Red Light District

Why don't more Amateur radio manufacturers put back-lit buttons on their rigs designed for outdoor or mobile use?  Most QRP radios I'm familiar with (IC-705, FT-818, KX2 & 3) and the IC-7200 and 7300, which I've adopted for field use, don't have back-lit buttons. Yaesu, which used to be very good at putting out rigs with back-lit buttons (FT-450D, FT-991A, FT-891, etc.) flubbed it with their recent FT-710, and I can't get any clear answers on the FTX-1, so I suspect the answer is no.

Why are back-lit buttons important? I like to operate under low-light conditions, particularly when camping. At night, with no other illumination, the buttons on the IC-705 are tough to see. And while you can control a lot of rig functions from the touch screen interface, you can't control everything from there. For some functions you still need to poke a physical button. The problem is even more acute with radios like the KX2 or KX3, and the 7200. The 7200 is the worst - in low light conditions the front panel is nothing more than a featureless black sheet. 

A method to illuminate the control buttons and switches of field radios used to be a common feature. In the old days it was usually something like miniature 'grain-of -wheat' bulbs placed around the control panel back-plane and threw light at semi-transparent buttons. In even older systems it was small screw-in flashlight bulbs in hooded sockets directly on the front panel. Not elegant by today's standards, but it worked quite well. Today, low output LEDs can be integrated directly into the control buttons, and the brightness controlled via the radio's firmware - an elegant low power solution that no HF rig manufacturers seem interested in implementing in modern radios.

The awkward solution is the simple flashlight, but for night operations, a flashlight will just blind you. There are some head lamps that offer red light options, and those work well but I dislike wearing a headlamp for any length of time.

One neat solution I've found are small goose-neck LED lamps designed for use as book lights, or on music stands. If you go to an orchestral concert, you'll usually see these clipped to the music stands, so the musicians can see the sheet music. In the old days, musicians used candles clipped to their stands, which is why concert halls burned down a lot. Today it's small LED lights. I guess these days the fires are mostly insurance related 😄.

Here's a picture of a red LED goose-neck lamp clipped to the side of my IC-705. Simple, effective and cheap (about $13 on Amazon, as I write this).

Why red light? Haven't you watched any WWII submarine movies lately? Everyone wore red tinted goggles before they went topside at night to watch for Japanese ships. A red light source (or filter) has far less impact on night vision than white light. Red light won't cause your pupils to constrict as much as white light, so red light will help preserve your night vision. The US military has known this for a long time, which is why all military flashlights come with a red light option. 

The classic old (and now obsolete) Army angle head
flashlights always came with a red lens stored in the base. 
Use of the red lens was mandatory in tactical situations

LED technology has made red light almost a design afterthought. Most headlamps and LED lanterns I've seen have a red light option. These work well, but I much prefer the goose-neck lamp option, because it allows me to put the light right were I need it on the front panel of the radio, and keep it there. 

Most LED head lamps and lanterns have a red light option. I'll use a lantern
for general illumination purposes on my field operating table. However, for lighting
up the radio panel I'll use a directed light source like the goose neck LED lamp

The lamps I buy on Amazon are sold as book lights, and they work great. They are rechargeable, and the base has a strong clip that really fixes the lamp in place. Or, the base can serve as a stand. Very effective and, as I mentioned above, very inexpensive.

Hooga red book light

Until Icom & Yaesu get their heads out of their 4th points of contact (an old paratrooper saying - look it up) on this back-light issue, we're stuck with having to front-light our radio panels when operating in low light conditions. I'd love to toss the Icom and Yaesu design engineers into a dark room with one of their recent offerings, and tell them to operate it effectively with no extra light. Maybe then they'll understand the problem. Until then, keep buying those red lights!

 W8BYH out

Ticking Along Two

Fate and luck can play some funny tricks. A few weeks ago I put up a post titled Ticking Along where I highlighted some small communication center clocks that only rarely pop up on eBay. How rare? A few years between sightings, at least. Or so I thought.

Within a day of putting up my post, I was surprised to get a hit on one of my eBay searches for a Franklin comms center clock. It was used, but the seller stated that it ran. The price was good (he accepted a low-ish offer), and it was mine. It arrived a few days ago and is in pretty good shape. If there hadn't been any scratches on the plastic crystal, I would have thought it was brand new. 

The clock runs fine, as good as its two siblings (it uses a Kienzle movement from Germany, like the other Franklin clock), and some plastic polish took care of most of the scratches and haze on the crystal. I'm tickled pink to have three good examples of these clocks. I think I can stop searching now... but I won't 😄.

The new clock is in the center. In front is a 42mm Seiko solar quartz wristwatch movement
that also does duty as a station clock. The Seiko is, hands down, one of the most consistently
accurate movements I own - +/- 1 second per month.

