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Friday, February 20, 2009
The Reggie Works a DX Station!
http://mjrainey.googlepages.com/reggie
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
WA5DJJ's QRSS Beacon: Immediate Success!
You can read more about Dave's project here:
http://www.zianet.com/dhassall/QRSS.html
Here is the e-mail exchange between Dave and Johan:
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 7:46 PM
Hi Dave, I can see your sigs are on the Ohio W8LIW grabber right now, with a little downward shifting. Well done! Your website truly reveals a keen QRP-er and homebrewer. BTW: I’ll be firing up my first RockMite (20) soon! 73, Johan on5ex
From: knightsqrss-bounces@cnts.be [mailto:knightsqrss-bounces@cnts.be] On Behalf Of David R. Hassall
Sent: woensdag 18 februari 2009 1:30
To: knights QRSS
Subject: [Knightsqrss] WA5DJJ on the air!!
Dear Gang,
First test of my QRSS 10.140Mhz MEPT. It should be around 1.060 on the waterfall. Power output is 122mW (All I could squeeze out of my poor little 2N222A final. Keying is up shift, at about 5 hz. I hooked it to my 30 Meter Inverted Vee off my tower. Apex is at 40 feet. I think I have it right and hope it doesn't blow up. We shall see when I get some reports. I will have pictures on my website as soon as I can get them there. Thanks for all the advice and help. This was a really fun project. Now to get a couple more built to get some others on the air.
73 Dave
BTW: I succeeded in putting Johan's grabber output onto this blog. Look at top of my right-hand column. If the sun is up over Europe, you should see my upside down FSK around the middle of Johan's screen. (He has the screen kind of split in two to allow more minutes to be displayed, so you should see me in the middle of both the top and bottom halves of the screen. ) You may have to hit the refresh button on your browser to get my blog page to pull down an update of Johan's grabber. Just think about how cool this all is: I transmit a 50 mw sig from Rome with a very minimalist rig. Johan receives it in Belgium using DSP software and puts the results on the www. I embed his output screen on my blog, which you can now see, almost in real time!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Comet Lulin
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/35992534.html
Armstrong's Regen (and lots more)
http://users.erols.com/oldradio/eha1.htm
I continue to work on my regen (part of the ET-1/FETer minimalist project). Jim, K9JM, says the raspy tone on CW signals is caused by FMing of the regen stage and prescribes a coil of higher Q. Thanks Jim.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
SolderSmoke 101
http://www.soldersmoke.comFor the podcast go to:
Superbowl Sunday in Rome. "Playing for Pizza." Spirals on the Piazza
Empire of the Air -- Gerbils Renamed
"Electrons on Parade" Good RCA film about tubes
Minimalist Mania:
ET-1/FETer transmitter built -- some problems
New Minimalist Yahoo group
AA1TJ and AA1MY make QRP History with tunnel diode rig
QRSS News:
New beacons and grabbers in US and Canada
K6HX and the lure of the whisperers
Upside down FSK for VK/ZL observers?
Chip extraction tips (belated)
What "s.o.t." means.
MAILBAG:
Brad WA5PSA still jogging in Tulsa
Ted AJ8T and Paul VK5PH: Lake not named for Lee
Neil G7AQK HB mystery box
Doug WB5TKI on how to extract chips
Ron AA5RS advises Billy to stick with Linux
Bill AA0RQ uses the hard stuff
Scott on Heaviside: Good guy or not?
Brent in Twin Cities: SWL Rockmite and SS lead to ham radio
Dan NM5DV building SDR QRSS rig
Jeff K07M listens while flying private plane
John W6TC has great article for Electronic Design
Edwin WA4YHL: Amateur Logic TV #23 is available
Dale WA5DJJ on the possible benefits of upside down FSK
Eddie G3JZO: Upside down FSK looks like laundry on the line!
Jerry NR5A has the minimalist bug
http://www.soldersmoke.com
For the new SolderSmoke Store:
http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Halted Specialties -- Our kind of store!
