Podcast (Audio) Version of Bill's Talk to the L'Anse Creuse Amateur Radio Club

Tony G4WIF suggested that I make this talk available as an audio recording.  Good idea. Here it is: 

http://soldersmoke.com/N2CQRHomebrewing.mp3

Bill Talking about Homebrew Radio with L’Anse Creuse Amateur Radio Club (Michigan) -- February 2, 2022 (Video)

This was a very nice meeting.  We just talked homebrewing and why it is such an important part of ham radio.  Video above

Topics included:

-- Jean Shepherd

-- Being "Electrically Inclined" 

-- The Herring Aid 5

-- Radio Clubs around the world

-- The Shame Shelf

-- Making mistakes, releasing smoke

-- Errors in ham radio magazines and schematics

-- The importance of understanding the circuit

-- The Michigan Mighty Mite

-- Building a power supply for the HW-32A

-- The origins of the SolderSmoke podcast

-- Knack stories, the IBEW and what we all have in common

-- The importance of books

Thanks to The L'Anse Creuse ARC for the invitation. 

Jean Shepherd on CW, and Strange Propagation -- QRP!

From 1965.  Great CW stories from Shep.  QRP!  Shep running 2 watts on 20 CW, working DX. 

He discusses shortwave listening,  and predicted that CW shortwave listening would become more popular (sorry about that Shep). 

It was real hoot to hear the 1965 public service ad from NYC Mayor John Lindsey. 

The Kazoo CW was a bit hard to copy OM. 

Jean Shepherd Goes to a Hamfest -- And Much More

Here is something nice to listen to in your shack...  

I hadn't heard this one before.  It is about Shep's teenage trip to a hamfest, but it also about his youthful enthusiasm for ham radio and electronics.  Many of us can identify with this very easily. 

He talks about what must have been a very early use of "blue boxes" -- the audio tone generators that allowed young miscreants (including the Woz) to make long distance phone calls for free. I wish I had gotten into this.  It sounds like fun. 

He talks about how painful it was to be on phone (AM phone) with just 2.5 watts homebrew, when everyone else was running a lot more power. 

And wow, they played a baseball game at the hamfest.   Phone guys vs. CW guys. 

I won't spoil it by telling you the results of the hamfest raffle.  

Bootleggers! Radio Criminality -- Some Jean Shepherd Stories

Thanks to Adam N0ZIB who alerted me to Shep's Cincinnati story about the stolen AM broadcast station.  I then found another YouTube video that had that story, but preceded by an even better tale of ham radio bootlegging.  

Adam found his story on this fantastic YouTube channel -- a collection of Shep stuff: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaip8PM6hvPdKsbID0DNaMA  

Thanks Adam.  73  and EXCELSIOR! 

Jean Shepherd Works Through a Satellite in a School

Ah,  1975.  Obviously a very different time...  I'm not sure if Shep would fit in well in the classrooms of today.  There was bit of Rodney Dangerfield in his demeanor -- that would likely cause some trouble.

 

But this clip was fun.  Shep was right on target when he talked about how getting your ham license used to mean that you'd "mastered a technical art." 

The OSCAR satellite they were using was 2 meters up and 10 meters down.  There was a Heathkit HF transceiver with a transverter.  And a Simpson multimeter.  That mic was a Turner +3 

Thanks to Steven Walters for alerting us to this.  

EXCELSIOR!   

STOP. LISTEN. Shep on Building a Shortwave Receiver

Oh man, how could I have possibly missed this one?  Perhaps I didn't, but even if this one has been on the blog before, it is so good that it is worth repeating.  

Shep really captures the frustrations and joys of a teenage radio builder.  I could really identify with this.  It all reminded me of my heartbreaking effort to build the Herring Aid 5 receiver. 

So much cool stuff in this 1963 recording: 

-- The wonderful smell of radio service shops. 

-- The terrible shirt and tie choices of radio service guys. 

-- The truly dire consequences of mistakes in published schematic diagrams. 

-- The AGONY of not being able to get a homebrew radio to work. 

-- The JOY when you finally do get it to work. Shep's "whole life changed" when that happened. 

