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Sunday, July 4, 2021
Romanian Mighty Mite and Ciprian's Knack Story
Friday, May 7, 2021
"Adventures in Electromagnetism" Video by Julius Sumner Miller
Friday, April 16, 2021
Homebrew Lives! TWENTY N6QW Simple SSB Transceivers Under Construction in Northern Virginia
Friday, February 19, 2021
James West, Inventor of the Electret Mic, has THE KNACK
For many reasons, this is a really nice story. It is about a kid with The Knack, a kid who, like young James Clerk Maxwell, wanted to understand how things work. It is also a technology story, the story of the invention of a device very important to us: the electret microphone. (Remember the earlier carbon mics in telephones? I'll bet more than a few of our readers are guilty of stealing a few of those mics from pay phones.) And it is a reminder of the benefits of helping kids who might need a mentor... or and Elmer.
Thanks Hack-A-Day. And three cheers for James West.
Friday, February 12, 2021
A Lifetime of Workshops
https://microship.com/consoles/?fbclid=IwAR37yc-NfOrUC93C8QZYXZfakGLf-4eBtPw2php0CpzGHBW3-fb55ciyp0w
It has been more than decade, but we've posted about Steven K. Roberts N4RVE before:
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-didnt-care-i-had-secret-life.html
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2009/09/knack-on-bike-steve-roberts-video.html
This morning I came across his recent article about the workshops he's had over the course of his life. Very nice. Man, I should have held on to that SP-600 I once had. You folks will like this:
https://microship.com/consoles/?fbclid=IwAR37yc-NfOrUC93C8QZYXZfakGLf-4eBtPw2php0CpzGHBW3-fb55ciyp0w
Friday, January 22, 2021
Jenny List's Favo(u)rite Things
Over on Hack-A-Day Jenny List (G7CKF) has a really nice article about ham radio and homebrewing. She truly has The Knack: She got her start in radio electronics at age 9 when her parents gave her George Dobbs's Ladybird book.
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/21/a-few-of-my-favorite-things-amateur-radio/
One of her paragraphs really seemed to capture the SDR-HDR conflict that we so often joke about:
The age of the homebrew RF tinkerer may be at a close, at least in the manner in which I started it. Nobody at the cutting edge of radio is likely to be messing around with discrete transistor circuits in the 2020s, unless perhaps they are working with extremely exotic devices up in the millimetre wavelengths. It’s all software-defined radios, opaque black plastic boxes that deliver a useful radio experience on a computer but that’s it. No more homebrew, no more tinkering.
Whew, good thing I'm not on the cutting edge. It sounds kind of sad. Oh well, that leaves more discrete transistors for us to tinker with.
Jenny's Profile on Hack-A-Day:
[Jenny List]: Contributing Editor and European Correspondent
Jenny List trained as an electronic engineer but spent twenty years in the publishing industry working on everything from computer games to
dictionaries before breaking out and returning to her roots.
She grew up around her parents’ small farm and blacksmith business in rural England, so making (and breaking) things is in her blood. Countless projects have crossed her bench over the years, though these days you’ll find her working with electronics and in particular radio, textiles for clothing and costume, decrepit classic cars, and real cider from first principles.
When she’s not writing for Hackaday she works on language corpus analysis software, designs and sells amateur radio kits, sits on the board of Oxford Hackspace, and is a freelance electronic design engineer and programmer.
- Hackaday Articles
- Hackaday Profile: Jenny List
- Twitter: @Jenny_Alto
- Personal Website: Language Spy
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Rocket Knack
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Builds Oscilloscope at age 12! Nick has THE KNACK
Thanks to Grayson Evans for sending us this very encouraging video.
It is from Tektronix; I wonder if Alan W2AEW provided some ideas and inspiration?
More stories like this: https://www.tek.com/stories
Sunday, September 6, 2020
Marc Verdiell Has The Knack
Here is Marc Verdiell, the "Curious Marc" who repaired the Soyuz Clock (shown in yesterday's blog post).
Really cool. Many SolderSmoke fans will completely understand Marc and his passion for
electronics.
Sunday, July 19, 2020
Knack Story -- Tom WX2J
RTTY Model 15 |
Monday, June 22, 2020
Feedback on Farhan's FB Feedback Amp Video
As I said a couple of days ago, Farhan has put out a very informative video on amplifier design. During the video we can see him determine bias, feedback and load levels, then select component values. We then see him actually build the amplifier "ugly style" and use his Antuino to test it. Fantastic.
Watch Farhan's video here: https://www.vu2ese.com/index.php/2020/06/18/feedback-amplifier/
I sent Farhan some of my reactions to the video. In the hope of stimulating some discussion, I repeat them here:
___________________
Wow Farhan, I really enjoyed your video and learned a lot. You definitely have the Knack for explaining this stuff.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Applied Science -- Electrical Impedance Tutorials
Part 1 appears above, Part 2 is below.
Ben Krasnow has a KNACK for explaining technical things. I liked his videos on impedance. At the end of the second video, he said he'd do a third one that would focus on impedance in coaxial cables. But I couldn't find it on his channel. I hope it was made -- this is very interesting and useful.
