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Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Grant K0GDB's FB SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver

Congratulations to Grant K0GDB on his FB SolderSmoke Direct Conversion receiver.  Welcome to the Hall of Fame Grant! That PTO former is especially FB!  Grant is a relatively new ham, making his smooth construction of this receiver even more admirable. 

Grant writes: 

Proof of life video! Many thanks for the helpful YouTube tutorials, everything went together pretty smoothly.

The windings are actually as close to the specification as I could get them on the nanoVNA. It's been a bit since I built that part, but if memory serves I had one fewer turn and had to do some bunching to get it to read correctly. The main difference in the PTO is that I made the former on a laser cutter from slices of quarter-inch plywood since I don't have a 3d printer. The center cyllinder is actually just rolled up paper.

A Second Aeronautical Mobile Contact with Mike KX4WC/Aeronautical Mobile


August 19, 2025 20 meter SSB in the afternoon. Mike KX4WC/Aeronautical Mobile was enroute to San Juan from Miami, flying through the edges of Hurricane Erin. Also in the QSO was John VY2WW and Mike WA3O. WA3O is a long-time listener to SolderSmoke. He has a water-cooled amplifier and he sent me his Heathkit HW-7 (which I still have).

Mike and I could hear each other through most of his flight.  We were both especially strong when he reached his closest point to my location.  At this point he was about 50 miles over my north-east horizon: 


Amazingly, this was NOT my first contact from the DR with KX4WC/AM.  In January 2020 (just beore the pandemic) I was in Samana, and, early one morning Mike flew over the Dominican Republic.  Here is an e-mail that I sent yesterday to all three guys who were in this very memorable QSO: 

I really liked today's QSO.  Mike called me from around 50 miles out.  We were both very strong. 

The first link describes in detail my 2020 QSO with Mike from Samana, DR.   The second describes my Samana station.  

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2020/01/aeronautical-mobile-contact-from.html
and

Here is my current station:


And wow!  WA3O  Who could forget that water-cooled amplifier!?  And I still have his HW-7   Thanks Mike. 

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Coil-Making in Japan -- Manual and Automatic

 I found this video sort of soothing.  I liked the manual process, but the automatic process is amazing too. 

Thanks to Rogier PA1ZZ for sending this.  


Thursday, August 7, 2025

SolderSmoke Podcast 261: Travel, AI-Apocalypse, ARRL Award, Amplifiers (with Claude) , Transcoms, Smoke released in DR, QRP, CW, MAILBAG

SolderSmoke Podcast #261 is available for download: 



Alaska, Colorado, Dominican Republic

Opening:   Travel notes:    Pete to Denver.  Dean to Alaska.  Bill in the Dominican Republic. 

The future of the podcast.  We will embrace our NIMCEL status and fight on in spite of the AI Apocalypse.   Thanks to Peter VK3TPM, Hamilton KD0FNR, Sam AI7PR, Todd K7TFC  and the WayBackMachine for providing backup and transfer options for the blog. Google could end Blogspot at any time.    

Dean and Bill win the 2025 ARRL Technical Service Award.  Thanks to Bruce KC1FSZ for the nomination. And thanks to Bill Morine N2COP for letting us know.  91 receivers completed so far!  

SolderSmoke East was pleased to host Phil W1PJE, a distinguished MIT radio astronomer AND member of the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver Hall of Fame.   


Dean:   Amplifier design,  woes, triumphs, tribal knowledge.  And help from Claude. 

KK4DAS 100W MOSFET AMP

Pete:  Project X  -- The Transcom SBT-3Crossroads and Decisions

Transcom SBT-3

SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION:   FIGHT THE AI-APOCALYPSE -- BECOME A PATREON SPONSOR.
GET BEZOS TO SEND US BEZOS BUCKS!  Use the Amazon link on the upper right.   
BUY PARTS AND STUFF FROM MOSTLY DIY RF. 


Bill: 
-- Smoke released in TWO RD06 finals.  Scrounged IRF-510s to the rescue.   
-- Working VK6 on 20 SSB.  
-- My old HW-101 -- inspired by Pete and by Will N5OLA.   
-- Eleven contacts on 40 with the DC RX and a Tuna Tin 2. Mike Bryce WB8VGE came back to my CQ! First ever QSO with SolderSmoke DC receivers on both sides:  K1OA-N2CQR.  
-- Do real hams use ALC? Do we really NEED ALC? 

