SIO2PC (It's an Atari computer
thing I did years ago)Nick Kennedy's Page
Contents:
SIO2PC (It's an Atari computer
thing I did years ago)
New page is under development here
My Station:
Yaesu FT-1000, 135 foot Inverted L for 160/40, 180 foot dipole fed with ladder line to a Johnson Matchbox, KLM KT-34A at 50 feet
Various homebrew QRP rigs.
2N2/40 Homebrew 40 meter QRP transceiver using twenty-two 2N2222s!
ATS-3 QRP rig designed by Steve Weber. It fits in an Altoids case, has four band modules, DDS synthesizer, keyer, and other advanced features. I've had a little fun modifying the crystal filter to my liking.
IC-706-IIG for mobile, portable and VHF operations.
Mostly CW ... see my key page link below.
Licensed since 1962 (WN5BDU) Click here to see WN5BDU at the key ...
BoatAnchor Gear: Drake 2B, HT-40, VF-1 VFO. Also DX-35, S-120, homebrew 6146 oscillator/amplifier 75 watts crystal controlled ... from the 1957 handbook--it's a re-creation of my novice transmitter.
Homebrew & technical stuff
Here's a simple interface I made to key my cathode keyed boatanchors with my modern solid state keyers. Click to see the text description of the cathode keyer or to see a drawing of the schematic.
Here's a description and schematic of an experiment I did, making a 40 meter CW receiver out of a single chip AM receiver designed to be the heart of a car radio. One Chip Receiver.
Here's an Excel spreadsheet that computes and plots responses for ladder networks, meaning various L/C filters, impedance matching networks, and also crystal filters. You need to have the add-in "Analysis Pak" installed in Excel. Answer Enable Macros--Yes, to the security question--this sheet has lots of macros and VBA. The Excel file is Ladder Analysis, about 110k, zipped. It includes the docs in a text box. The docs are also available separately as a text file: Ladder Docs
I've been updating an old DOS control program for a frequency syntheiszer to work with some new synthesizers based on the AD9850 chip in serial load mode. This one will interface to the synth via the serial or parallel port. You can download the program itself here: FREQ.COM and a textfile telling a bit about it here: FREQHELP.TXT.
The free circuit analysis Spice program LTSpice, also called SwitcherCad III, is taking the ham world by storm, and I'm enjoying it myself. Here's a link to Linear Technology's software page:
http://www.linear.com/company/software.jsp
LTSpice isn't too difficult to use, and it has a good Help function. But any sophisticated program presents a bit of a hurdle. I started out wanting to write down a few commands and things I'd learned for my own reference. But the paper grew to include two step-by-step tutorials and a bit of other information for the absolute beginner, kind of an "LTSpice For Dummies". If you decide to try LTSpice, you might find this paper useful. Here are links for a PDF version and the same paper as a Word file. (Updated 10/4/2006) And here are the LTSpice files for the tutorials, in case you want to compare them to your attempt.
Tutorial #1 Transistor Amp and Tutorial #2 Lowpass Filter
And my stuff about my End Fed Half Wave (EFHW) antenna and matching circuits.
Here's a picture of Radio Homebrew Man ready to do some soldering: HomeBrew Man
Here I am with my collection of vintage, modern, QRP and homebrew ham stuff. I'm normally only this scary looking when a camera is pointed at me.
Ham Radio Links ...
Come to the ARVARF Hamfest, one of Arkansas' very best. It's March 3rd, 2007 in Russellville at the Hughes Center. Go to our page: ARVARF
Area Hams: ARVARF is a great group of hams to be associated with. Join us! We meet on the third Tuesday of each month at Ryan's restaurant. Eat at 6 PM and meeting at 7 PM. If you're not a ham but think you'd be interested, come and visit us. We can help you get started.
My Morse Key Page I just realized that I have several nice keys, bugs and paddles and so I've put them on their own page to show off. Just click the link for a look.
My Google Page I'm about at the storage limit with this ISP, so I've started a new page using Google's page building service. On it I have my 60 meter USB transmitter which I presented at OzarkCon in 2006. Also a receiving circuit that locks to WWV and some wein bridge oscillator circuits under construction.
A few of my ham stories ...
The chilling story of one ham with a slight fear of heights trying to get a tribander to the top of a 50 foot tower: The Antenna Story
And how about the time I built that spud gun? But I'm getting ahead of myself; there are other crazy ways of getting wires into the trees. (No animals were harmed in the making of this story, but one amateur radio operator did get shot with a rock and shocked by a photoflash circuit board.) Read all about it in the epic ... Antenna Launching in the 21st Century!
Let's not forget the magnificant seven. Seven ham operators got the crazy idea that they could buy an obsolete, but beautiful, AT&T microwave tower and turn it into a weekend contest retreat. And they did it. Check out the story of ... The Big Tower
Banjo #1: 1920's Paramount Style C with 5 string neck by Gruhn's Guitars (1975)
Here's the Paramount's headstock, and here's another shot with part of the fingerboard ...
Banjo #2: Plain Gibson RB-100 from 1969.
Banjo #3: My new pride and joy -- Gibson Earl Scruggs Mastertone purchased July, 2000. What a sound!
Favorites: Earl Scruggs, Tony Trischka, Bela Fleck, Alan Munde
(But I can't leave out J.D. Crowe, Sonny Osborne, Tony Furtado, Ben Eldridge, John Hartford, Courtney Johnson, Bill Keith, Bob Black, Eddie Adcock and certainly Douglas Dillard! And Arkansas' favorite sons Bobby Wooten, Bill Anderson and Dennis Nordin. And let's make room for Robby Boone too.)
Check out Little Rock's bluegrass band, Old School. These guys are pretty good!
Back to top
Here's a 12/98 shot. L to R in back is Mike, Roseann, Matt and Nick; Claire in front. (Click to load)
Here are Claire, Matt, Mike and Mom (Roseann) on Mike's 18th birthday (11/98). I'm the one behind the camera.
Below ... me & the boys--the trench coat mafia:
Below, I'd just bought my Paramount Style C banjo in Nashville in 1975, I think, and stopped to show it off to a friend who took this picture. I still have that banjo, that shirt, and that girl friend.
And below is a photo of Claire, Mike, & Matt (L to R) that Matt took in December 2003:
wa5bdu@yahoo.com or kennnick@gmail.com
This yahoo address is an alternate email for spam robots, but I do check it. I check the gmail address frequently. The main email address I read at home is:
kennedys ......... AT .............. suddenlink ............. DOT ............. net
If you understand how to put those pieces together.
