If I didn't own a KX3 I'd jump on this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SGC-2020-1-8-30-MHz-HF-CW-SSB-Transceiver-20-Watts-great-For-QRP-/221392071584?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

Gil.

Hello,

Bitcoin is the world's most widely used alternative currency with a total market cap of approximately $9.5 billion.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/Um63OQz3bjo

I've had a Bitcoin wallet for years now but never had the opportunity to use it, either to receive or send money. Bitcoins are getting very popular though and have increased in value from $17 to more than $800 in one year! They are gaining "official" recognition, hence the increase. Whether they will remain stable and in use remains to be seen. After all, it is a virtual currency... That said I like the concept and would like to see it succeed.

Radio Preppers actually accepts Bitcoins to the following address: bc1qc5jq4dxt7359sh80lkv9v8rlsgnh322hmn6xyc

You can also install a Bitcoin wallet on your computer (http://bitcoin.org/en/), which I strongly suggest you do anyway. It makes your wallet absolutely anonymous and secure. I use Exodus Be careful about who you buy your coins from however. Better use a well established and reputable web site...

In any case, you might want to learn about this currency now, because it looks like it is here to stay and is probably the most promising one for the future, other than precious metals...

Thank you,

Gil.

http://www.qrz.com/db/GW4ALG
Forwarded to me by Ray, thanks!

Gil.

Hello,

I was supposed to participate in an IOTA activation today in Sarasota but never heard back from the organizer. Great way to get new members for an emergency radio club... So I ended up walking around taking photographs of people around the park. Finally my roaming left me at the usual coffee shop. Since I had my station in my backpack I whipped it out and clamped the Buddistick to the plastic white picket fence outside. A quick text to Ray had him on the air within two minutes. He heard me S8 810 miles away! Unusual, especially using such a short antenna and about 4W. I think he had about the same power, or 3W if I remember well. Yet another proof that you don't need 100W to make contact, as if any more proof would be necessary. QRM was cars driving by.. I was happy however that I got most of the conversation head-copying. It's in real situations like this that you can measure progress. Most of the customers  know me well so I didn't get too many weird looks. I wouldn't try the same stunt downtown. Someone would probably call-in on me ::) It is good to put a setup to the test once in a while, just to make sure everything works and you still remember what goes where..

Gil.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sheriff Mack's Constitutional Posse <mail@constitutionalsheriffs.ning.com>
Date: Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 12:06 PM
Subject: LICENSED AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS


  LICENSED AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE

                  UNITED STATES CIVIL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION'S  EMERGENCY

                               NATIONWIDE COMMUNICATION NETWORK



The United States Civil Defense Association is in the process of constructing an emergency, nationwide, communication network. The purpose of the nationwide emergency network is to provide assistance to those in need of emergency assistance in a timely and effective manner. A second important role of the emergency communication network is to provide reliable communication between and among USCDA members, both during emergency and non-emergency situations. Additional details concerning the United States Civil Defense Association is available on our website at WWW.USCDA.COM .



If you hold a General class amateur radio operator's license or higher, and would be interested in participating in the development of the USCDA's emergency amateur radio network and making it an operational reality, your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Membership in the United States Civil Defense Association is available, but not required. For additional information, please feel free to contact Major Randall Smith, Commander, Emergency Nationwide Communication Network at randynlr@yahoo.com. I sincerely hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to apply your skills and knowledge of electronics and amateur radio toward making the USCDA's network a success.



HAM Operators from around the country please contact:
Major Randall Smith, Commander, KF5YMT randynlr@yahoo.com
Emergency Nationwide Communication Network
United States Civil Defense Association

www.sheriff mack'sconstitutionalposse.com

Visit Sheriff Mack's Constitutional Posse at: http://constitutionalsheriffs.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Hello,

In the wake of my second CWOps class, another participant and I have decided to continue trying to improve our code speed by meeting regularly using the ooVoo online conferencing software/service (free). We practice head-copy at around 25wpm. That doesn't mean "successfully.."  ::) I am now at about 18wpm but can sometimes get a few words at 25. My friend Les is a bit better, and I key challenge sentences to him at 25wpm.

