Homebrew Solar Panels from Donuts and Tea!!!!

So all you appliance ops out there using STORE BOUGHT commercial solar panels should hang your heads in shame!

Eldon's Acquatic "ET PHONE HOME!" Machine

Man, the authorities would DEFINITELY blow this thing up if they found it! Check out Eldon's innovative effort to keep the transistor count to ONE and to use mechanical means to generate his QRSS callsign. "COMING SOON TO A GRABBER NEAR YOU!"

Here is the e-mail from Eldon describing his creation. Using the saw blade was a nice touch!

Bill, In keeping with the spirit of QRP, QRSS and the minimalist HB challenge of ET-Phone-Home I have enlisted one of my single-transistor-nine-volt (2N3904) QRP rigs. With the best that I can measure, this system has a DC "input power" of 6.84mw into a 16 inch loop antenna of 30 AWG copper coated-steel MIG welding wire. On previous experiments, the Tx was easily detected from 1500 feet away from on my grabber. Longer DX experiments have not yet been conducted. Note as per the photos, I have cheated a little, the Tx rig that I selected to used, was from a previous project, and has an additional active element, a five volt regulator (LM7805) for oscillator stability and battery longevity (i.e the 9 volt battery voltage can decrease down to 7 volts and oscillator requires only 1.8ma before the Tx frequency goes unstable). Bill, The QRSS frequency modulation technique that I used is the same that I suggested for you to invert your FSK MEPT transmitter signal - for up frequency modulation - increase the "capacitance to ground at the collector" of the oscillator ( which I think cancels some of the normal colpitts crystal oscillator capacitance - and therefore the frequency goes up with increased capacitance ). My modulation requirement does not need a "gimmick" as you have used, because of my use of direct mechanical capacitance coupling (as described below). For modulation my system uses about 8 gallons of water in a 6 inch reservoir with trickle flow bypass regulation around a weighted falling piston, which pulls on a string, which turns the encoder. The piston is large "Whole Fancy Indian - Cashew - Premium Quality, All Natural" nut container ( obtainable from the actual Kirkland Costco store ) with Velcro (loops) Sticky tape wrapped around the top and bottom bulges providing the snug fit and trickle flow metering in the water column. About 8 lbs of weight was added to the nut container to provide the necessary potential-energy storage. This system of metering and energy storage provides for a run-time of about 10 minutes, before a mechanical reset is necessary ( note to potential builders, performance and timing formulas are not included within this document ). Following ET's example, the encoder is a 10 inch multi-cut rotating disk encoder - model number 9-32636 (only obtainable from Sears) augmented with "replaceable-movable-removable" coding elements attached with tape. Before the coding elements were installed on the modulation encoder, the system produce a QRSS "Saw Tooth" waveform (what else would you have expected?), which was initially used just for testing (see: the additional oscillator mounting hole on the substrate, closer to the pivot point ). Note, this encoder technique requires no actual physical or switch contact with the Tx. Only a ground and collector capacitor plates were extended from the colpitts oscillator to form the modulation active elements. I originally was planning to encode my own call - "WA0UWH", but the encoder blade could not hold that much data. A blade upgrade is being considered (i.e., 12 inch). For now, I have chosen something shorter and simpler to encode (as ET would have suggested), I will use my QTH as the name of the nearest major landing-site in my area with high intensity approach lights - SEA (Seattle International Airport), besides it was much easier to cut from PC stock - 5 dots and a dash. Note: the selected message can be shortened by folding the unused elements onto the center of the modulation blade (Note to self - other messages could be encode using the same elements and a similar folding technique, that is "ET" could be encode from the "SEA" elements ). The resulting modulation is not as square as traditional QRSS3 digital driven keyers, but, . . . it is very distinctive. The FIRST major modification to this system was the addition of a rolling cart for transport, I had to move the reservoir to a stairs where I could get above it, to pull up and reset the modulator piston, which by the way requires about a 20 lb pull for about the same duration as the run time (about 10 minutes). The NEXT major modification WILL BE a maximum flow (3/4 inch) tickle flow "bypass" pipe via a control "valve" to aid in the reset process ( for the European critics, I do not think this should be mistaken nor counted as an active QRP element ). This will make the resetting process go much smother, quicker, and should require much less external "arm strong" input power (question: where does the input power go?? warming the water??). The MEPT QRSS operation is simple; Raise the piston (lock it in place), Wind up the draw string around the pulley, Install the encoder disk, Release the lock, and then Wait for the DX grabber reports? Note: a complete set of construction, operation photos and grabber images will be added to my Gallery when time permits: http://qrss.ebcon.com/WA0UWH/Photos/ NOTE: For others HB'ers interested in this project, Kits WILL NOT be made available. Bill, watch for my signal on the 30M grabbers - it should be very recognizable as my signal will have a bit of a "Saw Tooth", waveform component. More details may follow as the project progresses (to where, I am not sure, but I do know that this is enough of this!). Bill, It has been fun !! 73's - Eldon - WA0UWH - alias "SEA" Phone Home BTW: No actual grabbers were harmed while collecting data for this document, but a 30db attenuator was added to the antenna connection on my SA602 DC receiver for its near field overload input protection.

