Info
Building a K4 external keypad
The K4 is fundamentally different in the way it launches macros than the K3. The K3 launched macros via the SVGA card, (which is an add on to the Elecraft P3 panadaptor), and used an indirect addressing scheme to select which macro was launched. The K4, on the other hand, uses telnet, and accepts macros directly, in real time! You just log into the K4 via telnet, and send the macro. This required a total rethink of the process for communicating with the radio. Continue reading
Propagation, part II
“The Sun, and the Ionosphere” Overview The sun is a gigantic, continuously running nuclear fusion reactor, 93 million miles away. It is so far away it takes the light from the sun eight plus minutes to reach Earth. Yet, that light from the sun can still cook the skin right off your shoulders if … Continue reading
Propagation Part I
This is the first in a multi part set of articles that will help you understand how to work more DX by understand band openings, and band closings. Continue reading
Notes: tinySA
I still want the expensive HP type of Spectrum Analyzer, but alas, I doubt I will have $40,000 bucks to throw at it. When I saw the “tinySA”, (tiny spectrum analyzer), come to market a few months ago, and saw that R&L was selling them for $54.98, I just had to have one… This entry is a string of notes that may help the next person along this route to get to a working, fully updated, with tools tinySA. Continue reading
Review of DX Engineering’s 6BTV 17 Meter add on kit
I am very happy I purchased this kit, as opposed to cheeping out and using PVC, and non Stainless Steel parts. Continue reading
KPA500 Input vs. Output Power
Graphs showing input power vs output power of the Elecraft KPA500 RF Amplifier. Continue reading
Elecraft K3: KSYN3A synthesizer installation notes
Overview: At one point, myself and K7OLN were living about 700 feet apart. Both of us were very active, and as a result could not operate on the same band at the same time. I purchased an Elecraft K3, and that helped, K7OLN then purchased a K3 and that helped more. Then Elecraft came out … Continue reading
RFI Site survey – Part II, interpretation
This is part II in a series of articles which will cover how I interpret and use SDR captured spectrograms as they relate to my RFI mitigation efforts. See Part I, Using a SDR as a Site Survey Tool for how I setup and use the SDRPlay RSP1 as my SDR of choice, while using HDSDR as the radio control program. The concept was to view my RFI environment as a whole, not in realtime, but across long periods of time, and very wide frequency spans. Continue reading
RFI Snapshots
Clicking on any of the images on the RFI category page will take you to yet another page, which contains any number of RFI signatures. This may be helpful in identifying a source of RFI. While it is not a a RFI fingerprint, it is an indication of what may be causing your RFI. Continue reading
Notes on tuning a Hustler 6BTV
I thought I would share a few of my notes on tuning up a 6BTV antenna, and constructing a radial field. I have been using a GAP Challenger DX, (review here), for the past fifteen years, unbeknownst to me, and over that time, water had been slowly seeping into the tuning harness of the antenna. Continue reading
