Re: SolderSmoke DC Receiver Challenge
Hi Alan,
I have looked at it, but I do not know where to begin.?
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Besides, it needs a PTO.? I do not have a 3D printer to make the part.
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I think one ham used a fix frequency oscillator in place of the PTO.? I wonder what the frequency was.?? W1AW???
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Or I use a different analog VFO that could be used instead of a PTO.
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73 Daniel KK4MRN
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SolderSmoke DC Receiver Challenge
Gang,
I accepted the Soldersmoke DC Receiver Challenge on April 19th.
Here is my 3 stage audio amplifier I finished this morning.
Please join in on the fun!
73,
Alan, N8WQ
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You are invited to Pacificon
Pacificon 25 is going to be remembered as the return of qrp year.? You can register and get your hotel room at Pacificon25.org for the 3 day conference that will be held the second weekend of October.?
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I want QRP at Pacificon to be a success this year and I have decided to pass out at least 60 kits in each of the 6 qrp themed talks at Pacificon.? We will be giving away absolutely free to the people who attend each lecture qrp kits.? To get all 6 kits you will need to be at each lecture.? And the kits are good ones.? They will include the S1,S9 generator that was kitted by the NorCal Qrp Club.? It has deactivated, but there were left over parts for the S1, S9.? Darryl Swenson, K0AWB, donated most of the parts needed, and I supplied the rest.? But the major portion of the parts was there.? We have 60 of these kits.? ?The next kit will be a simple voltage meter, that has a 2.1 x 5.5mm jack, a switch and a 3 digit display.? Plug in a battery and read the voltage.? ?Next are 2 boards to build the improved version of the Tuna Tin S transmitter that is the subject of Carol's talk, with the board done by John Sutter.? ?You will get the main board and a 1 band module board.? Kit #4 will be a continuity tester.? Simple kit used to test to see if you have continuity between two points on a board.? Kit #5 will be a dummy load that is built from 1206 resistors.? It will give you lots of practice soldering 1206 surface mount resistors (board will be done by John but he doesn't know it yet).? And kit number 6 will be a surprise.? (I don't know what it is yet, so it will be a surprise to me too!!
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If you are on the fence about whether or not to come to Pacificon, maybe this will tip the balance in our favor.? Yin Shih, N9YS is working hard to upgrade the original NorCal 40 to a modern radio with all kinds of upgrades.? The kit will be available to anyone who attends Pacificon in person.? Most of the parts will be premounted, and all that you will have to solder will be the frequency dependent parts and the connectors.? It should take about 2 hours to build the rig.? It will be available from me on Friday morning so you will have all day Friday and up til Saturday evening to finish building it.? We will have an operating event on Saturday evening that will use the rig.
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Friday activities include passing out the Pacificon 40 kit, and our special no host banquet at Panera Bread, arranged by Dr. Megacycle, Jim Duffy of Albuquerque, who has 30 years experience of arranging banquets for us.? We will meet in the lobby at 4:30 and leave at 4:45 for the restaurant which is about a mile away.? Then we will come back to the hotel and our Friday night activities will start at 7:00 with our famous QRP Auction featuring auctioneer Doug Hendricks, KI6DS.? There is a new feature this year in that we will be auctioning at least one of every Cal Qrp Kit that we have done in the last year.? These kits are complete and just like the ones that we all had a chance to build during the year.? No other items will be auctioned and the proceeds will go to the CalQrp Club.? After the auction, we will have a show and tell of all of our home built projects.? Everyone is encouraged to bring their projects for the event.? This should be huge as we all have at least a dozen projects from the club.? Bring your kits that you have built and modified for the rest of us to enjoy.? And there will be time for those of you who haven't finished your Pacificon 40 to get expert help in aligning your rig.
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Saturday is the big day.? We have 6 world class qrp speakers lined up to speak and the sessions are from 9 to 4 with an hour off for lunch.? Then Saturday evening we will have our operating event using the Pacificon 40.? Plus, we will have a building contest for any project that you have built in the past year since the last Pacificon.? The top 3 will discuss and present their projects to the group, each getting 10 minutes.
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CalQrp has gone all out to make this a memorable qrp event.? All we need is participants.? Help us out and help yourself out by coming to Pacificon 25.? You can register now by going to Pacificon.org.? Hotel information is also there.? I will say that Weds. night is sold out, but there are still rooms available at the Pacificon rate.? Please email me at KI6DS1{@}gmail.com if you are coming, as I want to get a list of the attendees.? Replace the {@} with just the @ sign to send me an email.
