ANOTHER Great Workshop

As I get ready to build the SolderSmoke Shack South, the Radio Gods (well at least YouTube) keep sending me these workshop videos.  Today's is also for a shop specializing in the repair of vintage audio gear, but the lessons-learned and observations are also applicable to a ham radio workshop.  This fellow's shop is in New York City, where space is very limited.  Check it out.  Lots of great ideas here.   

And check out the Novalux Stereophhonic channel:

 https://www.youtube.com/c/novaluxstereophonic

 

RIP Arno Penzias -- Co-discoverer of the Big Bang Cosmic Background Radiaton

 

Penzias on the right

Here it the Penzias Obituary:

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/24/1226572843/arno-penzias-obituary-big-bang-theory

I think this is one of the best troubleshooting events in radio history:  they thought at one point that what they were hearing was the result of pigeon poop in the antenna.  Turns out they were hearing radiation from the birth of the universe. 

And here is a wonderful 2014 6 minute podcast with Penzias and his co-discoverer Robert Wilson:

 

https://www.npr.org/2014/05/20/314239930/big-bangs-afterglow-two-scientists-recall-their-big-discovery

Sticker Spotted Near the Old NYC Home of E. Howard Armstrong

 

Thanks Dave! 

Sticker Shock -- WYKSYCDS Stickers Spotted in NYC and in a Netherlands Pub! Awards!

 

I am awarding the coveted Brass Figlagee with Bronze Oak Leaf Palm to Dave W2DAB, to Lex PH2LB, to Jesse N5JHH, and of course to Pete Juliano, N6QW.  More awards are possible.  http://www.flicklives.com/index.php?pg=215&recno=2590 

500 WYKSYCDS IBEW Stickers Arrive in Europe! Order yours today! Free!

Lex PH2LB in the Netherlands has gone the extra kilometer for the IBEW.  When he saw the stickers that had been placed in New York City, he asked for the design.  I sent him the files that  Jesse N5JHH (designer of the stickers) had sent to me.  Very quickly, Lex had 500 of these stickers printed up and ready to go (see above).  His shack now serves as a veritable beachhead in Europe for the IBEW and the CBLA.  Thank you Les!   

Les has even set up an on-line order form for those who seek to assist in the noble campaign to spread the word about our cause: 

https://ph2lb.nl/webshop/sticker.php

Les is making the stickers available for free -- all you need to do is pay the postage. 

Please be sure to send us pictures of the stickers after they have been placed. 

And let's not forget that the quote on the sticker is from Pete Juliano, N6QW. 

Here is one that recently showed up in Blacksburg, Virginia (zoom in on the green utility box): 

And here is Lex's very interesting site, with his Knack Story:  https://www.ph2lb.nl/blog/index.php?page=history

Electronics Manufacturing in New York City -- Limor Fried and Adafruit (video) -- "TRUST YOUR TECHNOLUST"

The Radio Gods seem to be directing my attention to my hometown: New York City.

I was recently in the city, observing the placement of various IBEW - WYKSYKDS stickers.  And as I work on my old Hammarlund HQ-100 I note that both the HQ-100 and I may have been produced on Manhattan island at about the same time (me definitely, but the HQ-100 may have been built in Mars Hill NC). 

This morning Jim W4JED reminded me that Limor Fried, MIT Engineer and founder of Adafruit,  is producing a lot of amazing electronics items right in NYC, on Manhattan Island, down in Chelsea.  Thanks Jim.  FB Limor!  

Watch the above video.  I really liked the sign Limor has above her workbench: 

"TRUST YOUR  TECHNOLUST."  

 Indeed.  Back to the HQ-100. This IS a case of technolust.  I'm not quite satisfied with the alignment.  And it bugs me.  I technolust for perfect alignment.    (Steve Silverman -- I think we should add technolust to the SS lexicon.) 

SolderSmoke Podcast #237 is available: TV Show! No! W9YEI's 1939 TV. 1712 Rig. HQ-100. New SDR Rig and Book. JF3HZB's VFO Digital Dial. FIELD DAY! PSSST. MAILBAG

SolderSmoke podcast #237 is available:  http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke237.mp3

Travelogue -- New York City!  Stickers!
And about that trip to Los Angeles for the SolderSmoke Cable TV show... 

Well, it fit in well with SolderSmoke's UNFORGETTABLE appearance on the Oprah book club.
And TechieTatts? Daughter worried about listeners rushing to get tattoos -- A risk we were willing to take.

https://in.pinterest.com/padmakumar10/techie-tatts/

This episode is sponsored by PartsCandy.  GREAT test leads: https://www.ebay.com/usr/partscandy

Bill's Bench

Tracking down Johnny Anderson's 1939 or 1940 homebrew TV receiver.

