Retro QRP Rigs of the 1960's, 70's, and 80's -- Video by Mike WU2D

It is time to put aside (again!) all of the heated ideological arguments about the power level that defines "low power."  Just sit back and enjoy this wonderful trip down QRP memory lane. 

Mike's description of the simple, single-transistor QRP transmitter was really nice.   I recently made something similar: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2023/02/first-qso-with-high-school-receiver-100.html  And Mike does a nice plug for our beloved Michigan Mighty Mite.  Go CBLA! 

The modular idea:  words to live by my friends. 

40673!  TT2!  And G3RJV's PW Severn - indeed, bow your heads!

Wow, the Ten Tec Power Mite (or Might!) -- I still want one.  Same for the Argonaut -- what a great name (sounds like a "magic carpet), and with SSB to boot!  I want to join the Argonaut cult! 

I have both the HW-7 and HW-8 (the HW-8 is heading to the Dominican Republic).  This video makes me want to fire up the HW-7.  Maybe on 40.  

My 40 meter homebrew rig (Digi-Tia) has in it the filter from that old Yaesu FT-7 rig.  The filter was given to me by Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith.  https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2015/05/bitx-digi-tia-build-update-2-installing.html  

Thanks to Mike for including me in the credit roll at the end.  What a great group of people -- it is a real honor to be listed with those folks. 

Presence (Absence?) and Direct Conversion Receivers (with wise comments from Farhan)

Hello Bill,

    I was reading an online article by Wes Hayward, W7ZO  from 1968  about the history of direct conversion receivers (http://w7zoi.net/dcrx68a.pdf)  .  It was linked in an email in qrptech.    It recounts how he had first build a dc receiver with a single diode for the detector, and how microphonic it was, and dissatisfying an experience.   This was in the early days of solid state devices, and so they were hard to come by.   He describes meeting another ham engineer at work Dick Bingham, W7WKR who immediately recognized that what he needed was a diode ring mixer.    The story goes on to describe their experiments, and success at this design.   

  They decided to write up the design for QST.   I won't bore you with the details...the article is well worth reading about how Wes mailed the radio and the design to ARRL, and how it ended up in the hands of a new person on their staff there, Doug DeMaw, W1CER (later W1FB.).  Here is an excerpt from the article describing Doug's reaction to the receiver:

"This was the epiphany, the moment when Doug realized that solid-state technology had produce a new way to build a simple receiver. Doug tuned the receiver higher in the band and found some SSB. Again it was like nothing he had ever heard. It was as if the voice came from the same room. Doug used the term presence in his description."

Here I present the earliest use, that I know of, of presence being used to describe a receiver.    I have to say when I read it, I immediately thought of you guys, and decided to share.

Thanks for all you guys do.

   dave    /nt1u

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

Bill replied:

Thanks Dave.   Yea, that's the 1968 article that launched the use of DC receivers.  I had forgotten about DeMaw's early use of "presence." 

Just to cause trouble, perhaps we should start commenting on "absence"  i.e.  "I dunno OM, I think your rig lacks a bit of absence in the mid-range... turn menu item 63b to ELEVEN!"  

:-)

73 Bill 

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

 

Farhan wrote: 

Mon, Aug 3 at 3:22 PM

When I got my license, my friend Anil SM0MFC was living in Hyderabad. He lent me his HW-8.  I stringed up a 40 meter dipole with a lamp cord and worked with it. Somehow, the combination of the lamp cord length and the 40 meter inverted V made it resonate on 20 m as well. The HW-8 had a nominal antenna tuner and I worked pretty good DX.

Till date, it remains the best receiver that I have used for regular contacts. The only trouble it had was the the MC1496 was a nominal detector, it overloaded heavily with shortwave broadcast stations. There was an unnecessary RF amplifier in the front-end that they could have done without.

I made several direct conversion receivers, but never managed to hang on to any. This makes me want to build one, one of these evenings. I even have a KK7B R1 kit. but real men solder on without any PCBs or even circuit diagram!

