Hello and welcome to  Xtract 031 of the HX Files.

In this issue of Echo Ireland I would like to talk about some of the aerials used /portable (and at QTHR) and the means to fix them in place when out /p.

In photo 1 above, you can see some aerials mounted on a small portable mast that has been used many times, all the aerials on it are for 23cms (1.2ghz) the top one is a vertical and the others are various types of beam aerials such as what would be classed as a regular type of beam, the others are a loop Yagi, and a circular polarization type. In use there would be some coaxial cable used to connect the transceiver to the aerial but on some occasions the transceiver is screwed direct to the aerial and a remote lead carrying the power, audio, video and TX/RX switching from the car to the mast mounted transceiver.

Photo 2 above shows one of the stands used, it works on the fact that you drive over the base of the stand and the weight of the car holds it in place and it does not need any stays to hold it in place. This base unit was the mk1 type; it was made when I had a 5 door sierra, and made as a fixed item. It became awkward to transport in the boot model car I got next and the base unit was left aside for a few years. The latest car is a hatchback and is well able for it, but not long after using the base for a few times I got someone to modify it, firstly he had to separate part of the base frame and make it wider by inserting  an extra piece of box metal so some hinges could be wielded in place, also the rigid support arm on its right side was cut away and its ends modified so that each end was held in place to the base by a bolt and when one of them was removed the unit could be folded flat for transporting and storage, the base can be seen again in photo 3 below along with some of the mast bases  that were bought  / made over  the years. 

 In photo 3 above you can see the various ways the aerials are used /portable whether attached to the car or being held upright by other stands. Some of the masts would take a couple of people to erect safely, but others could be attached to the towing eyes or the tow bar. You should take care when you are on your own working /portable, you could end up with some damaged aerials, or car as the pole with the aerials attached could be to long and will be top heavy for you to manage the assembling of the aerials and mast, and their dismantling, the dismantling part can be the most dangerous regardless of the weather, as fatigue could set in after a long day and with possibly cold / wet hands  you could lose your grip and have to repair a boom and a few elements on an aerial or two, and remember if you are on a height you do not need a skyscraper of a mast, if you are on your own just bring something you can safely manage by yourself.

 In photo 4 above you can see some of the other aerials that did not make it onto the mast, these bow tie aerials can be used individually or some of them could be placed into the panel aerial case you see them resting on. (The panel aerial is for use between 195-197 MHZ.) When it comes to connecting your aerials to your transmitter other than coaxial cable, the range of fittings can be bewildering as can be seen in photo 5 below.

Photo 6 above shows a dish and on the bottom right of it is an aerial that looks like a can, and it could be used as is for some local use, or it can be used as a launcher and lined up to feed a dish like the one it is sitting on, but some framing, and exact measurements would have to be done to attach the can to the dish at the right distance but that is a job for another day.

That’s it for this issue of Echo Ireland and indeed for this year.

I would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

And that all your signals are P5.

73

Pat

 Hello and welcome to 030 of the HX files.

In this issue I would like to talk about some of the “few” parts bought at the Friedrichshafen Rally in June.

In photo 1 bellow,

you can see some of the leads and parts purchased, in the picture you maybe able to make out a couple of small monitors, various leads, fittings, and a couple of RF amplifiers.  Not in the photograph are a couple of transmitters, receivers, and a couple of aerials that were bought for some future projects. Some of the leads and fittings will be used to replace the ones taken out of other units not being used at the time, and the rest for stock. It may look like a lot, but when you take in to account the parts and modules used in a project, such as the transmitter, receiver, amplifier, preamp, relays, coaxial leads and aerial to be used, and the fact they all have to be joined together, it is a wonder any RF gets out at all, and you would be left wondering

where did all the leads that were bought go to.

