Pete's 17 Meter VXO Transceiver (Video)

Pete:  

I like it!  You and I may be the only people in the world with that kind of VXO range control switch on the front panel!

 

I checked my VXO.   I run it at around 23 MHz.  I use two single crystals, also switched by a relay. 

The 23.144 rock tunes from 23.127 to 23.151    24 kHz

The 23.166 rock goes from  23.144 to 23.168    24 kHz

 So I could have had 48 kHz were it not for the overlap.  As it is, I get 41 kHz.  Not bad.

 

The reason I went with this LO freq was that I had these crystals from the Dale Parfitt/Doug DeMaw Barebones Barbados Receiver.  DeMaw had used color burst rocks for a 3.579 MHz IF, but Dale shifted up to 5 MHz. I could occasionally hear WWV!  (But with the 3.579 I heard W1AW in the IF!)

 

73

 

Bill  

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Homebrew Double Balanced Mixers by Pete Juiano (Part II) Video

Another great video from Pete.  I like the unbalancing mod -- I hate having to whistle into the mic!

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Hacker with The Knack Does Well, Working for JPL

Wow.  This guy has a really inspirational Knack story.  He welded (with coat hangers!) a sidecar onto his bike when he was a kid.  He majored in Physics and Theater.  He did all kinds of hardware and software hacks. He plays a Theravin in a band.   He now flies spacecraft for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

And Congratulations to Peter Parker, VK3YE, for having one of his ingenious hacks picked up by Hackaday:
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/06/dusty-junk-bin-downconverter-receives-fm-on-an-am-radio/

Thanks Hackaday! And Happy Tenth Birthday to You!  

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Edison is Off The Grid (and has been for 24 years!)

I talked to him last night on 17 meters.  He's a nice fellow.  When your first name is Edison, that's an indication that you might have THE KNACK.   

From his QRZ page: 

Ready for this?
My wife and I have lived off-the-grid for more than 24 years. Solar and wind are our main power sources on our mountain, although, we did finally add a generator to our available power sources, for those long days of "NO SUN" in Winter.  Check out the view from my home at this site:  http://mycampage.com/rosevalleycam  and also look at the other links on the page.  You might find something you like....
I've been a ham since 1967.  Started as a Novice near Sacramento, California, where I was born. But WN6FIC soon became WA6FIC, which I remained until the late 90's, when I became N7GCW.
I am a musician. Along with my wife, and Blaine Lindgren, our fiddle player, we comprise the band called "Half-way There". Click on my campage link to see more about me, and you will find all of my other links there too.  I am also a photographer. I shoot it all, but REALLY enjoy taking pictures of scenery, and live bands at Concerts we go to. I am also very fond of Sunrises, and Sunsets, and they ARE beautiful here.....

Also, check out his TREK page: 
http://n7gcwtrek.weebly.com/index.html

And I liked his description of his county in Washington state: 
"...I absolutely LOVE my world, here in our little valley.  Our friends are like family here.  People smile and wave...and mean it!  We heat exclusively with wood we cut from dead trees on our land, use propane for cooking and refrigeration, and we use solar and wind for most of our power needs, only supplemented by a generator in those long days of no-sun in Winter.  It's like living in a time warp, here in our neck-of-the-woods....  Do you know that there isn't a traffic signal in the entire county?" 
See: http://edisonshomesite.weebly.com/

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Pete's Homebrew Double Balanced Mixer Video (Part 1)

Another great video from the famed Italian Director Giovanni Manzoni!  Bravo Giovanni! 

Pete's discussion of double balanced mixers and the associated toroids has made me feel uneasy about my efforts in this area.  I wonder if my diodes were completely matched.  And I KNOW that my toroids are not as well done as Pete's.  

I recently put an SBL-1 into my old, long-evolving 20 meter ceramic resonator DSB rig. Careful with those nice little boxes! A bit too much juice and you can fry the little internal toroids (as I have done!). 

A while back I found in an RSGB Handbook a nice diagram showing how the diode ring mixer does its thing: 


 Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

SolderSmoke Podcast 166: Getting Started in Homebrew Radio

SolderSmoke Podcast 166 is available for download: 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke166.mp3 

Bench Report:  Pete working on Direct Conversion Receivers.  
Bill on his 2B and on 20DSB rig, and an M0XPD/Kanga DDS kit, and a 140 watt amp. 

