Atlanticon QRP Forum
Proceedings


|  1999  |  2000  |  2001  |  2002  |  2003  |  2004  |  2005  |

|  Availability  |

Select Atlanticon Proceedings are available and make a terrific for your reference library. See the descriptions of the papers below for enticing detail on these bound, 8-1/2" x 11" format publications.

For those unfamiliar with the Proceedings, each is typically an 80+ page bound collection of the special articles written by the notable QRP speakers who come from all around the world to present at our annual QRP conference in Baltimore, Maryland.   Six or seven major articles are usually presented based on the presentations made by the speaker at that Atlanticon venue, making the Proceedings a very informative investment.

Atlanticon 2005 Proceedings

Oscillators ... Stability in an Uncertain World,  by Joe Everhart, N2CX

Digital Building Blocks for Analog Radios,  by Lyle Johnson, KK7P

Searching for Life Among the Stars,  by Paul Shuch, N6TR

2N2/20 - A 20m Discrete Component CW Transceiver built Manhattan-style, by Jim Kortge, K8IQY

Emergency Communications and QRP, by Rich Arland, K7SZ

Calibrating the AD9850 DDS VFO, by Earl Morris, N8ERO

The Crytallizer, by Joe Everhart, N2CX and George Heron, N2APB

Atlanticon 2004 Proceedings 

Portable and Operating – QRP Style! -- by Ed Breneiser, WA3WSJ

Component Test – Determining what all those parts are! -- by Joe Everhart, N2CX

Software Defined Radio – The Future is Now -- Bob McGwier, N4HY and Gerald Youngblood, AC5OG

Inside the mind of "Mr. Melt Solder" -- by Steve Weber, KD1JV

Outright Heresy!  Notes on 75M AM and DSB -- by Dave Benson, K1SWL

Elmer 160 – An Exciting & Comprehensive “Course” for Understanding & Using PIC Microcontrollers in Ham radio Applications -- by John McDonough, WB8RCR

The PIC-EL and Beyond -- by Craig Johnson, AA0ZZ

An interactive Technical Overview of the KX1 -- by Wayne Burdick, N6KR

Meet the Micro908 Antenna Analyzer -- By George Heron, N2APB and Joe Everhart, N2CX

Atlanticon 2003 Proceedings 

"How to do QRP to the Field the Easy Way", by Doug Hendricks, K6DS -- Doug's article containing humors, practicality and instruction, and will relate to all QRPer readers. KI6DS has operated almost every "QRP Afield" and "QRP to the Field" since the inception of these events several years ago.  His paper shows you how to set up an effective contest station that won't break the bank, yet will give you loads of contacts.  Doug actually takes the reader through the steps of building the NorCal Doublet antenna and he reviews some neat operating hints and kinks that get you more QSOs and show you what you need to take with you in order to have an effective station.  Stories of past adventures pepper his article, including those with his good friend and past Atlanticon speaker Paul Harden, NA5N.  Doug also describes a sure fire method of spending a fun afternoon using simple QRP gear while your wife shops at the mall.

"The K8IQY 2N2/30 ... A 30-Meter, Discrete Component, CW Transceiver", by Jim Kortge, K8IQY -- Jim Kortge is a master craftsman of Manhattan-style construction projects and has contributed solid and useful designs to our QRP community. These include the 2N2/40 Transceiver, the Precision Variable Crystal Oscillator (http://www.njqrp.club/pvxo/index.html), and the Islander Audio Amplifier (http://www.njqrp.club/islanderamp/index.html).  K8IQY is the newest member of the QRP Hall of Fame and his presentation this year overviews the design, construction, and performance of a 30-meter, discrete component CW transceiver based on the his previous award winning 2N2/40 design.  New and revised circuits are employed, providing improved performance over the 2N2/40 while retaining the straight forward, Manhattan-style construction approach.  Details are provided for using SMT components with this construction method.  This new design carries forward the extensive use of PN2222 transistors, while also employing other discrete, active devices to enhance performance and reduce construction effort.

"Practical and Portable Antennas", by James Bennett, KA5DVS -- For those QRPers who have been living a sheltered life, KA5DVS is the designer of the award-winning PAC-12 portable antenna introduced last year. His fabulously-simple and efficient portable antenna design took top honors in the HF Pack "antenna shootout" in 2002, and was chronicled in a feature article in QRP Homebrewer #8 over the summer.  (The project and article  was so exciting and popular that it was also made fully available online at http://www.njqrp.club/pac-12).  To quote James ... "I am always fascinated that the small amount of power our QRP radios produce can even be detected, much less carry information.  To me, it is still magic that a radio with some metal and wire can send a signal to far parts of the globe, and to do this with low power and an antenna that I have built never ceases to fascinate me." It is this fascination that drives James to experiment with many different materials and portable designs, and it is this same fascination that will delight and entertain readers of his paper in the Proceedings this year! 

"QuickieLab Test Bench", by Joe Everhart, N2CX -- N2CX has a passion for test equipment, and describes how the NJQRP QuickieLab is a great platform with which to build a ham measurement and test bench.  The Inherent BASIC Stamp 2 functions, the QuickieLab features, the IOX chip (Input Output eXtender) and DDS daughtercard (Direct Digital Synthesizer) together form a powerful collection of tools with which one can implement a wide variety of test equipment. We see how the basic hardware plus some added interface circuitry is used to make a powerful, modular and integrated test bench consisting of a DC voltmeter, frequency counter, signal generation, AC/RF voltmeter, SWR meter, RF power meter, remote-reading field strength meter, antenna analyzer building blocks, sweep generator/detector, two-tone generator, digital thermometer, comparative headphone tester, semiconductor parametric tester, VFO, signal tracer ... and the list goes on even more!  