Mailbag: 

Who is the Project 326 Guy?  A British engineer resident in China for last 20 years. 

Steve EI5DD  Ham Radio Ireland magazine.  Hey -- Why no Irish DC RX builders? 

Paul K9ARF -- Thanks for the very kind e-mail about SolderSmoke

Rogier PA1ZZ -- Many nice videos and suggestions on blog backup. 

Grayson KJ7UM on the EF-50 valve (thermatron!) 

Bruce KC1FSZ  Four DC RX builders at the Wellesley Mass radio club. 

Chris KD4PBJ -- Long trip to pick up two directional beacons possibly for 630m or 2200m bands! 

Alan W2AEW did a Minimum Discernible Signal test on the DC RX.  FB! 

Mike WN2A  -- Many great comments on MDS in its various forms. 

Philippe F6GUH is a FB homebrewer.  

Mike EIOCL -- Always great to talk on the air with an old friend. 

Walter KA4KXX -- I checked into the Sunrise net!  With my HW-101!  Thanks Walter. 

Farhan VU2ESE -- Watched our interview with Phil W1PJE

Phil W1PJE was an SWL with an old Halli receiver.  VOA?  Boo!  But Radio Marti is BACK! Also, the hydrogen line from the cosmic dark ages has red shifted to... 7.1 MEGA hertz!  So LISTEN UP! 
Phil W1PJE with a Halli and the Haystack Observatory Dome

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Antenna Options and Views from the Terrace of SolderSmoke Shack South


Above is the view to the east.  North-east to Europe will be up to the left.  Straight out to the east gets me across the Atlantic to Central Africa.  


Here is the view looking south.   All of South America is down there, followed by Antarctica. Then up an around the pole to Sumatra and Borneo.  I can hear the Indonesians quite well on 15 SSB.   


Looking west.  Central America, then lots of Pacific Ocean all the way to Western Australia.  I have worked VK6JMS who is in the northern part of Western Australia, in "The Kimberly."



Here is the view to the north-west.  You can see how the top floor of our building blocks most of the signals from the U.S. and Canada when the antenna is at the terrace level (where it is now).    


I think I will stick with simple 1/4 wave verticals.  There is a lot of wind up here and we are not in the apartment about half the year.  I wouldn't want a Hex Beam to get blow over, especially when we are not here.  Simplicity is a virtue.   I think I can get the antenna above the top floor of our building by mounting it (base of the antenna near the top) on the support beam (for a sun shade) shown here.  This should greatly improve signals to and from North America. And I could easily take it down before we leave without having to climb up onto the roof. 

CuriousMarc Fixes the HP-182C Power Supply -- But More Fun to Come!


I really like how Marc stops and gives an account of all the parts he has changed,  and that he HONESTLY talks about parts that he mistakenly replaced, or replaced when the original turned out to be good.  Too often wizards write about their troubleshooting experiences and conveniently leave out these inconvenient changes.   But this is a big part of the troubleshooting game, and I am really grateful that Marc describes what really happens, WARTS AND ALL! 

I must say, Marc's replacement parts drawers are looking kind of empty.  He needs spare parts for videos like this.   

Wow, plastic polish!  Who knew?  I want some.   

Marc is a ham.  His callsign is AJ6JV. 

This kind of video is ALMOST enough to get me to work on my old HAMEG 'scope. 

In the next video Marc pledges to take on the 1966 trigger circuits.  

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

The Internet is Dying

 Thanks to Rogier PA1ZZ for sending this.  Rogier is a real human! 

Monday, August 4, 2025

ElectroBOOM! CuriousMarc Tries (and fails) to fix an old HP182C Oscilloscope -- Words of Wisdom for all Homebrewers


"You try your best to improve something that already almost works... and then you ZAP it entirely in the process.  This is the worst feeling ever.  But don't kick yourself.   This is our lot.  We are made to suffer." CuriousMarc

Indeed.  Take heart homebrewers.  Even CuriousMarc (who is a ham!) has been there and done that. 

