Alan Re-Caps His Drake 2-B

That Drake 2-B is a beautiful thing.   Every time I look at an older tube rig I'm reminded of the three dimensionality of these old machines.   Solid-state rigs are in Flatland, but tube rigs are in three dimensions.

Alan makes a very cool use of the I-pad in this repair.  And I'm jealous of his Hayseed Hamfest Electrolytic (I opted for the multiple caps hanging below the chassis).  Excellent management of the solder-sucker by Alan.  And I was impressed by the disciplined way he pulls solder from the reel -- he has the reel right next tot he rig and dispenses it directly.  I tend to hack off small lengths of solder and end up with lots of little bits of solder on the bench. 

Glad to hear that the other caps on the Drake are standing the test of time.  I wish the same could be said for all the caps in my Heath HW-101.

One thing caught my eye in Alan's video:  The dial cord.   You know you have become a true 2-B aficionado when you have actually gotten good at replacing the dial cord.  It is something of a rite of passage.   Perhaps this will serve as the basis for a future video by W2AEW,

Thanks Alan!  And congrats on passing 4 MILLION YouTube views.  People watch because your videos are so good.   

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

Inspiring Stuff on "QSO Today"

Eric 4Z1UG is doing some really great interviews on his "QSO Today" podcast.   I found the last three to be especially informative and inspirational.

Chuck Adams K7QO dispensed a lot of useful information about Muppet boards and construction techniques, but more importantly he put out a lot of wisdom about the hobby, especially on the importance of teaching and sharing knowledge.

The interview with Glenn Elmore N6GN presented many interesting technical ideas, including using WSPR on VHF and UHF, and using aircraft reflections as a Sporadic-E like propagation mode.  He also mentioned "wing vortex" propagation.  Glenn talked about how to use a drone and a special light-weight transmission line to get your VHF/UHF (or cell phone) antenna above the trees.  (See above).

I found the conversation with Gerald Youngblood K5SDR both fascinating and a bit worrisome.  Gerald is obviously a great guy, and he does a wonderful job of describing the technology behind SDR radios, linking it to the phasing techniques that hams have been using since the dawn of single sideband.  He makes a strong case for the new SDR rigs, noting the absence of receiver-produced noise, the advantage of band-wide visual waterfall displays (even while noting that they tend to "make every ham an Official Observer"), and "brick wall filters that don't ring."  But I got and uneasy feeling when he referred to non-SDR rigs as "legacy rigs."  I found myself wondering how long it will be before all our rigs are required to be noise-less and all our filters skirt-less. Will there come a time when our beloved legacy rigs will be deemed unacceptable? (You can already hear this sentiment on the bands.)  And how much room is there in this SDR world for the kind of homebrewing we do? ( I know, I know.  I admit to feeling the presence of Ned Lud as I type these words.)

Great job Eric! And thanks to all the interviewees.   We look forward to the interview with Pete N6QW. 

Eric's QSO Today podcast can be found here:  http://www.qsotoday.com/

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

Claude Shannon had The Knack (video)

From Wikipedia:
Shannon showed an inclination towards mechanical and electrical things. His best subjects were science and mathematics, and at home he constructed such devices as models of planes, a radio-controlled model boat and a wireless telegraph system to a friend's house a half-mile away. While growing up, he also worked as a messenger for the Western Union company.
His childhood hero was Thomas Edison, whom he later learned was a distant cousin. Both were descendants of John Ogden (1609–1682), a colonial leader and an ancestor of many distinguished people. 

*************

And he he was part of a scheme to beat Vegas at the roulette wheel through the use of what may have been the first wearable computer: 
http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/18/edward-thorp-father-of-wearable-computing/

An excerpt from that site: 

After their initial meeting, Thorp says, "we got right to it," and he spent about half his time for the next eight months working away with Shannon in that basement lab in Shannon's house, on one of Massachusetts' Mystic Lakes. In his paper, Thorp described the lab as a "gadgeteer's paradise," with what he estimated to be about a hundred thousand dollars' worth of electronic, electrical and mechanical items. The regulation roulette wheel, ordered from Reno for $1,500, was set up on an old slate billiard table.

Thorp describes Shannon as the "ultimate gadgeteer," and recalled in his paper that the man he met in that office was a "thinnish alert man of middle height and build, somewhat sharp-featured," and that "his eyes had a genial crinkle and the brows suggested puckish incisive humor." That humor would become evident as the two worked together at the house on the lake. Thorp wrote that Shannon taught him to juggle three balls, and that he rode a unicycle on a steel cable strung between two tree stumps. "He later reached his goal," he wrote, "which was to juggle the balls while riding the unicycle on the tightrope."

