New Zealand and Australia seem to produce an amazingly high percentage of the world's double sideband transceivers. Charlie ZL2CTM adds to the count. He took inspiration and circuitry from DSB hams in both countries and produced this beautiful DSB transceiver. It is obviously -- as Charlie notes -- chock full of soul. I definitely identify with his comment about "taming some kind of electro-mechanical machine" and also, of course, with his remark about the feelings that come with putting a homebrew rig on the air. So follow the advice of Charlie! Build a DSB rig and put it on the air! Make this your ham radio resolution for 2016! Give it a go!
Podcasting since 2005! Listen to Latest SolderSmoke
Monday, January 4, 2016
ZL2CTM's New Zealand Double Sideband Success
New Zealand and Australia seem to produce an amazingly high percentage of the world's double sideband transceivers. Charlie ZL2CTM adds to the count. He took inspiration and circuitry from DSB hams in both countries and produced this beautiful DSB transceiver. It is obviously -- as Charlie notes -- chock full of soul. I definitely identify with his comment about "taming some kind of electro-mechanical machine" and also, of course, with his remark about the feelings that come with putting a homebrew rig on the air. So follow the advice of Charlie! Build a DSB rig and put it on the air! Make this your ham radio resolution for 2016! Give it a go!
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
ZL2CTM Charlie Morris on "QSO Today" with Eric Guth 4Z1UG
Eric Guth 4Z1UG had a really nice interview with our friend Charlie Morris ZL2CTM. Charlie shared with Eric a lot of wisdom about how to homebrew radio gear. I especially liked Charlie's comments on keeping most of his rigs on the wooden prototype boards. He said something important when he talked about the benefits of taking a break from a difficult problem, then coming back to it with a rested and refreshed mind. I noted, however, that he said most of these frustrating problems have to do with software.
I got got several chuckles out of Charlie's comments on the difficulty of building stable analog LC VFOs (here he seemed to be channeling our good friend Pete Juliano). I chuckled because as I listened I was happily building the analog LC VFO for my Q-31 Quarantine receiver. The centerpiece of this project is a variable capacitor that Pete gave me; Pete took it out of an old Galaxy V transceiver. Believe me guys, no rotary encoder could possibly look as nice or have as much soul as that capacitor from Pete, with all its gears, reduction drives, and anti-backlash mechanisms. It even smells of machine oil. Call me a Luddite, but I will stick with the coils and capacitors.
Listen to the interview here:
https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/zl2ctm
Thanks to Charlie and Eric.
Sunday, December 8, 2019
ZL2CTM's Inspirational Tramping Transceivers (videos)
Charlie Morris ZL2CTM is working on portable (tramping) transceivers. Check out his amazing and innovative enclosures and circuit boards. Really nice. A great way to keep that beautiful circuitry visible.
More details on Charlie's blog:
https://zl2ctm.blogspot.com/2019/12/40m-ssb-tramping-rig.html
Thanks Charlie. Happy trails! 73
Saturday, March 6, 2021
ZL2CTM's Simple SSB Transceiver
Friday, October 28, 2016
Another Great DSB rig from New Zealand
Saturday, February 13, 2016
ZL2CTM's Teensy SDR SSB Superhet -- Very Cool
Hi Bill
I thought I would drop you a quick line to show you something I have been playing around with for the past couple of weeks. It's a SSB superhet using a PJRC Teensy 3.1 microcontroller (YouTube link below), and a great audio library by Paul Stroffregen. Suffice to say I'm really happy with it.
Saturday, March 20, 2021
SolderSmoke Podcast #229 -- G2NJ Trophy, SDR, HDR, CW! Mailbag
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke229.mp3
-- G2NJ Trophy is awarded to Pete Juliano, N6QW.
-- Get your vaccine shot as soon as you can!
-- More from "Conquering the Electron" by Derek Cheung.
-- Bad fire in the chip factory. Such a shame. Sad! I had NOTHING to do with it. I was home that day. I can prove it.
-- Bezos is not such a bad guy. Turns out he is a space-geek.
-- Perseverance was the big space news. Very cool.
Pete's bench:
Raspberry Pi vs.
Microcontrollers
Treedix display
Conversion of the Dentron Scout
CW rigs?
6L6 on a wooden chassis
SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION-
I NEED TO BUILD UP TIME VIEWERS VIEW MY VIDEOS: So please watch!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC20TcdWSSFliMhg3k2A1a5w
-- Our Patreon sponsors get an early look at our YouTube content. So please, consider
becoming a Patreon sponsor.
-- Please continue to use the Amazon search engine on the blog page (upper right).
Bill's bench:
Hodgepodge:
-- BITX40
Module.
-- Ramseykit
Amp.
