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Saturday, May 18, 2013
SolderSmoke Podcast #152 Special Digital Edition
SolderSmoke Podcast #152 is available at
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke152.mp3
May 18, 2013
-- SolderSmoke's WWV Advertising Campaign!
-- Bands Better -- Working DX!
-- Shack and Shed reorganization
-- Arduino Madness! CW Beacon Machine! DDS Sig Generator! (see video above)
-- Breaking and Fixing an Arduino
-- Reverse Beacon Network
-- The Cult of Arduino: QRP Computing with Italian Charm
-- PSK-31 and JT65 with Homebrew DSB Rig
-- SolderSmoke Book Corner: Hollow-State Design! Getting Started With Arduino!
-- Massimo Banzi has THE KNACK!
-- MAILBAG: AA1TJ, G3RJV, AL7RV (now W8NSA), others...
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
Labels:
SolderSmoke Podcast
Monday, May 13, 2013
Arduino Adventures: LCD screen added
Pretty impressive for a guy whose previous project was a crystal controlled DSB transceiver, don't you think? They say that variety is the spice of life, and the Arduino board has been adding quite a bit of spice to my tech life lately. That tiny board up above the proto board is the six dollar DDS-9850 board -- it arrived in an envelope from Shenzhen, China last week. I hope to connect it to the Arduino and the LCD to make a sig generator or VFO.
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, May 11, 2013
Earth-Moon-Earth!
I think the really cool thing about this is the "self echo." Listen carefully when the operator in the video turns it over to the G station. At first I thought they were doubling, or perhaps another station was on frequency. But then I realized that when he releases the push to talk, the first signal he hears is his own signal, bouncing back from the Moon! c is real!
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, May 10, 2013
DSB Digital Success!
It's ugly but it gets you there. I finally got the little 30 meter DSB/Direct Conversion transceiver that I built in Rome working on PSK-31 and JT-65. It features a VXO circuit from George Dobbs, an AF amplifier designed by Roger Hayward, and an RF amp chain designed by Peter Parker. It produces about 1 watt of RF. At first I was manually switching the rig from transmit to receive, but this got old real fast, so I built a little VOX circuit -- the AF from the sound card does the switching. Last night I fired it up on PSK-31 and stations were calling me (including one fellow in Cuba). Then I went to JT-65 and had a complete QSO with KT1B. Another this morning with K0ASK. It is kind of fun to combine the simple (this rig) with the complex (the computer and these digi modes). I find that I can work both JT65 and PSK 31 while keeping the VXO at 10.139 MHz.
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
Labels:
digital modes,
Dobbs-George,
Parker--Peter
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Drone Dudes
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, May 6, 2013
Homebrew Adventures with JT65
My six dollar DDS board hasn't arrived yet, so this weekend I worked on the re-build of the 30 meter Direct Conversion/DSB transmitter that I built in Rome (originally for WSPR use). I was hoping to use this rig to make at least a few PSK-31 contacts. But I started seeing these strange looking sigs in the waterfall. I found out they are JT65 (JT for Joe Taylor). So I downloaded the program JT65-HF. I got the receiver going very quickly (it is a 40675 dual gate MOSFET followed by the audio amplifier out of Roger Hayward's Ugly Weekender RX). The transmitter is just a two diode singly balanced modulator followed by the RF chain from Peter Parker's Beach 40 Rig. QSOs seem imminent.
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
Labels:
direct conversion,
DSB,
JT65,
K1JT,
Parker--Peter,
WSPR
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Now That's A Radio Shack! JH0JDV
I was at the workbench this morning, working on a 30 meter DC/DSB transceiver. I had the Barebones superhet tuned to white noise on 17 meters. Then I heard a strong CQ that sounded like DX. It was Ely, JH0JDV. He was the only signal on the band. We had a very nice contact, no problems at all. I was running my normal 10 watts to a dipole. Afterwards I Googled him. Wow, he has a REAL radio shack! FB Ely!
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
Labels:
Japan
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