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I wonder whether it was left for the tide to wash away!
Romancing the stone.
My parents continue their adventure…
I have spread my dreams under your feet; tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
—W.B Yeats
A dusk walk around the field at the back of our camp hoping to have a glimpse of a barn owl. No luck with owl but watched beautiful sunset.
My parents have set off on a year long adventure around Britain, Europe, Australasia and Japan. Feel proud to have such an intrepid Mama and Papa. Follow them to be equally inspired!
Hey, computer. Stop adding to my existential crisis.
Nature is what we know, yet have no art to say. So impotent our wisdom is to her simplicity
—Emily Dickinson


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VHF — Véronique
Repository for VHF experiments conducted in 2013 and 2014.
1. Ferrite beads
2. BFS17A transistor
3. 50 Ω MMIC Bench Amplifer
4. Breadboarding Double-Sided Copper Boards
5. Simple Preamp Filter
6. VHF Band-pass Filter Experiments
7. NE612 Mixer Diddy
8. Miscellaneous Photographs
1. Ferrite Beads
I toiled to choose an SMT ferrite bead for my junk box. Selecting suitable chip beads not only troubles us, but even some engineers I've read — which to choose? Chip beads act as high frequency resistors that present a low impedance to DC plus our desired RF signal while impeding and dissipating UHF through resistive losses caused by minute heating of the ferrite material from eddy currents. SMT beads are typically rated by their maximum current, resistance at DC, and the impedance they present at 100 MHz.
Since a ferrite bead's impedance is essentially resistive to parasitic UHF oscillations, I remembered that the model for a bead is actually an inductor paralleled by a resistor. It's the "resistor" we're after, for that's the extra load that tends to stabilize the amplifier. From past success in UHF supression with low-value (10-51 Ω) resistors, I chose my SMT bead to have a relatively low Z at 100 MHz. Consider, too, that many chip beads sold today serve as RFI suppressors for high speed digital lines where the Z at 100 MHz and maximum current lie well above my requirements.
I found a chip bead that appealed to me on eBay and bought 50: size 0805; 800 mA; with a Z at 100 MHz of 120 Ω.
Above — A sweep of my bead from 1- 500 MHz. Sadly, I did not perfectly center the sweep at 250 MHz, but the peak impedance occurred close to the specified 340 MHz.
Above — I swept my Laird techlogies chip bead out to 1 GHz. Ultimately, I'll have to verify its function with in-situ experiments. For example, before and after chip bead analysis of a low noise amplifier that's oscillating at UHF.
If you sweep the floor under my QRP work bench, you'll find 2N3904s,
J310s and a few FB-43-101s in the dust pan. In our hobby, FB-43-101s are common as fleas on a dog; many builders like to stick
them on the drain, collector, or base/gate lead(s) of an active part to squash
oscillations. I've never seen a datasheet for this part and decided to sweep 1
for reference purposes.
2 sweeps of the FB-43-101 follow:
Above — A 1 - 500 MHz sweep of the FB-43-101 slide-on bead. This tracing shows very subtle attenuation that peaks between 400 and 450 MHz. Probably this minimal attenuation at UHF provides the reason we often need to put 2 on the drain or collector of our amplifiers?
Above — A 1 - 1000 MHz sweep of the FB-43-101.
2. BFS17A Transistor
I sought a surface mount NPN transistor to supplant my leaded transistors such as the PN5179, BF199 or MPSH10. Serving as a general purpose transistors biased for ~5 to 20 mA collector current — they'll work as buffers + oscillators + as the BJT for hybrid-cascode amplifiers built with a SMT J310 on the bottom.
My requirements were SOT-23 (3 well seperated leads allow easily carved islands in a copper board with a dremel tool); an fT that's not too high to help reduce higher UHF oscillations; and a noise figure < 3. Other factors included price and availability. We enjoy many choices with such criteria, but I settled on the BFS17A. Click for the data sheet . In summary, it's a 2.8 GHz part with a NF of 2.5 dB at 800 MHz.
AAbove — My test schematic; a simple feedback amp with capacitors oriented to 50 MHz and above. A limited selection of SMT resistors constrained my experients, but the results seem okay. I strove for the best possible input and output return loss at 50 MHz. I wanted a emitter current of ~ 12 mA and got 13 mA with the bias resistors on-hand.
Above — A 200 MHz wide sweep of my breadboard with tracking generator + spectrum analyzer. Please view the various 2-port measurements at 50 MHz in the lower half. Despite some input and output port mismatching, a gain of 19.2 dB was measured at 50 MHz.
I wound my output transformer within a BN43-2402 binocular ferrite, but ordered some #61 material equivalents for assessment at VHF.
Above — My magnified breadboard looking messy after many parts substitutions from experiments to find the best possible S11 and S22. I removed the shiny RF connectors prior to photography since they often create blown highlights. Alternate image. Despite a limited RF bypass before and after the 100 Ω decoupling resistor + crude bread boarding, I measured no parasitic oscillations from 0.001 to 1 GHz — likely due to the heavy shunt feedback. I liked this transistor, found it easy to breadboard and ordered 100. You'll see the BFS17A in my experiments hereafter.
By all means, order whatever transistor you want. Past emailers wrote to say they enjoy reading how other experimenters think about and assess their parts such as RF beads or transistors.
Surface Mount Part Soldering
Above — Solder wick. On my SMT workbench, wick proves the most important tool period. A piece of desoldering wick can transform a monster mistake into a perfect circuit in under 2 seconds.
I've read many accounts of how builders anchor the parts they're soldering. We need to keep the SMT part flat on the board to avoid mechanical tension and poor solder joints — a system is required. For size 0805 and 1206 parts, I often just use my index finger fingernail to hold the part in place while I solder 1 lead with my other hand. After a few seconds of cooling, I solder the other lead and then usually touch up the first joint. For tricky formats like SOT-23, or SOT-143, I usually tape down the part while ensuring even pressure on all leads and just solder 1 lead. After cooling, I remove the tape and easily solder the other leads. Again, the intial lead may require some retouching.
SMT Size
Above — A 5X magnified roll of 50 BFS17A in SOT-23. Compact or what?
Above — BFS17A in SOT-23
3. 50 Ω MMIC Bench Amplifer
To boost low-level signals during experiments, every 50 Ω workbench needs a utility RF amp module. With strong wideband gain + RF port return loss (S11 and S22), MMICs make a good choice. Since I own 15 pieces, I built an amp around the MCL MAR-3, a modest gain + noise figure, 2 GHz plastic part in the Micro-X package. We enjoy a bevy of MMICS to choose from and as they increase in fT and gain, so does the need for solid, low inductance grounding techniques.
Above — The completed amplifer module in a Hammond box with an RCA jack for the DC voltage.
Above — Schematic with a table showing gain versus frequency. I built all SMT (size 0805 mostly) except for short leaded 1 nF input and output coupling capacitors. I applied sturdy wideband DC filtering since I can't risk RF flowing on my DC lines during bench experiments. I measured no oscillations from 100 KHz to 1.5 GHz.
I chose a 1.2 μH SMT choke in an attempt to boost gain from ~66 to 150 MHz. Many builders leave off the choke, but some RF will flow through the 220 Ω bias resistor to ground and thus, to get maximum gain, a high impedance RFC might help. Recall this RFC should exert an inductive reactance of at least 500 Ω (>= 10 X the load impedance) at the lowest amplifer operating frequency; in my case this occurs at ~66 MHz. A better choice for the RFC might be 1.6 μH which exerts ~ 500 Ω at 50 MHz, but I just own size 0805 1.0 and 1.2 μH chip inductors.
My particular amp delivers ~10 to 12 dB gain from about 5 to 180 MHz. Since the coupling capacitor value determines the low frequency response, if you want a MMIC amp for mostly HF, try reducing your input coupling caps from 0.001 to 0.01 μF or so. You mighty increase the RFC to say 10 μH as well — that's why we don't just build kits; design to suit your needs.
The 220 Ω bias resistor should really be 200 Ω for a VCC of 12.2v, however, I had to substitute the 220 Ω R due to a low selection of SMT parts. This dropped the current and also my gain at 100 MHz = 0.4 dB less than that specified in the MAR-3 datasheet — no big deal.
I built the bread board on 2-sided FR4 copper clad board. I soldered thin copper foil around all 4 edges to adjoin the top and bottom copper surfaces. Around each MMIC ground lead, I drilled 4 via holes and soldered copper wire from top to bottom. 2 vias were positioned near every bypass capacitor and all along the input and output paths. 23 total via wires.
Above — Tracking generator plus spectrum analyzer sweep out to 200 MHz. Click for a sweep from 1 to 10 MHz showing a rapid fall off below 5 MHz. This little amp will serve me well for most HF and especially my VHF experiments. A UHF amplifier module is planned and all knowledge gained from VHF circuit building will flow forward.
Above — Part of a strip of MCL MAR-3 amplifiers.
Feedback Amps (FBAs)
MMICs like the MAR-3 use a Darlington feedback pair. Still, too, we shouldn't write-off discrete component FBAs wielding transformers + shunt and series feedback at VHF. These amps; staples of countless W7ZOI and W1FB projects since the 1970s; evolved commercially into GaAs FBAs built on a tiny wafer by companies like TriQuint Semiconductor.
In broadband amplifiers, negative feedback permits a wideband (flat) gain response, reduces input and output VSWR (S21 and S22) and controls performance changes from S-parameter and other variations from transistor to transistor. In 2013, I needed an amp chain with >=25 dB gain at 144-165 MHz [~150 MHz mostly] for low level stuff : -25 to -10 dBm input power. Inspired by Wes' 144 MHz CW/DSB transmitter FBA chain (SSD -- Chapter 8 -- Figure 30 in Solid Stage Design for the Radio Amateur; ARRL published in 1986 and out of print); I cascaded 3 PN5179 BJTs as FBAs:
Above — My 150 MHz (design frequency) FBA module. Since the fT of the PN5179 = 900 to 2000 MHz @ a 100 MHz test frequency, gain drops steadily as we move up above 100 MHz. Centered at 150 MHz, my upper 3 dB drop off point was 175.9 MHz — thus this amp works okay from 144-165 MHz where I need it.
I built and tweaked each stage to derive the best S11 and
S22 . Click for a snapshot
taken of my test of Q1 with a BNC connector attached to both ports — I did
this for each stage. It's a trade off since if you boost the emitter degeneration R, the
S11 will improve but the gain decreases. Typical stage S11 = -18.5 dB and S22
= -17 dB. I progressively bumped up the current in each stage to reduce gain
compression. I get ~12-13 dBm power out
of the whole amplifer before compression/distortion occurs.
Securing the best S11 and S22 for each stages might seem silly, but invoked learning. The S11 and S22 of the total amplifer counts the most. An interesting thing happened to S22 – with a RF connector soldered right on the board without the pad, S22 = -23.8 dB. When I added the 4 dB pad and stuck it in the box and then ran a ~ 5mm copper wire to connect an SMA output jack, the S22 decreased to -16.3 dB! At 150 MHz — life differs from 7 MHz.
Placing the 4 dB pad between stage 2 and 3 will stabilize + enhance S22, gives a 4 dB higher 1 dB compression point and output intercept, which may make a FBA chain more useful for experiments like transmit driver applications. I can report I measured no oscillations out to 1.5 GHz and this amp works okay for my intended purpose with gain of 26.6 dB at 150 MHz.
I employed 220 pF caps because the plus the self resonant frequency of my 220 pF Murata caps = 154.6 MHz. Therefore, gain at lower HF is low.
Above — FBA breadboard photograph.
QRP — Posdata for October 27, 2013
I first learned radio electronics from SSD, EMRFD and the ARRL Handbook and still remember the joy when my copy of SSD arrived in 1990. Feedback amplifiers litter this book — and for good reason — they offer stable 50 Ω blocks for building up our RF signal. Wes' 144 MHz CW/DSB transmitter still intrigues me and inspired the circuit shown above.
I asked Wes if he kept that 2M transmitter, and if so, could he snap a couple of photos for me? Wes opened it up to see that the VXO and the frequency multiplier chain were missing. Click Click Click . Thanks to Wes, W7ZOI for the photos.
4. Breadboarding Double-Sided Copper Boards
Seeking a low inductance AC ground for some of my VHF and UHF FR-4 prototype breadboards, I join the top and bottom copper surfaces with solder wick along its 4 edges and copper wire vias in the main board area.
Above — A bench staple, solder wick, joins the 4 edges in true Ugy fashion. Many prefer copper foil for this task, but it's not cheap, nor readily available prompting a pragmatic approach. I take a hammer and pound the solder wick [0.125 inch minimum] so it becomes wider and thinner.
Above — Take a piece of wick and tack it in 2-4 places along the top surface of the copper board. The center solder shown above looks perfect — too much solder will flow into the wick and make a difficult bend job around the board edge. Tack just enough wick so you have enough left to go over the edge and to solder on other side of the copper board.
Above — With hand and/or pliers manipulate the wick around the other side to
completely bridge the top to bottom. Finally, liberally solder the wick on both
surfaces, move to the next board edge and repeat.
Click for a rather messy UHF board with
copper wick on 2 edges and numerous vias around a prescaler chip, some input +
DC lines and a switch.
Above HF, most don't make pretty prototype boards to admire — rather, builders strive for good AC grounding and generally stick their board in a metal box for shielding and this hides the breadboard. No one's ever told me I make pretty circuits for any frequency and I'm okay with it.
Onto wire vias:
Above — Your drill chuck will need to accommodate small bits such as those shown above (3/64 inches = 1.2 mm) . I keep these and others that vary from 0.5 mm to 1.2 mm for making via holes.
Above — Magnified via wire soldered at the top side. I found making a hole close to the same size of the via wire will hold the wire in place for rapid soldering. This wire is normally clipped flush at this point. Click for a photo of my flush cutters.
Above — The board shown above was flipped over to solder the bottom copper surface. I try to drill and solder in all vias prior to soldering active devices, since the board heat may damage some parts.
5. Simple Preamp Filter
Some RF filtering should proceed our receiver low noise amplifer (LNA) input — but what? Low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, 2 poles, many poles? Factors informing this decision might include our receive frequencies, QRM, selection of IF and thus our image stripping requirements, plus maximum tolerable signal loss before the LNA. We might not want image rejection from this filter since the post LNA filter can tackle this function.
I examined an input filter presented by Joe Reisert, W1JR in the November 1986 Ham Radio. Joe wrote a fantastic column called VHF/UHF World and his context was a high dynamic range 2M receive converter to a 28 MHz IF.
I'm uncertain how to classify this filter: it looks like a standard pi low-pass filter except the input and output series capacitors exert a high-pass skirt. Joe built his filter for 144 MHz. After "building" Joe's filter in Ladbuild08 I tweaked the filter in GPLA [software from EMRFD] to center it at our local NOAA weather channel: 162.55 MHz. Click for the GPLA plot.
Above — Input filter schematic with values shown to center this rather symmetrical filter at 162.55 MHz. The half power (3 dB down) bandwidth = 18 MHz. You can easily scale it to other other frequencies — by tweaking the trimmer caps and perhaps squishing or expanding the inductor links some, this filter will tune widely including the 2 Meter Ham band. The IL blew me away (better than calculated) — the resonator Q was high due to the air wound L and Q >= 700 trimmer caps along with good port matching.
