AB4UG Radioblog

Connecting the straight key

After going through the manual for the HD-10, I learned that the terminals on the rear of the HD-10 could be used to attach a key. So off to the garage I went to put some terminal connectors on some wires to use to hook up the J-38 key to the HD-10.

It took a couple of tries before I figured out where the wires were supposed to go on the J-38. There are lots of pictures of J-38 keys on the internet, but not too many that show how the wires are supposed to be attached (the terminals are the two on the inside).

With everything connected, tapping the key made the keyer make noises and I managed to make some Morse Code sounding noises with the key. Now they can sit on the desk next to me so that I can practice tapping out Morse Code whenever I feel like.

I still need to take the key off the base and clean it up a bit, and then make up a cable that I can use to plug the J-38 into the radio with. Also thinking about seeing if I can find a nice block of wood to attach the J-38 key to for a more solid base and to elevate the key a bit.

Scanning manuals

Now that I’ve finally got my scanner to work under Fedora, I thought I’d use the opportunity to scan the manuals I got with the Heathkit IG-102 signal generator I picked up a while ago. I was also lucky enough to find an assembly manual on eBay for the HD-10 keyer I picked up at Hamcation so I scanned that as well and converted them both to PDF files.

There’s another manual for the IG-102 that’s quite a bit larger (168 pages) that will take me a while to scan and convert, but I’ll get that done eventually.

Softrock Lite II enclosure

No empty Altoids tins around, but I did have an empty tin that used to hold some tea bags. It was the perfect size to hold the Softrock Lite II and a 9V battery.

Punched a couple of holes into the tin so I could secure the board and instant enclosure!

On the right side I think I’ll see if I can make a hole to attach a BNC connector for the antenna. On the left side I’ll make a small hole to run the cable out to the sound card.

Hamcation wrap-up

Had a really fun time at Orlando Hamcation over the weekend. Had a random encounter with Alan/KK4CIS and got to chat a bit face-to-face. Also met up with Jim/N4BFR and Newt/N4EWT (who I met at the Atlanta Hamfest last year) and spent some time wandering around with them.

I’m pretty pleased with my acquisitions from the Hamfest although as one would expect, after we left I remembered a few other things that I needed/wanted to pick up.

Hamcation is the biggest hamfest I’ve been to so far. I was too busy looking at every thing to think about taking very many pictures. The variety of equipment, gear and junk is pretty amazing. There was lots of good stuff, most of which was out of my budget (this time). I don’t think I know enough yet to be able to spot the hidden treasures, but there were a few things that I would have liked to bring back with me. I especially liked looking at the old vintage radios.

Looking forward to going back to Hamcation again next year.

Hamcation acquisitions

Day 2 at Orlando Hamcation was spent looking for antenna things and CW keys. Lots more people at Hamcation today than there were yesterday, which was expected. After wandering around to the different tables in the swaps area and wandering around the bone yard, I had a better idea of what I wanted to get.

Picked up some stranded copper wire, coax and ladder line for antenna projects, and then it was out to the swaps building.

First acquisition was this J-38 straight key. It’s a little dusty, the flat knob is a bit chipped and the shorting switch is missing, but it had the best action of the other J-38 keys the guy was selling. It needs some cleaning, but I’m looking forward to learning more about this style of key and wiring up to play with.

A breadboard, some 7 segment LED modules and some kind of metering panel that I’ll use for parts.

The next acquisition was this Heathkit HD-10 keyer. The guy selling it had it in his shack gathering dust for years and wasn’t getting too many bites at the price he was initially looking for, so I managed to pick it up for a great price. Plugged it in and it works pretty well.

Toward the end of my bone yard wanderings I spotted these variable plate capacitors on the table and scored them for $2. Some of them are a bit oxidized and need a bit of TLC, but I think I’ll be able to put them to work doing something.