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Author Topic: Greetings  (Read 689 times)

G3EDM

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Greetings
« on: June 08, 2021, 04:19:47 AM »

Greetings,

So, I'm back, after an absence of many years apart from a sporadic post or two. I've now had my ticket for more than nine years but never got on the air!

Three years ago we moved from the U.S. Northeast to England. We are finally living in a property where it should be possible to install a full-size 40m dipole (the biggest issue back in America was my landlord's opposition to putting it up on his property). Given the size and orientation of our house plot, the antenna will transmit east-west rather than north-south.

There are four steps remaining before I can start operating. In increasing order of magnitude:

(1) Back in 2014, I built ARRL's "A Simple Two-Tube Transmitter" from "How to Become a Radio Amateur" published in 1968:



This has a "universal" primary on the power transformer which needs to be re-wired for 240VAC. This is trivial as I just need to move a couple of jumper wires and re-solder them (for US voltage there are two primaries in parallel, for Europe they are in series).

I'll also have to change the existing 1A AC fuse to 500ma, presumably. (The code on the existing fuse is BUSS AGC1A).

The receiver will be the "Three Transistor Receiver for the Beginner" from the same ARRL book, which I also built back then. Possibly I will also try using a messy receiver concoction that I built at the time, which was a regenerative receiver using subminiature tubes built on a large wooden breadboard.

(2) Building and putting up the antenna. This will either be a simple 40m dipole or a dual-band 20m/40m dipole with traps. I have all the components for building this.

(3) Taking and passing the British Foundation licence test (I am now spelling licence with two C's as in British English) followed by the Intermediate licence test. This allows working on the HF bands at 50W, among other things. The Foundation licence on its own would not suffice because it forbids the use of homebrew equipment.

(4) Brushing up my CW which is now just about all forgotten.

Yes this will take a while -- and perhaps never happen. Those who know me understand that I am a big procrastinator, and I do also run a busy small business. So no promises. My U.S. ticket expires next year (2022) and I will just let it die, since I am planning to obtain a new, British call.

If I do get on the air with the Novice rig described above, I will later move on to more powerful and sophisticated vintage ARRL designs for which I already purchased many of the components years ago but have not yet been built. The main issue is that we now live in a much smaller house (despite the nice large garden) and there really isn't space for a proper workshop.

73 from Martin, KB1WSY
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N1IG

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2021, 05:26:12 AM »

Congrats on the return and the move to the UK.

I think that letting your US license expire is a mistake.    You never know what the future holds.
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K3UIM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2021, 05:44:03 AM »

IG: +1
Don't let it go!! Only God knows what might happen and it would really be wise to renew your US ticket.
Charlie
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Charlie. K3UIM
Where you are: I was!
Where I am: You will be!
So be nice to us old fogies!!

K6SDW

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2021, 05:52:43 AM »

KEWL! Ur station reminds me of my novice days in 1965....

GL/73
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2021, 06:45:17 AM »

Congrats on the return and the move to the UK.

I think that letting your US license expire is a mistake. You never know what the future holds.

IG: +1
Don't let it go!! Only God knows what might happen and it would really be wise to renew your US ticket.
Charlie

I respect your advice, but please just take my word for it that it would not make sense in my case. Thanks!

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #5 on: June 08, 2021, 06:49:08 AM »

Just looked it up and it seems the peak of the current solar cycle is predicted to come between 2023 and 2026! That is a good motivation to get into the game....

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
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N1IG

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2021, 12:52:06 PM »

Congrats on the return and the move to the UK.

I think that letting your US license expire is a mistake. You never know what the future holds.

IG: +1
Don't let it go!! Only God knows what might happen and it would really be wise to renew your US ticket.
Charlie

I respect your advice, but please just take my word for it that it would not make sense in my case. Thanks!

