Why 3.579 MHz for Old Color TVs? The Origins of the CBLA

As the Commanding General of the Color-Burst Liberation Army, I have often wondered why so many of these 3.579 MHz crystals were made.  Heck, even the crystal filter of my first homebrew superhet receiver used these crystals.   

When we launched the CBLA effort, we used the Michigan Mighty Mite as our transmitter of choice:  I mailed out around 40 of these rocks.  Many transmitters were built.  I have received reports of guys pulling their cars over to the side of a road (with hapless family members in the car) when a discarded color TV was spotted -- the 3.579 Mhz crystal would be quickly extracted.  Such was the dedication of the CBLA members (the family members were, of course, baffled).  

Anyway, the story of the Color-Burst crystals is deeply entwined with the story of the birth of color TV.  This fellow (above) does a good job of explaining the hows and whys of 3.579 MHz. Thanks to Al Williams and Hackaday for alerting us to this, and for some really useful commentary on the video: https://hackaday.com/2025/12/18/the-miracle-of-color-tv/

Viva el CBLA! VIVA! 

Daniel VE5DLD's FOUR FB Saskatchewan SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receivers

Daniel VE5DLD is a teacher in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.  Back in early 2023 several lucky students joined him in building the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion receiver.  We had asked people to build the receiver -- we wanted to test the design before asking the local high school students to build it.  Daniel and his students came through for us, and ended up having far more success than we did.  Congratulations Daniel!  Welcome to the Hall of Fame. 

Daniel wrote: 

Hi Bill!  Yes, I had my own DC Receiver that I use every so often for fun and 3 built by my students.  All working.  We didn't get any video because we just finished the school year and the kids left, but I've kept in contact with them and they told me they have been able to receive signals from their homes.  The kids developed excellent troubleshooting skills gained large amounts of confidence in their ability to fix things.  Over the next year, my students told about fixing their gaming consoles and fixing problems in their parent's electronics.  They are certainly no longer afraid of opening something up to see what is going on!  And that's what makes me the most happy!  Yeah, you can just recognize myself and only mention that 3 students were able to build DC receivers.

And yes, the Michigan Mighty Mite was a fantastic gateway to home brewing!

Thanks for thinking of me and my students!

73

Daniel D.

VE5DLD

On June 19, 2023,  Daniel wrote: 

We got everything going and all 3 students now have receivers capable of inhaling RF.  We 3D printed some knobs and hot glued them.  We took one outside but didn't hear any signals.  Mid afternoon is not good for 40m.  We will try again later this week and I'll bring my KX3 to make sure there is a single for them to listen.  This issue on that last radio was an improperly installed J310.  The angle is was installed hid the problem well!  Here are a few pictures of the completed rigs. 

Back in 2015, Daniel built a Michigan Mighty Mite.  I was pleased to be reminded that I had sent him the crystal.  Go CBLA!  For more info on Daniel's transmitter see: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2015/10/saskatchewan-mighty-mite-video.html

Thanks Daniel! 73  

___________________________

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.io/project/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@soldersmoke

Brian KA0PHJ's CBLA SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver

Brian KA0PHJ finished his receiver in early March, and has been adding mods ever since.  He hopes to build another one for 80 meters and to use it with his Michigan Mighty Mite.  

VIVA EL CBLA!  VIVA! 

Brian writes: 

Bill,

I got my DCR finished in early march (built as designed), then added the RF gain, fine tune and frequency display. 

Wow, what fun!!

Gave me an excuse to organize all my discrete components and finally buy a Rigol!  

Now I plan to build one for 80m to go with the CBLA Michigan Mighty Might:) 

Keep up with good work. 

73,

Brian.

KA0PHJ

FB Brian!  Congratulations! 

---------------------------------

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.io/project/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@soldersmoke

John KE2AMP's SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver -- With a Spring-Loaded PTO

Dean and I often say that we too have learned a lot from this project, and that the receiver has gotten better as a result of all these builds.  But in KE2AMP's case we really see an innovation that nobody has used before.  But it is a great idea and it solves the "loose screw" problem of the PTO.  Check out the spring on John's PTO.  That is really smart.  Thanks John.  

John also sent me a crystal wrapper that will long be cherished by the CBLA (Color Burst Liberation Army):   

John wrote: 

Well I completed my DCR, and am receiving signals on 40 meter at 1900UTC. My audio amp will oscillate if I turn up over half way and my pto is little loose and makes it bit hard to tune. I put a light spring behind the pto bolt to give it some friction and tighten up. I’m thrilled that I’m receiving signals. I still want to add a front panel to mount the volume pot, the on/off switch and speaker if I have the room. 

I am so Thankful to Bill, Dean and everyone on the discord for this project I learned so much more being able to ask questions and follow along with other builders as we worked through each stage of the build. I definitely learned some things about oscilliscopes. And testing each of the stages as we went along. 

I would like to try my hand at a SSB transmitter to go along with this receiver. I have built a working MMM but was just to see if I could. I don’t know CW 

Oh and I included pic’s of something Bill will like. 

Pick it up at a ham fest last summer.

Will that get me into the color burst liberation army?

 Thanks Again, 73

   de John  KE2AMP

Consider yourself inducted John.  The CBLA needs innovative people like you!  

-------------------------

For more information on how you too can build the receiver: 

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.io/project/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@soldersmoke 

Sticker Madness, HI7, April 1

Our friend Lex astutely focused on the date of the release of our report about legal prosecution by the City of San Francisco.  The truth is that we made almost all of this up.  We did put a sticker on a lamp post at Haight and Ashbury.   Dave AA7EE did visit the site and report that the sticker had been removed.  But all the rest was made up.  We did catch several people in this annual April 1 joke.  Unfortunately, not everyone who was taken in was outraged by the city's supposed action. In fact, we got one e-mail SUPPORTING the prosecution.  This fellow said, essentially, that we were getting what we deserved, that we should take this as a life lesson, and stop with the sticker-vandalism.  He was serious.  Jeez.  APRIL FOOL!   We will talk more about this in the next podcast. 

I know the podcast has been delayed by a lot, but I am still getting things set up here in HI7 land.  I hope we will soon be podcasting with particpation from California (N6QW), Northern Virginia (KK4DAS), and the Dominican Republic (HI7/N2CQR).  

Happily, my Dominican ham radio license came through  -- I will be HI7/N2CQR for the next year.  At some point I hope to take the Dominican exam and get a real Dominican call. 

Lex has been our main point of contact in Europe on sticker distribution (aka VANDALISM!). Lex writes:   

Hello all,

Shocked to hear about the "Legal action against Soldersmoke" in podcast : 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/04/soldersmoke-podcast-251-aurora-cbla.html

Which could mean a few things : 

1. some official is trying to make a career and he will be very busy because there are a lot of stickers in San Fransisco to remove.
2. somebody did remove the sticker because they are highly collectable and somebody at soldersmoke HQ saw a opportunity to made one of the best april fools jokes in soldersmoke history pulling the listeners (and readers) leg. 
   
3. somebody use photoshop and made one of the best april fools jokes in soldersmoke history pulling the listeners (and readers) leg. 

Looking at the release date of the soldersmoke podcast 251, IMHO #3 is the most possible with #2 as a good second. When #1 is the real reason, that sucks big time :-(  (so I'm hoping for the april fools joke outcome)

Let's continue and get on topic to this e-mails subject.

My XYL and I are just back from a holiday to Berlin and aside of the architecture, visiting a large number of museums and historical exhibitions, there was one place on my personal list I wanted to visit : the "Teufelsberg". 

*  The "Teufelsberg" (Devil's Mountain) is a artificial mountain build with rumble of the ruins of Berlin on top of the “Wehrtechnische Fakultät”, covert soil and plated full with trees. In the early 70's the location became one of the most important locations for the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) outside the United States. The facility monitors Soviet and Eastern Bloc communications and gathers important information on the activities of Warsaw Pact countries. 1992 the side got intrest of creative minds and started to get covert by street art.

