Falcon 9 Rocket Flies Over the Dominican Republic -- February 18, 2025

Just 30 minutes prior to this, my wife Elisa happened to see on Instagram a map showing the flight path of the Falcon 9. We didn't know that this was coming! I checked and got a live feed from Cape Canaveral of the launch. I figured we might see something if we looked to the north-west. Wow, did we. The Falcon 9 put on an amazing display. On January 25, 2025 we had seen a meteor-bolide fireball on a similar track. That was quite something, but this was really amazing. You can hear our excitement in the audio.

Thr bright object is Venus. The rocket appears to turn off its engines shortly after (from our point of view) it passes Venus.

Light Beam Communication from the Dominican Republic?

Mike WN2A sent me the PIC board to generate the CW for my "Lil Slugger" Doug DeMaw transmitter.  Then I started wondering about having a light source flash with the CW.  Mike recommended some super-bright green LED's.  I had a big broken flashlight with me (the benefits of junk!) so I put all the parts together and hung the light in the window of my seventh floor shack.  Last night as Elisa and I walked the dog, I looked back from a quarter mile south.  The video above shows the scene. The cell phone camera understates the brightness.  

The video above shows the rig in action (but with the bulb on the shelf).   Note the PLJ freq readout, the SWR meter and, of course, the green bulb.  

I half joked with Elisa that I would love to get a reception report on the light beam.  This is not all that far-fetched.  We have an email address in the CW message, and the light beam is aimed to the south, across the open Caribbean.  

All of this reminded me of an article by Rod Newkirk of some light beam communication that he engaged in in Indonesia during World War II.  Great story: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/05/a-light-beam-qso-in-hollandia-christmas.html

First 10 Meter AM Contact from Hi7/N2CQR

I threw this in the bag on the way to the DR, almost as an afterthought.  But I am glad I did.  Today, watching reports on my 10 meter CW beacon (Mike WN2A provided the keyer),  I noticed that my signal was unusually strong.  At W3POA I was 7 db above the noise.  At DF2CK I was 4 db above the noise.  So I switched to the 10 meter AM rig (which is a converted GE brand CB rig) and worked John G3YPZ (see video above).   I was running about 5 watts to a quarter wave vertical.  But the signal reached the UK. 

Here are some details on my rig: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2025/01/looking-for-contacts-on-10-meter-am.html

And https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2023/11/bill-n2cqr-goes-citizen-band.html

Thanks John!  

Fireball (Meteor) Over the Dominican Republic

Click on the link below to see the video

https://www.tiktok.com/@william.de.jesus01/video/7464040455185993002

I had been telling Mike WN2A how I had put a little red LED on my beacon (he gave me the keying hardware) and that I was hoping to put the LED in the window of my 7th floor shack.  I want it to serve as a kind of CW "lighthouse." We are, after all, close to the ocean.  I thought it would be cool.  Last night, soon after sunset, Elisa and I went out to walk the dog and to look a my little light.  

Well, as expected my little light was too small.  But HOLY COW,  it had us looking in exactly the right direction at exactly the right moment.  At 7:09 pm on January 25, 2025 a very bright, green, long-lasting fireball streaked across the sky from North to South (the guy in the clip above got the direction wrong).  It was throwing off fragments.  One kid in the neighborhood saw it.  And soon Instagram lit up (!) with reports and videos.  I filed a report with the International Meteor Organization: https://fireball.imo.net/members/imo_view/event/2025/516  It was all very cool.  The tiktok clip (above) has a collection of some of the best shots.  Just click on the link below the picture.  

I hadn't seen one of these since March 1995 (I was in the Dominican Republic then too!):  

7 MARCH 95 EVENING: POSTED ON CIS:

Also observed a pretty spectacular fireball in the North (near Polaris) at about 2330. So bright I thought it was a skyrocket. Very slow moving looking like pieces falling off it.

The 10 meter Beacon at HI7/N2CQR (and reception reports)

Above is the 10 Meter beacon at HI7/N2CQR.

