Re: [Elecraft] NG0R - K2 160m alignment problem.
Don and the members of the list, I am still troubleshooting the alignment issue. I am better now than I was a couple of days ago. Don and I have been comparing notes. I have removed the ATU from the circuit and tried some other things. After some poking around with the RF probe I have confirmed that the issue is within the 80/160m band pass filter. (Lots of RF into the filter... very little coming out.) I have been messing with C13/C14 making sure that they have a good connection. After some poking around with the probe I was noticing an occasional oscillation at which point the RF power levels would change and I would see some significant RF. It seems like L4 is extremely sensitive after the addition of the 160m module and C13/C4. Now if I move my hand or a plastic screwdriver by it the circuit is detuned or goes into a slight oscillation. That made it extremely hard to tune up the band pass filter initially. After some tweaking I am now seeing 11-13.5w out on 80m 160m without the ATU in the circuit. I am going to add the ATU back into the circuit and do some more testing. (The ATU was not the issue... it was removed as part of the troubleshooting steps.) Has anyone else noticed L4 being ultra sensitive after the addition of the 160m module? Thanks, JH - John Hoaglun NG0R - EN25 http://www.hoaglun.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] Your Opinion: The realities of QRP vs. QRO
Since everyone has an opinion here's mine. I believe that QRP and QRO both have a place in ham radio. I really enjoy QRP operation because it brings back the thrill of every contact that I had when I started in ham radio. When conditions are marginal the extra power of QRO (100w in my case) can often make the difference between no QSO and a completed one, most notably on 6m and 160m. I do not take the opinion that running the legal limit means that one does not enjoy the thrill of the hunt. Look at the big contest stations around the world and often they are the only ones workable when conditions are marginal. Working QRP stations can often increase the thrill of the station on the other end. 73 Dan N0TK Highlands Ranch, CO -Original Message- From: dw bw...@fastmail.fm To: Elecraft_List elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 5:34 am Subject: [Elecraft] Your Opinion: The realities of QRP vs. QRO A few years back in our little farming community, there was a fellow whose name was Francis. Francis was an avid hunter. At this time, the rumor went around the community that Francis had been fined for deer jacking. Out of his truck one night, with a spot light, he took a shot at a plastic deer planted by game wardens. Soon it became a joke…….Sir Francis the deer slayer. Something within me seemed to understand Francis’ point of view. He was a pragmatist….. He had little interest in the thrill of the hunt. He was focu sed on the efficiency of the catch. Although QRO is far from illegal, it does seem to be somewhat more focused on the efficiency of the catch than the thrill of the hunt. So there is a certain un-romantic reality to QRO vs. QRP. I'm wondering, what percentage of contacts you've made QRO, that you would estimate as not attainable QRP. I hope I didn't break the list rules getting off-topic with the story :~/ -- dw d...@sover.net __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] K3 birdies - question?
Hi David -- It was my oversight not to sent the concept to the reflector. However I will note that it takes a substantial amount of ferrite to develop serious Z at HF. I'm skeptical that a few beads at each end will have a material effect... but perhaps someone will give it a go and report a result. I also must recognize that the idea leakage is picked up on the shield and conducted to an undesirable location is also speculative. If pickup is coming from the KREF or KSYN boards, then another approach would be to place a shield around the offending (radiating) board. But that's a more complex task to try and raises issues of heat capture. -- Eric Original Message Subject:Re: [Elecraft] K3 birdies - question? Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 17:19:34 - From: David Cutter d.cut...@ntlworld.com To: e...@k3na.org References: 20090305102431.7oc8p.948859.r...@web08-winn.ispmail.private.ntl.com 49affc5c.8050...@k3na.org Eric That's an even better idea. The tiny connector on the end will allow quite a small bead/tube to be used. This can then be taped or heat shrink and somehow supported to stop it clunking about. Thanks for the idea, why not put it on the reflector? David G3UNA - Original Message - From: Eric Scace K3NA e...@k3na.org To: d.cut...@ntlworld.com Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 4:22 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 birdies - question? I wonder if a string of suitable ferrite beads would be enough Z to kill anything on the shield of these short cables. One would need to protect the ferrite from touching the circuit boards... on 09 Mar 05 05:24 d.cut...@ntlworld.com said the following: So, could we use the good old methods of wrapping the coax around a suitable toroid. That would mean a longer cable at which point I would invest in a better quality cable if I were doing it and I'm tempted to do so to get the best chance of cracking the main issues we are addressing. David G3UNA Geoffrey Mackenzie-Kennedy gm4...@btinternet.com wrote: David, Double shielded coax would certainly reduce leakage from the coax, and is a good investment in my opinion. However its use might not have too much impact on the receiver's birdie problem, because many of the rogue signals involved are probably flowing on the outside of the coax's braid, certainly if the coax emerges from some enclosure through a hole. The usual cause of a receiver birdie is that some response of the receiver is hearing some oscillator or a harmonic, or some mixing product of two or more oscillators, contained within the receiver. In a down conversion HF receiver, the great majority of the receiver's responses, therefore the rogue signals, that cause birdie problems are at HF and up to low/ mid VHF, which means that choking off coax runs within a receiver becomes cumbersome. 73, Geoff GM4ESD David Cutter wrote on Wednesday, March 04, 2009, at 10:32 AM: I also wonder if it would be worthwhile buying higher spec coax. Don't know what is used in the K3, but for the lengths involved it would be worth the investment to get short cables made in say LMR100 or RG142 etc if it's not already David G3UNA __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] Your Opinion: The realities of QRP vs. QRO
