K3NG Arduino CW Keyer K5BCQ Board Build Part II

This here is the beautifully crafted PCB that you can get from K5BCQ. For the five dollars that it costs for this board, you get a pretty darn good deal in my opinion. 

Here is another prize-winning pic of the top of the K5BCQ Board.

Here is another awesome pic of the bottom side of the board. 

The first step of building the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer on the K5BCQ board is to install the header that holds the Arduino. The regular K3NG Arduino CW Keyer build calls for the Arduino Mega 2560. Because one of the ideas for the K5BCQ board is to reduce the size of the keyer. So instead of using the Arduino Mega 2560 Pro Mini. I'm also building a homebrew breadboard version of the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer where I am using the Arduino Mega 2560. Here is a quick pic of the regular Arduino Mega 2560 on my breadboard compared to the much smaller Arduino Mega 2560 Pro Mini.

The Pro Mini is the first component that I add to the K5BCQ Board since it is the most important part of the project. 

Step one was to get some 2.54 mm male and cut them down to fit the pin layout on the Pro Mini and put them in the holes on the Pro Mini

Then I cut down some 2.54mm Female Headers and cut them down to the same size as the male headers. I then put the female headers on the male headers that I have already soldered on the Pro Mini. Putting the female headers on the male headers that are one the Pro Mini and then fitting them to the holes on the K5BCQ ensure that all of these headers are in proper alignment. 

Be sure that you put the Pro Mini on the BOTTOM of the K5BCQ board. 

Then solder the headers to the K5BCQ board. 

So that will complete the first step of our grand project. To follow along and be notified when the following steps are uploaded to this blog, then please subscribe. Feel free to leave any comments in the comments section below and as always you can contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

K3NG Arduino CW Keyer K5BCQ Board Build Part II

This here is the beautifully crafted PCB that you can get from K5BCQ. For the five dollars that it costs for this board, you get a pretty darn good deal in my opinion. 

Here is another prize-winning pic of the top of the K5BCQ Board.

Here is another awesome pic of the bottom side of the board. 

The first step of building the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer on the K5BCQ board is to install the header that holds the Arduino. The regular K3NG Arduino CW Keyer build calls for the Arduino Mega 2560. Because one of the ideas for the K5BCQ board is to reduce the size of the keyer. So instead of using the Arduino Mega 2560 Pro Mini. I'm also building a homebrew breadboard version of the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer where I am using the Arduino Mega 2560. Here is a quick pic of the regular Arduino Mega 2560 on my breadboard compared to the much smaller Arduino Mega 2560 Pro Mini.

The Pro Mini is the first component that I add to the K5BCQ Board since it is the most important part of the project. 

Step one was to get some 2.54 mm male and cut them down to fit the pin layout on the Pro Mini and put them in the holes on the Pro Mini

Then I cut down some 2.54mm Female Headers and cut them down to the same size as the male headers. I then put the female headers on the male headers that I have already soldered on the Pro Mini. Putting the female headers on the male headers that are one the Pro Mini and then fitting them to the holes on the K5BCQ ensure that all of these headers are in proper alignment. 

Be sure that you put the Pro Mini on the BOTTOM of the K5BCQ board. 

Then solder the headers to the K5BCQ board. 

So that will complete the first step of our grand project. To follow along and be notified when the following steps are uploaded to this blog, then please subscribe. Feel free to leave any comments in the comments section below and as always you can contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

K3NG Arduino CW Keyer K5BCQ Board Build Part I

 Since homebrewing the fabulous K3NG Arduino CW Keyer will take longer than expected mainly due to me playing with the components and Arduino Sketch, I decided on a second project that will allow me to put this keyer to use much faster. For this build, I will be using the K5BCQ board. This is just a straight-up PCB board that Kees K5BCQ has come up with for the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer.  

The K5BCQ Board version of the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer (Pic is from K5BCQ Website)

The K5BCQ board is only $5 and it gives you the option of building just the parts that you want to build for your keyer. You can use different sizes of LCD's (16X2, 16X4, 20X4) and you also have the choice of using 3X4 and 4X4 number pads. 

You can find the board here: K5BCQ Kits

On his website, you will also find a number of other kits and a PDF file containing instructions written by Josh Wood W0ODJ. Kees also has pictures of his company's Quality Inspectors and you can rest assured that they will keep everything going smoothly.  

Also if you have any questions or issues with building the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer with or without the K5BCQ board on your own the best place to go is the Radio Artisan IO Group  This group has well over two thousand members that are more than happy to help out. 

