Former KI6QNZ

New ham. From Tech(5/08) to extra(6/08) in nothing flat. I figured just get past the tests. And then have fun learning everything.

Ready for Maker Faire 2010?

May 22 & 23 2010 at the San Mateo Faire Ground. 

We will be showing off more APRS and SSTV technology.  The booth is sponsored by the Foothills Amateur Radio Society.  The ARRL will be providing printed material, sample books, signage and shirts for the volunteers.

For 2010, I  want to do a fox hunt on the fair grounds.  I have been pointed to a no solder crystal radio that can be used for very simple fox hunting. Build the kit at the faire, then use it. Should be fun.

If you are in the SF bay area and want to show off a ham project at the Maker Faire, contact me. ne6rd@arrl.net

Kit Building

I am a kit building fiend.

I just finished my first kit with a tqfp-64 chip, the NUE-PSK modem.   The modem is mostly SMT.  You can see images of the board as I soldered it here.    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mpechner/sets/72157623041407154/

I have built and am debugging a Small Wonder Labs PSK31 20M.  I am being shiped a repalcement part, which I hope is the only issue.

I have built all the measutments tools from M3 Electronixs.

From norcal I've biuld the dummy load and the s1-s9 kits.

From Ten-Tech I'vec bilt the 1253 regenerative 9 band receiver.

I have the AT-Sprint, roftrock(many) BITX 02 na Norcal 2030 waiting in the wings.

Plus general fun LED or Noise kits from various suppliers.

My favorite kit sites can be found here:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddj9vk39_127w529bhgb

Truthfully I feel the Elecraft K2 is expensive.  By the time I make it equivilent to my FT-857 it is twice the cost. The base kit is $690. But, the K2 is THE only kit out there that is a full all mode tranceiver.  Everything else is single mode more or single band.  So, I want to build one.  Get the Heath kit feeling. I hope Elecraft never stops making it. But it would be nice of they could cost redice it.

2009 Maker Faire in San Mateo CA

It was a lot of work and worth it.  The volunteers had a good time.  The show organizers received positive feedback about us.  We found that many of the 400+ makers are themselves HAMs.

We were located in the hall with the main stage and store, so this created a lot of traffic.

We will see if we get a few new HAMs out of this event.

Emergency Communications

I am persuing mutliple goals. One is to become an emergency communicator. I have taken ics 100,200,700, 800, NIMS, SEMS. I am in process of joining ares/races in the city where I live and the one where I work.

I have taken CERT training through the city of Palo Alto. I am now a Panda. I  spent a day with Santa Clara CERT to join that program, HEAT. So I am a PANDA in HEAT. HiHi.

Digital/Packet/APRS

I played with kantronics, paccomm and tnc-x.  I've set up BBS and use outpost and pacforms.  I still haven't learned to do kb2kb.  I bought and tried 9600.  I was told by a number of people that the KPC 9612+ was not a good choice for 9600. 

I've setup a couple of aprs stations.  Interesting, but I have not had the oportunity to make practical use of it.

I've played with SSTV using easypal and mmtv under someones guidance.  Mad Scientists ARC have a Friday net that is fun.

I've gotten hooked on psk31.  I do this remotely on w7dxx and on my ft857 using a tigertronics interace to my computer. 

Netcontrol

I am taking every opportunity given to me to be net control.  SF Bay area 9AM Talk net on Wednesdays and the 3rd Monday of each month for Palo Alto section of SPECS.

Other things I'm playing with

I've setup echolink in all 3 modes.

I am tring to learn CW.  Using MDX to learn to send and G4FON to learn to listen. I am able to send all number and letters slooowly.  I am up to 9 letters at 7wpm 15 farnsworth.  My goal is to operate at field day. We will see.  :-D