This particular CuriousMarc episode was, I think, especially good: 

-- It reminded me of WHY I gave up on my beloved Tek 465 and went with Rigol DSO scopes.  I found I was fixing the Tek scope too often.  Plus, my Tek 465 had PLUG-IN TRANSISTORS.  Yikes!  One false move and you would insert 2 or 3 new problems into the already broken 'scope.  The high voltage in there was really scary.  I had to borrow a high voltage probe from Alan W2AEW.  I survived, but we shouldn't have to risk our lives for hobby test gear!

-- I would advise all homebrewers to be more careful around the really high voltages you will find in old 'scopes and TVs.  Remember the lesson of Ross Hull:

Read the article that starts on page 7:

-- Marc struggled with a junction FET.  This reminded me of the raging J310 debate on the Discord channel for the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver. 

-- We see the oscillator signal flat-topping when it turns on the diodes -- again DC RX memories. 

-- Marc had trouble seeing how the oscillator would start.  I too had trouble understanding how an oscillator would get going. 

-- At one point Marc replaced a transistor with a device that grounded the drain.  This will happen if you switch too quickly from say an RD06 to an IRF-510.   With the IRF-510 you need to insulate the tab from the grounded heat sink.    

It will be great to see, in subsequent episodes, how Marc makes it work.  It is really great to see someone present an unvarnished view of how troubleshooting really works.  

Thanks Marc.   73 

Here is Marc's YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@CuriousMarc

FAKE, FRAUDULENT COMPONENTS on Ali Express


We had been thiking that no one would go to the trouble of deliberately labeling electronic components as something that they are not.  Surely, we thought, the fake components we were seeing we probably just factory rejects that were swept up off the floor and sold rather than being discarded. 

But it is much worse than that.  This video from Spain shows how someone is taking PNP transistors and DELIBERATELY labeling them as Unijunction transistors.  And then selling the fake UJTs on Ali Express. 

The Spanish video priducer is, I think, far to kind to the fraudsters.  He claims that they are simply trying to get a decent price for their product. Apparently, in this view, buyers are unwilling to pay what it would be worth to make REAL UJTs.  So, what is a producer to do?  Just take some BJTs and FRAUDULENTLY labelt them, selling them as real UJTs to unsuspecting buyers. 

There is no sugar-coating this.  This is fraud.  

The video from Spain appears above.  Here is the article from Hack-A-Day:

Sunday, August 3, 2025

Paul K9ARF -- SolderSmoke and a Knack Story


Bill:

Having been an occasional Solder-Smoke listener, I recently purchased your book "Solder Smoke Adventures" to read during vacation.  Previously I limited reading material to technical material, but I retired two years ago and can now allow myself to read stuff just for fun.  I devoured your book.

I found you and I to be kindred spirits, seeking to understand the mysteries of electricity and electromagnetic waves as we follow life's path.  We're close to the same age, you're a couple years my senior.

My fascination with electronics began as a boy when my Dad and I put together a crystal receiver as a Cub Scout project.  I fondly remember my father scrambling up on the roof to string a long wire as an antenna, and then listening to the Cubs ballgame in the earpiece.  No batteries required!

I exhibited "knack" tendencies later as an early teen.  At a local estate sale I picked up some magazines teaching basic TV repair, and a box of parts that previously was a portable B/W TV.  My family was amazed when I resurrected that little TV set.

My career path went into audiovisual interests - I heard broadcast engineers made a lot of money, so I went to Milwaukee Area Tech College electronics communications program.  The students there ran UHF channel 36 alongside the professionals running TV channel 10 (both pbs affiliates).  On the way to getting your 1st class "phone" license, we learned 2way radio (2nd class).  I found that repairing things was far more fun than pushing buttons in Master Control, so I ended up working in 2way.

While attending MATC, I met some guys who were hams - and they invited me to my first-ever hamfest.  Wow.  A gathering of electronics enthusiasts, many who also have "the knack".  I purchased a couple of old books cheap, not knowing this would steer my life in the future: the antenna book and a 1970s radio amateur handbook, both from ARRL.  Reading these books, I was intrigued by people who design and build their own equipment - the ultimate in coolness!

