Drake 2-B Goes Digital with WSPR

7 spots:

Timestamp	Call	MHz	SNR	Drift	Grid	Pwr	Reporter	RGrid	km	az
2010-02-06 16:04	DK9MS	10.140210	-11	-1	JO40tm	2	I0/N2CQR	JN61fv	983	166
2010-02-06 16:04	PA3BTI	10.140271	-8	0	JO22og	5	I0/N2CQR	JN61fv	1276	152
2010-02-06 16:04	DL9DAC	10.140246	-4	0	JO31qi	20	I0/N2CQR	JN61fv	1120	158
2010-02-06 16:02	DL6NL	10.140262	-20	2	JO50cb	0.1	I0/N2CQR	JN61fv	924	168
2010-02-06 16:00	DF6DBF	10.140279	+1	-1	JO31si	10	I0/N2CQR	JN61fv	1116	159
2010-02-06 16:00	M5LMY	10.140248	-14	1	IO91oi	5	I0/N2CQR	JN61fv	1455	131
2010-02-06 16:00	DL1EEZ	10.140201	0	0	JO31qi	20	I0/N2CQR	JN61fv	1120	158

Query time: 0.002 sec

 Until this weekend  have been "transmit only" on the WSPR system, running the world's only homebrew double sideband WSPR rig (please correct me if I'm wrong).  I'm also running one of the most low-powered of WSPR stations (20 mW). 

I've been feeling a bit guilty about my "transmit only" status.  I felt like I wasn't doing my fair share in the WSPR effort.  I was sort of a digital free-loader. 

So Saturday I decided to do some receiving.  I fired up the old Drake 2-B.  I ran a lead from the headphone jack of the receiver into the audio in of my old Tecra 8100 (running Linux Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope). Antenna was a pathetic little end-fed wire.  The only tricky part was getting the Drake on the precise freq.  I just put my WSPR transmitter on 10140200 Hz and then put the bandpass in USB 2.1 kHz.  I found the computer clock was off a bit (I had neglected to run the ntp program), but once that was taken care of signals started pouring in.  And reports were automatically uploaded to WSPR HQ, and appeared on-line (see above).

I was very pleased to receive DL6NL's 100 milliwatt signal.  OM NL is well known in the QRSS/WSPR world.  A picture of one of his more QRO rigs appears above.  A shot of his balcony Microvert antenna (the white thing at the end of the dark indicator line) appears below.  

Haiti: Dominican Hams Help

The video (from a phone patch the day after the quake) gives you a real sense of how bad it is. It was good to see that hams from the Dominican Republic were going over to help out. See below.

From: http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/hams-in-haiti/1
BY Anne-Marie Corley // January 2010

... Which leads to the other difference in Haiti: The country is home to very few amateur operators in the first place. Though there are around 100 to 120 ham licenses active for Haiti, according to Pitts, only about seven or eight operators were actually in Haiti as far as the ARRL can determine. According to Bill Pasternak, the president and cofounder of the Amateur Radio Newsline, which broadcast audio from one ham operator outside Port-au-Prince soon after the earthquake hit, most of the operators who have Haitian licenses aren’t even Haitian but rather missionaries and aid workers who travel in and out of the country.
Pitts says that the ARRL has heard from only a few operators, most from outside Port-au-Prince, though one operator did radio in from the city just to let the organization know he was alive. ”The ones that were there did all they could,” Pitts says, ”but we haven’t heard from all of them.” It is likely that some were killed, Pitts speculates. Others may have been concerned with safety, McPherson suggests, so hams in Haiti have been ”on and off the air,” he says.
To help out, hams from the neighboring Dominican Republic have traveled into Haiti several times to set up equipment, despite being attacked by looters last week. They set up a 2-meter analog repeater high on a mountain close to the Haiti–Dominican Republic border. The repeater takes in weak signals—even one from a clip-on radio putting out just 5 watts—and rebroadcasts those signals on a different frequency and at a higher power.
Dominican operators installed a second repeater near the airport in Port-au-Prince and were expecting a third to arrive from ARRL Tuesday, which they will likely put in the region southeast of the capital.

”They’re doing really good work,” Pitts says of the Dominican helpers, ”getting things where they need to be and coordinating with other teams.”
Pitts adds that the international nature of ham radio is well suited to emergency missions like this one. Hams in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Florida, and Puerto Rico, among others, were on the air and listening for any signals soon after the earthquake. ”Nobody was going to hiccup without being noticed,” Pitts says. And because they talk in radio code, language barriers don’t matter as much. ”We all have the same language,” Pitts says. ”We’re used to talking with each other.”
The embedded hams in Salvation Army recovery teams work, too, McPherson says, because they can tap into the entire amateur radio community. Nonofficial operators, for example, who may hear an embed trying to reach Haiti or to call out, may help relay a signal. ”It’s like [all the] amateur community is listening, standing by to help,” McPherson says.
The lesson to be learned, according to Pitts, is that ”in a situation or population where amateur radio is encouraged and present,” hams can provide better and faster information during a major disaster, which allows a faster response. ”That golden 48 hours is where the hams really can shine, if they’re there.”
So while cellular and Internet communication return ever so slowly to normal (or better than normal), what Haiti might also want to invest in is a few more homegrown radio operators.

SolderSmoke Podcast 121

 http://www.soldersmoke.com

5 February 2010
Into the Apennine snow! 
Technical troubles 
Roadkill computers
Luddite Curmudgeonism
Mars and Andromeda from Sabina
Telescopes and Olive Oil
Math and Electronics
Crashing R/C planes
5X5JD and the Uganda Tuna Tin
AA1TJ's diode amplifiers
Rotating parts boxes
MOVIE REVIEW: Avatar (2.5 Soldering Irons)
MAILBAG  

PA1ZZ Gets Ticket in Southern California

A while back we reported on the Californian travails of long-time listener Rogier, PA1ZZ.   We are happy to report that OM Rogier has joined the ranks or U.S.-licensed radio amateurs and is preparing to wiggle the ether with the FB rig pictured above. 

Hey Bill,

Since the FCC doesn’t like it if you use the foreign license as a Permanent resident. I took the plunge and passed the technician and general exams in one day.

So here I am KJ6ETL QRV from San Mateo, CA.

One day I will do the Extra class but that's for later. First I have to study for my career, hobby comes 2nd…

I still had my DSW-II build from a kit when I was living on Bonaire. But never managed to get in the air due to the lack of a dummy load to tune the final stage and a very strong HF signal from a local US religious broadcast station (50KW) aiming at South America and the Radio Netherlands relay station. Both put so much HF in the air that my SWR meter needle was pushed in the corner without my transmitter hooked up…

Now, years later, I polished the March R3A paddle and finally tuned the DSW-II. Next step will be to hang an invisible 20mtr band dipole on our balcony (hoa’s….) and see what happens.

