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  1. RickC.

    Some Old School Ideas for Dipoles and other Wire Antennas

    I’ve seen lots of questions here and elsewhere about how to go about building and putting wire antennas in the air. For the most part they have been good questions, and we all had to start somewhere. Bear in mind there are many ways to skin this cat, but let me offer a low tech and low cost...
  2. RickC.

    17 meters this evening

    While waiting for the Kingsford coals to cook down enough to cook some pig meat, I went into the shack to see if I could catch any of this activity I've been too busy to enjoy. 10 and 12 were both dead, so I went to 17 meters-- the very first voice I heard had a northern Irish accent, and I...
  3. RickC.

    A Homebrew USB Interface for Digital Modes

    This may be old news since I have not researched this in a while, but I ran across this last night: The USBlink - a home-brew digital modes interface I just bought one of the USB sound cards he used on Ebay this morning for $3.29. This will be a good winter project for me. Sometime...
  4. RickC.

    A 2 element Fixed, Reversible Yagi for 20 Meters

    You may remember my homebrew 20/10 homebrew yagi that met its untimely end in an ice storm: It was pretty clear that a push-up pole with a rotor and full size beam was not going to be a workable situation, despite the antenna weighing only 18 lbs. The cheap steel in one section of the mast...
  5. RickC.

    Behringer DSP110 Shark-- Anybody use one?

    I just bought a DSP110 Compressor/Limiter/Noise gate off Ebay. I have plans for it and a handful of mics to experiment with on my IC-718. Anyone use one of these? How do you like it? Thanks, Rick
  6. RickC.

    Routing coax out of the cab of a 2006 F150

    OK, I seldom operate mobile other than my 2m HT, but I joined a new hunting club that uses CBs quite a bit and thought it would be fun to have one in the truck. On my Rangers and other vehicles, finding a convenient grommet under the door sill was no problem. This F150 presents some challenges...
  7. RickC.

    Logging programs

    I'll admit I'm old school as far as logs and QSLs, but I'm in the minority on that. Unfortunately EQSL is here to stay it seems, and I have done that on a one-off basis now and then, having a few DX cards printed and mailed to me. It looks to me as the Century Club and the like are the only...
  8. RickC.

    CB jargon on the amateur bands

    OK, I don't mean new Techs on 10m. I cut those guys some slack and sometimes explain some of the ropes in a friendly way. Everybody's got to start somewhere. That's the main reason Novices and Techs have fewer privileges-- a place to learn without causing any damage to themselves or other...
  9. RickC.

    Podcast I recorded for NY Times Bestselling Author Sharyn McCrumb

    This doesn't have much to do with radio except for a scene at WOPI in 1935, but author Sharyn McCrumb's new book, "The Devil Amongst the Lawyers" is being released next week. The publisher (the same one that published "The DaVinci Code") finalized the website for it over the weekend...
  10. RickC.

    Ground Plane Contest

    OK-- Let's do this. A contest for the most unique homebrew 1/4 wave ground plane antenna. We don't need a lot of rules, but here's what I suggest: 1. The antenna can be made of anything, but must be resonant on 27 MHz. 2. The antenna does not have to stay up permanently, but...
  11. RickC.

    Collapsible Fabric Yagi

    Huh... I don't think I'll try this, but this is interesting: Make: Online : Collapsible fabric Yagi antenna
  12. RickC.

    Icom CS-V82 Software- Worth 40 bucks?

    I have an IC-V82 that's about two years old now. I haven't used it much, and bought it only for Skywarn nets on the local repeater (the "big" machine in the area is only a mile from my house). The reason it has not been used for anything other than that is I find the radio to be a PITA to...
  13. RickC.

    Retro 75- Anybody built one?

    It's almost not low band AM season now, but I am really tempted to get one of these and build it. Rick
  14. RickC.

    Starting a new yagi today

    The plan is for 2 elements on 20m, 3 for 10. Wood/fiberglass/wire. Sort of a cross between the VE7CA and a C3. Common feed, hairpin match. Wish me luck (and no rain in the evenings after work), I'll post photos along the way if anybody's interested. Hope to have it finished by the end of...
  15. RickC.

    A Cheap and Easy Ground Plane

    There must be as many ways to build a ¼ wave ground plane as there are people who use them, but this one was cooked up over the weekend. The thread here about Stardusters got me to thinking about my neighbors who had them back in the mid-70s, and I had been asked by a couple in a local AM CB...
  16. RickC.

    Strange Antenna Challenge

    http://www.n0ew.org/k0s/k0s_2009/kc4zua/k0s_2009_kc4zua.php If I could weld aluminum an Extended Double Crutch for 20m would be in the plans... Rick
  17. RickC.

    G4ZU Bird/Spiderbeam

    Anybody built one? What did you think?
  18. RickC.

    Giza Beam

    This is a long shot, but would anyone here happen to have a copy of the article that was in HR mag around 1980 on the Giza Beam? I built two of those, one for 40m (fixed) with a 1/4 wave Q section, and a rotatable one for 10 with a wire gamma match. Both worked very well. I'm thinking of...
  19. RickC.

    Mic for Kenwood TS-520

    My old TS-520SE is as good as ever, but is the backup rig now. I have a late 70s MC-50 which is convenient to use, but has always sounded a bit muddy to me in on-air tests and the switch in the PTT base has started creaking unless you are very careful with the switch-- and it comes across...
  20. RickC.

    Astatic 878DM

    I just bought an Astatic AST-878DM new off Ebay. My reason for trying this mic is there doesn't seem to be a good fix for the annoying switch noise in my aging Kenwood MC-50, and I want a desk mic for my old TS-520. The plan is to build a small switchbox to switch it between the Kenwood and my...