SolderSmoke Daily News -- Ham Radio Blog

Dean KK4DAS asked me why we have these switches on our 'scopes.  I didn't know.  Dean asked Alan Wolke W2AEW.  Alan knew:  Alan Wolk...

Bidirectional Termination Insensitive Amplifier by W7ZOI and K3NHI All of a sudden the transmitter in my 75 & 20 meter dual band homebre...

Wow, this is almost enough to make me take another shot at repairing my TEK 465.    

The Polaroid camera for the Tek 'scope was pretty cool.  And the comments about the Simpson 260 made me feel good about finding one at a...

Wow, really cool video from CuriousMarc and the guy who wrote the "Open Circuits" book.  But fellows, you really need to be more c...

  There he is.  Wes Hayward, W7ZOI in 1957.  I had never seen this picture before.  I found it on Wes's recently updated "shackview...

Thanks to Grayson Evans for sending us this very encouraging video.   It is from Tektronix;  I wonder if Alan W2AEW provided some ideas a...

Thanks to Bent KD0GLS for alerting us to this excellent example of the awesome power of discrete transistors and dead--bug constructio...

Rob is a braver ham than I.  When my Tek 465 quit, I tried to fix it, but quickly chickened out. Very nice that he painted his in Julian...

This short video shows how I used my new FeelTech Signal Generator (90 bucks shipped from China) and my trusty Rigol oscilloscope to displ...

George KJ6VU is a long-time supporter of the SolderSmoke podcast.  He has recently teamed up with another ham and launched a podcast call...

Thanks to Steve WA0PWK for sending us this Jim Williams cartoon.   Been there, done that. It doesn't mean you are a bad person....

Nice interview by Jeri Ellsworth.  This fellow definitely seems to have the Knack.  At the end of the video he shows a high voltage suppl...

I got the BITX 20/40 on the air this morning.  The receiver has been working for a week or so, but as usual it was a bit of a struggle to ta...

Carl (M0ICR ex 2E0TEC) saved the day with my Tek 465 -- he sent the replacement HV multiplier that put the 'scope back in action.  (...

Santa Claus obviously heard my distress call when the TEK 465 gave up the ghost.  This morning it was replaced by a RIGOL digital scope. ...

Podcast # 155 is available for download (or you can listen by clicking on the button above): http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke155.mp3 ...

Thanks to the manual provided by Jim and the HV test gear provided by Alan Wolke, I was able to finish the troubleshoot on the broken Tek 4...

The TEK 465 'scope is as they'd say back in the Bronx "a piece of work."  It has real character.  Perhaps a bit too muc...