Eldon's effort to be seen by the 30 meter online grabbers (see below) reminded me of the big problem I faced when I first built my QRSS beacon: getting my signal into the very narrow (100 Hz wide) QRSS frequency band. If you think crystal control will solve this problem, think again: Almost all of us are using crystal-controlled transmitters, but circuit and component variations can easily put your signal far outside the freq range that the grabbers are watching.
I was able to get into the band because I was able to find a conventional CW beacon fairly close in frequency to the QRSS band. I used IK3NWX on 10.141800 MHz. Knowing the frequency of this beacon (it was avalable on the web), I used the ARGO and Spectran soundcard programs to put my sigs where I wanted them to be. IK3NWX was useful because it was so close (within 2 Khz) to the QRSS band -- I was able to put both the NWX signal, and my target freq on the screen. Later, I built my "DaVinci Code" reference oscillator -- it serves as a freq reference that I can use (again, with Spectran) to get back in the band after working on my transmitter (for those times in which I can't hear IK3NWX).
It seems like a lot of guys in the US and Canada are now getting into QRSS. Many may face the same frequency calibration problem. Are the frequency readouts of the ubiquitous Kenwood/Icom/Yaesu rigs accurate enough to help? Do they go down to the tens of hertz range? I suspect they do not.
What new QRSS ops in the U.S. and Canada might need is the North American equivalent of IK3NWX's beacon. It should probably be fairly high powered (but 5 watts would probably do the trick). Conventional CW would be better than QRSS (it needs to be heard). The frequency should be outside but within 1-2 kHz of the upper or lower QRSS band edge. A station out in the Great Plains would probably be able to serve the large ham populations of both coasts. Perhaps we could arrange for the calibration beacon to be on at certain times (daytime on the weekends?). Of course, the key would be to employ a station with very accurate frequency measurement ability (down to 1 Hz) and a highly stable signal.
What do you guys think?
Podcasting since 2005! Listen to Latest SolderSmoke
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Eldon's QRSS Rig
Eldon, WA0UWH, says the podcast inspired him to build some QRSS transmitters for 30 meters. His first effort was atop a 9 volt battery. The latest version has a more traditional enclosure. Eldon hopes to be seen on some of the grabbers -- please help him out if you can. In my case the hard part was getting the transmitter into the frequency band for QRSS (only 100 Hz wide!).
Labels:
QRSS
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
N0TU's Straight Key Night Video - 5 STARS!
Steve, N0TU, has put out a really great video on his Straight Key Night operation. It is really well-done. I was delighted to see both a Drake 2-B and a Heath VF-1 in use in Steve's shack. The video also has clips and photos from the stations Steve contacted during the event. Wow, a homebrew Spider! I remember that one from a 1993 issue of 73 magazine. You guys will love this video. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAk7gRdwpGs
Labels:
video
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Mars Rovers Complete 5 Years on Red Planet
There is a very nice NASA video here: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=795#
Labels:
Mars
SolderSmoke 98
http://www.soldersmoke.com
January 4, 2009
New Year's in Rome, Fireworks, Abruzzo snow trip.
AA1TJ and the compact fluorescent bulb rig; "Michael the red-nosed Rainey, you'll go down in history!"
Billy's Asus eeePC : Amazin' piece of gear.
The Lure of Logic: Fixing my old Global Specialties counter (chip needed).
The Joy of Troubleshooting.
N3ZI's FB counter.
Balsa boxes.
Todd, VE7BPO, also getting logical.
Hans, G0UPL, back on 30 meter QRSS from London.
Lawrence, KL1X grabbing VK QRSS sigs in N. China.
My sigs steady in ON5EX grabber.
Dan's deals.
Book of the week: "Empire of the Air." Armstrong as a teenage ham.
MAILBAG:
Todd K5TAK on new name for Knack (no!)
Rick KC0PET has new 'scope, analyzer, Elsie
Bill N8ET Kanga USA getting going again.
Alan WA9IRS on Pete Millet's free online tech books
Wayne VA7AT on SDR
Frank VK2AKG is NOT the solenoid musician
Bill N3HQB was in Ade Weiss's summer camp ham class!
Roger K7RXV on shaving resistors
Dino KL0S on other free books on-line
Gareth G1DRG on BBC Digital Planet Podcast
Tim Walford's FB ham construction magazine
A word about words from our sponsors
January 4, 2009
New Year's in Rome, Fireworks, Abruzzo snow trip.
AA1TJ and the compact fluorescent bulb rig; "Michael the red-nosed Rainey, you'll go down in history!"
Billy's Asus eeePC : Amazin' piece of gear.
The Lure of Logic: Fixing my old Global Specialties counter (chip needed).
The Joy of Troubleshooting.
N3ZI's FB counter.