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

Kids Homebrewing in Japan in the 1920s

 

Michael Rainey, AA1TJ, Poet Laureate of QRP and Wizard of the Vermont Hobbit Hole found this drawing and put it on his face book page.  It is clearly supportive of the "International Brotherhood of Electronic Wizards" theme of this blog, so I have shamelessly expropriated it.  All for the cause Michael!   I hope this indicates that OM AA1TJ is emerging from a too-long spate of radio-inactivity. 

 

Michael says the drawing is from the 1920's children’s magazine, "Kodomo No Kuni" by Kiichi Okamoto.  David Cowhig, WA1LBP, provides this translation:

 

Title "Ni-chan,  I can hear it!"

The radio kid is saying something like:

-- Wait, no I lost it.

-- uhhhh

-- I can hear it, I can hear it, I've got it!

 

David notes: Sometimes Japanese use the katakana syllabary to add emphasis like we might with italics or exclamation points. 

 

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

Kon-Tiki and the Gibson Girl

Back in July we shared a very nice video sent to us by Rupert G6HVY on the radios used by the Kon-Tiki expedition.  Many of us had questions about the device used by the intrepid radio operator to generate hydrogen gas (for the antenna balloon) while on the high seas.   Mike Herr WA6ARA supplied the answer:   1200 grams of Calcium Hydride crystals.  This was part of the WWII rescue  radio set CRT-3 (aka the Gibson Girl). 

Fair Radio Sales occasionally sells this intriguing device: 
https://www.fairradio.com/catalog.php?mode=search&keywords=hydrogen&submit.x=21&submit.y=8

And here is great site with more details on the other antenna supports in the Gibson Girl set, including a ROCKET LAUNCHED KITE! 

https://billboyheritagesurvey.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/war-kite-the-gibson-girl-kites/

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

Speaking of Breadboards...

Clint KA7OEI sent us these inspiring photos of his 10 GHz transverters.  FB Clint!  The one on the top was built in 2005 and STILL looks like this.  Note "CAT" component in the version pictured in the second photo.


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

Si5351 and the Spectral Purity Mask

I was thinking about spectral purity standards and the Si5351 chip. I realized that I didn't even know what the FCC standards for "close in" noise are.   The standards for spurious emissions ARE well known, but these are for harmonics and parasitic emissions relatively far from the desired signal.  What about unwanted signals CLOSE to the desired signal? 

My old 2002 ARRL handbook indicates that the FCC has not established firm standards for this "close in" noise.  (They call it "out of band" noise, but are clearly referring to noise that is close to the desired signal but spreading out beyond the desired bandwidth.  Phase noise would be in their category.)

In the course of my Googling, I found the above spectral purity mask.   I don't know where it comes from, but I think it is the kind of graph that would be very useful to us as we evaluate the merits and shortcomings of various frequency synthesizers.  Would our DDS or PLL rigs fit in this mask?   I think an Si5351 rig WOULD.  According to KE5FX's measurements, at a mere 100 Hz from the center frequency, the Si5351 phase noise is already -90 db.

Does anyone have a similar mask showing current standards?

I still don't understand why so many folks believe that the Si570 is a useful part for homebrew rigs, but the Si5351 is not.  Look at the numbers:

Si570
Clifton Labs  measuring at 30 MHz carrier. At 10kHz from carrier:   -109.6 dbc/Hz
Silicon Labs web site (carrier freq not specified) At 10 kHz from carrier:  -116 dbc/Hz

Si5351
KE5FX measuring at 19.99 MHz. At 10kHz from carrier:  -127 dbc/Hz
Silicon Labs  measuring at 156.2 MHz. At 10 kHz from carrier   -112 dbc/Hz.

Can anyone out there explain the technical basis for the belief that the Si570 is a useful part while the Si5351 is not?   

It is important to keep things in perspective.  ALL of these noise numbers represent VERY small noise levels.   Let's keep is simple and assume a 100 watt carrier signal and a phase noise of -100 dbc/Hz.   That means the phase noise per hertz would be .00000001 watts.  That's watts/hertz.  How much "noise power" would that represent in a typical SSB passband?  Multiply by 2500 Hz and you get 25 microwatts.  That's really low noise levels. Not enough to worry about.  And as we've noted, we've happily used rigs with LC VFOs and crystal oscillators for all these years without every once measuring their phase noise.

