A fellow ham recently purchased and assembled a nice little signal generator kit consisting of a DDS AD9910 signal generator board/shield, Arduino Mega, OLED display, and TCXO option. I had borrowed it from him for the purpose of generating some modulated AM test signals to check the performance of some 20 MHz oscilloscopes I plan […]
Things have been crazy busy around here lately. Along with a notable increase in the number of duplexers coming in for tuning (some including repairs), there have been several broadcast engineering service calls. Here’s some of the fun that has been included. Retuning of Marti STL in order to get a new low power FM […]
If you own one of the Swann brand multi-camera surveillance systems (I maintain multiple systems at multiple locations) and it has one of these type power supplies (see figure 1 and figure 2), BEWARE! These power supplies are almost 100% guaranteed to fail. To make matters worse, before they fail completely they are very likely […]
Doing the engineering work on a multi-site, simulcast paging system necessitates keeping a check on the operational status of several transmitters which are — by design — geographically spread out all over the place. Anything which can automate some of the process of testing (and, ideally, provide remote, real-time monitoring) is a huge help. Not […]
One of those jobs that takes 10 minutes to do, but a lot of time overall (and a lot of effort) moving tools and equipment around. Terminated this 550′ spool of RFS LCF158 corrugated coaxial feedline with an RFS NF-LCF158-D01 female N-type connector yesterday afternoon. While it was one of those fun projects, it was […]
This video is a demonstration showing the RF Power and VSWR Monitor & Alarm System I recently designed and built. The front panel and chassis used to be a Glenayre Power Monitor panel, but after being completely gutted, retrofitted, painted, etc., it is now a custom Arduino-based build. I finished creating and putting the front […]
These two short videos show the testing of the v2_3 code running on the Arduino-based power and SWR monitoring system I’m developing and building for a client’s Quintron and Glenayre paging systems (but the system can be added to virtually ANY RF transmitter — it’s just a matter of having the correct bidirectional RF power […]
I’d really been wishing I had a larger second monitor for the computer which hosts the KK4ICE / East Alabama SKYWARN weather station and also serves as the main computer in the video and audio editing suite. Problem solved — on the cheap! A while back I was given a 31″ LG HD television with […]
Just sharing a few photos of the latest G.E./Harris Mastr III station to repeater conversion I’ve done. This one is for a SKYWARN group up in Northeast Alabama and will be going on a recently coordinated VHF frequency pair. […]
Several significant upgrades and enhancements have been made to the East Alabama SKYWARN / KK4ICE Weather Station over the past several days, including the construction and installation of a Stevenson Screen enclosure which increases the accuracy of temperature and humidity readings, and replacement of every sensor/instrument in the system with new ones. The system has […]