Amateur Radio Tip of the Day: Keep your soldering iron tip clean

May 13, 2013 by 3 Comments

To make good solder joints, you need to keep the tip of your soldering iron clean from any oxides and dust or dirt. A clean, well-tinned tip will transfer heat properly and help you avoid cold solder joints. Many solderers use wet sponges to clean soldering iron tips, and many solder stations have troughs to hold these sponges.

soldering_iron_tip_cleaner

An alternate method is to use a wire cleaning pad like the one shown above. You stick the iron into the pad and then draw it back out. The wire scrapes the oxides and dirt from the tip as you do this. Proponents of this method claim that this method increases the life of the tip as it avoids the rapid temperature changes that using a wet sponge cause.

73!

Dan

OUR FIRST WINNER!
Larry, KB8QJE, is this week’s winner of one of my e-books. His name was randomly selected from the subscriber list.

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Filed Under: Building/Homebrew, Tip of the Day

From my Twitter feed: Field Day, HackRF, intruders

May 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

N5NTG
AMATEUR RADIO FIELD DAY – GET OUT AND OPERATE: Field Day Is Just Around The Corner – Plan Now …http://t.co/crdHOFKEno

Chris_Diemoz
Who’s intruding #hamradio bands (and how)? The answer is blowing in the April @IARU_R1Monitoring System newsletter!http://t.co/Afp6XUScxH

n0rc
Giving Away HackRF #sdrhttp://t.co/zxXnOyg4q2 #hamr #diy#electronics

Filed Under: Clubs, Contests, Gear/Gadgets

Tip of the Day: Add elements to make a single-band dipole a multi-band antenna

May 11, 2013 by 2 Comments

You can make a make a simple dipole antenna into a multi-band antenna by adding an additional set of elements for the band you want to operate. A couple of years ago, I added 30m elements to my 40m dipole and now it works on both 40m and 30m. The reason this works is that when operating 40m, the 30m elements present a relatively high impedance, while the 40m elements a relatively low impedance. RF current, like any kind of electrical current will take the path of least resistance.

As shown below, the 30m elements hang down below the 40m elements. If you space the elements close to one another, you may have to tweak the lengths of the elements for the best SWR. In my case, that wasn’t a problem.

fan-dipole

If two bands is good, why not four or five? Yes, you can do that. You can add as many bands as you have space and wire for.

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Filed Under: antennas, Tip of the Day

Tip of the Day: Collect tech books from the 1970s

May 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

1974-arrl-handbookTodays tip is from Kenneth Finnegan. Thanks, Kenneth!

Collect as much technical literature from the 1970s as possible, including ARRL Handbooks, magazines, etc. This was the decade when transistors and basic ICs were affordable, but monolithic ASICs for every problem didn’t exist yet. I’ve found literature from this era to be the most educational for discrete electronics design and understanding how contemporary one-chip-solutions work.

Filed Under: Books and Magazines, Tip of the Day

Solder: 60/40 or 63/37?

May 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

File this under  ”You learn something new every day.”

A 1-lb. roll of Kester 44 solder with a 63/37 tin-lead formulation is $22.96 from AllSpec Industries. Kester 44 with a 60/40 formulation costs only $21.06.

A 1-lb. roll of Kester 44 solder with a 63/37 tin-lead formulation is $22.96 from AllSpec Industries. Kester 44 with a 60/40 formulation costs only $21.06.

A couple of days ago, someone on the HamRadioHelpGroup mailing list asked, “So I’m about to put up my first antenna and I need to solder the connectors to the coax. I know learned this in the book but I can not find it, so what kind of solder should I be using?”

Pat, K7KBN, replied, “Rosin core, 60/40 lead/tin (63/37 is better).  Don’t use any acid core or acid flux solder, and avoid the no-lead junk.  The diameter of the solder depends on your taste and experience.  Connector work requires more solder than circuit board work in most cases. And for connectors you need an iron with a massive tip that won’t cool off when you touch the body of the connector like a typical gun tip will.”

So, of course, I had to ask, “Why is 63/37 better?”

The answer? “The 63% tin/37% lead solder alloy is “eutectic” (Google it).  Basically it has NO ‘plastic range.’ It changes instantly from liquid to solid.”

Mark, K5LXP, ever the practical ham, added, “For anything hams solder you would be hard pressed to discern the flow, hardness or durability difference between any of these lead alloys. Hams being hams, 60/40 is usually the cheapest. That makes it ‘better’ right there!”