73 de Martin, KB1WSY

Shy of something that would cause a denial, there's no reason not to.  especially since licenses are no longer sent by mail, but by email.

but your choice.
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KL7CW

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2021, 04:14:49 PM »

Martin,
    I think you will have many good QSO possibilities from the UK with very reasonable CW speeds.  I operated from NW England many times with my 1.5 watt CW transmitter and very compromised antennas mostly on 40 meters.  There always seemed to be CW activity, especially during the day in the non summer months, but at other times also.  Most of my QSO's were with non UK hams often in PA, F, etc since sometimes I skipped over the closer ones, but had some good QSO's with hams in the far south of England.  NVIS was not consistent on 40 even in better sunspot times.  I think your main problem will be your crystal control.  A vfo will do much to improve your chances, and help even more than a better antenna or higher power.  In the old days, folks tuned around after calling CQ, but now if you do not answer on, or very close to his frequency, your odds are poor.  I always did much better from England than from the wide open spaces in Alaska, Arizona, Montana, etc. where distances were greater or perhaps there was less interest in CW.
     Enjoy your new adventure with CW           Rick  KL7CW
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N7EKU

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2021, 04:20:08 PM »

Hi Martin,

Nice looking work for sure!

Since it looks like you like older texts, the ARRL book "Learning the Radio Telegraph Code" is a nice one for helping to learn the code.  It has some practice concepts that are left out of the current methods, so it's a nice addition.

I expect you'll need a wavemeter for that transmitter as the UK will insist you have it so you can make sure you are tuning the amp up on the crystal fundamental.

Dipole are not too directional unless you get them up at least 3/8λ high.  If you can get it up that high, a trapped one would be better for its wider pattern.

73

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Mark -- N7EKU/VE3

G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #9 on: June 08, 2021, 11:18:21 PM »

I think your main problem will be your crystal control.  A vfo will do much to improve your chances, and help even more than a better antenna or higher power.  In the old days, folks tuned around after calling CQ, but now if you do not answer on, or very close to his frequency, your odds are poor.

Yes that will be a challenge. Of course it does not apply if I just call CQ and then listen, but that takes a lot of fun out of the chase. I do have the parts to build a VFO (another ARRL tube design from the 1960s) which will be a priority project once I get some kind of workshop together. Or possibly join a club that has a workshop -- it does not have to be a ham club necessarily. I live in a village and the ham club in the nearest town closed down some time back.

I always did much better from England than from the wide open spaces in Alaska, Arizona, Montana, etc. where distances were greater or perhaps there was less interest in CW.

Idly listening around at dawn today on 40m, within three or four minutes I heard F, SM and SW (Belarus) -- and that is on my rudimentary "Three Transistor Receiver for the Beginner" using a short piece of wire as an antenna strung out of the window. It's the first time in three years that the receiver has been used. Seems like my Morse is still OK for recognizing call signs so perhaps it won't be too hard to get back to speed. I am located in the extreme southeast of England (Kent).

Since it looks like you like older texts, the ARRL book "Learning the Radio Telegraph Code" is a nice one for helping to learn the code.  It has some practice concepts that are left out of the current methods, so it's a nice addition.

I have a collection of a half-dozen books on the subject of CW including a couple of editions of that ARRL book from the 50s and 60s, and I built my own code oscillator from one of those books. I am using the Koch method however, and have a couple of books about that too. I also have the wonderful "Art and Skill of Radiotelegraphy".

I expect you'll need a wavemeter for that transmitter as the UK will insist you have it so you can make sure you are tuning the amp up on the crystal fundamental.

Yes, the licence regulations say something to that effect (cue G3RZP to remind me of that!). This is one of the few cases where I would be prepared to compromise and buy modern equipment. Building your own wavemeter begs the old question of how you calibrate it -- of course you can use a crystal reference but how acceptable would that be in terms of the regulations?

Dipole are not too directional unless you get them up at least 3/8λ high.  If you can get it up that high, a trapped one would be better for its wider pattern.

