Month: October 2024

Bill N2CQR Builds Yet Another Mythbuster Transceiver

This one is for 20 meters (no need for 75) and will go to the Dominican Republic.

6 crystal filter at 5.2 MHz. VFO from old Yaesu FT-101 Termination Insensitive IF amplifiers using boards from Mostly DIY RF No RF amp ahead of the mixer. First mixer is homebrew diode ring. Bandpass filter has 4 LC circuits. Steep skirts. Low insertion loss. Bal Mod/Product detector has two diodes (singly balanced) Carrier osc is crystal controlled and homebrew. Audio amp starts with a 2N3904 amplifier followed by an LM386 board. Transmitter portion will be done next.


The crystal filter as seen on the Antuino

Filter on the blank board.

Bandpass filter (-20 db = 0)

VFO box, carrier osc, Bal Mod/Product Detector, AF amps

The Antuino looks at the Crystal Filter


KA1MUQ’s Amazing Homebrew Hybrid Rig

Nate KA1MUQ is still working on this rig and so has not yet produced any detailed schematics, but he sent this to us to show that true homebrewing is NOT dead. Indeed, his magnificent work shows that it is not! This is a 5 band SSB transmitter using both transistors and Thermatrons. I see a crystal filter from Mostly DIY RF in there. FB! And Nate tapped into Pete Juliano’s tribal wisdom on homebrewing and hybrid rigs. Pete commented that the three 6146s in the final reminded him of a Yaesu FT-102.

Click on images for a better view.
Thanks Nate!

Mike WU2D POTA CCC Camp Activation (21 October 2024) with 1930s-era Station — See If You Can Contact Mike!

Frank Jones lives! See if you can work Mike on Monday. Let us know if you do!


——————————–

Bill,

I’m scheduled to tour the Civilian Conservation Corps. Camp at Bear Brook State Park here in NH on Monday. This is the largest totally intact camp in the country.


I will be activating POTA with the 1930s portable Station. The POTA CCC Camp event is scheduled for Monday around 2:30 ET (if I get everything setup after the camp tour). Primary 7057 kHz Sec 7054 kHz.

The station is an internal battery powered, push-pull Jones Oscillator Transmitter at around 3 Watts out, and a two-tube regenerative receiver that is a period ham artifact. So, four type 30 battery tubes in total.

The antenna is a single wire feed Windom with suspended counterpoise so basically an Off Center Fed Hertz (OCFH).

Between the weather, running the station, logging, and doing camera work, and of course, MURPHY – this should be nuts.


1930s Regen with Transmitter – Fully Self-Contained Portable. Note Charger that is attached to top off the internal battery on transmitter. I did not buy the proscribed 25 9V Batteries and make a TX HV pack up! I used a DC-DC converter and a LiPO drone battery! The Receiver is 100% Dry Cells However.

73’s Mike WU2D


—————————-


More info here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Pdprx0ItY

And many other great videos on Mike’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MIKROWAVE1

How to Organize a Small Shack

A YouTube comment from Paul VK3HN sent me back to “The Spirited Man” YouTube channel, and one of the first things I found was this video about how to organize a small space. This is very relevant to my shacks in Virginia and in the Dominican Republic.

Lots of good ideas here, but that propane heater kind of scared me. And it seemed inconsistent with concerns behind the fire-preventing garbage can. What do you folks think?

Thanks Paul.

SolderSmoke Podcast #253 AUDIO VERSION: NYC, SF, DR, PC, DSC, PODCAST IN DANGER, SPRAT, sBITX, CW, IMD, AI, PNP, MAILBAG

SolderSmoke Podcast #253 is available:

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke253.mp3

October 16, 2024

Sponsor! Parts Candy is back! Handmade in Chicago! Standard test leads, Hook clips, alligator clips in 12″ and 32″ and multimeter leads

Travelouge/Intro

Bill’s trip to NYC — The Empire State Building

Dean goes to the Bay area.

Harry Caul, Marty Klein W3VCG , “The Conversation” and THE KNACK.https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/08/harry-caul-had-knack-movie-review.html

Joe Piscopo in Bell System video! https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/08/soldersmoke-quiz-question-who-is-actor.html

Bill’s Bench

Bill’s report from SolderSmoke Shack South: The tropics: What this means. Guapo wouldn’t go out when the sun was overhead.

Skies not great for astronomy now. But we see a lot of satellites, and meteors.