It would be nice to have a few more participants.. You would need to be at least at 15-18wpm.. We will meet from one to three times a week, set goals for ourselves and help each other. Send me a PM if interested..

I am also thinking that a Radiopreppers Morse code online class might interest some members here who would like to learn the code ab-initio... Please let me know as well...

Gil.

From the Radiopreppers hosting company:

QuoteDue to recent attacks towards our hosting servers we have scheduled network maintenance starting from today 04-November-2013. During the process we will configure our networks to offer better and more stable environment when we are under DDoS attack. We have already started to prepare our system for this and during the process you may find your hosting account working slower than usual.

Gil.

Gil.

I thought this was pretty good for new-to-radio guys:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/ham-radio-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html

Looking at the Tech license privileges, I see that CW gets you a lot of bandwidth in HF.

Gil.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/hijuno/

The explanations are not clear as to when to transmit... Anybody making sense of this?

Gil.

First, let's give credit where it is due: A "Yagi" is actually a "Yagi-Uda." Uda was the main guy, as I understand, and Yagi did the promotion.. So maybe it should be called a "Uda."  :o
Second, I got the design here: http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=12570

My issue was the length of most driven elements. As you may know, a Yagi antenna has one reflector, the longest element, in the back, followed by the driven element, fed from the radio, and a number of director elements. There are a few ways to feed a Yagi, but none that simple, except a folded dipole or a quad. Problem is, my 1/4" aluminum rods were 60 inches long... After some research I found the design linked above which uses a half folded dipole; kind of like feeding your Yagi with a J-Pole.. Or not quite, but you get the picture.

A quick trip to Home Depot yielded a 3/4x1-1/2" by 8ft. long piece of select pine for the boom. Maybe not quite rigid enough, but it was cheap. I bought two just in case. All these materials were easily found in convenient sizes, hence the title of this post.

I can't stretch enough how much easier life is when you use a dual system tape measure, standard and metric! I don't know why we haven't switched to Metric here, the Australians did it a while ago, it would be so much simpler  ::)

I cut all the elements and made sure to mark them at the center point as well. My Dremel died two cuts from completion, so I finished with a hacksaw. The boom was drilled using a drill press and a 1/4" drill bit. It all went very quickly.

I haven't epoxied the elements to the boom yet, so they are 3/4in off-center on the photo. The driven element hasn't been built yet. I plan on using aluminum solder to attach the coax wire to the driven element. I am waiting for my antenna analyser to arrive (should be shipped around the 15th) so that I can do a good job at impedance matching on that element.

Now Elecraft, please finish testing your KX3 2m module, I'll be ready! I hope the bandwidth will be wide enough to test it vertically with my UV-5R. If it spends any time outside I would have to varnish it to prevent the boom from warping. Not that I want to mount it permanently with a rotor anyway.. Not anytime soon. This is just a quick experiment in building a Yagi. Altough it could come handy if repeaters around went dead after running a while on generators...

Stay tuned for more...

Gil.

Hello,

I was talking to my CWOps buddy Les (W9XC) about paddles the other night. He has the KX3 paddle, but I was voicing some doubts about build quality. From what he says they are good, just not quite worth the asking price. My American Morse paddles are good, but there is no good way to attach them to the KX3. Then he mentioned trying the Palm Mini Paddles on the side of the radio, attached with the new 3M Dual-Lock (i.e. like Velcro, only better). I must have been drooling on the video chat, because since he has two, he offered to lend me one! Which I received today. Boy, those are nice! They fit perfectly on the right side of the KX3, flush with the top, and just barely touching the BNC antenna connector. It is as if they were made for it! They also operate very well. I am about to try them with Ray, if he finds me on 7120 tonight  :o Otherwise I'll try the gang on 7037 at ten. There is no doubt in my mind now that I want to buy those. The fit is just too good to pass. I am starting to wonder if their micro model would fit my MTR just so.. I like that you can push them inside the case for transport. Ah, ray just texted me. It's 7066, gotta go!

