Born to Solder: Harv's Knack Story

From Harv, WA3EIB:

I'm an avid follower of Soldersmoke and builder of sorts.  I began as a ham operator in 1965.
My parents claim I was born with my hands wrapped around a soldering iron.
 
As you may have noticed, the Michigan Mighty Mite has become a popular rage thanks to Bill and Pete and the Soldersmoke gang. They have encouraged a great number of individuals to study, build and learn. The basics of a simple one transistor transmitter can be a key element to creating, inventing and pushing the brain to greater understanding.
 
When I was first licensed I was encouraged by a fellow ham. This wise man, was way more senior than myself and out of kindness, he sat me down in front of his workbench and grilled me on the key components and reasons for adding a Low Pass Filter in radio transmission. Following the lecture, he pulled the parts for the filter from his cabinet and said, "Now build it!"
 
Fifty years later, that same nurturing education is still with me and our hobby. When I was in New England in the 1970's & 80s, I became friends with Ted Gent, G3ODG. He was a good friend and a real inspiration to art of build. We have long since lost contact with each other however, Ted helped me along as I ventured into solid-state homebrew receivers. 
 
I have enclosed a  photo of a similar one valve oscillator that I built when I was 15. So much thrill is derived when your hands construct a useful element of your radio shack.
 
 
73's
Keep building, keep enjoying!
 
Harv -=WA3EIB=-
Idaho Falls, Idaho  USA

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Greg W's Australia-Finland Mighty Mite (VIDEO)

Greg is a VK6 Australian ham living permanently in Finland.   He has been a SolderSmoke listener for many years.  Greg sent a nice picture and a video of his VK-OH Mighty Mite.   FB Greg!


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

SDR Dongle Modified for HF. Watch it work on 40 meters (VIDEO)

With SPRAT 162 by my side, armed with an FT37-43 trifilar wound transformer, I popped open the RTL-SDR dongle.  I had hopes of being able to solder two tiny wires to the unused input pins (3 and 4) but I quickly realized that I was NOT going to be able to do that -- they are far too small for me to work on.  So I did what Ken Marshall G4IIB did:  I took out the SMT caps going to pins 1 and 2 and soldered two small wires there.  This will limit this dongle to HF only -- if I want VHF/UHF I'll just spend another $13 dollars!  You can see the results in the video above.

 

I used the yellow stuff to hold the wires in place.  It was later removed.

Tony Fishpool did a neater job.  See his work here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1987387/Even_more_on_using_the_RTL2832U_Dongle.pdf


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

"Basta Blues" with Pete Juliano on the Guitar

What makes this short video special is the fact that the music was all completely designed (composed) and homebrewed (played) by Pete himself.

From Pete:

In Italian when one has finally had enough --the Hue and Cry is BASTA! I have been having some Basta Moments in trying to make Arduino 1.6.3 work with sketches developed in Version 1.0.5.

So for some comic relief I decided to program a 240X320 Color TFT with a random pattern generator using the word Basta! Of course is was done in Arduino 1.0.5!
Pete N6QW

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

"Dongle" USB SDR Receiver $13 (VIDEO)

I was recently commenting to Pete that I could use some gear that would give me a better means of checking the bandwidth of my transmissions.  Pete.  pointed to the latest issue of our much-loved SPAT magazine.  Indeed on SPRAT 165 (Spring 2015) there is an article by Ken Marshall G4IIB on how  use the RTL2832u R820T DVB-T "dongle" (USB stick) as an SDR receiver.  I sent 13 dollars to Amazon.  The device arrived yesterday.   I followed Ken's instructions and soon I had the little device inhaling on 12 meters.  It is really amazing.  Lots of technology in a little box the size of your thumb!  I use it with the free HDSDR software and have been listening to 12 and 10 CW and SSB.  See the video above.  Tomorrow I will attempt Ken's mod that will open up the other HF bands.  Then I will be able to put to use a second SPRAT article about this device :  Also in SPRAT 165 Tony Fishpool  G4WIF  describes how to use this device as a rudimentary indicating instrument for bandwidth measurements. 

Great stuff.  Get yourself one of these devices.  You will in effect be getting an all-band all-mode computer controlled receiver for $13 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D3GRU24/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks Ken, thanks Tony.


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

SolderSmoke, ArduinWoes, and BrainwagonBastas!

It might not be apparent, but I have it on good authority the guy with the blue face pulling the Brainwagon was saying "BASTA!" when this drawing was made,  probably after an evening spent with Arduinos and their fascinating I2C libraries. 

Mark, K6HX, kindly offered to help us with our ArduinWoes (painful details are available in SolderSmoke Podcast #175).   Mark went to the trouble of getting the display and I2C backpack that have been giving us trouble, and then went and did a lot of testing to find the origins of the problems.   He has written this all up in two brilliant blog posts: 

http://brainwagon.org/2015/04/21/a-not-entirely-simple-lcd-display-for-the-arduino/

http://brainwagon.org/2015/04/22/using-a-sainsmart-lcd-panel-with-the-arduino-1-6-3-ide/

You will notice that Mark has made quite liberal use of the word "basta."   As Pete has noted, in order to get the full effect of this very therapeutic Italian word, you have to make use of the correct hand gesture.  Veronika nails it at about 1:28 in this video  (WARNING: VERONIKA CAN BE QUITE EXPLICIT):



Thanks Mark for all your help on this.  I'm not sure if we are entirely out of the woods yet, but it is reassuring that we are not the only ones screaming...
 

. 