A 7/14/21 direct conversion radio that puts out 3 watts of power is what my ideal setup would be. I am not too bothered with the images on CW. I just tune them out in my head. Real soon now, at the moment, i am trying to finish a radio that has been in the works for years.  Finally, I am making some headway.

-f

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

Farhan of course is no slouch in the DC receiver area.  Years ago he wrote a wonderful post about building a DC receiver with his cousin for her class project: 

 https://web.archive.org/web/20171109081542/http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/dc40.html

Included in this post was a passage that I included in my book  SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electonics: 

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

Why build a receiver?

    Why do you want to build it? These are available at the Dubai Duty Free asked Harish, an old friend, when he spotted us struggling over the DC40 one evening. I didn't have an answer to this question and considering the amount of work piled this quarter, it appeared to be a sensible thing to ask.

    I think this question is answered by us all in different ways. My personal answer would be because we human beings are fundamentally tool builders. We have an opposable thumb that allows us to grip the soldering iron.

    For an engineer (by the word ‘engineer', I don't just mean those who have a degree, but anyone who applies technical knowledge to build things) the act of building a receiver is a fundamental proof of her competence and capability. It is much easier to put out 1 watt signal than it is to receive a 1 watt signal.

    A simple definition of a good receiver is that a good receiver consistently, clearly receives only the intended signal, such a definition hides a wide range of requirements. The receiver has to be sensitive enough to pick up the weakest signal imaginable (note: clearly), it has to be selective enough to eliminate other signals (only), it has to be stable enough (consistently).

    For a ham or an engineer, building a usable receiver is a personal landmark. It establishes a personal competency to be able to understand the very fundamental operation of the radio and mastery over it.

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

Bill:  OM Ryan Flowers did a 5 part series on building the DC40.  If you are want to build one, I suggest you use the schematics on Ryan's site.  There was an error in Farhan's original schematic -- Farhan corrected it but some of the incorrect schematics are still floating around the internet.  Here is part one of Ryan's series: 

 https://miscdotgeek.com/building-direct-conversion-receiver-part-1/ 

Farhan's DC40

SolderSmoke Podcast #198 - D-104, HW-8, Juliello, DIFX, Dishal, Baofeng, MAILBAG

Bill Breshears WC3K (SK)

SolderSmoke Podcast #198 is available. 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke198.mp3

29 July 2017

Sign on a beach store:  SHACK-TACULAR! 

Noticed that EB63 amp was getting hot. Why?  

TT2, Herring Aid5, Farhan's Key:  QRPp and CW!  See?

D-104 lore -- Reading from Bill Breshear's (WC3K) ER article

Astatic  crystal/ceramic element -- disappointingly flimsy

Electret-ing it.  The G-Spot (see picture above)

Walery KB2FIV sent crystal mic element and piezo buzzer (reverse for mic!) FB

HW-8 AF filter Center Frequency Problem.  IT'S TRUE!  Fixed!  Finally. 

Shack re-org at N2CQR

Got Steve Silverman's HP 8640B Sig gen on the bench.  Required reinforcement

Pete's new DIFX

LM373 rigs.  Perhaps with that CA3020 Pete sent me. Chips Ahoy! 

Juliano Yellow? Origins of Blue?  Juliello? Julionyx? 

HB Crystal Filter Capitulation? Don't give up Pete --  just dish the Dishal!

Ceramic VXOs?  K.P.S. Kang

Crystal testers by G7WKE and Dino KL0S.  Impressive. 

Antennas and BITX40 modules.  Antennas are important.

Bill's new Baofeng HT on 440.

Fixing my Sony SW7600GR

MAILBAG

Steve Silverman alerts us to NYC radio row now in the Bronx.

Tony G4WIF on the cover of SPRAT -- Getting the Don Cameron award. FB 

Armand WA1UQO points out that the Berryville hamfest is coming up... 

Thomas KK6AHT F4HDQ writes in. 

On the air with W8NSA

Juliello.  No. 

