73 -- The BEST Number

My kids watch this show.   This appears to be one of the only interesting comments to come from it:

"The best number is 73. Why? 73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror (37) is the 12th and its mirror (21) is the product of multiplying, 7 and 3. ... In binary, 73 is a palindrome, 1001001 which backwards is 1001001."

-Dr. Sheldon Cooper, (Jim Parsons), "Big Bang Theory"

"Just to invite your attention to "73" in Morse code--also a palindrome."

-W9JEF

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Kludge Controversy Continues

Forget about the sequester!  The real issue facing our country is the proper pronunciation of the word Kludge.   Several visitors to the SolderSmoke table at last weekend's Winterfest weighed in on this issue.   SolderSmoke Lexicographer Steve Silverman wrote to inform me that I had totally misinterpreted his e-mail -- he is in fact rather firmly in the Klooge as in Stooge camp.  I, however, am sticking to Kludge as in Fudge.  It just feels right.  And I may use the awesome power of the SolderSmoke media empire to actually CHANGE the way people pronounce this word.

Check out the California Kilowatt ad.  In retrospect, probably a poor choice of brand name.


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SolderSmoke Podcast #149

Podcast #149 is now available:  http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke149.mp3

17 February 2012

IGY intro
Cappuccio turns off TV on New Year's Eve
Pre-inaugural day on the National Mall
The importance of audio bandwidth in DSB rigs
On 15 meters with the HT-37 and the Drake 2B
Q Killing and Swamping
Adding a Filter the Mighty Midget Receiver
Italian lessons via Echolink
Billy and the Raspberry Pi -- Three Cheers for Ada Fruit
Translate Button on the Blog page (upper right)
C.F Rockey SK
Mailbag: Kludge or Klooge?  

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Carl Sagan, Astronomy, and the Zen Pencil

We presented Carl Sagan's beautiful "Pale Blue Dot" quote back in September 2011, along with a nice video.    This week a friend in Kathmandu sent me a link to a web site called The Zen Pencil.   This fellow takes great quotes and draws cartoons to accompany them.   I liked his cartoon for The Pale Blue Dot:

http://zenpencils.com/comic/100-carl-sagan-pale-blue-dot/ 


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SolderSmoke Blog in Gujarati, Arabic, Chinese (and many others)!

SolderSmoke الأخبار اليومية

خدمة المجتمع في جميع أنحاء العالم من الراديو الإلكترونية من يقومون بذلك. تقديم الدعم إلى بلوق بودكاست

Pretty cool, don't you think?    This morning I added a little Google Translate button to the SolderSmoke Daily News.  It is in the upper right.  This makes the blog available in many, many languages.  I made a quick check of the translation to Italian and Spanish -- not bad.  Not perfect, but not bad. 

Please spread the word, especially to Knack victims who may have been struggling with English.  (Use the little e-mail button at the bottom of this post.)

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

On 15 with HT-37 and Drake 2B

W7FE's Shack and Hex Beam

After I replaced the 6U8 first mixer tube on the trusty Drake 2-B I tuned around a bit on 15 meters.  IZ4NIC was loud, all the way from Bologna.  I gave him a call and we had a nice QSO in Italian.  then I talked to F4GBU.  I was using my 40 meter dipole, but I thought I might do better with my 17 meter dipole (it is higher up in the trees).  I called CQ 15 and got into a very nice QSO with Jim, W0JLG in Wichita.  Jim has a very impressive collection of Boatanchors.  We were soon joined by Stu, W7FE.  Stu was using a Central Electronics 100v from the early 1960s.  Wow, the three of us had a nice long contact. 

The QSO was a real trip down memory lane for me:  My sister Trish is visiting us.  We had been talking about how when we were kids she would come into the shack to watch me try to talk to people... with the very same HT-37 and Drake 2B.  I was 15 and she was 10.   That was 39 years ago!  Here we were again, sitting in front of the same old rig.   It was a lot of fun.

Stu has some great info on his very impressive radio shack.  You guys will really enjoy a visit to his QRZ.com site:  http://www.qrz.com/db/W7FE   

And check out his switching system for all those rigs: http://www.qsl.net/w7fe/ 

Wow,  his site makes me want o move out to the shed and put up a hex beam! 

