FWIW, I bought Harbor Freight's punch set, #91201, and it will probably work on aluminum, but not on anything much harder. Cheaper than Greenlees, at $25, but you get what you pay for. The Unibit in a drill press is probably the better way to go. GL

Not now....

Anyway, it takes a lot longer than a few weeks for a battery to "leak," even if it is a brand that is prone to leakage. Most of today's NiCds and NiMH cells hold up fairly well. I wouldn't be concerned at all. But the next time you ship a radio with battery, it would probably be wise to at least unplug the battery first and insulate its contacts. GL

"...I suspect one could use a plumbing collar with a 1/4" internal diameter (either plastic or metal)."

Try not to use metal collars--they will have a "shorted turn" effect, stealing some power from the circuit and changing the coil inductance. Go for the threaded hole in the former and fasten it to the PC board with nylon screws. Radio Shack used to have them, and most hardware stores carry them. GL

You certainly can use toroid coils, if you can get the right inductance. I was looking at a design the other day, thinking I could substitute a toroid for the "pill bottle" tank coil. and found it would require a quite large torus or really small wire.

One trick to make a toroid adjustable is to stack an adjustable-inductance former alongside it and wind the turns over both for at least a portion of the coil.  Otherwise, yes, you could use variable capacitors (trimmers) to accomplish tank tuning as well.

The ARRL Antenna Book compares sphere tops with disk tops. You might look there, if you haven't already.

At one point I experimented with spiral capacity hats. I didn't reach any definitive conclusion, other than find they did provide some degree of antenna shortening factor. I was attempting to use three wires running up alongside a Harbor Freight telescoping flagpole as the radiating element, and a spiral top hat to provide loading. It worked, to a degree, considering the antenna's final size.  I'd like to see more research into spiral top-loading designs.

Years ago, toilet floats were made of hollowed-out copper spheres, and many a mobile ham used them to top-load their antennas. I think they were more useful at discharging static corona than in providing useful antenna loading (which they did to some degree). See if you can find Don Johnson's "40 Years of HF Mobileering" for his comments on the topic.

GL with your research, and let us know what you discover. I also encourage more experimentation with spiral loading techniques, and suggest exploration into shorting the loading spiral to provide antenna resonance on more than one band. It should be possible to load a short vertical on three or more bands simply by tapping the spiral with the appropriate capacitance. Let us know what you find out.

Assuming you are wanting a CW speaker, I recommend mounting them in resonant enclosures. I've had good results using PVC tubing, but I've also seen them in Dixie cups and other specialized enclosures. Take a look at the following:

http://www.qsl.net/n5iw/RESONANT.htm

http://www.qsl.net/kd7rem/resospkr.htm

http://kd1jv.qrpradio.com/resonatespkr/CWSPKR.HTM

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?246829-quot-tuned-quot-resonant-speaker

Your 0.1 watt won't sound like much, but in a 0.4W parallel resonant enclosure, you'll have enough volume that you can save your battery for longer operating time. GL

If you're using a laptop, most of them have built-in web-cams and audio cards, and MacBooks have some of the best editing software going. Big Lots and Walgreen's stores around here also sell inexpensive video cameras in the under-$100 price range, with quality being what you pay for. GL with your project.

Actually, finding the lost parts can work to your advantage. After more than 60 years of repairing things, my father figured he had enough leftover parts to make two or three new state-of-the-art radios....

I'd have to see a schematic of your supply to see if you need the large bleeder, but if you have smaller resistors across each capacitor, I wouldn't think you would need it.

Or, you could keep it, but isolate it with relay. As long as the PS is powered, the relay's NC (normally closed) circuit keeps the resistor circuit open, thus it would not consume any power at all. When you turn off the PS power switch, the relay would release the armature and that would close the NC circuit, thus completing the resistor's circuit so that it can do its bleeding.

Alternatively, find a higher resistance bleeder resistor. If you use two 75K 100W resistors in series, they'll bleed the capacitors in twice the time, but consume only half as much power (48 watts), well within the power rating of the resistors.

It would be prudent to have a way to completely short the capacitors automatically whenever the access door is opened. As we all know, some capacitors can keep a lethal charge for days, or longer.  I've worked with HV photoflash capacitors, and always shorted their terminals with a "chicken stick" shorting bar, or alligator-clip connectors, before working on the circuits they were in.

Also, use eye protection. Sparks can fly and burn an eyeball (primarily the cornea) if they hit it, and ultraviolet energy from a spark flash could also damage the retina.

The old tech's rule, "one hand in your trouser's pocket," has probably saved several lives. Do what you can to engineer safety into any electronic circuit. GL

Pixie motorboating can occur from too little voltage getting to the '386. Use a fresh alkaline battery and/or reduce the value of the 1K resistor going to the 386. The Pixie was based on the Micro-80, a similar rig by Russian ham Oleg Borodin, "Mr. 72," RV3GM, that used two transistors and a hi-Z earphone in the audio stage. Check www.qsl.net/g3pto/micro80.html for details.

Other experimenters have said that the LM386N is the culprit--changing it to a '386M or some other suffix avoided the problem. Others have substituted an LM380 with good results, but there are some wiring differences....

The HamCan looks interesting, and David Cripe is a notable QRP rig designer. It, however, has a regenerative receiver, and conceivably is a lot more sensitive. It looks like something I may want to cobble together some rainy day, too. Thanks for the posting, and GL with your projects.

Might it be an old Wilson?

If it's just the logic you want, consider Jameco's 17996, a 100-count assortment of TTL digital logic ICs, in both DIP and SMT, for $9.95. www.jameco.com Another nine bux at Radio Shack will get you a small prototyping board. GL with your project.

Icy winter weather has always been considered the best time to raise antennas. It looks like you're going to have some real fun. Enjoy!

In general, aim in the direction following the gray line. The theory is that the ionosphere's dynamics along the terminator zone is what enhances propagation, so you want to aim along the line. In reality, you will probably want to experiment to prove for yourself. A hexbeam has a broad beamwidth, so aiming it in the general direction of the gray line will get the job done (or, alternatively, rotate it to minimize offending interference).

You can use Google Earth in the day/night mode to follow the gray line in real time. GL

Sorry to hear about your shaking; have you looked into vitamins or supplements for help? I recently discovered that as I age, I'm not getting enough vitamin B12 in my diet. B12 helps the body to produce melatonin, which helps relieve nervousness. I would think, too, that if you can hold a camera steady, you could do the same with a soldering iron--with a little practice.

Be that as it may, a couple of kits you may want to look at are the Juma (http://www.nikkemedia.fi/juma-trx2/) and the MMR40 (http://www.qrpkits.com/mmr40.html), and I think either company can help put you in touch with a builder who can assemble them for you. The MMR40 has the builder's manual posted online, so you can gauge for yourself if it is beyond your capabilities. Otherwise, have someone build you an Elecraft or look for one of the Yaesu, Icom or Kenwood field-friendly rigs.

Good luck with the upgrade.