Hell, even the simple printers nowadays have more power than main computers did way back then.
I ordered a $59 pack of 4 toner bottles/chips to rebuild my Samsung CLP-600N color laser cartridges. I much prefer its output to my old dot matrix. It's also somewhat quieter and faster.
"DoN. Nichols" fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@Katana.d-and-d.com:
You're about two days late with that suggestion, Don .
Remember the Heath "CanTenna"?
At up to 10M, the light bulb works as an OK load, if not completely 'tunable' Add one small air-wound coil and a few puffs of capacitance, and it can tune darned well.
"Jim Wilkins" fired this volley in news:kif5c6$cbf $ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
Yeah, I didn't say it would be hard, just necessary. And soldering straps to the cladding would be easy, not "hard".
Mounting would have to be compliant, to accommodate expansion. I think clamping one end, and leaving the other end 'flying' would be best. Braid for connex.
The Heathkit dummy load was good for a kilowatt for a limited time, but you probably do not need a dummy load for that much power.
You might be able to use one of your carbon gouging rods, but would need to take off the copper except at the ends and probably drill a hole thru the center to raise the resistance. That would also help with skin effect. Might be fun to try.
I haven't taken a ham test in 40 years, but, as I recall, it's a lot like a driver's license test. Not much about whether you can drive a car, but mostly about knowing the rules.
The electronics is trivial for anybody with any experience at all. But it's useful to practice the questions so you can interpret what they really ask.
As for the dummy load, what are you gonna do with it. If all you want to do is see power, a light bulb works fine. If your emissions are in the band and used under the terms of your license, you're good to go. Just pick a dead spot in the band and keep it short.
The complexity goes up from there. Go to any ham swap meet and you'll probably find a boatload of dummy loads for sale. Just take the meter and check the resistance. Hams are people... and people can't be trusted to tell you that it's blown.
There are zillions of nice resistors mounted on big heat sinks used as circulator loads and in cellular base stations. Those show up at swap meets in the 100W range for $15 or so. Nice, small, no oil, excellent high frequency characteristics. But take the meter.
Ham radio is just like any hobby. If you're impatient, you'll spend a lot of money. If you troll the swap meets and garage sales, you can pick up most stuff dirt cheap. Be patient. Go to ham club meetings.
Ham radio is mostly dead for reasons stated elsewhere in the thread. Every damn QSO is about the weather, the rig, then nothing left to talk about. Interweb news groups are much more entertaining these days.
You'll have more fun talking to locals on the uhf frequencies.
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