Homebrew Radio from Southern India

I came across this channel yesterday -- there is a lot of FB homebrew content here.  And it is partially in the Malayalam language of Kerala state in Southern India.  

About 38 million people speak Malayalam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam. 

Check out his channel:  

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

California Typewriter -- Full Movie with Tom Hanks

I think this one is a bit over the top.  They are way too interested in the old typewirters.  The artist who destroys the old machines to make robots and sculptures... the "musical group" that plays songs on old typrwriters... all the people who decry modern digital tech, but then create internet pages that save the old typewriter shops.   But hey, who am I to criticize them?  Some readers really liked the New York Times article on the Bremerton Typewriters Company.  And there is a lot of overlap between these typrewriter fanatics and the many shades of  ham radio fanaticism (boatanchor-oligists, I'm looking at you!)  So here (above) is the full movie.  

One personal note:  My paternal grandmother was part of that original typewriter revolution - she remained proud all of her life of hwer ability to use that machine.  She kept her own typewriter in her house all of her life. And she used it. 

There are  a LOT of YouTube videos about old typewriters and workshops that service them.  Here is one about the last typewriter shop in Melbourne, Australia: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxx6ZutCU5w

 

How VU2RM Got Into the Satellites

 

Readers will remember last week's post about the homebrew rivalry between VU2RM and VU2NR. (Note the bio about VU2RM below).  This morning Farhan sent me this article from a 1970s-era Indian ham radio magazine in which VU2RM describes his early efforts to get onto the satellites. I also tried during the mid 1970s, but I didn't have the kind of magic decoder ring provided (via QSL!)  by OH2RK.  My satellite success had to wait some 20 years, until I was in the Dominican Republic.  More on this below the VU2RM article. 

This morning I replied to Farhan's email:  

Very cool Farhan.  I see that Pete may have an Indian rival for "most SSB transceivers built."  

I got into the satellites during my 1992-1996 stay in the Dominican Republic.   At first, we had no way to get the up-to-date Keplerian elements to predict satellite passes.  Then Compuserve opened up. I had to telephone Miami from the DR to get the Keps.  I ran up a huge phone bill. 

I too built an antenna for these contacts.  Mine was the 2 meter portion of a 144/440 MHz project from 73 magazine called "The Ray-Gun".  I built mine out of scrap lumber and refrigerator tubing.  I still have these elements!  I used them in the beam that I built to listen for YOUR satellite!   In the DR, elevated the thing by 45 degrees and pointed it in the general direction of the satellite.  

RS-11 had a very cool robot aboard.  If you called it just right, it would issue you a serial number.  I have the QSL.

Here are some articles about our satellite adventures.  

https://www.gadgeteer.us/ASTRO.HTM

BTW, Luis Ernesto HI8LEZ visited me during summer 2024 in the DR! 

My hombrew 2 meter beam in the Dominican Republic

Early SSB in India: Espionage, Stolen Secrets, and Kleptomania

 

Earlier this month I had stumbled across a 1964 QST article entitled "A Sideband Transceiver, VU2 Style."  I forwarded the link to Pete N6QW, Grayson KJ7UM, and to Farhan VU2ESE.  Last night Farhan sent me this insider look at early SSB in India.  It is really great.  The battle for preeminence among early SSB homebrewers in India reminds me a bit of Jean Shepherd's descriptions of homebrew radio in Hammond, Indiana.   Farhan's description of the early rigs being "all over the place, in about 3 or 4 boxes... with a whole lot of  wires running all over"  really resonated with me -- yes, even today, that is true homebrew. Thank you Farhan for sharing this with us. 

Farhan writes: 

VU2NR, Raju was a legend! Quirky, brilliant and liked to be by himself. He lived to a very old age of 100 or so. He was the first ham to get on SSB from India. Therein hangs a story of espionage, stolen secrets, cold war, politics and kleptomania. Most of the actors are now dead, so it can be told now.

I never met VU2NR, he rarely travelled. One evening at Paddy's shack, I was shooting the breeze with VU2RM, Ram, about my own SSB efforts. Ram was probably the most knowledgeable ham on SSB in India and his RM96 was widely duplicated. Paddy and Ram were trying to empty out a bottle of the Old Monk and I casually mentioned how we had to scrounge around for SSB lattice filters until Wes showed us how to build them ourselves. At that point, Ram unloaded this story to us:

VU2NR joined the Allies and worked as a radio mechanic with the RAF. After the war, he joined the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and then finally the United Nations as a comms expert, he was in Aden for a while. He understood the radios well and he became a well known homebrewer. His most brilliant work was the NR60 (it is an SSB radio built around four CA3028 kind of mixers). It was the first SSB radio that I had built (and it worked!) but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Back in the 50s, ham shacks of India consisted of World War II surplus receivers and a self-built 807 transmitter driven by a VFO. There was a fair amount of buzz on the bands about SSB. The hams could occasionally pick up DX that was on SSB and easily resolved by the BC-348s  and the HROs but there was no way to build one. The QST was difficult to get your hands on but Raju had become a subscriber of the QST during his RAF days.

