I am certain that most people on here are already familiar with the
details/services available to members of a yahoo group. In case
that you are not, here are some comments that you might find
helpful:
1. Our ultralight group has its own website. The URL is
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ultralightdx/ You might want to make a
shortcut to that website on your desk top or put it in your favorites,
because much of the advantage of belonging to this group is only
accessible on the website itself.
2. You can access all past messages to ultralightdx on the site. Further
(and this is key) you can search the message archive for a particular
word or phrase, or station or frequency, etc. Very handy as our
archive of old messages builds up.
3. There is a "Files" area on the website that, right
now, just contains one paper: the results of testing of the ferrite rod
antenna (its coils, actually) of the SRF-39/59 family by Nick Hall-Patch
and me.... there are results from three antennas. So, if you are
transplanting a larger ferrite bar into one of this family of receivers,
this information and an LCR meter is very useful. Over time, I hope
that we will build up other "in progress" and technical
references in our files area. This is also the place for anyone who
wishes to upload audio clips of Ultralight catches that the might wish to
share. There is 100 MB of free storage available for our
Files, so we should have plenty of room, for a while. As we build up
files, I'll likely apply some sort of organization into folders to aid
navigation, but for now, please just upload all files and clips into the
main Files area.
A word of caution, though, this Files area should not be viewed as the
primary repository for Articles, etc. on Ultralighting. The DXer.ca
website has served us very well as a central library of articles on all
aspects of Ultralighting. More importantly, it is seen by the
broader MW and Crystal DX hobbies as The Place for information and files
regarding Ultralighting. The most downloaded file in our area there
has been downloaded over 500 times (!!!) If you have any finished
Ultralight articles or references, lets make certain that a copy goes to
DXer.ca. If you can't upload to that site (its somewhat restricted in
upload privileges) please send it to me and I'll be happy to upload it
for us all to see. Most of these same comments apply also to the
club bulletins of IRCA, NRC, ODXA and MWC. Each of these publications has
been very supportive of the Ultralighting niche and would welcome more
articles from members of this group.
4. I did not realize it until recently, but Yahoo also supplies its
groups with an additional 100 MB of storage in the
"Photos" section of the website. Right now, there are
several interesting photo albums already there. Gary DeBock has
uploaded photos of his latest transplant of (now) an almost 15" long
ferrite bar antenna onto an SRF-39FP.... a pretty incredible feat.
I've also put up two albums of photos of my "National" SRF-39
Table model receiver. If you saw these photos on the old hotrodding
website, the only thing new is one page of my preliminary design
sketches... you might like to compare the initial design to the final
product. Articles about both of these projects will be forthcoming in the
next month or so, I'm sure.
Several practical things about the Photos section of our website. First,
its super for people who are not really used to manipulating their
digital images as to size, resolution, etc or optimizing them for the
web. The Yahoo Photo section does that work for you,
automatically! You can upload almost any size Photo file to an
album very easily and the Yahoo software optimizes it for the web and
creates THREE images of differing sizes: A Thumbnail sketch, a Medium
Size Image and a Large Image. When you go to an album, you see the
humbnails. If you click on one, it brings up the medium image AND THE
CAPTION. To the lower left of the photo is also a link to click to get
the really large detailed image. I really like the automatic nature of
this... and he fact that one can select the size image to view.
Apparently each "album" is limited to five photos and it is not
possible to establish sub-Albums within an overall album. Still, it is a
wonderful resource for us all and I hope that you use it.
Any ultralight member can upload to either the Files or the Photo
section. If you have not done it before, its quite easy.
Lastly, I see that Allen Willie has uploaded a photo of he and fellow St.
Johns DXer Lorne Harnum to the Photos section. THANKS, ALLEN! Two
very handsome gentleman. I hope that we can create a Ultralight
rogues gallery...
Well, that is all of the mechanics that I know about for our group....
The next step for me is that custom dial face for the National
SRF-39.
Best Regards
John Bryant
Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
Rcvrs: WiNRADiO 313e, Eton e1, NRD-535(kiwa-mods) + flock of
Ultralights
Antennas: 700' NE/SW mini-Bev, Wellbrook Phased Array (pre-production
version)
