Here is short clip of a very cool HB2HB contact on 17 meters. Thanks Jens!
Check out his QRZ page here: https://www.qrz.com/db/DL2RMM
Serving the worldwide community of radio-electronic homebrewers. Providing blog support to the SolderSmoke podcast: http://soldersmoke.com
Solar X-rays: Geomagnetic Field: |
Here is short clip of a very cool HB2HB contact on 17 meters. Thanks Jens!
Check out his QRZ page here: https://www.qrz.com/db/DL2RMM
"I have discovered spurs in the output of my transmitter. They are 60 db down, but I still can't stop thinking about them. What should I do?"
I can't help thinking that if Jean Shepherd had access to something like this, his Heising modulator trouble might not have spoiled his date with the girl from his school.
What do you guys think about the Woebot?
Audio: http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke251.mp3
Travelouge: Dean goes to the North Pole to see Aurora.
A CBLA Call to Arms!
Winterfest. Lots of goodies. MXM Industries 40 meter transceiver. 1 dollar.
Jean Shepherd. Recording of Bill talking to Shep in 1976.
Legal Trouble: Could put us out of operation for a while. We need listener input.
Pete's Bench
Homebrew SDR (based on Zl2CTM’s original design) and how good it sounds.
Raspberry Pi Zero W is now working on FT-8 with digital adapter.
Ferrite Cores at Digi-Key (a replacement for the FT-37-43 where you buy 100 and the price is 21 cents/each)
ADE-6 –great specs in HF but more expensive than the ADE-1
For Pete's recent blog posts, go to this site and click on "Archive" in the right column:
https://n6qw.blogspot.com/2024/03/march-31-2924-happy-easter-to-those-who.html
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Dean's Bench
sBITX progress, McGyver-ing a lifted pad, replacing crystal on the CODEC board, sBITX success! See:
https://kk4das.blogspot.com/2024/03/homebrew-sbitx-tx-modules-pa-lpf-and-mic.html
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Shameless Commerce Division: Please use the Amazon link on the blog to start your Amazon purchases. And please consider using Patreon to support the podcast and blog. We try to send extra content to our Patreon supporters. Mostly DIY RF -- Boards, Kits and Pete's PSSST
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Bill's Bench
More trouble with the 15-10 rig. Rounded passbands in 25 MHz filter. See figure 4 in both links:
https://www.arrl.org/files/file/QEX_Next_Issue/Nov-Dec_2009/QEX_Nov-Dec_09_Feature.pdf
https://www.networksciences.com/pdfs/tutorial.pdf
Experimenting with Balanced Mixers and Product Detectors. Paul VK3HN Suggests the MC1496 chip; Walter KA4KXX points to SSDRA circuits
But it is on the air! Using the PA from a BITX40 module and an RD06.
Put an OLD dial from Pericles HI8P on 15-10 version 1. Soul in the new machine.
Grayson KJ7UM's Hollowstate video.
Mike WU2D's amazing 10 meter DSB transceiver.
Jack AI4SV (Dhaka Jack) liked video of recent QSO with AzoresDSB rig
Mike AA1TJ and Dave AA7EE on backwaves and 100 uW QRPpppp
Dave G3UUR on my curved passband problem
Alan W2AEW heard my only QSO with the MXM indsutries SupeRX/TX40
Wes W7ZOI, Mike WN2A, Walter KA4KXX. Farhan VU2ESE on passband,
Ramakrishnan sent article about Charles Proteus Steinmetz. Beautiful.
Justin AC8LV built a receiver! FB.
San Francisco QRP: KDOFNR TouCans Rig, and N6ASD Zinc-Oxide TX
Frank KC8JJL -- Another guy who heard first ham sigs from a homebrew rig.
Nate KA1MUQ's homebrew thermatron superhet
Dino KL0S sent info on the PAL CB VFO I picked up at Winterfest. Airborne!
Bob W8SX will be once again doing SolderSmoke interviews at Dayton. Thanks Bob
Peter VK2EMU Always good to hear from him.
Tobias Feltus -- Wisdom teeth removed, wondering if he will get sBITX hallucinations...
