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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Soul in an Old Telescope
I like this telescope. The owner built it in 7th grade and is still using it at age 70. I'm still using the Drake 2-B that I bought with newspaper route money, so understand the sentiments.
http://makezine.com/2013/07/29/through-a-diy-telescope-brightly/
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:
Drake 2B,
telescopes
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Soul in the Old Machine: HW-101 Saved From Workshop Cannabilism
More on this in SolderSmoke 154....
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, July 27, 2013
The Viganella Heliostat -- A Village Brings in the Sun (Video)
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/viganella-the-italian-village-that-built-its-own-sun.html
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:
Italy,
Solar power,
video
Friday, July 26, 2013
EXCELSIOR! Happy Birthday Jean Shepherd
NPR's "Writer's Almanac" alerted us to this: Shep was born on this day in 1925. I realize now that that made him just a week or so older than my dad (who was a big fan).
Here is a really nice site with info about Shep, ham radio, and his call sign:
EXCELSIOR !!!!!!!!!!!
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:
Jean Shepherd
HB-101 ? BITX-101?
OK, so I've been wanting to build a BITX-20 for a long time. Then Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith sent me a nice 9 MHz filter, and I started to think about using it to build a BITX 75/20. But I don't really like 75 meters too much... And I have this Heathkit HW-101. I like it very much, but these rigs do not age well: Too much heat, too many cheap components, tubes on PC boards... yuck. I got tired of fixing it. I've occasionally fantasized about scrapping most of the HW-101 circuitry and turning this rig into a 100 watt linear amplifier. But I didn't have the heart to do this. Then, on the way to work yesterday it hit me: Why not take the beautiful bi-directional circuitry of Farhan's BITX design and use that to solid state most of the HW-101? Obviously I'd retain the finals and maybe the driver, and the CW and SSB filters. The VFO could be transistorized. Maybe I'd retain the tube AF amp. I'd like to add 17 meter capability. Pete Juliano took an HW-101 and added a digital dial (that's his rig in the picture).
What do you guys think? Am I nuts? Or would this be a worthwhile project?
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, July 23, 2013
The Nanomembrane Laser Detector Receiver
I like it! Here we find some cutting edge radio technology that does not involve millions of microscopic transistors and thousands of lines of code. And it can be explained in a few paragraphs without resort to exotic math. It even makes use of our beloved LC resonant circuit. Quick, where did I put Billy's green laser? And where can I get some silicon nitride? http://m.technologyreview.com/view/517336/physicists-detect-radio-waves-with-light/
Thanks to Jim, AB3CV, for sending us this.
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:
Laser
Monday, July 22, 2013
Earth as seen from Saturn
Look closely. We're the little dot. Photo taken July 19 2013 by the Cassini probe. People were waving! Really: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23914-shiny-happy-earth-photobombs-saturn-snapshot.html?cmpid=RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|online-news#.Ue2_i2DD-ic
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:
Saturn,
space program
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