Fofio!

Some time ago, I attempted to research sources for kits on the Internet, only to find out that there wasn't a one-stop-website for Ham Radio kit suppliers.

QRPGuys AFP-FSK Digital Transceiver III

I decided to put together a good list of sources for kits that are currently available. Many of these are

for QRP operation, but a few are full-featured professional transceivers (Elecraft, DZ). On the beginners side there are a few sources that stand out: QRPguy.com has a great assortment of kits. QRPme offers the inexpensive, easy-to-build tuna-can products, and I would like to make special mention

Raspberry Pi Applications For Ham Radio - HRU 2021

2021-01-10T22:44:00.002-05:00

I would like to thank everyone that attended our new virtual format this year. Here are some links and a link to the presentation.

PRESENTATION: CLICK HERE

Raspberry Pi Foundation:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/

Purchase:
Newark - Element 14
Micro Center
Adafruit
PiShop

HAM Pi Distro: Download Here

Groups IO Group for Ham Pi here

Pi FM Project
Link to GitHub Project

TAPR WSPR board for Pi
Link to the current version

QRPGuys EZ WSPR Pi Raspberry Pi module (board only)
Link to product/order page

Basic USB Sound Card
Link to Amazon page

Windows (ARM) on Pi

Link to Project at Tom's Guide

Kiwi SDR Project (using BeagleBone)

QUESTIONS (and answers from the forum):

1. What's the best way to power a Raspberry Pi from 12 Volts?

-- A good quality car USB adapter (Micro for Raspberry Pi 1 - 3, and 'C' for Ras Pi 4) would work fine. Just make sure you pick one with decent wattage (rated for large tablets)

-- Mike KD8QDL suggested this device, which I consider something like this essential for the workbench: Link to Amazon Listing

2. There was a question about the DRAWS Hat which I couldn't remember the details on.

-- The DRAWS Hat is a multifunction board for interfacing the Pi with multiple devices in the shack. From the website, it includes a "high-performance sound chip (CODEC), a GPS with pulse per second (PPS) that includes an embedded battery backed real-time clock (RTC), and a 12VDC power circuit to power the onboard devices and the Raspberry Pi from a single power supply. It has two mini DIN-6 audio sockets that match the ‘TNC’ specification found on many radios designed for amateur radio, an SMA connector for a powered GPS LNA antenna, power connection socket, and a small GPIO array for additional I/O". This sounds great, and I think I'll pick one up before next year's HRU! You can read about it and get one here: Link to DRAWS Hat at NW Digital Radio

3. Mesh on Raspberry Pi. I mentioned that there was a distribution for this. I was mistaken. I was thinking of PiNet which is for classrooms. Here is the closest thing to what I was talking about: https://github.com/binnes/WiFiMeshRaspberryPi

4. Somebody asked about Node Red. Here is the Wikipedia description of it: Node-RED is a flow-based development tool for visual programming developed originally by IBM for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services as part of the Internet of Things. Node-RED provides a web browser-based flow editor, which can be used to create JavaScript functions. It appears that it does work on the Pi. Link here

That's all for 2021. See everyone next year!

MY RADIO KIT GUIDE PAGE:

radiokitguide.com

Digital Modes Including FT8 - Ham Radio University 2021

2021-01-10T21:08:00.001-05:00

Hi all, thanks for attending my talk at this year's HRU. Here are the important links and the presentation I gave.

