Author Topic: Just Starting out (Read 5630 times)

Lead pot · « **Reply #30 on:** May 24, 2009, 02:54:27 PM »

Ozark I sent you two replies
If you didn't get them I must be having some kind of problem.

LP

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #31 on:** May 24, 2009, 03:33:11 PM »

i got 1 leadpot. you be careful and have fun hunting. i hope you can come up with a way to keep in touch here. i think it is doing these guys good to get input from 2 old farts!! one a hardcore vhf'er and the other a aw' shoot this'l work hf'er!!! the difference in requirements reflects in our posts and maybe will help give the new guys s direction to head in that they will enjoy. rusty is right if we don't use the spectrum the guvment would try to take it away! if you run into any gear in your stash that you just can't see yourself using drop me a line. maybe we can work something out. best wishes. 73's aa5ez

Lead pot · « **Reply #32 on:** May 24, 2009, 05:32:35 PM »

There aint any diff in these two ol frats that I see

How is the band up to AK land?

Lead pot · « **Reply #33 on:** May 24, 2009, 05:39:25 PM »

By the way Ozark.

Found the problem with the two mtr module.
A cold solder joint on the 239 that kicked in the SWR protection circuit and cut the out power down.
73's Lp.

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #34 on:** May 24, 2009, 06:35:22 PM »

maybe we can make it on 80 after midnite. a lot of lightning crashes and qrm this time of year. the low end of 40 is supposed to be cleared out. 20 is still a mess on days! it has always been a rough house band tho. 17 is iffy most days. 15 is closed more often than not. hf conditions are a tad rough!!! take care all. 73's.aa5ez

Lead pot · « **Reply #35 on:** May 24, 2009, 07:45:56 PM »

I'll look around and see if I can find some traffic.
I never did care for 20. 15 was the band I liked.
Well if the Aurora Borealis boiling we can make it on 2

http://www.softservenews.com/Aurora.htm

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #36 on:** May 24, 2009, 08:04:50 PM »

jeez leadpot, my little fm rig for 2 ain't got but 65watts wide open!! my ft 0ne is down right now waiting on a parts order from ocean state.i am in the process of building a hf amp again. i would like to try some 2 meter eme. i got some extra gi46b tubes. i might have to get a 726 and and start on a vhf amp one of these days. i am going to sacrifice that 55 volt transformer and rewind it for 2800 volt b+ supply for the hf amp. it is a 2kva core. i could get by with a 1.7 or 1.8 kva core tho. i got a nice chassis at a hospital surplus sale. it is from an old picker fluoroscope. believe it or not it is in heath sb green!!! i ain't gonna pay what these idjits at alpha and ameritron and some of these other manufacturers want for a amp! yeah,yeah, i know i'm an old titewad!! truth is i enjoy building when my back and hands will let me. this getting old is a crock!!! take care. 73's.aa5ez

Lead pot · « **Reply #37 on:** May 25, 2009, 06:10:40 AM »

I have two Plumbers special 2 mtr amps in the shed I build and they work very good with a 2000-2500 v supply and a 432 coaxial amp that I build that work very good with the 4CW 300B's and easy to build.
One has the 4cx250B and one has the 4CW300B's and a amp for 6 mtrs that has two PL 175-A's
I have extra 4cx250 F/G's in sealed cans for replacement, and a bunch of 4-250-A and 175's and some 813 and sweep tubes.
I guess some day they will get hard to find so I will have some back up's

LP.

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #38 on:** May 25, 2009, 06:40:31 AM »

tubes are already hard to find and hi dollar. specially the good old American made ones like eimac or rca. some of the russian stuff is supposed to hold up good. i ain't seen nothin but junk from china tho. a certain company on the west coast is advertising they got taylor 572b's. truth is some chinee outfit is buliding them supposedly to taylor specs. bottom line is they are still a lousy chinese import that will give about a 1/4 of the life and performance of real taylor tubes. it is sometimes a shame to be an old fart and have had the real thing to use. i was going to rebuild a heath sb 200 with a single gi46 tube.i think i will just go ahead and start on a 2 tube homebrew amp tho.73's.aa5ez

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #39 on:** May 25, 2009, 06:54:15 AM »

by the way leadpot, congrats on getting that 726 back up. those are sure nice rigs. i have wanted one since they first came out. never had the cash to spare for one tho.take care. 73's.aa5ez

Lead pot · « **Reply #40 on:** May 25, 2009, 09:07:09 AM »

I'm not familiar with the GI46 tube is that one of the tubes used in a microwave oven? sounds familiar.

