SolderSmoke Podcast #222 Antennas, Phasing, VFOs, 2-Bs, 6 years of N6QW, MAILBAG

After 46 years, finally a dial skirt

SolderSmoke Podcast #222 is available:  

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke222.mp3

No travelogue but… SolderSmoke Almanac!

Memorial Day in U.S.

End of Ramadan so Eid Mubarak! 

#222 marks SIX YEARS of Julian-ismo.  He started on SS 161.  Thanks Pete. 

Thanks to all who sent good wishes on Billy's graduation.  He heads to Boston and the lab in a week or so.  Very proud. 

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Bill was on Ham Radio WorkBench Podcast  

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PETE'S WORKBENCH

-- Antenna Ideas -- Don't Buy that $165 dollar dipole!  It is just wire!   

-- THE PHASING RIG. Does this point to a need for meditation?  Or at least some temporary disengagement? Tribal wisdom from Pete. 

-- DEAN KK4DAS's rig.  The Furlough 40.  Troubleshoot.  Tribal knowledge. 

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-- SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION:   AMAZON BOX -- SEARCH FOR ANYTHING OU WANT THERE.  

-- PLEASE PUT COMMENTS ON THE SOLDERSMOKE BLOG POSTS. 

-- PLEASE CHECK OUT THE SolderSmoke YOUTUBE VIDEOS. 

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BILL's WORKBENCH

n  Shortwave dials and exotic locations.  Java!  

n  Galaxy V VFO Project. Series-tuned Colpitts.  

n  DRAKE 2-B.  Hayseed Recap. Put the skirt back on the old rig.  Reduction drives?   

SHOPPING BAG: 

I got a replacement for the Xtronics 4000 soldering station.  Yaogong worked! 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078WB9Z2R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1  

Ordered screws and stuff from McMaster -- Came very fast! 

Working on a resistor kit from Mouser. 

MAILBAG: 

VK2BLQ's Phasing RX with an HRO dial.  Cool Retro.  

Adam N0ZIB -- Cool station.  TFT screen Aluminum welded box. FB. 

Karl G7AFT    BITX 40 doing USB and LSB by changing the VFO freq.  Pete's trick! 

Jerry KI4IO  out in nearby Warrenton.   Hope to be able to meet up soon. 

Keith N6ORS's Hot Mustard Phasing Board. 

Mike N5GTF'd FULLY INDOOR Quarantine Receiver.  Need a slogan for the antenna!

Nick M0NTV's Bread Bin 80 Quarantine rig

Bruce KC1FSZ   Quarantine 10 -- Brave man in solar minimum. But I hear 10 is opening.

Talking to Grayson Evans KJ7UM  TA2ZGE about Collins 9.9 MHz transformers.

Talking to Alan Wolke W2AEW about Drake 2-B stuff  Was there a reduction drive?

Paul VK3HN about Ceramic filter spurs.

Peter VK2EMU notes no animals were harmed in the making of my videos.  But many electrons were agitated. 

N6QW Phase Shift Success -- It aint over 'till the fat lady sings

Homebrew Az-El Satellite Antennas from the Philippines and Australia

https://nightskyinfocus.com/2020/05/18/diy-satellite-tracker/

DU1AU is way ahead of where I was when I was working with Low Earth Orbit satellites.   I just aimed the antenna about 45 degrees up from the horizon,  and spun it around with a TV rotator with me --not the computer -- as the controllers of the rotator.  In essence I did the AZ manually and completely ignored the EL.  This design moves the antenna in Azimuth and Elevation, and has the computer control the movements via an Arduino.  FB. 

DU1AU points to the work of VK3FOWL and VK3YSP.   Their site has very detailed info on how to build several versions of this kind of Az-El rotator: 

https://www.sarcnet.org/rotator-mk1.html

This Az-El project represents a great opportunity to move beyond hand-held satellite antennas,  and beyond my Az-only manual approach.   It also give us a way to bring some real homebrewing into a part of ham radio that has come to be dominated by commercial equipment. There are some Arduinos and some lines of code, some motors and some metal work.  Great stuff!   

N5GTF's FULLY INDOOR Quarantine Receiver and Antenna

Mike N5GTF deserves special recognition for his truly remarkable SITS (Stay In The Shack) quarantine project.  It is not hard to build receivers and transmitters that stay in the shack; Mike went the extra mile by keeping even his antenna inside during lockdown.  Well done Mike!  But that cardboard frame for the antenna seems to be crying out for some sort of inspirational slogan.  Can we get a big "SITS!" in there?    73  Bill 

Hi Bill,

Thought I would share a few photos of what happens when one randomly selects things from the junk box after being inspired by Pete's recent posts about phasing SSB. It starts with a 10.7MHz crystal filter because it was large and shiny. This will prove to be somewhat inauspicious, but I'd had a pair of them for longer than I can remember...  Then there were several ferrite toroids and a handful of swap meet diodes. Instant mixers, (just add enameled wire). A few 2N3904s and an MC1350P, plus a few more toroids (and wire). I'd picked up some TDA1015s awhile back. They have both a power amp and a preamp, so one of those as well. Also, an Arduino and Si5351, because Charlie Morris, ZL2CTM, has been so generous in sharing his knowledge on how to use them. Finally, about 12 feet of 14/2 w/G and a 365pF variable cap for an indoor mag loop. 

Not the best reception though not bad considering the antenna's in the basement with house wiring and metal duct work in the ceiling. The biggest issue is the IF and my choice of LO frequency. I've got the LO below the IF and the LO second harmonic falls inside the 40 meter band. Definitely need to fix that and move on to the transmit side.

Visits to both SolderSmoke and Pete's blog are on my daily agenda. Thanks to you both for the frequent updates of interesting content and for providing a way to get out without going out.

Mike, N5GTF

www.mikesflightdeck.com

AM Rally Report -- Great Contacts on 40 AM

The AM Rally this past weekend was a lot of fun.  I was reminded of how the guys that you talk to on AM are just so much more likely to be running interesting homebrew or vintage gear.

First contact was with Howard VE2AED who has one of the most amazing antenna farms I have ever seen.  Take a look:  
https://www.qrz.com/db/VE2AED
He also has an R-390 and a KWM2 in his shack. 

Next I spoke to Robert W0VMC (Voice Modulated Carrier) out in Wisconsin.  Robert is a homebrewer of AM gear with a Knack story that is very familiar:  http://w0vmc.com/

Next up was W4GON.  Joel was on the homebrew AM transmitter that we reported on back in 2017:
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2017/08/thermatrons-al-fresco-w4gons-fb-hb-am.html

Joel has completed his rig, adding a FB front panel.  Here it is: 

Then came the W1AW contact.   See the video above. 

Finally, I talked to Jack W9GT who was running a rig that must be unique on the amateur bands: A Federal 167 B Maritime transmitter.  You can see this magnificent transmitter here: 

https://www.qrz.com/db/w9gt

Mr. Carlson's Lab Attacked by Dangerous Canadian Snow Static! (Video)

Even when describing something as simple and basic as snow, Mr. Carlson is electronically awesome.   This video made me realize that in the event of an EMP, his will probably be the only lab to survive.

The SolderSmoke Daily News took up the topic of snow static back in 2011.  Be sure to read the comments, especially the one from KC7IT about the QUARTER INCH ARCS that woke him up in the dorm at MIT.  Check it out: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2011/10/snow-static.html#comment-form

I've got to get one of Mr. Carlson's 2020 calendars! 

  

The End Fed Half Wave Antenna and EFHW Tuners

In the SPRAT 179 (Summer 2019) article describing their Peregrino (Pilgrim) transceiver,  Joan EA3FXF and Eduardo EA3GHS recommend the use of an End Fed Half Wave (EFHW) antenna. Their circuit incorporates an EFHW tuner and an SWR indicator.  As I planned my trip to the Dominican Republic with a uBITX, I had this antenna system idea in mind.  I was attracted by the possibility of avoiding having to carry coax with me.  And it seemed that an EFHW antenna would be easier to get up in the air than a coax-fed dipole. 

When searching for schematics for EFHW tuners I came across the QRPguys tuner kits.   

https://qrpguys.com/end-fed-half-wave-sota-antenna-tuner

This looked like just what I needed, so I ordered one.  But I placed my order kind of late, and I started to worry that I might not get the tuner kit in time.  So I decided to homebrew my own (just in case!) 

As it turned out, QRPguys got the kit to me in plenty of time. It went together very quickly and is a really useful piece of gear.  My homebrew version works fine, but I prefer the QRPguys device. 

