Topics:

Ham Shack | Sony DSC-HX5V | Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D

February 13, 2011

Ham Shack

The ham station has been off the air for a couple of years. I'm finally getting around to putting it back together. Most of the stuff is on the table and it's almost all hooked up. I still have to go outside and do some antenna work.

Click the photo to see a larger version:



One thing not in the photo is the Ten Tec RX-320 computer controlled shortwave receiver. I have to find a place for it and the speaker.

Here's the list:

Starting on the bottom, left to right:

• MSC Smart Keyer III - Joe, N4YG, created the Smart keyer series of electronic memory keyers and the Smart Filter. I still own two Smart Filters, a Smart Keyer that was upgraded to a Smart Keyer II, and the Smart Keyer III. See Joe's web site at www.n4yg.com.
• Kent dual paddles.
• Radio shack speaker behind the keyer. This is for the FT-897.
• Astron SS-30m switching power supply.
• Ten Tec 10-amp supply on top of the Astron.
• Radio shack speaker. This is for the Pro II.
• IC-756 Pro II. This is the main HF radio, connected to the Tennadyne T6 log periodic antenna.
• Dell computer.

On the shelf:

• Yaesu FT-897. Right now I plan to use it for 2m/uhf and as a QRP radio for 40 meters, hooked up to the CushCraft R7 vertical antenna.
• LDG FT-meter for the FT-897.
• Oak Hills Research QRP Wattmeter/SWR meter for the FT-897.
• Amplified computer speaker behind the FT-Meter.
• LCD computer monitor.
• Under the monitor and behind is is the PowerPole power strip, to be powered by the Ten Tec supply.
• LDG AT-1000 automatic tuner.
• LDG DWM-4 digital watt meter
• SignaLink USB digital interface for the Pro II
• Heathkit Digital clock that I built around 1983. Still works.
• Indoor/outdoor thermometer. Might be too close to the computer and other equipment for accurate indoor readings.
• Amplified computer speaker behind the digital thermometer.

The table is on casters. I can pull the table away from the wall so I can get behind it. It's a lot easier to hook everything up from behind the table.

Sony DSC-HX5V

The Sony DSC-HX5V is a compact 'point and shoot' digital camera that was introduced in early 2010. There's a lot of neat stuff built into this camera. Here's a list of the most important/most interesting features:

• 10-megapixel sensor
• 10x optical zoom lens: 4.2mm - 42.5mm, equivalent to 25mm to 250mm in a 35mm film camera
• Backlight correction, hand-held twilight, and anti-motion blur exposure modes designed to allow shooting in conditions of low light or in conditions where there is a large difference between the darkest and lightest areas of a particular scene
• sweep panorama mode, which lets you take a photo encompassing 180 degrees or 270 degrees around you
• shoots video in 108i AVCHD or MP4 format
• can geotag photos using the built-in gps receiver
• can take photos at up to 10 frames per second

Click here to visit the official Sony web site

Click here for a review of the camera.

Here are a few photos that I have taken with the camera. These pictures are all resized to 1024 x 768 resolution from the original 10 megapixel images. I haven't included any technical details except those mentioned in the comments next to each picture. The objective is just to show the quality of photos that the camera can take, and I'm sure the camera is capable of doing even more that I show here.

Click a photo to see the larger version.

