Claim OwnershipHam Radio Workbench Podcast
Subscribed: 1,268Played: 40,872
Subscribe
©2016-2022 Ham Radio Workbench All Rights Reserved.
Description
This is your bi-weekly deep dive on making, DIY, electronics, and technical topics of interest to the radio amateur. Join your host George KJ6VU and the HRWB team as they discuss current developments in ham radio while introducing listeners to a plethora of topics and skills such as test equipment, 3D Printing, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and more. Ham radio is a hobby of hobbies - George and team introduce hams of all ages to experimenting and learning within ham radio, which can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the hobby.
We are proudly sponsored by Autodesk Eagle PCB design tools, Flex Radio and Digikey.
We are proudly sponsored by Autodesk Eagle PCB design tools, Flex Radio and Digikey.
238 Episodes
Reverse
1Kirk is the author of Stealth Amateur Radio - Operate From Anywhere and he is a monthly columnist for the Spectrum Monitor magazine.
In this special episode, we meet Steve Hicks, CTO of Flex Radio. Steve announces a new radio in the Flex Radio product line. This new radio is a combination of the features of the current 8000 series of radios plus a built in 500 watt power amplifier, antenna tuner and AC power supply all integrated into a package the size of the current 8000 series radios. This remarkable new radio uses a new transmitter architecture that doubles power efficency resulting in an integrated package that is smaller, consumes less power, generates less heat, and is quieter than current equipmemnt on the market.
In this episode, our resident expert on writing ham radio gear reviews, Thomas, K4SWL, walks us through the process of writing a good ham radio review. How can you tell a good review from a bad one and tips for how you can write good content. Vince gives us some great tips when it comes to buying used gear. How do you find it, evaluate it and figure out a fair price.
In this episode we meet Len Koppl, KD0RC, the designer of the Teensy Maestro remote control head for a Flex radio. Len is a professional software developer and project manager and brings many decades of technical experience and ham radio hands-on to his projects. In tis episode we learn about multiple projects including the Teensy Maestro, an open source hardware remote control head designed to control a Flex radio. Based on the Arduino Teensy microcontroller, we learn about Len's journey of development and some of the interesting technical challenges he faced in this project.
In this episode we have an extended conversation with Kirk, NT0Z and Paul WD9GCO. Kirk is the Amateur Radio columnist for The Spectrum Monitor; former columnist for Monitoring Times and Popular Communications; Author of Stealth Amateur Radio (www.stealthamateur.com) and former QST Assistant Managing Editor. Paul is a news anchor for Amateur Radio Newsline and the professional announcer for the Ham Radio Workbench podcast. Kirk and Paul have some great stories and general ham radio wisdom to share with our listeners. It's so much fun to spend time with them that this turned into the longest episode we have recorded, and that's saying something !
In this episode we meet Richard Desaulniers, VE2DX. Richard has been licensed since 1990 and has a background in emergency communications serving at disaster events in Quebec. He enjoys hunting DX, Island Activations and DXPeditions. Richard is also an experimenter and founded VE2DX Electronics in 2020. With the founding of the company, he wanted to create inexpensive and simple electronic products to help the Ham Radio Community. Among his creations are products like TrueTTL, TrueCIV, and TrueCAT thes were implemented and applied to all VE2DX Electronics Design creation to help eliminate problems with RFI, EMI, Signal Loss and other signal issues, thanks to Heavy Shielding, RFI filtration of Power, Signals and Grounds, Signal processing, and signal automatic leveling. Join us in a great conversation with Richard VE2DX, Vince VE6LK and Thomas K4SWL.
In this episode we talk all about our second on the air operating event, Ham Radio Workbenches On The Air. We had so much fun the last time, we decided to do it again. We talk about whats on our workbenches and go over all the details about operating HRWBOTA. The operating event will be Sunday March 16. For all the details go to https://hrwbota.com We meet Alan, N7AKG, the developer of the Ham Radio Instant Scoring Service, HISS, that allows operators to create their own contests and show scores in real time. We also meet Andrew, KC2G, the developer of several interesting projects including the HRWBOTA tracker web site.
