Huntsville Hamfest Photos

Several photos from the 2008 Huntsville Hamfest are now posted in the Bell Ringers group photo section. Thanks to W4UOA and W4BXI for capturing these views.

N9N Special Event

I've posted some audio recordings of the N9N special event station here. Also included is a link to the report by N4KC.

Morse Code Alive and Well

BBC News published this video report on the continuing popularity of CW among hams in the UK. Thanks to Joe KA4ZCO for notifying us about it.

Huntsville Hamfest - August 16-17

Dear Bell Ringers, RVers, Mabellhams, and Friends attending
the Huntsville Hamfest on Aug 16th --

You are cordially invited to be present for the Bell Ringers Photo Op and 3rd Annual White Elephant Gift Exchange. Above is a group photo from last year. More of last year's photos are posted here.

Bell Ringers Photo Op - Sat Aug 16th

Meet At NOON inside the Building Entrance near the ticket desk.

Picture Taking at 12:10 Sharp! Don't be a minute late!

The 3rd Annual White Elephant Gift Exchange is for those in the photo.
(Bring any old thing wrapped in plain brown paper and put in box.
After the picture taking; grab a different "White Elephant" from the box).

73 and looking forward to seeing you
John Drum
Bell Ringer # 31
W4BXI email

Nixa Hams Field Day

N0SAP is proud of the Field Day activities of the Nixa Amateur Radio Club. The club's web site includes some very nice videos from this year's and last year's Field Day operations. You can find them here.

A Ham's Paradise - KH6YY

For a visit to this dream facility on Oahu's north shore, click here. It has six towers and six full operating positions.

Receiver Saver Circuit

I recently assembled and delivered to W4BXI a customized version of a circuit developed by AD5X to permit the safe use of a secondary (spotting) receiver on its own antenna while operating a transceiver on a main antenna. The circuit is intended to protect the spotting receiver from excessive RF energy when the main rig transmits on its nearby antenna. The original circuit was published in the January 2008 issue of CQ magazine.

Here is a copy of the customized schematic, which adds a power switch, status indication LEDs, and supplementary protection elements.

Some views of the assembled unit are shown below.

W4BXI is testing this unit at his station, and I expect to incorporate some refinements as I get his feedback. One change may be to use shielded leads from the two SO-239 jacks to the circuit board, to improve the isolation between the receiver and the antenna when the receiver is grounded. Another change I am considering is the introduction of a time delay for restoring the antenna-to-receiver connection when the control signal changes to the receive state. A few seconds of delay here would minimize relay cycling if the operator is using full QSK, while not significantly affecting the utility of a spotting receiver.