Is the Veritasium Guy Retiring? Google says SolderSmoke is "Low Value Content."

I have been a fan for many years.  His comments on the vile influence of the algorithm and AI are right on target.  

Google recently informed me that the SolderSmoke blog has "Low Value Content."  Well, consider the source! 

Click for a better view (better than the one provided above by GOOGLE!)

I think Veritasium has made a good choice.  

Three cheers for Veritasium!  

The Coastwatchers -- Their Rigs and Their Islands

 

AWA Teleradio 3BZ used by coastwatchers during the war Source: Australian War Memorial (P01035 .006)

Here is a great site about the AWA 3BZ Wireless set: 

https://www.qsl.net/vk2dym/radio/3BZa.htm . 

AWA 3B SET

Here's a good article about the Coastwatchers: 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/investigations-and-features/2025/12/22/former-school-teacher-led-guerrilla-army-behind-japanese-lines-solomon-islands-and-helped-us-win.html

Guadalcanal 1943

I've been interested in the Solomon islands lately because my wife and I have been watching a YouTube video channel about a family living on Uepi island: 

 https://www.youtube.com/c/TheIslandLifeofUs 

Uepi is right on "the slot," near New Georgia. 

There are WWII remnants still visible (underwater) at Uepi: 

AI Overview

Uepi Island in the Solomon Islands is famous today for its World War II history, particularly its abundant, accessible WWII wreck dives (aircraft & ships) in Marovo Lagoon, a key battleground during the Solomon Islands Campaign, offering divers a tangible connection to the fierce fighting between US and Japanese forces. The area, near major WWII sites like Guadalcanal, features underwater artifacts like Japanese Zeroes and US Corsairs, with the modern Uepi Island Resort preserving these historical relics within its dive operations. 

Uepi's WWII Significance

• Location: Uepi is situated in the Marovo Lagoon, part of the Solomon Islands, which were central to the brutal Pacific Campaign of WWII.
• Wreck Dives: The waters surrounding Uepi are a "treasure trove" of sunken WWII aircraft (like P39 Air Cobra, Japanese Zeroes) and shipwrecks, making it a prime destination for historical diving.
• Preservation: The Uepi Island Resort actively manages and promotes responsible diving at these sites, emphasizing that removing artifacts is illegal. 

Key WWII Sites & Wrecks Near Uepi

• Wickham Harbour: Located near Uepi, this area contains significant WWII wrecks, accessible via boat trips from the island.
• Aircraft: Divers can find Japanese Zeroes, American Corsair fighters, and potentially B24 bombers, often in challenging conditions, with efforts to move some to cleaner areas.
• Marovo Lagoon: As one of the world's largest saltwater lagoons, it holds numerous historical remnants from the intense fighting. 

Alexanderson Alternator on 17.2 kHz Copied by YO2DXE in Romania

 On December 1st 1924, the 20kW Alexanderson Alternator with the call sign "SAQ" was put into commercial operation with telegram traffic from Sweden to the United States. 101 years later, the transmitter is the only remaining electro-mechanical transmitter from this era and is still in running condition. On Christmas Eve morning, Wednesday December 24th 2025, the transmitter is scheduled* to spread the traditional Christmas message to the whole World, on 17.2 kHz CW.

You can listen to the CW from Ciprian's setup above.  I listened to it carefully and clearly heard the "KW ALTERNATOR" words at around the 3:30 mark in Ciprian's video.  I wondered if this was in fact the SAQ Alternator (but then again, who else would be on 17.2 kHz on Christmas Eve?).  I looked at the video from Sweden (below) at around the 49.37 mark we see the operator send "200 KW ALTERNATOR." Through Ciprian's video, I copied "KW ALTERNATOR."  So Ciprian's operation was a success.  Congratulations Ciprian! 

Merry Christmas to all!  

