Author: Eugene

Posted on

Awash in parts

I happened to stumble upon a MiniLab II electronics lab that Jason/NT7S was selling. Seems to be an older version of this Mini-Lab 200 and reminds me of the old Radio Shack electronics lab kits that I used to see in their stores when I was a kid.

Along with the Mini-Lab, he was nice enough to send along a bunch of other goodies: capacitors, variable capacitors, potentiometers, diodes, transistors, 555 timer chips, ATtiny85 microcontrollers, oscillators, inductors, connectors and some copper clad boards. More things than I know what to do with, but I’m sure I’ll learn and find something to put them to use in.

My parts bin has fewer empty boxes now. I may need another one. I definitely need more workbench space.

Posted on

MFJ-208 refurb project

An examination of the innards of the MFJ-208 antenna analyzer didn’t reveal any obvious problems other than the messed up variable plate capacitor.

Variable plate capacitor in the MFJ-208

Everything else inside looks pretty clean.

With a pair of needle nose pliers and some very gentle pressure, I was able to bend the plates of the variable capacitor back to where I thought they should be. Both plates are parallel to each other now and don’t hit each other when rotated.

Now I just need to put everything back together, add power and test it out.

Posted on

MFJ-207 refurb project

Spent some time going over the innards of the MFJ-207 antenna analyzer I picked up and doing some research to figure out what kind of rotary switch I’ll need to replace the existing messed up one with. I think I’ve found the correct replacement switch (a Lorlin CK1025 rotary switch).
Everything else inside looks in decent shape as far as I can tell. I haven’t tried to test all the individual components yet. No leaky/bulgy capacitors or burn marks and all the soldered connections seem solid. Aside from the rotary switch I’m not seeing anything else wrong with it.
MFJ-207 innards
Now to go over the MFJ-208. I don’t know if I’ll be able to find a variable plate capacitor to replace the existing one, but I might be able to fix it up so that it works the way it should.

Posted on

SoftRock SDR radio kits

The SoftRock SDR radio kits I ordered arrived in a little box yesterday. The SoftRock Lite II receiver and the SoftRock Ensemble RXTX kits I got both contain a lot of bits and pieces to put onto relatively small boards.

The SoftRock Lite II kit.

A bunch of components in individual ziplock bags for a SoftRock Lite II SDR radio receiver

The SoftRock RXTX kit.

A bunch of components in individual ziplock bags for a SoftRock RXTX Ensemble SDR radio

It will be a little while before I’m ready to tackle either of them. The receiver kit looks like it will be the easiest to start with. There are a few SMT components to put on, but not as many as the RXTX kit.

Posted on

New kit: Etherprog by @NT7S

I received a new kit from Jason/@NT7S in the mail yesterday.

It’s a small little kit called EtherProg. Documentation is somewhat sparse, consisting of a circuit schematic, bill of materials and some source code.

I’m not entirely sure what it does yet, but there’s an ATtiny85 microcontroller in the middle of it. That and the source code tells me it’s something programmable or a programming interface for other projects.

Sure, I could ask, but I think it will be more fun to put it together and try to figure it out for myself.

Then I’ll ask.