Grayson Evans KJ7UM Interview at Four Days in May at the Dayton Hamvention 2025

 

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW HERE: 

http://soldersmoke.com/KJ7UM at Dayton 2025.mp3

Grayson said quite a lot in this short 4 minute interview: 

-- At FDIM he was selling his wonderful book "Hollow State Design for the Radio Amateur."  Buy one here: https://www.ermag.com/product-category/books/ 

-- Grayson was also selling a Thermatron version of our beloved Michigan Mighty Mite transmitter.  It is crystal controlled for the 40 meter band, but the Color Burst Liberation Army approves! Here is a wonderful video on this rig:

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/09/excellent-new-video-from-grayson-kj7um.html

And be sure to watch Grayson's excellent course on Thermatron Homebrewing: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/02/grayson-evans-kj7um-video-on.html

-- Asked why someone should build with tubes when so much good solid state stuff is available, Grayson makes some especially excellent points:  The solid state gear is often filled with mysterious little black boxes -- we often don't really know what goes on in there.  Thermatron construction provides a break from complicated SDR nonsense "that is not really radio."  That last comment will generate some criticism, but not from here.  I think Grayson is right,  He earlier expressed admiration for complex circuitry, but he also rightly defends simple, understandable rigs.  

Here are Grayson's Technical Documents (a real treasure trove):  https://kj7um.wordpress.com/

Three cheers for Grayson.  And thanks to Bob Crane W8SX for doing this interview.  

Daniel VE5DLD's FOUR FB Saskatchewan SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receivers

Daniel VE5DLD is a teacher in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.  Back in early 2023 several lucky students joined him in building the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion receiver.  We had asked people to build the receiver -- we wanted to test the design before asking the local high school students to build it.  Daniel and his students came through for us, and ended up having far more success than we did.  Congratulations Daniel!  Welcome to the Hall of Fame. 

Daniel wrote: 

Hi Bill!  Yes, I had my own DC Receiver that I use every so often for fun and 3 built by my students.  All working.  We didn't get any video because we just finished the school year and the kids left, but I've kept in contact with them and they told me they have been able to receive signals from their homes.  The kids developed excellent troubleshooting skills gained large amounts of confidence in their ability to fix things.  Over the next year, my students told about fixing their gaming consoles and fixing problems in their parent's electronics.  They are certainly no longer afraid of opening something up to see what is going on!  And that's what makes me the most happy!  Yeah, you can just recognize myself and only mention that 3 students were able to build DC receivers.

And yes, the Michigan Mighty Mite was a fantastic gateway to home brewing!

Thanks for thinking of me and my students!

73

Daniel D.

VE5DLD

On June 19, 2023,  Daniel wrote: 

We got everything going and all 3 students now have receivers capable of inhaling RF.  We 3D printed some knobs and hot glued them.  We took one outside but didn't hear any signals.  Mid afternoon is not good for 40m.  We will try again later this week and I'll bring my KX3 to make sure there is a single for them to listen.  This issue on that last radio was an improperly installed J310.  The angle is was installed hid the problem well!  Here are a few pictures of the completed rigs. 

Back in 2015, Daniel built a Michigan Mighty Mite.  I was pleased to be reminded that I had sent him the crystal.  Go CBLA!  For more info on Daniel's transmitter see: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2015/10/saskatchewan-mighty-mite-video.html

Thanks Daniel! 73  

___________________________

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

Brian KA0PHJ's CBLA SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver

Brian KA0PHJ finished his receiver in early March, and has been adding mods ever since.  He hopes to build another one for 80 meters and to use it with his Michigan Mighty Mite.  

VIVA EL CBLA!  VIVA! 

Brian writes: 

Bill,

I got my DCR finished in early march (built as designed), then added the RF gain, fine tune and frequency display. 

Wow, what fun!!

Gave me an excuse to organize all my discrete components and finally buy a Rigol!  

Now I plan to build one for 80m to go with the CBLA Michigan Mighty Might:) 

Keep up with good work. 

73,

Brian.

KA0PHJ

FB Brian!  Congratulations! 

