Now THAT'S a SHACK! W9EVT

You can barely see George, W9EVT, down there in the back! And this is only one portion of his shack. Jeff, KO7M, alerted us to this masterpiece of radio architecture. Many more pictures here:
http://www.qrz.com/db/w9evt

VK3AJG's DSB RIG

John, VK3AJG, sent us info on his new portable 80 meter DSB transceiver. Very nice. A welcome change from the usual NE602-based rigs. Double-A battery power and the use of a ceramic resonator are other nice features of this rig. GO DSB!
Details here: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jgprice/80M-DSB.html

SolderSmoke Podcast #118

http://www.soldersmoke.com

In SolderSmoke 118:

15 November 2009

Trip to the North of Italy -- All the way to Trieste!
SSSSS SSSSSSolution?
Playing with PSK-31 -- Shortwave Watching
I0/N2CQR wins CQ WW DX! (QRP, HB, DSB category)
New England Code Talker
Monitoring Apollo 11
Adventures in Surface Mount Soldering with Softrock 40
MAILBAG

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Final Report from the Maine Code Talker/160 QRP Rexpedition

Rex, W1REX, has a really nice article on this week's historic QRP expedition to the Maine coast. As you have read in this space, Michael, AA1TJ, challenged the mighty Atlantic with nothing more than the 15 milliwatts generated by his own voice. No joy this time, but we are sure that Michael will soon experience the same thrill felt by Marconi when that first, faint S was heard on the other side. Seab, AA1MY, overcame serious kite problems and fulfilled a long-held QRP ambition by working across the pond on 160 meters with less than 5 Watts. Congrats Seab! Congratulations to all the Rexpedition team members. It has been really fun to follow your adventure.

Read all about it here: (The link to the Rexpedition article is near the top of the page, but don't miss the wonderful kits that Rex is offering further below!)

http://www.qrpme.com/

Ham Monitored Apollo 11 Lunar Transmissions

July 1969. OM Larry Baysinger built a corner reflector (design sketch above) and used it to receive -- direct from the lunar surface -- the transmissions of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. He appears to have been the only amateur in the world to have done this. Knack to the Max! Well done Larry! Very cool.
More details (including recordings) here:
http://www.jefferson.kctcs.edu/observatory/apollo11/

Spy Radio: "The Looking Glass War"

Dave in Ireland alerted me to some interesting radio content in the John LeCarre spy novel "The Looking Glass War." (I think presenting this excerpt is allowable under "fair use.") Dave reports that the radio they are working on is the one pictured above. It is a British B2, SOE Type 3. The instructor obviously has the Knack, but the student seems a bit shaky.

----- The Looking Glass War: -----

(Fred Leiser is the agent, Johnson is the radio expert who is also mentioned to be Ham op)

'You know the set then?' Johnson asked.

'The B2.'

'OK. Official title, Type three, Mark two: runs on AC or a six-volt car battery, but you'll be using the mains, right? They've queried the current where you're going and it's AC. Your mains consumption with this set is fifty-seven watts on transmit and twenty-five on receive. So if you do end up somewhere and they've only got DC, you're going to have to borrow a battery, right?'

Leiser did not laugh.

'Your mains lead is provided with adaptors for all continental sockets.'

'I know.'

Leiser watched Johnson prepare the set for operation. First he linked the transmitter and receiver to the power pack by means of six-pin plugs, adjusting the twin claws on the terminals; having plugged in the set and turned it on, he joined the miniature Morse key to the transmitter and the earphones to the receiver.

'That's a smaller key than we had in the war,' Leiser objected. 'I tried it last night. My fingers kept slipping.'

Johnson shook his head.

'Sorry, Fred; same size.' He winked. 'Perhaps your finger's grown.'

'All right, come on.'

