Sardine Can Antenna. is a BiQuad or Bi circle – wire length each side (8 x 1/4 waves ) 31 mm Sardine cans have quite standard dimensions around the world, although the oval one shown here is lightweight aluminium & does seem (perhaps by chance ?)to have enhanced directivity compared with more normal steel Canadian…
Category: Equipment
Amateur radio equipment reviews. Based on my direct experience or taken from other sources
Spiral Antenna
Article by N9RET THE INDOOR SPIRAL DIPOLE Since well before getting my ham ticket in 1993, I had been interested in maximizing my antenna advantage within the limitations of my small living space. I would experiment with different arrangements for SWL, Scanner, AM/FM/TV and 11m antennas, mostly within the cramped confines of the attic of…
Buddistick tuning tests
Today I’ve taken some time to test my latest portable antenna, the Buddistick. By using an MFJ-269 antenna analyzer I’ve tried to find the main tuning keys for this small multiband antenna. I’ve been able to find an excellent SWR and Impedance setting for the 20 meters band, but I’ve also learned that tuning this…
Kenwood MC-60A vs TS- 590S Dynamic Microphone
I’ve just published an article on a recent comparison between MC-60A and handheld microphone. While trying to improve Kenwood TS-590S SSB performances, I recently purchased an used MC-60A microphone. After a couple of weeks in which I’ve been testing this preamplified desk microphone, I’ve sorted out by making a final on the air comparison. According…
My Radio Shack
Just taken this shot with my Nikon D-90 Transceivers: Kenwood TS-590S – Yaesu FT-857D SWR – PWR Meter : Daiwa CN-801 Microphohe: Kenwood MC-60A Morse Key: Begali Stradivarius Power Supply: Nissei MS280A 25A
Morgain Antenna 40/80
Here a plan for a Morgain Antenna for 40 and 80 meters band. This dualband antenna similar to a folded dipole permit to operate low bands by using a very limted space.
IC-7700 new Firmware
Icom Inc has announced a firmware upgrade for the IC-7700 HF/50MHz The new upgrade, available for download from ICOM firmware page in March 2014, will provide the same additional features as made available to the IC-7800. Waterfall display function that allows a more complete understanding of the status of the band. Mouse operation of band…
Icom ID-5100
Icom Japan just announced the release of a new D-Star DualBand Mobile Transceiver. ICOM ID-5100 /D The new ID-5100 is a dual band mobile transceiver 144 / 430 MHz that will be released in the market (Japanese) in February 2014 in two versions ID-5100 20W and ID-5100D 50W. As far as I’ve understood from the…
RTL-SDR on Google Nexus 7
This summer I was looking for a cheap Android Tablet in order to replace a dead TomTom Go730 GPS navigator, that suddenly decided to dead and being close to go in holiday I decided to invest money into a more versatile device that could be used as a gps navigator but even in other ways….
SDR on your Android Galaxy S3
IW5EIJ Leonardo, yesterday night showed me a nice App running on Android, named SDR Touch. Connecting the Samsung Galaxy S3 to the RTLSDR dongle will turn your smartphone into a nice wide band receiver. Leonardo is however experiencing an unwanted and unexpected phone vibration during reception. Could not gave him any hint since, I don’t…