N1GY- The simple Approach to Ham Radio

and My Model Railroad Hobby

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September 7, 2016

                The second box (an ex army 40 mm ammo can has arrived an been added to the military look radio package to carry almost all of the accessories that go with the radio and tuner. Items like the power supply and its associated cables for AC and DC, the antenna and coax runs and the headset and its adapter. The one accessory that would not fit was the common mode choke that I built to keep RF from getting into places RF did not belong. I guess I will just slip it onto one of my arms to carry it in. You can see pictures of it on the page about the IC-706MkIIG as a Portable Station.

September 1, 2016

          In the past few days, much has happened here at N1GY. I received an IC-706MkIIG that I purchased from a ham in North Dakota. I installed said 706 into a military style box that used to belong to the Swedish Army, along with the auto-tuner from my car. I will detail it on a new page as soon as the flooding is over. I have completed a second adapter to connect an aviation style headset to the 706 and it works like a charm. The first one had a slight hum in it that I could not track down, but the second and much simpler adapter is the business as the guys on Wheeler Dealers would say. We have had major rains here due to Tropical Storm Hermine which resulted in my driveway being 6" under water with more rain on the way. I can only hope for a quick end to the rain. The cleanup is going to be a major hassle as the flooding dumped a bucket of paint on the floor of my shed, right in front of the washer and dryer. What a mess! Hopefully, better days are coming.

73

August 23, 2016

            The new power supply (brick) has arrived from Amazon and is already installed as the power source for the fume extractor. It works like a charm.

73

August 21, 2016

         The filter material for the fume extractor arrived today thanks to the efforts of a fellow ham, Kevin, K1VMG at Sabertronics. I updated the pictures and the captions after replacing the pictures. The new power supply should arrive this week and once I modify the cable to use Powerpoles this project will be complete and in operation.

August 20, 2016

           Yet another page, this time so I could show some photos taken on a Railroad Mobile Expedition courtesy of The Florida Railroad Museum. On another note, the activated charcoal filter material for the fume extractor is now on it's way to me after a foul-up on Amazon's part. Also the new power brick for the extractor is also en-route. Fun day today

73

August 18, 2016

           Another new page has been added, this time on the construction of a home-brewed soldering fume extractor. I have been doing a lot more soldering of late and the effect of the fumes began to be of concern. The fumes are toxic but the occasional soldering task does not expose the user to much risk. However, the amount of soldering I am doing these days is orders of magnitude more frequent. Thus the use of a fume extractor. I am still waiting for the arrival of the activated charcoal filter material and a separate 5 amp power supply to run the fans. They do run on 12 volts DC and I can power them via the bench PS but that seemed inefficient to me so a separate PS was ordered.

73

August 12, 2016

                I have added a new page to the site detailing the construction of the Power Pole power distribution blocks mentioned below. I hope the pictures are clear enough and that the text is also understandable.

73

August 6, 2016

               There was a good bit of construction going on at the workbench here in the past few days. I am building up my stock of Power Pole distribution blocks to sell at local hamfests. I now have 4+1 blocks, 6+1 blocks and 8+1 blocks. Prices will be $15, $20 and $25 respectively. I will also have some headset + adaptor for various radios available for $25 along with a few mic selector boxes for $40 as well. Of course, if the reader would like to get any of these items before the next hamfest in the WCF Section area, they are encouraged to email me via the contact page on this web site to make arrangements for payment and delivery. These are top quality power distribution blocks made with copper clad welding rod and 10 gauge stranded wire. By feeding the power to the block via the wired PowerPole connector, all 4, 6, or 8 outputs are available rather than losing one to the input as with regular power blocks. See you at the next local hamfest.

73

August 1, 2016

              Finally getting around to unloading and putting away the stuff I purchased from Quicksilver Radio while I was up in CT. The restocking of the PowerPole connectors I got will probably have to wait until the current stock has gone down a bit but the double and single crimp PL-259's will find a new spot in my parts cabinet right away. On to building stuff.

73

July 30, 2016

                I am back in Florida again after a great visit with my son and his family and also an all too brief visit with my sister in Canada. Bags are unpacked and stuff purchased while I was in Connecticut will soon be stowed away in the appropriate storage containers. For now it is enough to just relax and rejoin my pals here in Florida.

