Equipment reviews:
DIGITAL MODES -PSK/RTTY and others. On a scoring system this unit rates as a solid 9 out of 10. So many computers today are note books or similar small sized portable units and do not always work well with the typical digital units. The SIGNALINK USB sets up easily and offers superb performance. The price is reasonable and the customer service is excellent and patient.
Kit Building in 2009 - Back when I started in radio I remember the Bell Engineers coming to my class one day to show us the wave of the future. Of course they were talking about Transistors. In 1952 they were relatively new and we were still taught tube technology. The magazines from time to time would have a schematic to build your own receiver or transmitter and we did from parts garnered from many many sources. Trips to the surplus stores would sometimes net radio's from World War II and although most were American, some were German and even English in origin. Just about two years ago I took a dip into kit building with kits from Doug Hendricks. My first venture was his Antenna tuner with a series of switches on it and to tune your rig to the antenna you would switch in or out one or more of these switches.
Much to my surprise, it worked the first time. Then I built the DC-40A transceiver and used it a couple of times and then wound up giving it away. Both were easy to follow kits and if you were careful, there was little chance of failure.
This week I opened and built my new Hendricks kit which is a DC-40B Transceiver and sometime in the next week or two I will put it on the air from our camper some early evening when traffic is low.
````````````````````````````````````
I am a PSK-31 lover and I am now building my second 80 Meter Warbler in as many weeks. The kit is straight forward (originally NJQRP from 9/00) and recently revived as a kit by Small Wonder Labs up in New Hampshire. Attractively priced at $55.00 each having more than one is easier to do. In my case, one is for my home, the second for our camper and the third is for field operations yet to be determined.
```````````````````````````````````
My hands are like large meat-hooks and more times than not, they tend to get in the way. That of which I speak is my almost total inability to effectively wind coils and transformers on those tiny disks with a hole in the middle. Do they get wound clock-wise or counter-clockwise? Many other questions ensue but try I did and then failed. However, after a little research I found that Toroidguy@earthlink.net does a wonderful job at little cost and very fast. I would certainly recommend Mychael.
COMING SOON - AN UP TO DATE REVIEW OF THE MFJ-1782 LOOP!