Since my morse skills are very rusty and antenna and power are rather limited I might want to jump ahead and start with the digital modes...

Smiles across the wires,

Rogier

15% off on SolderSmoke -- The Book

Lulu is running a sale today.  You can get SolderSmoke at 15 percent off by using the coupon code SHADOW when you check out of the Lulu site.   It is better for me if you get to Lulu via Amazon.  Here is the link:

H1N1? No. 72N73!

Wow, Jeff REALLY has a bad case of 72N73 (aka "The KNACK").  He's actually piping the SolderSmoke podcast into one earphone of his cockpit headset.  (I hope the gong doesn't cause any problems!)  Maybe the lady next store will start to like that strange voice from Rome coming in on 88.3 FM...
 
Bill: 
I have been a devoted Soldersmoke fan since I found it about a year ago on a new HamInfoBar application that I installed on my Internet Explorer (yes, the Dark Side!). I have started back at SS #1 and working my way up…wonderful podcasts, Bill!
Waiting to get Ubuntu installed on my shack PC so I can gleefully delete Internet Explorer!
Have been a ham for 35 years now, operating all modes from HF, digital HF (including WSPR on 30 meters) through AMSAT satellites and of course VHF and UHF. I recently retired as a sales executive from IBM after 27 years, so have more time to follow my life-long passions.
Shortly after listening to Soldersmoke for the first time, I noticed a strange feeling after sitting by my PC for a few hours. Thought it was just neck strain from peering at the PC and your Blogspot, but after a few days it remained. My medical background (Ph.D. in Neuroscience) led me to the conclusion that a nervous system virus I had contracted when I was 13 had been dormant in my nervous system peripheral ganglia for these many years, but has re-emerged and re-infected me. That virus is the 72N73 virus, or more commonly known at THE KNACK! Yes, Soldersmoke has activated that bad boy virus once again and I am on the hunt for projects to complement my Old Spice after shave with that 'other' cologne, Eau de Soldersmoke!
Since I like to listen to Soldersmoke as I walk around the house, decided to get the Weller soldering station out and I 'protoboarded' and then built a small two transistor 20 mW FM transmitter on 88.3 MHz (unused channel in Dallas) to transmit Soldersmoke through my whole house stereo system. Works great. However, my neighbor next door (12 feet away) who has a small yagi antenna for her stereo system asked my why every Friday evening the jazz station on 88.5 MHz she loves to listen to has some guy rambling on for hours about some electronics projects in Rome??? Did that jazz station change formats on Friday evenings? (Woops...............better get my frequency counter out once again!).
You will be glad to know that I listen to SS on my IPOD as I fly (on longer trips) on WWII vintage aircraft to air shows around the country. I volunteer at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Dallas (www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com) and usually fly right seat or rear seat depending on the plane.  I modified my communications headset to listen to Air Traffic Control on one earpiece and SS on the other earpiece. So, yes Bill, you do get interrupted by Air Traffic Control advising us of new radar vectors! You can view additional pictures of me flying with Cavanaugh at my www.qrz.com pages.
Just purchased SS, The Book and having a ball reading your antics of years past. BTW, I just joined GQRP and got a nice note from Tony Fishpool. I had mentioned that it was due to SS that I found GQRP and joined up. Tony sent me a nice note and indicated "Yes, Bill is worth every penny that we don't pay him for GQRP advertising!!
Other interests include flying large radio controlled aircraft, astronomy (purchasing an Orion 10" Dobsonian next week to supplement my 10x50 binoculars), satellite tracking, and weather satellite imaging directly from American, Chinese, and Soviet polar orbiting satellites. High Power Rocketry (average flights to 10,000 feet) round out my technical interests.
Bill, don't want to make this email too long, so let me say 73's, and will plan on future correspondence as I release more Soldersmoke around my shack.
Send me best to Billy (Soldersmoke Mailbag, It's Awesome...Indeed!!).
Eagerly awaiting Soldersmoke, The MOVIE!!!!!


By the way, no Chingales (sp?) in Dallas, but we do have our share of Armadillos laying dead by the roadside.


73s,
Jeff
N5ITU
In Dallas, TX.

Quiz Question for Knack Victims

Hey Bill,

I know you have the knack . . . so I'm coming to you.
I've got 31 years of ham radio experience, on top of 16 years experience in the Wireless Telecom industry, that said I have a tech question that has really got me stumped. Maybe the answer is just too obvious.

Here it is: About 2 years ago an electrical engineer/ham radio operator/nuclear engineer threw the following question by me (I've yet to get back to him with my answer). Maybe you, or some of your listeners know the answer.

Knack Question: For yagi antennas only one (yes, sometimes two) element is electrically driven/xmit. Instead, why aren't all of the elements (simultaneously) electrically driven/xmit (vs parasitically driven)? Now the stumper - according to the engineer supposedly the answer excludes the following as the answer(s):

• Impact to antenna gain,
• The need to have any type of phasing harness
• Impact to transmit horizontal beam width (directivity).

Any idea what the answer might be? What am I missing?

QRSSing again, AA1TJ's new page

As I mentioned earlier, computer problems have delayed the SolderSmoke podcast (don't worry, parts are on the way).  They have also knocked me off the WSPR system.  So I switched over to QRSS mode and am now pumping out about 20 milliwatts of upside down sloooooooooow FSK on about 10140050 Hz.  (Don't you like how in QRSS you find yourself giving the frequency not in kilos or megas, but in just plain Hertz?   If I get into a retro mode I may start giving them in cycles.) During daylight hours in Europe you should be able to watch my little signal arriving at ON5EX's station in Belgium.  Just look down on the right on this page for a live view of Johan's receive screen.


VA3STL has some good QRSS stuff on his blog:  http://va3stl.wordpress.com/



I noticed this morning that Mike, AA1TJ has moved and updated his very fine site.  Check it out: 
http://www.aa1tj.com/radio.html
Be sure to click on the link that lead to info about Mike mountain-top work site.  Like I said, truly the kind of job that Knack victims dream about.

Rumor has it that Dan's Small Parts is back in operation after a winter break.

More Mars (with olive oil)

No podcast this week. I have two excuses: 1) Computer problems (a long, sad story), and 2) we were once again out in the Sabine Hills. Above is another look at the olive grove QTH. That solar panel thing on the right is an automatic weather reporting station installed by the Region of Lazio. Those trees behind the weather station are olive trees.

We had clear skies this past weekend, and with Mars approaching full opposition, I had the telescope out. We got some better views of Mars than we had last week. When the atmosphere (ours!) would settle down a bit I could make out some of the dark "canali." The Northen polar cap was very visible. The moon was bright (first quarter I think) and so I was wondering if we'd be able to see the M31 galaxy in Andromeda. Even with the moon close in the sky, I had no trouble finding the galaxy using my old Soviet-made 7X50 binoculars. We also looked at the North America nebula in Orion's sword (very appropriate as we had Canadian friends with us).

