Heathkit VTVM IM-28

I decided to put the very first kit I ever built back into service instead of leaving it on a shelf.  I built this kit when I was a teenager back around 1969.  I think it will come in handy making some adjustments watching a needle move instead of digital numbers bouncing around.

I replaced the old paper electrolytic capacitor, however I had trouble getting a 20mfd 150v, for a reasonable price, so I put in 2 10uf in parallel instead.  The old one is sitting on top and the news ones brown in colour, installed. Just need to go through the setups and adjustments and we are good to go.  A little reminder of my youth.  I wonder how many people still have their very first kit they built? In my case it was 46 years ago when I built it.

Outside with the KX3

A little more variety today. Worked a little on my pcb technique and started working on a schematic for my transmitter pre drive, driver, and final amplifier board.  And took outside my new KX3 to have a go at loading up my dipole and play with the new rig.

Temporarily strung out the dipole and connected up to the rig. Tuned in on 40 for a cw station and practiced a little at about 13wpm.  Was not doing to bad until the mosquitoes started swarming in.  That certainly broke my concentration.  I'm a little rust at 13 but pleased non the less.  I think I can do 10wpm without too much of a problem.  Just need to keep practicing.

 Here's a picture and you can see my homemade ladderline leading into the KX3. The ATY seems to work quite well and tunes the antenna easily.  It does work a little at the lower end of the band, but considering the antenna is just draped over branches and balconies I'm not about to do anything to the antenna at this point.

The Father's day BPF

Can't spend a better Father's day than been taken out to the pub by your family and then going into the shack for the rest of the day.

Payed closer attention to the BPF board and still get toner not adhering to the copper in a few places.  Mainly in the ground plane areas.  At least the board is useable.  I spent a lot of time measuring the temperature on my laminator and it should be close enough to to work.  I took it apart to get right in at the rollers and measure the temperature. Next board I'll go back to it and forget the iron for now. Slowing down the speed would likely help, but I expect finding a gear may prove challenging.  If I can get some consistency with the heat part of the process, then I should be able to produce a better board.

Did some preliminary checks with the BPF  and it appears to be working ok.  Without a spectrum analyzer, its a little more involved to adjust and see how well the filter is behaving.

Enough building for today and hopefully my sma connectors and cables will arrive this week.  None of my boards have been etched to accommodate them properly but the next version boards will.

LBS RxTx Bilateral Amp

Finished more or less the RxTx bilateral amp board. Still need to install some appropriate connectors once I've received them in the mail.

I'm getting far enough along now that I will have to start to consider how to mount them all, I now have I think 7 boards to mount in some kind of order. Not all so far are finished but getting closer. This is going to be one great looking rig.  I'm looking forward to getting it operational and getting a baseline on performance so I can get around to improvements on the individual circuits. Wither or not its the board design itself or the circuit. Of course one look at the picture shows that improvements can be had easily. hihi. Should be a terrific learning experience and getting to really understand how a transceiver works.

Of course getting out to the field and operating it will be a blast as well.  Especially if I get a contact with another member of the Peel Amateur Radio Club who are building as well.

   

Board Etching

Had another go at etching with this new paper.  I still have some small issues with not all the toner transferring off the paper.   Its much better now that I use scotch brite to rub up the boards and not use emery paper. I think I'm getting a handle on the heat by using an IR thermometer. Here's the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nice-Non-Contact-LCD-IR-Laser-Infrared-Digital-Temperature-Thermometer-Gun-FO-/291326656758?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item43d46c00f6

Still need to work a little more on board cleaning and then a little more patience. That should do the trick. The darker areas are some spots where I used a sharpie to go over where the toner did not adhere.  Didn't discolour in all areas though.

Lets Build Somethng

Productive day in the shack.

I tried different paper today for the toner transfer method to make my own boards.  This paper is quite a bit cheaper than the "blue" type.  I've only done 1 board and it seems to work just as well.  Need to do a couple more to make sure.

So I etched another Si5351 booster board, populated it with most of the components.  I received my smt caps yesterday so I put them on the 2 boards.  Modified the board layout to accommodate the pot I'm using so board 3 will represent the better board when I get around to it. Total of 3 boards are required for this project.

I had 6 xtals to use in the crystal filter.  I did some measurements and here are the results:

xtal    value
1      11,072.061
2      11,072.275
3      could not get a reading
4      11,071.969
5      11,072.254
6      11,072.202

Need to acquire several more to get the bet possible match.