Dhaka Jack Moves to France

Jack Welch AI4SV has been an important member of the SolderSmoke community for many years.  I remember fondly our Straight Key Night CW contact in which he told me that my HT-37 had "presence" even on CW.  His thoughtful (!) piece on time crystals was also quite memorable.  Jack has finally settled down (a bit) after a string of foreign assignments.  He has landed happily in France, in a villa, on a vineyard, surrounded by wild boar and hunters.  FB OM. 

Hi Bill & Pete,

I've packed up the shack and moved from Cyprus to France, so no more 5B4APL. To obtain a French callsign, you have to submit proof that you've lived in France for three months, so I'm F/AI4SV until December and then we'll see. 

I'm not sure how long we will be here, but probably a few years at least. Since we know next to nothing about French real estate, we are renting for the first couple years -- a château on the outskirts of Bordeaux. Before you think that I've come down with delusions of grandeur, I should point out that in that area, château means an old, stone house that is hard to heat in the winter -- and particularly difficult to run wiring around. Antennas and grounding are going to be particularly challenging. The selling point for the house was not so much my hobby as its location in wine country. In fact, there is a Sauterne my house's name on it (although I have nothing to do with production of the wine, that's in professional hands).

Back in the early days of Soldersmoke, Bill used to occasionally mention the dreaded Italian wild boar, the cinghiale. I didn't think that would ever be terribly relevant to me, but it is. A couple days after arriving in the Bordeaux suburbs, a sanglier (French cousin of the cinghiale) strolled across a road as I came around a bend. We almost had a month-long supply of bacon, but I managed to steer around him.

Since it will be a while before all our belongings arrive and even longer to set up a proper station, I have focused on operating QRP in the field and activating SOTA summits. That has gone well, but I aborted my most recent attempt when I ran into a bunch of orange-clad rifle-toting hunters who were combing the mountain in search of sanglier. Apparently it's a big thing here. I decided to survive to activate the peak on another day.

Finally, I have attached a journal article, which at first glance doesn't seem to have a lot to do with radio, but kind of does. It turns out that both the human ear and violins have non-linear characteristics that cause them to function as audio frequency mixers. Looking through the article, you'll find some familiar looking formulas about mixing products, harmonics and resonance. If Bill wants to get away from ICs, perhaps his next rig could include a 17th Century Italian violin as a mixing stage.

Cheers & 73,

Jack
F/AI4SV

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Hello Jack:  

Great to hear from you.  Wow, France!  You are rivaling my string of nice-to-go assignments.  FB OM.  Have fun.  

Yes, the Cingales.   Hunting season was always a bit of an uneasy time.  We used to dress the kids up in reflective vests.   One time we found a very drunk Italian hunter wandering around with a shotgun (that was kind of scary).  We would know when hunting season started by the sound of gunfire in the morning.    Kind of reminded me of other places!  

In retirement I have gotten back into VWS.  We are having a lot of fun.  Just yesterday 30 students at the Thomas Jefferson High School got their Technician licenses. They will soon build Direct Conversion receivers. 

As for mixing, what you sent reminded me of my early confusion on this subject.  In the SS book I describe the "Terzo Suono"  -- it is really just an additive heterodyne.  I confused it 

with a true mixing product.  But it was an educational confusion. 

Please keep in touch and let us know how things are going at the Villa!  

73  Bill 

HNY (Happy New Year), SKN (Straight Key Night) 2019, and an HT-37 with "presence" -- even on CW

I got the HT-37 working just a few days before the New Year's Eve/New Year's Day Straight Key Night event.  Looking at my older blog posts, I now see that the problems first surfaced in LAST YEAR's SKN.  Wow, it took me a long time to get to that problem. But I'm glad I fixed it in time for SKN.  

For SKN I used the VU3XVR straight key from India that Farhan gave to me.   See the picture above.  

I started out on 80 meters on New Year's eve.  I rarely operate on that band -- I thought it would be a good change of pace. Here is who I contacted on 80 CW: 

In the warm-up period before the official start of SKN I worked John KU4AF.  John was running a homebrew tube transmitter and a REGEN receiver.  Respect, my friends.  RESPECT! 

N9EP Ed near Chicago was on a K3. 

VE9XX Don was on a KX3. 

NJ8D Tom in Ohio. 

K4IA, Buck, down the road in Fredricksburg Va.  Buck was running a Drake TR4C with a Begali key.  FB Buck.  He mentioned that he had had a Drake 2B -- he said he regrets selling it.  Indeed. 

VE9WW Bill in Moncton NB.  On a straight key. 

AA8MI Gene (gosh, that name really sings in CW -- try it!) in Ohio.  Gene was running 5 watts from a K3.  This added a needed QRP element to the festivities.  Thanks Gene. 

AI4SV Jack in Rockville Md. OH MY GOD!   NOW I REALIZE WHO THIS WAS!  Jack!  Jack of Antanarivo Madagsascar!  And now I understand what he said to me.  He said in CW that my HT-37 has "Lots of presence." Huh?  What?  I couldn't figure out what he was talking about, but now I realize that he was joking about all our discussions mocking the poor audiophiles.  Well, thanks Jack. I'm glad the rig has presence, EVEN ON CW!  THIS QSO GETS MY VOTE FOR BEST SKN QSO. 

I also listened for a while to W3GMS.  His signal had a lot of character and personality.  He was telling the other fellow that he suspected this was the result of a soft voltage regulator tube in his DX-60.  I think he was also using a Drake 2-B.  I didn't get a chance to talk to Howard, but I'm sure it would have been fun. 

 On New Year's morning I switched bands.  First to 40 where I worked Greg NM2L near Atlanta. He said he fingers and wrist were out of condition, but I told him his fist was FB. 

Then I went to 20 CW where I worked a bit of DX.  First David F8CRS then Bert F6HKA.  The contact with Bert reminded me of the charms of DX contacts using CW. "VY GM DR OM."  It was nice.  

N7AQQ Mike in Montana.  

So it was a good SKN for me. Working the French stations reminded me of the allure of listening to CW coming in from far away, and from a foreign culture.   And it was great to hear from AI4SV that my HT-37 has "presence" even on CW. 

73 and HNY to all. 

Time Crystals, and Breadboarding in Cyprus in the 4th Dimension

 

We are always impressed by the way in which SolderSmoke listeners stay on the cutting edge (sometimes OVER the edge!) of modern technology.  I recently got this fascinating note from our friend Jack AI4SV, who is now operating under the hot sun of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.  

Hi Bill,

It is brutally hot here in Cyprus during the summer, so we're spending a week at a rental on the beach -- no complaints in that regard. With all construction material back at the main house, I am free to daydream with no threat of actually building anything that I think of. The result: a new technique -- fourth dimensional design.

This probably popped into my head because I went to sleep right after reading an article about "time crystals" (https://www.quantamagazine.org/first-time-crystal-built-using-googles-quantum-computer-20210730/#:~:text=A%20time%20crystal%20is%20both,of%20what%20a%20phase%20is.), which are similar to physical crystals, but their pattern have symmetry in the time axis. I have to imagine that these things have some application in radio since oscillation is intrinsic to their state of existence. I don't want to think too much about them because it makes my head hurt.

Now, consider breadboarding. There isn't much to say about one dimensional circuits since current has to flow in a circle, but I suppose Franklin's kite was kind of one-dimensional: cloud, Franklin, earth. At least it had a key, so kind of relevant to radio, at least if you are a CW operator.

Two-dimensional circuit design would be a breadboard, particularly with surface mount components. Arguably three-dimensional if it's mulitlayer. Manhattan Island or Deadbug is more in the realm of three-dimensional, with components sticking up from the board, and true three-dimensional is probably best reflected in tube rigs with spider webs of wiring. I don't know who can think in terms of three dimensional layout like that, but it's certainly an art (kind of a blend of Escher, Dali and Bosch).