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So far I have:
Yin Shih
John Sutter
Matt Kavanaugh
Rob Campbell
Doug Hendricks
Patt Hendricks
Chuck Adams
Carol Milazzo
Hiroki Kato
Tommy Gober
Dan Presley
Paul Maciel
Darryl Swenson
JoAnn Swenson
Bob Mix
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See you in San Ramon in October.? Doug, KI6DS
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2025 Sasquatch Stomp Results posted
Hello All,
The 2025 Sasquatch Stomp results have been posted to the Sasquatch Stomp page on the pnwqrp.org website.? If you google pnwqrp.org it will come up right away.
We had good band conditions this time, especially on the higher bands.? Participation was up, too due to the better conditions.? A big thank you to all who got on for the event.
73,
Wayne? NB6M
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Re: Tayda Electronics and parts, heatsinks, Octopus
On Sat, Apr 19, 2025 at 09:58 PM, Daniel KK4MRN wrote:
NP0/C0G Capacitor parts for BPF/LPF/IF Amp filters and VFOs
===================================================
5pf or 4.7pf
10pf
47pf or 50pf
82pf
100pf
270pf
330pf
390pf
470pf
820pf
These are all good values to have in stock Daniel. If you need some of the values in between, they can be created by putting multiple caps in parallel or series. For instance, I recently needed a 2.2pF cap for the middle section of a RX BPF - the cap that provides the coupling between the two sections. I don't have 2.2pF caps, so I put 2 x 4.7pF parts in series. It is said that in VFO's multiple caps can even be advantageous, as they allow for more efficient heat dissipation. Personally, unless there's a good reason to have multiple capacitors to make up a single value, I prefer to use one part of the correct value if at all possible.
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When I decided I was going to get more serious about building stuff, and began building up a small parts stash, like you, I made a list of the more commonly used parts. At least, I made a list of the ones I thought I would be using! I put in a fairly big order with Dan's Small Parts and Kits, and orders with other suppliers. Many of those parts came in useful but some of them, to this day, 15 years later, I still have. The moral of the story, is to buy a few things to get started, then have your future buys dictated by your needs, and build up your stash accordingly. Otherwise, you'll end up living in a small electronics parts shop, and it will have cost you a fortune! Of course, some people want that, and who am I to try to deter them :D
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I think some of the values in between the ones you mention can also be useful to have. There are quite a lot, so don't go hog-wild at first. As a medium-term goal, I think it's good to aim for small stocks of all the values in the E12 series, namely -?
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10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 27, 33, 39, 47, 56, 68, 82
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100, 120,150, etc etc, up to about 1200pF
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The E12 series, along with the others,
Some values come up more often than others. 47pF seems like a popular one. Yes, it's a lot of capacitors but one day, it will feel good to be looking at schematics, and realize you can build most anything you want from the parts you already have.
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Dave
AA7EE
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Re: Tayda Electronics and parts, heatsinks, Octopus
Hello,
When I created the original topic here, it was a longer message.?? So, this is where the "Octopus" came from.? But I shortened the message because I felt it was too long.? But I forgot to adjust the title as well.
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I still have an I-V Component Tester (Octopus) built on a solderless breadboard that William, k6whp and others encouraged me to build and learn about components like different diodes including zener diodes, silicon diodes, etc.?? This is around the time I was wanting to build Diz's (SK) wonderful keyer that is found in the 1Watter and 5Watter CW Transceiver Kits that used to be sold at kitsandparts.com?? By the way, the PCB Only and the programmed keyer chip are still available and the design is still up if you know how to search for it.??? I was successful at the little keyer with a little LM386 audio amp design (design from 2 hams on QRPTech here) - so I have a practice keyer now.? But I have since learned that I can use that keyer to hook up to any QRP transceiver to give it a keyer like the 1Watter/Organic 5Watter.
?SMT
Anyways, I wanted to move this little project "Octopus" from a solderless breadboard to a Manhattan project.?? So, many little projects to move from little breadboards that I have built...?? Even consider a "Octopus" for transistors too if there is such a thing.
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By the way, I did not feel like paying crazy prices for J310.? So, I decided to try SMT J310 - SOT23-3.?? Much cheaper.??? Just go ahead and buy 100 count off Mouser - get 100 count of those sot23-3 to SIP DIP boards.? Get some male headers.? In the end, if you take the cost of all 3: transistors, boards, headers including shipping and divide by 3: you still come out way cheaper than trying to find J310 that you trust will work.???
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I have a new digital microscope with a small monitor on it.??? So, I think i can solder these small SMT ICs and transistors now.??
By the way, make sure you have a 45W usb-c super fast charger like you would use for your smartphone these days to charge this.
