tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:04:42 +0000160technorati40 metersnetamateurtransceiverbardeennewhaarpnobelrio dulcekw2ppsk3140mmoon echocalculatorsastronmoonbounceamateur radiotestfm245psk63mfjbell labsbroken feedsrsspropagationtunertransistorsunpower supplyalaskahamcoaxgakonacontestshockleyham radioicomqslinteractiveradioguatemaladxengineeringfeld hellbrattainexperimenthellschreiberelectronicsdigital modessolar cycle 24antennafixedbeveragelogdigitalfeedburnerfeedlinecoaxial cablesunspotsgooglecalculatorWelcome my blog for electronics and amateur radio.http://kw2p.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)Blogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-6552630274460002926Mon, 20 Sep 2010 23:20:00 +00002010-09-20T19:22:17.666-04:00interactiveelectronicsradioamateurengineeringcalculatorhamThe KW2P calculator pages now support mixed metric and English units for length, weight, tension, etc. http://www.mayaparadise.com/kw2p/calculators.htm I hope they are useful to you.http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2010/09/metric-and-english-units-implemented-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-7011006035148635419Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:34:00 +00002010-09-10T13:37:09.344-04:00electronicsradiocalculatorsamateurhamImplementing the calculators page as a Blogger page rather than a standard web page was an experiment that almost worked. The page is now implemented here:http://www.mayaparadise.com/kw2p/calculators.htmWhen a page is saved on Blogger a filter alters the HTML code and often makes a mess of things. Certain tags are ignored, blank lines appear here and there for no apparent reason. Each time I http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2010/09/calculator-page-moved.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-2507350484228451273Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:03:00 +00002010-09-03T21:28:14.578-04:00160radiofeedlinebeverageamateurkw2pcoaxdxhamantennacoaxial cable.nobrtable br { display: none }td { font-family:"Arial",Arial,Sans-serif; }In a perfect world we'd have full-size 160m Beverage antennas fanning out like the spokes of a wheel from a centrally located shack, and the feedpoints would all be located near the shack. Most of us don't have the necessary 80 acres of land so the feedpoints to our Beverages often end up far away and must be fed through http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2010/08/kw2p-beverage-antenna-designs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-1893859091214091792Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:57:00 +00002010-08-15T23:49:34.026-04:00newbroken feedsgooglefeedburnerfixedrssAs you probably know, Google bought Feedburner back in 2007. Recently Google "offered" to move my Feedburner account and feeds to the new Google / Feedburner. Since eventually everyone will have to move or their RSS feeds will stop working it seemed like a good idea. I pushed the button and all appeared to go smoothly and automatic. But it didn't. It broke all of my blog feeds, and since I http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-feedburner-mess-please-update.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-4547236026649929726Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:27:00 +00002010-08-15T23:48:56.360-04:00technoratihellschreiberamateur radiofeld hell40mnetfm245hamdigitalAfter an interruption in ham radio activities and blog entries, I am back on the air, more or less. The interruption was due to several months of planning and executing a move to Guatemala and then getting settled here in my new digs and setting up a basic radio shack. At the moment I am only using a 26 foot vertical wire supported by a tree so my signal is not very good but I'm out there on http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/10/up-and-running-in-guatemala.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-7081990486093687559Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:14:00 +00002010-08-15T23:47:35.007-04:00rio dulcekw2pguatemalaham radioSorry for the longish absence. I am back on the air, operating from Rio Dulce, Izabal, Guatemala. I will be signing TG9/KW2P. New QSL information is posted on the QRZ database.Photos of the sail from Florida to Guatemala and lots of photos of the local area can be seen on my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/shuttersparks/http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/10/moved-to-rio-dulce-guatemala.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-3069332364006256877Fri, 02 May 2008 03:39:00 +00002010-08-15T23:46:28.924-04:00gakonaqslmoonbounceham radioexperimentalaskahaarpWell I got a QSL from the 40 meter moonbounce experiment back in January.(Click to see larger images)http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/05/haarp-qsl-card.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-3069103459774794346Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:12:00 +00002010-08-15T23:45:08.064-04:00technoratimoon echoamateur radiomoonbouncetesthamexperimenthaarpOn the second night of the experiment, January 20, 2008, I copied signals at 6.7925 MHz from 0130 until 0139 EST, at which time the signals abruptly stopped and I subsequently received nothing. (nothing audible and nothing on the spectrum readout, which is much more sensitive.) I monitored continuously for another 15 minutes and then spot checked until 0230 EST. I moved to 7.4075 MHz and also http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/haarp-moon-echo-experiment-slight.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-483284423925367039Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:12:00 +00002010-08-15T23:44:13.440-04:00technoratimoon echoamateur radiomoonbouncetesthamexperimenthaarpTonight, the HAARP transmitter in Alaska was used to direct exceedingly powerful radio pulses (around 4 Gigawatts effective radiated power) at the moon at a frequency of 6.7925 MHz and I could easily receive the echoes from the two second bursts here on earth with my amateur radio rig.Waterfall spectrogram of radio echoes from the moon.Click on the photo, then on "all sizes" for a larger image.http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/haarp-moon-echo-experiment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-3103517442999852208Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:07:00 +00002010-08-15T23:42:49.767-04:00technoratihellschreiberamateur radiofeld hell40mnetfm245hamdigitalWell, 40 meters was being very ornery tonight at net time of 9 PM EST. Here in West Virginia I had no copy, no signal at all on net control or anyone else except I had about a 50 percent copy on WB2HTO. I saw the name Leslie go by, and I believe I saw a QH in AL. At 9:35 PM EST I checked in again and the band had greatly improved. I had net control, about 90 percent copy on WB2HTO but work http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/wednesday-night-40m-hellschreiber-net.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-1363761532716307508Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:45:00 +00002010-08-15T23:41:57.930-04:00technoratielectronicsbrattainbardeenkw2pbell labstransistornobelshockleyIn honor of the 60th birthday of the transistor, here are some photos:The First TransistorReplica of the First TransistorDiagram of the First TransistorThe first transistor was developed in 1947 at Bell Labs by Shockley, Brattain, and Bardeen and it was made from germanium not silicon. Germanium was used through the 50's and into the 60's before being completely replaced by silicon transistors. http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/happy-60th-birthday-to-transistor.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-7277437770896774421Sun, 13 Jan 2008 06:09:00 +00002010-08-15T23:41:04.330-04:00technoratilogamateur radiocontestpsk31hamWell the PSK Fest was fun. I started out QRP but got no bites so switched up to low power (50 watts) and worked 117 uniques on 40 meters, spending almost all of my time between 7070 and 7073 kHz. I made a couple of friends along the way and we're going to set up skeds to try out more of the digital modes. I checked down at 7035 a few times but there was no workable DX from here in West http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/070-club-psk-fest-recap.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-8364557606483450752Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:17:00 +00002010-08-15T23:32:11.801-04:00technoratiamateur radiocontestpsk31hamThe PSK Fest starts tonight at 1900 EST. The contest is sponsored by the Penn-Ohio DX Society (PODXS) and runs from 0000z to 2359z January 12, 2008. I prefer PSK63 for contesting but this contest is PSK31 only.I plan to run QRP single band (40 meters). If conditions are terrible on 40m like they were last night I may switch up to the low-power class. I hope to see you out there.Contest info http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/070-club-psk-fest.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-6086988444123050941Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:01:00 +00002010-08-15T23:23:44.723-04:00technoratihellschreiberamateur radiodigital modespsk31feld hellfm245psk63hamModern sound card digital modes have introduced a layer of ambiguity when it comes to citing an operating frequency. Some operators quote a single frequency which means their dial frequency and assume an audio offset of 1 kHz. Some operators quote a single frequency that means their actual RF emission frequency. Others specifically quote their dial and offset, such as 7070+1500.It would be http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/dial-audio-offset.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-6915270531175002826Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:08:00 +00002010-08-15T23:22:33.522-04:00technoratihellschreiberamateur radiofeld hell40mnetfm245hamdigitalWell that was fun. I checked into the Wednesday night 40m Hellschreiber Net, 7077 kHz +1000 Hz audio at 9:00 P.M. EST (0200z). Net control was Lou Wulfekuhler, W8LEW, in Lansing, Michigan. The net started out in Feld Hell but conditions were poor so we switched to FM245 and got much better results. There were checkins from Delaware, New Mexico, and Hawaii, although I could not copy the fellowhttp://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/40m-hellschreiber-net.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-6826003073627259981Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:56:00 +00002010-08-15T23:21:01.308-04:00technoratitunertransceiveramateur radioicomastronmfjhampower supplyIcom IC-706, MFJ-949E, Astron RS-20Mhttp://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/couple-photos-of-rig.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-4790094113440152237Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:37:00 +00002010-08-15T22:36:17.500-04:00sunsolar cycle 24amateur radiopropagationhamsunspotsYippee! The British Solar Observatory announced that the first sunspot of cycle 24 (the next sunspot cycle) appeared in the northern hemisphere on January 5th. It's a good time to be getting into ham radio!http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/first-sunspot-of-cycle-24.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680059195037502894.post-2350257445889812852Fri, 04 Jan 2008 01:39:00 +00002010-08-15T22:34:12.101-04:0040 metersradiopsk3140mpsk63hamThis has happened three times now on three different nights and three different contacts. Here's how one instance went: I was calling CQ on 40m PSK31 and Fred, K5QBX was trying to reply. His signal looked sort of okay but just wasn't enough to read. It took two attempts before I even got his callsign. It was enough for a contact but not enough for a decent conversation. It was late and the http://kw2p.blogspot.com/2008/01/strange-psk63-effect.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ShutterSparks / KW2P)3