Mending vs. Ending -- The Fight Against Planned Obsolescence

https://www.ifixit.com/Manifesto

We don't get a lot of mail from Darwin, Australia, so the message coming in from Phil VK8MC immediately got our attention.  When I looked into the details I realized that it was very SolderSmoke-relevant.  The Guardian article that Phil cited even mentions hobbyists tinkering with electronic devices in their sheds (that would be us!).    Phil points to the connection between our repair efforts and the struggle to save the planet: "It's not just a hobby, it's an ethical position which contributes to the well being of the planet. A higher calling indeed!" 

Here is the article Phil pointed us to:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/17/ending-over-mending-planned-obsolescence-is-killing-the-planet?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_ProtonMail

The poster above (which hangs above my workbench) is from https://www.ifixit.com/Manifesto. 

"Analog Man in a Digital World" by OM Joe Walsh (music video)

After seeing my last post about SDR, the dongle, the Android tablet, and the Bluetooth mouse, Bob Keller grew concerned about my, uh, stability.  Here is our e-mail exchange. 

Bill, 

Have you had a comprehensive medical evaluation recently? All this digital activity from an erstwhile analog man is a concerning symptom. <g>

I suggest listening to the following number at least once each day until you have the chance to get checked out:

https://youtu.be/6YkAnv8inQE

-- 73 de KY3R, 

    Bob Keller

Bob: 

I know.  It really is quite disturbing.  I've been getting a lot of "welcome to the dark side" messages!!!  

I am now trying to get back in the good graces of The Radio Gods.   Today I fired up the Fish Soup 10 and made two CW SKCC contacts on 40 meters.  I feel better already.  

Thanks for the song from OM Walsh.  I had heard it before but it is more meaningful to me now.  I will put it on the blog.  Others may need help too.  

Thanks for caring Bob.  

73  

Bill 

"The Dish" Turns 60

 

Thanks to Peter VK2EMU for alerting us to this important birthday.  

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-26/parkes-dish-will-assist-first-commercial-flights-to-the-moon/100027874

Part of Wright Brothers' Airplane Now On Mars with Ingenuity Helicopter

 

Very cool.  Great idea. 

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-wright-brothers-1st-airplane-nasa.html

Double Sideband Transmitter using Vacuum Tubes -- From Sweden

Tommy SA2CLC has built a really nice DSB transmitter using Thermatrons.  

FB Tommy.  

My Hodgepodged Morse: Audio Tone into the Mic Jack Creates J2A not A1A. BASTA!

In SolderSmoke podcast #229 Pete and I were discussing my rather flaky effort to turn the Hodgepodge BITX40 Module into a CW rig by injecting keyed 700 Hz audio into the mic jack (see video below). We got some very helpful responses from ND6T and VK2EMU:  

Hi Bill,

You mentioned generating CW by modulating SSB: Collins did that in their

first SSB transceivers, I believe, as did SGC, but the results were less

than optimal. The problem is that you are involving the audio chain and

modulator. You know from experience how difficult it is to maintain low

intermod there and the tone is no exception. So we end up with lots of

spurs within the filter passband and then also have the opposite

sideband suppression less than perfect. If you check your transmitted

signal with a spectrum analyzer or SDR you can easily see the nasties.

Listening to a CW signal thus generated makes it obvious unless it is

buried way down in the noise. It IS a valid CW signal (not MCW) since it

is (almost) a single signal. However, in actual operation it doesn't

work very well.

I know because I have done that. I bought one of Farhan's original

BITX40 boards and wanted to put it on CW. I ended up injecting a keyed

signal from one of the spare clocks on the Si5351 into the RF amplifier

chain (thus avoiding the above stated problems) but still had garbage

from the audio and IF stages. I fixed that by shorting out that signal

during transmit by a transistor to ground. That was documented on your

BITXhacks website: http://bitxhacks.blogspot.com/2017/02/ and on my

website: http://www.nd6t.com/bitx/CW.htm . It has been a while, eh?

...

Don, ND6T

--------------------------------------------------

Hi Bill and Pete,

With putting an audio oscillator into you hodgepodge radio, your transmission is not the same as a standard CW rig.

If we have a transmitter as described in the ARRL handbooks from the 1940's or 1950's, (or even the Michigan Mighty Mite) it is a crystal oscillator and maybe a PA tube. By keying either the oscillator and/or the final PA on and off, then we can send Morse code as ICW Interrupted Continues Wave. If we check the list of emission designators, we have A1A.

However, if we feed a tone into a SSB transmitter, then we have J2A.

At the other end it may sound the same, but because it is created in a different way, it has a different designation. 

A quick look at Part 97 shows that J2A and J2B are classed as CW, so you are in the clear. However, if you put a tone oscillator into an AM signal to send CW, then that would be classed as A2A and not classed as CW, but as MCW. MCW can be used on 6 meters and above, but not HF.

SITS.

73 de Peter VK2EMU

-----------------------------------------------------------

So I say BASTA with the J2A!  If I want to go CW, it's all A1A for me.  I dusted off my Fish Soup 10 and am now back on 40 CW with 200 mW.... A1A all the way! 

 

SolderSmoke Podcast #229 -- G2NJ Trophy, SDR, HDR, CW! Mailbag

Soldersmoke Podcast #229 is available: 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke229.mp3

--  G2NJ Trophy is awarded to Pete Juliano, N6QW. 

 -- Get your vaccine shot as soon as you can!  

-- More from "Conquering the Electron" by Derek Cheung. 

-- Bad fire in the chip factory.  Such a shame.  Sad!  I had NOTHING to do with it.  I was home that day.  I can prove it.

 -- Bezos is not such a bad guy.  Turns out he is a space-geek.  

 -- Perseverance was the big space news.  Very cool.  

 

Pete's bench:

Raspberry Pi vs. Microcontrollers

Treedix display

Conversion of the Dentron Scout

CW rigs?

6L6 on a wooden chassis

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Bill's bench: 

Hodgepodge:   

-- BITX40 Module.  

-- Ramseykit Amp. 

-- San Jian counter,  

-- CW using 750 Hz oscillator. 

-- RF-actuated piezo buzzer.  

-- SDR!  SDR using PC and tablet.  

-- Checking the output with SDR.  

-- Moving the carrier osc frequency.  

 Also, I put the Fish Soup 10 back on the air.  Nice contacts under 200 mw.

Up next:  A rig for 80/75 and 20 meters.  Single Conversion.  Using VFO from a Yaesu FT101 that runs 8.7 – 9.2 Mhz.   Quiz question:  What IF should I use?

MAILBAG

Mark Zelesky sent me wood tokens with power and Ohm's law formulae.  Thanks!

Scott WA9WFA Built a really nice Mate for Mighty Midget RX – getting it going!

Tryg EI7CLB found board of his George Dobbs Ladybird RX.  Rebuild it OM!

Tom WX2J – We talked about “No lids, no kids, no space cadets” nastiness.

Nick M0NTV about sideband inversion.  I like the simple rule about subtraction.

Jonathan M0JGH – Always listen to Pete.  Got married, has mixing product. Leo?

Mike AE0IH.  Dad used a BC-348 in the service. Looking for one.  FB.

Adam N0ZIB – “Silent Shep” site --- with some ham radio shows I had not seen.

Walter KA4KXX in Orlando has a similar subtraction problem with San Jian counter.

Bill N5ALO sent me a really nice KLH speaker.   I’m using it now.

Jason N2NLY – interested in building SSB transceiver.  One step at a time OM…

Trevor in Annapolis sent xcsd cartoon that really hit home. 

Farhan is doing OK in India, diligently protecting his family from the virus.  

Peter VK2EMU also doing well.

Dave AA7EE Casually killed a DC receiver in Hollywood, and disposed of the remains. 

Charlie ZL2CTM doing great things with simple SSB.  Blogpost.

Phil VK8MC in Darwin sends article on "Mend not End" battle against planned obsolescence.

Bob KY3R re my SDR adventures, asked if I’ve had a recent medical/psychiatric evaluation. 