I guess what really kept me interested in reading your book is your desire to understand the basic building blocks of electronics - how does it work?  This mirrors my personal experience.  Though I have formal electronics training, my schooling was aimed mostly at troubleshooting, finding the malfunction.  The understanding of why the components in a circuit are the values specified and how they produce the desired output was, like you, a lifelong learning process I still work on today.

My adventure into Amateur Radio was delayed by life activities: marriage, a house, and a child.  It didn't help that I never met any hams in rural north Wisconsin.  I finally met an amateur who was a VE, and Radio Shack study materials had me on the way in 1990-91.

I tested in early '91 and passed the Novice, Tech, and 5 wpm code - the VE knew that I was a career radio tech, and at his urging I passed the General written test too.  My initial call was N9KQX (a horrible cw call).  The next months had me work on my code speed and study the Advanced material, and later I became KF9GQ.

At that test session, I sat alongside a gentleman who was taking his 20 wpm code test (wow).  A few months later he was one of my interviewers as I applied for a new job - Radio Tech for the Electric & Gas utility in Green Bay.  I believe my ham radio hobby helped me land that position, which I held 30 years to retirement.

When the vanity call sign program started, I changed my call to K9ARF "amateur radio fun" (yes, I like dogs...) or "analog radio fan" - life must include a sense of humor.

In my years as a ham, I have done quite a bit of homebrewing, from repeaters and accessories for my station, to test gear and complete transceivers.  My proudest projects were building W7ZOI's spectrum analyzer and a multiband KK7B based phasing transceiver using AA0ZZ's DDS synthesizer kits.

I want to thank you and the other solder smoke guys for what you do.  Hopefully I will someday have an opportunity to meet you in person to share a cold beverage, laugh and tell stories of molten solder variety.  Keep up the good work!!

73 de K9ARF Paul, Green Bay, Wisconsin

Saturday, August 2, 2025

Bill WA5DSS's FB SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver

 

Bill WA5DSS built this beautiful receiver back in December 2024.  Somehow I failed to include him in our Hall of Fame.  Well, better late than never, right?   Please let me know if we have missed anyone else. 

I think it looks and sounds great, on both CW and SSB.   Note the Costa Rica station in there in the SSB portion of the recording.  

Back in December 2024, Bill wrote: 

Bill, Dean,
I forgot to send you a recording. This is what I recorded last night. I did not let it “warm up” so the stability is a little better after awhile. Also, I have a knob for tuning…just haven’t hacked off the head of the bolt yet.

I have put the receiver up for now. I am trying to get a Heathkit DX-60 on the air for New Years Eve Straight Key night. It’s the only time I attempt a straight key. Also I am amazed at how difficult it was to operate these old cw radios. No wonder I didn’t get many contacts back in the early sixties...

...This has been an interesting project for me. I have built many kits since becoming interested in electronics during the 1960s but this is the first time I have started with unetched boards. I think I prefer the “dead bug” style over Manhattan. I don’t have the patience to plan out where all those islands go! 


Bill WA5DSS

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

The Guy with the USB-powered X-Ray Machine -- The Identity of the Project 326 Builder

This morning a comment came in from Hong Kong/Shenzhen that explained who Project 326 is and why he was saying "tubes" and not "valves": 

--------------------

Thank you for featuring my video. Some background for you, I am a British engineer and have lived in China for over 20 years. I am resident in both Hong Kong and Mainland China (Shenzhen, which is just over the border from Hong Kong). I used the term vacuum tubes as most of the viewers are from the US and us Brits are fully conversant with both terms, but in the US, they are often less 'bilingual' in these kinds of phrases.

Hope that helps!

----------------------

It does indeed help a lot.  Please continue to make great videos like the one about the USB X-Ray machine.  

Here is the channel: 

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Joe N90K's FB SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver


Congratulations to Joe N9OK on his homebrew build of the SolderSmoke direct conversion receiver. Welcome to the Hall of Fame Joe.  

Joe makes some very nice comments on the benefits of doing this in a homebrew way:  

I've build many dozens kits over the years, esp Knight, Heath, K2, K3, and others. This was my first receiver built from scratch. It works surprisingly well and has decent sensitivity. Thanks and Dean for creating this challenge. It was fun and non-trivial. The only stage I had issues with was the amplifier, which was too compact on v1. v2 works well.