Ouch

On the subject of fittings and RF, in photo 2 above, you can see some fittings, some of the connectors go as high as 24ghz, they are not exactly falling out of my hand and this lot had not a lot of change out of €120. As with any radio rally those of you who have attended rallies over the years would get to know the various sellers selling equipment and also other traders and buyers who have dealt with them. The fact that some of them have been in the business of designing and manufacturing for years, and take pride in showing their equipment is 100%, they would have the spec sheets of their products for you to inspect, some even go to the bother of bringing some test equipment to show the buyer the equipment running before you buy, even more important some of the traders would let you know the ones that whose claims of their equipment would not live up to what is stated on the label.

Bargain?

 Prices can vary quite a bit as some items can have less of a demand in one country than another, and as a result you could buy well from one trader and in the next row of stalls see the same quality of gear from someone else a lot dearer/cheaper than the last trader, so when you have bought your parts for a steal, stop looking for them at other stalls to see how well you done as you will feel like you were robbed if you see them cheaper. The cheaper parts may just be that, cheaper, or be a cheap brand that may not be up to the spec you need and all that lovely RF will go any where but to the aerial.

 In photos 3 and 4 above, you can see a couple of the amplifiers bought at the rally, one is for 5.7GHz and the other is for 10GHZ .

Below in photo 5 shows some more fittings.

The worst part of this rally is not having my own car with me, and seeing plenty that would fit nicely in the boot, not only the various new pieces of equipment, but the “scrap parts”. One piece of equipment bought was a repeater that could be modified for 10 GHz, these pieces of equipment weighed a few kilos more than my total allowance on the aeroplane, I would have loved to have brought a couple of the units home with me, not only was the enclosure a nice size but was meant as a mast mounted unit and was waterproofed and it only had the wave guide connector and a small multi plug for the dc connections. Inside the unit, other than the TX/RX equipment, there where some lovely fittings and brackets to be had, but as this item was purchased on our last day at the rally we knew that the limits of our allowance was getting close and something had to be left behind, as the extra charge would have cost 5 times the amount paid for them, so knowing some of the traders I got a loan of some tools and the parts wanted removed, and in these recycling times, the metal container and other parts where given back to the trader to sell to someone else, he was so happy to take them back he said that we could have some of his other stock, as the container was a seller on its own and it saved him the grief to disassemble it. As you know quality cost but I wished it didn't cost that much, cheaper fittings and connectors could have being bought but they would have being no good at the frequencies I wanted them for, and as mentioned earlier the need to get as much of the RF out of the equipment as possible and into the aerial, as one of the high power transmitters(or should that be QRPP) bought can push out nearly 100mw and so some high end connections (and a amplifier) will be used on this project that would be a permanent outdoor unit, now where can I get a professional waterproof enclosure to house everything and keep it dry and safe, (ah feck).  

That’s it for this issue of Echo Ireland.

May your signals be P5.

73

Pat.

The HX Files 029

Hello and welcome to Xtract 029 of the HX files.

In this issue of the HX files I would like to take a brake from the construction of a couple of items I have currently on the work bench. A couple of parts are needed to complete both of them and I am hoping to get those parts needed at the rally in Germany in June. Not wanting to remove any parts from other projects (like I have done before) as these parts would mean a total dismantling of the projects and this time that was not on.

And now, time for something completely different.

 So in this issue of Echo Ireland I would like to write about some of my eclectic mix of “collectables”. Some of these items were bought because of their “rarity” and some because they are just plain weird; I will leave it up to you to decide which is which.

The first items are a couple of ceramic insulators from (I am told) an aeroplane, these would be placed either end of the plane and the aircraft wire aerial would pass through it. In photo 1 bellow,you can see that each has a couple of aluminium rings that attach it to the craft from both sides of the aircraft's skin.