Mod to Correct DESIGN ERROR in Heath HW-8

130k resistor inside heat shrink, across R-24

SPRAT 161 (Winter 2014/15) had a very intriguing article about the Heath HW-8 by Dave M0CEM.  Dave wrote about a possible design error in the active filter of the receiver.  The center frequency and gain shift significantly when you switch from "Wide" to "Narrow."   I was very interested because for many years I have noticed this problem in my own HW-8.  I just left it in "Wide" and never used the more narrow filter.  
 

Dave did some excellent circuit detective work and determined that the problem was R24.  He prescribed a change:  instead of 82k it should be 49.8k.  The placement of a 130k resistor across the 81k R24 would have the same effect.

Yesterday morning I installed Dave's mod.  I did as he suggested and put a 130k resistor across R24.  Brilliant!   What a difference!  In the past, I noticed a significant degradation in signal strength when I put the filter in the "Narrow"  position.  This doesn't happen now -- the response obviously does narrow, but the center freq stays the same.

It is really amazing to me that the Heath engineers made this error, and that it went uncorrected for so many years.  There have been many, many modification articles for the HW-8 over the years, but I haven't seen any that really address this problem. 

If anyone has more info on how this design error happened and why it went uncorrected for so long, please let me know.

Thanks to Dave and SPRAT for getting us back on the straight and narrow. 

Dino's HW-8 Mods

Bill -

Enjoyed the recent Hamvention interview with Ed Hare and your comment about him and a Heathkit HW-8 QRP rig.  I recently rescued the HW-8 I bought on eBay that had been sitting in my project queue for several years.  As I was refurbishing the rig I found that John KC9ON (http://kc9on.com) has several HW-8 mods that are very reasonably priced and I incorporated in the the refresh.  They included replacements for the audio amplifier and the T/R relay, the “miniYAK” electronic keyer that I installed internally and built-up a external control dongle for the keyer.  Cleaned up the additional audio filter that the previous owner had installed (ancient MFJ CWF-2 op-amp filter, surprisingly still available from the MFJ Vectronics brand, model VEC-820K) and did a complete realignment of course.  The T/R replacement includes provision for a red and green LED that indicates that the rig is in the receive mode (green) and transmit (red); I was able to mount them directly behind the relative output meter using a piece of plastic drapery hardware (always pays to keep that kind of stuff!).  Finally installed a fresh S-meter mod.

RF output is ok on all the bands except for 15m and I still need to figure that out.  Getting rid of the old Molex power connector and replacing it with a Powerpole was a real plus I thought.  Have swapped out the PA transistor with several different types but the one the last owner substituted in seems to be the best (ECG488).  Have to admit I’ve never been a devoted QRP guy but love the community for it’s technical bent but since I’ve been looking for some new challenges I thought this would be a enjoyable one.

As you’ve pointed out Mike Bryce’s HW-8 handbook is a must have for anyone updating their radio and there is also a seminal 2-part article series in CQ magazine that probably started the mods craze; they appeared in the August and October 1977 issues of CQ.

Here are some pix of the clean up process and shows I’m not afraid to drill holes in a boat anchor to make it more useable!

73 - Dino

Here’s the new audio board installed:

The additional audio filter with the new 5-pole selectivity switch put in by the previous owner…had to add some audio coupling caps and clean up all the wiring.  The plastic piece over the meter was from some old drapery hardware and it now holds the RCV/XMT green/red LEDs:

I replaced the original S-meter mod with a proper terminal strip (old parts were just hanging in the air).

Here’s the solid state T/R circuit that replaced the mechanical relay:

FDIM: Bob Crane Interviews Ed Hare W1RFI

I always associate "Ed Hare" with that picture of him holding an HW-8 in the ARRL lab.

I was supposed to edit this one a bit at the beginning, but I forgot.  Sorry about that Ed. 

