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Monday, February 28, 2011
Hamfest Report
I had a great time at the Vienna Wireless Winterfest. The weather was very nice, so I moved my sales operation out to the tailgate area. I managed to sell the Heathkit Twoer that I was trying to get rid of (the receiver is a REGEN). Also sold a bunch of old books, an old o'scope, and some other odds and ends. I picked up a few things I needed, including some solder wick, a replacement rubber band for my wrist rocket antenna launching sling shot and a backup mic for the podcast (just like the one you guys are so find of).
I met many podcast listeners. Bert, WF7I, and Mark, KJ7IEA, from the University of Virginia (the guys with the rhombic) were there and it was great to meet them. N3UMW, the designer of the SolderSmoke logo, was there at my sales table, but I didn't realize until after the hamfest that he'd been there - -I would have liked to have talked to him! Oh well, more 'fests in the DC area are coming up, and I still have some junk to sell.
SolderSmoke 131 should be out tomorrow.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
SolderSmoke at Winterfest
Sunday, June 20, 2010
SolderSmoke is Moving the Markets!
Hi Bill,
I was at the East Suffolk Wireless Revival yesterday (Sunday) morning – hardly FDIM, but still a nice little flea market / boot sale, maybe 20 / 25 people selling odds and ends from SMD components to rigs and other bits of kit. Finished up in a bit of a good natured scrum fighting over variable capacitors made all the more desirable for having proper shafts and being made of something other than plastic.Your name came up as being the inspiration for a resurgence in home building and the subsequent rise in prices of desirable bits as they became scarce as more people wised up to the fun of building and the ease of just melting solder straight on to the PCB rather than trying to etch something. Rather suspect that your podcasts and that book are actually being more influential than you realise. Read my copy lying on the beach in Antigua, but still keep going back to it, and as you have said in the past, the rest of the library – it’s making a very pleasant change from the Masters that I’m buried in at the moment.
Bought the UK equivalent of a Harbor Freight punch over a few days back, so can now make my own little round pads out of old PCB – magical !!
Good luck with the move – I was brought up on a prison farm in Tanzania amongst other places, so recall all too well that strange sense of loss when you leave a country for pastures anew. Lovely to hear Maria sounding so Italian – picking up another language at that age is a wonderful thing to have done and will no doubt stand both her and Billy in good stead over the years. I still manage a little Swahili after 50 years, including teaching my last 2 dogs a few commands which is always funny.
Looking forward to the next podcast – they have become an important little interlude in my life and keep my interest in amateur radio invigorated
All the best
Nick
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Hamfest tips, 12 Volt Tubes and Cigar Box Radios
Enjoyed very much listening to your adventures in the UK - I very much want to visit Faraday's lab!
When going to the next radio rally/hamfest, can I respectfully suggest the following:
A jacket or waistcoat with lots of pockets, the bigger the better. A backpack with some more bags inside. An idea also would be some kind of lock or restraint so that you could lock a full bag to a post or something out of the way in case you buy something heavy - I usually ask a stall-holder to look after a bag which they are often willing to do after I have made a reasonable purchase from them!
In one of the pockets put a small multimeter with a working ohms range - to test transformers, coils, valve heaters, etc. before purchase.
In another pocket put valve/transistor (or whatever you are interested in) data books or have a handheld thingy (iPhone, etc.) with a working Internet connection where you can look up such things.
In another pocket put a calculator (not needed if you have a handheld thingy) and a small notepad and pen/cil to make notes and work things out and compare prices from competing stalls.
A camera to take pictures of beautiful things you have no money for or intention of buying.
Some personal news:
Currently building a one-valve BC FM receiver - lots of fun. Recently built a MW 2-car-valve superhet which I listen to the World Service on here in Brussels. I build them into Cuban cigar boxes my missus gets free from tobacco shops around the city and in airports.
The fridge broke down and I discovered it was the thermostat and so I decided - foolishly - to spare the money for the replacement part (unemployed) and build one from components I already had in the radio room. Big mistake. I have been fiddling with different resistor values, broken Veroboard tracks and recalcitrant 740 op-amps for weeks now. Managed to freeze an entire bag of perfectly good carrots! I think I am on the tail-end of the prototype development process now and the production model should emerge in a week or so. The missus was initially impressed but now, sadly, not so. C'est la vie.
I experimented with QRSS using a simple PIC-controlled single car-valve crystal-regulated transmitter and a crystal immersed in a large jar of water for temperature stability. I managed to get seen by various grabbers and so am moderately happy. WSPR might be on the boards next, if I can do it with a PIC and a valve...
Good luck with the RC aeroplanes - try and keep the propellor pointed away!
73 cheers
Nick on4Nic / m0NjP
PS Car-valves are designed to operate from 12V only - heater and HT. Great fun for fiddling around with and completely safe - so long as you don't break them or burn yourself on the glass!
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Flea at MIT
http://eepromeagle.dyndns.org/Pick/gallery/v/mitswapfest090419/
Nick also points us to the very interesting web site of Stephanie Maksylewich (VA3UXB): http://planetstephanie.net/
Thanks Nick!