Using a MFJ-259B to verify tuning on VHF Arrow Antenna

Recently I purchased a used MFJ-259B and although it seemed to be working well I could not get it to power up using an external source. The power was not getting past the DC connector to the rest of the circuit! I looked at the schematic and added a small jumper to connect the center pin of the power jack to the + on the board the same place that the battery power comes in. Yesterday I had tuned the 'Arrow' ant using a Bidirectional RF Wattmeter (old Heath IM-4190) and it seemed to be hearing better especially on UHF. This shows the VHF side with favorable SWR and I can now hear the low orbit sats on both VHF and UHF.

Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Today I removed some Dead power diodes from the Raytrack P/S Yes when the interlock is closed the HV is shorted! 6 of 10 HV Rectifier Diodes are now shorted as well! Ordered some new ones from Allied because I do not think the ones that Radio Shack has are suitable, (they used to have some that were). The other Amps I have also been working on have interlocks that are in series with the on-off switch. Oh Well I should probably change these diodes anyway the ones in the boards look like they were changed once since mfg but this would still put them at least 20 years ago which is how long I have had the 1969 Raytrack DX2000L. I had purchased a couple of used tubes (I dont really suggest this) and was testing them for possible use in the amp which uses a pair of 3-500z's. One of the tubes was good and I matched it with another one for a fairly well matched pair. The B+ resistors smoked and the diode string just quietly shorted out!

CQ WW SSB Weekend at Lovettsville, VA

CQ World Wide SSB Contest was Oct 24 and 25th this year. The same weekend as The Fiber Festival in nearby Berryville. I decided to make it a portable operation.

Rig FT-990

Audio .WAV files from Audacity and RS comp Mic

Ant OCF 150' with 4:1 Voltage Balun

Log setup Acer Ferrari running N1MM

Single Op Low Pwr Assisted ALL Band

Band QSOs Pts Cty ZN
1.8 1 0 1 1
3.5 19 41 8 5
7 24 65 17 7
14 112 304 63 17
21 119 338 56 15
Total 275 748 145 45

Best DX New Zealand on 40M

Battery Tender Plus

Battery Tender Plus www.batterytender.com that I use on the motorcycle, airplane and QRP batteries died while in use at the airport. After drilling the rivets out of the case and putting the meter to it the power transformer was found to have an open secondary. Last weekend I was able to attend the Berryville, VA Hamfest www.svarc.us/hamfest and purchased a replacement transformer # 241-6-20 from this sheet www.signaltransformer.com/data/datasheets/241. The unit seems to be working correctly with this transformer installed. Cost for repair was $5. The original transformer was 1.25 amps and this one is 1.5A so maybe it will last for a while. The Dual Primary transformer allows for 115/230VAC operation and you need to jumper the primary appropriately. Parallel for 115 and series for 230 volt operation. Several small battery chargers that I have used over the years have failed and in three cases it was the transformer. Radio Shack also sells one that worked in another small 12V gel cell charger for about $10 now.

Willamette20 - Working Today!

Here is the Willamette20 on the workbench with clipleads but it is receiving and transmitting on 20M CW!

Bryce 09 and Willamette20 Main Board

Dual Sporting

Noah Lets me ride his Suzuki 350 Dual Sport around the farm! Jack chases me.....