Here's the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/technology/personaltech/05basics.html?_r=1
No need to move. They do mail order:
http://www.halted.com/
Looks like they are having a Vintage Radio event on Feb 21, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
It's an ANALOG world, after all......
http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/20562/20562.html
You should also visit John's personal web site. We're about the same age, and we are both from New York City. John's page reminded me of another factor that might have put me on the path to solder smoke and hamfests: The 1964 World's Fair. Here's John's page:
http://www.gojohnedwards.com/
Thanks John!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
"Empire of the Air"
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Minimalist Mania: AA1TJ-AA1MY QSL, New Yahoo Group
In related news, Jerry, NR5A (who has also been bitten by the minimalist bug) reports the creation of a new Minimalist Radio Yahoo group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Minimalist_QRP_Transceivers/
(Jerry and I have been attempting to translate some technical terms found in British schematics. Even though I lived there for four years, I admit to being stumped by "s.o.t." given with values for capacitors. Could this be "subject of test"? )
Sunday, February 8, 2009
"ELECTRONS ON PARADE" A Film from the Radio Corporation of America
Gee-willikers! This RCA movie is the cat's pajamas! Really great stuff. The guy who posted it on YouTube said it had been sitting on his shelf for years, apparently just waiting patiently for the broadband Internet.
I hadn't realized how labor intensive tube production was. Looks like every one of those fire bottles was, to a large extent, put together by hand. The contrast with the way solid state devices are produced is really striking -- the tubes seem like the product of artisans. And they somehow just seem to be more homebrew-friendly than modern solid-state devices.
Don't miss Part 2! Here we see "heroic hams" in action, saving people from serum shortages during floods, etc. Watch the policeman with the Tommy-Gun almost run over the kid on the bicycle. Yikes G-man, that was close!
The date on the film is 1942, and judging by the number of women shown working in the factories it does seem like a wartime film, but I was surprised by how infrequently the tube's role in the war effort was mentioned.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
AA1TJ and AA1MY MAKE QRP HISTORY
Be sure to check out Michael's description of the rig:
http://mjrainey.googlepages.com/mikums
Also, don't miss the pages on Reginald Fessenden:
http://www.newsm.org/Wireless/Fessenden/Fessenden.html
Friends,
Seab, AA1MY sent me a message just over an hour ago saying that he suddenly began hearing my Mikums transceiver running as a beacon! Seab lives in Bethel, Maine, an air distance of exactly 100miles/160km from my QTH. A few hours earlier I'd measured Mikums' output power at 169uW (yes, microWatts!).
I was at the computer when his message appeared so I quickly called him on the telephone. He said that he'd been monitoring while he was busy with some paperwork. He'd just returned from fetching a load of firewood and all of a sudden there I was! He put the phone near his loudspeaker and I just about fell over! I was weak, but perfectly readable.
Then I practically hung-up on the poor fellow in order to race down to my shack in order to try for a QSO. I heard him clear as a bell at a power of 40w (I reported 459, but I ought to have sent 559). He confirmed my report and then dropped down to 4w. Although weak, I easily copied his 429 report to me. I gave him a 219, which he confirmed.
Oh boy...it's done. We made a skywave QSO using a one-tunnel diode transceiver. I'm practically giddy here :o)
Many thanks to Jim, W1PID, who has patiently listened for several days. In fact, Jim has copied my CQ and callsign several times before my signal evaporated on a breeze of QSB. In return, I copied Jim's Small Wonders Labs DSW at 2w on Mikums with no problem the other day. Again, many thanks, OM. The next time we meet, I'm buying, okay?
Again, way to go Seab; that's one small step for man....naw, more like one more exciting and thoughly useless (ain't it great!) milestone in the history of QRP :o)
73/72's all around,
Mike, AA1TJ
Thursday, February 5, 2009
St. Elmo's Fire and Lightning Brushes
One of the many interesting things found via the AM Window is an on-line archive of the AM Press/Exchange newsletter. There are some very good articles in there. Issue #114 has a good one by George, W2WLR. It's about lightning and ways to prevent strikes. What I like about the article is the very practical, hands-on approach. George describes how one intrepid enthusiast put an amp meter between a radio tower and ground and watched the currents generated by a nearby storm (don't try this at home!). The article discusses how brushes on the ends of lightning rods help bleed off charge. You can see some charge bleeding off the masts of the ship depicted above.
After reading his article, I went to work. In an idle moment, I looked out the window across Rome's Via Veneto and saw on one of the hotels some lightning rods tipped not quite with brushes, but with multiple spikes. Go St. Elmo!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Humber College Homebrew Space Station Contact? Not really
Today, Mr. Rector, Paul, and I went out to Radioworld and purchased a transceiver. After much research, we decided to go with the ICOM Ic-V8000. For the cost, it has exactly what we need. On Friday, we're going to be integrating it into our setup, and doing all the necessary testing.
This contact was no big deal really. When I was talking to Norm Thagard on MIR station back in the 20th century, there was one 13 year-old kid in South Africa who pulled off the same feat.
See: http://www.gadgeteer.us/MIR18.HTM If they had actually built the radios themselves it would have been a bit more noteworthy. Looks like this one had more PR smoke than solder smoke.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
RADIO PIONEER: GROTE REBER
Read more about OM Grote here: http://www.nrao.edu/whatisra/hist_reber.shtml
Sunday, February 1, 2009
SolderSmoke NUMBER 100
http://www.soldersmoke.com
SPECIAL CENTENARY EDITION
A look back to the beginning
Rome Travelogue: Palatine Hill
Fixing my old freq counter: Trials and Tribulations
Empire of the Air:
More great history, but more tech faux pas
"The radio art"
An historical precedent for our GONG
Lake DeForest?
A. Frederick Collins
Understanding Beta Independence
Understanding Feedback and Distortion
SPRAT 137: Minimalist Radio:
The FETer/ET-1: "Haiku from Solder"
Regens: Not for the faint of heart
NEW: THE SolderSmoke STORE: T-shirts, Mugs...!
MAILBAG:
Shawn N3ZHP new to Knack, wants to build ALL his gear
Steve WB6NTL on hippie origins of "Snort Rosin"
Scott AC0GG recommends new mic, equalizer
Jim AL7RV going QRSS mobile. Can we find him?
George K8VU on kid busted by FCC
Craig KC2LFI helps with SS s sounds
David KB1BED says SolderSmoke driving up Drake 2-B prices
Steve G0FUW "Ten DSB rigs built in cloud of aromatic 60/40"
Brian NF0G HBing at -20F Comet Lulin coming
Tony G4LLW Freq standards, IC extraction, Arc transmitters
Kevin AA7YQ listened to SS while on parachute mission
Graeme ZL2GDN building for DSB and QRSS
Stu N6TTO has new FSK QRSS beacon 10140060
Mark K6HX (has great "Brainwagon" blog) lost SSDRA
Robin AF1RE Heard BITx20s on the air, now is building
Gerry EI8DRB has his 2B
Ray M0DHP has a strange aromatic solder experience...
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
My ET-1 / FETer (Transceiver Made with One FET)
I had always wanted to build W2UW's ET-1... I've been reading in "Empire of the Air" the inspiring account of Armstrong's invention of the regen receiver... Then, along came SPRAT 137 and G3XBM's FETer. I could no longer resist. Solder was melted.
It is great fun to listen to 80 meters and realize that the only thing between you and the ether is one small FET (you can see mine standing proudly atop the relay!) . Its a lot like using a crystal receiver. That one FET is serving simultaneously as an RF amplifier, mixer and BFO!
On to the transmitter! Thanks to OM Armstrong, to Glen (W2UW), and to Roger (G3XBM).
Monday, January 26, 2009
Minimalist Radio: The ET-1 and the FETer
The schematic of the ET-1 appears above. I started building mine yesterday. Got the receiver done and --- WOW! -- heard some 80 meter signals this morning. More to follow...
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The SolderSmoke Store: T-shirts, Caps, Mugs, Bumper Stickers, MORE!
A while back, a SolderSmoke listener suggested that we open up a T-shirt store. That was a good idea. Here it is! The SolderSmoke Store at CafePress. We design the items, CafePress does most of the work, and a portion of the revenue will help keep the podcast and blog going.
Right now we have T-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, hats, and some bumper stickers.
We are open to suggestions: If there is something SolderSmoke or homebrew or QRP-related that you would like see on a T-shirt, coffee mug, hat, etc., drop me a line and we will see if we can fit it in with our fine line of Knack-wear!
Here is the link to the store:
http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke
Saturday, January 24, 2009
My Frequency Counter. FIXED!
This was a very satisfying troubleshoot and repair. I feel like Dr. House. The whole thing was made even nicer by the fact that the repair part came from the junkbox of a friend. Thanks Tony!
Looks like the old counter is still well-calibrated. It has my QRSS sig at 10140070. ON5EX's grabber puts me at 10140050. So the counter is 20 Hz high. Not bad for flea market junk.
A. Frederick Collins - Radio Pioneer from my Hometown
Here's a 1908 Scientific American article about his radio work:
http://earlyradiohistory.us/1908col.htm
Here's a good Wiki article on him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Frederick_Collins
One quote from the Wiki: He wrote scientific adventure series novels such as "Jack Heaton, Wireless Operator(1919)" which told of the training and adventures of a 15 year old wireless amateur. Many of his books, such as "The Boy Scientist," (1925) had lots of illustrations and few equations, with an emphasis on "hands-on" experimentation, at a level intended for high school students. After discussing the "Einstein Theory," Collins tells his readers how to build a spectroscope, a radio, and a x-ray machine for home experimentation. Collins encouraged his readers to use their home-built x-ray machine to examine their own bone structure with a fluoroscope.