Filed Under: Building/Homebrew

Ham Radio Tip of the Day: Use WWV to check your rig’s calibration

May 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

There’s a very simple way to check the calibration of your rig, using WWV and a laptop computer running a digital modes program. First, connect the rig audio to the computer. At home, I connect the line output of my IC-746PRO to the mic input of my laptop. At WA2HOM, we use a SignaLink USB to connect the rig’s line output to our desktop computer.

Next, set your radio to one of the WWV frequencies. Here in Michigan, we receive WWV best on 10 MHz, so that’s the frequency that I use. On my IC-746PRO, I set the receive frequency to 10.000.00 MHz, using the keypad.

Now, fire up the digital modes program and observe the waterfall display on the laptop. WWV broadcasts standard frequency audio tones that alternate during most minutes of the hour. Most minutes feature a 500 Hz audio tone (minutes 4, 6, 12, 16, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 52, 54, 56, 58) or 600 Hz audio tone (minutes 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 53, 55, 57), but note that during some minutes, there is no audio tone.

This tone should be easily discernible on the waterfall display, and the closer it is to 500 Hz or 600 Hz, depending on which tone is being broadcast, the closer your rig is to being properly calibrated. I do this every month or so, just to make sure that my radio hasn’t drifted.

For more information on the WWV transmissions, go to Information Transmitted by WWV and WWVH.

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Filed Under: 21 Things to Do After You Get Your Amateur Radio License, Gear/Gadgets Tagged With:

Tip of the Day: Is that deal too good to be true?

May 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

If a deal at a hamfest seems too good to be true, it probably is. A couple of years ago at the Dayton Hamvention, I found a Vibroplex bug for only $50. When I got it home, I discovered that the silver-plated contacts had been filed, making it practically useless. Fortunately, I was able to purchase new contacts, but that cost me $40, making the deal not nearly as good as it first appeared.

Make sure you take a good, hard look at whatever it is that you’re going to buy before handing over the cash. If it’s a radio or a power supply, ask the seller if you can at the very least plug it in and see if it powers up. And, if you’re unsure, ask a friend who might know more to take a look at it before you buy something.

 

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Filed Under: Tip of the Day Tagged With:

From my Twitter feed: N1MM, good-looking hams, ham-radio growth

May 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

EC7AKV
New Version 13.05.00 of #N1MM is available from website http://t.co/wtmm4Q8bj4 #hamr#hamradio #cqwpx #cqww #ure @ure_es

K1NSS
WHY HAMS SO GOOD-LOOKING? Miracle Mask secret coverup shockerhttp://t.co/ZVkrcQQsu8 #hamr #hamradio#RSGB #QRP #CQWW

nnerdsllc
Ham Radio Growing In The Age Of Twitter : NPR - #nerd #hamradio #hamr -http://t.co/4kZ1VJHDSS

Filed Under: Contests, Software, The Service

Got a tip? Get a book.

May 6, 2013 by 5 Comments

I’m already up to a dozen subscribers!
To get on the list, click on the link below.

I’m starting something new here on KB6NU.Com: KB6NU’s Ham Radio Tip of the Day. The plan is for this to be separate from the blog, appearing in your e-mail inbox every day. The e-mail will contain a single tip. For example,

If a deal at a hamfest seems too good to be true, it probably is. A couple of years ago at the Dayton Hamvention, I found a Vibroplex bug for only $50. When I got it home, I discovered that the silver-plated contacts had been filed, making it practically useless. Fortunately, I was able to purchase new contacts, but that cost me $45, making the deal not nearly as good as it first appeared.

I already have more than a month’s worth of tips to get me started, but I will also use user-submitted tips. If I use your tip, I’ll send you one of my books. Also, every week, I will randomly select one of the subscribers and send them one of my books.

To subscribe to the newsletter, simply click on the link below.

Subscribe to KB6NU’s “Ham Radio Tip of the Day” newsletter

Filed Under: Everything Else

My slides have gone viral….well, sort of

May 6, 2013 by 2 Comments

I got this in my e-mail this morning:

You’re featured on the SlideShare homepage

Congratulations kb6nu!

Your presentation has been featured on the SlideShare homepage.

Kudos from our editorial team for your effort. Your presentation was chosen from thousands uploaded to SlideShare every day from around the world.

Ham Radio? Do They Still Do That?

Your presentation will remain on the homepage for a limited time.
Share with your friends on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Guess what, we’ve already tweeted it on @SlideShareToday!

— The SlideShare Team

How cool is that? It’s gotten close to 500 views in the last 24 hours.

Filed Under: Promotion & PR
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