When someone mentions “Beverage Antenna”, if you think of towers of beer cans or picture fountains of coca-cola, then you need to come to this month’s lecture at the Manly Warringah Radio Society. Find out what a beverage antenna really is, why you need one, how it works, and how to make one yourself. 8pm […]
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Category: Technical Stuff
VK2TMF’s 555 Contest Entry
555 Contest Entry Maker: Malcolm Faed Background. I was excited when the 555 contest was announced to recognize the most used Integrated Circuit ever. After considering for a while what I could do for the competition, I started thinking about how best to celebrate the 40 years that the device has been around and the 10s of […]
VK2RL’s RETRO-STYLE CARDBOARD RADIO
THE RETRO-STYLE CARDBOARD RADIO MAKER: BOB VK2RL This highly educational and quirky project is suitable for a rainy day, and is an ideal way to use up surplus electronic components that may happen to be lying around the workshop. Basically it consists of a TA7642 integrated circuit that is constructed using discrete components – i.e. transistors, resistors […]
Yves VK2AUJ shows off his great KX3 Carry Case
Having spent $1,800 on a radio, I wan’t a box to be able to carry it around. It had to be convenient so that I would only have to open the lid and operate! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFbuM5M3SnU
Using your iPhone for APRS (with no internet)
I had a quick look at some iPhone APRS applications that used GSM connectivity to the Internet to publish my location, whilst those work very well when you have reception it isn’t as exciting as using RF to transmit your packets. Cue an Application called Pocket Packet. Pocket Packet uses the iPhones built in GPS […]
40 Metre Direct Conversion Receiver
My latest project is a 40 metre band direct conversion receiver. It is based on a circuit gleaned from the internet and built entirely from junk box components. The receiver was built as a prototype because I was uncertain as to how much experimentation was going to be necessary in order to get it going. There were some […]
Antenna Wire: Stainless Steel vs. Copper
Recently, the club’s email reflector has been buzzing with discussion of the best wire for use in dipoles, both temporary and permanent installations. Many opinions were bandied back and forth, the details of which can be found in the reflector archives of YahooGroups under the subject line, “Dipole Wire”. Tim VK2BT offered some of the […]