Twelve attendees from local area ham radio clubs, the Southern MD Astronomical Society, and other guests, had a connector-fest, hosted at the home of Pam – KB3SWS and Jeff – KB3SPH on Sunday, 4/23/2017.
The festivities started with a short briefing by Jeff demonstrating the various connector possibilities along with the associated required tools. The mantra, “Red Right, Tongue up!,” was preached as the standard way to make-up PowerPole assemblies in order to ensure compatibility with other people’s gear before you plugged in something expensive.
Highlights:
Ken – KA3POX served as the soldering Elmer and demonstrated numerous soldering techniques, including helping a young Scout tackle his first electronics kit, introducing soldering skills.
Charles – AA3WS demonstrated how to make a PowerPole tester using a red/green LED and a pair of PowerPoles. If the tester showed green when mated with your freshly minted assembly, the polarity was correct. If it showed red, danger was afoot and the polarity was reversed. Every attendee got to take home a tester.
Bob – KB3KOW hosted a mini foxhunt to demonstrate RF Direction finding capabilities.
Pam – KB3SWS provided a snack smorgasbord throughout the afternoon, culminating in an evening supper.
Camaraderie was the watchword of the day and even some of the “old dogs” admitted they learned some new tricks.
Charles (AA3WS) showing how to do PowerPole connections.
Jake the Scout getting some soldering training from Ken (KA3POX)
The set up at the QTH
Ahhh, the Food!! And this was just the snack.