The first one to hear the beacon was Dean KK4DAS in Northern Virginia, within hours of it going on the air. Here is Dean's recording of what he saw and heard:

Later, Mike WN2A heard it. Pete N6QW in California may have heard it too. A number of stations are reporting reception via the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN): It is being picked up almost daily (gray-line?) by Rico DF2CK who has an amazing station in Germany. K1RA in Warrenton Virginia (also an amazing receive set-up) is also picking up the station. W3OA in North Carolina is also hearing it and reporting by RBN. TI7W in Costa Rica has also heard it. Sadly, RBN is kind of clunky with beacons -- it seems to obstinately insist that I am in Northern Virginia.

Rico DF2CK writes:

Hi Bill,

thanks for info. 3 Watt can be loud on 10 if condx are good :)

The west direction skimmer setup on 10 m is a 6 el Yagi into a SDR with
AD9255 adc and XC7Z020 fpga.
A design by Pavel Demin which I am testing for a while now.

Enjoy the Caribean, here its minus 2 C and boot high snow.

73, Rico
DF2CK

Check out Rico's amazing station here: http://df2ck.de/

Andy K1RA wrote from Warrenton (Northern Virginia): 

Hi Bill

  Cool on spotting your beacon.  With good conditions I'm surprised you're not being heard elsewhere.

  I'm running a multi-band, multi-mode skimmer for CW, FT8, FT4, WSPR & JS8CALL continuously and simultaneously covering 160m-6m, 24x7 with Redpitaya SDRs and KiwiSDR/RaspSDRs

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NPwjQe1am2Ym5GMV8L2V8fnQ_W9J0EbH/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=103988113912782027869&rtpof=true&sd=true

15 minute map view through PSKreporter here:

https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html?preset&callsign=k1ra&timerange=900&hideunrec=1&blankifnone=1&hidepink=1

73 & good DX'ing!

andyz - K1RA

SolderSmoke Podcast #256: HNY SKN, LA Fires, Barkhausen! Southern Cross, Homebrew vs. Kits, AN762 Kit, Woe, Beacon, ARRL Kids, SDR Build, DC RX videos, Pete Hacked! Power alternatives, KWM4, Mailbag

A Tale of Woe! 

SolderSmoke Podcast #256 is available: 

Audio:  https://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke256.mp3

Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYuEhljOtAQ

Travelouge:  From the DR.  

Happy New Year! 

Fires in LA.  

Dean:  Breaking the Barkhausen criteria.  

Seeing the Southern Cross for the first time in 30 years. 

For all three of us:  The SolderSmoke Homebrew Challenge.  And assembling a kit. https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2025/01/some-history-of-homebrew-ham-radio-from.html

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-magic-that-only-comes-from-radio.html

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2025/01/steve-g0fuw-talks-homebrew-and-kits.html

________________________________

Bill's (Southern) Bench: 

-- SKN with QCX given to me by Bob.  Thanks Bob! 

-- Finishing up the AN762 .1kW amplifier.  Socketry and relays.  Working well.  

-- A tale of woe:  Some difficult troubleshooting on the 15-10 rig. Intermittent oscillation.   Naturally I blamed the TJ DC RX AF amp.  Spent a lot of time working on that amplifier.  But problem always returned.  Started looking at output from carrier osc/BFO.  Waveform weird. Then weirdness disappeared and so did the whooping.  So I rebuilt the entire carrier osc/BFO/ mixer board.  Went back to singly balanced 2 diode mixer.  Used LTSpice for the oscillator amp.. No more whooping.  Turning the diodes on and off  but not quite 7 dbm...  Should I be concerned? 

-- A 10 meter beacon!  28.233   Please listen. Send e-mail reports.   Thanks to WN2A.   

-- Antenna thoughts.  Getting a tripod.  

The HI7/N2CQR 10 meter Beacon

_______________________________

SHAMELESS COMMERCE!   Mostly DIY RF!  Lots of useful kits and boards there.  I have used their TIA boards.  Todd K7TFC is one of us.  FB store. 

Become a SolderSmoke patron.  We need the help.  Homebrew is under seige!  We are one of the few sites, blogs, podcasts that are promoting it!  Help us!  

Buy stuff from Amazon and E-bay using the links on our sites. 

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

Dean's Bench: 

-- ARRL kids day -- Exhausting.

-- VWS Makers SDR receiver build.  

-- High School DC RX Build news. How to watch the videos.  

_______________________________

Pete's Bench:  

-- Hacked! 

-- Power Alternatives. 

-- Thermatron Finals

-- KWM-4. 