Now comes fourth dimensional design - not just a theoretical abstraction, but a realizable method that would result in lower part count and simplify the operator interface to a single knob. The basic idea is that you have a design laid out in three dimensional space and that design is made time-variant in space. The simplest implementation would be a breadboard mounted in a track so it slides back and forth, like a desk drawer. Pulling it towards you puts it in transmit, pushing it away in receive. The secret sauce is that the rails have contacts and that the layout is designed such that the traces or pads on the board line up with contacts on the rails such that no relays are needed on the board. Some thought would need to be put in to assure that contacts are made in an appropriate order to avoid frying components.  

That's already fourth dimensional because the same board exists in two states and it can be one or the other, but not both at the same time. Superimposing transmit on receive would be bad, maybe world-ending.

There is no reason to stop there. This whole slide drawer sort of layout could be mounted on a rotational axis with contacts distributed around a tube surrounding the railings. Now you have band switching. Pull the knob to receive, twist it to go to 20 meters, push back in to transmit. That's only roll and translation in one axis -- four more to go, the practical implementation of which I will leave to the reader. Perhaps put mode (CW, SSB, etc.) on yaw, tuning on pitch (which seems natural), volume on y-translation, and RF gain on x-translation, and you would have a formidable 4D transmitter.

Clearly, this is too big to keep to myself, so I am sending it onward to you to share with the world for the benefit of mankind.

Hope all is well in the shack somewhere in the wilds of Northern Virginia. 

Cheers,

Jack

5B4APL / AI4SV

---------------------------------

My follow-up exchange with Jack: 

Jack:  When I read the title I thought you were going to comment on my BOLD decision to place a wooden front panel on my heretofore Al Fresco Mythbuster rig.  But I see now you have taken this to an entirely different astral plane!  Far out OM!  Really groovy.  The crystal thing really brings it into New Age relevance.  Whole Foods may want to get involved! 

I've long thought that the three dimensional nature of tube rigs is one of their most attractive features. You, my friend, are taking this one step further, into Einsteinian space time!  One problem I foresee:  How will hams "synch up" if they are moving through space time at different relativistic speeds?  This could be a real problem for the FT-8 folks and the WSPRers.  

Can I put your hyper-insightful message on the SS blog?   People need to know about this! 

73  Bill  

Hi Bill,

That was a BOLD design choice, but I like the aesthetic.

I'll let Joe Taylor grapple with the cosmic issues related to synching signals. The bigger issue may be regulatory in nature. I am not sure how Part 97 will deal with signals received before they are sent.

Yes, please feel free to share on the blog -- the world needs to know.

73,

Jack

Jack:  Another possibility:  Perhaps too much Cypriot sun?  Stay safe OM! SITS!   73  Bill 

"First Smoke" from Antananarivo, Madagascar

Here in Northern Virginia, it is not all that unusual to run into friends and have them say things like, "We're moving to Antananarivo."  Here is a report from Jack, AI4SV on his new location. That garage seems to have real potential as a workshop Jack.   

Greetings from Antananarivo, Madagascar!

I thought I'd turn the tables and give you a bit of travelogue and radio news.

The only radio-related item in our air freight was my toolbox, which I thought was justified. I lugged along the rest of the station in my carry on, an FT817 (with post-market Collins mechanical filter), magnetic palm paddles, a winkeyer, and the 40/20/10 end-fed LNR halfwave dipole, plus some mason line. I also brought a very compact 240V recharger that I had picked up in Sweden. 

The day after I got here, the dipole was hung using the time respected coke bottle on a string method, which greatly entertained the guard assigned to the house. A couple days later, I clambered up on the roof to raise the feed end another ten feet. Since then, I've worked about 240 stations with my QRP rig (all but three CW). I don't have any way to upload to LOTW right now, but my rough estimate is that I have worked something like 45 DXCC entities.

The location is probably not as ideal as Azores in terms of having a nearby salt water ground plane, as we're 100 miles to either east or west coast, and the local noise here can be very high in our tightly packed appliance-heavy diplomatic neighborhood. On the other hand, we're on the central highlands, almost a mile up and Madagascar is a very desirable DX location. When propagation smiles on me, I can work runs of 30+ stations before I disappear again into the ionospheric mist.

Before I got here, I talked with a bunch of US, UK, and German hams who had held 5R callsigns, and they gave me the lay of the land. Phil, G3SWH became my QSL manager and put me in touch with Albert, 5R8GZ, who has been a huge help. Prior to arrival, Albert was able to put through my paperwork with OMERT, the local equivalent of the FCC, so I could get on the air as soon as I arrived. He has similarly assisted quite a number of visiting hams and dxpeditions and is a big proponent of ham radio in scouting here. 

There's no ham club here, but there are so few active hams that in my three weeks here, I've either met or been introduced by email to about half of them.

It will be another month before our main shipment hits the docks here, and meanwhile management has given me the thumbs up to install a tower in the backyard to support a hexbeam. Between the K3 and the hexbeam, I think I'll be in good shape to do some serious operating, although I think that a couple months of operating QRP has been not only a character-building experience, but has given me a much better understanding of propagation patterns.

We have a large, empty garage and I think it's destined to become the workshop. I am curious about how dry it will stay in the rainy season and how many mosquitos will visit me there, but it has electrical power and plenty of wall space for shelving. Packing out my workshop took me about as much time as the rest of the house combined. So many little parts...

My toolbox arrived last week and the soldering iron was put to immediate use to build a dipole for six and then 15 meters. I've captured the moment of "first smoke" in the new location for your viewing pleasure.

So, please look for me on the air in future months and point your moxon over here when you can.  I'm putting updates about the station's status on its qrz page.

Keep up the podcasts! I've enjoyed the series with Pete Juliano - kind of a return to the original format. Also, I've listened to the icq podcast for years, so it was great to hear the "very special crossover episode" with you and Martin.

73,

Jack

5R8SV / AI4SV

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

SolderSmoke Podcast #220 -- S-38Es, AD9833s, Pete's Phasing Rig, FT-8

Java on the S-38E Tuning Dial

SolderSmoke Podcast #220 is available

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke220.mp3

Hunkered Down.  StayInTheShack:  SITS!  Flatten the Curve!  It is working.

Teaching English again – via Zoom.  Kids completing the school year remotely.  

BILL'S BENCH

-- Finishing up on the S-38Es.

  

-- I wrote up my alignment, isolation and dial string experiences.

-- SWL  WRMI Radio Miami International on 39 meters 9.4-9.9 MHz.  Rock and Roll.

-- S-38E work is causing me some serious legal problems.  They are threatening to take down our sites and our podcast.   Google has put a CEASE AND DESIST ORDER on my blog:   Check it out http://soldersmoke.com/CEASEANDDESIST.JPG

--S-38E caused me to want to get my HRO dial receiver on the SW broadcast bands with a good AM detector.  

-- Next up: Hayseed Hamfest cap for my Drake 2-B.  And I have an idea on how to easily broaden it for AM:  Tap the 455 kc output on the Q multiplier jack.  455 AM detector to audio amp. 

SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION

PETE’S BENCH

AD9833

Phasing Rig Project

.

DEAN’S PROJECT – Step by step.  Trouble shooting.  Understanding.  Receiver triumph.  FB.

MAILBAG

Jack 5B/AI4SV doing well in Cyprus

Daniel SA7DER listens during commute in Sweeden.

Peter VK2EMU building a 6 meter amp.  With Tubes

Jim WA8ZHN  says there are still 7751 Novices on the books.   FB.

Mike WB2BLJ modding his BITX – having a lot of fun.

Fred KC5RT – Great idea on isolation transformer in my S-38E.  

Jerry Palsson: S-38C's curves vs. S-38E's exotic places.  Java. 

Krakatoa East of Java

The Year of Living Dangerously

Anonymous mail:  FT-8 DX -- Are these contacts legitimate? See below. 

Dear Bill and Pete: 

I've been meaning to share with you something that has come to my attention by a rather circuitous route. 

As you guys know, I've been involved in the software/IT side of ham radio for many years. I've watched many digital modes come and go.  I've always enjoyed my work, but lately I've seen something that makes me uneasy. 

I'm sure you guys have heard of the fantastic DX that is being worked by many guys using FT-8.  It seems like all they need to work Jakarta is a couple of watts to a wet noodle. Shazam!  Contact! 

