With that out of the way, I was on a search for some aluminum and recently encountered a Hy-Gain Explorer 14 (EXP-14) that was in the attic of a local ham. I knew nothing of this Hy-Gain model, but the specs seemed to be right in line of what I was looking to accomplish. The price was right and it was in excellent condition. In speaking with the seller, the beam used to belong to a local club who unfortunately lost access to put up towers for field day and this beam was one of the casualties.

The Hy-Gain EXP-14 has a unique feed point (as they even state in the manual) with parasitic driven elements on 10m. It weighs approximately 45lbs, 14ft boom with a 17ft turning radius, perfect for my rooftop mount.

View at Picasa 27-Nov-2011 11:25, Apple iPhone 4, 2.8, 3.85mm, ISO 80

I had to beam built, tuned and installed in what seemed to be record time, only taking 3 1/2 hours. Part of that time included running out to Home Depot for a 12″ mast (above the rotor) and prepping the coax with ring terminals.

Once the beam was up, I could hear a drastic difference compared to my temporary bob-tail curtain on 20m. The first stations I heard were from India and Oman. Keep in mind, all of this was going on during the CQ Worldwide CW contest that I unfortunately could not commit a serious amount of time in due to the holiday, but ended up being a good time to test the new antenna and tweak the station.

The antenna is only sitting about 25ft off the ground, 6ft from rooftop. I was concerned with takeoff angle with the antenna being so close to the ground, but the fact that I was able to work into the Middle East, India and Asiatic Russia all while barefoot, says something.

In the photo, it may look like the antenna is mounted to the chimney, which it is not. The mount is a modified non-penetrating roof mount for DirecTV-type satellite dishes with 8 low-profile concrete blocks acting as ballast. The lower mast is guyed to the plate that holds the blocks. The mast is then guyed to the 4 corners of the house and attached just below the rotor.

My search ended while browsing some eBay auctions and was instantly introduced to the Chinese OEM-type switching supplies used in various devices and appliances. The prices were very reasonable, 30A supplies for approximately $50. How good could they really be?

I remembered hearing something early on about switching power supplies causing interference in the shack, or generating hash so loud, it would cover-up the reception of weak DX stations. I immediately started my search on eHam to see if anyone else had attempted using similar supplies and expected to hear the usual horrific war stories. I was surprised to hear something positive on the subject with many hams having gone the same direction.

Here’s a link to one of such discussion threads:
http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php?topic=71829.15

With that in mind I found an eBay auction for 2 units and purchased both.

View at Picasa Chinese Power Supply (S-350-12)26-Oct-2011 22:30, Apple iPhone 4, 2.8, 3.85mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 160

View at Picasa Chinese Power Supply (S-350-12)26-Oct-2011 22:30, Apple iPhone 4, 2.8, 3.85mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 200

Upon wiring up one of the supplies with Anderson power-poles leads for output DC and the stripped back end of an extra computer power cord for the input AC, I was ready to unleash my abuse. Below you will see my findings tested with a power meter used for troubleshooting electric RC airplanes. The meter displays voltage, current draw, watts and amp hours and has been a very sought after tool in my shack. I highly recommend picking one up.

The first photo shows current draw on one supply leg of a 200w Kenwood TS-480HX at 100% duty-cycle, full output. Current draw measured was 19.5A.
The second photo captures nominal output voltage of 13.24V at minimal load. 1.2A was measured with the radio on and idle. This was the maximum voltage I could get out of this supply.
The third photo indicates the voltage drop with a 19.5A load. Output only dropped .25V.

View at Picasa TS480HX Single leg current draw at 200 watts26-Oct-2011 22:16, Apple iPhone 4, 2.8, 3.85mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 200

View at Picasa Voltage, minimal load, 1.2A idle26-Oct-2011 22:16, Apple iPhone 4, 2.8, 3.85mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 160

View at Picasa Approximate .25 voltage drop at 19.5 amp load26-Oct-2011 22:16, Apple iPhone 4, 2.8, 3.85mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 200

OK so it looks like the supply will do 20A fairly easy. But will it output it’s rated 29A? I was able to draw the radio’s maximum current draw from just one supply. This is probably a bad idea but it does seem to do it.