Thanks to Ed and to Bob Crane for the interview. 

http://soldersmoke.com/FDIM17W1RFI.mp3

FDIM: W8SX Interviews Mike Bryce WB8VGE

Mike Bryce's many contributions to the radio art and QRP definitely puts him in the Homebrew Hero category. I have Mike's "Hotwater Handbook" (about the legendary HW-8) on my bookshelf.  Our intrepid SolderSmoke media team (Bob W8SX) spoke to Mike at FDIM 17.  His comments on the joy of a good troubleshoot, and on the pernicious, unfixable nature of many recently marketed appliance radios really resonated with me.   

Mike has special expertise on Heathkit gear:  https://www.theheathkitshop.com/index.html

Listen to the interview with Mike here:

http://soldersmoke.com/FDIM17WB8VGE.mp3

KEEP THAT GREEN FLAME BURNING MIKE!

SolderSmoke #171 DC RX in QQ, Power Supplies, Small Screens, 12 Buck Counters, HW8 Error?, KX3 RX

SolderSmoke Podcast #171 is available: 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke171.mp3

Bench Report: 
Pete's Small Screens (in Color!) 
Si5351s
Bill's Graph Paper Frequency Readout
Bill's Broadened Barebones Barbados RX.  DIGITIZED! 
Another AD9850 DDS using M0XPD Kanga UK Shield
New 13 dollar Color Display (Prettier than Graph paper!) 

Pete and Ben's Article in QRP Quarterly Available free here: 
http://www.qrparci.org/qqsample/qqsample.pdf

The DEEP SPIRITUAL REWARDS of DC Receivers 
The Importance of Good Power Supplies
SPRAT Article on HW8 Design Error
Latest Edition of Hot Iron
Elecraft KX3 -- Has one of the best receivers in the world  

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Solder Smoke Podcast #147 -- Hurricane Sandy Edition

Hurricane Sandy backup station at N2CQR

SolderSmoke Podcast 147 is available for downloading: 
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke147.mp3
October 29/30 2012
Hurricane Sandy on the way
Thanks for birthday wishes 
Einstein -- a very nice fellow with a bit of the Knack
Rocket project update
808 key chain cameras (thanks for the Amazon support!) 
Audio output transformer for Barbados Barebones RX
Mighty Midget RX -- breaking it, fixing it (with help from friends)
Freq counter connection to Tek scope  
Halli S-38E -- How to avoid electrocution?
The HQ-100's anti-drift alarm clock 
Book Review:  "Instruments of Amplification" by H.P. Friedrichs (5 Soldering Irons!) 
BANDSWEEP: 20 meter SSB via DC receiver on hurricane day
Report on outcome of the hurricane -- inverter saves the day (really the night)
MAILBAG (a big one).    

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Waiting for Hurricane Sandy

That vortex off North Carolina is Hurricane Sandy, and it is heading right for us.  It should make landfall tomorrow, perhaps in Southern New Jersey, perhaps closer to us (the location of the landfall of the eye doesn't matter much -- the wind field has a radius of 300 miles!)   It could really mess things up  --- lots of water, lots of wind, and it will collide with a cold front moving in from the west.  Yuck.   There is a good chance we will lose power.  I have pulled out my trusty Heathkit HW-8 and my solar-charged gel cell battery, so I am ready to go.  Good luck to all those in the storm's path.   

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"
http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Mike, KL7R's HW-8 DSB Mod

The HW-8 rehab project of Ed, WA3WSJ, has led to a nice discussion on QRP-L about the possibility of using the HW-8 as a DSB rig. Mike, KL7R, did such a mod on his HW-8 many years ago and used it successfully in the field in Alaska. Read his story here:
http://kl7r.ham-radio.ch/hw8/hw8story.html

Nick, WA5BDU, and I have been discussing the possible need for an additional mod to put the HW-8's final in linear mode. The picture above is of Mike's rig, with the finals unbiased. Check out the scope. Looks pretty good to me!

Here's the e-mail exchange:

Re: [QRP-L] WA3WSJ Heathkit HW-8 Rebuild Status

Monday, September 19, 2011 7:32 AM

From:

"Nick-WA5BDU"

To:

"Bill Meara"

Cc:

qrp-l@mailman.qth.net, sigcom@juno.cm

I had the same thought regarding amplifier class, and Steve, WB6TNL also emailed the same observation.

