Just go to http://soldersmoke.com. On that archive page, just click on the blue hyperlinks and your audio player should play that episode.
http://soldersmoke.com
Hackaday has an article today that is, for me, very timely. In our last podcast, Pete and I were discussing the meaning of the word "homebrew" in the world of Software Defined Radio. As always, Pete was closer to the cutting edge, while I remain mired in Ludite (one D please!) curmudgeonism, committed to RADICAL FUNDAMENTALIST HOMEBREWING. No chips and no menus for me please.
Today, the Hackaday guys came to my rescue with a blast from the past. Homebrew computers! Not that simple "buy a mo-bo and plug in some boards" stuff. No, REAL homebrew, so HB that they even made their own components. 1968. I can dig it! I should have gone down this road. I had the C.L. Stong book "The Amateur Scientist" IN MY HANDS. It had some great articles about relay-based computers. I could have been rich!
In those dark days of February 2015, when all the members of the SDR ESSB Panoramic Spectral Police were on my case over some imperfections in my 40 meter homebrew SSB signal, Rick, N3FJZ came to my rescue by sending me a great YouTube video of his reception of my new rig. Rick was using a wonderful homebrew Direct Conversion receiver with a really cool PTO. Here is my blog post on Rick and his receiver:
After 32 years as a ham, I finally had my first ever HF QSO on October 16, 2015, and on a homebrew rig no less! Oh the Joy of Emission!It was on 7.242MHz, 8:00 a.m. eastern on the "Woodpecker net". - Rig was based on the Bitx, using ZIA bidirectional amps. - 20 Watts into a 80 meter full-wave loop up at 20 feet. - 600 ohm homebrew open wire ladder line. - Balanced antenna coupler inspired by the Annecke and Johnson matchbox units. - and most importantly, the Arduino controller software and use of the Nokia display were derived and inspired from Pete's "Let's Build Something" code presented on his website, and the carrier oscillator(BFO) & L.O. are generated by an Adafruit SI5351 clock generator board. Thank you Pete.
See my N3FJZ look-up on QRZ.com for photos of my homebrew rig. I have also put links to the SolderSmoke blog and to Pete's web page and blog.
I just want to tell you both that your podcasts, websites, circuit diagrams and stories were a huge part of my success. They were the inspiration I needed on many dark days when my amplifiers would oscillate, and my oscillators would simply smoke. At times I thought I would never get on the air, but an hour listening to SolderSmoke podcast would give me the drive venture on. Thank you!
***VERY IMPORTANT!!!!
Bill, during my first QSO, I was getting 5x8 and 5x9 signal reports (with 20 watts!)from North Carolina, up-state New York, Michigan, and Indiana, and I know we are only about 50 miles apart (I'm in north central Maryland), so I believe we could probably achieve a successful HB2HB contact if you want to try.
If you want to, and have the time, you could join me on the Woodpecker net any Friday, Saturday or Sunday on 40 meters 7.242MHz 8:00 a.m. eastern, or we could set-up a prearranged contact on a General class 40 meter frequency of your choosing. Let me know - making an HB2HB contact with you would mean the world to me.
Pete, I also extend this invitation to you as well, but with only 20 watts on my end, it may be a stretch, but we could try.
Thank you both again for the joy you have given me with your pod-casts. 73 Rick - N3FJZ
.................
Rick and I got together on 7.288 MHz yesterday evening. It was a really amazing QSO. Rick made a video of it (see above) and I recorded the audio on my side. My old tape recorder didn't do Rick's signal justice -- it sounded better than this. But here is the full QSO:
Be sure to listen closely at around 21 minutes when Rick describes a software feature that allows him to switch -- with the touch of a button -- from high side VFO to low side VFO. The BFO frequency also changes to account for the resulting sideband inversion. Very cool.
