SolderSmoke Podcast #197: Farhan, Fame, 'Fest, Testgear, SSB History, Dishal Dystopia, QRP CW, MAILBAG

SolderSmoke Podcast #197 is available:

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke197.mp3

Up in NYC, met Dave W2DAB. got Steve Silverman's HP 8640B Sig Gen.

Farhan's visit to SolderSmoke HQ

Got me a TEK1401A Spectrum analyzer

Farhan at "Geekfest" @W7ZOI   http://w7zoi.net/Farhan-visit.html

BITX40 Modules.  5,000 already.   1,000 a month.

The BITX pronunciation problem. 

QRP Hall of Fame.  I suspected April 1 reprisal!    "I am unworthy" 

Like in Wayne's World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBEn3a4TIUw

Dusting off my Tuna Tin 2, Herring Aid 5 and Farhan's key from India.

The Manassas Hamfest:  OLD crystal gear.   20's and 30's stuff. Leon Lambert RX and Philmore Fixed Crystal Detector. 

 Reminder of how YOUNG the radio art is.

RELATED:  Bell System 1953 Transistor Documentary.  11 year old Pete and his CK722.

Bought some good stuff from Charles AI4OT.

Armand WA1UQO gave me a big collection of Electric Radio.  So much history and HB wisdom in there. Frank Jones and Lafayette Radio.  Jim Lamb and 1930s SSB.  

Is the CK-722 the source of Pete Juliano's affinity for Juliano Blue?

Was Wes Hayward already using Juliano Blue?

"Your rig sounds real good for a homebrew rig!" 

"Well, your rig sounds pretty good for a Yaesu!"

Related topic: Going over the Waterfall:  The SDR Superiority Syndrome.  Feathering.

ARRL Arduino Book   by Popiel.    Very nice.  Right level.  Lots of good info.

BENCH REPORT:

Pete's Dishal Dystopia --  Is the perfect TRULY the enemy of the good enough?

Bill's  NE602 RIG: 

Replaced OLED.  Blue one seems noisier.  Shielded it with  copper flashing.

Made me yearn for bigger boxes WITH A HOOD!

DOCUMENTING WITH LTSPICE

MAILBAG:

Special Thanks to our correspondent in the Dayton Xenia Metropolitan area -- Bob Crane W8SX.

Jack Welch, AI4SV 5R8SV -- Our Man in Antanarivo -- Sent me a GREAT BOOK "I, Libertine" by Frederick R. Ewing.   EXCELSIOR!

https://qrz.com/db/5r8sv

Bruce KC1FSZ https://www.qrz.com/db/kc1fsz  Building Scratchbuilt BITX.  On the way put the VFO where the BFO should go and had a DC RX.  FB

Greg, VK1VXG   Suggestion for WA8WDQ on Arduino serial plotter

http://www.instructables.com/id/Ultimate-Guide-to-Adruino-Serial-Plotter/

Ben KC9DLM  Mercury PTO.  In a syringe!   No thanks! Maybe add some high voltage and selenium.  And a radium dial!  Yea!

http://webshed.org/wiki/Mercury_PTO

KY3R's metalized cigar boxes!  FB On Blog.

Richard WB2PEF has revived his Doug DeMaw 8P6 rig.  FB.  But bothered by PTT thump.

Update on Dave AA7EE (from Mike KC6SAX)

AI4OT and N2CQR

N2CQR AND W2DAB

FDIM: Bob Crane Interview with Preston Douglas WJ2V

WJ2V with Chuck Adams and Zack Lau

Our ace journalist in Dayton Ohio caught up with QRPARCI President Preston Douglas, WJ2V. 

Congratulations to Preston and QRPARCI for a successful FDIM event. 

Pete and I will heed his warning! 

Listen to the interview here:

http://soldersmoke.com/FDIM17WJ2V.mp3

Thanks Bob! Thanks Preston!

FDIM: W8SX Interviews W8TEE on Facelifts for SSB Rigs

Our intrepid correspondent Bob Crane interviewed FDIM speaker Jack Purdum W8TEE.  Jack made some very intriguing comments on his efforts to enhance the beloved BITX transceiver.  CW! AGC! Speech processing! Woo hoo!  We await more details on how to acquire the board that Jack describes.

