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S-pixie 40M QRP Saga

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 I heard about this radio in August 2022 and ordered it in September 2022. I tried using a Bernzomatic gas soldering iron to assemble it and quickly realized that wouldn't do the job.  I ordered a proper soldering station from everyone's favorite online retailer and set to work after that came in.  The assembly instructions are really straightforward, and once you have decent equipment it goes together quickly. My kit came with crystals for 7.023 and 7.050 so I put the 7.023 away for the future and used the one for the technician and general portions of the band.  I powered it up for the first time and immediately blew the 16V 100uf smoothing capacitor. It went back on the shelf for a few weeks while I waited on a multipack of capacitors to come. Once those came in I replaced the capacitor and it went on the shelf until I could get an antenna put together. I slowly gathered the parts and pieces for a 49:1 end fed half wave antenna and got that built in February this year. I use
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Tape Measure Yagi-Uda antenna

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 Threw together a quick antenna from a cheap tape measure. The 3 elements rather conveniently already have measurements printed on them, you cut one at 41⅜, one at 35⅛ and two at 17¾. The two shorter pieces make up the driven element and should be spaced at ±1 inch adjusting for good SWR. The boom is made from ½ inch schedule 40 PVC, you'll need 2 feet cut down to 11 ¼ and 6⅞ fitted together with 2 cross Ts and a three-way T.  Use hose clamps to hold the elements on the pvc and solder your coax to the 2 sides of the driven element. You will also need to solder a U shaped piece of wire to the driven element, about 6 inches long. 
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Welcome to my site

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I'll be posting my radio and electronics projects here, in addition to  my Instagram , which has all of my various hobbies and interests represented.  This is going to be a work in progress so check back for updates.  Here's an image I captured from space! The NOAA 18 weather satellite specifically. I'll work on an in depth post detailing how to receive and decode this information with an inexpensive radio receiver and a homemade antenna. 
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