Just go to http://soldersmoke.com. On that archive page, just click on the blue hyperlinks and your audio player should play that episode.
http://soldersmoke.com
Lex PH2LB has been a valued member of the SolderSmoke team for a long time. It was he who took our stickers into the bars and coffee shops of Holland, spearheading our efforts on Continental Europe.
He didn't have to, but Lex took up the SolderSmoke Challenge. And he did it with panache. 3D yellow panache. Glue-stick panache!
Scott K1OA has been a licensed ham for more than 50 years, but he tells us that this was his first Manhattan-style project. He reports having built a lot of kits and even a DC receiver from EMRFD using an SA602 chip, but he says the SolderSmoke direct conversion receiver was the most fun. That comment meant a lot to us. We continue to believe there is value in homebrewing from scratch.
Scott writes:
Hi Bill,
This will be my 50th year as a licensed ham and my first
Manhattan style project. I've built a dozen kits in the past
15 years or so and bread-boarded a simple crystal
controlled DCR from a circuit in EMRFD
using an SA602, but the Soldersmoke DCR
challenge has been the most fun!
The most challenging aspect has been trying to get the
PTO tuning range close to 7-7.3 MHz. I'm still
experimenting with that.Audio output is loud and
sensitivity is pretty good.
I'm thinking my next project might be a simple crystal
controlled CW transmitter to pair up with the DCR, and
considering the Pebble Crusher 1/2W design from the
ARRL Handbook that uses a pair of 2N2222A
transistors. I'm interested in your thoughts on that.
Thanks for putting forth the challenge and for all the
great support you and Dean have provided!
73,
Scott K1OA
p.s. - love the podcast and your Soldersmoke Adventures
book!
Thanks Scott and congratulations.
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For more information on how you too can build the receiver:
I was really pleased to see Juan LU2VJM's rapid completion of the SolderSmoke direct conversion receiver. But I wasn't really surprised -- Juan is an experienced homebrewer who has successfully completed Farhan's BITX transceiver. Juan and I talked about how it is worthwhile for even an experienced homebrewer to go back and build a direct conversion receiver. Farhan did this. Farhan said that we do this because we are tool makers. We have opposing thumbs that allow us to grab a soldering iron. Indeed. And you can hear the happiness in Juan's voice when he says in the video, "Today we have reception!" Excellent.
I was also pleased to see this receiver enter the Hall of Fame becasue this marks our first receiver from Latin America. We hope there will be many more.
Here are some pictures of Juan's receiver during construction:
Juan's AF Amplifier
Juan's Diplexer with homebrewed coil
Another shot of the AF amplifier
The mixer, getting ready for construction
The completed receiver. FB!
Thanks Juan! And congrastulations!
For more information on how you too can build the receiver:
Victor is a retired Electrical Engineer from the Netherlands. He doesn't have a ham radio call sign, but as I have said about other receiver builders, he deserves one. Note the truly homebrew approach that Victor used on the PTO coil form. And he had to rebuild this part to get the receiver on 40 meters. As we can see in the above video, Victor's homebrew receiver is pulling in stations from across Europe. Victor even reports hearing a Japanese station. FB!
Victor writes:
Hi Bill, I changed the PTO tuning unit, more stable this way. I m a retired electrical engineer, revamping on a more daily basis tube radios from the 50's 😉 I include a Bluetooth interface too so they can be used again by "young" people with their smartphones.. I had great fun and learning experiences building the DCR !!
Thanks for the video, pictures, and messages Victor. Congratulations!
For more information on how you too can build the receiver:
As with Chris, if there was any justice in the world, Garry would be issued a ham license based solely on this receiver build. He has done something that 95% of hams have never done: he built a receiver!
Congratulations Garry!
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For more information on how you too can build the receiver:
I didn't realize that "tapesponding" had become so widespread. I know of two very prominent homebrewers (one now a Silent Key) who exchanged tapes. When I learned of this I asked if those tapes (which would have been a real treasure) were still around. Sadly, they had been destroyed, as, I suspect, were most of the tapes mentioned in this video.
I sometimes think that some of the on-the-air conversations about tech topics really should be saved for posterity (most conversations clearly should NOT be saved!). The internet provides a great forum for this kind of preservation. This happens, but only very sporadically and mostly in the AM world.
Wow, you can see the look of homebrew satisfaction as Nate works Idaho from California with his homebrew Double Sideband Transceiver. It is a good thing that Nate got that frying pan into the shack before he was banned from the kitchen.
Nate writes:
I finally got my DCR to be a DSB transceiver. I had a lot of trouble with transmitted RF getting back in to the VFO and causing distortion. While I imagine I could have tried putting the VFO in metal box, I instead opted to move the VFO to a 4.7-5 MHz range and then mix that with a 12 MHz crystal oscillator. Now the VFO is at a frequency unaffected by transmit RF. This mixer and crystal oscillator are on the breadboard and from SSDRA. The transmit amplifier chain was taken from Fahran's Daylight Again radio. I just got a 570 mile contact on 5 watts - conditions are good. If there is interest let me know and I'll share my schematic.
-------------------
I looked this morning and I have 100 DSB posts on the SolderSmoke blog. There are lots of ideas there on how to homebrew for DSB, many of them from Cuba, many covering DSB rigs that I built in the Azores, and others that I used in the Dominican Republic. Check it out:
Dallas is a friend of Lyle WZ5M -- Lyle encouraged him to build this receiver. Dallas's son is also working on a receiver -- we hope to see that one completed soon.
FB Dallas and congratulations.
For more information on how you too can build the receiver:
Lyle WZ5M did a great job on his receiver, and in the finest ham radio tradition encouraged two other builders to take up the SolderSmoke challenge. FB Lyle. I really like your receiver. That looks like a genuine pine board. Frank Jones would approve.
73 and congratulations!
For more information on how you too can build the receiver:
"SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" is now available as an e-book for Amazon's Kindle.
Here's the site:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V9FIVW
Bill's OTHER Book (Warning: Not About Radio)
Click on the image to learn more
Where are the readers of SolderSmoke Daily News?
Pete Juliano N6QW
Master Homebrewer
Dean Souleles KK4DAS
With beret and with a Michigan Mighty Mite in hand
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