Click to view a larger photo of the breadboard. I wound the coil on a 3/8 inch diameter bolt but then spread the turns to get the L and length I wanted. Built on double-sided copper clad board, a few copper wire vias connect top to bottom. I joined the LC circuit to its ports with leaded 5 pF ceramic caps.
Above — Tracking generator plus spectrum analyzer sweep. Under sweep set up, I minutely squished or expanded the L and tweaked the caps to peak the filter at 162.55 MHz while obtaining the lowest insertion loss. Further, I had to tweak the trimmer capacitors to center the filter with the Hammond lid on since putting the lid on changed the center frequency slightly. A TG equipped spectrum analyzer proves the ultimate bench tool for VHF and UHF in my humble opinion.
Above — Zero calibration of my AADE L/C IIB meter. By sweeping numerous LC circuits
after measuring the L with this tool,
I've learned it's reasonably accurate with low inductance coils. I
zero the meter prior to each measurement and zero calibrate it with the
alligator clips butted end-to-end while gripping a small piece of copper wire.
Try to keep the same relative alligator clip position during coil measurement.
I'm uncertain if this is protocol, but it seems to work for me.
Thanks to Joe, W1JR for this circuit and the opportunity to learn more about component-level VHF design and construction.
6. VHF Band-pass Filter Experiments
Build Notes
1. All filters designed with the EMRFD ladpac programs DTC08, or TTC08 and then tweaked in GPLA.
2. Seeking a band-pass filter for my experiments with the local NOAA weather channel at 162.55 MHz, I designed, built and tested 3 filters. With a 10.7 MHz IF superhet receiver, the image frequency = 141.15 MHz.
3. My VHF sweep system = a tracking generator plus a spectrum analyzer.
Filter 1
To avoid the need for proper electromagnetic/electrostatic shielding, I kept my HF experimenter hat on and built my first filter with powdered iron toroids (T30-12) knowing I would pay a Qu penalty that may wreck filter insertion loss, bandwidth and port matching. I hoped that the passive electromagnetic shielding offered by toroidal inductors would reduce resonator coupling.
Above — Mixed-mode triple-tuned filter schematic. Click
for the GPLA simulation. When we want to go up in frequency plus desire a narrow
bandwidth, we face 2 options: reduce our inductance and/or coupling capacitor(s). This
taxes our parts collection and breadboard skills since capacitors less than 1 pF
are relatively uncommon and require SMD breadboard techniques. I adjusted my design bandwidth and
inductance in TTC08.exe to
allow the 0.5 pF
capacitors plopped in my parts bin to work. For a change of pace, I chose a mixed-mode filter topology.
I strive to place a single high Q variable capacitor in my band-pass filter tanks, however, my Q = 700 SMD trimmers only ranged 3.3 to 10 pF so I stuck a leaded ceramic capactor in parallel with each trimmer.
Common SMD capacitors exhibit low to medium Q and I try to avoid them in my at HF band-pass filters: often I'll just solder a short leaded though-hole caps instead. I also applied this logic to my VHF filter, however, this might prove foolish at VHF since the self-resonant frequency of a given leaded cap is lower than that of an equivalent SMD cap and capacitor XL becomes more significant as we move up in frequency.
Click for a pdf file showing a simple experiment with 3 capacitors . I'll occasionally use ultra-high Q SMD caps in my future experiments based upon these results.
Above — My TTC breadboard. Click for a larger photo. Click for a bench sweep to view a feculent skirt peak in the filter spectogram. Some resonator coupling occurred despite spacing and placing the inductors at right angles. This circuit possessed 6 tweaks: the 3 trimmers and the 3 Ls — I just kept tweaking them until I got the best shape and lowest IL. That's 21 gauge wire on the toroids. My image frequency = 47.28 dB down. Since the sweep yielded such a wide discrepancy from my GPLA simulation, I discarded this filter and moved on to design #2.
Filter 2
Attempting to obtain a resonator Qu of at least 300-400, I moved to air core inductors wound with bare 22 gauge copper wire plus air-variable capacitors. Double-tuned classic topology. Without stout shielding, air wound inductors will couple and trash the stopband.
Above — Copper and brass sheets I bought for making filter boxes after Wes recommended using metal sheets or strips for shielding filters. In North America, builders can purchase a sheet metal hand brake plus a rotary cutter/shear for under $100 and make all sorts of boxes for radio gear. I'll equip my QRP workshop with such equipment over the next year. This was my first experience man-handling sheet metal or strips.
Above — Schematic diagram of Filter #2 with tabled IL and half-power bandwidth. Click to view a macro photograph of the filter. I soldered the brass box onto a double sided copper-clad FR4 bread board laden with some copper wire vias to enhance the ground plane. The 0.2 μF coupling cap = an ATC microwave cap.
Click and click for the sweeps. Notice the splendid skirt symmetry at the filter top and also the fantastic peak attenuation in the low-pass skirt (~81 dB from the filter peak to the lowest point in the low-pass filter skirt). I'd never seen deeper attenuation on my bench before: quite gratifying. My double-tuned filter had essentially matched the 3 dB BW of triple-tuned filter #1 with less insertion loss.
Not all appeared perfect however; attenuation of frequencies above the passband looked so-so and I was unable to get a lower 3 dB bandwidth by manipulating L and C in each tank.
Above — My first ever brass box soldered on a 2-sided copper clad board: Filter #2. Lacking proper tools and also the knack for making beautiful chassis like Dave, AA7EE does, I just did my best. My only concern was getting tank isolation. I chiseled out a small cut in the center brass divider just high enough to clear the SMD 0.2 pF chip capacitor and center copper strip. Overlaps allowed soldering of brass walls After tweaking the L and C parts, I placed a brass lid on top during sweeps. Okay, onto filter # 3:
Filter 3
When coupling caps fall below 1 pF, some builders place their resonators
in close proximity to couple the tanks, however, these usually involves slug-tuned powdered iron or ferrite inductors with a generally low Q. The coil consists of
cup core and a threaded center core which combine to give a magnetic shield.
A tin plated copper can surrounds the core for electrostatic shielding. I
think after these experiments — placing each resonator in its own
sealed box seems a better option.
I noticed another approach in The Double Tuned Circuit: An Experimenter's Tutorial in QST for December 1991 by Wes, W7ZOI. Wes drilled a hole in the tank compartment divider and passed a wire soldered to 1 tank through the hole and positioned it near the variable capacitor of the other resonator. We change coupling by adjusting this wire.
The wire may be thought of a "tweakable" capacitor, however, the key point is we need to couple energy from 1 resonator to the next; whether by wire, capacitor or inductor, proper resonator coupling will give the required skirt shape within the the limits imposed by Q and the matching to the 50 Ω ports. When establishing a filter passband, the end Q and resonator coupling pretty much dictate the outcome.
Filter #3 involved more mechanics than electronics. I made a U shaped box from a small sheet of copper.
Above — My copper box drilled for the 2 air-variable tuning capacitors. I built the walls, top and divider from thinner gauge brass strips. Rosin flux aids soldering your metal sheets together — I soldered mine with a Weller 80 Watt iron and began with the center divider. Click for a side shot after completion.
Above — My filter schematic with some tabled data. Click for a top off photograph where you can easily see the black wire probe. To change coupling, you change the wire length and/or its distance from the second tank capacitor. I really enjoyed moving the wire and watching the outcome on the screen. Per usuaI, I tweaked the coupling, Ls and end caps to derive many 3 dB bandwidths. In 1 arrangement with a 3 dB bandwidth of 3.57 MHz, the insertion loss was only 1.87 dB — I had evidently found a perfect ratio + combination of L and C yielding a low IL.
I'll increase the coil wire gauge in future experiments to lower solenoid resistance and try to garner even more Qu.
This is the best filter I've ever built. After peaking the tanks to 162.55 MHz, resonator adjustments weren't really needed. By moving the wire probe I saw that BW and IL change inversely. While tweaking the series caps and moving the probe, it felt like déjà vu from my experiences simulating these exact changes in GPLA over many years — except now they were alive and kicking. With some inductor manipulation (or as needed, changing the inductors) this filter can be centered from ~140 to well over 200 MHz. A high-octane, dramatic and versatile filter indeed.
Click for a sweep where I moved the wire very close to the neighboring tank capactor and over coupled the filter.
Click for a screen shot of another sweep.
With new awareness that resonator coupling and other issues may also occur in HF band-pass filters, making these 3 filters surely boosted my future band-pass filter construction standards at any frequency. Over the years, builders have emailed me sweeps of HF band-pass filters (usually VNA sweeps) with also sorts of extra resonances +/- poor insertion loss. Since I'm just an amateur, often nimrod RF enthusiast, I won't pretend I possess all the knowledge to critique their filter woes.
However, photos of their HF filters usually look messy and rushed: opposite to our needs — eschewing important factors like symmetrical layouts, inductor spacing, a first-rate ground plane, larger gauge + well spaced wire wound on big as possible toroid cores Yikes, I better stop now lest I venture into filter folklore.
Today, designing a filter with software is merely half the battle — construction poses the harder task. Unsurprisingly, measurement and experimental methods will elevate your outcomes.
Filter analysis with a sweep system is the ultimate, however I built and then tested many band-pass filters with a frequency counter, a signal generator, a 'scope and a return loss bridge during the first 12 years of my RF life.
Assuming you have a filter that peaks and isn't overcoupled: to measure the 3 dB bandwidth, first peak the filter to resonance for the highest peak-peak voltage in your 'scope. Here's the rest of the procedure:
You may also wish to measure the insertion and return loss as described in EMRFD, Radio Society Handbooks, or the RF Workbench series on this web site.
Whether you run superhet, low IF, SDR, or Zero IF (DC) receivers, or need to filter a transmit chain, well made band-pass filters just might boost your project performance. VHF poses additional challenges but offers great learning opportunities.
QRP — Posdata for Nov 12, 2013
A. Notes for Filter #2
Victor, 4Z4ME wrote to explain why the attenuation above the passband in Filter #2 looked mediocre. Filter topology and component values yielded the poor high-pass attenuation and not unwanted coupling as I originally shared.
Victor wrote: "The problem is that all the couplings are of one nature,
in this case capacitive.
At very low frequencies the inductors short the signal to ground while the capacitors impedance gets higher so it is clear that the output signal goes to zero.
At high frequencies the inductors may be regarded as disconnected because their impedance get very high, however although the capacitors impedance get lower , you have them both at the series arms and at the parallel arms, so the signal gets to be attenuated by their impedance ratio and not get shorted to ground.
This can be shown in analytic calculation, or easier by simulation. See the attached file (LTSpice simulation). You can see that the filter (similar to your filter) gets closer to a finite attenuation at high frequencies, getting closer to the attenuation of a similar circuit with the inductors removed.
You can get better high frequency results by trading the center 0.2pF capacitor coupling to an inductive coupling. Remove the coupling capacitor and insert a wire through the center shield, ground its ends close to the main inductor. Shape the wire to a small loop near the grounded end of each of the resonator inductors to get small inductive coupling, and you get again a good BPF but with better high frequency attenuation. Instead of loops you can connect the coupling wire at a tap at the bottom of the main resonator inductors, close to the ground".
Above — Following Victor's suggestion, I inductively coupled the Filter #2
resonators with a wire looped near the grounded end of each tank inductor.
Please view the schematic above. High-pass attenuation above the passband improved significantly.
Click for a sweep out
to ~ 511 MHz that shows the peak high-pass attenuation much closer to the
low-pass skirt peak reponse.
At 2X center frequency (325.1 MHz) the high-pass skirt peak attenuation closed within 14 dB of the low-pass peak attenuation compared to the original Filter #2 response where the delta was around 30 dB. Further improvement occurs as we move above ~400 MHz. Big thanks to Victor for his support.
B. Sheet Metal Safety
A cut finger while working sheet metal prompted the following remarks: Jagged edges from cut sheet metal (especially brass stock it seems) may lead to deep cuts. Filing a burred edge with the metal clamped in a vice between some thicker metal stock with its raspy edge barely showing will reduce the "knife edge effect". When drilling, clamp the metal piece to your bench on a wooden backing board . If you jam your hand drill in an unclamped piece of metal it could spin and really gore you. Safety first.
7. NE612 Mixer Diddy
The Signetics NE612 and ilk enjoys wide use by the amateur radio community in novelty-grade Ham band receivers, or in somewhat better receivers laden with abounding front end filters + stout, switchable RF attenuators. Do you think of the NE612 as an ersatz receiver mixer? Some only consider them for the transmit mixer slot. Read this link why.
Above — My base schematic. I applied differential input to cancel 2nd order mixer products and balanced output to obtain maximum conversion gain. Click for the breadboard. Powdered iron toroids, Q = 1500 trimmers and a fixed C on the output formed the resonators. I chose a 10.7 MHz IF to drive low-cost ceramic filters in further (unshown) experiments. Normally, we don't bother tuning the input since our bandpass filter should launder the input signal sufficiently.
Above — My 'thrown together' 60.7 MHz local oscillator. A wire on the common base buffer amp input avoids the series R and C usually required and I moved the wire probe to set the output power between 180 and 250 mV peak-peak into a 1K resistor load.
Above — A table showing the mixer input, IF, RF, LO, 2xRF [ the worst spur ] power readings, plus calculated conversion gain. This table echos the datasheet + work by others — input power >= -25 dBm drives this mixer into compression. The NE612 runs low current plus low voltage across the output transistors — thus the maximum output power is limited to somewhere between +2 dBm to +5 dBm from my experiments.
Even with -35 dBm input power, I measured a conversion gain much lower than the typical 14-18 dB enjoyed by others who applied differential output at ~ 50 MHz. Turns out, I goofed — each output transistor contains a 1K5 Ω resistor, so when wired differentially, the output Z = 3K. Back to the bench!
Above — SA of the mixer output with 0 dBm RF input. Something we would never do in real-life, but I wanted to see the spurs with such a drive: the spurious output actually looks great! The NE602, NE612, MC1496 and SO42P [all Gilbert cell mixers] output cleanly; especially when compared to diode-based mixers.
Above — My mixer with output Z corrected at 3K Ω. Wow, a conversion gain of 15.94 dB with -30 dBm drive. All good now. Click for the IF measurement on my SA. The LO had drifted up to 60.8 in this experiment, however, I left it and peaked the output resonator for maximum smoke. I also extracted another 0.5 to 0.8 dB gain by tweaking the LO drive. In my breadboard, a drive of 224 mV pk-pk gave the highest conversion gain.
Hereafter, I'll drive my NE612 transmit mixers with between -26 to -30 dBm on the RF port with differential input and output.
8. Miscellaneous Photographs
Above — Hair or lint in my SMT macro photo
Above — Instrument grade N-male to SMA female
Above — Instrument grade N-male to SMA female; gorgeous machine work.