Jack is a very accomplished guy who has made many contributions to the radio art, most recently on Arduino microcontroller projects:  https://www.qrz.com/db/W8TEE   

Listen to Bob's interview with Jack here:

http://soldersmoke.com/FDIM17W8TEE.mp3

Thanks Jack! Thanks Bob!

Here are is the manual, bill of materials, and schematic for Jack's board:

http://soldersmoke.com/W8TEEschematic.pdf

http://soldersmoke.com/W8TEEmanual.doc

http://soldersmoke.com/W8TEEbom.doc

VK3YE's GREAT "QRP by the Bay" Event

Last weekend Homebrew Hero Peter Parker VK3YE hosted another of his amazing twice-yearly QRP events.  It was at a park near the iconic Chelsea Pier in Melbourne.   Peter Marks VK2TPM sent a very nice write-up with pictures:

http://blog.marxy.org/2017/02/qrp-by-bay.html

And a nice audio report:

http://s3.marxy.org.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/QRP_By_the_Bay_2017.wav

Peter Marks reports that most of the on-the-air activity was on the 120 foot ham band (40 meters for you modernists).  Many BITX40's were on display.

Smoke-Free! On the Air with the W1REX Dayton Hamfest Buddy

After the Dayton Hamvention, our ace correspondent Bob Crane (W8SX) sent me the "Hamfest Buddy" kit that Rex Harper W1REX had put together and used in "The World's Biggest Build-a-Thon."

It is a single 2N2222 crystal-controlled oscillator for 20 meters.   All the parts are plug-in -- no solder smoke is released.   Mine went together in about 15 minutes and fired right up.  You can see it above.  It runs off the 9V battery. I had to hold it down with tape.   You can see the key button in the lower right.  That little inductor in the foreground is used to shift the frequency a bit.  I had to remove the 10K resistor in the emitter circuit because with my antenna the circuit was going into low-level oscillation even in key-up.  With the 10K resistor removed, this problem disappeared.

I hooked it up to my 20 meter dipole and called CQ.   With only about 60 milliwatts into a dipole under poor conditions, I really didn't think I'd get any answers.  But I figured the Reverse Beacon Network might pick me up.  It did:

Thanks Bob!  Thanks Rex!

In De Ether (Short Belgian documentary about ham radio)

In De Ether (English Subtitles) from Ivo Maes on Vimeo.

N7UN Talks About Summits on the Air (FDIM Interview by Bob Crane)

Bob Crane, our intrepid correspondent at the Dayton Hamvention talked to Guy N7UN (pictured above) about taking ham radio up to the mountaintops.  It was nice to hear Guy mention Wayne Burdick and Wes Hayward and WG0AT.    Thanks Bob!  Thanks Guy!

Listen here:

http://soldersmoke.com/N7UN.mp3

More on N7UN here:

http://www.n7un.com/

Building a VFO. A BIG VFO. IF options?

Once again, The Radio Gods have Spoken (TRGHS).  An off-hand comment at the Manassas Hamfest, a bit of encouragement from Pete Juliano, and the next thing you know Armand WA1UQO has sent me this beautiful National HRO dial and reduction drive. This thing is so nice... Well, put it this way: this is the first time I'm building a rig around the dial! 

Further evidence that TRGHS:  I needed something on which to base the HRO dial and a box for the VFO.  Wouldn't you know it:  That Whole Foods "grilling plank" that I bought a few weeks ago was PERFECTLY sized for this task.  Eerie, don't you think?  As for the VFO box, well TRGHS again:  pictured above you see a side view of the box from one of the Heath QF-1 Q multipliers that I cannibalized for the variable caps.    Finally, for the main tuning cap, I took another look at that old brass variable cap that I took out of a 1930's era British regen (pictured above).  It had been hopelessly stuck for a long time.   I twisted it a bit and was amazed to see that it is stuck no more.  TRGHS!  (I just need to find a suitable nut so that I can mount the old cap in the QF-1 box.)

I'm thinking that this VFO will be the heart of a general coverage shortwave superhet receiver.  I want filters for AM and SSB and I'd like it to cover 5 MHz to 10 MHz.  I've been noodling various IF possibilities, but concerns about birdies and spurs keep driving me back to 455 kHz.   I have a crystal-mechanical filter for that freq.  And a big box of 455 kc transformers. What do you guys think of this option?   

