Chris KD4PBJ is one of SolderSmoke's most loyal fans. Over the years Chris has supplied many of the parts and ideas used in SolderSmoke projects. We were really delighted when Chris took on the Direct Conversion challenge. As you can see, his build was superb.
Chris had promissed to have the receiver completed by September 2, 2025. As it happens, that was the day of some very powerful solar activity and very poor band conditions. So the video above doesn't really do justice to Chris's receiver. We hope he will send us some more video, perhaps under better conditions, and perhaps with some more SSB.
As you can see from this message from Chris in mid-July, he is a busy guy. We were pleased that he found time to build this receiver. Chris wrote
Good Morning guys!
I spent my July 4 weekend and 1200 round trip miles heading up to Richmond to pick up two 50 watt decommissioned airport non directional beacons that I hope to get working on either the 630m or 2200m bands. I'll most likely just use the amplifier, power supply and matching sections as they are modulated CW which isn't permitted.
At least I have a nice high current power supply, outdoor enclosure and inner workings. I was told one worked and one doesn't.
I got them off eBay and the seller is a television engineer in Richmond named Greg. He listens to Soldersmoke too and is a builder like I am.
He said these are government surplus from a place called Camp Peary in VA.
The DC receiver is still coming along, I've just been overwhelmed with things on my to do list as well as a new job (learning lots about high power lasers) so I promise it will get done soon.
Chris
Here are a couple of pictures of Chris's receiver. Thanks Chris, and Welcome to the Hall of Fame.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment