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
Whenever I find myself in need of some radio-inspiration, an e-mail from Mike, AA1TJ, seems to pop up in my inbox. This morning's message and the associated video (above) were especially inspirational. Mike was e-mailing Steve, WA1HFF.
Hi Steve, Thanks for the message and the great QSO! I was running my one transistor transceiver that I call the Reggie. You can read about it on my webpage at
My antenna is nothing to write home about; just an end-fed half-wave wire bent into an "EL" at 35 feet.
I've made just over 240 contacts with my Reggie in a little more than a year's time; working 19 states. My best (and only) real DX was the Bahamas. All of these contacts were made with no receiver gain on this end; just a pair of diodes fed by a one-transistor BFO, and onto the headphones.
A couple of fellows have built their own Reggies, so you might run into one on 80m now and then. I've made three Reggie to Reggie QSOs thus far.
Steve, last night I was trying something new; I ran a loudspeaker from an audio amplifer connected to my Reggie. What's unusual is that my audio amplifer was made from three, common power supply rectifiers (1N5401's). I'm not kidding! It's a nearly forgotten circuit from 1954 that I (re)stumbled upon a couple of weeks ago. It uses the phenomenon of PN junction charge-storage to produce amplification.
Last week I used two diode gain stages for a total power gain of 48dB to drive my headphones. Yesterday, I added a third diode gain-stage and connected it to a loudspeaker for shack-filling audio volume.
I made a video of last night's setup (the same setup I worked you with). You can see it at
Thanks again for the nice contact last night, Steve. You were armchair copy here! :o)
Best wishes, Mike, AA1TJ
Here's a question for Mike: Can you build that kind of amplifier with homebrew point-contact diodes? If so, you'd be opening up the possibility of a homebrew solid state receiver with homebrew solid state devices. Oh man, this stuff makes me feel like such an APPLIANCE OPERATOR.
Graham: I can see it here. It may be the settings on your computer. In any case the image is just the video so you should be able to watch by clicking on the video link in Mik'e message. Hope this helps. 73 Bill
"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
SolderSmoke Co-Host and Master Homebrewer
Dean Souleles KK4DAS
With beret and with a Michigan Mighty Mite in hand
11/22/2024. Sheer Brilliance!
-
Read up on the design of the Drake TR-3 SSB/CW transceiver. This radio had
a rinky dink pair of 4 pole crystal filters which are affectionately called
the ...
Re: restoring Millen GDO
-
I wonder if you have considered putting a rectifier in the 6.3vac line and
adding a 7806 regulator?
Old signal generators that use the 955 benefit from this...
Tech news spot on ABC Radio
-
Scammers are a real threat to us all. Australians lost billions of dollars
last year. Nightlife Tech Guru Peter Marks, a software developer and
technology ...
Common mode current and RF feed lines
-
At any one point along an RF feed line, there are currents in the
conductors of sinusoidal waveform with magnitude and phase. These currents
can be decompo...
A Few Free Swapmeet Finds
-
Every year in the summer, The California Historical Radio Society (CHRS) in
Alameda, CA host their annual “Radio Day by The Bay”. If you live in the
area, ...
Hollow-State Design, 3rd Edition
-
Hollow-State Design, 3rd Edition is available from: Lulu Press:
tinyurl.com/hollowstatedesign3 eBay: search for “hollow-state design”
Electric Radio bookst...
I Finally Bought My Dream Airplane
-
Aviation has been a love of mine since I was a very little person. Living
in Nevada, seeing posters and ads for the Reno Air Races, specifically the
Texa...
2000 47pF Caps ...
-
An unexpectged package arrive in the mail today. Did you ever wonder what
2000 47pF NP0 capacitors look like? Thanks to John, AB2XT I will never run ...
Broadcast Band AM Radio
-
See the YouTube series for more information:
http://www.youtube.com/c/CharlieMorrisZL2CTM
Buffer Amplifier
Low Pass Filter
IF Ampli...
New QRP Cluster From OM0ET and OM6APN
-
By DX EXPLORER
DX EXPLORER
Paul OM0ET and Peter OM6APN recently launched a new cluster dedicated to
QRP operations. Have a look and I hope you will enjoy...
3D printed project boxes
-
I have been busy with some other things that have kept me away from
electronics projects for quite a while. Now I can get back to them, but
realize I n...
Daylight Again – An all Analog Radio
-
What’s all this? In 10 seconds, A high performance, 7MHz, 5 watt SSB rig
Draws just 24 mA of current 90 dB dynamic range, 80 dB close-in dynamic
range 3D ...
Adding Enclosure to your sBitx Boards Order
-
The early buyers of the sBitx board set who bought it for $270 USD might
want to also add the enclosure (box) for in the kit. What you will now get
is a f...
Digi-chirp! Digital synthesis of ‘nostalgic’ CW
-
The bottom ends of 80, 40 and 20m are not what they used to be. For
starters, the busiest part is the digital segment where computers talk to
computers – l...
-
A Simple Speech Processor
(For QRP/SSB Homebrew Transceivers )
Over the last few weeks I had been thinking to build a small AF speech
processor to add to...
A New Look for your uBitx!
-
Adding a "Cool Blue" Display to your uBitx!
The standard "green background" with black lettering frequently reminds me
that I suffer from Chronic seasickn...
Hi, the image is not available on this post either.
ReplyDeletePosts older than this and the previous one are okay.
73 de Graham G3ZOD FISTS #8385
http://www.fists.co.uk
Graham: I can see it here. It may be the settings on your computer. In any case the image is just the video so you should be able to watch by clicking on the video link in Mik'e message. Hope this helps. 73 Bill
ReplyDeleteBill, aha, you're right - it's a Flash object and not a picture. I have Flash turned off on my computer (causes it to crash).
ReplyDeleteThanks - I'll head back under my stone now HI.
73 de Graham G3ZOD FISTS #8385
http://www.fists.co.uk