Just go to http://soldersmoke.com. On that archive page, just click on the blue hyperlinks and your audio player should play that episode.
http://soldersmoke.com
We are approaching the 20th anniversary of the SolderSmoke Podcast. Our first upload was August 21, 2005. This has caused me to reflect a bit on those who are responsible for making our podcast what it is. So, these guys are definitely among the responsible.
Wow, MIT grads. Is Phil W1PJE listening?
Dewey, Cheatham & Howe! Right in the window!
How computers in cars have killed the joy. "There is just not a lot to be in love with anymore."
"The show sounds like the kind of thing you'd hear on a high school PA system." Indeed.
Other influences: Jean Shepherd. HCJB. Radio Moscow. More to follow.
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!
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.htmlHow 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.
-- 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!
Reports of FCC action against Direct Conversion receivers. Outrageous! They are going to prosecute Dean and Bill. The 85th harmonic was apparently interfereing with Starlink satellites over Melbourne Australia, Bali, New Zealand's North Island, the UK, Sweden, Holland and Argentina. Who knew?
Here's the question: How many paragraphs of this post did you read before you realized this was an April 1 thing? C'mon, please let us know. Bill falls for one or two every year. This year he believed that Warren Buffet really had bought Tesla. So, don't feel alone. Fess up.
Travelogue: Pete's trip to Los Olivos. DMV Real ID Blues. Going back to San Francisco? Pete, we have some new stickers...
Dean and Bill update on the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Challenge: 56 receivers built. And 56 is a lot! Info and especially Dean's videos are still up on the Discord server and on YouTube. Not to late to build! All builders should try to encourage at least one other person to build this receiver. In this way, builders become Elmers and homebrewing can spread. Others have already done this -- you can do it too! W4KAC built a second one for a friend. WZ5M built one, helped a friend do a second, and a third one may be on the way. MakeIt Labs in Nashua, NH is responsible for 4 DC receivers. See all the completed receivers here:
Once you have the receiver going, start the mods! Front panels! Antennas! Better tuning! Si5351s! DSB transmitters! Tell us about your mods.
SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION: Become a Patreon Sponsor! MostlyDIYRF. Buy Amazon stuff through the Amazon link on our blog site. Subscribe to our video YouTube channel.
Dean's Bench: SDR Receiver project. 20 meter Mythbuster build (a thing of beauty). Homebrew Frequency Counter. Balloons!
Bill's Bench: Suburban renewal. New floor, new paint, got rid of a lot of junk. New operating table from Husky. DX-60, DX-40, VF-1, and maybe even the Lafayette HA-600A receiver have to go. Many books and magazines too. Lightening the load! But keeping the DX-100, HQ-100, HT-37 and, of course, the Drake 2-B. Boatanchors station. Beacon operations.
N2CQR's new operating table
Boatanchor Corner at N2CQR
Bought a new DJI Drone, but will use it in the Dominican Republic (not here!). And I got my Drone TRUST Certificate.
Mailbag:
Dave W2DAB doing Manhattan building on the island of Manhattan!
Rich K2GJ (ex WA0CGM) -- Nice ham radio memories of his HT-37. Thanks Rich.
Wes W4JYK -- A VWS DC receiver.
A nice note from Farhan VU2ESE.
Todd K7TFC -- Simple vs. Complex
Paul WA1MAC Gluestick 80 meter QRP
Armand WA1UQO Regen receiver highlighted by AA7EE
Dave AA7EE -- FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE FCC! Build the DC Receiver!
Rogier PA1ZZ Many great videos, including one on Heathkit
Bruce KC1FSZ -- Nominated us for ARRL award. Thanks Bruce.
Travelogue: I am back from the DR. Trying to get a real HI7 call. Lots of science and nature: Earthquake (5.9) . Falcon 9. But no Starship. Two possible Starlink de-orbits. Whales. Hawks. A drone. (Pictures on Patreon.) A total lunar eclipse. A 10 meter CW beacon, with an LED, thanks to WN2A. Lots of great people. But it is good to be back. Planning for a better antenna for DR.
Pete's bench: Pete is building a seismograph! CL Stong had several in his book "The Amateur Scientist." The MHST. Help from Oliver KI3P of VWS.