More info about the history can be found on there website:  https://www.teufelsberg-berlin.de/en/history/

Not only the historical part of the site, but also because the XYL and I love street art, we took a day visit it. Aside from the nice walk to it, the excellent view and the great pieces of street art, when you are at a site where street art is present all over the place and even is encouraged (and legal) and you "accidently" just happen to have a few soldersmoke stickers in you bag, you just have to use them. So as of this moment, Soldersmoke is present a the formal National Security Agency (NSA) spy station in Berlin. 

I added a few images as a attachment to this e-mail including one to show the great view over Berlin when you on the top deck (only showing one placement, the other 2 are hidden in plane site). 

In short : when you can apricate street art and visit Berlin, a visit to the "Teufelsberg" is almost a must. IBEW bonus : there are a few soldersmoke stickers hidden on the top dek for you to find ;-)

73 from PA 

Lex PH2LB 

mail : lex@ph2lb.nl
home : http://www.ph2lb.nl/   
twitter : https://twitter.com/lex_ph2lb  
call : PH2LB 

"Life's like a role playing adventure. You
need to solve the puzzles first before
they let you go to the next level."

Helge SM/LA6NCA Activates Colorburst Liberation Army in Sweden!

FB Helge.   This is really cool.  I didn't realize until I saw the schematic at the end that he was on 3579 kHz -- that is the old color-burst frequency, and now the frequency of the Color-burst Liberation Army. 

It was challenging to do this without sidetone.  But there appears to be a bit of room left in the matchbox -- could he squeeze in a few more components for a rudimentay sidetone?  Maybe just a piezo buzzer across the key? 

VIVA EL CBLA! 

SolderSmoke Podcast #251 Aurora! CBLA, Winterfest, Legal Action Against SolderSmoke, HB sBITX, SDR, Raspberry Pi, Rounded Passbands, MAILBAG

Aurora Picture by Dean KK4DAS

SolderSmoke Podcast #251  4-1-2024

Audio: http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke251.mp3

Videos: Podcast 251 Aurora! CBLA, Winterfest, Legal Threat, sBITX, SDR, RaspPi, Rounded Passbands, MAILBAG (youtube.com)

Travelouge:  Dean goes to the North Pole to see Aurora. 

A CBLA Call to Arms! 

Winterfest.  Lots of goodies.  MXM Industries 40 meter transceiver. 1 dollar. 

Jean Shepherd. Recording of Bill talking to Shep in 1976. 

 https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/03/listen-to-me-talking-to-jean-shepherd.html

Legal Trouble: Could put us out of operation for a while.  We need listener input. 

November 2023

December 2023

----------------------

Pete's Bench

Homebrew SDR (based on Zl2CTM’s original design) and how good it sounds.

Raspberry Pi Zero W is now working on FT-8 with digital adapter.

Ferrite Cores at Digi-Key (a replacement for the FT-37-43 where  you buy 100 and the price is 21 cents/each)

ADE-6 –great specs in HF but more expensive than the ADE-1

For Pete's recent blog posts, go to this site and click on "Archive" in the right column: 

https://n6qw.blogspot.com/2024/03/march-31-2924-happy-easter-to-those-who.html

----------------

Dean's Bench 

sBITX progress, McGyver-ing a lifted pad, replacing crystal on the CODEC board, sBITX success! See: 

https://kk4das.blogspot.com/2024/03/homebrew-sbitx-tx-modules-pa-lpf-and-mic.html

--------------------

Shameless Commerce Division:  Please use the Amazon link on the blog to start your Amazon purchases. And please consider using Patreon to support the podcast and blog.  We try to send extra content to our Patreon supporters. Mostly DIY RF --  Boards, Kits and Pete's PSSST

---------------------

Bill's Bench

More trouble with the 15-10 rig.  Rounded passbands in 25 MHz filter. See figure 4 in both links: 

https://www.arrl.org/files/file/QEX_Next_Issue/Nov-Dec_2009/QEX_Nov-Dec_09_Feature.pdf

https://www.networksciences.com/pdfs/tutorial.pdf

Experimenting with Balanced Mixers and Product Detectors. Paul VK3HN  Suggests the MC1496 chip; Walter KA4KXX points to SSDRA circuits

But it is on the air!  Using the PA from a BITX40 module and an RD06.  

