K2 Ordering Issues

When ordering kits and bits from overseas my luck always seems to run out. The OHR 100A took nearly 4 weeks to arrive, evidently it had got lost in the vast empty space of the UK postal and customs service!

Two weeks have passed since I ordered the K2 and still no sign, so I was getting slightly agitated. I emailed the UK Elecraft distributor to enquire of any news, the reply was not good, quote: "Elecraft are out of stock of the K2 at this moment".

Now not that I'm suspicious but I know as do most potential Elecraft Kit owners if I go on to the Elecraft website there is a page all about stock levels, naturally if we have just ordered our new kits we like to see that all things are in order before we pay out are hard earned cash. So on reading the mail from the UK distributor I went to double check, because I distinctly remember when I ordered my K2 I checked the Elecraft website for stock.

Well, someone is telling porky pies because the Elecraft site clearly states K2s are in stock. Hmm, some peeps may call me a pessimistic old git, but my initial feelings is that my order was either mislaid or forgotten, (perhaps I'm wrong), but what's the betting that in approximately two weeks from the date of this post I receive my K2?

K2 The Wait Continues

Coming up to the 2^nd week from ordering the K2 so I’m hoping it should arrive in the next few days, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes another week. Sometimes customs are pretty good and things go through quickly and sometimes it can take forever. 

Meantime I’ve been playing with the OHR100-A and getting some pretty good QSOs all over Europe, it really is a great little rig, the receiver is very sensitive and picks up weak signals just as well as my FT1000MP V but of course I have all the filters for the FT and so can narrow everything down. With the OHR100 you’re a little limited but providing the QRM isn’t too bad and using the bandwidth you can have some fun with just 5 watts.

I’ve taken the two meter yagi down, I just wasn’t using it and I could put the rotator to much better use with something like a Hex or another Moxon. Two meters is fairly quiet round here and to be honest I rarely chat on the bands, looking in the log my last conversation on the radio was over two years ago! With the Yagi and the 50MHz inverted V both sitting doing nothing I might just advertise with the local club just to see if anyone wants them or maybe just dismantle them both.

 Re another antenna we’ll see what I can come up with once I’ve done a bit more research. I am limited in what size I can use, having a cobweb, a 30m vertical and an inverted V all up in the garden does clog things up and a great big Hex or Moxon might not go down too well!

K2 Ordered

The money has been handed over and the K2 order is in, now it's the wait .......possibly a whole 2 weeks! 

To think it was only back in June last year that I started my QRP quest with the little old Rockmites then the OHR100 A,  now I'm ordering the kit I've always wanted. I've feel I've come a long way since June 2012 and am quite ready for the challenge, in fact I'm really looking forward to it. 

All the Elecraft reviews I've read point towards how good the kits are and the great support the company provides. Fingers crossed I wont need too much support but it's nice to know its there should I need it.

In the next few days I'm going to join the K2 build forums and have a good read, naturally once the kit has arrived I will publish how I get on, so obviously watch this space.

60 meter Band Big Disappointment

I’d built my 60 meter antenna and had hung it up in the silver birch at the end of the garden, all connected up ready to start listening full of anticipation. 

Over the past week I have listened and heard the odd ham but quite honestly I was disappointed, I was hoping for more, no CW at all, nothing all week. As for side band there were a few but enough to count on one hand. 

Then this morning as there was a big competition going on and most of the bands were busy I’d thought I try 5MHz to see what was about, 5.325.00 to be precise. What I heard really astounded me and believe me I’m no saint, the language was colourful to say the least, whoever these two muppets were they were local boys from around Gloucestershire, it wasn’t hard to tell by their extremely thick Gloster accents. 

No call signs naturally, just happy to gossip about various people in their neighbourhood whom obviously they didn’t like and in doing so swear as much as they could. As I said I’m no saint but you don’t swear on the radio, certainly not the language they were using its common sense, something that these idiots were obviously lacking. 

In the end after listening for about 10 minutes in case they gave anything away I gave up and turned the rig off. I’m taking the antenna down, I don’t want to be a part of that, its part of the reason I hardly do side band, give me CW any day. No doubt there will be operators out there saying if you don’t use the band you will lose it, well sorry I won’t be a part of that particular band when there are idiots like that around. Enough said and back I go to CW! 

On a different note I’m almost ready to buy the K2, I rang the UK distributor and at the moment they are waiting for new stock, so I will ring back next week and put my order in. I must admit I was tempted by the Kenwood TS 590 but after serious investigations (mainly through Eham and You Tube) I decided on the K2. Overall the impression is that the RX quality of the K2 is marginally better but of course the winner for me was that you have the pleasure of building the transceiver. 