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

Alan Wolke's Drake 2-B (video)

Alan's video inspired me to do a little work with my Drake 2-B.  Nothing major -- I was just making sure that the passband knob is in the right setting.  I've complained that the Drake 2-B doesn't sound great on AM.  I recently noticed that my BITX40 DIGI-TIA sounds surprisingly good with AM signals -- I just treat them as SSB signals and zero-beat the carrier with my Si5351 VFO.  I wanted to try doing the same thing with the 2-B, and then make some comparisons.  I only heard a few AM signals this morning, so I will try again later today and will report results 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

SolderSmoke Book Now Free on Amazon Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/SolderSmoke-Global-Adventures-Wireless-Electronics-ebook/dp/B004V9FIVW/ref=la_B001JOYVM4_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441406675&sr=1-1

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

Breadboarding and Mountaintopping

We needed an illustration today.  I was having trouble finding something suitable.  Then the Radio Gods (along with Joe Peltola and the artist N0UJR) provided this.  Obviously I can relate to the breadboard operation. I'm sure Pete can too.  As for the mountain topping, that made me think of Colin, M1BUU.  And of Wes, W7ZOI.

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

Five Lessons from Pluto for Homebrewers

http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/embedded-basics/4440230/5-Engineering-Lessons-from-Pluto?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150901&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150901&elq=3e27f3c4018844db9381c8a508867555&elqCampaignId=24586&elqaid=27842&elqat=1&elqTrackId=06ba9f8cc21140c1ae477df75c36dd65

Thanks to Bob Crane, W8SX, for the link to this article.   Those of us who are reading "The Martian" will find the mention of RTG power interesting (but hey, let's not try to put any plutonium in our rigs, OK?) 

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

Interview with Paul Horowitz (W1HFA) -- A Giant In Radio Electronics (Video)

I've been hearing about this book for years, but until I watched this interview, I knew nothing about the author.  Thanks Lady Ada.  (And thanks to Farhan for the alert.) 

As a native New Yorker, I'm pleased to include in the blog yet another reminder that the Big Apple is not all fashion and finance -- a lot of solder has been melted in my home town. 

Paul Horowitz has a truly awesome bio.   He got his ham license at age eight.  QST tells us that lots of little kids do this, but unlike some of the youngsters we see in the magazine I suspect young Paul really mastered the theory.  Paul Horowitz has "The Knack."  Big time.

PhD from Harvard.   Author of "The Art of Electronics."  Pioneer in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.  Carl Sagan is believed to have  modeled the main character in "Contact" partly on Paul.  Check out the wiki  page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Horowitz

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

"The Soul of a New Machine"

 

We talk a lot about putting soul in our new machines.  The phrase comes from a book by Tracy Kidder.   Ira Flatow of NPR's Science Friday recently took a new look at this book.  There are TWO recordings in this link.  Both are worth listening to.  The second is an interview with the author, conducted at Google HQ in New York City.  Woz chimes in. 

http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/08/28/2015/the-scifri-book-club-talks-the-soul-of-a-new-machine.html

At about 6:43 in the second interview, Ira Flatow and Tracy Kidder get into a little argument about how to pronounce the word "kludge."  I'm with Ira -- the fact that he pronounces it this way makes me think that we are using a New York, or at least and East Coast pronunciation. 

I am a big fan of Tracy Kidder.  His "Mountains Beyond Mountains"  is about Dr. Paul Farmer, a heroic physician who has dedicated his life to treating the poor people of Haiti.  "My Detachment" is about Kidder's stint as an army officer in Vietnam.   Kidder and his editor wrote a nice book about the crafts of writing and editing: "Good Prose."  "Strength in What Remains" is about the genocide in Burundi. 

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

Awesome Kits from Austin Texas

http://www.qsl.net/k5bcq/Kits/Kits.html

If this is the kind of great stuff that results, then I agree with the bumper sticker:

KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD!

Scroll down to kit #25 for more details on the device pictured above.

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

Adam Savage (Myth Busters) Interviews Andy Weir (Author of "The Martian")

I liked this interview a lot, and I am sure SolderSmoke listeners will like it too.
Weir admits to NOT having the Knack, but Mark Watney clearly does have it.

Also, check this out: http://www.cannonade.net/mars.php#map

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

Knack Movie and Book -- SolderSmoke on Mars -- "The Martian"

I realize I'm very late in reading this book.  Billy read it last winter.  The movie is already coming out.  I guess I didn't see the Knack element in this story until I saw the movie trailer.  Wow.  This is a book and movie for us.    Dude is stranded on Mars and has to fix the radio  (with Hendrix playing in the background).  I'm reading the book now (appropriately, on my I-phone).  I find myself thinking about the Elser-Mathes Cup.   

More on the book here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel)

From the Wiki article:
Andy Weir, the son of a particle physicist, has a background in computer science. He began writing the book in 2009, researching related material so that it would be as realistic as possible and based on existing technology.^[4] Weir studied orbital mechanics, astronomy, and the history of manned spaceflight.^[6] He said he knows the exact date of each day in the book.^[7]
Having been rebuffed by literary agents when trying to get prior books published, Weir decided to put the book online in serial format one chapter at a time for free at his website.^[4] At the request of fans, he made an Amazon Kindle version available at 99 cents (the minimum he could set the price).^[4] The Kindle edition rose to the top of Amazon's list of best-selling science-fiction titles, where it sold 35,000 copies in three months, more than had been previously downloaded free.^[4][7] This garnered the attention of publishers: Podium Publishing, an audiobook publisher, signed for the audiobook rights in January 2013. Weir sold the print rights to Crown in March 2013 for over a hundred thousand dollars.^[4]
The book debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list on March 2, 2014 in the hardcover fiction category at twelfth position.^[



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

Farhan's Secret Project: The SPECAN (Extremely Cool) (video)

I had been sworn to secrecy for so long,  I thought I was going to burst.  I almost hinted at this in the last podcast.  But I didn't.  I kept the secret.  But now Farhan has made public his latest creation: 

http://hfsignals.blogspot.in/p/specan-reboot-of-w7zoi.html

This is really great.  I want to build one.  I have to build one.  I NEED one of these.

Great work Farhan.  Thanks for bringing the ham community another amazing piece of gear.

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

SPECIAL 10th ANNIVERSARY OFFER ON SolderSmoke BOOK FREE DOWNLOAD

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the SolderSmoke podcast, I have reduced the price of the book "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics."  I've taken the price as low as Amazon and Lulu will allow.  

Here are the new prices. (These prices are temporary.)

FREE E-BOOK DOWNLOAD FROM LULU:  http://www.lulu.com/shop/bill-meara/soldersmoke-global-adventures-in-wireless-electronics/ebook/product-20740433.html

Amazon Kindle e-book: FREE
http://www.amazon.com/SolderSmoke-Global-Adventures-Wireless-Electronics-ebook/dp/B004V9FIVW/ref=la_B001JOYVM4_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441406675&sr=1-1
 

Amazon Print version:  $5.54:  https://www.createspace.com/5109055

LULU Print versions:  $4.45      http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/soldersmoke

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

Unfazed! Fight HISS-teria! Give the Si5351 a Chance.

 

Thanks to all who have contributed to our discussion of phase noise and the Si5351 chip.  Let me throw out some ideas -- some technical, others philosophical.

1)  We may be worrying about this too much.   In all of the homebrew or kit rigs we've built over the years, I never recall much concern about the phase noise specs of the LC or crystal oscillator circuit that we were using. What were the phase noise stats on a Heath VF-1? How about the phase noise stats for the little Hartley oscillator in those DC receivers we made?  No one even checked. Our rigs usually worked just fine.  We would have noticed if they were extremely noisy, but if they were good enough, we left well enough alone.  It doesn't really make much sense for us to now be suddenly very concerned about the phase noise stats of the various DDS and PLL chips that are replacing those LC and crystal circuits, especially when the measurements show that they are usually in the same range as our old familiar oscillators.   

2) The perfect can be the enemy of the good, and the "good enough."  We have a long tradition in ham radio of tolerating less-than-perfect or less-than-optimum parts.  Remember, the NE-602 has some shortcomings, but we use it. We use it a lot.  The IRF-510 wasn't even designed to be an RF amplifiers, but we have pressed it into service for our PAs.

3) We should be willing to give a new part a try, and we should be pleased if it proves useful.  We should be wary of untested claims re the unsuitability of a component.  We have to avoid the "works in practice, but not in theory" situation.   If something works well, doesn't create additional QRM,  is inexpensive, and fosters experimentation and homebrewing, we should be happy about being able to use it.  

