Last year I was impressed with the Field Day promotional videos by Hamflight. This year there are two more videos, I especially like the animated logo video.
I came across this recently posted documentary on YouTube, via Make magazine’s website. It is very interesting to see the rise of these hardware hacking groups. Perhaps the most popular is NYC Resistor (in collecting the link I see they have the Repurpose video on their site). This documentary, by Jack Oatmon, is about a Montreal hacking collective called Foulab, and gives insight into their activities.
It is interesting to compare and contrast these hacking groups to most amateur radio clubs. The two groups are obviously interested in technology. The average age of the hacking group is quite different to the typical amateur radio club and the hackers are not limited to radio communication. I am excited to see what is being achieved in these collectives, the creativity, the commitment to experimentation and sharing of ideas that appears to be at the heart of their work. Is anyone aware of such groups or individual members being involved in amateur radio? Or, are there amateur radio clubs that are adopting a hacking collective style? As far as I know the closest are QRP clubs like Norcal QRP club, that meet at public locations and have no club dues or minutes. Please post a comment if you know of one.
I have to admit I have had a Buddistick™ for a while but never really used it. Last weekend was a long weekend in Canada (Monday was Victoria Day) and the family, including my mother visiting from the UK, occupied a cottage on the Rideau River in the village of Burritts Rapids. Now was a good chance to do some portable work and I decided to use the Buddistick™ as the antenna.
Buddistick setup on a tripod with single counterpoise
Well, as all the family was there and the kids and myself wanted to do some fishing I did not spend too much time with the radio, but when I did I was more involved in investigating the best settings for the antenna (coil tap points and counterpoise lengths). Here is a brief summary of my findings, which used the standard Buddistick™ on a camera tripod and a single elevated counterpoise.
| Band | Tap point | Counterpoise Length |
|
17m |
8 |
13 feet |
|
20m |
12 |
13 feet |
|
40m |
Full coil |
31 feet |
Notes:
- The tap point count is from the top of the coil (at the telescopic section end)
- These settings were to achieve <2:1 SWR across most of the band.
- On 40m the SWR rose above 2:1 towards the low frequency (CW) part of the band
- To help with quick adjustment the supplied counterpoise was marked at 23ft, 15ft and 10ft lengths.
If you have any different findings or tips on using the Buddistick™ I would be glad to receive them and share them here.
As I said, I did not have much time to operate, but I did make one contact on Monday morning, Wit, W1IT in South Carolina, heard me reply to his CQ on 40m. He could pull out my 10W signal from the K2 and Buddistick™ on SSB and we had a nice chat.
As for the fishing, both children (aged 5 and 7), as well as Dad, caught rock bass. The kids were interested to see the bright red eye, as well as the relatively large mouths of these little fish. A great weekend was had by all the family.
Smiths Falls Hamfest (Saturday 9th May 2009)
Last week (Saturday 9th May 2009) I attended the Smiths Falls Hamfest, another local hamfest for me. I bought a few items, mostly components, and the usual book which this time was the ARRL edition of Introduction to Radio Frequency Design by Wes Hayward, W7ZOI. This copy came from a consignment table of a local radio club at a bargain price.
Like the Iroquois Hamfest it was nice to meet old friends and to put faces to callsigns. This time I met Gord, VE3FRB, face to face for the first time. Gord and I had worked each other in the past using D-Star and D-Rats.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Eastern Ontario, you may be interested to note that Smiths Falls is the Ontario town where the captured WWII German fighter pilot Franz von Werra escaped from a train to finally gain freedom in the then neutral USA. The history of Oberlautnant von Werra’s time in captivity and attempted escapes from the British and Canadian forces was brought to the cinema in the 1957 movie ‘The One that Got Away’, where Hardy Krüger played the intrepid and elusive Oberlautnant.
I recently stumbled across the YouTube videos of Simon, 2E0HTS and then moved onto his blog. The blog has links to his videos as well as photography and is well worth adding to my blogroll.
Here are three videos that show some of Simon’s mobile, QRP (hill-topping) and contesting operations. I was particularly interested in the first one as my parents originate from Cumbria and I grew-up in North Lancashire and specifically the Morecambe Bay area (think this is the first time I have mentioned on the blog I am a Brit by birth and a dual national of Britain and Canada). As well, I have walked many miles on the Yorkshire Moors and Dales, as well as the Lake District (arguably the most beautiful part of England), so I particularly liked the second video.
Thank you Simon for the videos and I will be keeping an eye out for more.
PAL Colour Burst Crystal
The 10th Minimal Art Session contest is scheduled for the 21st May, 2009 which is organised by the German based QRP Contest Community. This is an interesting contest as its focus is the use of low parts count transmitters and tranceivers, to establish contacts. Bonus percentages are given for how far under you are with the parts count. The number of components you are allowed is based on two classifications as defined in the rules, which state:
CLASS A: TX+RX resp. TRX consisting of not more than 100 components CLASS B: TX consisting of not more than 50 components, RX as you like
Quite an original idea for a contest, which requires the submission to include a circuit diagram with the components numbered on it.
The band for the contest is 80m. So break out the colour burst crystals and build a Pixie, OXO, Oner, Flea or similar type of minimalist rig, you have a couple of weekends left. Alternatively search the 80m band for “CQ MAS…” on the 21st May and give out some contacts. I expect the colour burst crystal freq. of 3.580 MHz and the QRP freq. of 3.560 MHz are good areas to centre around if you are looking for MAS stations. Don’t forget these stations will be rare and running QRP or QRPp. Post a comment here if you work any, or if you are going to run a MAS rig (include your QTH to help others know if you are within range to be possibly heard).
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