Those large "steering wheels" on the regen rig caught my attention, and I'm glad they did, because they led me to the sites of Danny ON1MWS.
https://www.qrz.com/db/ON1MWS
Danny writes on his QRZ page:
I'm especially interested in homebrewing my own station. everything from the power supply to the antenna is scratch-build. I have no commercial ham gear, nor do I use pre-fabricated kits or DDS chips.
My gear is a toy compared to a modern station. And it will never even come remotely close to commercial gear. However, the journey to learn how radio circuits work, improve the station and add capabilities over the years has been satisfying. R&D as amusement.
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FB Danny! Thanks for the rigs and web sites. 73 Bill N2CQR
This is 100% innovation. Brilliant use of available materials, especially all those Altoid (?) tins. Modular construction and big tuning knobs- this site is so worth going through in detail.
ReplyDeleteAnd his line " R&D as amusement" --clever!
Bill, you have to QSO this guy!
Danny reports that the large knobs come from broken pressure valves. FB!
DeleteVery impressive, but contrary to him I would say that homebrew gear is AS GOOD OR BETTER than commercial, considering all factors.
ReplyDeleteFirst, in all my thousands of contacts since 1980 on five HF bands using the CW, SSB, and DSB modes, nobody on the air has ever suspected I was using a homebrew radio, so basic performance must be comparable.
Also, commercial equipment is limited in many ways.
For one thing, practically every manufactured radio is available
in only one color, which is black, and every one I have even seen
in person has at least one glaring inefficiency with a display that is difficult to see or a knob or button that is too small to be easily operated by manly fingers. The huge number of generally useless features included get so in the way of common, basic operations that they can only be categorized as a hoarder's delight, and frequently inadvertent button touches knock commercial radio operators off-frequency or off the air entirely.
Of course new commercial gear also has the glaring deficiency of all modern electronic devices in that they all are essentially useless out-of-the-box, instead depending on an initial investment by the user of several gut-wrenching hours studying the full operating manual trying to figure out how to use the beast to just
accomplish the two main functions of any ham transceiver, which are to listen and transmit.
Additionally, all my radios have a lifetime warranty; as long as I am alive, if it breaks I can fix it, usually within two hours, which no commercial radio can match.
--Walter KA4KXX
One of the most cleaver homebrew stations I have ever seen! Wow, Wish i could see it in person. Love the "knobs", would never have thought to use them. BRAVO!
ReplyDeleteLekker gewerkt! In addition to intelligence and industry, Danny's work shows a lot of imagination as well. That is, rather than copy the physical forms and looks of commercial rigs, he comes up with his own. And he does so in part by repurposing enclosures and control mechanisms (water-valve handles!) of various sorts.
ReplyDeleteIt's worth taking a look at some of his schematics. I'm really intrigued by the variable-bandwidth crystal filter he has in this general-coverage "Kortegolfontvanger" (shortwave receiver). I absolutely have to experiment with that.
At the top of Danny's qsl.net webpage, he recounts a QSO with a friend who asks, "why don't you just buy new or secondhand stuff" instead of building your own? Whenever that phrase, "why don't you just . . . " is used on me--in any context--I know I'm about to be bored almost to unconsciousness.
A good reply might be that I already have an appliance I can use to talk to anyone in the world I want. It has a built-in antenna (no hassles with HOAs). It'll do 24K-mile DX--long path or short path--without ever having to worry about sunspot numbers, MUF, or geo-magnetic storms. If I "just" want to have an inconsequential, mostly-formulaic conversation with a total stranger, I can just randomly punch numbers into it and see who answers. Oh, and it fits unobtrusively in my pocket. I can watch Popeye and Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons on it. I can even order pizza with it. Try beating that with a stick, OM!