It will be reasonably high, but not 3/8λ above the ground. The house is a bungalow (U.S. translation: ranch-type home). I would have to erect a tall mast, and that would probably not go down well as I live literally in the centre of a small village in an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and right next to the village green. The antenna wire that I bought is a thin, almost invisible type so it should all be inconspicuous.

My main reason for considering a trapped design was so that I could operate on 20m later (when the more advanced transmitter has been built).

I joined RSGB today and will be ordering the test manuals.

Since we are in the Homebrew section, I have a question. The vintage station that I built in 2012-2014, using aluminium chassis from Bud and Hammond, is tarnishing. There is embedded dust and black tarnish spots which do not clear with a dustcloth. Serves me right for not spraying the chassis with acrylic back then. How does one clean aluminium "in place"? I can hardly dump the chassis in caustic solutions now that the rigs have been built. I find various recipes online involving, among other things, vinegar, but am a bit reluctant to risk this. One piece of advice from the old ARRL books is to rub the chassis with very fine emery paper, in the same direction as the "grain" in the aluminium sheen, does that make sense? (Note that I as a good Englishman, I am now trying hard to use the British spelling of the metal! After 20 years in America....)

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2021, 11:37:02 PM »

For those who did not see the original eHam threads when this station was built entirely from 1960s ARRL designs for the Novice, if you are interested they can be found here:

"A Three Transistor Receiver for the Beginner" at https://www.eham.net/community/smf/index.php/topic,90273.msg677465.html#msg677465.

"A Simple Two Tube Transmitter" at https://www.eham.net/community/smf/index.php/topic,97719.msg768943.html#msg768943.

Both of these threads are now seven or more years old, so be prepared for many broken links. Some of them still seem to work, but I will not try to fix the broken ones. (Edited to add: For example, in the transmitter thread, the link for Chapter 1 works, the links for Chapters 2 and 3 are broken, the link for Chapter 4 works, etc.). By the way the original photo galleries were created using Picasa, which was later acquired by Google. This issue of "broken links" is one of the things that makes it very hard to take the Web seriously as a proper archive medium.

As I said at the top of this thread, this rig has never actually transmitted and that is a shame as it is in full working order. I'm hoping to get on the air finally!

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
« Last Edit: June 08, 2021, 11:56:41 PM by KB1WSY »
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2021, 01:40:40 AM »

Actually, it bugged me that so many of those links were broken!

Unfortunately those seven-year-old eHam threads with broken links are now locked and cannot be edited. However I have found all of the missing galleries, which are now in Google Photos. So here are the fixed versions of all those broken links. (It was surprisingly difficult to resurrect all this stuff and then to re-share it to y'all, but at least it was possible!) If there are any problems with these links please let me know.

If you click on an individual photo it will open up larger and there will often be a text caption at the bottom explaining what is going on. If you click on "more" at the end of the caption it will open a caption panel at the side of the screen and this is much more legible. Once you have opened a photo, you can scroll through the gallery either by clicking the onscreen arrows or by using the cursor keys on your keyboard.

"A Three Transistor Receiver for the Beginner"

"A Simple Two Tube Transmitter"

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #12 on: June 09, 2021, 04:37:49 AM »

To round things out, here's the transmit-receive switch: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hHGGGex4VaVCdrrJA.

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
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K6BSU

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #13 on: June 09, 2021, 10:21:13 AM »

Interesting that it requires thirteen chapters to describe a 2-tube simple transmitter!
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K3UIM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2021, 11:13:11 AM »

BSU: Puts me in mind of the Russian "Lydia 2"(?) that I paid for. Directions??? None! I consider myself lucky that it came with a schematic!

I would have liked getting 13 chapters of instructions with it! It still isn't completed! Probably never will finish it.  ... sigh ...

Charlie
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Charlie. K3UIM
Where you are: I was!
Where I am: You will be!
So be nice to us old fogies!!
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