Claude Makes a Video About N2CQR calling KK4DAS

Quick!  Before Claude turns us all into paper clips!   

I guess this is part of a series.  First we had Notebook LLM making a podcast about SolderSmoke.   Then Peter Marks VK3TPM had Claude (I think) give us an AI version of Pete N6QW talking about circuits.  

Now we have (above) a Claude-produced video of KK4DAS in contact with me, N2CQR.  Claude (and KK4DAS!) did all the heavy lifting.  I think it looks pretty good for something that never really happened.  

What do you guys think?  We may be getting closer to the day where we can have Pete N6QW on video, convincingly singing the praises of LC VFOs and bad-mouthing the Si5351.  That will be a momentous day indeed.   Paper clips may soon follow!    

Please put your comments below.   

Why Chip Circuits Can Never be Truly Homebrew: ASML's Amazing Photolithography -- Please Comment

 As I watched this video, I had many thoughts.   Here are some of them: 

1)  The complexity of the ASML machine is a reminder of how far IC technology has moved from the world of homebrew ham radio.  I know others will take different views, but for me, it is a reminder that these chips -- which are now commonly used in cell phones, for example -- have no real place in rigs that we would call homebrew. 

2) The technology they use is really amazing.  Laser lights hitting tin droplets three times as the tin falls. Explosions inside the machine that are like miniature super novae. 

3) Older guys play a big role in all of this.  

4) All the attention today is focused on AI and data centers.  But the tech there seems simplistic when compared to the ASML machines that make the chips.  

Please watch the Veritasium video that appears above.  Then please put you comments in the space below.  

Inside the NUVISTOR! Making a 555 Timer with Nuvistors!

This video is very cool.  When I saw them crack open a NUVISTOR, I should have known that this was Eric from CuriousMarc.  And it is!  

Here is the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TubeTimeUS

And here is my video about the NUVISTORS in my 2 meter receive convertor: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2026/07/my-parks-2-meter-nuvistor-converter-qst.html

Thanks Eric! 

Helge LA6NCA Builds a One Tube CW Transceiver -- And Makes a Contact!

Helge has done it again!  He has shown us the benefits of homebrew CW.  And he has done it with one tube.  FB Helge. 

Of course, I really liked the wooden box.  His is a lot nicer looking than mine.  I also liked how he carefully laid out the parts -- I seem to be stuck in my 13 year-old "build then design" mode.  Helge's way of doing it is better: design, build.   In that order! 

Some will quibble about a lack of 700 Hz offset between transmit and recieve.  With a VFO rig, this could lead to the stations chasing each other across the band.  But Helge is crystal controlled here, so I don't see a problem.  Is that right?  Please comment below. 

Thank you Helge for another great rig, a great schematic, and for showing us your obvious joy at reaching 400 km across the sea to your friend in Norway.  FB! 

The Roman Space Telescope

The New York Times reported today that you would need HALF A MILLION high definition TVs to display just one image from the Roman Space Telescope in full.  Wow. 

The telescope will be at L2. 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Grace_Roman_Space_Telescope

KW4H -- Steve -- "Knobs > Menus"

 

I really like the "KNOBS are greater than MENUS" sign.  For years we have been saying that menus are for restaurants.  FB Steve.  

Steve's resotation man-cave is very interesting, as are the rigs he has on the shelf or on the bench.  Lots of good work is obviously being done there.  

I also have one of those KP4USA QSL cards. Steve and I got into ham radio at around the same time, so it is possible that he was on the other end of that QSO.  I will check. 

Check out Steve's QRZ page: https://www.qrz.com/db/KW4H

W9TH - Jeff -- Shames Me Into Building a 6T9er -- "You Have No Excuse"

 

First off, that my friends is a ham radio shack.  Note the many books.  And the many Heathkit HW-8s and at least one HW-7. There is a 'scope.  And sig gens.  And a vise!  This is a thing of beauty.  

Jeff sent me a KiCad circuit board for an 6T9 transmitter.  He heard me moaning about it on the SolderSmoke podcast.   As he notes, I no longer have an excuse not to build this things.  The Radio Gods are demanding it.  Who am I to say no? 