My communications center clock obsession started years ago, and I wrote about in a 2022 post titled Message Center Clocks. The US message center clocks I highlight in that post are actually fairly common, and several can be found on eBay on any given day. Since the Army was buying these right up into the 1970's, they are not particularly rare. But they are large - 6" & 8" dial faces - and as they use mechanical movements, they need regular service and adjustment.

At the opposite end are the brilliantly designed and executed German WWII-era communication center clocks. I'd argue that these smaller clocks were better suited to a mobile communications setup - they were easy to pack away, could stand by themselves or be hung on a wall, and the clock movements didn't require a key - there was a large winding wheel on the back of the movement. Interestingly, a lot of the movements for these clocks were manufactured by Keinzle, the same company that made the quartz movements in my clocks.

This design was so successful that it stayed on production well beyond WWII, and the newly constituted West German army & air force started buying them again in the 1950s.

If some enterprising manufacturer started making copies of this clock, but with a quartz movement, I'd be first in-line yelling, "Take my money!"

W8BYH out

POS

I've owned several of the Midland-produced weather radios with SAME functionality - the ones where you can program in your county code, and you'll receive over-the-air alerts specific to your area. None of these radios worked particularly well. I'm not saying they didn't work, I'm saying they didn't receive very well. I live in an area that sits between two NWS weather radio broadcast towers. Neither of the two stations comes in very strong to my location. This is as much a factor of my physical location (on the side of a hill), and the two broadcast stations in relation to my location. Still, I can normally receive one or both of the signals reasonably well with a general coverage receiver with a built-in antenna.  

As general weather radio broadcast receivers, these Midland radios are poor performers. Considering their purpose in life - to receive NWS signals and trigger alerts - they just don't do their job very well. Several folks I've brought this issue up to say, "Brian, just fiddle with it a bit. Move it to a new location, hook up a better antenna, get a new power supply..." To all that I say, bullshit. Here's why - a weather alert radio is a piece of life-safety equipment, like a fire extinguisher or a defibrillator. You expect it to work right out of the box, no fiddling or tweaking necessary. 

I know radios, and I'm willing to experiment a bit to get these Midlands working as they should, but even I've had little success. Plus, think of Midland's target market for these radios - the average consumer who lives in tornado alley. They want a radio they can trust to wake them in the dead of night and tell them to get to shelter. They want to put it on a table, plug it in, pull up the antenna, power it on, and feel safe. In my experience, unless you live right next to an NWS broadcast tower, you are likely not going to get what you expect out of these radios - they are at best middling receivers. 

The Midland's a piece of s**t, a lousy receiver. And it's not just this particular radio.
I've found the whole range of Midland receivers to be underwhelming.
The Sangean weather radio is a far better receiver. What's the difference between the two?
The Sangean will receive weather channels 5 & 7 with no problem. The signal is a bit
scratchy, but otherwise clear and strong. The Midland, in the same location (upstairs bathroom),
is deaf to any NWS frequency

Save up your money. Buy something better.

W8BYH out

Ticking Along

We're back to clocks, and time. While I've slowed down (just a wee bit) on accumulating clocks and watches and assorted timing devices. my fascination with time is still strong. The past week I had two clock-related issues converge, and I thought I'd show you what's going on.

First, batteries. Huh? What do batteries have to do with a clock? Everything. All time keeping devices need power. Whether it's a hand-wound mainspring in a ridiculously overpriced Rolex, or the solar charged batteries that power the atomic clocks on a GPS satellites, they all need some form of power. For most quartz watches, the small button batteries they use provide a lot of power density and can run your wristwatch for years. For larger wall or mantle clocks, it's usually the plain old 1.5 volt AA battery. The AA battery has the capacity to power a modern quartz movement for over a year. That's where my problem started. I've got larger (8") desk and mantle clocks scattered around the areas of my house that I spend a lot of time in - my ham radio shack, my computer room, etc. Since my XYL doesn't share my affinity for timepieces, especially ones that look like they were just ripped off the bulkhead of a WWII battleship, I keep them out of the common spaces of our house. 

I have two Chelsea quartz clocks sitting almost side-by-side down in my computer room. One is intended to go into my shack, but I'm doing some re-configuring down there, so I placed it next to it's brother. They have different faces, but the movements in both are the same - a pretty good US-made quartz movement that Chelsea has used for years.

With these two clocks side-by side, I can take both in with a single glance. Yesterday I noted one was running 5 minutes slow. Hmmm... must be time for a battery change. I popped the clock open, looked at the movement, and let out a stream of words my grandkids should never hear. The alkaline AA was leaking. Not a lot, but enough to cause some minor corrosion on the contacts. I'm surprised it was still providing enough voltage to keep the clock running; I must have caught it early in its failure cycle. Alkaline batteries have been on the market for over 60 years. Why the hell can't the manufacturers figure out how to make them so they don't leak?