My telescope (above) has a simple but effective Dobsonian mount. (This system is named for the amateur astronomy guru John Dobson -- interesting guy.) The 'scope basically slide on teflon pads. These pads need a bit of lubrication from time to time. Mine were getting a bit sticky, so I started to look around for something to to grease the teflon. The solution was literally all around me:

Worked like a charm!

Also got on the air with the HW-8 and worked stations on 80, 40, and 20, including two QRP stations.

Does Math Lead to Understanding?

In "SolderSmoke -- The Book" I describe the quest for deep understanding of the circuits that we build and use. There is some discussion in the book of the role of mathematics in this quest. A while back a reader e-mailed me on this subject. In the hope of stimulating a discussion, I'll present the key paragraph from that e-mail here (the author will, for now, remain anonymous):

I appreciate your quotes from Feynman, Asimov, etc. about not
really being able to fully understand everything. As a math teacher
I can say that one of the biggest misunderstandings about math
is that it "explains" the phenomena of physics and engineering.
(Science and math teachers are notorious for saying to a student
who has just asked a "why" question things like, "well the math is
a little bit more complicated than what you can handle right now.
Wait untilyou have had a year or so of calculus.") In reality it's
the exact opposite! The math equations actually hide the answers.
They are very good at accurately describing phenomena, or at
predicting what will happen next, but they can never answer the
question of why one equation works and another does not. We
get very comfortable with allowing the familiar math equations
to hide our inability to really answer the "whys."

This really resonated with me. In my effort to get a better grasp of mixer theoy a lot of people seemed to be simply pointing me to the trig equations, and equating a knowledge of those equations with an understanding of how the mixer circuits really work.

Of course, I don't mean to be anti-math here, but I thought the e-mail on the limits of mathematics was very interesting. In "Empire of the Air" Tom Lewis wrote, "At Columbia, Edwin Howard Armstrong developed another trait that displeased some of the staff and would annoy others later in life: his distrust of mathematical explanations for phenomena of the physical world. All too often he found his professors taking refuge in such abstractions when faced with a difficult and seemingly intractable conundrum... Time and again as an undergraduate at Columbia, Armstrong had refused to seek in mathematics a refuge from physical realities."

My QSO with K4TWJ

Like everyone else I was saddened to hear of the passing of Dave Ingram. We've all been inspired by Dave's magazine articles, columns, and by his books. I'll always remember his QRP transmitter in a pen!
It was my privilege to talk to Dave once, on the air. I was on 30 meter CW with a brand new,scratch-built, HB QRP transceiver. I was in Virginia. I recognized Dave's call, and was thrilled when he came back to mine. I told him I was running homebrew QRP, and that I'd found inspiration in his articles. I know he was happy to hear that.
73 OM!
Dave's wife Sandy put a nice message on his blog: http://k4twj.blogspot.com

Some Real DX: Andromeda Galaxy, M31

I mentioned that Billy and I had spotted the Andromeda galaxy. The photo above (not by us) is sort of close to what we saw. The astronomy books usually show these spectacular images of Andromeda in all its glory. But those pictures come from long exposures through big telescopes. Through our little six inch reflector, Andromeda looks like a cloud, not quite as defined as the one in this picture. This picture is a 4 minute exposure through an ordinary digital camera using a 300mm telephoto lens.
(From: http://www.prairiehillfarmiowa.com/prairiehill/Home.html)

It is a real thrill to look at Andromeda. That little cloud represents 300 billion stars, and they are around 2.5 million light years away. So when you look, you know the photons hitting your retina started their trip LONG before there were homo sapiens. Icing on the cake: A satellite went through the telescope's field of view just as was looking at M31.

Another nice thing about Andromeda galaxy is that you can see it with the naked eye (you have to know where to look!). Because of this, people have been observing it for quite some time. Here is the first known drawing of M31. This is the work of the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi, and was done in year 964. The Persians imagined a constellation in the form of a fish in that part of the sky. Note the little cloud near the mouth of the fish -- that's M31.

Until 1923 astronomers thought M31 and other "nebula" were just clouds within our galaxy. The thought was that the Milky Way was the only galaxy. But then Edwin Hubble got some distance readings (using variable stars) on Andromeda and realized that he was looking at an entirely separate galaxy. That was a BIG discovery.

Homebrew transistors, QRSS Blog, Shep Show, Nose as toubleshooting tool

Some odds and ends today:

Ed, KC2TYP alerted me to this one: Jeff, K7JPD, has a very intriguing blog post about homebrew transistors. I suspect AA1TJ will have a rig made of these things on the air within a week. Check it out:
http://jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com/227856.html

There is a new blog for the Knights of the QRSS:
http://knightsqrss.blogspot.com/

Dave in Ireland sent me a link to the Jean Shepherd show in which he discusses his first soldering iron: http://www.archive.org/download/JeanShepherd1975/1975_07_30_Soldering_Iron_full_show.mp3

Alan, WA9IRS, alerted us to a nice EDN article on using your nose as a trouble-shooting tool:
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6713738.html

The Sabine Shack

How's that for a shack! Elisa rescued me from the frigid front porch and got the owner to agree to let me use this little building. You can see the VW solar panel in the window.

Here's the view:

Here's a little silent video we shot of the Sabine Shack:



The HW-8 runs of a 7AH Gell Cell that is charged by my Volkswagen panel. Antenna is a doublet fed by TV twin lead. The Blackberry provides internet access, and I can send in blog articles from it by e-mail.

Springtime on Mars (as seen from the Sabine hills)

Ian Sharp in Britain took this image at 0:54 UT January 4, 2010. The North Polar Cap is huge and obvious. The slightly bright region on the southern limb (top) is the dusty Hellas basin.

---

After months of looking at Jupiter, we now have a good view of Mars. On Saturday night we had a "Mars-rise" over Monte Calvo shortly after sunset. Mars is really bright now (explained below) and the distinctive red color really jumps out.

I didn't take the picture, but the shot above gives you a good idea of what I was looking at on Saturday night. The Northern polar cap was very apparent in my six inch Newtonian Dobsonian. It looked like it had a dark border around it. Martian North is at the bottom in this shot. It is Spring in the Northern hemisphere of Mars now.

Mars is now in a very good position for observation from Earth. On January 27, it will be in full opposition:

So hey, this is the time for those of you who are hoping to win the Elser-Mathes Trophy! Aim those Yagis and be sure to tune UP!

No smoke but Mars, Andromeda, and QRP

No podcast today because we are out in the Sabine hills.But here is a
report on activities here; RC plane was a flop. Advice from WA6ARA and
others helped, but wings are now really messed up. Big success in
astronomy: clear skies and no moon on Saturday. We had a really
beautiful "Mars rise" and were able to see the polar ice cap. Then we
spotted Andromeda galaxy naked eye, and then viewed it in the scope.
Awesome. I'm on the HW8 now. There is a contest but I've managed a few
real QSOs. Back to Rome tonight.

5X7JD: Tuna-Tin To... Uganda

SolderSmoke listeners might recall that Jack Dunigan e-mailed me prior to his move to Uganda. Jack had been listening to our stories about QRSS and WSPR and was thinking about setting up an East African beacon. Jack in now in Uganda and on the air as 5X7JD. He has a beautiful and very interesting blog. Check it out:

http://hamradiosafari.com/

(Jack: Maybe run WSPR using your computer and the Icom at low power, and then use the Tuna-Tin-Two for a separate QRSS beacon. You need an SSB rig for WSPR, but a simple K1EL keyer hooked up to the Tuna-Tin is all you would need for visual QRSS. The TT may need some modification to put it on 30 meters. Let us know if you need help, parts, crystals, etc. It would be a real hoot to have a Tuna Tin beacon from Uganda!)

Jack's blog is filled not only with tales of ham radio in Africa and Jack's personal radio roots (in his Dad's TV repair shop), but there is also information about the work that took Jack and his wife to Africa. Here is his description of it:

Aidchild, the organization for whom I work here in Uganda, cares for orphans living with Aids. There are two homes filled with kids for whom we care completely. This means we provide complete care because they are in every respect our own children. We also provide clinical and laboratory services for about 3000 more children. All of this costs money, lots of it. You can check us out at www.aidchild.org

We raise money through donations, but we also have started businesses here in Uganda to provide funds. We have an art gallery and shop at the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, a gallery and cafe on the Equator, and a restaurant here in Masaka called Ten Tables (any guess as to how many tables there are?). But caring for Aids children is not inexpensive. So we can always use more funds.

From Jack's postings you also get a sense of the personal sacrifices and hardships that come with his kind of work: scroll down to his posting about malaria and you will see what I mean. As we all watch the suffering in Haiti, it is a good time to think about the many good people like Jack and his wife who are working hard to help our fellow human beings in difficult third-world areas.

Speaking of Haiti, of course the situation is unspeakably bad. We feel real connections to it: My wife is from the same island (from the Dominican Republic). When I was stationed in Santo Domingo, I traveled to Port-au-Prince, and went to many of the places that you now see (crumbled) on TV. Here in Rome, the principal at our kids' school is Haitian. And I have friends in our embassy there. As a kid, one of my first DX contacts was with HH2JT -- Jules Tomar (I still remember getting his QSL). I see that the good fellows at G-QRP have made a contribution to the relief efforts. We should all follow their lead. Graham, G3MFJ, reports that the club made their donation to :
http://www.dec.org.uk/donate_now/

VK6ADF: Echolink, WSPR, 6 Meter Yagi

From London I used to talk to Phil, VK6ADF, on Echolink. We have a lot of interests in common. This may be due to the fact that we were both born in the International Geophysical Year. Phil is now reading "SolderSmoke -- The Book," so we will probably discover other areas in which we have crossed paths. This week, I decided to get back onto Echolink, and in my first session I was looking for OM Phil. He wasn't on, but, IN A VERY MYSTERIOUS TWIST, that morning he sent me an e-mail. Spooky, eh? Anyway, yesterday we got on Echolink and covered our usual wide-range of tech topics. Phil alerted me to a web site called Real Flight that provides an on-line simulator for Radio Controlled airplane pilots. Obviously Billy and I could use some time in the simulator!
Phil is also into WSPR and as we spoke I fired up my 20 mW DSB WSPR rig. I was immediately heard by an Irish station, and Phil almost instantly saw the report on the WSPR database. I noticed that the EI station was reporting that I was on 40 meters, when in fact I was rock-bound on 30. Again, as Phil and I talked, I went to the WSPR chat section and asked about the freq discrepancy. Another VK6 (a friend of Phil's!) answered my question (a simple set-up problem). Small world.
Phil and I have similar curmudgeon-like thoughts on Surface Mount Soldering, and he seemed sympathetic when I said that I think I am more of a "Hardware Defined Radio" guy. Again, this may be an IGY thing. Oh yea, almost forgot: We're not crazy about LINUX either. We are only a few short steps away from the "SPARK FOREVER" mentality and full-fledged Luddite status.
One interest that Phil and I DO NOT share is Six Meters. Phil is now addicted to the Magic Band (which I still consider to be a white noise generator). Check out his video on his six meter yagi.

AA1TJ: Reggies Rule! Diode Amps! QRP to the Max!

Whenever I find myself in need of some radio-inspiration, an e-mail from Mike, AA1TJ, seems to pop up in my inbox. This morning's message and the associated video (above) were especially inspirational. Mike was e-mailing Steve, WA1HFF.

Hi Steve,
Thanks for the message and the great QSO! I was running my one transistor transceiver that I call the Reggie. You can read about it on my webpage at

http://mjrainey.googlepages.com/reggie

My antenna is nothing to write home about; just an end-fed half-wave wire bent into an "EL" at 35 feet.

I've made just over 240 contacts with my Reggie in a little more than a year's time; working 19 states. My best (and only) real DX was the Bahamas. All of these contacts were made with no receiver gain on this end; just a pair of diodes fed by a one-transistor BFO, and onto the headphones.

A couple of fellows have built their own Reggies, so you might run into one on 80m now and then. I've made three Reggie to Reggie QSOs thus far.

Steve, last night I was trying something new; I ran a loudspeaker from an audio amplifer connected to my Reggie. What's unusual is that my audio amplifer was made from three, common power supply rectifiers (1N5401's). I'm not kidding! It's a nearly forgotten circuit from 1954 that I (re)stumbled upon a couple of weeks ago. It uses the phenomenon of PN junction charge-storage to produce amplification.

Last week I used two diode gain stages for a total power gain of 48dB to drive my headphones. Yesterday, I added a third diode gain-stage and connected it to a loudspeaker for shack-filling audio volume.

I made a video of last night's setup (the same setup I worked you with). You can see it at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DA07A6BLDg

Thanks again for the nice contact last night, Steve. You were armchair copy here! :o)

Best wishes,
Mike, AA1TJ

Here's a question for Mike: Can you build that kind of amplifier with homebrew point-contact diodes? If so, you'd be opening up the possibility of a homebrew solid state receiver with homebrew solid state devices. Oh man, this stuff makes me feel like such an APPLIANCE OPERATOR.

Homebrew SR-71 Blackbird (with real jet engines)

DXing with Crystal Sets

Mike Tuggle has an excellent article on this subject in the Antique Wireless Association's on-line archives of the "Old Timer's Bulletin. " Here's the link:
http://www.antiquewireless.org/otb/dxxtal.htm
The link for the Antique Wireless archive (another treasure trove for us) is:
http://www.antiquewireless.org/otb/archive.htm

Our New R/C Electric Airplane

We are thinking that olive groves are not quite as forgiving as the corn fields that the kid in the picture is using. And the bit about "no experience needed" probably should have a "as long as you don't mind crashing." Oh well, I guess crashing is part of the learning experience. But a quick review of the pertinent R/C airplane forums reveals there may be problems with this wing design: Apparently when it stalls, one wing stalls before the other (i.e. it "tip stalls"), with catastrophic results. The plane has a very comforting ACT ("Anti-Crash Technology") feature, but the forums advise that this feature may cause more crashes than it prevents.

We have the plane back on the Rome workbench this weekend. Crazy glue and tape are being applied. We will be back out at Chinghale International Airport (i.e. a clearing in the olive grove) next weekend to see if we can get a few good flights out of this thing.

Radio notes: The radio control system is on 27.145 MHz FM.

Stradivari, Violins, Sunspots, and the Maunder Minimum

I mentioned Antonio Stradivari in SolderSmoke 120, but I felt a bit guilty about it, because there wasn't much of a connection to radio. But Nick, KB1SNG, has come to the rescue. Nick sent me this interesting article that discusses POSSIBLE connections between the quality of Stradivari's violins and the sunspot count. Check it out:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0107_040107_violin.html

A recent article in The Economist alerted me to the fact that OM Stradivari was busy in the shack, churning out mechanical audio oscillators well into his 90's. I thought that Stradivari's late start, and his success in his senior years makes him an inspiration for many of us. A quick look at the Strad-Wiki page confirms this: Stradivari didn't really hit his stride until age 54, and did his best work between age 54 and 81.

New antenna for the HW 8 station

Now that my HW 8 station has been moved indoors (good thing -- there was snow on the hilltops this week!) I had to put up a new antenna. I decided to go with the same design that I had earlier: a dipole fed with TV twin-lead. I knew I needed a bit more wire than I had used in the original -- I had trouble getting that antenna to tune up on 80. So I went to the local hardware store and asked for 20 meters of AC line cord. That cost me 8 Euros. Not bad.
We had a nice sunny afternoon on Sunday -- Billy and I took the line cord out into the olive grove and pulled apart the two wires. (Hint: Start from the center, and pull slowly, or else the cord will get all twisted and a two minute job will turn into a twenty minute exercise in untangling.) I got to use some of those Radio Shack "solder strips" -- I just wrapped a few around the connection points and applied heat from a cigarette lighter.
I put some parachute cord (550 cord) over a conveniently placed tree branch using the venerable rock and rope method. One throw was all that it took. The radio gods were smiling on this project.
Success! With the Trastevere flea market Pi network, the thing tunes up nicely on 80, 40, 20, and 15. I notice that the cheap CB SWR meter that also I picked up at the flea market doesn't seem to sample much RF at 80 meters. I'm guessing that the designers were very focused on 27 MHz.
I quickly worked stations all over Europe, and even worked one station in Israel. I worked G4OEC in Somerset -- I immediately thought of Tim Walford, and asked OM OEC if he knew the wizard of the Somerset farm. Mac said his village was far from Tim's QTH.
It is nice to once again get familiar with the daily routine of the bands. 80 is hopping when I turn the rig on at 6 am local time. 40 seems to be active too. 20 opens a bit later, and I can hear stateside stations starting around noon local time. I really like hearing KZ1H up there in the high end of the 20 meter band -- I can hear him almost every day.
Check out the ad for the HW 8 in a 1978 catalog. This must be a non-U.S. catalog because the ad brags of the HW-8's ability to "work the States."
Not much astronomy this weekend -- Sabina and most of the rest of Italy fell under clouds on Sunday night. But I did catch a glimpse of Capella and the Kids.

SolderSmoke Podcast #120

http://www.soldersmoke.com

January 2, 2010
Olive harvest in Sabina, Christmas and New Years in Rome.
"What, no Klingon?"
How's my whistling SSSS problem?
DX on 20, HW8 QSO with KZ1H
Auroral flutter on US stations
W4OP: Homebrew Hero
Softrock progress
Linux woes
72 Part Challenge: "Stuck between best wishes and hugs and kisses!"
Chinese Hamsat in orbit, with CW telemetry
AA1TJ in CQ, and using diodes as audio amplifiers.
Stradavari and Julia Child:  inspirational late starters!
Billy's RC plane
QRSS:  telemetry next?
WSPR:  150K reports per day
New issue of Hot Iron
MAILBAG

Happy New Year! SolderCake!

This is just so good, I felt the urge to share it immediately with the SolderSmoke community. Thanks Tom, and Happy New Year to all!

Bill:

Happy New Year!
I am yet another listener who discovered your podcast by accident and am now hooked. I also thoroughly enjoyed your book. Both take me back to the days of scrounged parts and burned fingers, building balanced modulators and an FM stereo transmitter that earned me an invitation to leave a great southern university.

To celebrate the new year, rising sunspot numbers, and your 120th podcast, I offer the attached photo of a Solder Cake. It features 120 rolls of 60/40 rosin core solder -- several brands and gauges. The cake actually weighs 123 lbs. because the roll holding the soldering iron at the top is 4 lbs. It has zero calories, but definitely contains lead! It should be baked at less than 370 degrees, or the icing tends to run.

Why would anyone have 120 rolls of solder? I don't remember precisely, but rumor has it that ebay and alcohol were involved.

73, and a wonderful new year to you and your family.

Thomas Keister M.D. N5RTF

Chinese HAMSAT HO-68

PA3GUO put together this nice video. Check out the large footprint of this relatively high-orbit satellite.

Mark, K6HX, has a nice recording of SSB QSOs through the satellite: K6HX HO-68

On the air, out in the woods... Plus, olive news

We were out in the Sabine hills this week. Things are starting to settle down out there: The Cinghale are, well, mostly GONE (see earlier post), and the gunfire is starting to die down. And the olives have all been shaken from the trees. All was going well, but my wife was worried that with temperatures dropping, she might find me frozen out at my front porch operating position, so she secured indoor accomodations for me and the HW-8. Wow, what luxury! My CW is back to normal -- the shivering had been a real impediment. On Monday and Tuesday I was on 80, 40, and 20 with the Heathkit. I managed to work seven stations using a far-from-optimal end fed wire with my flea market tuner. It was fun to work Russian stations -- UA6HNU was running a homebrew rig. It reminded me of the good-old days in which most of the Russian hams were running HB gear. Then, just as we were getting ready to head back to Rome, there was some icing on the cake: Near the top of the 20 meter CW band I heard KZ1H (see earlier post) all the way from Boston.