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2008-04-16 / Front Page
A story that appeared in last week's edition, "Flaherty goes public with district's charges," stated that Atlantic Music submitted a bill to the Massapequa School District for the repair of an instrument that was rented to the child of a school board member, and that Alan Adcock, the district's superintendent of business and finance, rejected the bill as inappropriate.
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Guys put their hands down their pants?
Why do guys put their hands down their pants? So I have always noticed that guys have to adjust themselves down there. But would it be considered playing with them selfs if they are wearing the stretchy shorts and like put their hand in their pants for a couple of seconds and they do that a few times in class? Do they really even notice? Do guys do that even if they like a girl in the room?
What's Your Opinion?
Most Helpful Opinion
Their probably itchin their balls, but some guys actually might be but most guys wouldn't play with themselves in public, and well even when it itches, if I'm with a girl, I try to ignore it.
What Guys Said 2
If things are in an uncomfortable position it can be painful. Especially in something tight. Pinching a testicle is never fun and if you have an itch you scratch. I try to be somewhat discrete about it though.
coz my balls got warm , or uncomfortable
What Girls Said 1
Only trashy guys do that in front of people. That is disgusting and unsanitary.
Unsanitary?? how you figure? considering they stay tucked away and are not exposed to any germs. As long as you wash once a day they are much cleaner than your hands are.
What is down your pants? Genitals and butt. Would you want someone touching their genitalia and then touching you right after? Probably not. Also I would hope most people wash their hands MORE than once a day. That's just nasty


