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Construction

Category for all construction articles at NK7Z.NET

Building a coax entry panel

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Overview: A year or so ago, I got the idea of installing a loop antenna to help reduce some of my RFI.  Not wanting to follow some of my previous bad practices with more bad practice, I decided to totally rebuild my coax entry method.  This led to the creation of a patch panel, and … Continue reading »

Categories: Cleanup, Construction, Info, RFI Mitigation, Station, Tools | Leave a comment

6BTV Yearly Maintenance

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Checklist for yearly maintenance of a 6BTV antenna Continue reading »

Categories: 6BTV, Reviews, Setups | Leave a comment

Building a K4 external keypad

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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 »

Categories: Construction, Elecraft K4, Info | Leave a comment

Review of DX Engineering’s 6BTV 17 Meter add on kit

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I am very happy I purchased this kit, as opposed to cheeping out and using PVC, and non Stainless Steel parts. Continue reading »

Categories: 6BTV, Antenna Reviews, Construction, DX, Info, Reviews | 3 Comments

KPA500 Input vs. Output Power

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Graphs showing input power vs output power of the Elecraft KPA500 RF Amplifier. Continue reading »

Categories: Elecraft K3, Info, Reviews | Leave a comment

Elecraft K3: KSYN3A synthesizer installation notes

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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 »

Categories: Cleanup, Elecraft K3, Info, Setups | 2 Comments

Notes on tuning a Hustler 6BTV

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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 »

Categories: 6BTV, Antenna Reviews, Construction, Info | 22 Comments

Adding an external keypad to the K3

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The Genovation keypads have either forty eight or twenty four keys on them depending on which model you purchase. Each individual key can be programmed to send a single character, or a series of characters. Further, each key has a removable plastic cover so you can put a label under the plastic. All of this allows you to program a key, then label it, then use it to send a macro trigger to the P3. Like the P3, the Genovation also needs to be programmed in advance of use. Fortunately Genovation provides a rather nice piece of software with each keypad for just this task. Once a key is programmed, if you tap that key, the Genovation sends out the character(s) you pre-programmed into it via the USB port. This lends itself well to the function of sending macro triggers to the P3. Continue reading »

Categories: Elecraft K3, Info, K3: External Keypad, Reviews, Setups, Software information, Station | 1 Comment

Review of the 30 Meter MonoGAP

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The first thing I did was to start WSPR off using the new antenna… All the usual suspects came in all a bit better than before! Next I decided to see what one watt could do using JT65 and PSK Reporter… The photo at the left shows what happened, I am transmitting from Oregon… Continue reading »

Categories: Antenna Reviews, Construction, GAP: MONOGAP 30, Info, Reviews | 6 Comments

NI4L’s 7 Band OCF Dipole

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This review of NI4L’s 7 band OCF dipole was prompted by my needing a quick deploy multiband antenna for both field day, and for RVing. Having looked over his antenna I decided on the 7 band version, as that would cover most of my needs while in the field. Last year on Field Day I was able to use an OCF dipole, and enjoyed the quick bandswitching it allowed, so I thought I’d try and find a good OCF dipole and give one an extended try. After looking around the net I found NI4L’s site. Interestingly enough I found it while on eBay, not with Google. His site is very difficult to locate on Google for some reason so here is the link to NI4L’s web site. But if you buy an antenna from NI4L, do it on eBay, it is a few dollars cheaper at this time. In any case, what caught my eye was that he is using Flex-Weave cable for the antenna. Others are, but for some reason NI4L’s site made it more apparent. Another reason is that NI4L is also using an off the shelf W2AU Balun. I have had good luck with that balun so that was enough for me. The W2AU is an all stainless steel hardware balun as well, so it will not be corroding off the antenna anytime soon. The W2AU balun also is good for 2 KW PEP, or 1000 at 100% duty cycle. I would not run it more than 500 Watts, but that is because I am very conservative. I would have liked to have it be good to 2 KW at 100% duty cycle, but alas, it is not. I called and ordered the antenna. It arrived a few days later in the package you see on the left and above. Continue reading »

Categories: Antenna Reviews, Construction, Info, NI4L: 7 Band OCF, Reviews, Station | 5 Comments