You can check out the manual here: 

https://qrpguys.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/efhw_40m_tuner_assy_090119.pdf

The circuits are interesting.  The EFHW antennas present an impedance not of 50-70 ohms, but of 3000-5000 ohms.   The Peregrino and the the QRPguys circuits use a matching transformer to change the high impedance to 50 ohms.  In both circuits polivaricon capacitors are used to tune for resonance. The QRPguys circuit uses an N7VE LED absorption bridge -- I found it very satisfying to put the circuit into "tune" mode and then just adjust the capacitor until the LED went out.  That means the antenna system is presenting 50 ohms to the transmitter. 

SOTA beams has a good explanation of the EFHW antenna here: http://sotabeams.co.uk/efhw/
I did use a counterpoise. 

N2CQR Portable with uBITX in the Dominican Republic (video)

More to follow... 

4 Elements on 40 Meters at VU2OT (video)

SolderSmoke Podcast #207 -- 15 mtrs, 60 mtrs, Giants of Radio, Cubesats, Pete's rigs, SDR MAILBAG

SolderSmoke Podcast #207 is available: 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke207.mp3

-- Giants of Radio
-- Pete on 15 Meters
-- Bill on 60 Meters with the uBITX
-- Pete's Sudden and Heath Filter Transceivers
-- Cubesats to orbit!  To the moon!  And to Mars! 
-- Bill rebuilds his 2 meter "Ray-Gun" Quad (for Farhan's Cubesat)
-- Homebrewing Variable caps and stockpiling NP0
-- My "by ear" Minimal Discernible Signal Technique
-- Thoughts on Direct Sampling SDR and the Radio Art
MAILBAG
-- A request for feedback from GQRP
-- G4WIF reports G3ROO on UK TV with spysets
-- VU3XVR builds FB rig from EMRFD
-- M0KOV Charter member of the 3 Scratch-built BITX club
--KD4PBJ's PTO Turtle DC Receiver
-- AB1OP builds Pete's LBS receiver and gives us a new acronym: SITB
-- KD4EBM -- Thanks for the scanner Bob!   
-- A possible sponsor from California... 

-- Pete's dream neighborhood...

N2CQR Wins a Contest AGAIN!

Pete N6QW suggested I do a blog post on this.  

This past weekend I dusted off my old scratch-built, all-analog, no-chips BITX20. (THREE CHEERS FOR FARHAN AND HIS BITX DESIGN!)   I hooked it up to my trusty CCI .1KW (note decimal point) amplifier and my new 135 foot store-bought doublet.  This all happened just as the Worked All Europe  DX contest was kicking off, with lots of activity on 20.   TRGHS.  I was in.  My contest operating style was in the category of "relaxed-casual-noncompetitive." I took a lot of breaks.  In fact there were more breaks than non-breaks. You have to pace yourself in the contest world.  

My results: 

8 SEPT: DF0HQ, SN7D, GM6X, DP6A, S51A, DL0HN, DB0HX, OZ5E, DJ5MW, HG7T, IK4UPB, VY2ZM, G6XX, EF1A, LZ5R, 9A5W, YP0C, F6HQP, DL7ON, HB9DQL, ON6NL, DA0WRTC,  9 SEPT: EI7M, P3X, RU1A, DP7D, SP2KPD, DL0WW.

P3X might not count because, you see, Cyprus is considered to be in ASIA.  Really? 

Anyway, I 'm assuming that I am the winner in the homebrew, discrete component , all-analog transceiver category.  Woo Hoo!  

The contest rig is pictured above.  Before you point to the glowing numerals and cry foul, realize that the little Altoids box between the two speakers holds a San Jian frequency counter that was deliberately kept OUTSIDE the BITX box.  So it is more of an outboard accessory.  I can run the BITX 20 without the digital assist -- I have an old fashioned non-digital dial pointer to indicate frequency.  The "Low - High" switch you see switches the VFO from the low portion of the 20 meter phone band to the higher part of the band.   The box below the BITX 20 holds the uBITX. 

Seriously though, I was quite pleased with the performance of the doublet.   

The CHIME Radio Telescope and Fast Radio Bursts

The new Canadian radio telescope is very interesting.  It has a great name for a radio telescope:  CHIME  

And it it always nice to come across a reference to the Parkes Radio Telescope.  

More info here: 

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/03/fast_radio_burst/

And here: 

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

Good luck on getting a QSL from the FRB station.

Homebrew Tuner for Doublet Antenna

For now, I've put the Moxon project on the back burner.  I will take it up again once Old Sol starts showing some spots.  In its place a 135 foot doublet is going up.  I got at a hamfest a while back.  (It is the only HF antenna that I ever bought!) It is the SPI-RO Manufacturing Company's Model A-10.  It came with 100 feet of 450 ohm window line.   It will be up on the roof soon.  