Shameless Commerce Division: Please continue to use the Amazon link on the right. Mostly DIY RF! Link on the blog page. And please become a Patreon sponsor. People have asked, what is happening to the blog and podcast. Well, listen to this one for a sobering description of what is happening on the internet to things like SolderSmoke: https://share.fireside.fm/episode/2YAGasSP+_rbTJaWN Patreon might be the answer for us too.
Dean/Bill: Lessons learned from the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver Build project: -- 45 successful builds! Wow. See: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search/label/DC%20RX%20Hall%20of%20Fame -- Differences between kit-build and true homebrew. -- Discord, Questions, Mods, Creativity vs. Build it our way the first time. Dean and the trials and tribulations of being the electronic problem go-to-guy. HRWB (what happened?) We used copper clad boards and Manhattan technique with no fatalities. DSB TX seems the most popular next step -- some have already been done.
Dean's Bench: The VWS SDR receiver build. The 20 meter Yaesu VFO transceiver build (ANOTHER one?). Why is this Yaesu VFO different? Filter building Balloons!
Bill's Bench: Checking into "The Old Military Radio Net." South Pacific and Australia on 20 SSB in the morning. Approaching "Worked all Rarotonga." Makes me think I need a directional antenna for the DR... Beacon left on in the DR. A 10 meter AM QSO using the converted GE rig. G3YPZ! Dean has the JC Penny. Hamfest report heard on the OMRN: DX60s stacked like cordwood. Buy one and get one free.
MAILBAG:
Bob: Software for SSB on the QMX.
Roy WN3F new stickers
Rogier PA1ZZ- Capacitors replace batteries in French electric bikes.
Walter KA4KXX -- Lots of help on the DC RX project
Aaron ZL1AUN Doing an article for Break-in (NZ) about the DC RX
Farhan VU2ESE On DC RX: "They have mastered the Alchemy of turning lifeless components into living and breathing radios. May the tribe grow!"
Ramakrishnan VU2JXN -- We need an Indian DC receiver Ramakrishnan!
Grayson KJ7UM -- Discord gang discovering Hollow State Design for the Radio Amateur
Mike WN2A Sent keyer for beacon and good advice on diplexer.
Lot of success! So far 22 completed receivers: 35 others are being built.200 or so people are on the Discord server.
What a great achievement this is! Folks are homebrewing receivers.
Scott KQ4AOP heard his very first amateur radio signals through this receiver. FB!
Lots of great ham homebrew spirit. NE3U, N9TD and others 3d printing coil forms for others. FB
It is not too late. Dean's videos and the Discord server will remain up, even when we ourselves have moved on.
Big Picture: Farhan's Four Stages -- All you need to build a rig: Oscillator, Filter, Mixer, Amplifier.
Homebrew and Manhattan vs. Kit built with PC board. We think Homebrew is a better experience. Dean recently assembled some Ikea kit furniture. Does that make him a carpenter? No.
We do update the schematic as we learn. This is similar to what happens to software. Github? Version 2.3? In the old days, when QST came once a month, we lived a harder life. We don't have to do that anymore.
Let's talk about the boards one by one:
The Oscillator (VFO or PTO):
-- Started out as an amalgam of Farhan circuits: We liked the very simple oscillator he used in his Hyderabad DC receiver project for the girls schools. No need for a hard-to-find variable cap. But we found we needed a 3.3 k ohm resistor in the emitter to make it go. We took the buffer/amp from Farhan's "Daylight Again" circuit, but later (much later!) added a .1uF cap across the source of the J-310.
-- With brass screw, not really a permeability tuned oscillator. Brass has same permeability as air. Works via Eddy currents. But the screw thing is very reminiscent of the old Collins PTOs, so we call it a PTO. And it IS s PTO if you used a steel screw. You should study the doc in the mods section about how to modify the PTO. Metalurgy matters!
-- We used silver mica caps in the frequency determining circuits. This is important.
The Mixer:
-- We started with a simple two diode, single transformer singly balanced mixer. Only LO signal would be balanced out. This would work, but we got a lot of AM breakthrough from Radio Marti, just above the 40 meter band. So we went with a homebrew diode ring mixer.
-- Important to unserstand how the diode ring really works: LO just switches on and off the diodes. Very cool that several builders sought to understand how diode ring works.
-- Best way to test the PTO and the Mixer? Put them together and look at the waveform at the mixer input. Is it flat topping? Then both stages are working.
