Black Widow keyer paddle — revisited

My Black Widow paddle -- the Lean Green Code Machine

After a 23-year hiatus from the HF bands, I picked up a Yaesu FT-450AT as my main radio. I also wanted to resume using CW. But for the moment, I was up Yaesu Creek without a paddle.

As I rummaged through my disintegrating cardboard junk box, I came across a Bencher iambic paddle I bought around 1980. The spring was a bit sprung, so I ordered a new one from Bencher — which they very kindly sent along for free.

But for the life of me, I couldn’t get it to fit onto the paddle. And the old spring was a bit too loose for my taste. So I looked at paddle reviews at eHam.com, focusing on paddles that hit a consistent five-for-five rating and didn’t break the bank.

And the winner is…

This beauty was one of them — a little sweetheart of a keyer paddle that comes in kit form courtesy of W5JH. It’s called the Black Widow, for reasons that aren’t abundantly clear, other than it sounds cool.

VA-1 antenna analyzer for those who travel light

Autek Research's VA-1 atenna analyzer

I’ve been looking for an antenna analyzer that packs smaller than the MFJ unit I’ve had for about a year. And I found it.

It’s the Autek Research VA1.

Yes, I’ve read the eHam reviews, pro and con, so I’m going in eyes wide open. I popped the case, inspected the solder joints, and pronounced them healthy.

But in reading through the manual, I found some basic information lacking: How many bands? And what frequency range does each have? When you turn the unit on, a frequency pops up on the screen. But you have no idea where you are in the unit’s RF universe.

So as a tiny public service to hamdom, here is the information that should be included in the manual. The band numbers, by the way, are just for reference.

Band 1: 0.444-0.914 Mhz

Band 2: 0.748-1.515 Mhz

Band 3: 1.325-2.781 Mhz

Band 4: 4.115-9.555 Mhz

Band 5: 7.834-19.560 Mhz

Band 6: 13.840-35.880 Mhz

There you have it. Your mileage may vary a bit. As for me, the band info is going onto a little white card taped to the back of my analyzer for future reference!

QRPxpedition adventure — to the backyard and beyond

Working my KX-1 through a Norcal doublet for 40-10 meters



It was July 17, a hot, sultry day. Humid, but no rain in the forecast. What better weather than this for trying out my KX-1 with a new antenna — a Norcal Doublet made from computer ribbon cable?

I was jazzed.

I’d assembled the wire portion of the antenna a couple of weeks earlier. Then, a 20-foot collapsible crappie pole (that’s a fish, not an editorial comment on the quality of the pole) arrived a couple of days before the big test. It’s the center support for the antenna. And what the heck, if the bands go dead, go fishing!

The real motive, aside from enjoying ham radio in the fresh air, was to become reasonably competent at setting up and striking the antenna before I made a complete fool of myself during some communal ham field activity.

Power to the Peanut Whistle

Grab your batteries! It’s on! (With apologies to Southwest Airlines.)

Earlier this year, I finished off an Elecraft KX-1 (40 meters and 20 meters). I bunged up the tiny crimp connectors on the wires that carried juice from the internal batteries to the radio. So I took the courageous route: I decided to leave the batteries out of the KX-1′s little black box (at least for now).

But I also didn’t want to haul around a small 7 amp-hour battery for long outings. A brief consultation with Dr. Google led me to engineer Alan Wilcox’s website and a neat little external battery pack he put together for a Small Wonders Lab “Rockmite” transceiver.

[Aside: One of the neat things about ham radio is the largely open-source-like pool of ideas hams are willing to share with each other. End aside.]

After studying his approach and tweaking for additional batteries, here’s what my power pack looks like:

Cheap lighting for a QRP camping trip

How much light is too much when you’re camping and staying up late for those last QRP contacts?

Steve Stutman, a Lobstercon 2010 acquaintance, and I were hobnobbing about camping matters during a lull in the activities, and Steve allowed how he had little use for Coleman propane lanterns in tightly packed campgrounds.

The lamps are so bright, they destroy a person’s night vision, he complained. “You wouldn’t see the bear in the bushes” because the contrast between light and dark is so stark.

Ok, so you probably wouldn’t see the bear in the bushes anyway, lantern or no. And I’ve done enough family camping with my wife and three (now grown) kids to appreciate the light those lanterns can shed on the cook stove or the dish-washing pails.

But his comment did prompt me to think about ways to provide enough light for playing ham radio without blinding the neighbors.

QRP + Camping + Lobstahs = Lobstercon 2010

Lobstercon 2010 — a weekend of camping, QRP operating, ham flea marketing, contra dancing, “fox hunting,” with a pilgrimage to L.L. Bean thrown in for good measure — is now history.

The dates: July 9-11. The venue: The Thomas Point Beach and Campground outside Brunswick, Maine. (Note to self: That’s a great place to visit again with my wife for some quality camping time.)

A note of deep thanks to Rex Harper, W1REX, who has organized this summer gathering of the regional QRP clan for the past 10 years. Many QRP buffs know Rex for his radio kits packed in tuna tins. But his organizational skills also are pretty impressive.