SolderSmoke Podcast #135 FDIM SPECIAL!

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http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke135.mp3
June 26, 2011
Bike riding, composting... what next?
Lightning kills the WSPR rig
New finder for old telescope
------SPECIAL FOUR DAYS IN MAY INTERVIEWS BY BOB CRANE W8SX:FEATURING:
Joe Taylor K1JT (Nobel Prize Winner -- FOR PHYSICS!)! Plumbing Defined Radio! Steve WG0AT: Fly Fishing, Retirement, Goats, YouTube, and Amateur Radio!
George Dobbs, G3RJV! And more! ----- Drake 2-B updates: WARC and 160 Dial Templates,
Drake 2B Serial Number Math Estimate Project (Using German tank method) Michael AA1TJ's Sputnik 1 Project
Putting the Shack back into RadioShack

Making Transistors in 1957

Thanks to Thomas K4SWL for alerting us to this video -- he had it on his excellent SWLing Post blog. 

Many things crossed my mind as I watched this video: 

-- Pocket protectors!  Pete recently noted that this was a common fashion accessory among electronic techs and engineers back in the day. 

-- HP test gear. 

-- "Extreme cleanliness" that doesn't seem quite so clean.  

-- 550 transistors per hour.  Now we have upwards of 50 billion on a single chip. 

-- The Germanium salami that Pete mentioned in our last podcast. 

-- Hints of Silicon's impending replacement of Germanium. 

-- A transistor factory in Spring City, Pa. that "hums with excitement" (seemed kind of sleepy). 

-- The 1957 assumption that Philco transistors would be in the first orbiting satellite.  Then came Sputnik.

-- The transistor that moves like a "Gulliver through Lilliputian lands."  

-- Our voices or accents seem to have changed, at least the voice used in products like this.  No one talks that way today. 

-- As I watched, I tried to remember if Pete's CK722 was made by these folks.   But no, that was a Raytheon product.   Here is a nice short description of the early days of the CK722:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CK722   We need to learn more about the hobbyist Carl Todd.

SolderSmoke Podcast #137

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke137.mp3

10 September 2011

Earthquake! Hurricane! Tropical Storm!
The Heathkit HW-7 -- An Undeserved Bad Reputation
Over-the-counter saltpeter
Movie review: Green Hornet, Captain America
How many 2-Bs? (11,571)
Ubuntifying dead laptops
Get the SolderSmoke blog by e-mail
Replacing a diode ring mixer with a diode...
...then trying the NT7S MOSFET detector
Where is boatanchor wizard Walt Hutchins KJ4JV ?
GREAT NAMES IN RADIO: MCMURDO SILVER
Sputnik update
Lew McCoy wrote about one of my projects
MAILBAG (with mail from Farhan and Wes)

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

Party Like its 1957! (with the Sputniks on 21.060 MHz)

Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith sent me this very creative reminder that the Sputnik Replica On-The-Air event is scheduled to continue for the same length of time that the original transmitter was on the air. That means we have until October 26 to work or to listen to these magnificent replica rigs. (Hey, maybe I'll get my HW-7 into the action!) See you on 21.060 MHz Comrades! 73 and DSW!

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

Who can tell us more about Lovelock's homebrew shortwave radio?

"Three years earlier, Lovelock had listened on his homemade shortwave radio in Finchley to the 'beep, beep, beep' transmission of the USSR’s Sputnik, the first satellite that humanity had put into orbit. Now he was playing with the super powers."

From: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/sep/05/gaia-theory-born-of-secret-love-affair-james-lovelock

A bit of a soap opera, but the radio question is, I think,  interesting. 

Can we put a Sputnik signal back in space for $300?

This article from Hack-a-Day caught my eye:
http://hackaday.com/2011/10/11/send-a-satellite-into-space-for-300/
We just make the antenna a bit longer and put it on 20 MHz. Or for a shorter antenna, 40 MHz.
Bert and the fellows out at UVA are going to take care of the whole SETI thing (Jerry, NR5A, was in the lead on this -- he started the SolderSmoke SETI-AT-HOME group). But we'll need some additional volunteers to cover the Low Earth Orbit portion of the SolderSmoke Space Program. And of course we have to come up with the 300 bucks.