-- Diplexer: From QRP legend W7EL's Optimized QRP transceiver. Seemed to help knock down Radio Marti. But we kind of knowingly disregarded AF amp input impedance. It would have been too complex to fix. We were going for simplicity.
BP Filter:
-- We actually got to do the NanoVNA test with one set of the high school students. This was very cool. Proves the worth of the NanoVNA.
-- Again good to learn the theory.
AF Amp:
-- Kind of an amalgam of a Forest Mims amp and the amp from the Herring Aid 5.
-- Sure, an LM386 would have been simpler. But we did not want to use ICs. And IC AF amps oscillate too. You learn more by going discrete.
-- We used a transformer. For simplicity. We know the push-pull circuit, but wanted to avoid it. Some guys are going to other AF amp circuits becasue of the transformer. See this as an interim measure... You can fully meet the challenge later, when you get the transformer.
-- We also -- in the name of simplicity -- did not use feedback amps. We have an optional bandaid resistor across the oscillator to lower overall gain.
-- It can oscillate. But keeping leads short, keeping inputs away from outputs, putting adequate electolytics on the 12V power rail can prevent this. This is a good lesson in good construction practices. And with the real world of amplifiers (they all aspire to be oscillators!)
-------------------
Some Tales of Woe:
Simple mis-wiring – need to learn to read schematics
Transistors in backwards – importance of checking the data sheet for your brand – sometimes different brands of same part have different pinouts
Lying Test Equipment
Jay W3V3 unreliable measurements from old Fluke auto-ranging multimemter
Phil, W1PJE – using a 10X probe with scope termination set to 50 ohms
Peter, VK3TPM – faulty component tester (mixed up collector and emitter on NPN transistor)
And many, many setup issues with scopes, signal generators, TinySAs, NanoVNAs
Bad parts
Some “lessons learned” taken from the Walk of Fame Channel
Wayde, VA3NCA – taking care when choosing junque drawer components, solidifying concepts introduce in the licensing material – benefit of hand-son experience “building them made them more real”
Peter VK3TPM – don’t trust your transistor tester, transistors can pass signals even when wired backwards. Importance of 10X probles. NP0/C0G caps for frequency stability
Ken, W4KAC – learned to better use his test equipment to trouble-shoot, and finally learning to trust his troubleshooting after changing out a faulty transistor.
Parts sourcing: We were surprised at how much time people spent on this. Parts sourcing struggle reminds us of the importance of 1) understanding the circuit and 2) having a decent junkbox. 3) scrounging old parts when necessary.
Looking ahead: Antennas are important! You probably can use Cat 5 cable instead of real coax. Noise is natural. Mods are fun. CW in some ways harder than DSB. Lot of antenna info on the internet.
You can modify the PTO for easier tuning. See the doc. Add a front panel, or a case. Once your basic receiver is done, you can experiment with better circuits. See the mods doc for ideas.
Final Comments:
-- It is ultimately the builder who has to make the machine work. Homebrew means that YOU the builder are going to make it work.
-- Be careful about who you take advice from or give advice to. Don't be afraid to say "I don't know." Ask yourself: Is the guy who is giving me advice really an experienced homebrewer? Am I?
-- We learned a lot in this process. You guys have made this a better receiver.
-- Be careful about starting over... Bill and Dean's homebrew nightmare!
-- A tale of woe: Some difficult troubleshooting on the 15-10 rig. Intermittent oscillation. Naturally I blamed the TJ DC RX AF amp. Spent a lot of time working on that amplifier. But problem always returned. Started looking at output from carrier osc/BFO. Waveform weird. Then weirdness disappeared and so did the whooping. So I rebuilt the entire carrier osc/BFO/ mixer board. Went back to singly balanced 2 diode mixer. Used LTSpice for the oscillator amp.. No more whooping. Turning the diodes on and off but not quite 7 dbm... Should I be concerned?
Homebrewing is not for the faint of heart! Accept the challenge! Build stuff!
Our question: Did Doug DeMaw ever build an SSB transceiver? Starting in September 1985 he wrote a five part series on an SSB TRANSMITTER for QST. But he prefaces it by asking, "Why would anyone build an SSB transmitter today?" He says it would be fun "for the experience and understanding it would provide." But not for use, you see... And it is not a transceiver.