PRESENTATION: CLICK HERE

WSJT-X Downloads on this page: https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html
Meinberg NTP (Windows Time Sync): https://www.meinbergglobal.com/english/sw/ntp.htm

JTAlert add-on: http://hamapps.com/

FT8 operating guide by ZL2IFP: https://www.g4ifb.com/FT8_Hinson_tips_for_HF_DXers.pdf

JS8Call: http://js8call.com/

JS8 Guide (If link is dead look for new one at the JS8Call site): https://tinyurl.com/yc6z73do

FT8 RADIO KITS:

D4D DSB Transceiver Kit

From CRKits.com

DSB Digital Transceiver Kit

From QRPguys.com

K1SWL’s Phaser Digital Mode SSB Kit

From midnightdesignsolutions.com

Digital 40 SSB Transceiver Kit or Assembled

From youkits.com No manual yet - NEW

MY RADIO KIT GUIDE PAGE:

radiokitguide.com

QUESTIONS FROM FORUM:

What is Fox and Hound Mode?

--OK, I looked this up, and Fox and Hound mode is DXPedition mode.

Best explained here: https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/FT8_DXpedition_Mode.pdf

Also, I didn't have time to mention that Joe is throwing a new mode at us in the next version of WSJT-X

Version 2.4 which will be coming soon includes the new Q65 mode. Read about it here:

https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/Q65_Quick_Start.pdf

Sources, Parts. Surplus Outlets, and More

2020-07-13T12:36:00.001-04:00

W2NDG's RadioKitGuide.com Presents:

Sources, Parts. Surplus Outlets, and More

Although many of these suppliers have disappeared, many still remain. A lot of us still deal with All Electronics, Electronics Goldmine and more. Recently I went looking for a list of the remaining surplus outlets online, and once again, as with the radiokitguide, I decided to create my own.

--A. G. Tannenbaum's Old Radio Site http://www.agtannenbaum.com/agtannenbaum.root/shop/

Interesting site for antique radio enthusiasts.

--All Electronics http://www.allelectronics.com/

All Electronics dates back to when I was a kid. Great site. Watch the weekly new items, and page through the catalog. And YES, they publish a catalog, and will mail it to you. You can also download a PDF of it. I have purchased many items from them, and always reasonable, fast, and accurate.

--AllTronics https://www.alltronics.com//

Sometimes confused with All Electronics for obvious reasons. Similar surplus outlet. Expansive inventory.

--Amidon http://www.amidoncorp.com/

Interesting assortment of

NanoVNA Presentation Links and Info

2020-02-12T18:00:00.000-05:00

Link to PowerPoint Presentation:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PFuAPcpZOdam6kVJabuwAsT8XnDqM8I6

Hex and Flex getting started 1, 2, and 3:  https://hexandflex.com/category/uncategorized/

Electronics Notes, What is a VNA?:  https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/test-methods/rf-vector-network-analyzer-vna/what-is-a-vna.php

nanoVNA vs. Keysight N9913A at HF: http://ae5x.blogspot.com/2019/09/nanovna-vs-keysight-n9913a-at-hf.html

Original Project at GitHub:  https://github.com/ttrftech/NanoVNA

RTL-SDR posts about NanoVNA:  https://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/nanovna/

Raspberry Pi Applications for Ham Radio

2020-01-05T21:40:00.000-05:00

I would like to thank everyone that attended for making this a great forum. Here are some links and a link to the presentation.

PRESENTATION: CLICK HERE

Raspberry Pi Foundation:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/

Purchase:
Newark - Element 14
Micro Center
Adafruit
PiShop

Pi Distro for Ham Radio:
Groups.io thread: Message # 9438. You may need to join the group to read

Also here: https://ham.packet-radio.net/packet/raspberry-image/

Pi FM Project
Link to GitHub Project

TAPR WSPR board for Pi
Link to the 20M version

QRPGuys EZ WSPR Pi Raspberry Pi module
Link to product/order page

Basic USB Sound Card
Link to Amazon page

FT8 Kits:

D4D DSB Transceiver Kit

From CRKits.com

DSB Digital Transceiver Kit

From QRPguys.com

K1SWL’s Phaser Digital Mode SSB Kit

From midnightdesignsolutions.com

Digital 40 SSB Transceiver Kit or Assembled

From youkits.com No manual yet - NEW

MY RADIO KIT GUIDE PAGE:

radiokitguide.com

Digital Modes Including FT8 - Ham Radio University 2020

2020-01-05T17:13:00.000-05:00

JTAlert add-on: http://hamapps.com/

FT8 operating guide by ZL2IFP: https://www.g4ifb.com/FT8_Hinson_tips_for_HF_DXers.pdf

