Even Though The Season Has Closed...

The deer are still very nervous in this neck-o-the-woods! (Click on the picture to enlarge.)

happy holidays

happy holidays from the redneck cdn rat. evryone take care.

ve7ren

WILL THIS WORK or KISS MY COMPUTER SOUTH END

This is the last time I try this: OKAY, THIS IS THE FINAL PRODUCT, THE COMMAND POST OF CW,

On Behalf of Frank's "By Golly"

Good job Frank, looks as good as it sounds!

Here's the pictures... (Click to enlarge)

FEW MORE TIMES AND I'LL BE SUCKED UP BY A BEAM OF LIGHT

OKAY MOUNTAIN MEN, HERE ARE A FEW MORE PICTURES, IF THIS TURNS OUT RIGHT, WE'LL GO KILL THE BOTTLE WITH A 44 SLUG.

THE BIRTH OF "BY-GOLLY"

It only takes a little inspiration and a whole lot of junk to confuse the best of us. And

herein without saying much more, are a couple shots of the conception of a key, formatted

after a standard key, but made out of stuff from everywhere. The base is a piece of wood

flooring, pivot junction is cotterkey, square handle stock was the most expensive from a

hardware store at 3 bucks. Screws, nuts, bolts, and the two rear connector anchor joints

for the main key to transmitter wire, all inherited from the either. Took a good part of one

and a half days to build. The cats have brused ribs from getting in my way, the ducks lost

two pounds from me not feeding them, and my socks developed holes from standing so

long in one area. In all must have used five or six tools, sander, drill, hacksaw, file, moto-

tool, skill saw, and a sundry of others. There was good language and a few off color words

as trial and error, assembly and dissembly went round and round. Various extra holes

were mistakes, but my excuse, "those are just for air cooling when I get going fast on the

key," so lets leave it be at that, sounds better.

Bill, W7WEL, was the first contact late one evening on 160M's as we pruned the airwaves

with out ear splitting cw parting the clouds in all directions causing a wormhole to open up

between our houses at which time and distance knew no dimension. Thanks Bill. And onward

to the SKN night and future contacts on CW. I'd encourage anyone and everyone else to do

something similar, as Jeff KF7JGA, Bill and myself have done. It don't matter how nice it

looks, so long as its functional, and hey, "its yours, you built it" thats the great part of it all.

I wish success to all, and a very good Christmas and New Year Season. Talk to you

down the waves of either. --WB7NZI --

loking south of ok falls to vaseaux lake

what a beauty picture

company in the hills

seems to be a whole family here near ok falls. sign of a healthy ecosystem

My Junk Pile Key

Here is a photo of my Junk Pile Straight Key that I cobbled together in time for the Straight Key Sprint on January 1st.

I used a hunk of stainless steel strapping cut from a large size (5 inch) hose clamp. It cut pretty easy with a pair of snips but wouldn't drill worth a hoot, so rather than try to drill holes for the mounting screws, I wedged it between several screws and mounted it to a hunk of 3/4 inch plywood. One wire is jammed beneath the strap, and the other wire is connected to a screw below the ka-nob. You can see I even added a extra screw on the side to adjust the gap, HA HA!

The next photo shows my new key next to my set of paddles. A matched set!

A Cheap and Dirty Straight Key

From a previous post of a project a few years back.....

Need a Straight Key?

So, it's the day before SKN and no straight key! It's off to the junk-box. Ah, an old piece of aluminum from a scavenged torsion bar discarded from a veneer clipper at work, this will work nicely for a base.

And, a micro switch should work instead of open contacts, just need to attach it to a plate with slotted holes for adjustment then fasten to the base with machine screws.

The arm, I can cut from fiberglass pc board, fastening a knob on the end will make a good finish and will feel close to the real thing.



Preparing the base for a micro switch.



The key arm to actuate the micro switch is cut from a piece of salvaged fiberglass pc board. Stiff but flexible enough for a good feel.



Now, I'm all set for SKN!
The finished piece doesn't look like much but it is very functional.

The 2011 CW Challenge

Work All States

Beginning Jan 1st, 2011

Any band

No power limit

QSL card confirmation NOT REQUIRED!

A contact consists of 2-way exchange of signal report, name, and QTH

(Additional rules or changes may be offered before the start date.)

looking east at the newest snow

another beautiful day in the okanagan valley

House Guests

For those of you who never experienced the joys of Woodratsmanship, here's one that we had renovating the closet above our bedroom recently. We served him with the 'ol "Victor" eviction notice.