SolderSmoke Daily News

Thursday, April 23, 2026

SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver -- Total Receivers Built: 131. 123 plus 8 honorable mentions. Total Count: 131. Receivers built in 19 countries.

The Chuck Adams Build of the SolderSmoke DC RX

Please let us know if you spot any errors, or if we have inadvertently missed anyone. Don't worry about being late to the game -- the challenge continues. All of the info is still available.

As of April 23, 2026 0824Z:

So far, total receivers built: 131. 123 plus 8 honorable mentions. Total Count: 131. Receivers built in 19 countries.

NE3U (KY4EOD) Matt

KQ4AOP First ham signals ever heard!

N9TD Derek

AC3NG Ryan

VK3TPM Peter Marks

W4KAC Ken

W4KAC Ken built a second one!

N2EPE Erik

VA3NCA Wayde (Canada)

KI5SRY Mark -- Gears on PTO screw

KA1MUQ Frying pan receiver

AA1N Adam

ZL1AUN Aaron -- Using SSB transmitter -- (New Zealand)

W8UC Never before homebrewed.

VK4PG Phil -- Nice case, "really pleased"

G7LQX Working well, video of CW and SSB. -- (England)

KE2AMP John Spring on PTO screw -- great

N9SZ Steve nice receiver

KD9NHZ Piotr Nice one

KE8ICE Calvin, Very cool receiver.

WV3V Jayson! Got it done!

GM5JDG Martin. -- (Scotland)

KF8BOG Jim: A long struggle, but success.

Chris Wales Fantastic video. -- (Wales)

YD9BAX Wayan! Homebrew transformer! (Indonesia)

N0NQD Jeff

WN3F Roy -- Made new stickers!

AB5XQ Bill
KB7ZUT Andy
AA1OF Jer

VictorKees Holland (Netherlands)
KC9OJV John -- Manhattan-style convert
WZ5M 1, 2 or maybe even 3 receivers!
K1KJW Jim in Vermont
KC5DI Dallas -- friend of WZ5M
Gary Australian -- Wooden PTO form (Australia)
LU2VJM Juan in Argentina -- (Argentina)
K1OA Scott "Most fun in 50 years"
KC9DLM Ben -- Had EFHW problems
PH2LB Lex Yellow, Glue Stick -- (Netherlands)

AI6WR David
G6GEV Dave (It was a blast!) (England)
KC1ONM Wayne MakerLabs NH
KB1OIQ Andy MakerLabs NH
KA1PQK Jay MakerLabs NH
W1TKO Mike MakerLabs NH
K5KHK Karl
SM0TPW Mikael -- (Sweden)
KI7LKB Brian (coat hanger tube)
M6CRD Chris (England)

W2DAB Dave in NYC
W4JYK Wes of VWS
KA4CDN Mike of VWS
M7EFO Adrian
VK5RC Rob (Australia)
KD8KHP Dave
VK1CHW Chris (Australia)
KA0PHJ Brian
W0IT Louis
W1PJE Phil

W2AEW Alan
KN6FVK John (Barkhausen-Be-Gone Spray)
VU2JXN Ramakrishnan -- (India)
AA0MS Doug
9V1/KM7ABZ Paul -- (Singapore)
VK2BLQ Stephen -- (Australia)
N3FJZ Rick
Daniel VE5DLD -- (Canada)
Student 1 Student of VE5DLD
Student 2 Student of VE5DLD

Student 3 Student of VE5DLD

K7WXW Bill

NK3H Mitch

KN4ZXG Ted

WA1MAC Paul

N4AVC Chuck

K3IY Kevin

N6ASD Ashish in Bangalore (India)

W1DSP Rick

WD4CFN Steve

KM5Z Mike

KF5DAN Dan

Fritz Fritz

N9OK Joe

WA5DSS Bill

K0GDB Grant

G0JNR Shane Glow-in-Dark Coil Form

KK7BCO Tobias

K2BVR Bob

Robert Sutton

K5YFO Dave (Texas)

KD4PBJ Chris

KN4GAH Chris -- EE perspective

F1GMA Philippe -- (France)

W2TEF Todd

EI9ITB Karl -- (Ireland)

VU2TUM Puneit Singh (India)

AA7EE Dave Richards

KI5VIR Jay

CT7AXD Graham -- Promoted from Honorable Mention! (Portugal)

G3MOT Josh (England)

KW4H Steve

NJ7V Charlie (RedSummit)

N2ETZ Denny

AB9LM James

W9XT Gary

G0PJT Alex

KF8FZZ Tyler

N7HPR Steve (Instructor) (N7HPR Group)

Clark (N7HPR Group)

KQ4ZHO Kurt (N7HPR Group)

KQ4OBR Brian (N7HPR Group)

KR4CUF Justin (N7HPR Group)

Amanda (N7HPR Group)

David (N7HPR Group)

KM4AED Jamey (N7HPR Group)

KN4MVH Larry (N7HPR Group)

N5GVW Dick (N7HPR Group)

W7KAL Kal

KC9LFP Joe

SP9DEL Marian (Poland)

LB8VA Ivar (Norway)

AA7FO Chuck Adams!

