SolderSmoke Daily News

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Hiccups in SolderSmoke 139

First there was the whistling of my SSS sounds (a speech defect that I had been blissfully unaware of due to a nullifying case of tinnitus!) Then, in SolderSmoke 139 the long-suffering SolderSmoke listeners had to put up with hiccups. Yea, around 53 minutes into the show there began an annoying series of hiccups. Being an essentially analog kind of guy, I'm sort of pleased to point out that these are DIGITAL hiccups, apparently introduced by the Audacity software during the actual recording (not when I converted the show to mp3). I've been having more than my normal share of road-kill computer problems lately. The laptop I'm using to record the show ate a couple of the recent episodes before I had a chance to upload them (I had to do them over -- that's very frustrating). So this time I was recording the show on a thumb drive. Apparently it was filling up as we got close to the end, which led to the hiccups. The worst part was that a hiccup came just as I was delivering a key quote from The Woz. (I'll post it.)

If anyone has any gear laying around that might with these problems, please send it my way. Obviously I could use a bigger thumb drive. An external sound card might be nice. I could probably use another laptop also...

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

30% off on SolderSmoke, The Book. December 7

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

Monday, December 5, 2011

Messaging ET (METI), and Silicon-based Life Forms

My fellow beacon fans will like this one. The ultimate (REALLY ultimate) beacon! http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21236-lets-build-a-beacon-to-tell-aliens-who-we-were.html?page=1

And then there is this article about silicon-based life forms. (At first I thought they were talking about us!) http://www.universetoday.com/91449/why-silicon-based-aliens-would-rather-eat-our-cities-than-us-thoughts-on-non-carbon-astrobiology/

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

Sunday, December 4, 2011

SolderSmoke Podcast #139

December 3, 2011

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke139.mp3

Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Billy's Birthday (on the range!)

Astro-Knack: CCD camera in the telescope. Solar astronomy.

Winter approaches: Shack heating by Heath, Halli, Hammarlund and Drake.

2B troubles on 17 meters.

Rig Re-Cycling: Rebuilding 17 meter rigs from the last solar cycle.

Azores DSB re-build: Oscillator troubles then adding a JBOT.

Manhattan style construction and the need for urban renewal.

Book Review: Steve Jobs. (Woz has the Knack!)

MAILBAG

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

Friday, December 2, 2011

An Inspirational Homebrew Motor from Spain

Bruce, KK0S, alerted me to this inspirational masterpiece from Spain. It is, as he points out, one of a number of really great videos about top level homebrew craftsmanship from Europe (remember the French homebrew tubes?).

Other comments from Bruce:
Did you notice that the calipers and micrometer this guy was using were seriously old-school. Totally manual readout. Not even a dial on that set of calipers! On top of that, his little lathe was manually fed. Notice in one of the shots, he is shown turning the cross slide feed wheel. No CNC anywhere. I can't be positive, but I don't think the lathe had a digital position readout either. This man is a machinist in the truest sense of the word. The Knack not only lives - it thrives!

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

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Secret Listeners -- The Voluntary Interceptors

Jim, AL7RV, and several others sent me the link to this really interesting video about the British radio amateurs in WWII. Real "stiff upper lip" spirit in this video. Musn't grumble! Great stuff from Great Britain: http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/5108

That regen receiver they showed looks a lot like the beast that I brought back from the UK with me. Once again, I am hearing the siren song of the diabolical regens....

Progress continues on my Indian-ized Azorean DSB transceiver (with JBOT amp). I now have the amp nicely stabilized (thank God!). Now I just need to get the output from the balanced mod close to the 1 mW PEP level needed by the amp. Should be done soon. And my cold seems to be going away, so maybe I'll be able to share my tales of JBOT derring-do in a podcast this weekend.

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