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

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

Sam WN5C uses ChatGPT as an Emergency Elmer

Sam WN5C has been on the blog before.  Last year we covered his heroic use of a Michigan Mighty Mite at Thunderbird State Park:  https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2023/06/sam-wn5c-builds-michigan-mighty-mite.html

This time, Sam writes about a good  ham radio use for ChatGPT: 

Hope you’re doing well. Just a quick note: ChatGPT is turning out to be a great homebrewing tool for me.

My elmer has been swamped with family issues, so my basic questions (“can you explain this circuit for me”) and hard questions (“why doesn’t this circuit I built work?!”) that he usually responds to right away has been a bit delayed. I’m in the process of designing a 5-band QRP CW transceiver with a superhet receiver and SSB receive so I’m learning a bunch of new circuits.

 

I’ve hated the idea of AI as someone who writes a lot (it cheapens what I’ve spent my career trying to perfect!), but man it is smart. I can ask it all kinds of questions. For example, it helped me design a little IF amp last night and ensured I got my impedance matching right (it’s great for mashing up lots of circuits and ensuring they work together). I can ask it for suggestions on part types and values. It helps with Arduino code if you’re into that. You can use plain language but it does well with heavy jargon. And, which I find really cool, it will step you through troubleshooting. It teaches the math, too.

 

Anyway, you or your readers might find this helpful. Especially when one is building at 3 AM and needs an answer immediately.

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

Thanks Sam! 

 

Excellent New Video from Grayson KJ7UM on his Thermatron version of the Michigan Mighty Mite

Here is a really wonderful video from Grayson Evans, KJ7UM, author of Hollow-State Design for the Radio Amateur.  

I really loved this video.  Throughout we see Grayson's sense of humor.  Early on he explains the differences between a tube (what remains from a roll of paper towell), a valve (like the plumbers use) and a THERMATRON (like a 6146).  Grayson is the inventor of the word Thermatron.  We should all pledge to use it whenever possible. 

Grayson's humor also shows up when describing the parts acquistion process for the Thermatron Michigan Mighty Mite.  He puls out a coil (a huge coil) and laments that it is not -- despite its large size -- sufficiently inductive. 

There are wonderful shout outs to SolderSmoke, to Electric Radio, to the Color Burst Liberation Army, to Pete Juliano,  and to Rex Harper.  

Grayson describes the utility of Rex Harper's Thermatron ME pads.  

During the video, Grayson actually builds the Thermatron MMM.  In under 2 minutes!  He then experiences the Joy Of Oscillation, or JOO as it has come to be known.  OM needs a contact -- listen for him on 3579.  He is calling CQ.  

Grayson talks about his book, Hollow-State Design.  I have a copy with me here at SolderSmoke Shack South in the Dominican Republic.  Great stuff.   The above link takes you to Lulu, where you can order the book.  You can also get it from Electric Radio Magazine here: https://www.ermag.com/product-category/books/

Thank you Grayson for bringing us this video, and so much more over the years.  And for giving us the very useful and fun word:  THERMATRON!  

CBLA: A CALL TO ARMS!

Dave AA7EE alerted us to this attack.  Please follow-up by posting reception reports (and triangulations!) in the comments below.  Dave writes:  

Recently, an unlicensed beacon (for which read pirate) has turned up on 3579 KHz. It seems to be located somewhere in the Western US, in the tradition of unlicensed HF beacons dating back to the late 80's that were solar-powered, and located in remote areas of the Southwestern deserts. The very first ones were a cluster of beacons around 4096 KHz (a frequency for which crystals were cheaply and easily available).

Anyway, I am equal parts intrigued and miffed by this latest clandestine operation. Intrigued because of the mystery surrounding all such clandestine operations. Where is it? What does it look like? Who built it, and why? I'm also miffed because, well, dagnabbit - it's on our turf!

It can be heard nightly after dark in the West, on both the KFS and KPH SDR's, in Half Moon Bay and Point Reyes respectively. It sends a series of 22 dits, then the call letters KOK, then more dits.

