Re: [Elecraft] Your Opinion: The realit..
During the last sunspot cycle, I was experimenting (playing around) with my K2 (S/N 1757). I heard a CQ with an F call sign. I gave him a call from here in South Carolina, and had a long and enjoyable QSO with him. He was at a police department's amateur radio club in the south of France! After the QSO ended, I noticed that I had turned the RF power all the way down during my experimenting, and had forgotten to turn it back up! I checked the power level and found that it was set at 0.3 watts! Yes, 1/3 of a watt for a 30 minute SSB QSO from South Carolina to the south of France! My antenna? It was 90 feet of black, 14 gauge wire that I had bought at Lowe's! End fed with an SGC-230 autotuner. It runs from an upstairs bathroom window to a pine tree. It's up about 25 feet at the high end! For me, personally, that yields a greater sense of accomplishment than a kilowatt amp! Of course, I have been playing around with QRP since elementary school in the 1950's. I have built *many* QRP rigs, and have always had great success with all of them! It's great fun to me! Dan Allen KB4ZVM K2 S/N 1757 -- Original message from wayne burdick n...@elecraft.com: -- QSL, Jim, and I can empathize (Belmont, CA is not exactly a hot-bed of RF activity either). But I will lay down the following challenge for you: Next time you hear an S9+20 station calling CQ, try turning the K3 down to 1 watt and calling him, just for grins. All other things being equal, if he's running a KW, you should be about S7 at his QTH. Cheap thrill, maybe, but a thrill nonetheless. And that's the essence of QRP. Wayne N6KR On Mar 5, 2009, at 9:06 AM, JIM DAVIS wrote: Wayne, Our niche in this fabulous hobby of ours is chasing DX (new entities-DXCC) and don't really care about QRP per/se as our radio location is marginal at best here in ant. un-friendly Concord, Ca. so most of the stuff that I work is worked using 100w., but if band conditions dictate (including pile-ups!) we'll lite off the Alpha 91b amp to make ourselves heard. Believe me though, even sometimes 1KW IS NOT ENOUGH from our marginal area. So QRP is definitely out from here locally. Jim/nn6ee --- http://www.elecraft.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 __ 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] Best way to secure RF ground from 2nd floor?
Here is a solution from a very old QST, It's not from QST. and all I can say is it works for me. My shack is on the 2nd floor and I run several rigs w/ amps . I was having RF everywhere until I tried this: - Run coax ( RG-8 or similar) from rig to a real good ground . Put a .01 cap across the shield and center conductor at both ends. Cap needs to be 2KV or better. You will be using the center conductor as your connection to rig and the ground rod.You should also use an ATU as mentioned in an earlier reply. If it is not from QST, do you know where it is from? Do you know where (or how) I can get a reprint of it? My shack is on the second floor, too. And I believe that The Wireman used to sell a kit containing the capacitors! Dan Allen KB4ZVM K2 S/N 1757 ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] OT: removing smoke smell from electronics
I have a kit which I picked up from a ham who must've been quite a smoker. I was wondering if anyone has any tips as to how to eradicate the cigarette smell from the parts. Several years ago, I purchased a WM-2 QRP Wattmeter kit from Oak Hills Research. When I opened the box, I was floored by the smell of cigarette smoke. I thought I would never be able to build (or keep) the kit. I spread all of the contents of the kit, and all of the pages of the manual, out in my basement garage and left it for about a week. When I gathered it all up, I could no longer detect any cigarette smoke smell. I enjoyed building the kit, and use it often to this day. Sometimes, the simplest solution works the best! Dan Allen KB4ZVM K2 S/N 1757 ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: Re: [Elecraft] ground static elec
Quite a few years ago, I bought (I think from Jameco) one of those yellow, plastic plugs with the three lights that tells you if an outlet is wired correctly and safely. However, this one had a female receptacle for the banana plug on the end of the wire from an anti-static mat/wrist strap. It connects to ground. I can plug the plug into an outlet, check the lights to make sure that it is wired correctly and grounded, plug my anti-static mat/wrist strap into the yellow plug, and feel (somewhat) safer. I think they still sell it. Dan Allen KB4ZVM K-2 S/N 1757 From: Rick Hampton [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: 2006/06/08 Thu PM 04:38:07 EDT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: Jesse Nicky [EMAIL PROTECTED], elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] ground static elec To reinforce Don's comments, I've lived in several houses, none of which I wired, and found broken ground wires, broken neutral wires, broken hot wires, outlets with the hot and neutral wires reversed, and outlets with the ground and neutral wires reversed. I strongly suspect that if reverse wiring the hot and ground weren't a self-limiting entry for the Darwin Award, I'd have seen this one too. Rick's Rule of Electrical Work: Double-check EVERYTHING. NOTHING is safe until proved safe. Rick Hampton, WD8KEL Don Wilhelm wrote: Jesse, If your 'table mat' is really an anti-static mat, it should have a 1 megohm resistor built into the attachment cord - check it with your ohmmeter. It is OK to attach it to a utility grounding point - I remove the plate mounting screw on a standard receptacle and attach the wire there (but make certain it is actually grounded first by checking continuity to the ground pin on a 3 prong socket - in the US, the center rounded pin should be ground, but if you are not certain about it, check with an electrician or someone who does know 'which pin is what' on the receptacles - there is dangerous AC voltage on the pins - BE SAFE! There are testers that simply plug into a receptacle and show if the ground is connected and if the receptacle is wired properly, I suggest that you obtain one and check before sticking any probe into the rectangular holes in the receptacle. If your household wiring conforms to code, any metal parts associated with the wiring should be grounded, but never trust it until you verify (by testing). I wired my house myself and have a lot of confidence in the wiring, but I still check to be certain - stuff can happen over time and ground connections can loosen on occasion. 73, Don W3FPR ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
