Thomas KK6AHT's Pacificon Minima Presentation: Noodling! And Maxima Inspiration!

Wow, the Minima presentation by Thomas at Pacificon was really great.   I think he had exactly the right tone and tech level for the digitally-savvy California audience.  His very open description of the ups and downs of his Minima build will surely lure in some new builders, and will at the same time prepare them for the travails ahead!  Great stuff.  I like the mention of Pete's "noodling."  Thomas obviously gets it.  And he obviously has THE KNACK.  Thanks Thomas!  

Thomas has posted his slides and (MOST IMPORTANT) the audio of his presentation.  Just click on the BIG ORANGE play arrow below the slides.  You folks will love this: 

http://www.sarfata.org/2014/10/Minima-Presentation-at-Pacificon/

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Drake-uino! Arduino DDS puts Drake 2B on 12 meter band!

After using the Arduino DDS as a crystal substitute with my 1982 Barebones Superhet recevier (scroll down), I moved back two more decades and used the DDS as a crystal substitute to put my (early '60s) Drake 2B on the 12 meter band.    This was a hack in which I actually used a hack saw -- I used it to cut open the container holding a crystal so that I could make a socket that would carry the signal from the Arduino DDS into the Drake 2B. 

This video is a bit repetitive, but it stated out at two different videos.  I just put them together.  The last part shows the actual crystal socket hack. 

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Arduino DDS meets Barebones Superhet (Video)

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Pete's 17 Meter VXO Transceiver (Video)

Pete:  

I like it!  You and I may be the only people in the world with that kind of VXO range control switch on the front panel!

 

I checked my VXO.   I run it at around 23 MHz.  I use two single crystals, also switched by a relay. 

The 23.144 rock tunes from 23.127 to 23.151    24 kHz

The 23.166 rock goes from  23.144 to 23.168    24 kHz

 So I could have had 48 kHz were it not for the overlap.  As it is, I get 41 kHz.  Not bad.

 

The reason I went with this LO freq was that I had these crystals from the Dale Parfitt/Doug DeMaw Barebones Barbados Receiver.  DeMaw had used color burst rocks for a 3.579 MHz IF, but Dale shifted up to 5 MHz. I could occasionally hear WWV!  (But with the 3.579 I heard W1AW in the IF!)

 

73

 

Bill  

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Homebrew Double Balanced Mixers by Pete Juiano (Part II) Video

Another great video from Pete.  I like the unbalancing mod -- I hate having to whistle into the mic!

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Hacker with The Knack Does Well, Working for JPL

Wow.  This guy has a really inspirational Knack story.  He welded (with coat hangers!) a sidecar onto his bike when he was a kid.  He majored in Physics and Theater.  He did all kinds of hardware and software hacks. He plays a Theravin in a band.   He now flies spacecraft for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

And Congratulations to Peter Parker, VK3YE, for having one of his ingenious hacks picked up by Hackaday:
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/06/dusty-junk-bin-downconverter-receives-fm-on-an-am-radio/

Thanks Hackaday! And Happy Tenth Birthday to You!  

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Edison is Off The Grid (and has been for 24 years!)

I talked to him last night on 17 meters.  He's a nice fellow.  When your first name is Edison, that's an indication that you might have THE KNACK.   

From his QRZ page: 

Ready for this?
My wife and I have lived off-the-grid for more than 24 years. Solar and wind are our main power sources on our mountain, although, we did finally add a generator to our available power sources, for those long days of "NO SUN" in Winter.  Check out the view from my home at this site:  http://mycampage.com/rosevalleycam  and also look at the other links on the page.  You might find something you like....
I've been a ham since 1967.  Started as a Novice near Sacramento, California, where I was born. But WN6FIC soon became WA6FIC, which I remained until the late 90's, when I became N7GCW.
I am a musician. Along with my wife, and Blaine Lindgren, our fiddle player, we comprise the band called "Half-way There". Click on my campage link to see more about me, and you will find all of my other links there too.  I am also a photographer. I shoot it all, but REALLY enjoy taking pictures of scenery, and live bands at Concerts we go to. I am also very fond of Sunrises, and Sunsets, and they ARE beautiful here.....

Also, check out his TREK page: 
http://n7gcwtrek.weebly.com/index.html

And I liked his description of his county in Washington state: 
"...I absolutely LOVE my world, here in our little valley.  Our friends are like family here.  People smile and wave...and mean it!  We heat exclusively with wood we cut from dead trees on our land, use propane for cooking and refrigeration, and we use solar and wind for most of our power needs, only supplemented by a generator in those long days of no-sun in Winter.  It's like living in a time warp, here in our neck-of-the-woods....  Do you know that there isn't a traffic signal in the entire county?" 
See: http://edisonshomesite.weebly.com/

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Pete's Homebrew Double Balanced Mixer Video (Part 1)

Another great video from the famed Italian Director Giovanni Manzoni!  Bravo Giovanni! 

Pete's discussion of double balanced mixers and the associated toroids has made me feel uneasy about my efforts in this area.  I wonder if my diodes were completely matched.  And I KNOW that my toroids are not as well done as Pete's.  

I recently put an SBL-1 into my old, long-evolving 20 meter ceramic resonator DSB rig. Careful with those nice little boxes! A bit too much juice and you can fry the little internal toroids (as I have done!). 

A while back I found in an RSGB Handbook a nice diagram showing how the diode ring mixer does its thing: 


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SolderSmoke Podcast 166: Getting Started in Homebrew Radio

SolderSmoke Podcast 166 is available for download: 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke166.mp3 

Bench Report:  Pete working on Direct Conversion Receivers.  
Bill on his 2B and on 20DSB rig, and an M0XPD/Kanga DDS kit, and a 140 watt amp. 

GETTING STARTED IN HOMEBREW:
Start simple:  Build an oscillator. Make it oscillate!
Gather tools, simple test gear, and books. 
Try to understand what you build. 
Build a direct conversion receiver.  
Don't fear the toroids! 
Be patient.  This is not Plug and Play. 
Build a DSB transceiver. 
Little tips: 
Protect variable caps. 
Use heat sinks. 
Use reverse polarity protection. 
Don't breathe the solder smoke! Ventilate your bench.

China Radio International Mystery Solved.  
Book Recommendation:  "International QRP Collection" by Dobbs and Telenius-Lowe
MAILBAG

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Sines, Squares, Harmonics, 'Scopes, FFTs, and Sounds

Bil Herd of Hackaday did a very nice video on Sine Waves, Square Waves and FFTs.  This is, of course, an important part of understanding how mixers mix.   I look forward to his upcoming video on Direct Digital Synthesis.  

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Hunting for Sprites

Don't let the comments about "positive lightning" and "gravity wave" cameras turn you off -- in the world of meteorology, these terms seem to make sense (but I had to do some Googling).  The New York Times article on this topic is very interesting: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/science/on-the-hunt-for-a-sprite-on-a-midsummers-night.html?_r=0  

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Beautiful Pictures of Mars from India's Spacecraft

Congratulations to the Indian Space Research Organization.  They put a spacecraft into Mars orbit on their first attempt, and they are getting back some spectacular images.  

I also like the banner on their web site: 

More info here: 

http://www.isro.org/pslv-c25/Imagegallery/mom-images.aspx

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