I’m going for the basic 15 watts first and see how it goes, I’m really looking forward to building this rig, after all it’s taken 3 RockMites and one OHR 100A to get to this point. More updates will follow once I have the kit.

W3DZZ Trap Service and 5MHZ Dipole

Since I’ve serviced the G3TPW Cobweb and completed the G3TXQ, I decided I might as well check the traps on the W3DZZ antenna and re-tune if necessary. Also I’ve successfully applied for the 5Mhz so I need to make up an antenna for that band. 

The W3DZZ has been up for a number of years and is a really good antenna for 40 and 80 meters. The 40m was originally set for the CW portion of the band and 80m set to 3.700MHz for some listening and the odd rag chew. 

The antenna was made from instructions I found off the web, a piece written by GM0ONX. I was that impressed I actually contacted him to say what a great antenna it was and how easy to build. He very kindly replied and informed me that it was literally built in a day and by chance he managed to get it published in Practical Wireless!

My particular W3DZZ uses the coax traps which were very easy to build and seem to work really well. GM0ONX's design is very easy to follow and simple to construct and if you're starting out this is an excellent way to get in to trap antennas.

You will require an antenna analyzer to tune up the traps

Recently I've noticed that the SWR has been reading quite high and I've been repeatedly having to tune up. So it was definitely time for a service; I removed both traps and did a quick check with the MFJ 259, the SWR was showing 1:1 at around 6.800MHz and it also looked like the coax on the tubing had slipped slightly and just needed some re-adjusting. 

It was just a matter of removing the electrical tape and adjusting the coax, then gently trimming the 40 meter portion until I got a good reading of 1:1 at 7.0030MHz, I also lengthened the 80 meter portion by 6" each end to drop the peak to around the CW part of the band. Once both bands were set with the correct trim it was just a case of re-taping the coax traps up and making sure everything was waterproof.

 Multi coloured trap (adds a bit of colour to the garden)!

Now SWR readings are good at 1:0 for 7.030 and 1:1 for 3.0550, it's funny how once all connected back up you'd swear the receive signals sound much better!

The 60 meters antenna will be an inverted Vee and I’m using the 1:1 ugly balun I made some weeks ago, (see previous posts), I’ve roughly trimmed it up and once I have it raised up in the silver birch at the end of the garden will do the final trim with the MFJ 259b.

The 5MHZ dipole complete with 1:1 ugly balun ready to be mounted in the silver birch tree, the red tag reminds me which is the positive end!

Having the MFJ 259b for measuring my home brew antennas does make building a lot easier. Another accessory you can buy (for some stupid sum of money) is the loop coupler for measuring traps and coils, my Brother in law has one which I borrowed when I first built the W3DZZ. 

 However, as he was away this week I realised I’d be stuck for doing the trap measuring. There was no way I was going to buy one , so I decided to have ago at making it, after all it couldn't be too difficult.

 Thankfully I had a 100 watt soldering gun and all it took was some reasonably thick copper wire and a male to male 259 connector and a simple case of soldering one end of the wire to the centre pin and the other to the outside ring. I've probably made the ring a bit too big, but hey the traps fitted fine for testing so it works and cost me nothing!

Both Cobwebs Now Up and Running

Well after much playing about with tuning and trimming, I finally got the G3TPW Cobweb back up on the mast yesterday evening.

After my initial tuning the other day I had to dismantle the antenna as the weather was proving very bad, so yesterday by the time I had re-assembled and started up the tuning process the morning had passed quickly by. Finally with a bit more trimming completed, I climbed the ladder with antenna in hand and clamped it in to place.

I switched on the MFJ 259 and did some checks, the SWR was all over the place, I had a problem, something was definitely not right and after a quick check of all the coax cables, I had to make the decision to bring the antenna back down, and so I clambered back up the ladder and removed the antenna.

I spent most of the afternoon with the terminal box open trying to figure out what the problem was, I knew it was shorting somewhere but in the end I had to go through each connection to find the short. Eventually I found the problem, it turned out to be one of the 12 meter elements had split at the join to the choc block causing one of the U connections to short and all it needed was re-stripping. Then it was just a case of re waterproofing the box, sealing up and mounting back on the mast.

Dusk was fast approaching when I clambered back up the ladder and attached the cobweb back on the mast, I quickly said a prayer and did my checks on the MFJ and thankfully all proved OK. 

Finally back on the mast!

The SWR measurements are now pretty good, they are all set for CW except for 10 meters which I set for 28.500 as I like an occasional rag chew on 10.

14.000 - 1:4

18.070 - 1:0

21.050 - 1:0

24890 - 1:2

28.500 - 1:1

With the G3TXQ cobweb now set up in the attic I am at last ready to do a bit of testing with both cobwebs. Obviously as this antenna is in an enclosed space there is bound to be a difference. The most noticeable being the background noise but that cannot be helped as the attic naturally has bricks and mortar and electrical wiring.

