New Jersey QRP Club

We had a real interesting meeting, as we normally do, but this one sort of just started with general ragchewing and individual 1-on-1 spontaneous project discussions all over the place for the first 45 minutes ... "They were real and they were spectacular!"

Special welcome to Jeff W2PWD, a newcomer to the NJQRP Club! Living in the close-by area, Jeff plans on attending more of our QRP meetings and activities in the future.

N2CX brought along his AIM-4170 antenna analyzer from Array Solutions (http://www.arraysolutions.com/) and reviewed for us all the benefit of detailed plots of antenna performance. We actually went ahead an measured the N2APB 6m Moxon antenna later in the meeting and got some very revealing resonance plots ...

N2CX then proceeded to tell us about the value and benefits of implementing a Unun in the feedline to keep stray RF from feeding back into the line and having it act as a radiator. See http://www.bytemark.com/products/bkgndbal.htm. This was a homebrew one that Joe made, suitable for outside mounting near the antenna ...

Joe Jesson, KC2VGL brought along one of his projects from the day job ... a commercial satellite modem, contained in a waterproof Pelican enclosure (http://www.pelicancasestore.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=14&ParentCat=3) ...

George N2APB brought his latest homebrew antenna, a 6m Moxon (http://www.n2mh.net/moxon.htm) and along with N2CX led the group through a fairly detailed overview of 6-meter operation by hams, propagation benefits, and techniques for getting on the air on this often overlook "HF" band. Given that half the attendees at this meeting have FT-817 rigs, it's quite possible that we could get a club net going on 6m for those willing to give a try at a simple antenna. Some power will be required - perhaps about 30-60 watts in order to reach the statewide target audience - but there are some simple and relatively inexpensive kits available for this.

Close-up on several construction aspects of the 6m Moxon antenna. Wooden corner molding was used to provide feedline spacers. Will go to small diameter PVC tubing in the final version for better isolation in wet weather.

Triangular strips of fiberglass were used to strengthen the corner connections of the U-channel aluminum. (Created by stripping off the copper-clad surface of double-sided pcb material.)

Balun (coiled coax) and the PVC boom ...

And the feedpoint ...

And the connection of the reflector side to the boom ...

Jim K2SZ showing off his latest treasure from eBay ... a Struthers RF Directional Wattmeter, similar in function and professional accuracy to the well-known Bird wattmeter, but with replaceable frequency-specific "slugs" that can be dialed to a the target power level. Very cool!
Still available on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/Struthers-Electronics-RF-Directional-Wattmeter-/120495924996?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c0e1de704
More info at ... http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3090.

John KE3S walked us through his plethora of Regen receiver material: background, projects, etc. And sitting in front of him is his "Benton Harbor Lunchbox" for portable 6m operation, circa 1960s(?) ... http://home.frognet.net/~mcfadden/wd8rif/hw29.htm ...

Ray K2ULR brought along his Buddy Stick, which is a multi-band portable "vertical dipole" that works great for him in portable operation ... (http://www.buddipole.com/buddistick.html)

Nick brought along his newly-acquired Hendricks PFR-3 3-band CW transceiver that he intends on soon taking to Hawaii for a while. This stimulated some informative discussion on how to take ham gear through the TSA screening lines at the airport.

Cory WA3UVV showed off his latest find - a rugged paddle from good friend Doug Hauff of American Morse Equipment. Just right for throwing in to the backpack when going portable, without worrying about damaging the paddle itself. Check out the great paddle products at the American Morse Equipment site (http://www.americanmorse.com/)

Corey Wa3UVV also brought along some goodies for free, sell and trade. (The "Electrophone" receiver was only for show ... and what a little radio that was!)

Denis AD2DA found this nifty hand vacuum device for picking up ICs and other surface mount devices. Great for positioning the SMD before soldering to the board. perhaps only about $5, he's looking into getting us a group discount.

N2APB and N2CX had their "workbench" set up again for some testing of Ensemble receivers (the club's most recent Group Build) ...

N2APB was showing off another of his current projects ... He is building the Ultimate Regen Receiver (by Bruce Vaughan, NR5Q-SK) into a wonderfully attractive wooden radio cabinet formerly housing an old shortwave receiver (on the left.) The guys actually convinced George to restore the receiver and find another enclosure for the Ultimate Regen.

The gang (clockwise from left)... Ray, Jack, Denis, John, Dave, Nick, Jeff

and Jim and Joe ...

and Dave, Nick, Jeff, Corey, Samuel ...

and Jon W2MC at the far right end of the tables ...

Ahhhhh, what a great Saturday morning it was!

Last updated: January 17, 2011

Meeting Recap: January 2011