View at Picasa 26-Oct-2011 22:56, Apple iPhone 4, 2.8, 3.85mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 160

In addition to testing the supply on the bench with an oscilloscope (which output a clean DC trace), I also tested it with the 480HX at full output on CW. Not a hint of RF hash was detected.

I’m only a couple days on the new supplies and I’m very happy with my decision to go this route. The RF hash issues with these types of supplies seems to be a thing of the past. Long gone as the technology has gotten better. However I did notice a voltage output difference between the two units I bought. One of them outputs 14.8V max and the other 13.6V. This doesn’t seem to be all that critical for this application, but could indicate a QC issue during manufacturing. I don’t know who made mine, since I can’t read Chinese, but similar supplies can be found on-line under the name Mega-Watt or other makes with the similar red lettering in the upper left-hand corner of the printed label.

One of the other things to keep in mind is that the terminals are exposed, a concern especially for the AC input terminals. I plan to mount mine in a 2U rack enclosure with Power-pole panel mounts, an AC switch and volt meter. That should address the electrocution any nosy cats who may exploring the shack.

Until next time, 73!
de N3QO
dit dit

Don, W6GPS pulled me back from the ledge and we were able to resurrect my Geosat5. It appears there was some serious corruption to the data on the SD card which caused it to go “missing”.

Don had recommended deleting most of the data on the card except some very key items and re-flashing the software on the card. Unfortunately I was unable to perform the delete from my Windows XP system and had to go as far as mounting the SD card on my Linux system, removing a few files and then performing a remount of the card in Read/write mode. This process had to be repeated a number of times until I was down to the bare essential files on the SD card. For some reason as the computer would read the card, it would force the mount into Read-Only mode. Weird.

It took me a bit to really think about the sudden failure, and I overlook the most obvious reason, the AvMap’s environment.

Think about it, the SD card sits in an enclosed piece of plastic (the GPS) on your dashboard, attached to the windshield in direct sunlight with no airflow. We all know how hot a car gets in the summertime. Come to think of it, I’m surprised the technology even works at all. So for now I’m functional, but who knows for how long. Most likely I will need a new card as I expect this one to deteriorate over time.

Now going back and thinking about my review on the product; Do I think I was a bit harsh? Yes and No. The review was based on my real-world experience with the product and the frustration the quickly followed. Would I recommend the AvMap to someone else? Most likely yes, but with some caveats. The GeoSat really does have great potential, and I’m hoping a number of the bugs that frustrate me can be resolved in future software and hardware revisions.

So for now I’m functional, but who knows for how long. Most likely I will need a new card as I expect this one to deteriorate over time…

de N3QO

Talk about word getting around, in very short order.
Don, W6GPS contacted me regarding the most recent issue I’ve had with the Geosat5.
Hopefully with some real-world user feedback this could end up being a solid product. Fingers crossed.

Stay tuned..

de N3QO

Laurie and I prepared as best we could in the days leading up to Irene’s arrival by guying down the hexbeam on the roof, the vertical in the front yard and re-routing the 160m vee in the backyard. We had borrowed generators from two hams in our club would provide some security to my neighbor and myself to power our refrigerators and sump pumps.

I went to sleep around 10pm to the sounds of an EAS warning indicating a tornado watch for Montgomery County, PA and awoke at 2AM on Sunday to the sound of the wind tossing debris against the house. I also found that the movement of the tree snapped the 160m antenna at the insulator and the local Pottstown repeater had been on emergency battery backup. Later in the morning while fixing the 160m antenna between wind gusts, I was pleased to find the 2m antenna stack on the military masts you buy at hamfests was up and my 5 element yagi still aligned on W3OK up north and the hexbeam still at home on the roof.

Yesterday the outcome of the storm’s wrath would be abundantly clear, having received an email from a ham who serves spots to my DX cluster, had lost everything in the hurricane. By everything, he meant everything.

Even though the storms have passed and the sun is shining over the Philadelphia suburbs, there are still a number of residents in the surrounding areas without power and a number of roads are closed, including mine.

