QRP for the Tightwad Tony Fishpool G 4

QRP for the Tightwad Tony Fishpool G 4 WIF / K 4 WIF

The Shack No room inside the house ? - me neither.

Photos of cases Case from an old modem.

Photos of cases…… Norcal mini ATU made from PCB stock.

Photos of cases. Inside view

Antenna Tip 1. Next time you consider getting one of these : -

Antenna Tip 1. Consider one of these : -

Probes Some of the probes G 3 MFJ shows in our book.

Probes But also consider the Accuprobe from Nortex… www. kk 5 na. com/nortex. htm - this allows you to measure very small voltage levels.

Accuprobe -Input levels: LOW range - 50 m. V rms to 5 V rms (usable to 20 m. V) HIGH range – 5 V rms to 35 V rms -100 k. Hz to 30 MHz $17 post paid – what a deal!

VE 3 DNL Marker Generator Something to generate a signal to poke up the front end… How about a marker generator like the VE 3 DNL marker generator. Only $7. 50 from Norcal (www. norcalqrp. org).

VE 3 DNL Circuit

Attenuator There are more designs than you can shake a soldering iron at. Here’s one I built : -

Noise Bridge/Generator.

Noise Bridge/Generator. At the point at which zener diode conduction begins it will generate a considerable amount of noise. We can use this to good effect once we’ve amplified it a bit. The important thing is getting the coil right. Use a FT 50 -43 core or similar from the junkbox. Something like 5 turns of trifilar wound wire will suffice.

Noise Bridge/Generator.

Micro Henry Meter A clever little circuit by Walter Farrar G 3 ESP. As described it will show a dip on the meter for small inductors up to 10 u. H

The 2 N 2222 If you want a few watts extra then dip into your big bag of cheap transistors instead of ordering an expensive PA transistor. JA 9 MAT showed in Sprat how he used 15 transistors to get 3. 5 watts out.

Low Pass Filter Money saving Tip! – Only make one - and use it on lots of rigs!

Low Pass Filter

Low Pass Filter Values: Band C 1, 4 (p. F) C 2, 3 (p. F) L 1, 3 (turns) L 2 (turns) Core Wire (mm) 1. 8 820 220 30 34 T 50 -2 0. 32 3. 5 470 1200 25 27 T 37 -2 0. 38 7. 0 270 680 19 21 T 37 -2 0. 48 10. 1 270 560 19 20 T 37 -6 0. 48 14. 0 180 390 19 17 T 37 -6 0. 55

Making PCB’s Simply don’t bother for “one-offs” - unless you want to wait before you start building and like to mess around with chemicals. Save a fortune on Ferric Chloride! Take a simple wood drill like this …. . And grind off one of the cutting blades. (in USA called “brad point bits”? )

Making PCB’s Just use a punch or small hand held hobby drill to start a pilot hole. And “twirl it slowly around. You can make an “island” when and where you want one.

Making PCB’s An example audio amplifier made using the modified drill.

Build everything in an Altoids tin! W 8 DIZ Marker Generator

Build everything in an Altoids tin! LTC 1799 Really Cheap Signal Generator.

Other containers

Antenna Tip 2. - Budget Antennas. Buy one of these : - And go here : www. cebik. com And spend the next couple of years having fun!

Radios for under a Pound Some of the 99 pence radios….

Radios for under a Pound And another. .

Radios for under a Pound And another. .

Radios for under a Pound They all seem to have the same insides….

Slightly more expensive Then we turned our attention to a more expensive radio. This time we were shelling out a whole £ 2. 99 ! Sold by the UK store “Superdrug” this radio sported 10 short wave bands as well as FM and medium wave. The major discovery was that the display was actually a frequency counter.

£ 2. 99 Radio Hans Summers patiently traced out the circuit.

£ 2. 99 Radio Here's a great picture of Dimitri Aguero F 4 DYT with his Superdrug radio in the French Alps.

Never walk past a “skip” No “cost conscious” qrp-er can pass one of these. In England they are known as a “skip”. It is in one of these that all my birthdays came at once. I found a Spectrum Analyser!

But how about one of these? NJ-QRP Signal Quality Meter. Provides a simple and easy way to determine how “clean” the output of an oscillator, amplifier or properly adjusted transmitter really is.

G 3 RJV Utility Receiver George G 3 RJV tries on Graham G 3 MFJ’s new Texas hat.

G 3 RJV Utility Receiver Subtitle “at last a use for those bloody DDS kits”! George found that from time to time the need arose for a simple “test receiver”. Shown: The new Norcal FCC-2 DDS Kit.

G 3 RJV Utility Receiver FT 37 -43 core. Windings 0. 27 mm. 12 turns Trifilar. Yet another item of test gear that will fit into an Altoids tin.

Eamon EI 9 GQ goes one step further Double balanced mixer with low pass filter

EI 9 GQ filter testing method 470 R Noise Source Filter on test Mixer Detector Osc. AF Amp. PC

EI 9 GQ filter testing method Above a Yaesu Filter. Below a homebrew filter.

Antenna Tip 3. Insulators and pulleys - I don’t use them at all. These little blocks come in bags of 100 and cost a few pounds. I get them from our equivalent of Home Depot.

Antenna Tip 3. They make great little insulators. You can use them as light centre pieces too.

Antenna Tip 3. I also use them as pulleys. Having no moving parts they never snag.

GQRP Club Don’t miss out on the fun! What a deal! n Keep an eye on GQRP-L n Join the club - $14 per year n You get four issues of SPRAT www. gqrp. com

GQRP Club – Projects Under Development All sorts of interesting and inexpensive chips to experiment with. The ICS 525 – about two quid each. Any crystal input from 5 – 27 MHz for any output up to 250 MHz. n n Very Low Jitter.

Montreal Fox uses an ICS 525 Two Metre Fox Transmitter - http: //tinyurl. com/ndh 25

As does the G 3 ZOI ARDF Transmitter http: //tinyurl. com/n 8 gzr

G 3 ZOI ARDF Transmitter Selecting the frequency of the transmitter. Solder pads

ICS 525 - programming

ICS 525 - programming http: //tinyurl. com/lrwwc

GQRP Club Putting the “L” back into SOLDER Join Today!