Summer 2026 - I'm Still Here

Lots of projects, some of them ham-related.

About That Posting Schedule…

Summer is usually when I have more time for projects, posts, and everything else. This summer has been more “everything else” and less of ham radio projects. My children have been busy—moving in and back out—and otherwise becoming adults. It’s just taken a lot of evenings.

It’s one thing to sneak into the office and spend an hour tinkering. But it’s an entirely different thing to do a good write-up. A case in point: I built some snazzy QRP band pass filters last spring for 20 and 40 meters. They work great. But somewhere between building them and starting a writeup I lost my notes and no longer know what values I selected for the capacitors and inductors. So no blog post. :(

QRP Bandpass Filter for either 20 or 40 Meters.

I Have Still Been Building Things

One of the larger projects occupying my time early in the summer is an automatic pool chlorinator. It’s not a ham radio project, but involve a lot of the same things that make homebrew radio enjoyable: electronics, software, power supplies, weatherproof enclosures, and a nearly endless amount of prototyping.

Here’s a picture. It’s GPS disciplined. So once a day, an hour before the sun sets it activates a peristaltic pump and dispenses chlorine into the pool. It’s powered by a battery that is charged by the sun. It’s been running all summer.

I could have just walked outside every day with a measuring cup I guess. But what’s the fun in that?

I also built a v2 of my GPS disciplined (yes, there is a theme here) POTA clock. It lives in a smaller enclosure, uses a smaller screen, but is smart enough to tell me the county and park I’m in. This was my first time relying on Codex/ChatGPT for writing code (which is what I do for a living anyway). I’m not going back. It was like having a team of junior devs working for me.

POTA Clock v2.

Revisiting the 40 Meter Coil

Lately I’ve been working on an improved version of my base-loaded 40 meter coil.

The original design works, and a surprising number of people have built or purchased one. However, there are a number of properties that make it inferior (namely those tightly space turns).

The new design uses a purpose-build coil form intended to make the winding more consistent and spread the coil out a bit. This will make it easier to produce, yes, but will also improve the coil Q and make it more efficient.

If that wasn’t enough, another design goal that it looks like I’ll achieve, is that the new coil form simply slips over the existing PVC form. People who built or bought a v1 coil will be able to simply unwind their coil, slip the form over it, and wind it up again. Presto! Now you have a v2 coil.

Anyway, I’m testing out that design right now. I had to learn how to use Fusion 360 to model it because Tinkercad, while nice, was just not up to the task. I’ll probably start shipping those units in September. And yes, a retrofit kit will be available nearly at cost.

Original v1 and new v2 prototypes side by side.

More Posts Are Coming

I have several posts in various stages of completion, along with a backlog of projects that ought be documented before I forget my decisions or lose my notes.

Maybe I can finish them. Or just post the partials. Anyway, the blog is not dead. I’m still experimenting, still experimenting, still getting on the air. I’m just not doing that much writing. It’s a different kind of energy.

I should have more to share soon. Thanks to everyone who has subscribed, commented, purchased a coil or used one my designs. I genuinely appreciate knowing that this stuff has been useful to somebody besides me.

73, Gary

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