Next week, a better antenna goes up.

I got some questions about the olive harvest. It seems that the trees around are place are about 200 years old -- mere kids, considering that there are olive trees in the world that are 2000+ years old.

As for the harvesting process, the shaking machine vibrates the tree for about 5 seconds. The workers have a collection tarp on the ground to catch the olives. Then they have machine that reels in the tarp.

Stagnosald! (Italian flux)

For some reason I like the packaging for this Italian soldering flux. Sort of takes you back to the days when soldering was soldering, if you know what I mean. Now (somewhat ironically) we are using this flux for SMT soldering. On the left you can see the PA stage of my slowly-coming-together SMT SDR LINUX Compu-radio. As you can probably tell, I am struggling to keep a positive attitude towards SMT and SDR. Lately, even Linux has been giving me trouble. The problem here is clearly with the operator, not the equipment. The Softrock SDR kit is really excellent. I'm sure I will eventually get it working, but I think there will be a lot of geezer-like complaining about all this new-fangled surface mount, software stuff. Please, bear with me.

Glowbug Christmas

My "Mate for the Mighty Midget" receiver (with 6U8s)

Some excellent Christmas verse from Brad, AA1IP:

The Glowbugs' Christmas
******************************

T'was the night before Christmas
And all through the shack
Not a heater was glowing
In all of the rack.

Sitting totally silent and quiet that night
The old HRO shed nary a light.
The Johnson exciter and its homebrew final
Felt cold as leftovers, or seat-cover vinyl,

I drowsed at my workbench feeling tired and weary,
The print in the Handbook looked fuzzy and smeary.
I thought, "I'll make coffee", and groaned to my feet
When I heard a loud clatter outside in the street.

What the--? I wondered and turned on the lights
And there I beheld a wondrous sight:
A battered old van heaped high with components
And a grizzled old ham with a bagful of doughnuts.

I noted his callsign-- can't recall it today--
But a patch on the side read "FMLA".
I opened the door and hollered "Come in!
The coffee pot's heating, and we'll sit down and chin!"

He spoke not a word but whistled in Morse
A "GE OM", and "By golly, I'm hoarse.
Too many contacts, and hot rosin smoke."
I nodded and poured him a mug of jamoke.

He emptied the doughnuts in a pile on a plate
And explained in a whistle, "I'm running real late.
I've new 6L6s and fine 211s, 6146s and good 'SN7s.
And 866s and 0B2s, type 45s and mil-spec 807s."

"For the regennie crowd, 201s by the score
And good ol' type 30s and 19s galore.
I haven't neglected the passive-parts run
There's lots of good iron by old Thordarson."

I nodded and smiled, suppressing a chortle
As he reached in his pack and left me a 304TL.
He whistled, "I'm leaving, the coffee was great,
But I'm overdue in the neighboring state."

"Keep everyone building the rigs of their choosing
Or we'll lose the bands that we're lazy in using.
Transistors or tubes-- any project is fine--
Just keep on constructing and sharing on line."

He leaped to his feet and waved a gloved hand
As he sprang for the door and his rusty old van.
I heard him exclaim as he drove away from me,
"Merry Christmas, you Glowbugs, and to all 73!"

****************************

(With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore, who surely would have
been a ham had radio existed in his time. Alas, all he had
to build with was words.)

For new readers: the FMLA (Five Meter Liberation Army) appeared in a
series of short stories written by Michael N. Hopkins, AB5L (sk). If you have never
read these, you're in for a fun evening!

For QRP fans: the numerical references in the poem are for classic
vacuum tubes, several of which operate at QRP levels (whether or not that was the
original builder's intention) and (mostly) within the amateur bands.

Christmas Greetings from Lunar Orbit

I always liked the last, very inclusive line in Colonel Borman's 1968 Christmas Eve message.

"Wired" magazine also made note of the important Christmas Eve radio message (1906) from Reginald Fessenden: the very first "phone" transmission. Fessenden himself played the violin ("Oh Holy Night").

Merry Christmas from Rome! 73 Bill

An appeal from SETI

Now here is a charity that Knack victims might see as a good cause --

I'm Dan Werthimer, the Chief Scientist of the SETI@home project.

You've been identified as a SETI@home volunteer, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts. I also want to preview our plans for 2010, and ask for your financial support.

SETI@home is a unique global collaborative project that uses spare cycles on personal computers to help search for signals of extraterrestrial origin. Our vision to embark on this grand search is over ten years old, and continues to engage volunteers such as you from all over the world.

In order to improve SETI@home in 2010 and accomplish our scientific goals, we are reaching out to our volunteers for financial support, as this venture is largely funded by individual donations.

Our goals for 2010 include:

• Deploy and refine the Near-Time Persistency Checker (NTPCkr) which makes SETI@home more efficient in identifying candidate signals.
• Develop a web based system that will allow volunteers to view, as well as help in the ranking of, candidate signals.
• Expand the frequency coverage of our search beyond the current 2.5MHz band.
• Improve how we identify and reject Earth-generated radio frequency interference (RFI).

With your financial support we can accomplish all these goals in 2010. We would greatly appreciate any donation amount you can afford, and your gift is tax-deductible.

Thanks again for your time and consideration of SETI@home. Your effort and donations are what make this venture possible.

Sincerely,

Dan Werthimer
SETI@home Chief Scientist
Space Science Laboratory
University of California, Berkeley

PS: if you'd like to donate via check or wire transfer, please see instructions here.

A Report from South Africa

Hi Bill

Africa "field QRP station"
Thanks for another great episode of your experiences - I'm tuning in from Africa while on my vacation Each December I make the trek from San Diego to Cape Town.
Then, my Dad (zs1xd) and I take the family out to a remote
location - and setup a field station. Around the camp-fire, under the Milky Way and no rf-pollution is a great way to hunt some dx and spend vacation time. This year
we selected a cabin located in a beautiful mountainous region about 100 miles north of Cape Town. 2 wheel vehicle will get you there and "just in case" , we
also took a capable 4x4 with.
I posted some pics and QRP HF operating notes here: http://k6wh.blogspot.com/

"SMT"
I'm following your Softrock SMT construction comments with keen interest and am glad you're finding the challenge - well - "not so much of a challenge"
I think it's so great that you're encouraging hams to jump into SMT.
I chuckled at your comment about "desoldering smt's" - Try de-soldering the Si570 SMT chip. I had the good fortune of measuring messing up the
"measure 10 x then cut once" when soldering this IC on the rxtx kit. Well - we know a mistake will happen, and when it happens, murphy's law will ensure
that it involves the most sensitive and tricky smt component on the board - hi.

It's a real trick, due to the contacts being under the chip (no pins like the other smts)
Well - try de-soldering that piece. And of course one realizes the mistake, only once the last solder joint has dried. Determined to correct the mistake there and then,
at 9pm while busy with the kit, I rushed off to the nearest radio shack to get some de-solder wick. Took me about 1 hr of patience, and careful "wicking" to suck
up all the solder underneath the chip - one contact at a time, (each desolder attempt, hoping the chip pops loose) - no easy task. I don't know of another easy way
than lots of patience, and a good magnifying glass.

I agree there is no greater reward than "homebrew" and with the advances in SDR tech, we're surely living in a wonderful age.

Once you get the SDR on-air, I'm sure you'll be blown away by the reception quality - sensitivity and especially the almost non-existent noise-floor.
(I'm not sure which model you're building, but I think all of Tony's designs are utilize the same Tayloe detector design which is very quiet)

I still can't believe the performance I get with the Softrock's kit - It's now become an antenna measuring instrument - While having fun with PSK QSO's and WSPR.
Of course, with the SDR one can adjust the output (via soundcard drive) to basically uW levels.

As we know, at these levels, each little bit of antenna optimization helps, and SDR+WSPR/PSK has become my "far field antenna measurement tool" of choice.

WSPR from Africa
Not too many stations active on WSPR on the African continent - Now that I've setup my Dad on DSL, I assisted him in activating his WSPR station in
Cape Town (ZS1XD). His antenna is a 20m homebrew 2 el yagi. I'm pointing it north during the evenings to see if n2cqr pops up in the log. Nothing yet, but I'm sure
one of these days, you may just be surprised. Keep watching for the Africa report :)

thank you again for such a great entertaining and educational program ...
73 - best wishes to you and the family from the tip of Africa.
de deon (k6wh)/zs

Technical woes: Linux, WSPR, SSSSS

Help me, help me! I want to get WSPR running on Billy's Asus eeePC. I have Ubuntu Easy Peasy running off a thumb drive. And I have the WSPR sofware package in in the machine. But I can't get WSPR to run. I click on it, and the machine asks me if I want to run the program. Indeed I do! But nothing. Help me Linux heads! What am I doing wrong? I've tried running it from the terminal using the instructions in K1JT's excellent manual (see, I have read the manual!) but the computer informs me that I need superuser privileges. Now what?

Also looking for feedback on the SSSSSSS problem. Was it better in SolderSmoke 119?

Thanks!

New Chinese ham satellite in orbit

This makes me want to pull out the UHF gear!
http://www.camsat.cn/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=67

Crossing the Pond to KZ1H

We were out the Sabine Hills this weekend and on Sunday afternoon I go on 20 CW with my trusty HW8. I made just one contact, but it was a GOOD one. KZ1H pulled me out of the noise and we had a very nice chat. My fist was not at its best, because it was COLD in those hills -- I'm arranging now to move the shack off the front porch and into the heated (I hope!) library.
Anyway, from the courteous way in which he persisted in copying my QRP signal, I knew that OM George, KZ1H, was a FB ham. Sure enough, when I plugged his call into Google this morning, I was taken to a site with the above picture of George in his younger days. Note the bug and the mill, and the homebrew transmitter. Here is George's story:

I grew up in Corona, Queens, NYC. I became interested in radio at the age of ten or so. My father bought an "Eilen" and I was introduced to Morse code. I met many hams around town (W2HDK, W2KAP, W2APT, W2KCD, W2JGV?). They were all very cordial and happy to show off their rigs.

In April of 1939 (age 14), I took my test at the FCC office at 641 Washington St, Downtown NYC and became W2MDE. My father bought me a Hammarlund Comet Pro (plug-in coils with shield cans). I built an oscillator/ transmitter using a type 59 tube.

I was invited to join the W2USA radio club at the 1939 NY World's Fair. W2KU was the Chief Op and my boss. We handled a lot of traffic for the fair visitors and kept the station on the air during the winter when the fair closed between summer sessions.

At 16, I graduated from high school and went to work for a large patent law office as a clerk. From there I went to work for Hazeltine in Little Neck, NY. I thought I might faint when I saw that my first check at Hazeltine was signed by Jack Binns, the radio operator who was the subject of the book "SOS to the Rescue".

At 17, I was made chief inspector of Hazeltine's first war-time production line and worked along side of Frank Hinners.

When I turned 18, Mr. Bailey of the ARRL became head of the Bureau of Scientific Research and Development in Washington, DC. He invited me to become a member of the Army Intelligence Service when I was drafted, which I accepted.

After the war, I attended the Cooper Union School of Art in NYC. I worked for PAA, Grace Lines, Andrea, Sperry Gyroscope, Varian Corp, and Global Systems. Much of my career has been in microwaves. I have been retired for 20 years and am still active on the bands. My present call is KZ1H.

I have been married to my wife Mildred for 53 years. We have three daughters, Jean, Janet and Diane.

Dale Parfitt, W4OP, Homebrew Hero

Yesterday, in my search for pictures of the Drake 2B, I came across VE3MPG's excellent interview with Dale Parfitt, W4OP. Dale and I crossed paths years ago: After I built my first version of Doug DeMaw's Barebones Superhet, I went out on the net and found a couple of kit versions of this receiver for sale. A few years later, I was working on one of them, and turned (as you do) to QRP-L for some advice. Dale came to the rescue and we started exchanging e-mails. After a while he told me that the version I was working on sounded familiar. Sure enough, he was the original builder! The story appears in SolderSmoke -- The Book.

Here is further evidence that Dale and I have similar tastes in receivers: Pictured above is his solid state version of the Drake 2-B. FB! I note that the dial scales are the same as the hollow-state version.

Here is the VE3MPG interview:
http://ve3mpg.blogspot.com/2008/10/interview-with-dale-parfitt-par.html

Mechanical Resonators

Mike, KC7IT, sent along this interesting article on the use of mechanical resonators in cell phones.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/radios-with-micromachined-resonators

Somehow, this made me think of my beloved Drake 2B. The 2B uses an L-C filter at 50 kHz, but -- sure enough -- a quick visit to the e-ham review section showed that Henry Radio had a vailable a mechanical filter kit -- some of the 2Bs out there are apparently fitted with this device.
Check out the e-ham Drake 2B love-fest: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3868 All of it true!

And of course, this all provides an excuse to put up a picture of the Drake 2B.

A Fondness for Phasing

As the proud owner of a Hallicrafters HT-37, I have long had a fondness for phasing rigs. It took me a long time to figure out exactly how they manage to drop the carrier and one of the sidebands without the use of crystal filters. This was one of the technical understanding battles of my radio youth, and is detailed in SolderSmoke -- The Book. (See the upper part of the right column of this blog for details on how to get the book.)

