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WSPRing

I am busy working all day but I decided to turn on the radio and computer on the side of the room. I am letting the computer decode and post spots to the internet while I am working.




It appears that 20m is pretty busy with signals from North America and Western Europe.

73 de NG0R

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CW Class

Winter is underway here in Minnesota... the perfect time for CW class!


KA0CSW lead a CW class for the Meeker County Radio Club tonight at the Litchfield Rescue Hall. I took N0AEA (12) and  N2BEN (10) with me to the class.

We worked on 8 letters: AEITMNDG



There were a couple of practice keys but the class was taught with a computer so the straight key just kind of set the mood.  :-)

I have to admit that it was a fun way to spend an evening.

73 de NG0R

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A SBL-1 can be your friend!

Q: How do you test your 432mhz transverter on CW & SSB?

A: You combine a SBL-1 + a signal generator attached to a HF rig



I have a 432mhz transverter that was not working properly.
  • I don't have a second rig with 432mhz SSB/CW.
  • Normally I test a lot of projects with N0FP but he currently does not have 432 weak signal gear.
  • The two other hams with 432 weak signal stations that I frequently test with were AWOL Sunday afternoon when I was looking to work on this project.
I decided to punt. I had four SBL-1 diode ring mixers sitting my office desk. They have been staring at me for several months waiting for my to get some time to start another homebrew project.



I dug up the pin out notes for the SBL-1 and soldered some short leads with BNC connectors.


I used my Wavetek signal generator as the LO


The IF port of the SBL-1 is connected to my Icom 756


The RF port is connect to the my dual band vertical on the HF. (Using it as a receive antenna for this test.)

I was able to transmit SSB and CW on my K2+XV432 on the VHF tower and listen on the Icom 756 on HF tower via an RF path. All-in-all it took about 20 minutes to setup the test once I decided to do it.

I have not worked on any projects with the SBL-1 in the past. Tonight's positive (and easy) experience with the SBL-1 mixer will likely drive me use it for some projects in the future.

73 de NG0R


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2010 MNQP Award

A nice piece of paper came in the mail today....


Last February Ben (who was nine at the time) and I operated the Minnesota QSO Party for a little while. This is the second time that Ben and I have gotten a piece of artwork for the wall from this contest.

To be real honest there is not a lot of activity in Meeker County let alone other multi-op stations. We have a pretty good chance to get something in the email if we spend an hour or two operating.

I think that Ben made about 83 SSB contacts and I made 24 CW contacts once Ben stopped operating. We had fun during our brief time operating the contest. Ben enjoyed being the center of the pile-up.

Here is the blog post from last winter after the end of the event.

73 de NG0R