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

Harv's Idaho Mighty Mite

Greetings Bill, Pete,
While between tasks, I put a little work in on the LPF for the Michigan Mighty Mite.
I will soon be ready to light this thing up. I fit everything on a copper board 3.5 X 5.
I even put some non-skid rubber feet and fashioned the tank circuit for 40 Meters.
The Color Burst frequency was a bit too low for a practical antenna on this small city lot so, I did the next best thing.
It's like reliving those teen years, routing through boxes of misc parts and soldering them in place one at a time.
The thrill involved kind of brings those days back to future.

I wanting to construct a regen-receiver but, the pile in front of the solder station is urging me to continue on with the Minima.

I love the variety of Mighty Mites that have been built thus far. Each one is like a painting where the artist has left their signature on their work.

Keep building, Keep having fun and Keep learning. 

73's

Harv -=WA3EIB=-
Eastern Idaho

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

Progress! Si5351 VFO/BFO Working

 

I got the Si5351 portion of the new rig going today.  I used an Arduino program from Thomas LA3PNA.  It is relatively barebones, without a lot of bells and whistles, but it does just what I need:   it puts out a fixed BFO frequency and a variable VFO frequency, and displays the resulting transmit frequency.   Thanks Thomas, and thanks to Jason, NT7S, for his work on the Arduino libraries that make this all possible.

 

 

It is very simple:  Just an Arduino Uno with the Si5351 board sitting above it on a proto board that Pete sent me (thanks Pete!).  You can see the rotary encoder on the panel, and the 10K pot to set the brightness of the back-lit display.   I put the Arduino USB port on the front to make it easier to update the software, change the BFO freq. etc.    I'm going to use another cigar box wooden box for this projects, so the VFO/BFO front panel board was sized with that box in mind.  

 

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

SolderSmoke 175 Mellow Audio, Pete in China, JBOM&BITX, ArduinoWoe, BFOVFO Chip, Chuck Adams, Mailbag

SolderSmoke Podcast #175 is available:

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke175.mp3

18 April 2015

-- Some enhanced audio testing (Mellow, with Presence!)
-- Pete's trip to Fake-shu-out, China
-- My visit to the National Academy of Sciences
--Bench Reports:
   Pete's JBOM Re-born
   Bill's plans for a new SSB Transceiver
-- Arduino Woes   BASTA!!!!!!!!!!!
-- Si5351 VFO/BFO development 
-- Chuck Adams, Tribal Knowledge, and Muppet boards
-- KX3 QRO?
-- What antenna for Pete?
MAILBAG

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

One more on Gagarin

Bill, Pete,

In keeping with historical events, I have enclosed a few snap-shots from the 1961 Pittsburgh Press dated Wednesday, April 12, 1961.
Yes, a few of us recall that very day. I had filed this newspaper in my Scrap Book back then. It was a bitter sweet thing, to read for most, as we hoped the U.S. to be first but none-the-less, we smiled anyway because, it proved a person could go into space and return. (Flight Breaks Barrier to Space Travel). I was very enthusiastic about Rockets, Travel and current events. I built my own capsule in the rafters of my parents home and spent all day up there in the tiny confines as I launched my own secret adventures into Outer-Space.

Hope you enjoy the photos. I can provide a better set of copies if you are interested.

73's

Harv - WA3EIB
Idaho Falls, ID

Harv:   I converted a small closet into what I saw as an excellent simulator of the Apollo 11 Command Module.  Bill


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

Cosmonautics Day Follow-up

Mark, K6HX, took a break from Hummingbird photography and captured some of the images streaming down from the International Space Station on Cosmonautics Day (April 11):  http://brainwagon.org/2015/04/11/sstv-from-the-iss/  
Very cool Mark (and I think the bird pictures are just as cool!)

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

Once again, into the digital morass...

Well, it has happened to me yet again:  After a somewhat happy period of stubborn luddite rejection of digital technology, yesterday I decided to jump into the fascinating world of Si5351 PLL chips.  I don't have to tell you who is responsible for this decision.  But he is of Italian descent and lives in Southern California.

I'm working with an Arduino Uno board and a prototyping shield sent to me by the same Italo-Californian gentleman.  The physical wiring of the Si5351 was remarkably easy -- just four connections.  Wow, I thought, this is going to be easy.  WRONG. 

Lady Ada's sketch and library compiled and uploaded without difficulty and the little device was simultaneously spitting out 125 MHz, 13 MHz, and 10 kHz energy.  Pretty cool.

But I got into trouble when I tried to load some of the VFO circuits out there.  Most of the trouble was caused by my errors in managing all the libraries and such.  But as I was telling Billy, it really seems to me that the folks who work on this stuff are using another language. And the problem is that it is a NON-HUMAN LANGUAGE.   If it were French or even Chinese, it would probably be easier. But you end up getting error "messages" like "U-int-8 has not been declared!"   Oh, I see.  I found myself thinking back fondly to my recent problems on 40 meters with the screeching amp and the helpful ESSB guys.  Ah, the good old days.

So, I'm not going as far as declaring microcontrollers to be demonically possessed (remember the regens?)  But I do suspect extraterrestrial involvement in these little devices. 

In the end, I got several of the VFO sketches working.  You get a sense of how new the Si5351 VFO work is when you find yourself using code that was written last week or last month.  Thanks to Lady Ada, Pete N6QW, Jason NT7S, Tom AK2B, and Thomas LA3PNA.  All of these folks are doing great work, moving the radio art forward (even if they are working with ET). 


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