Rick WD5L continues to work on his Herring Aid 5
Ciprian YO6DXE wants to learn CW. No alerts from his FB Blog!
Todd K7TFC -- Likes CW, says it eliminates the Blah-Blah-Blah
This post has a definite San Francisco vibe.
Hamilton KD0FNR appeared on the SolderSmoke blog way back in 2011. Perhaps he should join forces with N6ASD who lives quite close to him in SF, and seems to share radio interests. Also in their area is the esteemed Bay Areas blogger and homebrewer Dave AA7EE ; Dave recently sounded the CBLA alarm, alerting us to the presence of an intruder on 3579 kHz. In the process, Dave mentioned the Pt. Reyes Web SDR, the presence of which came as welcome news to Hamilton. Finally, Dave and Hamilton mention the KPH Web SDR, which brings to mind Dick Dillman W6AWO who has been on the SolderSmoke blog several times.
Hamilton and his kids have their rig (a Rockmite and a Tuna Topper in a Dole Pineapple can) mounted at the feedpoint of their dipole (in the red shopping bag above). They link to it via WiFi and Bluetooth. FB. Thomas Witherspoon has a nice presentation (by KD0FNR) of the TouCans project on his blog: https://qrper.com/2023/12/field-radio-kit-gallery-kd0fnrs-rockmite-20-and-tuna-topper/
Hamilton KD0FNR writes:
At the moment, the kids whose dad I am, better known as the gang—12, 10, and 8 year-old Diaze, Mota, and Tawnse.. all internet aliases—are big into 20 meters QRP CW with Project TouCans, a Rockmite coupled to a Tuna Topper. The radio and the amp that popped us out of QRPp to plain-old QRP are both housed in a Dole Pineapple can with a tuna can as a cover and antenna mount. The whole rig is still very much mounted in our half-wave dipole!
Project TouCans consists of a Rockmite feeding a 5 Watt Tuna Topper, all of which is housed in our dipole antenna. The Rockmite has a single crystal bandpass filter on it's rx input. That makes it a pretty wide reciever which is fine, but it's particularly sensitive to its tx frequencies, 14075.5 and 14058 kHz AND—for some reason I have yet to understand—10459 kHz. By watching the SDRs that now—thanks Dave—envelope us here at our home QTH in San Francisco, we can see the frequencies of incoming signals. That information keeps me from responding to 14059 kHz signals in vain.
And now, the headphone repeater: TouCans is completely wireless with respect to the ground. That means there's no power line, no feedline, no keyer lines and no headphone line. Keyer controls are handled via wifi to a Raspberry Pi Pico-W on the rig while audio is brought back to my headphones via Bluetooth. Power is provided by a USB-C battery pack that lives in the rig which is mounted above us in the antenna. (Yes, all of this is becuase I thought feedlines matches and baluns were too mystical and hard to understand years ago. Yes, this has probably all been more work than a balun. Yes, I am still totally enamored of my original design decision. :) ) Anyway, the bluetooth range is about 50 feet and the wifi range is shorter than that. The short of it is—pun not intended—that I can't quite use the rig while I'm in my office. But, I can send CQ to the rig every half minute or so via a memory keyer, then turn on the SDR in my office, and then sprint a bit closer to the rig when someone calls back. (It helps that houses in SF are a bit tiny.) So, SDRs are kinda an integral part of our QTH setup and it's awesome to learn about a new—to us—one! Thanks again!I kind of arrived at Dick Benson's QRZ.com page by accident, but what a happy accident it was. There is a lot of homebrew goodness on Dicks page, both SDR and HDR.
Check it out: https://www.qrz.com/db/W1QG/
At first I didn't realize it was Denny. On September 11, 2023 at about 2330Z I had walked back into the shack after dinner. I think DX spots showed an Indian station on 20 meter SSB. Without realizing who it was, I tuned him in on my Mythbuster rig, heard the other station sign off, and quickly threw in my call. Denny came back to me right away, and I think both of us then realized that we recognized the call of the other station. Wow, it was Denny, VU2DGR, the Wizard of Kerala! At the time of the QSO, I didn't have my phone with me; after we spoke, I went to get it, so the video above captures part of Denny's subsequent contact. (You can also at one point hear Guapo barking.)