__________________________

Mailbag

Dave Newkirk W9BRD (son of Rod).  Great comments on homebrew radio. And a great picture. 

Derek N9TD built the DC Receiver.  FB Derek! 

Peter VK2EMU at 39C in Australia.  HOT! 

Drew N7DA -- Some great comments on kits vs. homebrew. 

Tommy SA2CLC has a nice video about fixing the cavity resonator in his HP8640.  Respect! 

Ben KC9DLM sent good presentation from India: https://github.com/kholia/talks/blob/master/Dhiru_My_RF_Homebrew_Adventures.pdf

Scott KQ4AOP and Derek N9TD offering to 3D Print PTO coil forms.  FB!  

Donnie WA9TGT on the beautiful signals from DC receivers. 

Chuck KE5HPY's FB Altoids DC receiver. 

Todd VE7BPO:  POPCORN ELECTRONICS IS BACK!  Thanks Todd.  And thanks Vasily! 

Jim KA4THC has his uBITX on the air and is making contacts!  

Farhan VU2ESE fond memories of homebrew dinner with Wes and other HB Heroes (on the blog). 

Charlie ZL2CTM -- About his new Pelican Case SSB rig. 

Walter KA4KXX.  All new hams should build a transmitter. 

Buzz W3EMD  A nice QSO on 10 and then a shout out to the Old Military Radio Net

Stations that heard my beacon and reported to RBN

A Saw the Southern Cross (Crux) This Morning (first time in 30 years!)

You can see it (above) in the picture I took this morning, with my Iphone. 

I think I last saw this important constellation more than 30 years ago.  From my observation log: 

DECEMBER 9 1994. MORNING. Went to Parque Mirador Sur near Hotel El Embajador at 5 a.m. Confirmed that I have been looking at the Southern Cross. Below Corvus, Head of the Cross is on a line from Alpha and Beta Centauri. Base of Cross is "three thumbs" from horizon. I calibrate my thumb with Mars and Regulus at 2 degrees. That puts base of cross at 6 degrees off horizon. My Horizon is (90 -18.5 = 71.5 South. So 71.5 - 65.5 BINGO! Agrees with star map declination for Southern Cross. Also Right arm of cross is faint as indicated on star map. Alpha and Beta Centauri off tothe left. Alpha looks red. Beta seems to have two other stars around it. Eureka: Following the line from Alpha and Beta Centauri to the head of the cross, I found a very distinct circular cluster. I think this is the Jewell Box - NGC 4755 (open cluster). Still trying to figure out the constellation (Argo?) that lies to the right of the cross. Looks to me like the false cross. It is bigger than the Southern Cross. Mine seems to have a cluster off the right arm and the left arm has a dimmer star near it. A good morning! (LATER FOUND THAT MY CLUSTER WAS GLOBULAR CLUSTER RNGC 5139. I HAD MISIDENTIFIED ALPHA AND BETA CENTAURI.) 

Here is what Heavens Above predicted for this morning from Punta Cana: 

 

 

A Tale of Woe -- Troubleshooting my 15-10 Rig in the Dominican Republic

-- Problem first showed up as a low level oscillation in the background.  Annoying. 

-- I suspected the simple AF amp from the TJ DC RX project was oscillating.  Wasted a lot of time. 

-- Isolated the problems by cutting off all of the RF input to the SBL-1 mixer. 

-- While watching the carrier osc signal, noticed that the hum appeared as the waveform got fuzzy. 

-- I had used the osc/product detector circuit from the BITX 20. 

-- I had added an amplifier stage to get the signal to higher level. But it was poorly designed. 

-- After some struggle, I decided to rebuild the osc/mixer board. 

-- Redesigned amplifier stage using LTSpice. 

-- Changed from an SBL-1 mixer to a singly balanced mixer like in the BITX 20. 

-- This worked well.  Hum disappeared. 

-- But I had neglected to put the .001 uF cap to ground from the AF port! Thus the cartoon! 

-- This is a very important cap.  Circuit was a lot more balanced with this cap in place. 

-- Noiticed that output on 10 was only about 25 watts PEP, while on 15 it was around 100. 

-- Checked input to final amps.  Input on 10 was a lot lower.  

-- Tweaked the 10 meter bandpass filter and got the output on 10 up to about 80 watts. 

