It's Been a While

It has been a while since I have last posted. I have been home and very busy! Like I would actually sleep even while not at school haha, I'm still working on projects into the late hours of the night! So far I have taken on the immense task of researching the RIT Amateur Radio Club history as the newly appointed club historian. Since I started I have found out a lot of information that was lost over the years! More can be found on the K2GXT website history section when I update it (probably sometime in September, I want to put up most of the information at once).

As for other projects, I am now hosting a website off of an old Pentium II computer! Comcast does not allow a DNS server on home users so until I get back to RIT I cannot have a ".com" but the website is located at http://kb1lqc.ham-radio-op.net. I am slowly updating it, working full time and designing some cool projects takes up a good amount of my day! I will eventually get everything on there.

Right now I am designing a Sofware Defined Radio! It's almost done! After taking a class about digital circuits I feel that I have enough knowledge to tackle this type of radio. Before this projects I have only worked with analog (still my favorite!) circuits. Recent redesigns of the circuit have really improved its performance and soon I will be printing and etching my own PC boards!

As the academic year approaches at RIT I will start updating the blog more! If there is any interest in any of these topics please comment and I will try my best to answer.

Finals Week

Well It's finals week and its been pretty crazy. I will update the blog when I get back home this weekend!

New York State Championships

I am currently in Whitney Point, NY at the New York State Championships. I raced in the Mens Novice 8 in the second heat against Merist, Ithaca, and Buffalo. We came in third and qualified for the Grand Finals tomorrow (Sunday May 4, 2008). We raced today in conditions that were rougher than we are used to on the Genessee River. There was a strong headwind and the waves were very high. I had at least four waves that totally drenched me during the race. It went well and we are happy that we put our all into it.

Were getting ready to race in the Grand Finals in the morning against Merist, Ithaca, University of Rochester, Army, and Hobart. Were ready to fight for a medal!

Web-Based Software Defined Radio

Well it's been a crazy quarter... super busy and just making me crave summer more and more! Onto what I want to talk about now! I was informed of an online web based Software Defined Radio for anyone to use. It allows multiple users of the radio on different frequencies which an uncommon ability for online radios.

The radio is located is located at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. It allows anyone to monitor a portion of the 40 meter and 80 meter amateur radio bands. You can use it to monitor morse code conversation, PSK31, other digital modes, and SSB. It is a very fun project to use and makes me want to finally experiment with software defined radio this summer! Follow the link to access the web-based receiver!

WebSDR

Enjoy,

Bryce

Busy Spring Quarter, Sprint Racing With RIT Crew

So the spring quarter is insane with the sprint season for RIT Crew. I am really trying to keep my grades up and row. Most of my weekends are gone, traveling for races so the time to do homework has shrunk even more! In addition to the craziness, the Engineering House (NRH 8) sprinklers went off, flooding my floor. I've been really behind in my work because of it, but I am slowly catching up. Thats why I haven't been updating the blog recently.

So right now I am in Worcester, MA for the weekend at a hotel. I am racing WPI, RPI, and Tufts University on Sunday morning in a 2000M Sprint on Lake Quinsigamong. It's great to be near my hometown, Massachusetts is awesome and I can't wait to relax over the summer!

K2GXT: Henry 2K-3 Linear Amplifier Restoration

After almost selling the clubs Henry 2K-3 legal limit (1.5 KW), we have decided to fix it up at use it. The Henry is from the late 60's to 70's and is a floor amplifier. It uses two 3-500Z tubes to produce 1,500 watts in the HF bands easily.

We know that there are a few problems.

• Panel Meter (right) is missing.
• High Voltage is low @ 2,100 volts (should be between 2,800 and 3,100 volts)
• Possibly an uncalibrated meter, or a mix of both

I will post pictures and other info as we get more information! Stay tuned for more updates about the project!

Beginning of Spring Quarter, Sprint Season, RIT Solar

Last week was spring break for RIT and I went to Cocoa Beach, FL with RIT Crew to train. It was amazing! I had never been more south than Pennsylvania, making the trip that much better! We did a lot of rowing and land practice. I never knew that I could get up at 6am and be tired enough to practically fall unconscious at 9pm.

I was rowing in a "four" which was a nice change from the eight. We rowed in the ocean and had many new experiences from that. On the first day of practice, the novice eight I was rowing in (didn't practice in the four until Tuesday or Wednesday) was going down a channel we used because it was nice and straight for about 3 Km. During this morning practice, we got to row alongside a dolphin! Some people might not find that cool but it was only 15 or so feet away and was really cool to me.

I got to try surfing, go to a Ron Jon's surf shop, see palm tree's (only saw them in movies before that!), and other fun activities. We were not the only crew down their either, alongside us was WPI, Fairfield University, Holy Cross, and Northeastern University. We left Cocoa beach Friday morning to head to Aiken South Carolina for SERCS (South East Rowing Collegiats) which took 10 hours! We got lost in the middle of Georgia for about four hours.

We didn't get to row in Aiken, SC because we got their too late on Friday and the race was canceled due to high winds on Saturday March 8, 2008. I did get to see family that lives in Georgia that I have not seen in a few years so it was very worthwhile and fun even though I was really bummed that we didn't get to race.

Spring Quarter

Spring quarter is definitely going to be tough, I am already very busy and it's only week one. We are having more demanding practices due to Spring season being the sprint racing season for RIT Crew. With the demanding EE curriculum, RIT Crew, clubs like K2GXT, and Imagine RIT, this quarter is going to fly by and I'm holding on so far. I managed to do pretty well Winter quarter and really surprised myself with my grades on final! Those were some well earned grades, no matter what they were!

RIT Solar

We are working on our Imagine RIT project now. I found out that even though I will be helping with designing, finding funds, and building the project, I will most likely not be able to go present at Imagine RIT. This is due to the NYS Championships in Whitney Point, NY on the same day of May 3, 2008. As enthusiastic and devoted to the project as I am, I will NOT let RIT Crew and myself down by skipping the race for the show. The team and I have trained hard enough, gone through our share of pain with winter training on the ergs, and will be going through much more in the coming months to back down.

We are currently designing a prototype "proof-of-concept" open loop solar hot water system. We will build it and display it with other materials. We are almost done determining our costs and will be actively searching for some sort of funding. This project is not just a science fair exhibit, we want to raise awareness of this technology and influence the institute to implement solar hot water on campus. Keep watching this blog for the link to our website that will document the progress and updates to the solar hot water project!

That is about as much time as I want to devote to the blog, unfortunately I would love to add more but must get more work done. Thanks for reading my blog, I hope it is interesting and informative about what is happening at RIT!