Coronavirus isolation project activities in the hamshack..

[VK4ADC]

This is a sort-of 'what's on your workbench' topic but it might give others ideas as to what project to undertake while the isolation is in force. 
Later updates to project outcomes is welcomed. 


I'll start the topic off with some of my major activities at VK4ADC from the last 2-3 weeks :

• Shortening the wire up the middle of my 7M squid pole (used on the caravan drawbar when away) so that it self-resonates at 10.1MHz, adding additional taps to the optional base loading coil to get operation at 7.1 and 3.6MHz. Evaluated with my $69 NanoVNA then tuning confirmed with my IC-7000.
  
• Testing my various multiband trapped wire antennas using my NanoVNA, adjusting frequencies slightly as needed. [Why weren't these devices available years ago - they would have made my AR life so much easier.....]
  
• Working FT8 on 7, 10, 14, 18, 21 and 24 MHz at different times and exploring propagation, being a bit picky at times to work that 'new one' rather than the hundreds of Japanese, Chinese or Indonesian stations that call.
  
• Just started (or is that finally started ?) a PICAXE project to emulate an enhanced Yaesu GS-232 computer interface for the two G1000DXA rotators in use here. I did a PCB layout and printed a PCB back in Feb 2018 and only put parts on the PCB this last Friday !  (COVID isolation to thank for that)  Now working on the software component of the project. By the time it is finished, it will allow computer control of both rotators with the option of some antenna relay switching (haven't built that hardware yet, though the PCB artwork is done). 
  
• I still have lots of repairs to do, project ideas to proceed with, some AR and some not, all along with the normal household chores like mowing the grass - or taking it easy and watching a movie on Netflix or Foxtel. 
  
• We are likely to be in isolation for a while yet so no rush to get it all done.
  

What's happening at your QTH ??