Archive for the ‘X band’ Tag
It was great to see the announcement of a new Maker Faire event in Orange County, Calif. after so many years. Organizing and launching a new event is a ton of work, thank you to all planners, sponsors and the volunteers to make this happen!
I am glad all of my Maker Faire projects are still intact and have not been hacked for parts or made into other projects. So I brought some of my favorite projects from past events. This had to be done, since I had a short notice of the event.
I answered many questions on the items on display, and so I decided to share some details of what I did to these projects to make them “Maker Faire friendly.”
And, as part of our theme – Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio – all projects – as one visitor said, “do not look anything like the radios I have seen.”
My team of ham radio operators are always inspired to explore, experiment, improve, and create new and fun gadgets with some radio related twist. Integrating, hacking, modifying, breaking and fixing are all part of the ham radio experience. This is a ham radio tradition over 100 years old – and continues. Our mission is to explain and expose people to today’s ham radio and the technologies we use. It is truly “not your grandpa’s ham radio.”
Projects on Display – Details
Transverter System for the 10368 MHz (10.368 GHz) Amateur Radio Band
My current transverter system is based on a kit from Kuhne Electronic, in Germany. It is an older unit, their website has a new and improved version.
I said “current” system because the rig has changed many times over the years, which is why my transverter is named “Morpheus.”
In Greek mythology, Morpheus is the god of sleep. However, My use of the name is derived from the many iterations of the basic components, layout/ergonomics, performance and packaging. In other words, it has “morphed” or changed many times.
By the way, the transverter is only one part or module of a working 10 GHz ham radio transverter station. The transverter must be interfaced with other sub-assemblies in order to actually communicate.
I covered this aspect in several articles, here are some articles available online:
QSO Today Online Expo August 8, 2020: More 10 GHz Information
Presentation: Microwaves: Not Just for Leftovers
Lightning Detector Circuit from Charles Wenzel’s TechLib (Technical Library)
Lightning Detector/300 kHz Receiver
As mentioned during the show, the lightning detector is a very low frequency (VLF) receiver. The circuit can be found on Charles Wenzel’s site, TechLib, short for “Technical Library.”
My lightning detector appeared in Makezine, “Detect Lightning with a Simple Circuit”
My Lightning Detector at Bay Area Maker Faire 2016 can be seen in this LinkedIn post.
The LASER Communicator
Ramsey Electronics Model No. LBC6K. No longer made but may be available on online auction sites or other sources.
The RF Signal Detector
The RF detector is based on a portable power meter available as a kit from Down East Microwave (DEMI). It is called the W1GHz All Band Power Meter Complete Kit, Model ABPM. I replaced the LED bar graph display with individual LEDs to make the “meter” more visible.
The 1152 Board: The Magic Frequency
The 1152 MHz synthesizer is a modified circuit board from a surplus Qualcomm electronic logging device (ELD) for freight trucks. Modification information can be found on the San Bernardino Microwave Society (SBMS) website.
More about me
QSO Today Podcast
Ham Radio Workbench
UPDATE — See what Dennis W6DQ and I did for the San Diego Maker Faire!
This is our fourth consecutive year as Makers. The 2015 SD Maker Faire team is Dennis W6DQ and Wayne KH6WZ.
Our mission is to change the image of ham radio, making it both contemporary and chic in a hi-tech sort of way. We also want to emphasize how ham radio can be used for science and technology education and a possible career path for youngsters.
Amateur, or ham radio has always included teaching-learning-making-modifying-hacking and networking (making new friends) traditions for over a hundred years. We want to remind people this “new Maker Movement” is not really a new idea. Read my LinkedIn Publish post called “The Original Makers” to learn more about this.
We also want to show everyone that ham radio technology changes with the times, and continues to include both past and present to accomplish one thing: Creating ways to communicate voice and data over the ether, without wires.
Here are some of the projects on display – stay tuned for more stories and pictures after the event!
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Live virtual air traffic control radar receiving station
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Homemade antenna
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APRS / location tracker demonstration
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Software defined radio modules. Photo by Dennis Kidder, W6DQ
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Broadband ham radio network under construction
By the way – here are 65 reasons why ham radio continues to survive – and possibly thrive – in a world of instant, global communication fro everyone:
65 Great Things About Ham Radio
CQ magazine celebrates its 65th anniversary by making a list of 65 great things about ham radio. Ham radio can be considered one of the earliest forms of “social media,” “networking” and “making.” Items in italics can be considered “life lessons.”
