A friend in the UK writes:
I'm looking for volumes 2 and 4 of the "The Impoverished Radio Experimenter" pamphlets. I've searched in the UK for them - they are available but at silly money (nigh on £25.00 each). No sign of any pdf downloads, either. pdf downloads (preferred!) or purchasing at £10 and under would do me fine, if you know any sources?
Any ideas? Thanks, Bill
Saturday, May 4, 2019
Saturday, April 27, 2019
SolderSmoke Podcast #211 -- Malicious Code! Spaace! Vintage Sideband! MAILBAG
SolderSmoke Podcast #211 is available
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke211.mp3
Pete NOT quitting podcast! Malicious code case RESOLVED!
Ambiguity and the Digi-Analog Divide
Edwin Howard Armstrong biography
SPAACE!
Apollo 11 50th Anniversary
Oscar 100 in Geostationary Orbit. Why can't we have one too?
Farhan puts AISAT in orbit. FB!
Space is difficult
SSTV from the Space Station
Pete's bench report.
Vintage Sidebanders
Recording of Midwest Vintage SSB "tune up session"
Vintage rigs that sound bad
Distorted views on "distortion"
Bill fixing old Bose Wave Radio
NOT GOING TO DAYTON. AGAIN! But SolderSmoke rep will be there
75 meter secrets of success (timing is everything!)
MAILBAG
Steve N8NM sends me FB National Dial
Steve N8NM aspires to complexity -- enough of this simple stuff!
Dave W2DAB goes to Columbia U session on Armstrong, sends FB book.
Jim W4JED -- reports of QCX sideband a bit exaggerated. Where is Allison?
Rob Powell wins beret challenge. VK2TPM and VK2BLQ also win. CONGRATS!
Colin G3VMU sends nice 1930s radio picture
Alan WA9IRS sends diagram of digi radio signal flow. CLEAR AS MUD!
Chris KD4PBJ Grandmother worked at Hammarlund.
Steve NU0P sends info on Art Collins and the Apollo moonshots.
Friday, April 26, 2019
Nobel Prize winner Joe Taylor, K1JT, Talks to a Radio Club
Really great to see this session with Nobel Prize winner Joe Taylor, K1JT.
I liked his comments on his use of his retirement office at Princeton, University.
I also liked his slide on how far below the noise level you can go with various modes.
And then there was his reminder to 1) RTFM and 2) be sure to check the EME delay box so that your software will get the timing right when working earth-moon-earth.
"Pulsars keep good time."
Sunday, April 21, 2019
A Beautiful Variable Capacitor (from Pete)
Is this a thing of beauty, or what? Pete sent this to me back when I was having trouble finding a "smooth running" variable cap for my HRO dial receiver. It has a standard Jackson Brother's reduction drive attached to the shaft, followed by a really cool gear arrangement. Note the spring loaded teeth on the big gear -- that is to keep the gears tight when turning in both directions.
As was the case with the HRO dial that Armand sent me, the beauty of this part will cause me to build something with it, really just for the purpose of putting it to use. We've been talking about double or triple conversion superhets with 100 or 50 kHz final IFs. At those frequencies you can get good selectivity with LC filters. As with the Drake 2-B. Steve N8NM is sending me a dial that will go well with this part. That will add to the already abundant mojo/juju. I feel a VFO in the works. Thanks to Pete for being so supportive of my luddite analogism.
Saturday, April 20, 2019
Life in Appliance Land
"Sexiest Radio!" Hmmmm.
"It's the bomb."
https://www.facebook.com/DXEngineering/videos/815962828760101/
The 3D waterfall is kind of cool. As is the big screen on the wall.
"It's the bomb."
https://www.facebook.com/DXEngineering/videos/815962828760101/
The 3D waterfall is kind of cool. As is the big screen on the wall.
Friday, April 19, 2019
Homebrew Your Own Remote Head (with a 3D Printer) (Video)
After I issued a luddite complaint lamenting the arrival in ham radio of appliance-like "remote heads", Ed KC8BSV pointed out that at least one guy -- Joe VE1BWV -- is HOMEBREWING his own remote head. (You must admit, this sounds really weird.) I still haven't completely got my head around this, but Joe's video (above) is really impressive.
We're living in the future my friends!
Remote your heads! With 3D printers!
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Our Dismal Digital Future?
I'm sure some would find this device appealing -- to each his own. But I don't like it. It seems to mark another step down the path toward the complete appliance-ization of ham radio. Note how the control head is looking more an more like something for your car audio system, or your cell phone.
YUCK.
Count me out.
Just say NO!
Menus are for RESTAURANTS!
RIGS NOT RADIOS!
HDR FOREVER!
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
From Cuba: "Technological Disobedience"
Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.
This video made me think of the Jaguar DSB transceiver made in Cuba from the parts of Soviet-made television sets.
Somehow I wish we were more technologically disobedient.
Monday, April 15, 2019
Sunday, April 14, 2019
Understanding Fourier Transforms
Lots of wisdom and insight here:
http://www.jezzamon.com/fourier/index.htm
Strongly recommended for those trying to understand mixers and harmonics.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Digital Engineering vs. Analog Engineering
In a book review Thompson makes this observation about the digital-analog divide:
One difference might be that human beings can deal with ambiguity, and computers really can't. If you've done any Python [coding], you make the tiniest mistake, and everything stops immediately. That’s what makes it different even from other forms of engineering. When you are trying to fix a car, if you fail to tighten a bolt on one wheel as tight as it should be, the entire car doesn't stop working. But with code, an entire app, an entire website can go down from the misplacement of a single bracket. I think that's the one thing that sometimes scares writers away, because they are more accustomed to working with ambiguity.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/04/how-the-new-art-form-of-coding-came-to-shape-our-modern-world/
I am definitely more accustomed to working with ambiguity. All of my rigs are filled with ambiguity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
