Tuesday, January 26, 2021

SolderSmoke Podcast #228


Soldersmoke Podcast #228 is available: 

Of course, no travel.  But vaccines are here so maybe soon we can leave our shacks.

In the meantime:

I’ve been playing chess against AI bots on chess.com.

Netflix recommendation:  The Bureau.   From France. A review from NPR: 

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/22/881642358/addictively-suspenseful-thriller-series-the-bureau-will-keep-you-on-edge

A reading from "Conquering the Electron."  Germanium vs. Silicon.

Bill’s Bench:

The KLH Model Twenty-one II.  Acoustical Suspension.  First receiver WITH A PILLOW!  Bad speaker? Blown AF amp finals.  Hot heat sink.  VBE Multiplier. Desitin.

Tony Fishpool’s recommended LM386 boards.  10 for 11 bucks.  Nice.  They work.  Pictured in the Amazon ad at the upper right of the SolderSmoke blog page.

Putting a digital display on the Lafayette HA-600A

Test gear trouble.  My Radio Shack multimeter getting flaky.  I many need something better.  Auto ranging? My beloved Maplin AF generator died – will have to fix. I need that thing.  Probably a bad chip.  Good thing they are socketed.

I almost forgot about SKN!  But I remembered and I made one contact with the HT-37 and Drake 2-B.    

Pete’s Bench:

Presentation to RSGB on Homebrew.

TenTek Troubleshoot.

Swan 240?  Looking nice.

SDR adventures.

MAILBAG

Bill N8ET sent me some really nice Showa 9 MHz 8 pole crystal filters. 

Kevin AA7YQ Smoke jumper!  Building a hybrid SDR.HDR rig.  Launched blog. FB

Nick M0NTV working on similar HDR/SDR project.  Great video.

Grayson KJ7UM Hollow State Design – Launched a new blog.  Very FB!

Thomas K4SWL of SWL Post blog.  Kearsarge Mountain Transmission system.  And recent events.

Peter VK2EMU Poetry.  CW poetry.

Pete WB9FLW looking at DSB rigs…

Drew N7DA  Feels not like a real ham because he hasn’t built a quad from bamboo. Which type of landscape bamboo is best for antennas?

Ryan Flowers of MiscDotGeek.Com blog is also watching the Tally Ho YouTube videos of Leo Sampson. Wants to put a WSPR beacon on the Tally Ho. 

Joe KF5OWY  Working with diode ring mixers, trying to see the mixer action on his ‘scope. 1 and -1!

Jim AB9CN sent a cool idea about how to do a 20/17 Moxon.

Roy GM4VKI – I thanked him for his article in SPRAT about putting a 2n3904 on the output of an NE602 10P mod.  Brilliant.

Roger Hayward Told him that I really liked his Dad’s recent web site updates.

Farhan – Jokingly cursed me for showing him the Oscillodyne regen of Hugo Gernsback and Jean Shepherd.  “Now I will have to build this!”


8 comments:

  1. Yay! So glad to hear that my video helped you out with the Vbe multiplier!

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  2. Maybe my video on diode ring mixers will help out Joe KF5OWY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=junuEwmQVQ8

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  3. Has anyone else lost their iTunes podcast feed?

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    1. Let me check. I was uploading all this during the big Verizon FIOS internet outage on Wednesday. It might have gotten lost...

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  4. I fixed it. I had put the date as 2020, not 2021. It should work now. 73 Bill

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  5. Thanks Bill. All sorted. Dog walk much more interesting for the weekend. 73 Mike G4KXQ

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  6. I saw the presentation with the UK group, well, Listened, and loved it, especially the part about Manhattan style prototype building. VERY useful stuff. I've determined (I think) that I can cut some of these squares and get it going. . I think the most sensitive 10m receivers from the "day" were the CB transceivers, like the ones from SBE. I'd have one and it still works ! You had to use the exact Japanese transistors if you wanted to keep that sensitivity. No subs. Was pretty much true for all Japanese made CB sets, especially the SSB types. Prior to that EF Johnson had built some radios and you could use anything and they would work. I had not been a CBer back then, was a ham, WB6YNF. But, in my area, CB transceivers were going for $250 and that was 23channels. They would pay to either make them modulated correctly or be repaired. Good money in the 70s.
    Also, 3.578 , guess what, its the base frequency for JS8CALL 80m. no problemo. just a coinkydink.
    Loved the "Bought his own Island, made it a country, and issued himself a ham radio license ! Did you know that Ham Radio was cancelled in 1917 ? By the Navy ? it took an act of congress to get it back ! N6GRG

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  7. For anyone else looking, the brief inverter discussion is around 31 minutes in. Bill got a 1.3kw inverter on Amazon for $23 back in 2021.

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