I was always partial to the 813 tube. A couple of them would give you 1KW input 4 would warm the shack pretty good.
I have a old TCK-4 Xmtr in the shed that was decommissioned in 1947 from a Destroyer ship that thing weighs a couple hundred pounds and runs the 813's but I does not have a modulator in it so I made it a grid keyed CW Xmtr but I didn't want to wipe out every TV and telephone in the neighborhood.
I taped two 8" fluorescent light tubes on the 40 mtr wire and started sending CQ-CQ-CQ

well every time I keyed those tubes would light up

well 80 feet up in the air here in the sticks that I live in made the Sheriff come up to see what the glowing UFO's are doing up.
Hey haveta finish loading the camper for the Quigley shoot and for the rest of the trip up North to the KL7 land here

73's LP.

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #41 on:** May 25, 2009, 09:27:27 AM »

you take care leadpot. good luck at the shoot. the gi46 is one of them russian military pulse tubes' they are a 350 watt plate disp. tube. specs say up t0 10 kw out in pulse mode. they should be safe to run at 2800 volts at 700 mils for ssb/cw.(2 tubes). the figures i ran say they should be ok at 2200 volts at 1000 mils. cont. duty. should yield about 1 kw.out with about 650 watts plate disp. those figures are well within tube specs. now if the tubes will just meet spec and hold up! i remember when class was having a 2tube 813 amp for each band!! 20 mtrs is about as high as the 813 would go and give decent power. 15 and 10 mtr. power sure fell off with them old fellars tho. remember being able to buy rca 813's for 7.50 a tube!! those days are sure gone by. 73's.aa5ez

Lead pot · « **Reply #42 on:** June 02, 2009, 03:30:06 PM »

Hey!!! foggy and four bee howsa the book learning commin

FourBee · « **Reply #43 on:** June 03, 2009, 10:46:14 AM »

Quote

Hey!!! foggy and four bee howsa the book learning commin

Hi; Lead pot: I'm comin outa my depression now I think...

When I decided to tackle the General Exam as well as the Tech Class, it kinda snowballed on me.

But I've been crammin for hours upon hours, and now some of that electronic jargom is smoothing out. My first practice test was 66% and it went down to 57%. Boy; that about did me in. Now, however, it's hangin around 97 - 100%.

That's a relief for sure. Now if I can just stay abreast of both the Tech & Gen studies till test time Saturday week.

How's it coming with you Foggy?

4B

Foggy · « **Reply #44 on:** June 03, 2009, 02:39:54 PM »

4B
Been staying away from the practice tests and trying to just find the time to read the mannual we'll get there
Lead pot coming slow more to it then I thought just because there's no morse don't mean it's a snap

Foggy

Lead pot · « **Reply #45 on:** June 03, 2009, 06:10:54 PM »

Well guys keep them snowballs cool so they don't melt on you, It'l come.
For me I'm heading up to Alaska in three days to keep cool

FourBee · « **Reply #46 on:** June 04, 2009, 07:13:47 AM »

Thanks Lead pot; and best wishes to you on your trip to Alaska. I'm sure it'll be cool in all aspects.

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #47 on:** June 04, 2009, 07:36:31 AM »

hi 4b. i do believe you got it about whipped! foggy keep after it!! as you study you will find that it gets easier as you begin to understand what is going on. good news from both of you guys is nice to hear. drop a line if i can help out. 73's.aa5ez

FourBee · « **Reply #48 on:** June 04, 2009, 09:23:59 AM »

Quote from: Foggy on June 03, 2009, 02:39:54 PM

4B
Been staying away from the practice tests and trying to just find the time to read the mannual we'll get there
Lead pot coming slow more to it then I thought just because there's no morse don't mean it's a snap

Foggy

Hey Foggy: I did that and my mind just got boggled. Took a hint from an on-line testing source. They said to do the exams to get the answers down. Then as you go back into the texts' you'll begin to understand as the pieces of the puzzles come together. It sure is helping me........
4B

ps HEY ! ozark ; Good to see ya back on the air-waves. Looks like you got that MB installed, up and running..

