FOTA- Fairs on the Air!

Many of you are familiar with POTA (Parks on the Air), SOTA (Summits on the Air), IOTA (Islands on the Air), JOTA (Jamboree on the Air)... 

A new method of event promotion was just launched by Chris  KF4DBX: FOTA - Fairs on the Air. http://www.FOTA.earth is the site for FOTA. Chris, in association with his Club JCARA (Jennings County Amateur Radio Association) recently tested this at the Jennings County Fair and used that as a test bed to get this off the ground. FOTA connects amateur radio with State / County / City fairs, festivals and other community events. This is a free service and app, and allows individual accounts, as well as recognition of area clubs by simply registering the club you may be a part of. The FOTA site allows for spotting, logging, and event event awards for activities worldwide. The site allows for ADIF log uploads, real time spotting, club affiliation pages, and allows users to upload info for your area fairs and other events. Each event automatically provides an event number to aid in spotting, collecting, and chasing FOTA stations. 

I've linked it to the upcoming NC State Fair event (US-NC-SF)  hosted by Travis Russell KN4WJL, where individual hams from the area, as well as hams from area clubs, will come together for a amateur radio presence at the fair. On a related note, Travis is still looking for hams to assist with this effort, and all are welcome to come help with talking to the public, as well as operating on the air as much as possible. You can sign up for this event on the Ham Radio Exhibit site at https://hamradioexhibit.org 

Please take a moment to check it out. If you register for a free account, it'll help with testing the system. If you're in a ham radio club, take a moment to upload something about it so it can be linked to possible Fairs or community events that you or your club might participate in. There's lots to check out, so have fun playing with it, and please register your fairs or community events to help spread the info to others worldwide.

Heathkit IT-3120 Transistor Tester

 It's not often that I find a piece of Heathkit gear in such pristine condition. I picked up this transistor tester from a friend, and it was CLEAN! I replaced the batteries, cleaned and lubricated the switches and controls, checked calibration, and it was ready to go to work. Here's a few pics...

Jerrold Attenuator...

 Wow, this attenuator is back on the walk of shame. I've beat this thing relentlessly for years, but occasionally I'll set my workbench switch to the wrong position and light it up :-) . We'll, I did it again, a Heathkit SB-200 amp smacked right into the 1st 20dB pad and let the magic smoke out. She's repaired and back on the front lines. Here's a few pics....

Heathkit SB-220 Repairs

 This Heathkit amp had a few problems... it was running very hot at idle, it stopped passing RF on TX, and had a soft key that was getting rf into it and causing erratic operation. Here's what I found...

Screwdriver tip pointing at unsoldered bypass cap in soft key, that's where RF was sneaking in :-)

A resistor from the negative dc bias circuit was incorrectly wired, so the tubes were "idling" at about 150-200 ma...

Coax center conductor had broken loose from the t/r relay...

Yaesu FT-650B Restoration

 This is the 6 meter (50mHz) transverter that matches the Yaesu FT-101/B/E/EE/F etc lineage. I got this to match up with my FT-101E station. It had not been on the air in many, many years, but turned out to be a fairly easy resto. Here's a few pics...

I popped the covers, pulled the original plastic protective covering from the faceplate, and looked it over.

There were only a small handful of electrolytic caps to change. All resistors were found in spec.

I removed the outer trim ring to facilitate complete removal of the plastic, and allow for better cleaning. 

I removed the tube and relays to clean the pins of these items and treat the sockets with cleaner.

The original plastic covering had yellowed and was very dirty. I also cleaned and lubricated the band switch, the attenuator pot, and the metering switch. 

Aside from being dusty, the final tube was in good condition.

I removed, soaked, and cleaned the knobs. I use a diluted solution of Dawn dish cleaner and warm water with a soft toothbrush.

The final result was a great transverter and a perfect match for my station!