My wife like it so much, she wanted one herself.
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73 Daniel KK4MRN
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Re: Tayda Electronics and parts, heatsinks, Octopus
Hey Dave,
I am taking your advice.?? I found the TDK MLCC NG0 / CG0 capacitors at Mouser.??
I have been trying to go through various projects look at band pass and low pass filters and IF Amp filters and VFOs to see what seems to be common.
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This is what I have so far from NorCal 40A 25th, Steve's Improved DC 40, and the Charlie Morris Simple SSB Transceiver.? I looked at the DC Receiver for the Solder Smoke and its Band Pass Filter but I guess they combine capacitor values to get their values listed on the schematic because they do not look standard.?? Other designs to look at?
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Here is what I came up with so far:?
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NP0/C0G Capacitor parts for BPF/LPF/IF Amp filters and VFOs
===================================================
5pf or 4.7pf
10pf
47pf or 50pf
82pf
100pf
270pf
330pf
390pf
470pf
820pf
TDK C0G (NP0) Radial Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors MLCC - Leaded
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Sure, I have various capacitor kits.? They work ok in audio projects like my LM386 audio amp i built.? But I would not use them for a filter or VFO.
But I do not need to all these listed values found in these capacitor kits because money is limited... And I do not want to waste money buying all those capacitors I would not use.? So, I only need to buy what I consider the most common for filters and VFOs.
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Other good values?
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73 Daniel KK4MRN
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On Wed, Apr 9, 2025 at 03:47 PM, Dave AA7EE wrote:
On Wed, Apr 9, 2025 at 10:02 AM, Daniel KK4MRN wrote:
Question - good place to get NG0 / CG0 good quality capacitors for VFO and filters right now?
Hi Daniel -?
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Like many of us, I'm often on the lookout for good deals on parts, and even not so great deals if it's a much sought-after part that is hard to find. However, I'm beginning to question the wisdom of not always putting quality first with some of my previous purchases. I have a small stash of NPO's here (I do like the older big disc ceramic NPO's with stout leads and the black band across the top!) However, going forward, I plan to begin building up my stock of NPO/C0G caps from Mouser. I have confidence in the quality of their parts. For example, 270pF C0G MLCC's made by TDK are $0.21 apiece, but drop to $0.129 if you buy 10. If you're feeling ambitious and want to buy 100, the price drops even more, to $0.086 apiece - that's just $8.60 for 100 quality C0G caps. Sure, you might get NPO's cheaper somewhere else, but can you be sure of the quality? I imagine DigiKey have similar prices; it's just that Mouser is my main supplier of choice, with Tayda second, and other suppliers on a very occasional basis, as needs dictate...
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Dave
AA7EE
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Re: looking for parts polystyrene capacitors
On Sun, Apr 13, 2025 at 10:29 PM, Jim Pruitt WA7DUY wrote:
One ebay seller I recently bought some from was LF Components Inc.? He lists only 3 values available and one is the 23PW210 radial mount:
and his other 2 listings are:
2200pf:
and 23PS110:
Not sure why the 100pf is more than double the price of the others.? These are all lots of 100.? I had asked him if he had the value that Mouser back ordered and then could not supply for me and he said he did not have any and could not get any.? That should tell you that they are disappearing.
I am not sure if that helps or not or if the information was useful for others.
Good luck.
Jim Pruitt
WA7DUY
Very useful info Jim - thank you. I made an offer of $18 for a bag of 100 x 1,000pF caps (the first eBay listing you mentioned) and he accepted. They arrived on Friday (see attached pictures). I don't yet have a good capacitance meter, just a cheapie one, but these pass the initial sniff test and look good. I'm probably pushing it a bit, but I just submitted an offer of $16 for another bag. We'll see if he accepts or counter-offers. If not, I might see if he'll accept another offer for $18, as I think that's a good price. Shoot - I hope I don't lose them for the sake of a few bucks!? :-)
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Dave
AA7EE
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Re: Precision valued parts
Hint:
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For a lab standard it does not have to be any specific value only that it be
known and stable.? For some parts like resistors and caps a selection of
known values is usually handier.
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With known frequency its a direct exercise to develop (measure) any capacitor
to a high degree of accuracy (at a known temperature).? ?The tool for that is a
RC bridge where R is known and C is the unknown.? For caps the real trick is
getting stable values (with age and temperature) and some ceramics even
voltage across them counts.? Best bet is Dipped Mica. back 50 years ago
I developed a set of dipped Micas for decade value (10,100,1000,10000 pf)
and they have tested as stable over time.? I use that to verify things like?
my AADC LC-II and a few others as well as the calibration of my HP4191A
impedance analyser.
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You do have a known accurate Open, Short, and 50 ohms for for NanoVNA
as they are also known standards.
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Its how us really old folks did it back when.? ?I still have my old (ancient)
Dayton model 150 LCR bridge...? last check I can still get 4 digit accuracy
out of any measurement.
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BAck when the only thing I had was a frequency counter of known accuracy
and things like LC and Rs had to be verified and things like Ohm meters
were at best 5% accurate (moving coil meters!) but using a bridge circuit
to get a null could be easily accurate to 4 or more digits.
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Allison
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Yan: Re: [qrptech] Oak Hills Research
Dear William Thanks for the comment. To be honest i did not realize or check there were ohr sub directory before upload. ?t was late night and? I tried to help and share with ham spirit.
I will check and remove if there were any duplicates.
Sorry for inconveience
4:50¡¯¡¯17e¡¯ 17 Nis 2025 Per tarihinde, k6whp <k6whp@...> ?unu yazd?: Hakan,
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Very respectfully, there are already copies of the four OHR manuals you uploaded. They are in the "OHR" sub-directory. You might want to inspect and -- if duplicates -- remove yours as space is somewhat limited. If they are NOT duplicates, then move the unique manual(s) into the sub-directory so as to keep them in one place and easier to locate.
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Again, meant politely.?
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Thank you for your contribution.
--
William, k6whp
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"Cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and things got worse."
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Hakan,
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Very respectfully, there are already copies of the four OHR manuals you uploaded. They are in the "OHR" sub-directory. You might want to inspect and -- if duplicates -- remove yours as space is somewhat limited. If they are NOT duplicates, then move the unique manual(s) into the sub-directory so as to keep them in one place and easier to locate.
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Again, meant politely.?
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Thank you for your contribution.
--
William, k6whp
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"Cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and things got worse."
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Hi James,
The version I have is the 80m version although that was the
counter telling me.
It arrived today as a gift.
I have some but not for 80m. I asked the HAM who send it as a
gift to me to search if he still has the documents.
I need it because he build it but never finished it so it need
adjustment.
vy73, Kees PA1CJT
Op 16-04-2025 om 19:04 schreef James
Roberts via groups.io:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
There is no
digital version that I know of. Marshal was extremely frugal
with his manuals on ALL of his inventions. Are you looking for
the 20M or the 40M version?
Hello all,
?
I owned years ago the OHR 500 (stupidly sold it) but
today I got a OHR 100A in mint condition but without any
documentation.
Is there a digital version of the manual available? I did
not find it in the Files section.
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vy72 Kees PA1CJT
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There is no digital version that I know of. Marshal was extremely frugal with his manuals on ALL of his inventions. Are you looking for the 20M or the 40M version?
Hello all,
?
I owned years ago the OHR 500 (stupidly sold it) but today I got a OHR 100A in mint condition but without any documentation.
Is there a digital version of the manual available? I did not find it in the Files section.
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vy72 Kees PA1CJT
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Hello Daniel,
Thanks for pointing me.
I looked earlier in the files section and did not see it. But it
is there.
I have the 80m version here which (still) needs to be calibrated.
But without the manual it is just guessing.
Right now I can go further with the transceiver.
vy73, Kees PA1CJT
Op 16-04-2025 om 16:28 schreef Daniel
KK4MRN via groups.io:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hello Kees,
Go back to the file section.? may not be the band you are
looking for, but there is a manual there for OHR 100A.
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One PDF for the 20m and another for the 30m band uploaded on
April 14th, 2025.?
And there is a folder for OHR as well with files there.
You will find a manual for the 40m band but in German but you
can use a translator if you wish.
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Look for files that begin with OHR in the filename.? That
will help.
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I did not want to put direct links here because of
irresponsible bots and AI that heavily hit web sites these days.
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If you need direct links, let me know privately.?
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73 Daniel KK4MRN
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Hello Kees,
Go back to the file section.? may not be the band you are looking for, but there is a manual there for OHR 100A.
?
One PDF for the 20m and another for the 30m band uploaded on April 14th, 2025.?
And there is a folder for OHR as well with files there.
You will find a manual for the 40m band but in German but you can use a translator if you wish.
?
Look for files that begin with OHR in the filename.? That will help.
?
I did not want to put direct links here because of irresponsible bots and AI that heavily hit web sites these days.
?
If you need direct links, let me know privately.?
?
73 Daniel KK4MRN
?
?
?
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Hello all,
?
I owned years ago the OHR 500 (stupidly sold it) but today I got a OHR 100A in mint condition but without any documentation.
