Category: Hacks

DIY Recumbent Bicycle Build

I used to ride bicycle. A lot. Between 2005 and 2008, I commuted to work by bicycle in Reno, NV. It was an 11 mile round trip along a major thoroughfare. While I eventually rode a recumbent bicycle, I started out on a walmart full suspension mountain bike. That lasted a month or less.  Then, …

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Broken Seat Back Repair

Reviving my 88 Suburban means that I’m tackling some long overdue repairs. I am documenting them along the way, and I hope it’s useful to you. Broken Seat Back A common problem for 73-91 Suburbans and Crew Cab pickups is that he seat back breaks, causing the seat to flop around and be extremely uncomfortable. …

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Dual Band BITX40 Project Update

I’ve written about putting together a dual band BITX40 in the past and the methods I used had varying success. The idea was to augment the built in filters with switched in/out add-on filters from QRP-Labs. This is a sound idea, but the layout of Low Pass Filter on the BITX40 really didn’t allow it …

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Arduino is so easy that MisDotGeek gets a new header

It isn't pretty, but it works!

I sat down at my desk tonight not sure what I was going to do. Right now I’m between QRP projects, as my uBITX hasn’t arrived yet and I’m not quite ready to put up my new antenna (I’ve got some building to do). So I grabbed an Arduino from my parts bin and a …

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W7RLF talks BITX on Amateur Radio Roundtable with Tom, W5KUB and Dave KE0OG

On January 2nd 2018 I was honored to be a guest on Tom Medlin’s Amateur Radio Roundtable over at W5KUB.com.   Dave Casler KE0OG, Tom and I discussed various BITX40 and uBITX questions: Are the BITX radio beginner friendly? Is it hard to get contacts on the air? Are there cases available for those who …

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Low Budget Tools and Parts For The Budget Builder

The uBITX is now out, QRP Labs QCX is on the market, and the BITX40 is still a fantastic kit- Hams all around the world are preparing burn some solder and get on the air! If the BITX40 has taught me anything it’s that you don’t need anything fancy to get your radio on the …

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BITX40 PTT Enhancement for Digital or CW

The BITX40 PTT is a simple circuit: A switch grounds out the PTT Relay and the transceiver goes into transmit. As a stripped down SSB radio, this works fine and is simple and uses few parts. Why modify it? The challenge is that the PTT circuit is not solid state. The PTT circuit is just …

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MultiBand BITX40 Conversion

MultiBand BITX40 Introduction In Several Older Posts I’ve touched on ways that you can make a multiband BITX40 radio. While those methods worked, they were experimental. The Dual Band option will likely work fine, but I found it overly complicated for the purpose. In this post, I’m going to show you a way that you can …

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QRP Labs VFO Review [Spoiler: we love it!]

I’ve had the QRP Labs VFO for many many months now and it’s about time I got around to actually writing a review of it. When I originally purchased my BITX40, it did not come with a digital VFO. With the analog VFO, tuning was an exercise in futility. I had never owned an HF …

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Catching up with MiscDotGeek: September 2017

It’s been a busy month at Chez Geek. This post involves an improvised lathe, a burrito, Linux, antique cast iron, and a duck. We’ve been working on projects off and on, and have had some family health issues to muddy the waters as well.  Rather than tell a big long story, here’s a few headlines …

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