If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comments section below or email me at Aaron@k5atg.com

K3NG Arduino CW Keyer K5BCQ Board Build Part I

 Since homebrewing the fabulous K3NG Arduino CW Keyer will take longer than expected mainly due to me playing with the components and Arduino Sketch, I decided on a second project that will allow me to put this keyer to use much faster. For this build, I will be using the K5BCQ board. This is just a straight-up PCB board that Kees K5BCQ has come up with for the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer.  

The K5BCQ Board version of the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer (Pic is from K5BCQ Website)

The K5BCQ board is only $5 and it gives you the option of building just the parts that you want to build for your keyer. You can use different sizes of LCD's (16X2, 16X4, 20X4) and you also have the choice of using 3X4 and 4X4 number pads. 

You can find the board here: K5BCQ Kits

On his website, you will also find a number of other kits and a PDF file containing instructions written by Josh Wood W0ODJ. Kees also has pictures of his company's Quality Inspectors and you can rest assured that they will keep everything going smoothly.  

Also if you have any questions or issues with building the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer with or without the K5BCQ board on your own the best place to go is the Radio Artisan IO Group  This group has well over two thousand members that are more than happy to help out. 

If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comments section below or email me at Aaron@k5atg.com

Oklahoma Sunset 13 Oct 2021

 We had a bunch of tornado-producing storms last night and I guess that they influenced the sunset. So I had to get a few pics. 

Both pics were taken with the same camera from the same spot and were about 5-10 seconds in between. The sunset was changing really fast. 

Oklahoma Sunset 13 Oct 2021

 We had a bunch of tornado-producing storms last night and I guess that they influenced the sunset. So I had to get a few pics. 

Both pics were taken with the same camera from the same spot and were about 5-10 seconds in between. The sunset was changing really fast. 

Free Parts!

 I found this nice little article on Donald ND6T's Simple and Easy Projects website. I did not write it myself so I'm giving all credit to Donald ND6T. I do recommend that you go check out his site, it has some good reading. 

TW, K9AC, once told me “There is no such thing as e-waste”. That about says it. All those broken and obsolete gadgets are just storehouses of interesting and useful parts for your next project. Aside from the parts, there is also an education about how things are built and how they fail. Free.

Power cords, resistors, capacitors, heat sinks, screws, speakers, microphones are all free for a few minutes of disassembly. Sometimes whole sections of boards can be re-purposed for other projects. The trick is to separate it in a logical fashion and store it so that you can find what you need later. Those little plastic trays with separate compartments work well. The larger cabinets with tiny parts drawers lend themselves well for resistor and capacitor assortments if you take care and label them extensively. Speakers, meters, knobs, and such need larger drawers or small boxes. Don't turn up your nose at surface mount components. Frequently computer systems are upgraded and provide big boards densely populated with easily obtainable parts. Your tech friends in IT always seem to have piles of these boards free for the asking. To remove the parts from these boards just wait for a sunny day with a nice light breeze, take a heat gun and an old cookie sheet outdoors, play the heat gun (on “low” setting) on the board until the solder begins to melt. Tip the board over the cookie sheet and give it a sharp tap. The parts fly off the board into the cookie sheet where you can collect them. Some parts need further assist and you can accomplish that with something like a popsicle stick to scrape them gently off.

Those parts were made to endure the heat. That's how they were soldered on in the first place. You will be amazed at how closely they measure to their labeled values. You might need a microscope to read it, but yes, they often are labeled. Measure them anyway. Sort them into their little drawers for easy use later on. Notice how they don't take up any space? Just wait until you see how easily they fit into your project.

Bigger stuff, with through-hole goodies, need a more conventional approach. Use a solder-sucker and desoldering braid. Those dental picks in your tool kit make nice prying tools. Needle-nosed pliers can lift the leads from the molten solder.

Check everything before it goes into the trash. The little hardware, itself, is invaluable. The stuff that you cannot categorize goes into what we like to call the “Hell Box”, that wonderful repository of orphaned parts. You will always need to replace some fool thing that escapes the workbench, nevermore to be found. Some screw that is missing, an odd bracket to hold something in place that is just impossible to fabricate. Spread the contents of the Hell Box in that old cookie sheet where you can poke through it leisurely and BEHOLD, your solution awaits!

de ND6T

You can email Don ND6T at nd6t@velotech.net and feel free to contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com. 

'72

Aaron K5ATG

Slay the Day

Free Parts!

 I found this nice little article on Donald ND6T's Simple and Easy Projects website. I did not write it myself so I'm giving all credit to Donald ND6T. I do recommend that you go check out his site, it has some good reading. 