Two Chelsea 6"Patriot clocks. Same quartz movements, different faces.
These are intended to 'hearken back' to the mechanical clocks Chelsea made by the
thousands during WWII for the Army & Navy.
The clock on the left suffered the leaky battery, but both are running on lithium cells now.
So far they are staying in pretty good sync (focus on the minute hand, not the second hand).
Yeah, I know, I need to dust...

Many of the clocks I own are not expensive, but were hard to find. This includes several 24 hour wall clocks made for the US military, and small 3" or 4" diameter military  communication center clocks. The latter show up very rarely on auction sites like eBay. In fact, it's far easier to find a good condition WWII era mechanical communications center clock or Navy deck clock made by Chelsea or Seth Thomas, than it is to find these small communications center clocks with quartz movements. So, it's worth the effort it to take care of them. These make pretty neat ham shack clocks. They are true Army surplus, and were designed during the Cold War for use in mobile communications vans, bolted to a bulkhead. Plus, with clock faces between 3 1/2" & 4", they are an ideal size to sit on a desk next to a radio.

The Franklin clock (right) is all plastic with a simple friction fit housing.
The Timecrafters (left) is a very sturdy and complex aluminum housing and mount.
Franklin is still in business, but Timecrafters is long gone, and there's no info
about the company on the web. I suspect it was connected in some way to Timex

It's interesting that these two clocks carry the same National Stock Number  (NSN), but their cases are completely different designs. The Franklin is all plastic, with a simple friction fit mount. The Timecrafters is a delightfully Rube Goldberg-ish contraptions that includes a machined twist-fit mount with a spring loaded keeper, and a small aluminum billet that holds the AA battery in-place when the clock is bouncing around in the back of a comms van. It also has instructions on the mount that aren't just stickers, they are curved, stamped aluminum pieces with what looks to be silk-screened text. Well designed, well executed, and probably overkill for the intended purpose, but who cares. I love it! Both clocks utilize German made movements, and both keep excellent time. I've run the Franklin for almost a year, and it keeps time to within 2 seconds per month. 

The Timecrafter's off its base. Note the details on the base, including the brass spring loaded detent
for locking the clock to the base, and the aluminum billet that holds the AA battery in place. 
Unnecessarily but delightfully over-built!

The Timecrafters movement. This is the only quartz clock movement I've seen that incorporates
a 'hack' feature - the Stop - Start switch. I wish other quartz movement manufacturers
incorporated this in their movements

What about the wooden stands these two clocks are mounted to? They are just appropriately sized bookends I got off of Amazon. They look good and work well as clock stands. 

I'll wrap this up by answering the question many of you may have - do they glow? Why yes, they do! Each of these clocks have hands and numerals that have been painted with lume. I'm assuming it's not radioactive, since these fade out fairly quickly after being exposed to light. But the fact that 40 year old clocks can still glow is neat.

What's next? Well, I'd like to find at least one spare, either a Franklin or Timecrafters. Each of these are the only ones I've ever seen come up for auction on eBay, so I'll continue to haunt the auction sites and on-line dealers to see if I can score at least one more. If anyone out there knows where I can find one of these, or a similar design, I'd love to hear from you!

W8BYH out

This 'n That

It's been somewhat quiet on the home front, radio-wise. I've been distracted by things that take my attention away from the microphone - website development for our church, visiting relatives, dealing with computer issues, and wrapping things up at work as I get ready for retirement (yeah!). But, there have been a few interesting tidbits to talk about.

First, computers. If you read any of my blog posts you'll soon realize that I've got a strong interest in computers. I'm not a gamer, and I don't write code. I just find computers, and their applications in the real world, somewhat fascinating. My involvement with computers goes back to the time of the introduction of the earliest 8-bit processor units, and I've been working with, or on, computers since the early 1980s. What fascinates me today is the application of form factor to function. I really like things such as lightweight tablets, ruggedized field systems, and special purpose devices. Over the past several years I've tested, and acquired, a number of Microsoft Surface tablet computers, both the Surface Pro and Surface Go models, and a small range of Panasonic and Dell ruggedized computers. 

I really like the Microsoft Surface format, and as long as I'm not paying for them (my employer does) I'm delighted to use them. It took until the release of the Surface Pro 7 for Microsoft to get the design 'right', but with the 7 they got it really right, and I've enjoyed using both the Surface Pro 7 & 9 models for a number of years. Sadly, both of those devices have developed issues that will have them headed to the recycling center soon. The Surface Pro 7 has suffered the inevitable fate of all Surface devices - the battery is dying. Since it can't be replaced, off to the shredder it must go. Sad, because it really is a good little tablet.