Well, I learned something that calls into some question the legitimacy of many of these contacts....  

As i understand it, certain manufacturers, in cahoots with a major American ham radio organization (that happens to be very dependent on ad revenue from that manufacturer), have secretly set up a system that combines the internet and ham radio. 

Here is how it works:  Suppose Joe Ham gets on FT-8 on 40 meters.  He puts out a call using his QRP transmitter and the aforementioned wet noodle.  No way that signal is going to Jakarta, right?  Well, it will with a bit of help.  

The system has SDR transceivers  and great antennas set up at strategic points around the world -- these are really great locations -- think mountain tops near the coastlines, always with high speed internet T5 connections. I think this is part of the whole “contest superstation for on-line lease” business model.  

One of these stations picks up Joe Ham's FT-8 call. Sometimes it will just re-transmit it, sometimes is will send it to a counterpart station on the other side of the globe.  Bingo, Joe Ham's signal is suddenly in Jakarta.  A station there enthusiastically responds, and that signal goes back with the same kind of repeater/ internet assist.  This is all done out of the reach of the FCC.  They are usig overseas locations,  some of them in Mexico.

Of course they have to be careful not to "facilitate" these kinds of contacts during times in which the bands are obviously dead,  That's why 40 is so useful for this system.  Obviously they can't keep this kind of thing secret forever -- they just want to get guys hooked on FT-8, then they can reveal the system, selling it as nothing unusual, you know, sort of akin to Echolink.  

Of course, this hasn't been made public (for obvious reasons!) but I can tell you the name of the system:   They tried to make it sound like something familiar (in this case like APRS): They call it  "Automatic Private Radio Internet Link 1."  My understanding is that when they do their “roll out” they will offer the new service to those willing to pay a subscription.

Obviously as an old-school, traditional ham, I'm troubled by all this.  What do you guys think?  I wonder what your listeners would think. 

Please don't mention my name..  But here is a site that describes the new system: 

http://www.automaticprivateradiointernetlink1.com/

Thanks and 73... 

Please let us know if you have any information on this, or have observed any unusual and suspicious success with FT-8.

SolderSmoke Podcast #251 Aurora! CBLA, Winterfest, Legal Action Against SolderSmoke, HB sBITX, SDR, Raspberry Pi, Rounded Passbands, MAILBAG

Aurora Picture by Dean KK4DAS

SolderSmoke Podcast #251  4-1-2024

Audio: http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke251.mp3

Videos: Podcast 251 Aurora! CBLA, Winterfest, Legal Threat, sBITX, SDR, RaspPi, Rounded Passbands, MAILBAG (youtube.com)

Travelouge:  Dean goes to the North Pole to see Aurora. 

A CBLA Call to Arms! 

Winterfest.  Lots of goodies.  MXM Industries 40 meter transceiver. 1 dollar. 

Jean Shepherd. Recording of Bill talking to Shep in 1976. 

 https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/03/listen-to-me-talking-to-jean-shepherd.html

Legal Trouble: Could put us out of operation for a while.  We need listener input. 

November 2023

December 2023

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Pete's Bench

Homebrew SDR (based on Zl2CTM’s original design) and how good it sounds.

Raspberry Pi Zero W is now working on FT-8 with digital adapter.

Ferrite Cores at Digi-Key (a replacement for the FT-37-43 where  you buy 100 and the price is 21 cents/each)

ADE-6 –great specs in HF but more expensive than the ADE-1

For Pete's recent blog posts, go to this site and click on "Archive" in the right column: 

https://n6qw.blogspot.com/2024/03/march-31-2924-happy-easter-to-those-who.html

----------------

Dean's Bench 

sBITX progress, McGyver-ing a lifted pad, replacing crystal on the CODEC board, sBITX success! See: 

https://kk4das.blogspot.com/2024/03/homebrew-sbitx-tx-modules-pa-lpf-and-mic.html

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Shameless Commerce Division:  Please use the Amazon link on the blog to start your Amazon purchases. And please consider using Patreon to support the podcast and blog.  We try to send extra content to our Patreon supporters. Mostly DIY RF --  Boards, Kits and Pete's PSSST

---------------------

Bill's Bench

More trouble with the 15-10 rig.  Rounded passbands in 25 MHz filter. See figure 4 in both links: 

https://www.arrl.org/files/file/QEX_Next_Issue/Nov-Dec_2009/QEX_Nov-Dec_09_Feature.pdf

https://www.networksciences.com/pdfs/tutorial.pdf

Experimenting with Balanced Mixers and Product Detectors. Paul VK3HN  Suggests the MC1496 chip; Walter KA4KXX points to SSDRA circuits

But it is on the air!  Using the PA from a BITX40 module and an RD06.  

Put an OLD dial from Pericles HI8P on 15-10 version 1.  Soul in the new machine.

Pericles' Dial on the 15-10 Rig 

Mailbag: 

Grayson KJ7UM's Hollowstate video. 

Mike WU2D's amazing 10 meter DSB transceiver. 

Jack AI4SV (Dhaka Jack) liked video of recent QSO with AzoresDSB rig

Mike AA1TJ and Dave AA7EE on backwaves and 100 uW QRPpppp

Dave G3UUR  on my curved passband problem

Alan W2AEW heard my only QSO with the MXM indsutries SupeRX/TX40

Wes W7ZOI, Mike WN2A, Walter KA4KXX. Farhan VU2ESE on passband, 

Ramakrishnan sent article about Charles Proteus Steinmetz.  Beautiful. 

Justin AC8LV built a receiver!  FB. 

San Francisco QRP:   KDOFNR TouCans Rig, and N6ASD Zinc-Oxide TX

Frank KC8JJL -- Another guy who heard first ham sigs from a homebrew rig. 

Nate KA1MUQ's homebrew thermatron superhet

Dino KL0S sent info on the PAL CB VFO I picked up at Winterfest. Airborne! 

Bob W8SX will be once again doing SolderSmoke interviews at Dayton.  Thanks Bob

Peter VK2EMU  Always good to hear from him.

Tobias Feltus -- Wisdom teeth removed, wondering if he will get sBITX hallucinations...

Rick WD5L continues to work on his Herring Aid 5

Ciprian YO6DXE wants to learn CW. No alerts from his FB Blog!

Todd K7TFC -- Likes CW, says it eliminates the Blah-Blah-Blah 

F1BFU's Amazing PSSST VFO

SolderSmoke Podcast #242 Mars, New Hams, Direct Conversion, SDR Console, Proficio, PSSST, 8 meters, A BIG MAILBAG

SolderSmoke Podcast #242 is available

Audio podcast:  http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke242.mp3 

Video:  (362) SolderSmoke Podcast #242 December 3, 2022 - YouTube

Travelogue: 

Mars at opposition.  Not as good as 2020 (see charts below)

SSSS Prep

Hearing aids and high frequency loss.

AirPods as hearing aids.

Out in the Shenandoah with a Baofeng.

Success among TJ High School students.

Satellite in space?

 

PARTSCANDY

 

Bill's Bench:

Direct Conversion Receiver:  IT IS ALIVE!  EVEN IN LTSPICE

PTO works very well.

Diode ring -- really needs a diplexer, Radio Marti.

AF amplifier simplicity.

But WHY can't you listen to DSB on a DC receiver? Now I know.

How does a diode detector work?  Is the envelope real?  Is it square law?

The benefits of writing... 1967 and 1966 articles on PTOs and 2Qs.

 

Shameless Commerce Division:

-- MOSTLY DIY RF!  NEWS FROM PORTLAND! Get your free Michigan Mighty Mite. 

-- YouTube Goal Reached.  Thanks! Keep watching.  Subscribe!

-- Keep buying from Bezos using the link on the right-hand column of the blog page.

-- Become a Patreon sponsor!  Left hand column of blog page.

-- I have ads on the blog page, but I have configured to avoid troublesome ads -- dating sites, etc.

 

 Pete's Bench

-- Stepper motor, LCD and Arduino for my little DC RX?

-- SDR Console

-- PSSST, BOMS, Schematics and spoon feeding...

-- Proficio SDR by Multus

-- 8 meters?

  

Mailbag

-- Alan Yates VK2ZAY now also W7ZAY PTOs, trivial motors, a broken ankle...

-- Dhaka Jack AI4SV formerly of Cyprus, Madagascar and Northern Virginia. has moved to France!

-- John WB5OAU/K5MO An old friend.  FMLA as "Glowbugs Noir"

-- Dale Parfitt W4OP on the Homebrew 2Q from 1967

-- Nick M0NTV Glue Sticks, PTOs, DC receivers and AM breakthrough testing.

-- Todd K7TFC suggests “cool” names for DC RX  PT Cruiser? PT109? PT73?

-- Levi replacing Selenium diodes in a Globe VFO.  I am not alone!

-- Juanjo EC5ACA wants to build DC RX .  FB.

-- Dave designed a discrete LM386.  Picked up by Jenny at HackaDay.  Can you build this?

-- George Zaff.  HamRadio Workbench Spiritual Brother of SolderSmoke.

-- Alain F4IET -- Still building DC receiver.  FB.  Sorry I got the call wrong.

-- Drew N7DA Building Pixies with 3D forms.

-- Toni G6XMO in Sheffield getting a 3D printer business going: https://www.whizz3dparts.co.uk/

-- Chuck KE5HPW restoring an old SW-54.  Pete is skeptical.

-- Lex and Jesse like Colin's placement of WYKSYCDS sticker on his Homebrew rig.

-- Jim KI4THZ joined the Vienna Wireless Society -- FB  on the faculty at GMU

-- Tony G4WIF suggested mechanical counter for DC RX PTO freq readout.  I have some in the junk box.

-- Our old friend Jonathan-san in W0XO now a Patreon sponsor.  Origato!

-- Thomas K4SWL sent him video of Tiny SA watching Vatican Radio sign off for the day.

-- Farhan and Chuck Penson liked blog post about Heathkit Digital Rig SS-8000 1978!

-- Ed KC8SBV working on DC receivers -- I recently used the Peppermint Bark box he sent.

-- Old friend Bob KD4EBM on the linearization of the R-390s.  Hard to homebrew one of those!

-- George from VWS trying to figure out how (if?) Marconi got his coherer to work DX...

-- Steve EI5DD sends Connaught Radio news: https://www.docdroid.net/Q1lBoyi/crnews1222-pdf#page=36

 

Won’t have another Podcast until the new year so Happy Holidays to all!  Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! 

 

SolderSmoke Podcast #197: Farhan, Fame, 'Fest, Testgear, SSB History, Dishal Dystopia, QRP CW, MAILBAG

SolderSmoke Podcast #197 is available:

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke197.mp3

Up in NYC, met Dave W2DAB. got Steve Silverman's HP 8640B Sig Gen.

Farhan's visit to SolderSmoke HQ

Got me a TEK1401A Spectrum analyzer

Farhan at "Geekfest" @W7ZOI   http://w7zoi.net/Farhan-visit.html

BITX40 Modules.  5,000 already.   1,000 a month.

The BITX pronunciation problem. 

QRP Hall of Fame.  I suspected April 1 reprisal!    "I am unworthy" 

Like in Wayne's World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBEn3a4TIUw

Dusting off my Tuna Tin 2, Herring Aid 5 and Farhan's key from India.

The Manassas Hamfest:  OLD crystal gear.   20's and 30's stuff. Leon Lambert RX and Philmore Fixed Crystal Detector. 

 Reminder of how YOUNG the radio art is.

RELATED:  Bell System 1953 Transistor Documentary.  11 year old Pete and his CK722.

Bought some good stuff from Charles AI4OT.

Armand WA1UQO gave me a big collection of Electric Radio.  So much history and HB wisdom in there. Frank Jones and Lafayette Radio.  Jim Lamb and 1930s SSB.  

Is the CK-722 the source of Pete Juliano's affinity for Juliano Blue?

Was Wes Hayward already using Juliano Blue?

"Your rig sounds real good for a homebrew rig!" 

"Well, your rig sounds pretty good for a Yaesu!"

Related topic: Going over the Waterfall:  The SDR Superiority Syndrome.  Feathering.