A QST sailed on a slow boat from the USA and landed up at the port on the east coast of India, Vizag and made its way to Raju's doorstep. Over weeks, he gathered parts and in the summer of 1955 he quietly came on 40 meters on SSB! This blew everyone away. Until now, one had only heard stories of SSB transmitters told by sailors of Sandra Maria Gracia after a few drinks to a bunch of hams clutching onto their 807s. It was as if Jesus had materialized!

VU2RM, Ram was not amused. He was a homebrewer with pride and honour. He could never be bested. He spent the next evening tuning on Raju's SSB up and down to note that the other sideband was missing and the carrier was gone. It sank into him that Raju had indeed beaten him to SSB. Ram worked at the Kakinada port, about 100 miles further down south on the east coast as the port radio engineer. He didn't sleep well. At 5 am, he got up, walked out and took a bus to Vizag where Raju lived. He was at Raju's door at 9 am. Raju was amused at the young guy and invited him in. They knew each other as rival homebrewers. There was tension in the air. Raju showed off his SSB transmitter in the front hall of his home. It was all over the place in about 3 or 4 boxes. There was the power supply, the PA, the ssb generator using a 2Q4 (a passive RC phasing network), a separate VFO box and a whole lot with wires running all over. In a corner was his stack of QSTs.

Raju's XYL called out for coffee and snacks (called 'Tiffin' in south Indian English) and Raju sauntered off to the kitchen to fetch his celebratory feast...

With alacrity and swiftness that only comes once in a lifetime, Ram, VU2RM, sprang to action. He darted to the QST collections, quickly found the one with the SSB transmitter on the cover, turned the pages to discover VU2NR's dog eared pages. He was staring at the circuit trying to memorize it. He realized that 2Q4's internal diagram had really odd values that he could never remember. So he did what James Bond, Bertie Wooster and Louvre thieves would have done. He rolled it up and slipped it into his pocket! (In those days, QST could be rolled and slipped into your trouser pockets, leading to wider dissemination of knowledge). He called out to Raju asking him to forget the refreshments as his bus was due back home. He legged it out and didn't stop until the bus stop. He hid around the bus yard hoping to not be caught by Raju. In the meantime, Raju, cursing the young upstart, drank both the filter coffee cups and left for work. Raju was unaware that the royal jewels were stolen.

VU2RM, Ram, started to work on his SSB radio over the next few days. He stopped going to work. At first, he figured out how to null the carrier using a twin triode modulator. Next, he fabricated the 2Q4 circuit. He sand papered lower value resistors until they read as close to the value as he could manage on his analog volt-ohm meter. He gave up on the exact capacitances and just soldered a bunch of the closest together. He had a crude 2Q4 equivalent. This, he dropped into his rat next circuit and an 'Almost' SSB signal emerged. He was probably having a sideband suppression of less than 15 dB at this point. It was suppressed and the carrier was nulled. He declared victory.

In the morning, Ram was on the band strutting off his SSB transmitter to the local gang. Graciously accepting the accolades from his fan club and extolling virtues of life on SSB to the lesser mortals. The news quickly spread over CW and AM of VU2RM as the second SSB station from India.

In the meantime, the atmosphere at VU2NR was tense. You could cut the air with a toggle switch. Raju had no idea how Ram had gotten the SSB. He carefully tuned around on his signal. He could pick up faint traces of the opposite sideband. Ram's carrier was also leaky. He decided that Ram was probably passing off his AM transmitter as a SSB. He said as much on air to his own devotees. Ram, ever watchful of his own reputation, heard this criticism and broke in, challenging Raju to prove that his was indeed not SSB. Raju's reaction was mixed. Now he wasn't sure. 

It was now Raju's turn to have a sleepless night. After his breakfast, he had had enough of confusion and he hauled his old scope and himself into the 8 am bus to Kakinada and showed up at Ram's doorstep! "Show me your radio" he said crisply.

For Ram it was his moment of crowning glory. He had brought Raju down to his shack! Raju plugged his scope into Ram's transmitter. He sniffed around the transmitter which was laid all over the table. "Where is your 2Q4?" he asked. Ram pointed to bunch of resistors and capacitors and Raju realized Ram's dog headed brilliance. He sat down, traced to the balancing pots (there would be two of them as this was a phasing transmitter). At this time, he decided to show Ram his greater prowess. He reached out to the carrier nulling pots, and tweaked them to minimum carrier (Ram was watching the oscilloscope with his mouth wide open). He told Ram that he had now fixed the carrier and then showed him how to adjust the RF phasing control for minimum by tuning to the opposite sideband on Ram's Bc 348. Having proved to Ram that he was a better homebrewer, he declared that now, Ram's transmitter was indeed SSB and not semi-AM. Raju retrieved his honor by being gracious and "mentoring" Ram.

 

They had coffee and snacks and it was time for Raju to leave, as Ram was showing Raju to the door, Raju's eye caught a QST on the shelf... he pulled it out and stared down at the QST with his own address neatly stickered on the QST's cover. He glared at Ram for a long time and turned away and left in a huff. Ram called after him down the street but Raju was gone.

VU2NR's last radio was built when he turned 90. It was the NR90 and it was built using NE612 chips. His hamming came to an abrupt end when one day his son dropped in unannounced only to find him perched on his tower of 30 feet height, fixing a fallen element of his self-made log periodic. The son was so horrified that he took away all the radios to save him from self-harm (this part of the story is unconfirmed).

 

My friend Sasi, VU2XZ, was close to him and he got the family to donate his callsign to a repeater that has been established in his memory. VU2NR lives on.

- f 

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

Here is the link to the 1964 QST article.   VU2NR's article appears on page 19: 

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/INTERNATIONAL/QST/QST-1964-03.pdf

Puneit Singh VU2TUM's FB Homebrew 40 meter SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver

It was really good to see Puneit Singh finish this receiver project.  He overcame many difficulties, including a lot of travel and an acute shortage of time, but he got it done. Congratulations Puneit Singh and welcome to the Hall of Fame. 

Puneit is also a CW man -- we hope he pairs this receiver up with a simple CW transmitter and makes some "fully homebrew" contacts. 

 

Ashish N6ASD's Beautiful SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver -- Built in Bangalore -- "This was such a fun project. This was my first direct conversion build, and I learned a lot along the way."

Ashish N6ASD is a really good guy.  We started watching his projects when he was in San Francisco.  He does a lot of fundamental radio building.  And he is a friend of Homebrew Hero Frank Harris K0IYE. 

When I spotted a "thumbs up" from an N6ASD on the SolderSmoke Discord channel, I knew that we would soon have yet another Bangalore Direct Conversion Receiver.  Ashish has been in contact with both Farhan and Ramakrishnan.  FB. 

Ashish writes:  I finally finished building the receiver! This was such a fun project. This was my first direct conversion build, and I learned a lot along the way. The biggest challenge was finding stable capacitors for the oscillator. In my first attempt, I used whatever I had in my junk box, but those capacitors drifted all over the place. Mica caps seemed expensive and difficult to get in Bangalore. I ended up buying surface-mount NP0 capacitors instead. Soldering them was a hassle, but they are much cheaper and easier to get here. Next step will be more mods and experimentation! The first improvement will be in the BPF. I will replace the regular ceramic caps with NP0 caps and re-tune it.

Here is Ashish's receiver inhaling CW:   

Congratulations Ashish -- Welcome to the Hall of Fame! 

Ashish N6ASD

The resemblance between Ashih's photo and the famous

1818 painting by Caspar David Friedrich is completely coincidental,  

but quite remarkable. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog

 

SolderSmoke Podcast #260 FDIM, Hollow State Design, Pete's Bench and the Shelf of Shame, Direct Conversion Project News, How Best to Preserve this Blog?, Dean's Bench and the Desk of Despair, Bill's Bench and the Garage of Grief, MAILBAG

SolderSmoke Podcast #260 is available: 

Audio version:  http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke260.mp3

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

Quote from the Old Miltary Radio Net:  "Being on the leading edge is great, but sometimes being on the trailing edge is more fun."  Indeed. 

Heard from an Australian on the Southern Cross Net:  "My antenna needs a lot of Viagra!" 

News from Dayton/Xenia/FDIM: Dayton Xenia.   Again, we didn't go.  But Bob Crane W8SX was there and got a nice interview with Grayson,  Hans, and Farhan.  We are presenting these and more.  Michigan Mighty Mite Revival at FDIM!  Jeff W9TH. 

Farhan's review of Hollow State Design: I am compelled to set aside the future of my family and to orphan my cats to resume work on the 250v power supply that I built last year. Inshallah, Allah favors those who favor thermatrons!   Grayson's book is  imbued with deep experimental insights and littered with gems. You have to read it over and over to find new things each time.   It goes into my reference shelf in the lab."  Buy it here: https://www.ermag.com/product-category/books/ 

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

PETE'S BENCH:

Pete working on JF3HZB dial.  Send Pete a Heath mono-bander! 