Re-Built board for carrier osc/BFO and mixer for TX and RX

Bill N2CQR Builds Yet Another Mythbuster Transceiver

 This one is for 20 meters (no need for 75) and will go to the Dominican Republic.

6 crystal filter at 5.2 MHz. VFO from old Yaesu FT-101 Termination Insensitive IF amplifiers using boards from Mostly DIY RF No RF amp ahead of the mixer. First mixer is homebrew diode ring. Bandpass filter has 4 LC circuits. Steep skirts. Low insertion loss. Bal Mod/Product detector has two diodes (singly balanced) Carrier osc is crystal controlled and homebrew. Audio amp starts with a 2N3904 amplifier followed by an LM386 board. Transmitter portion will be done next.

The crystal filter as seen on the Antuino

Filter on the blank board. 

Bandpass filter (-20 db = 0)

VFO box, carrier osc, Bal Mod/Product Detector, AF amps

The Antuino looks at the Crystal Filter

How to Organize a Small Shack

A YouTube comment from Paul VK3HN sent me back to "The Spirited Man" YouTube channel, and one of the first things I found was this video about how to organize a small space.  This is very relevant to my shacks in Virginia and in the Dominican Republic. 

Lots of good ideas here, but that propane heater kind of scared me.  And it seemed inconsistent with concerns behind the fire-preventing garbage can.  What do you folks think? 

Thanks Paul. 

 

The Tropics Defined: Sun Directly Overhead on July 31 in Punta Cana DR

July 31, 2024  12:30 Local Time

Check out the shadow at my feet.  The sun is directly overhead.  This happens here on July 31, shortly after noon.  We define "the tropics" as the area of the earth at which -- as some point in the year -- the sun will be directly overhead.   Here we are at about 18 degrees North latitude, so for us, the overhead date is July 31.  We are definitely in the tropics.  A good graphical description of what is happening appears here: 

https://www.suncalc.org/#/18.5548,-68.3853,12/2024.07.31/12:37/1/3

A Wonderful Aeronatical Mobile Contact

 29 July 2024

20S 0943Z 0543L K8JSM/AM Sean, pilot on a 757/300. En route from San Francisco to Orlando with 246 souls on board, including a bunch of kids going to Disneyland.  Was 35,000 feet over Louisiana (12 miles East of Shreveport) when I first spoke to him.  (He had been in QSO with Andrew VK6IK in Western Australia.  I could hear Andrew also.) Sean was using the 400 W Rockwell-Collins transceiver on the plane (that's his picture of the control panel, above), with the antenna vertical in the back vertical stabilizer (rudder). I told him I was running 20 watts from a homebrew rig to a vertical ¼ wave ground plane antenna about 70 feet up; he speculated that the fact that we were both vertically polarized must have been helping.   Sean said he also pilots 767s transatlantic. 

I really had two contacts with him,   Around 0600 local he was calling CQ and no one was answering.  So I called him again and we continued:  I told him about the Aeronautical Mobile contact I had had from Samana.  I also told him about my contacts with MIR and RS-10 (and the RS-10 robot!) from the Dominican Republic 1992-1996.  I told him that Elisa had been present for many of the contacts with Norm Thagard on Mir station (Elisa walked in the HI7 shack at around this time – Sean said hello.)  Sean said he has been a ham for a long time – since before he was a pilot.  He has built a 2 meter “tape measure and PVC”  antenna.  I told him we have a little aircraft radio and use it to listen to the tower at Punta Cana airport, and to aircraft calling the regional ATC in Santo Domingo.  Sean says he too has a little airband receiver and often uses it to listen to airplane tower traffic.  Sean said the airline encourages this kind of contact because it is a way to keep pilots alert on long overnight flights (other pilots have other activities to do the same).  As we spoke he was waiting for a meal (salmon).  He mentioned that he could see the constellation Orion out the window;  I told him I had been looking at Orion in low in the East just before talking to him.  In the end, Sean  had to sign as the plane crossed into Florida and aircraft pilot duties took precedence.  

More info on Sean here: https://www.qrz.com/db/K8JSM     

Thanks Sean!

Some Pictures of SolderSmoke Shack South

That's me at the operating position.   Window looks out to the terrace and to the ocean to the East, the  Mona channel.  The shack is on the top (seventh) floor. 

