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Saturday, September 10, 2011
SolderSmoke Podcast #137
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke137.mp3
10 September 2011
Earthquake! Hurricane! Tropical Storm!
The Heathkit HW-7 -- An Undeserved Bad Reputation
Over-the-counter saltpeter
Movie review: Green Hornet, Captain America
How many 2-Bs? (11,571)
Ubuntifying dead laptops
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Replacing a diode ring mixer with a diode...
...then trying the NT7S MOSFET detector
Where is boatanchor wizard Walt Hutchins KJ4JV ?
GREAT NAMES IN RADIO: MCMURDO SILVER
Sputnik update
Lew McCoy wrote about one of my projects
MAILBAG (with mail from Farhan and Wes)
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Some Encouraging Graffiti
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Pale Blue Dot
I'm reading Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot." I found this beautiful video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pfwY2TNehw
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Take a look through the Chromoscope!
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Monday, September 5, 2011
Climbing a REALLY Tall Tower
This is the kind of thing that causes me to stick with sling shots and wire antennas. The comments added to the YouTube video were kind of funny -- most were in the vein of "Dude, not for a billion dollars!"
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Friday, September 2, 2011
Carl Sagan on Ham Radio and Extraterrestrial Communication
"And what if we receive a message? Is there any reason to think that the transmitting beings -- evolved over billions of years of geological time in an environment vastly different from our own -- would be sufficiently similar to us for the message to be understood? I think the answer must be yes. A civilization transmitting radio messages must at least know about radio. The frequency, time constant, and bandpass of the message are common to transmitting and receiving civilizations. The situation may be a little like that of amateur or ham radio operators. Except for occasional emergencies, their conversations seem almost exclusively concerned with the mechanics of their instruments: it is the one aspect of their lives they are certain to have in common."
From "The Dragons of Eden" by Carl Sagan.
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The Oldest 2-B? (I say it's a 10!)
Harv: Wow, that's a beautiful 2-B OM. I give it a 10. If you compare it to mine, it's a 20! I checked our collection point for 2-B serial numbers and see that we have a couple that may be rivals in the title "Senior 2-B." Thanks for pointing out that they started at #2000.
What makes a radio a 10 out of 10?
Good question. A real 10 to me means the radio is flawless, clean, not repainted and the best example possible based upon age and general appearance.
Here is one of my Drake 2B Communication Receivers with the matching Speaker/Q Multiplier.
This one has the S/N 2532 which, places the production of this radio close to early Spring 1961. The radio is not flawless. It has very minor metal edge dings in the paint.
I have the original Owners Manual and lots of special notes. At best my pictured radio above is a 9.5.
In my collection is also; S/N 4226 which was built near the end of 1961. I rate S/N 4226 as a 9.8 radio.
I’m impressed with the AVG recovery, general receiver sensitivity and the combination selectivity afforded by the Q-Multiplier.
I believe the Drake web site is spot on with the dating of the production runs for Drake equipment.
From talking to other Hams, it looks like the 2B started with S/N 2000 on their first full run of production in early April 1961.
It would be interesting to see if others find radios with a serial number less than mine still out there pulling duty.
I’m sure some pilot radios are out there in private collections. Let me know if someone finds an earlier serial number.
Keep up the great work Bill!!!
ENJOY
HARV -=WA3EIB=-
Albuquerque, NM.
-------------------------------------------------------Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20