It doesn't look that bad - does it?

Well, a gorgeous sunny day here today and the new antenna duly arrived as promised:

http://www.proantennas.co.uk/dualbeampro.htm

So I started with a kit of parts:

Very quickly I had created a kind of tightrope walkers balancing pole:

Then, fairly easily, with a small amount of swearing, I managed to get the whole thing on the new sky hook, just missing the roof (almost like it was planned):

Then it was just a case of giving it a bit of a shove:

Then I added the third K bracket at the top:

Now, if you lived next door, would you mind? It's not bad is it, egh? I'll post some thoughts on the antenna in use in the next few days....

Antennas and more Antennas

Never ever being satisfied seems to be a problem of mine! I've seen a review of the Dual Beam Pro from Pro Antennas, information here:

http://www.proantennas.co.uk/dualbeampro.htm

So I decided I should get one. I've spent most of the day up a lader adding yet another sky hook to the house; this is the pole before I did any more with it - you'll see that there is a cheap and nasty TV rotator included:

I then stuck a T & a K bracket on the back of the house; the Dual Beam Pro should now be able to sit just above the eaves of the house. I'm wondering if I should add another T bracket above these too; I'm also wondering if there is any real strengh higher up the wall as it gets rather narrow there.

What d'ya recon??

WSPRing some more

How's about this then; this is WSPR running on 20M from my FT-950; with 10W of RF to a Windom suspended accross the back garden.

Not bad egh??

WSPRing with whispers

I've been playing with WSPR on HF for quite a while; it's a weak signal propagation reporter network. All you could ever want to know can be found here:

http://wsprnet.org/drupal/


I've successfully got 10W of RF received in all continents, but this screen shot was particularly impressive 1st thing this morning:

Not bad egh??

Bedini SSG Musings

I've been experimenting with a Bedini Simple Schoolgirl Monopole circuit; there's much more to follow, but to start with I've just posted some basic video of the machine running.

Here's the basic video:



Fun egh?

Boxing the BITX

Sorry for the lack of postings, my job has been getting rather badly in the way of my homebrewing....

I've been getting some help cutting some of the not so round holes I needed for my BITX box. My friend Dean has done some of the metalwork for me (he is an Embroiderist by trade), combined with a photopaper front panel and the use of some fablon, I think the result is rather stunning!

I now need to create a scale for the s-meter, once that's done I'll begin adding the boards and other components to the inside....

Once it's all boxed and tested I'll be able to back to my linear project as I will be able to use this BITX as a suitable driver to test out the linear!

It's not bad though, egh?

BITXing Some More

I've just about finished the other bits and bobs for the BITX I was aligning yesterday. I've made a digital dial for the frequency readout and an s-meter; the readout is a kit I have had here for ages, it came from QRP Kits:

http://www.qrpkits.com

The build using surface mount components is really tricky, but it works OK second try!


1st time through I'd got some pins on the main microprocessor chip shorted out which was screwing up the multiplexing of the counter display. You really need to use a magnifying glass to see this stuff properly. Soldering it is another game again! I can't get the camera to take a picture any closer, so you'll just have to believe me when I say the components are small!

I've got all the bits of the BITX V3 wired together on the bench here (the mouse is not an essential part of the BITX):



Now, in a nutshell, what you should be able to see below is exactly what I love about ham radio, you can see the mess above which is all my own work, I turned it on, made a slight circuit modification (connected the speaker) and this is what I soon came across. There's only a piece of wire rammed in the antenna connector right now:

Not bad, egh????