MHST on shelf of shame? Even the great ones have to take a break every so often. On the importance of taking a break. Ernest Rutherford 1917 and all that:  https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2025/05/on-importance-of-taking-break.html 

Channelized 40 meter rig. Heard in Arizona by Andy KB7ZUT on a HOMEBREW SSB Reciever.  Very rare.   SWL HB2HB. 

Pete:  Thumb broken as a Novice?  Early episode of Fat Finger Syndrome? 

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

DC RX NEWS:  

Quote from N6QW:  "The radios do not build themselves!"  

Alan W2AEW finishes Direct Conversion Receiver. And even he worries about feedback! 

Phil W1PJE MIT receiver  (with cool MIT stuff).  Coming to see us! 

KN6FVK's Barkausen-Be-Gone Spray :https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2025/05/john-kn6fvks-fb-homebrew-soldersmoke.html

Indian hams working DC RX. VU2JXN Ramakrishnan, VU2TUM  Puneit Singh, Ashish N5ASD, building one in Bangalore with 3D printed form from Scott, KQ4AOP.  Ramakrishnan is planning on building a second receiver with his daughter. On June 22, 2008 in SolderSmoke #86 we reported on the birth of Ramakrishnan's daughter.  This is that same daughter! See: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/01/long-time-soldersmoke-supporter.html    How to get a PTO form in India.  A tip from Ramakrishnan: "I got the 3d printing done via https://robu.in with 1:1 size. After uploading the stl, I received it by post in 5 days or so."

German students of Andreas DL1AJG.  and Canadian students of Daniel VE5DLD. 

Receiver built in Singapore!  9V1/KM7ABZ

John M0XJA reports 8 members of his club are building this receiver. 

Chuck N4AVC got his PTO coil form 3D printed at the local library. For free!  FB! 

Few admit to being fooled by April Fool story.  But still, inspirational. VK3HN was going for a few seconds -- SOTA AI chatbots? John West liked the 85th harmonic threat. 

What next after DC RX?  Choose carefully! Don't bite off more than you can chew. 

Do some mods!  Build something else!  And remember to be a homebrew Elmer.  Help someone else build the receiver. 

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

SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION: 

Check out the SolderSmoke blog on the WayBack Machine.  The blog, not the podcast.  www.soldersmoke.blogspot.com   Would this be a useful backup if Google were to pull the plug on blogspot?  Is the format OK?   Is the template recoverable?  How best should  we backup the SolderSmoke blog?  

Be a Patreon SolderSmoke Sponsor!   Please subscribe to the YouTube channel!  Buy your Amazon stuff through our link.  Buy stuff from Mostly DIY RF.  

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

DEAN'S BENCH:

Dean has completed his Mythbuster: https://kk4das.blogspot.com/2025/05/kk4das-mb-20-transceiver-complete.html   Plexiglass top! 

Diode switching. 

Dean:  Build of the SDR receiver.  Microscope required? 

____________________

BILL'S BENCH:

VK6JDW and HCJB in the Kimberly. 

The stages of separation:  Shack, Garage, Car trunk:  HP-8640B and HAMEG scope saved from garage. HP-8640B repair.  HAMEG Modulation Monitor. 

=================

MAILBAG

-- Wouter ZS1KE.  Thinks Soviet spies COULD homebrew.  Hamilton KD0FNR concurs. Agent Sonya and Soviet Spy homebrew. Copacetic Flow. I dunno....I dunno... 

-- Hamilton KD0FNR grew up in New Mexico, supports my idea of Starlink deorbit. See : https://www.kallmorris.com/columns/goodness-gracious-green-balls-of-fire

-- Adam N0ZIB Heard my 10 meter beacon from the DR.  28,233.5 MHz  On now. 

-- Rick N3FJZ  Great memory Direct Conversion messages. 

-- John KN6FVK had fun with DC RX. Tattoos on Board. We need a high sign! Like the Little Rascals. 

-- Adrian M7EFO DC RX builder in GQRP.  FB.

-- Steve KW4H Kits not the same as homebrew, but old Boatanchor kits have value. 

-- Mike WU2D -- Old buddy Charles Kitchen SK. 

-- Craig -- Some really nice feedback on Hack-A-Day re DC RX and Dean's videos. 

-- Peter VK3TPM proposes a certificate for SolderSmoke DC RX Honor Roll. 

-- Michael WN2A used a 3 inch reflector from Northern New Jersey. Edmunds Scientific "Space Conqueror"  

-- Phil W1PJE and Mike WN2A lament that our eyes don't pick up radio frequencies.  This would be a great troubleshooting tool! I can SEE the IMD!  Perhaps some tin foil hats? 

