China Puts NINE Amateur Satellites in Orbit

 

 

Big news! 

http://www.arrl.org/news/china-successfully-launches-nine-amateur-radio-satellites

and

http://amsat-uk.org/tag/xw-2/

I have pulled my 2 meter down converter out of storage and  have connected it to the Drake 2B.  These satellites are due to be over my location at 0720 local tomorrow.  I will be listening.

SolderSmoke Podcast #180 Pete's Beam, Simple-ceiver, 2-B, Noodling, Homebrew and SDR?, "The Martian", Mailbag

SolderSmoke Podcast #180 is available:

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke180.mp3

19 September 2015

PROJECT REPORT:
Pete's Antenna Project:  The Joy of Rotation!
Simple-ceiver
Bill fixes Digi-Tia (after breaking it)
Shack Configured for Winter (DX-100)
Working (a little) on the Drake 2-B

SolderSmoke words we forgot to mention:
Noodling
The Radio Gods
The Radio Art
The Grand Poobah
Magic Smoke
Lud(d)ite Curmudgeonism

SDR and the Homebrewer

"QSO Today" Interviews
Lady Ada interviews Paul Horowitz of "Art of Electronics"

SHAMELESS COMMERCE:  Book still free!
Start your Amazon purchases at our blog page.

Book Review:  "The Martian"

Great QSOs with W5NDS and AE5RM

MAILBAG

Visualizing Harmonics and Square Waves

Very illuminating.  Very cool.   We want more!  Show us how a mixer works! 

From:
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/17/visualizing-the-fourier-transform/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hackaday%2FLgoM+%28Hack+a+Day%29&utm_content=Netvibes


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

AA7EE's Beautiful Sproutie MK II

 

This is almost too much.  Sensory overload is a real risk here.  Go check out AA7EE's amazingly beautiful regen receiver.  On his site he has a masterpiece of a write up, along  with schematics and build photos.  I love the plug-in toroids.    Great work Dave.  Thanks for sharing this with the homebrew community. 

 

Here it is: https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/the-sproutie-mk-ii-hf-regen-receiver/

 

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 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