Put an OLD dial from Pericles HI8P on 15-10 version 1.  Soul in the new machine.

Pericles' Dial on the 15-10 Rig 

Mailbag: 

Grayson KJ7UM's Hollowstate video. 

Mike WU2D's amazing 10 meter DSB transceiver. 

Jack AI4SV (Dhaka Jack) liked video of recent QSO with AzoresDSB rig

Mike AA1TJ and Dave AA7EE on backwaves and 100 uW QRPpppp

Dave G3UUR  on my curved passband problem

Alan W2AEW heard my only QSO with the MXM indsutries SupeRX/TX40

Wes W7ZOI, Mike WN2A, Walter KA4KXX. Farhan VU2ESE on passband, 

Ramakrishnan sent article about Charles Proteus Steinmetz.  Beautiful. 

Justin AC8LV built a receiver!  FB. 

San Francisco QRP:   KDOFNR TouCans Rig, and N6ASD Zinc-Oxide TX

Frank KC8JJL -- Another guy who heard first ham sigs from a homebrew rig. 

Nate KA1MUQ's homebrew thermatron superhet

Dino KL0S sent info on the PAL CB VFO I picked up at Winterfest. Airborne! 

Bob W8SX will be once again doing SolderSmoke interviews at Dayton.  Thanks Bob

Peter VK2EMU  Always good to hear from him.

Tobias Feltus -- Wisdom teeth removed, wondering if he will get sBITX hallucinations...

Rick WD5L continues to work on his Herring Aid 5

Ciprian YO6DXE wants to learn CW. No alerts from his FB Blog!

Todd K7TFC -- Likes CW, says it eliminates the Blah-Blah-Blah 

F1BFU's Amazing PSSST VFO

KD0FNR's Amazing San Francisco TouCans Rig -- A Rockmite and a Tuna Topper in a Pineapple Can Mounted on the Dipole in a Shopping Bag

Click on the image for a better look

This post has a definite San Francisco vibe. 

Hamilton KD0FNR appeared on the SolderSmoke blog way back in 2011.  Perhaps he should join forces with N6ASD who lives quite close to him in SF, and seems to share radio interests.  Also in their area is the esteemed Bay Areas blogger and homebrewer Dave AA7EE ; Dave recently sounded the CBLA alarm, alerting us to the presence of an intruder on 3579 kHz.  In the process, Dave mentioned the Pt. Reyes Web SDR, the presence of which came as welcome news to Hamilton. Finally, Dave and Hamilton mention the KPH Web SDR, which brings to mind Dick Dillman W6AWO who has been on the SolderSmoke blog several times.  

Hamilton and his kids have their rig (a Rockmite and a Tuna Topper in a Dole Pineapple can) mounted at the feedpoint of their dipole (in the red shopping bag above).   They link to it via WiFi and Bluetooth. FB.  Thomas Witherspoon has a nice presentation (by KD0FNR) of the TouCans project on his blog: https://qrper.com/2023/12/field-radio-kit-gallery-kd0fnrs-rockmite-20-and-tuna-topper/ 

Hamilton KD0FNR writes: 

At the moment, the kids whose dad I am, better known as the gang—12, 10, and 8 year-old Diaze, Mota, and Tawnse.. all internet aliases—are big into 20 meters QRP CW with Project TouCans, a Rockmite coupled to a Tuna Topper. The radio and the amp that popped us out of QRPp to plain-old QRP are both housed in a Dole Pineapple can with a tuna can as a cover and antenna mount. The whole rig is still very much mounted in our half-wave dipole! 

Project TouCans consists of a Rockmite feeding a 5 Watt Tuna Topper, all of which is housed in our dipole antenna. The Rockmite has a single crystal bandpass filter on it's rx input. That makes it a pretty wide reciever which is fine, but it's particularly sensitive to its tx frequencies, 14075.5 and 14058 kHz AND—for some reason I have yet to understand—10459 kHz. By watching the SDRs that now—thanks Dave—envelope us here at our home QTH in San Francisco, we can see the frequencies of incoming signals. That information keeps me from responding to 14059 kHz signals in vain.

And now, the headphone repeater: TouCans is completely wireless with respect to the ground. That means there's no power line, no feedline, no keyer lines and no headphone line. Keyer controls are handled via wifi to a Raspberry Pi Pico-W on the rig while audio is brought back to my headphones via Bluetooth. Power is provided by a USB-C battery pack that lives in the rig which is mounted above us in the antenna. (Yes, all of this is becuase I thought feedlines matches and baluns were too mystical and hard to understand years ago. Yes, this has probably all been more work than a balun. Yes, I am still totally enamored of my original design decision. :) ) Anyway, the bluetooth range is about 50 feet and the wifi range is shorter than that. The short of it is—pun not intended—that I can't quite use the rig while I'm in my office. But, I can send CQ to the rig every half minute or so via a memory keyer, then turn on the SDR in my office, and then sprint a bit closer to the rig when someone calls back. (It helps that houses in SF are a bit tiny.) So, SDRs are kinda an integral part of our QTH setup and it's awesome to learn about a new—to us—one! Thanks again!

CBLA: A CALL TO ARMS!

Dave AA7EE alerted us to this attack.  Please follow-up by posting reception reports (and triangulations!) in the comments below.  Dave writes:  

Recently, an unlicensed beacon (for which read pirate) has turned up on 3579 KHz. It seems to be located somewhere in the Western US, in the tradition of unlicensed HF beacons dating back to the late 80's that were solar-powered, and located in remote areas of the Southwestern deserts. The very first ones were a cluster of beacons around 4096 KHz (a frequency for which crystals were cheaply and easily available).

Anyway, I am equal parts intrigued and miffed by this latest clandestine operation. Intrigued because of the mystery surrounding all such clandestine operations. Where is it? What does it look like? Who built it, and why? I'm also miffed because, well, dagnabbit - it's on our turf!

It can be heard nightly after dark in the West, on both the KFS and KPH SDR's, in Half Moon Bay and Point Reyes respectively. It sends a series of 22 dits, then the call letters KOK, then more dits.

This is an outrage, a travesty, and a direct assault on the sovereignty of all self-respecting CBLA recruits! I call on all denizens of colorburst land to dust off their Michigan Mighty Mites and other plucky little transmitters, and launch the loud, raucous battle cries of  CQ, CQ, CQ into the ether. We shall fight them on the airwaves, we shall fight them in our radio shacks while drinking hot chocolate, winding toroids, and reading QST. We shall go on to the end. We shall never surrender!

I'm telling you Bill, when the very foundations of our existence are threatened, there is nothing that a colorburst crystal and half a watt from a 2N3053 transistor can't achieve. By golly, we can do this.

Your obedient colorburst servant,

Dave

AA7EE

SolderSmoke Podcast #248 -- Back from the Summer -- Spurs and Filters, S-meters, 6BA6 mania, Shirtpocket rigs, MAILBAG

The PsssT Kit, coming soon from Mostly DIY RF

SolderSmoke Podcast #248 is available for download: 

Audio: http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke248.mp3

Video: (800) SolderSmoke Podcast #238 -- Spurs and Filters, S-meters, 6BA6 mania, Shirt-pocket rigs, Mailbag - YouTube

Travelogue:  Trip to the Dominican Republic 3-9 August.  Thinking about the M0NTV video on mixers...  

Solder Smoke Shack South is almost done.   I am thinking about workbenches, operating tables and antennas.  How high should an electronics workbench be?   Table height?  Or workbench (woodwork) height?  

My son and I went to see "Oppenheimer"  Trinity test scene very cool.  They wanted to see if the gadget would work! 

