Happy New Year 2025 - On Hiatus

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I hope everyone had an enjoyable and wonderful Christmas. We'll be back sometime in early 2025.

Here are a  couple of Blog Posts we are working on.



I don't need 1.21 Gigawatts, a Flux Capacitor or Plutonium to make a QSO






Confessions from a Wanna-Be Engineer












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What Everyone Else is Reading

The Little Rig That Could. I Think I Can, I Think I Can and and It DOES!

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  YouKits HB-1B CW Transceiver I don't do equipment reviews but I had to write about this little powerhouse.  It works for ME. In the fall of 2022, I was looking for a small QRP  Multi-Band  CW Transceiver.  I wasn't sure what I wanted but I came upon a find on the site below. QTH.com - Ham Radio Classified Ads   I contacted the broker who was selling the rig for the owner who advised me the seller had been trying to sell his HB-1B for almost a year with no takers. He said several people had expressed interest but no takers.  When he told me the asking price I almost fell out of my chair. My next question was, "What's wrong with the unit?" Broker said nothing.  Not going to mention the cost but I was excited to purchased it for what he was asking.  Before the rig arrived, holding true to my nature of building my own antennas, I constructed a 40, 30, 20,17 and 15 meter Linked Dipole, a 29'6" random Wire with two 17' counterpoise and purchased ...
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These 2 Go Together Like Peanut Butter & Jelly. The QRPGuys Mini Tuner & YouKits HB-1B CW Transceiver

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   In May 2023, I purchased a 40 - 15 meter Mini Tuner Kit from QRPGuys. I didn't get around to assembling it until July 2023 which was likely not the right time for me to be building things.  For me, the summer months are the height of my bicycling and portable ham radio activities. It was an easy simple build less than an hour assembly.  The chart below show the amount of wire needed for 40 - 15 meter.       I had over 500' of 26 AWG wire so that was not an issue. I cut 100' of wire and started the process of building and marking the wire per each band and for the counterpoise.  I cut 72' for the total length to fold back for each band and a 28' counterpoise.  I found this approach very tedious and cumbersome. I spent the better part of two days while doing POTA activations trying to construct a wire to my satisfaction. At the time I found it was taking too much time away from my operating fun and put it all away. Fast forward to May 2...
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Two Hams On A Bike Make Contact

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  Craig - WB3GCK Jim - N4JAW Sometimes it can be exhilarating achieving a first. Recently I had once such opportunity with my first Ham On A Bike - To - HAm On A Bike Morse Code QSO with Craig - WB3GCK.  I featured Craig in one of my recent blogs "I Am Not Alone! There Are Many Of Us." Craig went out on his first Ham On A Bike ride of 2025 to at a local peak near his QTH in Pennsylvania and just happened to find me while I was doing a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation from Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve in Louisville, KY. USA  (US-7956).  Not only was Craig my first Ham on a Bike contact he was also my first contact for that day. Here is a photo of Craig's bike setup for that day. You can read more about his operation and setup on that day from his Blog. WB3GCK - First Ride of the Year 3/29/2025 POTA Activation at   Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve US - 7956 / Louisville, KY. USA EM78df Not only has the Space Weather been intolerable but around my Q...
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