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #49 on:** June 04, 2009, 10:06:05 AM »

yep, got back up with a dedicated internet machine. as usual the darn thing fought me ever step of the way. it is good to hear you are coming along with your studies! sounds like you will be up on the air shortly!! have you give any thought as to what you would like for a hf rig? there are lots of nice new rigs plus some older rigs that are just fine also. i would like to play with a newer rig that has got that fancy new dsp stuff. i think they have just rediscovered bill halligan's notch filter from the 1950's. bill done it in the analog domain, modern rigs are doing the same thing except in the digital domain. i may be all wrong, i am after all an old fart that is usually 10 years or more behind!! digital signal processing could be a nice enhancement to a rig, especially if it worked good and a fellar could learn how to use it.lead pot you be careful up there in al7 land!! drive safe and have fun!! 73's to all.(foggy it will get easier as you study, i promise it will.if i can help you out any just drop a line.). aa5ez

FourBee · « **Reply #50 on:** June 04, 2009, 11:03:40 AM »

Ohhh Yeah; lots of thought, readin spec's, and pencil pushin, lookin for what I can end up with. I like those old faces, but all this new technology seems to be what even the old-timers are jumping into. I was surprised at this old doctor at the amateur club meeting who was going on and on about RTTY. I mean; you'd think that would be something the younger guys would have a corner on, but not from the way he was talking.

So; even though I doubt I'll be interested in all the new goodies, well , you never know..... But that's The Reason I'm looking at these new digital rigs. I don't want to be sorry later on down the road. I like the ICOM's, but the $$$$ would eat my lunch. YAESU, well, I don't know. Really don't care for them, but one can't overlook all the RAVE reports coming in about them, and there seems to be a lot of them flowing thru the auctions...... I'm lookin
4B

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #51 on:** June 04, 2009, 02:11:04 PM »

4b, i remember the mechanical rtty setups!! used or surplus teletype machines that weighed a ton and a half, and took up a lot of shack room setting there going thrummm thrummm thrrmmm clank! nowadays rtty can be done with a soundcard to rig interface and software. there are also some more digital modes that can be done that way. that is why i have started to gather amp parts here. i would sure like to try some digital modes. i can read a lot better than i can hear!!!! an amp for most digital modes needs to be able to do key down forever! 2 more rigs you need to look at are the ten tec Orion and the elecraft k3. both are supposed to have the top receiver in the the world.the measured performance figures between the rigs are so close it really don't matter.they are ahead of anything else in the world as far as receiver performance goes. those are about the only 2 hf rigs i would think about today. and that is not just because they are both american made but based on receiver performance alone.if yas-ken-ico come up with a comparable receiver cheaper i would think about them also. most old timers will tell you the receiver is the heart of a station.you can't work'em if you can't hear'em. have some fun once in a while and don't burn out before test day!! foggy you hang in thier to bud!! have some fun with this test thing if you can. fun is what this hobby is supposed to be about!!! 73's to all.aa5ez

FourBee · « **Reply #52 on:** June 04, 2009, 05:13:07 PM »

Just got in from Prayer Meeting and got to listen in on the Ft Smith Net meeting from my little scanner. It gets good receiption. Hope I will be able to get out to the Repeater with my 2 Meter as well as I can hear from that scanner. I'm sittin right underneath a hill between me and Arkansas, but it's wide open towards the river bottoms to the north (Roland, OK) where the Net administrator transmits from.

Quote

need to look at are the ten tec Orion and the elecraft k3

Yep; I have; ozark. And here's the buzz that's going around with the latest production of the FT 950AT's. That buzz is the FT 950 is neck and neck in the running with the elecraft K3. I can't find my paperwork right now, but I'm thinking there's a - b i g - gap in the price range between the two. With the K3 being at the top end, and a $600 discount pushing the 950's down even further. I could have heard wrong so if you see anything to the contrary don't hesitate to let me know.

4B

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #53 on:** June 04, 2009, 06:55:46 PM »

hey 4b, check out the w8ji site. he has done some extensive receiver test. i don't think the man had an axe to grind either. he just ran some honest test and yas-ken ic got buried. by buried i mean buried in the qrm and qrn on a busy band!!the best receiver for 2kc imd(3rd order i believe) is of course a heavily gutted and modified drake r4c!!! kicked all butts!!!! BUT it is heavily modified!!!!the next best was the ten tec orion2. and it was several db under the r4c.according to elecraft the k3 is right in there with the Orion. a properly aligned and slightly modded heath 301 is a little hotrod to.gee ain't it funny how some of the old analog stuff can keep up or surpass the best digital! i am not familiar with the 950. i saw hamcity had them for 1400.00. not a bad buy!!!i have got along for years with an old ft-one yaesu. it will have to do me until i get rich, famous and goodlookin!!! as the makers of my old rig would say rots o' ruck with all 3 hillbilly!!!! the bottom line is be happy and content with what you can afford. learn to use all the rigs features and if conditions get to rough to operate remember there will be another day!!the bottom line is get the best you can afford and have fun!!! if it gets to frustrating walk away and comeback latter!! just about any modern rig will give decent performance! my neighbor and old time friend has a ft=1000d. my ft one will keep up with it in most band conditions. to say that he has a lot more in his rig than i got in mine is an understatement. i am very glad he got his ticket and a nice rig tho. i think that rig has kept the old man going for a lot of years!!!! you got plenty of time to look around and make your mind up 4b!! take care all and have some fun!!!73's.aa5ez

