Excellent New Video from Grayson KJ7UM on his Thermatron version of the Michigan Mighty Mite

Here is a really wonderful video from Grayson Evans, KJ7UM, author of Hollow-State Design for the Radio Amateur.  

I really loved this video.  Throughout we see Grayson's sense of humor.  Early on he explains the differences between a tube (what remains from a roll of paper towell), a valve (like the plumbers use) and a THERMATRON (like a 6146).  Grayson is the inventor of the word Thermatron.  We should all pledge to use it whenever possible. 

Grayson's humor also shows up when describing the parts acquistion process for the Thermatron Michigan Mighty Mite.  He puls out a coil (a huge coil) and laments that it is not -- despite its large size -- sufficiently inductive. 

There are wonderful shout outs to SolderSmoke, to Electric Radio, to the Color Burst Liberation Army, to Pete Juliano,  and to Rex Harper.  

Grayson describes the utility of Rex Harper's Thermatron ME pads.  

During the video, Grayson actually builds the Thermatron MMM.  In under 2 minutes!  He then experiences the Joy Of Oscillation, or JOO as it has come to be known.  OM needs a contact -- listen for him on 3579.  He is calling CQ.  

Grayson talks about his book, Hollow-State Design.  I have a copy with me here at SolderSmoke Shack South in the Dominican Republic.  Great stuff.   The above link takes you to Lulu, where you can order the book.  You can also get it from Electric Radio Magazine here: https://www.ermag.com/product-category/books/

Thank you Grayson for bringing us this video, and so much more over the years.  And for giving us the very useful and fun word:  THERMATRON!  

Who can tell us more about Lovelock's homebrew shortwave radio?

"Three years earlier, Lovelock had listened on his homemade shortwave radio in Finchley to the 'beep, beep, beep' transmission of the USSR’s Sputnik, the first satellite that humanity had put into orbit. Now he was playing with the super powers."

From: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/sep/05/gaia-theory-born-of-secret-love-affair-james-lovelock

A bit of a soap opera, but the radio question is, I think,  interesting. 

CuriousMarc Visits Cape Canaveral -- Lots of Space History (and some ham gear)

I like all the CuriousMarc videos, but I especially liked this one. Marc and company visited some of the very early launch sites and bunkers at Cape Canaveral.  If you thought Apollo tech was crude, take a look back at what they used in Mercury and Gemini.  Wow.  

I spotted two ham radio receivers.   In the first bunker at 10 minutes 28 seconds we see an old National HRO Sixty with the classic HRO dial, much like the one given to me by Armand WA1UQO. (Thanks again Armand!) Note how they attribute one of the early launch disasaters to two diodes in the power supply that shorted due to launch vibration.  I hate it when that happens.  

In the second bunker we see a Hammarlund HQ-140 at 19 minutes 7 seconds.  This was apparently being used as a Frequency Standard (or maybe a time standard?) perhaps receiving WWV at 10 MHz.  I note that the frequency knob shows it set for the AM broadcast band... 

How to Homebrew your own Transistors

No store-bought transistors for these guys -- they homebrew their own point contact transistors using a bit of Germanium from a diode.  This makes me feel like such an appliance operator.   

This video is in Polish, but The Knack is a universal language, and this guy obviously speaks it.  Turn on captions, then opt for auto-translate to English.  You will then get English subtitles and Bob will be your uncle.  

I really liked this one.  This fellow has obviously DONE this;  his video is filled with both practical tips and theoretical explanations.   He talks about the virtues of beeswax, and about how to borrow red nail polish to mark the collector lead.  FB. 

Here's the channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@Marcin_Marciniak

In their next episode they promise to build a radio receiver using the homebrew transistors.  That'll be great. 

Thanks to Marcin and company, and to Jenny List of Hack-A-Day who alerted us to this. 

Marcin is a ham  -- SP5XMI:  https://trafficlist.altervista.org/radio-officer-friend/marcin-marciniak/

But who is the fellow who built the homebrew transistor? 

Mr. Carlson Makes a Thermatron Power Supply for a BC-348

When I was 14, I had to make a power supply for a Heath HW-32A.   Mine ended up working, but it was nowhere near as nice as Mr. Carlson's BC-348 supply (shown in the video above).  I didn't have a sand blaster, nor a drill press, nor much of anything else, really.  

But hey, don't real boatanchor hams use Greenlee chassis punches?  What's with the drill press and the hole saws? 

Note that Mr. C takes care to make sure that the rectifier tube is in the proper angle FOR OPTIMAL VIEWING.  That's some serious attention to detail OM.  And whoa, DELICATE SURFACE MASKING TAPE from 3M?  Respect!  Also, era-specific looming material. 

His point about the importance of the cardboard washers in the power transformer was really useful.  I hadn't thought about that. 

Here are the two previous BC-348 videos: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX87kwSshZ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqe6CBe0iGs

Thanks Paul!