TW, K9AC, once told me “There is no such thing as e-waste”. That about says it. All those broken and obsolete gadgets are just storehouses of interesting and useful parts for your next project. Aside from the parts, there is also an education about how things are built and how they fail. Free.

Power cords, resistors, capacitors, heat sinks, screws, speakers, microphones are all free for a few minutes of disassembly. Sometimes whole sections of boards can be re-purposed for other projects. The trick is to separate it in a logical fashion and store it so that you can find what you need later. Those little plastic trays with separate compartments work well. The larger cabinets with tiny parts drawers lend themselves well for resistor and capacitor assortments if you take care and label them extensively. Speakers, meters, knobs, and such need larger drawers or small boxes. Don't turn up your nose at surface mount components. Frequently computer systems are upgraded and provide big boards densely populated with easily obtainable parts. Your tech friends in IT always seem to have piles of these boards free for the asking. To remove the parts from these boards just wait for a sunny day with a nice light breeze, take a heat gun and an old cookie sheet outdoors, play the heat gun (on “low” setting) on the board until the solder begins to melt. Tip the board over the cookie sheet and give it a sharp tap. The parts fly off the board into the cookie sheet where you can collect them. Some parts need further assist and you can accomplish that with something like a popsicle stick to scrape them gently off.

Those parts were made to endure the heat. That's how they were soldered on in the first place. You will be amazed at how closely they measure to their labeled values. You might need a microscope to read it, but yes, they often are labeled. Measure them anyway. Sort them into their little drawers for easy use later on. Notice how they don't take up any space? Just wait until you see how easily they fit into your project.

Bigger stuff, with through-hole goodies, need a more conventional approach. Use a solder-sucker and desoldering braid. Those dental picks in your tool kit make nice prying tools. Needle-nosed pliers can lift the leads from the molten solder.

Check everything before it goes into the trash. The little hardware, itself, is invaluable. The stuff that you cannot categorize goes into what we like to call the “Hell Box”, that wonderful repository of orphaned parts. You will always need to replace some fool thing that escapes the workbench, nevermore to be found. Some screw that is missing, an odd bracket to hold something in place that is just impossible to fabricate. Spread the contents of the Hell Box in that old cookie sheet where you can poke through it leisurely and BEHOLD, your solution awaits!

de ND6T

You can email Don ND6T at nd6t@velotech.net and feel free to contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com. 

'72

Aaron K5ATG

Slay the Day

John K3WWP's QRP CW Streak

 On 05 Aug 1994, I was getting ready to turn twenty years old and the life of John K3WWP would forever be changed and in doing so in my opinion history within the brotherhood of QRP enthusiasts history would be written. This day John started a streak of making at least one QRP CW QSO a day, every single day. To date, he is at 9,920 days in a row! Here is a screenshot of the table on his blog that shows the current status of his streak for the past 10 days. 

Every day John updates his blog and shows the world that he is actually continuing the streak and not just making it up. He is proving that you don't need a Killabuck Rig running 1,500 watts into a yagi at 200 feet in the air. You can get on a small QRP CW radio with a small wire antenna and have a QSO regardless of the sunspots, propagation, weather, position of the moon compared to Arcturus etc. 

So check out The K3WWP Blog and read the great history and achievements of the streak. Perhaps it will inspire you to start a streak of your own. 

You can contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

 

John K3WWP's QRP CW Streak

 On 05 Aug 1994, I was getting ready to turn twenty years old and the life of John K3WWP would forever be changed and in doing so in my opinion history within the brotherhood of QRP enthusiasts history would be written. This day John started a streak of making at least one QRP CW QSO a day, every single day. To date, he is at 9,920 days in a row! Here is a screenshot of the table on his blog that shows the current status of his streak for the past 10 days. 

Every day John updates his blog and shows the world that he is actually continuing the streak and not just making it up. He is proving that you don't need a Killabuck Rig running 1,500 watts into a yagi at 200 feet in the air. You can get on a small QRP CW radio with a small wire antenna and have a QSO regardless of the sunspots, propagation, weather, position of the moon compared to Arcturus etc. 

So check out The K3WWP Blog and read the great history and achievements of the streak. Perhaps it will inspire you to start a streak of your own. 