This is an outrage, a travesty, and a direct assault on the sovereignty of all self-respecting CBLA recruits! I call on all denizens of colorburst land to dust off their Michigan Mighty Mites and other plucky little transmitters, and launch the loud, raucous battle cries of  CQ, CQ, CQ into the ether. We shall fight them on the airwaves, we shall fight them in our radio shacks while drinking hot chocolate, winding toroids, and reading QST. We shall go on to the end. We shall never surrender!

I'm telling you Bill, when the very foundations of our existence are threatened, there is nothing that a colorburst crystal and half a watt from a 2N3053 transistor can't achieve. By golly, we can do this.

Your obedient colorburst servant,

Dave

AA7EE

Ciprian YO6DXE Puts the Michigan Mighty Mite on AM! (video)

Excellent work Ciprian!  

Here we have a Michigan Mighty Mite being modified for AM in Romania, with input from Hungary, and inspiration from Melbourne, Australia (Peter Parker VK3YE).  With a very nice shout-out to SolderSmoke.  

I really like Ciprian's emphasis on having fun with the electronics. 

TRGHS! 

But How Does the Michigan Mighty Mite REALLY Work?

Dean KK4DAS and I were talking to Mark, a new homebrewer.  After we sang the praises of the Michigan Mighty Mite,  Mark asked us a good question:  How does it really work? 

I guess the starting point for analysis is the Barkhausen criteria (that Pete N6QW taught us):  essentially you need enough feedback to overcome losses in the circuit, and this feedback has to be in phase with the signal at the input.  The MMM is clearly oscillating, so the question becomes, "How does this very simple circuit meet the Barkhausen criteria?" 

Here goes: 

Even though it is a very simple circuit, it is worthwhile to separate out the things that it has to do: 

1) It needs to set the AMOUNT of feedback.    This is done by the tap on L1.  Too low down on the coil, and it is too close to ground through the .05 uF capacitor (not enough feedback).  Too high on the coil and you get too much feedback.  This is like an inductive voltage divider. 

2)  It needs to make sure that this feedback is in phase with the input signal. Positive feedback. Q1 is an inverting amplifier.  So it supplies 180 degrees of phase shift. As the signal at the base goes more positive, the signal at the collector goes more negative, and vice versa.  But we need an additional 180 degree shift to bring the output signal in phase with the input signal.  Here is the key:   The crystal provides the other 180 degrees of phase shift.  See

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/understanding-the-operation-of-quartz-crystal-oscillators/

I tested this:  A 3.579 MHz crystal does provide the needed phase shift:  It introduces a shift of about 190 degrees.  Check out this very cool picture. The two scope probes are looking at the input and the output of the 3.579 MHz crystal with 3.580 MHz frequency coming from my HP sig gen. 

Click on the picture for a better view.

3) It needs to filter out other signals -- the 365 pf variable cap resonates with L1 at around 3.579 MHz.  This results in maximum circulating current through L1 at this frequency. 

4) It needs to match impedance to the antenna.  L2 wound over L1 forms the secondary of a transformer and efficiently moves the energy from the MMM to the antenna.  Think about the gears on your bike. 

The 10k resistor biases the base of the transistor, keeping it on.   The 27  ohm resistors limits the current through the transistor, preventing it from burning up. Note:  the 27 and 10k resistors should NOT be connected directly to each other.  There is no dot in the schematic. This causes some confusion among builders. 

The .05 uF capacitor does two things:   It grounds the L1/365pf tank circuit for RF (but not for DC).   It is less than 1 ohm at 3.579 MHz.   And it helps reduce (smooth out) key clicks (very sudden on-off changes in the oscillation). 

Sam WN5C Builds a Michigan Mighty Mite and Takes it to Lake Thunderbird

 

Sam WN5C built a Michigan Mighty Mite and then went the extra mile by putting it on the air from a field location.  And what a great name this location has for a QRP operation:  Lake Thunderbird. 