Mechanical Memory Keyers

Billy and I went to the Rome flea market this Sunday and picked up a clock motor that may become the core of a mechanical keyer for the single transistor QRSS MEPT beacon we've been talking about. Unfortunately ours is battery powered -- we couldn't find any wind-ups that had a second hand.

I got an intersting e-mail on this subject from Gene, K8EE:

Mechanical Memory Keyer

Monday, March 16, 2009 6:44 PM

From:

"Gene Mayler" To:

n2cqr@yahoo.com

Hi Bill,
Just wanted to let you know that I built a mechanical memory keyer
back around 1960. It was very similar to the one you suggested in the
last "Solder Smoke." I built it for the radio club to use on Field Day. It
It used a phonograph motor to coupled to a mechanical variable speed
drive. A circular piece of PC board was attached to the output of the
VS drive. Patterns were etched on the PC board for the CW
messages, one to call CQ, one for the contest exchange and one to say
"tnx QRZ ...."

Of course, the variable speed can be achieved with a D.C. motor instead of
the mechanical VS drive. Todays computer software can create much
better artwork to etch on the PC board.

Unfortunately, I threw the thing out in the trash a couple of months ago. I
wish I still had it so that I could send you a picture of it. Oh well. What's
done is done.

Tell the guys that it CAN be done and it HAS been done.

73,
Gene Mayler - K8EE

SolderSmoke 103: Piper Cubs and MFJ Cubs

http://www.soldersmoke.com

In the SolderSmoke 103 Podcast:
15 March 2009
Beware the Ides of March!
Ostia Beach and Ostia Antica
248 Knights of QRSS. And Wizards!
ET Phones Home (with QRSS?)
Possible new grabbers in VK6 and Dubai
Telescope, Satellites...
REAL QRP QSOs on 80 and 40
Saving an old Toshiba Laptop
ECHO-QSO WITH JEFF, KO7M:
-- Piper Cubs and MFJ Cubs
-- Satellite QSOs
-- LT Spice and test gear
MAILBAG:
Gene W3PM listens from QE2, HB WSPR rig
Jim AL7V sending parts for my W3PM rig
Jim AB3CV's color burst Gnat
Jason NT7S on Tektronix guys and SolderSmoke
Kevin ZL3KE on old computers
Paul M1CNK's DDS 30-based QRSS beacon
Soeren OZ2DAK on exercise bikes to power beacons

G3ZJO: QRSS WIZARD!

Well, we're the Knights, right? So we should have a few wizards. Eddie, G3ZJO, should certainly be among those so honored. Above you can see his "G Beacon" MEPT transmitter. He uses two 555 chips to generate the G letter in Morse code. The longer chip on the bottom is (I think) the RF part of the transmitter. Ingenious. I also like his selection of frequency: 10140073 Hz. FB.

Eddie has a lot of other tricks up his sleeve, including the use of a Voltage Controlled Variable Oscillator driven by a PIC chip for a very simple WSPR transmitter.

These and other inventions can be seen on Eddie's YouTube page:
http://www.youtube.com/user/g3zjo (most seem to be done without audio).

Also check out his QRSS Beacon web page:
http://www.g3zjo.talktalk.net/qrss.htm

Thanks Eddie