The Importance to Bell Labs of Lunch or Breakfast with Harry Nyquist -- "The Communicator" -- Bimonthly Publication of the Surrey (British Columbia) ARC.

This is a good sample (!) of the great content to be found in "The Communicator." This is the bimonthly publication of the Surrey (British Columbia) Amateur Radio Club.  You can find the publication and digital back issues here: https://ve7sar.blogspot.com/ 

There is a lot of great material in this publication. 

Some Great Reading Material -- Links to Radio Publications

 

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Home-DX.htm

My fellow Hambassador Dave WA1LBP sent this to me today (from Taiwan, I think).  Lots of great  ham radio and SWL info in these many publications.  The one that caught my eye was "The Modulator,"  an ARRL publication done by the 2nd District in the 1920s.  Really interesting.  I will sent this to Lyle, W7QCU who has an interest in radio from this era.   

Here is the link:  https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Home-DX.htm

Thanks Dave!  73! 

A Nice Searchable Compilation of "Hot Iron" Issues

Tom K4ZAD writes: 

Bill,

This might make good copy for the SolderSmoke Daily News:

     https://www.w4npn.net/hot-iron-searchable-compilation/

Also it should be noted that starting with issue #122 W4NPN, Frank
Barnes is editing Hot Iron with help from the former editor G6NGR, Peter
Thornton. See: https://www.w4npn.net/hot-iron-directory/

I view the Daily News frequently, and also use the topics index on the
left when seeking more info on a subject. It often helps.

Tom    K4ZAD

https://www.w4npn.net/hot-iron-searchable-compilation/

https://www.w4npn.net/hot-iron-directory/

Hugo Gernsback -- Was he Like Wayne Green?

"The Electrical Experimenter" sent to me by Nick M0NTV reminded me of Hugo Gernsback.  Many of the radio books I have on my shelf have his name on them.  He played a big role in early radio and television, and in science fiction. Check out the Wikipedia article on Gernsback:  

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

I see similarities between Hugo Gernsback and Wayne Green.  What do you guys think?   

Gernsback's TV goggles in 1963 

That's Gernsback watching TV in 1928

"The Electrical Experimenter" -- A Treasure Trove of Inspiration

Oh this is really phenomenal.  Nick "the Vic"  M0NTV is on the mend from some routine surgery.  While mending he found this 1915 issue of Hugo Gernsback's "The Electrical Experimenter."  I just spent a few minutes quickly going through it and I can see that this is a treasure trove that could keep us -- the modern day electrical experimenters -- busy for a long time.  

-- We see Signor Marconi in Italian military uniform (I never saw that before).  

-- There is mention of successful DX reception of the station in Arlington Va. (just down the road from me).  

-- There is a an article about the radio station of T.O.M -- Hiram Percy Maxim.  

-- There are detailed maps of Mars, complete with the canals. 

And there is a lot more.  

Above all, I think what stands out from this magazine is the homebrew spirit,  the notion that we can and should build our rigs ourselves, and seek to understand them. 

Below is the whole magazine.  Please take a look and use the comment section below to point us to passages of interest to the electrical experimenters of today.  

Thanks Nick.  Your e-mail came during a discouraging period filled with a few "tales of woe."  The magazine really lifted my spirits.  

Here it is: 

http://soldersmoke.com/EE-1915-10.pdf 

The Galway Radio Experimenters Club

 

My old friend Mike EI0CL used to remind me that hams in Ireland are granted not just an amateur radio license, but an amateur radio experimenter's license, with an emphasis on experimentation. I think we can see that emphasis in the newsletter of the club.  It has a remarkably high level of technical content.  Check it out, and look at more information on the club: 

https://www.galwayradio.com/  

Here is their latest newsletter: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LGBbCJhgoSNgr-Lu8s8EaOaCb1GXK9SW/view

Pete N6QW's PSST rig is mentioned on Page 4 of the Winter 2021 edition. TRGHS. 

Thanks to John EI7GL for alerting us to this gem via his FB blog. 

https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/

STOP. LISTEN. Shep on Building a Shortwave Receiver

Oh man, how could I have possibly missed this one?  Perhaps I didn't, but even if this one has been on the blog before, it is so good that it is worth repeating.  

Shep really captures the frustrations and joys of a teenage radio builder.  I could really identify with this.  It all reminded me of my heartbreaking effort to build the Herring Aid 5 receiver. 

So much cool stuff in this 1963 recording: 

-- The wonderful smell of radio service shops. 

-- The terrible shirt and tie choices of radio service guys. 

-- The truly dire consequences of mistakes in published schematic diagrams. 

-- The AGONY of not being able to get a homebrew radio to work. 

-- The JOY when you finally do get it to work. Shep's "whole life changed" when that happened. 

-- Hugo Gernsback, Lee DeForest and "unscientific scientists."

As the YouTube video plays, they show several covers of old Short Wave Craft magazines. At one point they show some homebrew phone rigs.  I think they look like my wooden box BITX rigs.  And the front panels are clearly Juliano Blue.  TRGHS. 

