NJQRP Meeting Summary

March 8, 2003

Our semi-regular monthly meeting of the NJQRP started at 9am at our regular location in the Forrestal Village Mall food court of Princeton, NJ.  Only 21 QRPers were able to make it this time but we still had a grand time with "Antennas" as the general theme.

Mike KB3HMR and George N2APB had their Sniffer field strength meters built up and ready for some live tests.
    Both Sniffers (low res, high res)
    N2APB Sniffer in action (low res, high res)

Antennas were erected by Ed K2MGM and Joe N2CX, and George N2APB had his FT817 QRP transceiver driving them for some live RF transmissions. 
    FT817 (low res, high res)
    Loop (low res, high res)

Robert N2LO demonstrated operation of his latest project: a "GPS-to-Morse" box that received GPS satellite signals outside and transmitted the latitude-longitude information in Morse code over a low-power RF link back to the FT817 located inside at the meeting. Quite a neat set-up!  He obtained one of those popular and inexpensive Motorola Encore12 GPS units ($24 at bgmicro.com) and used a BASIC Stamp microcontroller to read the serial ASCII data it emanates, and then keyed a low-power oscillator module at Morse code rates for transmission to the receiver.
    GPS-to-Morse  (low res, high res)
    GSP reception  (low res, high res)
    N2LO & K3PM talking about the project (low res, full res)

Dave N0YMV brought along a number of disassembled cell phones to the wonderment of many.

Ted W2TAG brought along a Jackson Harbor Press serial keyboard project that was fun to operate.
    Serial Keyboard - system (low res, high res)
    Serial Keyboard - controller  (low res, high res)

Ed Roswell, K2GMG showed off the 40m-10m Small Transmitting Loop (STL) antenna that he built, and he gave a fine overview of its operation. This antenna has only a 65 KHz bandwidth, which is one of its great attributes, allowing it to naturally reject much QRM on adjacent frequencies and let the operator "see" through big pile-ups. It's variable vacuum capacitor is a very valuable and efficient component in this system.  Ed supplied us with a summary sheet of the loop's characteristics, and a spreadsheet program that he developed from equations in The Loop Book, by Ted Hart W5QJR.  Thanks for letting us post your spreadsheet Ed.
    K2MGM talk 1  (low res, high res)
    K2MGM talk 2  (low res, high res)
    Loop's vacuum cap  (low res, high res)
    Spreadsheet
    Loop Characteristics

George N2APB demonstrated the growing functionality in the club's suite of "digital projects".  The HC908 Daughtercard was operational in the HC908 Test Fixture, blinking its heartbeat LED, reading/displaying the voltage off a pot and the frequency generated through the DDS Daughtercard when turning the shaft encoder.  This software forms the basis of the Antenna Analyzer, which was also shown in the final form factor.  George reported that the final pcb for this project is at the fab shop right now.  He also mentioned that the HC908 Daughtercard is ready to ship and he just needs the time home from his weekly business travel to the west coast in order to get those 200 orders into the mail.
    N2APB project suite  (low res, high res)
    HC908 Test Box  (low res, high res)
    Antenna Analyzer - closed (low res, high res)
    Antenna Analyzer - open  (low res, high res)

N2CX demonstrated his latest QuickieLab addition, the DDS VFO, with the DDS Daughtercard plugged into the main QL board.  This will be the subject of his column in the forthcoming Spring QRP Quarterly magazine.
    N2CX QuickieLab with DDS VFO program  (low res, high res)
    QuickieLab with DDS VFO (rear)  (low res, high res)

And as usual, there was lots of time for gabbing and talking about all the various projects and field experiences we had since last time.
    Yacking-1 (low res, high res)
    Yacking-2 (low res, high res)
    Yacking-3 (low res, high res)
    Yacking-4 (low res, high res)
    Yacking-5 (low res, high res)
    Yacking-6 (low res, high res)

BTW, we are all really happy to see Al Owen, WA3OWT back with us now and recovering from his recent (serious) illness.  And also sorry not to see Dave Porter, AA3UR, at the meeting.  Dave layed-up with a bad back.

See you all at Atlanticon at the end of this month!

73,  George N2APB   
       and Joe N2CX   


Attendees:
K2CPE, WA2DJN, WB2ZKW, N2CAU, KB3HMR, K2GWH, WA3OWT, W2BVH, WA2DGD, KA2UPW, W2TAG, N2AK, W2RDS, N2GJ, N2ATJ, K2GW, KB2EGI, N0YMV, K3PM, N2CX and N2APB.