Number 17 set

 In photo 2 above, you can see one of the radios in the collection, it is a Second World War radio called a “wireless set number 17”, there were two versions manufactured, the one I have is the MK2, the MK2’s operating frequency is from 44 MHz to 61 MHz. Some info for you power hungry hams out there, it could produce around 300 watts, nah only joking, actually its power output is more like +/- 250 MW, and with either one of its complement of aerials a distance of some 10 plus miles could be “guaranteed” and that was more than enough as you did not want the wrong people ear wigging. Its main use was to communicate from the ground support units of Barrage balloons and Anti-Aircraft locations to HQ, and it replaced signalling lamps( that would be used in the daylight as well as the night, and you did not want the enemy pilots seeing the beam of the lamp at night). As there was a war on, and metal was used for other things, the radio’s cabinet was not made from metal but from wood, the manufacture used as much wood as they could in its construction, I wonder if they tried to make the valves from wood and found that they wooden work. Some details for those of you with no grey hair, it was a ready to go rig and was powered by two 60v dry batteries in series and a 2v 16 ah accumulator. The No 17 used two valves, one each of an AR6 and AR18 type valve. It was mentioned in a radio conversion book that told you how to modify some of the ex-military radios that were available to the radio amateurs, that you should leave the “No 17” set alone, as it would cause interference to other radios close by even when it was in the receive position. The weight of the radio is around 10kg, and its measurements (in inches are), 14½ W,16 H, and 10 D,  it was made on a budget and when the bombs were dropping you did not want to be carrying a big radio as you would used your hands to keep your hat and trousers on whilst running for shelter. As mentioned earlier, before the “No 17 set” there was the signalling lamp like the one in photo 3 below.

 The case contains the lamp, which had a removable red filter for daytime use, also in the case was a stand made from some small lengths of tubing that would screw together and then be stuck into the ground. Also in the other compartment of the case would be the battery, and a spares kit including a spare bulb.  No space was wasted, as the Morse key is mounted on the inside of one lid and the instructions for its care and use on the other, also the lamp itself has a couple of features, one is at the bottom, it is a small screw that when loosened the lamb could then be easily tilted and lined up to the senders target, and on the lamps top is a sighting tube. Not a telescopic sight but simply a tube with a round hole at the sender/receivers end and a plus (+) shaped hole at the target end , you might be able to make it out in the photo. In photo 4 below,

 you can see some microphones, the bottom left one is a WW2 era throat microphone, it was used in noisy environments like airplanes, top left is also a microphone and not a ray gun from Flash Gordon, top right is a head set from a Marconi marine base radio I think it is was called a triple diversity transceiver, and the microphone on the bottom right is from another Army radio.

And finally

That is it for this issue of Echo Ireland; in a forth coming newsletter I must mention some of the other military radios and Morse code keys and other bits and pieces in the collection. Perhaps you could send in an article yourself about some of your own collections of the weird and wonderful.

73.

Pat.

Hello and welcome to the HX Files 028, and to 2014.

As there was no newsletter before Christmas, I hope you had a happy Christmas and have a happy and prosperous new year.

What to do next.
 Over Christmas, I was looking at some of the bits and bobs, (well its better than looking at Bobs bits) in the projects pending department (the sheds).  The items that were bought over the last few rallies, and indeed some stuff that was given to me for parts, needed to be sorted out. Space was becoming a problem and finding the part or parts needed with nothing falling on me, and getting out alive was getting harder. Those of you with space can decide on whether to dismantle the donor item as some of the parts needed are often safer to store in their original housing rather than taken apart. With the parts removed a trip was made to the recycling center with the unwanted and unusable items, and with the hope I did NOT see anything I could use.
Protection
The HX stores normally wait until a good coat of protection (dust) has appeared on a particular item that has been in the shed  for a while, and that it will no longer be used for what the manufacture intended it to be, and then the parts removed. It was on this particular rummage that the monitor featured was unearthed; it is an old security monitor measuring around 15 inches cubed. This cube was bought at a rally years ago, and was used for a while and then retired. With the parts bin in mind, it was noticed that the housing of the monitor was made from panels that were screwed and riveted to a frame, the plan was to remove them and add the sheets to the metal pile.

View inside of the monitor

 On removing  the back of the monitor I saw that there was some space in it, see photo 1 on the left, and then an idea came to mind, (and no it did not hurt much) it was decided to see if firstly it still worked, it did, (it would not have been my first project that had to be modified or scrapped when the main part had gone faulty during storage) so it was left on overnight with a DVD playing some film to see if the picture and sound stayed working, all was good the next day and so I started on the project.



