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In the interest of preserving what I suspect will become an important piece of amateur radio history, I'm posting some pictures of the underground radio shack and workshop of Michael, AA1TJ.
Michael describes the facility this way: The shack is under two feet of snow at the moment, but from the surface it looks for the most part like any New England spring-box cover that you come across while walking in the woods. Only, when you lift this cover you discover Dr. Evil's secret underground radio laboratory, a re-creation of Hogan's Heros radio station, or what I affectionately refer to as the "Hobbit Hole."
Mike has a wonderful posting on his blog today: http://aa1tj.blogspot.com
Check it out! The ISS and the Shuttle Discovery captured by an amateur astro-photographer as they passed in front of the sun, with major sunspots nearby! Catalin Fus of Krakow, Poland, had his solar-filtered telescope trained on sunspot 1166 on March 7 and recorded this amazing conjunction. Thanks Catlin and thanks to spaceweather.com. 
Bob, W8SX, sent me an interesting article from EDN on the recent commemoration of the 40th anniversary of our beloved SPICE program. Check it out:
The two spacecraft are un-docked but orbiting close together. There is a good visible pass over Canada and the U.S. this evening (see above -- all times EST). Go to http://spaceweather.com/flybys/ to get the times for your location. Hurry, I think the Shuttle comes home tomorrow.
Treat yourself today to an experience in radio enthusiasm and innovation: Go to AA1TJ's blog and read about his latest creation: The Schmidtschem. Michael begins his post this way:
As part of my effort to stamp out broadcast interference to the SolderSmoke podcast, this weekend I reassembled the crystal radio that Billy and I had built in London. It is REAL simple: Just a parallel LC circuit with a germanium diode detector and some high impedance phones. (I also put a chunk of galena and a cat's whisker on the board -- that's for when I get the urge to form my own PN junctions.) As expected, I immediately heard two AM broadcast stations: WFAX 5 kw 1220 kHz (religious) and WUST 20 kw 1120 kHz AM (mostly foreign language). I found out the hard way that these stations reduce power at night: I was bragging to my wife about the EXCELLENT reception I'd been getting on the crystal set, but when, after dinner, I brought her into the shack for a demonstration, she could barely hear anything. Oh well...
Our correspondent in Guadalajara, Roberto XE1GXG, had earlier posted a comment on Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena, an inventor who worked on color TV. This morning I had the chance to check out the Wikipedia article on OM Guillermo. I was struck by the telltale signs of The Knack. This is further proof that the phenomenon is truly global. Excerpts from the Wikipedia article: Born in Guadalajara in 1917, his family moved to Mexico City when Guillermo was almost 2 years old. As a boy he made electrically propelled toys, and at the age of twelve built his first Amateur radio.
In 1930 he graduated from the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers (ESIME) at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) with an engineering degree; he obtained his first radio license two years later.He was also an avid stargazer; he built his own telescope and became a regular member of the Astronomical Society of Mexico.
González Camarena invented the "Chromoscopic adapter for television equipment", an early color television transmission system. A U.S. patent application (2,296,019) states:
| “ | My invention relates to the transmission and reception of colored pictures or images by wire or wireless... | ” |
A field-sequential color television system similar to his Tricolor system was used in NASA's Voyager mission in 1979, to take pictures and video of Jupiter.[1]
In 1995, a Mexican science research and technology group created La Fundación Guillermo González Camarena (The Guillermo González Camarena Foundation), which benefits creative and talented inventors in Mexico.
At the same time, the National Polytechnic Institute began construction on the Centro de Propiedad Intelectual "Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena" (Guillermo González Camarena Intellectual Property Center).
In SolderSmoke 131 I talked about this old homebrew receiver. I picked it up at a radio rally in London and almost sold it at a hamfest in Virginia. A fit of UK nostalgia provoked by a screening of "The King's Speech" caused me to hold onto it. Now it is luring me into two areas that I don't really want to get into: high voltage and regeneration. But here we go... I turn now to our British cousins: What can you tell us about this receiver? 1920s? 30's? What tubes should I be looking for? How would they have powered this receiver? Does anyone have a schematic that might describe this device? (Or something close?) 
SolderSmoke Podcast #131
Bert, WF7I, at Winterfest
I met many podcast listeners. Bert, WF7I, and Mark, KJ7IEA, from the University of Virginia (the guys with the rhombic) were there and it was great to meet them. N3UMW, the designer of the SolderSmoke logo, was there at my sales table, but I didn't realize until after the hamfest that he'd been there - -I would have liked to have talked to him! Oh well, more 'fests in the DC area are coming up, and I still have some junk to sell. 
I'll be at the Vienna Wireless Society's Winterfest hamfest tomorrow morning. I've gathered up all the unnecessary junk in the shack, and hope to replace it all with new and better junk tomorrow. I'll also have a few copies of "SolderSmoke -- The Book" for sale. I'll be at table D4 inside the facility. Hope to see many of you there!
Thanks to a tip from spaceweather.com, Billy, Maria and I were in position to watch the International Space Station fly over the Washington area on the evening of 23 February. The map above (from heavensabove.com) shows the pass we saw. All times are local. Maria spotted it first. She seems to have a talent for this -- she last spotted the ISS six years ago (at age 4!) from the streets of Central London. 
The folks at spaceweather.com report that the International Space Station AND the Nano-Sail D satellite will be visible from North America this week. They provide a very handy on-line tool that lets you know when and where to look:
"I love to revel in philosophical matters - especially astronomy. I study astronomy more than any other foolishness there is. I am a perfect slave to it. I am at it all the time. I have got more smoked glass than clothes. I am as familiar with the stars as the comets are. I know all the facts and figures and I have all the knowledge there is concerning them. I yelp astronomy like a sun-dog, and paw the constellations like Ursa Major.
On SolderSmoke Podcast #130 I mentioned that in the book "The Evening Star" by Henry S.F. Cooper, the author mentioned that during the Magellan mission to Venus, some of the chips on the spacecraft could somehow "heal themselves" after developing problems. Wow! Rigs that fix themselves. I don't know about that. That would kind of take us out of the troubleshooting game, right? Anyway, I was wondering how this "self healing" thing works. Hamilton, KD0FNR has some ideas:
Today was big day here at SolderSmoke HQ. John, K2ZA, and his lovely wife Erika drove down from New Jersey bringing with them the Heathkit DX-100 that John's dad (now a silent key) had built years ago. John heard me mention my long yearning to once again own a DX-100 (I'd had one as a kid); he very generously decided to give me his dad's. 
Thanks John!
Lulu is running a President's Day sale on SolderSmoke The Book (and everything else they are selling!). Through Feb 21 use the coupon code Happy 305 at checkout and save 20%.
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