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
Happy Arduino Day! Pete's Belthorn III Transceiver (with cool color display) Bill's BITX 20 (that used to be a BITX20/40) AD9850 DDS added to Barebones Superhet Jean Shepherd on Parasitic Oscillations, Obsession, and Madness Simple Test Gear for the Homebrewer Digital Oscilloscopes and their amazing capabilities Dongles and other great stuff in SPRAT 162 The BIG St. Patrick's Day Solar Flare VK6MV's Amazing Rhombic (+) VK7XX (Dos Equis!) A Bit of BITX History Pete going KX3 QRO
A good IF is 8.192mhz with a 15.360Mhz LO can be done using crystal for LO (Use two in super VXO).
Order of equipment obtainium...
Decent soldering iron/station Good multimeter (ohms, Volts, amps). AADE LCII parts is not parts.. measure them. Frequency counter simple is good, to 50mhz atleast Scope, a good one. Rigol adds a lot to capability.
Oh a spec analyser is just that if you add a tracking generator now you can do SNA(scalar network analyser).
However... The one device I use is dirt simple. A 50 uA meter, two diodes in voltage doubler and two caps. Whatsitdo, RF detector. The diodes are right on the back of the meter. One cap is across the meter and the other is from the diodes as a "probe". If the meter can be moved there is RF, if an amp with no input moves the meter its oscillating, if the oscillator doesn't move the meter its defunct. It was my first RF measuring tool some 50 years ago and I still use it.
I am a longtime listener and look forward to your podcast each month! I had to comment on Pete's crystal radio project. When I was six or seven in the fifties, my dad and I built a crystal radio and had the same issue... not enough gain. Dad suggested we build a transistor amplifier. As you told the story, somehow I knew that you too would say you used a beautiful metallic purple-blue Rayteon CK722! My amp was in a clear plastic box and I loved showing my friends the cool, magic "transistor". Now, back to my K2, KX3, Raspberry Pi and Arduino!
73, Mike, W8NWA (My dad's first call from the 30s)
"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
Re: BUNKEROFDOOM.com site??
-
I'll have to explore InMotion again, I have not had time to do it in any
depth due to lots happening around here. QTH has the sketch-mark (*) after
'unlimi...
FreeDV Sunday Morning Australian net - 10 stations
-
We've just had the FreeDV Sunday morning net (starts at 10:30am eastern
time) and 10 stations were at least seen.We had VK3TPM, VK3RV, VK5KVA,
VK2BLQ, VK3L...
New 20M SSB Hybrid Wireless Rig Topology.
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Following the decision to start another Hybrid SSB rig, it might be well to
elaborate on some of the details. The first detail entails refining some of
the...
WA2TBQ
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Episode 527 - Ron Demcko - WA2TBQ Ron Demcko, WA2TBQ, found his way into
electronics—and later amateur radio—thanks to the early influence of his
older bro...
The Communicator July - August 2025
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*A Big One to Last the Summer*
We're coming up to our club's 50th Anniversary and this is another big
issue, with a look back at our history, great article...
A Real ZN414!
-
Recently, I built a simple little TRF receiver for the AM broadcast band
using a TA7642, a modern equivalent for a chip that was quite popular with
electro...
The "George Batterson 1935 CW QSO Party" - Summary
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The first *George Batterson CW QSO Party* has concluded and the results are
in! The "*GB*" was introduced to honor George Batterson (W2GB), who along
wi...
KK4DAS MB 20 Transceiver Complete
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The MB 20 transceiver is now complete. The rig is a homebrew 10-watt
20-meter SSB transceiver. The VFO module was an ebay purchase of a
salvaged Yeasu...
A Curious 9 MHz Crystal from Mouser Electronics
-
Just a quick post to share info about a good 9 MHz crystal sold by Mouser
Electronics.
I last purchased batches of crystals for xtal IF filters back in 2...
40m Pelican Case SSB Transceiver
-
See YouTube channels for details:
http://www.youtube.com/c/CharlieMorrisZL2CTM
*Test code for the LCD and Si5351*
#include
...
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
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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...
Daylight Again – An all Analog Radio
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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 ...
Modifications to the Dayton/FDIM-2019 Antuino
-
The Dayton Antuino has sub-optimal performance. This is a short note on
improving it to an 80 db range of measurements. The trouble with Antuino
2.0 (the o...
Raduino as NBFM TX
-
Here is a neat, 30 minute hack for your Raduino to turn the Si5351 into a
pretty stable, solid NBFM transmitter. The hack is to add a varactor diode
in ...
QRP Labs shop!
-
[image: Shop]
All QRP Labs kits may be ordered online securely at the shop, with PayPal
payment.
*Click here to visit the shop!*
*Click!*
*Shop! Order...
Posts
hi, pete, and juliano
ReplyDeletei would love to add aerial analyzer like one designed by VK5JST in the list of test gear
nice treatment of soldersmoke #174
regards
sarma from India
Bummer of the Bitx40.
ReplyDeleteA good IF is 8.192mhz with a 15.360Mhz LO can be done using crystal for LO (Use two in super VXO).
Order of equipment obtainium...
Decent soldering iron/station
Good multimeter (ohms, Volts, amps).
AADE LCII parts is not parts.. measure them.
Frequency counter simple is good, to 50mhz atleast
Scope, a good one. Rigol adds a lot to capability.
Oh a spec analyser is just that if you add a tracking generator now you can do SNA(scalar network analyser).
However... The one device I use is dirt simple.
A 50 uA meter, two diodes in voltage doubler and two caps.
Whatsitdo, RF detector. The diodes are right on the back
of the meter. One cap is across the meter and the other is from the diodes as a "probe". If the meter can be moved there is RF, if an amp with no input moves the meter its oscillating, if the oscillator doesn't move the meter its defunct. It was my first RF measuring tool some 50 years ago and I still use it.
Allison
Sinc L/C = VFO and Crystal = VXO..
ReplyDeletehow about DDS chip = DXO?
Bill & Pete,
ReplyDeleteI am a longtime listener and look forward to your podcast each month! I had to comment on Pete's crystal radio project. When I was six or seven in the fifties, my dad and I built a crystal radio and had the same issue... not enough gain. Dad suggested we build a transistor amplifier. As you told the story, somehow I knew that you too would say you used a beautiful metallic purple-blue Rayteon CK722! My amp was in a clear plastic box and I loved showing my friends the cool, magic "transistor". Now, back to my K2, KX3, Raspberry Pi and Arduino!
73, Mike, W8NWA (My dad's first call from the 30s)