Month: May 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/.

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:
  1. Capture this MMM into a semi-permanent design: ie, perf board.
  2. Measure performance. What does the carrier wave look like on a scope?
  3. Build a low-pass filter.
  4. Can I amplify the signal? Maybe add an amplifier stage or two. Transistor?
  5. 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.