Is the SolderSmoke blog completely archived on the WayBack Machine?  Please check and let me know.  Thanks. 

Bill's Bench: 

-- I've been working a lot of DX with the homebrew rigs:  Indonesia, Australia, Japan, Hawaii.  Lots of fun.  15 meters has been especially good. But the rigs still need work: 

-- M0NTV's video got me to put TinySA to work.  I found that output from dual banders could be improved.  Spurs and harmonics. Yuck.  I need more TinySA -- ordered the TinySA Ultra. 

-- Allison KB1GMX helped a lot.  EB63A amp was unstable, especially on 10 meters.  Higher frequencies are harder!  Tightened up shielding, negative feedback, and bypassing.  This all helped, but I found that I needed to take the higher frequency LP filters out of the amplifier box.  W3NQN filters are better, with steeper skirts and better 2nd harmonic rejections. NanoVNA proving very useful. https://www.gqrp.com/Datasheet_W3NQN.pdf

-- Also worked on the Bandpass filters for these rigs.  Farhan's comments on skirts of different filter configurations.  Some are "LSB" filters (with steeper skirt at the highest freq) and some are "USB" filters (with the steeper skirt at the lower frequency)  See diagrams on the blog page. So I built USB new filters for 12 meters and for 10 meters. 

-- Danger that my unshielded wooden box rigs might be inviting feedback.  So I shielded the 1510 rig with copper guitar amp tape (conductive adhesive).  Good stuff.  

-- Phase Noise rears its ugly head again.  See blog posts. 

----------------------

SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION:  

Mostly DIY RF getting ready to release PsssT kits.  Target date:  December 18, 2023 (E Howard Armstrong's birthday).  https://mostlydiyrf.com/

Amazon Search box seems to have died.  I can't get it back.  Can anyone tell me what happened?  (There seems to be "explanations" from Amazon about this, but they are written in a strange language that I cannot follow.)  Something similar happened with the Google Ads on this blog page.  Apparently you can't have ads both on YouTube and blogger.  

But hey, there is Patreon for those who want to support the podcast and blog. 

-------------------------

Pete's Bench

An S-meter for Bill? 

6BA6 Mania! 

QRP SSB with 6BA6

Shirtpocket rig re-build

Mailbag: 

Walter KA4KXX has a great article about homebrewing in the September 2023 QCWA Journal.  

 Steve KC1QAY -- Has joined the CBLA.  I sent him a 3579 crystal.  He built a MMM and experienced JOO.  And Allison KB1GMX is in his local radio club.  TRGHS. 

Ajay VU2TGG in Pune, India -- launching a high school receiver effort. 

Denny VU2DGR The Wizard of Kerala: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-wizard-of-kerala-india-denny-vu2dgr.html

Joe VK4BYER working with kids a remote Australian community.  FB. 

Todd K7ZF -- Wants to get into homebrewing. Advised him to start small. 

Dean KK4DAS:  Fixing Hallicrafters Worldwide RX. Ciudad Trujillo!  Got question from Mark in the VWS Makers Group:  HOW DOES Michigan Mighty Mite REALLY Work.  See blog. 

Trevor Woods -- Info on Super Islander Mark IV made in Cuba from old CFL bulbs.  FB. 

Bob KD4EBM sent me some great stuff:  Sony SW receiver,  QCX Mini.  Made a CW contact with the QCX.  Felt virtuous -- it is going to the DR.  Thanks Bob. 

Peter KD2OMV:    One of the guys I worked with the ET-2 transceiver.  Great to hear from him. 

Armand WA1UQO   Richmond area radio museum? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSCmljje1p8

Mike WN2A -- Sent me a great care package with lots of toroids.  A lifetime supply!  Thanks Mike!

Nate KA1MUQ got his Doug DeMaw receiver going after 38 years!  FB.  Been there, done that! 

Tony: G4WIF Liked Valveman video about Gerald Wells.  He visited him! https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2023/08/valveman-story-of-gerald-wells.html 

Dean KL7MA  Bill talked to him on 15 SSB.  He had worked Wes W7ZOI!  FB! 

