I just received and built the N0XAS Pico Keyer. It costs only $18 (plus shipping), and is a very cool kit and a useful addition to one’s shack.

As shown in the photo at right, the PicoKeyer measures only 2-in. x 1-1/8-in. On the board, are only 12 components: one resistor, one IC, three capacitors, one switch, two miniature phone jacks, two transistors, a small speaker, and a battery. It took me less than a half hour to solder all the components to the board, and it worked perfectly when I inserted the battery into the battery holder.

A mystery station has appeared on 3700 kHz, as well as on 4300, 6500, and 10500 kHz. Dubbed “Yosemite Sam,” the station transmits the voice of Yosemite Sam, Bugs Bunny’s nemesis in the Loony Tunes cartoons saying, “Varmint, I’ma gonna blow yah t’smithereens.” The station cycles through each of the frequencies every 40 seconds, with a transmission every ten seconds. Chuck Sholaut, K6BOG, has posted a page of information and a .wav file of the transmision, go to SpyNumbers.Com.

Recently, one of the guys on the amateur radio club president’s mailing list started a mailling list for hams who teach license classes. The list, dubbed ham_instructor, now has 60 members, and already a few lively discussions have started.

One of the more interesting debates is whether a class should teach students just enough to pass the test or try to give them a deeper understanding of electronics and radio.

About a month ago, I found out that our club had a 60s-vintage Heathkit HD-10 Keyer that someone had donated. The only problem, according to our technical director, is that it didn’t work. He did, however, have the manual. Well, especially with the manual, I didn’t think it would be much of a problem to get it up and running, so I told him to bring it to a club meeting, and I’d take a look at it.

The first problem I encountered is that while it did indeed come with a manual, it wasn’t the right manual. The manual was for an HD-1410, not the HD-10. It looks like the HD-1410 is the HD-10’s younger brother. For one thing the HD-1410 has built-in iambic paddles, not the single lever of the HD-10.

When I’m tuning around looking for a QSO and hear someone calling CQ, I’ll often type their call into QRZ.Com to see if they’ve input any biographical information about themselves. Yesterday, I heard N5IW call CQ and called up his QRZ.Com page. On it was a link to his home page, where he as a bunch of interesting stuff. The first thing that caught my eye was his Resonant Speaker project.

I just finished participating in Skywarn Recognition Day. Like most events of this type, it’s easy to get sucked in. At first, I thought I’d just work a couple of stations, but one led to two, two led to three, etc. Overall, I worked 11 stations in 9 different states: