Great Interview with Farhan Re BITX 40 and BITX History

W5KUB has a really good interview with Farhan.  There are several spots where the Skype connection gets quite choppy, but hang in there -- it gets better.  Farhan provides a lot of good info on the history of the BITX rigs, his design philosophy, and the importance of the EMRFD book.  He also talks about how the BITX 40 Module is produced.  And he talks a bit about possible future rigs.  Great stuff. 

I was very pleased to hear that Farhan is trying to eliminate the need for his FT-817 (he currently needs it for its general coverage receiver) so that he can have a completely homebrew hamshack.  FB! 

NE602 Si5351 OLED "Whole Foods" Receiver

This is one of those projects that sort of just happened.  First I built an Si5351/Arduino synthesizer with a small OLED I2C display (program by Thomas LA3PNA -- thanks Thomas).  Tom Hall AK2B up in New York helped me get the Si5351 VFO and BFO going -- thanks Tom.  Then, over the holidays I decided to build a rig of some sort around the Si5351.  I started with a superhet receiver using an NE602 as the mixer and another as the product detector.  I power the NE602 with an 8 volt regulator from W8NSA -- thanks Jim.  I made a 4 crystal 11 MHz Cohn filter using crystals left over from a BITX project.  The software from AADE helped me design the matching networks to match the filter to the 1500 ohm impedances of the NE602s.   I built the circuits on a milled board sent to me by Pete Juliano N6QW -- thanks Pete!   I put a dual tuned circuit at the front end, going into a MOSFET RF amplifier.   For audio amp I have an LM386.  The whole thing is screwed down to a barbeque grilling plank from Whole Foods -- thanks Whole Foods!  (This seems appropriate -- the "O" in OLED is for "Organic"!)

It sounds nice.  I may eventually try to put some relays in to switch the NE602s and the filter around to make this a transceiver.

Straight Key Night -- Bandscan from WA6ARA (audio)

WA6ARA SKN Station

Mike Herr WA6ARA was on 40 meters with old gear this Straight Key Night.   Mike was receiving with a venerable Heath HR10B.  One of his favorite QSOs was with Keith W6SIY; Keith was running Conar twins that had the kind of "swing" that stirs up the kind of memories that SKN is all about.  FB.  Mike made a bandscan recording of what 40 sounded like, and he made another of W6SIY's beautiful signal.

You can listen by clicking on these links:  

http://soldersmoke.com/SKNBANSCAN.mp3

http://soldersmoke.com/SKNQSO.mp3

My own SKN effort was cut short this year by technical difficulties.  The HT-37's relays stopped doing their thing.  Probably the relay drive tube going soft.  But I did manage to make two great contacts on 40:

WA6URY is in Los Angeles.  This was a very timely contact -- my wife and I went to see the movie "La La Land" on New Year's eve -- the film features a lot of beautiful LA scenery.  Dan was running a kilowatt to a 2 element Yagi on 40.  He too owns an HT-37 and a Drake 2B.  He was on a straight key "with dirty contacts."  FB Dan, thanks.

And then I worked W1PID!  Wow! Jim is well known for his operations from field locations and for his intrepid participation in many of the radio adventures of Michael Rainey AA1TJ.  Jim was on the Maine sea coast expedition when Michael was attempting to cross the pond with his voice-powered radio.  On SKN Jim was in New Hampshire running 35 watts to a Windom off-center fed dipole.  His Morse key is a Kent.    TRGHS.   Thanks Jim.

Happy New Year!

W1PID Maritime Mobile

Homebrew SSB in Germany: DK7IH

Pete WB9FLW alerted us to the work of Peter DK7IH, a very talented homebrewer who recently followed the lead of Pete N6QW in building some really small SSB transceivers.  Here is his Micro QRP SSB rig:

You can see more of his fine work here:

https://radiotransmitter.wordpress.com/

https://www.qrz.com/db/DK7IH

Have you guys noticed how many Peters there are among homebrewers, especially among SSB homebrewers?  Just from recent mentions on this blog:

Pete Juliano N6QW
Pete WB9FLW
Peter Parker VK3YE 
Peter DL3PB
Peter W1UO
Peter GW4ZUA
Peter G6GNR
Peter VK2EMU
Peter VK2TPM
Peter HA5RXZ
Peter DL3JIN

Amateur Nuclear Fusion in Your Garage

We had some posts about this kid a few years ago.   He is 21 now and was recently interviewed on the TED Radio Hour -- the nine minute interview (above) is worth listening to.  Just click on the arrow.

Philo Farnsworth would be pleased.  An amateur creates a star in a jar.

From Mountaineer to the KX1 -- N6KR on Trail-Friendly Rigs

This is from 2014, but I stumbled upon Wayne Burdick's article just this morning.  Great stuff.  That picture of Wes had a big impact on many of us. 

Wayne's article:

http://www.elecraft.com/KX1/N6KR_KX1_History.html

Christmas Present! 4Z1UG's Interview with Han Summers G0UPL

I found myself almost cheering out loud as I listened to this wonderful interview, especially at the point where Hans lets it be known that he has NO COMMERCIAL HAM GEAR in his shack!  Yes!  That's the ticket!   You can also hear the story of Hans and Farhan meeting up in Mumbai for dinner. The interview includes discussion of  WSPR and QRSS and BITX and crystal ovens and, at the end, a special QSO TODAY overtime session in which Hans describes the little WSPR rigs that fly around the world, carried aloft by half-filled birthday party balloons. 

Thanks to Eric 4Z1UG and Hans G0UPL for this very nice Christmas present.

Listen here:

http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/g0upl