The Surface Pro 9's issue is altogether different, and unique in my experience. It's developed a hardware issue (I think with the system memory) that causes frequent Blue Screens of Death (BSOD). In my experience the BSOD is a rare event with Windows 11, so the fact that this thing blue screens about every 10 minutes tells me it too just needs to head to the shredder. Again, a sad fate for a pretty good piece of hardware.

BTW, the new(ish) Surface Pro 12 looks like a very good little tablet. I think it would make a great replacement for its older siblings, but the memory and storage specs are way too low for the asking price. Plus, Microsoft nickels and dimes you with the accessories, like the detachable keyboards, which aren't really accessories, but must-haves.

Now on to some older Dell systems. I've got a few of the Dell rugged laptops and tablets, and they are great devices. I mean, they are REALLY good. I'll say this - Dell does rugged better than Panasonic, which invented the market for rugged computers. Unfortunately for me, most of what I bought was released when Window 10 was at about mid life-cycle. This meant that they were crackerjack Windows 10 machines, but when Windows 11 came out they were not eligible to upgrade due a 'hardware compatibility' issue - either the CPUs couldn't handle Windows 11 or a the units had missing our outdated a hardware devices known as the Trusted Platform Module, or TPM. I was OK with this for a time - Windows 10 was perfectly fine for what I did. Then late last year Microsoft announced it was sunsetting support for Windows 10. While Microsoft doesn't give a damn about the average computer buyer, they do pay attention when their large corporate and government customers start complaining, and complain they did. Many were sitting on large installed bases of perfectly fine Windows 10 hardware that couldn't be upgraded to Windows 11. They told Microsoft, either you continue Windows 10 support, or provide an upgrade path to Windows 11 for this older hardware. Microsoft miraculously found a way around the 'hardware compatibility' issue, and released versions of Windows 11 that run just fine on older hardware. Funny how that happened, eh?

Earlier this week I pulled out two of my older Dells - my Latitude 5404 laptop and a 7210 tablet running on an i3 processor. I had tried updating both of these to Windows 11 earlier in the year, but with no luck. Microsoft told me repeatedly that my hardware was not compatible with Windows 11. Since neither computer had been turned on for months, I figured it was time to grab the latest (and perhaps last) Windows 10 updates available. I was surprised to find an authorized Windows 11 update package waiting in the update queue for both computers! 

My old Dell 5404 can run Windows 11!
This is easily one of the best laptops I've ever used, rugged or not, so
it's great that I can keep it going with a new OS.
This computer taught me that Steve Jobs was dead wrong about laptops with touch screens

What changed in Redmond, I don't know. All I know is that I'm delighted that these Windows 11 installs have extended the useful life of these fine computers for a few more years.

Last, a failed POTA activation, but still some success. Last week I traveled to Philadelphia to spend some time with my sister. She lives in a 31 story condo just south of Washington Square, which itself is just a block behind Independence Hall. Washington Square is also a part of the Independence National Historical Park. This means a POTA activation in Washington Square counts as 'activating' the Independence National Historical Park (US-0738). The square is really more of a regular city green space, and on any given day is filled with local retirees feeding the squirrels and bitching about Donald Trump (some of the conversations are hilarious - I strongly suspect a TDS cocktail is added to Philly's drinking water along with the fluoride), kids riding their scooters, folks walking their dogs, bums and homeless people passed out under the trees (really charming), and the occasional tourist group that wanders over from Independence Hall to view the memorial to the Unknown Revolutionary Soldier in the park. It's rare to see a park ranger or a Philly cop, unless there's demonstrations or a medical emergency. I figured if I activated the park I would be pretty safe from unwanted scrutiny from the law. Well, I did, and I was right. I activated the park at noon on Sunday, and only park visitors that showed any serious interest in me were some passing dogs. In fact, considering the bums, the dope smokers, the panhandlers, the tattooed gay lovers playing slap and tickle under one of the trees (really guys, you didn't think anyone could see you?), and the guy in rainbow tights roller skating around the park with a boom-box, I was the least weird thing in the park that day.

Unfortunately, I had zero contacts. Even though I spotted myself twice on the POTA website, I had no luck making any contacts. Of course my setup didn't help. There was no way I could have gotten away with setting up a 100 watt rig and a wire, or even large vertical antenna. I would have been either robbed or arrested, or both. Instead I was using my Elecraft KX2 in it's 'pedestrian mobile' configuration - handheld, with a 20 meter whip antenna (the Elecraft AX1), a drag line for a counterpoise, and some earbuds. Don't laugh - I've talked from Georgia to Indiana with this exact setup. The problems I faced were poor band conditions and operating from an urban canyon. Yes, I was disappointed, but I learned some good lessons. Next time I try this (and there will be a next time), I'll be using a better antenna setup. I can't get away from a 20 meter whip, but I can set it up better.