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=Anderson
Working with Joh DL6ID.
Jean Shepherd's January 1973 description.
FlickLives web site and Steve Glazer W2SG have lots of info on Shep and his friends.
Internet allows us to look at TV articles that were being published.
We've concluded: Probably 1939 or 1940, using an RCA 913 1 inch CRT tube. 

Lots of ideas from IRE Journal, QST, and Gernsback magazines.
Quite an achievement! Amazing how much pre-war TV progress there was.  

17-12 rig
All boxed up and working DX!
Figured out how to display both 17 and 12 on the same LED. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAmmFZyFu8w
Drain protector for speaker cover. Copper tape to cover horrible cabinet making.
I think I need a Hex Beam.

Hammarlund HQ-100
Needed some maintenance.
I started to look more closely at it.
Got the Q-Multiplier to work -- it really adds a lot on CW.
Makes me feel guilty about all the QF-1s...
Using the 100kc calibrator with a 455 kc crystal as a BFO,
keeping Q multiplier below oscillation point.
Moved the BFO switch to the front panel. Helps a lot.
Need to fix the S-meter AVC circuitry.
Much more sturdy than the S-38E.
S-38E 1957-61 $54.95 5 tubes.  AC/DC.
HQ-100 1956-60 $169  10 or 11 tubes.  Power supply,  regulator.
You get what you pay for.  

Pete's Bench

Jack Purdum and Al Peter's new SDR rig and book (featured on the SS blog Amazon ad).
JF3HZB's beautiful digi VFO.
Backpack antenna for Field Day?  
Pipsqueak Disaster -- Too simple?
Peashooter Eye Candy.
Build Something Different.

MAILBAG

James W0JKG CBLA -- Others are building MMM too!
SM4WWG // Jörgen  Wonderful message.  Joined GQRP.  No longer "wrong."
Dennis WC8C Libraries for Max2870 board.
Jack NG2E  Progress on the Right to Repair movement. 
Jim K9JM  Someone cutting into our business with Solder candles!  
Chuck  WB9KZY Correctly identified the location of the IBEW sticker.  As did Dan Random.
Dave Bamford (who lives nearby) suitably impressed. 
Farhan wrote to us about a video on Don Lancaster.  Homebrew keyboards!  Yea!
Dean KK4DAS  QRP to the Field.  HB2HB 40 SSB   QRP  I feel virtuous.  
Todd K7TFC likes my ingenious use of the drain screen as the speaker protector on the 17-12 rig. 
Todd  had good thoughts on granular approach to homebrewing as seen in the Don Lancaster video.
Lex PH2LB HORRIFIED by my reverse polarity protection circuit.  This is a touchy subject! (as is WD-40!)
Rogier PA1ZZ sending great info on SWL and numbers stations.
Jesse N5JHH -- The guy who made the IBEW stickers -- Liked the NYC stickers. 
Steve N8NM has a new antenna article on his blog: https://n8nmsteve.blogspot.com/
Randy AB9GO Agrees -- Can't GIVE old 'scopes away. 
Dino SV1IRG Liked the 17-12 rig videos. 
Steve Hartley G0FUW Murphy's Law of Enclosures. 
Ralph AB1OP FB on the 17-12 Rig. 
Roberto XE1GXG --Our correspondent in Guadalajara. Petulant, irritable people on the computer scene.

Have some gear looking for a good home:   Tek 465 'scope from Jim AL7R W8NSA.   SBE Transceivers.  Windsor Signal Generator.  Let me know if you are interested and can either pick up or arrange shipping.  

John Anderson W9YEI Homebrew Hero

Video: E. Howard Armstrong and Early Radio

This is a really wonderful video. It might seem slow to those accustomed to faster-paced YouTube videos, but the information content is very high -- it contains a lot of pictures I hadn't seen before and audio of Howard Armstrong.  

I never knew that the name of the radio company Zenith was derived from the early callsign "9ZN." 

As a Northern Virginian, I like the reference to NAA Arlington.  

I used to live near Yonkers, N.Y.  I remember Warburton Ave.  What a fine shack young Howard had up in that cupola attic.  

The photo of Armstrong's breadboard was very nice.  My Mythbuster is in good company.

QRPers will get a kick out of the newspaper headline "New Radio Marvel Revealed!"  (They cut the power out from 20kW to 5 watts!) 

Thanks again to Dave Bamford W2DAB for sending me the book about Armstrong, "Man of High Fidelity" by Lawrence Lessing.  