-- Hugo Gernsback, Lee DeForest and "unscientific scientists."

As the YouTube video plays, they show several covers of old Short Wave Craft magazines. At one point they show some homebrew phone rigs.  I think they look like my wooden box BITX rigs.  And the front panels are clearly Juliano Blue.  TRGHS. 

Here is the 1933 Oscillodyne article that launched Shep's effort: 

https://schematiclounge.weebly.com/uploads/6/4/5/7/6457679/oscillodyne.pdf_0001.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1SKvnmHuAW3eh5MKJH2-2vgoE0jZAdwrBy4-IBiEaZosbXnPPZJtDieSU

EXCELSIOR! 

Knack Story -- Tom WX2J

RTTY Model 15

Hello Bill,

Greetings from a fellow ham in Northern Virginia. I have enjoyed the SolderSmoke podcast for a few years now, and I just heard your recent presentation to the Vienna Wireless Society. We have a lot in common so it is about time I reach out to make your acquaintance.

I was born in NYC and grew up in Northern NJ. I was first licensed in 1969 as a high school student (51 years ago! Goodness!). My novice callsign was WN2JFX, and I progressed from Novice and then to General and Advanced as WB2JFX, and then eventually to Extra (in about 1990 -- while the 20 WPM code requirement still existed). At that point I put in for a 2X1 callsign and received WX2J, which is a nice twist on my original call.

I was fanatically active in my early years in ham radio. My Elmer (George, K2VVI, SK) set me up with a DX-40, and my parents provided a brand new Hallicrafters S-120 (you could copy the whole 40 meter band without changing the frequency!). I think I Worked all States as a Novice and learned that the human brain is the most amazing audio filter on the market. When I made General, George lent me an old Hallicrafters SX-25, and then I was really in good shape. Besides CW, I was also very interested in RTTY. I had my own Model 15 leaking oil in the basement and had a blast watching the magic of that thing printing messages out of thin air. I have always been a home-brewer, and one of the first serious things I built was a two- or three-tube RTTY demodulator from the Handbook. Aluminum chassis, chassis punches, tube sockets -- the whole works. I have no idea what the real inductance was of the inductors that went into the filters but somehow if the signals were strong enough, and on 850 Hz shift, it could actually demodulate signals. I probably still have that thing around here somewhere.

Another local ham bequeathed me his entire collection of 73 magazines - 10+ years starting with the first issue (~1960). I read them from cover to cover so many times I probably have them memorized. I became a real fan of Wayne Green, W2NSD, who was always ornery and controversial but a very interesting guy. I met him at a hamfest many years later and we had a great chat.

In any case I wanted to mention some other things that resonate with me as I listen to your podcast. As a kid growing up in the shadow of NYC in those years, you can bet that the Jean Shepherd broadcast was a regular part of our life. My dad used to listen to it every night -- 10:15 p.m. I believe, on WOR -- and we both used to greatly enjoy his stories of lighting up the fuse panel and nearly blowing up the house as he and his old man were playing with radios, etc. It was a common theme in our house too when my ham radio signal would blast into the TV set or I dangled new antenna wires off the house and out of the trees -- "You're going to blow this house up!" I studied electrical engineering in college and was commissioned in the Air Force upon graduation. I served a 20-year career in the Air Force and stayed somewhat active in ham radio. I was licensed and operated out of Okinawa (KA6TF) and England (G5ERE) during tours of duty in the early 1980s. Always an HF guy, in about 1982, in Japan, I bought myself a new Icom IC-720A, and this is still my primary rig. I was an early adopter of PK-232 and did some extensive building and experimenting with it. Sadly though, in the last 25+ years, my ham radio experience has mostly been vicarious as my work and family obligations have just not left much time for ham radio. I do have a G5RV wire antenna strung up but very rarely jump on the air -- sometimes during contests.

In high school we made a field trip to ARRL HQ in Newington, CT. While there we did all the things people do on such a visit, but one of the high points for me was meeting Doug DeMaw. I can just hear how Shepherd would describe it -- "I turned the corner and there he was! In person! The high priest of homebrewing! Doug DeMaw. In the flesh!" Cue the kazoo. I actually also met Shepherd at a book signing (Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories?). I remember presenting him with a computer-printed banner of his callsign -- K2ORS -- produced by one of the few functioning computer programs I had written in high school. I also heard him on the HF bands one night -- I think he was in Florida -- and actually made contact with him, if barely being able to exchange callsigns can count as a contact.