Now to the successful part. The night before the activation I decided to test my equipment by going up to the roof of my sister's condo and doing a test run. The roof holds a swimming pool and cabana area. I set up on one of the tables, clamped the 20 meter whip to a lounge chair, and started listening for people calling CQ. I was delighted when WD6T out of northern California answered my call. Philly to California on 10 watts with a seriously compromised antenna. Hey, I'll take that! I then added the 40 meter extension coil to the whip, and contacted W9ISF, the Indiana State Fair ARC station. Not too shabby. The night was cool and clear, with a light breeze. It was wonderful to be able to sit 31 stories up, by myself, and spin the dial. A wonderful night all-around.

My roof-top poolside view, looking south towards Delaware.
Note the whip antenna clamped to the lounge chair. With this setup I was
able to contact California and Indiana on SSB. A wonderful night!

A KX2, a wonderful night at a great location, and some neat contacts

This clamp by Pro Audio Engineering is extremely well made 
and perfect for the task of holding small whip antennas

I'm now in a downhill slide to retirement (scheduled for November). I'll be plenty busy until then, so I'll have limited in radio time. But after November, let the radio fun begin!

W8BYH out

Hand Tool Renewal

Time for some new tools on the electronics bench!

I've been buying hand tools for over 53 years, mostly mechanics tools for car repair, small engine and  motorcycle repair, bicycle repair and other related mechanical work. Down through the years I've worked as a car mechanic, a bicycle mechanic, I've worked on my own motorcycle, some small boat engines, lawn mower engines, 2-stroke appliance engines, generators, and I've supervised dozens of mechanics during my Army career. I've turned a lot of wrenches in my time, and I've bought an almost endless number of tools (that's tool geek code for 'I've lost or damaged a bunch'). 

As I got more into working on electronic equipment, I focused mainly on electronics tools - soldering tools, scopes, meters, probes, cables, power supplies, all the things needed to set up a well appointed electronics bench. When I needed a mechanical tool to work on a radio - screwdrivers, wrenches, sockets, etc. - I dove into my pile of automotive tools and made do. I think the only electronics specific hand tool purchases I've made so far have been miniature Crescent/Excellite flush cutters and pliers and a set of JIS (Japanese industrial standard) cross-tip screwdrivers. Just about every other hand tool on my bench was originally bought to work on a gas engine. When I needed to dive in and work on those teeny-tiny nuts, bolts, screws and other fasteners, most of my tools were simply too big. In an effort to save cash, over the years I accumulated a drawer full of cheap tools. Most of those tools worked OK, but there were always some quality issues that annoyed me, and many of these tools just didn't feel good in the hand. My most recent struggle was with a cheap end connector crimper I bought years ago that didn't really put a good crimp on anything. But it was was what I had so I used it. I ended up mashing more than one lug connector all out of shape. It's at that point I decided enough is enough, and it's time to start investing in some decent small hand tools for the electronics bench. No more grabbing a greasy screwdriver, last used to tweak the carburetor on a leaf blower, to adjust the pots on a radio. 

In my youth, if you needed a good hand tool the choice was simple - go to Sears and buy Craftsman. Sears sold just about everything you needed, and the quality was very high. The Craftsman brand, along with Kenmore, were the two store brands with reputations that Sears went to great lengths to protect. They did this by making sure those branded items were always high quality. In the 1960s Sears even went so far as to establish Western Forge, a company dedicated to making Craftsman hand tools, so they could better control quality and standards. Alas, Sears and Western Forge are gone and the Craftsman brand was sold to Stanley/Black & Decker years ago. Lowe's Home Improvements signed on as a major distributor of Craftsman tools (along with Ace Hardware). While the name (and unique branding) of Craftsman lives on, Stanley stumbled for years to get things right. In its declining years, Sears had moved a lot of tool manufacturing to China, and Stanley kept it there. Almost no Craftsman branded tools on the shelves in Lowe's stores were US made. To be fair, everyone was doing this - cost pressure was forcing many tool manufacturers to move production to China. But Craftsman was an American icon - American made tools, made for Americans. Loyal Craftsman customers (and there were millions of them) signaled their disapproval by switching to other brands. The problem was, most of those other brands were also made in China, or other off-shore locations like India or Pakistan. Craftsman sales started to seriously suffer, so Stanley announced plans to bring Craftsman tool production back to the US. This included plans to set up a new state-of-the-art forging plant in Texas. For some reason that project fell through, and Craftsman hand tools are still manufactured overseas. To Stanley's credit they seem to be pulling a lot of production out of China and over to Taiwan. The Taiwanese made tools I've looked at seem well manufactured - good finishes, clean and clear stamping, and a level of execution that seems a few tiers above what comes out of India. Taiwan has a long history of quality tool manufacturing, plus they are a democracy, not a communist dictatorship. That means something.

