Take A Cool Stand

A few months ago I happened to be at one of the local Dollar Stores. They do have some interesting end of line and overstock items for sale especially in their electrical and electronic aisles.

I have a NUE-PSK modem and compact keyboard combo for QRP portable ops with my trusty FT-817. It was always a pain propping the NUE-PSK modem at the correct angle for viewing the LCD screen until I found this iPad stand for the sum of $2CDN. It was a perfect fit for the modem and I could adjust the angle for best viewing.

I’ve seen these for sale on the internet for well over $20CDN so the Dollarama price is a steal. The stand is very well made – rubber coated steel so it is slip resistant and the locking knobs to a decent job of staying in position once locked. It’s a useful stand and can be used with a variety of QRP radios making it easy to see and adjust the various knobs from a comfortable angle.

You can see the detail close up to the right. Works great and I’ve got a couple of extra for future projects.

The NUE-PSK modem has been great for portable QRP operation. It is field upgradeable via a USB port and can be used in BPSK (PSK-31), QPSK, RTTY and CW. There are regular upgrades of new features and bug fixes from the NUE-PSK Digital modem website.

The modem and keyboard are powered from either and external 9V – 12V supply. A USB dongle is able to log call signs and QSOs so they can be transcribed to regular logs. The new Version 5 firmware adds a CW keyer to the modem. All in all it’s a nice portable package and frees you from lugging a heavy laptop to do digital modes in the field.