The AN/PRC-74 -- A Covert Contact, An Analog Synthesizer, A Benefit of Channelization, and a Good Thing about Band Noise

I have a sentimental tie to this older military transceiver, for several reasons:

 

-- This was probably the transceiver that we hauled into the Uwharrie national forest when I was in the army in 1983.  I made one 40 meter CW contact with it.  It was interesting for me to see Ray tune the rig up on 40 meter CW. 

-- I like the crude, early, non-digital synthesizer. 

-- This is a good example of the use of an old military rig on 5357 kHz in the 60 meter band.  This is the only one of the chanelized frequencies on that band that is on a whole interger of kHz frequency.  It fit well with the 1 kHz tunability of the transceiver.  Thus we had the "Moose and Squirrel" net on 5357 KHz. 

-- I like how Ray uses the band noise to peak the receiver.  Band noise, you see, has its uses. 

A VERY Interesting Old "Steam Punk" Homebrew Thermatron Rig -- Can You Suggest A Home for this Rig? (Video)

Oh man.  They got me at the breadboard, but there was so much more:  

-- A mercury switch

--  A homebrew variometer

-- A reading lamp

-- A specially made (and stored!) tuning tool and a mechanical pencil 

--  A CQ paper tape and tape reader! 

-- A front panel clock

-- Space for QSL cards on the front panel   

This is a really cool homebrew radio!  Can someone find a good home for this amazing device?  The video was posted only 1 month ago.  

Pete N6QW Asks Copilot about Homebrew vs. Store Bought

Copilot is remarkably perceptive.   This AI-generated message really explains very well the differences between homebrew and store bought gear. 

Check out Pete's blog:   https://n6qw.blogspot.com/2025/12/mostly-ai-generated.html 

Homebrew vs Store Bought

There’s a moment every homebrewer knows: you shove aside the archaeological layers of past projects on the bench, uncover a few resistors stuck to a solder blob, and declare, “Yep, this is going to be a radio.” To the untrained eye, it looks like the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. But to the enlightened? It’s the beginning of greatness — or at least something that won’t catch fire too quickly.

Buying a radio is easy. Too easy. You click a button, a box arrives, and suddenly you’re the proud owner of a rig that has more menus than a chain restaurant. You spend the first week scrolling through settings trying to figure out why the audio sounds like a kazoo trapped in a tin can. But building a radio? That’s where the real fun begins. It’s where you learn that “datasheet recommended values” are merely suggestions and that toroids exist solely to test your patience and your vocabulary.

Commercial radios are sleek, polished, and packed with features you’ll never use but will brag about anyway. They’re also sealed tighter than a politician’s tax returns. You can’t poke around inside without voiding the warranty, the warranty’s warranty, and possibly a few federal regulations. Meanwhile, a homebrew rig practically begs you to poke it with a screwdriver. It’s the difference between owning a sports car you’re not allowed to open the hood on and owning a jalopy you can rebuild with duct tape and optimism.

And let’s be honest: building a radio is an act of rebellion. In a world where everything is prepackaged, preprogrammed, and pre‑approved, choosing to melt solder and wind toroids is basically saying, “I reject your consumerist convenience and substitute my own chaos.” It’s a declaration that understanding matters. That learning matters. That the journey — the mis-wired stages, the smoke tests, and the moment you realize you soldered the IC in backwards — is part of the joy.

There’s also something deeply personal about a homebrew rig. When you build it, you know every quirk. You know why the VFO drifts when the cat walks across the table. You know why the audio chain hisses like an angry snake. You know the exact moment when the rig came alive for the first time, pulling a faint signal out of the ether and making you shout, “It works!” loud enough for the neighbors to wonder if you’ve finally snapped.

And that first QSO? Pure magic. When someone hundreds or thousands of miles away responds to your signal, you feel a surge of pride no store‑bought rig can match. You didn’t just operate a radio. You created one. You made electrons dance to your tune. You built a bridge across the airwaves using nothing but determination, caffeine, and parts that probably came from a cardboard box labeled “misc — maybe useful someday.”

Homebrewing also keeps the spirit of amateur radio alive. The hobby wasn’t built on buying the latest rig because the brochure said it had “enhanced DSP algorithms.” It was built on people who asked, “What if?” and then went to the bench to find out. When you build a radio, you’re participating in that legacy. You’re keeping the flame lit — even if the flame occasionally comes from a resistor, you accidentally overheated.

And let’s not forget the best part: when something breaks, you can actually fix it. No shipping it back to the manufacturer. No waiting six weeks for a repair estimate. No customer service rep telling you to “try turning it off and on again.” You grab a meter, poke around, and mutter, “Well, that shouldn’t be glowing,” and you fix it. That’s power.

Frank Jones W6AJF on Homebrew, Thermatrons, and VHF

We are in the Dominican Republic now. I thought SolderSmoke blog readers would like the introduction to Frank Jones W6AJF's VHF handbook. (Click on the pictures for a better view. ) The book was published in 1961.  Lots of good homebrew, VHF, and thermatron thinking in those pages. I will be using this book and the implied blessings of W6AJF in my upcoming 2 meter assault on the Mona Passage between the DR and Puerto Rico.  (Thanks too to W3RTV, the original owner of the book!) 

Click on the pictures for a better view. 

Click on the pictures for a better view. 

Bricoleur -- "Someone Who Fixes Stuff with Whatever he Finds Around"

A short time ago Paul VK3HN told us about the term bricolage. It seemed to capture much of the homebrew spirit.  This morning I heard Van Neistat's video-cast  (also something that came to me from Paul VK3HN) talking about the related term "bricoleur."  His  video (above) also has some great workshop ideas.  

Here is a nice Wikipedia discussion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bricolage

Note from the Wikipedia page: 

• MacGyver is a television series in which the protagonist is the paragon of a bricoleur,^[28] creating solutions for the problem to be solved out of immediately available found objects.

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! 

Happy Birthday to Pete Juliano N6QW

 

That, my friends, is the look of a steely-eyed homebrewer taking a break from the soldering iron by belting out a few noodled chords for SolderSmoke on his guitar.  And in the picture he is in the garage where all the homebrew magic happens.  

Pete, we know that this has been a tough orbit for you, but we still want to wish you a Happy Birthday OM -- you bring a lot of wisdom and tribal knowledge to many, many builders.  Thanks Pete. 

73  Pete. 

Arduino, Adafruit, Open Source, Qualcomm, and all that

This is not really my thing, but the changes to 60 meter rules recently caused me to crack open some older Arduino/Si5351 and AD9850 VFOs, so maybe this was my thing...  

Still, all of this chatter kind of disappears once you embrace analog LC VFOs.   But here is a good article about all of this: 

https://thenewstack.io/adafruit-arduinos-rules-are-incompatible-with-open-source/

15 kHz of 60 meters FINALLY Liberated! But Watch Out for the 9.15 Watt ERP Limit

My 60 meter rig in 2017

Here's a reminder of how long this took:  When Bob KD4EBM alerted me to the ARRL announcement that 15 kHz of the 60 meter band had been "liberated," I turned to my blog and found articles talking about this possible change way back in 2017.  Oh well, better late than never.  

Here is the ARRL announcement: 

https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-allocates-60-meter-world-wide-amateur-band-approved-at-wrc-15-continues-amateur-use-of-four-addi

Here are a couple of references from the SolderSmoke blog and one from the BITX Hacks blog in which Don ND6T shifts the BITX40 module's bandpass filter to 60 meters. 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2017/03/channelized-bitx-60-with-five-channels.html

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2017/03/bitx-sixty-with-three-short-videos.html

https://bitxhacks.blogspot.com/2017/02/cap-stack-hack-putting-bitx40-on-60.html

I reached into my junk box this morning and found the digital VFO I was using way back in 2017.  I may turn to Don again for help in getting the VFO segment to work. 

I got a chuckle about the FCC power limit:  9.15 watts ERP.  Wow, such precision! Can you imagine the FCC breaking down a radio amateurs shack door after, perhaps, measuring 9.16 watts ERP?  BUSTED!