Thanks to the paid subscribers to the new EI7GL newsletter on Substack, I've used the funds to subscribe to a few amateur radio related organisations. Not only does this support them but I hope to give a bit of publicity to the various publications as well so others might subscribe.
In this post, we'll look at the Spring 2024 edition of the SPRAT magazine, the journal for the G-QRP club.
At first glance, it would be easy to assume that the G-QRP club is only a special interest group interested in just about operating at low power (5-watts or less) and nothing else. While that is no doubt true for some members, a large part of the club ethos is about experimentation with members building their own equipment.
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The Spring edition of SPRAT magazine has 44-pages including the covers. Here are a few of the items that I found of interest...
- 50 MHz projects - The G-QRP club will be 50-years old in September of 2024. To mark the occasion, they are holding two construction competitions. One of these is for construction projects for the 50 MHz (6m) band with a closing date of the end of Oct-2025.
- Silver Plated Capacitors - An article on how to clean silver plated variable capacitors that have become tarnished.
- ISM - G3XBM has an article about using very low power on the various ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) bands including the one at 40.660 to 40.700 MHz.
- Matchbox TX - A simple two transmitter for either the 40m or 20m bands which fits inside a matchbox.
- Antenna Feeding - Article on balun designs and antenna feeding.
- Active Loop - A design for an active loop antenna for the HF bands using four 2N3904 transistors. Also available as a kit.
- RF sniffer - A simple little LED tester to indicate the presence of RF energy
- Members news - Lot of news from members of what they're building and doing.
- Sales - An extensive list of parts like crystals, IC's, transistors, toroids, wire, kits, etc available for members to purchase.