Parts and fitting
 There was not enough space in the one area to accommodate the TX/RX in a single unit, so a separate transmitter and receiver boards would be used instead in the monitor, see photo 2 below left.

The ATV units installed in the monitor

The individual TX/RX boards were enclosed in separate metal boxes (used from other projects) some patch leads, switches and a relay were  added to the mix, also a small amp was fitted to the transmitter, the metal box would act as a heat sink. I wanted to keep everything inside the cube, fitting the parts to the inside of the cube involved the drilling of its case, but I did not want screw or bolt heads sticking out of the unit as they could snag and mark other equipment around it. The metal on the case was thick enough to allow the use of some tapered screws for a flush fitting, with all the screws, nuts and bolts in stock I had none of the flush fitting type in stock, so a trip to the local hardware store was on the cards and the items needed purchased. After some moving around to see what would fit best in the space available some marking out was done and then the drilling carried out. The drilling was a bit awkward, as the case of the monitor was not only bolted to the chassis but it was also pop riveted and it would have been difficult to take everything apart without damaging other parts of the unit, the monitor was turned upside down for some of the drilling to keep the waste from dropping onto the other parts and some sticky tape to mop up the waste. The back panel was easy to remove by removing a few screws, it is a sturdy piece of metal and I would be mounting an “N” type socket into it. Power for the ATV equipment would be from either a 12v power supply or car battery, the monitor would be powered by mains if at home or an invertor if it is being used portable.
 A word of caution
I would have to take care, as in use at home it would mean there would be mains power in use and it could be fatal if any adjustments were to be made whilst the unit was in use. Fitting of the parts was not too bad having done a dry fit first, but once you start adding the various cables and leads you would start running out of space all to quickly. The first plan was to place as many of the controls on the back, but the thoughts of hands reaching around the back of the unit that would be ran off 240v made me decide to have a remote switching box, (see photo 3 below),

The control box

 that would lay on top of the unit and then a removable cable used to connect the unit to the switching box.

View of the control box before the wiring  is fitted

 Photo 4 on the left shows the control box without the wiring, the bar in the center holds a fuse holder and a connection strip, it should be noted that this bar is shown up side down just for the picture, the decision to use two microphone sockets instead of a six pin one was taken due to the fact that the dc cable was nearly as thick as the audio/video leads and I wanted to give myself a bit of room to work with. Using the 2 pin dc connector was not without some trouble, as those old experimenters out there (author included) may remember the old 2 pin Yaesu dc leads, and the fact that there were 3 types that had different distances between the pins and the grief to get ones to pair up to make a spare dc lead. RF output of the unit is just under 10 watts and it will certainly be more than enough for what is needed.

With the fittings on the back panel,see photo 5 on the left, the leads were longer than they needed to be, as they would have to be long enough to allow the back panel to be removed and to be out of the way to carry out any adjustments.
In use
 I have used the unit several times and having great fun with it. But nearly dropping it on more than one occasion out portable, a couple of sturdy handles will be fitted to it in the near future when I get ones sturdy enough.
That is it for this issue,
 I hope to see you at the Society’s AGM in Galway.
May your signals be P 5.
73 Pat.

Hello and welcome to the HX Files 027.

In this issue I would like to talk about a small work station that was made from a computer bench and some other bits of wood and metal that where lying around.

 As mentioned in previous issues of Echo Ireland, I have no actual workshop and the projects would be made and assembled in and around my house, and in most cases there would be a lot of time lost gathering the parts and tools needed for the job and then putting them away so I can use the room again (normally my bedroom or kitchen). With this bench, the job (the mess) can be left as it is on the bench and pushed into the spare room, out of the way until the next time, and the project can be easily be restarted with the minimum of a delay. As with every job you have to know when to stop adding thing to the project as the bench would become awkward to move around. Having used it a few times I would bring most of the parts and tools needed for the job from their various locations and l would have them to hand on the bench

The project started with a bench bought out of Argus some time ago, but when I went from a tower type PC to a laptop the bench was in the way, as is the way in my home any flat surface can and will have piles of clothes or something on it and the stuff will always fall off it, but with its metal frame and wheels I was reluctant to throw it out, so it was dissembled and put into the shed as it might come in handy sometime.