I think Joe should hold onto that smaller version of the AF amp. I think he could get that stablized and it could become the heart of yet another FB DC RX.

Joe went the extra mile and measured the minimum discernible signal of the receiver:
 

I see no problem with Joe's measurment technique.  I think the key word here is "discernible."  Often people will focus on the RF signal that will produce a 3 db or 10 db increase in audio signal.  But Joe has just looked at the RF signal level that will create a discernible audio signal.  That is fine.  As Joe demonstrates, this simple DC receiver is remarkably sensitive.  

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Ham Radio Ireland Magazine available for free download


I was recently talking on 17 meters to my good friend Mike EIOCL.  He mentioned that Steve Wright EI5DD had put out new editions of Ham Radio Ireland -- a very FB publication.  This morning a message from Steve showed up in one of my e-mail accounts: 

Hi,

 

Here is the link to the latest August 2025 issue of Ham Radio Ireland Magazine, A free publication downloadable from the following link in PDF Format https://docdro.id/Hg8uxRx

 

 

Recently we introduced the facility of an Online FlipBook which enables you to turn the pages on Screen.

 

Here is the link to the FlipBook https://heyzine.com/flip-book/7b84284360.html

 

Once the link opens there is a box at the top right-hand corner which will enable enlargement and clicking on the Cloud Icon will allow the PDF to be downloaded. There is even a share facility.

 

If you have enjoyed our magazine, please share on social media or distribute around you club members as this will increase our circulation.

 

If you are a Secretary of a club do feel free to send us information about your planned activities and we will include them in our news section. It is free publicity.

 

Steve EI5DD Editor

John EI3HQB Sub Editor


---------------------------


Check it out!  Thanks Steve and John.  And thank you Mike! 




Friday, July 25, 2025

The Decline in Quality

"Artificial intelligence itself could deteriorate if no action is taken. In 2024, bot activity accounted for almost half of internet traffic. This poses a serious problem: language models are trained with data pulled from the web. When these models begin to be fed with information they themselves have generated, it leads to a so-called “model collapse.” "


https://english.elpais.com/culture/2025-07-20/the-bewildering-phenomenon-of-declining-quality.html

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

The Red-Shifted Neutral Hydrogen Signal from the Cosmic Dark Ages is in the Range of our Direct Conversion Receiver

On the flight to the Dominican Republic I was listening to Fraser Cain's interview with Dr. Christiaan Brinkerink.   I was kind of blown away when they started talking about where the neutral Hydrogen signal would be NOW, after the all of the cosmological red shift.  Asked this question, Christiaan kind of casually responds that it would be "just above 7 MHz."  He talks about this at 41 minutes and 41 seconds in the video above.  He points out that this represents a redshift of about 200.   Wow, that is just where our SolderSmoke Direct Conversion receivers tune, and where their PTO/VFOs operate.  And we thought Radio Marti was a factor to consider!   No wonder Christiaan and his colleagues want to go to the far-side of the moon.  They want to get above the ionosphere, but they also want to get the shielding provided by the moon to protect them, I suppose, from signals like those being produced by the 40 meter ham band, and, (to a lesser extent) by devices like our little oscillator. 

You can watch Fraser's interview with Christiaan above.  It is really interesting and inspirational.  Christiaan talks about dipole arrays, RFI, interferometers, sensitivity, signals of "several kHz" in width, dynamic range, and other topics known to us.  Christiaan is an "Instrument Systems Engineer" at Radboud University.  I think he deserves a ham radio license.  Maybe he should build a SolderSmoke Direct Conversion receiver.  Fraser should build one too.  

Here are a couple of links to articles about this: 

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/observing-the-dark-ages-of-the-universe-from-the-far-side-of-the-moon

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10961189/

Thank you Fraser and Christiaan. 


Monday, July 21, 2025

Fritz's FB SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver


Fritz did an excellent job on his build of the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion receiver.  Fritz writes: 

Hi folks!  First-time radio builder here, and I've just completed my DCR build! (Pic and video below...)

I have a background in electronics, but mostly audio, digital, video games, tube guitar amps, etc.  My only previous experience with radio was a restoration of a small AA5-style radio for a friend.  I first saw this project featured on w2aew's site and it seemed too fun not to try.  First go with Manhattan construction, too, and I really enjoyed it!

