Australia's Largest Hamfest

Hi Bill,

Just wanted to pass some pics of the Central Coast ARC Hamfest in New South Wales at Wyong approx 100km north of Sydney and about 80-90km south of my QTH. As you can see there was a reasonable amount of people there and some boot sales as well.


The first thing that I found in the boot sale area was a copy of SSDRA (1977 vintage) almost as old as I am. I found it in one of those boxes under a table with other books on top. I immediately gave the book to the guy selling it and asked how much, and to my surprise he said $5 Aust. I couldn't get my money out quick enough and put it my bag that I had for collecting all those small parts. See attached pic of said book. I saw a brand new copy of EMRFD at the WIA stand for $85.
On my way around the boot sales I also saw this Hallicrafters radio and I thought of you and took a photo of it the only thing was I have no idea what model it is?

I also picked up a couple of small variable caps with the nice ceramic fronts on them and only $1 each. I also picked up some hard drawn stranded copper wire 2.5mm dia & 200m long for only $170 which isn't too bad a price here in Oz.

The biggest part of the day was catching up with all the guys I know from the area where I am now and others I haven't seen since I went last time in 2008, so it was a great outing and will have to start reading another book and start looking at maybe making a HB 30m APRS Txer for when I go I my next trip.

73,

Adam

VK2YK & VK6GA

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CircuitLab Online Simulator

I gave the new CircuitLabs online circuit simulator a test drive this morning. It worked very well, even on my clunky old computer. I think this online system will open up circuit simulation for people who haven't used a simulator before. And it looks like a great tool for collaboration. Give it a spin!

https://www.circuitlab.com/

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Finnish Knack

Congratulations Ari! Thanks for the nice e-mail.

Hi,

I just wanted to thank you for your inspirational and enjoyable
book "SolderSmoke -- Global adventures in Wireless Electronics".
I bought it from Amazon.com as an electronic eBook a few months
ago and started reading. After a few pages a lot of flashbacks
from my own youth came into my mind.

In the early 1980's when I was a teenager I got some local
electronics and ham-radio books into my hands through relatives
and the local library. They were very interesting and I got
my mind and time set into DX-listening, building electronic devices
etc., but the HAM-radio licence just seemed to be so difficult
to achieve that I sort of displaced the idea from my mind
for a long time.

After that I did my conscriptional military service in the
Finnish navy, passed a 5-month radio communications course
(including the part that I feared the most in the HAM-radio
exam too - the CW) and served as a radio and battle control
radar operator on-board local corvette Turunmaa in the
late 80's.

After that university studies, foreign job assignments and
establishing my own family extinguished a lot of these former
hobbies for quite some time but now for the past few years as
things have sort of stabilized, I started to think and do
something about them again. Inspired at least partly by your
book decided to try it out and started studying the material
for our local radio amateur license exams. The exams were held
a couple of weeks ago and my license arrived today in the mail.

73 de Ari OH2ECG

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Ade Weiss's New Book

Big news on the QRP/homebrew literature front. One of the titans of the genre, Ade Weiss, has released another amazing book about our hobby. I really enjoyed Ade's first history of QRP, and, because it covers a more recent period (1968-1981), I think this new this one is even more interesting. I took a portion of it with me on the train yesterday (and will be doing the same for the rest of the week!) The book is a wonderful technical history. It is filled with interesting stories and with very illuminating schematics and technical discussions. Ade takes us through the exciting early days transistor transmitters and direct conversion receivers. There is a lot of discussion of the commercial rigs that we've come to know and love -- lots of HW8s and Argonauts. And Ade has made it all available as a free download! Thanks Ade!

http;//www.QRPdxPropagationAntennas.com

ADE WEISS'S NEW HISTORY BOOK -- PDF DOWNLOAD:

http;//www.QRPdxPropagationAntennas.com

THE FIVE-WATT QRP MOVEMENT IN THE US, 1968-1981

by Adrian Weiss W0RSP (ex-K8EEG),

author of

JOY OF QRP: STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS

HISTORY OF QRP IN THE US, 1924-60

IONOSPHERIC PROPAGATION, TRANSMISSION LINES, AND ANTENNAS FOR THE QRP DX’R

The Milliwatt: National Journal of QRPp

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part 1. K6JSS and the 100-watt QRP ARCI ………………………………….......... 1