The balanced modulator is inserted between the driver and final amplifier, which has no fixed bias and has its emitter grounded, so it's definitely class-C. I do note that the balanced modulator is passive and probably has 6dB or more of loss, so you're getting a pretty good drive reduction. And Mike said he adjusted the audio while watching the RF output until there was minimal flat topping on a scope. So I wonder if it's possible to keep things fairly linear if the power is kept quite low?

At any rate, I love the idea. Here's Mike in the 70s. He has an HW-8 he's familiar with, and he's reading SSDRA. Going over the simple DSB generation examples, he thinks -- why not stick this in the RF train of my HW-8?

72-

Nick, WA5BDU



On 9/19/2011 4:36 AM, Bill Meara wrote: Nick: I enjoyed reading about your HW-8 adventure, especially the part about Mike's work with this rig. I remember talking to him about it, and I've since come across some articles describing similar DSB mods. One thing that all of these plans lack, however, is a modification to the PA. It is Class C in the HW-8, and would need to be made linear for DSB service, correct? 73 Bill N2CQR

--- On Sun, 9/18/11, Nick-WA5BDU wrote:

From: Nick-WA5BDU
Subject: Re: [QRP-L] WA3WSJ Heathkit HW-8 Rebuild Status
To: qrp-l@mailman.qth.net
Date: Sunday, September 18, 2011, 9:44 PM

Sounds like a great project (or projects!) Ed.

I'm working on an HW-8 also. Bought it at a hamfest this Spring at a
good price, but suspected it might have some issues. When I started
playing with it I noted that transmit power was down, the loading
control was stuck, and there was no sound from the receiver.

The receiver issue was the most challenging and I eventually tracked it
to a leaky transistor in the T/R circuit which was activating the mute
function even when key up. I suspect that the transistor's problem may
have been due to the lack of a de-spiking diode on the T/R relay's coil
so I added one.

So far I'm not keen on modifying the rig and am even keeping the RCA
connector (spent an outrageous $5 for a RCA to BNC adapter from Radio
Shack). Well, maybe not outrageous, but I'm pretty cheap. Other than the
diode, I did add a 1A fuse and a reverse polarized diode downstream of
it for reverse-polarity protection.

After going thoThe HW-8 rehab project of Ed, WA3WSJ, has led to a nice discussion on QRP-L about the possibility of using the HW-8 as a DSB rig. Mike, KL7R, did a mod on his HW-8 many years ago and used it successfully in the field in Alaska. Read his story here:
http://kl7r.ham-radio.ch/hw8/hw8story.html

Nick, WA5BDU, and I have been discussing the possible need for an additional mod to put the HW-8's final in linear mode. The picture above is of Mike's rig, with the finals unbiased. Check out the scope. Looks pretty good to me!

Here's the e-mail exchange: ugh most of the alignment procedure (I don't have a tool
that will reach the bottom coils of the dual-coil adjustable inductors),
the VFO looks good and the power output seems about right.

It was nice that QRP Afield and the Washington Salmon Run were going
right after I did my repairs, so I was able to make ten or so QSOs to
try it out. It also reaffirmed the idea that QSOs can come pretty easily
at 1 or 2 watts out -- you don't need the full pentawatt. I had my first
QSO with the rig the night before, when it was fitting that I worked a
guy running a HW-101 who said he also had a HW-8. Heath to Heath at
random -- what are the odds?

I find that if I buy a used rig and have to work on it to get it going,
I develop a greater appreciation for it. If the repair is successful,
that is.
The HW-8 rehab project of Ed, WA3WSJ, has led to a nice discussion on QRP-L about the possibility of using the HW-8 as a DSB rig. Mike, KL7R, did a mod on his HW-8 many years ago and used it successfully in the field in Alaska. Read his story here:
http://kl7r.ham-radio.ch/hw8/hw8story.html

Nick, WA5BDU, and I have been discussing the possible need for an additional mod to put the HW-8's final in linear mode. The picture above is of Mike's rig, with the finals unbiased. Check out the scope. Looks pretty good to me!

