KIX-OnlineLinks to amateur (ham) radio goodies on the web

Every now and then, a club does something neat.  The Royal Signals Amateur Radio Society (RSARS) is an interesting club.  Their membership consists of:

Membership of The Royal Signals Amateur Radio Society (RSARS) is open to anyone interested in amateur radio and who has completed service with the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom or certain other countries or is currently serving.

But, for the rest of us, they do have some neat PDF’s of some good antenna projects and useful accessories, including:

THE 40m 4-SQUARE ANTENNA – EA5AVL
A STUDY OF LOUIS VARNEY’S G5RV ANTENNA
CONVERTING THE G5RV for 80m operation
Air Cored 1 : 1 HF BALUN
Antenna Relay Switch – EA5AVL
5-BAND HF VERTICAL – EA5AVL
20m ELEVATED VERTICAL – G8ODE
20m half-wave END FED ANTENNA – Stub matched
20m helically wound MOBILE ANTENNA – EA5AVL
40m quarter-wave VERTICAL END FED ANTENNA – G8ODE
40m EH RECEIVE ANTENNA – G8ODE
160-80-40m END FED ANTENNA – GØCSK
160m ELEVATED FIBREGLASS VERTICAL ANTENNA – G3SZU
160m TOP BAND END FED ANTENNA – G3YEU
160m TOP BAND INVERTED “L” ANTENNA – G8ODE
AIR CORED 1-1 HF BALUN – G8ODE
ALTAI SWR-2T METER CONVERSION
BREMI ANTENNA MATCHER for HF QRP USE
CHOKE-BALUN DESIGNS – G8ODE
80-10m DOUBLET ANTENNA – G3RWF
G5RV MULTI-BAND ANTENNA – U-shaped INSTALLATION – G8ODE
HALF-SIZE G5RV CONVERSION FOR 80m – G8ODE
HALF-SIZE G5RV for a SMALL SPACE – G8ODE
80-10m MULTI-BAND ANTENNA – G8OFZ
REMOTELY OPERATED HF ANTENNA SWITCHES
SAFARI INVERTED “V” ANTENNA – G3RWF
SAFARI ROACH POLE ANTENNA – G3RWF
VERSATILE HF BALUN 1-1 and 4-1 – G8ODE
W3DZZ MULTI-BAND ANTENNA
40m and SHORT 80m ANTENNA
ZETAGI SWR MOD
G3EFYs EMPIRICAL ASYMMETRICAL ANTENNA
160m-6m HF ANTENNA TUNER – G3WME
HF ANTENNA MATCHER – G3WME
HF LOOP ANTENNA TUNER – G3WME
QRP HF ANTENNA MATCH – G3WME
LIMITED SPACE ANTENNA – G7FEK

The clubs direct URL is:

http://www.rsars.org.uk/DEFAULT.HTM

A direct link to the projects downloads are:

http://www.rsars.org.uk/ELIBRARY/docsants.htm

This is a quickie, but a goodie.

I’m fascinated by radio and communications history.  There are a lot of great tales.  From the early radiomen of Marconi, DeForest, Armstrong up to today with the big corporate discoveries and advances made by hobbyists.

Every few years the ITU holds conferences, called “Radiotelegraph and Radiocommunication Conferences”.  These conferences are international gatherings of major governing bodies to discuss trends, coordination issues, technology, etc.  As amateurs, we especially notice the coordination issues every 40 years.

The ITU has started digitizing these documents recently and making them available online.  Some of them so far are:

* Preliminary Conference on Wireless Telegraphy (Berlin, 1903)
* International Radiotelegraph Conference (Berlin, 1906)
* International Radiotelegraph Conference (London, 1912)
* International Radiotelegraph Conference (Washington, 1927)
* International Radiotelegraph Conference (Madrid, 1932)
* International Radiocommunications Conference (Cairo, 1938)
* International Radio Conference (Atlantic City, 1947)

They are adding more and on their site.  There is a list of proceedings they will be making available in the future there as well.

If you would like to check these out for yourself, go to:

http://www.itu.int/en/history/radioconferences/Pages/ListRadioConferences.aspx

I made a post awhile back about Tektronix and loads of information available on their site with regard to their (sweet!) line of O-scopes.  It was nice to see a company furnish plenty of generic information that is useful for the hobbyist or student.

This time around, it’s Analog Devices (http://www.analog.com).

When I’m hosting a buildathon or teaching a class, there’s always simple projects being built by attendees.  Some manufacturers make really good product data sheets, some don’t (as I recently found out using simple LM386 and similar clones).

Analog Devices not only has loads of great product data sheets and information on their website, they push the envelope one step further.  They publish a newsletter that is available on their website.

Analog Dialogue is the newsletter:

http://www.analog.com/library/analogdialogue/index.html

This month alone has a great article for the homebrewer/QRP’er called “Driving PIN Diodes: The Op-Amp Alternative“.  I didn’t look to see if the newsletter is downloadable or not (I hit the site, and start reading an article and then I get sidetracked.  Not that any of my fellow QRP’ers would ever know anything about that!).

They push the envelope one step further with Webinars!!!

http://www.analog.com/library/analogdialogue/webinars_tutorials.html

I haven’t had a chance to watch some yet (I had to register, and haven’t had the chance yet) but I have plenty on my viewing list.

Here’s a sample:

• Introduction to Op Amps — This presentation is an introductory discussion of operational amplifiers (op amps) and is intended for users that are new to or unfamiliar with analog design or concepts.

• Quadrature and DC Correction for Direct Conversion Receivers –This webcast discusses the various wireless communication architectures with a focus on homodyne receiver challenges such as: DC offset, quadrature errors and even order distortions.

• Amplifier Noise Principles for the Practical Engineer — This presentation will focus on practical noise tips for the board designer, rather than theoretical aspects often covered in academic texts.

• Introduction to Differential Amplifiers and Design Tools — The differential amplifier function provides precision signal conditioning in many high-performance system applications, such as medical instrumentation and portable test equipment. But how do you apply these devices to insure that your signal chain meets performance expectations? This on-demand technical webinar covers the basics of differential amplifiers, their common applications, and explores several design examples.

• Differential Circuit Design Techniques for Communication Applications — One of the major challenges in communications system design is the successful capturing of signals with adequate fidelity. This webinar explores the advantages of differential design techniques for today’s high performance communication systems.

I’ve used a lot of their product in the past, this only makes me want to continue knowing how much they back up their products with loads of information on how to use them!

If you know of any other companies products that we use on a regular basis that is very good at educating their customers on how to use their product, please share and post below!

Here’s a neat little site that is especially useful for new hams.  Edward F. Kuester from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado has put together a neat little reference to answer many questions regarding RF connectors.

One popular connector is at the right, an “N” connector.  I don’t know how many times I’ve worked with hams that have brought me this connector and didn’t get the gender right (it’s a male).  What about frequency and performance?  How high can this connector go?

This isn’t a “how to” site, more of a reference.  Good one to print out and have on hand when planning your next station.

The site can be found at:

http://ecee.colorado.edu/~kuester/Coax/connchart.htm

If you know of a good site like this one, maybe with great how to information (videos are a plus), comment below and share with everyone.  I take many comments from time to time and make them into a new post.

There have been a few videos and posts here on the topic.  This video takes a different approach.

Many know Diana Eng from previous posts on on working satellites.  Here she tackles the fundamentals of directional antennas.

She often splits her “geekdom” between radio and “technology clothing”.  You can find more about her on the Make: and Craft: websites.

http://makezine.com/

http://www.craftzine.com/