Bill's theory about DeMaw, SSB,CW and sideband inversion: He was a CW guy so sideband inversion did not really matter. He could get it wrong and still make it work.
Soldersmoke listener challenge – build a DCR with KK4DAS – overview then one board a week
SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION: Mostly DIY RF. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel. And use the Amazon link on our blog. Become a Patron via Patreon (on the blog). SolderSmoke is now on Blue Sky and Threads -- follow us or at least like us there. Please turn on automatic downloads on your podcast app -- most podcast apps will only store a few episodes. This will help bump the numbers, which will improve visibility. Please give the show five stars and, if possible, a nice review on your podcast service, That will help with the discovery rate for people looking for new podcasts.
Front Panel and Freq Counter for the Mythbuster II.
Another Tale of woe: A mysterious audio problem on the 15-10 II rig. Done in by.... Duh! Comparing sideband suppression with Mythbuster I. Differences in Hfe? Notes on Mythbuster II build.
-- Scott KQ4AOP trying to track down the DeMaw SSB transceiver mystery. On the DC Receiver: This was my first receiver build and, it was great fun. When you finish the build and prove you are able to tune through the band, you are welcomed into the secret society! The build is the initiation.I am happy to print and ship the PTO if needed.
-- Bill WA5DSS has built a High School Direct Conversion Receiver!
-- Dave AA0KU asks about CCI amp (AN762) Also woking on Drakes.
-- Jack (Dhaka Jack!) F4WEF/AI4SV Good thoughts on how to bolster SolderSmoke's ratings.
--Tobias thinks the decline IS ALL HIS FAULT!
-- Tony VE7JUL building a TJ DC RX. Go Canada! Dean says: 3D print PTO former at 110%
-- Jim KI4THC getting his uBITX on the air.
10S November 23, 2024 1517Z SV1AER Kostas in
Athens. Said a very sincere “Oh my
goodness! Congratulations! That is not a
very common thing!” when I told him rig was homebrewed. Nice fellow.
Great response.
Partly in an effort to make ammends for some overly harsh comments I made about the podcast's approach to the "rejuvenation" of old radios (it turned out to be overly digital for me) I appeared earlier this month on the Ham Radio Workbench podcast. It was a lot of fun. They are a great bunch of guys. And I think we had a great discussion of homebrewing and HDR in the modern era. We talked about Jean Shepherd, Farhan, G-QRP, kits vs. homebrew, homebrew vs. commercial, SDR rigs, the sBITX, the NORCAL 40, the Gilbert Cell Mixer, our experience (bad) trying to get high school kids to build a DC receiver, and many other topics.
Thanks George! And thanks to the entire Ham Radio Workbench crew!
Remember, SolderSmoke has issued a challenge to the HRWB team: We challenge them to build the 40 meter Direct Conversion receiver that we designed for our local high school. We urged them to build it the way we designed it -- avoid the temptation to substitute stages, or use pre-fab circuit boards. Build the four stages Manhattan style and get the receiver working on 40. Here are the details on how we did it. Here are our building documents:
Opening: Disturbing news from Australia! VK5RS reports that his Hex beam was EATEN by Cockatoos! So stop whining about your HOA problems, OK? It could be much worse!
FAKE WIRES FROM CHINA! Oh no! Even the wires? There is a good video from Mattias. I have it on the SolderSmoke blog. https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/11/clip-leads-made-with-fake-wire-buy-good.html Important to note that Parts Candy doen't have this problem. Buy your test clip leads from our sponsor, Parts Candy. Link in the column on the right or go to partscandy (that's one word).com
Bill's appearance on the Ham Radio Workbench. (Bill made some overly harsh comments about radio rejuvenation, and was trying to make amends.) But now we throw down the gauntlet. WE CHALLENGE the HRWB guys to build -- to homebrew - our TJ DC RX. They will experience JOO, JVO and the elite status that comes with having built their own ham radio receiver. And if they go on to build a 10 minute transmitter, they can use it for CW contacts. Like on POTA (Thomas!)
Anniversary approaching: In August 2025 we will mark 20 years of the SolderSmoke podcast. And we have already passed TEN YEARS OF JULIANISMO! Pete joined the podcast on May 26, 2013. Thanks Pete!
Question for the group: Which SSB transceivers did Doug DeMaw build?