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VISIT DENVER is the premier source of information about Denver's hot spots, visitor attractions, cultural events, hotels, and more. For a comprehensive listing of things to do in Denver, visit www.visitdenver.com
Public art, theatre rentals, entertainment, and more.
Gloria Rubio-Cortes, 8/01/16
Alice Kelly, 8/01/17
Lisa Flores, 8/01/17
Judith Joseph, 8/01/17
Mike King, 8/01/18


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MADISON, WI -- The Madison Mallards (9-3) handed the Green Bay Bullfrogs (7-5) their fifth loss of the season and continued their win streak, now at six, tonight at the "Duck Pond" before 6,737.
Mallards starting pitcher Rob McDonnell (Illinois) received his first win of the year, moving to 1-1 after shutting out the Bullfrogs in 5.2 innings of work. He gave up one hit and struck out five while walking three batters. Bullfrog starter Mike Ellenbest (Saginaw Valley State) lasted only 3.2 innings, letting up three runs on seven hits and walking four to drop to 1-1 on the season.
Designated hitter Pete Alonso (Florida) went 2-3 for the Mallards, driving in two runs and recording two singles. Alonso is batting an astounding .533 in the last three games with one home run, eight RBI and eight hits. The Bullfrogs one run came off Mallards reliever AJ Bogucki (North Carolina) in the seventh, but their offense was shut down by Tim Black (Central Michigan) in the eighth and ninth. Black struck out one in 1.1 innings of work to record his second save in two nights.
The Mallards travel to Battle Creek, Michigan tomorrow to play the first game of a two game series against the Battle Creek Bombers (4-7) at 4:05 pm.
They return to the "Duck Pond" Tuesday, June 10th to play the Lakeshore Chinooks at 7:05 pm. That night is Ho-Chunk Gaming Night and will feature a Ho-Chunk Plinko Board and Ho-Chunk Playing Card Giveaway in the Great Dane Duck Blind. It is also Valpak Great Outdoors Night.
Evangelist Franklin Graham prayed on a sidewalk outside the Pentagon Thursday after his invitation to a prayer service inside was withdrawn because of comments that insulted people of other religions. More>>


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Pawley's Front Porch is actually quite tasty all of the time but the reason I feel the need to add the hungover line is the largely fried menu. With fried pickles, onion rings, sweet potato fries, french fries, and fried green tomatoes, there are a wealth of deep fried choices on this abundent menu. Pawley's is known for their burgers, but I instead went for the pimento cheese and fried green tomato sandwich with french fries. This was only after the fried pickles which serves as our appetizers. Feeling up to my eyes in peanut oil, I thought why not top this heart attack on a plate meal off with a margarita?
The food was delicious however. While I over ordered with the best of them and probably should have attempted a marathon to compensate for the calorie intake, I did enjoy myself. The porch is large and airy though the view of Harden Street and Rite Aid across the street leaves little to be desired, we had a great time and will likely return.
The service and pleasant and the staff helpful though two margaritas deep, I 'm not sure how much I care.
All and all (Best *****) (Price $$$$$)
Food ***
Drink List ****
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Pawley's Front Porch - If you're hungover it's a dream come true
Posted by The Columbia Foodie at 7:09 AM
Labels: Bar, Restaurant Reviews, Restaurants
4 comments:
- meemee said...
the hamburgers were good with the medium a little dry. the choices inventive and made the burgers. front house staff not very organized, seating people out of order. wait staff very good but my order got lost in kitchen so took a long time to get food & received nothing for that. will try again but not superimpressed as hoping
- February 27, 2010 at 3:51 PM
- Smith said...
Pergo flooring pergo flooring Pergo flooring is the original quality laminate flooring brand and Pergo is still the market leader
- July 1, 2010 at 9:17 PM
- July 31, 2010 at 10:19 AM
- bethanybeachhouserentalsde.com said...
Pretty effective data, thanks for the article.
- June 19, 2012 at 6:14 AM
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Super-simple creative costumes : mix & match your way to make believe
Astroth, Sue
Adult Nonfiction TT633 .A87 2007
Astroth, Sue
Adult Nonfiction TT633 .A87 2007
Summary: Who doesn't want to be the hit at the next Halloween party, holiday gathering, costume party, or school play? "Super-Simple Creative Costumes" frees everyone's inner costume designer! With fusible interfacing and simple sewing skills, it's easy to use these patterns and step-by-step instructions to create dozens of ideas--or mix and match to design entirely new costumes by choosing from the clever hats, crowns, headbands, ties, sashes, pins, and faux jewelry. What will it be...a tiger or a temptress? A witch or a warrior? A bunny or a bagpiper? The possibilities are endless!
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Meet Jacques Pepin at Taste of the Nation New Haven at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale
What event will showcase samplings from 40 restaurants, many from the top echelon of Connecticut's culinary scene, as well as wine and spirits from 20 craft beverage vendors? And where can you meet the legendary chef and author Jacques Pepin of Madison?
Jacques, the honorary chef chair, will be honored with a lifetime achievement award from Taste of the Nation for his continued support and advocacy for No Kid Hungry. To see the rest of this column go to
To see my food and travel column archives, please go to
Tim Cipriano, Event Chair and Michael Morand, Event Honorary Chair