Hodgepodge: Tablet SDR with a Bluetooth Mouse (video)

I continue to find things in the shack that I can connect to the Hodgepodge.  Here it's an old Android tablet with a Bluetooth mouse.   

The waterfall is pretty, but this addition just shows why SDR is really TOO easy.  The modified RTL-SDR dongle is doing direct sampling, so there is not even any phasing circuitry to tinker with.  All the filtering and sideband selection is happening in software inside the 40 buck Android tablet.  The results look nice, but I don't find it very satisfying -- all I did was connect some cables.  So it's back to HDR for me. 

A REALLY Cheap Receiving Rig

Wow, lots of ingenuity in this 1921 receiver.

-- Has anyone actually made a diode out of a light bulb in the way described? 

-- The antenna coupler on the table leg is not much different from the tuner that I have attached to the wall of my car port. 

-- Note that when our hero finishes the receiver, he is able to pick up signals from Mars!  FB OM. 

Who will be the first to recreate this 1921 receiver? 

Aladdin's Lamp == The Vacuum Tube (aka The Thermatron) (Video)

After our posting of the video about 1957 transistor production, our friend Peter O'Connell VK2EMU asked for some equal time for vacuum tubes.  He sent me this 1940 Western Electric video.  It is quite interesting. 

-- I like the Aladdin's lamp metaphor.  When I was out in the Azores I thought of my homebrew 17 meter DSB rig as my "magic carpet." 

-- Lowell Thomas was brought in to narrate.  His voice sounds a lot more natural than that used to narrate the transistor film. 

-- To explain the effectiveness of transcontinental telephony with vacuum tube repeaters, they compared the system that of a relay of "hog callers" claiming that it would take 100,000 hog callers to carry a signal from New York to San Francisco.  So perhaps this could be a rival to db?   100,000 hc? 

-- Arlington to Paris 1915 caught my eye -- Arlington Va. is right down the road. 

-- The film of Edison in his lab was good to see.  And note the importance of his lab notebooks. 

-- The explanation of thermionic emission was quite good.  But of course too much credit was given to Lee DeForest. 

-- The breathless description of the amazing uses of tube technology was for me a reminder of how recent this technology is.  My father started as New York City cop in the 1950s.  He always referred to his police car as a "radio car." 

Hey, are any radio amateurs out there using one of those big water-cooled tubes?  If not, why not? 

A Homebrewer

 

That is Homer Price, the lead character in two books by Robert McCloskey, published in 1943 and 1951.  The thing in the valise is Homer's pet skunk.  Of course. 

More info here: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Price?fbclid=IwAR2cRUCurQBXaP-m4LdPFBOnBU4nvgZwtOZqrAzF8MaGvS4Xb_eTWHSWE2E

Homer is clearly a fellow we need to know more about.  I have ordered the book. 

Making Transistors in 1957

Thanks to Thomas K4SWL for alerting us to this video -- he had it on his excellent SWLing Post blog. 

Many things crossed my mind as I watched this video: 

-- Pocket protectors!  Pete recently noted that this was a common fashion accessory among electronic techs and engineers back in the day. 

-- HP test gear. 

-- "Extreme cleanliness" that doesn't seem quite so clean.  

-- 550 transistors per hour.  Now we have upwards of 50 billion on a single chip. 

-- The Germanium salami that Pete mentioned in our last podcast. 

-- Hints of Silicon's impending replacement of Germanium. 

-- A transistor factory in Spring City, Pa. that "hums with excitement" (seemed kind of sleepy). 

-- The 1957 assumption that Philco transistors would be in the first orbiting satellite.  Then came Sputnik.

-- The transistor that moves like a "Gulliver through Lilliputian lands."  

-- Our voices or accents seem to have changed, at least the voice used in products like this.  No one talks that way today. 

-- As I watched, I tried to remember if Pete's CK722 was made by these folks.   But no, that was a Raytheon product.   Here is a nice short description of the early days of the CK722:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CK722   We need to learn more about the hobbyist Carl Todd.