Remastered! The Secret Life of Radio -- With Updated Comments from Tim Hunkin

Thanks to Stephen 2E0FXZ for alerting us to this important video. 

We first posted about the original many years ago.  We were delighted to learn that they have remastered the video and added 10 minutes of retrospective commentary from Tim Hunkin.  

Here are some of my reactions after watching the updated version:

-- The Marconi videos were amazing.   I actually met Elettra at a diplomatic reception in Rome.  

-- I was pleased to learn that Marconi was trying to "call up" Mars.  FB OM. 

-- My son Billy and I sat in that same Royal Institution auditorium where, 100 years before, Oliver Lodge had demonstrated spark gap technology. 

-- Tim's comment on the connection to supernatural beliefs was right on the mark.  We found out that the house we lived in in London was a center for occult beliefs and practices. 

-- Those square lantern batteries brought back fond childhood memories. My first power supplies.

-- The Rexophone -- used by Rex. 

-- Very cool of Tim to homebrew a coherer.  Extra credit for that.

-- One of the capacitors looks familiar.  EF Johnson? 

-- I agree with Tim -- crystal radios are a must-build for true radio hams.  And do it with galena and a cats whisker. 

-- Finally, the RCA ad introduces a term we might want to surreptitiously enter into the Enhanced SSB lexicon:  That "Golden Throat" sound.   

QRP - QRP Contact from Dominican Republic

It took some brass pounding on my homebrew key, but on May 28, 2021 I made a real QSO from the eastern tip of the island of Hispaniola.  KJ4R came back to my CQ near 14.060 MHz. I was running just 1-2 watts from my SST transceiver to an end-fed half wave antenna. Ed KJ4R was in South Carolina running 5 watts, also to an EFHW antenna.  TRGHS.  Thanks Ed.  And thanks to Bob Scott KD4EBM and Wayne Burdick N6KR.

Farhan's sBITX -- Combining SDR with the Traditional Superhet

Here is Farhan's amazing presentation to the virtual 2021 FDIM event.  There is a lot of tribal knowledge in this video.  Lots of old and new technology.  I was especially intrigued by Chris Trask's Kiss mixer.  Farhan's discussion of simple Arduino-based speech equalization and compression made me think that I have work to do in this area. And of course, Farhan's whole discussion of how to bring SDR into -- literally into -- the circuitry of a uBITX is really cool and very educational.   

TRGHS: K3ZO heard from the Dominican Republic

We arrived in the DR just yesterday, and this morning was my first chance to do some ham radio stuff. I fired up my old Sony SW receiver (the one with the busted BFO fine tuning control) and tuned to 20 meters. The very first station I tuned in (after adjusting the BFO with my Swiss army knife) was talking about the Cicadas.  He described weather similar to that which we had just left in Northern Virginia.  Then I heard the call:  K3ZO.  It was Fred Laun up in Maryland!  When I first came to the DR in 1992, the locals were talking about Fred as if he had just recently past through.  I learned, however, that he had been there during the 1960s!  He had left quite an impression.  He had saved one of the local hams during the 1965 political violence.   I gave that same local ham some Vibroplex parts so that he could fix up an old bug that Fred had left him. 

Wow, it was really cool to have Fred Laun be the very first ham I hear during this trip. The Radio Gods Have Spoken.   We need to spend more time (especially winter time!) in the DR!

I have a video of this listening session that I will post when we get back to Virginia. 

Looking for the Apollo 10 Lunar Module

https://www.universetoday.com/142505/apollo-10s-snoopy-lunar-lander-may-have-been-found-in-space/?fbclid=IwAR3xwZowaqKwpK46DXW6u_LbfVu_Co86kq1fpR3ZmaDrqoUouICeIf9bLuI

Parasets, Parachutes, and Tubes in "A French Village" Season 3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_village_fran%C3%A7ais

In season 3, Episodes 7 and 8, resistance members parachute in from London.  They are equipped with what looks a lot like a paraset.  One of their tubes develops an open filament.  The Germans engage in radio direction finding.  The Morse code is fairly good (but not great).  All in all, there is quite a bit of radio-related material. 

"A French Village" is a very well-done series.  But it is (of course) quite dark. 

Michigan Mighty Mite, Joy of Oscillation, and the Color-Burst Liberation Army in Washington State

 

Perhaps its the result of a vaccine-induced relaxation of COVID tensions, but for whatever reason we are seeing a resurgence of interest in the Michigan Mighty Mite and the Color Burst Liberation Army. 

Dan AF7O describes his excellent MMM CBLA adventure here: https://af7o.campclan.net/?p=144  Extra points for the use of George Dobbs' Ladybird book technique, and for the 3D printed variable cap holder (made by Dan's son). 

