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2 hours ago
Monday, May 10, 2021
Saturday, May 8, 2021
Chuck Penson WA7ZZE, Heathkits, and the Titan Missile Museum
The video above popped up in my Facebook feed today and reminded me of Chuck Penson WA7ZZE. Chuck is the author of a wonderful book on Heathkits (and several other books).
The Titan missile explosion (not of the warhead) in Arkansas is described in an excellent but horrifying book entitled "Command and Control" by Eric Schlosser.
PBS made a video out of the book. You can watch it here:
Here's an interesting article on nuclear weapons tourism. It has a great title.
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/travel/escapes/05atomic.html
It is easy to see how an interest in ln old technology would lead someone to both Heathkits and Titans. I get that. But on the other hand the Heathkits and the Titans are at completely opposite ends of the humanity spectrum: Heath made friendly technology that ultimately brought people together on the ham bands. We know that the Titans were supposed to do.
In any case it was great to be reminded of Chuck WA7ZZE. We last posted about Chuck more than 10 years ago:
In a comment to that post, Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith WB6TNL noted that Chuck had spoken at the 2009 CactusCon hamfest, and that the club pledged to put his presentation on-line. But Google and I can't seem to find it. Do any of the Scorpions or anyone else out there know where Chuck's hamfest talk is?
Bob KD4EBM has been out there. He reports that hams can bring their rigs and make use of the Titan site's large Discone antenna:
Friday, May 7, 2021
"Adventures in Electromagnetism" Video by Julius Sumner Miller
This guy is quite a character, with a real knack for describing physics. At the start of this video he says that these kinds of adventures are "good for the spirit and the soul." Right you are Professor Miller. I am currently recovering from a minor back injury. It is nothing serious, but it has delayed the production of the SolderSmoke Podcast #230. These videos are, for me, just what the doctor should have ordered.
I liked Miller's references to Michael Faraday.
There are many videos on the Julius Sumner Miller YouTube Channel. They are indeed "good for the spirit and the soul." Thanks to Hack-A-Day for alerting us to this treasure trove.
Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Ciprian's Romanian Ten Minute Transmitter with Roots in SPRAT, KA4KXX, and the Florida Sunrise Net
It sounds great Ciprian! It was really cool to see your video and hear you reference not only the SolderSmoke blog, but also SPRAT, the Michigan Mighty Mite, and Walter KA4KXX. Your little rig has a very fine lineage!
I found Ciprian's video just after seeing the wonderful Herndon Mighty Mite of Jack NG2E. TRGHS! The Color Burst Liberation Army is on the march! For more info on NG2E's Mighty Mite, check out his blog: https://jackhaefner.blogspot.com/2021/05/mounting-to-perfboard-and-scope-test.html
Jack has in his possession one of the 7.123 MHz crystals that Walter KA4KXX sent me back in 2019 (during my ET-2 craze). It seems obvious that Jack should build a Ten Minute Transmitter and use it to check into the Sunrise Net https://qsl.net/srn/.
Monday, May 3, 2021
A New Michigan Mighty Mite Oscillates in Northern Virginia
We are pleased to report that OM Jack, NG2E, has successfully built a Michigan Mighty Mite transmitter, and has experienced JOO (the joy of oscillation). You can see Jack's prototype in the video below:
Jack has his eye on more ambitious homebrew projects, but is wisely taking a step-by-step approach. He described his plans this way:
- Capture this MMM into a semi-permanent design: ie, perf board.
- Measure performance. What does the carrier wave look like on a scope?
- Build a low-pass filter.
- Can I amplify the signal? Maybe add an amplifier stage or two. Transistor?
- Next, let's look at receivers. Pete & Bill recommend that I build a Direct Conversion receiver. I know Peter Parker (VK3YE) has a simplified version.
Friday, April 30, 2021
Trying to Repair Some Old Gear, He Got Hit with a Dose of LSD!
Oh no, here's something else for us to worry about when working on old gear. As if the treat of electrocution or radioactive poisoning were not enough, now we have to worry about being hit with a dose of the 1960's drug culture. That could be one bad trip indeed. Imagine if you were having a hard time troubleshooting the Buchla Model 100. All of a sudden things start getting weird and your test gear starts dancing on the bench.
Fortunately, this is not likely to happen with a rig like the DX-100. With rigs like that the only similar danger is nicotine poisoning.
Thanks to Stephen Walters for finding this groovy story.
Saturday, April 24, 2021
Coming Soon! An N6QW Action Figure!
A few quick mods and Bob will be our uncle!
(Pete will be our Fauci!)
Think of the many possible accessories:
A soldering iron! A beret! An Si5351! Pasta!
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Argentine SSB (BLU) Homebrew from Guillermo LW3DYL
Really nice work. BLU is Spanish for SSB. (Juliano BLU?)
But I think Guillermo needs to build ONE MORE BOARD! A VFO or a VXO. Analog. To finish the job. Guillermo tells me this is in the works -- he selected an IF of 11.0592 MHz specifically so that he can use a variable oscillator built around a 4 MHz ceramic resonator.
Complete schematic and PC board patterns on his site:
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