Finally, I remember talking to Bruce Kelley W2ICE at hamfests.   He was a great radio amateur: 

https://www.qcwa.org/w2ice-01351-sk.htm

http://www.arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive/ARLX020/1997

Be sure to check out the Antique Wireless Museum's YouTube Channel.  Lots of good stuff there: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX55peBhzeX1qps_VYXdLBA

We have the famous photo of Major Armstrong,

 but this is the first one I've seen of a slightly younger Captain E. Howard Armstrong. 

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. 

The Perpetual Troubleshooter -- John F. Rider -- W2RID

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Rider

The Joy of Fixing Broken Things (a really amazing video)

This amazing 10 minute video captures very well the joy of fixing broken things. It comes to us through a recommendation from Paul VK3HN in Melbourne, Australia. Thanks Paul.

I hope we will see more from Van Neistat.  He already has a bunch of videos on his YouTube channel:   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5mPJA4y5G8Z6aNkY6AxgAw

I often tell the story of the OT (probably now an SK) who at hamfests would ask if a piece of old gear was working. If the vendor answered honestly and said no, OT would reply, "Good, I pay extra for that."  He too liked to fix things.

SolderSmoke Podcast #208

SolderSmoke Podcast #208 is available: 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke208.mp3

15 December 2018

Pete and the California fires
Bill goes to Brooklyn
2 meter simplex
A return of the trivial electric motor
Audio from Mars
HF Conditions -- a real mixed bag

Pete looks back at 2018 -- The Year of the SSB Transceiver -- Lessons Learned

Hans Summers, the QSX and the virtues of SDR
W7ZOI's DC Receiver Retrospective
The 1972 Solar Flare and the Vietnam War

SHAMELESS COMMERCE:  Buy your gifts through the Amazon link to the upper right. 
Consider SolderSmoke the book as a gift.  Visit Pasta Pete's for cooking ideas. 

Don't Build It!   Sage -- but unexpected -- advice from Pete. 

Straight Key Night approaches. 

Book Reviews:  
--"What is Real?"  (Quantum Physics)
-- RHdb by K6LHA.

Movies
"Bohemian Rhapsody" 
"First Man" (Not yet!)

MAILBAG: 
Steve G0FUW
Ed KC8SBV 

NYC's Radio Row Survives (sort of) in the Bronx

Thanks to our friend (and official lexicographer) Steve Silverman KB3SII for alerting us to this important bit of radio news from the Big Apple.  It seems that a part of old Radio Row was saved and moved -- first to Brooklyn and now to the Bronx.   I got a kick out of some of the comments in the New York Times article about the store:  The insurance company determined that the contents of the store were "non-pilferable." And one young audio enthusiast was quoted as saying that old American tubes "sound better" than Chinese tubes.  I guess they have more presence.  Or brightness.  And less feathering.  Or something.

Here is the 2011 NYT article: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/nyregion/leeds-radio-is-a-haven-for-lovers-of-all-things-analog.html   


To N2CQR  

Jul 17 at 12:26 PM

Bill

Radio Row survives in a storefront in the Bronx, by appointment only.  Leeds Radio was started in 1923 and survives because an enterprising customer bought it from the 72 year old owner.

But this is where you can shop any time for stuff that should be in your junk box:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LeedsRadio

Yikes, what is the world coming to?

I promise to keep any information about what you actually buy on that site a secret!

73

Steve  KB3SII  ... .. ..

PS  When I was 11 (and WN1ZPT) , my parents visited NYC and gave me $10 and sent me alone on the subway to the real Radio Row.  I was in heaven for a few hours!  Got good stuff too.

The Philmore Fixed Crystal Detector

I was at the Manassas, Virginia hamfest on Sunday.  An old timer had a box of crystals for sale.  It was obviously the kind of "box of rocks" that many of us have in the shack.  There was a very wide variety of crystal packages in there, perhaps the widest range of possible styles.  In  among the modern computer crystals and WW II FT243s, I found one from the earliest days of broadcast radio.  The Philmore Fixed Crystal Detector is really just a chunk of galena with a phosphor bronze cat whisker held in place by a spring. Philmore apparently went ahead and found a "sweet spot" for you. 

N2HTT was working with on of these last year: https://n2htt.net/2016/01/17/a-complete-digression/

Of course, I liked the New York City connection.

I will see if this old thing still inhales.

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

Adafruit Profiled in "The New Yorker"

Congratulations to Limor Fried.  Her company got a very nice write up in "The New Yorker."

