Month: December 2015

St Louis Vest Pocket Vertical

Posted on by ve3ips

Click to access qrpp_volume_11.pdf

Dave NF0R has a wonderful build out for a small vertical that fits in your vest pocket on your trench coat. However, the fiberglass tubing is expensive at about $10 us for three feet lengths.

https://goodwinds.com/fiberglass/filament-wound-epoxy-tubing.html

However, the concept is there  stay tuned for a build out

stqvpv

I have tried this out using various antenna bits from Buddipole and Pac-12 so it does work but the idea is to get the weight down so its ideal for a carry on bag as well as the rod lengths. I need 18″ rod lengths and this antenna does the trick.

The Buddipole and PAC-12 use a 4 foot base and 4-6 foot top but this one is 6 feet and 10 which does need to be guyed. Dave uses fishing line for this but paracord is good too.

I did prototype a buddistick which is the 4 and 4 using PVC and that works ok, ugly but OK.

 

 

Click to access qrpp_volume_11.pdf

Click to access qrpp_volume_11.pdf

Click to access qrpp_volume_11.pdf

Click to access qrpp_volume_11.pdf

Help I am in a Condo or a Hotel or I am a Tokyo Cliff Dweller

Posted on by ve3ips

The great thing about antennas is that they are as simple as a fishing pole and some wire or a store bought antenna. Don’t let a balcony keep you off the air as its surprising how you can work DX with not being a big gun

When I was out in Vancouver , I rented a room at the Westin Bayshore Hotel because they have balconies and windows that open. Using a homebrew Buddipole and my FT-817, I easily made contacts into japan on 15 meters. The other great hotel that is dx friendly is the Westin Grand.

No reason you cant work dx from the hotel in Acapulco either.

Here are a lot of ideas

PENTAX Image

OMG Another Canuck Builds a Radio Go Box aka Go Kit

Posted on by ve3ips

Its obvious I like to have fun and enjoy portable operations

 

So I have been working on some go box or go kits or grab and go boxes so here are some prototypes and comments

 

Pelican 1440

I use this for my studio strobes with the padded insert and thought I could use it for ham radio

pelican go

Pelican makes a frame kit that allows a board to be held in place but I chose pretty thick kitchen cutting boards. The handles are ideal for allowing cables to come out. I added cut outs for the 2 speakers, a fan, a voltage display and a anderson pole junction.

Project abandoned as I cannot close the lid on the FT-857D control head.

Plan was to fit the radios underneath and mount the two radio control heads on the the left side.

Next step was to try a small 4U wall mount data cabinet. I thought I could prototype some MDF as a box.

20151230_185253

Note the small shelf allowing access to the buttons on top of the Ft857D

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Yeah I own Midland and Kenwood as well. I am not that much of a Yaesu Fan Boy

Project abandoned because I found a better idea.

I am going to put my FT-8900 4 bander 4 banger in the Tactical Carrier as  a grab and go box. I have used it with my Icom 7000 as well as FT-817

http://www.tac-comm.com/

So Go Box Nirvana is the Gator 6U…….I need to get some shelves for it as I test fitted some off my data rack so stay tuned for a finished project

20151230_190908

With this set up I can be on Channel 6 or Channel 9 only. Note my first vhf handheld the Icom IC-215

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The Courier CB started yelling…”I am not staying beside a FT-817″

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OK now we are talking about a test fit. Too bad the DMR radio is 1/4″ too tall. I may have to add a Motorola 4550 in there somehow.

There is room in the back to fit a power supply, a Rig Runner and a bag of cables and maybe  some other stuff.

I will probably add some nice LED light strips

I would appreciate any comments or suggestions?

I may do a separate box for the power supply, batteries and solar panels probably depending on the weight of this go box

This is a Polish Go Box…the BP-3 Spy radio

 

NOT A GO BOX

Ham Radio is the often the only available communication after a disaster.

 

Portable Ham Radio Operations from the Back Deck

Posted on by ve3ips

Portable Operations from the Back Deck

Here is a simple easy to grab and go radio set up.

The foundation is the battery box.

I have a 12A 12V  SLA mounted inside and added a 4 pole anderson pole on the side.

I also added a 3/8″ female stud antenna mount and ground/radial binding post. I can now connect my Buddistick or Hustler RM17 antenna to the box.

In order to accommodate the Elecraft KX3, I made up a shelf assembly and added a front foot to stabilize the box.

My list of improvements are to:

Add a higher capacity battery to power a FT857D possibly
Add a USB socket with voltage monitor
Add a collapsible antenna that fits in the box
Add a magnetic mic holder
Add a light for night time log keeping and operating

The Pocket Pal 9:1 Balun

Posted on by ve3ips

I needed a quick project and a small balun for my SDR radio and various portable radios. Also something I could use for the FT-817, KX-3 QRP use out in the field. This little guy did the trick. Its a small little 2 x 1.5 inches little marvel of a 450 ohm balun.

I have had great success with it on 40m-10m using 29 feet of wire. Performance seems better with a 15 foot ground wire if you do not have at least 16 feet of coax.

I get my Toroids from Earl at Netty Electronics

http://www.nettyelectronics.com/

pocket pal 9to1 balun

So its a T106-2 red with 9 turns #22 wire which could handle 100 watts of power but my use in 50w and under for portable/field work or for reception purposes.

See my other post on the Marconi End Fed NVIS antenna as this little guy could be pretty stealthy with some black #26 silky wire and fit in a shirt pocket.

packtenna marconi NVIS endfed

Here is a schematic of the little pal

The Santa Net 3916 KHZ

Posted on by ve3ips

If you have a shortwave radio with SSB mode, you too can listen to the Santa Net on 3916 kHz LSB every night until Christmas starting at 01:30 UTC (7:30 PM CST). Of course, if you’re an amateur radio operator, you can talk to Santa as well!

Portable Operations from the Back Deck

Posted on by ve3ips

 

Portable Operations from the Back Deck

Here is a simple easy to grab and go radio set up.

The foundation is the battery box.

I have a 12A 12V  SLA mounted inside and added a 4 pole anderson pole on the side.

I also added a 3/8″ female stud antenna mount and ground/radial binding post. I can now connect my Buddistick or Hustler RM17 antenna to the box.

In order to accommodate the Elecraft KX3, I made up a shelf assembly and added a front foot to stabilize the box.

My list of improvements are to:

Add a higher capacity battery to power a FT857D possibly
Add a USB socket with voltage monitor
Add a collapsible antenna that fits in the box
Add a magnetic mic holder
Add a light for night time log keeping and operating

Packtenna in the Wild

Posted on by ve3ips

Packtenna in the Wild

Thanks to George at Packtenna for a development kit to try out

I am very pleased with the performance of the the 3 baluns I made and my operations on 20m and above

The approach to get as much wire in the air helps make more contacts because its a 20m dipole at full length of 32 feet not a shorter antenna

I have the shorter antennas and they all serve a purpose but if I can get a dipole up then my antenna is more efficient

I have to make my baluns protected with a full heat shrink but i am very pleased with the performance

The standard T-200 toroid is NOT the best choice it seems and with my focus on 20m and up operation the -63 mix is better

Check out Packtenna.com

In this demo its just a silly 20m dipole but the brilliance is in the balun and the pcb board

the excellent and well designed 1:1 balun
My tripod and mast system gets it up quickly and efficiently

CQ DX…

Nite EZe and orange paracord is a blessing
Get orange paracord. The black stuff just means that you will walk into it unless you are trying to be covert
Bingo the match is spot on…just follow the instructions and measure twice and cut onc