Many moons later

When the bench was rediscovered in the back of the shed (over a year later), I decided to reassemble it and make a small work table/bench out of it, The first thing done to the bench was to cut a piece of wood to cover  the original top, this piece would not have to be perfect, as when it was screwed to the top of the bench it would act as a sacrificial worktop surface that could be marked and drilled into, and be replaced when it got to rough for use.

The storage bins added

 The sliding shelf under the bench top 

(seen in photo 1 on the left) was originally for the keyboard and as a result is close to the bench top, and its mounting brackets are part of the metal framework and could not be moved. I decided to use it to hold a parts tray and some tools being used at the time for a project, but as the trays being used would not fit on the shelf, the only thing was to fit the trays into the shelf, (as there was plenty of room under it). So with having a sick jig saw the only choice I had was to drill a series of large holes using a hole cutter to remove as much of the timber first, and then with a small saw and some files, squared of the edges so the trays fitted. One of them has a lip on it so it would hold it’s self in place, the other one was held in with the addition of a couple of angle brackets screwed to the shelf and box. On the bottom of the trolley some wood was added to all the sides to increase the capacity of it and to stop anything falling off. There is also a large gap between the sliding tray and base shelf so another fixed shelf can be made to hold some more tools and parts for the project being worked on (but not at the moment) also added was a rail on each side that some cables and leads could be draped over them and always be to hand.

A 2 watt transmitter under test

With all the metalwork done, a back board was made (photo 2 above) and also fitted to the top of the backboard was another shelf; this shelf had some edging fitted to it to stop items falling off it.

Not wanting to use one of the large and heavy power supplies I had, a PSU was used that came from one of a few tower computers, and then it was attached to the back of the bench, along with a double mains socket.

 I got the computers from a friend who recycles them, the computers where from a local college that were replacing their stock and I was given some of them, (5) after their hard drives and some other parts had been removed by him. The power supply from the pc has outputs of 3, 5, and 12 volts and it will be used to power the project being worked on and even using some of the 12 volt led’s lights to illuminate the work area from above and from the side, as well as having the use of a mains flexi lamp. 

The dismantled cases from the computers can be seen on the bottom of photo 3 on the left, that metal will be ready when I borrow the guillotine from a friend to cut the metal down to more manageable sizes once I first flatten the folds in the panels, also seen in the photo 3 with the metal are some cereal boxes that will be used to make some templates with. 

In photo 3 on the left, you can see on the left and right sides of the back board I mounted some dc sockets on a couple of blanking plates, these sockets are attached to the various outputs of the power supply 

The frequency counter in use

  In photo 4 on the right, and photo 2 above,

 you can see a project having its frequency being measured.

 The frequency measuring unit is the one I won in the famous Cork Rally raffle, (you would be, a Langer, not to buy a ticket for the raffle).

That’s it for this issue folks, May all your signals be P5.

73 Pat.

The unit with the top panel to be wired 

The HX Files 026

 

Hello and welcome the HX Files.

In this issue of Echo Ireland I would like to talk about a couple of small masts made for the car, the car has not got a tow bar fitted at the moment, but it does have a couple of towing eyes. These towing eyes are hidden behind a couple of panels on the cars front and rear bumpers, and when these panels are removed it will expose a treaded hole that the towing eye can be screwed into,  also some cars have an eye(s) wielded to its chassis, bot more of that type later.

Caution

Please be careful when you operate portable and are setting up a mast of any height , when you get on site just don’t  look straight ahead and see were your  horizon is but also look up, to see if there are any cables above your  aerials.