HRO (not HOR!) -- The King of Reduction Drives

At the recent Manassas Virginia hamfest Armand WA1UQO and I came across an old HRO receiver. Armand mentioned in passing that he had an HRO dial and drive for me if I wanted one.  When Pete heard this he said I definitely NEEDED one.  Armand heard Pete's comment and very kindly put an HRO dial and reduction drive in the mail for me.

Wow, it is a magnificent thing!  After years of struggling with small Jackson Brother reduction drives and with reduction drives brutally cannibalized out of innocent Heathkit Q multipliers, I now realize that I have been playing in the minor leagues.  This, my friends, is the reduction drive that helped win WWII!  I will have to build something worthy of its inclusion. 

The designation HRO has a wonderful story behind it: 

This is from: http://www.cryptomuseum.com/df/hro/

The new radio was also designed by James Millen at the National Radio Company, but this time with two RF amplifiers and two IF amplifiers at 455 kHz with a 20Hz crystal filter. He kept the pluggable coil packs as part of the design and added the now famous epicyclic dial, which allows the operator to tune the frequency scale in 1/500th units (with the aid of a calibration chart).

The design was finished in 1934 and National pushed hard to get the receiver out by the end of that year. When creating the tools for the first production run, the tool makers had to work overtime and used HOR (Hell Of a Rush) as a job number on their overtime slips. As National's marketing department didn't want their radios to become known as HORs (whores), the name was changed to HRO (Hell of a Rush Order). Despite the best engneering efforts, technical problems delayed the release of the the radio until March 1935. The price at the introduction was US$ 233.

Another site provides tech details and history on the drive itself:
https://www.prismnet.com/~nielw/PW_NPW_Dial/hro_dial.htm

The HRO dial introduced by the National Radio Company in late 1934 was the hallmark of top-of-the-line National receivers from the mid 30s through the 60s. By late 1936 the "HRO dial" was appearing on the NC-100 series of receivers and even the 1-10, National's VHF receiver. Throughout WWII many of the NC-100 variants that National provided to the military used this same dial. By 1950 National had added built-in direct frequency readout to the HRO-50 but still kept the same 0-500 reading dial. Through the mid-50s and into the 60s National mimiced the HRO dial look on their mid-priced receivers such as the NC300, 303 and 270. Even the solid state HRO-500 introduced in the early 60s used a version of this dial. When combined with the required 20 to 1 venier gear drive, the HRO dial provided an effective scale length of 12 feet and was direct reading to 1 part in 500. Ten turns of the dial drives the tuning capacitor stop to stop. Published HRO calibration curves showed each ham band spread over eight turns (or 400 divisions). In addition, dial divisions were about 1/4 inch apart. On all bands below 10 meters the HRO dial is easily resettable to within a KC (or KHz).

Occam's Bench: M0XPD on the Minimalist Measurement Mindset

Our ace correspondent in Dayton, Bob Crane W8SX, caught up with Paul Darlington M0XPD (above, the guy with the rifle) and interviewed him about his presentation at Four Days in May 2016.  You can listen to the interview here by clicking on the link below.   I especially liked the comments on the joys of fixing things and the advantages of SIMPLE analog circuitry. Listen to the end and you will learn about Paul Darlington's connection to the famous Darlington Pair.    

http://soldersmoke.com/M0XPDFDIM.mp3

Paul provided more info (including his slide show and presentation notes) on his BRILLIANT Dayton talk here:
https://sites.google.com/site/shacknasties/presentations/fdim-2016

You can  buy Paul's book here:
https://www.amazon.com/getting-there-Paul-Darlington/dp/1523452196

Thanks Paul!  Thanks Bob! And thanks to George Dobbs and William of Occam!

Hardcore Homebrew SWR Measurement

No store-bought, appliance, CB-ish Radio Shack SWR meters for the OM who built the SWR sensor on the right.  No! He rolled his own center conductor and pick-up loops.   Dennis Klipa and I have been exploring the theory behind SWR meters,  so when I saw this thing, I immediately went for it.  I picked it up at the Manassas Hamfest.  I kick myself for not asking the seller for the story behind this project. If anyone has any ideas on how/why/who built this thing, please let me know.  The seller was tailgating close to the stables at Manassas on June 19, 2016. 

