The Yaesu FL-2100Z is a classic HF amplifier. It sits near the end of a long life line of multiple variations and models of the basic 811A or 572B triode valve, all using exactly the same grounded-grid core design, and all of them making nice big waves in the ether when fired up. I was…
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Sizing of a Solar Charging System for a QRP Beacon
When you run a small low power beacon like the Ultimate3S from QRP-Labs it is attractive to consider powering it from batteries with a solar panel. But how long will it last? A number of things are conspiring to make our lives as amateur radio experimenters difficult. On the one hand the cheap Chinese imports…
Flex-1500 – Starting the SDR journey
I might be older, but I’m very young at heart when it comes to technology. I love playing with all the latest gadgets and adopting my hobby to the emerging technologies. One example would be that I only run solid-state amplifiers (watch out for my series of articles on building my own). I also talk…
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Nixie Tube Clock
Nixie Tube Clock I’m sorry in advance if I’m going to hurt somebody’s feelings here, but you cannot be a radio ham if you not like small glass bottles that glows in the dark. Even if you are a die-hard solid-state amateur like me, you absolutely HAVE-to-have something that indicates or flashes or twinkles in…
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Weather Station on Raspberry Pi
What a nice picture of a weather station – but it is not mine. My little guy is a La Crosse WX-2315 that I picked for relatively cheap and it has been running on my Windows XP laptop for a few weeks, using WUHU. It works well. But, being the inquisitive kind, I decided I…
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The “P” in QRP stands for Pocket with the X1M Platinum
The new QRP is here – where the “P” stands for In-My-“Pocket” and not for Low-“Power”. In days gone by one would purchase a Yaesu FT-817, or if you had a few more buckaroos you might consider a pricey Elecraft KX3 if your budget can stretch that far. While they were low-power, they were far…
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SignaLink SignaLink Where Art Thou?
A few days ago I was super-excited when Kobus Conradie ZS1K notified me that my newly purchased SignaLink USB was in the post. I built a few homebrew interfaces and they worked very well, so well in fact that I was ready to consider working mobile and QRP while on holiday. My research indicated the…
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Dearly Beloved (put your own name here)
You know the phrase: “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today …” and just like in real life, you are getting a pretty photo of what my beloved Yaesu FT-707 looked like when she was younger, before she went SK. Today, sadly, she doesn’t look like that any longer. Poking around the insides far longer…
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CTCSS Tones For Older Radios
Jay my old Yaesu FT-480R is now operational on tone-protected repeaters! (Ed: Almost!) From my bad location deep in the pits of Sandton I can just reach the Sandton repeater (145.700) up on the water tower near Wm Nicol Drive if I look north, and if I look south I can definitely reach the ZS6TJ…