-- John WPE9IRS SW listener! Heard my beacon.  Many SWLs switching to tuning in ham stations. 

-- Peter VK3YE found a homebrew 160 meter double-sideband transciever at a hamfest.  He also found "Solid State Basics for the Radio Amateur -- A QST Anthology"  NOT SSDRA.  But good!

-- Peter VK2EMU  From the Southern Cross (I took a picture of it in the DR!)  Building the DC RX!

 

Ramakrishnan VU2JXN

Ramakrishnan VU2JXN's FB SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver: "Extremely thrilled! Hooked!"

This is a really important Hall of Fame entry for us.  This is our first completed SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver from India (more will come).  

Most importantly, this receiver was built by our good friend Ramakrishnan VU2JXN (ex VU3RDD).  Ramakrishnan goes way back in SolderSmoke history.  He was the one who first suggested (in 2006!) that our podcast needed a blog to go with it.  This was the origin of the SolderSmoke Daily News.  A short time later we announced the birth of Ramakrishnan's daughter.  That same daughter now has her ham license and will build a second receiver with her dad.  

Ramakrishnan VU2JXN

The roots of this receiver are deep in India. When Dean and I first went to the local high school to talk about ham radio support, I carried with me a Direct Conversion Receiver inspired by Farhan VU2ESE.  In fact, that receiver had a picture of Farhan and quotes from him taped to the wooden base.  When Dean and I designed the receiver that we tried to build with the High School kids, we used an oscillator based on the DC receiver that Farhan was building with youngsters at Indian girl's schools.  That is the receiver design that we are using in this SolderSmoke Challenge. 

Ramakrishnan is in Bangalore now, which is where he built this receiver.  Ashish N6ASD is also there now, and is building a receiver. 

Ramakrishnan writes:  

This morning before I got ready to come to work, I got a few minutes 

to turn on the radio and catch the morning nets. Extremely thrilled to

 get this working. The PTO is very stable.

Needless to say, you folks convinced me to get back into homebrew
and you have hooked me into it with this project.

I am off to my ailing mother's place tonight. I don't have a station 

there, but I am carrying a copyof EMRFD with me (I have two!).

I want to listen with this receiver as you all always say 

and make simple modification to this receiver and improve it.

 
Again, couldn't turn off from it even though I am at work! The bug has
caught me.

Here is some more video of Ramakrishnan's receiver: 

Congratulations Ramakrishnan. Welcome to the Hall of Fame! 

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

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

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

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

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

Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity --- Wonderful Video by Jim Al-Khalili (sent to us by Ashish N6ASD)

From Ashish N6ASD -- Oil Lamps and Electronics

Here is the link to the video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtp51eZkwoI

First, thanks to Ashish Derhwagen N6ASD for alerting me to this video.  You should all check out his blog. 

This is a really important video.  It is the best I have seen about the history of electricity and electronics.  It is from 2011, but it is still very good. Jim Al-Khalili travels through the world and displays the actual devices developed by the likes of Heinrick Herz,  Guglielmo Marconi, and Jagadish Chandra Bose.  There is great discussion of Benjamin Franklin, Volta and Galvani.  The role of electricity in The Enlightment is discussed.

  

Jim talks about the early transatlantic cables, and why some of them didn't work. 

We see Jagadish Chandra Bose developing early point-contact semiconductors (because the iron filings of coherers tended to rust in the humid climate of Calcutta!) 

There is a video of Oliver Lodge making a speech.   There is a flip card video of William Crookes (one of the inventors of the cathode ray tube and the originator of the Crooke's cross).  

We see actual coherers.  

There is simply too much in this video for me to adequately summarize here.  Watch the series.  Watch it in chunks if you must.  But watch it.  It is really great.  

Thanks Ashish.  And thanks to Jim Al-Khalili.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtp51eZkwoI

Field Day with Farhan, his Family and an sBITX Near Hyderabad, India

Farhan and his son Rayyan with an sBITX

The SolderSmoke crew thought it had a tough time this Field Day:  Pete N6QW had hoped to do something, but was stymied by hot California weather.  Dean KK4DAS had even worse weather.  Bill HI7/N2CQR was at a remote QTH with an HW-8 and a wire antenna -- he managed just ONE contact (W7RN in Nevada on 15 CW).  But none of us had as much trouble as our friend Farhan had.   In  his account of Field Day in Hyderabad, we see an intrepid ham standing up against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that Field Day often throws at true radio amateurs.  Here is Farhan's Field Day story: 

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

You asked for it, so here it goes...

I got the chance last evening to head out to our farmland. My daughter Ramsha had her friend were over. By the time we all got into the SUV, it was already 5:30 pm. I had loaded in the Spiderbeam fiberglass pole, the sbitx with LiPo battery and an EFHW ATU strapped on, into the back into my backpack,  the toolbox with a few hand tools.

