Ramblings of yet another nerd…
Many years ago, programming the memories in an amateur radio was a “neat” feature. As the capability was included in more radios, the radio manufacturers also began charging a hefty sum for the cables to do so, because they contained “Circuitry”. Many amateurs quickly learned that these adapters were little more than RS-232 to TTL …
Read More A generic radio programming cable
Another Article with back story… at about 4:20 PM, I was getting ready to leave work, when my phone rang. Bryan was asking what I knew about whetstone bridges. While it’s been many years since I was first licensed, and decided I wanted to build one that I saw either in a QST magazine, or …
Read More A Whetstone Bridge – and what it’s good for….
Well, first some background – and definitions I’ll give some basic definitions and descriptions… if you want the full detailed technical description, try here http://microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/index.cfm Network Analyzer A network analyzer is essentially a spectrum analyzer with a signal generator that follows it – both of them are locked in frequency. Many service monitors have …
Read More Return Loss – A new take on VSWR measurement
So, about a year ago, I decided I wanted to tinker with SDRs. Many of these, such as the Flex radios, were way too expensive – so I looked into softrock type radios. It didn’t take long for me to get my hands on a softrock 80M/40M/20M kit (pick a band, put the appropriate parts in). …
Read More Adding IF Taps to the FT-1000 for Station Monitoring
My thoughts on the works of others – and the performance and uses for this unique idea… Allright folks- Barry asked for it, so here it is: I was I the market for a spectrum analyzer after K9SD offered one up for about $150 – though his had the frequency range of 10 kHz – …
Read More A CHEAP Software Defined Receiver