Now he extracted from the spares box, a coil of multi-stranded wire, plastic covered, attaching one end to the aerial terminals. 'Most of your crystals will be around the three megacycle mark, so you may not have to change your coil - get a nice stretch on your aerial and you'll be a hundred per cent Fred; specially at night. Now watch the tuning. You've connected up your aerial, earth, key headphones and power pack. Look at your signal plan and see what frequency you're on; dish out the corresponding crystal, right?' He held up a small capsule of black Bakelite, guided the pins into the double socket - 'Shoving the male ends into the doodahs, like so. All right so far, Fred? Not hurrying you, am I?'

'I'm watching. Don't keep asking.'

'Now turn the crystal selector dial to "fundamental all crystals", and adjust your wave band to match your frequency. If you're on three and a half megs you want the wave-band knob on three to four, like so. Now insert your plug-in coil either way round, Fred; you've got a nice overlap there.'

Leiser's head was supported in his hand as he tried desperately to remember the sequence of movements which once had come so naturally to him. Johnson proceeded with the method of a man born to his trade. His voice was soft and easy, very patient, his hands moving instinctively from one dial to another with perfect familiarity. All the time the monologue continued:

'TRS switch on T for tune'; put your anode tuning and aerial matching on ten; now you can switch on your power pack, right?' he pointed to the meter window. 'You should get the three hundred reading, nearly enough, Fred. Now I'm ready to have a go: I shove my meter selector on three and twiddle the PA tuning till I get maximum meter reading; now I put her on six ----'

'What's PA?'

'Power Amplifier, Fred: didn't you know that?'

'Go on.'

'Now I move the anode tuning knob till I get my minimum value - here you are! She's a hundred with the knob on two, right? Now push your TRS over to S - S for send, Fred - and you're ready to tune the aerial. Here - press the key. That's right, see? You get a bigger reading because you're putting power into the aerial, follow it?'

Silently he performed the brief ritual of tuning the aerial until the meter obediently dipped to the final reading.

'And Bob's your uncle!' he declared triumphantly.

'Now it's Fred's turn...'

AA1TJ Code Talker on the Maine Coast

Apparently no voice-powered transatlantic joy yet, but we all know it is just a matter of time. And I think this will be something completely new in radio history! Great try guys! Keep at it!

From W1REX last night:

We started about 8:45 am this morning, because AA1TJ was too excited to
wait any longer! He shouted into his #2 can for a couple of hours until
I thought he was going to burst a vessel....and I'm not talking about
one of the many passing by out on the ocean. We thought that we had a
2-way QSO a couple of times but the returns were simple lost in the
noise. Michael ran out of steam....or breath...and none of us old-timers
could cut the mustard..or soup...or whatever was in the can.

Seab, AA1MY, launched the kite last night prepping for an attempt at a
160m record. He intended to operate on 1.811 and cross 'the pond' with a
minuscule signal but the bridle broke on the kite and it sailed away....
It could be on the other side of the pond for all we know, as it was
never seen again. He launched a back-up kit tonight and had it up there
into the lower stratus-sphere but needed just a little more height as
there was still some antenna wire on the ground...but alas, the wind
came to an abrupt stop and the flying kite came to an abrupt just a
short time later.

So to sum up todays results: ZILCH!

We want to thank EVERYBODY who kept an ear out for us today and hope you
have the time and patience to try it again tomorrow morning!!

TOMORROW'S ITINERARY:

We have more wire up on 20m and will attempt another across the pond QSO
starting at 8:00AM local time or 1300 Zulu. Mike has to pick up his wife
at the airport in NH so the attempt will terminate long about 9:30AM
local time. So we have another 90 minutes to try for the record and YOU
have another 90 minutes to be a part of it. Listen in at 14.055 MHz
starting at 1300 hours. Put your good ears on and listen sharp... Hope
you hear us AND we hope to hear you hearing us...

Seab will take another stab at the 160m record (MAINE weather
permitting) probably around 700AM local time 1200 Zulu. He is
heartbroken that his dead-cert kit took a powder and dashed his dream.
Little back-up kite and a sightly altered antenna farm hopefully will
come through for him. Give a listen over there on the other side of the
Atlantic.

