[Lowfer] Santa's visit

[Les Rayburn]

At 03:50 PM 1/4/02 -0600, you wrote:
>Hi Les,
>
>The UPS man arrived this noon with your package. Thanks for all the goodies!
>I have gotten as far as opening the box for the active whip, and noticed
>that the inductor is marked on the board as 60 mH. If I'm reading that
>correctly, it would barely tune to 190 kHz at the high end. However, it was
>apparently working fine for you before it died, so there should be a way to
>get it back to good health again.
>
>I'll have to give that Icom desk mike a try and see how it compares to the
>hand mike that came with the rig. Could have used it for hands-free
>operation while running the local 75m net this morning! Thanks again, and
>I'll keep you posted on the active whip repair. That motherboard/processor
>combo sounds very interesting if the deal materializes, but I won't hold my
>breath. I appreciate all the other goodies you have sent me, and feel
>somewhat overcompensated for the small tasks I've performed.
>
>My one-word reply to VE7SL regarding his NC reception was "Wow!".
>
>73
>
>Lyle


Lyle,

Hmm...now that you mention it, the gain of the active whip always did seem 
to fall
off at around 189-190khz. Strange considering that Bill operated in that 
realm himself.

The Icom microphone has a great sound compared to other Icom desk mics I've
tried. Hopefully it will work well for you.

A recent article in the QRP section of QST (December issue, I think?) had a 
great
project idea about adding a boom style microphone to the shack. I salvaged an
old magnifying lamp arm, attached a microphone screw mount from R/S,
a true shock mount from Mars Music, and a true pop filter. Mounted
a good dynamic Shure 58M microphone and screwed the thing
onto my upper shelf on the operating desk.

Added a foot switch for PTT, and boom, instant DJ! Seriously, it's great
for the MARS nets and visitors to the shack seem to be impressed. I drive
the rear panel ACC jack directly which on our Icom rigs allows you to
drive the balanced modulator directly, with an improvement in transmit audio.

Total cost (except for the mic) was less than $50 bucks. No wonder you guys
like to homebrew!

Your "small tasks" are worth much more than I could hope to repay. Glad that at
least I can make it somewhat worth your while.

Recently, I saw a new movie called "Vanilla Sky". It's a Tom Cruise, science
fiction thriller. In one scene, Tom stands in the middle of a huge lobby,
which is totally empty. (It's a kind of VR thing) Anyway, Tom stands there
screaming..."TECH SUPPORT! TECH SUPPORT!" as a cry for help.

I laughed and told my wife, "He must not have Lyle's e-mail address".

For that and so much more, I remain in your debt. Thanks again.

Les


P.S. Wow is right. I think they actually broke Mike Mideke's record!








Les Rayburn, director
High Noon Film & Interactive
100 Centerview Drive
Suite 111
Birmingham, AL 35216
(205) 824-8930
(205) 824-8960 FAX
(205) 253-4867 CELL
http://www.highnoonfilm.com