No finer, indeed. An excerpt from the Sears Craftsman 1949 tool catalog.
The demand for quality hand tools exploded after WWII with the rise in car and home ownership.
Sears stepped into the market with their Craftsman line that offered high quality, an extensive
lineup, and an unbeatable guarantee
The annual Craftsman tool catalog was the real Sears Wish Book for teenagers of my generation

Today there's no good single source for a comprehensive lineup of reasonably priced quality hand tools. Nothing fills the niche like Sears Craftsman used to. Tool buyers now have to shop around and individually assess each brand, and the tools in that brand lineup. This has led to an  interesting explosion of what I'll call 'hand tool geekdom'. While hand tool geekdom was always a thing, the world wide web has given it a new and expanded voice. Blogs like ToolGuyd offer near real time reviews of new tools, discuss industry trends, provide information on sales and special deals, and often act as informal on-line counseling venues, as tool users vent their frustrations or share their joy over tool related issues, and seek solace among like minded tool geeks. Seriously. Some of the comments to posts on that site are positively... Freudian ("my tool is bigger than yours!"). I like going to a brick and mortar store and fondling the tools I'm considering buying (that Freudian thing again?). This means occasional trips to the Big Blue Box, the Big Orange Box, and the smaller but increasingly ubiquitous Little Red Box (Harbor Freight). I'll also check out auto supply stores, Tractor Supply, Wal-Mart and even pawn shops. And of course, Amazon. I don't have any strong all-or-nothing brand loyalties, but there are brands I'm partial to because they've served me well in the past - older Craftsman, Klein, Victorinox, Crescent, Vice Grip, Streamlight, Wiha, Knipex & Wera (three high quality German tool brands), Mitutoyo (a leading Japanese manufacturer of measuring tools), Wiss, Milwaukee, Vulcan, and a few others. 

For the kind of bench work I do, there's really no need for SAE (or Imperial) standard hand tools. The electronics industry long ago switched over to metric, so I can pull any SAE sized tools off the bench. A few will stay in reserve, squirreled away in the corner of my tool cabinet, but for the most part everything I work on these days, from cars to laptop computers, uses metric fasteners and connectors.

Let's have a look at what's on my bench, and close at hand in a nearby tool cabinet:

• 1/4" drive socket set - 4 mm thru 14 mm
• Box and open end combo wrenches - 6 mm thru 12 mm. This includes several thin flat stamped open end wrenches for getting into narrow spaces inside things like radio cabinets
• A wide assortment screw drivers, from miniature flat bladed screwdrivers for working on eyeglasses, to a large #4 Phillips head drivers. This also includes a set of JIS screwdrivers, to properly engage the screws and nut heads on Japanese manufactured radios and components. Most of these screw drivers are electronically insulated, rated to at least 600 volts. 
• Needle nose pliers, from small standard sizes to the miniature Crescent or Xcelite units for working on small hardware components
• Small smooth faced needle nose pliers for bending components that might be damaged by the grip pattern on normal pliers
• A complete assortment of wire and cable cutters, from coax shears to the miniature flush cutters made by Crescent or Xcelite
• Small standard pliers, both straight head and angle head
• T-handled hex (Allen head) wrenches - 2.0 mm to 4 mm
• An assortment of small Torx-head drivers 
• A small adjustable wrench. The one I have represents the only Snap-On tool in my collection, and to this day I don't know where it came from
• Set of 'Swiss pattern' needle files - round ('rat-tail'), triangular, flat, combo ('bastard')
• Wire strippers that can handle wire sizes from 8 down to 36 AWG. No one tool does everything, at least not well, so I've got a small assortment of wire strippers, to include a Vise Grip/Irwin automatic stripper that works quite well on a variety of wire gauges
• Wire crimpers. Like wire strippers, no single crimping tool does everything. My arsenal of crimpers includes a crimp set for Anderson PowerPole connectors, a couple of crimpers for small end connectors, and crimp set putting end connectors on coax cable
• A set of miniature scissors for cutting fine wire, plastic flashing, cutting out labels, etc. I use a set designed for use in fly-tying activities - very small, precise and sharp
• Cutting tools - a miniature box cutter with snap-off blades, and a Victorinox electrician's folding knife
• Pin vise. I've rarely needed to power drill something on my bench, but there have been plenty of times when I needed to enlarge or clean out holes to make sure there's bare metal for grounding purposes, or re-work a hole with a larger diameter drill bit to put a bevel on one side. These tasks are easily handled with a pin vise and a set of small drill bits
• For measuring things, a small stainless steel ruler marked out in inches and millimeters (can also be used as a small straight edge), a clear plastic ruler, a cheap vernier caliper for rough measurements, and a digital caliper for very precise measurements
• Large angle-head tweezers for fitting and holding components in-place during assembly (example - holding a small nut in an awkward location inside a cabinet while you drive the nut from the outside) 
• Straight and curved locking hemostat pliers - the uses are endless
• Small, inexpensive but infinitely useful 'third hand' clamp setup for holding components together for soldering, gluing, etc. Put shrink tubing on the alligator clamps to keep your components from getting chewed up
• A bench top circuit board holder. I've got a few, but the one I use most is my old Panavise with the small circuit board clamp
• Magnification is absolutely essential for working on any modern electronics gear, even if you have good near vision. I don't. I use a OptiVISOR system with LED lighting and a swing-away auxiliary eye magnifier, plus a whole range of hand-held magnifiers that can take me up to over 15x magnification
• A small penlight flashlight. I'll also use a head lamp if I really need to flood the work space with more light
• Small Vice Grips. I own a needle-nose set, and they are remarkably useful on and around the bench. They are the tool of last resort for getting a death grip on nuts or bolt heads that just won't come loose with any other tool, they make a pretty good substitute soldering stand (make sure you cushion the jaws), and if you really need to clamp two components together (like metal cabinet sections) to align or re-drill screw holes, these are invaluable
• An assortment of plastic, non-conducting pry and adjustment tools. This includes a 'spudger' set from the iFixIt folks, designed for prying open things like laptop computers, and a set of classic radio and TV alignment tools
• Small clamps and spring clips for holding components together for assembly or soldering
• Mechanical pencil and a Sharpie for marking things up and recording notes. For example, if I modify a radio I'll write on the inside of the case the type of mod, the date it was done, and my callsign, so future owners will know what and when something was done, and who did it