Is there a digital version of the manual available? I did not find it in the Files section.
?
vy72 Kees PA1CJT
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Re: Honbay trimmers; I took one for the team
Over the last many years my wife and I have ordered lots of things from Amazon and other online sellers with very few damaged, lost or late deliveries but over the last five months or so we had several issues.? Tracking would show that a shipment was scanned into a facility but never scanned out.? It seems to me that the issues started in the 2024 Christmas season maybe due to the heavy online gift ordering. Jim WB4ILP?
Jim,
My wife and I are having the same issues with Amazon so I feel your
pain! :(
My last order from Tayda Electronics was the slowest ever.
It took 16 days.
My main strategy to compensate for the delays and screw ups is to
stock up on your parts now! :)
73,
Alan, N8WQ
On 4/15/25 22:35, Jim WB4ILP via
wrote:
Hey Alan,
I haven't ordered from Jameco lately but I have
recently had multiple packages lost or delayed.? One item
ordered from Lowes on December 20, 2024 arrived March 15, 2025
after being shown as lost on the tracking page. An Amazon
shipment was lost and replaced in January and just today
Amazon is sending a replacement for yet another lost
shipment.? Another package from Amazon was delayed 2 weeks
after it left an Amazon facility.
Jim WB4ILP?
Gang,
Is anyone else having a delay in getting a shipment from
Jameco?
I ordered parts on 3/25/25 and still have not received
shipment.
Just curious...
73,
Alan, N8WQ
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Re: Honbay trimmers; I took one for the team
Jim,
My wife and I are having the same issues with Amazon so I feel your
pain! :(
My last order from Tayda Electronics was the slowest ever.
It took 16 days.
My main strategy to compensate for the delays and screw ups is to
stock up on your parts now! :)
73,
Alan, N8WQ
On 4/15/25 22:35, Jim WB4ILP via
groups.io wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hey Alan,
I haven't ordered from Jameco lately but I have
recently had multiple packages lost or delayed.? One item
ordered from Lowes on December 20, 2024 arrived March 15, 2025
after being shown as lost on the tracking page. An Amazon
shipment was lost and replaced in January and just today
Amazon is sending a replacement for yet another lost
shipment.? Another package from Amazon was delayed 2 weeks
after it left an Amazon facility.
Jim WB4ILP?
Gang,
Is anyone else having a delay in getting a shipment from
Jameco?
I ordered parts on 3/25/25 and still have not received
shipment.
Just curious...
73,
Alan, N8WQ
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Re: looking for parts polystyrene capacitors
AliExpress has polystyrene capacitors, various values, listed at attractive prices including shipping but are they quality parts? Jim WB4ILP?
On Tue, Apr 15, 2025, 12:09 PM Dave AA7EE via <djdaverichards= [email protected]> wrote: On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 06:58 AM, Doug W wrote:
looks like they may come from
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Aaah, the audiophile connection. It's funny you should mention that Doug, because I've noticed that the CW stations I've received on receivers which have VFO's that are temperature-compensated with polystyrene capacitors, have fuller sounding notes with a very pleasing bottom end :D
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These prices do make me think that alternates are worth seeking out, as in the example of the polypropylene film caps from Mouser that Jim K8IQY suggested.
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Dave
AA7EE
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Re: Honbay trimmers; I took one for the team
Thanks Dave, I assume the green paint on the Jameco trimmers is a color code? On AliExpress I saw ceramic trimmers very similar to the Jameco units at $1.00 for qty 5 with free shipping and several values were listed.? Almost sounds too good to be true.? Do a search on AliExpress for "ceramic trimmer capacitors" and they should pop up. They look decent in the pictures. Jim WB4ILP?
On Tue, Apr 15, 2025, 4:20 PM Dave AA7EE via <djdaverichards= [email protected]> wrote: On Fri, Apr 11, 2025 at 06:52 PM, Jim WB4ILP wrote:
The Jameco trimmers are available on Amazon also.? 98? and free shipping if you have Amazon Prime.
BTW, are the Jameco trimmers newly manufactured or NOS?
Jim WB4ILP
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Pretty sure these are newly manufactured trimcaps Jim. Man, they are tiny! I got these from Amazon, thanks to your suggestion - and thank you to William K6WHP for the original mention. I don't know if these are representative, but they do seem a bit stiff. They're not quite as easy to turn as I'd hoped they would be. In light of that, I don't think I dislike the little brown things as much as I did. Some of my little brown 60pF caps are erratic in their rotation, while others turn smoothly. These are cool though. They'll get used.
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Dave
AA7EE
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Alan N8WQ
k6whp