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Sunday, May 26, 2019

DIY Waterfall -- A Quick and Easy Panadaptor Using a Sig Gen and O'scope (video)



I've been getting waterfall envy.  The panoramic frequency display is the one thing that could lure me to the dark side (SDR).   Heck, they now have 3D waterfalls!  What next?  Holographic waterfalls? Virtual reality waterfalls?  This is almost too much. 

Anyway, in an effort to counteract all of this waterfall seduction and to show that us analog HDR guys can go panoramic too, I decided to try to create my own panoramic display without resort to SDR.  

Of course, this is a very old technique.  It was invented in the 1930s by Marcel Wallace, F3HM.  He was the inventor of the Panadaptor which was the forerunner of today's waterfall.  Panoramic reception was used by the armed forces during WWII.  In 1946 Hallicrafters marketed a Panadaptor for its ham radio receivers (see below). 

In figuring out how to do this, I thought back to my use of my Feeltech signal generator to scan the response of a crystal filter.  The Feeltech has a very handy sweep feature.  

In this case I set up the Feeltech to sweep from 4.85 MHz to 4.75 MHz in one second.   With the 12 MHz IF of the BITX40 module, this would result in a sweep from 7.150 to 7.250 MHz. 

The sweeping Feeltech just replaced the VFO on my BITX.   I hooked up the Rigol oscilloscope to the audio output of the BITX.  I set the horizontal scan rate at 100 ms per cm.  This would have the trace go across the whole screen in 1.2 seconds. 

After a bit of fiddling, I could see signals on the 40 meter phone band.  But my display would kind of drift along the screen making it hard to know the frequency of the signals I was seeing. 

Alan Wolke W2AEW provided the solution.   He advised me to put a big stable signal at 7.150 MHz near the input of the BITX, then use this strong signal to trigger the 'scope scan.  The HP8640B signal generator that Steve Silverman gave me (and that Dave W2DAB picked up for me in NYC) provided the triggering signal.  

I put a piece of tape across the bottom of the scope display to calibrate the display.  See video above. 

It works!   It is not as cool as the SDR waterfalls, and it does not convey nearly as much information, but it was a fun project. 








Saturday, May 25, 2019

KJ5VW's Cool uBITX Mods (Video)



Beautiful work Gary, and great to see that you are putting ideas from Pete and from Don Cantrell in your rig.  

Gary wrote:
Don and Pete,

I thought you would be interested in the QRP station accessory I added to my version 3 microbitx transceiver.  In addition to using Don's AGC and Reverse/Forward Power and SWR  circuits, I developed another board using a separate Nano and TFT display to show day, date, time, temperature and humidity as well as showing the relative audio strength in three separate bands centered on 400 Hz, 1000 Hz and 2500 Hz.  In addition, when I put the transmitter in a 'tune' mode the power out and SWR will show on the TFT display as well.  The date, time, temperature and humidity information is updated once every minute, the audio is displayed continuously during receive and the power/swr is only displayed when the transmitter is activated.

The audio frequency analyzer is based on the MSGEQ7 microchip and it actually picks up the audio strength in 7 bands covering 63 hz to 16,000 hz.  I just display the three most likely to show up in a SSB transmission.  You can see a 'live' example near the end of the video showing a 20 meter QSO and how the audio strength by audio frequency varies over time.

This project falls into that 'frivolous but fun' category that was a challenge to design but I doubt many other hams would want to replicate it. I learned a lot and wanted to thank both of you for arduino scripts, useful circuits and lots of inspiration for getting started.  I have long admired the work both of you contribute to our hobby.

Here's the link to the YouTube video. 


73,  Gary KJ5VW

Friday, May 24, 2019

Nigerian Knack: Hope Emmanuel Frank



I hope this kid has a lot of success.  He definitely has The Knack. 

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

FDIM Interview with KI4IO -- Homebrew Direct Conversion Transceiver


I've been a big fan of Jerry's for several years.  He is the homebrew wizard of Warrenton, Va.  Warrention is just about 25 miles west of us.  Cappuccio the wonder-dog was born on a farm in Warrenton.  

I'm really glad that our ace correspondent Bob Crane W8SX caught up with Jerry at FDIM.  I liked his description of the joy of using a homebrew rig, and of the advantages of direct conversion.   Inspiring stuff!   Listen to the interview here:  

http://soldersmoke.com/KI4IO FDIM 2019.m4a


Be sure to check out the KI4IO page on QRZ.com

Monday, May 20, 2019

Woz on the air -- Age 11


We discussed Steve Wozniak's early involvment in ham radio here: 
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2011/12/wozs-early-exposure-to-electronics.html

Thanks to the K9YA Telegraph for relaying this great picture. 

Sunday, May 19, 2019

FDIM Interview with Hans Summers G0UPL on QSX SDR Rig, Probable Price, Features


Wow, our ace correspondent in Dayton/Xenia Ohio, Bob Crane W8SX, did a great interview with homebrew hero Hans Summers G0UPL.  

Hans discusses the success of the QCX CW phasing rig -- more than 7,300 sold.  That's amazing.  I didn't think there were that many solder melters in the world.  

Even more amazing is his description of his QSX SSB SDR rig, which is currently in development.  Click on the link below to listen to Bob's 6 minute interview.  You will be blown away by the features and the price of the QSX.  Go Hans!  

http://soldersmoke.com/G0UPL FDIM 2019.m4a

Thanks Bob! 


Designer: Douglas Bowman | Dimodifikasi oleh Abdul Munir Original Posting Rounders 3 Column