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Author Topic: Greetings  (Read 687 times)

G3RZP

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #15 on: June 09, 2021, 03:22:25 PM »

Martin,

Back in 1973, I was living in a flat in Essex, in Stanford - le - Hope - better called Stanford - NO -Hope! over a shoe shop. It was two stories on top of the shop, so the top bedroom window was 50 or so feet above street level. I ran about 80 feet of wire out to a fire escape: dropped the end down to the kitchen window ledge where the tuner was, and fed the antenna against the water pipe (I wasn't married then!) With the 100 watts or so from an HW101 on 7MHz CW,  one Sunday evening in the autumn, in 45 minutes, I had CW QSOs with VK, UB5, 9G1, PY, W, VE, UA0 and VP8.  After which, i went over the road to the pub to celebrate....

So 7 MHz is a good band....
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #16 on: June 10, 2021, 01:28:29 AM »

Yes, I am certainly monitoring lots of traffic on 40m even with my primitive receiver. Occasionally there is a wideband burst of white noise that blanks everything out for the whole band, lasting 20 to 30 minutes. It is not coming from my house as it happens even when the boiler, fridge, and all computers are off. It may be equipment in the restaurant next door I suppose. Perhaps I will wander around the village with a small MW radio and see if it can be tracked down. (I had a similar issue in America that turned out to be caused by my neighbor's treadmill!)

A quick check shows that I can put up a dipole radiating toward 110 degrees or 290 degrees. Consulting a Great Circle mapper, that seems to be pretty good (and anyway it probably won't be too directional). I have a fairly tall chimney that already has a  UHF TV antenna on it, atop the usual chimney-mounted pole. I think if I can substitute a slightly longer pole, it can also be used as the center support for the dipole, and as it happens my shack will be directly underneath (about 7 meters below). It will be an inverted-V at 7 meters in the middle and about 2.5 meters at the ends. Because of the logistical issues with installing the new pole and hoisting the center connector, I will likely hire a professional TV antenna person rather than risking my late middle-aged self on that task.

I just checked and I have pretty much everything I need to build a 40m/20m antenna with traps. When I get going on this I may start a new thread in the Antenna sub-forum if I have any questions. I'm rather excited because while being a simple antenna, it is an almost ideal location compared to what I had before and a no-compromise antenna will help a lot given that I only have between 5W and 10W (and that's plate input, I am not sure how that translates to Ofcom readings).

After which, i went over the road to the pub to celebrate....

There are four pubs in the village.... One of these days I may descend on you so you can test my little rig for compliance....

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
« Last Edit: June 10, 2021, 01:31:48 AM by KB1WSY »
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #17 on: June 10, 2021, 01:43:01 AM »

Peter,

I have just remembered that I did pass the Amateur Radio Exam, in Portsmouth, in 1971. I never got a licence but I still have the pass slip. As soon as my RSGB membership is activated (I am waiting for the welcome pack), I will contact them to find out if that can be converted into a modern licence, and if so, which.... There is one technicality which is that it says, "certificate to follow" and I am not sure I ever received it, or if so, I have lost it. Perhaps a copy of the original certificate could be provided by City & Guilds, which still exists....

You can view a copy of my pass slip, and of the original exam paper, here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/uaqutFA6eoe2hmLp9.

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
« Last Edit: June 10, 2021, 01:51:29 AM by KB1WSY »
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #18 on: June 11, 2021, 08:52:21 AM »

I just heard from RSGB's Exam office that my 49-year-old Radio Amateurs' Exam pass certificate entitles me to a Full licence in the UK. For U.S. readers, that it the highest level available, kind of a blend of General and Extra but capped at 400W in most HF bands. It also gives me the option to choose my own call, including calls beginning with "G" which is what I will try to obtain (it is what I would have had if I had applied for a licence back in 1971).

That neatly takes care of item (3) in the first post of this thread.

I am starting a separate thread in the Licencing sub-forum. It would be interesting to know if I have set some kind of official UK record for ham procrastination!

73 de KB1WSY (for now)
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KL7CW

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #19 on: June 11, 2021, 09:32:30 AM »

Martin, you may want to subscribe to the GQRP club.  Their quarterly magazine, SPRAT, has many good articles especially for CW and for folks who need to operate with very compromised antennas.  I think the UK folks are the masters of getting on the air successfully from very small gardens and community restrictions.  I was very successful operating from my daughters house on 40 metres with wires laying on bushes with an average height of probably 3 metres from her very small garden, which was mostly surrounded by other tall stone buildings.  You can get a CD with 184 back issues of SPRAT where many of the articles are for simple home brew rigs and antenna ideas.  Warning, these antennas worked for some folks for sure, but most would probably not pass muster from the technical gurus on e ham.  If I wanted to work DX, I hiked up into the hills with my battery power QRP rig, and could work thousands of km on 20 meters and even occasionally spanned the Atlantic back to the US.  It was much more fun rag chewing with a ham perhaps a few hundred km away on 40 with good signal reports, than a quick DX "QSO" with a RST 339, tnx QSO, QSB, 73, however any place I travel, I usually much prefer operating portable from a park or trail, than from any urban area.  I look forward to my next trip to the UK, where we will spend much time in remote Wales where some of our relatives have recently relocated.        Cheers,   Rick  KL7CW
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G3RZP

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #20 on: June 11, 2021, 01:38:26 PM »

Martin,

If you get rid of the KB1 callsign - which lists you as a General - a 'full' G callsign should allow you to operate as an Extra in the US....Naughty, perhaps, but I think strictly legal.  Especially if you have dual UK/US nationality..
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #21 on: June 11, 2021, 01:50:07 PM »

Martin,

If you get rid of the KB1 callsign - which lists you as a General - a 'full' G callsign should allow you to operate as an Extra in the US....Naughty, perhaps, but I think strictly legal.  Especially if you have dual UK/US nationality..

Peter,

I am single-national British and had/have no interest in obtaining US nationality. During my extended time living in America I was privileged to have a Green Card and greatly enjoyed the experience but not to the extent of wanting to become a US national. As for the KB1 call, it expires next year and I will let it expire given that I have no intention of reestablishing residence in the USA. So you are right, eventually I will have privileges to operate as an Extra when visiting the USA. However my trips there will be brief and limited to visiting family from time to time, so it is unlikely I would want to operate!

(Although my KB1 call expires next year, I assume it will take rather longer to die because of the grace period.)

73 de Martin, KB1WSY (for now)
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ZL1BBW

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #22 on: June 11, 2021, 04:35:04 PM »

Just did as check on QRZ, G3WSY does not come up with anyone and would be around the right era for 1971, might be a thought.
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ex MN Radio Officer, Portishead Radio GKA, BT Radio Amateur Morse Tester.  Licensed as G3YCP ZL1DAB, now taken over my father (sk) call as ZL1BBW.

G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #23 on: June 12, 2021, 12:09:14 AM »

Just did as check on QRZ, G3WSY does not come up with anyone and would be around the right era for 1971, might be a thought.

Interesting idea, thanks! It is not great for CW, but not terrible either. The U.S. call was auto-assigned, and I don't have a great attachment to it because I never actually got on the air. But the attachment would grow if I actually started using those three letters on the air!
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G4AON

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #24 on: June 12, 2021, 02:22:45 AM »

Another vote to join the GQRP Club, recently their Sprat magazine has had some excellent construction articles. They also have components at excellent discounted prices for members.

During the summer months QRP is hard work, you might want to beef up your transmitter... sorry to the QRP ops!

Forget wave meters, a spectrum analyser is far better and these days you can buy a new one for £50 to £60 (TinySA from eBay). Oddly enough the current edition of Sprat has an article on them. Don’t forget a high power attenuator, the W7ZOI 40 dB resistive tap, is an easy project to go with a spectrum analyser:

http://p1k.arrl.org/cgi-bin/topdf.cgi?id=101099&pub=qst

73 Dave
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #25 on: June 12, 2021, 03:15:10 AM »

During the summer months QRP is hard work, you might want to beef up your transmitter...

After getting on the air my top projects will be, not necessarily in this order, and all of them ARRL or CQ Magazine designs from the 1950s/60s:
  • A VFO.
  • "A Low Cost Transmitter" from "Understanding Amateur Radio" (1963) which has 65W plate input and is multi-band.
  • A much better receiver (a superhet based on the "Miser's Dream", or possibly a variant of the "Novice Q5er" using an ARC-5 as the IF).
I already have all of the hard-to-find components for all three projects, purchased slowly via eBay and other sources while I was living in America. Now, my challenge is the lack of a proper workshop: I live in a tiny bungalow (U.S. "ranch style home"). The kitchen is too small even for a table (even the fridge is in the corridor outside). Etc., etc.

However, my eHam friends from the past decade will know that my problem has never been building stuff (which is my first love!) but actually getting on the air once the stuff is built. But this time around I think the stars may actually be in alignment.

A spectrum analyser sounds like the way to go! Thanks.

BTW Dave I am a great admirer of your homebrew projects, they are quite something.

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
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G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #26 on: June 13, 2021, 12:43:52 AM »

I am rewiring my two-tube transmitter for 240V house current. It has a universal transformer: currently the two 120V primaries are wired in parallel for U.S. use, so for 240V I will wire them in series (very easy because I had already planned for this possibility when building the TX in America).

However I have just remembered that there is a 115V neon indicator bulb wired across the primary, simply to indicate that the TX is powered up. I would like to leave that bulb wired in, but only across one of the two 120V primaries. Quick question: does a neon bulb have appreciable impedance, which might leave these two series-wired primaries "unbalanced"? (If so, I would need to find a 240V neon to put across both primaries. Or just remove the neon from the circuit, which would be a shame.)

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
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W9IQ

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #27 on: June 13, 2021, 02:57:35 AM »

The current of the neon bulb will have no significant effect on the primary balance. It should be a very workable solution to wire it across one of the primaries.

- Glenn W9IQ
« Last Edit: June 13, 2021, 03:19:43 AM by W9IQ »
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- Glenn W9IQ

God runs electromagnetics on Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the wave theory and the devil runs it on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday by the Quantum theory.

W9IQ

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #28 on: June 13, 2021, 03:23:50 AM »

An alternative would be to put a 270k ohm resistor in series with the existing bulb and dropping resistor to leave the bulb wired across the mains. A 1/8 watt or larger resistor will do the job.

- Glenn W9IQ
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- Glenn W9IQ

God runs electromagnetics on Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the wave theory and the devil runs it on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday by the Quantum theory.

G3EDM

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #29 on: June 13, 2021, 03:39:22 AM »

The current of the neon bulb will have no significant effect on the primary balance. It should be a very workable solution to wire it across one of the primaries.

Thanks Glenn, that's what I thought!

An alternative would be to put a 270k ohm resistor in series with the existing bulb and dropping resistor to leave the bulb wired across the mains. A 1/8 watt or larger resistor will do the job.

Yes that would work. OTOH the advantage of leaving it across one of the primaries is that if I ever return to a 117VAC country, no alteration would be needed in the neon circuit. Mind you, I am planning to stay put here, in any case!

73 de Martin, KB1WSY
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