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Candy Globes
Photo: Ryan Benyi
Display these fun, colorful balls on top of candleholders, cordial glasses or vases.
- You'll need:
- Styrofoam balls
- Black spray paint
- Assorted candy such as Reese's Pieces, candy corn, black gumdrops, jelly rings and Skittles
- Low-temperature glue gun
- Assemble globes:
- 1. Spray balls with black paint. Let dry.
- 2. Glue candy to balls in a uniform pattern, working in concentric circles around entire ball. Let dry completely before displaying.
My Notes
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Candy Globes Recipe at a Glance
- COURSE: Desserts, Candy
- CONVENIENCE: Entertaining, Make-Ahead
- CUISINE: American
- OCCASION: Halloween
- PUBLICATION: All You
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(Writer's note: I represented the UK Army ROTC program at the Winchester, Ky., Veterans celebration last Saturday as the keynote speaker. Below is the speech that I gave.)
Our great nation is facing some tough challenges.
Perched here on the hill, our view of the horizon extends from Lebanon skies in the southwest over to Springfield's weather in the northwest, and looking over Texas, to Mackville and Willisburg direction.
There was a very long article in the Sun by our editor Jesse Osbourne a couple of weeks ago on a proposed increase in property taxes used to support our public schools in Washington County. The request for an increase came to the school board asking for their approval. Ultimately it was voted down.
On the front page you may have noticed a story about the top landowners in the county.
In the past, I've talked about public records and the Open Records Act.
Washington County school cafeterias are meeting tough new federal nutrition standards for school meals by staying in compliance with the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act that was passed by Congress.
By Jim Best
Guest columnist
The public enemies of the world seem to get all the press these days and they hold our fascination for reasons beyond logic.
There aren't many things that annoy me as much as when we travel in our van as a family.
There's one invention from the 20th century that has influenced more history than any other. It's television.
By James Roberts
Central Kentucky News-Journal
What did I do during my summer vacation? I got cancer!
Copyright © 2014
The Springfield Sun is your source for local news, sports, events and information in Springfield, KY, and the surrounding area.


