Scott KQ4AOP Built the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver, and Listened to his FIRST EVER Ham Signals with it

Scott KQ4AOP's build of this receiver is especially noteworthy, becasue he used the receiver to hear the very first ham radio signals he ever received.  I don't think any of us can make a similar claim.  

Scott wrote:  "Those first sounds were my first time ever hearing any Amateur Radio first hand!" You can see Scott's deep commitment to homebrew: "I want to build my own gear for 40m. I want to learn morse code. I want my first contact to be on my own gear."  Wow Scott, the building of the receiver is the hard part, and you have already done that.  I think you are well on your way.  In the video above you can watch Scott tune the entire 40 meter band and a bit beyond. You hear CW at the low end.  Then FT-8.  Then SSB.  Up just above the top of the band I think you can hear our old nemesis Radio Marti.  And this powerful broadcaster is NOT breaking through on the rest of the band.  FB Scott.  Congratulations.  

Check out this blog post and the comments: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/02/scott-kq4aop-successfully-builds.html

Scott has also exhibited true ham spirit by 3D printing PTO coil forms for those who need them.  This has helped many other hams build the receiver: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2025/01/scott-kq4aops-pto-coil-forms-for-high.html  

Thanks Scott 

 

Matt NE3U (ex KY4EOD)'s SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver (and his Globe-circling Balloons!)

Matt was one of the first builders of this receiver (see above). He heroically stuck with the very small speaker that we had used in the high school receiver. 

Matt wrote: 

I just wanted to publicly thank you for doing this. I’m sure it’s been a lot of work but I’m very grateful for the experience. I’ve always wanted to home brew and I’ve done a few little things such as filters and attenuators but this has really given me the motivation to really dive in deep.

I’m 44 and I’ve only been a ham a few years so hopefully I have lots of time ahead to get others excited about home brewing. We have a very active club here in KY and there are quite a few folks mildly interested in home brewing, I’m going to push some of them to start a builders group in the club with me. This is entirely due to the effort you have put into this project!

Thank you. 

Matt also builds balloons with tiny solar-powered ham radio transmitters aboard.  These balloons fly around the world.  He is advising Vienna Wireless Society on their balloon project.  Just last night Matt wrote: 

In case anyone is interested, my balloon that has been spending a lot of time in the northern latitudes popped back up again today after being quite for nearly two weeks. Looking at the path prediction on HYSPLIT it's going to make another loop to the north but at least the earth is tilting back to give me a more favorable solar angle. It's only going to get better as spring rolls in.This balloon lost a little altitude shortly after launch for unknown reasons so it's not quite a high as I would like but as long as it can stay away from spring storms, it should still have quite a bit of life left in it. This one is still flying on my old callsign. I got my vanity callsign when I thought the balloon had gone down, then it showed back up. Whoops, oh well, I tried. Matt NE3U

Spot Search Dashboard - Traquito

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Matt is a veteran.  Thank you Matt! 

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For more information on how you too can build the receiver: 

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.io/project/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@soldersmoke 

Peter VK3TPM's SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver (and his follow-on DSB transmitter) -- From Australia

Peter VK3TPM is a long-time member of the SolderSmoke community.  He is a software developer and technology commentator based in Melbourne.  But that digital background did not stop him from diving headfirst into this highly analog project.  He fought a lot to get the stages of his receiver working properly.  The AF amp was full of challenges.  He overcame all of them and ended up with a very fine looking and sounding receiver.  See above. 

Going the extra mile, Peter took his newfound abilities into the world of phone transmitters.  He whipped up a 75 meter DSB transmitter and used it to check into two Australian Technical nets: 

 

This is really great.  You can see the look of pleasure and pride in Peter's face as he uses his machine to send his voice far across Australia and into Tasmania.  This is the kind of satisfaction that comes from homebrew.  

I am encouraging him to combine the his DC receiver with additional stages (perhaps from the DSB transmitter) to make a DC-DSB transciever.  

Thanks Peter! 

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For more information on how you too can build the receiver: 

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.io/project/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@soldersmoke 

Calvin KE8ICE's SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver

Calvin KE8ICE said that building this receiver marks his transition from a kit assembler to a homebrewer.  FB! 

Check out this short video of Calvin's receiver in action: 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BbcBVmmKygw

Thanks Calvin! 

For more details on this project, and info on how you could build this receiver see:

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.io/project/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@soldersmoke 

Wayan YD9BAX's SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver -- From Bali, Indonesia

Our Direct Conversion Receiver is being built around the world, but one of the most exotic locations for a build is the island of Bali in Indonesia.  There Wayan YD9BAX set out to build the receiver.

 

Early on, Wayan noted that he would have difficulty getting the 1000:8 ohm AF output transformer we were using.  This transformer was easy to get if you have easy access to Mouser, but a few prospective builders in Europe and the U.S.  expressed deep objections to our use of this device.  Some complained that we should have used a push-pull amplifier.  Others complained that they didn't have one of these in their junk box.  Some even hinted that we should have gone with an LM386 chip.  But we stuck to our plan, noting that the very simple AF amp circuit we had developed would be understandable in ways that the alternatives were not. Still, I worried about Wayan.  He might have really been out of Mouser range.  

Yesterday the above video appeared.  Wayan finished the receiver.  It is inhaling nicely on both SSB and CW.   The CW signal you hear in the recording is that of YB1IHL.  That is CW from Indonesia as picked up by a homebrew recevier.  FB! 

How Wayan cracked the code on the transformer is inspiring.  He essentially homebrewed the part. Wayan wrote on the Discord server: 

At last I can hear the CW and SSB coming in. The one and only 9v battery that I have during homebrewing forcing to switch to bench PSU with 9,3v setup Pardon me for the messy board and layouts, excitement that it works with parts I have in hands is everything. I learn a lot during this project, including inability for sourcing 1k:8 audio transformer causing me to build my own xformer from 600 ohm transformer former and magnet wire from a broken relay, tedious works but I learn new things. Need to tidy up and may need to build another mixer and BPF again.  

He also homebrewed the PTO coil former.   

Wow, that is all really inspiring, and is a great example of the homebrew spirit at work.  

And Wayan is a new ham, licensed only since 2019: https://www.qrz.com/db/YD9BAX

Congratulations Wayan!  

For more info on this project and info on how you should build this receiver see: 

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.io/project/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

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

Chris G7LQX's SolderSmoke Challenge DC Receiver

It looks and sounds really good.  It is inhaling SSB, CW, and digital signals on 40 meters.  Great job Chris. 

More details here.  It is NOT to late to build one of these. 

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.io/project/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

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

SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver Used in an SSB QSO in New Zealand by ZL1AUN

 Aaron ZL1AUN used his homebrew SolderSmoke Direct Conversion receiver in a 40 meter SSB contact with his fellow New Zealand radio amateurs.  His transmitter was a modern commercial rig, but his receiver was the Direct Conversion receiver. 

I think Aaron's video is an excellent demonstration of how stable and useful this receiver really is.  

The next step for many will be the construction alongside the DC receiver of a Double Sideband transmitter.  You could make it with only the receiver PTO serving as the common stage.  Just build another mixer, a mic amp,  and an RF amp with low pass filter.  Switch the DC voltage and the antenna from T to R and you will be on the air, on phone,  fully homebrew.  

Here is an article describing how I did this on 17 meters in the Azores in 2001: 

https://www.gadgeteer.us/17METER.HTM

Here is the Doug DeMaw article in CQ magazine that got me started in homebrew DSB: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-doug-demaw-article-that-got-me-into.html 

For more information on this project, and for information on how you could build this receiver see: 

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.io/project/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

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