I have a K1, it was my only HF rig from 2003 to 2008 when My K3/100 #696 arrived. I still use the K1 from time to time. My goal it WAS CW QRP, 40 QSL cards received so far. I am now also getting into CW traffic nets on 80, have often done it with 5 watts. Sometimes when conditions are a bit difficult I run 80 Watts. Sometimes even that is not enough. Both power levers for me are fun. But the QRP contact seems to have somewhat more thrill. Wish I could change from 5 Watts to 80 Watts by pressing PF2. 73, Ty, W1TF, K3 #696, K1 # 1423 __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] Your Opinion: The realities of QRP vs. QRO
Wow Cookie! I wasn't trying to ruin your week, or even your day! I thought I made it fairly clear that how one approaches the hobby is a very individualistic thing. If you want QRO (and big antennas), that's fine! I'm certainly not being critical of that approach. I just don't subscribe to it, that's all. When I entered the hobby in 1955, there were scads of stations running rigs like an AT-1 (Heathkit) at 30 watts or so INPUT. What do you suppose that converts to in today's methodology of measuring ones' transmitter power based on OUTPUT? It probably wasn't much, if any, more than half that amount. Actually, the maximum power allowed used to be 1 KW INPUT. Now it's 1.5 KW Output. Not a move in the right direction as far as I'm concerned. I don't get upside down about power levels like that, but when some station is 20, 30, or even 40 over S9 don't you think that's a little excessive? The rule has always been that you run only as much power as is necessary, but that is a rule that has continually been ignored. I probably don't have the right perspective about newbies, but if they think ham radio should be just like a telephone call from their friend down the street, that escapes me a bit. This smacks of a complete divergence from how ham radio started, and how it remained for most of the last several decades. Working another station always had some uncertainty to it. What I hear you saying is that every QSO should be S9 or better, lest we lose the interest of the newbies. I'm probably one step short of being a fossil, but I want at least some contacts to be a challenge. True, there are plenty of times when you want communication without a hassle, and many aspects of the hobby are based on that. A good armchair ragchew is obviously all that many folks want. I say fine! I enjoy that too! But if every aspect of ham radio was strictly armchair, that would bore me to death. If you eliminate challenge from the equation, I just don't think there would be nearly the number of people involved in the hobby. I agree though, not everyone is interested in the least in being challenged. That, I think, is the substance of our disagreement. You, I think, are interested in showing newbies how easy it is to talk to New York City, or Tokyo, and I'm more interested in showing them that it can be done with a minimal amount of investment, or with a somewhat spartan setup. I completely agree that some folks may be much more impressed with your approach than mine. I just don't agree that a majority would be find that preferable. Maybe we can agree that it would be a 50-50 split? I've always been somewhat in awe of the various superstations that exist, with huge antennas and high dollar gear, etc. But I have never been inclined to want to emulate those stations. I certainly can afford a much more exotic station than I have, but it just doesn't appeal to me. The easier it gets, the less interested I am. It's that simple. I've spent a fair amount of money on radios, like my K3, but to be honest with you my KX-1 can give me a bigger kick. If I work a DXpedition with my K3, and then later with my KX-1, which one do you think I'm going to talk about more? So, if what you say is true, that most newbies want it easy, I don't think the hobby has a very bright future. They might as well just fire up their computers and use Skype or Echolink. Why bother with trying to tweak your antenna, or worrying about sunspots and propagation? If you want to eliminate uncertainty from the equation, ham radio has no real purpose. Dave W7AQK - Original Message - From: WILLIS COOKE wrco...@flash.net To: Elecraft_List elecraft@mailman.qth.net; dw bw...@fastmail.fm; David Yarnes w7...@cox.net Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 1:08 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Your Opinion: The realities of QRP vs. QRO David, this conversation upsets me a great deal. I am a member of SKCC and I see the QRP thing tearing it up at the moment. That the conversation is coming to the Elecraft reflector as well is doubly upsetting. I am not totally against QRP, but the bragado that is taking place here and elsewhere leads the inexperienced to think that all they have to do is buy a QRP rig and a Buddypole and work the world. I see newbie after newbie crying that no one will work them for some perceived reason and the real reason is that no one hears them. The best, cheapest, most effective rig for a newbie is to buy a 100 watt transceiver and put up a dipole or Carolina Windom or such. Deed restrictions sometimes limit them to an attic antenna or a trap vertical or something small. To influence them to use a compromised antenna system and QRP is little short of criminal. It is certainly rude and not in the best interest of the hobby. I see numerous posts by newbies that are upset that every contact is a minimum exchange then 73. They want to rag