Balsa boxes.
Todd, VE7BPO, also getting logical.
Hans, G0UPL, back on 30 meter QRSS from London.
Lawrence, KL1X grabbing VK QRSS sigs in N. China.
My sigs steady in ON5EX grabber.
Dan's deals.
Book of the week: "Empire of the Air." Armstrong as a teenage ham.
MAILBAG:
Todd K5TAK on new name for Knack (no!)
Rick KC0PET has new 'scope, analyzer, Elsie
Bill N8ET Kanga USA getting going again.
Alan WA9IRS on Pete Millet's free online tech books
Wayne VA7AT on SDR
Frank VK2AKG is NOT the solenoid musician
Bill N3HQB was in Ade Weiss's summer camp ham class!
Roger K7RXV on shaving resistors
Dino KL0S on other free books on-line
Gareth G1DRG on BBC Digital Planet Podcast
Tim Walford's FB ham construction magazine
A word about words from our sponsors
Labels:
SolderSmoke Podcast
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
My 75 Meter "Kickpanel" DSB Rig
I've been talking about it so long, I thought I should let you guys have a look at it. The box on the top is N3ZI's FB freq counter. It sits on the top cover of the TX -- the cover is made from the side panel of a dead computer that I found on a street in London. The metal cabinet is a "kickpanel" -- the kind of thing they often put on the bottoms of frequently used doors. Mine was purchased at Farmer Brother's Hardware on Fulham Road, London. One switch is for T/R. The other is for spotting (netting). I put the LED in there so I wouldn't forget to turn it off (and because Billy likes LEDs!) Circuit diagrams and LTSpice models appear in previous blog posts.
Moving inside, we see that the "chassis" is actually a kitchen cutting board, this one from a Dyas store in Windsor, England. In the lower left there's a board with the AF (mic) amp. Center front is the VFO box (elevated above the main chassis by wooden blocks in order to put the tuning cap in a comfortable position). The balanced modulator is on the left. The long rectangular board in the center-right is the 4 stage amplifier. Note the black wire suspended above the connectors -- that's an antenna for the oscillator -- it allows me to hear the oscillator signal with my Drake 2-B while in "spotting" mode (while putting the TX and the RX on the same freq.)
Moving inside, we see that the "chassis" is actually a kitchen cutting board, this one from a Dyas store in Windsor, England. In the lower left there's a board with the AF (mic) amp. Center front is the VFO box (elevated above the main chassis by wooden blocks in order to put the tuning cap in a comfortable position). The balanced modulator is on the left. The long rectangular board in the center-right is the 4 stage amplifier. Note the black wire suspended above the connectors -- that's an antenna for the oscillator -- it allows me to hear the oscillator signal with my Drake 2-B while in "spotting" mode (while putting the TX and the RX on the same freq.)
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ROME!
Labels:
DSB
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Free Electronic Books Online!!!
Alan WA9IRS alerted me to this technical treasure trove. Pete Millett is an engineer who, in his spare time, scans and uploads books about electronics that are no longer under copyright. Great stuff! Thanks Alan! Thanks Pete!
http://www.pmillett.com/technical_books_online.htm
http://www.pmillett.com/technical_books_online.htm
Labels:
books
Sunday, December 28, 2008
WebSDR Receiver Goes to Six Bands
Those intrepid digital hams at the University of Twente have temporarily put their WebSDR receiver on six bands (we should lobby to make the expanded freq coverage permanent). It is really great. I love the waterfall display. Audio quality here is excellent. (I'm listening to 75 meter SSB now.) Check it out:
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
You should also check out PA3FWM's SDR page: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
Very interesting. I thought picture above should be entitled "The Ultimate Dead Bug."
I have successfully completed troubleshooting my old (1983) frequency counter (found some bad CMOS gates), and I just finished assembling Doug N3ZI's very FB freq counter semi-kit (thanks Jerry!)... Now I'm listening to the Web SDR receiver... The SoftRock40 kit seems to be calling me.... I feel myself being pulled into the digital vortex! Quick, someone throw me an analog life saver!
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
You should also check out PA3FWM's SDR page: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
Very interesting. I thought picture above should be entitled "The Ultimate Dead Bug."
I have successfully completed troubleshooting my old (1983) frequency counter (found some bad CMOS gates), and I just finished assembling Doug N3ZI's very FB freq counter semi-kit (thanks Jerry!)... Now I'm listening to the Web SDR receiver... The SoftRock40 kit seems to be calling me.... I feel myself being pulled into the digital vortex! Quick, someone throw me an analog life saver!
Labels:
SDR
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Skn Flick Trailer
Steve, N0TU, has a really good one minute video that will (I think) be the lead-in for a longer flick on Straight Key Night. Inspirational stuff. Makes you want to warm up filaments and pound some brass. Thanks Steve!