An Excellent Morning at the Manassas, Virginia Hamfest

I was quite pleased with the valuable items obtained at the Manassas Virginia Hamfest this morning.  Armand WA1UQO and I once again combined forces, offering each other advice and counsel (NO!   Forget it!) as we went through the flea market. 

Above you can see what I got:
TOP ROW: 1)  A bunch of boxes.  Nice aluminum boxes and two really good chassis.  I may now have to build something with thermatrons.   Armand gave me a really nice Ten-Tec box.  Thanks Armand!
MIDDLE ROW 2)  Ten much needed coax patch cords.  I promise to check the connections before using them.  Really.  I mean it this time. 
3)  A nice circular coax switch.
4) Two large hemostats.  I told the woman I needed them for some surgery that I'd be performing later in the day.  She was not amused.
5) A homebrew SWR Monimatch box.  Amazing.  Dennis Klipa and I have been talking about these, so I bought this homebrew version.
6) Nice Jackson Brothers reduction drive with tuning indicator. 
7) Really nice variable cap.
8)  Three crystals: two for 3.579 MHz CBLA work, the other for 40 meter phone.
9) Forehead "coalminer" lamp
10)  Some PC boards.
BOTTOM ROW 11) LARGE box of 455 kc IF transformers

As we were making the rounds we ran into Charles AI4OT.  On the tailgate of his truck Charles had a BITX20 in operation!  You can see it in the picture.  Great to see you Charles and FB on the BITX.

Bob Crane Interviews Eric Schwartz of Elecraft About the New KX2 (with Si5351!)

Our ace correspondent Bob Crane W8SX caught up with Eric Schwartz WA6HHQ of Elecraft at the FDIM event n Dayton last month.    Here is Bob's interview with Eric:  

http://soldersmoke.com/WA6HHQFDIM.mp3

Pete and I were very pleased to see that Elecraft made use of our beloved Si5351 chip in their amazing new KX2 rig.   Check it out:

You can click on the diagram or see it directly on page 62 of the manual at this site:

http://www.elecraft.com/manual/KX2%20owner's%20man%20A4.pdf

Here's the KX2:

Three cheers for Elecraft!  Three cheers for Bob Crane! 

Grayson Evans TA2ZGE on "QSO Today"

Eric 4Z1UG has a really great interview with Grayson Evans TA2ZGE.  I'm writing this as I listen.

My reactions:

I sympathized completely with his reaction to EE professors who insisted that current flows from positive to negative.  Indeed.  Let's turn those arrows in the diode and transistor symbols around!

I too stripped down a Heathkit VFO and rebuilt it from scratch.

I share Grayson's aversion to metal work.  Viva Manhattan!  

Here is the interview:

http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/ta2zge

Winterfest Hamfest with Armand WA1UQO

 I had a great time at the Vienna Wireless Society's  Winterfest Hamfest.  As I have done for several years now, I joined forces with Armand, WA1UQO. A prediction of cold rain caused many of the tailgaters to stay home, but there was still a lot of good stuff to be found at the 'fest.  I came home with a large stock of potentiometers, a 130 foot doublet with open wire line, TWO copies of SSDRA (one given to me by Armand) and various other bits and bobs (including some Cadmium Sulphide light sensitive resistors....)   I successfully resisted the siren calls of several old Hallicrafters receivers.  After the 'fest Armand came with me for a visit to SolderSmoke HQ.   Armand always brings along some part to be used to help members of the International Brotherhood in their radio endeavors.  This year, that included several 80 meter crystals suitable for Michigan Mighty Mites and the ColorBurst Liberation Army.  Thanks Armand!  And thanks to the Vienna Wireless Society.  

OzarkCon is Coming Up -- April 1-2

http://www.ozarkcon.com/index.php

Bob Crane's Interviews at Four Days in May 2015

Once again our correspondent in Dayton, Bob Crane W8SX, has done an excellent job in interviewing the presenters at the Four Days in May event.  Through Bob's interviews we hear from:

-- George Dobbs, G3RJV. George puts the "L" back in solder and is asked to comment on his recent (richly deserved) awards. 

-- G4GXL talks of his new duties as President of QRP ARCI.

-- K8IKE  Talked about looking at the amateur radio station as a system.

-- KC3BRA talks about coming to ham radio from the Hacker/Maker world.

-- KW5GP  talks about his new book on Arduinos in ham radio.

-- W1RFI talks about the work of the ARRL lab.