Here's the e-mail exchange:
The HW-8 has an interesting mixture of modern and semi-vintage (70s)
features. Some things I found interesting were -

It uses a LM3900 quad Norton op-amp for the active audio filter, one
stage of audio amplifier, and the sidetone oscillator.

The final amplifier is a 2N4427 with a small heat sink. According to the
data sheet it is rated for 1W output at 175MHz and has GWB of 500MHz.(I
assume that's original -- I was sort of surprised it wasn't "house marked".)

It has a direct conversion receiver but has a heterodyne frequency
generation system. The product detector is an MC1496 balanced modulator IC.

The VFO tunes the same linear scale 250kHz on each band, 8.645MHz to
8.895MHz with a reduction drive. Pretty state of the art for the 70s.

Heath rates power the old way with power /input/ of 3.5, 3.0, 3.0 and
2.5 watts input from 80 through 15.

Bandswitching, covers 80, 40, 20, 15 meters.

The audio output stage is a small transistor in a common emitter
configuration with a 1kΩ resistor in the collector lead.So it can only
put out a small amount of AF power and into a high impedance (1k)
load.Has a mono ¼ inch phone jack and no speaker.

Keying is by pulling 12V to ground like in a modern transceiver.There’s
a keying offset of 750 Hz and you tune to the HIGH side to get on frequency.

Antenna switching is done by a relay with adjustable drop-out time for
semi-QSK.

Relative power output meter, not used on receive.


While doing web searches on the HW-8, I came across the web site of
Mike, KL7R (SK), late co-host of Solder Smoke.

http://kl7r.ham-radio.ch/hw8/hw8story.html

The idea that he put the HW-8 on DSB with such a simple mod really
impressed me. I think I'm going to fool with some DSB stuff in the
future, although I'm not sure I'll try it with the HW-8.

72,

Nick, WA5BDU


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

SolderSmoke Podcast #137

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke137.mp3

10 September 2011

Earthquake! Hurricane! Tropical Storm!
The Heathkit HW-7 -- An Undeserved Bad Reputation
Over-the-counter saltpeter
Movie review: Green Hornet, Captain America
How many 2-Bs? (11,571)
Ubuntifying dead laptops
Get the SolderSmoke blog by e-mail
Replacing a diode ring mixer with a diode...
...then trying the NT7S MOSFET detector
Where is boatanchor wizard Walt Hutchins KJ4JV ?
GREAT NAMES IN RADIO: MCMURDO SILVER
Sputnik update
Lew McCoy wrote about one of my projects
MAILBAG (with mail from Farhan and Wes)

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Copthorne's Heathkit HW-8

Here's evidence that I am moving ever further along the ham radio hippie trail: This week as I was browsing through the 1970's era columns of Copthorne MacDonald, I came across this gem about our beloved Heathkit HW-8. (The photo is of Cop's rig.)

http://infoark.org/InfoArk/Sustainability/Mother%20Earth%20News/70/MEN_CD/mendemo/dcd/047/047-040-01.htm

Inspired, I connected mine to my salvaged and solar-charged gel-cell battery and made a number of contacts on 40 meters. It was all really groovy.

Peace, Bill

More Mars (with olive oil)

No podcast this week. I have two excuses: 1) Computer problems (a long, sad story), and 2) we were once again out in the Sabine Hills. Above is another look at the olive grove QTH. That solar panel thing on the right is an automatic weather reporting station installed by the Region of Lazio. Those trees behind the weather station are olive trees.

We had clear skies this past weekend, and with Mars approaching full opposition, I had the telescope out. We got some better views of Mars than we had last week. When the atmosphere (ours!) would settle down a bit I could make out some of the dark "canali." The Northen polar cap was very visible. The moon was bright (first quarter I think) and so I was wondering if we'd be able to see the M31 galaxy in Andromeda. Even with the moon close in the sky, I had no trouble finding the galaxy using my old Soviet-made 7X50 binoculars. We also looked at the North America nebula in Orion's sword (very appropriate as we had Canadian friends with us).

