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Saturday, June 8, 2013

R-390A and Homebrew TX put in Transceive Mode (VIDEO)



N8ZRY has a very nice video on his recent adventures with the legendary R-390A receiver (want one!) and his homebrew 20 meter SSB transmitter.  He manages to essentially put the receiver and transmitter into "transceiver" mode.  Very nice.  I wonder if he had previously used the old standard "spot" or "net" "zero beat by ear" method?  This video has me thinking about ways to bring my many separate receivers and transmitters closer together. The problem is that they all use different IF frequencies (the crystal filters are at different frequencies).  But using my Arduino-based DDS VFO, I guess it wouldn't be too difficult to program the thing to generate one VFO freq for transmit, and a different VFO freq on receive, in effect putting the transmitter and receiver on the same frequency. 

Both the R-390A and the homebrew transmitter look great.   Thanks Greg!


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Friday, June 7, 2013

Dutch Knack During WWII

 
de_jongens_van_de_hobby_club
 
There is a very nice article on the MAKE blog this morning: 
http://blog.makezine.com/2013/06/06/an-early-maker-story-from-holland/
 
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Quote of the Day: On Tinkering

Finally, some justification for my "build first, design later" method:

"Contraptions, machines, wildly mismatched objects working in harmony -- this is the stuff of tinkering.  Tinkering is, at its most basic, a process that marries play and inquiry."

from www.exploratorium.edu/tinkering   Quoted in Massimo Banzi's book "Getting Started with Arduino."

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Alan Yates, VK2ZAY, is back in the knack!


I was getting kind of worried.  I hadn't seen any new articles on Alan's excellent web site.  But on my last visit I learned that he has moved to Seattle and is going to Maker Faires:  http://www.vk2zay.net/article/268

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Save 20% on Knack Books

Save 20% on your next order by using code GLOW at checkout. Offer ends June 7 at 11:59 PM PDT
Codeword: GLOW.   Very appropriate for Grayson's Thermatron book: 



http://www.lulu.com/shop/grayson-evans/hollow-state-design/paperback/product-20987562.html


And also for mine (tubes, QRP fireflies and all that):



http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/soldersmoke

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20