A Bit of HF Activity.

 Today I put my first HF QSO of the year in the log. I didn't do much last year either, due to other commitments.

Today I made one of my forst QRP SSB QSOs in years. Some local stations had goe to Greenland and they have been quite active.

When they were reported on 18MHz I tried with just 5W SSB form my IC-705, even though the signal was not very strong. Much to my surprise OX7AKT came back to my call after one or two times, and we made the QSO. It is extra fun to do that with just 5W SSB and a half wave vertical.

A Bit of New Stuff, Arrived From China in December and January.

 I have ordered a few things from Ali Express recently, Some of this arrived in December last year, and this year until now.

Some of it still needs to be tested, but here are a few things that may be of interest.

Some time ago I got a collection of used 18650 Lithium Ion cells, so now I got myself a capacity tester. This needs to be tested.

I am slowly starting doing some experiments on the microwave bands, so I got myself a log-periodic antenna covering 800MHz - 6GHz, covering the amateur bands 1296, 2400,3400 and 5760MHz. Intended use is mainly for antenna testing, but it can also be used to feed a parabolic dish.

I am beginning to dismantle some older electronic equipment for (some) parts, so I got myself a desolder station.

A couple of LNAs claimed to cover 10MHz to 6GHz. Should be tested.

A Malahit SDR receiver, self contained with LCD screen and built-in speaker. A quick test shows an OK receiver. Nothing spectacular, officially covering 10kHz - 380MHz and 404 - 2000MHz, with spectrum display (max. 192kHz wide) Nice little receiver, can be useful for many tests, especially with portable equipment, but also converters and transverters (receive part only).

There is more, but those are the more interesting things for me.

Error #40 ;) .

 We all do it from time to time. Error #40, also known as "User Error".

Today it was mu turn (again) (Nothing was destroyed).

When testing attenuators for 10GHz I was setting all up (I thought). setting output power of the signal generator, sending the signal through the up converter, got the DC power connected - sending the output to the power meter, and - no power out... Did I break the up-converter? 

No! I had forgotten to set the frequency to 70MHz. The generator starts up with a default 300MHz. the resulting mixed frequency on 10GHz is far outside the 10GHz band pass filter, so no output could be detected. (This does show that the filter is quite good, so there is that).

Set the frequency to the "ordained" 70MHz, and all was good.

I chuckled and got started with the testing of the attenuators (see previous post)