For some, the recovery begins.

While at Dayton this year, two fellow ham friends of mine purchased the all new Avmap Geosat 6. Since one of them already had a Geosat 5, I decided I would purchase his year old unit he purchased at Dayton the year before. I knew he took very good care of his and was very confident in my purchase, until I used it….

My review of the Geosat 5 in one word. FAIL!
My review based on 1st and 2nd hand knowledge of the Geosat 6, nice try but also FAIL!

Why my harsh criticism?

What’s the purpose of a GPS navigation unit???? (reader of article inserts form of intelligence here).
A function both models of these unit’s are horrible at, let alone their various quirks that make them nowhere near ready for prime time.

The best way to approach my review will be in numeric, order of importance starting with the PROS (in order to be fair, it does some cool stuff).

PROS

CONS – Aka, bring on the hate.

If I would’ve read an honest review on this unit before I bought it, I would’ve gone a different route. The ham I had purchased it from actually asked me a couple weeks later if I would be willing to sell the Geosat5 back to him because his Geosat6 sucks so bad.

I know Don, W6GPS has been pushing the platform for the last couple years, and I met the guy out at Dayton this year. He seems nice and very knowledgeable about the product, but I have to think he has brought these issues up to AvMap. How could you not!? How do not notice something is wrong here? Even at the factory? If I was developing a product that turned out this poorly I’d be afraid to ask money for it, let alone put my company name on it.

What else do I hate about this thing?

The other day I powered the unit up and this came up on the screen. It was working perfectly only 15 minutes previously. I tried a software upgrade, a master reset, nothing I comes on, beeps and displays, “Device not Present, please verify”. Seriously? How the hell does this happen? It’s on my dash, attached to the windshield, I know it’s there, but apparently it thinks it’s elsewhere. So my rating on their customer service will be reviewed once I find out why it’s doing this and how much it’s going to cost me to fix it.

Stay tuned as the drama unfolds.

de N3QO

For our 2nd excursion to Dayton, we left on Wednesday morning to make the early Thursday morning start to Contest University (CTU) coordinated by K3LR. If you have never been, I highly recommend attending CTU. Much information is to be had as well as networking with fellow contesters but here and abroad. The material was fairly technical, although it applied directly to my operating methods and will hopefully help me work towards optimizing my time contesting. For the price ($50~$90) it was well worth the experience. More information including webinars are on their site http://www.contestuniversity.com/

Since Dave (NB3R) scored us Flea Market vendor spaces, we had to make the 7:30AM cutoff to get in the area to park. All three days consisted of 5AM wake-up calls, which I seemed to have no problem doing at Dayton.

More updates and photos to come later tonight.

73
–jeff
N3QO

During the 4 hour trip, I worked a number of DX stations on 17 and 20m including Russia and Belgium. Having HF in the car definitely makes the time go quick, but logging becomes the difficult and hazardous part.

Once on-site, our tour guide took us around league headquarters where we visited the Logbook of the world (LoTW) and certificate department as well as Product Test Lab, Marketing & Advertising, and VEC departments. While there Laurie (KB3SIK) was able to find out the status to her recent upgrade, which happened to arrive in the mail that day. In the outgoing QSL card bureau, we found cards destined for NE3F, the local contest station in Reading, PA, which I found rather funny.

We also had a tour of the ARRL employee station, W1HQ which had a decent amount of gear including a SteppIR beam and 6 meter King Conversion amplifier. I’ll be adding W1HQ to my rare DX list.

It was nice to be put faces and names to the ARRL and see what they do from their perspective. They do alot with what they have and make use of every piece of equipment they have; Something quite apparent in the Lab and Art departments.