Sam wrote up his experiences for K4SWL's QRPer blog: 

https://qrper.com/2023/05/guest-post-lake-thunderbird-k-2792-with-a-homebrew-transmitter/  

Below is a picture of the rig.  NOTE THE LOW-PASS FILTER.  FB OM. We wouldn't want that rig tearing up the electromagnetic spectrum. 

Looking ahead, Sam writes: 

Next step is a DC receiver (maybe the high school receiver?) and then a more substantial transmitter married together, I think. This is all incredibly fun.

Thanks Sam! 

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

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

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

The modular idea:  words to live by my friends. 

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

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

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

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

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

W2UO's Michigan Mighty Mite -- Made a Contact!

Hi Bill,

I found SolderSmoke about six months ago, and it's quickly become one of my favorite podcasts.

I've been a ham since I was 11, but never tried my hand at homebrewing anything.  I've always heard how hard it would be, and how a project like a SSB transmitter is just too far out of reach.

You and Pete are inspirational, so I set out to build a simple starter project, the venerable Michigan Mighty Mite.  However not just any mighty mite, a usable one, not just a proof of concept.  One intended to sit on a desk and look good doing it.  Complete with built in low pass filter, tx/rx switching, and an internal dummy load.

I don't know if I accomplished all that, but I did make a contact on it this afternoon.  Next logical step I suppose will be to build a DC receiver to sit next to it.

Please find pictures attached, I've learned a lot about what not to do with project, so criticism is welcome.

73!
-Jim W2UO

My response: 

Wow Jim, that is really wonderful.  Congratulations on the build.   I've built many of them, but I don't think I ever made a contact with a MMM.  FB.  

It looks great to me!   Indeed, you should do a Direct Conversion receiver next.    Maybe do a receiver for 40, then do a version of the MMM for that same band.  Then you could 

make a completely homebrew QSO.   I did this recently on 40:  https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2023/02/first-qso-with-high-school-receiver-100.html    It was a real hoot!  

Our friend Dean also built a MMM as his first project:  https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2019/12/dean-kk4das-puts-michigan-mighty-mite.html

Please keep us posted on your progress. 

Again, congratulations!   73  Bill N2CQR

Mike Caughran KL7R's Last Podcast

 

Mike KL7R (SK) during a visit to the AL7FS shack.

This was Mike Caughran KL7R's last podcast. He died in a car accident shortly after we made this program. January 13, 2007. Mike's oscillator work. Michigan Mighty Mite. Lasers, diodes, and Einstein. Laser communication experiment. W7ZOI-KL7R QSO on SKN.M0HBR's feedback amps.The new comet. Saturn, Jupiter and calculation of c. 17 meter QSOs. New SPRAT CD. MAILBAG: China enigma, VE4KEH, M0DAD, GU0SUP, M1CNK, K4AHU, KD4EDM, KG9DK, AA6KI, VA7AT ON5EX

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

Mike's Obituary from the February 2007 ARRL Letter:

Mike Caughran, KL7R, SK: Well-known low-power (QRP) and homebrewing
enthusiast Michael S. "Mike" Caughran, KL7R, of Juneau, Alaska, died January
22 of injuries suffered in an automobile accident in Hawaii. He was 51.
Caughran may be best known as one-half of the team -- with Bill Meara,
N2CQR/M0HBR -- that created and produced the weekly SolderSmoke podcast
<http://www.soldersmoke.com/>. "I think people were drawn in by Mike's
friendly voice and manner," Meara commented on a memorial page for KL7R
<https://kiwi.state.ak.us/display/mc/Home>. A member of ARRL and the Juneau
Amateur Radio Club, Caughran also wrote articles for the Michigan QRP Club's
T5W newsletter and he was an active ham radio contester. "Mike was one of
those people who you instantly like because of his honest, straightforward
and humble way of talking and expressing ideas," said Mike Hall, WB8ICN, who
edits T5W. "His co-hosting of SolderSmoke provided me hours and hours of
enjoyment." Caughran was an IT professional with the State of Alaska.
Survivors include his wife and son.

Ciprian Got His Ticket: YO6DXE (and Romanian Mighty Mite FIXED!)