Today I put the tuner on the wall in the car port right outside the shack. I even built a little shelf for the SWR meter (used one of those Whole Food grilling planks!).  I put a 25 ohm resistor where the feed line will connect.  I was able to tune it up on the two bands I tried: 40 and 17.  

There is a smaller coil inside the big one -- the smaller coil resonates with the lower variable cap. 

You can see all the homebrew rigs in the background -- waiting patiently for the antenna.  

I actually built the tuner back in 2012, but never used it.  Description here: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-off-to-good-start-balanced-atu.html

I will try to provide a schematic and more details soon. 

The Moxon Files from L.B. Cebik W4RNL

I had thought that the Cebik files were lost to us in some sort of legal copyright struggle.  But in my effort to better understand the Moxon antenna, I found a real treasure trove of Cebik's writing.  These should all be saved somewhere safe. 

I especially liked his description of the evolution of the Moxon antenna.  Les Moxon was apparently very unAmerican in his emphasis on reception (not transmit gain)  as the main benefit of the beam antenna.  He also sought to avoid superfluous luxuries like rotators, but Cebik hints that rotators have become an important part of our American way of life.   Indeed.   
Before I found these files I had been on the verge of giving up on efforts to replace my storm-damaged Moxon.  After all, solar minimum is still ahead of us.   But after reading OM Cebik's articles I have decided to build a 20 meter version and place it above the center point of a 130 foot doublet.  I will have the best of both worlds.  

http://www.antentop.org/w4rnl.001/mu0.html

http://www.antentop.org/w4rnl.001/mu2a.html

L. A. Moxon, in his HF Antennas for All Locations, provides the essential clue: "the main benefit [of a beam] accrues from the reduction of interference during reception, though the 4 to 6 dB gain provided by typical amateur beams is an important bonus and probably the reason which carries the most weight with the majority of amateurs."⁽²⁾Here is a theory of beam operation quite unAmerican is style: instead of gain, Moxon strives for front-to-back ratio as the most crucial aid to ham operation. His statement is an affirmation of the "good ears" theory of operation. Even more, it forms the basis for his rectangular improvement upon the VK2ABQ square.
...
 Moxon prefers matched elements, tuning each of them to optimum performance remotely. That way, he can reverse the beam and do away with expensive and maintenance-intensive rotators. However, rotators are a way of life in the U.S. (a TV rotator will likely handle a 3-band Moxon beam), and there are many uses for portable beams that are hand-rotated or fixed in the field. Thus, I decided to continue the exercise in unequal element lengths.

http://www.antentop.org/w4rnl.001/mox20.html

Finally, a treasure trove of Cebik's writing: 

http://www.antentop.org/w4rnl.001/radio.html

On Field Day: The Marine Corps Antenna Manual

Don't let it be said that SolderSmoke made no contribution to Field Day!   Here is the USMC Antenna Manual.   Looks like there is lot of good info in there.   

https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCRP%208-10B.11.pdf?ver=2017-03-15-092827-423

SolderSmoke #205 Solstice, Mars, Antennas, Displays, Phasing Fix, VFOs, Lexicon, MAILBAG

June 23, 2018

SolderSmoke Podcast #205 is available:  

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke205.mp3

-- Summer solstice.  Mars Observations.  Graduations.  Internships.  Fathers Day.

-- Antenna Angst:  Pete's tribander and Bill's Moxon.  Insulation and resonance?

-- Pete's work on color displays. 

-- Bill goes back to fix up older projects:  

-- Fixing the Frankenstein Phasing RX.  Found an open choke!

-- Tightening up the HRO Dial. 

-- Achieving Juliano Criteria stability on a BITX20 VFO. 

-- Lexicon additions:  "Scratch Built"  "Hardrock Radio"  

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/39551/where-does-the-saying-made-from-scratch-originate

-- PastaPete:  http://www.pastapete.com/

MAILBAG: 
Bob Crane W8SX Corrspondent at FDIM
Ralph AB1OP  Building LBS
Bruce KC1FSZ  Digital Pot
Jason W5IPA uBITX in Juliano Blue
Rogier KJ6ETL  ON THE AIR WITH A uBITX
Special thanks to Tim Walford for 25 years of Hot Iron.  

