSB kit is manufactured by Ozqrp, capable of 2W PEP, it has a full swinging VFO  7.090MHz - 7.130MHz or 7.050MHz - 7.110MHz. A complete kit of components including PCB, and case for $80 (Aus) less than £40 UK plus carriage. Which worked out at $12.50 (£6) posted to the UK, when I did a quick trial purchase test and popped it into the shopping trolley on the Ozqrp website.

Further details and a well written comprehensive manual can be found at: http://www.ozqrp.com/MDTindex.html

Update 4/7/15

Peter VK3YE has now done an excellent video review of the MDT 7MHz DSB:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OtZeFkb1xw



  

Quality control or lack of?

Amateur Radio has taken a back seat over the last few weeks with various family problems.

However yesterday, I had a bit of spare time and I was all revved up for testing a Baofeng with its battery eliminator. This is the part that takes the place of the HT battery pack and slides on the back of the radio instead of, providing regulated power from the car battery cigar lighter socket, in essence you make yourself a cheap and cheerful mobile rig.

I needed to just test it all out and check that it worked before fitting, and the MP-304 power supply which I had recently bought was still sitting on the dining room table in its box, handy for a few Volts so I thought?

Switching on the MP-304, there was no deflection of the meter, (meter switch was in the correct Volts position)? I got the DMM out, and measured the output, plenty of Volts, but still no indication on the Power supply analogue meter?

Should I return it? No chance, with all the hassle of someone having to wait in for the courier to collect, it had got to be worth a look. Anyway, I used to test power supplies by the hundreds, when I worked in the industry, so I did have a good chance maybe?

 

Quick investigation required! Took off the top of the case and I was inside, no going back now. First I measured at the rear of the meter terminals with the DMM, no Volts, nothing on the rear of meter switch that changes between Amps or Volts either. This then leads us back to the plug that plugs into CN2 on the control PCB. Just as I was about to measure at this point, I could see the Blue wire (I have marked it with a small red arrow above) was raised, with its termination tag in the plug sticking out, I unplugged the whole skt from CN2, and the Blue terminal had not been pushed home in the plug in the factory, a smart push and it  clicked in place. Plugged it back into the PCB socket and switched on, and the meter then sprung into life!

 

It does make me wonder if the Chinese really test this stuff in the factory? Time and time again I have come across problems with Chinese equipment like this, which should really be sorted in the factory before shipping, I don't believe QA exists? The problem here is, the dealer gets a bad name, and really it isn't his fault, he buys in a pallet load, one or two get put out for demonstration, and then the rest are stored ready to be shipped out in the original sealed boxes they come in.

After fixing this, it did however give me the chance to have a good look inside and see what it was made of :

Build quality really wasn't too bad, a nice hefty transformer feeding a quality bridge rectifier, control board (which I have already mentioned), that sets up the limits and then drives the outputs. A good quality heatink blown at by a fan, which is triggered by a stat when the temp gets to a certain level.

Cased back up, I was then back to the point where I had started at a couple of hours earlier, testing the Baofeng:

More power for the shack.

A refurbishment of the shack is long overdue, and some advanced birthday money prompted me to take up one of ML&S recent deals. I had been looking at various Linear power supplies to feed the new layout, and the MP-304mkII would fit the requirement of servicing the array of rigs I have to feed.

Ordering was quick which I did over over the phone,  as normal with Martin Lynch & Sons, the faultless delivery was on time! Infact so quick! I had forgotten to tell the XYL, so she was surprised by the delivery.

The MP304 is sold as a 30A supply, that does 15A continuous, and 20A for 15minutes @13.8V. Supplied with a mains voltage of 230V 50Hz.

There are various output connections on the front, including a handy Cigar lighter socket that can supply 10A.

The supply is variable by an adjustable pot on the front panel, which is biased in the middle of its range to set the supply at the nominal 13.8V. The output is adjustable between 1.5V & 15V DC. With a sliding scale of V/I) (Don't expect 15A Max at 5V as this works out at about 7A)

The large easy to read analogue Meter is switchable either to Volts or Amps.  

Supply regulation is better than 1% and a noise figure <10mV is quoted.

We will see how this performs when I will load it up and do a few measurements in the next day or so.

A short form manual is supplied, a circuit diagram would of been useful for servicing in the future. (I have not seen one on the web?)

First looks are good, and not bad for the money of £99!

Ham Video's so far I have only made One?

                                                   Visit to G-QRP Rishworth 2012.

So far it is the only Amateur Radio video I have made. I find I can write about this stuff, quicker and better than I can make video's. However I have not ruled out future output if I find something decent to record and I have the time to edit the footage.
 

For now I will leave it to the likes of VK3YE and  K7AGE etc, both who output some great "updated" interesting Video's over a wide area of various Ham Radio subjects.

Building the M328 component tester (2)

Calibration of the M328

I have previously explained how to go about building the M328 in Part (1)

Now this is where it all gets very interesting!

When I watched the VK3YE  video (A number of times may I add), I had always wondered about the 35pF offset and why Peter couldn't eliminate it? I had read the manual written by Karl-Heinz Kubbeler, upside down and inside out around the area of calibration (Section 3.2). I had felt maybe Peter had missed a step, or maybe two? But it would only be when I finally built the project I would be able to put my theory into action! After all I couldn't just pop over to Melbourne and explain, it is not a couple miles down the road from the UK is it, and doubtful some nut with a theory would be welcome asking for a phone number anyway??

Before you start calibration you will need to make yourself a three pronged shorting link, and a get hold of  a 100nF (0.1uF) Capacitor. The value can be greater, but not less than 100nF, which will be required for the final part of the Cal procedure:

You then insert the link into all three terminals (1,2,3) on the bottom terminal block, make sure the connection is tight. Press the On button this will put the unit into Self Test Mode:

When it gets to "T4 Isolate Probe" which I assume means Test 4? Remove the Link smartly! Do NOT touch any parts of the unit as it resumes its test and calibration cycle:

Let it move on, until it gets to the last screen which at this point you will require the 100nF Capacitor and Insert it between Terminals 1 & 3:

Leave the capacitor connected, you will see the value pulsate on the bottom line of the display as it is calibrating (Mine read 91nF). It will keep pulsating the value until the test concludes (it can take about 2 mins?). When the test finishes it will exit the calibration mode as indicated on the display, reverting to testing the Capacitor and indicating the value being tested as below:

(Sorry about the breadcrumbs on the bench, this is how one works when into resolving problems)
 

The unit then times out after about 30 secs and switches off.

Now if you have gone about this procedure correctly, when you next turn on the unit it will no longer display the 35pF offset as shown at the start of this blog,  the display will show the following after the initial Volts check and sign on etc:

 


You are now ready to start testing your components. Which we will come to in Part 3.

Notes:

Shortly after I proved my theory about the elimination of the 35pF offset, I contacted VK3YE via email. Peter came straight back with a BIG thank you, after he too had tried my method out, and it had worked on his unit first time! The only problem he had found, he couldn't then test small value capacitors? Eg: 47 pF measured fine (48pF) but 22pF was not recognised? Hmmm!

I spent my teatime reading the manual again, and found it!:

Part of the introduction in the German manual states:

Chapter 1

Features

10: One capacitor can be detected and measured. It is shown with symbol and value. The

value can be from 35pF (8MHz clock, 70pF @1MHz clock) to 40mF with a resolution of up to

1 pF (@8MHz clock].

----------------------

So nothing below 35pF will work. Or will it?

Peter mentioned in the last part of his email:

Still you can get around this by making a small jig with (say) 100pF for use with small capacitors and just deduct 100pF.