Though I built everything on one board, I did test the modules one by one as I went.  I did build and test the audio amp "left to right" instead of the other way around, because I have enough bench gear that I could check as I went without relying on the speaker. 

My audio amp build did tend to motorboat turned about half-way up, particularly with no RF input.  It was easy to see on the 'scope that the DC power bus was the feedback path.  Threw a couple 470uF on there and that pretty well quenched it.  In addition to the coil former, I also 3d printed a battery clip and and bracket for the volume pot.

Tuning turned out to be pretty delicate/twitchy, but I am getting better at it.  I opted to start with the 28 TPI steel screw after reading some things on the blog.  I will probably end up moving some of the windings off the tuning former to try and improve this, and/or investigate a fine tuning option.

I am running right now with a 33' wire out my basement window, up the side of the house, and partway across my flat roof, plus a 16' counterpoise on the basement floor.  Will probably get more ambitious with a feedline to a vertical wire in a tall tree in the backyard away from the house this upcoming week.

No license or callsign yet, but I've definitely got the bug with this project, so am reading the materials and hope to take the exam(s) soon!

-----------------

Congratulations Frtiz -- Welcome to the Hall of Fame! 

Friday, July 18, 2025

Britain's EF-50 Valve (Tube, Thermatron) in WWII


Thanks to Rogier PA1ZZ for sending us this. 

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Looking for a Web Person to Create a WordPress Staging/Backup site for this blog.


I can supply the backup files and the Template backup.  I need someone who can create a backup site for this blog.   I think it should be in WordPress.  It should include all the posts and comments, pictures and videos in the current blog.  It would be great if it used the same Template as the current blog.  I want to keep the current blog going indefinitelty, but we need a backup site that could be used if Google suddenly decides to "deprecate" blogspot. 

Please let me know if you can help or if you know someone who can.  We will pay.  We can discuss this before any work begins.  

Thanks.  73  Bill


A USB-powered Homebrew X-ray machine. And who is Project 326?


This is an interesting project.  The use of dental X-ray packs was really innovative. The approporately snarky presentation about nanny-state nervous nellies was great.  It all reminded me the X-ray chapter of C.L. Stong's great book "The Amateur Scientist."   Here is a .pdf of the book:  http://www.ke5fx.com/stong.pdf

The X-Ray machine in Stong's book appears on page 500 (520 in the .pdf)  Here is the opening paragraphs:  


Indeed, it was lonely up there in the 10^-8 cm band! 

But who is behind Project 326?  Who is the robot narrator's human assistant?  At first I thought they were joking when they said they were in Southern China.  But YouTube does show them in Hong Kong.   He has British accent, but oddly he calls valves "tubes."  He also seems to use quite a bit of SolderSmoke terminology and practice:  He uses copper tape as a ground plane. He talks about relaeasing "Magic Smoke" and of passing or failing "the smoke test."  Could it be that Project 326 had been listening to the SolderSmoke podcast?  We hope so!   Please let us know if y ou have any background info on this mad amateur scientist. 

Here is the Project 326 YouTube channel:  

Friday, July 11, 2025

How many of you guys have changed the clutch on a Heathkit HW-101 (or similar rig)?


That circular thing on the right is the "Plastic Clutch" on the Heathkit HW-101.   Mine dried out and shattered when I pushed the "Zero Set" button on the from ot the HW-101.  I heard it crack.  I cut out a piece of plastic of the right size.  That replacement clutch has been in there for about 30 years now.  

I know of one other guy who has replaced the clutch on a HW-101 (Will, N5OLA).  Let us know if you have done this too.  Put a comment down below. 

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Oscillation! Negative Resistance! Barkhausen Explained Very Well!


It is not every day that we find a web site or a YouTube video that discusses negative resistance and the Barkhausen criteria.  But that day has arrived my friends!  

This All Electronics fellow appears to be Italian.  I really like his enthusiasm. The universe!  Differential equations! The passion seems to jump out of the video when he talks about how the negative resistance "enhances the oscillation!"  It is really great.

He even talks about how thermal noise gets the oscillation going.  This is something that I struggled with as a kid.  It took me a while to find a good source that explained this.  He explains it very well. 