1. It works when nothing else does
2. It makes you part of a worldwide community
3. The opportunity to help neighbors by providing public service and emergency communications
4. Some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet
5. Some of the smartest people you’ll ever meet
6. Some of the most interesting people you’ll ever meet
7. Some of the most generous people you’ll ever meet (along with some of the cheapest!)
8. Lifelong friendships
9. Friends around the world (including those you haven’t met yet)
10. The opportunity to go interesting places you might not otherwise go to
11. The opportunity to do interesting things you might not otherwise get to do
12. The opportunity to expand your knowledge of geography
13. The opportunity to expand your knowledge of earth and space science
14. Practical uses for high school math
15. Practical uses for high school physics
16. A good way to practice a foreign language
17. A good way to keep in touch with faraway friends and relatives
18. A good way to get driving directions when visiting someplace new (with or without GPS)
19. A good way to find the best places to eat when visiting someplace new (with or without GPS)
20. Finding “non-touristy” off-the-beaten-path places to stay, eat, visit, etc.
21. A good way to learn about virtually any topic
22. A good way to bridge the generation gap
23. A good way to keep tabs on elderly/infirm people
24. People named Joe (Walsh, Rudi, Taylor)
25. How many of your non-ham friends have actually talked to someone in some remote place such as Cape Verde or the Seychelles?
26. How many of your non-ham friends might have talked to an astronaut aboard the space station?
27. How many of your non-ham neighbors might have a satellite uplink station in their basements—or in the palms of their hands?
28. How many of your non-ham neighbors might have a TV studio in their garage?
29. What other hobby group has designed, built, and had launched its own fleet of communication satellites?
30. Where else can you play with meteors?
31. Moonbounce
32. Informal way to improve technical skills
33. Informal way to improve communication skills
34. Introduces a variety of career paths
35. Offers unparalleled opportunities for career networking
36. Opportunities for competition in contesting and foxhunting
37. A good way to collect really cool postcards from around the world (despite the growth of electronic confirmations)
38. Nearly endless variety of different things to do, on and off the air
39. Hamfests
40. Dayton
41. Field Day
42. Working DX
43. Being DX
44. DXpeditions
45. Contesting
46. Award-chasing
47. Double-hop sporadic-E
48. Worldwide DX on 6 meters (once or twice every 11 years) [The current extended sunspot minimum has shown that mechanisms other than F2 propagation can offer intercontinental DX on the “magic band” at any point in the solar cycle.]
49. Tropospheric ducting
50. Gray-line propagation
51. TEP, chordal hops, etc.
52. Getting through on CW when nothing else will
53. Unexpected band openings
54. Building your own gear
55. Using gear you’ve built yourself
56. Operating QRP from some remote location
57. Experimenting with antennas
58. Working DX while mobile or while hiking
59. Experimenting with new modes and new technology
60. The opportunity to help build an internet that doesn’t rely on the internet
61. DXing on your HT via IRLP and Echolink
62. Contributing to scientific knowledge about propagation
63. Keeping track of other people’s GPS units via APRS
64. Ham radio balloon launches to the edge of space, and as always…
65. Reading CQ!
Take a look at the CQ magazine website to find more interesting things about ham radio.
32.715738
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October 3 and 4: Maker Faire® San Diego!
Maker Faire San Diego is October 3 and 4, 2015, from 10 AM to 6 PM at Balboa Park. Our “Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio” theme will feature some new projects as well as some of the old, but popular demonstrations from previous Maker Faire events. Pictured below is a project under construction, I hope to have it completed for this event. It is a homemade 1090 MHz collinear (vertical) antenna that will be part of an air traffic control monitoring station using a software defined radio (SDR).
October 15 to 18: Microwave Update (MUD)!
Microwave Update, or MUD, is a yearly technical conference for amateur radio experimenters making, modifying, hacking, building, testing and using the 1,000 MHz and up radio bands. Participants from all over the world gather at these events to share information about operating techniques, radio propagation and radio station equipment. One aspect of this event is the buying, selling and trading of surplus parts and assemblies for these frequency bands, since some items may be difficult to procure in some areas. But perhaps the best thing about MUD is socializing and making new friends from all over the world to discuss common interests and goals.
Preparations for the San Diego MUD are still under way. Last weekend, a few San Bernardino Microwave Society (SBMS) members gathered at Dave’s lab to sort and package some prize and give-away items for the event.
Left to right: Dave WA6CGR, Rein W6SZ, Pat N6RMJ and Jim KK6MXP sorting and packing some microwave frequency prizes and give-ways.