	This was taken in our yard from my wife's rose bush.
	This was taken at the Mercer Botannical Gardens in Humble, TX
	This was taken at the Mercer Botannical Gardens in Humble, TX
	This sunset photo was taken at Cagle Recreation Area inside the Sam Houston National Forest. The sun set on the other side of Lake Conroe. This photo was taken using the Backlight Correction exposure mode. This allowed the dark parts of the photo to be properly exposed so that they are visible, and allowed the bright parts of the photo to be properly exposed so they aren't too bright. If this photo had been taken in automatic mode the water, fishing boat, and pier would be too dark to see clearly.
	This was taken at Goose Island State Park near Rockport, TX. This photo was taken with the lens at the maximum extension of 42.5mm, which is equivalent to 250mm on a 35mm film camera.
	This was taken at Goose Island State Park near Rockport, TX. This photo was taken with the lens at the maximum extension of 42.5mm, which is equivalent to 250mm on a 35mm film camera.
	This was taken at Padre Island National Seashore.
	This was taken at Padre Island National Seashore.
	This was taken at Goose Island State Park near Rockport, Tx.
	This was taken at Matagorda Bay Nature and RV Park.
	This was taken at Matagorda Bay Nature and RV Park. This photo was taken in sweep panorama mode. The center of the photo is looking straight ahead, and scrolling the photo left and right is the equivalent of turning your head left or right. The left side of the photo is pretty much at right angles to the front view. Scrolling to the right is a little more than 90 degrees, as if you were looking over your right shoulder a little bit to see what is slightly behind you. When you click on the small photo, if the browser fits the large photo completely in your browser window, it'll look funny. You should expand the photo to full size to get the panoramic effect. In this photo I was standing on the fishing pier, and the section of the pier you see in the left side of the photo was directly to my left, and the section of the pier on the right of the photo was directly to my right. The shoreline in the very rightmost section of the photo was behind me.
	This was taken near Goose Island State Park. Cameras like the DSC-HX5V aren't really meant for action photos. There's usually too much shutter lag, and if your camera doesn't have much in the way of manual control you may not be able to get the shutter speed fast enough. But, if you get lucky, sometimes you can get an action shot. This photo was taken as the bird was flying by. I was lucky that the shutter speed was fast enough to freeze him. He was far enough away that in the original photo he didn't occupy very much of the frame. This photo was made by viewing the original at 100% size then cropping a 1024 x 768 section centered on the bird. The combination of small sensor size and distance means the bird isn't very sharp, but at least you can tell it's a bird. According to the EXIF data, the shutter speed was 1/400 second and the ISO was 125, which is the lowest ISO this camera will use. The camera was also set to overexpose by 0.7 EV. The GPS recorded the location as 28° 9' 6.041" N 96° 58' 25.254" W. Just cut the coordinates from here and paste them into Google Maps. The recorded coordinates show the location a little west of the actual location. I was parked on the side of Lamar beach Road next to the water. The GPS can be very accurate. Many photos record the location exactly (or within a few feet) of where I was actually standing.

Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D

The Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D was one of only two digital SLR's that Minolta produced. The other was the Maxxum 5D. These cameras were produced right before Minolta sold their consumer camera business to Sony. I bought mine in 2005.

The Maxxum 7D has a 6-megapixel sensor. It is built on a magnesium alloy frame covered by a plastic body. The Maxxum 7D has an anti-shake feature built into the body which was unique for digital SLRs at the time. The anti-shake feature will continuously adjust the sensor position to reduce blur caused by camera movement. This works with almost every lens unlike other manufacturers who build image stablization or vibration reduction only into some lenses.

Here are a couple of reviews:

Steve's Digicams.

dpreview.com.

Here are a few photos that I have taken with the camera. These pictures are all resized to 1024 x 768 resolution from the original 10 megapixel images. I haven't included any technical details except those mentioned in the comments next to each picture.

Even though camera sensor density has increased over the last five years to the point where current APS-C sensor cameras are offering 16, 18, and maybe even 20 megapixels, I think the Maxxum 7D still does pretty well, at least for my purposes.

Click a photo to see the larger version. The large versions were resized from the original 6mp images to 1024 pixels wide.

	This was taken during the Waterworld show at Universal Studios. ISO400, f/16, 1/400s, +0.7ev. The lens used was the 18-200mm Tamron zoom lens.
	This was taken during the Waterworld show at Universal Studios. ISO400, f/6.3, 1/500s, +0.7ev. The lens used was the 18-200mm Tamron zoom lens.
	This was taken near the Pigeon Point Light Station in California.
	This was taken near the Pigeon Point Light Station in California.
	This was taken at the Matagorda Bay Nature and RV park near Matagorda, TX. Following birds in flight is more difficult that I thought, even big, slow ones.
	This was taken at the Matagorda Bay Nature and RV Park.
	This sequence of four photos was taken at the Matagorda Bay Nature and RV park. The bird was diving for fish but near as I could tell he came up empty-handed. I probably should have cropped the original photos to make the bird more visible, but I didn't.
	This was taken at the Matagorda Bay Nature and RV Park. He let me get to about 20 feet from him.
	This was taken at the Matagorda Bay Nature and RV Park.