-- M0XPD talks about new trends in  ham radio involving microcontrollers.  Paul also talks about Pete Juliano N6QW.  Pete had asked Paul to accept on his behalf the QRP Hall of Fame induction plaque. Well done Paul.

You can listen to or download the podcast here:

http://soldersmoke.com/SolderSmokeSpecial FDIM 2015.mp3

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

Armand's Bench (and Hamfest Goodies)

 

Above is the workbench of esteemed long-time SolderSmoke listener and electronic wizard Armand WA1UQO.  Lot of good stuff on that bench. 

 

Armand made it to the recent Manassas (Virginia) hamfest.   Here is what he came back with. 

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

Vienna Wireless Winterfest

I had a good time at the Vienna Wireless Hamfest today.  I met up with Armand, WA1UQO, and we went through the hamfest together.   Here is what I picked up (and why):

Crystal Radio Kit (for my nephew Sebastian)

 

Homemade Solar Panel (because someone had taken the trouble to put this together )

Milliammeter Meter (because it was connected to the solar panel)

Drake Dynamic Microphone (because it is Drake)

 

A bunch of BNC connector cables (always useful)

Copper clad boards (thinking of the next rig)

A bunch of RG-174 coax (Belden is usually better, but sometimes you need flexibility)

Lots of Ferrite Beads (because of my recent suffering with oscillations)

A bag full of relays (I like relays)

10 100 ohm pots (great for balanced modulators)

Big copper ground stake and straps (because I need to reform in this area).

An ugly old tube type receiver (because I had a 5 dollar bill in my hand when the lady said "5 bucks!")  I tried to give this to Armand, but he wouldn't take it.

Some connectors for Arduino projects (I'm trying not to be a total Luddite).

Armand gave me three very nice crystal filters.   Thanks Armand!

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

Homebrew Heroes at Rickreal Hamfest: W7ZOI and WA7MLH

Bob N7SUR was getting discouraged.  The hams at the Rickreal Hamfest didn't seem really interested in his display about homebrewing.  Then THE RADIO GODS INTERVENED! (thunder).   Two TITANS of homebrew appeared at Bob's table.   Keep up the good work Bob,  Thanks for the e-mail and the great picture of you with Wes and Jeff.  

To N2CQR, N6QW

Feb 15 2015

The Salem, Oregon, Repeater Association puts on two hamfests each year
at Rickreal.  This event was mentioned in SolderSmoke #78.  During the
last two events I’ve taken a “science project” display and circuit
boards to encourage more hams to experiment.  The boards encourage
experimenters to use software packages to design and build their own
receiver modules.  It is uncommon to see this type of material at the
event.

Audience interest has been underwhelming.  Perhaps a dozen participants
have shown interest in my displays.  In fact, I almost left the displays
home last Saturday.

In the course of the morning, two guys approached.  The older guy had a look of
familiarity.  He looked like a guy in the SolderSmoke blog.  Bill,
N2CQR, was pictured sitting with him in California over coffee.

I blurted out, “are you ZOI?”  He replied “yes” and I told Wes Hayward,
W7ZOI, it was nice to meet him.  (That was a bit of understatement).
With Wes was Jeff Damm, WA7MLH, who built many of the circuits included
in the book “Solid State Design.”  I suggested to Jeff he no longer
looked like a hippie, which is the style conveyed by his webpage.  Jeff
said he had recently cut his hair.

We spent more than an hour sharing ideas and discussing various topics.
My focus was on encouraging experimentation.  Kit building may be a nice
first step.  I want to see builders pursuing more advanced
investigations. Wes noted the software and simulation tools available
for free it’s never been a better time to try out ideas.  Wes commented
on the contribution of amateurs and how we often have fewer restrictions
to pursuing our interests.  He emphasized measurement tools.  I should
look more at noise figure in my receiver experiments. He was very
supportive, which contrasts with my recent experiences on various
internet groups.

Wes and Jeff were looking for Rick Campbell, KK7B, and Bob Larkin,
W7PUA.  Imagine, the three authors of Experimental Methods in RF Design
(EMRFD) frequenting a little hamfest in rural Oregon. Yet, few people
knew they were there.

The experience reinforced my interest in continued experimentation.
I’ll take my updated displays back next time.  Perhaps our efforts reach
a larger audience than we first realize. 

Bob-N7SUR

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