Remember When 6V6 Kit – Additional Comments

The 6V6 slatboard 80 and 40 meter kit Pastime Projects offers continues  to sell very well.  If you require a crystal or two for this transmitter,  please contact us at  pastimeprojects(at)yahoo(dot)com.  We have in stock or access to additional crystals not listed in our web site www.pastimeprojects.com.

40 meter operation of this transmitter can be accomplished with either 40 meter or 80 meter crystals.  We need to go in our lab and research this further.  As I recall we found that we could add a 220 pf mica capacitor IN SERIES with the one supplied in the kit that is used to resonate the cathode coil.  I believe the cathode coil as designed resonates at or near the 80 meter band.  That is fine for 80 meter operation with an 80 meter crystals.  It is also the recommended way to operate on 40 meters with an 80 meter crystals according to the original 1940 designers.  We have found that a 40 meter crystal will work better on 40 meters IF the cathode coil resonates on 40 meters. To do this, simply add the 220 pf capacitor in SERIES with the one already in the cathode circuit.  We know that capacitance in series reduces the capacitance, and therefore the circuit LC resonant frequency.. Again we have to research this further..  If this is too confusing or doesn’t work,  contact us.  We always want your Remember When Kit to operate at its best.  And again, work on your kit WITH ALL POWER OFF!  73 es BCNU  Glenn NN8G

Unexpected Good News

Last week we started receiving all kinds of orders on our web site www.pastimeprojects.com for our 6V6 transmitter kits.  We havent seen this kind of volume since the week a group of  ham radio members decided to buy the ‘slat board’ kits as a club project.  Glad to have the business!  It was generated by Martin Huyett,  K0BXB who wrote in the November 2012 QST  “Have fun building the simplest transmitter”.

Martin built a 6V6 slat transmitter with his junk box parts and a solid technical background.  He states, however,  that if your junk box lacks the parts or you dont want to figure out the details,  BUY A KIT SUCH AS … OFFERED …BY PASTIME PROJECTS.

That triggered a lot of purchases from us.  It is nice to work from a kit of parts as well as an instruction manual that takes you step by step through the building,  wiring, and soldering phases of the kit..  Thanks Martin for a great article and a positive spin on our product.. 

73  Glenn  pastimeprojects(at)yahoo(dot)com

Autumn at last

We finally have a nice break in the weather as the seasons in Ohio change. Rain has returned to north central Ohio and our crops are in ok condition.  The cooler weather allows us to catch up on chores.  With winter coming,  Pastime Projects looks forward to some new product introductions.  We are looking at new sources for some of our parts used in production.  Our goals are to reduce costs, which translates into fewer cost increases to our customers, and better product reliability.  We are trying to improve  the quality of components in both new and existing products.  More on this later.  Hope you enjoy the change in seasons .   Glenn NN8G  pastimeprojects (at) yahoo (dot) com.