"HF-VFO Using an AD9854 Direct Digital Synthesizer", by Craig Johnson, AA0ZZ -- Craig discusses his latest digital VFO project design, featuring the Analog Devices AD9854 Direct Digital Synthesis device.  The AD9854 DDS is a step beyond the widely-used AD9850 for certain applications in that it has two output signals with a 90 degree phase difference.  This quadrature phase relationship remains constant regardless of the frequency.  When used with a direct conversion phasing-type HF receiver (such as an R2Pro) or a single-sideband transmitter, these two outputs make it easy to provide opposite sideband suppression over a frequency range of 0 to 30 MHz without switching components for the various frequency bands. Of course, the VFO can easily be used for a CW transmitter as well. AA0ZZ discusses the principles of Direct Digital Synthesis and how it is done in his current project using two PIC microcontrollers to control the AD9854 operation. Pros and cons of using a DDS device versus using other digital frequency synthesis techniques or analog techniques (such as Hartley or Colpitts oscillators) are discussed. When Craig and his colleague developed the code for the two PIC microcontrollers in this project, they did it with other experimenters in mind. They attempted to document the code, to make it as clear a possible by reading the comments in the source code.  The source code is available for the experimenter, allowing one to understand the current design and to modify it to suit individual needs.

"QRPing in Europe", by Jon Iza, EA2SN --  Jon Iza describes the typical European QRPer, and the facility he or she has to "work countries", and some maps, for comparison with the typical situation in the States. Dr. Iza is a staunch and long-time supporter of the NJQRP Club, and even as a busy full professor at the University of the Basque Country Escuela de Ingenieros (in Spain), he participates in every club kit and has contributed CCW and other technical material to help keep the club near the leading edge of digital and antenna fronts.

"Sniffer", by George Heron, N2APB and Joe Everhart, N2CX --  An RF field strength meter is one of the simpler – yet more valuable – pieces of test equipment that a ham can have around the shack. By nature, our interest centers on the characteristics of the radio frequency energy we are pumping out of our antenna …  how much, how efficient, its directivity and bandwidth. A properly used Field Strength Meter (FSM) can provide invaluable relative insight to each of these characteristics, and more. This Sniffer article served as the basis for the Atlanticon Kit this year that each attendee received.  It describes the step-by-step Manhattan-style construction, circuit description and typical uses of this useful device.

Atlanticon 2002 Proceedings

"Simplified Tools and Methods for Measuring Crystals", by Jim Kortge, K8IQY -- This paper describes an approach for measuring crystal parameters using relatively simple test apparatus and test setups. Some of the required test instruments are easily built using Manhattan-style construction methods.  Others can be obtained on the surplus market at low cost.  With careful use the resulting crystal parameter values are comparable in accuracy to those measured with instruments costing thousands of dollars.  The same instruments and setup can also be used for measuring crystals for use in multi-pole filters.

"Trailside QRP Station", by Dave Gauding, NF0R -- After waiting fifteen years for just the right portable single-band CW rig to come along, NF0R finally gave up and crafted his own. Starting with a DSW-20 transceiver, he added mod after mod to realize his expectations for a truly high-performance portable station. His paper is decidedly non-technical and easy to follow. It overviews several of the highly-portable homebrew vertical antennas that accompany him to the field, as well as some other uniquely "St. Louis" projects.

"Antenna Fundamentals - The Long and the Short of It", by Dave Benson, K1SWL --  Benson presents a very useful and eye-opening overview of antennas, their modeling with EZNEC, and clear descriptions of what really happens when you shorten antennas or otherwise compromise on the basic formula of "make it big and put it high". We all have dealt with these compromising situations before and it is delightful to have it all explained by this master designer in our hobby.

"Resistance is Futile - You Will Simulate", by Joe Everhart, N2CX --  This paper overviews circuit simulation tools like WinSPICE and their use by homebrewers and budding designers. Powerful personal computers now make it possible and downright easy to model even complex RF circuits in software. By doing this, one can do a whole slew of 'what if?" exercises to try out wild ideas to see if they have any merit without the expense of buying oddball parts, the tedium of wiring and rewiring trial circuits and the mind-deadening exercise of tweaking.  In short, you can 'build" a circuit in software, tune it with a keyboard and crank up the power all in a couple of hours to see how good you can get it.  Then, once you see what can be done, you can build the physical "real" circuit and do the final tweaking. This N2CX paper provides an excellent cookbook recipe of references and examples for anyone wishing to get into simulating circuits to save bench prototyping time and provide more robust designs.

"The Handiman's Guide to QRP Transmitters", by Paul Harden, NA5N -- This paper is a wonderfully down-to-earth presentation of transmitter design, discussion about impedance matching between stages, signal levels throughout the transmit chain, MOSFET transistors used in the output stage, and more.. It begins with general transmitter theory and some considerations not often discussed in amateur literature, to some design steps and reference information, whether you wish to design your own QRP transmitter or just wonder how they work. NA5N also provides some characteristically-beautiful diagrams and technical artwork in the paper that support and detail all of his discussion. Hopefully this all will take some of the mystery out of the "black secrets" of transmitters.

"The Call of the Great Outdoors with QRP", by Ron Polityka, WB3AAL -- Ron presents a wonderful overview of why and how he takes to the field in operating QRP on the Appalachian Trail. He includes a great set of photos, tips and hiking vendor recommendations to share with the audience, and I guarantee you that you'll be itching to get out into the bush after reading Ron's exploits and trailside operating tips.

Atlanticon 2001 Proceedings

Atlanticon 2000 Proceedings  (Sold Out)

Atlanticon 1999 Proceedings (Sold Out)

AVAILABILITY
Sorry, all Proceedings are out of print. 

Last Modified:  April 15, 2007