Retro QRP Rigs of the 1960's, 70's, and 80's -- Video by Mike WU2D

It is time to put aside (again!) all of the heated ideological arguments about the power level that defines "low power."  Just sit back and enjoy this wonderful trip down QRP memory lane. 

Mike's description of the simple, single-transistor QRP transmitter was really nice.   I recently made something similar: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2023/02/first-qso-with-high-school-receiver-100.html  And Mike does a nice plug for our beloved Michigan Mighty Mite.  Go CBLA! 

The modular idea:  words to live by my friends. 

40673!  TT2!  And G3RJV's PW Severn - indeed, bow your heads!

Wow, the Ten Tec Power Mite (or Might!) -- I still want one.  Same for the Argonaut -- what a great name (sounds like a "magic carpet), and with SSB to boot!  I want to join the Argonaut cult! 

I have both the HW-7 and HW-8 (the HW-8 is heading to the Dominican Republic).  This video makes me want to fire up the HW-7.  Maybe on 40.  

My 40 meter homebrew rig (Digi-Tia) has in it the filter from that old Yaesu FT-7 rig.  The filter was given to me by Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith.  https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2015/05/bitx-digi-tia-build-update-2-installing.html  

Thanks to Mike for including me in the credit roll at the end.  What a great group of people -- it is a real honor to be listed with those folks. 

A Very Cool Video with NanoVNA, FFT, LC circuits, W2AEW, CuriousMarc, Back-to-Back 1N4148s, and String-Powered Gyroscopes

Don't let the scary nuclear chemistry title put you off -- there is a LOT of very familiar homebrew stuff in this video.  You will feel right at home.  Many of the resonances take place in the ham bands.   The CBLA may have to get involved here. 

Thanks to Chuck WB9KZY for sending this. 

And check out Ben's video on is best projects from the last 10 years: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLkVFjRyoDU

SolderSmoke Podcast #240 NIMCELS? Hex DX, CBLA RX, PTO? Solid State HT-37? Exotic caps, Benches, SBE-33, TenTec 540, KWM-1 MAILBAG

 

SolderSmoke #240 

Monday September 19, 2022

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke240.mp3

Sorry, I had some technical difficulties so my audio is a bit distorted. 

NIMCELS?  Niche Internet Micro Celebrities. I dunno....  Can our listeners come up with an acronym that describes our place in the universe?  

Sponsors:  Parts Candy.  Carlos in Chicago.  Great leads.  Don't scrimp with a crimp!  You need some good quality test leads on your workbench.   Get yours from Carlos.  Click on the picture on the blog page or go to PartsCandy on e-bay.  

"Techno Wizardry"?   Our lawyers at Dewey Cheatham and Howe will be after them for that!  

Bill's Bench: 

Hex Beam has made me a DXer.  91 countries. Having fun. Mozambique (Long path), San Andres island, and Saudi Arabia, all on Friday. All homebrew SSB 100 watts. 

Put my old 20 meter CW station back on the air:  Barebones superhet and the VXO 6 watter.   WYKSYCDS. This may be one of very few CBLA Receivers in the world!

Been getting active in the Vienna Wireless Society.  Dean KK4DAS is President and a lot is happening in the Club.  Makers group. Lunch with the group on Tuesdays.  Lots of fun.

We are looking at Farhan’s Daylight Again Analog rig.  Using parts from Dean’s 3D printer, we have made PTOs. See blog post for picture.   (But are they really PTOs? Or just Variable Inductors?) 

VFO madness.  Solid stating an HT-37 VFO. Grayson: “You have clearly lost your mind.” Perhaps.  100 MHz FM broadcast RFI. This brought me to capacitors and linear tuning:

SLC, SLW, SLF and Midline/Centerline caps.  Do special caps explain why some VFOs have linear tuning while others do not?  NO, not really.  You can get linear tuning with ordinary caps.  See blog post

Working on the bench.  Reading Adam Savage’s book on workshops and tools. (link to the book in the right hand column of the blog.   Some other workbench links on the blog.  Upgrading tools and test gear.  I have a proper bench power supply. Better side cutters.  Engineering rulers.  Digital calipers. Better solder (I was talking to Ron WA6YOU – a real solder authority - about this.  Kester 60/40 ).

SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION: 

mostlydiyrf.com

Currently offering seven items:

·  UDVBM-1 (in three versions)

·  PG-TIA Broadband IF Amplifier

·  TIA-AGC IF Amplifier

·  Dual-Gate MOSFETs

·  OA741D Op-Amp (discrete components)

·  8-Pole QER Crystal Filter

·  I2C Rotary Encoder

Three more are shown as coming soon:

·  GP Audio Amp (general-purpose audio amp)

·  HyCas IF Amplifier with AGC

·  M-Cubed (Michigan Mighty Mite kit)

·         Mostly DIY RF offers hardware for hardware-defined radio. That's not a comment on software-defined radio. SDR is cool and useful, and it has its place.

·         In fact, I believe in explicitly making use of technology from all eras (vacuum tubes, discrete semiconductors, and integrated circuits

·         What does "mostly" DIY mean? It means making what you want and using ready-made for the rest. Even the most fanatic DIY'ing home brewer does this without much thought. He uses components he didn't fabricate, electricity he didn't generate, and theoretical knowledge he didn't discover. One can't fight all battles, one has to choose which to fight and which to leave to others. If an appliance-operating Ham doesn't want to fight at all, that's okay, but Mostly DIY RF has nothing to offer him.

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I need YouTube viewing hours.  So I am putting some of the best SolderSmoke podcasts up on the YouTube channel.  Please listen/watch on YouTube. Here is the playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv9MEKq1quk-gnxog7eBqY_y7cpQadf6T   

Google feed no longer sending our e-mails.  So please follow the blog, Get yourself a blog feed reader.  I use Feedly.  It is free.   Download, search in Feedly for SolderSmoke, hit subscribe and you are done. https://feedly.com/i/discover Follow Pete’s blog too!  It is easy.

 Pete’s Bench

Resurrections: 

SBE-33!

TenTEC Model 540

KWM-1

Mailbag:

Dan KC5VPI getting into homebrewing. No longer WRONG!

Michael AG5VG built subharmonic DC receiver, put it on 40 and 20.  FB.

Mike AA9IL working on old tube stuff including a DX-100 AMD UUHF gear up to 122GHz.

Ed WA4MZS liked the SolderSmoke book. USCG vet.  As is Mike Rainey AA1TJ Semper Paratus!

Clint KA7OEI – The Music of the Beams – My Hex  does not sing!  So far!

Walter KA4KXX – The Knack started early.  Video of getting a toolbox for Christmas. And working on PTOs!  He likes them!

Phillip G4HOJ Also working with subharmonic mixers – using the more complex 4 diode version.

Peter GW4ZUA Built an amazing rig from RADCOM (1980s) Cool VFO with varactor fine tuning and a coil with a dust core that was cut in half to minimize temp effect. Box now holds 3  band version of Pete’s SimpleCeiver. FB.

Bruce KC1FSZ building 25 Watt amp for his Peppermint Bark rigs.  We won’t turn him in to the QRP authorities.

Grayson KJ7UM tested the 12BY7A from my DX-100 VFO.  It was in fact weak. Thanks Grayson.

Charles Smith KV4JT has some really interesting stuff on how to solid state tube gear.   Especially R-390s. https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2022/08/trigger-warning-solid-stating-old-tube.html

Gianfranco I0ZY Old friend from Rome.  Amplifier manufacturer.  FB.

Paul WA1MAC getting started again after long hiatus.

Vasily.. I mean Todd VE7BPO.  Always great tech info.  Thanks.

Mark WB8YMV building a superhet with a 455 kc IF.

I sent Farhan some comments on his Daylight Again video: He wrote back “I marvel at their stamina to watch an hour long video of a man talking with a funny accent!”