Well, more than you wanted to know. I just wanted to let you know that I enjoy your podcast and can personally relate to very much of what you say. Although I am steeped in Hardware Defined Radio, I am also a software guy so I expect that my future includes SDR. I hope you and Pete are able to continue the podcast for a long time to come because I need the full HDR-SDR spectrum to be covered -- hi.

73,

Tom Fuhrman, WX2J

Dilbert, Shep, Dex, Pete, Farhan, and Wes! N2CQR Presentation on Homebrewing to Local Radio Club

Dean KK4DAS asked me to speak to our local radio club, the Vienna Wireless Society.   It was a lot of fun.  I talked about my evolution as a homebrewer, some of the rigs I made, the moments of joy, and the tales of woe.   You can watch the presentation in the video above. 

I was really glad to be able to explain in the presentation the importance of people like Pete, Dex, Farhan, Wes, Shep and even Dilbert. 

I was also pleased to get into the presentation the N2CQR sign that Peter VK2EMU made for me.  Thanks Peter! 

Here is the URL to the YouTube video (also above): 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3414&v=VHSr-v4QO7Q&feature=emb_logo

And here are the PowerPoint slides I used: 
https://viennawireless.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/VWS-presentation-Rig-here-is-homebrew.pdf

M0KOV's Real Life Dilbert Moment -- His Mom Took Him to the Doctor

M0KOV's BITX

Dilbert's mother took him to the doctor because of ham radio.  Jean Shepherd's date said that Shep's mother should "take him to a doctor" (he was obsessing over his Heising modulator.)  And now we learn that Steve M0KOV was hauled into the doctor's office because of his "obsession with electronics."  You are in good company Steve.  The Knack diagnosis is confirmed. 

From Steve M0KOV: 

Just watched young Dilbert at the doctor's surgery.

Although I was late getting my ham licence, I'm sure that I fit the standard knack victim mould. I built my first radio at the age of 10 and even before then I preferred to be bought batteries, switches and lamps rather than sweets. Within a couple of years my small bedroom comprised of a bed, somewhere to throw my clothes and an electronics work bench. The bench and  floor were completely covered with half built electronic projects, ex military radios, tools, my beloved old Heathkit oscilloscope and the rest. 

Now, my true Dilbert moment. I remember being in the family doctors surgery and my mother was discussing my inability to get to sleep (a perfectly normal ailment for a 13 year old male). She was voicing her concern that it might be my obsession with electronics,  and it was all going round in my head and keeping me awake. Funny, later in my life she never seemed to be bothered if the worry of studying or exams kept me awake.

Thanks for another great podcast.

73 de Steve M0KOV

Knack Victim Makes Good! Alan Yates in Seattle

Jean Shepherd used to say that in life, many of us come to a fork in the road:  down one path lies success.  Down the other, ham radio flea markets.  Alan Yates is proving Shep to be WRONG. 

I have fond memories of Billy and I building many versions of Alan's trivial electric motor.   We look forward to his virtual reality.  

I.G.Y., The Nightfly, Donald Fagen, Jean Shepherd and SolderSmoke

OK, so from time-to-time we  talk about IGY, the International Geophysical Year. I was born during that scientifically momentous period.  A lot of cool stuff happened.  Amazing propagation conditions too.  So for a while (around SolderSmoke 149) I was using the opening bars of Donald Fagen's song I.G.Y. as the intro for the podcast.  That song comes from Fagen's album Nightfly.  The album cover appears above.

This morning I got two e-mails from Steve N8NM about another connection between SolderSmoke and IGY.  At first I thought he was pulling my leg.  But  before I show you the e-mails, let me show you another picture:

That's Jean Shepherd.  Can you dig it?

Steve writes:

Hey Bill! 

I'm Listening to #149, where you introduced Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y" as the new theme song.  Have you heard that the protagonist on that album is based on none-other than Shep, K2ORS.  Don't know if that's necessarily true, but the album title (The Nightfly), Fagen being from NY, and the era depicted certainly make that plausible...