Thanks to master homebrewer Pete Juliano (another Italian!) for alerting us many years ago to the Barkhausen criteria.  And thanks to Al Williams at Hack-A-Day for alerting us to this great video. 

Here is the All Electronics channel on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@AllElectronicsChannel

Dan KF5DAN's FB SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver


It is a happy occassion whenever we get to announce a new member of the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver Hall of Fame.  And Dan KF5DAN has entered the hallowed halls.   Congratulations Dan.  We are really glad you are doing the happy dance.   Above you can see Dan's receiver inhaling SSB, in the video below you see it receiving CW. 

Dan writes: 

I would like to present proof of life! I found the motorboating issue in my amplifier. R18, 1K resistor was connected from the power rail to the base of Q5, instead of the collector. I moved it, and had already added a 470uF cap from earlier troubleshooting. There is a lot of noise, probably due to some stormy weather in Arkansas this evening. I'm doing the happy dance over here.
Thank you very much! I am very appreciative of all the guidance and suggestions everyone has provided. I am very happy to be in this group of hams and homebrewers.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Homebrewing a Quantum Computer


Ok, now for something completely different, and something that might help us shake off that Ludite moniker. 

I've seen lots of videos that promise to explain what quantum computing is all about.  Most of them disappoint.  These videos have promise.  

This young lady built a very simple quantum computer at home using lasers and some calcite.  The homebrew angle is very interesting.  At one point in the second video she talks about the benefits of taking theory and using it to actually build something at home.  Indeed.  

I need to spend more time with both of these videos, but like say, they show promise, and they definitely show the spirit of homebrew.  

The first (above) describes the build.  In the second video (below) she uses the build to do a calculation.
  

Friday, July 4, 2025

AI Apocalypse: How Google is Changing the Internet-- Implications for SolderSmoke


Here's what happened in a nutshell:  During the spring of this year Google rolled out an automatic AI search feature.  So now, when you have a question, Google's AI looks at websites across the web and writes up a nice, specific answer to your question.  Good for you, but disastrous for those who built blogs and websites on the assumption that Google searches would be sending a lot of people to our sites.  Why go to the sites if the nice AI has already given you the answer?  Many of us have seen precipitous drops in the numbers of visitors.  I have noticed an especially large drop in the number of comments on my blog posts.   And I have noticed that many of the other blogs listed on my blog site are no longer posting regularly. 

This is not imaginary. 

Here is a BBC article on what has happened: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250611-ai-mode-is-google-about-to-change-the-internet-forever

Here is TWiT TV talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDdLw1ubLaY&t=86s

Andreas Speiss (White gloves, Swiss accent, motorcycle hat) talks about the YouTube trends that are causing him to stop regular video production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTerwIniB24

Leo Sampson talks about the pressure to get high hit numbers on YouTube (scroll forward to the 3 minute 20 second mark): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4tSOQO3kxY

Fraser Cain of Universe Today talks about the Google ""AI apocalypse" (scroll ahead to the 18 minute mark): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-podcast/id794058155?i=1000714736434

This is unfortunate, and it does seem unfair.  The AI is essentially taking our content, repackaging it, and serving it up for readers.  The AI site gets to monetize the visits -- the blog owners that the AI gets the information from do not.  

But what should we do in response?

Well, we will resist the forces that seem to be pushing us into oblivion.  We know we are a very niche operation.  At best we are NIMCELS:  "Niche Internet Micro-Celebrities."  We are content with our NIMCEL status.  We know that our posts and podcasts about homebrew rigs will never go viral nor rival the hit counts of Taylor Swift or Arianna Grande.  And we are not in this for the money (!).   Some additional comments would be encouraging -- these comments let us know that we are not blogging/podcasting into the abyss. 

So,  just keep reading the blog, listening to the podcast, perhaps become a Patreon sponsor  and -- perhaps above all -- put comments on the blog site and the YouTube channel. Help spread the word about our efforts. 

