A few months ago, I activated Google Analytics on the blog so I could get some idea of my traffic numbers, what search terms land people here, which posts are most popular, and who is sending traffic my way. This tool has been a bit of an eye-opener in multiple ways, but one of the… Read More Welcome to the Social
A quick note for any iPhone users (like myself). I just installed the WPtouch plugin for the blog, which nicely formats the website for people using Safari on the iPhone. I’ve just tried it out and it looks fantastic. Hats off to the WPtouch developers!
The VRX-1 receiver kit uses a TDA7052 audio amplifier IC, which is a bit different from your run-of-the-mill LM386. Because of its push-pull output, if you use a phones jack, you must isolate it from ground. This isn’t something you have to worry about if you use a non-conductive enclosure or if you have an… Read More DIY Isolated Jack
While I was away on my honeymoon, I noticed that the upcoming kit that I’ve been hinting about for months has finally been released. The Four State QRP Group announced availability of the VRX-1 direct conversion receiver. The VRX-1 is a simple 40 meter VXO-tuned receiver (crystal on 7.030 MHz), but it’s not your typical… Read More Introducing the VRX-1
So the people I work with are taking bets on how long before I bolt in anticipation of my wedding, which is only now a few days away. Well, not everyone there, just a few of the cynical ones. The truth of the matter is that I’m an incredibly lucky guy, and I count my… Read More We Got a Runner
This evening I was browsing one of my favorite QRP homebrewing sites, QRP Homebuilder by VE7BPO, when I stumbed upon something that really struck a nerve. Todd does a really great job in documenting his projects and experiments, as well as walking you through his thought process in many of the design decisions that he… Read More Internet Cranks, Part 1
I found something sitting on my USB thumbdrive from a year ago that I completely forgot about. A paper log file that I created in OO.org so I could log when I didn’t have access to a PC. I’m not sure why I never did anything with it, so I figured I would turn it… Read More 20th Century Logging
Disclaimer: For those who don’t know, I’m an employee of Buddipole, and I do speak quite a bit of my positive experiences with some Buddipole products in this post. Yes hams, it’s that time of the year again. Field Day, the Super Bowl of the ham radio world. I haven’t had the best track record… Read More Field Day 2009
OK, I admit that I don’t care for a lot of these goofy Internet neologisms like “blogiversary”, but I needed something to get your attention for a boring post like this. I don’t normally pay attention to these things, but I happened to notice during my last post that my first posting to this blog… Read More One Year Blogiversary
QRP is tons of fun on CW, but it gets a bit rough trying to work other stations on SSB with 5W, especially when you are using antennas that are low to the ground. I had been eyeballing the nice RF MOSFETs from Mitsubishi for a while, and since I got a hankering to get… Read More Homebrew 20 Watt Linear Amp