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Personally, I would go with metallised Mylar, it's far cheaper and filling it with a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen produced by electrolysis of water from solar power is as free as it gets.

You...

They usually burst at high altitude due to extreme internal gas pressure, I think they are permeable, so the gas will eventually leak out and not have enough lift.

Mylar balloons are not gas...

Yes, the quality of most manufactured parts has declined, have a look on ebay for a replacement, you should find something adequate, if not the same quality.
Take notice of the mounting point type...

I use a blowtorch for through-hole components, do it outside and forget about the board but the components come off double-time...

Did you say something about not over-complicating things?

The "UI" could be as simple as a "galvometer" style needle for tuning and its backlight flashing in time with the tuned frequency.

Every recycling shack should have something like this. They're so cheap now, I think I paid £8 for mine, I feel ripped off :)

That's going to be a lot of email.


That's going to be a lot of money.

To summarise, yes, you have a valid point, but I think what you're proposing is unfair (to yourself).

I'm guilty of...

If you have a callsign already, you could try Echolink to get some operating practise in. Some hams will tell you it's not real radio and to some extent it's true, but it really is just an evolution...

Its not really necessary for receiving, it may reduce a bit of noise if your antenna is already tuned...

Check out "This old Tony"'s attempt on youtube...

The software reads the radio state when you log a callsign, eliminating the need for you to enter frequency/mode etc.

As far as I know, a CI-V interface is pretty easy to homebrew and there's tons...

When you get your Amateur License, you can transmit to another licensed amateur between 144 and 146 MHz (might be 148 now).

Nowhere else is amateur frequencies on that radio.

I think humidity is the main issue here, my shack gets very hot in the summer and consequently, humid at night, even with small (pc) extractor fans running 24h...

You might get away with it since the fridge is a fairly low load, try it and see what the noise level is like...

The A/C panel should have its own earth rod - if you do have to connect them together, try using a fusible resistor in series (1W) of, say 1MΩ.

Nothing is going to protect you from a direct...

You raise an interesting question - capacitor at top or bottom?

I didn't notice any difference, mine was at the bottom inside and at the top outside.

Can someone model the difference?

Multiple earth points will naturally generate a small Voltage between them, which your radio will pick up.

If the R.F. field density is high, the induced Voltage is higher meaning more noise to...

It may work better.

There are a lot of factors to consider for an R.F. earth.

Try loosening/softening the ground with a hosepipe for a few days before you try inserting it.

I used 1" copper...

They look like they use the same kind of technology.

A P.C. power supply may be more inclined to have a better Voltage tolerance, however, switch-mode type supplies always have some kind of...

The Yaesu can be bought for less than £100 in working condition, the other stuff is really of interest to collectors/restorers. Modern kit can fit into a shirt pocket if you know what I mean...

if your motherboard has a display output, try using that as one of the monitor outputs and the second on the card?

I'd recommend a scanner to begin with. Don't spend millions, just something simple. If you want to spend millions, buy some good quality coaxial cable and a nice high antenna...

Maybe there's a female (SMA) connector on the radio, the adapter you bought has a female end. A male-to-male SMA should fix that...

Most of the gain you will get from the X50 is in the use of better coax, plus the height gain.
Here's a height/horizon calculator, have a play to understand how antenna height affects your horizon....

That's a great project, together with an audio amplifier - very practical.
I helped a budding ham build a TRF trancseiver kit which needed a seperate audio amp.
We used a scavenged TDA-type audio...