Dean's Bench: The new Hex Beam (watch out for Cockatoos!) Now that Dean and I both have Hex Beams, we plan on pointing them at Southern California in an effort to talk to an elusive RADIO GENIUS. Stay tuned!
Dean's Hex Beam -- A Thing of Beauty
Also homebrew random wire with T match tuner for attic. RF Burns!
SHAMELESS COMMERCE: Please link to our blog and podcast! Please become a Patreon supporter (I have been posting special content there). Be sure to make use of the great boards, parts and kits available at Mostly DIY RF. Still use the Amazon link on the SolderSmoke blog page.
Bill's Bench: The new Mythbuster II (20 meters only). Built in about 3 weeks. On-the-air, while still on the bench! Worked Euope and South Africa QRP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o9QerQ7jzg
Getting another CCI amp for the Dominican Republic.
MAILBAG:
-- Paul VK3HN, talks about the nice sound of the Mythbuster II's receiver, and a new QRP rig from Dave Benson K1SWL.
-- Rick N3FJZ sent some very kind words in support of the SolderSmoke podcast. Thanks Rick.
-- Chris KD4PBJ sent us a very nice message. Thanks Chris.
-- Kevin from Belgium sent a nice blog post in support of SolderSmoke.
-- John WB4BTL spotted his old call (from 1974) in my Novice Log.
-- Dave KD2E spotted his Novice call in my Novice log: WN2TBB. He also saw a good friend WN2EHE.
-- Mehmet who has the awesome and useful WEBSDR of NA5B helped me with a Facebook problem. Thanks Mehmet!
-- Mike WN2A asked about the Yaesu FT-101 9 MHz VFOs.
-- Phil W1PJE (from MIT!) writes about old broadcast radio shows. And some really nice words of encouragement.
-- Grayson KJ7UM sent kind words of encouragement, and great background on hybrid rigs.
-- Peter VK3TPM writes about the decline of blogging, but notes that blogs are useful repositories.
-- Todd K7TFC sent me some additional Mostly DIY RF boards. Thanks Todd!
-- Ed DD5LP/G8GLM Kind words on SolderSmoke, nice info on the G-QRP 50th edition.
-- Bill AH6FC Encouraging words and good info on solar. Mahalo Bill!
-- Michael AG5VG Building LC VFOs for 7 MHz. FB OM!
-- Bob K7ZB An EE who likes the treatment of mixers in the SolderSmoke book.
Bill's report from SolderSmoke Shack South: The tropics: What this means. Guapo wouldn't go out when the sun was overhead.
Skies not great for astronomy now. But we see a lot of satellites, and meteors.
Antenna developments: 1/4 vertical on a fishing pole.
Lightning suppression coming for the building. Lightning suppressors. Got 2. Good video from the IMSAI guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EyABPuNDMA Argon gas suppresion tubes.Need to crimp!
Hurricane prevention. Metal storm curtains.
Thinking of solar panels. 12 panels, 5 kW system. Probably without batteries. What do you think?
A very satisfying fix on the 15/10 rig -- loose connection to RF amp. The highly suspect Ramsey Kit Amp was NOT the culprit! Got to use the new Rigol DS-1102. A fun fix. Will build a second CCI amp.
SHAMELESS COMMERCE: Our blogs and the podcast are in danger! Pete is already on a permanent blog hiatus. I have seen a big decline in readership. Frankly, if no one is reading or listening, we just may decide not to do it anymore. We don't want to do this. So please, link to the blogs. Talk up the blog and podcast on your own blogs and social media.
Parts Candy Test Leads are back as our sponsor. Pete has them. Dean has them, I have them in two different countries! DON'T SCRIMP WITH A CRIMP!
The aticle and the podcast (don't worry, it is NOT an AI podcast) explain how we were able to generate the AI podcasts we presented during the last two days.
The audio podcast feature was introduced only ONE WEEK AGO! Rarely have we been so close to the cutting edge!
The product itself first launched in 2023 as Project Tailwind, and has since been rebranded and expanded in big ways. Just last week, the team launched Audio Overviews, which generates a podcast — with two chatty hosts, plenty of back and forth, and a truly remarkable penchant for the phrases “deep dive” and “buckle up” — based on the information you provide. It’s fascinating, it’s complicated, and it’s getting better really fast.
This one looks not at the SolderSmoke Daily News blog, but instead at the SolderSmoke podcast itself.
