A BLIND HAM WITH VISION

by: Frank Roberts, VE3FAO

The Peel Amateur Radio Club is a general interest ham club located in Brampton, Ontario, 40 miles northwest of Toronto.  The club is formally structured with an executive including an Education Director.  We offer courses for members to obtain their basic or advanced licenses along with Morse code.  In 2003, Helena Short, VE3GFS, the Director of Education, approached me one day to start a homebrew class.

Since it was left entirely up to me regarding how I would organize the class, I decided that we would not go for a formal classroom format, but instead conduct a building session.  For our first project we selected the popular Norcal keyer partial kit mainly because of the fine manual written by Jim Kortge, K8IQY. The class was held on a Saturday in November with a dozen eager builders in attendance.  We built the keyers in Altoids tins and even drilled them out in the classroom.  It was a real hands-on experience with all 12 kits being completed by about 5:30 in the afternoon.

Helena VE3GFS proudly displays her completed Keyer. She is accompanied by her guide dog “Vidal” and instructor Frank VE3FAO.  Note the Norcal paddles on the table

The success of the first class lead to requests for follow-up sessions.  Once again Helena encouraged me to present a second class the following spring to build something to use with the newly built keyers.  This time we chose the SW40+ kit from Small Wonders Lab.  We purchased the optional case so there was no drilling required.  There were still several obstacles to overcome even though it was a complete kit.

First of all, the manual was very good but not in the step by step format of the Norcal keyer manual, so I built one of the kits for Helena prior to the class and took several pictures to incorporate into a supplementary step by step manual.  The next problem to present itself was the restriction in Canada that a ham must have an advanced license to put a homebrew transmitter on the air.  Many of the registered builders only had their basic license.  They could of course send the completed kits back to the supplier and have them certified, but fortunately one of our members, Simon Claughton VE3SFC had the equipment and authorization to test each one of the completed kits to ensure that it was compliant with current regulations.  Finally, there was no way we could complete the transceivers in one day, so we scheduled two Saturdays with two weeks in between so some of the building could take place at home.  We then set up a virtual classroom using the internet and kept everyone informed of any clarification required and also answer all the questions that arose in real time.  At the end of the second building session, all the kits were completed and certified.

Chaos and Concentration

It’s amazing how one thing leads to another and by fall the club was ready for another “Homebrew Class” as the building sessions were fondly called.  This time it was to be a QRP antenna tuner for the SW40+ rigs.  We couldn’t find a suitable kit that met all of our requirements, but we were ready to take on a more demanding project.  It was time to build from scratch!  A combination of the Rainbow tuner circuit from the NJQRP club and the Super TEE tuner from the pages of SPRAT built in a case to match the SW40+ was selected.  It was decided to build it in Manhattan Style to introduce yet another technique in homebrewing.  Our construction manual was subsequently published in “The Homebrewer” CD #5. 

Tuner cases fabricated by club members prior to the class. A completed tuner is shown on top.

The building sessions have continued with one in the spring and another in the fall building such projects as the AADE L/C meter kit, the FCC1 frequency counter and recently an active CW filter from the pages of QST built in a case that matched the SW40+ and Antenna tuner.

A successful CW Filter Homebrew class.  (Left to right standing) Helena, VE3GFS; and her guide dog Vidal; Stephanie, VA3UXB; Wayne VA3WWH; Peter, VE3POA; Simon VE3SFC; Bryan VA3OG; and Victoria VA3VJS.  Seated are Janet VE3BVR and the instructor Frank VE3FAO

One of the two most popular projects was a Fox  Finder built in an Altoids tin.  This had a general appeal to over half of the club members and we held two identical session to accommodate all the builders.  At a subsequent club meeting, we met in a local park and used the Fox Finders to locate a hidden transmitter.

 Janet, VE3BVR, and her daughter Emily finding the fox!

Another popular project was a digital interface to promote more interest in PSK31 and other digital modes.  One of these units was used at the club’s field day site for PSK31 on 20 meters.

 Helena has since moved to another city but her vision of a bi-annual homebrew class is being kept alive by the current training director, Janet Gibson, VE3BVR.  Janet has attended every homebrew class we’ve held and now operates a completely homebuilt station.