Where it belongs: S38E in a Zoo

Hey fellas,

Hope this finds you well.  Spent the day with my family at a zoo.  They have a neat African exhibit that includes many small huts for shade and to give the feel of the African bush.  Each was outfitted with items kne would expect to find in a distant bush camp... Gear, etc.  Many had semi modern radio receivers. 

But one...  One had a well worn and rusting Hallicrafters S38E.  The rig y'all love to hate... Lol. It is secured to the shelf and as far as I know stays their year round; partially open to all the wonder weather Michigan can throw at it. 

I got a kick out of it, thought you may as well.  

Hope all is well.

John in Michigan 
KE5ETX

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John:  Finally, a good place for these things.  Museums. Or Zoos.   We should organize a collection campaign, perhaps with free pick-up and tax deductions.  

Here is a no-kidding story.  We had a family reunion last month.  I met a cousin I hadn't seen in 40 years.  I had given him an old S38E so he could listen to SW BC.   I asked him if he remembered that radio.  "Yea, I sure do -- It almost electrocuted me!"  

73  Bill 

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VA3IAW's BITX 40 Box. Ugly? I don't think so.

Al VA3IAW thought he had a shot at the "Ugliest BITX 40" award, but I shattered his dream by declaring it a thing of beauty.  He made it from PC board material and 1/4 inch angle brackets.  That's a paint stirrer supporting the mic element and the PTT switch.   Al might want to use shielded cable for the mic if the waterfall policeman on 40 meters detect RF feedback and freak out. 

The CHIME Radio Telescope and Fast Radio Bursts

The new Canadian radio telescope is very interesting.  It has a great name for a radio telescope:  CHIME  

And it it always nice to come across a reference to the Parkes Radio Telescope.  

More info here: 

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/03/fast_radio_burst/

And here: 

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

Good luck on getting a QSL from the FRB station.

WA4GEG's Beautiful HB Transceiver

http://www.hamradiobug.com/homebrew.html

Pete spotted this.  Beautiful work. I noted that Byron hasn't used the Manhattan style of construction.  This makes his work look a lot neater, but it makes it harder to modify and debug the circuitry.  On the other hand, OM Byron is obviously so good at this that his circuitry probably doesn't require any debugging or mods. 

The red S-meter and freq counter give it a slightly menacing appearance.  Very cool. 

Wow. Mr. Carlson's New Old-Time Radio and Test Gear Lab. VE7ZWZ -- Homebrew Hero

It has been a while since we last visited Mr. Carlson's lab.  As always, we found it amazing.  The awesomeness just keeps increasing. Previous visits: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=Carlson

As was the case before, this is really almost too much.  THREE DX-100s in the shelves.  A massive collection of tubes, some sorted, some un-sorted.  But don't worry -- Paul has a good memory and remembers where everything is.  I believe him. 

For his amazing shack and workshop(s) and for his willingness to repair old-time test gear, Paul VE7ZWZ clearly deserves homebrew hero status.  

Thanks Paul. 

On-Board your Arduino Board with an HCC Board

Nice, but the toaster oven is kind of scary. 

A Rig with Maximum Soul: The 5 Band Transceiver of Glenn KU4NO

That's the front panel.  Glenn's kids and grand kids liked sitting on his lap while he played radio and putting stickers on it

This is one of the best HB2HB contacts I've had.   I was just getting ready to sign off on 40 meters when I heard someone calling me. It was KU4NO.  I thought I'd just give the OM a quick report.  Then he said, "My rig is homebrew too."   And wow, it is indeed!  When he said this my first thought was that maybe this was a kit rig, but no, it turns out that this rig is the scratchyist of scratch-built rigs -- true hardcore hardrock homebrew. 

I checked my log.  I had worked Glenn once before, in December 2001.  I was in the Azores.  And he was using this same rig.  Glenn told me that for all these years, this has been his ONLY rig.  A friend gave him a modern commercial rig, but he prefers this one.  I understand completely.  

At first, Glenn made me promise not to share the pictures with anyone. He seemed a bit embarrassed by his creation.  I told him that SolderSmoke readers would appreciate his rig and see the value of it. I explained that we all have soldering iron scars on our fingers, and clothing that has been stained by ferric chloride.  We LIKE ugly.  It took some persuasion, but I got  him to agree to let me share this with the group.  

Glenn reports it is based on a "5 band transceiver" circuit in the 1976 or 1977 handbook. (i don't have one and can't find it on-line -- can anyone get us a copy of the schematic and article?)

So I say THREE CHEERS for Glenn KU4NO and his homebrew 5 band transceiver.   For me, the stickers are the most important feature of this rig.  Please e-mail me your comments on Glenn's rig - in an effort to let him know how much we appreciate and understand his effort, I will pass them on to him. I wish more hams would follow his example. 

Glenn wrote: 

Oh well I'm not too concerned about who sees it. 

I just wouldn't want to cause anyone to follow my example. 

Maybe you could call it "a tornado goes through a junkyard."

Just kidding around ...no restrictions...I'm sure it will be forgotten soon ..... but I will be innocent of any harm caused by it. 

Its the only rig I've ever owned when we contacted before it was with it. 

The inspiration article in the 76 or 77 handbook is worth a look.  

The VFO tuning cap and mount came from a CB "slider" one of my brother-in-laws gave me  it seems to work well

 

Glenn

Picture Above:  top view upper left power out two IRF 510s from w2eby ( I think) 30+ to 60+ watts across HF love this circuit, small board connected at right angle is 1/2 watt driver from Harrys Homebrew page 2n2222 driving 4 2n2222s beautiful circuit

lower left power transformer 

one of two wafer band switches in middle   ....  under wafer switch is hf mixer and single balanced mixer to generate ssb

 LO from progressive receiver top right ... heat sink just to left and lower unused voltage regulator

  RF amp and wafer switch lower right used for transmit and receive

 

LO tuning cap and hf mixer modulator circuit

 

 RF amp

 Crystals for mixing, BFO, old detector circuit.  Old circuit that repeated CQ call, chip from Radio Shack

Some micro relays ...... audio amp at bottom and two switchable compressor circuits one using an SL 1626 and one lifted from a President model CB radio  and some filter caps

 

New IF AGC audio detector uses three ca 3028As from 67 handbook schematic is wrong can you find the mistakes? it was printed wrong twice i use an s meter with it

Close up of power output and lower left  rf output filters