Shopping

 The idea for this project came to mind in a local Aldi store, I was looking at their usual weekly bargains and noticed they some clothes line risers, and they were only €3.50 each and extend to 8 ft, so 2 were put into the trolley. As yet I had no idea what to do with them ( certainly nothing like what they were designed for)but as they were made of metal  they would come in handy, and as I have often found out that after they have all been sold I have found a need for them and now they cannot be got. While waiting my turn in the queue, a germ of an idea started to form about using them as a couple of small mast while out portable and attaching them somehow to the car,( so I left my stuff at the conveyor belt and got 2 more, as you just never know……). First thing to do was to see what sort of towing eye bolt was in the car or to see if it was still in the boot, and to see if a length of threaded bar with the same tread as the towing eye could be got. A visit to one of the local hardware stores was made and the threaded bar bought along with some nuts, washers and a couple of eye nuts (see photo 1 below of some the parts used).

Some of the parts used

The first thing done on the car was to see how much of the bar would be used to screw up tight to the end of the nut on the car, and noticing that a longer length would be needed for the back of the car as the tail gate would hit the mast if it was left the factory length. With the sizes now sorted out the bar was cut, the ends were cleaned up with a file so they would tread onto the nuts after cutting, the middle and bottom eyes in photo 2 below, show the finished towing eyes .

The finished eyes

With that job done the next to do was to connect the mast to the eye nut , I wanted to make the union of the mast and brackets in the least amount of parts, as with the more parts you have the chances of a part being left behind  could be an issue. The diameter of the pole was greater than the threaded bar, but a piece of metal tube was found that was slightly smaller than the pole, and it itself was just larger than the threaded bar. All this would fit inside the tube and so they were drilled through and riveted together, (photo 3 below).









 The Next job was to drill a hole in a small piece of metal and wield a nut to it, and they in turn were wielded to the towing eye. The wielding was done for me by Kevin EI5JG who suggested that I could use one of the earlier mast made if I could get a towing ball that was finished like a bolt and not the usual one that ends in a plate, and yes I knew there was one in a storage bin somewhere and after a search it was found, a couple of washers s were used as spacers and put either side of the cars original towing eye and the lot bolted together (see top of photo 2).  The eye nuts used for the project had to have a couple spacers made, if I wanted to use the towing ball on them, as the nut part of the eye was wider than the rest of the circle so a piece had to be cut out of them for a better fit, (see photo below).

Previously

 As mentioned earlier, the cars that came with the other type of towing eye could have that type wielded or bolted horizontal or vertical to the car. For that job the use of a couple of pieces of angle iron would be used, as there would be more strength in the angle iron than from a piece of flat iron. The last car I had had a the towing eye vertical on the front and horizontal at the rear, and by carefully removing a piece from the H or V of the angle iron, you could use that piece for the other side of the eye. Drilling the angle and the piece of metal removed from it you would have the holes needed to bolt the bracket to the car. As for the other end of the bracket, you could remove the metal from the other plane, and that would leave you with a single bracket that could be used on the front or rear of the car. Depending on the type of mast being used the same bolt hole could be used for attaching it, if not another piece could be bolted or wielded to suit what is needed. At the end of the day I would have two new brackets to attach some small masts to the car and not having to put a number plate buster (a tow bar) on the car just for the masts. For a bigger mast the option of having a mast support that would involve the car being driven onto the bottom plate of it, and the larger mast being bolted to the upright. Depending on the weather at the site you may need to stay the mast, either way with the car being used as an anchor for the mast you will not be able to move your location as easily as if the car and mast were as one, but if you are familiar with the location you are going to use you will know what you need to bring with you.

And finally

 That’s it for this issue, may your signals be P5.

73, Pat

The HX Files 025

Hello and welcome to Xtract 025 of the HX files.

In this Xtract I would like to talk about a couple additions made to one of the 10 GHz dishes used when out portable.

This would involve somehow attaching a block of metal to the back of one of the dishes. The metal would be shaped to the same profile as the dish and it would have a telescopic sight and a laser fitted to it.

These attachments would (I hope) help me line up with the other station in the qsl  The telescopic sight to help line up the other station, and the laser would hit the spot of their location or at least very close to it.