In this episode we meet Patrick, KJ7SZU, the owner of the company that makes the digital clock and information device, Geochron. The mechanical Geochron clock has been around for over 40 years. When Patrick saw his first mechanical Geochron clock he was hooked ! He was so impressed with the idea that he bought the company and completely remade the Geochron as an internet connected information display device on a large screen 4K video display. Join us for this fascinating story all about Patrick's journey to the present time with the Geochron.
In this episode we meet Rosy Schechter, KJ7RYV, ARDC Executive Director, John Burwell, KI5QKX, 44Net Program Manager and Rebecca Key, KO4KVG, ARDC Communications Manager. ARDC, Amateur Radio Digital Communications. The ARDC manages the IP address space that starts with 44 and they are the funding source for millions of dollars in grants every year to benefit amateur radio. Learn about what the 44 Net is, how it can be used by radio amateurs and how the ARDC manages their grant funding process.
In this episode we talk about how to prepare for Winter Field Day and field operating in cold weather in general. Winter Field Day is a great operating event for individuals and clubs. Its a great excuse to get out and operate when it, brrrrrr, cold outside !
In this episode we meet Vance, KV4P, the designer of a radio module that connects to your Android phone and turns it into a 2m FM HT. Vance is a professional UX (User eXperience) designer and brought his years of design knowledge to the project. The result is a modern take on how a hand held 2m radio should work in addition to the convenience of intergration into your mobile phone that you carry with you every day.
In this episode the tables are turned and George, KJ6VU, becomes the special guest. The topic is how he designed his station control system. The station controller is used to monitor and control key components in your remotely controlled ham radio station. The station controller can also be used to monitor and control a repeater system or any other critical equipment. We will discuss what you need for effective remote station control, how George went about designing his control system and how it works. Topics include the system architecture, circuit and physical design and selection of key components like the microcontrollers that run the system and the node red software environment that provides the user interface. The station controller will eventually be offered as a commercial product for sale through his company Sierra Radio Systems.
In this episode we meet Jonathan Kayne, KM4CFT, the designer of a very popular new QRP radio called the CFT-1. Jonathan shares his journey from concept to production of his new radio design. The truly remarkable thing about his accomplishment is that he has achieved this in less than a year. Join us for a fun conversation and a bit of inspiration.
In this episode we give you the buyer's guide to holiday cheer. The team put their heads together to come up with many suggestions for the workbench, ham shack and portable ops plus a few stocking stuffers. If you are buying for a loved one, best ham radio buddy or yourself, you are sure to find many great suggestions in this show.
In this episode we catch up with our good friend Bill Meara, N2CQR, the host of the SolderSmoke podcast. SolderSmoke is a haven for those of us interested in home brewing our own radio equipoment. Bill shares his experiences both at the workbench and also operating around the world. SolderSmoke was one of the inspirations behind the HRWB Podcast and we appreciate all that Bill and his team have done to bring great content to the ham radio community for the last 20 years.
In this episode we catch up with our good friend and show regular Thomas Witherspoon, K4SWL, to find out how things are going in the disaster recovery from hurricane Helene. We are also joined by our good frend Josh Higgins, K7OSH, from the Hoodview ARC and discuss what we should do, as amateur radio operators, to prepare for disasters.
In this episode, our dear friend Thomas, K4SWL, tells us about the devestation in North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Thomas shares his family's esperience and his advice for emergency preparation. We had so many interesting topics to talk about regarding emergency prep, workbench style, that we are going to do a follow up episode with our top tips for emergency prep sometime in the coming months.
In this episode we meet Adam Kimmerly, K6ARK, and avid outdoorsman, hiker, and ham radio operator. Adam has achieved Mountain Goat status by earning over 1,000 points in the Summits On The Air program. In addition to his outdoor adventures, Adam, a professional mechanical engineer, has designed some very innovative antennas, CW paddles and other cool ham radio accessories. Adam also has a very good YouTube channel. You can find him by going to "K6ARK Portable Radio" on YouTube. You can find Adam's products on his web site at k6ark.com
In this episode we meet Pat Hensley, W5WTH, a prolific designer and project builder. Pat has made several intersting radio and non-radio related electronic projects and he features them on his blog site WhiskeyTangoHotel.Com Some of Pat's projects are very useful and some are just plain fun. Many projects are a blend of hardware (Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, etc) and software (c, Python, etc). Pat publishes all of his source code for us all to learn from. If you want to be inspired to build your first project you have come to the right place.
