W3NQN Band-pass Filters

An interesting article on using band-pass filters for multi-transmitter situations. PDF

Some building tips from kg8u.

These filters don't look too bad to build yourself but they are available from
Array Solutions.

Powerpole Splitter

The PS-4 - Red-Dee-2™ Connect Powerpole Splitter looks like quite
a neat device at a reasonable price. Sort of like those extension cords
that you can plug 4 devices into.

There are several other interesting PowerPole devices from
the same manufacturer.

Class E amps and PWM

Just finished listening to SolderSmoke #39 (another sterling effort).
Bill Meara, M0HBR wondered if AM types might be into PWM (Pulse Width Modulation).
I remembered a presentation I saw at Boxboro a few years ago.
At least some AM types are into PWM!

Take a look at:

http://www.classeradio.com/

and

http://www.classeradio.com/modulate.htm

Arduino

In a thread labelled "Loss of Skills" on QRP-L, VE3HOP, Paul Anderson
mentions he's been dying to play with the Arduino board.

The Arduino board is a development board using the ATmega8 chip.
Some interesting feature of the board:

• USB interface
• It has its own Arduino IDE (that runs on OS X, Linux, & Windows
  
• It has its own language "Wiring"

VE3HOP also has an interesting blog named "Old School Hacker".

K6MAM Morse Trainer, Martin Minow

W3HF, Steve Melachrinos annnounced on the SolidCpyCw list
that his son had passed the Element 1 Morse code test.

He mentioned that his son had used the K6MAM Morse practice applet.
This applet is a nice Koch morse trainer similar to early versions
of the G4FON Koch Trainer for Windows. It doesn't have all the
bells and whistles of the later versions of G4FON's program but it
has all the features you need to learn Morse code and improve your copy speed.
And since it is a Java applet, it will run on many platforms that support Java.

Steve's page for the Morse applet reveals that the applet was written by
Martin Minow, K6MAM (SK). I met Martin around 1980-81 at the "Mill"
in Maynard, MA. Martin was the keeper of the flame for DECUS C.
I had just been loaned a Digital PDT-11/150 and needed a C compiler
to run on it. Martin was very helpful and I experienced the joy of compiling
C on a dual floppy machine with no hard drive.

Martin went on to be a dveloper for Apple and wrote several articles
for develop - The Apple Technical Journal.

Sadly, Martin was taken from us too early but Jon Callas has mirrored
Martin's last web site where you can learn more about him and find
some useful software.

anysoldier.com

I was reading an article on eHam entitled "If Rigs Could Talk...".
The author pointed to a copy of the article on his website that
includes a lot more pictures.
The article might have been subtitled "Sgt. M and me"
and is an interesting stroy about bringing a war souvenir
(a French made military radio back to life.)
But the part of the article that really caught my interest
was a mini-editorial about anysoldier.com.
anysoldier.com is a way to send letters and care packages
to our service men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan
who may not be getting any mail.
Sure beats sticking a yellow ribbon magnet on the back of
your car.

Pacificon Papers + VA3NDO Homebrew

Some really great papers from Pacificon 2006.

A number of interesting homebrew projects from VA3NDO.