HamGadgets News » General news

January 2012 HamGadgets News

Dale — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:34:32 +0000

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 was a good year for all of you, and I hope that 2012 will be even better. I want to thank every one of you for helping to make the past few years very interesting and enjoyable.

Looking back on 2011, it was a pretty good year for HamGadgets. The UKA-2 kit was retired and replaced by the UKA-3, which people seem to like. I was able to start offering custom cases for the PicoKeyer-Plus and UKA-2, thanks to the addition of a CNC machine to the workshop. There were a couple of firmware updates to the MK-1 and ID-O-Matic II, which continues to be a very popular kit. If there was a low point to the year, it would have to have been Dayton — but we’ll just leave that alone for now.

2012 will see some changes as well. I’m working on a couple of new projects that you will see announced as they get closer to being ready to offer as kits or assembled products. There will also be updates to some existing kits. The PK-RM chip is about to get a major overhaul, its first in several years, to being it up to date and more in line with the PicoKeyer-Plus’ features. I’ve been working on a new repeater controller for a while now, and I’m hoping to be able to offer that later in the year. It is my intent to offer a ready-to-go cabinet for every new kit added to the lineup — most people seem to like having that option.

And speaking of assembled products… I know that some folks really enjoy kit building, while others would prefer not to have to heat up the soldering iron. I simply do not have the time to assemble kits, except in very rare cases. But there is hope for those of you who don’t like soldering or no longer are able to. I do have a very small number of PK-Plus kits assembled and in the cases, and will list those on the web site in a few days. For ID-O-Matic II kits, there are two sources from whom you can buy completely assembled and tested boards. One is Radio Dan (www.radiodan.com); the other is W5TXR Labs (www.w5txrlabs.com).

We’ll be out of town for a week or so beginning the 14th of January. As usual you can place your orders at any time, and we’ll get them shipped as soon as possible when we return from our trip.

Again, I’d like to thank all of the people who helped to make 2011 a good year, and I hope I can continue to provide the kits and products you like for years to come. And remember — if you like your kit or your MK-1, please take a few minutes to let others know. If you don’t think it deserves a 5/5 rating, then please tell me and let me see if we can fix that. If you do think it’s better than sliced bread and Mom’s apple pie, a positive product review on the EHAM web site (www.eham.net/reviews) will reach a lot of hams — and it really helps me out as well, of course.

Thanks again and have a GREAT 2012!

73 de Dale, N0XAS

Account creation bug fixed

Dale — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:43:04 +0000

It has come to my attention that, for at least a couple of weeks now, it has not been possible to create a new account on the web site. You could still place an order without an account. I have fixed this problem, so you can now create an account, subscribe to the newsletter, etc. . . . → Read More: Account creation bug fixed

December 2011 HamGadgets News

Dale — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:30:50 +0000

It’s getting closer to the holidays, and of course that means it’s time to be letting your friends and family know what you really want. I’m working to make sure I have kits and keyers on hand and shipped quickly so that everyone gets their deliveries on time. If you’re DX, all I can say is — order early, you never know how long Customs will hang on to your new toy. Some packages are taking a few days, some are past 30 days. A lot depends on the destination country. Express Mail will get it to you quicker, but of course it’s expensive.

If you’re in the USA, the Post Office says the last date for shipping to arrive in time for Christmas is the 20th of December for First Class, and the 21st for Priority Mail. Keep in mind that, while I do try to get orders shipped as soon as possible, it may take me a couple of days to get things out the door. In short – I would order soon for the best shot at having it in time for Santa to deliver it.

Beginning January 1, I plan to remove most of the small parts from the web site. I have been offering some resistors, diodes, and other small parts for quite a while now. These parts are a very small percentage of my overall sales, but due to how I have things set up cause a disproportionately large amount of delay and hassle. There are numerous very good suppliers of small parts and components, so I don’t think this will have a big impact. I will continue to offer some common replacement parts and some that may be difficult to source in singles.

Enjoy the holidays!

Thanks & 73,
Dale – NØXAS
www.HamGadgets.com

November 2011 HamGadgets News

Dale — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:26:20 +0000

Wherever you are, I hope the weather is better for you than it is here! This morning started out with rain, then progressed to ice pellets, then what i can only call “snow blobs” falling from the sky. I think we’re back to rain now, but it surely has made a mess of the leaves in the back yard. Hopefully it will dry up before winter sets in.

The big news is that I’m shipping the UKA-3 at last. I’m really happy with how the project has turned out, and especially the new cabinet. It’s extruded aluminum, with engraved markings to give it a very nice finished appearance. Right now I have both black and silver anodized cabinets, but I’ll probably settle on just one color soon. That one color will probably be black. In fact, I’ll probably quit offering PicoKeyer-Plus cabinets in any color but black soon, too — there just is almost no demand for anything else. So, if you’re been anxiously waiting for a new kit, or for the UKA-3 in particular, now’s the time to order!

In anticipation of the holiday season, I’ll be running some specials on the web site this month. Right now it’s the MK-1 at a price that I can guarantee you won’t see again this year, so if you want one at this price — hurry up and get it. Next week? Can’t say what will be on sale. Really, I can’t – I won’t decide until next week. Check the web site.

One more little thing about the UKA-3. If you take a look at the manual, you will see that it has detailed, step by step color pictures for every step in the assembly instructions. I hope to eventually overhaul all of the manuals with similar construction photos. I also welcome any translations; we now have PicoKeyer-Plus instructions in English, French and Czech. I know my friends at Box 73 in Germany have an outstanding German language manual as well, if you order one from them.

Well, there’s work to be done! I have more cabinets to run through the CNC machine, two new kits to work on getting finished and a couple of firmware projects that will keep me busy through the winter. Better get back to work! I hope all of you have a very warm and happy Thanksgiving… and don’t forget to fly your flag on Veterans Day.

Thanks & 73,
Dale – NØXAS
www.HamGadgets.com

DX customers and credit cards

Dale — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:40:00 +0000

I believe I have fixed a setting that was resulting in many DX customers having to use PayPal to pay for their order. Card holder address verification does not work with many non-US credit cards, and this seems to have resulted in some cards getting declined when they should not have been. I believe I have this fixed. If you are outside the USA and are not able to place an order with a Visa/MC/Discover card, please let me know so I can investigate.

October HamGadgets News

Dale — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:46:57 +0000

Happy October!

It’s that time of year again — time to start getting your shack ready for the long winter operating season. Due to having had some house painters around with their really tall ladders, it’s looking like I may even be able to get a functioning antenna in the air this year!

I’ve sold the last of the UKA-2 kits, and the UKA-3 kits will be shipping later this month. I’m several weeks farther behind than I wanted to be on this project, but the results will be quite nice. If you’ve pre-ordered a UKA-3 kit, just hang in there — you’ll see it just as soon as I can get it out the door! But I think you’ll be very happy with the kit. The new aluminum cabinet is something I’m working especially hard to look great in your shack.

Many people has asked me over the past few years for assembled and tested ID-O-Matic II kits. While I simply do not have the time to devote to assembly, you can now find them for sale from one place that I know of. Radio Dan, W7RF is selling assembled and tested ID-O-Matic IIs on eBay: http://stores.ebay.com/radiodanw7rf. If you want the functionality of the ID-O-Matic II but don’t want to do the soldering, here’s your chance! Be sure to tell Dan where you heard about it.

Firmware version 1.32 is now available for the MasterKeyer. This is a bug fix release that resolves a couple of bugs involving embedded memory message commands. For keyboard speed demons, it also nearly doubles the size of the USB keyboard buffer to 150 characters. You can download the new firmware from the support page: http://www.hamgadgets.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=7.

Are you a US service member or family, serving overseas? I now have FREE standard shipping on orders shipped to all US APO/FPO addresses. This should show up automatically during checkout.

And finally — it’s my birthday month. Let’s just say I’m celebrating a double digit anniversary of my 40th birthday. This month I’ll give you the birthday present… how about a $10 discount on your HamGadgets order over $50! Just use coupon code OCTOBERBDAY during checkout. You can use this coupon code once per customer, between now and October 31, 2011. It’s good on everything except gift certificates and CW Touch Keyer products.

Have a great month!

73,
Dale – N0XAS

FREE SHIPPING for all US APO/FPO addresses

Dale — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 21:35:11 +0000

In support of our military personnel and their family members deployed overseas, I am offering FREE standard USPS shipping on all orders shipped to APO/FPO addresses.

September HamGadgets News

Dale — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:32:58 +0000

Summer is drawing to a close, the kids are back in school, and the weather is cooling off. Time to put down some grass seed, finish up some yard projects and start planning for the winter’s ham radio activity!

There’s no better time than now to start thinking about your winter projects and operating. If you’re a kit builder, I’ve made the UKA-3 kit available on the web site and hope to be shipping by the end of this month. Pricing for a complete kit without enclosure is $24.00. If you plan to build it into your own gear or retrofit into an older tube amp or transmitter, you can order the kit without the power switch, LED indicators and connectors and knock that price down to $15.00. And, while I don’t have current pictures available on the web site, I’ll have a very nice extruded aluminum cabinet available with the end panels already CNC machined and ready for assembly. I currently have plenty of PicoKeyer-Plus and ID-O-Matic II kits in stock. I’m down to the last few UKA-2 kits. I’ve got a good stock of MK-1 keyers in stock, and I’m told there will be a review of the MK-1 in Radcom soon.

