Dhaka Jack Moves to France

Jack Welch AI4SV has been an important member of the SolderSmoke community for many years.  I remember fondly our Straight Key Night CW contact in which he told me that my HT-37 had "presence" even on CW.  His thoughtful (!) piece on time crystals was also quite memorable.  Jack has finally settled down (a bit) after a string of foreign assignments.  He has landed happily in France, in a villa, on a vineyard, surrounded by wild boar and hunters.  FB OM. 

Hi Bill & Pete,

I've packed up the shack and moved from Cyprus to France, so no more 5B4APL. To obtain a French callsign, you have to submit proof that you've lived in France for three months, so I'm F/AI4SV until December and then we'll see. 

I'm not sure how long we will be here, but probably a few years at least. Since we know next to nothing about French real estate, we are renting for the first couple years -- a château on the outskirts of Bordeaux. Before you think that I've come down with delusions of grandeur, I should point out that in that area, château means an old, stone house that is hard to heat in the winter -- and particularly difficult to run wiring around. Antennas and grounding are going to be particularly challenging. The selling point for the house was not so much my hobby as its location in wine country. In fact, there is a Sauterne my house's name on it (although I have nothing to do with production of the wine, that's in professional hands).

Back in the early days of Soldersmoke, Bill used to occasionally mention the dreaded Italian wild boar, the cinghiale. I didn't think that would ever be terribly relevant to me, but it is. A couple days after arriving in the Bordeaux suburbs, a sanglier (French cousin of the cinghiale) strolled across a road as I came around a bend. We almost had a month-long supply of bacon, but I managed to steer around him.

Since it will be a while before all our belongings arrive and even longer to set up a proper station, I have focused on operating QRP in the field and activating SOTA summits. That has gone well, but I aborted my most recent attempt when I ran into a bunch of orange-clad rifle-toting hunters who were combing the mountain in search of sanglier. Apparently it's a big thing here. I decided to survive to activate the peak on another day.

Finally, I have attached a journal article, which at first glance doesn't seem to have a lot to do with radio, but kind of does. It turns out that both the human ear and violins have non-linear characteristics that cause them to function as audio frequency mixers. Looking through the article, you'll find some familiar looking formulas about mixing products, harmonics and resonance. If Bill wants to get away from ICs, perhaps his next rig could include a 17th Century Italian violin as a mixing stage.

Cheers & 73,

Jack
F/AI4SV

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Hello Jack:  

Great to hear from you.  Wow, France!  You are rivaling my string of nice-to-go assignments.  FB OM.  Have fun.  

Yes, the Cingales.   Hunting season was always a bit of an uneasy time.  We used to dress the kids up in reflective vests.   One time we found a very drunk Italian hunter wandering around with a shotgun (that was kind of scary).  We would know when hunting season started by the sound of gunfire in the morning.    Kind of reminded me of other places!  

In retirement I have gotten back into VWS.  We are having a lot of fun.  Just yesterday 30 students at the Thomas Jefferson High School got their Technician licenses. They will soon build Direct Conversion receivers. 

As for mixing, what you sent reminded me of my early confusion on this subject.  In the SS book I describe the "Terzo Suono"  -- it is really just an additive heterodyne.  I confused it 

with a true mixing product.  But it was an educational confusion. 

Please keep in touch and let us know how things are going at the Villa!  

73  Bill