On the way to the farm, rain begin to come down. Rayyan (son, VU3ECQ) started said as much, I turned up the volume on Bruno Mars...

By the time we got to the farm, the rain was over(Ha!). We immediately begin to set up the antenna. I chose an inverted V config for the antenna and to use a tree as the support. The spiderbeam, as any who has been taken in by it knows, is a telescoping 33 feet high mast made of fiberglass. A curious villager decided to help us too. The girls had already taken off to pick the Mulberries.

So, Rayyan, the curious fellow, and I tried to telescope out the mast. The curious fellow, having never read the manual, picked up the mast from the wrong end and all the pieces fall out the other end. (Censored @#$%...). Within 15 minutes, we had all the pieces put back in the order of their thicknesses. I scotchtaped the center of the 66 feet wire to tip of the mast and we all hauled it up vertical. For those who don't forget maths, you can figure that two section of 66 feet wire will be exactly 33 feet high and when you tie this to the high end of a 33 feet high pole -- they just hang down vertically in a straight line. I was trying hard to remember the math teacher's name when the telescoping mast decided to untelescope into a 5 feet, collapsed height. My son commented that it has worked as advertised. Now, I wanted to remember my son's Moral Lessons teacher's name...

Next, we scotch taped the center of the 66 feet wire to approximately 2/3rd height. The curious guy and I walked it up back and took it to the tree. Rather we tried to. The branches kept getting in the way. Finally, managed to get within 4 feet of the trunk and I declared that we could just tie it up with the packing nylon rope bundle we were carrying. We did and it held up. 

By now, the two ends of wire had gotten all twisted around each other. We all had an excellent arm workout trying unwind them. The techniques -- never mentioned in any antenna handbook -- is to hold both ends of the twisted pair in one hand each, spread out your arms and make overhead sweeping motion to flick one wire over the other. This method only adds more twists into the wire. I discovered that wires could be twisted around each other both ways. There is no untwisting them. I discovered this amazing feature!

After watching us for 10 minutes, Humera, my XYL, asked us to forgive the world and bring down the mast and untangle the wires on the ground. By now, a stray cow had also sauntered in on her way back home. I think our language attracted her. She was bellowing for her calf to come and watch.

Next, we, efficiently undid the wire twists. Rayyan and the curious fellow held the two ends away from each other and I raised the mast. Or rather I tried to. At 45 degree tilt, the mast sections add up huge amount of weight. I was tottering around with it when it thankfully  leaned onto the tree branches. At this time, I declared it done. We tied the mast at 6 feet height by the rope to the tree trunk. One end went to the a branch of a bush and the other we walked to the point where it was taunt and touched the ground. 

I brought out the radio, much to the curious fellow's surprised, who was looking forward to me doing more entertaining things with the mast rather than a radio. We switched it on, I quickly peaked the ATU to maximum noise and keyed up. The sbitx shut off. Our battery was discharged.

An intrepid ham is never dissuaded by the flings and arrows of time which, when taken at a tide, leads to Field Day. I decided to move the operations to the farm cottage where we had power. But there was no supporting tree nearby. I decided to use the SUV as support.

We packed the SUV at an approximately correct distance from the vernadah of the cottage. We carried the mast over to the SUV and strapped it at two points: on the foot rest and on the overhead luggage rock. At this point the Spiderbeam fiberglass collaspible mast took a commercial break and demonstrated rapid collapse, into the much vaunted 5 feet size. Rayyan was rolling in the grass with mirth. This divided my anger between two opposing directions: toward  my progeny and toward my antenna mast. I didn't move.

I thought like an engineer.  The curious fellow and I carried the mast to an illuminated part of the farm, laid it down, and scotch taped each section to the next as the spiderbeam folks had warned us to do. It is strange how memory works better when your blood pressure is up. 

The mast went up again, this time strapped to the SUV's rack, door column, and the footrest. I setup the radio on a table outside the cottage, running the extension cord from inside. The SUV and the antenna were too far for the EFHW  to reach the radio. 

We asked Humera (XYL) and the girls who were watching us while having their mulberries to DO SOMETHING and not just SIT THERE. So, Humera got inside the SUV and started to roll it towards the cottage. A loud crunching sound announced the sad departure of the sunflower plants we had tied the other end of EFHW from  mother Earth. The EFHW had unrooted its support as the SUV pulled it away. These minor inconviences never deter a determine man, remember Gandhiji! 

Finally everything was in place, and we fixed up the rig but the microphone wouldn't key up. So what? I can just operate from the in-built mic and the thoughfully provided on-screen keyboard for CW, right? Well I could but I needed to key CW contiuously to set the SWR. So I opened up the mic. The curious fellow who had carried the radio to the new operating position was new to radio etiquette. He had just picked up the radio and walked, dragging the mic through the slush and weeds. The mic connector had come out.

I took the matters into my hands, by now, Rayyan was trying to show empathy for the old man by making loud noise like Aww! Shucks! and other unmentionables. I cut the cable with teeth, unbraided a small section and wired it up on the connector so I could short it to key the rig. Why can't the imbecile radio designers think of providing a tune button on the screen??

Finally, everything was in place. I tuned up and AIR net was on. This is the national evening SSB net on 7150. I tried breaking in with SSB a few times but didn't get through. Finally, I changed to CW and called. The net control asked "the CW station to QSY, this is the AIR net....". Finally some other SSB station who could copy my CW translated my CW to the net control and we had a three way contact.

At this point the girls declared we had to head home now that I had had my contact.

I was about to let out my public school vocabulary when I heard them say that they were hungry and there was lamb curry at home. The idea of getting back home and drying out, and eating the hot lamb curry and mangoes was too much for me. We folded up. But the mast refused to collapse. The curious fellow who had taken charge of the mast engineering had finally gotten hang of it. With superhuman strength, he had pulled the section of the mast out so tightly that no power on earth could potentially loosen them. I decided to trick the mast into thinking that we wanted it to stay up, so we put it back up vertically and slammed it into the ground. It dutifully woke up and demonstrated the much vaunted ability to fit back into a 5 feet tube.

I looked into the darkness to find the EFHW winder but I couldn't locate it. The curious fellow had left, scared by the racket the radio was making. The cow and the calf had gone home. We too headed back home. 

In the picture, you can see Rayyan standing while I am checking into AIR net. In the background is the SUV with spiderbeam fiber mast that is easy to carry in a 5 feet size.

73, de Farhan VU2ESE with a little help from my friends and family.

The Wizard of Schenectady -- Charles Proteus Steinmetz

Such a beautiful article.   Ramakrishnan VU2JXN sent it to me.  It reminded me of how puzzeled we were when we found "Schenectady" on old shortwave receiver dials, amidst truly exotic locations.  Rangoon!  Peking!  Cape Town!  Schenectady?   Obviously this was due to General Electric's location in that New York State city.  But reading this article, I am thinking that the presence of Charles Proteus Steinmetz had something to do with it. His informal title (The Wizard of Schenectady)  confirmed that we have been right in awarding similar titles to impressive homebrewers. 

Here is the Smithsonian article that Ramakrishnan sent. 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinmetz-the-wizard-of-schenectady-51912022/#ixzz2lRMjrfit

And here is a link to a PBS video on Steinmetz: 

https://www.pbs.org/video/wmht-specials-divine-discontent-charles-proteus-steinmetz/

Here is a SolderSmoke blog post about "Radio Schenectady":

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2020/07/radio-schenectady.html

Long-time SolderSmoke supporter Ramakrishnan VU2JXN Interviewed on QSO Today

 

https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/vu2jxn

I think we got our first e-mail from Ramakrishnan way back in 2006.  At the time he was VU3RDD. On June 22, 2008 in SolderSmoke #86 we reported on the birth of Ramakrishnan's new harmonic.  In this interview with Eric 4Z1UG we hear of Ramakrishnan's daughter (the same harmonic) getting her ham license and working with her dad on electronic projects.  Ramakrishnan has been with us for a long time!  

It was very cool to hear Ramakrishnan talk about the Lamakaan convention, the BITX 40, and the book The Electronics of Radio.  There was a nice mention of SolderSmoke and Pete. 

Listen to the interview here:  https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/vu2jxn

Thanks Ramakrishnan!  Thanks Eric! 

Check out the Hyderabad, India Hamfest! LARC-6

This all looks very familiar.  It is very much like the hamfests and rallies I've seen in the US and UK. 

Note in the video above that we see the HF Signals table and our good friend Farhan VU2ESE.

I was privileged to speak to the convention about my Mythbuster transceiver: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2023/12/mythbuster-video-for-lamakaan-amateur.html

  

Joseph VU2JQE recorded and uploaded many short videos on the LARC-6 convention and hamfest.  You can see the on his YouTube page:  https://www.youtube.com/@VU2JQE  Thanks Joseph and thanks to the Lamakaan ARC. 

Mythbuster Video for the Lamakaan Amateur Radio Club of Hyderabad, India

I was really pleased when Farhan asked me to speak at this year's Lamakaan Amateur Radio Club convention.  He asked me to talk about my Mythbuster 75 and 20 meter SSB rig.  It was especially nice to talk about this rig because so much of the inspiration and circuitry for it came from Farhan's BITX rigs.  

