Sunday 29 August 2010

Limerick Sudden receiver

This weekend I continued with the "Sudden Limerick receiver" project. I do this in a leisurely pace and spend my free time also with other things.
So I have watched a DVD of Michael Pailin, "The circkel around". From the 3 DVD's in the box I have now seen 2 episodes of the first DVD.

Yesterday I soldered until all resistors were mounted. At that time, the 2 IC feet, 3 coils and resistors mounted on the PCB.

Today I have some capacitors soldered. When I soldered the rest of the capacitors all components on the PCB.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Saturday 28 August 2010

Limerick Sudden receiver & Magazines

This morning I began with the further building of the "Sudden Limerick receiver. Meanwhile, all (6) resistors soldered. It's tougher than I thought to get everything straight on the board. It will be my limited experience. Tomorrow publish a photo on the blog.

Yesterday, I received the Electron magazine of the VERON, the September issue. Today I received also the "Nieuwsbrief" of the Benelux Qrp Club. Both magazines are in Dutch.

So enough to read this weekend.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Visit to the Zoo.

The last 1,5 weeks I have nothing done with the radio hobby. After the experiments in the field, I filled my leisure time with other pursuits. My 2 meters transceiver was sometimes standby in the evening but made no qso's.

Last Saturday I was with my girlfriend in the Zoo of Arnhem.






For me it was more than 15 years ago that I had been here. The pictures are a little compilation. After buying a new charger + batteries, a few weeks ago, I can shoot longer with the same batteries.

Saturday, I'm going to spend time to the Limerick Sudden receiver project.

Sunday 15 August 2010

QRV from the Field

Last Wednesday, the predictions for the weather where not so good and we decided to do this activity yesterday. We were lucky: sunshine and good temperatures.

The purpose of this event was to build up the portable mast and see if the additional support is good enough. At about 6 meters height, we made an extra point with 3 ropes. It looked good and solid but from this upper point of the mast was pretty crooked.





The idea is to make the support more higher to obtain a better stability.The upper part have Eric, (PE1FES) and I let down, there was now about 6 meters mast on. The mast was now stable, without curves. The suspension point for the variation of the G5RV/ZS6BKW (2 times 7.77 meters) is here by also lower.


In both situations, I made some qso's. On 20M a cw qso with I6WJB in Pescara. This was my first cw qso while I was standing, we forgot the seats.
On 40M, I made qso's with: F/PH2CV/P (cw), SP9KAT (ssb) and SP9WZS (cw).
TRX: FT817nd with internal battery + later a external battery. The output power was only 2.5 watts.

We have had a lot of fun!

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Monday 9 August 2010

QRP on 20M

This morning I setup my portable situation on the dining table. This means the FT817nd with internal battery and on the back of the transceiver the ATX-1080 antenna.

First it seemed very quiet on 20M but during the morning I heard a few signals. While I had other activities in the house, I leave the transceiver on 14.060. Suddenly I heard HB9DAX CQ'íng. After one reply Man(fred) came back for me. We made a nice qso, the transmit speed of Man(fred) was a little bit to high for me. So, I have to concentrate me more than normal.

When I removed my setup from the table I wanted to move in the telescope. This is always stiff and one of the thinner parts nodded. It can still be moved in and out but it is not pretty.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Sunday 8 August 2010

6 meters & J-pole for 2 meters

Yesterday morning around 8:00 local time, I heard during my breakfast signals from the beacon I0JX/B on 6 meters. Unfortunately, no further action was heard and gone outdoors for other activities that day.

Today I borrowed a swr meter to see what the swr is of my homemade 2 meters J-pole antenna made of 300 Ohm ribbon cable. The swr was reasonable, 1:1.4.





The J-pole antenna hung in the doorway to the balcony.

I made a qso via the repeater of Amersfoort (PI3AMF) without problems, 5 watts output. The other station told me that the swr is improving by an RF choke. I got a phonecall and the qso was abruptly ended. Google gave me no answer for an RF choke for this situation. Any ideas?


73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Thursday 5 August 2010

6 meter antenna

It's almost a week ago since I put my last post on this blog. This means that there was't to much time for the radio hobby.

Last week there was a chance of Aurora Borealis by an eruption on the sun. Unfortunately, the Aurora was to weak for me in JO21RV to hear signals on 6 meters via this propagation.