New toy

Before talking about the project in this issue of Echo Ireland, I was wondering what project was going to finish first as I was moving from one project to another as the stock pile was missing a few parts for some of them, and not wanting to remove parts from other projects made in earlier issues what was one to do, then just what I needed, a new project came to the top of the list that pushed the others to the back burner; I decided to change my car. I had a friend looking out for a car for me and in the last couple of days of February he found what I was looking for and a new toy was bought. One job was to take the radios out of the other car and into the new car, (new to me that is) the ATV gear had to be removed and installed also, although not fully installed into the car yet, some of the ATV equipment is in place and just waiting to be connected, as with some cars there are not too many hiding places to place the parts, and it is getting harder to get cables from the car battery to your equipment. For now only one hole was drilled in the roof for the 2m/70cms aerial and now it is a waiting game to see if a tow bar or a roof rack is purchased to attach anything else. Play time was brought to an abrupt end when our editor let it be known that the deadline was only a couple of days away as I had not noticed the time, so words like gosh and darn were uttered and something had to be finished for Echo Ireland.  

The sight

The telescopic sight (photo 1 above) was bought at a rally in the UK, the trader who I know for many years said that I had the wrong accent to be buying this sort of thing over hear, he did not know what to think when I asked him if he had anything to go under the sight ( a rifle).

Some details

The sight is to be mounted above the centre of the dish, and the laser is mounted below the sight.

Lining up the sight and laser would not require any high tech equipment, the high-tech thing done in a friends yard was to fire the laser (switch it on) at the wall, mark that spot on the wall with a felt pen, and then using a spirit level I marked a spot on the wall the same distance as the sight is mounted above the dish centre, so in theory the spot on the wall would show were the rf is heading for.

Anyway back to the start of the construction, using a piece of wood a template was cut out to match the metal, firstly using a fret saw and then finishing it off with some files and sandpaper to get it right. With that job done it was time to get the shape marked out onto a piece of metal fit enough for the job.

After a bit of a search the block of aluminium (photo 2 below  ) was found in the parts bin, and the wooden template traced onto the metal block.

 Using a small angle grinder, fitted with a cutting disk, a lot of the unwanted metal was removed and the cutting disk replaced with a grinding disk, this would remove most of the metal and leave a small amount to be filed to the final shape.

Ooops

It was while grinding the last of the metal that some of the aluminium dust was sucked into the grinder through the cooling ducts and in an instant the dust ignited and there was a flash and the mains power tripped.

When the power was turned back on I found out two things, one that the grinder no longer worked as the aluminium dust had gotten into the workings of the grinder and wielded to them, and two, new underwear needed.

 It was while grinding the metal that the dust was hitting the guard behind the vice and unknown to me, some of it was bouncing back towards the grinder and being sucked into its cooling ducts.

With the curve finally right some grooves were cut into both sides of the top of the block so that the sight would slide onto the block of metal for fitting. The laser was to be clamped to the block using some fittings from another project until some were made for it, but the drill bit jammed, snapped and followed by the drill with me holding it and the metal fitting broke. So some changes had to be made for this issue, and not having  similar brackets in stock yet, I am just using the smaller laser, or as the trader said, it is an astronomy aide,  When the bracket was finished it had to be attached to the dish but how, not wanting to drill any holes into the dish or the wave guide  after a chat in one of my local hardware stores with members of the staff some adhesive was used and that adhesive is so strong that you would bend the dish rather than break its hold on the parts.

 As you can see in photo 3 above, there is a difference in the sizes of the lasers;

 the larger of the two is from an old laser printer/copier.

 Photo 4 above shows the sight in position and the laser just placed on top of the wave guide,

  it or the larger one will be attached to the plate when the parts are got.

  That’s it for this issue; may your signals be P5.

 73 de Pat.

The HX Files Xtract 024

Hello and welcome to Xtract 024 of the HX Files.

In this issue I would like to write about some of the templates that were made, and used, to help me in the layout of the parts in some of the projects constructed over the last few years.

Like in any construction project you would layout the various parts to be used in the project to find out not only what goes were but were to drill, file and shape.