Ask a professional car mechanic which tools he uses most, and the answer may surprise you. Most of what he uses day-to-day likely fits into just one drawer of what is likely a very large tool chest. A 1/2" ratchet, a small collection of common sockets, some open end and box end wrenches, a few screw drivers, some Channellock pliers, Vice Grips, pliers, hex wrenches, and that's about it. It's the same for electronics projects. I sat down at my bench and pulled out the tools that get used the most. It's easy to do because these are the tools that are close-at-hand. The collection is pretty small.

A few screwdrivers, wire cutters, needle nose pliers, wire strippers, a couple of small hex and Torx
drivers, a magnifier and flashlight, a steel ruler and caliper, Sharpie and lead pencil for
marking things, scissors and a knife, and a locking hemostat and large tweezers.
Plus a Panavise and third hand. 
These are the tools that get used most often, and stay ready at-hand on my bench

The question I now ask myself is, what's missing? Honestly, not a whole lot. I've built a couple of amplifiers and tuners, done a bunch of radio modifications and tackled other small projects using the tools described above, so I feel confident I've gotten down to the essentials. I can think of just a few items I need to add:

• A set of non-conductive nylon or ceramic tipped tweezers for working around SMD boards
• A board-level chip extractor/puller. I rarely have to pull chips from a board, but when I do I'm prying with small flat-tipped screw drivers. That's an invitation to disaster. An inexpensive chip puller will make sure I don't bugger things up
• A small bench-top vacuum cleaner
• A magnetic or clamp mounted LED project light, so I can bring more light to the project rather than relying on overhead lighting

This wraps the discussion up for now. I'd love to hear about the hand tools you have on your electronics bench - maybe you've got something interesting or important that I've missed. Please feel free to comment below!

W8BYH out

Life In The Time Of The Cheap Battery

You young whipper-snappers don't know how good you have it. In my day (like, way back in 2020), if we wanted to power a full-sized rig in the field we'd have to lug around big old lead-acid batteries that barely dribbled out 12 volts for an hour or two, and then would quickly die. Lord help you if you let the voltage drop below 11 volts, or you'd start damaging the cells. Need to keep track of that voltage? Make sure you brought along your multi-meter. And you better have a bottle of distilled water handy to keep the cells topped off - don't want those lead plates getting exposed!

Sure, back in 2020 this new-fangled battery technology called Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LiFePo) was available, but it was frightfully expensive, particularly large capacity units that could keep a full size radio operating for days. Think prices approaching $1,000 for a 100 amp-hour battery from a well regarded US-based company like Bioenno Power out of California. These sexy new LiFePo batteries offered amazing performance - very safe (LiFePo won't burst into flames like other lithium battery technologies), high energy density, excellent power discharge management, thousands of recharge cycles, built-in battery management systems (BMS), and extremely light weight. It's everything every field operator wanted, except cost. 

