N0ZGO on the interwebs

Random information which might help other amateurs

QTH: EM12jw

Current solar conditions

9cm (3.3-3.5 GHz) Amateur Microwave Band Under Attack!

Update: Fortunately the FCC has reduced the scope of the spectrum grab. We've lost 3.45 - 3.5 GHz, but retain secondary use of the remaining allocation for the immediate future.

The FCC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which would eliminate this valuable amateur resource. For more information on this threat, read the ARRL News on this topic.

Please take some time to draft and send a comment to the FCC opposing this action!

My comments to the FCC are available here.


QRP Homebrew (qrp.pops.net) PDF Mirror

As of 5-Oct-2014, a great QRP resource on the Web has gone dark; VE7BPO has taken down qrp.pops.net for many reasons. I'd like to thank him for all of his work over the years. He has shared success and failure equally over that time, and it reminds me that we only learn through failure and perseverance.

VE7BPO has allowed me to host the complete PDF of his site as a link on mine. Enjoy!


Homebrew Resources


Test Equipment


AMD Am79C411 CT2 PhoX / VTech / Sony Cordless Resources

Dissasembly of my 90s-era VTech cordless phone revealed a bunch of interesting ICs and the possibility of hacking this into something for use on 33cm.

Alinco DJ-580T CMOS Battery Replacement

After serving faithfully for 19 years, my DJ-580T HT started losing its mind. After being switched off for a while, all memory channels would be empty and the HT would power up with the default frequencies.

Fortunately, replacing the battery was easy. The part needed for this fix can be obtained from Digi-Key:


ICOM IC-746PRO ACC1 Socket

While wiring up a digital interface (PSK31/RTTY/etc) for my base-station rig, I encountered an interesting conundrum.

The 8-pin DIN connectors I had on hand wouldn't fit, no matter how much persuasion I used. As this is a rather expensive rig, I stopped short of using the hammer. hihi

It turns out that there are two variants of the 8-pin DIN connector. The ones I had on hand were DIN41524 type 262°, whereas the rig needed the more common DIN45326 type 270°.

Credit for the DIN type numbers goes to this site.


OSCAR Recordings


Amateur Radio Web Links

These resources are geared toward experimentation and building radios.

Break out the soldering iron and build something. Don't be afraid to experiment! That's the privilege of your license and the magic of our hobby...

Electronics Links

Educational Links

The Internet started out with the mission to share information freely, and it still amazes me that so many people have provided free, easily-accessible educational material on the WWW.

Here is just a small sampling of what can be found out there.

As Francis Bacon once said: "Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est."

Lightning!

I built the lightning detector from techlib.
You can view a run with the storm about 30 miles away. I'm using the fixed 150k sensitivity option right now.


Copyright (C) by Zach Metzinger. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
Go to my non-ham website.
I can be reached at (mycallsign) (at) pobox (dot) com