Ben's YouTube channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333
Monday, April 13, 2020
Other Kinds of Knack: Woodwork Wizard! (video)
This guy has some amazing tools, and even more amazing skills. I find it inspirational to occasionally take a look at other kinds of workshops. Check it out. Video above.
Along similar lines, the young Englishman Leo was in Washington state with his girlfriend when the lock-down and travel bans kicked in, so his work on Tally Ho (and his videos) continue. See:
https://youtu.be/zXV0ywqj7zY
SITS! or Stay in the wood-shop!
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Boat Knack -- Rebuilding a 1910 yacht "Tally Ho"
I present this as part of our occasional series on people with other kinds of Knack. The young Englishman in this series of videos is definitely in this category. Watch him acquire the 1910 yacht "Tally Ho" for 1 pound sterling, transport it to Washington state, SINGLE HANDEDLY build a boat shed around the huge vessel, and carry out the restoration. Oh yea, all the while shooting videos of his work. Great stuff.
I advise you to watch the series from the beginning. The next video in the series will load automatically.
Be sure to subscribe the channel.
Thanks to Ryan Flowers of https://miscdotgeek.com/ for alerting us to this.
Monday, February 24, 2020
SolderSmoke Podcast #218: S-38E Woes; CW filter for uBITX; A Teensy Explosion; Mint, Cheese and Peaberries; Mailbag; A SPECIAL PLEA FOR FEEDBACK
Bry Carling can get you the crystals you need.
Friday, February 21, 2020
PH2LB's Homebrew Hi-Per-Mite CW Filter in his uBITX
I really like the way Lex PH2LB measures and demonstrates the effectiveness of the Hi-Per-Mite CW filter designed by David Cripes NM0S. Watch the short video above. The blue trace is the audio input to the filter, the orange trace is the output. Watch the output change as Lex sweeps the audio frequency range.
He wrote:
After studying the schematic I shifting through my spare parts stock to collected the components and build one according there design on a breadboard (I changed the center frequency from 700 to 600Hz).
I hooked up my signal generator with a amplitude of 2v max and sweeped it from 250Hz to 2KHz looking at the output on my rigol osciloscoop. On 2khz VMAX=0.04V, 885Hz=0.2V, 700Hz=1.5V, 662-585Hz=2V, 400Hz=0.2V, 500Hz=0.9V, 250Hz=0.04V. So a nice flat top between 585Hz to 662Hz.
A full description of Lex's project (with more videos) is here:
https://www.ph2lb.nl/blog/index.php?page=ubitx-mods3#ubitx-mod14
Lex's Knack Story and the intro to his blog is here: https://www.ph2lb.nl/blog/index.php?page=history
Monday, February 3, 2020
AM Rally Report -- Great Contacts on 40 AM
The AM Rally this past weekend was a lot of fun. I was reminded of how the guys that you talk to on AM are just so much more likely to be running interesting homebrew or vintage gear.
First contact was with Howard VE2AED who has one of the most amazing antenna farms I have ever seen. Take a look:
https://www.qrz.com/db/VE2AED
He also has an R-390 and a KWM2 in his shack.
Next I spoke to Robert W0VMC (Voice Modulated Carrier) out in Wisconsin. Robert is a homebrewer of AM gear with a Knack story that is very familiar: http://w0vmc.com/
Next up was W4GON. Joel was on the homebrew AM transmitter that we reported on back in 2017:
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2017/08/thermatrons-al-fresco-w4gons-fb-hb-am.html
Joel has completed his rig, adding a FB front panel. Here it is:
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Lebanon's First Radio Website
I found this site through Paul VK3HN. He took the AM detector circuit for his AM receiver from one these Lebanese homebrew radios.
There is some really great information on this wonderful website. It has been online for some 20 years -- I wish I had found it earlier. The author shares his Knack story -- this is a wonderful example of the International Brotherhood of Electronic Wizards (IBEW).
http://www.midcenturyradios.com/index.html
And he has very cool schematics, really well done. Click on image to enlarge:
Sunday, December 1, 2019
ET-2 Contact #16 -- Pete, KD2OMV, Builder of a 6T9er (with video)
Yesterday I had my first contact using the ET-2's improved receiver. I had watched the video of N0WVA's receiver and I realized that more sensitivity was possible. So I tried to replicate his LC ratio. I think that helped a lot. Today I posted a plea for help on the SKCC Sked page and then called CQ on 40. I was answered by Pete, KD2OMV who was so loud that I had to take the headphones off my ears! He was booming in, all the way from upstate New York. The receiver was running off a somewhat depleted 9 volt battery. I made a quick video (above). I'm just holding the I-phone up to the headphone, while also trying to copy the incoming CW.
This was a really great contact. Pete has a wonderful knack story. He was licensed as a kid but never made a contact. As an adult he found his old box of parts for a 6T9er in his parents house. So he builds it and uses the homebrew rig to make his first ham radio contact. FB Pete. Thanks for the contact OM. I wrote your call on the ET-2.
Pete KD2OMV |
Friday, May 24, 2019
Nigerian Knack: Hope Emmanuel Frank
I hope this kid has a lot of success. He definitely has The Knack.