Like many, I started small - picking up 3 and 4.5 amp hour batteries to test with my QRP rigs. The performance was amazing. These little batteries effectively eliminated the dreaded battery angst that plagued us - 'do I have enough battery capacity for a long activation?' One local ham reported running his Yaesu FT-817 on regular POTA activations for almost a year before needing to charge his 4.5 Ah Bioenno battery! These small blue-wrapped batteries became ubiquitous at field operation everywhere. The phrase 'just buy a Bioenno' became the modern equivalent of 'just buy an IBM' - a pricey but totally safe purchase decision that came with great performance and manufacturer support

Bioenno makes great products, and they have bent over to support the ham radio community.
These batteries fundamentally changed QRP operations by providing stable, high current output
over incredibly long run times, all in a small and lightweight package.
Operators using radios like the Elecraft KX2, the Yaesu FT-817, the Xeigu G90  and the Icom IC-705
switched en mass to these batteries, and they became ubiquitous at POTA, SOTA
and Field Day activities. One of these batteries, the somewhat beat up 4.5 Ah one on the
middle right, is almost 5 years old and still holds 100% capacity

On a recent camping trip, a Bioenno 4.5 Ah battery powered my KX3 at 15 watts out, 
over the course of several activations

Yet, we continued to lug our boxes of lead and acid out to Field Day, because high capacity LiFePo batteries were beyond most ham's means. We're talking about batteries that cost more than some of the radios they were powering. Lead acid batteries soldiered on because the price/performance ratio was still in their favor, until...

A few years ago, offshore battery manufacturers (i.e., 'China, Inc.') spotted an opportunity, and stared to flood the US market with inexpensive, high capacity LiFePo batteries that offered very good quality and performance. Overnight they broke the lead acid battery lock on the price/performance ratio. There was no longer any reason to choose lead acid over LiFePo. While LiFePo batteries are still more expensive than equivalent lead acid batteries, the price gap had shrunk, and the improved features and performance of the LiFePo battery more than makes up for the price difference. These LiFePo batteries are clearly the better value.

Tracy at Outdoors On The Air lays out the arguments nicely in this video:

So let's look at a current example. The Power Queen (the brand I buy) LiFePo 12.8 volt, 100 Ah battery is on sale right now for $219 direct. Something to point out here is that these Chinese manufactured batteries are always 'on sale'. An equivalent generic lead acid 100 Ah deep cycle battery from Wal-Mart currently sells for $159. That's a $60 difference, but the Power Queen offers considerably more - up to 4000 recharge cycles (vs. hundreds for the lead acid battery), has a built-in battery management system, has a flatter discharge curve (more rated power for a longer period of time), has built-in Bluetooth to monitor battery performance via a smartphone app, is IP67 rated, and is much lighter (by at least 50%) than the lead acid battery. Plus, the LiFePo chemistry is much safer than lead acid. Based on recharge cycles alone, the Power Queen is the cheaper buy. All the other features are free candy. 😊

Power Queen is one of five or more Chinese-based battery manufacturers that do direct sales in the US, and they all offer LiFePo models with equivalent capacities and features. I bought Power Queen based on a personal recommendation from another ham, but I've also heard good things about the LiTime, AmpereTime and other brands. There are a number of YouTubers who revel in tearing these batteries apart to see what's inside,  and they all appear to have the same internal components. Some reviewers claim the manufacturers all buy their battery cells from the same factories in China, and there are only slight differences in the BMS and Bluetooth boards, internal component configurations and construction methods.

In this video, Will Prowse at his DIY Solar Power channel tears apart two LiFePo batteries (one of them a Power Queen) and compares the interior components. I wouldn't be at all surprised if both of these battery brands were owned by the same company, and the batteries came out of the same factory.

BTW, Will's channel is an excellent resource for anyone looking for answers and advice on batteries and solar systems.

There is but one caveat to all this lithium love - LiFePo batteries don't do well in very cold temps, and the cells can be ruined when charging in sub-freezing temperatures. In fact, some LiFePo batteries have built-in heating systems to warm the cells in low temp conditions. This is usually not an issue in the south where I live - if I'm out in the field in sub-zero temps, I'll be in a camper or a tent with a heater going. The BMS in many batteries will also shut the battery down in very cold situations, to protect the cells.

So where does all of this lead us? To me, the clear lesson is that lead acid batteries, in the amateur radio use case, are dead, dead, dead. Say it with me now: 'lead is dead'. There simply is no justification for choosing a lead acid battery over an equivalent capacity LiFePo. These new batteries are an amazing leap in power technology for ham radio, and there's no reason to stick with now obsolete lead-acid batteries.

(Time for a hypocrisy alert? Anyone who knows me, or reads this blog, knows that I loudly state that I do not buy Chinese manufactured products, unless there's no other option. I still stand strongly by that rule, and I practice it daily. The caveat here is 'unless there's no other option'. There are no US-based manufacturers of LiFePo batteries that offer all the features the Chinese manufacturers offer - at any price. There are US-based 'assemblers', like Battle Born Batteries and Dakota Lithium, but the key components - battery cells, BMS boards, etc., are sourced out of China. As far as I can tell, there is no LiFePo battery cell manufacturing taking place in the US - everything comes out of China. So in this case, I feel we're in the 'unless there's no other option' category.) 

W8BYH out