SolderSmoke Podcast #181 Of Dongles and DX-100s -- SDR vs. HDR, Music & Art, 2B, HB2HB, Noise, The Martian, VK3YE's New Book

Two RTL SDR Dongles in front of a DX-100 Transmitter

SolderSmoke Podcast #181 is available:

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke181.mp3

17 October 2015

-- Our audience IGNORES Pete's guitar intro!
-- Pete on QSO Today Podcast.
-- Part 97, The Radio Art and International Goodwill.
BENCH REPORTS:
-- Pete connects his new beam to the KX3.
-- Pete puts the Bell-thorn on 20.
-- Simple-ceiver update.
-- Pete's new drum machine: http://makezine.com/2015/10/15/learn-electronics-worlds-oldest-drum-machine/
-- Bill fights noise in the DIGI-TIA.
-- Bill fights power-line noise (and wins!).
-- Drake 2B, skirts, reduction drives, and tuning rates.
-- Warming up (with!) the DX-100.

-- N2CQR -- N6QW  First Ever HB2HB QSO.

-- On 40 AM with an HT-37
-- Listening to Chinese CubeSats.
-- SDR Dongle as a bandwidth checker.

-- SDR and the Future of Homebrew Radio.

-- Bryan's LBS Receiver.
-- Dean's First Ever QSO with his HB rig.

-- 32 Mighty Mites Completed

-- The Martian -- Did Mark Watney REALLY have the Knack?

-- MAILBAG:
Peter Parker's New Book
Sparks from Ron Sparks
Armand's 1Watter
Rogier's  pyro machine
BIG boxes from Tim KI6BGE
Mikele's ZIA and N6QW rig collection
SPRAT 141 and SPRAT 164

Dean's TIA Transceiver with Si5351 (Video)

Nice work Dean!  With this rig, Dean recently had his first ever ham QSO.  FB OM.

A Message from South Africa

Hi Bill,

 

I am Pieter callsign ZS3AOR. I came upon your E-Book at Amazon and downloaded it to my Kindle and man, I really enjoyed reading about your endeavors with everything.

 

The way you explained for instance the inner workings of transistors and mixers and problems associated with it is really  good.

 

Subsequently I downloaded the August Podcast and I am hooked with you and Pete.

 

Kind regards from the Namaqualand region of South Africa (Northern Cape Province)

 

Pieter  ZS3AOR

 

 

 

Pieter's Workbenches

HB2HB -- Homebrew Rigs on Both Sides of the Contact

As I've been saying on the podcast, contacts in which both operators are using homebrew gear are increasingly rare, especially on SSB, and especially, it seems, in the USA.  So let's chronicle these rare events.  I've started a Label here on the blog called HB2HB.   Send me reports of good HB2HB contacts -- recent or past -- and I'll try to get them onto the blog. 

I've already described my recent QSO with Pete, N6QW.   My second HB2HB from this location took place on 12 October 2015.   I talked to Jeff GW3UZS in Cardiff, Wales on 17 meters.  I was using my trusty BITX17.  Jeff was running a much more sophisticated homebrew rig -- see above.  More details on Jeff's beautiful rigs are on his QRZ.com page"

https://www.qrz.com/db/GW3UZS

So send in HB2HB reports.  These contacts are almost in "endangered species" category -- they deserve to be preserved!

A VERY Quiet Shack, 4850 Feet Below the Surface

Michael Rainey's underground shack in Vermont is undeniably cool, but these folks have REALLY gone deep.  They are almost a mile down, blocking out that nasty cosmic ray QRN, building sensitive detectors to QSO with some extremely elusive DX:  DARK MATTER. 

SEE IF YOU CAN SPOT THE TEK 'SCOPE.

Wonderful video.  Thanks to Ira Flatow and Science Friday.

Peter Parker's New QRP Book

The wizard of Melbourne Beach, Peter Parker VK3YE, has written a book about QRP.    Check it out here.  

Peter is a true QRP guru. His Beach 40 transceiver is shaking the ether from locations around the world.  I am really glad that he put that Melbourne dock on the cover.  That dock has been the test site for many of Peter's amazing creations.  The railing has supported many great antennas.   So many wonderful YouTube videos have been recorded there.  There really should be a plaque or something... 

Peter's book is available as an e-book from Amazon.   Details on how you can get it are here"
http://home.alphalink.com.au/~parkerp/miniqrp.htm

Thanks Peter for this important addition to the QRP literature.

Mikele's Croatian Zia and the N6QW Cult

I was telling Pete that thousands of years from now, archeologists will be puzzled when they find, in many remote corners of the world, strange homebrew electronic devices with the symbol "N6QW" emblazoned on them.  Who, they will ask, was the cult leader N6QW, and how did he get his followers to build these devices? 

Thanks to the work of Mikele 9A3XZ,  Croatia will surely be a major center for research into the N6QW cult.  Check out Mikele's video.  Stick around for the full 6 minutes and you will see the many N6QW rigs that Mikele has built.  FB Mikele!   Keep up the good work!