-- San Jian
counter,
-- CW using 750 Hz
oscillator.
-- RF-actuated piezo
buzzer.
-- SDR! SDR using PC and tablet.
-- Checking the output
with SDR.
-- Moving the carrier
osc frequency.
Also, I put the Fish Soup 10 back on the air. Nice contacts under 200 mw.
Up next: A rig for 80/75 and 20 meters. Single Conversion. Using VFO from a Yaesu FT101 that runs 8.7 – 9.2 Mhz. Quiz question: What IF should I use?
MAILBAG
Mark Zelesky sent me wood tokens with power and Ohm's law formulae. Thanks!
Scott WA9WFA Built a
really nice Mate for Mighty Midget RX – getting it going!
Tryg EI7CLB found
board of his George Dobbs Ladybird RX.
Rebuild it OM!
Tom WX2J – We talked
about “No lids, no kids, no space cadets” nastiness.
Nick M0NTV about
sideband inversion. I like the simple
rule about subtraction.
Jonathan M0JGH – Always listen to Pete. Got married, has mixing product. Leo?
Mike AE0IH. Dad used a BC-348 in the service. Looking for
one. FB.
Adam N0ZIB – “Silent
Shep” site --- with some ham radio shows I had not seen.
Walter KA4KXX in
Orlando has a similar subtraction problem with San Jian counter.
Bill N5ALO sent me a
really nice KLH speaker. I’m using it
now.
Jason N2NLY –
interested in building SSB transceiver.
One step at a time OM…
Trevor in Annapolis
sent xcsd cartoon that really hit home.
Farhan is doing OK in
India, diligently protecting his family from the virus.
Peter VK2EMU also
doing well.
Dave AA7EE Casually
killed a DC receiver in Hollywood, and disposed of the remains.
Charlie ZL2CTM doing
great things with simple SSB. Blogpost.
Phil VK8MC in Darwin sends article on "Mend not End" battle against planned obsolescence.
Bob KY3R re my SDR adventures, asked if I’ve had a recent medical/psychiatric evaluation.
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Nick's "Shelf-17" Al Fresco Homebrew Transceiver -- Frank Jones Would Approve!
Monday, August 14, 2017
ZL2CTM's Homebrew Transceiver Project
Wow, Charlie has a lot of very cool ideas in this initial video. Some suggestions:
-- With the IRF-510 in the final, beef up the heatsink, and follow Farhan's lead by including an option for 24 volts on the drain. That would take you up to 20 watts or so (for those who are so inclined).
-- Could that Teensy SDR board work at the IF frequency? If so, consider putting it ahead of the crystal filter. This would enable us all to join the Waterfall Signal Purity Police Force.
-- I love the OLEDs too, but I found them to be noisy. I minimized the noise with shielding around the OLED and active decoupling on the power line to the AF amplifiers.
More of Charlie's work here:
https://plus.google.com/107506245856154702088
Saturday, November 6, 2021
M0NTV's "Crystal Filters for the Fearful" (video)
Thursday, May 14, 2020
N5GTF's FULLY INDOOR Quarantine Receiver and Antenna
Monday, February 22, 2016
SolderSmoke Podcast 185 -- SPECIAL FEBRUARY ANTENNA SHOW
SolderSmoke Podcast #185 is available
22 Feb 2016
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke185.mp3
Travelogue: 550 feet above Washington DC
Bench reports
Pete: Simpleceiver update. Adventures in Raspberry Pi SDR.
Bill: A daring but failed attempt at divide by 2 I&Q.
Audio Mods on the Hammarlund HQ-100.
Dual Digital Readout for the AM station.
SPECIAL FEBRUARY ANTENNA DISCUSSION
Why we build antennas in February.
Why hams should concentrate on antennas.
The importance of noodling.
Pete's beam project.
Pete's Lazy H.
The pernicious influence of automatic antenna tuners.
Bill's Ray Gun Antenna.
Bill's Moxon and his 160 inverted L.
MAILBAG
Tom Gallagher NY2RF (new ARRL Exec VP).
Mike Rainey AA1TJ on the air with a unijunction transistor.
Dale W9DKB sends me 160 meter book.
Alan Wolke W2AEW builds a Mighty Mite.
Daniel HK4DEI builds a DSB rig in Medellin.
Chris KD4PBJ modulates an AD9850.
Charlie ZL2CTM Builds a Teensy Superhet.
Jim W8NSA -- a Tek 465 goes toes up.
Thomas KK6AHT has roof, needs antenna!
Grayson TA2ZGE homebrewing crystal filters in Ankara.
Ian G3ROO and I had QRP QSO in 2001!
Steven G7VFy sent me a box of VALVES.
Frank KM4AXA repairs a rig and thus adds SOUL to the machine.