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

Comet Hits Sun, SFI up, Report from San Vito

The SOHO spacecraft caught some great images of a comet crashing into the sun. The YouTube clip above is from July. Here is NASA video of one that took place just last week:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/comet-cme.html

Coincidentally I'm sure, the solar flux has increased significantly and the upper HF bands are working again. My 17 meter rigs still need final amps -- I am ordering parts for Farhan's JBOT circuit. (I plan to build three or four.) But because I had the 2B on 15 meters for the Sputnik event (still no Sputniks heard here) I noticed that DX was coming on that band. Using my HT-37 and a 40 meter dipole I easily worked several Europeans on 15 meter SSB. Especially nice was a long rag chew (using my rusty Italian) with Gianfranco, IZ4NPE, in beautiful Ferrara, Italy (a bicycle city).

Somehow tying this all together, I got an e-mail from Walter in San Vito, Puglia (the heel on Italy's boot). Walter has one of those "dream jobs" for a radio amateur: He tracks sunspots!

Hi Bill,

Walter here from San Vito, Italy. Just wanted to drop a note to say hi and let you know that I'm enjoying your book. Thanks for making it available as a Kindle version. While reading, it brought back similar experiences with me as a youngster. I too was fascinated by airplanes and would ride my bike to the local airport and watch for hours as the planes would take off and land. My mom gave me my first airplane ride as a birthday present when I was 11. I have to admit that I was scared when we made our first airborne turn. I didn't realize that a plane banks in the turns. I was also fascinated with shortwave radios and my best Christmas gift was a Radio Shack Globe Patrol (regenerative... hi hi) receiver kit. The gift from by grandparents was a Weller soldering gun (140 watts) to put it together with. Again, great job on the book.

The Sun has been keeping us busy at the Solar Observatory. I'm monitoring anywhere from 4 to 12 flares a day, 2 regions popped out of nowhere yesterday. The radio bands have been favorable with all the activity. I've got several projects in the works, a Genesis G3020 SDR rig is about 1/3 completed on the workbench now. It's probably me when you see Puglia show up on the website spinning globe. Take care and keep the podcast's coming. Ciao for now.

- Walter

I7/AC4IM

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

SolderSmoke Podcast #136

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke136.mp3
August 7, 2011
Travelogue: New York City
A Stroke of Luck: Lightning strikes Rome HB DC DSB WSPR rig
It's an IGY thing: Recreating the Sputnik Transmitter
ArisSAT-1 deployed. Audio Clip (Can anyone decode the SSTV in this clip?)
Summertime SPRAT -- ZL2BMI rig and the mysteries of the '602
A writer for "The New Yorker" builds a radio
June Smithsonian Magazine has a lot of Knack
Electric Radio on AM selectivity, Japanese, and the sibilant S problem
Gathering Drake 2-B Serial numbers for use with German Tank Equation
Amazon breaks into oscillation on "Atoms to Ampere" prices
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

SolderSmoke Podcast #104

http://www.soldersmoke.com

1 April 2009
Rome Marathon
Billy climbs Vesuvius!
Fixin' up old Toshiba laptop
Solar Power from Donuts and Tea!
Eldon's MEPT ET Phone home machine
More Catalan minimalism: The MOSquito
Book:  Thunderstruck! Marconi history
SPECIAL ECHOLINK QSO WITH NIGEL, M0NDE
MAILBAG:
Paul M0XPD new homebrewer, Funster 40, Paraset, and SDR
Preston WJ2V on REAL solder vacuum pumps
Ted AA5CK keys MEPT with iduino
Ken KG6PO on obit of TV pioneer Thomas T. Goldsmith
Art W2HQQ: "Man of High Fidelity" lacks knack
Scott KD5NJR on Sputnik 4, NASA comms
Alan W2AEW Don't smother MEPT oscillators! Books
Steve GOFUW Old Book recommendation. Building WARC rig
Jacki (XYL of KL7R) says hello from volcanic Alaska
Jeff KO7M  Why FSK on QRSS?
Jim AL7RV Sends WSPR care package.  (Thanks!) 

SolderSmoke: Engineering Site of the Day on EE Web!

Dilbert would be so proud! In spite of my Bachelor of Arts Degree, yesterday the SolderSmoke blog was named Engineering Site of the Day by EE Web. I'm especially pleased that the Sputnik rig of the G3XBM team was the featured photo. Check it out:

http://www.eeweb.com/websites/solder-smoke-daily-news

http://www.eeweb.com/

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