I guess it's factual - This is from an interview Fagen did with New York Magazine:

Your first solo album, The Nightfly, was inspired by fifties jazz disc jockeys. Which ones were your favorites?
Symphony Sid was very popular. Mort Fega was probably the best all-around jazz D.J. Ed Beach on WRVR would do this very scholarly afternoon show, and I’d listen to that when I came home from school. But the figure of the Nightfly was based more on a guy who didn’t play jazz records, Jean Shepherd. He was a monologist who used to just talk and tell stories and say funny things. He was a social satirist.

Speaking of Shep:  You've done him proud, not only in your HB radio efforts, but in proving yourself to be a very capable monologist for the several years between Mike's passing and Pete's arrival.  Three Cheers for Bill!  Give that man a brass figlagee with gold leaf palm!

73!  Steve N8NM

By the authority vested in me by having once spoken to Jean Shepherd, I award Steve Murphy N8NM, the coveted Brass Figlagee with Gold Leaf Palm.  

EXCELSIOR!  

TRGHS

Jean Shepherd's call signs, a QSL card, and much more

I was listening to 160 meter AM yesterday  afternoon when I heard a familiar call:  K2ORS.   I knew that someone else had picked up Jean Shepherd's last callsign, so I knew that I was not listening to a CQ from the great beyond.   Turns out that K2ORS is now OM Warren Ziegler up in Massachussets. Warren is active on HF and 160 and also works with experimental low frequency transmitters.  He is a big fan of Shep.  I think Shep would be pleased that someone who melts solder has his old call.

Searching for Warren on QRZ.com led me to a site with an amazing amount of info about Shep, his callsigns, and his early days in ham radio:

http://www.flicklives.com/index.php?pg=318

We talk about Shep quite a bit on this blog.  Here are all the Shep blog posts:

http://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search/label/Jean%20Shepherd

Shep said that when, as a teenager, he got his ham radio license, he was so proud that he went around thinking of himseld as "W9QWN, a man of substance."  Indeed he was.

EXCELSIOR!

  

Mighty Mite with Homebrew Capacitor Made from Two Cans (video)

Paul Hodges, KA5WPL, didn't have the variable capacitor called for by the Michigan Mighty Mite schematic.  So in the true spirit of the International Brotherhood of Electronic Wizards, he rolled his own!  He used two empty aluminum cans and some electrical tape.  Wow,  that's really cool Paul. 

You have truly earned you membership in the Color Burst Liberation Army, and for the capacitor I award you the prestigious Brass Figlagee with Bronze Oak Leaf Palm.

SolderSmoke Podcast #174:Belthorn III, BITX20(-40), Parasites, Test Gear, Hamfest, SPRAT, Flares, BITX History

SolderSmoke Podcast #174 is available:

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke174.mp3

March 28, 2015

Happy Arduino Day!
Pete's Belthorn III Transceiver (with cool color display)
Bill's BITX 20 (that used to be a BITX20/40)
AD9850 DDS added to Barebones Superhet
Jean Shepherd on Parasitic Oscillations, Obsession, and Madness
Simple Test Gear for the Homebrewer
Digital Oscilloscopes and their amazing capabilities
Dongles and other great stuff in SPRAT 162
The BIG St. Patrick's Day Solar Flare
VK6MV's Amazing Rhombic (+)
VK7XX (Dos Equis!)
A Bit of BITX History
Pete going KX3 QRO


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

Shep on Parasitics and Troubleshooting: "That way madness lies"

You guys really have to listen to this.  This is culturally important.   And it is a great follow-up to SolderSmoke 173.
 

In this 1965 radio broadcast, Jean Shepherd describes his teenage struggles with parasitics and other technical problems in his homebrew 160 meter transmitter.

He describes the sound of parasitics on a signal, saying that they sound as if the signal is being attacked by "debauched erotic locusts."

He really nails it in describing the scornful, dismissive tone that many hams use in telling their fellow radio amateur that there are problems with his signal. ( I have recently been on the receiving end of this kind of treatment.)