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73 in the 70s

Mike, VK3XL, has been helping me track down the article that led to my traumatic failed teenage receiver-building project. He found this very interesting index for 73 Magazine articles. A quick look through the 1975-1978 period revealed several suspects, and hit me with a wave of nostalgia. What a great magazine 73 was! Sure, it was a bit wacky, but it had really wonderful technical content, at just the right level for truly amateur ham radio operators. Take your own walk down memory lane:
http://www.qsl.net/kb9mwr/files/ham/73.html

Transatlantic Team Heads to the Coast!

When it comes time to cross the pond, it seems only natural to head to the beach. That's what Marconi did (above we see his team struggling with a kite at Newfoundland). And that is what AA1TJ, W1REX, AA1MY and W1PID are doing today and tomorrow. Here is Michael's message to QRP-L describing the expedition. Good luck guys!

Some of the lads are heading over to the Maine seacoast on Monday
morning for what we're calling a "Rexpedition." W1REX was kind enough
to secure the use of his family's beachfront camp for us for a couple
of days. He explained the urgency to them, saying, "...a bunch of
radio-heads want to talk to Europe with the equivalent of a cellphone
with a dead battery."

Rex, Seab, AA1MY and Jim, W1PID, are going to arrive early on Monday
to begin putting up the antennas. I plan to show up in time for lunch;
hopefully after all the hard work is done. Seab wants to erect a pair
of half-wave phased verticals on 20m. I think the plan is to lift a
160m antenna using one of Seab's big kites.

Our hope is to cross the pond on both 160m QRP and with my
voice-powered 20m transmitter. The weather forecast looks great at
least through Tuesday. My "Code Talker" will be rockbound on
14.055MHz; same as last Thursday. We'll begin the voice-powered 20m CW
attempt the first thing on Tuesday morning (11/10/09). Again, the goal
is to span the Atlantic, but as always, I'll be very pleased to work
anyone that hears me.

By the way, last Thursday's voice-powered operation on 20m was a great
success. Altogether, I worked four stations and received one SWL
report. The best DX was W4FOA in Chickamauga, GA; a distance of
923miles. Tony reported that my 15mW signal was "an honest 579". W4OP
- located one hundred miles to the north of Tony - handed me the same
report and followed up with an amazing recording (you can hear it on
my website). Later in the day I received an email from AD5VC. Dana
reported that he clearly copied my callsign while listening on the LSU
club station (K5LSU) in Baton Rouge; a distance of 1375miles (nearly
half the distance between the Maine coast and London, England).

I thought these were remarkable results for 15mW into an endfed wire
at 35 feet. It makes next week's attempt from a saltwater QTH, coupled
with the low-angle of radiation with a spot of directional gain all
the more exciting.

So please keep us in mind come next Tuesday morning. I'm guessing Seab
will be operating 160m QRP on both Monday and Tuesday evenings.

Thank you,
Mike, AA1TJ

Crossing the Pond... with the power of your voice

Michael Rainey, AA1TJ, has his eye on the North Atlantic. He's been thinking about maritime horns, and how far they could reach. He's built another kind of horn. I'm pretty sure that this one will soon take his voice and -- using ONLY the power of that voice -- send it across the mighty Atlantic. That's a pretty astonishing horn!

Yesterday Michael put a really nice message up on the QRP-L list. This is the kind of message that has earned him the title "Poet Laureate of QRP." Here is an excerpt:

I'm currently sitting at a desk on top of Vermont's highest mountain.
In the far distance I can see the Presidential mountain range of New
Hampshire. Roughly twice as far away is the Atlantic Ocean. The other
night I spoke into a tin can, and the power of my voice carried a
message to the Maine seacoast where K1MPM heard me as clear as a bell.
I think this is absolutely magical. The present prospect of blowing
into a tiny horn and having this pittance of exhaled energy carry a
message back to England - when the bone shaking horn on the old Queen
Mary couldn't carry to the horizon - is nearly beyond comprehension. I
know this is how everyone of us feels when we operate QRP.

Read the rest of Michael's message here:
http://mjrainey.googlepages.com/lavoixdesoc%C3%A9ans