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Rich Arland's "Commo Bunker"

Well known QRP author Rich Arland has launched a new blog called "The Commo Bunker."   I'm pleased that one of his first articles deals with Boatanchor radios in general and the Drake 2B in particular.

Check out his blog: http://commobunker.blogspot.com/

Rich's article came at a good time for me, because today's task in the SolderSmoke HQ shack is fixing my suddenly deaf Drake 2B.  Without even taking it out of the case, I think I have most of the troubleshooting done:  signals make it through, but very weak.  And the S-meter is now resting far below zero.  The S meter is a bridge circuit that looks at current through the RF amp stage (V1) and the IF amp (V5).  So my guess is one of these tubes has gone soft.  This should be an easy fix.

I have a nostalgic reason for fixing this rig.  My sister is visiting us. When I was 15 and she was 10  she would sometimes sit with me in the shack as I used the HT-37 and the 2B.   Those same rigs are still with me and we hope to make a few contacts with them this weekend. 

UPDATE:   I fixed the 2B.   V2, the 6U8 used as first mixer and crystal oscillator had gone soft.  This may also explain difficulties I had in getting the rig to work with a crystal in the E band socket.


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Filter Pinout: P, E, B, G Explained

I few days ago I asked about the significance of the P, E, B, and G markings on my junkbox Toyo CM 455 kc filter (1969 vintage). PA3BCB -- in yet another example of the power of the International Brotherhood of Electronic Wizards --  was the first to provide the needed info.  And in another example of IBEW awesomeness,  KA0LDB noted that the markings are explained in the 1971 RSGB Handbook.   

P = Plate = filter input
B = B+     = mixer B+ plus if needed or input ground
G = Grid = filter output
E = Earth = Ground

I like the switched filter arrangement presented above (from the RSGB Handbook);  the 2.4 kc bandwidth is great for SSB, but a little tight for AM.  I might put in a DPDT switch in the circuit so as to be able to go back to the "broad as a barn door" selectivity provided by just the 455 kc IF cans.  


  

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Knack Pronunciation Guide: Kludge (as in Fudge)

A SolderSmoke listener (who will remain unnamed) recently corrected me on my pronunciation of an important Knack-related word:  Kludge.   I kludge as in fudge or judge.  He said it should be Kluge as in stooge.  I think we need a ruling her from our etymologist Steve Silverman.   Steve? 

I grew up listening to the 75 meter AM Northeast USA gang.  They said Kludge as in stooge, so I hope we stick with that.  

Wiki has an intereting (and seemingly endless) discussion on this topic: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kludge

Excerpts:


 'An ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole' 

"There is a certain, indefinable, masochistic finesse that must go into true Kludge building. The professional can spot it instantly. The amateur may readily presume that "that's the way computers are." 

"The result of this history is a tangle. Many younger U.S. hackers pronounce the word as /klooj/ but spell it, incorrectly for its meaning and pronunciation, as 'kludge'. … British hackers mostly learned /kluhj/ orally, use it in a restricted negative sense and are at least consistent. European hackers have mostly learned the word from written American sources and tend to pronounce it /kluhj/ but use the wider American meaning! Some observers consider this mess appropriate in view of the word's meaning."

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Short Video of Mate for Mighty Midget

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A Filter for The Mighty Midget's Mate

The story of my 80/40 meter three tube (all 6U8) superhet receiver is recounted here:  http://www.gadgeteer.us/erart.htm

I've been playing with this RX on and off for many years now.  Somewhere along the line I picked up a 455 kHz filter for it (I couldn't find the 455 kc crystals that Lew McCoy used).  Yesterday I finally got around to putting the filter into the receiver.

There is almost no info on this filter on the internet.  Here are the details"
Toyo Communications Equipment Company Ltd.  CM FILTER
Type: 455 -- 2.4 -- C     Date:  8- 69

On the bottom, there are four terminals.  They are marked "P" "B" "E" and "G".   Does anyone know what these letters signify?  