In this episode we bring back Rick England, KC6UFT, the designer of the 18650 battery tester. In a previous episode, Rick told us all about the need to test 18650, and other batteries, under load to determine their health. Rick has refined his tester design and shares his experiences and learnings with us on this episode. You will learn all about the proper way to test these popular lithium batteries and plans for making the testers available.
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States
this is a test
The book. Reflections, is mostly stupid bs.
regarding dnm's. buy fluke 187, 189 or 287 etc, used off eBay. usually fluke can repair it if there's something wrong. if you find something wrong, usually one of two fuses protects the meters front end will blow, epically current. what's particularly nice about the flukes is the over molding (rubber case) and that the meters likely to survive a bad fall and keep on working. the above meters usually allow for a quick measurement of amps to 20A. most don't.
Finally I decided to do it right. I got a dk3 (Don Johnson) screwdriver antenna. This worked pretty good,but required monthly maintince.Finnalygot a high q 5-160 screwdriver. that worked very good.
I done a lot of mobile operating. a 9ft whip and sgc 37 tuner mounted 10 inches of the whip, it didn't work that wall. maybe 20m through 6m was ok. it turned down through 160m. I also used hustler whips. this didn't work that well. but was better than the sgc and the whip. BTW, I kept the sgc for these antennas.Next was the ham sticks. They worked better. I used the sgc to extend the antennas bandwidth. This worked the best of the cheep choices.
I have several led flash light that use a 18650 battery.
I just got replacement 16350 or CD123a battery that should have been lithium ion battery, but was ni-mh battery.
hopefully the interface box supports stereo, many HF radios offer moc stereo.
I have a kx3. I find it to be a very capable radio, but hard to use. no I don't want to sell it. I worked at elecaft. I value it because of all the pain I went through working there. I don't have a pan adapter nor kxpa100, but I wish I did. my use model is it being a backup radio, but for portable use.
the vx 5 and 7 are only water proof IF YOU BUY BATTERIES THAT HAVE THE O-RING, the cheap battery's, don't have the O-RING. I'm not taking about Yaesu branded batteries, although these will have the O-RING.
it's really annoys me too that the ham radios companies constantly changes there batteries between new versions.
Elecraft's internal antenna tuners and matches, usually will match most encountered mismatches. unlike the matching units in the big three ham radio makers radios.
Eric forgot to mention that they plan on making a VHF/ UHF all mode module for the K4. I wonder will it be transverter or some other type.
In regards to AM only be in 25w. it's not exactly. AM resting carrier (unmoduulated) should be set to 1/4 of the transmitters output. This because the modulated side bands will be the other 75w. assuming 100% modulation in the example of 100w radio. In this case the numbers also represent % of RF power too. So for example, when I'm operating AM on 3870kHz (on Ham AM calling channel) and I have my 600w amplifier on, my resting carrier needs to be set to 150w. Because 150 x 4 is 600w.
Local noise at the proposed repeater site. You should check this first, before you place your site. Does this site cover were ever most of your members live and typically drive to like there workplace.
Your much better of making 5/8th wave or J-Pole antenna for the VHF/ UHF Bands. I like the twin lead or 300-ohm line antenna. There's a Slim-Jim antena that's 5/8th wave. This too can be made with twin lead transmission line.
The issue is that switcher power supplies makes more emi/ rfi noise and often have more components than a linear PS. But you might need a dropping resistor before the linear PS input. The resistor needs to be high wattage type. Calculate the wattage across the dropping resistor. Take that wattage and double it. That's your resistors wattage. You need whatever your regulator required minimum input voltage. Typically this is 2.5-3v higher your regulator. That's 8v for example. 8v-14v=6v.
I enjoyed it. I'm an ex elecraft employee. it was nice hearing David the cs guy. I think he's sk.
Three hour podcasts are just way too long, especially for persons that follow more than one podcast. Shorter topical releases might keep listeners, and it will probably increase the audience. Unsubscribing next.
💚WATCH>>ᗪOᗯᑎᒪOᗩᗪ>>👉https://co.fastmovies.org