Check out Jeff's QRZ page: https://www.qrz.com/db/W9TH

And his website: http://w9th.com/     (QRP before QRP was cool!) 

Thanks Jeff! 

"Solvitur ambulando." Latin for "It is solved by walking."

We've been proponents of this idea for a long time:  Essentially it is that sometimes you have to at least temporarily put a hard technical problem on hold.  Sometimes you need to just STOP working on the problem, put the rig on the shelf, and go out and take a walk.  Or, perhaps, a hike. 

In the travel section of the New York Times today, I found this phrase from Latin: "solvitur ambulando."  It was in an atricle by one of my favorite authors, Paul Theroux. One of his his novels, "The London Embassy" was eerily true to life, and had me thinking that the house he described was, in fact, the house in London that I was living in.  Paul has been at it for so long that, frankly, I thought he was gone.  I was delighted to learn that he is not, and that he is still writing books. 

Theroux wrote, "Is something fuddled in your mind? Searching for an idea? Then lace your boots, leave the house, and set off alone: Chances are you will find the answer along the way.  This remedy (attributed variously to Diogenes the Cynic and St. Augustine) is one that all true piligrims know, and in many respects serious hikers are the modern embodiment of medieval pilgrims."  

Indeed, if the solution is fuddled in your mind and you are searching for an idea, take a break, do something different.  Take a walk: "solvitur ambulando." 

Keeping the Voyager Spacecraft Alive

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/science/nasa-voyagers-big-bang.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8VA.nYO7.tliu0Kleh5vJ&smid=url-share

Here is a really nice New York Times story about NASA efforts to keep the Voyager spacecraft alive.  They are approaching 50 years old. They are very far away.  They are running low on the plutonium that keeps them warm and powered.  The fuel for the thrusters is starting to clog the pipes.  But NASA recently carried out a "Big Bang" effort to extend the life of these two spaccraft. 

One of the 25 year-old engineers admitted that he treats the Voyagers like he treats his aging parents -- problems do crop up.  But then he was reminded that his parents had been born AFTER the launch of the Voyagers.  

The animation above shows where the two spacecraft are, and where they have been. 

Solid State Transformers -- Are the small DC supplies from Amazon small versions of what we need?

The algorithm seems to KNOW what I have been reading.  This week the New York Times Sunday magazine had a really frightening story about the vulnerabilities of the U.S. electrical grid.  The big vulnerability is the large transformers.  They are very very hard to replace.  Replacement takes years.  If something were to happen to only a few of these transformers, the U.S. could be plunged into an apocalyptic power outage.  This is not theoretical stuff.  People in the U.S. have been taking out transformers with high powered rifles.  What is that old saying about people who live glass houses?   Well it appears we live in one. 

The NYT article ended with one optimistic note:  Solid State Transformers.  These are being used in the AI Data Centers.  Asianometry took a look at these devices -- I really like his YouTube channel, but I think he missed the big down-side of old clunky tranformers: their extreme vulnerability.  

One additional ham radio note:  Pete N6QW, Grayson KJ7UM and Helge LA6NCA have recently been using very small high voltage power supplies.  Back in the day,  thermatron rigs required much larger transformers.  Are these tiny DC supplies small versions of the Solid State Transformers discussed in the NYT article and the Asianometry video?   

First Earth-Moon-Earth Echoes: 1946 from New Jersey on 111.5 MHz using Military Radar Gear

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/project-diana-moon-and-soviet-union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Diana

Maxwell's Equations Explained

I really liked this one, and the follow-on videos show a lot of promise.  The maker starts with the four equations that we see on T shirts.  He admits that at the time he first saw them, he did not understand.  But in this video, he digs in, and finally gets it.  The connection between Maxwell's equations and C (the speed of light) are especially well presented.  

There is a document that goes quite a bit further, and explores the connections between Maxwell's equations and quantum mechanics.  It is by that wonderful physicist Freeman Dyson. It is entitled "Why is Maxwell's  theory so hard to understand?" Check it out: 

https://davidtong.org/pdfs/teaching/electromagnetism/dyson.pdf