You can contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

 

K3NG Arduino CW Keyer Part I

 As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I would really like to start participating in the world of CW (Morse Code) but I do not have the physical ability to send the code. For most people, sending is the easiest part of CW. In my case, I have neurological issues that greatly hinder my sending. Then I discovered the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer. The K3NG Arduino CW Keyer is a CW Keyer that is based and built around the Arduino Mega. It was developed by Anthony Good K3N. Other Arduino models can be used but because of the huge number of features that are available for this keyer the Mega is the preferred model.  I'm not going to set here and list every feature that can be had with this keyer as so many others have already done it before. I will give you a couple of links to follow here:

• Radioartisan.com This is Anthony Good K3NG's blog, this is where it all started. Anthony has several other projects that he has done listed here. Mr. Good has also provided several must-see videos on his keyer here. 
• K3NG CW Keyer Wiki The K3NG Arduino CW Keyer is so popular that it has its own wiki page. Here you will find the huge list of features plus individual pages on each feature. Here you will find the Arduino Code, the wiring, and the hardware for building this keyer. 
  
• Radioartisan IO Group This is the IO Group for the K3NG projects, it is mostly about the Arduino Keyer and rotator. Please join this group and post your builds and experiences here. 

The greatest things about this very capable CW keyer is that the Arduino is an open-source platform and Anthony K3NG put in A LOT of effort in freely sharing his projects with the world. This allows people like me and you to build these projects ourselves. The only way this is possible is if people take the time to share their own experiences. I will be putting here on this blog all of my experiences, successes, and failures on building this keyer, at the same time I will be putting everything in a K3NG Arduino Build Thread in the IO Group. 

For me the most important feature will be the keyboard feature so I will be starting with that and moving forward. At the bottom of the wiki page listed above, you will find a great manual that was written by Cees PA3CVI. I will mostly follow that manual and I will also use information that has been shared by the members of the IO Group. 

The recommended method of building this keyer is to build it with a breadboard to build the prototype and after you have achieved the desired success you can then build the finished product. So I put together a breadboard setup:

This was made using a cutting board from a store called The Dollar Tree where everything costs just a dollar. Then I attached three solderless breadboards giving me about 2,500 points to work from. Using nylon nuts and bolts I attached an Arduino Mega 2560.  Hopefully, that will give me enough room to prototype most of the features on the K3NG Arduino CW keyer. 

Well that gives you a pretty good idea as to what I will be attempting to do here. If you would like to contact me then please email me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

K3NG Arduino CW Keyer Part I

 As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I would really like to start participating in the world of CW (Morse Code) but I do not have the physical ability to send the code. For most people, sending is the easiest part of CW. In my case, I have neurological issues that greatly hinder my sending. Then I discovered the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer. The K3NG Arduino CW Keyer is a CW Keyer that is based and built around the Arduino Mega. It was developed by Anthony Good K3N. Other Arduino models can be used but because of the huge number of features that are available for this keyer the Mega is the preferred model.  I'm not going to set here and list every feature that can be had with this keyer as so many others have already done it before. I will give you a couple of links to follow here:

• Radioartisan.com This is Anthony Good K3NG's blog, this is where it all started. Anthony has several other projects that he has done listed here. Mr. Good has also provided several must-see videos on his keyer here. 
• K3NG CW Keyer Wiki The K3NG Arduino CW Keyer is so popular that it has its own wiki page. Here you will find the huge list of features plus individual pages on each feature. Here you will find the Arduino Code, the wiring, and the hardware for building this keyer. 
  
• Radioartisan IO Group This is the IO Group for the K3NG projects, it is mostly about the Arduino Keyer and rotator. Please join this group and post your builds and experiences here. 

The greatest things about this very capable CW keyer is that the Arduino is an open-source platform and Anthony K3NG put in A LOT of effort in freely sharing his projects with the world. This allows people like me and you to build these projects ourselves. The only way this is possible is if people take the time to share their own experiences. I will be putting here on this blog all of my experiences, successes, and failures on building this keyer, at the same time I will be putting everything in a K3NG Arduino Build Thread in the IO Group. 

For me the most important feature will be the keyboard feature so I will be starting with that and moving forward. At the bottom of the wiki page listed above, you will find a great manual that was written by Cees PA3CVI. I will mostly follow that manual and I will also use information that has been shared by the members of the IO Group. 

The recommended method of building this keyer is to build it with a breadboard to build the prototype and after you have achieved the desired success you can then build the finished product. So I put together a breadboard setup:

This was made using a cutting board from a store called The Dollar Tree where everything costs just a dollar. Then I attached three solderless breadboards giving me about 2,500 points to work from. Using nylon nuts and bolts I attached an Arduino Mega 2560.  Hopefully, that will give me enough room to prototype most of the features on the K3NG Arduino CW keyer. 

Well that gives you a pretty good idea as to what I will be attempting to do here. If you would like to contact me then please email me at Aaron@K5ATG.com