News, Updates and Other Minutiae
September 2023 Long time between drinks, but not much happening on the tech front at the moment. Added another couple of rants to the rant page.
January 2023 Updated the AD9833 VFO code to use a 12F1840.
December 2022 Added rant about todays useless (internet) search engines.
November 2022 NEW Project An AD9833 Based Simple VFO. FT101ZD VFO project updated.
October 2022 A replacement internal DDS VFO for FT101Z/ZD rigs. Because the worlds postage system has gone totally bonkers and it is not possible to send a small pcb anywhere except at extreme cost, I am slowly making available the option to purchase pcb's from Pcbway. First up is the Simple DDS VFO 2017 project pcb. Others will be added over time. Noise Canceller kits available again- see Noise Canceller page.
Privacy Policy uploaded. GPDR and all that stuff In accordance with various bits of legislation around the world, either currently in force, about to come into force or proposed, you will now find that annoying "We use cookies" notice at the top of this website. The full Privacy Policy is available at the Privacy Policy link in the footer at the bottom of the page. (If you don't know what GPDR is, Google it. Real scary shit for ANYBODY with a web presence.)
Tips & tricks from the VK5TM workshop
I will put various tips & tricks I have used over time here. Some will be mine and the rest will either be ones I have come across somewhere or from those of you who have visited my website and sent an idea or two to me. Attribution will be given to those that I can identify where they came from, so if you see one without an attribution and know where it came from, please let me know so I can correct that. PCB Pin connectors - need pcb pins or sockets to connect to pcb pins? Find an old lead with DB style connectors that you no longer have use for and carefully remove the pins.
(Faulty) Breadboard jumpers - Did you buy a set (or more) of these breadboard/Arduino jumper wires only to find they lost any semblance of connectivity after just one or two uses? Here's how to fix that.
In my particular case, they just weren't manufactured properly, so you will need to disassemble them to fix them. First extract the contact from the housing by lifting the plastic tab with something fine like a small jewellers screwdriver and carefully pulling on the wire to withdraw the contact. Hold the tab up until the contact is out - yes, having more than two hands would be an advantage.
Although not easily visible in the pic below, on the what I will call the sides of the contact, are two pieces that should contact the header pin when it is inserted. They should be bent in, not straight.
To fix this, insert a header pin and use a pair of fine nose pliers to gently squeeze the sides in. Then remove the header pin and again squeeze the sides in GENTLY - you dont want to crush the sides in too far, just enough to apply firm pressure on the header pin when it is inserted. The reason for using a header pin first is to form an even bend on both sides before doing the final squeeze plus it will stop you caving the sides in if you squeeze too hard.
Now reassemble the contact with it's plastic bit by carefully sliding it back in, making sure that you have the correct orientation (you may have to push the plastic tab down into the housing a bit before you push the contact in). While this is not going to last forever, you now know how to fix them when they get loose again, rather than throwing them out.