I recorded a video so that we could avoid WiFi trouble -- the video appears above.  Below you can see photos of the convention and the presentation of the video.  

Thanks Farhan and thanks to the Lamakaan ARC! 

"My Radio My Life" A Film about Radio Enthusiasts

My Radio My Life | Trailer | 4K from Makarand Waikar on Vimeo.

Wow!  VU2DTR is presenting a film about radio made by her mom VU2RBI.  They are showing it in Bethesda, Maryland today.  

Trailer above, summary below:  This looks really great.  I hope we can see the whole film on-line soon! 

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

Set in the 21st century, the film revisits the golden era of radio in, when it was the dominant, popular, and only source of entertainment, news, and knowledge.

Being a medium that is heard across national borders, the radio has been instrumental in expanding horizons and enriching the lives of generations. Besides giving companionship to individuals, the radio brought families together and inspired people to make life choices.

Radio continues to enthrall people with its evolving nature and the sentiments associated with it.

Sunburst and Luminary: Apollo "Rope" Memory, and other items of interest

 

Wow.  That is the method that they stored computer memory for the moon missions.  When they were satisfied with a program they would say it was time to "put it on the rope."  

Here's an article on the women who built the rope memory (and the integrated circuits used in Apollo). This reminded me of the women's collective in Hyderabad that "wove" the ferrite core transformers for Farhan's BITX rigs: 

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/core-memory-weavers-navajo-apollo-raytheon-computer-nasa#:~:text=Core%20memory%20used%20metal%20wires,to%20create%20a%20particular%20pattern.

Here is a Wikipedia article on core rope ROM memory with some great illustrations: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_rope_memory

The Rope

Other stuff of interest that I have spotted so far in the book Sunburst and Luminary -- An Apollo Memoir by Don Eyles:  

-- Not long before the fatal Apollo 1 fire, an MIT colleague of Don Eyles had a drink with Astronaut Gus Grissom.  Grissom unloaded about the poor state of the spacecraft, saying that, "What we have here is a Heathkit."  Grissom died in the fire. 

-- Eyles mentions the use of 6L6 tubes in analog audio amplifiers. 

-- MIT's Doc Draper used a Minox camera.  

-- When the Apollo 11 astronauts came back and were living for two weeks in an isolation chamber, NASA had bulldozers on standby to bury the whole thing ("astronauts, staff and all") in case some dangerous moon bug was detected.  (Is that true?) 

-- At one point soon before an important missile test, engineers realized that they needed an isolation transformer.  They did not have enough time to order one.  So they took an isolation transformer out of one of their soldering stations and used it in the missile.  It worked. Sometimes you just use what you have on hand. 

HB2HB -- A Contact with Denny VU2DGR (video)

At first I didn't realize it was Denny.  On September 11, 2023 at about 2330Z I had walked back into the shack after dinner.  I think DX spots showed an Indian station on 20 meter SSB.  Without realizing who it was, I tuned him in on my Mythbuster rig, heard the other station sign off, and quickly threw in my call.  Denny came back to me right away, and I think both of us then realized that we recognized the call of the other station. Wow, it was Denny, VU2DGR, the Wizard of Kerala!   At the time of the QSO, I didn't have my phone with me; after we spoke, I went to get it,  so the video above captures part of Denny's subsequent contact. (You can also at one point hear Guapo barking.) 

Denny has been running a wonderful station that combines SDR gear with and HDR tube type amplifier and a homebrew Moxon.  

Here is Denny's station. The transceiver is a RadioBerry.  the amplifier and power supply are on the other table.  

Here is the homebrew tube-type amplifier.  This is the part of the station that really puts the HB in HB2HB! That's the power supply on the left and the amplifier itself on the right: 

That amplifier has three 807s in it, with a 6L6GC: 

Here's a video on the RadioBerry transceiver. 

Finally, here is Denny's magnificent homebrew 20 meter Moxon: 

Thanks Denny! 

The Wizard of Kerala (India) -- Denny VU2DGR -- SDR and HDR

 

His signal was just booming in on 20 meter SSB yesterday evening.  It was one of the strongest signals I've heard from India.  I wasn't able to get through the pileup, but I heard mention of a homebrew station at his end...  Sure enough a look at his QRZ.com site shows that a LOT of solder has been melted in his shack.  Both SDR and HDR stuff.  Tube projects including an 807 amplifier made from "components collected from the scrapyard." And a homebrew 20 meter Moxon.  Check it out: 

https://www.qrz.com/db/VU2DGR 

FB Denny!

Kerala is on the southwest tip of India.  It is something of a hotbed of technological innovation.  My only Indian contact using my current series of homebrew dual-banders was with VU3TPW -- Renju is also in Kerala.