My telescope (above) has a simple but effective Dobsonian mount. (This system is named for the amateur astronomy guru John Dobson -- interesting guy.) The 'scope basically slide on teflon pads. These pads need a bit of lubrication from time to time. Mine were getting a bit sticky, so I started to look around for something to to grease the teflon. The solution was literally all around me:

Worked like a charm!

Also got on the air with the HW-8 and worked stations on 80, 40, and 20, including two QRP stations.

The Sabine Shack

How's that for a shack! Elisa rescued me from the frigid front porch and got the owner to agree to let me use this little building. You can see the VW solar panel in the window.

Here's the view:

Here's a little silent video we shot of the Sabine Shack:



The HW-8 runs of a 7AH Gell Cell that is charged by my Volkswagen panel. Antenna is a doublet fed by TV twin lead. The Blackberry provides internet access, and I can send in blog articles from it by e-mail.

New antenna for the HW 8 station

Now that my HW 8 station has been moved indoors (good thing -- there was snow on the hilltops this week!) I had to put up a new antenna. I decided to go with the same design that I had earlier: a dipole fed with TV twin-lead. I knew I needed a bit more wire than I had used in the original -- I had trouble getting that antenna to tune up on 80. So I went to the local hardware store and asked for 20 meters of AC line cord. That cost me 8 Euros. Not bad.
We had a nice sunny afternoon on Sunday -- Billy and I took the line cord out into the olive grove and pulled apart the two wires. (Hint: Start from the center, and pull slowly, or else the cord will get all twisted and a two minute job will turn into a twenty minute exercise in untangling.) I got to use some of those Radio Shack "solder strips" -- I just wrapped a few around the connection points and applied heat from a cigarette lighter.
I put some parachute cord (550 cord) over a conveniently placed tree branch using the venerable rock and rope method. One throw was all that it took. The radio gods were smiling on this project.
Success! With the Trastevere flea market Pi network, the thing tunes up nicely on 80, 40, 20, and 15. I notice that the cheap CB SWR meter that also I picked up at the flea market doesn't seem to sample much RF at 80 meters. I'm guessing that the designers were very focused on 27 MHz.
I quickly worked stations all over Europe, and even worked one station in Israel. I worked G4OEC in Somerset -- I immediately thought of Tim Walford, and asked OM OEC if he knew the wizard of the Somerset farm. Mac said his village was far from Tim's QTH.
It is nice to once again get familiar with the daily routine of the bands. 80 is hopping when I turn the rig on at 6 am local time. 40 seems to be active too. 20 opens a bit later, and I can hear stateside stations starting around noon local time. I really like hearing KZ1H up there in the high end of the 20 meter band -- I can hear him almost every day.
Check out the ad for the HW 8 in a 1978 catalog. This must be a non-U.S. catalog because the ad brags of the HW-8's ability to "work the States."
Not much astronomy this weekend -- Sabina and most of the rest of Italy fell under clouds on Sunday night. But I did catch a glimpse of Capella and the Kids.

On the air, out in the woods... Plus, olive news

We were out in the Sabine hills this week. Things are starting to settle down out there: The Cinghale are, well, mostly GONE (see earlier post), and the gunfire is starting to die down. And the olives have all been shaken from the trees. All was going well, but my wife was worried that with temperatures dropping, she might find me frozen out at my front porch operating position, so she secured indoor accomodations for me and the HW-8. Wow, what luxury! My CW is back to normal -- the shivering had been a real impediment. On Monday and Tuesday I was on 80, 40, and 20 with the Heathkit. I managed to work seven stations using a far-from-optimal end fed wire with my flea market tuner. It was fun to work Russian stations -- UA6HNU was running a homebrew rig. It reminded me of the good-old days in which most of the Russian hams were running HB gear. Then, just as we were getting ready to head back to Rome, there was some icing on the cake: Near the top of the 20 meter CW band I heard KZ1H (see earlier post) all the way from Boston.

Next week, a better antenna goes up.