Yes Dan, rebuild that antenna, build an LP filter, and get that MMM on the air.  At the very least you can get some reports from the Reverse Beacon Network.  And, as Jack NG2E recently demonstrated, it is possible to make contacts with a simple rig like this: 

https://jackhaefner.blogspot.com/

LONG LIVE THE COLOR-BURST LIBERATION ARMY! 

VK3HN's Homebrew 30 Meter SST QRP Transceiver

It turns out that many people homebrewed SST rigs.  Here is Paul VK3HN's version.  Really nice. 

https://vk3hn.wordpress.com/2016/12/27/summit-prowler-two-a-scratch-built-30m-cw-transceiver-wilderness-sst-for-sota/

AA7EE's Amazing Homebrew SST QRP Transceiver

 

Look at that rig.  It is truly a thing of beauty.    

I was very pleased to see Dave AA7EE's comment on my SST rig.  This caused me to search his site for his SST article.  And wow, it is an SST treasure trove.  Lots of discussion of the circuit and mods. And Dave's usual wonderful photography and videography. 

Check it out.  

https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/a-scratch-build-of-n6kr-and-wilderness-radios-sst-for-20m/

Thanks Dave! 

Cicadas Arrive in Northern Virginia

Usually the only bugs we talk about here are dead bugs (components with their leads up on circuit boards) or perhaps CW keying devices.  But in the last podcast I mentioned  the arrival in Northern Virginia of Brood X Cicadas.  They are coming to the surface after 17 years underground.  This morning I found this amazing animation that explains the lifecycle of these fascinating creatures. 

This morning Elisa mercifully took the time to take several dozen of them off the tires of her car.  

Here is the animation.  Just scroll down to follow the life cycle. 

Be sure to turn on the audio!  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/interactive/2021/cicadas-lifecycle-brood-x/?fbclid=IwAR39n951RzQfNPvr3iurHjCDcnDEj2ues0c1UmJFiYV8k5vwO2NZoekKN18

The SST QRP Transceiver

 

Click on the schematic for a better view

Bob KD4EBM recently sent me an amazing package of radio goodies.  Included was a little metal box not much larger than a deck of cards.  It is a 20 meter SST transceiver designed by Wayne Burdick N6KR during the late 1990s.  This transceiver is built around three NE602 Gilbert Cell mixer chips.  It arrived in my shack as I was struggling to understand the Gilbert Cell.  TRGHS.  It also put me back on the path of QRP CW righteousness.    Thanks Bob.  Thanks Wayne. 

I e-mailed Wayne Burdick (now of Elecraft fame) to tell him I was now using the rig he had designed so long ago.  Wayne e-mailed back, saying that the SST was the smallest "real" radio that he had ever designed.  SST stands for Simple Superhet Transceiver. 

I've been using the SST every day for the last week or so.  It is a pleasure to operate.  I'm using it with the key from India that Farhan brought for me.   It is truly QSK -- the receiver stays on when I transmit.  I've never used a QSK rig before and I can now see the big advantage that this provides:   When I am responding to a CQ, I can immediately hear if the other guy put out another CQ or respond to someone else -- I can stop calling at that point.  My first contact with it was with F6EJN.  Again, TRGHS. 

I made two small mods to the SST:  I added 1 uH to the RFC in the VXO; it  now tunes 14.053 -- 14.063.   And I took out a noise blanker that had been installed. Removing the noise blanker left an ugly hole in the front panel which I promptly filled with a completely cosmetic machine screw. 

Here's the manual:

https://qrpbuilder.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/sst_manual_042217.pdf

HRDX Interviews Paul Taylor VK3HN

Wow, Paul Taylor, VK3HN is working on homebrew rig #11.  FB.  

This interview was quite thought-provoking. 

-- I agree with Paul about the importance of not being dogmatic about 

always staying under 5 watts.  It sounds like Paul is having fun with his 

100 watt SOTA project. 

-- It was great  to hear that Leon VK2DOB is still active in ham radio and running a QRP company in VK.  FB.  An article by Leon on CMOS mixers in the summer 1999 issue of SPRAT played a key role in my understanding how switching mixers really work.  I put Leon's diagram in my book SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics. 

-- On blowing up the finals in simple HB gear.  The first real transmitter that I built was the VXO-controlled 6 watter from QRP Classics by the ARRL.  It had a 36 volt Zener diode across the collectors of the final.  This was to prevent the kind of final destruction Paul suffered up on that summit:  "D2 is used to clamp the collector voltage waveform to protect the output transistors if the transmitter is operated into an open circuit or high SWR antenna system."  Maybe we should revive the use of that simple SWR protection circuit, especially for SOTA rigs.