He observes that no one is more worried, "than a man who has built something and can't get it to work." Indeed.

During a date with a girl from his high school, he is so obviously pre-occupied with his transmitter trouble that she tells him that something is wrong with him and that his mother "should take him to a doctor."

And he describes the joy that comes when you figure out the problem and get the thing to work.

The REALLY good stuff begins at about the 25 minute point.

http://ia310115.us.archive.org/2/items/JeanShepherd1965Pt1/1965_01_29_Ham_Radio.mp3

Shep was quoting from King Lear: "O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that."  In other words: "BASTA!"  That is what I have said about my 40 meter troubles.  My BITX 20/40 is now a BITX 20. 

EXCELSIOR!



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

Jean Shepherd Meets Lee DeForest (video)

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

Jean Shepherd's Shack Gets Hit by Lightning

Yikes!  This is really good!  Thanks to Harv for sending us this link:  Poor Shep!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akyTVNorXQ8&feature=player_detailpage

Greetings Bill,

Have been loving each Soldersmoke Podcast and Blog Segment recently.
You and Pete have made the program a superb treat while I've been busy with the Radio Room construction.


Building the Radio Room is like constructing an ARK in your Basement. Everything is being done in pairs
and the water keeps rising. (No kidding)...
I encountered two water breaks in the Radio Room while construction was under way but, that is a whole different story.
Fortunately none of my prized boat anchors were damaged.

The project; (The Radio Room), includes operating positions for 14 complete stations.
That wouldn't be too bad except I'm constructing walls, benches and over-head lighting from complete scratch.
While this is going on, I wanted to finish my 3.579 MHz CBLA transmitter and return to the Minima build that I started in April 2014.
However, in September, I retired and moved to another state.  The reality of the latter took awhile to sink in. Most Ham Projects took a back seat to higher priorities. I will soon have the Radio Room I always dreamed of. The Drake 2B fills the space with the sound of 20 Mtr CW and the anticipation of having the HT-37 brewing away is just around the bend.

I'm taking a short sabbatical from the Ham Shack construction to get caught up on some other household projects.
In this notion of taking a needed break, I rediscovered Jean Shepherd's programs on Youtube.
I started to dissect Sheps monologue when I found that familiar path in my own life as a 15 yr. old Ham in the mid-1960s.
I'm sure you too can relate to Jeans' life as a kid.
I really liked his broadcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akyTVNorXQ8&feature=player_detailpage
"Lightning Hits the Ham Radio." Near the end of the program, he mentions that his life was over because his
Dad hammered him over the damage to the house by the lightning strike. I'd love to hear the rest of that story!!!

Please keep up the great efforts with Soldersmoke and bringing us all that good Tribal Knowledge. I think we should all go build something.
Looking forward to what's next. Thanks to You and Pete.

73's
De -=WA3EIB=- Harv
Eastern Idaho 


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

EXCELSIOR! Jean Shepherd's Birthday

Bob Crane (and, I think, Garrison Keillor) alerted us to this important birthday:

It's the birthday of humorist Jean Shepherd (books by this author), born in Chicago, Illinois (1921). He's remembered for the autobiographical stories he told on the radio about a boy named Ralph Parker growing up in Hohman, Indiana. One of his stories was made into the movie A Christmas Story (1983), which he narrated. It's about a boy who wants a BB gun for Christmas, even though every adult in his life says that he'll shoot his eye out.

The stories Shepherd told on-air were always improvised, but he later wrote them down and published them in collections like In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash (1967) and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters (1972).

Jean Shepherd said: "Some men are Baptists, others Catholics. My father was an Oldsmobile man."

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

Hamfest Presentation on SolderSmoke and BITX (Video)

The Vienna Wireless Society of Northern Virginia asked me to give a talk at their 23 Feb 2014 hamfest.  I spoke about homebrewing and the BITX transceivers.  Click on the link below to watch the video.  (Special thanks to Elisa for doing the video.)

https://vimeo.com/87725154

The Powerpoint slides are here:

http://soldersmoke.com/winterfest.pptx

For those who just want to listen podcast style,  I will try to turn the audio into a podcast and will post it via the normal channels. 


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