Here is the final SWR reading for the G3TXQ:

14.075 1:5

18.080 1:4

21.073 1:3

24.890 1:1                        

28.015 1:1    

As suspected there is not a lot of difference, but the SWR is slightly higher on the G3TXQ on a couple of bands (most likely because of the attic positioning). I could trim to match the frequency of the G3TPW, but to be honest I couldn't be bothered to get it exactly the same. 

Physically the G3TXQ is far lighter and easier to handle also the tuning is much quicker because you only have one wire for each element. But that said, I do like my G3TPW, it is heavier and chunkier with my larger home made plates and it definitely feels more solid especially with the windy condition we have round here.

It was very apparent when lifting back on to the mast how much heavier it was compared to the G3TXQ, you feel the lighter cobweb would literally blow away in the wind, although that said it's exactly the same build just lighter materials.

The main difference on receiving is of course the background noise but if the G3TXQ was raised outside on my mast I doubt you would know the difference when listening. On transmit I've now used both cobwebs on 20 meters and reports from both are good with the G3TPW showing  slightly stronger RSTs, again no doubt due to due location.

So all in all as suspected there is very little difference, for me I'd go for the G3TPW simply because it feels stronger, but that personal choice from QTH circumstances. It's been fun servicing the old cobweb and building a new one and I hope you have enjoyed the entertainment as I've struggled along. I'm not a technical antenna geek so all this is very basic but hopefully gives you a rough guide to both types of the antenna.

I'll probably remove most of the posts I have regarding the Cobweb antenna and place them on a separate page so that potential builders have all the information together.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the G3TXQ cobweb now, so for the moment it's sitting snugly up in the attic out the way. Currently I'm saving up for either a K2 or a TS590 so I'm tempted to keep the G3TXQ and connect to the new radio, then I'll be spoilt for choice with two cobwebs!

PYE Radio Restoration

Whilst up in the attic rummaging around for Christmas decorations I came across an old radio/gramophone that had been sitting up there for the past 10 years, before that it had been sitting in the cellar of our previous house, totally unloved! It belonged to my XYL’s father and had been purchased many years ago.

I brought it out of the attic and gave it a good check over; blowing off the dust the on off switch had a small crack and the center cover on the left control was missing, the wooden cabinet was sound but had varnish peeling off, otherwise everything seemed to be there. On the back was inscribed “PYE R32” so I did a bit of investigating on the web. 

The original web photo

 It seemed the PYE R32 was built in the 1960s and could be bought for the vast sum of 28 guineas a lot of money in those days. It looked like an old valve radio but in fact was a transistor based rig, presumably, transistors were still in their early stages so the R32 was made to look like the reliable valve system. Removing the back cover everything was covered in a thick dust, it was then that the radio instinct took over and I knew I had to get it working! 

I gave the insides a good clean, first with a vacuum cleaner using a small spout and brush and then with small tips of cotton wool buds dipped in electrical cleaning solvent. Gradually the dust came off and it was almost as if the PYE was slowly coming back to life as each layer of dust was removed. 

 Once I felt everything inside was relatively clean I decided to connect a battery and see what would happen. Bingo, it came to life, I tested both the MW and LW ranging up and down each band and all seemed OK, the volume was a bit scratchy but some solvent on the pot soon cured that. The tone worked well and interestingly it had its own little antenna system that could be rotated within the cabinet which was rather neat and worked really well, bringing in European stations when you turned the antenna. 

 So now I knew it worked it only seemed right and fair to restore the cabinet back to its original condition. I decided to tackle the top first as it was definitely the worst effected, I gave it a good coat of paint/vanish stripper and then gently peeled off the remnants, finally I finished off with some serious scrubbing using wire wool. 

Leaving it to dry off for 24hrs I then sanded down the top, cleaned it all up and applied some varnish. Whilst I write this post it’s still drying off but if all is well I will then attack the front and both sides and re-varnish the whole cabinet.

I must admit just with the top done it looks better than the original picture I took off the web, should look brilliant once I've completed the sides, more pictures to follow once it’s all completed.

A 1:1 Balun

Whilst the cobweb is being dismantled and serviced I've put up a 20 meter inverted V dipole, just so I can use the OHR100A which is set for 20M. The dipole is completed with a 1:1 Balun.  

The ugly balun is very simple to build and does the job of removing any stray rf off the outside of the coax and away from the shack. 
It only took me a morning to make and it's from various bits and pieces I had lying around, an odd length of guttering pipe, some spare coax with an SO239 attached at the bottom of the pipe. The two wires from the dipole attach directly at the top of the balun via a choc block.

