Author Archives: Bryan Bibeau

New battery charger

September 29, 2012 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

I have a 12v / 4500mAh battery that I’ve been using with my FT-817nd. It is NiMH technology and is lighter than a comparable SLA battery. The problem has been charging, since I only had a SLA charger. Today I picked up a Thunder Power TP610C-ACDC charger from Hobbytown that can charge LiPo, LiFePO4 (and other lithium types), NiMH, NiCad, Lead acid and maybe others. It has some really nice features. I’m planning to also put together a Li-ion pack using surplus camera batteries, so I wanted a versatile charger.

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Posted in N0BCB Tagged |

Gulf Hagas

September 23, 2012 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

Paul and I took the Blue Bird of Happiness to Gulf Hagas this year for the annual bus trip. We had trouble at the gate. They told us we were too big for the active logging road. Our solution? The moto! Nope, that’s too small she exclaimed.

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So, we found a camping spot out an unused logging road. The next day we searched for a secret road into Gulf Hagas on the moto, but found it does not exist. We hitched a ride from the gate.

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There are more photos at Smugmug!

Posted in B's Blog Tagged |

2 meter dipole with Buddistick vertical

August 20, 2012 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

Tonight I decided to play around with my Buddistick vertical setup to see if I could make a 2m dipole for ssb contacts. I drilled and tapped a piece of 1/8″ aluminum flatbar and used it to mount my 2nd adjustable whip. I could actually hear some of the Monday night RMVHF+ Net from outside the house, but it was really faint. I flipped it vertical and keyed up a local repeater. I’ll try this again on an upcoming SOTA trip. I plan to ultimately build up or buy a portable 2m/70cm Yagi for this work. This setup will be nice if it works since I’m not carrying anything extra with me.

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Posted in N0BCB Tagged |

SOTA alerts for this weekend

August 16, 2012 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

I’m planning to do 3 SOTA summits this weekend while we’re camping up on Independence Pass between Leadville and Aspen. Hopefully in the following order:

Saturday 8/18/2012 at 10:00 local Mountain time: W0/SR-108 using QRP 14.343 SSB and 146.52FM
Saturday 8/18/2012 at 14:00 local Mountain time: W0/SR-115 using QRP 14.343 SSB and 146.52FM
Sunday 8/19/2012 at 10:00 local Mountain time: W0/SR-020 using QRP 14.343 SSB and 146.52FM

I’ll have my TH-D72A beaconing to

I’m trying to pick up an Arrow Yagi for 2m. If I have that in time, I’ll try both FM and SSB on 2m.

Posted in N0BCB

Yaesu FT-817ND with Buddistick vertical

August 11, 2012 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

Made big headway today with my new setup. I had only made one contact so far and was getting frustrated. The SWR meter on my 817 showed nothing so I assumed everything was tuned correctly. I finally hooked up my old Micronta 21-525B gifted to me by K1LQH, and found my SWR on CW was 3:1! I shortened the whip about 12″ and immediately was copied 5-9 by a station in CT and another in MD!

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10 meter antenna part II

July 29, 2012 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

I used Nylon rod turned on my lathe to mount the mast to the ground plate. I may switch to fiberglass later, but cheap is my goal and I had the Nylon and PVC pipe for the vertical. I used 14 gauge Romex stripped out for the conductors. At the top of the PVC I’ll add a plastic compression fitting to seal the copper that extends just beyond the pipe.

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Posted in N0BCB Tagged |

Homebrew 10 meter vertical

July 29, 2012 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

I’m working on a 10 meter vertical antenna for the roof of my house. It’s a quarter wave ground plane centered on 28.8 MHz, so it will be 97.5″ tall with 4 97.5″ radials. I used the formula Length of Dipole (feet) = 468 / Frequency (MHz). Since the radials comprise one half of the dipole and the vertical is the other half, you divide the length by 2.
I’m looking for some 1/4″ diameter fiberglass rod for the vertical. We get a lot of wind in Colorado so it needs to be tough. The base is a 1/4″ thick aluminum plate with a SO-239 bulkhead connector. I will weld on a round piece of stock on the top side, then turn it on my lathe as a receiver for the fiberglass rod. A length of 14 gauge stranded copper will live inside the fiberglass tube.
Here are some pictures of the base that I started on today:

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Road Trip!

June 29, 2012 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

I got to spend 2 weeks camping with the dogs between California and Colorado. We hit up Zion, Bryce, Moab and the Dixie National Forest. Great trip!

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Posted in B's Blog Tagged |

High Park Fire photos

June 11, 2012 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

Here is a gallery link to the photos I’ve taken (and will take) of the High Park Fire burning near Fort Collins, CO.  This fire apparently started from a lightening strike that smoldered for several days, then roared to life early on Sunday morning, 6/10/2012.  I’ll continue adding photos to this gallery as I take them.

 

Posted in B's Blog Tagged |