 I experimented and it seemed like putting a 455 kc signal into P and B, and taking the output from E was the way to go.   I've left G floating. It works, and the improved selectivity is very evident.   But I'm operating with no specs on the filter, so I may have it in there upside down and backwards. And of course, I am operating with my usual disregard for impedance matching issues.

Here's how I've placed it in the circuit: 

Ideas, suggestions and even admonitions would be appreciated.

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Rich Arland's Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics

Rich Arland's SKN Station

Hi Bill:

I am writing to tell you what a GREAT book "Solder Smoke" is. I really enjoyed it and I am amazed at how similar our paths are regarding electronics, ham radio and our journeys around the world. 

Although I am 16 years older than you I, too, got my start in radio at an early age: about 10, after I got nailed by my dad's console SW/AM radio prior to a Cub Scout meeting one evening. I just had to figure out how I received a shock from that big old receiver, which led me to a life long pursuit of the elusive electron, an interesting 50 year career in ham radio, a 20 year career in the USAF (Tech Controller, AFSC: 307), and ultimately teaching vocational electronics in the State Correctional Institution at Dallas, Pa. 

During my AF career I spent almost 17 years overseas: two tours in Japan (KA2AA--this was prior to recip licensing as we had the Far East Amateur Radio League in the SOFA), a three year tour at Lajes Field, Terceira Island, the Azores (CT2BH--this was prior to the Azores receiving independence from Portugal in 1976), a five and a half year tour at RAF Mildenhall, UK (G5CSU), and a brief stint in W.Germany (DA2NE) while working with 10th SF Group at Bad Tolz and SOTFE in Patch Barracks. Had 18 months in the 3rd Mobil Comm Gp in Tinker AFB, OK, and a twilight tour at Langley AFB, VA. 

The three years in the Azores was from 1970-73....it was extremely difficult to obtain a ham license at that time and there were only 9 of us licensed in the entire archipelago, as I recall. I was attached to the 1936 Comm SQ, and all we had for comms to support theUS Forces Azores mission were three HF ISB shots: one to Andrews AFB, MD, one to Rota, Spain and the other to RAF Croughton, UK. During that three year period I REALLY learned about HF comm and propagation. I was on duty the day, in 1973, when "the ionosphere turned off"! WE had a SID of such magnitude that it blotted out everything, and I DO MEAN EVERYTHING! We were lucky to hear AFRTS on the hill by the MARS station! During that tour we also performed comm support for the US Navy's Sea Lab project on Sao Maria, which was part of the SOSUS system. Ultra cool stuff!!! On more than one occasion during a mid shift, the Comm SQ chief of maintenance, CT2BC, would snag me from tech control, and we'd go intoLajes Airways (right down the hall) and grab a Scope Control Level, point the two HUGE LPAs toward the states and work a little DX on 20M !! Definitely NOT QRP! All this under the guise of "quality control"! It pays to have friends in low places!

During my UK tour, we initially lived off-base at Bury St. Edmunds. I had a Ten-Tec PM-2B and a tuner which I loaded into a chain link fence behind our house. I quickly worked Collin Turner, G3VTT, and soon became a card carrying member of the G-QRP-Club (#622) in 1979. To celebrate my 34th birthday, my wife Pat (KB3MCT) and Jo Dobbs, wife of George Dobbs, G3RJV, put together a surprise party for me after a Saturday at the RSGB convention near Birmingham. George Burt, GM3OXX along with Ronny, GM3JJG, furnished the haggis....and the single malt....needless to say we did have fun; all 25 of us packed into RJV's home! 

Hey, sorry for being long winded. Our backgrounds and travels are uniquely intertwined. Thanks for writing "Solder Smoke". I am procuring a hard copy (I read it on my Kindle) for my wife, as your insight into the "why things work the way they do" are perfect for her to help her with obtaining her Extra. I only wish I had it when I was teaching my electronics classes in prison. It would have made my job easier, that is for sure. 

Stay well, and I hope we can meet one of these days. In the mean time, I have to pull my Meade ETX out of storage and start watching the sky, and finish building about four model rockets for an upcoming launch weekend here in North Georgia. 

Rich Arland, K7SZ
Dacula, GA

Author: "The ARRL's Low Power Communications, the Art and Science of QRP (all four editions)

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Move...book editors

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