Part 2. QRP/8 Newsletter, QRPP CORNER Column, and THE MILLIWATT:
The Beginning of the Five-Watt QRP Movement in the US ... 3

Part 3. The QRP World Outside the 100-watt QRP ARCI ………………….... 22

Part 4. The QRP Takeover of the 100-watt QRP ARCI. ………………….......85

THE MILLIWATT QRPp DXCC and MILLIWATT DXCC Trophy List..........105

Adrian Weiss W0RSP’s Bibliography: Selected Technical Articles. 109

EPILOGUE: W0RSP Retro-ARRL-DX-Contest 2/18-19, 2012 Log, PIX....111

***************

IF you are interested in where our niche in the hobby came from, and would

like to read about the developments in technology caused by the transistor

and IC, and see many then-new but still-used circuits, and learn the

history of the commercial evolution of QRP gear from Ten-Tec, MFJ,

Heathkit and others, then this book is for you!

It is 115 PAGES in length in PDF FORMAT--

FREE!!! DOWNLOAD (32MEGS, ~ minute +/-) FROM:

www.QRPdxPropagationAntennas.com

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29% Off on SolderSmoke Book! Leap Year Sale!

Leap Year Sale at Lulu on "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm

Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D

This is about 2 years old, but somehow I missed it. It is really beautiful, and it helps keep things in perspective.

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Winterfest!

Billy and I went to the Vienna Wireless Association's Winterfest hamfest yesterday. We had a great time and met many SolderSmoke fans. Above you can see me and Randy, N3UMW, the designer of our SolderSmoke logo. Thanks again Randy!

There's Charles, AI4OT. Charles bought a copy of the SolderSmoke book at last year's Winterfest. This year he dropped by to show us his tiny Steve Weber QRP rig in an Altoids tin. FB! And he was kind enough to talk-up the book, helping me make a few sales! Thanks Charles!

We managed to get rid of a bunch of junk, and only bought one item of new junk (a Hallicrafters S-38E receiver). And we got to show our friend (and aspiring homebrewer) John what a real hamfest is all about.

Thanks to the VWS for another great 'fest.

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

The ZL2BMI DSB Transceiver

Oh man, I've been a fan of this rig for many years. I first read about it in the pages of SPRAT. Today I stumbled across what appears to be an on-line version of the instruction booklet prepared by Eric Sears, ZL2BMI. Lots of lore in there. Lots of soul in this rig.

This site has three documents describing the rig. All three are a lot of fun: http://www.mightymessage.com/

Three cheers for Eric Sears! Hip-hip...


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Two Workbenches and a Mini Solder Pot

KC9LIF's bench

Hi Bill,

FB...What a great addition to your work bench. Congrats, you will put it to good use! I remember that scope when I worked at the Nuclear Physics Research Department Cyclotron at Indiana University about 30 years ago. It was the top of the line and worked great!! I lucked out by getting a Techtronics 2213 60Mhz dual trace at a Hamfest for a great price a few years back. Luck like that comes to those that wait. I recently gave my work bench a face lift... BTW, the bench doesn't look that nice now...

73,

Kent KC9LIF

Dino's bench

Bill -
Ray VK4ZW's "solder pot" idea is a good one....for another version check out Doug Hendrick's tech note at his Hendricks QRP site:

http://www.qrpkits.com/files/MiniSolderPot.pdf

Congrats on the new scope! We have finally moved to our "place in the sun" and I had the opportunity to double the size of my workbench.
73 - Dino KL0S



Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Fat Tubes-day!

I couldn't resist using that title. Stephen from the UK sent me this link to Jeff Duntemann's site about Compactron tubes. Many possibilities here. I think I have a 6T9 in my junk box. These are kind of like tube versions of ICs, but with the advantage of being understandable.

http://www.junkbox.com/electronics/CompactronTubesIndex.shtml


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

New Oscilloscope!

That, my friends, is a genuine dual-trace, 100 MHz Tektronix oscilloscope. Wow, a new day has dawned on the N2CQR workbench! The 'scope comes to me as a result of the generosity of friend who, like the guy in the old "Millionaire" TV show, prefers to remain anonymous. He claims this is an equipment trade, but the terms were so one-sided (in my favor), that this was really a gift.

As you can see below, the 'scope fits perfectly in the center position on the shelf above the bench. I've already put it to work -- here you see it looking at the output from the VFO of the kick panel rig.

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Book Sale!

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"
http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm