Saturday, August 31, 2024

How to Homebrew your own Transistors

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No store-bought transistors for these guys -- they homebrew their own point contact transistors using a bit of Germanium from a diode.  This...
2 comments:
Friday, August 30, 2024

Mr. Carlson Makes a Thermatron Power Supply for a BC-348

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When I was 14, I had to make a power supply for a Heath HW-32A.   Mine ended up working, but it was nowhere near as nice as Mr. Carlson'...
4 comments:
Wednesday, August 28, 2024

SolderSmoke Quiz Question: Who is the actor in this Bell Labs video?

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He appears at 8 minutes, 17 seconds.  And he is somehow in the YouTube title frame.  I think I know who it is.  Any ideas?  (DON'T LOOK ...
3 comments:
Sunday, August 25, 2024

"Matter Waves" -- A 1961 Bell Labs Film

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I continue to mine the AT&T video archive .  Here's a really wonderful 1961 film showing how particles really are waves also.   The ...
5 comments:
Friday, August 23, 2024

Arthur C. Clarke Talks about Satellites, SETI, Remote Work, and Wrist Radios (1976 Video)

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He was, of course, right about the impact of satellites, but he was the inventor of the geo-stationary concept.  I wonder how he would react...
Tuesday, August 20, 2024

"The Far Sound" -- Bell System Video from 1961 -- Good Radio History (video)

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This is a really OLD video, but there is a lot of great material here:  -- Tubes.  (Valves or Thermatrons) -- Coax.   -- Frequency Division ...
4 comments:
Monday, August 19, 2024

Harry Caul had THE KNACK -- Movie Review -- "The Conversation" --1974 by Francis Ford Coppola (Harry Caul based on W3VCG)

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  I give it FIVE Soldering Irons!  I found it on Amazon Prime.  The workshop scenes remind me of ham workshops.  The movie character Harry C...
2 comments:
Friday, August 9, 2024

How Big is a Photon? (Video)

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As I have mentioned in the podcast and in blog posts, I have a lot of trouble picturing HOW 20 meter photons somehow fly off my antenna.   I...
Thursday, August 1, 2024

The Tropics Defined: Sun Directly Overhead on July 31 in Punta Cana DR

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July 31, 2024  12:30 Local Time Check out the shadow at my feet.  The sun is directly overhead.  This happens here on July 31, shortly after...
2 comments:
Monday, July 29, 2024

A Wonderful Aeronatical Mobile Contact

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  29 July 2024 20S 0943Z 0543L K8JSM/AM Sean, pilot on a 757/300. En route from San Francisco to Orlando with 246 souls on board, including ...
3 comments:
Sunday, July 28, 2024

A Message from Walter KA4KXX -- On Bias Setting, the Joys of Al Fresco Rigs, Lawn--Sign Radio Base

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  Dear Dean KK4DAS: ... 3) Note that a rule of thumb I have used successfully in adjusting RF Power MOSFET bias is to increase the voltage i...
1 comment:
Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Some Pictures of SolderSmoke Shack South

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That's me at the operating position.   Window looks out to the terrace and to the ocean to the East, the  Mona channel.  The shack is on...
7 comments: