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Topics - KK0G

#1
General Discussion / SOTABEAM Mountain Tuner
April 08, 2015, 11:38:13 PM
How have I not discovered this cool little EFHW tuner until now?! This thing is awesome......... and freaking cheap, about $30 with shipping. I don't need a tuner for my KX1 as it has an internal auto tuner, but it'll work perfect with my Mountain Topper rig.


http://www.sotabeams.co.uk/mountain-endfed-halfwave-tuner-40-17m-kit-or-built/







#2
Technical Corner / Trail Friendly Antenna Wire
April 08, 2015, 09:09:26 PM
I was perusing the local Wal-Mart when I decided to go down an isle I doubt I've ever been down - the arts and crafts isle. I'm glad I did because there I found what I hope will be some excellent wire for a quick deploying, light weight, trail friendly antenna for my portable QRP operating, I've never made jewelry but apparently that's what this wire was designed for. It's extremely thin and flexible, and it even comes on a small spool that looks near perfect to store the antenna on when not in use. The spool comes with a plastic band that wraps around the O.D. to keep the wire from unraveling.


The "antenna" I use for portable work is really nothing more than a chunk of wire because I only use end fed antennas fed directly from the out put of my tuner - well, actually two chunks of wire, one for a radiator and one for a counterpoise - so the wire itself isn't what really caught my eye in the Wal-Mart isle. Truthfully I was more interested in the fact that it easily fits on such a small spool with the plastic band around it. Sometimes it's the little things that please me.  ;D


Any way, my quest continues for the ultimate field deployable HF antenna. Ideally the final product will be smaller than a ballpoint pen when stowed, have a miniature rocket on the end to launch it into the air, be strong enough to rip limbs out of trees when it gets caught, have an electric winch to retrieve the antenna that only draws .00001 mA of current, and some type of anti gravity technology so I don't need an actual tree to hold it in the air. I'll keep everyone posted of my progress.
#3
Technical Corner / mcHF QRP Tranciever
April 04, 2015, 09:25:38 PM
I just discovered this: mcHF QRP Tranciever. It looks like it could be a very interesting QRP kit although it's still in developmental stage. I'll be keeping my eye on this.



#4
Radio Reviews, Questions and Comments. / Misc. eBay Finds
February 24, 2015, 09:55:08 PM
I was perusing eBay and came upon a few interesting QRP items I hadn't seen before. They're not really my cup of tea but I thought others here may find them interesting. And no, I'm not associated with the sellers in any way, just passing along the info.


SDR HF 160-10m Transceiver SKY-221 for Digital Modes and CW QRP 10W


Xiegu X108 DELUXE, Latest, QRP HF Tranceiver, 20 Watts SSB-CW


HF 6 Band 3-15W HF TRANSCEIVER QRP SSB/CW Dual mode


X1M Platinum 5 Band QRP SSB/CW 80-10m Transceiver


Youkits MT1 QRP manual tuner with SWR and PWR meter


#5
General Discussion / Eyeball QSO
January 03, 2015, 10:21:39 AM
As many of you know Wes - KC9TNH - and I got together here on the forum and started a nightly QRP sked over a year ago now. Wes may not be showing up here very regular much more but he's still alive and kicking and our sked is still pretty regular most evenings. The weather here in the midwest was absolutely beautiful Thursday and Friday so I planned a flight up to a buddies place in north east Iowa to take advantage of it. Looking at the map I noticed that Wes wasn't very far over the Wisconsin border from my buddies place so the next morning I flew up to see him also and we had lunch together. Pretty cool to finally shake the hand of the guy I've chatted with so many times, then fly back home with plenty of time to meet him on the air that night......... airplanes are cool!! Thanks for lunch Wes.
#6
General Discussion / Pilots License
November 11, 2014, 11:49:52 PM
My intent is not to toot my own horn, but as I have many friends here on the forum and I wouldn't want them to be pissed off that I didn't tell them when they find out later........

As many of you know I started flight training towards my private pilots license last spring. Well just last Sunday I went for my check ride and...... I passed and I now possess a Temporary Airmen's Certificate - Private Pilot - Airplane, Single Engine, Land. I'll admit it wasn't exactly a cheap piece of paper, but it was worth every damn penny. Now, if I could only afford my own airplane.  ;D
#7
General Discussion / Access Denied
August 26, 2014, 10:26:56 AM
Lovely, the firewall at my employer now blocks the RadioPreppers website because of suspected malware. Looks like I'll be using Tapatalk during break time from now on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
#8
General Discussion / Bicycle
June 08, 2014, 08:03:44 PM
Friends that have known me for many years will probably think that hell has actually frozen over........ I started riding a bicycle! 8)

If you ever drove with me down a county two lane highway during the summer you just might get the impression I'm not a fan of bicycles. On the contrary, what I'm not a fan of is following a cyclist in my car up a hill that's not safe for me to pass, at a pace I could easily walk, while said cyclist refuses to MOVE OVER! Hence the hell has frozen over comment. I'm proud to say I did not impede the flow of normal vehicular traffic and got on the shoulder when needed, as much for courtesy as the fact I understand the physics of a large mass moving at high velocity impacting a small mass at low velocity.

