I had some good luck on the ham bands last weekend. First, I was called by Bruce KC1FSZ -- this time he was on his Al Fresco scratch-built BITX-on-a-board. FB. The next day, I called CQ on what seemed like an empty 17 meter band. I heard someone come back -- it sounded like DX. I had to swing the Moxon a bit -- oddly, I thought, to the south-east. FR5FC was calling me from Reunion Island. TRGHS.
Here's a follow-up message from Bruce:
Hi Bill:
Here's a follow-up message from Bruce:
Hi Bill:
Great to catch up with you on 40m yesterday. I was using the Peppermint II which is a scratch-build of the BITX-40 for the most part, although I did my own digital VFO/BFO and made a few other modifications in order to be able to use it on 80m. It took about 8 months of noodling to get the thing to work, but it was a great learning experience.
As discussed, I’m working on a 24V power supply (LM723 + 2N3055) and a push-pull IRF510 final so that I can get some more power.
I got a few more Williams-Sonoma Peppermint Bark tins off of EBay so I’m ready to start boxing things up as soon as the linear is working.
73s,
Bruce KC1FSZ
Posts