View at Picasa ARRL, Newington, CT11-Apr-2011 16:17, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa ARRL League Headquarters, Newington, CT.11-Apr-2011 11:13, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa Cubesat11-Apr-2011 11:57, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 87	View at Picasa W1HQ Employee station.11-Apr-2011 12:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 102	View at Picasa W1HQ Employee station.11-Apr-2011 12:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 181	View at Picasa W1HQ Employee station.11-Apr-2011 12:11, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 79
View at Picasa W1HQ Employee station.11-Apr-2011 12:11, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 179	View at Picasa W1HQ Employee station.11-Apr-2011 12:11, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 336	View at Picasa Radio under test11-Apr-2011 12:26, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 420	View at Picasa Radio under test11-Apr-2011 12:14, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa Outgoing QSL Cards11-Apr-2011 12:52, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 115	View at Picasa Outgoing QSL Cards11-Apr-2011 12:52, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 125
View at Picasa APRS Beacon outside W1AW11-Apr-2011 16:15, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa ARRL Benches and memorandum bricks11-Apr-2011 16:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa ARRL Memorandum bricks11-Apr-2011 16:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa ARRL Memorandum bricks11-Apr-2011 16:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50

After lunch at a local pizza place, we put in some operating time at W1AW, their visitor operator station. W1AW is also the station that provides the on-air ARRL bulletins as well as qualifying Morse code runs. I ended up running their Yaesu FTDX-9000D on 15m for a bit. The station has alot of different gear and operates a number of modes.

Next »

View at Picasa W1AW – Amateur Radio Station11-Apr-2011 16:13, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50	View at Picasa W1AW Beam Antennas11-Apr-2011 16:13, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50	View at Picasa W1AW Beam Antennas11-Apr-2011 16:13, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50	View at Picasa KB3SIK (Laurie) at W1AW11-Apr-2011 11:11, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa W1AW HF Beams11-Apr-2011 11:11, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50	View at Picasa W1AW – Oscar Satellite Antennas11-Apr-2011 11:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50
View at Picasa W1AW – Oscar Satellite antenna11-Apr-2011 11:12, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, ISO 50	View at Picasa N3QO, Jeff and KB3SIK, Laurie11-Apr-2011 16:07, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50	View at Picasa K3GMT (Dave) working 20m and N3OW (Jay) working 15m11-Apr-2011 14:43, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 128	View at Picasa K3GMT (Dave) working 20m and N3OW (Jay) working 15m11-Apr-2011 14:45, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 341	View at Picasa K3GMT (Dave) working 20m and N3OW (Jay) working 15m11-Apr-2011 14:43, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 88	View at Picasa W1AW – ARRL Station11-Apr-2011 15:53, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 163
View at Picasa W1AW Bulletin Service radios – Icom 756 ProIII with PW1 Amplifier.11-Apr-2011 15:50, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa W1AW Bulletin Service radios11-Apr-2011 15:50, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa W1AW Bulletin Service radio11-Apr-2011 15:50, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa W1AW Bulletin Service – Antenna Patches11-Apr-2011 14:54, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa W1AW Bulletin Service radios11-Apr-2011 14:54, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800	View at Picasa KU3X, Barry and W3CE, Al11-Apr-2011 15:50, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 76

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View at Picasa Vintage station – Viking Valiant11-Apr-2011 14:51, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 126

View at Picasa Vintage Station – National11-Apr-2011 14:51, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, 2.8, 6.34mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 73

The remainder of the photos and video can be found here.

While I sat in on the discussion, Laurie took her Extra exam, which I’m glad to report, she passed! Obtaining her Extra has been something she’s been working towards on and off over the course of the last year, bringing her up with the top ranks of amateur radio operators, more importantly being a woman with an Extra class amateur radio license. While she awaits the update to the FCC ULS (Universal Licensing System), she’s scoping out vanity callsigns.

While I’m on the topic of Amateur License exams (VE sessions), something that has been a big concern of mine has been the way these VE sessions have been carried out. When Laurie went to take her exam last year at the Wrightstown Hamfest (2010), the session ended up being loud and disruptive with people talking during the exam. Unfortunately she found that the Sunday session at this year’s Trenton computer show was almost just as bad.

I do believe the ARRL has set guidelines on how a VE session should be operated, of which one being a suitably quiet location for someone to take their exam. When I took exams with the Lehigh Valley Amateur Radio (LVARC) and Delaware-Lehigh Amateur radio (DLARC) clubs, sessions were run professionally and in environments appropriate for taking exams. Just something to keep in mind for VE’s running their own exam sessions.