Let's Start the New Year with... THE KNACK!

Happy New Year everyone!  Our friend Rogier PA1ZZ sent this to me. I'm sure there are parts of it that people will disagree with, but the overall message (BUILD THINGS!) is, I think, right for this group. Thanks Rogier! 

 

Harry Caul had THE KNACK -- Movie Review -- "The Conversation" --1974 by Francis Ford Coppola (Harry Caul based on W3VCG)

 

I give it FIVE Soldering Irons! 

I found it on Amazon Prime.  The workshop scenes remind me of ham workshops.  The movie character Harry Caul was based on real-life Marty Kaiser.  Was Marty a ham? 

POSTSCRIPT (August 23, 2024):  Yes, he is a ham!   W3VCG!   FB.  Here is his web site: 

http://www.martykaiser.com/fbi1~1.htm

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

http://www.martykaiser.com/odyssey2.htm

Thanks to Roy WN3F for reminding me to watch this film.  Roy found a clip that is reminiscent of hamfests: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joM5VDCIQg8

Bill's Fortune Cookie

 TRGHS (The Radio Gods Have Spoken)

Mr. Carlson's ART-13 Transmitter (with Dynamotor)

Here we have a really cool video from Mr. Carlson.  In it he reveals (admits!) to what we already know:  HE IS A HAM RADIO OPERATOR.  FB Mr. C!

You can see that he is a true ham, with a true case of THE KNACK, when you see his reaction to the inside view of the ART-13.  He seems to gasp as he notes that there is a lot of "RF goodness" in that box.   There is a vacuum relay, a bread-slicer capacitor, there is even a variometer. And lots of good, big THERMATRONS.  Only a true ham, a true Knack victim can recognize this RF goodness. 

The Dynamotor that goes with this transmitter is really interesting to me.  I have been hearing these things whining in the background (audible noise, not a signal defect) on many early morning (Saturday 3885 kHz) of the Old Military Radio Net.  I can often hear the dynamotor of Buzz W3EMD as he transmits from Rhinebeck, New York.   It was great to see the inside of this device.  

Back in 2017, Hack-A-Day took a look at Dynamotors: 

https://hackaday.com/2017/07/04/retrotechtacular-dc-to-dc-conversion-rotary-style/

There are several good ART-13/BC-348 pictures on W3EMD's QRZ page:

 https://www.qrz.com/db/W3EMD   

I was especially taken by the handwritten frequency chart on the front panel of the ART-13.  This reminded me a lot of the handwritten readout that I have been using on various rigs, including (most recently) the 15-10 SSB transceiver. I hope Paul focuses on this paper-and-pencil frequency chart;  it is nice to step away a bit from the glowing numerals of San Jian. 

Mr. C points out that the ART-13 was the transmitter that was paired up with the BC-348 receiver.  He will be working on both in the weeks ahead. 

Thanks Mr. Carlson. 73 OM. 

Listen to Rex. W1REX. Lots of Tribal Wisdom in this Ham Radio Workbench Interview

 

https://workbench.libsyn.com/hrwb-193-building-projects-with-rex-harper-w1rex

This week's Ham Radio Workbench podcast features an interview with Homebrew Hero Rex Harper, W1REX of QRPMe fame. (The bulk of Rex's portion starts at about 1:26:30.)

I really liked this talk with Rex.  His enthusiasm for homebrewing is really inspiring -- it is very reassuring to know that there are others like us. Rex clearly has The Knack.  

I got a kick out of Rex's story about the outhouse at Dayton.  FB OM.  

Here is the video of the mojo transfer ceremony in which shared some of the Tuna Tin 2's mojo with my BITX 17.  Thanks again Rex!  

And thanks to George and the gang out at Ham Radio Workbench. 

"The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill (First in a Series of Blog Posts on this Great Book)

Paul Horowitz

Oh man, this book is so good.  You really just need to buy it now.  I put it in the Amazon link to the right.

OVER HERE >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Imsai guy reminded me of this book, and pointed out that earlier editions are more reasonably priced, so I got the second edition (looks like 1980, reprinted many times through 1988).   Dean KK4DAS got one too (I think he also got the second edition).   

Lest there be any doubt that this book is for us, first let me point to the pictures of Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill.  https://artofelectronics.net/about/

Winfield Hill 

Just from the pictures, you can tell that these guys have THE KNACK.  And -- get this -- THEY ARE BOTH PROFESSORS AT HARVARD.  Wow. 

Their web page explains where the book came from: 

Dean KK4DAS and I have already started sharing quotes from the book: 

Referring to other books, H and H  write:  "Much of the favorite pedagogy of beginning textbooks is quite unnecessary, and, in fact, is not used by practicing engineers, while useful circuitry and analysis lies hidden in application notes, engineering journals, and hard-to-get data books." 

"Thus, the treatment of this book reflect our philosophy that electronics, as currently practiced, is basically a simple art, a combination of some basic laws, rules of thumb, and a large bag of tricks. For these reasons we have omitted entirely the usual discussion of solid state physics,  the h-parameter model of transistors, and complicated network theory, and reduced to the bare minimum the mention of load lines and the s-plane.  The treatment is largely non-mathematical, with strong encouragement of circuit brainstorming, with mental (or, at most, back-of-the-envelope) calculation of circuit values and performance." 

Stay tuned.  There is a lot more coming about this wonderful book. 

Valveman -- The Story of Gerald Wells

Don't be deterred by the annoying test patterns at the start of this video.  Just skip past them.  The rest of the video is quite good.  Or you could just click on this link and avoid the first 83 seconds of test pattern:  https://youtu.be/Y8w6iwaAGJ4?t=83

Gerald Wells has been mentioned on this blog before, but I don't think we've ever presented the full documentary on this fellow.  Here it is.  Gerry is clearly one of us: a radio fiend, obsessed (as he admitted!) with wireless, a victim of THE KNACK.   

George WB5OYP of the Vienna Wireless Society got to meet Gerald Wells and visit his museum. George alerted me to this video.  Tony G4WIF also was able to visit Gerry and his museum. 

The documentary is full of interesting stuff, and is, in itself, a Knack Story.  Wells mentions the Crippens murder so well described by Eric Larson in "Thunderstruck."  It was this crime that brought radio to the center of public attention.  

Dilbert Knack Video: Who was the "Doctor"?

I was looking at this again and I realized that there was more to it than I thought.  Who was the "doctor" who was filling in for their regular doctor?