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Honorable Mentions:

*AA7U Steve No PTO

*VK7IAN Ian -- No Manhattan boards -- (Tasmania)

*KC1FSZ Bruce's build on a PC board

* DL1AJG Andreas -- (Germany)

* Matthew Student of DL1AJG

* Arash Student of DL1AJG

*KA4KXX Walter -- FB 20 Meter version

*M9KCA-ST2NH Nader - LM386 in place of AF amp

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Nader M9KCA-ST2NH's Beautiful Build of the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver: NO SMOKE!

Nader wrote:

Hello everyone! After more than 30 years, I've rebuilt the DCR again. I wanted to share the fun of the 40m SolderSmoke DCR Challenge with all of you. It was a fantastic project — fully documented, with many people sharing their experiences online. I'm truly delighted to show you my prototype. The best part? It ran from the very first power-up — no smoke, no tuning needed! Yes, all on one board. The audio amp isn't quite ready to challenge the role yet, but it's still a lot of fun.

Nader's Sudanese callsign rang a bell with me. I had talked about him in SolderSmoke podcast #58 on May 13, 2007. Here it is: https://www.soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke58.mp3 And I included a long quote from him in the SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures book. So Nader is an old friend indeed.

He clearly built the receiver, with excellent results. He used the innards of a glue stick to build the support for the PTO inductor. But he has not yet built the three-transistor AF amplifier. So, in the interim, I am placing him in the "Honorable Mention" category. When he completes the AF amplifier, he will be promoted to full membership in the Hall of Fame.

The REALLY BIG Dish: China's Sky Eye

The technology used is really interesting, as is the struggle to maintain a radio quiet zone around the telescope. The limestone geology with lots of useful sinkholes was very helpful in selecting the site (we have similar geology in the Eastern part of the Dominican Republic). The contrasts with Arecibo are also quite telling.

Thanks to Rogier PA1ZZ for sending this.

Sunday, April 19, 2026

Dean KK4DAS and I Receive the G QRP G2NJ Trophy

This award means a lot to us. It is for making "the greatest contrbution to international QRP." Dean and I are both big fans of G QRP and of their journal, SPRAT. (As we say on the SolderSmoke podcast, if you are not a member of G QRP and are not getting SPRAT, you are just WRONG.)

This award is a real honor. Thanks very much to G QRP, and especially to their chairman Steve Hartley, G0FUW.

Mitch NK3H Talks Homebrewing with Charlie NJ7V of Red Summit RF

This is a really cool interview. Both Mitch NK3H and Charlie NJ7V are members of the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver Hall of Fame. Mitch has built a dual-band superhet rig, which is the subject of this interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK_EVt5iAQ4

Here is a video Mitch did about his SolderSmoke DC receiver:

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2025/05/mitch-nk3hs-fb-soldersmoke-direct.html

Mitch also built the Michigan Mighty Mite. And he did an SSB version!

Mitch is a very interesting guy. He was a professor, he worked in biotech, founded his own company which was funded by venture capital, later retired, got interested in astronomy, and came to ham radio at the start of the pandemic. Wow, great stuff.

In Charlie's video, Mitch provides a lot of good explanation of his experimentation process. I had to chuckle when Mitch pointed out that he did NOT invent the Colpitts oscillator. Good point Mitch!

Mitch credits Pete N6QW as one of the people who helped him design his superhet transceiver. He also mentions Farhan VU2ESE, Alan Wolke W2AEW and several others. FB. And he credits SSDRA, EMRFD and ChatGPT. Mitch also likes the videos of the IMSAI Guy.

Mitch has already made 50 contacts with this rig.

Mitch makes excellent use of microcontrollers and digital VFOs. He provides great info on the speed and cost of various sources of commecial PC boards.

Quote of the day from Mitch: "Electrons don't care how pretty or ugly your board is!"