Denny has been running a wonderful station that combines SDR gear with and HDR tube type amplifier and a homebrew Moxon.
Here is Denny's station. The transceiver is a RadioBerry. the amplifier and power supply are on the other table.
We are very pleased and grateful to present this year's series of Four Days in May interviews by our FDIM correspondent Bob Crane W8SX. Once again Bob did an outstanding job interviewing the FDIM participants.
In this interview, the amazing Hans Summers talks about his latest QRP Labs kit, the QMX. It is a combination of the QCX Mini and the QDX.
Hans explains the M: QMX. The M is for Marriage. Magnificent. Merger. Marvelous, many things like that. It’s what you get when you marry the mechanical and conceptual design of QCX-mini, with the SDR, multi-band digital implementation of QDX. Simply: QDX + QCX-mini = QMX.
It has a very clever switching power supply that automatically adjust to prevent spurs and harmonics from the power supply from appearing in the band of interest.
I was especially interested in his plans to implement an SSB option in future software updates. Hans will use the same very complicated SSB generation scheme used in the trueSDX rig, but hopes to achieve higher performance and improved signal quality due to the much more robust hardware of the QMX.
Here is the interview:
http://soldersmoke.com/G0UPL23.mp3
Here is the QRP Labs site about the QMX: http://qrp-labs.com/qmx.html
Here is the QRP Labs web site: http://qrp-labs.com/
And here is a really wonderful and very current article by Hans on the evolution of QRP Labs and its rigs from 2010 right on up through 2023 and the QMX. It is really interesting:
http://qrp-labs.com/images/qmx/docs/fdim2023.pdf
Thanks to Bob Crane W8SX, Hans Summers G0UPL, and all of the FDIM organizers.
It is really looking great. Congratulations to Farhan for bringing yet another amazing rig to the amateur radio community.
Order yours here:
https://www.hfsignals.com/I sometimes hear hams claim that our efforts to build simple direct conversion receivers are "very relevant" to modern technology and are "directly applicable" to today's communications techniques. These hams will say that direct conversion receivers are at the heart of modern rigs.
That's a nice thought, and it might have been true in the past, but I don't think it is true anymore.
I think the future is what you see written on the black box (!) that encloses the receiver in the above video: "DIRECT SAMPLING RECEIVER." In the recent past we did have two direct conversion receivers in the front end of SDR receiving systems. These receivers produced I and Q signals that were fed into the computer (often via the sound card). That was nice.
But the writing has been on the wall for a long time. There is no longer a need for all that direct conversion and I and Q. Just put a fast Analog-to-Digital converter chip at the front end, convert the entire HF spectrum to a digital stream, and send that stream to your computer. Or to another part of your "rig." As in the ubiquitous 7300.
I don't mean to be a Luddite here. That big waterfall is very nice. The receiver sounds great. But I am a homebrewer and I prefer to build my own gear. Ordering this black box on my phone, having it delivered by Bezos to my front step, and then updating the driver, is not what I consider homebrew radio.
A couple of things I spotted: The Si5351 chip in the box -- at least one part was recognizable. And the completely vertical skirts on all the SSB signals -- lots of 7300s out there.
Hey, to each his own, YMMV, whatever floats your boat. Just don't kid yourself into thinking that our beloved DC receivers are still somehow being used in these modern black boxes.
SolderSmoke Podcast #241 is available
Audio (podcast): http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke241.mp3
Video (YouTube): (215) SolderSmoke Podcast #241 October 28, 2022 - YouTube
Introduction:
Back on Mars. Opposition
approaching. I have a Mars filter. And (like T.O.M.) a Mars
globe.
N2CQR DXCC done
SolderSmoke in the WayBack
Machine
Sticker news
PARTS CANDY -- Don't Scrimp with a Crimp!
Bill's Bench
School DC RX projects -- in
Hyderabad and Northern Virginia.
