Looking For A Good Power Supply For the Ham Shack

  One of those pieces of equipment that every Ham Radio Operator will need in the Ham Shack is a good power supply. Power Supplies all vary in Voltage, Current and size. The size may be dependent on the wattage, which is the Voltage times the Current. Another thing that determines the size is whether it is solid state regulated or linear regulated. The Solid State Power Supplies are much lighter in weight than the Linear Regulated Power Supply. The Linear Power Supply usually has a large transformer in it ,which is usually very heavy.
  The power supplies will generally have a voltage and current meter on them. They will also have various types of connectors on them for connecting your Ham Radio and other equipment. The are some that output around 25 to 30 amps, which enough for your Ham Radio. The power supplies putting out 30 to 50 amps are very good for powering more than one piece of equipment. I have read that some can be a little noisy, so you may consider running in a different location in your Ham Shack.
  There are many different brands out there on the market for sale. Some of the popular brands are MFJ, Diamond, Pyramid. There are other brands such as Astron and Jetstream as well as others that are very good. They all have very good reviews that can be seen at Eham.net. I myself have a Diamond GZV4000 that puts out about 40 amps and does a really good job. I also have another power supply made by Kenwood for my TS-2000 Ham Radio. I mainly have two so if one goes down I have a backup until I can get it repaired.
  Some of the power supplies have a fixed voltage output. Other model have a variable voltage output that can be adjusted for whatever you need. They also have a exhaust fan that may run all the time or only run when the power supply gets to a certain temperature. My advise is to check out reviews for various models and also check out the reviews on the seller of the item.

                                       Thank You For Reading from Dan KC2YTI 73s.

Looking For A Good Digital Clock For Your Ham Shack Or Weather Station

  There are so many different digital clocks out there it becomes hard to choose. I still have my Radio Shack Digital Clock with big three inch red numbers. One of these days I have to get a different one. I have looked at some at Universal Radio, MFJ and Ham Radio Outlet. I have also looked at AES Electronics and DX Engineering. Maybe I will get one for Christmas, so I will keep looking for now.

                                     This is very similar to my Radio Shack Clock

   I like the Digital Clock below, because it has the added features of the Date, Time and Temperature. This would make a nice addition to any Ham Shack.

                 

Summer Project Of Building A Moxon Antenna For 17 Meters

  I am going to start work again on my 6 meter quad project hopefully if the weather here in Rochester New York ever gets to Spring. I am however also planning on building a 17 meter Moxon Antenna. I chose 17 meters for two reasons. First I like it, because when it is open I am hearing stations from over in Europe. They tend to be from Ireland, Italy and other countries in Europe. The second reason is because I do not have a large space to put it in and 20 meters may not give me enough room to turn it. I do not want it hanging over in the neighbors yard. 

A Moxon-Antenna for the 20 m Ham-Radio Band. Made from four fishing-poles, wire and small ropeBy Dl1oli .  This is an example but has the similar X pattern.

 I plan on using 4 crappie fiberglass fishing poles. They will be attached to a thick 11 x14 cutting board that is made out of polypropylene, which seems very durable. I may use some light weight aluminum angle metal for extra strength if needed. I will drill a center hole for the mast to slip through. Then I will attach some aluminum angle on either side with U-bolts to attach to the mast. This way I can turn it with my light weight rotor. 
  It will basically be in a large X pattern. The program I am using to design the antenna in the Moxon Rectangle Generator. It can be found at this website http://www.k6sgh.com/antennas/moxon.htm. I am thinking of ways to attach the wire to the rectangle. I have seen some people use black UV tie-wraps to hold the wire. One idea is to place a pvc pipe cap on the ends of the fiberglass poles, drill a hole through the cap and feed the wire through. Maybe some duct tape at the joints with a tie-wrap to keep it from closing.

Moxon antenna. Feed on the left, reflector on the right, main radiation direction to the left. Isolators in blueBy Dantor

  I will most likely use a ugly balun so that I transmit the same current to each of the dipole ends. I do see some people that did not use a balun and others used a balun. I am going to try it and see how it goes. I do have all the various parts on hand to build this 17 meter Moxon Antenna. So now I just have to wait for the weather here in Rochester New York to warm up so I can get my 6 meter quad going as well. I plan on putting up some pictures as I progress through the building of the antenna.

Well that's all for now Thank You for reading 73s from Dan KC2YTI .