Labels:
video
Thursday, December 25, 2008
The Beacon on the Echo Satellite
W8KHK gave a very nice Christmas present to the AMfone group. Check out the pictures (and descriptions) of the beacon transmitters that went into space on the ECHO satellite in 1960. Echo was the big inflated silver ball -- it was nicknamed "the satelloon." I was struck by how much the exterior of this rig looks like the solar-powered QRSS rig of Paolo, IZ1KXQ.
FROM W8KHK's POST: Here are a few more pictures of the ECHO beacon transmitter. These are identical to the actual flight hardware, used for testing and measurements. They now reside at the W2DU Florida QTH, and while the batteries have long since expired, if the solar cells are illuminated by a 100 watt bulb, or the actual sun, you can receive the transmitted beacon signal at 108 MHz. Low Tech by today's standards, but in those days it was hard to find transistors that would work above audio frequencies. Photo 21 shows a complete beacon system. To the bottom left is another transmitter, before potting. To the bottom right is another transmitter, potted and ready to be incorporated in the styrofoam "dish" assembly. Photo 22 is a close-up of the two transmitters from photo 21. Photo 23 shows an entire dish assembly, prior to potting in styrofoam. This space project, and many other early space projects from the Astro Electronics Products division of RCA will be chronicled in the soon-to-be-published Reflections III by W2DU.
FROM W8KHK's POST: Here are a few more pictures of the ECHO beacon transmitter. These are identical to the actual flight hardware, used for testing and measurements. They now reside at the W2DU Florida QTH, and while the batteries have long since expired, if the solar cells are illuminated by a 100 watt bulb, or the actual sun, you can receive the transmitted beacon signal at 108 MHz. Low Tech by today's standards, but in those days it was hard to find transistors that would work above audio frequencies. Photo 21 shows a complete beacon system. To the bottom left is another transmitter, before potting. To the bottom right is another transmitter, potted and ready to be incorporated in the styrofoam "dish" assembly. Photo 22 is a close-up of the two transmitters from photo 21. Photo 23 shows an entire dish assembly, prior to potting in styrofoam. This space project, and many other early space projects from the Astro Electronics Products division of RCA will be chronicled in the soon-to-be-published Reflections III by W2DU.
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ROME!
Labels:
satellites,
space program
Sunday, December 21, 2008
SolderSmoke 97
http://www.soldersmoke.com
December 21, 2008
Tiber flooding, Italian @ (snail!)
--------------
DSB 80 "Kickpanel" project:
Rig reform
Harder than SSB?
Do we need to match diodes?
Terminating balanced modulators
An antenna for my "spot" ("net") circuit, LED
Thinking of speech processing
Driver hotter than final
---------------
MEPT QRSS:
VK2ZAY crosses Oz on 470 micro-watts
Using 9H1LO's grabber engine as time machine
My beacon box: 10 and 30 in same enclosure
Knights QSY to lower bands (temporarily)
---------------
Theory:
Thanks for beta independence help
Why does feedback lower distortion?
W3JDR's Ne602 modeling
Grinding resistors for precision
Broken counter leads to learning logic
--------------
Miscellaneous:
Wes updates site
Kanga USA is back
There is no SPRAT 13
AA1TJ's lightbulb rig
---------------
MAILBAG:
Lyndon smells the smoke
Roger KA7EXM goes to Aikhabara
Mark KI7N hits Singapore's radio row
Bob KD4EBM's feedback on feedback
Mike KC7IT fixes Christmas lights with 'scope
Frank VK2AKG on YouTube solenoid concert
Mike AA1TJ working on return loss bridges
John K7JM says SS blog makes DXCC
Jerry NR5A on Solder-SETI, b'day
Ron WB3AAL 1K QSOs from AT
Alan N8WQ: Tree battery!
Jeremy N1JER and QRP-L QRSS group build
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
Friday, December 19, 2008
AA1TJ's Lightbulb Transmitter!!!!
This is a really excellent example of ham ingenuity. Michael, AA1TJ, has built an 80 meter CW transmitter from the components in one of the compact florescent light bulbs.
http://mjrainey.googlepages.com/dasderelicht
http://mjrainey.googlepages.com/dasderelicht
Labels:
AA1TJ,
minimalist radio
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Free Logic Simulator
My frequency counter is broken, and this is providing an incentive for me to learn about logic, JK Flip Flops and all that. Hack-A-Day alerted me to what looks like a very useful simulator program (free download).
http://sol.gfxile.net/atanua/index.html
http://sol.gfxile.net/atanua/index.html
Labels:
digital logic
Saturday, December 13, 2008
MAKE Resistor Video
MAKE made even the humble resistor interesting. Thanks again Make!
MAKE presents: The Resistor from make magazine on Vimeo.