Direct Conversion Receivers --
Keeping it Simple, Learning a Lot. A step beyond the Michigan Mighty Mite.
Do we really need 100db? Do we really need to shield VFOs? Farhan's
super-simple and stable Colpitts PTO. Audio amps, 1000-8 transformers and
rolling your own LM386
PTOs and Glue Stick PTOs.
Paul Clark WA1MAC. Brass vs. Steel bolts. #20 thread vs. #28
thread. Backlash Blues. The best Glue Sticks.
2 meters and the VWS.
Bill has a Baofeng.
SHAMELESS COMMERCE:
MOSTLY DIY RF
Pete's Bench
20th Anniversary of the
BITX20 Pete's early BITX rigs.
Computer Woes
The Multus Proficio SDR rig
Simple SSB in China
BA7LNN
Things of beauty: Tempo
One, NCX-3 and a SBE-33
MAILBAG
-- NS7V is listening.
-- Graham G3MFJ
sent SPRAT on a stick.
-- Nick
M0NTV FB Glue Stick and 17 Shelf videos.
-- Dino KL0S
HP8640 Junior
-- Mark AA7TA Read the SolderSmoke Book
-- Steve EI5DD Connaught
(Ireland) Regional News
-- Dave
K8WPE Planting the seeds of ham radio
interest
-- Peter VK3YE
Ruler idea on PTO frequency readout
-- Michael AG5VG Glue
Stick PTO
-- Tobias A polymath with UK and Italy
connections. And cool tattoos.
-- Alain
F4EIT French DC receiver
-- Michael
S. was in USMC, working on PCM/TDM gear
-- Alan Yates
writes up Amazon transformer problem
-- Todd VE7BPO, Dale W4OP, Wes W7ZOI
-- Farhan VU2ESE
sent me an sBITX
-- Todd K7TFC The Revenge of Analog
-- Jim Olds Building QRP HB gear
SolderSmoke Podcast #238 is available: http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke238.mp3
TRAVELOGUE:
Cathartic decluttering: Bill preparing for future winter travel to Dominican Republic. Will build SolderSmoke Shack South. Dividing everything up: Rigs, parts, tools, supplies, antennas, test gear. Everything.
PETE'S BENCH:
In his interview with SolderSmoke correspondent Bob Crane, Jack Purdum made some very interesting comments about the challenges of decoding CW with software. He notes that W1AW's code practice CW is perfect, but that below 18 wpm, they deliberately insert a "Farnsworth Delay" that increases the spacing between words -- this complicates automatic CW decoding.
Jack also talked about the distinctiveness of different CW operators. Jack noted that W1AW has no real "fist" in this sense: "It has the personality of a stick!"
Jack mentioned that Pete Juliano had been reading book on SDR radios that Jack and Al Peter recently published: https://www.amazon.com/Software-Defined-Radio-Transceiver-Construction/dp/B09WYP1ST8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KPYAMPOW5P6J&keywords=DR.+Jack+Purdum&qid=1654598559&sprefix=dr.+jack+purdum%2Caps%2C40&sr=8-1
Here is our correspondent Bob Crane's interview at FDIM 2022 with Jack Purdum: http://soldersmoke.com/2022 W8TEE.mp3
Thanks to Bob Crane W8SX for getting us this wonderful interview with Hans G0UPL. Its really amazing to hear Hans talk about how many QDX rigs and Baloon Trackers have been sold by QRP Labs, and how quickly they sell. Really great. Hans's comments on the realities of the parts shortage was also very interesting.
Listen here (about 7 minutes): http://soldersmoke.com/2022 G0UPL.mp3
Bob Crane W8SX -- our correspondent in Dayton/Xenia -- once again collected interview with FDIM presenters. Thanks Bob! Here is his talk with our friend Farhan:
http://soldersmoke.com/2022 VU2ESE.mp3
Here is a great post on the sBITX (May 30, 2022) from Farhan's web site:
https://www.vu2ese.com/index.php/category/uncategorized/
Here is Farhan's amazing presentation on the sBITX at the 2021 FDIM:
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2021/11/farhans-amazing-knack-story-from.html
SolderSmoke podcast #237 is available: http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke237.mp3
Travelogue -- New York City! Stickers!