It's a bit rough and ready but as long as it does the job I'm not too bothered as it will be up 30ft and no one is going to look at the cosmetics!

The cobweb has as previously mentioned been dismantled and is now lying in the shed with the connection box drying off. Once its dry I will add some more silicone and drill some draining holes in the bottom of the box. 

The replacement fibre glass poles arrived but on closer inspection were just too thin to be used to hold the twin speaker cable, so I've found another supplier and re-ordered. 

The wooden poles are actually in not too bad a condition but I would prefer fibre glass to add strength and to make the antenna lighter. The new poles must be near to an inch in width to fit the metal sleeves and will be hollow therefore lighter.

Servicing the Cobweb Antenna

Finally I've got round to begin the service of the home-brew Cobweb. Taking it down from the mast wasn’t as bad as I thought, I decided to do it now as the weather forecast is not good with high winds expected over the next few days, so while there was a break in the weather I zipped up the ladder and began the removal process.

 Once down the initial inspection was that it didn’t look too bad considering it’s been up on the mast for nearly two years and been subject to some pretty bad weather conditions. A bit of rust here and there on the metal tubes that hold the wooden poles, but perhaps through luck or my building capabilities it has managed to withstand all that has been thrown at it! 

  The wooden poles and the box are covered in mildew and slightly bowed, but still sound, the cables are fairly loose which I suspect is the main reason my SWR has been out, especially on 20 meters which at the last reading was 2.5. Interestingly I thought the box would have been pretty rusty inside but surprisingly looks very clean apart from a good ½ “ of water slopping inside, first thought was hmm, I forgot to drill any draining plugs!

 The wooden poles are going to be replaced with fibreglass, I managed to find some ex army surplus which should do the job nicely but I will have to wait as I’ve only just ordered them so it will take a few days to arrive. Since the main box is in such good condition I will do little except give the outside a good scrub and more importantly drill a couple of draining holes. 

The silicon grease has done its job and kept the contacts all clean and rust free, I'm amazed there is no rust on the copper wire or the steel screws. Originally I bought a Cobweb (back in the 90s) for the grand sum of £160 and when I sold it I remember inspecting the box and seeing how badly rusted everything was, so I was expecting the home-brew to be the same, just goes to show what a bit of silicone will do to protect.

Over the next few days I will tighten the cables and recheck the SWR and if needs be replace any that are suspect, luckily I have some spare cable that I got last summer from Maplins, (our version of Radio Shack). 

Looking inside the box it is a remarkable simple system that is very easy to build and yet gives great results. This is easily the best antenna I've ever built and quite honestly if I can build one anyone can. If you want further information look at the Cobweb Revealed website or alternatively please ask and I'll be happy to help where I can (but I warn you now I don't understand the theory, hi hi). I will include as many picture as I can during the service process so you can see just how easy it is put together.

OHR100A Completed

The OHR100 A is now complete, a few QSO's later and I must admit I'm pretty impressed with this little QRP radio especially on the receive side. The Bandwidth takes a little bit of tweaking to get it just right but works well and can quite easily cut out the clutter from other nearby stations. So far I've had some good reports with stations around Europe and I have no doubt that I'll be able to contact across the pond with my 7 watts of power.

I've managed to get hold of a frequency counter off Ebay which has made a big difference, I don't have to guess where I am within the CW side of 20 meters which does speed things up a bit when searching for QRP stations. 

Inputting the IF offset frequency took a bit of thinking as I'd never done it before, but after reading and re-reading the instructions I eventually got there and had it all set up. The casing is a bit scruffy, but I'll give it a lick of black paint or some Hammerite to tidy it up a bit. I fitted an internal 9v battery and also added a small on off switch to save power when not required. It does the job nicely and I amazed how quickly I built it all up, another thing 6 months ago that I wouldn't have had a clue at doing!

I eventually gave up on the old TH-215 E and went shopping on Ebay, I managed to pick up a TH-22E for a few quid. It's an excellent little radio and works well when connected up to the Yagi, only 5 watts but that's all I really need as I'm 750 ft above sea level so can get out pretty well on low power.

The next project I must get round to (having said I was going to do it back in the Summer) is to take down the Cobweb and give it a good service. The SWR on 20 meters is up at 2.5 so I'm having to use the ATU all the time now for the RMs and the OHR. It probably just needs tightening, but I'm going to open the box and give it a good clean and re-grease the connections, after all it has been up there for a long time now. I'll take some pictures so you can see just how easy it is to build one!

I've got 10 days off over the Christmas break so I shall pick a good day weather wise and do the work! Also over the break I am going t have a good think about what to do next radio wise, another kit perhaps, or maybe an old transceiver that needs a bit of TLC? Well see what happens in 2013.

On that note May I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.