Mitch concludes with a quote from Pete N6QW: "You gotta know stuff to do stuff." But Mitch adds to this an important coda: "But the process of doing it is the learning experience." Exactly right Mitch.

Thanks to Mitch and Charlie for a really great video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK_EVt5iAQ4

Friday, April 17, 2026

Pete N6QW is our Shifu

In a comment to a recent post, Mike WN2A wrote: "N6QW is the Shifu.

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shifu )"

I found this term intriguing. I think we should consider including it in the SolderSmoke Lexicon. Steve? BTW, I agree on the designation of Pete N6QW as the Shifu.

AI Overview

In the context of electronics, Shifu (师傅) generally refers to a skilled craftsman, technician, or master tradesperson, such as a master electrician, repair technician, or electronics expert. It is a Chinese term denoting respect for someone with high-level technical expertise in areas like welding, circuit design, or device repair.

Here is more info on the origin of the term and its useage:

Thanks Mike!

Another 40 meter DSB Transceiver

I like the homebrew spirit in this one, how it started out as a Direct Conversion receiver and expanded into a full double sideband transceiver.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Indonesian Direct Conversion Receiver (Another one - Not Wayan's)

Who can forget Wayan's heroic homebrewing of the AF transformer? While others complained about the difficulty of ordering from an on-line store, OM Wayan YD9BAX rewound his own AF transformer in Indonesia. FB Wayan!

This morning I stumbled across another 40 meter DC receiver from Indonesia. See above. I got the blurb translated. Here it is:

-------------------------------

1,759 views  Aug 2, 2020  #diyradio #homebrewradio #timetables

This radio is a DSB (Double Side Band) type, not a Regenerative radio like in yesterday's video, this radio circuit uses VFO as the main tuning and is set for a frequency range of around 6,950MHz - 7,150MHz (comma, not thousands), and can be set to a larger or smaller frequency range as desired. This radio circuit is the result of a friend's assembly (Channel: Dr 504k), because I don't really understand radio science so I only made the box. The box is made of plain PCB, if you are interested in making a similar box using plain PCB too, try not to use fiber PCB, because it will itch on the skin when grinding, just use pertinax material, it is cheaper, flexible and looks more vintage. Disclaimer I deliberately did not focus the sound on a radio wave for too long because it concerns someone's conversation, so I apologize if there are parties whose voices were recorded. I am not a radio person, I am only a receiver for entertainment and additional insight. Thank you.

---------------------

I couldn't find the channel of the designer (Dr 504k) but from this video it looks like this builder used a polivaricon capacitor and a homebrew gearing mechanism. I also see a lot of electrolytic capacitors. FB. Can anyone find the schematic?

Monday, April 13, 2026

Background (from Maine!) On the "Most Interesting Man in the World"

I know, I know. This doesn't really have anything to do with homebrewing. But in a way it does. This guy didn't get his start until age 68. So there is hope, right? And there is the Latino angle.

And here are some Dos Equis "greatest hits": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukosls76res My favorite from this bunch is "The last time he flirted with danger, danger got clingy."

One prominient homebrewer says that Pete N6QW is the "Most Interesting HAM in the world." I agree.

Stay thirsty my friends.

Saturday, April 11, 2026

DSB Homebrew from Macedonia -- Sasho Z33ST

This is a really nice DSB transceiver in progress. Below you see the modules, above you see how the modules will fit onto the board.

DOUBLE sideband is a mode too often dismissed by potential builders. Sasho shows that it is indeed a practical and relatively simple way to get on phone. Sasho has been using these rigs on Parks On The Air operations.

The modular approach is admirable.

Sasho writes:

Hello Bill,
This is a DSB radio design by R0AHZ using NE612 chip as mixer on receive and transmit.
Audio amp is LM386.
Frequency generation is by arduino nano and si5351
RF power amp consists of 2n3553 or any npn eqivalent as pre drive and BD139 as final. Power is about 1 to 2 watts max. I use it together with my power amp and I measure about 40 watts on tx.
Here is a link of me making a QSO wih it.
https://youtu.be/0GKlVfAPgV0?si=KstoJ64kyWRpE-up
73 de Z33ST

Thanks Sasho!

https://www.qrz.com/db/Z33ST

Sasho on POTA

SolderSmoke Homebrew Direct Conversion Receiver Hall of Fame Update: 129 Completed, 122 + 7 Honorable Mentions: (As of April 11, 2026, 0852Z)

Marian SP9DEL's Receiver