Here is the 1933 Oscillodyne article that launched Shep's effort: 

https://schematiclounge.weebly.com/uploads/6/4/5/7/6457679/oscillodyne.pdf_0001.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1SKvnmHuAW3eh5MKJH2-2vgoE0jZAdwrBy4-IBiEaZosbXnPPZJtDieSU

EXCELSIOR! 

The Dream of a Shortwave Fiend

 

Thanks to Mark Rowley and Jeff Murray for posting this magazine cover on Facebook.

A Suitcase Portable 40 Meter CW Station from 1951

 

Wow.  Check this out:

http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/homebrew/W9FKC.pdf

A very nice  rig built by an amazing homebrewer 

And thanks to Al Klase N3FRQ for putting that wonderful web site together. 

100 Years Ago: Hugo Gernsback on "An Amazing Art"

I like the art work in the header.  I like the reference to "the radio art."  I like that he refers in the first half of the piece to "the radio tribe" -- that would be us!  And this reminds me of "tribal knowledge."  He also talks about rigs "scattered across the table" -- Al Fresco!  

In the second half of the piece he veers off into a kind of weird call for standardization and ladies hats.   But the first half is good, and it is interesting to take a look at the hobby 100 years ago.  Click on the image for an easier read. 

Join up NOW!

From the front cover of the July 14, 1934 issue of Amateur Wireless.   This UK weekly magazine was the predecessor of Practical Wireless. 

No Main-Tuning Reduction Drives in Stock Drake 2-Bs -- But why no mod articles?

Alan Wolke W2AEW and I were recently discussing our Drake 2-Bs (again!). Both of our receivers have reduction drives between the main tuning control and the string mechanism that moves the main tuning capacitor.  I wondered if these were the results of modifications by previous 2-B owners.  I vaguely recall that my Elmer -- Hilmar WB2NEC -- had done this sort of mod. 

OM Wouter ZS1KE sent me this very illuminating photo of the inside of his Drake 2-B.  No reduction drive.   So Alan and I obviously have modified 2-Bs.

One thing that puzzles me:  I can't seem to find a single article that describes this apparently common mod.  Does anyone know of an article in the ham magazines that might have described how to do this?  

Thanks again Wouter!  

These Variable Capacitors Work -- Ether or No Ether!

Amazing that the arguments about the presence or absence of a luminiferous ether made its way into parts advertisements in a radio magazine.  This is from Radio for January 1923.  (About 18 months before my dad was born.) 

BTW that capacitor looks very nice, and would almost certainly still work.  I have caps like that in my junk box.   The shape of the blades helps address one of Pete Juliano's complaints about analog oscillators -- the inconsistent spacing of frequencies on the dial. 

Thanks to the K9YA Telegram for posting this.  

From a Student of C.F. Rockey, W9SCH

C.F. Rockey W9SCH

We have discussed the monumental work of C.F. Rockey, W9SCH, SK before.  Yesterday a comment appeared under that post that is just too good to leave buried in the comments.  It appears below.   Jeff's comment also caused me to dig up my small collection of "The Five-Watter" issues from the Michigan QRP Club.  Rockey wrote a column for that magazine.  It contains a lot of tribal knowledge.  Here is Jeff's look back:  


This turned up for me in a Google search for "Charles Rockey QRP ARRL" during a phone call with a friend of mine who was bemoaning that he never got a novice license because he could not master Morse code (he is in his mid-60s, as am I). I was taken back to the communications electronics class I had my freshman year at New Trier East in Winnetka (not Wilmette) IL in 1971. That class was taught by none other than C.F. Rockey, known to us students as The Rock. I think about him fairly often because I grew up to become a very hands-on engineer and can recall parts of his class quite clearly, even at this remove. Somewhere I still have the reports we had to write (typed on a typewriter) each week. He was a huge influence on me and I was saddened to have his passing undeniably confirmed for me. I have the little chemistry book he authored beside me now *Electrons, Atoms and The World* and am glad to be able to read his obit. One thing needs to be added to it: He won the ARRL 5000 mile-per-watt award for working Anzio, Italy from his home north of Chicago on 5W. I am very lucky to have had him as a teacher and mentor for those years. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Jeff Mizener, DFW-TX

Back issues of QRPp -- Journal of the NORCAL QRP Club --- Free Online

https://www.ncqrpp.org/?fbclid=IwAR3VUVXlZE8jpJj8L-1sxtfHCFw-9wEyF_4rBXOjbV78Is7tV4VApl6so6c

WB8VGE on QSO Today -- QRP, HB, Boatanchors, Drift, Solar Power

Eric 4Z1UG has a really good interview with Mike Bryce, WB8VGE. 

Listen here: 

https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/WB8VGE

I've been a big fan of Mike's for many years. I've talked to him on the air a couple of times.  I liked his QRP column in 73 magazine.  I share his enthusiasm for Boatanchor rigs.  He is a fellow member of the QRP Hall of Fame (who, like Pete and me, at times seems to be pushing the QRO envelope).  I like his approach to solar power. He too has been bothered by appliance ops who complain that his boatanchor rigs are 150 hertz "too low."  

His attitude toward contesting is similar to mine -- I may be more opposed than he is.  I think contesting encourages a kind of harshness and competitiveness that runs contrary to the spirit of the Radio Amateur's code. 