Ciprian writes: 

Thank you so much to you all... and thank you SolderSmoke for always writing about my learning in homebrew gear. I did finally got my license... just waiting for the paperwork to arrive. But now I'm finally YO6DXE ( DX Explorer lol ). I did found my issue with the power... it seems that it's from the cheap BD139 that doesn't seem to work as expected. I get about 500mW with a 2n2222. So I ended up making another version of the transmitter that I'm really happy about. 73 to you all DE YO6DXE.

SolderSmoke posts about Ciprian: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=Ciprian

Ciprian's QRZ.com page: https://www.qrz.com/db/YO6DXE

Ciprian's blog:  https://dxexplorer.com/

Ciprian's YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DXExplorer

Some Links for the Michigan Mighty Mite and the Color Burst Liberation Army from Dave K8WPE

Dave K8WPE has been one of the podcast's best friends and one of its most loyal listeners.  Dave was recently going through some back issues of SolderSmoke.  This sparked a renewed interest in the Michigan Mighty Mite and the Color Burst Liberation Army.   Dave sent us some useful links on this subject.  (I had forgotten about the .io CBLA mailing list!)   Thanks for this Dave, and for all your support and friendship over the years.  

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

Guys and Gals

Please listen to some of these podcasts as they are very encouraging to any ham young or old that might want to build something, even as simple as a Michigan Mighty Mite transmitter. Here are references to the Michigan Mighty Mite.  The podcasts are listed below.

https://makerf.com/posts/mighty_simple_shortwave_transmitter

https://www.qsl.net/wb5ude/kc6wdk/transmitter.html

https://qrpguys.com/mmm-40m-transmitter and others.

Check out podcasts # 166, 167, 168 in the Soldersmoke series for an in-depth discussion on this simple transmitter:

https://www.soldersmoke.com/

There are many YouTube videos also regarding this neat little transmitter and even companion receivers.

https://youtu.be/anxxs-G1MI4

Another option is to build the Cricket (a full transceiver kit) from Four State QRP Club that is available for 20, 30 and 40 meters $34.70 shipped:   

http://www.4sqrp.com/kitIndex.php

Or the 80 enter one available from the designer (when the 4SQRP Club retires a kit the designer is free to continue to sell them himself) NM0S on eBay for $26.25 shipped:

  https://www.ebay.com/itm/255527833693?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=AY5tgwaxQqO&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=MVIQRp0MSZK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY   for $26.25 shipped.

If you build one of these kits John at 3rd Planet Solar in Gaylord has bags of crystals and a four position crystal switch kit for the Cricket and Pixie. Check him out at 

https://kc9on.com/

Please pass this on to your friends. Have fun. Build something.  Enjoy!  One person built the kit and framed it to put on the wall of his shack to PROVE that he could actually build an electronic gadget.  

Also there are many who use easily available color burst crystals from old TV sets and joined the Color Burst Liberation Army (CBLA). Check out 

https://groups.io/g/cbla

http://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2021/05/michigan-mighty-mite-joy-of-oscillation.html

Dave K8WPE since 1960

Vienna Wireless Winterfest Hamfest 2022

After a two-year pandemic hiatus, yesterday the Vienna (Virginia) Wireless Society's annual "Winterfest" hamfest was back.  And the weather was in fact COLD -- it definitely felt like Winterfests of years-gone-by. 

Club President Dean KK4DAS kindly invited me to participate in a forum on homebrewing.  You can watch the presentation STARTING AT 2:04:06 (hours:minute:seconds) here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s48of3uS9tM

It was especially cool to be able to tell the audience about Pete N6QW and Farhan VU2ESE. We talked about Pete's Simple SSB transceiver, the Michigan Mighty Mite and the BITX rigs. 

Some observations on the hamfest scene: 

-- There are lots of boatanchor radios out there, and it seems like a buyer's market.  These old rigs do not seem to be selling nearly as fast as they did a few years ago. 

-- There is a lot of older analog test gear on sale too, and it too seems to no longer be as in demand as it was a few years ago.  Perhaps the availability of cheap, small, and very effective digital oscilloscopes is affecting the sale of these once sought-after items. 