When it comes to drilling out the holes and filing them to shape for the final fitting, you would be placing the parts in and out of their positions many times before their final placement, and as a result the parts can get marked, damaged and even broken, and as a result of this, over some time various templates have being made to help me out, see photo 1 below for a few of them beside the actual parts to be used.

Project parts and templates

The easiest to make was the template made for the various amplifiers that have been used, as they are most often mounted on to some heat sink by the manufacturer in its enclosure and this would entail removing one of its lids, and this was a ready made template that could be used for marking out its location.

But when it came to space being a part of the construction a piece of wood was cut to the size of the amp and the lids bonded to the wood, and some small screws and/or panel pins are used to act as their coaxial sockets and DC connections, later on some of the templates had N type sockets and others had the SMA type fitted to them as well as a screw or two, and these screws would act as the DC connections.

The 1.2/2.5 GHZ transmitters are the same size as each other, and like wise, their receiver boards, so only one of each would have to be made.

After sourcing some scrap wood, some marking out and rough cutting of the wood was done first and by using some dowel rod to mimic the phono, aerial and DC sockets. 

Smaller parts like the coaxial relays fuse boards, aerial sockets, and such like would not require a template, but I found parts like the SMA terminated coaxial relay would be on most projects featured in Echo Ireland be fixed internally in the project  and mounted onto, or sandwiched between a couple of suitable heat sinks. The larger N type coaxial relays mostly being used often come with a mounting bracket that can be used as a template for marking out the locations of the aerial sockets, seen on top right in photo 1.

For an item like the TV/monitor it would not be practical to make a template unless you could be guaranteed to be able to get the same size of TV/monitor  every time, as a foot note  a couple of 4 inch (100 mm) monitors are in-stock , but their mounting plates are both completely different from one another. At a recent rally four 6 inch (150 mm) monitors were purchased and these are identical to one another so it will be worth making a template for them. These monitors were used for an ice system (in car entertainment system) and would be originally wrapped around the headrest of the vehicle by their own Velcro straps, but as they could be mounted onto the projects by either fixing some small pieces of angle aluminium to their back, or to make a frame, and for it to be attached to the project first and then to the monitor. Some of the projects made did not have many connecting power or coaxial cables, but of those that require a lot of cabling, a wiring loom would be made. When a wiring loom is needed for a project t a layout of the parts are naturally done first on some paper and then a line drawn from the various part to its switch, LED, power or coaxial point, and then when the case or box to house the project has been found, it is also decided what parts are going were. A piece of wood is cut to the size of the chassis and the various project parts would then be screwed or stuck to the wood. With that completed some screws or nails were added that would act as formers or guides for the various cables to be used in the loom, by simply using some string (in stock, as it is cheaper than the finished cable) to act as the cables, the string would be tied onto the screws on the templates and then the string ran along the board to the other points on its line and then tied off. (This would be repeated until all parts were catered for)  Once you were happy you would transfer each length of string to the appropriate length and rating of cable, and with all the cables now replacing the string they could be bound together with some tape or cable ties. 

As you can see in photo 2 above and on the right, the template of the chassis and front panel have a few holes and screws about their surfaces, these are for the various switches and any other parts that would be attached to the panels.  You maybe able to see the string and the screws making up some of the loom, the piece of string tied to the screw representing the switch and routed along the screws to the fuse point and then to the DC supply, and this you would do until you have everything wired up, there are a few holes in the chassis boards and the ones not in use are covered with a piece of sticky tape or label when starting to wire up the parts to be used.

Bird Watt meter parts   

For some project you may have no other choice but to use the actual parts,(those of you who have a Bird meter need not worry as one was not scraped,I bought the parts of a fellow ham who had bought them off a dealer, so rest assured dear readers a meter did NOT die for this up coming project) as you can see in photo 3 above these parts are being used in a forthcoming  project, the parts are from a Bird Watt meter  and the only part seen other than the meter is the cavity that its slug is located, but that is another story……..

Close up of some of the templates

And finally, I would like to wish you and your family a prosperous New Year,

 and may your signals continue to be P5.

73, Pat.