Schematic of the VK3YE "DSB-On-The-Beach" Rig

Peter Parker's amazing 8 transistor DSB rig (featured in an equally amazing YouTube video -- see earlier blog post) has sparked a worldwide resurgence of QRP minimalism.  There is now a lot more activity on the "Minimalist QRP Transceivers"  Yahoo group (be there or be square).   Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith WB6TNL is minimalist mentoring to the max -- with his help it looks like more VK3YE transceivers will soon be on the air.  Steve was kind enough to take the info from Peter's video and turn it into a .pdf schematic (see above).  It is in the file section at the Minimalist QRP Transceivers group.  I was, of course, pleased to see the inclusion of a robust 7 element low pass filter.  

Michigan Mighty Mites are also tickling the ether.   I may pull out my single MPF-102 Yingling 80 meter rig.   You can join the Minimalist group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Minimalist_QRP_Transceivers/

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Uncle Sam Wants You! (Well, really your Telescope)

 I don't think they will be that interested in my $50 Tasco 4.5 inch reflector, but I am thinking about sending in a proposal for a 1.2 million dollar series of upgrades for the old 'scope!

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A Promising Start for the SG-6 Solid State Conversion

We have kind of half a holiday today -- I have the day off, but the kids went to school.  I made use of the additional shack time to test the feasibility Farhan-izing my old, not-so-beloved Heathkit SG-6 signal generator.  I did a quick Manhattan build of the oscillator section from Farhan's sig generator (link in yesterday's post).  Using an idea from an old 73 Magazine article on a similar project (thanks Clint!), I smashed the tube (appropriate, don't you think?) and connected (using the glass stump!) Farhan's oscillator directly to the pins that lead to the switchable coils and the variable cap of the SG-6.    I just wanted to see if it would oscillate, and see if there was a big change in SG-6 dial calibration.  

Wow, it worked great!  It oscillates very nicely on all but the upper frequency band setting (20-50 MHz).   I feel confident that I'll get it to oscillate at least up to 30 MHz.   Next I'll build Farhan's buffer and amplifier stages.   The SG-6 had a switchable attenuator -- I want to include that feature in the solid state version.  I'll have to give some thought to the audio modulation feature (nice for aligning AM receivers). 

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Solid State Conversion for a Heath SG-6 Signal Generator?

I've recently become acutely aware of the shortcomings of my signal generator. 
It is a Heathkit SG-6.  It is really old.  It has a selenium rectifier in it. It has one of those old mic connectors on it for the output.  The output is very low.  But I like the cabinet and there is a nice switchable coil/variable capacitor LC circuit in there (see above).  

In 2008 in Hyderabad, India Farhan went to McDonalds with his kids and went home with some straws.  Soon the straws are chopped up and turned into coil forms for a signal source:  http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/siggen.html

So here is my idea:  de-tube the SG-6.  Turn the selenium over to the HAZMAT authorities.  Save the coils and the cap and most of what George Dobbs would call "the socketry."  Use an MPF-102 for the oscillator, then make use of the buffer and feedback amp from Farhan's soda straw circuit. 

What do you guys think? 

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8 Transistors = 40M DSB XCVR (on an Australian Beach)

Another brilliant rig from DSB guru Peter Parker, VK3YE.  I really liked this one.
I loved his drawing of the circuit diagram -- right there on the beach! Lots to be learned from this video.  Thanks Peter!
 
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The Hobbit Hole of QRP

In SolderSmoke 147 I mentioned that I had found some old pictures of AA1TJ's underground hamshack and workshop.  People wrote in asking me to post them.  Here they are.  I still can't find the shot of the door surrounded by snow. 

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Lights and TV during blackouts! My Inverter ($69)

People have been asking about the DC to AC inverter that I have been using during the now frequent power outages (5 in the last two years, two of them since July 2012).  With it I can easily keep the lights on in the house and even run the TV.  Not bad for $69.  Here it is:

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