SolderSmoke Podcast #259 FCC ban of DC Receivers. Pete and Stickers, Mouse Knob, MHST. DC RX Update. Dean and SDR RX, Mythbuster Transceiver, Frequency Counter. Bill's Shack -- Suburban Renewal, Boatanchor Removal, DJI Drone . MAILBAG

Dean KK4DAS's 20 Meter Transceiver

Video Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RslKbpBuYDI

Audio Version: http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke259.mp3

Reports of FCC action against Direct Conversion receivers. Outrageous!  They are going to prosecute Dean and Bill.  The 85th harmonic was apparently interfereing with Starlink satellites over Melbourne Australia, Bali, New Zealand's North Island, the UK, Sweden, Holland and Argentina. Who knew? 

Here's the question:  How many paragraphs of this post did you read before you realized this was an April 1 thing?  C'mon, please let us know.  Bill falls for one or two every year.  This year he believed that Warren Buffet really had bought Tesla. So, don't feel alone.  Fess up.  

Travelogue:  Pete's trip to Los Olivos.  DMV Real ID Blues.  Going back to San Francisco? Pete, we have some new stickers... 

Pete's Bench:  MHST progress. Raspberry Pi.  VWS.  Transceiver.     K7TFC's Mouse Knob. 

Dean and Bill update on the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Challenge:  56 receivers built.  And 56 is a lot! Info and especially Dean's videos are still up on the Discord server and on YouTube.  Not to late to build!  All builders should try to encourage at least one other person to build this receiver.  In this way, builders become Elmers and homebrewing can spread.  Others have already done this -- you can do it too!  W4KAC built a second one for a friend.  WZ5M built one, helped a friend do a second, and a third one may be on the way.  MakeIt Labs in Nashua, NH is responsible for 4 DC receivers.  See all the completed receivers here: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search/label/DC%20RX%20Hall%20of%20Fame

Once you have the receiver going, start the mods!  Front panels!  Antennas! Better tuning!  Si5351s! DSB transmitters! Tell us about your mods. 

SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION:   Become a Patreon Sponsor!  MostlyDIYRF.  Buy Amazon stuff through the Amazon link on our blog site.  Subscribe to our video YouTube channel. 

Dean's Bench:  SDR Receiver project.  20 meter Mythbuster build (a thing of beauty).  Homebrew Frequency Counter.  Balloons!  

Bill's Bench:  Suburban renewal.  New floor, new paint, got rid of a lot of junk.  New operating table from Husky.  DX-60, DX-40, VF-1, and maybe even the Lafayette HA-600A receiver have to go. Many books and magazines too.   Lightening the load!   But keeping the DX-100, HQ-100, HT-37 and, of course, the Drake 2-B.  Boatanchors station. Beacon operations. 

N2CQR's new operating table

Boatanchor Corner at N2CQR

Bought a new DJI Drone, but will use it in the Dominican Republic (not here!).  And I got my Drone TRUST Certificate. 

Mailbag:  

Dave W2DAB doing Manhattan building on the island of Manhattan!  

Rich K2GJ (ex WA0CGM) -- Nice ham radio memories of his HT-37.  Thanks Rich. 

Wes W4JYK -- A VWS DC receiver. 

A nice note from Farhan VU2ESE. 

Todd K7TFC -- Simple vs. Complex

Paul WA1MAC Gluestick 80 meter QRP

Armand WA1UQO Regen receiver highlighted by AA7EE

Dave AA7EE -- FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE FCC!  Build the DC Receiver! 

Rogier PA1ZZ Many great videos, including one on Heathkit

Bruce KC1FSZ --  Nominated us for ARRL award.  Thanks Bruce. 

Bob KD4EBM--  Looking into Polar Modulation. https://qrp-labs.com/qmxp/ssbbeta.html

Peter VK2EMU -- Thought of Peter when I briefly took down the N2CQR sign he made. 

Victor HI7S -- 46 km away from my place in the DR.  Says I won the lottery...  He is right. 

Jim KI4THC        Got his Extra ticket.  Congratulations Jim. 

Kirk NT0Z    -- On Kits, Hombrew,  and the influence of Russian Homebrewers. 

Were Russian spies taught how to homebrew their own spy radios? 

Rich K2GJ with his 2B, and Heath GR-91

Inside Dean's Transceiver

DJI Drones -- How it All Began (with a shout out to Frederick Terman)

Lots of interesting stuff in this video, including a short clip of non-other-than Frederick Terman, of Stanford University and Silicon Valley.  Like many of you, I have Terman's "Radio Engineer's Handbook" on my shelf. 

The Amazing Technological Development of DJI Drones

Yes, the ability to hover is a really big deal. 

Kalman filtering.  Who knew? 

GPS, compasses, intertial navigation, redundancy.  Great stuff. 

NZ showed DJI that quadcopters were the way to go.  

The importance of brushless motors. 

It is really amazing how quickly quadcopters took over from ordinary helicopters.  The regs in the DC area that prevent us from flying quadcopters here were probably developed BEFORE the quadcopters were developed. 

I still wonder about why we still fly normal helicopters:  Take you hands off the controls of a helicopter and it will soon start to flip and fall.  Take you hands off the controls of a quadcopter and it will just hover in the sky.  When the batteries get low, it will return to the start point and land.    

I have a video taken by my Hanmilt drone on my Patreon channel.   I have already bought a DJI Mini 4K to fly in the DR. 

My Hanmilt HK 22 Drone -- Video and a still picture

This is the beginners's drone that I was using in the Dominican Republic this past winter.  It was really great.  The hover capability was amazing -- this made it very easy to learn to fly.  If it looked like I was getting into trouble, I would just go up a bit, hover, and figure out what to do. Obviously I could not do this with a fixed wing R/C plane.  Photography was excellent. See picture below -- I took this shot from my drone this winter.  I have a video on the Patreon channel.  

I flew this thing dozens of times, and only had one crash.  It was very minor.  I am still using the original propellers. 

The brand names change on these things very quickly, and Hanmilt might not be available anymore. But there are a lot of drones like this.  I paid about $100.  

I think my next drone will be a DJI drone.  But this will have to wait until I return to the Dominican Republic in June (I am in the FAA's "No Drone Zone" around the national capital.) Here is a really interesting video on DJI: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weDjwOyZaMc&t=225s