And about that trip to Los Angeles for the SolderSmoke Cable TV show...
Well, it fit in well with SolderSmoke's UNFORGETTABLE appearance on the Oprah book club.
And TechieTatts? Daughter worried about listeners rushing to get tattoos -- A risk we were willing to take.
https://in.pinterest.com/padmakumar10/techie-tatts/
This episode is sponsored by PartsCandy. GREAT test leads: https://www.ebay.com/usr/partscandy
Bill's Bench
Tracking down Johnny Anderson's 1939 or 1940 homebrew TV receiver.
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=Anderson
Working with Joh DL6ID.
Jean Shepherd's January 1973 description.
FlickLives web site and Steve Glazer W2SG have lots of info on Shep and his friends.
Internet allows us to look at TV articles that were being published.
We've concluded: Probably 1939 or 1940, using an RCA 913 1 inch CRT tube.
Lots of ideas from IRE Journal, QST, and Gernsback magazines.
Quite an achievement! Amazing how much pre-war TV progress there was.
17-12 rig
All boxed up and working DX!
Figured out how to display both 17 and 12 on the same LED. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Drain protector for speaker cover. Copper tape to cover horrible cabinet making.
I think I need a Hex Beam.
Hammarlund HQ-100
Needed some maintenance.
I started to look more closely at it.
Got the Q-Multiplier to work -- it really adds a lot on CW.
Makes me feel guilty about all the QF-1s...
Using the 100kc calibrator with a 455 kc crystal as a BFO,
keeping Q multiplier below oscillation point.
Moved the BFO switch to the front panel. Helps a lot.
Need to fix the S-meter AVC circuitry.
Much more sturdy than the S-38E.
S-38E 1957-61 $54.95 5 tubes. AC/DC.
HQ-100 1956-60 $169 10 or 11 tubes. Power supply, regulator.
You get what you pay for.
Pete's Bench
Jack Purdum and Al Peter's new SDR rig and book (featured on the SS blog Amazon ad).
JF3HZB's beautiful digi VFO.
Backpack antenna for Field Day?
Pipsqueak Disaster -- Too simple?
Peashooter Eye Candy.
Build Something Different.
MAILBAG
James W0JKG CBLA -- Others are building MMM too!
SM4WWG // Jörgen Wonderful message. Joined GQRP. No longer "wrong."
Dennis WC8C Libraries for Max2870 board.
Jack NG2E Progress on the Right to Repair movement.
Jim K9JM Someone cutting into our business with Solder candles!
Chuck WB9KZY Correctly identified the location of the IBEW sticker. As did Dan Random.
Dave Bamford (who lives nearby) suitably impressed.
Farhan wrote to us about a video on Don Lancaster. Homebrew keyboards! Yea!
Dean KK4DAS QRP to the Field. HB2HB 40 SSB QRP I feel virtuous.
Todd K7TFC likes my ingenious use of the drain screen as the speaker protector on the 17-12 rig.
Todd had good thoughts on granular approach to homebrewing as seen in the Don Lancaster video.
Lex PH2LB HORRIFIED by my reverse polarity protection circuit. This is a touchy subject! (as is WD-40!)
Rogier PA1ZZ sending great info on SWL and numbers stations.
Jesse N5JHH -- The guy who made the IBEW stickers -- Liked the NYC stickers.
Steve N8NM has a new antenna article on his blog: https://n8nmsteve.blogspot.
Randy AB9GO Agrees -- Can't GIVE old 'scopes away.
Dino SV1IRG Liked the 17-12 rig videos.
Steve Hartley G0FUW Murphy's Law of Enclosures.
Ralph AB1OP FB on the 17-12 Rig.
Roberto XE1GXG --Our correspondent in Guadalajara. Petulant, irritable people on the computer scene.
Have some gear looking for a good home: Tek 465 'scope from Jim AL7R W8NSA. SBE Transceivers. Windsor Signal Generator. Let me know if you are interested and can either pick up or arrange shipping.