QSO Today Interview with Dale Parfitt W4OP

Eric Guth 4Z1UG interviewed Homebrew Hero Dale Parfitt W4OP on the QSO Today podcast.   The interview is really great.  Listen here: 

https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/W4OP

Wow, libration fading.  Who knew?  

Dale has appeared in many SolderSmoke bolg posts and podcasts.  He is definitely in the Homebrew Hero category.  

Check out some of those blog posts here: 
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=Parfitt

and here: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search/label/Parfitt--%20Dale

Thanks to Eric and Dale. 

The Woz on Technology, Surplus Parts, Intercoms, and Ham Radio

Thanks to Dan Random for alerting us to this.  During the first five minutes Woz talks about being an "electronics kid" and becoming a ham radio operator.  For me also, wired intercoms were a precursor to ham radio. 

More SolderSmoke blog posts on Steve Wozniak here: 
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search/label/Wozniak%20--%20Steve

The Homebrew Rigs I Worked During the First Day of Novice Rig Roundup (NRR)

The Thing-of-Beauty above is "The Scrounger" homebrew transmitter of Jon WS1K. Jon writes: 

The rig I used this morning was the Scrounger.  I built it a couple of weeks ago.  It took me about 2 months of trolling a local thrift store for the right pan. I wanted a pan that captured the spirit of a true Novice built rig.

As a side note, the key that I'm using is a JH Bunnell that I bought at one of the MIT flea markets last summer in Cambridge.  It's mounted on a piece of plywood and written on the plywood is the Novice callsign WN1UMD.  Cool or what?

More of Jon's rigs here: https://www.qrz.com/db/WS1K

Above is Greg Latta AA8V's amazing 6X2 superhet receiver: 

More details here:

https://www.frostburg.edu/personal/latta/ee/6x2rcvr/6x2rcvr.html

N2CQR Novice Rig Roundup Station

I actually used that Drake 2-B as a novice back in 1973-1974.   The HT-37 came a bit later. 

For the Novice Rig Roundup I used the beautiful key that Peter VK2EMU sent me.  Thanks again Peter.  

Novice Rig Roundup is a lot of fun.  I was on 40 CW in the old Novice band today.   Worked Greg AA8V who was using a homebrew superhet receiver -- that doesn't happen every day.  Another station asked a question that we don't hear much these days: "What are you running?"  

I will make some more contacts during the rest of the NRR period (scroll down to a recent blog post for more details).  I have my NRR serial number.  Thanks to the organizers for putting together this fun event. 

Boat Knack -- Rebuilding a 1910 yacht "Tally Ho"

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg-_lYeV8hBnDSay7nmphUA

I present this as part of our occasional series on people with other kinds of Knack.  The young Englishman in this series of videos is definitely in this category.  Watch him acquire the 1910 yacht "Tally Ho" for 1 pound sterling, transport it to Washington state,  SINGLE HANDEDLY  build a boat shed around the huge vessel, and carry out the restoration.  Oh yea, all the while shooting videos of his work. Great stuff.  

I advise you to watch the series from the beginning.   The next video in the series will load automatically. 

Be sure to subscribe the channel. 

Thanks to Ryan Flowers of https://miscdotgeek.com/ for alerting us to this. 

N3FJZ's Al Fresco. BITX-inspired, TIA. 50 Watt, SSB Rig (Video)

The last blog postings on Rick N3FJZ were in 2015.  Rick sent me a very uplifting reception report, then we had a pretty amazing Homebrew-to-Homebrew contact.  

Paul Taylor VK3HN yesterday alerted me to a new YouTube video that shows the progress Rick has made with his homebrew SSB rig.   

This is a great example of true amateur SSB construction.  Rick is making use of a combination of digital and analog technology.  He is adapting circuitry developed by others and using it to meet his needs.  During the development stage he is keeping the circuit open (Al Fresco) so that he can easily work on it.  

FB Rick.  

Novice Rig Round-Up -- March 7- March 15, 2020

I may go with my Drake 2B and HT-37.  But If I get ambitious (and masochistic) I might try to involve the Hallicrafters S-38E that has been torturing me lately.  And I do have a DX-40 on the shelf... 

Here is the announcement:  

http://www.novicerigroundup.org/

VE7SL has a really nice description of the event with great pictures: 

http://ve7sl.blogspot.com/2020/02/here-comes-novice-rig-roundup-nrr-2020.html

KG7TR Describes his Homebrew SSB Rigs (Video)

We have posted before on the amazing homebrew creations of Mike Bohn KG7TR. 

Today I watched this 54 minute video in which Mike describes his rigs. (Thanks to Pete Eaton, WB9FLW for pointing me to a site that has this video.)    

Quote from KG7TR:  "I have never destroyed a pristine Command Set." 

Wonderful tribal knowledge throughout, especially on the metal work, parts acquisition, front panel work and toroid placement. 

Clear you schedules.   This is really worth watching. 

How to Measure Output Impedance (video)

Thanks to Tony Fishpool G4WIF for alerting us to this very useful video by Alan Wolke W2AEW. 

Alan's video channel is a real treasure-trove for homebrewers.  

It was very cool to see "AEW" inscribed on the function generator that Alan built 30 years ago. 

Be sure to stay to the end of this video for some electronics humor from Alan.  (Steve Silverman:  Take note -- we might want to add this to the lexicon.) 

Now I'm going to search Alan's YouTube channel for a video on how to measure input impedance. 

From a Student of C.F. Rockey, W9SCH

C.F. Rockey W9SCH

We have discussed the monumental work of C.F. Rockey, W9SCH, SK before.  Yesterday a comment appeared under that post that is just too good to leave buried in the comments.  It appears below.   Jeff's comment also caused me to dig up my small collection of "The Five-Watter" issues from the Michigan QRP Club.  Rockey wrote a column for that magazine.  It contains a lot of tribal knowledge.  Here is Jeff's look back:  


This turned up for me in a Google search for "Charles Rockey QRP ARRL" during a phone call with a friend of mine who was bemoaning that he never got a novice license because he could not master Morse code (he is in his mid-60s, as am I). I was taken back to the communications electronics class I had my freshman year at New Trier East in Winnetka (not Wilmette) IL in 1971. That class was taught by none other than C.F. Rockey, known to us students as The Rock. I think about him fairly often because I grew up to become a very hands-on engineer and can recall parts of his class quite clearly, even at this remove. Somewhere I still have the reports we had to write (typed on a typewriter) each week. He was a huge influence on me and I was saddened to have his passing undeniably confirmed for me. I have the little chemistry book he authored beside me now *Electrons, Atoms and The World* and am glad to be able to read his obit. One thing needs to be added to it: He won the ARRL 5000 mile-per-watt award for working Anzio, Italy from his home north of Chicago on 5W. I am very lucky to have had him as a teacher and mentor for those years. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Jeff Mizener, DFW-TX