The antenna for 6 meters has not stood on the balcony for a few weeks. This antenna is a 5/8 wave for 2 meters. With a piece of extended it's now a fourth wave for 6 meters. The extension has now made a final.
This year I made a lot of qso's via Es with this antenna.




Thanks to Eric, PE1FES, for the mechanical work.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Friday 30 July 2010

My homebrew corner.

This week I walked around in my house with my camera and came up with the idea of yet another new picture of my homebrew corner. This is the result. On the desk are the components of the Limerick Sudden receiver project I'm doing.

Limerick Sudden receiverAs the manual shows I started assembling the IC holders for the LM386 and NE612.



I haven't found more time in the past week for this project.

Wednesday afternoon I had a qso with SM3YQX/4. Lars Erik, 30 km west of the town Mora. He worked with 100W in a dipole, I with 2.5 W in the ATX-1080.

Good weekend all.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Monday 26 July 2010

QSO on 20M & Limerick Sudden receiver

Today I have made a cw qso on 20M with HA8LTQ. It was a "normal" qso where we both could share our details, like: name, name of the town and the equipment we used. This was on my side the FT817nd with 2.5 watts and the ATX-1080 antenna on the back of the set mounted.

Today I prepare the sides of the print and enclosure for the Limerick Sudden receiver with a neat file. Next week I can start soldering, as there is time.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Sunday 25 July 2010

My activity of this day.

Today during the IOTA contest, I had the opportunity to try my ATX-1080 antenna on 15M. I'm getting a good swr with the following settings:
15M
10 segments of the telescope extended, counterpoise for 17M in use.

Then I made connections with: Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, unfortunately, no stations on an island. My conclusion is that this antenna on 15M will work. On 20M I worked 2 stations in Romania and Sweden, all with SSB and 2,5 Watts.

Today I did nothing with the Limerick Sudden receiver project. Yesterday I only snapped the front and back panels from the mainboard. Tomorrow I smooth the snapped edges with emery paper.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Thursday 22 July 2010

Limerick Sudden receiver

Limerick Sudden receiver PA3GNZYesterday I opened the envelope of this kit to verify that all components are in the packaging.





In the manual there is a list of components and I soon found out that all these components are present.Limerick Sudden receiver PA3GNZThis weekend I read the manual and make a plan how I going to start the building.
My idea is to make the wiring to the antenna connector with RG174 coax and not with the twisted wire which is written in the manual. For the antenna connector, I like to use a BNC chassis instead of a RCA chassis.

I'll keep you posted about this project.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Monday 19 July 2010

Experiments with the ATX-1080 antenna

Last weekend I took the time to experiment with the ATX-1080 antenna. My expectations of this type of antennas have never been high. Now I have a somewhat different view.

In the limited manual of this antenna is discussed by making a counterpoise for them as possible to function. This manual is a guideline given for each band. After some soldering,cut and try, I came to the following lengths:
A counterpoise for 20M, length approximately 3.9M
A counterpoise for 17M, length approximately 3M
A counterpoise for 10M, length approximately 2M

30M
Almost 3 segments of the telescope extended, counterpoise for 20M in use.
20M
10 segments of the telescope extended, counterpoise for 20M in use.
17M
5 segments of the telescope extended, counterpoise for 17M in use.
12M
8 extended segments of the telescope, counterpoise for 10M in use.
10M
10 segments of the telescope extended, counterpoise for 10M in use.

During these experiments, I made a few QSO's:
9A2YM (20M cw)
OK1AUZ (20M cw)
UA1CE (20M cw)
SV2HJQ (20M ssb)
On the Friday before I made 2 QSO's with Lithuania on 30M.

At all QSO's I had an output of 2.5 Watts. My FT817nd was on the dining table (see) with rear mounted antenna. The counterpoise lying on the ground.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Wednesday 14 July 2010

First qso with ATX-1080 antenna and 2,5 watts

Last week I bought a second hand ATX-1080 antenna for my FT817nd. Yesterday I received it by the mail and today I had the time to try this antenna.









With a cup of coffee I sat quietly at my diningroom table and listened to 20 meters, swr reasonable. I heard the special call SI9AM, this time with ON5RZ as a guest operator. A lot of stations called him and it seemed that he not heard my QRP signal. Nevertheless, my patience was rewarded. Raf said my call with an error and I answered to it. He corrected my call and we could made a nice QSO. Details of my setup passed and I told my name.