Understanding Antenna Directivity -- Help from Canada

I am in the process of repairing my beloved 17 meter fishing-pole Moxon.  It was taken out of service by the last Nor'easter of the winter.  This repair has caused me to review the theory behind antenna directivity.  I find there is a lot of "hand waving" in the explanations of how directivity happens:  "You put a reflector element next to the antenna.  And it REFLECTS!"   You are left wondering how that reflection happens.  

The Royal Canadian Air Force made a video that does a pretty good job of explaining how the reflector reflects.  See above.  Thanks Canada!  

While we are talking about antennas,  I wanted to alert readers to a really nice antenna modeling program that is available for free.  It is called 4nec2.  You can find it here: 
http://www.qsl.net/4nec2/   There is a bit of a learning curve, and I am still climbing it, but I can see how this software would be very useful.  It has an optimization feature that runs the antenna through many versions and tells you how to optimize for F/B,  gain,  SWR, or whatever you want to prioritize.  

I have discovered that my Moxon was resonant below the 17 meter band.  In other words, the antenna elements were too big.  About 3.6% too big according to my calculations.  This may be the result of my using insulated wire for the antenna elements.  Apparently the MOXGEN software assumes the use of uninsulated wire.  I'm thinking that an easy way to deal with this would be to use the frequency 3.6% above my target frequency and then use the dimensions given my the MOXGEN program.  Any thoughts on this plan? 

What a shame that Cebik's web sites have all disappeared.      

An Epic Evening on 40 Meters

I had a good night on 40 meters last night.   The Radio Gods were obviously with me.  

First I called CQ and VP2EIH on Anguilla responded.  Nice to start with a whiff of DX.  

Then Jason W5IPA called in and said he wanted to try out his uBITX! See the pictures below.  FB!  

Then I got a call from K5WDW on Hilton Head Island -- Dexter runs Collins gear from an ocean-front shack (see above).  Check out his QRZ page.  

Then WA4PUB called in.  Dave has been on the air since 1948 and was a student of legendary ham and radio astronomer John Kraus.  Dave has directional antennas on 40 -- when he switched the pattern he went from LOUD to barely detectable.  FB.  Check out Dave's homebrew rig below. 

Finally Gary W7DO joined us.  He has a big 4 Square on 40 that also has some really impressive directional properties.  See below for a look at his 80 meter 4 Square. 

TRGH

WA$PUB

W7DO 80 meter 4 Square

SolderSmoke Podcast #203 Winter, Transceivers, Antennas, DC RX, uBITX, Mixers, 'fests, MAILBAG

N6QW in 1959. Building an SSB transceiver

SolderSmoke Pocast #203 is (FINALLY!) available: 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke203.mp3

24 March 2018

--The reasons for our delay. 
Winter, Computers, College, Family Trees, Lawyers....

-- Winterfest 2018 
-- Pete launches 2018    THE YEAR OF THE TRANSCEIVER
    http://n6qw.blogspot.com/
-- SDR -  Satan's Digital Radio?  
-- Direct Conversion Receiver Projects
-- Mixer Musings 
-- A Thailand Troubleshoot 
-- Nor'Easter knocks out Bill's Moxon -- An appliance replacement? 
-- Homebrew Electret Mics.  Seriously.  
-- uBITX Build with Rogier
-- Civilized Crystal Testing
-- Baofeng! 
-- DRAGNET

-- MAILBAG
KD4PBJ's REGEN 
N6ORS's SDR rig
Mike Rainey's DX-100

Towers and Antennas in Church Steeples and on Mt. Washington (VIDEO)

Listening for Your Own Signals on the Long Long Long Path

I heard some guys talking about this on 40 SSB last night.  A very cool use of the bidirectional pattern of the W8JK beam. 
From: http://qrznow.com/the-w8jk-is-a-famous-and-effective-dx-antenna/

Round-the-world paths The bi-directional nature of this antenna makes it possible to discover open round-the-world paths, something not possible with a normal beam antenna. The technique used by Kraus is to rotate the beam slowly, sending short Morse code dots, with a full-break-in or QSK transceiver. The delay time for the signal to return is about one seventh of a second, so there is plenty of time for your transceiver to switch to receive mode. When you have found and peaked an open round-the-world path, call CQ, and you may be rewarded with DX anywhere along the path. Also, the question of Long-path and Short-path does not arise – you are transmitting on both paths at once, giving you a greater chance of catching the other station’s beam direction….