FourBee · « **Reply #54 on:** June 04, 2009, 07:14:08 PM »

Quote

it will have to do me until i get rich, famous and goodlookin!!!

Exactly how I feel.
I don't doubt what you're saying is true. And that was a pretty bold statement for them to make about the comparison with the K3. I bet it jumped the sales of the 950AT too. But like you said. I'm just looking, watching, and learning. The only rush is the way this world is turning.

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #55 on:** June 04, 2009, 07:30:27 PM »

if i could afford one i would order me a ten tec orion in a heartbeat. if i can ever get some parts in from ocean state i might get back up and running here!! i got enuff stuff to put together a couple of nice hf antennas. i will probably build a n4pc loop for 80 and 20 mtrs. and a w8jk flatop beam for 40(double section,spaced for 40 should load 80 and show some gain there,it will be oriented on northern europe and Micronesia in the pacfic.) i just bought a couple of 40 mcfd. 2000 volt caps for an amp project. bleeders and rectifiers are next. i will rewind my transformer before the end of the month hopefully!! igot tubes and enuff variable caps to build the rf section i think. i will have to rebuild a swithcraft model 86 band switch but that shouldn't be to awful bad. the power supply is usually the most expensive part of a amp.and i about got that whipped.take care. 73's aa5ez

FourBee · « **Reply #56 on:** June 04, 2009, 07:41:40 PM »

Wow; that was some good reading. From my studies I pretty well know where you're coming from ozark. That was neat. I've got a small portable shortwave receiver, and the 40 Meter Band is where all the action is on phone anyway. I get some CW on 20 Meters, but that's about it. Is it that way with a regular rig?

ozarkhillbilly49 · « **Reply #57 on:** June 04, 2009, 08:13:16 PM »

4b you will get a lot of ssb on 40 during the day. it is about a 500 mile daylight band. 20 mtrs. is the traditional daylight dx band. you will find ssb there also. you will also find big power and big antennas. 20 is a rough house band full of big guns. try 17 mtres. if it is open it is a much tamer band and offers some good daylight dx.how much antenna you got on your recievier?just about any ham band rig will give you a lot performance. probably more than a s.w. reciever. a good antenna makes a difference tho. 80 mtrs. at nite in the winter is a good band. it can get to be a rough house band to tho. 160 mtrs. is supposed to be a good band. you need a 140 acres tho for a good antenna. get yourself some handbooks and read in those after you pass your test. just reading those can be a lot of fun.73's aa5ez

FourBee · « **Reply #58 on:** June 05, 2009, 12:35:54 PM »

Thanks for the info ozark. I'll use it in my notes. My SW portable only has a little telescopic aerial or a 20' roll of wire. The book says not to use a good antenna. I'tll pull in to much static.

Lead pot · « **Reply #59 on:** June 05, 2009, 01:32:08 PM »

I used to spend a lot of time on 160 mtrs and I had two transmitting antennas I liked for that band one was a Rombic I could switch and the other was the 130 foot freestanding tower I tuned to ground.
The tower was no good in the summer for receiving just to noisy and so was the Rombic.
Great antennas when the cold winters came around.
I did a lot of work with antennas to cut down on static crashes and that is just about impossible especially when I ran the pre amp I made.
I had a beverage antenna made from a roll of electric fence wire 180 rods long fastened to fence posts on the neighbors line fence that worked just about the best for quieting things down in the summer.
Well back in the 70's there was a lot of talk about underground antennas well I had 4000 feet of 1/2 wave ground wires out shaped like a wagon wheel spokes and tied together at the ends for lightning protection and a good ground for my antennas and tower.
I wound a coil and a variable capacitor and hooked it up to my receiver. To my surprise it worked really good.
It's hard to beat the ground tuned tower for 160 mtr transmitting.
I worked a ZL with this combination and he was just running a home brew QRP exciter running 200 mw.