I have always felt that happy customers are the best advertising. If you’re a happy customer, I encourage you to tell your friends about HamGadgets. One way to do that is to spend a few minutes posting a product review on EHam.net. Of course if you’re less than 100% happy, I want to hear from you first! I try hard to make sure no one has unresolved problems with their HamGadgets kits and products. A couple of times I have seen, for example, a review of a PicoKeyer kit saying that the kit died after a couple of years’ use. Folks, if you don’t know it yet, you can forget the whole 1 year warranty thing. If your kit doesn’t work, tell me… we’ll get it fixed. I have never charged more than the cost of return postage to resolve a problem, even a user-induced problem.

MK-1 reviews on EHam: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/8286
PicoKeyer reviews on EHAM: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3706
ID-O-Matic reviews on EHam: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4909
UKA / UKA-2 reviews on EHAM: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4198
HamGadgets thread on QRZ: http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?309309-HamGadgets-keyers-repeater-control
And the Reviews section on QRZ: http://forums.qrz.com/forumdisplay.php?17-Amateur-Radio-Equipment-Reviews

As I have (hopefully) a little more time this fall and winter, I hope to be able to work more on the project backlog. I need to finish the MK-1 firmware update, which will hopefully also include a fix for users with German keyboards (the Y/Z and ? keys are different). I’m still working on a new universal USB rig interface that I hope to have done soon. And of course I need to finish the manual for the UKA-3 and get to work on cabinets… OK, I’d better get to work now!

Thank you and 73,
Dale – NØXAS
www.HamGadgets.com

August HamGadgets News

Dale — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 16:55:13 +0000

Summer heat is upon us in full force… July was HOT here! The first few days of August have been quite warm and humid as well. Of course along with the usual summer activities there’s been a fair amount of development going on. I’ll try to be brief and recap the latest news.

I had planned to have the UKA-3 kits ready to go in August; it looks like it may be as late as mid to late September instead. I made a couple of component layout changes to optimize the layout of the cabinet as much as possible. Fortunately I believe I have a sufficient number of UKA-2 kits in stock to last until the new kits are available. I will, however, be making the new kit available for pre-orders very soon.

I have mentioned to some of you my plans to replace the ID-O-Matic II with a new kit. I’m pushing this back a few months. I have been working with the prototype, and it is apparent to me that I have some further development to do. This is a completely new and different approach, using a new chip, completely new firmware, USB interface, 3.3V logic and more. I’m currently reworking the I/O circuits for better and easier connectivity to a wide range of gear. I’m also adding a few new features that need hardware changes, and that hardware needs to be tested. Since I’m running low on ID-O-Matic II boards, I’ll be making one last run of those to last until the new kit is ready. I anticipate having the ID-O-Matic II available through the end of the year at least.

Firmware version 1.31 was released for the MK-1. I’m currently working on V1.32, a minor patch release that addresses a couple of bugs in memory playback. It’s not quite ready yet, but will be released some time over the next few weeks. In the mean time — if you have some unexplained memory playback issues with MK-1 memories using the /R command, or linking memories with a /B in one of them, you can email me for the Beta version.

I’m juggling all of this around family and work obligations, and that means an occasional delay shipping or in answering emails. OK, I’ll admit — frequent delays answering emails. I’m doing my best to keep up and hope to improve as I get some things settled down.

Have a good summer (or winter, for our friends “down under”)!

Thank you and 73,
Dale – NØXAS
www.HamGadgets.com

July 2011 HamGadgets news

Dale — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 11:31:38 +0000

To all of you in the US — Happy Independence Day! I hope you all have safe and enjoyable Fourth. If last night was any indication, I believe we’ve collectively bought enough fireworks to keep the Chinese economy going for another few months.

I will be making the Universal Keying Adapter (UKA-3) kit available for pre-order via the HamGadgets web site shortly. I have the final prototype here, it’s built, it works (no surprise there). I’ve made the last few alterations and will be ordering the first run of production boards this week. As soon as I have a projected delivery date I’ll make the kit available.

The UKA-3 builds on the earlier versions with some often-requested features. First and most obvious, it is available with a custom extruded aluminum cabinet, with both ends pre-drilled and cut. I’ve also added a power switch, an additional indicator to show the power status, and a set of PCB connections that will make it easy to build into your gear if you want, without the connectors and switch. You can order the full kit with or without the cabinet, or you can also order just the base board and parts without the connectors, LEDs and power switch.

I’m also now working on a new ID-O-Matic kit — but I’ll make more information on that available as things progress. I have a prototype board here that I need to build so I can do some testing and debugging. We’ll be on vacation for part of July, so that may have to wait until August before I’m ready to make any big announcements.

Lastly, I am aware that some number of PicoKeyer-Plus kits were packed with three 0.1 microfarad capacitors instead of the correct complement of a single 0.1 and two 0.01 caps. If you need the .01 parts, please let me know and I’ll get them to you. In the mean time, the PK+ will run fine in almost all circumstances without C2 and C3. If you didn’t notice the discrepancy and installed .1 uF parts, most functions will work fine — but you may only be able to record one character in a memory slot. Again, contact me for replacement parts if you need them.

Enjoy your summer, stay safe!

73,
Dale – N0XAS