73

July 26, 2016

                 The reunion last week was a total blast. We all had a great time reconnecting with co-workers and friends after not seeing some of them for over 18 years. Heading back south at the end of this week with driving help from my son. It has been a great time in CT but it is time to return home. 

73

July 16, 2016

             Tomorrow, an old friend and I are hosting a reunion of sorts for the fellow therapists I worked with before my retirement in 1998. About 30 to 35 people were able to accept the invitation while others were either away on vacation or working. I do understand that work and family come first just as they do in amateur radio. It should be a whale of a time reconnecting with a bunch of my old co-workers while we enjoy burgers and hot dogs along with salads and desserts. I cannot wait until tomorrow.

73

July 8, 2016

               I just saw that AES (Amateur Electronic Supply) is closing all stores at the end of this month. A sad day for amateur radio in the US. I remember visiting both the Wisconsin and the Florida stores on many occasions. The staff were very knowledgeable and helpful. Hopefully someone will fill the void left by the departure of AES.

73

June 27, 2016

             I have been working on a few small projects while on my "vacation" but one stands out to me, I had to purchase and install a new GPS in my car. I plan on going to Canada for a few days to visit my sister and others, and I discovered that my old GPS does not do Canada. When I tried my phone's navigation app, it also wimped out. While it would show me a map of Ottawa, any attempt to get a routing resulted in an "out of area" warning. So, I bought a new Garmin that does the whole of North America along with a bunch of other places I will never visit in a million years. The hardest part was re-entering all of my saved locations or as the old unit called them"Favorites". I did manage to pare that list down to around 15 or 20 locations that I might use. The old GPS will live on with my son's family since they will have plenty of use for it with two teenage drivers.  I also made a stop at Quicksilver Radio to stock up on Power Poles and PL-259's etc. So far the weather has been great. 

73

June 23, 2016

          After a relaxing trip with two of my granddaughters, who did most of the driving, I am ensconced in CT for a few days. I have installed a new and more powerful USB charger block in the van with 5 outlets and a total of 10 amp capability. My original USB charger block got so hot on the drive up that it actually melted an I-phone charger cord. It even gave me a little burn on my hand because the charger block was so hot. The weather in CT is just wonderful, sorry Florida. I will be headed back south in a short time so I plan to make maximum use of my time here.

73

June 11, 2016

          The strap for my latest "radio in a box" arrived from Strapworks, a company on the West Coast, the other day and I must say they do very good work. One can specify the color, size, and fittings for the strap and they do exactly as specified. If you are building any kind of a "man carryable" device, be it a radio, a power source like a battery or an antenna or collapsible mast, Strapworks has a strap to fit. Just a heads up.

73

June 6, 2016
           It has been a fairly quiet week at the workbench, somewhat more interesting outside. Tropical Storm Colin has been delivering large amounts of rain and some wind for the past couple of days. By tomorrow it should be headed into the Atlantic and away from Florida, but only time will tell. A Pal came over today and we added a battery clamp to his version of the radio in an ammo can that I detailed in the latest page on this site. His ammo can is much larger and his radio is a full bore dual band mobile by Wouxon. The battery he is using is a 12 AH size unit but I think he will still have to keep his power setting less than full out if he wants any serious length of service. He is going to secure the radio and the remote control head with hook and loop pads. On another note, I did add remote PTT jacks to almost all of the headset adapters that I have for sale and also added a remote PTT switch to the packages with no increase in price. I may have to wait until Fall to see how these additions will affect sales but I am really not in any hurry.
73

June 1, 2016 

           A decision has been made, probably overdue, that I should add a third page to the UPDATES From The Radio Room. I looked at the scrolling bar on the right hand side of the window and decided it had gotten way too small and that having to move the one photo I put on page 2 every time I added a comment to keep it aligned with the text was becoming a real pain. So, I added this page 3 to solve both problems and I hope you will find my comments of some assistance. I will announce any new pages on this page and make comments about subjects I care about within the overall umbrella of Amateur Radio. This in not the place for politics or religious subjects, it is a site for and about Amateur Radio and the various projects I build that might be of interest  to others in the hobby.

73

UPDATES from the Radio Room Page 3