ARRL Arduino Book   by Popiel.    Very nice.  Right level.  Lots of good info.

BENCH REPORT:

Pete's Dishal Dystopia --  Is the perfect TRULY the enemy of the good enough?

Bill's  NE602 RIG: 

Replaced OLED.  Blue one seems noisier.  Shielded it with  copper flashing.

Made me yearn for bigger boxes WITH A HOOD!

DOCUMENTING WITH LTSPICE

MAILBAG:

Special Thanks to our correspondent in the Dayton Xenia Metropolitan area -- Bob Crane W8SX.

Jack Welch, AI4SV 5R8SV -- Our Man in Antanarivo -- Sent me a GREAT BOOK "I, Libertine" by Frederick R. Ewing.   EXCELSIOR!

https://qrz.com/db/5r8sv

Bruce KC1FSZ https://www.qrz.com/db/kc1fsz  Building Scratchbuilt BITX.  On the way put the VFO where the BFO should go and had a DC RX.  FB

Greg, VK1VXG   Suggestion for WA8WDQ on Arduino serial plotter

http://www.instructables.com/id/Ultimate-Guide-to-Adruino-Serial-Plotter/

Ben KC9DLM  Mercury PTO.  In a syringe!   No thanks! Maybe add some high voltage and selenium.  And a radium dial!  Yea!

http://webshed.org/wiki/Mercury_PTO

KY3R's metalized cigar boxes!  FB On Blog.

Richard WB2PEF has revived his Doug DeMaw 8P6 rig.  FB.  But bothered by PTT thump.

Update on Dave AA7EE (from Mike KC6SAX)

AI4OT and N2CQR

N2CQR AND W2DAB

SolderSmoke Podcast #215 Regen Madness, KWM-4, Paesano, Mailbag

Latest N2CQR version of N0WVA's Regen

SolderSmoke Podcast #215 is available. 

25 November 2019

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke215.mp3

Happy Thanksgiving! 
Transit of Mercury
Book Reviews 

Bill's Minimalist Adventures:
-- 15 Contacts with the ET-2 
-- Ethical issues:  Is spotting yourself OK?  OK to use TWO FETs? 
-- Using Reverse Beacon Network
-- How to keep receiver on the right frequency
-- N0WVA's receiver sounded better, so I built a second N0WVA receiver
-- Regens reach back to Edwin Howard Armstrong's 1912-1923 breakthrough
-- Regens are fun, but they are not good projects for new builders. 

-- Pull out those Michigan Mighty Mites and listen for yourself via on-line SDR receivers.

Pete's Projects: 
"WHEN YOU KNOW STUFF YOU CAN DO STUFF!"
-- Left Coast SSB -- "The Paesano" -- To be featured in December 2019 SPRAT. 
-- Pete's KWM-4 on The Collins Collectors Net
-- Pete builds an N0WVA regen -- just in time for Sweepstakes CW Saturday! 
-- Arduino IDE Library trouble
-- uBITX 6.0? Fake News? 

No more BITX40 Modules.  Long Live BITX40 HOMEBREW! 

BITX-101.   Intriguing but on second thought, no.   

MAILBAG

Steve Silverman:  Lexicon:  "Audible Modes." 
Felipe CU2BD   Old buddy from the Azores
Michael Rainey AA1TJ:  Come back Mike!  The ionosphere needs you! 
Jack Welch  AI4SV is in 5G land  (Cyprus, not the cell phone thing). 
Walter AC4IM is at the San Vito Solar Observatory in Italy.  DO SOMETHING WALTER! 
Kostas SV3ORA has an amazing homebrew web site.  Thanks Kostas! 
Mike KC6SAX -- How to deal with the frustration of HB projects that don't work. 
Paul KL7FLR -- Pete is 7 Hz high. 
Keith W3ISZ  sent his photo of the Transit of Mercury.  

PLEASE USE THE AMAZON SEARCH BOX ON THE SOLDERSMOKE BLOG PAGE WHEN DOING YOUR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING. 

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE SOLDERSMOKE CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE. 

N2CQR's ET-2 with callsign Tattoos