Latest from South Carolina

[Terry Fox]

Well gang, here's the latest report:

On Wednesday I received a beta kit from Tony Parks for the Soft Rock
single-board RXTX unit.  It is for 40 meters.  I finished putting it
together today, and tested it out.  LO leakage seems a little high, Tony and
his design team are addressing this.  Otherwise, it looks good.  It works
with PowerSDR software, a special version right now.  I am presently
listening to W1AW code practice on it.  I think Tony and others are doing a
fantastic job pushing this new technology down to a very cost-effective
price-point.

I have a second kit that Mel (W4MEL) bought, I plan to build it once the
correct component values are figured out.

I just about finished building three more AD9850-based DDS units to use as
LOs for the soft rocks.  Waiting for amplifiers to come in.

No news on antennas.  Things seem to be working OK, but I haven't been on
the air, exept with the soft rock kits.  I am ready for 40 meter contacts,
if someone wants to try.

I am testing Hal's SDR-1000.  It is an early unit without a board that made
things better.  Lots of spurs and other garbage from what I am seeing.  But,
there may be power supply mods and other things to help it out.

I still believe the SDR stuff is very much worth pursuing.  Mel is working
with various Linux SDR software packages.  He has made great progress
figuring out how they work.

I am also pursuing my own SDR hardware design as I get time.  Lots of ideas,
maybe some will make it onto a breadboard.

The smaller alligator (5ft) was across the lake all day today.  He was
"resting" on the bank, and barely moved the whole day.

Have you ever seen a bird that swims completely underwater, and
occassionally sticks his head an neck out?  Well, I thought I was seeing a
small version of the Loch Ness monster the first time.  It turns out the
Anhinga (SP?) does just that.  And we have two that show up regularly right
now.  It flies in, and lands across the lake.  Then, while sunning itself,
it watches the water.  Next thing you know, it dives into the water and
disappears.  Then you see just the head and neck come up as it swims around.
It will then go underwater again, only to pop-up elsewhere a minute or so
later.

Man, that's one neat bird!  It flies, it walks, it swims, it goes
underwater.  It quacks like a duck (not really).  I have it on tape.

I'm sure more happened, but those are the highlights.  Have fun at Tacos!

73s
Terry