Radio – Geronimo/370

Origin of radio numeric codes

Posted on2021-12-272021-12-27

Searching for the origin of the ‘73’ code at the end of a message, meaning something like ‘kind regards’, I found the following. Glen Zook, K9STH, posted this to the Heathkit mailing list: Many amateurs already know that “73” is from what is known as the “Phillips Code”, a series… Read the rest

Christmas in the shack

Posted on2021-12-272021-12-27

Do you guys also get the Christmas feeling and make it visible in your shack / workshop? What do you think, is an image like this recognizable? I do… Xmas shack… Read the rest

Resonance measurements / filters

Posted on2021-12-052021-12-05

Yesterday I started with Capacitors / capacity and coils / inductance. Today I did some extensive measuring, first on a C and L in a series tuned circuit, then on a parallel tuned circuit. See schematics here below: For these measurements I used the same setup as yesterday. But this… Read the rest

Resonance frequencies

Posted on2021-12-042021-12-041 Comment

In the HAM course I am following to become a licensed radio amateur, the topic of resonance frequencies came along. To wrap my head around it I did some experimenting. You can find the result below. I have an assortment of capacitors and coils that I can use for these… Read the rest

HAM-gadget (6) – adjustment & enclosure

Posted on2021-11-132021-11-13

In this version I built in the possibility to adjust the summer and wintertime offset from UTC. It’s a very crude offset, I just add or subtract the offset from the UTC hour. Have to think of a better way to do this… Enclosure I built in the gadget in… Read the rest

HAM-gadget (5) – menu structure

Posted on2021-11-072021-11-08

This weekend I built in a menu structure into the HAM-gadget. Also I created a possibility to store and retrieve settings to the ATMEGA328P’s EEPROM, so they are saved for the next time you switch on the device. For now, you have to retrieve them manually, but that’s quicker then… Read the rest

HAM-gadget (4) – keyboard added

Posted on2021-11-052021-11-06

After a lot of fiddling, trial and errors, I finally got the matrix keyboard to work. Also, as the project has passed the prototype stage, I threw together everything on a PCB in preparation for mounting it in a casing. Note to self:next time first cut the PCB to size… Read the rest

HAM-gadget (3) – connected the GPS

Posted on2021-10-242021-10-24

Finally got it to work After much fiddling and trying out different libraries I finally had a bright moment and reverted back to the library that has been specifically made for this GPS module by Velleman… Duh… prototype, software version 0.5 That worked, also after some tweaking of the wires… Read the rest

HAM-gadget (2) – new Arduino board

Posted on2021-10-232021-10-23

Arduino board left and center, GPS module on the right, GPS antenna on top Today some new stuff arrived. First of all the new Arduino RP2040 Connect board, a Wifi capable board with a much smaller form factor then the Uno clone I had before. Second came in the GPS… Read the rest

HAM-gadget (1) – building a shack gadget

Posted on2021-10-222021-10-23

Today I worked on version 0.1 of my new project. It’s in the prototype stage as you can see in the picture below. For this test it’s an Arduino Uno (clone by Velleman), two DS18B20 temperature sensors and two 20 x 4 displays. This version is for setting up the… Read the rest

The early bird catches connections…

Posted on2021-09-102021-09-10

Today I started early (around 06:30) and noticed that the 40 meter band was open on FT8. Receptions from way into Argentina and all the way from New Zealand. See below… Read the rest

Gray line made visual

Posted on2021-07-042021-07-04

In the image below, created yesterday evening, you can beautifully see the effect of what is called the ‘gray line‘ (see explanation by Paul NA5N Harden below). It is the line between day and night, as can be seen in the image. Along this line radio connections are ‘propagated‘ by… Read the rest

Antenna replacement and correction

Posted on2021-06-252021-06-261 Comment

Yesterday I replaced my broadband Diamond Discone antenna with a dual band Diamond X-300N. The Discone is a broadband antenna with a range from 30 MHz up to 1300 MHz. The new one gives a much better reception on the 145MHz and the 430MHz bands. old (DisCone)new (Dual band) Correction… Read the rest

IC-9700 repaired

Posted on2021-06-232021-06-23

Today I got my IC-9700 back from the repair I sent it of for. That took a while longer than expected, but hey, I’m glad it’s back. Here it is, In my (again) rearranged shack:… Read the rest

HAM Clock

Posted on2021-06-062021-06-17

A fellow HAM – Jon K60J – pointed me to a nice program: HAMclock. Click on the name to go to the page where you can have a look and download it when you like it. I did, and installed it on my Raspberry Pi 4B. I also had a… Read the rest