Meeting Princess Elettra Marconi

Last night at a diplomatic reception in Rome I had the privilege of meeting Princess Elettra Marconi, daughter of the inventor. She is a charming lady. We talked about ham radio, about her dad, and about some the recent books that have come out about him (including Thunderstruck.) Above is a photo of Princess Elettra on her eighth birthday, onboard Marconi's yacht Elettra. This must be a very poignant photo for the family -- the caption indicated that the inventor died later that day.

Auroral Memories from W7ZOI

Hi Bill,

I was really on top of it this time and listened to Soldersmoke 115 yesterday evening, the same day I got it from the Internet. I was intrigued by your description of the aurora in 1972. I don't recall that one. By then we were in Oregon. We have had some strong ones down this way, but missed them visually because of cloud cover, a common problem in Oregon. But I have fond memories of the first and most spectacular show I ever did see. This happened when I was trying to go on the air in eastern Washington. I knew that I had put something in my log about it, so last night I pulled my log books of that day and started looking. It took a while, but it was there. QTH at the time was Richland, WA, which is in the SE corner of the state, right on the Columbia River. The station is the first B&W photo on my web site.

I see in my log that on 9/12 of 1957 I had been active. I called a ZL at 1:40 AM on 20M CW. (All times are Pacific time. Probably daylight time.) Then I had worked w2gqn in NJ at 18:11. But the band became quite noisy after that. I have log entries for September 13th, '57, starting just after midnight:

0020. "Tremendous Northern Lights display. Approx 300 degrees of the sky was colored. Sky had green tinge to the north and red in east and west which extended almost to the direct south. Noise level on 14 mc very high. Noise had the character of an electric shaver. Noise masked all signals except W6ULS on 14.048. Noise cleared at 00:44 and heard KG6AAY (Guam). Static crashes remained. 7 mc seemed unaffected by the noise."

00:49. called KG6AAY. No luck.
00:56. called ZL2AHA. Again, no luck.
No more entries until 16:25 when I worked a local friend, Wn7JII on 7 mc.

Yea, I know; the frequencies were in mc back then.

Thanks for stirring up some really fun memories.

73, Wes
w7zoi

AA1TJ's Point Contact Contacts

I was very glad to see that Mike, AA1TJ, is back in his underground shack and once again pushing the limits of QRP technology. This may be one of his greatest QRP-capers:

Gents,

It was one of those rare days on the bench where everything I touched
turned, if not to gold, at to least silver. At the end of my last shop
session on Friday I could only get Jack Ward's point contact
transistor to oscillate as high as 385kHz. And that was without a
load. I brushed up on the theory over the weekend and set upon the
circuit today after lunch with a vengeance.

Better yet, over the weekend I found a wonderful circuit in a
transistor handbook dating from 1956. This circuit first appeared in
"Wireless World" in may of 1954 ("160 Metre Transistor Transmitter").
At first glace, the circuit looks identical to George Rose, K2AH's
historic circuit. However, Mr. Cockle (don't yet know his call sign)
shows a dotted transformer and headphones next to the collector bias
transistor. He'd figured out the point contact oscillator could double
as a direct conversion receiver! A 1954 vintage "Pixie," only
simpler! The key to it all is the signal tank in the base circuit.
That is to say, the transmitter output power is picked off the base
circuit tank. It sounds daft, but bear in mind the circuit has more in
common with a tunnel diode oscillator than it does a feedback
oscillator that most of us are familiar with.

I'll cut to the chase as I want to get back on the air ASAP. The
Western Electric point-contact transistor is sending 12mW up the
transmission line. The same circuit is working FB as a receiver with
full break-in and 800Hz RIT offset. I put it on the air at 2234 this
evening. At 2247 K1IQI answered my CQ. He first sent a "QRZ?" so I
repeated my call several times. He came right back with my call and
gave me a 219 report from Monson, MA. Unfortunately, QSB wiped out my
next transmission. He returned with an apology, wished us better luck
next time and then he was gone. Close but no cigar!

I'm headed back to the shack once I send this message. I'm rock-bound
on 3533.6kHz. I'll be calling CQ and listening until 0300, or so.

Right, here I go.

73/72,
Mike, AA1TJ

"I didn't care. I had a secret life..."