I decided to start riding so I picked up the bike pictured below a few days ago from a Craigslist ad for $65. So why start riding which I haven't done since I was a kid and got that coveted drivers license? For starters that dreaded stuff called fat is beginning to creep up on me, while I'm no where near obese, I want to nip this problem in the bud before it gets out of hand. Second, there's no denying that a bicycle is one of the most efficient forms of transportation; it allows one to travel greater distances at far greater speed than walking and yet still requires no fuel, electricity, etc which plays right into my prepper/QRP attitude.

This morning I rode over to the neighboring town which is little over 5 miles from me across several long, steep hills. Even being out of shape I was able to make the trip in 36 minutes, walking there would have taken me 3 to 4 times as long.

You know how they say you never forget how to ride a bike? Well that's true, it's been almost 30 years since I rode as a kid and I hopped right on and took off like it was yesterday. What you don't retain is the muscles you had from riding all those years ago......... my butt hurts! :P

So who else rides?

#9
Technical Corner / Touch Keyer
May 04, 2014, 07:10:23 PM
Hopefully I can find room inside my Weber MTR for this tiny touch keyer circuit board because I just ordered one. My plan is to glue two small pads of copper clad board to the front and right sides of the enclosure in the front/right corner for paddles.
#10
Technical Corner / 6 x AA Battery Holder w/Cover
May 04, 2014, 05:50:45 PM
6 x AA battery holders with a cover can be somewhat of a pain to locate so I thought I'd post a link here.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281110847906
http://www.ebay.com/itm/310883690164

I bought one of each style. My plan is to mount one directly to the bottom of my Weber MTR so  I have one less separate component to deal with, lose, forget, etc. for portable work. They're both similar but I couldn't decide which one would work best so I bought them both since they're so cheap. I'll use the other one for a spare battery pack.

Now I need to figure out a way to integrate paddles to the MTR, after that the only separate external accessories I'll need to carry will be my SOTA tuner and ear buds.


#11
Technical Corner / New rig from Hendricks QRP
April 30, 2014, 04:04:43 PM

Interesting new rig from Hendricks QRP.

http://www.qrpkits.com/mbdc.html
#12
Technical Corner / Weber MTR
April 21, 2014, 09:59:33 PM
WOO HOO!! Just reserved my MTR!  ;D ;D
I've been patiently watching the reflector waiting for it to be released, now just need to wait a little longer for them to ship.
#13
Other than my nightly sked with Wes, truth be known it's been quite a while since I've sat down in my shack for the sole purpose of just making some contacts and random rag chewing, but my purchase of a new set of Bencher paddles at the hamfest yesterday got me in the mood, so that's what I did today. I cruised around 30 and 20 meters and made about a dozen or so contacts ranging from TX, SC, CO, IL, MS, even a little DX with the Cayman Islands. All of them were QRP at 5 watts and of course........... all in CW 8) .
#14
I don't know if this is nationwide or local but I just picked up a couple 36 packs of AA alkaline Enercells from Radio Shack. Seems they're changing the packaging and all the old style Enercell's are being clearance priced to make room for them. AA 36 packs were $12 each. Just thought I'd pass it along.
#15
Morse Code / Interesting New paddles on eBay
March 01, 2014, 03:33:30 AM
Just found these paddles on eBay. They look promising and feature a low price typical of Chinese ham gear.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-UNI-730A-Key-body-automatically-Mini-on-the-CW-Morse-Code-Keyer-Key-/121285138675?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c3d2858f3
#16
General Discussion / Activity
February 24, 2014, 09:18:22 PM
There hasn't been any activity on the forum for 4 days, apparently we need a new topic, so..................


What have you been doing on the air lately? Between all the snow we've been getting which creates overtime for me and my anniversary last weekend, I haven't been doing much at all. In fact Wes and I haven't had a sked in 4 or 5 days. Hopefully you all have had better luck.


Discuss, and..................GO!



#17
I found this website quite a while ago but at the time he had nothing for sale, I see he now has a single tranceiver for sale. I have no affiliation, just thought I'd pass it along for it's technical attributes (in other words it's cool 8) ).

http://radioset-go.com/shop.htm


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Unique-portable-multi-band-QRP-transceiver-/261398899734?pt=US_Ham_Radio_Transceivers&hash=item3cdc96ac16
#18
General Discussion / MICRO 40SC - 40M CW/SSB QRP Kit
December 02, 2013, 10:41:42 PM
For us QRP, homebrewing, kit building, solder melting junkies, here's another interesting QRP kit I found on e-Bay, this time from Indonesia.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-MICRO-40SC-QRP-3W-40M-7-000-7-170-Mhz-SSB-CW-TRANSCEIVER-KIT-BY-BLEKOKQRP-/161165946290?pt=US_Ham_Radio_Transceivers&hash=item25863d2db2
#20
General Discussion / CQ WW CW Contest
November 22, 2013, 03:07:29 PM
Just a reminder that the CQ WW CW contest starts tonight, I know Gil wouldn't want to miss it...................... sorry, I just couldn't resist 8)