Rain..again, argh!! In fact, it threatened to snow. No NETXQRPTTF for us. Fortunately we had hot coffee and salsa to keep us warm and plenty of toys to play with as we visited about QRP radio. We were delighted to again see two new faces at the meeting! In attendance were:
This month we had the pleasure of the K1 debut at our club meeting. Don, K5DW, brought along recently completed K1 #123 for us to inspect and play with (pictures below). Lew, N5ZE, had just received his K1 #202 kit the day before so he brought the box full of parts, hi hi. See Dwain, KØLOA's reaction below. We're so caught up with QRP fever that folks are now bringing small suitcases, tupperware containers, and cardboard boxes full of QRP radios and accessories.
It was certainly nice to meet and see George, KR5C, and James, KC5DSP, for the first time at our monthly lunch.
George, KR5C, brought along his 40-9er which has been carefully hand-fitted into a none-too-large Altoids tin. Nice work George!
One of the fun activities at this meeting was getting some actual "hands-on" time with Don, K5DW's, K1. We strung a crude antenna using some surplus antenna wire that Bill, K5JHP, had wound on an old fly fishing reel. We managed to find a few signals as George W5YR would spot with his Icom R10 handheld receiver and the K1 "driver" would then tune it in on the K1. After seeing and playing with the K1, Lew, N5ZE concluded he would set his K1 up for 80 KHz instead of 150 KHz...it tunes somewhat fast even at 80 KHz.
Perhaps one of the most amazing facts about the K1 is the physical size. A LOT of function in a very small box. Don, K5DW, was already talking about modifying his by ripping out the speaker and putting a battery pack in its place to make a super small on-the-go-rig.
Chuck, W5USJ, finished his Jackson Harbor PK-3 keyer kit and brought it along packaged in the smallest Hammond box I'd ever seen. It was a little cube, a little more than an inch on a side - very QRP! I think Chuck is a stockholder in Hammond at this point.
George, W5YR, had the neatest antenna analyzer most of us had ever seen. It is made by AEA and is a professional quality instrument that will automatically generate SWR graphs versus frequency and plot them on the built-in display, plus about 50 other antenna analysis functions. It's good to have someone in the club to borrow a nice antenna analyzer from :-). George also brought his Icom R10 handheld communications receiver. It's about the size of a small handi-talkie but receives from nearly DC to daylight including all the ham bands in between. George said the front-end is wide as barn door but it seemed to do a pretty good job picking up CW signals in the restaurant. George was also kind enough to donate a CD callbook as a door prize for this meeting. Thanks George!
Bill, K5JHP, brought a pair of iambic paddles many of us hadn't seen before made by a company called Envirotronic. They had a really nice feel and were solid as a rock, partly as we were informed, because the base was made of rock. Envirotronics is not on the web but Bill gave us the following contact information:
ENVIROTRONICS INC
526 SILVER LAKE ROAD
ST. PAUL, MN 55112
Phone/Fax 612.633.8551
Model 501F Iambic Paddle.
Price unknown today
If you get a chance to check out a pair of these paddles, take a few minutes and try them out. I know I wanted a set after I tried them.
Well, that wraps up another meeting. Hope to see you all on December 16!
