Attenuator for the FT-817 by G4EFE

On my Blog post about the Power attenuator for the FT-817, that I published in SPRAT, I got a very nice comment from Martin G4EFE.

Martin writes:
Hi Bert - I just built this into a tiny 25x25x50mm metal enclosure. Of course, it works great.
Looking forward to some QRPp WSPR from the IC703.

Attenuator built by Martin - G4EFE

As you can see, the attenuator is built in a beautiful, small enclosure.

Power

The maximum power of the attenuator is about 1.5 W. With a derating of 33% the nominal power of the attenuator is 500 mW. I advice to use the lowest power setting of the transceiver. For my FT-817 this is  500 mW.

Martin will use a IC703. This transceiver can make 100 mW at it lowest setting.

Thank you Martin for sharing the info and good luck in QRPp.

Corrected Layout of the Power Attenuators in Sprat

Click to enlarge

Sprat 152 features the article:
Power Attenuators with carbon resistors from the E12-series,
by Bert PA1B

I spent a lot of time and enjoyed making the drawing of the layout for this article in Sprat. 
But unfortunately the drawing of the layout published is Sprat 152, is  NOT correct. 

Please use this Corrected Layout to build your attenuators.

In the drawing of the layout the resistor R2 should be connected to R1 and R3. The resistor R5 should be conected to R4 and R6.
The arrows point to the right connections.

Markus DL6YYM found the info on the attenuators for 5 watts on the PA1B QRPp page and sent his questions by e-mail. In this e-mail exchange, I sent the schematic and the drawing of the layout of the 10 dB and 20 dB attenuators, that were published in Sprat 152. Markus discovered that the published layout is not correct, while he was building the attenuator. So here is the Corrected Layout. So I thank Markus, for his attentiveness. 

I already sent the corrected layout to George G3RJV and he replied, that the layout will be in the next issue.

Good luck in QRPp.

SPRAT 152 arrived

A few days ago Sprat arrived. I was eagerly awaiting the new Sprat. This new SPRAT 152 would contain an article, that I wrote about easy to build Power Attenuators with resistors from the E12-series.

I expected the SPRAT to arrive last week. But when it did not arrive in the following week, I was surprised. Then I went to the interesting Blog of Roger G3XBM, to see whether he already received his copy and writes about it. NO. Then I sent a mail to Roger. YES. Roger did receive Sprat, last week and wrote that he enjoyed the article. Tnx Roger.

I hope you all enjoy the article and have success and lots of FUN with you new build attenuators.
When the S-meter goes up, the power goes down. 

Not received SPRAT?
A quick search brought my to the GQRP club members new page with the following message at the bottom of the page:

Sprat 152 - 28/9/2012 - From G4WIF
The latest Issue 152 is now beginning to arrive but will probably not be complete worldwide until well into mid/late October. Please don't contact me if yours hasn't arrived until the end of the 3rd week of October. Please also don't assume that as your friend in the same town has their Sprat that yours must have got lost - as bulk mail can be unpredictable.

So I had to be pacient. hi