JS8Call: http://js8call.com/

JS8 Guide (If link is dead look for new one at the JS8Call site): https://tinyurl.com/yc6z73do

NEW FT8 RADIO KITS:

D4D DSB Transceiver Kit

From CRKits.com

DSB Digital Transceiver Kit

From QRPguys.com

K1SWL’s Phaser Digital Mode SSB Kit

From midnightdesignsolutions.com

Digital 40 SSB Transceiver Kit or Assembled

From youkits.com No manual yet - NEW

MY RADIO KIT GUIDE PAGE:

radiokitguide.com

HRU 2019 Digital Modes Including FT-8

2019-01-05T21:53:00.002-05:00

Thank you everyone that attended. I was not feeling 100% today, but everyone helped move things along.

Here is a link to the presentation

This is the FT-8 guide from JT himself

And the help page for JS8Call

HRU 2019 Raspberry Pi Presentation

2019-01-05T11:40:00.000-05:00

Thank you to all the attendees!

We had a great RasPi forum. Well attended and good questions.

Here is a link to the presentation

I'll try to extract some links and put them here later.

TheKitGuy.com

2018-11-27T08:33:00.004-05:00

Neil Goldstein --- TheKitGuy.com

Multiband Radio Kit - China

I build and write about kits.

You will find my posts on my blog here: FOFIO!

I maintain a list of radio-related kit sites on the internet here: RADIO KIT GUIDE

LIMARC HOTSPOT Presentation 9/12/2018

2018-09-12T16:01:00.001-04:00

Links for HotSpot Discussion

Example eBay seller: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2018-Antenna-Case-OLED-MMDVM-Hotspot-Support-P25-DMR-YSF-for-Raspberry-pi/183098690667?epid=22021349476&hash=item2aa1884c6b:g:f~cAAOSwQp5alVPb

Setup guide: http://www.hagensieker.com/blog/page/?post_id=99&title=jumbospot-dmr-hotspot

PiStar: https://www.pistar.uk/index.php

Basic CW Rigs You Can Build Yourself

2018-05-04T23:18:00.000-04:00

This is a list of websites covering all of the products shown in the demonstration for the

LONG ISLAND CW CLUB

Midway Electronics ME40

Breadboard Radio

EA3GCY radio kits

Four State QRP Group

DIY QRP transceiver (eBay)

Third Planet Solar KC9ON

Hans Summers QRP LABS

Pacific Antenna / QRPKits

QRPME - W1REX

QRPME Li'l Squall

Small Wonder Labs.....RIP
Midway Electronics
QRPME
Chinese Kits

Midway Electronics

Walford Electronics

QRPGuys

HFSignals - BITX

My Favorite Places #1: P&T Surplus

2018-03-14T14:14:00.000-04:00

As a kid, I had two older brothers that were tinkerers. Mostly Lee with his interest in anything automotive, but Paul too who fixed old TV's and experimented with computers and photography. There was a place in my hometown of Kingston, NY called P&D surplus.

I can remember the first time Lee brought me there. To a kid it was a museum. There was so much to look at. They were a scrap dealer, hardware store, used electronics store, and carried quite a
Read more »

Radios I Have Known #2 The old, the new, and the Select-A-Tenna

2018-03-11T14:11:00.001-04:00

L-R: Select-A-Tenna, Tivdio V-115, Sony ICF-5500W

After promising this series a year and a half ago, I finally have started digging through the collection, and will start posting about once a week. The radios, and accessories may not have anything in common (as seen in this post), but were all acquired because they were in some way interesting, or
Read more »