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SARCNet MK1::First impressions

Inspired by the webpage of SARCNet, I decided to build the SARCNet MK1 rotator.

Here the first impression of the unit I've build:

Details: Kategorie: Satellite; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 21. Mai 2022

Weiterlesen: SARCNet MK1::First impressions

SDR-stick and RTL_433 or how to monitor road traffic

I stumpled across this intersting post on RTL-SDR.COM talking about monitoring TirePressureMeasurementSystems with a cheap SDR stick and a clever piece of software. The rtl_433 software receives and decodes signals transmitted by tire pressure sensors inside the wheels of modern (I assume at least from the last 10 years) cars.

My initial idea is, that I can monitor the traffic in front of my house - at least traffic of modern cars. As Germany is a car centric country, I expect to catch most of the traffic.

Details: Kategorie: SDR; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 21. Mai 2022

Weiterlesen: SDR-stick and RTL_433 or how to monitor road traffic

CW-Sensor-Keyer reloaded

You may have seen my build version of the M0UKD sensor keyer and the Bamatech sensor head.

As you can see in this post, I've used a simple slide switch to control the power for the sensor keyer. This was a little bit annoying, as you must always check, whether you've turned of the power, when you leave the shack.

As power consumption is not really a big issue - the keyer draws about 2.5mA from two AA-cells. Based on the capacity of an average Energizer Classic AA battery of 1.200mA you will get an on-time of about 300h.

Since many months I've had the idea, to add an electronic switch to the keyer, so it switch of automatically after 15 minutes of idle time.

Details: Kategorie: Shack; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 21. Mai 2022

Weiterlesen: CW-Sensor-Keyer reloaded

QO-100 - RF preamp

In search for a suitable pre-amplifier for the SG-Labs PA V3 I was pointed by a fellow ham to this amplifier on Amazon for abt.€17,-

Details: Kategorie: Satellite; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 13. November 2021

Weiterlesen: QO-100 - RF preamp

hamware AT-502 - Firmware

Die Orignal-Firmware des Steuergeräts des HAMWARE Tuners AT-502 hat eine Funktion eingebaut, welche an Hand eines gesendeten Trägers versucht die aktuelle Arbeitsfrequenz zu ermitteln und den dazu passenden Speicher auszuwählen.

Dies funktioniert bei CW relativ gut, im SSB Betrieb ist dieses Verfahren nicht optimal. Der größte Nachteil meiner Ansicht nach ist aber, dass man zuerst einer Träger senden muss, damit die Frequenz eingestellt wird.

Details: Kategorie: hamware; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 23. September 2021

Weiterlesen: hamware AT-502 - Firmware

hamware AT-502/AT-515/AT-615B Interface

I've developed a small interface board for the HAMWARe controller AT-502, AT-515 and AT-651B. This interface boards supports RS232 and CI-V communications and can be directly mounted into the controller chassis.

Details: Kategorie: hamware; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 23. September 2021

Weiterlesen: hamware AT-502/AT-515/AT-615B Interface

RF Powermeter - Calibration basics updated

In this post I describe in details, how you can create the calibration factors for k0 ... k3 based on raw data measured with the power sensor.

Details: Kategorie: RF Powermeter; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 19. Juni 2021

Weiterlesen: RF Powermeter - Calibration basics ** updated **

RF Powermeter - Firmware 1.8.1

With the firmware version 1.8.1 there are some minor enhancements:

Offset value is displayed on main screen. "O" at the end of the unit is removed
Waveform display also correct when offset is enabled

Here are the required files:

Details: Kategorie: RF Powermeter; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 16. Juni 2021

Weiterlesen: RF Powermeter - Firmware 1.8.1

RF Powermeter - Firmware 1.9.0

With the firmware version 1.9.0 there are some minor enhancements:

Peak-hold works now, when offset is set
Meter and diagram works in dBm and W mode

Here are the required files:

Details: Kategorie: RF Powermeter; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 16. Juni 2021

Weiterlesen: RF Powermeter - Firmware 1.9.0

CobWeb

CobWeb from eBay

Details: Kategorie: Antennen; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 30. Mai 2021

Weiterlesen: CobWeb

New boy in town - QCX-mini

Last weekend I've finished my QCX-mini kit for 20m from QRPLabs.

This was a birthday present from my wife and she is very happy, that the QCX-mini now works great ;-) I'm too ...

On Sunday I was able to make three contacts to the US south coast - 5w and a dipole - thats fine.

Details: Kategorie: Transceiver; Zuletzt aktualisiert: 10. Februar 2021

Weiterlesen: New boy in town - QCX-mini

RF Powermeter - Uploading HMI file

The Nextion display needs the content defined in the file PowerMeter.HMI. You can either upload it with the Nextion editor via a serial link to the display or you can copy the TFT file to an SD card and put this into the socket on the Nextion display.