Here is the view from the terrace, looking South.  The big terrain feature is Cabo San Rafael. 

From the terrace looking North. 

Looking East into the morning sun 

From the terrace looking West. 

Antennas will go up there.  Perhaps solar panels too.  

A bog portion of the shack is a workbench with tools and test gear.  

Yesterday an old friend from Santo Domingo, Luis Ernesto HI8LEZ stopped by.  Thirty years ago we were pioneers in the use of amateur radio satellites from the Dominican Republic.  Luis Ernesto is in the book! 

SolderSmoke Podcast #252 -- First Podcast from SolderSmoke Shack South

For the moment this podcast is video only.  The video appears above.  Here is the URL for the video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeNTv3YjiHU  We will try to get the usual audio podcast version out soon. 

-- This is the first podcast from SolderSmoke Shack South:   Eastern tip of Island of Hispaniola.  Cap Cana, DR, 70 feet up, 1 mile from Mona Channel.  Seventh floor shack with view of the ocean.  Antennas:  Dipoles for now, maybe Moxons or Hex later. STARLINK

- The San Francisco case against me.  One guy thinks we DESERVE prosecution!  Get off of my lawn! 

Like the library cop on Seinfeld: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9tP9fI2zbE

But one fellow wrote letter to the mayor asking for leniency.  Proposes "Bill Meara Day in SF." FB!  I fell victim myself this year:  Mike WU2D got me with WA1HLR on SSB video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLvCNJ_OnEc

-- Dean:  Fighting a spur in the sBITX.  Filters? 

-- Dean:  Exploring Class A, Class AB and the RD06HHF1

-- Dean: Extensive work on getting flat gain from FETs up through 10 meters. 

-hh- Dean and Bill:  OIP3 measurement and setting the bias on an RD06HHF1

-- Pete:  Discovers for all of us "RF Man"   In spite of all the CB stuff, he is the THE MAN!  On YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@rfmanchannel6915

-- Pete fixes Dean's relay chattering problem: SUBTHRESHOLD CONDUCTION!  Yikes!  

-- Pete's refurb and rejuvenation of the Drake Twins, 

-- MXM news.  New docs, and ads from WD5L. All on the blog. 7030 crystals.  Why MXM? Chuck Adam's mods, Joh DL6ID's questions about VFO.  Yes!  VFO from RX.  Was Bruce Williams an early Swan Designer? 

-- Weird paradox with 25 MHz filter:  Low profile xtals have higher Q, but produce more rounded passbands.  Why?  I note that Minima's 20 MHz filter also had curved passband. 

-- Allison's wisdom on filters at higher frequencies.  The importance of physical layout.  Diodes in the dark!  It is indeed more difficult up there.  But don't let the perfct be the enemy of the good!

-- Is Bill  the only one to ever build a 10-15 Dual Bander using a 25 MHz crystal filter.  Why?  Farhan's Minima has a 20 MHz 6 pole QER crystal filter.  And it too had a rounded passband.  But it tooc WORKED.  

-- Did my receiver sound tinny due to rising frequency response of uBITX Rev 4 amp?  Yes! So I put in a  TJ DC RX Af amp.

-- Bill BLOWS UP a Tiny SA Ultra. Ooops.  But quickly got a new one from R&L Electronics.  Very, very useful.  I knew 25 MHz IF rigs were inferior, but by how much?  How much was the carrier suppressed?  Which filters worked better?  What was the opposite sideband rejection.  TinySA permitted measurement and comparison. 

-- Bill quit 15 meter SSB (for a moment) and went to the 1.22 nanometer band with a Wilson Clound Chamber.  Videos on the blog. 

SHAMELESS COMMERCE:  Thanks to new Patreon sponsors.  I am sending some additional video content to the sponsors.

MAILBAGg

-- Thanks to Bob Crane W8SX for FDIM interviews.  I will get them out! 

--Wes -- W7ZOI has a new TIA amp with variable gain on his web site: https://w7zoi.net/

-- Geoff N6GWB's Rad Receiver https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-rad-receiver-from-n6gwb.html

-- Dave K1KA sent Ensemble RTX SDR parts.   Thanks Dave. 

-- Chuck Adams AA7FO provided good background on my MXM rig, including the meaning of MXM (1990) . Again, great to hear from Chuck, a true homebrew hero.