Who knows what for fun this antenna gives me even more.













73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Friday 2 July 2010

Limerick Sudden receiver, by GQRP club

This week, no radio activities. The weather is too hot for hanging over the soldering iron and I am home with a painful ear infection.

By post was the latest Journal of the club GQRP 'Sprat'. A Magazine with always interesting articles. By this time the announcement of a kit what the GQRP club is sold. The Limerick Sudden Receiver.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Monday 21 June 2010

Contest on 6 meter

Saturday afternoon, I was listening on 6M because there were conditions. I heard that there was a contest and on the internet I found out what kind of contest this was. I came to the following information. In this contest you change a report, serial number and locator.
Among the other activities, see previous posting, I have made a total of 20 QSO's.In this picture are the lines through the various contacts visible. Clearly the most possibilities were to eastern Europe. The farthest distance was with UU9A in KN64SM, over 2000km.
I made the qso's with cw/ssb and the most with 20 watts, 2 with 10 watts. From the 20 qso's there were also a few new squares: JM68, JN94, KN44, KN64, JO91 and KO14.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Saturday 19 June 2010

Genesis Q5 (30M) transmitter repaired and modified

Today I repaired my Genesis Q5 transmitter.
First I had to remove transistor T2 and then I could remove the IC. Then I placed the new IC and I measured that the oscillator was working, yes!
Now I could replace transistor T2 and the transmitter was working again, the frequency 10.11574, it's too low. (When you've read my previous article about the Q5, you could see that with the value of 33pF (C7) the frequency was nearly 10.117 Mhz. The 33pF which I installed today was another.
I received the advice to change capacitor C7. First I replaced this by one with a value of 22pf. I measured that the frequency was 10.12012, much too high. The next step was placing a capacitor with a value of 27pF.
The transmit frequency is 10.11595. This deviation from 10.116 Mhz is acceptable for me.



I finally placed the 27pF capacitor.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Friday 18 June 2010

J-pole antenna for 2M

Last week I made a J-pole antenna for 2M. This antenna is made of 300 Ohm ladder-line I found in my junkbox. Yesterday evening I used the antenna indoors, hanging from the curtain rail, and could reach PI3AMF, a repeater in Amersfoort. A distance of 28 km. I used my FT817nd with 2,5 watts output.
This weekend I want to measure the swr with an external SWR meter.

The rest of this week I had no time for the hobby.

18:30 UTC. I saw that my swr meter is not suitable for 2m, stupid of me. Now I should just borrow one from a colleague in the neighborhood.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Monday 14 June 2010

How long does a computer live?

Yesterday I came home after a weekend in Utrecht. When all things were cleaned up I started my computer. There appeared some reports that I made me not optimistic. After a restart everything seemed to function normally.
This morning started the computer again but this time the monitor was just on and off again, the situation remained so. Checked all cables but this did not solved the problem. Luckily I have a spare monitor and it works simply. Unfortunately, this screen is smaller and the resolution has to get used to.

My computer is almost worn out after 5,5 years loyal service.

After my weekly sports I came home and heard on 6 meters different beacons, there was again sporadic E. Among other activities, I worked through some stations.
OY1CT in IP62LC, In the past I worked this station also on 30M.
IK5GQK in JN53OS (Florence)
And finally for this day in UX2SB in KN28IX, a new square.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Thursday 10 June 2010

Paper cards (QSL)

Yesterday evening I visited the monthly meeting in this area where the QSL manager of R30 is always present.
The last time I made a lot of qso's on 6 meters and gave this cards to the manager. What I got back was not much, only 2 cards.
A card of IK5ACO. Last year I worked this station on 6 meters.




With this card the square JN52 is now confirmed.

The other is a qsl of OH5B.







This is a confirmation of the first qso I made with the new digital mode ROS. I wrote about this for the first time on February 22 this year. After a few contacts, this mode is no longer used by me.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Monday 7 June 2010

a great day with Es on 6 meters.

Today was a day with almost the entire day Es on 6 meters. I made my first qso at 7:20 UTC with Poland. The last QSO for this day was at 10:24 UTC with 2M0DDS in Scotland. In the meantime I have made a total of 8 QSO's and did some other things in the house. I made the qso's with ssb/cw. My conclusion is that I make the most qso's with cw.
This afternoon I had my weekly sport.

At present there is still Es on 6 meters but there are also other things in life than just this hobby.



73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