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Sunday, November 9, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
SolderSmoke #94
SolderSmoke #94
November 2, 2008
Halloween in Rome, Autumn rains
Building Class A Amps with Spice, Copper, SSDRA, EMRFD
Wes on oscillator output wave forms
Inspirational article in "Air and Space" Magazine
Book Review: "My Detachment" by Tracy Kidder
Autumn SPRAT
SPECIAL REPORT FROM G-QRP MINI-CONVENTION
Aliens on 80 meters
MEPT: Can you see me?
Softrock 40 Group tries to digitize N2CQR
Homebrew solar panels
Request for assistance.. .
MAILBAG:
Alan Yates in cahoots with AA1TJ
Les gets our logo on I-tunes
Paul WA1MAC gets 2 2Bs
Scott KD5NJR on KSC honeymoons
Bruce VE9QRP on new free QUCS simulator
Keith G0CZR on bubble wrap insulation
Bob KD4EBM on green laser dangers
John VK3AJG designs 80 meter SSB rig
Todd KE7KXI on Knack relapse, old electronics smell
Jerry NR5A BACK IN ACTION!
Bob N7ZF on SolderSmoke Facebook
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Homebrew Solar Panels
Woody, KF4TQJ, sent me this interesting link on how to make your own solar panel:
http://www.thesolarplan.com/articles/your-own-solar-panel-collector.html
Before you get carried away by homebrew enthusiasm, scroll down a bit on that page and check out the cost estimates for large scale application of this technology.
Friday, October 31, 2008
See if you can see my signal 10140055 Hz
IK0VVE has a nice grabber aggregator site that includes a sun clock. Here it is:
http://www.ik0vve.net/mept6.aspx
Just see if the sun is shining here, then scroll down and take a look at either PA1SBD's site or ON5EX's. Sometimes I can also be seen on I2NDT's.
You should see my signal around 10140055 Hz. It looks kind of like a square wave. Read the Morse along the bottom (my FSK is upside down).
For extra credit, see if you can see Paolo's solar beacon. It too looks like a square wave, but with no Morse. He's running 2.5 milliwatts.
Please let me know if you succeed in seeing our sigs.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Arduino -- Italian Open Source Hardware
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Aliens on 80 meters!
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Flea: Minimalist QRP from Catalonia
Check it out: http://ea3fxf.googlepages.com/flea
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Lasers, LEDs, Tin-foil Hats, and QRP
Hi Bill:
I really enjoy your Solder Smoke show and news feeds. Great stuff that has got me back into ham radio again. Your note about optical comms got me fired up enough to add some notes that you might not be aware of.
There is a substantial worldwide community playing with optical communications and they have achieved some amazing records using simple off the shelf components – mostly big Luxeon LEDs which have some (debatable) advantages over Lasers. The most sophisticated component in typical systems is the Fresnel lens – which can be obtained at office supply stores or ebay as “page magnifiers” for a couple of bucks.
There seem to be about four major groups:
The Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania has an active bunch and they have achieved some great distance records with (QRP) LEDs. They have also been bouncing signals off of geographic features to establish communications paths. They are also doing some cloud/sky bounce things that are quite amazing. The REAST web site has lots of well documented test data that’s really interesting to read.
K3PGP has an exceptional web page full of test reports and construction details. His K3PGP preamp/receiver (and variants) are the basic building block for most systems. It uses a $1.00 pin diode, a MPF103 FET and a handful of common parts to get some almost fantastic performance.
Yves, F1AVY has a strong theoretical background and has been doing interesting stuff in France for quite a while and his web page has lots of interesting technical details.
Clint, KA7AOI has a very comprehensive web page. Clint holds the record for long distance communications (173 miles) and describes much of his equipment and testing. There is also a bunch of historical material that is very interesting.
There are probably a bunch of folks I have forgotten, but all of them are noted in the many and varied links found on these web sites.
I think that the most interesting thing about the activities is how the teams have adapted available technology to an interesting problem. Much of the work resembles current amateur weak signal activities. In fact, Spectran and WSJT are part of almost every activity. Much of the work is unique outside of the academic community and might even be called groundbreaking in some areas.
We have a small group here in the Raleigh North Carolina area, but so far we haven’t done anything of note other than build equipment and play in the local park. The fact that this sort of thing must be done outside at night draws all kinds of attention – some of which is not necessarily good. …a bunch of strange looking guys running around in the dark with strange flashing red lights…. I have a special cap that I wear for the occasions.
Keep up the good work.
Rye Gewalt
K9LCJ
Monday, October 20, 2008
Laser QSO and Visual EME with laser!
Bob, Kd4EBM, sent me some really good info on laser safety. Bottom line: For the time being anyway, Billy will be limited to the <5mw href="http://www.earthsignals.com/Collins/0036/index.htm">http://www.earthsignals.com/Collins/0036/index.htm
Their rig is pictured above.
And here is one that is really mind blowing: A while back we discussed the laser reflectors left on the moon by the Apollo astronauts. Well, apparently there is an intrepid amateur out there who has been shooting his own lasers at the Sea of Tranquility, and seeing reflections come back. Visual EME. Check it out:
http://www.k3pgp.org/viseme.
Thanks Bob!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
SolderSmoke #93
http://www.soldersmoke.com
SolderSmoke #93
October 12, 2008
HB Pi Network Tuna (with mystery)
Hamfest report from Belgium
Space Hackers removed from YouTube
Verdict on Judica Cordiglia brothers
FB Italian ham magazines
I shift to FSK on 30 meters
Gimmick capacitors
QRSS QSY woes
SolderJoke
MAILBOX:
Jerry NR5A Back in action
Scott KD5NJR on Space Hacker controversy
Steve WB6TNL on the different flavors of solder smoke!
Paul WA1MAC labled PC boards with SSDRA page numbers
Ramakrishnan VU3RDD getting back on the air
Jim K9JM had 60 POUNDS of 2N2222
Jim AL7R listening from Yuma
Wes W7ZOI on plumbing washer toroids
Paul WA5WCP on laser safety
Terry G4GHU also went to KSC on honeymoon
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
I SHIFT TO FSK ON 30 METER QRSS
I used a fairly standard approach to get the FSK, but with a twist: I added the usual LED and a cap to the oscillator circuit. Now, on key down, the positive voltage from the keyer causes the LED to conduct, putting the additional cap into the circuit. But here is the twist: for the capacitor, I just used some of that twisted-up two conductor insulated wire that often comes with cheap old (mono) ear phones. In the old days this would have been called a "gimmick" capacitor. I started out with 3 or four inches. Using Spectran to monitor the amount of shift, I just cut off bits of the wire until the shift was at the desired 5 Hertz. I just clipped away at the wire until the shift looked about right.
The rig is now key down all the time, and even though power out is still only about 20 miliwatts, I have the final in Class A, so I actually had to put a heat sink on it. But there is still no need for a muffin fan, or liquid cooling or anything like that!
Five hertz isn't much of a shift. I think I can hear it, but barely. Shows up nicely on the grabber screens.
It was a lot of fun to start out with a vision of what I wanted the signal to look like, then actually make it happen.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Flea Market Find -- Pi Net Tuner -- With a Mystery
Last Sunday's "Flea at Trastevere" (I'm the only one who calls it that) was a huge success for me. Minutes after arriving, amidst all the junk, Billy and I found this homebrew Pi network antenna tuner. The guy who sold it to me told me he had built it himself. The workmanship is top-notch. The quality of the parts is superb. There's a built in SWR meter and a 10 db attenuator.
When I started drawing out the schematic I noticed something weird: As the front panel indicates, it is a Pi -network, but for some reason the builder has the input variable cap floating. The physical connection to the chassis is via insulators. The other variable cap has the standard mechanical and electrical connection to chassis ground. That input cap needs to be grounded too, correct? Why would this builder -- who obviously knows his way around a soldering iron -- go to the trouble of allowing that input cap to float?
"Space Hackers" removed from YouTube
(Note to lawyers: I did not post the videos on YouTube.)
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Skepticism about "Space Hackers"
http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/Torre/TorreB.html
Controversy or no controversy, I still liked the videos and admire the efforts of the two intrepid brothers from Torino.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
SolderSmoke #92
The latest SolderSmoke podcast:
http://www.soldersmoke.com
September 28, 2008
TOPICS:
The Flea at Trastevere
QRSS 2N2222 goes toes up. Why?
Da Vinci Code MEPT Frequency Standard
Wind Powered QRSS
QRSS Whispers reflecting off airplanes
Transformer troubles at CERN
Arnie's cool Cuban hack
Woodpecker update
A SolderSmoke charity project
Another engineer joke
Kanga USA BACK IN BUSINESS!
The Joy of Fixing Things
Jim Severns - KNACK VICTIM
A Homebrew Italian Space Program
MAILBAG: G0FUW in Gibraltar
VU3RDD in Southern India
KB1QVO on laser comms
K4BVL likes our audio
VK3PB on Italy's "Space Hackers"
W0DAB on free online MIT courses
DL4MGJ on fixing 2B parallax
WB6NTL on transistor failure mode
AF6C on crystal ovens
G3ZTB likes Shep
Saturday, September 27, 2008
A Homebrew Italian Space Program
Peter, VK3PB, alerted me to the six YouTube videos about the Judica Cordiglia brothers of Turin, Italy. These guys were young and enthusiastic amateurs when the space race began in the late 1950s. They quickly developed some very impressive monitoring facilities that allowed them to listen to both US and Soviet space missions.
Watch these videos and you will not only get a look at the technical work of these intrepid and skilled amateurs, but you will also get a sense of the many intangible things that make Italy such a special place. You'll get a sense of the human warmth, the friendship, the enthusiasm and fun that characterize life here.
They had the foresight to film a lot of their youthful technical adventures. The videos take us back to the Italy of the late '50s and early 60's. (That roof that they built their antenna on looks EXACTLY like mine!)
Don't miss these videos. They are really wonderful. Here are the links (if you have trouble, just search YouTube for "Space Hackers 1/6" "Space Hackers 2/6" etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F_67UAaG70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-y2DuYNxm4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8sElZpvzRU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcGPXZPYHNs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9kiSMcrqRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUT-eZH0860
Rudy Severns
An innovator in power-supply design who anticipated the trend toward higher frequency switching, an illuminator of power-supply topologies, and one who introduced many engineers to the promise and perils of power MOSFETs, Rudy Severns has made diverse contributions to the power electronics field in a career spanning five decades as an engineer, author, instructor and consultant.
On the 50th anniversary of his first jump from a biplane, Rudy Severns went skydiving yet again, pushing his lifetime total to somewhere in the vicinity of 500 jumps. Throughout his career, he took breaks for months-long sailing voyages, which usually necessitated a job change on his return. When it was time to fulfill his military obligation, a young Severns parlayed his experience as a radio operator into a stint with the Army's Special Forces, where he learned the skills of unconventional warfare.Here's the link to the article: Rudy Severns
Thursday, September 25, 2008
IZ1KXQ's Wind-Powered QRSS Beacon
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Cool Cuban Hack
an unavailable part. FB Arnie!
My TS820 non QRP, but capable of QRP operation transceiver. ... has a similar type of female 9 pin socket to connect or not connect the external VFO. I needed a plug when not using the external VFO, and it was made using a Russian 6H2P dual triode that had a bad filament... I very carefully broke down the glass using nichrome wire at red hot temperature and then a thermal shock. The glass bulb broke nicely in a rounded even circle !!! Then I proceeded to remove the soldered connections to the two triodes... removed them , and soldered the wires required for the jumpers as specified by TS 820 manual... After checking that all was OK, then I poured Araldite epoxy to fill the glass ... It worked very well, and the only cost was the small amount of valuable epoxy ( not easy to find locally, and extremely useful for repair jobs and pasting the islands of the Manhattan style homebrew printed-nonprinted circuits !!! 73 and DX Arnie Coro CO2KK