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Saturday, March 30, 2013

An update from Yi Yao, VA3YAO


We did a short article on Yi Yao a while back, noting that he definitely has The Knack.   His homebrew frequency counter (above) confirms that he does.   In a recent  e-mail from him I also detect an inclination toward poetry.  April is Poetry Month, so I thought I should share the latest from Yi:

Hi Bill,

I haven't gotten around to making my first rig yet. But, after
listening to SolderSmoke since the beginning, it seems like the universal rule
of homebrewing has been to avoid regens!

I've been focusing on mechanical design for the last while. Having
spent 2 years in a heavily electrical engineering oriented
environment, I decided to try something new.
Most of the smoke that

 I inhale these days is from cutting oil vaporizing as I turn something
on the lathe. Chips mean bits of metal that are created from cutting
metal. Soldering is done with a torch. The common thread with
electronics is the knackish pursuit of elegant design and beautiful
construction.


I've been thinking about getting myself a copy of SSDRA, but even
looking at online used book stores, this is costing in the
neighbourhood of some of my university textbooks. There's no shortage
of good information and ideas for homebrewing online though. I think
that's what I will use.

Cheers,
Yi



Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Friday, March 29, 2013

Wow! Great Article on the Wow SETI Signal


Thanks to David Umbaugh (and his son!) for alerting me to this really great article in The Atlantic on one intrepid amateur who has chosen to follow-up on the famous (and possibly extraterrestrial) "Wow" signal.   You will like this article. 

http://m.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/the-wow-signal-one-mans-search-for-setis-most-tantalizing-trace-of-alien-life/253093/


Robert Gray's book is available here:



Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Good time to Buy Book: 20% off at Lulu

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/soldersmoke

Use Coupon Code VERNUM through March 31 and get 20% off.

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Edgy Skimmer Antenna


For the last few days I've been hanging out on 20 meter CW, 14.050 - 14.060 MHz, using my re-built W1VD/Barbados rig.   I've had some great contacts, but almost as  much fun is watching the Reverse Beacon Network to see who is hearing my calls.   WA7LNW is one of the "skimmers" that most consistently picks up my signal.  One look at the picture above explains this.  The receive antenna for his skimmer rig IS ON THE EDGE OF THIS CLIFF!   Jack has one of those dream jobs for a radio amateur:  he works at that amazing location, testing ejection seats for jet aircraft.  More great pictures here: 

http://www.dxwatch.com/qrz/lookup.php?c=rbn/WA7LNW

Thanks for the reports Jack!




Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

AA1TJ's Latest QRPp Rig

 
From Mike, AA1TJ:

I called CQ on 20m CW for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon with no response. With the cadence of my own Morse tugging at my eyelids, I was suddenly shaken awake by a brisk signal returning my call and signing CU2BV. I snapped out a 579 report and turned it over. The dits and dahs in my headphones told me it was Fernando; operating from São Miguel island in the Azores. He reported a weak but solid copy (529) of my fifty milliwatt signal.

Here's the radio that I used yesterday. The one-transistor transmitter is to the left of the red relay on the top board. The single transistor is a germanium surface-barrier device made by Philco in August of 1958. To the right of the relay is a two-transistor time-delay circuit used to switch the antenna between the transmitter and the receiver. My receiver on the lower proto-board is a reproduction of my first shortwave receiver: a $7 Japanese kit that I bought at Radio Shack when I was 13 years-old.

Fifty milliwatts is some twenty-four times less power than was used by an old double D-cell flashlight. I later learned that my signal was nearly simultaneously picked up by an automated receiver located just west of Dusseldorf, Germany.

Snowy Vermont to the lush Azores - some 1500miles off the coast of Portugal - with less power than is consumed by a beeswax candle...is it any wonder that I love radio? ;-)


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Sunblock! Earth-Sun-Mars Alignment Affects Communications


Something to be considered by those hoping to win the Elser-Mathes Cup.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-108

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Monday, March 25, 2013

Video of my Barebones Superhet







I literally blew the dust off this thing last week.  I posted the schematic a few days ago (scroll down).   This morning I finished re-building the CW transmitter that went with it.   I am running out of rigs to re-build, so I suppose I will now have to start building some new ones.  Maybe a BITX-20?  Or a BITX-75/20? 

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Southern Appalachian Radio Museum



Chris, KD4PBJ, of SMT Solutions, sent us a thumb drive with pictures and videos of his visit to the Southern Appalachian Radio Museum.   What a great collection of radios!   I saw many old friends on those shelves.

There is a lot of radio history in that museum, and much of it is conveyed by the photos and videos that Chris took.   Here they are, all 111 files:

https://picasaweb.google.com/116927941005026017464/SARM#

The museum is in Asheville, N.C.  http://www.saradiomuseum.org 

Thanks Chris.  And thanks to the curators of this fine museum.

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Saturday, March 23, 2013

A Beautiful Receiver by W1DN






I wish my prototypes (or final products!) looked this good.    I like the way Lee puts the switches onto the prototype board.  Very nice.

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Wow! Raspberry Pi as an RF Transmitter


https://github.com/threeme3/WsprryPi

This site shows you how to use a $35 Raspberry Pi Computer as an RF transmitter for the WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporting) System.  All you need is a simple low pass filter and an antenna. (Oh yea, and a ham radio license.)  The site says you can get 10 milliwatts out.  That's enough for WSPR!   Very cool. 

This looks like a real international effort:

Credits goes to Oliver Mattos and Oskar Weigl who implemented PiFM [1]  based on the idea of exploiting RPi DPLL as FM transmitter. Dan MD1CLV combined this effort with WSPR encoding algorithm from F8CHK, resulting  in WsprryPi a WSPR beacon for LF and MF bands. Guido PE1NNZ extended this effort with DMA based PWM modulation of fractional divider that was  part of PiFM, allowing to operate the WSPR beacon also on HF and VHF bands.

For more info on WSPR:  http://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search/label/WSPR

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
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