I hope to see you at any or both of these events!
Microwave Update (MUD), the international conference on Amateur Radio experimentation above 1,000 MHz, reminds attendees and participants the deadline for papers is September 1, 2015. The event is October 15 to 18, 2015.
Article/Paper Deadline
There is still time to create and submit an article or paper on your latest microwave project, technique or technology update.
Paper guidelines are posted on the official 2015 Microwave Update website, at
Technical Paper Guidelines and Deadlines
Speaker Schedule
The preliminary speaker schedule is posted at
MUD 2015 Speaker Schedule
Hotel Information – Discount Rates Deadline Approaches!
Take advantage of the hotel discount rate which expires on September 14, 2015. Be sure to mention you will be attending the Microwave Update (MUD).
Crowne Plaza San Diego
2270 Hotel Circle North
San Diego, CA 92108 USA
Phone: +1-888-233-9527
More MUD 2015 hotel information:
MUD 2015 Hotel Info
For more information and the latest updates on MUD 2015, go to:
Microwave Update 2015 San Diego, CA
About the San Bernardino Microwave Society
The SBMS, founded in 1955, is a non-profit technical organization and Amateur Radio club and dedicated to the advancement of communications above 1,000MHz. Affiliated with the ARRL, the SBMS membership includes over 90 Amateurs from Hawaii and Alaska to the East Coast and beyond. Meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 7 pm at the American Legion Hall, 1024 Main St., Corona, CA. For more SBMS information, go to SBMS
About the Microwave Group of San Diego
The Microwave Group of San Diego is an informal association of Radio Amateurs interested in the frequencies above 1000 MHz. A net is held on the air each Monday night, except the third Monday of the month, on the Palomar Amateur Radio Club Repeater, 146.730 (-0.600), (tone 107.2) at 9:00 PM. For more information, go to
MGSD
Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here is a 2015 Bay Area Maker Faire recap in images from and around our Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio theme booth.
Click here to see the official Bay Area Maker Faire video from 2015
The Bay Area Maker Faire 2015 team: Team Leader Brian Yee W6BY and his wife Pat and daughter Stephanie, Dennis Kidder W6DQ, Lisa Gibbons KF6QNG and Paul Zander AA6PZ
We had working, hands-on ham radio projects including Brian’s (W6BY) 10 GHz ham radio transverter system, a radio-controlled tractor/forklift (ZigBee controller) and the big screen used as an electronic sign.
Dennis W6DQ brought several brand new projects this year, including a working Amateur Radio broadband (WiFi) network with seven nodes, a software-defined radio (SDR) system.
I brought a demonstration comparing old and new technology in antenna tuners. It uses light bulbs for a substitute (“dummy”) antenna.
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Lisa showing the new Arduino book to an interested Maker
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Stephanie shows off her “Lear to Solder” badge of honor
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Guys at the Nepal ham radio booth
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There’s so much to see and do. Here are some pictures of what I get a chance to see.
Always great to see Tenaya promoting Arduino and Arduino related projects and products!
Great shirts and signage – Only at the Maker Faire!
Here are the posters we used to describe our projects on display this year.
Maker Faire Bay Area 2015 T-Shirts for Makers
Maker Faire Bay Area is now history. Our booth, “Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio” included new projects and demonstrations. This was our fourth year as Makers and the fifth year as visitors to the Maker Faire in San Mateo.
This is a short overview of our display. Stay tuned for more images, stories and videos.
Here is the text from our handout. It answers some of our most-often asked questions:
What are we doing?
Thank you for your interest in our Maker Faire display “Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio.” This is our fourth consecutive year as “Makers,” and our goal is to show people what today’s ham radio operators are doing with the newest technology.
Who are we?
We are licensed Amateur radio operators (“hams”).
Is this like CB?
Yes and no. Ham radio is similar in that we use two-way radios and antennas to talk with each other, but hams can communicate using Morse code and computers in addition to voice, and we even have our own satellites. Ham radio requires a license issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US and licensees are required to pass a written test on electronics theory, radio regulations and operating procedures.
How far can you talk?
We can communicate with other ham stations around the corner or across the globe, depending on a variety of factors that affect the way radio waves travel. The equipment we are using operates on frequencies that generally follow line-of-sight paths. However, hams have discovered that signals can be reflected against objects such as buildings, trees, islands and mountains to extend the range. Using these techniques, we are able to contact other stations hundreds of miles away.
What kind of radios are you using?
We are builders and experimenters in microwave radio communications. No commercially-built, “off-the-shelf” equipment for these frequencies exists, so we must build our own equipment, or modify commercially-made equipment meant for other communications services, such as satellite TV, cell phone and long-distance telephone.
How much does this equipment cost?
Like any other hobby, people spend as much or as little as they can afford. Most people involved in ham radio spend as much as any serious stereo enthusiast, amateur photographer or woodworker.
Where can I get more information?
American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and QST Magazine
CQ Magazine
If you are a licensed ham and want to try a new challenge, contact your local VHF and up club:
The 50 MHz and Up Group
The San Bernardino Microwave Society (SBMS)
The Microwave Group of San Diego
Wayne Yoshida KH6WZ: YouTube
Broadband Hamnet-REV2
Broadband Ham Radio Network Under Construction. Photo by Dennis Kidder W6DQ
Software Defined Radio
Elements for the SDR. Photo by Dennis Kidder W6DQ
Old-vsNew-Ant-tuners
Old vs New Antenna Tuner Technology
KH6WZ 10GHz rig-Poster
Microwave transverter system by Brian Yee W6BY. Photo by Brian Yee W6BY
APRS Poster
APRS demonstration
The Greeter
The Maker Faire Team from the San Bernardino Microwave Society (SBMS) and the 50 MHz and Up Group is once again displaying their newest projects at the Bay Area Maker Faire.
We are “Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio” – Maker Number 50122
SAN DIEGO, Calif., March 19, 2015 — Microwave Update (MUD), the paramount international conference on Amateur Radio experimentation above 1,000MHz, will take place from Thursday, October 15 to Sunday, October 18, 2015 at the Crowne Plaza San Diego.
MUD 2015 will include technical programs, a banquet and the opportunity to network with fellow microwave ham radio enthusiasts from around the world. This year’s event is sponsored jointly by the San Bernardino Microwave Society (SBMS) and the Microwave Group of San Diego (MGSD).
Special hotel rates are available to MUD 2015 attendees. Be sure to mention the Microwave Update 2015 when making hotel reservations.
Call for Papers and Presentations
MUD is a great opportunity to share your ideas by presenting and writing papers. If you are interested in writing and/or presenting a topic for the 2015 MUD, send an e-mail message to mud2015-presentations@ham-radio.com with an abstract or a general idea. This will help the conference planning and scheduling team organize the event.
Presentation and paper guidelines are posted at
http://www.ham-radio.com/sbms/mud2015/mud2015_call_for_Papers.pdf
The deadline for proceedings submissions is September 1 and deadline for presentations is September 25.
For more information and the latest updates on MUD 2015, go to:
http://www.ham-radio.com/sbms/mud2015/
Hotel Information
The hotel is taking reservations now, so take advantage of the discount rate. Remember to ask for the Microwave Update (MUD) special rate.
Crowne Plaza San Diego
2270 Hotel Circle North
San Diego, CA 92108 USA
Phone: +1-888-233-9527
http://www.ihg.com/crowneplaza/hotels/us/en/san-diego/sancp/hoteldetail
About the San Bernardino Microwave Society
The SBMS, founded in 1955, is a non-profit technical organization and Amateur Radio club and dedicated to the advancement of communications above 1,000MHz. Affiliated with the ARRL, the SBMS membership includes over 90 Amateurs from Hawaii and Alaska to the East Coast and beyond. Meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 7 pm at the American Legion Hall, 1024 Main St., Corona, CA. For more SBMS information, go to http://www.ham-radio.com/sbms/
About the Microwave Group of San Diego (MGSD)
The MGSD is an informal association of Radio Amateurs interested in the frequencies above 1000 MHz. A net is held on the air each Monday night, except the third Monday of the month, on the Palomar Amateur Radio Club Repeater, 146.730 (-0.600), (tone 107.2) at 9:00 PM. For more MGSD information, go to
http://www.ham-radio.com/sbms/sd/mgsd.htm
The call for Bay Area Makers is open now. The deadline is Sunday Feb 15.
What’s a Maker? Take a look at what a lot of us are doing in The Maker Movement.
But if you think this idea is new, read this post about re-inventing the wheel. In this case, the wheel is the definition of “Maker.”
More info on the 2015 Bay Area Maker Faire. . .
Just to whet your appetite about the upcoming Maker Faire – take a look at a Drone’s Eye View of Maker Faire 2014!
Search for “Makers” and “Maker Faire” on this site to see some of my previous projects and participation at Maker Faire.
wayneyoshidakh6wz 