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
Very cool video. We have visited VE7ZWZ's amazing shack before. This time he takes us inside a BIG commercial AM transmitter that he has modified for use on the amateur bands. I know that he had the plate voltage turned off, but I still felt myself cringing when he reached up to touch the plate connectors on those enormous thermatrons. The filaments were on, adding to my unease. Dude, don't do that! And if you are standing INSIDE the transmitter, keeping one hand behind your back might not be as beneficial as it normally would be. His comments on his VFO were interesting. I was kind of disappointed that he went with a varactor circuit. A varactor? Amidst all those bread slicer variable caps? It just doesn't seem right. (And BTW they are bread slicers, NOT "potato slicers.") But I kind of liked the heater--thermistor--insulation set up that keeps the VFO at constant temperature. I thought it was interesting that these transmitters were kept on, with the tubes glowing for years at a time. Thanks Mr. Carlson, for another great video!
Nothing spectacular for this old duffer - except SCALE!. One gotcha though: referring to 6L6s as triodes. Sorry, they're (beam-power) pentodes. The series went like this: 6F6 signal pentode (may even have been a tetrode, I forget...) > 6V6 (beam-power, ~5W) pentode > 6L6, ~30W ... all intended for audio but serviceable to HF. UK names EF3? for the 6F6, EL3? for the pentodes (30-series Octal, there were equivalents in the 80-series B9G envelopes, including a double-6V6!). An early version of the 6V6 was the 'side-pin' socketed EL3N (Mullard). Gads, history! :) I had a side-pin superhet set that I rescued in High School: ECH3 triode-heptode converter, EF3 (?) IF, EBF2 detector/AGC+audio, EL3N output, AZ1 rectifier. Broadcast and short-wave 6-18mc/s (yep, that early!). That helped me immensely in my French studies - I could find Radio France each end of the dial. :)
Instrument storage boxes updated
-
While getting some equipment off a shelf I knocked some thing down and they
landed on a nanoVNA, cracking the screen.
I think it is time to make some ...
2021 - The Year of Nostalgia. A 60 Year Trip
-
A 60 Year Time Trip!
Starting with Today (2/22) -- The N6QW Conversion of the Dentron Scout HF
SSB.
2/26/2021 --- More Update Info.
Just ran across anot...
Hunting For NDBs In CLE265
-
*WC - 332 White Rock, BC*
It's almost* CLE* time once again! '*CLE*'s are '*C*o-ordinated *L*istening
*E*vents, and NDB DXers around the world focus...
A Personal Milestone: Published on Paper
-
As far back as I can remember, I have had a fondness for words and
language. Even in the second grade, learning the roots of words, their
suffixes and pr...
Mt Feathertop (VK3/VE-002) 11th Jan 2021
-
Mt Feathertop (1,922 meters) is the second highest mountain in south
eastern Australia (Victoria), and according to many commentators, the most
picturesque...
Yet more new AVRs
-
In a previous blog I mentioned the new atmega4809 and AVR128DA parts. Well,
it seems I missed two other new families, the AVR128DB and AVR128DD series.
I’v...
Re-engineering my 1st “Shirt-pocket” transceiver
-
When the project of building a very small transceiver was accomplished 4
years ago, I still lacked lots of skills in setting up electronic circuits
using S...
The Complete DXer
-
Odds are that, if you're reading this, you're probably familiar with two
other jewels from the ARRL bookstore: *Solid State Design For The Radio
Amateur...
-
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...
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...
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 seasicknes...
Nothing spectacular for this old duffer - except SCALE!. One gotcha though: referring to 6L6s as triodes. Sorry, they're (beam-power) pentodes. The series went like this: 6F6 signal pentode (may even have been a tetrode, I forget...) > 6V6 (beam-power, ~5W) pentode > 6L6, ~30W ... all intended for audio but serviceable to HF. UK names EF3? for the 6F6, EL3? for the pentodes (30-series Octal, there were equivalents in the 80-series B9G envelopes, including a double-6V6!). An early version of the 6V6 was the 'side-pin' socketed EL3N (Mullard). Gads, history! :) I had a side-pin superhet set that I rescued in High School: ECH3 triode-heptode converter, EF3 (?) IF, EBF2 detector/AGC+audio, EL3N output, AZ1 rectifier. Broadcast and short-wave 6-18mc/s (yep, that early!). That helped me immensely in my French studies - I could find Radio France each end of the dial. :)
ReplyDelete