I got a chuckle about Mike's claim that he almost Worked All States in RECEIVED Official Observer reports. And that he at one point owned THIRTY  104s.  

Mike's observations on the dumbing down of ham radio and on the social (psychological?) problems of 75 meters ("net starting in 5 minutes!"  "QRP not allowed on 75") are sadly on the mark. 

Mike's hint about using a white-out pen to spruce up the front panel of an old Drake radio adds a new household/office material to our rig-fixing arsenal. 

Eric's comment on the Lafayette Catalog resonated with me.  I used to read it too. 

I hope Mike decides to get on the air more frequently.  Just avoid 75 meters and 7.200 MHz Mike. 

"Hot Iron" #100 -- Thanks Tim Walford!

Tim Walford, G3PCJ has put out issue #100 of Hot Iron, the Journal of the Constructors Club.  That my friends is a long time publishing a quarterly.  25 years!   And it is a wonderful publication, filled with ideas and inspiration.  

Tim tells us in #100 that he is passing the baton (the Hot Iron?) to Peter Thornton, G6NGR who will keep the iron hot from here on out.   Peter is looking for contributions for issue #101.  Please try to help him out.  

Thanks again to Tim.  Good luck with the farm and the house moves.  

Ron Gang, 4X1MK on "QSO Today" Podcast: Knack Story, Satellites, Quads, Philosophy

Wow, Eric Guth's interview with Ron Gang 4X1MK really resonated with me: 

-- Asked about how he got is start in radio, Ron went back further than many of us do in response to this question.  He cited his early experiments with "two tin cans and a string." Yes, of course!  I'd forgotten all about it, but in retrospect this might have been a very early indication of THE KNACK.  (I'll bet many of our readers were also active on the String and Can band.) 

-- Ron used a DX-100.  FB. 

-- Ron was active on the satellites.  In his voice you can hear the joy and the burst of enthusiasm that resulted from those early satellite contacts.  He also mentions the untimely demise of Oscar 13.  Bummer. 

-- Ron was the Israel correspondent for 73 Magazine.  I held a similar position in Dominican Republic.  My friend David Cowhig was at the same time correspondent from Okinawa, Japan.  We should have a reunion of "73 Magazine Hambassadors."

-- Ron mentions John Tait EI7BA.  John was a regular contact of mine when I was in the Azores.  He appears in the SolderSmoke book.  He was the one who introduced me to an important Irish accolade:  John told me that WD-40 is "the Pope's pee." 

-- Toward the end, Ron discusses the wonder of ham radio conversations, and provides a good suggestion on how to get beyond the all-to-common "hello-59-goodbye" contacts. 

Ron's comments on the spiritual or philosophical aspects of the hobby were just the thing for a quiet Sunday morning. 

Thanks to Eric and to Ron for a great interview.   
    
Listen here: 

http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/4X1MK

BITX40 Featured in "Nuts and Volts"

Congratulations to Steve Jackson and to "Nuts and Volts" for putting out a very nice article on the BITX40 transceiver.   Steve did a great job in describing the origins of the BITX, and in explaining that Farhan's intent is to encourage experimentation and tinkering.  Pete and I had pitched a similar article to a major ham radio magazine  but sadly they were not interested.  Three cheers for "Nuts and Volts."  I'm thinking about subscribing. 

I know many of you will wince when you see Steve's unshielded mic cord lying right next to the front panel antenna connector, but please don't freak out about this -- in the article you will see that Steve acknowledges that the antenna connector would have been better placed on the back of the box.  That's an example of the educational value of the BITX40 -- live and learn.  Even with the connector like this, Steve was making many contacts. 

The "Nuts and Volts" website very kindly let me read the entire article without a subscription. 

Try here and click on the blue "digital edition" box: 

http://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/article/meet-the-bitx40-a-single-sideband-transceiver

Or try going directly here:

http://nutsvolts.texterity.com/nutsvolts/201711/?folio=36&pg=36#pg36

VFO Tribal Design Wisdom from Joseph Carr K4IPV (SK)

I had in my files somewhere this great article by Joseph Carr K4IPV about the design of ham band VFOs, but then I lost it.  Yesterday I found it, but the paper copy was in bad shape.  Internet to the rescue!  Here it is.  Go to page 79.  
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/90s/93/PE-1993-07.pdf

There is a follow-up article the following month, on page 78:
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/90s/93/PE-1993-08.pdf

Something I heard on 75 meter AM this morning may have gotten me thinking about VFOs: I hear that International Crystals is going out of business.  That might be the last manufacturer willing to make bespoke crystals.   If that is true, that has big implications for homebrewers.   We will now have to build stable VFOs or succumb to the siren song of the digi synthesizers.  "L and C FOREVER!"

Joe Carr K4IPV mad so many contributions to the radio art.   I have several of his books.  He had a real talent for explaining circuits.  Sadly, I find very little information about him on the internet.  I know he lived in the same Virginia town that I live in.  Does anyone know anything else about Joe Carr? 
http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/joseph-carr-ki4pv-silent-key.50027/