-- Gerardo HI8P collecting info on the other HI8P, my friend Pericles (SK) 

-- Alvin N5VZH picked up a Silktronix CB VFO.  What to do? 

-- Jorgen SM4WWG listening from Sweden, and making PCBs.  FB! 

-- Mike WN2A  Wondered about opposite sideband rejection of MXM.  Not great. 

-- George WB5OYP loaned me a book from Elmer Bucher.  THE Elmer?   https://k9zw.wordpress.com/2020/01/24/on-the-origins-of-elmer-a-reasonable-theory/

-- Wes W7ZOI, Farhan VU2ESE -- Thanks for help on filter issue. Thanks too to Alan W2AEW and G3UUR

-- Josh G3MOT -- Nice message of support in our "struggle" with SF authorities. Going portable to Vancouver island in August.  VE7/G3MOT

-- Paul VK3HN -- Antipodean solidarity.  Thanks Paul. 

-- Rogier PA1ZZ -- great input and help. Thanks

-- Tony G4WIF reminded me of G3ROO's  parasets.  See Blog

-- Pavel CO7WT His experiences (building, freezing, heating) the VFO in the Jaguey DSB rig.

-- Grayson KJ7UM Sent latest ER with his Collins 51S-1 story. Thanks Grayson. 

-- Allison KB1GMX  Commiserating on higher freq crystal filters. Thanks Allison 

-- Wes W4JYK Notes that Dewey, Cheatam and Howe are based in SF. Can they help with sticky sticker problem? 

15/10 SSB Rig On-The-Air from HI7

I'm going to move the antenna up onto the roof (out of sight). 

 

Progress Report Video on the SolderSmoke Shack South

The new shack is coming together in HI7 land.   I will need a shelf for the test gear -- I am looking for something thatcan sit on the main workbench -- the wall behind the bench is drywall and won't support any weight.   I will have to get some plywood to protect the nice woodwork. I have melted some solder already -- I had to fix the little magnifying lamp -- it felt good to get back in the game.  

The AM radio station that was providing background music was from just across the Mona passage -- they were in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.   My S38-E shows the frequency as being a bit above 700 kHz, but as with most things S38-E, this readout is suspect.  Can anyone tell me the call sign of this station?  

I have been using the homebrew 15-10 rig, but only in receive mode so far.  

I am also doing some VHF scanning, using a Realistic Pro-36 scanner that Bob KD4EBM gave me.  So far I am picking up aircraft approaching Santo Domingo from the East.  I have the maritime calling freq also programmed in and hope to hear some ships at sea.  Thanks Bob. 

Dino asked about astronomy.   As you can see in the video, the Orion telescope is ready to go, but we are in rainy season here, so the skies aren't too great right now.  They will be better in the winter. 

Hurricane Beryl is approaching, but current projections are for it to pass to our south on Tuesday. The eye of the storm is not expected to hit this island.   

Sticker Madness, HI7, April 1

Our friend Lex astutely focused on the date of the release of our report about legal prosecution by the City of San Francisco.  The truth is that we made almost all of this up.  We did put a sticker on a lamp post at Haight and Ashbury.   Dave AA7EE did visit the site and report that the sticker had been removed.  But all the rest was made up.  We did catch several people in this annual April 1 joke.  Unfortunately, not everyone who was taken in was outraged by the city's supposed action. In fact, we got one e-mail SUPPORTING the prosecution.  This fellow said, essentially, that we were getting what we deserved, that we should take this as a life lesson, and stop with the sticker-vandalism.  He was serious.  Jeez.  APRIL FOOL!   We will talk more about this in the next podcast. 

I know the podcast has been delayed by a lot, but I am still getting things set up here in HI7 land.  I hope we will soon be podcasting with particpation from California (N6QW), Northern Virginia (KK4DAS), and the Dominican Republic (HI7/N2CQR).  

Happily, my Dominican ham radio license came through  -- I will be HI7/N2CQR for the next year.  At some point I hope to take the Dominican exam and get a real Dominican call. 