4) All electronic components -- not just the Si5351! --  produce noise.  Resistors produce noise.  Look at this:
" We can infer... that if we install phase-quiet oscillators in transmitter and receiver, we ought to be able to tune our receiver to a frequency closely adjacent to a very strong signal from the transmitter without encountering anything like phase-noise hiss. Yet, after an exhaustive phase-noise cleanup at transmitting and receiving sites, we test our communication system only to discover that the transmitter still emits broadband hiss! The culprit is transmitted amplifier noise. Just about every modern transmitter or transceiver consists of a high-gain, linear amplifier strip that amplifies the low-level output of oscillators, mixers and phase-locked loops to hundreds of watts or a few kilowatts. Because amplifier circuitry is not perfectly quiet, the output of the transmitter contains noise (hiss) in addition to the amplified signal. Transmitted along with the desired signal, this hiss can degrade the noise floor of nearby receivers-just as transmitted phase noise can. Where does amplifier noise come from? Thermal noise, for one thing. Electronic components operated at temperatures greater than absolute zero generate random electrical noise. This noise is broadband in nature. Greatly amplified in an audio amplifier-or greatly amplified in a radio transmitter, transmitted as broadband radio noise, received and converted to audio-it sounds like hiss. Random variations in electron flow within active amplifier components (transistors and vacuum tubes) are another source of amplifier noise. Transmitted as broadband radio noise, received and converted to audio, it also sounds like hiss." Source: http://www.robkalmeijer.nl/techniek/electronica/radiotechniek/hambladen/qst/1988/03/page14/index.html

5) It seems that whenever a new technology or part comes along there will be those who issue dire warnings about how we can't or shouldn't use it.   When transistors came along, there were those who said that hams shouldn't homebrew with them because -- it was argued -- without spectrum analyzers we couldn't possibly come up with spectrally pure signals. 

6)  We have to be careful lest this obsession with perfection and extremely high tech standards be used as a rationale for not homebrewing, or (much worse) as an argument against homebrew rigs on the ham bands.   There is a bit of this going around.   Get on 40 meters with rig that drifts a bit or that is not "on frequency" to within 10 Hz and you will find out what I mean. 

7)  The Si5351 is a good part for our purposes. It does something new and VERY useful for us:   It can put out BOTH our VFO and BFO frequencies.   It makes it much easier for us to change bands and-or switch between USB and LSB.   Its phase noise figures are fine.  LA3PNA (citing measurements by KE5FX) notes: "The phase noise of the Si5351 is around -130dBc/Hz at 10KHz. This is quite decent, If compared to a Hartley or Collpits you would see little or no difference. Some of my measurements of published free running oscilators show phase noise in the -110dBc/Hz range!" 

-130 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz puts this part on the "good" curve of this chart. From (http://www.robkalmeijer.nl/techniek/electronica/radiotechniek/hambladen/qst/1988/03/page14/index.html

We should give this little chip a chance!   Give it a try! 

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

SolderSmoke Podcast #179 SPECIAL TENTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

SolderSmoke Podcast #179 is available:

22 August 2015

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke179.mp3

YESTERDAY MARKED 10 YEARS OF THE SOLDERSMOKE PODCAST

-- A clip: The first minutes of SolderSmoke #1

-- A trip down SolderSmoke memory lane.

-- The SolderSmoke lexicon -- words and phrases we use (a lot).

BENCH REPORT

-- Pete's antenna project.

-- Pete's new Blog:   http://n6qw.blogspot.com

-- Bill's big amplifier problem fixed thanks to Allison KB1GMX.

-- Six digit freq readout with an Altoids case.

THE Si5351 PHASE NOISE CONTROVERSY

-- ALL oscillators make noise.

-- Keeping things in perspective:  It is 100 db down!

-- Observations and tests from LA3PNA, NT7S, and K0WFS:

http://k0wfs.com/2015/08/21/si5351-phase-noise-and-thd-tests-using-an-agilent-e4402b-spectrum-analyzer/

http://nt7s.com/2014/11/si5351a-investigations-part-7/

-- Try it, you'll like it!  The benefits trying things on real rigs.

NEWS

Interviews on "QSO TODAY" with Eric 4Z1UG.

Horrible band conditions.

Looking at Saturn with telescope.

MAILBAG

Another recruit for the CBLA:  Paul KA5WPL.

Ron G4GXO on Bell-Thorn and Eden9 SSB rigs.

Rupert G6HVY on Kon Tiki radio and Mr. Spock.  

Mikele's Croation BITX rigs.

Dean AC9JQ's TIA.

Bryan KV4ZS will build an LBS receiver.

Dave Anderson give Pete good antenna advice.

Steve Smith moves in from the garage.

Pete has built  12 SSB transceivers.  Intervention time? 

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