I got some questions about the olive harvest. It seems that the trees around are place are about 200 years old -- mere kids, considering that there are olive trees in the world that are 2000+ years old.

As for the harvesting process, the shaking machine vibrates the tree for about 5 seconds. The workers have a collection tarp on the ground to catch the olives. Then they have machine that reels in the tarp.

Crossing the Pond to KZ1H

We were out the Sabine Hills this weekend and on Sunday afternoon I go on 20 CW with my trusty HW8. I made just one contact, but it was a GOOD one. KZ1H pulled me out of the noise and we had a very nice chat. My fist was not at its best, because it was COLD in those hills -- I'm arranging now to move the shack off the front porch and into the heated (I hope!) library.
Anyway, from the courteous way in which he persisted in copying my QRP signal, I knew that OM George, KZ1H, was a FB ham. Sure enough, when I plugged his call into Google this morning, I was taken to a site with the above picture of George in his younger days. Note the bug and the mill, and the homebrew transmitter. Here is George's story:

I grew up in Corona, Queens, NYC. I became interested in radio at the age of ten or so. My father bought an "Eilen" and I was introduced to Morse code. I met many hams around town (W2HDK, W2KAP, W2APT, W2KCD, W2JGV?). They were all very cordial and happy to show off their rigs.

In April of 1939 (age 14), I took my test at the FCC office at 641 Washington St, Downtown NYC and became W2MDE. My father bought me a Hammarlund Comet Pro (plug-in coils with shield cans). I built an oscillator/ transmitter using a type 59 tube.

I was invited to join the W2USA radio club at the 1939 NY World's Fair. W2KU was the Chief Op and my boss. We handled a lot of traffic for the fair visitors and kept the station on the air during the winter when the fair closed between summer sessions.

At 16, I graduated from high school and went to work for a large patent law office as a clerk. From there I went to work for Hazeltine in Little Neck, NY. I thought I might faint when I saw that my first check at Hazeltine was signed by Jack Binns, the radio operator who was the subject of the book "SOS to the Rescue".

At 17, I was made chief inspector of Hazeltine's first war-time production line and worked along side of Frank Hinners.

When I turned 18, Mr. Bailey of the ARRL became head of the Bureau of Scientific Research and Development in Washington, DC. He invited me to become a member of the Army Intelligence Service when I was drafted, which I accepted.

After the war, I attended the Cooper Union School of Art in NYC. I worked for PAA, Grace Lines, Andrea, Sperry Gyroscope, Varian Corp, and Global Systems. Much of my career has been in microwaves. I have been retired for 20 years and am still active on the bands. My present call is KZ1H.

I have been married to my wife Mildred for 53 years. We have three daughters, Jean, Janet and Diane.

No Smoke, but stars, an HW-8, and one (dead) Cinghiale!

No podcast today -- we were out in the country. As you can see from the picture above, the question of just how big the Sabina wild boars really are has been answered. The one pictured above was shot today very close to our country place (neither Billy nor Maria did the shooting!) The hunters tell us that this one was considered a big one. As you can see, it is about the size of Billy.

I had the telescope out this weekend -- we were looking at the moon, Jupiter, Mars, and the Orion nebula. Also watched a satellite going over shortly before dawn. And one meteor.

I was on the air a bit, on the CQ WW DX contest. Worked about six stations. Was on 40, 20, and 15 with the HW-8.

I will try to get SS 119 out as soon as I can. I hope all you turkey eaters had a good holiday.

Weekend QSOs from Ponticelli on 40, 20, AND 15

When we returned to the Ponticelli site on Saturday I found that one end of my new doublet antenna had fallen down. No problem. One throw of the old rock-and-string and we were back in business. On Sunday I fired up the solar-powered HW8 and worked four stations on three bands: OZ8SW and US7IVW on 20, S59DDR on 40, and --icing on the cake-- OY1CT in the Faeroe Islands on 15 meters (the picture above is of his QTH). I haven't had a contact on 15 in a long time. I really like the frequency flexibility of the twin-lead doublet antenna.