Category Archives: From the OM

K1 Front Panel Completed

Posted on December 5, 2015 by robert

The Front Panel assembly had 75 components and took 265 minutes of assembly and verification time.  That works out to 3.5 minutes per component and 4.4 hours. At this point, I feel that I’m about halfway finished with the build … Continue reading →

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Pactor Modem Arrives

Posted on December 3, 2015 by robert

I had ordered a P4 Dragon Pactor modem which finally arrived a few days ago.  My intent was to hook it up to my IC-9100 so I can use either Pactor III on HF (P4 is not legal in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Mode, From the OM, Gear | Leave a comment

K1 Filter Board Completed

Posted on December 2, 2015 by robert

I’d say this is about 1/6 of the work (2/6 for the Front Panel, and 3/6 for the RF board remaining).  It took a total of 255 minutes to complete the installation of 64 component, or about 4 minutes per part … Continue reading →

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K1 Assembly Burp #1

Posted on November 30, 2015 by robert

Things were going swimmingly with the K1 Filter Board assembly, still at a rate of 1 component per 3 minutes (I follow a 7-step process:  check value, check value, install, check value, solder, check value, check solder).  Then I hit a … Continue reading →

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Scratching the Itch…

Posted on November 29, 2015 by robert

Putting together a Doppler antenna switch for fox hunting (Handi-Finder) reminded me how fun making things can be.  It’s been many years since I’ve built a radio kit, and I’ve been itching to feel that “glow” you get when you … Continue reading →

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Knot Good

Posted on October 19, 2015 by robert

Speaking of JOTA… When putting a dipole up in the air (thank you Willy, W1LY), its a good idea to have two spools of cord — one per end.  During Field Day, we killed off one of my 1000 foot … Continue reading →

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Teaching a large Technician Class in Foster RI

Posted on September 17, 2015 by robert

I’ve been teaching Technician classes for about four years now as a way of paying back the ham Elmers who started me on this path 46 years ago.  My usual class size is typically about a dozen, and I’ve been doing … Continue reading →

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Speaking of FUNcube-1: Certificate and QSL Now Available

Posted on July 29, 2015 by robert

AMSAT-UK announced that a ‘Certificate of Achievement’ and/or a amateur radio style ‘QSL’ card for FUNcube-1 are now available online.  Assuming that you’ve entered at least one telemetry report into the data warehouse, then you can print them yourself here: http://amsatuk.me.uk/on/funcube_qsl.php  

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Satellite Uplink Calibration

Posted on June 25, 2015 by robert

I finally had some time to ensure that my SatPC32 program was correctly calibrated to my Icom IC-9100 when using any of the three available linear transponder satellites.  While SatPC32 deals with doppler corrections (assuming the PC Clock is accurately set … Continue reading →

Posted in Contests, From the OM, Satellite | 2 Comments

Momento for W1AW/1 RI Operation

Posted on June 12, 2015 by robert

When I checked the mail today, I was pleasantly surprised to find a small desk plaque commemorating my participation this past year as a W1AW/1 – RI station.  They mounted a centennial and W1AW challenge coin into an engraved case … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, Operating | 2 Comments