General

New radio room is on the air

August 24, 2016

After two years of “all talk, no action,” the radio room has been rebuilt.

Heathkit SB-221 brought back to life

May 9, 2016

An overview of my SB-221 amplifier repair project — a notebook about what it needed and what I did.

The Large and Powerful Spider Beam

January 23, 2016

Here’s a homemade, lightweight but full-size triband yagi (with directors and reflectors in V configuration) interlaced on a 32-foot boom. And it works like a dream.

Hybrid wire element SteppIR 40M yagi

January 23, 2016

Expand a 40M rotatable dipole into a 2-element yagi with a fixed wire element. Add a relay to the wire and get instant 180-degree rotation, too.

LED lighting for CDE/Hygain rotator meter

September 7, 2015

Tired of burned-out bulbs in your CDE rotator meter? Replace the bulb with an LED strip — it’s inexpensive and LEDs will last a very long time.

Rebuilding the radio room

August 15, 2015

Big plans for the radio “shack” at VA7ST… will it ever be built?

Astron power supply digital meter (volts/amps)

July 10, 2015

Want to know what that “blind” power supply is putting out? Add a digital volt/ammeter to your meterless Astron power supply

Trip of a lifetime: camera outcomes

April 29, 2015

General thoughts on the new camera after a trip to New Zealand and Australia.

Affordable Lumix FZ1000 battery packs

February 2, 2015

Today’s portable gear — including cameras — demands a lot from batteries. Here’s a quick tip on where to get affordable extra batteries (that work really well) for the Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 camera.

Low-cost photography filters from Fotodiox

February 1, 2015

One of the best additions to a photographer’s toolkit is also one of the least expensive: this kit of three Fotodiox filters (circular polarizar, UV, and soft diffusion) for under $15 is a great deal.