The nice part is that you can make changes as you see fit.
I made some changes and modeled the design in SolidWorks.
From SolidWorks, I made a sheet layout in FabriWIN. you can see spacer washers cut out of the “scrap”.
My .030″ aluminum rotors and stators only needed some deburring from the CNC turret punch press at work. I also did not make the spring loaded rotational contact. I just attached a ring terminal and some wire to the rotor shaft. Below is a cap that I will be testing in a home brew antenna tuner. I will increase the air gaps if I find it arcing. I’m not sure that will happen at QRP levels. The knob is an old plastic gear from an old printer. It prevents my fingers from changing the capacitance value.
Our club has had quite a year in 2016. We initiated many new activities and our members learned some new skills. Most importantly, we contributed a great deal to the Amateur Radio Service through license classes and other educational and outreach activities. We have plenty of material to include in our 2016 Highlights video which follows.
Highlights From Nashua Area Radio Club’s 2016 Activities
We made a video as a sort of memory book about our club’s activities and accomplishments in 2016. We hope that you enjoy it!
Connor (KC1GGX) and myself (Abby-AB1BY) both participated in the club’s November Tech Night. Our mission for the night was to build a 40m QRP CW Pixie Kit. Going in I was nervous – I had never soldered before – and wasn’t sure if I would understand how to put it together. Connor had done some soldering and was feeling more confident.
When we walked into the room Brian (AB1ZO) had all the kits neatly set out for everyone so we could get right to work. We opened the kits and instructions and I was overwhelmed! Thankfully we had some very experienced Elmers to help us out. Bill (K1TWO) and Charlie (AB1ZN) were extremely helpful in improving our soldering techniques and figuring out what went where. At first, I was very slow and asked a lot of questions, but as the night went on I think my technique got better and things went faster.
We worked the whole time and were the last two to finish, but when it came time to test our kits out they both worked! I was very proud of myself and learned a lot. Connor also had a great time and wants to do another project with soldering!
We would like to thank Brian and everyone involved for putting this fun tech night together.
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Connor (