-- Our audience IGNORES Pete's guitar intro! -- Pete on QSO Today Podcast. -- Part 97, The Radio Art and International Goodwill. BENCH REPORTS: -- Pete connects his new beam to the KX3. -- Pete puts the Bell-thorn on 20. -- Simple-ceiver update. -- Pete's new drum machine: http://makezine.com/2015/10/15/learn-electronics-worlds-oldest-drum-machine/ -- Bill fights noise in the DIGI-TIA. -- Bill fights power-line noise (and wins!). -- Drake 2B, skirts, reduction drives, and tuning rates. -- Warming up (with!) the DX-100.
-- N2CQR -- N6QW First Ever HB2HB QSO.
-- On 40 AM with an HT-37 -- Listening to Chinese CubeSats. -- SDR Dongle as a bandwidth checker.
-- SDR and the Future of Homebrew Radio.
-- Bryan's LBS Receiver. -- Dean's First Ever QSO with his HB rig.
-- 32 Mighty Mites Completed
-- The Martian -- Did Mark Watney REALLY have the Knack?
-- MAILBAG: Peter Parker's New Book Sparks from Ron Sparks Armand's 1Watter Rogier's pyro machine BIG boxes from Tim KI6BGE Mikele's ZIA and N6QW rig collection SPRAT 141 and SPRAT 164
I am Pieter callsign ZS3AOR. I came upon your E-Book at Amazon and downloaded it to my Kindle and man, I really enjoyed reading about your endeavors with everything.
The way you explained for instance the inner workings of transistors and mixers and problems associated with it is really good.
Subsequently I downloaded the August Podcast and I am hooked with you and Pete.
Kind regards from the Namaqualand region of South Africa (Northern Cape Province)
As I've been saying on the podcast, contacts in which both operators are using homebrew gear are increasingly rare, especially on SSB, and especially, it seems, in the USA. So let's chronicle these rare events. I've started a Label here on the blog called HB2HB. Send me reports of good HB2HB contacts -- recent or past -- and I'll try to get them onto the blog.
I've already described my recent QSO with Pete, N6QW. My second HB2HB from this location took place on 12 October 2015. I talked to Jeff GW3UZS in Cardiff, Wales on 17 meters. I was using my trusty BITX17. Jeff was running a much more sophisticated homebrew rig -- see above. More details on Jeff's beautiful rigs are on his QRZ.com page"
Michael Rainey's underground shack in Vermont is undeniably cool, but these folks have REALLY gone deep. They are almost a mile down, blocking out that nasty cosmic ray QRN, building sensitive detectors to QSO with some extremely elusive DX: DARK MATTER.
The wizard of Melbourne Beach, Peter Parker VK3YE, has written a book about QRP. Check it out here.
Peter is a true QRP guru. His Beach 40 transceiver is shaking the ether from locations around the world. I am really glad that he put that Melbourne dock on the cover. That dock has been the test site for many of Peter's amazing creations. The railing has supported many great antennas.So many wonderful YouTube videos have been recorded there. There really should be a plaque or something...
I was telling Pete that thousands of years from now, archeologists will be puzzled when they find, in many remote corners of the world, strange homebrew electronic devices with the symbol "N6QW" emblazoned on them. Who, they will ask, was the cult leader N6QW, and how did he get his followers to build these devices?
Thanks to the work of Mikele 9A3XZ, Croatia will surely be a major center for research into the N6QW cult. Check out Mikele's video. Stick around for the full 6 minutes and you will see the many N6QW rigs that Mikele has built. FB Mikele! Keep up the good work!
A video about the Kon-Tiki expedition got us wondering about how you could generate hydrogen gas for an antenna balloon while on a raft at sea. (That's the kind of question that keeps Knack victims up at night.) This led us to the Gibson Girl rescue radio. This morning I found a fascinating web site that gives the long, multi-country history of the curvaceous rescue rig:
"SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" is now available as an e-book for Amazon's Kindle.
Here's the site:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V9FIVW
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