We had another great meeting on Saturday, despite the rain. How is it we can go nearly 5 months without appreciable rainfall and it's pouring the Saturday of our meeting??? It was great to meet two new faces as well! In attendance were:
What a bunch of talent in this group. And no patience..we started passing the QRP goodies around even before lunch was finished! Some terrific stuff...it's alway fun to see the projects-in-the-works as well as the finished article. Don't be shy - bring it!
We got a special treat this meeting...Grand Pooh-Bah Chuck handed out our NETXQRP Membership Certificates. They are very, very nice (see picture below). Thank you Chuck!
Larry, N5OSG, brought his SMK-1 along. I'm always amazed at just how small a complete HF transceiver can be...and that red circuit board is still a real eye catcher. It was really nice to meet Larry for the first time in person. And thanks to Larry for providing some motivation to finish MY SMK-1!!
Bill, K5JHP brought along his new MFJ cub sans case. Again, a really tiny rig due to the use of some surface mount components. It's small enough you could build one and stuff it in the glove compartment of your car with a wire antenna and a cheap key - a "just in case" QRP rig.
Dwain, KØLOA is a master builder - a real talent. His stuff always packs a lot of punch is a small space yet is very professionally finished. He sets the standard we all aspire to. Dwain brought his (now classic) NE40-40 and a matching homebrew antenna tuner both in matching black cases. To give you an example of Dwain's attention to detail, imagine looking at down at the open antenna tuner and seeing the air variable caps shine! Really, I'm not kidding! Plus Dwain brought his digital camera and snapped a few pics (below). Thanks Dwain!
Chuck, W5USJ, brought a couple goodies. He has repackaged his Emtech ZM-2 tuner in a new, more industrial strength case that's deep rather than wide. The layout looked like it was designed for the new case...all very nicely arranged. In addition, Chuck brought a really tiny Hammond box...is that going to be the next club challenge Chuck - best project in a tiny Hammond box?? He actually brought a little board that will (almost) fit in it, the Embedded Research EPS-1 voltage "up-converter". This thing is way tiny, about the size of a small keyer board and could easily be fit into almost any kit rig. Chuck has special talent with plastics. He put together a PVC center insulator that has room for a T240 size balun right in the middle, completely protected against the weather, with serious, industrial strength stainless eye bolts for the antenna wire connections. The rumor is the big eye bolts were chosen "because this is Texas":-)
Don, K5DW, won the door prize, an ARRL Antenna Compendium #6, generously donated by George, W5YR. Hey Don, bring that 400' all band curtain to the next meeting, will ya? And thanks George for the gracious gesture!
This was Preston's (NØGLM) first meeting with us. Welcome Preston! Preston admitted he loves to build kits (admission does not seem to help people recover from this devastating illness:-) and he brought several to show. He has a nicely done SW30 - his first kit BTW. He also had a nifty NJQRP Rainbow tuner in a peppermint Altoid's box. Those tiny LEDs just gleam up at you like little jewels...too bad the RBT is not in production anymore.
George, W5YR, seems to have the PSK31 bug pretty bad lately. George told us how he uses his PC as a precision audio source (using a small freeware program called WSCGen) to generate filter curves for the Kachina. It's an awesome little program that everybody should have - thanks George! BTW The Kachina filter skirts are steep with no apparent ripple in the passband. He's also been busy measuring the harmonic suppression on his Kachina and brought along scope shots to show us hardcores. With all the amazing new PC-based audio programs like Digipan etc. I foresee that this digital stuff will transform our discussions from "golden ear" audio to "golden eye" audio.
Finally, Lew, N5ZE brought along his homebrew W7ZOI "milliwatt-a-meter" taken from a recent QST issue. Special features include a homebrew computer generated meter face and a brushed sandpaper finish on his bud box. Lew said he had to build the test equipment for his SMK-1 first before he could build the SMK-1...right. Lew also brought his Bubba Pole antenna support and after a little slippin 'n slidin, managed to set it up in the rain. Too bad we couldn't operate...maybe next month.
