Very Useful Toroid Info Web Site

This site provides the kind of info we need when working with toroids.  It even tells you the length of wire to cut. It links to the W8DIZ "Toroid King" website, but I can't really tell if this site is the work of DIZ himself.   In any case, very useful.  We award this site our coveted rating of "Five Soldering Irons."

http://toroids.info/FT37-43.php

Video of a REAL Homebrew QRP Contact (by WU2D)

I think Mike's video does a good job of showing what it is really like to get on the air with simple, homebrew QRP gear.   It takes some patience and operating skill.  I guess it is sort of like fly fishing (with home made lures); there are easier ways to catch fish, but they are not as rewarding.   

Discrete Dead-Bug O'scope Pong

Thanks to Bent KD0GLS for alerting us to this excellent example of the awesome power of discrete transistors and dead--bug construction.

Check it out.  There is a video.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/oscilloscope-pong-for-1-or-2-players/

Another Excellent QRP Video from WU2D -- Retro Solid State QRP Receivers

Hot Water BITX 40

Fred's idea really resonated with me.   My first SSB rig was an HW-32A, the 20 meter version of the rig shown above.  If -- as I suspect -- these rigs are anything like the HW-101, they are not aging well. Heath's drive for economy resulted in rigs that don't hold up to well over time. I remember the sound of the  plastic HW-101 dial clutch cracking when I pushed the button.

BITX40 Modules to the rescue! Put a mono-band board inside an old mono-band rig.   There are a lot of possibility here.  Some ideas:

-- Put that Heath VFO to use.  Maybe convert it to solid state.  Or just put the LCD from an Si5351 in the window (Pete did this with an HW-101).

-- Get the S-Meter wiggling.  

-- Keep the final amplifier circuitry in there and let the BITX drive it.  This will give you a QRO option.  (Uh oh, we're in trouble again!)   

Hello Fellows,

Attached is a picture of my BITX-40 V3 adapted to a Heath kit Single Bander HW22. This is a work in progress but what a neat way to bring an old boat anchor into the present.

 

The only parts of the HW 22 used were the front panel and case and knobs. Modifications yet to be  incorporated include: AGC , a USB port on the front panel to access the Arduino, and a PTT/CW mode switch.

 

I enjoy your pod cast and web site…Best of 73 KC5RT.