My purchases: 

-- A really old beat-up (crashed?) ARC-5 R-23 receiver.  I have already extracted the variable capacitor. 

-- A nice box of smaller variable caps. 

-- 100 feet of 550 parachute cord. 

-- Two nice metal chassis/boxes 

-- A bag of shaft adapters/connectors

With Armand WA1UQO (left) and Steve Boles W4SB (center)

With Charles AI4OT 

Thanks to Dean KK4DAS and the entire VWS team for a great event. 

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. 

Jack NG2E's Winter SOTA Marathon in the Shenandoah

  

Our friend Jack NG2E is a homebrewer.  He is also a Summits-On-The-Air guy. He does much of his SOTA operations along Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. Jack's Story Map method of documenting this SOTA trip is very cool. 

Elisa and I are frequent visitors to this amazing park.   Both my kids went to college in the Shenandoah valley, and the park starts just one hour by car west of us.  It is a beautiful place. The Appalachian Trail runs through the park;  we have crossed paths with "through hikers" who are walking from Maine to Georgia. We have also met up with more than one Black Bear in the park (see below).  My son Billy and I launched our Green Hornet rocket from a farm in the Shenandoah valley: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2017/05/still-photos-and-slow-motion-video-from.html

I really like Jack's use of both HF and 2 meter FM.  This makes me think that I should blow the dust off my Baofeng HT and bring it out to the Shenandoah next time we visit.  Jack's 20 meter CW contact with Christian F4WBN in the Pyrenees added a nice element of transatlantic mountain symmetry.  

Check out Jack's Shenandoah Story Map: 

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c9ff4a13eca24b37bc9dcda0d2dce989

Here's another story map from a SOTA trip into the Adirondacks with info on his gear: 

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/594ca069a27147c1a8d8b79dc1513a72

I know that Jack wants to include a homebrew rig in his SOTA operations.  That would significantly add to the already very high level of operational coolness.  Perhaps Colin M1BUU or Paul VK3HN could provide some suggestions or encouragement in this area. 

Thanks Jack.  Happy trails. Regards to the bears!  

Another M^3: The Michigan Micro Mote

Move over Michigan Mighty Mite and Mate for the Mighty Midget.   There's a new M^3 in town.  And it is SMALL. 

Hack-A-Day had an article on this today, and while it seems only tenuously connected to ham radio, I found it intriguing.  

Check it out.  Who knows, someday people may be operating in "dust mode":  

https://hackaday.com/2021/10/04/snails-sensors-and-smart-dust-the-michigan-micro-mote/#more-498450

Romanian Mighty Mite and Ciprian's Knack Story

Another wonderful video from Ciprian in Romania. 

Any suggestions on his Mighty Mite power output problem? 

Here is Ciprian's YouTube channel. His intro video presents his Knack Story.  

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgaWKPt1P-4D6YI-Opd15_Q

I really hope Ciprian can get a license very soon.  His homebrew projects alone should qualify him. Ciprian has The Knack. It would be great if the IBEW (especially the European branch) could help Ciprian get some more parts and test gear. 

Michigan Mighty Mite, Joy of Oscillation, and the Color-Burst Liberation Army in Washington State

 

Perhaps its the result of a vaccine-induced relaxation of COVID tensions, but for whatever reason we are seeing a resurgence of interest in the Michigan Mighty Mite and the Color Burst Liberation Army. 

Dan AF7O describes his excellent MMM CBLA adventure here: https://af7o.campclan.net/?p=144  Extra points for the use of George Dobbs' Ladybird book technique, and for the 3D printed variable cap holder (made by Dan's son). 

Yes Dan, rebuild that antenna, build an LP filter, and get that MMM on the air.  At the very least you can get some reports from the Reverse Beacon Network.  And, as Jack NG2E recently demonstrated, it is possible to make contacts with a simple rig like this: 

https://jackhaefner.blogspot.com/

LONG LIVE THE COLOR-BURST LIBERATION ARMY!