Dreams of Escape…

It began in Kentucky in the early ‘60s: I was a ham radio operator known as WN4KSW, a skinny burr-headed prisoner of school, isolated in the cultural drought of the Midwest. I was theoretically a smart little bugger, according to test scores, yet I kept hearing that I had attitude problems and wasn't working up to my potential. With the exception of science fairs, my academic performance was apparently disappointing to authority figures. Oh well. I didn't care: I had a secret life.

Thus begins the really amazing and inspirational story of Steven K. Roberts, N4RVE, the "Knack on a Bike" guy whose videos I mentioned last week. Stop whatever it is you are doing, and proceed to his web site. Read his story:

http://microship.com/resources/technomadic-tools.html

And don't miss the other great content on his site. Click on his resources link.

Weekend QSOs from Ponticelli on 40, 20, AND 15

When we returned to the Ponticelli site on Saturday I found that one end of my new doublet antenna had fallen down. No problem. One throw of the old rock-and-string and we were back in business. On Sunday I fired up the solar-powered HW8 and worked four stations on three bands: OZ8SW and US7IVW on 20, S59DDR on 40, and --icing on the cake-- OY1CT in the Faeroe Islands on 15 meters (the picture above is of his QTH). I haven't had a contact on 15 in a long time. I really like the frequency flexibility of the twin-lead doublet antenna.

SolderSmoke Book "Pirate Day" Sale! 15% off

Looks like Lulu is running a 15% off sale for "Talk like a Pirate Day." Apparently you just have to write "AHOY" when they ask for a promotional code. Here is what Lulu says:

Enter coupon code 'AHOY' at checkout and save 15% off any purchase (up to $100). Discount cannot be used to pay for, nor shall be applied to, applicable taxes or shipping and handling charges. Coupon codes cannot be applied to any previous orders. No exchanges or substitutions allowed. Only one valid promotional code may be used per account. Orders must be in U.S. Dollars. Offer expires on 09/20/09 at 11:59 PM GMT. Lulu.com reserves the right to change or revoke this offer at any time. Void where prohibited.

Knack on a Bike: Steve Roberts Video

Oh man, this is great! The Winebikko! Gizmology! He even had an Oscar 13 satellite station on the bike. You guys are gonna love this:

SolderSmoke: The Book NOW ONLY $19.99

I found a way to bring down the price on SolderSmoke -- The Book.
It is now $19.99 plus shipping. Check it out:

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/soldersmoke---a-global-adventure-in-radio-electronics-%28ships-from-a-us-printer%29/6743576

This all has to do with paper availability, so this version ships only from U.S. printers. This will be a good deal for most buyers, but for buyers in Europe and Asia shipping costs might make this version too expensive. I will put up a standard version that ships from Lulu printers in Europe in a day or so.

Ponticelli QRP Station Gets New Antenna

At the country place I now have a table on the front porch for the HW-8 and assorted gear. In the picture above you can see the Trastevere Flea Market Pi Section antenna tuner (upper left), a Japanese SWR meter (also from the flea market) , HW8 and Radio Shack speaker, Volkswagen Solar Cell, 12 Volt gel cell, key and cans...
I had been using a piece of wire just thrown up in the trees, but I thought I could do a bit better. I had some TV twin lead in the shack, and there was this useful-looking center connector... I had some AC line cord. Next thing you know I had a sorta-doublet antenna supported by a Roman Pine in Sabina (pictures below).
And it gets out! Worked IT0ULN in Sicily on 40 meters. Then I spoke to another QRP station, 2W0NNN in Wales, on 20. Also UU4JDD/P on Tuzla Island. Finally E53AX in Estonia.
Ioan, 2WONNN, sent this report:

Hi Bill, thanks for the email, I look forward to seeing the pics on your blog too. Very interesting reading, same goes for your QRZ page too. I had to laugh at your DX with an astronaut on Mir!!!

Your HW-8 and doublet is certainly working well; I remember you were completely readable with a good signal about 90% of the time, it was only the QSB that made it difficult. To be honest I was surprised to have a QRP QSO with someone in Italy. I was using my FT-817 with a new Par End Fedz that I'd catapulted over a tree. The top was about 15m high but oriented as a sloper to the north west. I've had a fair number of QSOs with East coast US stations so I thought I'd go for an over-the-pole route to the West coast... there in Italy you're pretty much spot on the opposite direction so I'm not sure it's all that directional!

73 and hopefully speak to you again for more QRP/QRP!

Ioan,

2W0NNN

Armadillo Aerospace Video