GETTING STARTED IN HOMEBREW:
Start simple:  Build an oscillator. Make it oscillate!
Gather tools, simple test gear, and books. 
Try to understand what you build. 
Build a direct conversion receiver.  
Don't fear the toroids! 
Be patient.  This is not Plug and Play. 
Build a DSB transceiver. 
Little tips: 
Protect variable caps. 
Use heat sinks. 
Use reverse polarity protection. 
Don't breathe the solder smoke! Ventilate your bench.

China Radio International Mystery Solved.  
Book Recommendation:  "International QRP Collection" by Dobbs and Telenius-Lowe
MAILBAG

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Sines, Squares, Harmonics, 'Scopes, FFTs, and Sounds

Bil Herd of Hackaday did a very nice video on Sine Waves, Square Waves and FFTs.  This is, of course, an important part of understanding how mixers mix.   I look forward to his upcoming video on Direct Digital Synthesis.  

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Hunting for Sprites

Don't let the comments about "positive lightning" and "gravity wave" cameras turn you off -- in the world of meteorology, these terms seem to make sense (but I had to do some Googling).  The New York Times article on this topic is very interesting: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/science/on-the-hunt-for-a-sprite-on-a-midsummers-night.html?_r=0  

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Beautiful Pictures of Mars from India's Spacecraft

Congratulations to the Indian Space Research Organization.  They put a spacecraft into Mars orbit on their first attempt, and they are getting back some spectacular images.  

I also like the banner on their web site: 

More info here: 

http://www.isro.org/pslv-c25/Imagegallery/mom-images.aspx

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Don't miss Thomas and his Minima at Pacificon!

Thanks for the kind words Thomas.  Be sure to have someone do a video of your presentation.

You truly have The Knack -- proof of this is your reaction to your wife's departure for field research in Senegal:  "IT'S SOLDER TIME!"  That's the spirit! 

Too bad about the chickens, but hey, they died for a good cause... 


Dear Bill,

I have been listening to your podcast for about a year now. I think you were right to say that one episode a month is a reasonable limit to avoid listeners getting addicted. At some point in January I was listening to you every morning and every evening in my car, a very serious case of addiction.

This is also the time that Farhan chose to announce the Minima and my wife to go to Senegal for 3 months for a field study (she is doing a PhD in Sociology). I think it took me less than a week to run to the shop, get most of the parts and start melting solder!

In two weeks from today I will present the project and my build at Pacificon. I would really appreciate if you could mention this on your blog because I am sure there are other listeners who will be there and curious for some homebrewing-materials. I hope to delight them!

For your own pleasure there are some pictures and videos on my blog: http://www.sarfata.org/ham/minima/ 

Pacificon Schedule:  http://pacificon.org/ (My talk will be at 10:45 in the Portland room)

My presentation will retrace my journey building the minima. From the first smokes on the crystal filter when I was not even sure how to test it, or what results to look for ; to the amplifier where I am still battling some oscillations (by the way, if you had not talked so much about them, I would never have understood what was going on!).

This project has taught me that radio is a lot less black magic than I thought. It bridged the gap between the maths that I can understand but not really "see" and the sound coming out of the amplifier. It made me realize that once split into stages, a radio is much better understood and testable. Without a doubt, this has been my most ham-enriching experience and I hope to convince more people to build a minima, preferably Manhattan style! 

(In this public setting, I will probably not discuss killing chickens to exorcize my amplifier but I thank you for the tip ...)

I got pulled back from homebrewing by life and work this summer but I kept the last three episodes of Soldersmoke on my phone. They were my safety parachute and I listened to them last week on the way home to give me the extra boost that gets me to melt solder or fix bugs until 3 in the morning on a tuesday. I don't think I will ever be able to express my gratitude for all that I have learnt reading the book and listening to you but I would like to start here: Thank you!

Please keep the podcast going! I have really enjoyed the new format with Pete. 

73,
thomas
kk6aht / f4hdq


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20