February 2010
> January Club Meeting
Our February NJQRP club meeting is scheduled for February 27 at the Red Cross center in Princeton. See our Meeting page for details and directions.
Note: This month we'll be meeting in a different room, across the parking lot in the Disaster Operations Center.
> New Jersey QRP "Dinner & Presentation" Forum: 5-8pm on Dec 7th
Many of us have missed having our annual Atlanticon QRP Forums, but they
had grown to be so much work and expense over the years that it was
difficult to continue putting them on. So we’ve put our heads together
and have developed the concept of a smaller-scale alternative that might
be just as enjoyable for those here in the NJ region. We’ve dubbed it
the “NJQRP Dinner & Forum”.
Our Dinner & Forum will be held on Monday
evening, December 7th at the Food Court at the Forrestal Village Mall, just
off Rt. 1 in Princeton. We've used this location as our backup monthly
meeting place, and it'll be just perfect for our Dinner & Forum
... lots of space and tables to spread out our projects, parts and radios
(just like to good ol' days at the other 2nd floor food court), four
different cuisines to choose from based on personal taste and budget, and
fairly quiet for our presentations after dinner.
See the map for
location and easy (free) parking.
- An hour of QRP socializing, coffee and soft drinks as we mill around tables in the banquet room holding various homebrew projects, kits & parts for sale, or other “mini hamfest” type of items that anyone might wish to bring;
- Break for about an hour to purchase your dinner of choice from one of the four restaurants there in the Food Court: Chinese, Japanese, American, Subway
- A couple of QRP presentations similar to what we had come to love at the old Atlanticons (heck, we might even see the return of The QRP Ninja!); and
- Door prizes and a raffle for some QRP gem. ($5 donation to help us with the prizes.)
- Spouses/family/friends are welcome too.
Questions? ... Contact: George
n2apb-at-verizon-dot-net.
> October Meeting Recap
The last NJQRP club meeting was held on Saturday, Oct 31st at the red Cross Center in Princeton. Roundtable discussion of inverters, generators, Katrina emergency power, and other power failure preventive measures. (You can access the notes from earlier meetings here.)
> AmQRP NUE-PSK Digital Modem
If you think portable PSK31 operation requires a laptop computer, AmQRP has a surprise for you! Their NUE-PSK Digital Modem is available now.
> NJQRP Resource Page
We have collected some great sources of information and posted them in a web page called "NJQRP Resources", check it out at http://www.njqrp.org/resources/index.php.
> NJQRP Yahoo! Group
After 10 years of faithful service (thanks to Bob, K2UT) we have retired our old email list server and moved to a Yahoo! Group. This group continues to let us share email with everyone as well as adding many new features. The old mail list server was retired at the end of 2007. Click the image on the left or see this page for instructions on signing up for our Yahoo! group.
> HC908 based VFO
For those of you looking to build a DDS VFO, George has recently posted info about a DDS VFO using the DDS-30 or DDS60 daughtercard, controlled by the powerful HC908 daughtercard microcontroller over on the AmQRP site..
> Club Counter Kit
If you were lucky enough to pick up one of the NJQRP Counter Kits at one of our recent meetings (sorry no more kits are available), all of the construction info is available here.
> Rookey kits still available
The Rookey (Remote On-Off-Keyer) kit from Atlanticon 2007 is still available. The kit consists of an audio decoder PC board, all on-board components, small FM receiver, audio patch cord, ear buds, 9V battery clip and an extra blank PC board. The PICAXE microcontroller IC supplied with the decoder board is preprogrammed with a BASIC software program that decodes incoming audio pulses to illuminate any one of four LEDs and activate your own custom remote control circuits (e.g. a driver for a remote antenna switch).
Additional software is available for the Rookey boards, provided by PICAXE enthusiast David Gwillim, KB2TQX. Dave's programs allow the Rookey board to function as a Randon Morse Generator, Iambic Keyer, Koch Method Morse Trainer (KMMT) and a temperature controller. This source code is also freely available here, and we have a limited number of KMMT kits with the PC board and components needed to make up the KB2TQX circuits.
> Homebrewer Sprint Results
Check out the latest results from our popular and long-running QRP contest:
2007: Fall
and Spring
2006: Fall
and Spring
2005: Fall
and Spring
2004: Fall
and Spring
2003: Fall
and Spring
2002: Fall
and Spring
2001: Fall
and Spring
> Micro908 Kit
The Micro908 is a multi-function, handheld computing platform that has a growing number of real useful purposes around the shack: Antenna Analyzer, DSP-based Audio Filter, and (soon) PSK31 modem and a Software Defined Radio receiver. All details and options can be found on the project web page at http://www.amqrp.org/kits/micro908.
> Elmer 160 Course - learn how to program PICs!
John McDonough, WB8RCR has designed an on line introductory course for learning how to program and use PIC micro controllers. As course instructor, he will start off with very basic principles, and take students to the point of designing their own PIC applications. While the focus will be on the PIC16F84 chip, principles are applicable to the entire range of micro controllers from Microchip.
REFERENCE, PROJECTS & ARTICLES
GEO: Good Enough Oscillator
Check out this simple-and-useful "mini-kit" produced for members who attended the August 2003 club meeting
SNAP Transmitter Application Notes
N2CX describes how to enhance a simple 2-stage transmitter