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Innovation happens when you BORROW ideas, approaches and techniques from OUTSIDE industries and apply them to your own. We call it CROSS POLLINATION.
What an AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER can teach your small business about JUGGLING MULTIPLE PROJECTS (by BigHeads founder, John Palumbo)
Anyone who owns a business knows that any given day involves juggling multiple projects. Of course, each project comes with its own set of nuances and potential issues, especially when the project needs to be transitioned to an employee, vendor, or associate. Keeping projects organized and those transitions seamless isn't easy, which leaves entrepreneurs always on the lookout for tools and techniques to help keep all those balls in the air.
With this in mind, I recently spent some time with Derak Perkins, who keeps a different kind of project in the air: airplanes. Perkins is an air traffic controller at Portland International Airport—and his organizational skills just may help you run a more effective business.
One of the core responsibilities of air traffic controllers is to maintain an appropriate and safe distance, or separation, between all the different aircraft under their watch. Obviously, different aircraft fly at different speeds and different altitudes, and have different destinations. Controllers consider these nuances as they position aircraft during flights, and as they place aircraft in an appropriate sequence for takeoffs and landings. That's why you might notice smaller aircraft taking off before or after larger ones as you taxi down the runway.
While keeping track of all this information might seem daunting, it has become second nature to Perkins. "Over the years, I have become so familiar with the different types of aircraft, I am able to quickly do the calculations in my head and effectively organize them in the most appropriate way," he explains.
The Lesson: Just like those aircraft, your projects also have specific characteristics, move at different speeds, and even have different deadlines. And, the same way air traffic controllers become familiar with the characteristics of different aircraft, you should begin to understand the complexities of the projects you're managing over time.
That said, you can leverage this information to better organize your schedule and to-do list. For example, at the start of each day or week, consider the projects you have on tap and use your experience managing each type of project to calculate the time and resources needed to accomplish them. Consider this information as you organize your calendar or to-do list and you'll end up with a much more manageable and efficient system.
Let's take the comparison a step further and liken your employees to the pilots of these airplanes. After all, individuals also move at different speeds and react to certain conditions differently. Assessing and calculating this information could help you more effectively transition or delegate projects, especially ones that have hard deadlines.
Air traffic controllers use "flight progress strips" to track each of the aircraft they are responsible for managing. "They are six-inch strips of paper containing standardized codes that instantly provide us with information about our flights, including its identification [flight number], type of aircraft, departure, destination, and the assigned altitude," Perkins says. The controllers print out these strips and hang them in a holder above their station. They may strategically position the strips in the holder to further organize their flights. For example, Perkins places strips higher or lower in the holder to represent their flight altitudes.
In addition, since flights are managed by numerous controllers as they make their way to their destinations, the strips are handed off from controller to controller with the most updated information, along with additional notes and codes written by the prior controller to convey any special information.
The Lesson: While you might not have a machine that prints six-inch strips for you to hang above your desk, you could still apply this technique to help better organize all the projects you're in charge of. Consider creating your version of the flight progress strip and develop a system that includes an at-a-glance, visual snapshot of your projects, along with simple codes to represent things such as the client, deadlines, and even the type of project.
If you have the space, print strips of your own and lay them out in your work area or attach them to project folders. If that isn't possible, create a digital version using a platform like Evernote. Since more than one person might be involved in certain projects, consider standardizing the codes across your organization and incorporating your system into a cloud storage service such as Dropbox. This way each team member can quickly get a snapshot of a project and be brought up to speed more quickly when projects are transitioned their way.
Air traffic controllers are constantly handing off flights to and from each other as they enter and leave the airspace under their watch. Another way they ensure flawless handoffs is by creating a set of fixed coordinates for each and every one they execute. "When I hand off an aircraft, the other controller knows every flight will be headed in the same direction, at the same altitude, and traveling at the same speed," Perkins says. "Every aircraft will be that way, all day, every day."
Knowing aircraft will come to them with these fixed coordinates allows controllers to make airspace available for these flights among all the others they are managing. It also completely eliminates any need to waste time quizzing the previous controller.
The Lesson: Just like aircraft, the projects you are juggling will most likely need to be handed off to someone else. One way to make your handoffs seamless is to borrow from the approach above and create a set of fixed variables for your transitions. For example, at the beginning of each day or week, make it clear to your team that every project they receive from you will already be "approved" or "discussed with the client." Overall, it's an effective way to keep projects moving forward, since the person taking them over will not have to waste time backtracking to get questions answered, enabling them to hit the ground running as soon as it comes their way.
So the next time you're flipping through the in-flight magazine at 35,000 feet, remember that there's a team of air traffic controllers on the ground using a host of techniques to keep your flight on track. Sure, we've all experienced a few delays—and your company surely has, too—but keeping tens of thousands of airplanes organized in the sky every day is no easy task. The techniques they use to do it just might help you keep your own projects in the air.
(Originally published on AmEx OPENFORUM.COM)
What a DATING COACH can teach your small business about NETWORKING (by BigHeads founder, John Palumbo)
Entrepreneurs know that networking can attract new customers, clients, and investors. And while there are countless services, books, and blogs that teach professional networking tips, the tactics from a different sort of networking just might prove even more successful. David Wygant is a Los Angeles-based dating and relationship expert with 20 years of experience who helps singles find their perfect match, using approaches and techniques that can often be applied to your business, helping you to network smarter.
When it comes to relationships, one of the biggest mistakes singles make in their quest to find their perfect match is going to places where they think they will meet someone, such as bars, singles events, and dating websites. Wygant urges his clients to avoid them all. "Singles go to those places with an agenda," he says. "And when you have an agenda, you have expectations. When you have expectations, you're not being yourself. Ultimately, it falls apart right there and nothing comes of it."
His advice? Meet people where you're most comfortable, when you're doing what you enjoy. "I tell my clients who are interested in art to visit galleries and those who are interested in organic food to visit the local farmer's market," he says. This way, they are enjoying themselves without any agenda or expectations. Most importantly, they are interested in their surroundings, leading to authentic conversations. "Those are the times when they are comfortable and talking openly and intelligently about a topic. So, when they see someone they're interested in, they're not tongue-tied and the conversations aren't forced and fake like they are in those other places," he contends.
The Lesson: Business owners have been programmed to believe that there are certain places you must go to network and attract new customers, including industry conferences or networking events. The problem is, everyone in attendance is circling one another like sharks. Everyone has an agenda, and worst of all, everyone sounds like a cheesy salesperson.
So consider Wygant's approach and forgo that next industry networking event. Instead, visit places you actually enjoy going, where you'll initiate and hold authentic conversations. Some of those conversations just might turn to the topic of business ("So what do you do for a living?") and lead to contacts and introductions that will benefit your company. Perhaps not as target-rich an environment as a trade show, but the connections you do wind up making will be that much stronger and more authentic.
"When a child sees something they like—a bracelet or sunglasses—they just blurt it out and let you know it," Wygant explains. "That's why I encourage my clients to act like a kid again. If someone is wearing an interesting piece of jewelry, tell them how cool it is. Or if they're using that new Apple gadget you're thinking about buying, ask them if it lives up to all the hype."
According to Wygant, an inquisitive exchange is one of the most powerful ways to break the ice because it's impulsive and even somewhat innocent, which most people find refreshing, non-threatening, and endearing.
As part of his suggested dating regimen, Wygant encourages his clients to practice these types of exchanges with everyone they encounter. This way the behavior becomes second nature and not a forced effort they only use when they spot someone who sparks their romantic interest.
The Lesson: When you're at a meeting or even viewing profiles of potential contacts or customers on professional networking sites, take Wygant's advice and act like a kid again. If you come across a detail that jumps out at you (no matter how small), don't hesitate to start a conversation around that topic.
For example, you might want to introduce yourself to someone on LinkedIn and notice that they've listed a personal hobby or interest that you also share. That's something you could mention in your private introduction message, which would surely be more memorable than the typical introduction messages they receive. Plus, they'll probably do something they rarely do—hit the "reply" button and write back.
According to Wygant, many singles become attracted to someone based on their physical appearance or their online profile, and that's when their imagination takes over. "People see someone or read a profile on a dating site and they begin to fill in the blanks and create this fantasy person before they ever meet," Wygant says.
Inevitably, this practice leads to disappointment because these people ultimately don't live up to the fantasy.
In order to help his clients avoid this situation, Wygant trains them to catch themselves when they start creating fantasy versions of people and consciously remind themselves that the person they're about to create is an illusion and may be no better or worse than anyone else.
The Lesson: Creating a fantasy isn't exclusive to dating. Many business owners and entrepreneurs have a wishlist of people they'd like to meet and customers they'd like to acquire. Just like the singles, they build up a fantasy situation. Of course, if they don't get a response, find that the person isn't interested, or lose that new business pitch, they end up discouraged and unmotivated.
Take a lesson from Wygant and learn to catch yourself as you start to turn that customer into the perfect (fantasy) client. Remind yourself that while having that client's name on your roster might seem like a dream come true, no client relationship is ever perfect. There are always unforeseen obstacles and challenges that might make you wish you never met the person in the first place.
It's a simple and effective way to keep things in perspective so you don't find yourself getting unnecessarily disappointed.
So the next time you're getting set to sign up for that business networking event or you're on the prowl for new customers, remember that networking isn't so different from dating and consider taking David Wygant's advice to… heart.
(originally published on AmEx OPENforum.com)
What a BOUNTY HUNTER can teach your small business about FINDING THE BEST HIRES (by BigHeads founder, John Palumbo)
When it comes to locating and hiring the best employees, few small businesses have access to the big bag of tricks that larger companies do. While job sites and social networks have helped to level the playing field, the fact is that some of the best talent needs to be proactively hunted down, because they are neither out there actively looking for a job, nor are they interested in being found.
Knowing this, I decided to speak to someone who knows a thing or two about hunting down tough-to-find people—renowned bounty hunter (and BigHead) Scott Bernstein. The tactics, tools, and techniques he uses to find fugitives may just help your small business find the right employees.
One of the first things Bernstein does when he receives the—often limited—information about a fugitive from the authorities or bail bondsman is to establish a profile. Using his experience and his behavioral expertise, along with some creativity, he tries to put himself into the mindset of the accused. "Let's say I know you were a drug dealer who lived in a certain area," Bernstein says. "Right off the bat, that arms me with a wealth of information. For example, I would know you would be out on the street between the hours of 9 at night and 5 in the morning selling drugs." Ultimately, using this type of role playing exercise allows him to get a better sense of what moves his fugitives might make and the places where he might ultimately find them.
The Lesson:Get in the mindset of the ideal candidate you are looking for. Consider such things as the places they might go during their free time, the hobbies they might be interested in, the websites they might visit, the way they commute to their current job, or where they might have that cocktail after a long day.
Then use that information to your advantage. Post your job listing in those (unorthodox) places and on those websites. Even visit some of those locations and meet the people face-to-face. While this might seem time-consuming at first, once you find the locations that yield the best talent, you will have uncovered a fertile recruiting ground that you can use for future searches and save yourself time.
When fugitives are "in the wind" (unable to be found), a bounty hunter needs as many people out there trying to locate them as possible. In some cases, that includes relying on the help of people who intimately know the landscape where the bounty hunter believes the fugitives he seeks might be hiding. "I will approach bouncers and bartenders at local bars or front-desk clerks and cleaning people at local motels and give them a little something to keep their eyes and ears open and call me with any information," Bernstein says.
The Lesson: By taking a page out of a bounty hunter's playbook, you can expand your recruiting team even further than your own networks. Zero in on specific regions and identify those places, venues, and businesses where the staff gets to know their patrons, guests, and clientele, such as daycare centers, local watering holes, salons, and health clubs. Then enlist people who work at those places, provide them with a description of the type of person you are looking for, and ask them to act as extra sets of eyes and ears to help you identify potential candidates. You can even offer a small finder's fee or gift if their information leads to a future hire. And if you're questioning the caliber of information these people could provide, just think about the amount of information your hairstylist, favorite bartender or personal trainer knows about you.
When a bounty hunter begins a search, one of the first things he or she will do is try to identify the "Judas"—that one person the accused has confided in who has valuable information about his or her whereabouts. Once they find the Judas, the bounty hunter will get in contact with that person and ask seemingly innocent questions that will provide them with the information they need.
Now, what you need to understand is that this is done in a somewhat deceptive manner. For example, a bounty hunter might contact a parent or significant other under the guise of anyone from a package delivery person to an old friend from high school to put that potential Judas at ease and have them open up.
The Lesson:It's one thing to find employees, but it's another thing to evaluate and vet them and make sure they are the right person for the job you have available. Interestingly, the "Judas" approach above could come in handy in those instances, without having to go undercover, of course.
Consider this: when you have identified a potential candidate, their Judas is already sitting right in front of you in the area on their resume that says, "References upon request." Let's face it, references are usually the people who will provide you with a glowing report about the candidate. However, you could take a lesson from a bounty hunter and ask seemingly innocent questions that are designed to give you much more information than the reference realizes.
For example, your organization might be very lean and require someone who is a self-starter who doesn't need a lot of hand-holding. When you're speaking to the reference, you could ask a question such as, "What kind of environment do you think she is best suited for? One that's very hands-on where she will receive a lot of direction, or one that's more entrepreneurial where she can jump in and figure things out on her own?" If the answer doesn't match your culture, you know the candidate is not the right fit.
As you can see, when it comes to finding employees you don't need to have a fully-staffed HR department or retain an expensive executive recruiter. Instead, you can take some cues from a bounty hunter and apply those tactics and techniques to quickly and effectively hunt down great talent. Happy hunting!
(Originally published on AmEx OPENFORUM.COM)
Pitching BIG Ideas to senior management or clients? Bring in an IDEA REFEREE!!!
If you lookup the definition of a "referee," you'll come across things such as "an official who watches a game or match closely to ensure that the rules are adhered to and (in some sports) to arbitrate on matters arising from the play."
Interestingly, in the next couple weeks members of the BigHeads senior management team will be taking on the role of…IDEA-REFS! Basically, we will be "officiating" at meetings where one side is PRESENTING ideas and the other side is EVALUATING/BUYING them.
Of course anyone who works in the innovation space knows there is a need for someone to sometimes call bullshit on the presenters…as well as to sometimes push the other side to open their minds, see the bigger picture and give unorthodox ideas a shot.
We'll be IDEA-REFFING an internal session next week where an innovation team is presenting new product concepts to their senior management team…and then another session the week after where an agency will be presenting their "BIG ideas" to a brand team.
We'll let you know how it goes…but in the meantime, maybe you should start thinking about bringing in some REFS for your next pitch meeting!
A new study supports the approach we use here at BigHeads and finds that DIVERSITY DRIVES INNOVATION!
Read about it HERE
h-Mag interview with BigHeads founder, John Palumbo
WHEN PANTIES BORROWED FROM PACKAGED GOODS (by BigHeads founder, John Palumbo)
Cross-pollination is a term we use at BigHeads to describe the innovation practice of "borrowing" (some might say, "stealing") ideas, techniques and tools from outside (and often unexpected) industries/sources and applying them to your own. And there's nothing I enjoy more than talking to fellow innovators who have embraced cross-pollination as part of their process and hearing their stories about when it worked.
One such innovator is Jill Beraud. Jill is currently CEO of Living Proof, a privately-held beauty company in Cambridge, MA. Prior to that, Jill was President of Starbucks & Lipton Joint Ventures and Global Chief Marketing Officer at PepsiCo. Before PepsiCo, Jill spent 13 years at Limited Brands in various roles, including chief marketing officer of Victoria's Secret.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Jill about her experience "cross-pollinating" and one of her favorite examples using the approach.
JP: These days the practice of cross-pollination is becoming more prevalent, especially as companies and brands continue to adopt open innovation and crowdsourcing initiatives to drive innovation. Tell me about your experience with cross-pollination.
JB: I have used cross pollination to create innovative programs for many years. Having built brands and businesses across multiple categories, from food & beverage to fashion & beauty, I have utilized ideas from each of those categories and applied it to the other.
JP: Can you give me an example of a time when you used it successfully?
JB: One of the most successful examples is how I used a very common idea from the food, beverage and beauty category and applied it in an unexpected way to the fashion/lingerie category.
While at Victoria's Secret, one of the key insights we identified about our consumers' shopping behavior was that 50% of our customers where buying our bras but not our panties. Clearly that was a huge opportunity for us to drive incremental business and trial.
In 1996, I created a direct mail "panty sampling" program which targeted all of our consumers that had not purchased a panty to come into our store for a "free cotton panty." Not only did this drive significant incremental and highly profitable traffic to our stores and tremendous trial/repeat of our panties, but it helped to build the panty business into a $500MM+ business as well as increase the overall bra business.
JP: And this had never been done before?
JB: While sampling is a very common methodology to get trial in beauty, food and beverage, it had never been employed in the fashion/lingerie business to drive trial/repeat and as well as create profitable traffic in retail.
This "free panty sampling" program has continued to this day, 17 years later, to drive profitable business to Victoria's Secret and has since been copied at other specialty retailers.
So, the takeaway for YOU is simple – always consider approaches and techniques from OUTSIDE industries to inspire innovations and solutions for your own.
You might not immediately see how a paint-blending tool used by a car restoration specialist could lead to a new product for a cosmetics company…or how analyzing the marching behavior of ants could help a major airline develop a more efficient boarding process…or how techniques used by a bounty hunter could help a fortune 500 company find the best employees to hire…but innovation often results from industry "CROSS POLLINATION."
With this in mind, we designed an approach that accelerates these types of unexpected connections. It's a turnkey process where we collaborate with unexpected bright minds and experts (BIgHeads) from OUTSIDE industries to uncover tools, techniques and ideas from other disciplines that we can use as inspiration to create disruptive ideas and solutions that meet your objective.
Step 1 – Deep Dive: The BigHeads leadership team meets with you to review and solidify the project objective, key considerations and final deliverables. As appropriate, additional information such as target information, category research, competitive analysis, etc., may also be reviewed.
Step 2 – Stepping Back (Reframing the Problem): Once we know your objective/problem we step back and view it through a broader lens to develop a project thematic or topic that will interest our diverse BigHeads and allow them to make connections to their lives and experiences. Simply put, we convert your objective from internal speak…to human speak.
Step 3 – BigHeads ID: We will methodically scour our network of 1,000 bright minds, experts and problem-solvers and identify 5-10 BigHeads who "connect" with your objective in unique and unexpected ways. For example:
A company interested in finding unique and effective ways to MONETIZE a platform or service could expect to learn from BigHeads who hail from DISPARATE industries with proven commercial models – subscriptions, licensing, membership, franchising, etc.
A brand focused on finding new and unique ways to LAUNCH a new product could expect to learn from unexpected BigHeads who "launch" things in OUTSIDE industries such as musicians who launch albums, reality TV producers who launch shows, designers who launch boutique hotels, etc.
Step 4 – Interviews: Our team holds comprehensive interviews (phone and/or in-person) with each of the participating BigHeads to gain a complete understanding of the approaches, techniques, tactics, tools, etc. they use in their industry.
Step 5 – Cross-Pollination: Once the interviews are complete, our internal team begins the cross pollination process by making connections (connecting-the-dots) between the information we received during the interviews and your overall objective to develop our final ideas and recommendations.
Step 6 – The Report: You receive project report, which includes transcripts of our interviews with the BigHeads, along with a collection of ideas and breakthrough innovations, inspired by the approaches, techniques, tactics, tools, etc. the participating BigHeads use in their industry. The key findings from the report are presented to your team during an engaging work session.
Inno-Visits (OPTIONAL STEP): If you'd like to be more involved in the process, we will schedule half-day "visits" and give members of your team the unique opportunity to "shadow" the participating BigHeads so they can gain a "hands-on" understanding of the approaches, techniques, tactics, tools, etc. they use in their industry. Following the visits, each member of your team will be challenged to make connections between the overall objective/goal and the information collected during their visits to create new ideas and breakthrough innovations inspired by their unlikely source. We will include each team member's ideas and recommendations in the final report.
Carlyn Kelly, EVP of Strategy and Innovation
What Your Business Can Learn From…Reality TV Personalities
Special thank you to Albie and Chris Manzo for the interview…