Lex has been our main point of contact in Europe on sticker distribution (aka VANDALISM!). Lex writes:   

Hello all,

Shocked to hear about the "Legal action against Soldersmoke" in podcast : 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/04/soldersmoke-podcast-251-aurora-cbla.html

Which could mean a few things : 

1. some official is trying to make a career and he will be very busy because there are a lot of stickers in San Fransisco to remove.
2. somebody did remove the sticker because they are highly collectable and somebody at soldersmoke HQ saw a opportunity to made one of the best april fools jokes in soldersmoke history pulling the listeners (and readers) leg. 
   
3. somebody use photoshop and made one of the best april fools jokes in soldersmoke history pulling the listeners (and readers) leg. 

Looking at the release date of the soldersmoke podcast 251, IMHO #3 is the most possible with #2 as a good second. When #1 is the real reason, that sucks big time :-(  (so I'm hoping for the april fools joke outcome)

Let's continue and get on topic to this e-mails subject.

My XYL and I are just back from a holiday to Berlin and aside of the architecture, visiting a large number of museums and historical exhibitions, there was one place on my personal list I wanted to visit : the "Teufelsberg". 

*  The "Teufelsberg" (Devil's Mountain) is a artificial mountain build with rumble of the ruins of Berlin on top of the “Wehrtechnische Fakultät”, covert soil and plated full with trees. In the early 70's the location became one of the most important locations for the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) outside the United States. The facility monitors Soviet and Eastern Bloc communications and gathers important information on the activities of Warsaw Pact countries. 1992 the side got intrest of creative minds and started to get covert by street art.

More info about the history can be found on there website:  https://www.teufelsberg-berlin.de/en/history/

Not only the historical part of the site, but also because the XYL and I love street art, we took a day visit it. Aside from the nice walk to it, the excellent view and the great pieces of street art, when you are at a site where street art is present all over the place and even is encouraged (and legal) and you "accidently" just happen to have a few soldersmoke stickers in you bag, you just have to use them. So as of this moment, Soldersmoke is present a the formal National Security Agency (NSA) spy station in Berlin. 

I added a few images as a attachment to this e-mail including one to show the great view over Berlin when you on the top deck (only showing one placement, the other 2 are hidden in plane site). 

In short : when you can apricate street art and visit Berlin, a visit to the "Teufelsberg" is almost a must. IBEW bonus : there are a few soldersmoke stickers hidden on the top dek for you to find ;-)

73 from PA 

Lex PH2LB 

mail : lex@ph2lb.nl
home : http://www.ph2lb.nl/   
twitter : https://twitter.com/lex_ph2lb  
call : PH2LB 

"Life's like a role playing adventure. You
need to solve the puzzles first before
they let you go to the next level."

Greetings from Low Earth Orbit

We are in the Dominican Republic for a little while. Yesterday we got Starlink working.   The picture show me holding the cell phone heralding the good news.  I am setting up SolderSmoke Shack South.  More to follow.  

Some of my Double Sideband Rigs: Azores, Virginia, Dominican Republic

The above video describe a round of mods to the much modded DSB rig. And my alleged winning of the ARRL Sweepstakes (in a very elite category). 

The video above shows where I took the rig in 2014.  Bahia Rincon, Samana peninsula, Dominican Republic.  You can also see my power supply. 

Here is an article on the first DSB rig that I built, out in the Azores:  

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

I think the article captures well the trials and tribulations faced by new homebrewers, perhaps with the twist that comes from being out in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.  

Mike WU2D is having similar fun with his homebrew 10 meter DSB transceiver: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZt1LTGyoHc

I was struck by how similar Mike's early QSO experiences were with mine.  We both put our DSB transmitters on the air before they made their way into real cabinets or boxes. 

Here's mine from 2001 in the Azores: 

Yet ANOTHER Homebrew 15-10 SSB Transceiver (Video #1)

A homebrew 15-10 SSB Rig for the Dominican Republic:

This is my second build of this rig.

I am using a 10 pole crystal filter that I built for the first build, but did not use. I am also using the tuning capacitor from a Galaxy V's oscillator -- I like the anti-backlash gears and the reduction drive. This rig is built on a pine board covered with adhesive copper tape. It has been built stage-by-stage on copper-clad boards using the Manhattan construction style.

The structure of the rig is basically that of a BITX rig -- the RF and IF amplifiers are Termination Insensitive Amplifiers.

Soon the receiver will be completed. I will then build the stages needed for the transmitter portion of the transceiver.

I will take this rig with me to the Dominican Republic.