I was reminded of all this by a link sent in by Jim, AB3CV. It is an EDN design note, and describes a simple modern SSB generator using two phasing networks, three IC's, and a handful of discrete components:
http://www.edn.com/contents/images/93099di.pdf

Olive Interference

No, not from the digital mode. The interference was from the harvesting of real olives. We were out in the country on Tuesday (Italian holiday) and I was on the air with the HW-8. The backup alarm from the machine pictured above occasionally confused my copying of the CW. But it is a very interesting machine. It grabs the base of the olive trees with that rubber-covered gripping device, then it shakes them violently until all all the ripe olives are let loose. The ground shakes during the process. In spite of the QRM, 20 meters was sounding quite good in the afternoon, with many strong sigs from the USA, and one very stong VK6. Go sunspots!

SolderSmoke 119

4th grade Morse code lecture. Listening to 40 meter CW in the schoolyard

http://www.soldersmoke.com

December 6, 2009
4th Grade Morse lecture; SPRAT in the Pantheon; Cinghale shot
SSS problem and the gap in my teeth
STAGNOSALD! (Italian Flux)
Movie Reviews
Water on the Moon
QQ: FB!
Tyson the cat crashes both Ubuntu Linux AND WSPR 2.0
Building the Softrock 40: Comments on surface mount
WSPR hits 100k spots per day; my numbers
BIG MAILBAG

WSPR taking over THE WORLD!

Conspiracy theorists often worry about plots to take over the world. I think they should add WSPR to their list of worrisome schemes. Just look at the above map. That represents just 24 hours of activity on only one band (30 meters).

Joe Taylor, K1JT, reports that on November 21, the WSPR system for the first time recorded over 100,000 reports in a 24 hour period. There are now more than 14 million reports logged in the WSPR system. That's a lot of signal reports!

I decided to check my own numbers: In a 15 hour period on December 3, my 20 mW HB DSB WSPR signal was picked up and reported 416 times. 18 different stations detected my signal and reported on the reception. My best DX was W3HH in Florida -- his rig decoded my sigs 4 times.

I'm making slow but steady progress with my Softrock 40 SDR rig -- I hope someday soon to be submitting reports myself. Right now I'm transmit only.

SolderSmoke Book: Review, 10% off in December (HUMBUG is the code)

During the month of December, if you enter the promotional code HUMBUG when checking out at the Lulu web site, you will get 10% off.

For shipping from a printer in the U.S. (probably better for N. American buyers) Click here: SolderSmoke USA Version

For shipping from a printer in the UK, Spain, or the USA (probably better for UK and other European buyers)
Click here: SolderSmoke EU Version

Here is a recent review from the Big Apple:

This is a charming little book about ham radio. I know, I know, who uses the word charming and ham radio in the same sentence? Well, I did and I hope I never see the word used in this context again. But, that's the truth of it. Bill Meara is a charming guy and as might be expected, he wrote a charming book.

The book starts out by expressing the way many of us felt in our early years, filled with excitement and anticipation of the new and wondrous world of radio. And then, in the next breath, ponders how we, many of us mere children, ever survived the ordeal. Those were high voltage dangerous days before transistors! My favorite ‘early years’ story is about the power supply and the gift of the lightweight radio.

Many of the stories come from foreign countries where Bill has traveled as an employee of the United States government. These adventures give perspective to another important part of our hobby which is the camaraderie among hams and the things that are unique about us, no matter what part of the planet we come from. The stories from the Dominican Republic stand out in my mind. Particularly the Resistor Store and the Capacitor Store or if you wanted anything that involved winding wire you looked up a guy who hung around on a street corner. I think Bill was really impressed with the hams he met here. He writes with great excitement when describing some of these characters.

Not having an engineering background, Bill expresses, on several occasions, of being mystified by some popular explanations of electronic theory. Here I share common ground. I also had a problem with semiconductor theory and the common explanation of “hole flow”. As the author points out, it sometimes takes a library to understand these theories. Sometimes just one book doesn’t cut it. Bill’s explanation of semiconductor theory is as good as I’ve read anywhere. In fact, a lot of the technical asides were really excellent. I guess I didn’t expect them to be as in depth as they were.

Bill, the “Radio Fiend” also takes on a journey that requires him to get on the air with homebrew gear. The journey starts out with a failed direct conversion receiver and ends up years later with a DSB transceiver. I found this very interesting as well as entertaining.

SolderSmoke: A Global Adventure in Radio Electronics. is about us. I don’t think there is a ham alive that is not going to see himself within the words of this book.

Tom, ak2b

Mars calling... SO LISTEN UP!

George, K8VU, alerted me to this wonderful blog that presents interesting bits of correspondence: http://www.lettersofnote.com/ This telegram from the Secretary of the Navy caught my eye. There is also a letter from Galileo, complete with diagrams of Jupiter's moons (his diagrams look just the ones I draw today). Also, check out the letter from Oppenheimer recommending Richard Feynman for a job at UCAL Berkeley: Feynman is described as being "a second Dirac, only this time human." (Poor Dirac. He was once having dinner with a close friend. In an effort make conversation, the friend asked, "Have you been to the threater lately?" Long pause, then the response: "Why do you ask?" )

SolomonSea SolderSmoke

As further evidence of the global reach of SolderSmoke, David, M0VTG, recently took the book all the way to Papua New Guinea. The picture above was taken aboard the Barbarian II while in the Solomon Sea. Eppa (on the right) is giving the book a thumbs up (but he doesn't seem quite sure about it). Thanks David! Thanks Eppa!

New Overhead Photo of Apollo 11 Site

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently took this shot of Tranquillity Base. This was from 30 miles (50 km) up. Very cool.

No Smoke, but stars, an HW-8, and one (dead) Cinghiale!

No podcast today -- we were out in the country. As you can see from the picture above, the question of just how big the Sabina wild boars really are has been answered. The one pictured above was shot today very close to our country place (neither Billy nor Maria did the shooting!) The hunters tell us that this one was considered a big one. As you can see, it is about the size of Billy.

I had the telescope out this weekend -- we were looking at the moon, Jupiter, Mars, and the Orion nebula. Also watched a satellite going over shortly before dawn. And one meteor.

I was on the air a bit, on the CQ WW DX contest. Worked about six stations. Was on 40, 20, and 15 with the HW-8.

I will try to get SS 119 out as soon as I can. I hope all you turkey eaters had a good holiday.

Electronics Animations

Oh man, this the kind of thing that makes my hand-drawn diagrams seem even more inadequate. If this is the new standard, I'm in trouble! Jim, K9JM, sent this to us. Thanks Jim.