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Pro baseball
RAILCATS TOP SIOUX CITY: The RailCats broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with a bases-clearing double by Adam Klein and took a 6-2 decision from Sioux City.
A single by Klein in the fifth gave the RailCats 1-0 lead before Sioux City answered with a run in the bottom of the inning.
The 'Cats added another two runs in the seventh inning on singles by Craig Maddox and Drew Martinez.
Starter Billy Spottiswood went seven innings of four-hit ball, allowing two runs and two walks.
The RailCats scattered 16 hits against two Sioux City pitchers.
BREWERS SCORE FIVE IN NINTH TO TOP CUBS: Carlos Gomez broke a scoreless tie in the ninth inning with an RBI single and Jeff Bianchi added a two-run double to lift the Milwaukee Brewers over the Cubs 5-0 on Monday night.
The Brewers, sitting in last place in the NL Central, won for the third time in eight games and ended the Cubs' winning streak at three games.
Brewers reliever Brandon Kintzler (3-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory.
Cubs reliever Pedro Strop (1-1) gave up the single to Gomez on an 0-2 pitch and Jean Segura easily scored from second to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. With one out and the bases loaded, Bianchi gave the Brewers insurance with a double to right to score two more runs and Rickie Weeks also added a two-run double as Milwaukee batted around in the ninth.
Pro football
EAGLES WILL RETIRE MCNABB'S NUMBER: Donovan McNabb's voice cracked and his eyes watered when he stood at the podium to give his retirement speech.
Famously booed when he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, McNabb couldn't hide the tears when he called it quits 14 years later. The six-time Pro Bowl quarterback was back in Philadelphia on Monday to make it official, three years after he was traded from the Eagles and 21 months after taking his final snap in the NFL.
"Special day," said McNabb, a Mt. Carmel product. "I'm not one for emotion, but this is pretty tough."
Before McNabb even took the stage, team owner Jeffrey Lurie revealed that his No. 5 will be retired on Sept. 19.
McNabb will be inducted into the team's Hall of Fame and have his jersey retired when the Eagles play the Kansas City Chiefs on a Thursday night. Former Eagles coach Andy Reid, who drafted McNabb with the No. 2 overall pick in 1999, now coaches the Chiefs.
Men's soccer
VU ADDS TWO PLAYERS: Valparaiso announced two more additions to its 2013 roster Monday in Jamaican freshman Nico Campbell and SMU transfer Jacob Gandarilla.
Campbell, a 6-foot4, 210-pound goalkeeper from Kingston, Jamaica, is a graduate of St George's College. He captained his high school side to championships in both the Manning Cup and the Oliver Shield, Jamaica's oldest and most prestigious schoolboy competition.
Gandarilla, a 5-6 attacker, appeared in eight games as a freshman for SMU, which went 10-5-5 and made the NCAA tournament. Prior to SMU, Gandarilla attended boarding school in Faribault, Minn. at Shattuck St. Mary's, helping it to the Minnesota State Championships, while being named MVP for his U18 club side.
Around the horn
North Newton is looking for a junior high football assistant coach. Anyone interested should email Aaron Sauter at firstname.lastname@example.com. ... Boone Grove will hold a middle school baseball meeting Monday. Seventh-graders will meet at 4 p.m. and eighth-graders at 6. Students should have completed physicals. For details, email coach Rollie Thill at email@example.com. ... Breakers Baseball will host tryouts for its college exposure team at 11 a.m. Saturday at Washington Township High School. The fall and 2014 summer team is for unsigned juniors, seniors and top-level sophomores. To register, call (219) 309-3970, or email email@example.com. ... As expected, Tyson Gay has been left off the U.S. roster for next month's world championships in Moscow. Gay qualified in the 100 and 200 meters at the nationals in June, but relinquished his spots after failing an out-of-competition drug test for a banned substance. Mike Rodgers will take Gay's place in the 100 and Wallace Spearmon will go in the 200.