Ok, half an hour keying at 20wpm for Ray, and the Palm Mini performed flawlessly; great product.

Gil.

Hello gang,

I just cleaned up the database by removing members who have not logged-in within the last six months.. The number of members dropped to 106. A nice little group of friends is how I see it.

Have a great Sunday  :)

Gil.

http://betterqrp.com

QuoteA few circuit boards remain and are available for $7 shipped.

Better act fast on this one! We could do a group components buy..

This is an excellent QRP end-fed tuner. I used it during my last camping trip and wanted to get a backup. I just ordered two PCBs.

Gil.

I noticed that my KX3 wasn't transmitting out of bands anymore... Not that I want to, or be a part of MARS, but in case of emergency, you never know... A while ago someone here emailed me a program to remove band limits. I had to run it on Window$, but it worked flawlessly. The 27MHz/11m band is still blocked, which is a shame. I can now transmit everywhere else in case of life-and-death emergency. Program is hereby attached. Use it at your own risk. By downloading it you are releasing me of any liability, would something go wrong and you brick your radio.

Gil.

Hello,

There was a problem with the image verification at registration time.. I did not know the image was no longer showing. I could have fixed the problem but decided to get rid of the requirement instead and add two simple radio related questions to be answered to get in. Sorry about the hindrance, but robots try to join all the time and the site would be flooded with spam without some sort of registration control.

If you tried to join and could not, please try again now, you should have no trouble.

Gil.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130923204214.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

Usually I don't play the DX game, but sometimes it is good to see just how well you can do with a radio the size of a pack of cigarettes. Just to make sure those DX QSOs aren't a fluke. So tonight I took my MTR and eight almost fully charged (10.5V) AA cells; plugged in my PAR End-Fed and looked at the Reverse Beacon Network:

Quotehttp://www.reversebeacon.net/main.php

. When I saw a newcomer on 40m, I jumped on the frequency, which is fast with the MTR, since you key it in.. Four QSOs, the RST73 type, all in Europe! The furthest one being with Russia, 6200 miles away  :o (photo attached, times are EST). I didn't try to bust any pileups mind you, who cares.. The difference between 4W, 40 or 400 isn't a big practical obstacle. When a band is open, that's that.. I once reached Estonia on 1.2W, and that's 5200 miles, 4300mi/Watt!

You guys are probably tired of hearing me promote CW QRP all the time, but I am really convinced that there is nothing better when all else fails.


Well, other than how to apply a tourniquet maybe  ;)

Even if you as a Ham are not interested in actually operating CW, do at least maintain a few words-per-minute proficiency. Get yourself a tiny rig like a Rock-Mite ($29, before Dave retires fully!): http://smallwonderlabs.com or something from http://qrpkits.com. Stuff it in your BOB with a dual-band HT and you're all set. Even if you carry a "small" SSB radio, you'll have a backup.. Frequency-agile rigs are much better of course, they just cost a little bit, and sometimes a whole lot more. You get what you pay for. If money isn't a concern, get a KX1. Don't forget a portable solar panel and batteries.

The most basic tools are often the ones that save the day. Complexity, high current draw, weight and size are the ennemy.

Gil.

I got a Comet 17" antenna for my Yaesu. The S-meter does not change using either antennas. So it seems the Comet isn't better than the standard rubber ducky, or at least not enough to show an extra bar on the LCD. I do assume there is a slight difference, the laws of physics being what they are.. However, adding the proverbial rat tail does add three bars in both cases..

I am awaiting an antenna analyser (backordered), and will test both as soon as I get it. I am curious as to the kind of SWR those HT antennas have...

Gil.