We were going to compare RX sensitivity on Chinese H/Ts, but instead, we spent most of the hour measuring TX output and using a Spectrum Analyzer (Tiny SA on Ebay for $68) to check for spurious output. Shown above is an anomaly, second, third, and fourth harmonics that weren’t there. Two Baofeng UV5Rs (the x3…

Entering the outbuilding behind the house you were greeted with an enormous Ham collection of a lifetime, and atop shelves on the far wall, dozens of 2M cavities (those round things on the top). Motorola experts would know if those stacks of radios were Maxars or Mocoms, but all the rest of us could do…

Both Mike KI5YX and Phillip KI5PFV brought their new Baofeng DMR HTs, the new DM32 model with lots of memories and larger size. In the Amateurish (see what I did there?) pic below, Mike’s 55 dollar black and green HT is on the right. Phillip spent $67 to get the clear plastic see through model…

Mike KI5YX brought in a 220 J-Pole made with 3/8 in copper pipe (2/3 the length of a 2M J-Pole). The ‘U’ at the bottom was about 13 in tall, and the half wave radiator above was around 26 inches. There used to be a 220 Net on one of the 220 repeaters, but not…

Mike KI5YX: Really? That old? Tom KJ5NMH: Yeah, we weren’t even teenagers yet when this one was new. 1958. Tube finals, a 6146 driver and 6550 final, both laid down horizontal in the aluminum heat sink in back. International doesn’t make crystals any more so I added a freq synthsizer, you can see it under…

Right as you went in the door at the Henryetta Hamfest Saturday, Jason W5HP had this nice looking Yaesu 950 HF and 6M rig for which he was asking $500, not much more than a new Xiegu G90 that doesn’t have even a quarter as many buttons and knobs and runs only 20W. Some other…

Larry W5LQF answered the most Jeopardy game questions Thursday night and took home a 1995 Radio Amateur’s Handbook prize. Sam KJ5BJR came in 2nd and won the 1972 edition (which has a bunch of Vacuum Tube specs in the appendix). Questions (or answers) included What’s the ARL callsign, W1AW, and What’s the color code for…

Heisenberg, Schrodinger and Ohm are in a car. They get pulled over. Heisenberg is driving and the cop asks him, “Do you know how fast you were going?” “No, but I know exactly where I am” Heisenberg replies. The cop says, “You were doing 55 in a 35.” Heisenberg throws up his hands and shouts,…

Earl WB5UUW from Broken Arrow, brought in this key component of an All Band Rotary Spark morse code transmitter from the WWI era, a motor driven spark gap. Together with a huge power supply (takes 2 men and a boy to lift), CW key, and aerial wires connected to the two spark posts shown, it’ll…

It takes about 35 Ah of battery power to run a hundred Watt rig for 24 hrs at Field Day. That’s most of the ‘usable’ capacity (50%) of a 100 Ah lead acid battery, but only 35 of those new hundred Ah LifePo batteries, and you can buy those used on EBay for just over…