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/limor-frieds-artful-electronics

Radio Row, New York City, 1929

Check out this video:

https://vimeo.com/109197452

and more here:

http://www.radiodiaries.org/radio-row/

And Now for Something Completely Different: Boatanchors! AM! Top Band!

Lately  I found myself looking for something different to get involved in.  Pete's conversion of his Ten-Tec commercial rig got me thinking about converting an old CB rig to 10 meter AM.  I'm still planning on doing this, but noodling on this project got me thinking about AM in general.  I had the DX-100 that John Zaruba K2ZA had given me (it was his dad's).  I had it paired up with an old HQ-100 that I'd picked up in the Dominican Republic 20 years ago. (Looking at the old manual for this receiver, I realized that there is another reason why I feel so connected to it:  it was built on West 34th St. in New York City, not far from where I was born.)   On Veterans Day (November 11) I connected these two old Boatanchor veterans  to my 40 meter dipole, rigged up a connector for my Astatic D-104, and fired up on 40 meter AM. 

I had a blast!  I found myself in contact with hams who are interested in the inner workings of their gear, guys who know which end of the soldering iron to grab.  The DX-100 got great reports -- people said it sounded nice. 

Sam K4NDY told me that his DX-100 had started out at 100 pounds, but that as time passed (and as he has gotten older) he noticed that it has somehow increased in weight!   

Bill K8DBN was running a DX-60 and (like me) an HQ-100 (you see, we're no longer in Yaesu-Icom-Kenwood land!)

Mike KC2KJ was running a DX-100 and a Drake 2B.  FB!

Steve W3DEF was on with his B&W 5100B.

Dave W3CRA was on from the Collins Radio Association.  He restores Collins gear.  When he told me the DX-100 sounded great, I knew that it really did.

Today I talked to Ed KA3PTX who has this really cool Boatanchor station:

And also today I had a great contact with Howard Mills W3HM, one of the greats in the world of radio restoration.  Another fellow on frequency asked me to makes some critical comments  on Howard's signal quality ("Does he have too much low frequency?") -- I refused, saying I was unworthy. (I did say that he sounded great -- he did.)

Anyway, I'm out of the rut. An added benefit is that this new (old) interest moves me even further away from microscopic SDR rigs, and closer than ever to the Hardware Defined, analog, discrete component, menu-free radio that I prefer.  Check out the full schematic of a DX-100 -- simplicity, clarity, beauty:  

I had been thinking vaguely about someday getting on 160 meters -- I've never used those frequencies.   Yesterday I noticed that both the HQ-100 and the DX-100 cover this band.  THE RADIO GODS HAVE SPOKEN!

AK2B's Beautiful Si5351 Receiver -- Just Listen and Watch!

Tom Hall does amazing things with solder and electrons in the heart of New York City.  I give him extra credit for doing this on the island of Manhattan because 1) that's where I'm from and 2) EVERYTHING is more difficult there.

I may have presented this video before.  If I didn't, I should have.  And if I did, well, here it is again (I guess my NYC attitude is showing here).  

Look at the ease with which Tom switches bands.  Fantastic!  But even more important, LISTEN to the quality of the reception.  Listen as Tom tunes in on strong CW and SSB signals.  Do you hear any signs of the dreaded phase noise that is supposed to plague the Si5351 chip?  I do not.  I think this receiver sounds great.

I don't know why the Si5351 got such a bad rep for noise.  Could it be that some people were testing it with boards other than the Adafruit or NT7S products that we have been using?  Could it have been that in the tests the boards weren't completely installed?  (It is important to have the VFO and BFO signal lines properly shielded.)  Could it be that in the tests they were using physically adjacent clock outputs from the board?  (We use CLK0 and CLK2, skipping CLK1 to avoid the "bleedover" problem that was noted by early users.) 

Interview with Paul Horowitz (W1HFA) -- A Giant In Radio Electronics (Video)

I've been hearing about this book for years, but until I watched this interview, I knew nothing about the author.  Thanks Lady Ada.  (And thanks to Farhan for the alert.) 

As a native New Yorker, I'm pleased to include in the blog yet another reminder that the Big Apple is not all fashion and finance -- a lot of solder has been melted in my home town. 

Paul Horowitz has a truly awesome bio.   He got his ham license at age eight.  QST tells us that lots of little kids do this, but unlike some of the youngsters we see in the magazine I suspect young Paul really mastered the theory.  Paul Horowitz has "The Knack."  Big time.

PhD from Harvard.   Author of "The Art of Electronics."  Pioneer in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.  Carl Sagan is believed to have  modeled the main character in "Contact" partly on Paul.  Check out the wiki  page:

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

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