MAKE presents: The Resistor from make magazine on Vimeo.
Monday, December 8, 2008
SolderSmoke 96
SolderSmoke 96
December 8, 2008
http://www.soldersmoke.com
Moj Music
Rome winter: Snowcapped mountains, Starlings
Billy’s Blog – Please visit!
“Make” redeems itself with LED video
80 DSB rig: LTSpice, Design, Diplexers, Decoupling
Properly terminating balanced modulators
The virtues of feedback
80 meter DSB QRP (in a contest)
Reading Recommendation: January 2009 “Air and Space”
Jupiter and Venus aligned
Saturn picture with (sorta) homebrew rig
Ben’s Balloon Beacon
Laurence KL1X in N. China – will set up QRSS grabber
MAILBAG
Roger K7RXV and Bob KD4EBM on SolderSmells
Jerry NR5A has WSPR-mania
Scott KD5NJR on “Soul of a New Machine”
Bob K7HBG “Real radios have knobs”
Akshay VA7AAX 15 year-old listener, homebrewer
December 8, 2008
http://www.soldersmoke.com
Moj Music
Rome winter: Snowcapped mountains, Starlings
Billy’s Blog – Please visit!
“Make” redeems itself with LED video
80 DSB rig: LTSpice, Design, Diplexers, Decoupling
Properly terminating balanced modulators
The virtues of feedback
80 meter DSB QRP (in a contest)
Reading Recommendation: January 2009 “Air and Space”
Jupiter and Venus aligned
Saturn picture with (sorta) homebrew rig
Ben’s Balloon Beacon
Laurence KL1X in N. China – will set up QRSS grabber
MAILBAG
Roger K7RXV and Bob KD4EBM on SolderSmells
Jerry NR5A has WSPR-mania
Scott KD5NJR on “Soul of a New Machine”
Bob K7HBG “Real radios have knobs”
Akshay VA7AAX 15 year-old listener, homebrewer
Check out our neighborhood and flea market
Go to Google Earth, or even just to Google Maps (available without download from the Google home page) and search for this: Piazza di San Cosimato, 00153 Rome, Italy. Look for the "Street View" button and click on it. Now you can explore our Piazza.
GM8EUG sent me this great link for a 360 degree shot of the neighborhood flea market. Let the picture fully download, then click on it and you will be able to look around (and up and down!) Click on this:
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/worldwidepanorama/wwp305/html/ToniGarbasso.html
GM8EUG sent me this great link for a 360 degree shot of the neighborhood flea market. Let the picture fully download, then click on it and you will be able to look around (and up and down!) Click on this:
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/
Labels:
Italy,
Trastevere
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Pictures of Saturn with a (sorta) Homebrew Rig
The e-mail and picture I received from Randy N3UMW could easily launch me (and perhaps others) into some adventures in the fascinating world of electro-astronomy. I have a telescope. I have an old webcam. I have some PVC...
Randy's message:
Attached is a photo of Saturn that I took with a modified webcam through an 8 inch scope in my very light polluted back yard near Washington DC. I can normally only make out a dozen stars due to all of the nearby street and porch lights. Luckily this does not affect the viewing of planets.
Taking the photo was very easy. You simply remove the webcam lens and add a telescope adapter (can be made from PVC tube), then you take a 2 minute movie through the webcam and use free software to align and stack each frame of the video. The end result is a hundred times better than what you actually saw. It's funny that a cheap scope and cheap webcam can equal what the observatories were doing 20 years ago! The attached photo was my second attempt.
Damien Peach uses this same method with better hardware in better locations and takes fantastic photos. See them at http://www.damianpeach.com/
Randy's message:
Attached is a photo of Saturn that I took with a modified webcam through an 8 inch scope in my very light polluted back yard near Washington DC. I can normally only make out a dozen stars due to all of the nearby street and porch lights. Luckily this does not affect the viewing of planets.
Taking the photo was very easy. You simply remove the webcam lens and add a telescope adapter (can be made from PVC tube), then you take a 2 minute movie through the webcam and use free software to align and stack each frame of the video. The end result is a hundred times better than what you actually saw. It's funny that a cheap scope and cheap webcam can equal what the observatories were doing 20 years ago! The attached photo was my second attempt.
Damien Peach uses this same method with better hardware in better locations and takes fantastic photos. See them at http://www.damianpeach.com/
Labels:
astronomy
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
N1VF's MIT Balloon Beacon Transmitter
1.5 watts out on 30 meters with total cost of 25 dollars. Here is the transmitter that Ben, N1VF, and friends are using for balloon operations.
For more details see: http://web.mit.edu/bgelb/www/balloon/hfbeacon/
For more details see: http://web.mit.edu/bgelb/www/balloon/hfbeacon/
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