An old fashioned RSS reader may help.  Feedly works well:  Here are some recent recommendations: 

Here is the RSS feed for the SolderSmoke Blog: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SoldersmokeDailyNews

And here is the RSS feed for the podcast: http://www.soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke.rss

Here is the ID for the SolderSmoke YouTube channel.  Please subscribe and comment!  https://youtube.com/@soldersmoke?si=mYMzMNtsPyKot7q4

Become a Patreon sponsor for SolderSmoke: https://www.patreon.com/c/SolderSmoke

We thank you for your support. 

Monday, June 30, 2025

Will Everett N5OLA -- the Heathkit Guru from South Texas

Will N5OLA

Will's innovative approach to old, dirty Heathkit transceivers caught my eye:  he gives them a bath.  Like with soap and water.  Then he put the rig in the oven (not all of us can do this and live to tell about it).  Finally he leaves the rig under the South Texas sun for a few days to complete the drying process.  FB Will. 

Will has (I hope!) inspired Pete N6QW to change his landfill plans for the HW-32A.   I have not given my HW-101 a bath yet, but I have recapped the HP-23B power supply and I have the HW-101 on the air.  Just yesterday a guy on 40 told me I was 40 Hz off frequency. I felt like I had come home. 
 
The N5OLA Workshop

There is another line on Will's QRZ page that caught my eye: 

"When not on the air, I write novels and own two indie coffee shops here on South Padre Island."

Indeed Will is a well known author who has done some great stuff:   

From http://www.willeverett.net/about.html

As a journalist, Will Everett has reported from the Middle East, South Asia and West Africa for National Public Radio, the BBC, Voice of America and other outlets.  With Walter Cronkite he wrote and produced the 2006 documentary World War One Living History Project, the only media project to honor the last surviving veterans of WWI. He also collaborated with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien on a program for the National Campaign to Stop Violence.


For ten years he was the creator and host of the syndicated NPR program Theme and Variations. His work has been recognized by the Society for Professional Journalists, the New York Festivals, the National Headliner Awards and the Poynter Institute.


His novel We’ll Live Tomorrow was  published in October 2015.  He also provided lyrics for a choral collaboration with Joseph Martin, “The Message,” published by Hal Leonard.


Will holds a master's degree from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. 



Will's QRZ page:  https://www.qrz.com/db/N5OLA
Will's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@N5OLA

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Alan W2AEW Measures the Minimum Discernible Signal (MDS) of the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver


So cool that Alan did this.  Here we see a rigrourous measurement of the MDS of our receiver, with a correction for the bandwidth.  Very nice. 

It can discern signals down to -125 dbm.  I think that is pretty good for simple receiver like this.  

Alan agrees that another way to do the sensitivity test is to just listen for the band noise when you connect and disconnect the antenna.  Especially on the low HF bands,  if you can hear it, you have sort of maxed out on receiver sensitivity.  

Thanks Alan!  

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Hack-A-Day on the Tao of Bespoke Electronics

My comment:  Good post with good points about the under-appreciated differences between true homebrew and kit building. I have a lot of Heathkits around me, but I never considered them to be homebrew. There is a big difference. We have been promoting and supporting the HOMEBREW construction of 40 meter direct-conversion receivers. No one would confuse these receivers with commercial, or even kit-built gear. But they work very well, and the builder earns the satisfaction that comes with building something from scratch. There are no factory made PC boards to “populate.” All four of our boards are made using Manhattan construction techniques (super glue, isolation pads, copper-clad substrate). Almost 90 receivers have been completed, in more than 15 countries. Check out the receivers. Build one if you dare: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search/label/DC%20RX%20Hall%20of%20Fame 

BTW — I own a Dymo machine, and my SSB transceivers are in wooden boxes made from junked packing material. 73 Bill N2CQR

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

F6GUH: True Homebrew

 
Philippe put it this way:  "Radio is my religion, my shack is my church." 

20 Meter transceiver

40 Meter Transceiver

80 meter transceiver

Today I was on 17 meter SSB, talking to Yannick HB9TWY.  He looked at my QRZ page and said that he had a friend with rigs that look like mine.  "Who is that?" I asked.  Philippe F6GUH is the intrepid homebrewer.  I like the looks of his rigs.  And they are truly "rigs."

Thanks Yannick.  And thank you Philippe. 

Designer: Douglas Bowman | Dimodifikasi oleh Abdul Munir Original Posting Rounders 3 Column