Re: 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
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Jack,
What you were demonstrating to me on your new AA device really looked interesting and definitely worth building.? While you were showing me the device I was also thinking of how I could possibly package that into some box that would look good plus hold up to abuse at times in a backpack. In recent years I have been picking up blank pieces of circuit board material from Far Circuits while at the hamvention.? I picked up six really nice pieces this year just for the purpose of making cases for projects where there is no really good case designed to fit it. I've built cases like this in the past for several projects and they all came out really well since you can solder them together.? I use a small table saw from Harbor Freight that cuts these boards like they are made from butter.? Nice clean cuts and easy to paint when done.? I make the square/rectangular holes for displays using a scroll saw with a starter hole in each corner to start the cuts.? Then I finish off the hole with a fine file to make it really square up and look nice.? I'll be building your AA when the article is published so keep on working on it as this should appeal to a lot of hams just like the 40 meter transceiver article did.? The 40 meter transceiver I built sure did get a lot of attention on Friday evening and I've had a number of people email me since I returned home asking more questions.? You sure came up with a fun device when you dreamed up that item. Gary A.
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Gary:
Yes, the new AA will be completely portable, but will allow you to save scans to an SD card, which can then be sent to a PC via a USB connection. Since it's stored as a CSV file, it can be input directly into Excel. I'm working on one more feature that will allow you to overlay the previous scan with a new scan. That way, you can see directly what impact any change you made since the last run. I've also added coverage for the 60M band.
Each scan is comprised of 100 sample points spaced out over the frequency range you input. So if you do a scan from 7.0mHz to 7.1mHz, you have one point for every 1kHz. What is not obvious is that each one of those points is an average of 70 individual voltage tests. That will dampen the effect that small environmental changes (e.g., wind) can have on a single reading. If we can get the accuracy to 10%, it will be as good or better than units costing two to three times as much. I'm pretty excited about it.
Gotta run...still working on code tonight...
Jack
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Interesting on the two calls.? Never thought to look them up.? I was lucky and ended up with a call ending in MNA when I started but have over the years modified it a bit with WN0, AB0, WB0 and now W0MNA.? Think I'll stop with this one.? Great CW call.
Just checked my supply of Arduino and I have a Mega board new still in the package.? I'm ready whenever you publish the article.? It really looked interesting and I can see this being used on a SOTA summit for checking the antenna when you put it up in a tree or however so you end up with the best SWR etc. you can get in that location.? I have another antenna analyzer I put together as a kit a few years ago but it requires a computer to see the results.? Yours looked like something I could really make use of in the field. Thanks again, Gary A. - W0MNA On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 3:14 PM, Jack Purdum jjpurdum@... [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] <SoftwareControlledHamRadio@...> wrote:
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Gary:
You did a good job, as I said.
BTW, I wondered if anyone had the call W0MAN, and it turns out a lady has it, but a guy has W0MEN. Interesting!?
I'll keep you posted on the AA project. I have the Beta board working now.
Jack, W8TEE
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Jack,
Thanks for the nice comments on the transceiver and for creating the design to start with.? Some pretty tough competition at this build session.? Really looking forward to building your next project you showed me at FDIM.? I can see a number of uses for that device.
Also, thanks for all the assistance you gave me early on in the building process with the sketch.? Really enjoyed talking to you at FDIM and hope to see you there again next year.
Gary A. - W0MNA
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