text: Shahrukh Khan insists he is not interested in doing a stereotypical role created for Asians in Hollywood. , Bollywood's superstar says "to get a role not specific to my colour or the way I speak or act is very difficult". Shahrukh has completed two decades in the Indian film industry and has featured in more than 80 movies. He's earned the tag of a 'superstar' which could be his second name already. But the 47-year old actor has not featured in any international films yet.


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ADD & ADHD Health Center
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Causes of ADHD
The exact causes of ADHD are not known.
Experts do know that ADHD has a strong genetic component. In addition, they think that genes that control the levels or functioning of certain chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters seem to be different in those with ADHD.
Recommended Related to ADD-ADHD
Adult ADHD Therapy: Finding the Right Therapist
For adults with ADHD, the standard treatment is medication. But experts say that ADHD therapy -- and other psychosocial treatments -- can play a key role alongside drugs. "I think for many adults with ADHD, therapy is essential," says David W. Goodman MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. While ADHD medicines are effective, they may not be enough. To use a phrase popular among ADHD specialists, pills don't build skills. Even with medication, a...
Read the Adult ADHD Therapy: Finding the Right Therapist article > >
In some cases, though, there is no genetic link to ADHD, but other common behaviors, such as smoking or drinking during pregnancy, as well as other obstetrical complications have been linked to ADHD in children.
Babies with low birth weight may have an increased risk of ADHD. The same is true for children who have had head injuries, particularly an injury to the frontal lobe. Young children who are exposed to lead or other environmental toxins such as PCBs or pesticides early in life may also have a higher risk of ADHD.
ADHD always begins in childhood before age 12. For some people, though, ADHD is not diagnosed until adulthood. That means adults who are newly diagnosed have actually had ADHD for years, and have had to endure symptoms as they've matured. In addition, research shows that between 30% and 70% of children with ADHD continue to have symptoms of the disorder when they become adults.
What is the genetic connection to ADHD?
ADHD tends to run in families. Studies have shown certain genetic characteristics that occur with high frequency in families where one or more family member has ADHD. Also, if one or both parents have ADHD, their children are more likely to develop the condition. And at least one-third of all fathers or mothers who had ADHD in their youth have children with ADHD.
What brain changes occur with ADHD?
Studies show that children and adults with ADHD tend to have abnormal functioning, or dysregulation, of certain brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters. There also tends to be abnormal functioning in the nerve pathways that regulate behavior. In addition, children with ADHD may have certain parts of the brain that are smaller or less active than they are in children who don't have ADHD.
Recent studies show that the brain chemical, dopamine, may play a role in ADHD. Dopamine is an important chemical that carries signals between nerves in the brain. It is linked to many functions, including movement, sleep, mood, attention, and learning.
One dopamine study focused on the genetics of ADHD -- specifically, on a particular variation of the DRD4 gene. This gene is associated with a dopamine receptor in the brain. What the study showed is that children with ADHD are more likely to have a certain variation of the DRD4 gene than children without ADHD. Interestingly, not all kids with ADHD in the study had the DRD4 gene variation. But those who did generally had higher IQ scores than other children with ADHD. Plus, the gene variation was most common in children whose ADHD improved over time.
Another dopamine study involving adults with ADHD showed that adults with ADHD had a sluggish dopamine system. The study helped explain why stimulant ADHD medications such as Ritalin and Adderall are beneficial. Stimulant ADHD medications increase dopamine by strengthening the weak dopamine signals in the brain. That counters the decreased brain dopamine activity in adults with ADHD. In addition, drugs of abuse, like nicotine and cocaine, temporarily increase brain dopamine activity. So the study authors hypothesized that the decreased dopamine activity associated with ADHD may help explain why people with ADHD may have a greater risk of drug abuse.
WebMD Medical Reference


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sound mooooooooooosive
Planning a cycle using no bull steroids. Has anyone used this brand before? If so what gains or experiences can you share?
Many Thanks
sound mooooooooooosive
I didn't set out to make peace with....or vanquish my Daemons. I set out to become them.
Ha ha, that name sounds dodgy in itself!!!
No bull steroids? Never heard of them mate.
I think they are from T'up North way
Not heard best reports TBH
Who needs superman when you got ME!!
How do you expect to gain chest size without llifting bulls?
Cows are gayer than me and WSS put together
If them roids are from t north, and called No Bull!
Mmmmmmmmmmm I wonder who could be involved in them..........................................
Last edited by B|GJOE; 29-07-2010 at 05:33 PM.
Thats Mick Hart isnt it? He was on tv not so long ago
few people around here using them and reckon they're getting good results , they do they're own blends of stuff, test/deca test/tren etc, also do tablets, not used myself yet but thinking about it on my next course.
I don't think it's micks own brand or anything to do with him(I could be wrong tho)


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"I've been working to get my confidence back and I'm working again on what got me in the league in the first place. I'm just trying to get back inside. I did a lot of (outside) shooting last season. I want to get back where I've had success before."
–Andrew Nicholson to John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com
0 comments


text: Comments on: How well did the pollsters do predicting party turnout in 2010? Back to the article » Conn Carroll • | September 26, 2012 | 12:00 am The Weekly Standard's Jay Cost does a fine job addressing conservative claims that recent polls showing President Obama with strong leads over Mitt Romney here. Cost's bottom line: If we instead assume that the GOP will have a net of +84 among its own partisans, and Obama can recreate the +79 he managed in 2008, then we are talking about a 2-point shift in these polls in favor of Romney. In... Web URL: http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2509064 Share this article on Facebook or Twitter Print this article


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"Steven Gerrard says, "The whole team is behind Rob Green."
In retrospect, that's a good place to stand."
In retrospect, that's a good place to stand."
Russell Brand, Twitter
Bit of advice - never read a pop-up book about giraffes
Because the keys are inside.
Nothing. It just waved!
England players, protect yourself from Emile Heskey by disguising yourself as a goal.
Piracy is killing the music industry.
You try playing the guitar with a hook.


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Padron Serie 1926 80 Years Reviews [view details]Give us YOUR review!
Showing 11 through 14 of 14 reviews
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I smoked one on my 50th Birthday in the Dominican Republic, a day I shall never forget! :) Great favor,taste,construction and a great smoke, worth the money!Hulk in Chadds Ford. PA May 17, 2008
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Maybe if you're in the market for these cigars, reviews don't matter -- they're a brand-name pinnacle and on that accolade alone could deliver a mediochre product and still command the mountain-like price. Not the case with Padron, and not the case with these cigars. Padron doesn't overdo the packaging but these sticks glow when you open up a box, their lethal-weapon torpedo points and glassy-oily sheen wrappers staring back at you. Construction feels ethereal, rock-solid and light. Lighting this perfecto took about 4 seconds and it was golden from then on. The taste: wow, damn, and ahh, all at once. This is not the same flavor profile as the other in the 1926 line, it's not as heavy/earthy. Like the difference between lush black tropical soil and sunshine through the leafs, this is a sweeter smoke (even compared to the 1926 40th Anniversary) and not so earthy. No cigar's aroma has been as epic as this smoke, not even close, and I enjoyed the smell as much as the taste throughout -- think about this, because usually (for me) the aroma is a pleasant secondary effect but not something you can really notice throughout. Pretty much perfect burn throughout, enough thick white smoke to make the local weather report and a smooth consistent draw. Rounding out the experience was a decently strong buzz that made itself known about 2/3 through the smoke. Who should smoke this cigar? Anyone who digs cigars. It's not for beginners and you may not like it at all, but it represents a hell of a lot of effort to make a distinctive and -very- well balanced cigar. Hats off to Padron.upNorth in Fairbanks, Alaska February 19, 2008