Well I just spent a few days trying to get my Icom IC-703 to accept my external keyer. Not an easy task or I am just to worn out to understand what I am doing wrong.  The thing has an internal memory keyer but I am just not good with a standard Key or paddle so I want to use my keyboard keyer.  As a result I have tried various setup and only managed to damage the keyer I love so much.  When will I learn, come at things with a solid plan and do your homework in advance. When the keyer is hooked to the ‘703 the transmitter keys and does no un key, a strange brew of Icom soup I guess…  

A relay in a box was a good idea but I messed up the voltage to key it and I popped the surface mount 2N7000 they use for the active device.  Out come the microscope and the tweezers and the expensive hot air de soldering gun…  Lucky for me Ace electronics here in Houston stocks the 2N7000 for $2.00 each. 

Planning and preparation is the key NONE of us are perfect and a good fore knowledge of the subject and a planned solution will always win out.  I just need to be ready to do my SIMPLE homework to resolve these issues in advance.  Do the experimentation to be sure and finally double check everything once integrated.  Funny that’s what they pay me to do every day at work guess there is a reason why.

Either way its been a good week and hope to see you all on the bands for the next Spartan sprint and maybe even other events soon.

73

AB5V

Randy

Well nearly 24 hours of rain is generally a good thing! It has not rained like this past weekend since February and it was very welcome.  I was just about home with the newly repaired Mower when the first wave hit me in the old truck.  The pavement was steaming and it got cooler quite quickly. Same old story for Texas rains. The wave that moved through the area was truly a blessing and I was glad to see it come through.  I went to Bill K5UY’s web site (K5UY.com) and watched the radar images as the storms built up and passed through from time to time. It was really nice to relax for a while.

Well this means that I will need to get the newly repaired mower ready for a full day of work in the antenna field.  What I am planning to do in first pick up all the debris from the trees and the storms and then role up all the antenna cables. I will be hitting the back yard with new mulching blades and will be cutting it LOW! Once done a weed eater session in planned.  

Finely I need to replace the ‘sky’ lines for the verticals. This time things will be handled differently and the coax is to be buried in conduit. Simple PVC pipe will do. There will be at least two remote antenna switches outside. I really need to have antennas worked out for each band this time I do not want to leave out 30,17, and 12 meters.  Next the antennas will be supported differently. The vertical wired will not have a nylon line running back to the steak the antenna is mounted on. Instead the support line will run to the tree at the end of the skyline.  If the deer break the copper wire fine! I will just have it made to give some to protect the series of antennas not tangle all of them with a stupid snagged deer that ran into it and now wants to dance around and mess up everything.  The 80 meter antenna is still in the redesign phase, but should be ready for first of winter this year. 

Amplifiers are still on hold for now I need to get the power supply out of storage and make sure it works correctly, isf so then it need to be integrated into a new case and prepared for service in the house. I have three 48V 30A Aztec supplied in a 19” rack case. I need to decide whether I should move them to a smaller more ‘shack friendly’ case with power leads to attach to the new amplifier.

Well that’s if for now see you folks down the log book.

73
AB5V
Randy

First
The South Texas Balloon launch team is having their yearly flight this weekend. Its always fun and I am really looking forward to the event this weeknd. I am hoping to get soem really nice photos this weekend but well that can be a big "maybe" with these things.  Weather can be a pain wind currents while not 'unpredictable' are still a big dynamic.
Andy W5ACM heads up the project every year and its always a hoot, these guys have a lot of fun but do a lot of work at the same time. I may try a high altitude photograph this weeknd but its not for sure at this time. Got to wait and see how things shake out for me tiem wise.

Second
I was sick of work yeaterday so just to releave my tensions I worked from home for the day. "remoting into the servers and keeping up with customers all day. This really helped me out, I saved gas, no driving stress, and actually got a lot done that day. Afterwards I had no lost commute time and was able to work on my antennas for the evening (after rthe sun went below the tree line).  I really need to arrenge to do this more often, they don't always need me in the office everyday, I can keep up remotly.

Finially
The bands have been pretty dead this month, not a lot of fun for those of us who like to do a little DXing from time to time. I tried calls on 30m mast night at the suggestion of Warren (WQ1C) nothing just a W9 responding. Nice QSO 40m was Okay and made a few CW and even one PSK31 QSO on that. all 5s.  I sure hope this cycle does not turn out to be  big bust but I guess there is nothing to do but pray for better conditions.

Work is Okay, but it sure cuts down on Radio time!!
Hi I'm Randy AB5V and this is my blog, here I will explain what I see goin gon these days both on and off the radio in our world. I don't really care if you want to lable me with soem 'tag' I dont really fit all into one group. I have my own mind but i do listen to what you have to say as well. So if you want to make a good argument about something to try and change my opinion let me know and lets talk about it here Who knows what we might come to with our discussion.