I was delighted to see the inclusion of Pete, Dean, Farhan and Mike Rainey! This was really great.
Look, it is not perfect. There are errors. But probably about the same number of errors that you would get from real, human hosts, right? Voltaire told us not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. And I find this to be amazingly good. Look, it is so good that it is kind of scary, right?
Before you get too critical realize how this has been done: I did nothing more than load the SolderSmoke Podcast Archive website into GPT-like model. Then I asked it to produce a deep dive podcast. That's it. About 5 clicks. It developed the podcast in about 3 minutes. I did the same thing yesterday but with the SolderSmoke blog. And this is only the beginning.
"SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" is now available as an e-book for Amazon's Kindle.
Here's the site:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V9FIVW
Bill's OTHER Book (Warning: Not About Radio)
Click on the image to learn more
Where are the readers of SolderSmoke Daily News?
Pete Juliano N6QW
Master Homebrewer
Dean Souleles KK4DAS
With beret and with a Michigan Mighty Mite in hand
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Today I caught a train from Southern Cross bound for Bendigo. At Footscray
a man got on. He looked confused and clearly had almost no English. He was
askin...
A Crystal Set with No External Antenna
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In the previous post, I described my recent build of a very simple little
TRF receiver for the AM broadcast band. It happened as the result of a
month or t...
One of the Last Places on Earth!
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Malden, MA, Cortland St., NYC, Market St., SF, Anaheim, CA, St. Louis, MO
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New 40 MHz beacon in Croatia - 9A0BEZ
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In late May 2025, a new *40 MHz* (8m) beacon in Croatia with the callsign
*9A0BEZ* was switched on. The location of the beacon is at Malo Sljeme
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A 15 (and 10) meter high-pass filter for Field Day
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A friend of mine belongs to a club in a town north of me and he was
describing an issue that they'v...
AB4WS
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Episode 525 - Jack Prindle - AB4WS Jack Prindle AB4WS, had an early
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The "George Batterson 1935 CW QSO Party" - Summary
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The first *George Batterson CW QSO Party* has concluded and the results are
in! The "*GB*" was introduced to honor George Batterson (W2GB), who along
wi...
KK4DAS MB 20 Transceiver Complete
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The MB 20 transceiver is now complete. The rig is a homebrew 10-watt
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The Communicator May-June 2025
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*Another full issue*
Its a big issue, and great articles, along with our regular columnists.
Now read in over 165 countries, this issue brings you 120+ pag...
A Curious 9 MHz Crystal from Mouser Electronics
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Just a quick post to share info about a good 9 MHz crystal sold by Mouser
Electronics.
I last purchased batches of crystals for xtal IF filters back in 2...
40m Pelican Case SSB Transceiver
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See YouTube channels for details:
http://www.youtube.com/c/CharlieMorrisZL2CTM
*Test code for the LCD and Si5351*
#include
...
Hollow-State Design, 3rd Edition
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Hollow-State Design, 3rd Edition is available from: Lulu Press:
tinyurl.com/hollowstatedesign3 eBay: search for “hollow-state design”
Electric Radio bookst...
I Finally Bought My Dream Airplane
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Aviation has been a love of mine since I was a very little person. Living
in Nevada, seeing posters and ads for the Reno Air Races, specifically the
Texa...
Daylight Again – An all Analog Radio
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What’s all this? In 10 seconds, A high performance, 7MHz, 5 watt SSB rig
Draws just 24 mA of current 90 dB dynamic range, 80 dB close-in dynamic
range 3D ...
Digi-chirp! Digital synthesis of ‘nostalgic’ CW
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The bottom ends of 80, 40 and 20m are not what they used to be. For
starters, the busiest part is the digital segment where computers talk to
computers – l...
Modifications to the Dayton/FDIM-2019 Antuino
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The Dayton Antuino has sub-optimal performance. This is a short note on
improving it to an 80 db range of measurements. The trouble with Antuino
2.0 (the o...
Raduino as NBFM TX
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Here is a neat, 30 minute hack for your Raduino to turn the Si5351 into a
pretty stable, solid NBFM transmitter. The hack is to add a varactor diode
in ...
QRP Labs shop!
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All QRP Labs kits may be ordered online securely at the shop, with PayPal
payment.
*Click here to visit the shop!*
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*Shop! Order...
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