-- Our audience IGNORES Pete's guitar intro! -- Pete on QSO Today Podcast. -- Part 97, The Radio Art and International Goodwill. BENCH REPORTS: -- Pete connects his new beam to the KX3. -- Pete puts the Bell-thorn on 20. -- Simple-ceiver update. -- Pete's new drum machine: http://makezine.com/2015/10/15/learn-electronics-worlds-oldest-drum-machine/ -- Bill fights noise in the DIGI-TIA. -- Bill fights power-line noise (and wins!). -- Drake 2B, skirts, reduction drives, and tuning rates. -- Warming up (with!) the DX-100.
-- N2CQR -- N6QW First Ever HB2HB QSO.
-- On 40 AM with an HT-37 -- Listening to Chinese CubeSats. -- SDR Dongle as a bandwidth checker.
-- SDR and the Future of Homebrew Radio.
-- Bryan's LBS Receiver. -- Dean's First Ever QSO with his HB rig.
-- 32 Mighty Mites Completed
-- The Martian -- Did Mark Watney REALLY have the Knack?
-- MAILBAG: Peter Parker's New Book Sparks from Ron Sparks Armand's 1Watter Rogier's pyro machine BIG boxes from Tim KI6BGE Mikele's ZIA and N6QW rig collection SPRAT 141 and SPRAT 164
I am Pieter callsign ZS3AOR. I came upon your E-Book at Amazon and downloaded it to my Kindle and man, I really enjoyed reading about your endeavors with everything.
The way you explained for instance the inner workings of transistors and mixers and problems associated with it is really good.
Subsequently I downloaded the August Podcast and I am hooked with you and Pete.
Kind regards from the Namaqualand region of South Africa (Northern Cape Province)
As I've been saying on the podcast, contacts in which both operators are using homebrew gear are increasingly rare, especially on SSB, and especially, it seems, in the USA. So let's chronicle these rare events. I've started a Label here on the blog called HB2HB. Send me reports of good HB2HB contacts -- recent or past -- and I'll try to get them onto the blog.
I've already described my recent QSO with Pete, N6QW. My second HB2HB from this location took place on 12 October 2015. I talked to Jeff GW3UZS in Cardiff, Wales on 17 meters. I was using my trusty BITX17. Jeff was running a much more sophisticated homebrew rig -- see above. More details on Jeff's beautiful rigs are on his QRZ.com page"
Michael Rainey's underground shack in Vermont is undeniably cool, but these folks have REALLY gone deep. They are almost a mile down, blocking out that nasty cosmic ray QRN, building sensitive detectors to QSO with some extremely elusive DX: DARK MATTER.
The wizard of Melbourne Beach, Peter Parker VK3YE, has written a book about QRP. Check it out here.
Peter is a true QRP guru. His Beach 40 transceiver is shaking the ether from locations around the world. I am really glad that he put that Melbourne dock on the cover. That dock has been the test site for many of Peter's amazing creations. The railing has supported many great antennas.So many wonderful YouTube videos have been recorded there. There really should be a plaque or something...
I was telling Pete that thousands of years from now, archeologists will be puzzled when they find, in many remote corners of the world, strange homebrew electronic devices with the symbol "N6QW" emblazoned on them. Who, they will ask, was the cult leader N6QW, and how did he get his followers to build these devices?
Thanks to the work of Mikele 9A3XZ, Croatia will surely be a major center for research into the N6QW cult. Check out Mikele's video. Stick around for the full 6 minutes and you will see the many N6QW rigs that Mikele has built. FB Mikele! Keep up the good work!
A video about the Kon-Tiki expedition got us wondering about how you could generate hydrogen gas for an antenna balloon while on a raft at sea. (That's the kind of question that keeps Knack victims up at night.) This led us to the Gibson Girl rescue radio. This morning I found a fascinating web site that gives the long, multi-country history of the curvaceous rescue rig:
Tonight I have had my first experience with the joy of oscillation! I'm so happy to have my M3 oscillating! This was a great first project and look forward to seeing if I can't build a lowpass filter to go with it. As you recommended Bill, I reconfigured my initial board to make things much more compact thus keeping the lead length short. For the coil, i used a 1.25in wooden dowel and it worked great! Here are a few photos. Thanks a lot for the crystal! Video will be coming soon.
Looking forward to Pete's 40m transceiver project. Keep up the great podcast!
I just had my first QSO with my ZIA transceiver! Contact was with W8ERN in Brighton Michigan, which is approximately 300 miles from my QTH in Nashville Indiana. W8ERN said I was barely audible and was surprised that he could hear me at all. Especially when he found out that I was running less than 5W on an end-fed wire. From what I heard, band conditions were pretty poor due to a magnetic storm.
Sorry I didn't get any video of the QSO. I heard him calling CQ and just answered. I didn't expect him to return my call. Btw, this was my first QSO as an amateur. I was a bit nervous, I don't know why. I plan on installing a 40M dipole before winter sets in so, hopefully my signal will get out a little further.
I have one other question. I am considering purchasing a used rig in the next few months. What would either one of you recommend? I am not abandoning my home-brewing but it would be nice to have a back up rig when conditions are bad. My budget is around $200 or so, and I don't mind something that might need some repairs. There is a hamfest in Fort Wayne(my hometown) next month, so I might go up there and do some shopping.
Thanks again for all of your encouragement and knowledge.
73's
Dean AC9JQ
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Hi Dean,
Congratulations on your first contact on the TIA AND your 1st contact as a ham. Bravo. Time to have a real celebration. Get cracking on that antenna before you have snow on the ground!!!
W8ERN, Angelo is an outstanding amateur and and a real gentleman. He has a very interesting past life. I think he worked for Multi Elmac and Central Electronics. During the 1940’s to 1960’s these companies produced some of the best ham gear. The AF-67 Transciter and the PMR8 were used mobile and of course the CE 100V and 200V were the first No Tune vacuum tube transmitters. So you were talking to one of the radio gods.
Again Congratulations Dean --- Bravo.
73’s
Pete
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Dean:
Wow that's great. Indeed the band conditions are about as bad as they get. So bad that they are seeing Northern Lights (Aurora) far south into the USA. Give it a few days and you will find much better conditions.
My advice on a commercial rig: DON'T! You may think that they'd do better when conditions are poor, but they really won't. If you want a bit more power, build an amp for the TIA.
You are off to such an amazing start as a true homebrew ham. Stay on the homebrew path. Build a completely homebrew station! Congrats!
