http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke250.mp3
VIDEO VERSION: (1707) SolderSmoke Podcast #250 -- With Pete N6QW, Dean KK4DAS, and Bill N2CQR - YouTube
Intro: Welcome to Dean KK4DAS. For 2024 Pete and I hope to jazz things up a bit by bringing in fellow homebrewers to talk about their projects. Dean is our first victim. Welcome Dean.
Some good news: Several new homebrew receivers are inhaling: Armand WA1UQO in Richmond has an amazing looking regen. Scott KQ4AOP in Tennessee got his DC RX working. Mike AG5VG in Texas has been homebrewing BITX 20s and BITX 40s. All are on the blog.
Pete's report:
-- Recent blog entries on filters, SSB rig architecture, and of course digital VFOs.
-- Phasing measurements, quadrature, and the Seeed Xiao RP2040
-- Error in QST article on early SSB transceiver. ANOTHER ERROR!
--LC VFO on blog! FB Pete!
Dean's report:
-- Tales of woe on the homebrew sBITX
-- Help from Farhan.
-- Ground Bounce. FFT Hallucinations. Wisdom files.
SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION:
-- Whenever you are tempted to buy something from AMAZON, just start at the Amazon symbol on the right side of the page. We get a cut from Bezos, and it doesn't cost you anything.
-- You can try to do the same thing with E-bay. We are finding a lot of great parts there.
-- If you see a SolderSmoke post on Facebook, please Like and forward.
-- Become a patron! Go to the Patreon page. We put the money to good SolderSmoke use.
-- Visit Mostly DIY RF and buy a PSSST kit!
Bill's bench:
-- Building yet another BITX dual bander. 15-10 again. Tried to use a 25 MHz filter left over from the earlier project, but I had to build another. Built a new VFO using the variable cap and anti-backlash gear recommended by Pete. Was a bit tough to get the receiver sounding good. Had a diode ring as the second mixer, but went back to a singly balanced mixer.
-- 10 meter AM -- Thanks to Jerry Coffman K5JC for mod.
Other topics:
--Counterfeit chips. Why?
MAILBAG:
Wes W7ZOI
Jim Cook W8NSA Transoceanic BFO
Grayson KJ7UM -- Vintage Computer Museum
Chuck Adams --Glad to hear that Chuck is doing well.
Frank Harris K0IYE -- NO CHIPS!!!!
ED DD5LP Antenna software
Eldon KC5U 10 AM We made a contact
Joh DL6ID 10 AM
Phil W1PJE of MIT 10AM Where is L5?
Bob WP4BQV now in UK
Dino Papas KL0S in Wilmington Reverse Polarity protection.
AA7EE Dave Richards Liked Armand's receiver
Rogier PA1ZZ
Jonathan-san W0XO Listened to my ET-2 CW Whoop,whoop
Nick M0NTV Great videos from Nick the Vic
Will KI4POV Working on his own SSB rigs.
John West -- Who is the South American ham who made his capacitors and heat sinks?
Ed KC8SBV Working on DC receiver, experimenting with FETs
Mike WN2A great contributions. Si5351 sole source danger!
Nick N3FJZ -- watch out for dead bands when testing receivers!
Don KM4UDX encouragement from new Prez of VWS
Dave K8WPE Likes QF1 Cap backlash. Says I'm getting soft!
Dave WA1LBP My fellow Hambassador, from Okinawa USMC Sergeant with a workshop.
What a hoot! Funniest podcast ever (for us analog guys). Bill was at his comedic best skewering the digital gurus who were shame-faced, hallucinating, and groping for their wisdom files. The only waterfall worth watching is in upper New York state at the border...
ReplyDeleteI have to echo Walter, KA4KXX's comment. A "Hoot" it was! Bravo!
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ReplyDeleteFirst time watching the podcast from here in the UK, great fun and really liked the banter about the sbitx and the woes of going digital. Also liked the bit about variable capacitors and vfo's.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the first receiver comment I was one of those that actually built my first receiver back when I was around twelve, a HAC one valve TRF. Bit of a learning curve as it was my first bit of home construction ever and with no one to help and had to go it alone hence the kit! Look forwards to the next Podcast.
Something to remember Bill. When you are talking about testing whether grounding crystals make a difference. “Sample of one”. Whatever you do as an experiment will be just one experiment. That’s not to say that your data point is not relevant, but the body of evidence across many data points is that grounding the cases reduces inconsistent results. For background, in the 1970’s I worked for Cathodeon Crystals here in the UK (a subsidiary of Philips), and our considered opinion was that grounding the cans does make a difference. It reduces inconsistencies.
ReplyDeleteOk, but how does it do this? The problem is that when we ask experts WHY we ground the cases, all we get back are answers similar to yours: "our considered opinion" is doing this "reduces inconsistent results." Huh? How? Why? 73 Bill
DeleteHey, Bill. I just realised that I was anaonymous for my comment. Blame it on being in ZL-Land. Gareth. M5KVK
ReplyDelete