Antenna developments: 1/4 vertical on a fishing pole.

Lightning suppression coming for the building. Lightning suppressors. Got 2. Good video from the IMSAI guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EyABPuNDMA Argon gas suppresion tubes.Need to crimp!

Hurricane prevention. Metal storm curtains.

Thinking of solar panels. 12 panels, 5 kW system. Probably without batteries. What do you think?

A golf cart.

New PC. BeeLink. Very tiny! (palm of your hand) 24 inch screen. Works well https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVFKN7ZL?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

A very satisfying fix on the 15/10 rig — loose connection to RF amp. The highly suspect Ramsey Kit Amp was NOT the culprit! Got to use the new Rigol DS-1102. A fun fix. Will build a second CCI amp.

Digital Selective Calling — listening to ships and shore stations on HF. https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/10/monitoring-maritime-radio-messages-with.html

SHAMELESS COMMERCE: Our blogs and the podcast are in danger! Pete is already on a permanent blog hiatus. I have seen a big decline in readership. Frankly, if no one is reading or listening, we just may decide not to do it anymore. We don’t want to do this. So please, link to the blogs. Talk up the blog and podcast on your own blogs and social media.

Parts Candy Test Leads are back as our sponsor. Pete has them. Dean has them, I have them in two different countries! DON’T SCRIMP WITH A CRIMP!

SPRAT Summer 2O24 Special EXTRA 50th Anniversary issue! https://www.gqrp.com/sales.htm

Dean’s Bench

First CW contact: With KK4DAS on his HB sBITX and Alan W2AEW POTA. TRGHS.

Dean fixes the sBITX problems. Again. SUB-THRESHOLD CONDUCTION! Lots of patience and stick-to-it-ivness. LPF leakage! https://kk4das.blogspot.com/2024/08/homebrew-sbitx-lpf-leak-stopped.html

IMD IMD IMD and the Tiny SA Ultra https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/09/sherwood-its-time-to-clean-up-our.html

AI AI AI — Experimental AI Podcasts about SolderSmoke (no kidding — (NOT April 1) Where they came from https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/09/where-ai-podcasts-came-from.html

AI Podcast #2 https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/09/here-is-another-short-podcast-about.html

AI Podcast #1 https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/09/a-new-experimental-podcast-about.html

Pete’s Bench

An all PNP rig — A notional look, https://n6qw.blogspot.com/2024/08/august-30-2024-pnp-20m-ssb-transceiver.html

Videos on old Boatanchors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnboJ75NCmY&t=1s

MAILBAG:

Lex PH2LB making some new stickers. Look out San Francisco!

Rogier PA1ZZ sending lots of good ideas and links.

Todd K7TFC great idea on SS readersip decline

Todd VE7BPO aka Vasily — great info on how to stabilize LC oscillators. https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/09/qrp-homebuilder-shows-us-how-to-build.html

Eric 4Z1UG Welcome words of encouragement on the blog and podcast

Dave W2DAB says that AI just can’t replace the Tappit Brothers of ham radio. Now the Tappit Triplets.

Michael AA1TJ Thoughtfully skeptical about AI.

Grayson K7JUM on the cleanliness of the 32S-3. Also amazing video on Thermatron MMM.

Mike WN2A working on DC receivers and hum!

Floran OE7FTI building Farhan’s JBOT amp!

Mike Murphy WU2D building 1930 replica rigs using a Frank Jones circuit

Dave K8WPE always great to hear from such a strong SolderSmoke supporter.

Walter KA4KXX Great ideas from the Wizard of Orlando.

Paul G0OER — Reacting to the 1970s Ham Radio video. Didn’t remember being so cool.

Thomas K4SWL — Struggling with the hurricane in NC. Hang in there OM.

Nick M0NTZ building another Direct Conversion receiver — with videos about it.

Michael AG5VG building a Mythbustrer-style 20 meter rig. FT-101 VFO. FB

Tony G4WIF — Readership problem advice

John AB2XT sent us 6000 47 pf NP0 capacitors. So we are now good for caps! Thanks John.

Paul VK3HN Was suitably impresses by the AI podcasts we put on the blog. Thanks Paul.

SolderSmoke Podcast #253 VIDEO VERSION : NYC, SF, DR, PC, DSC, PODCAST IN DANGER, SPRAT, sBITX, CW, IMD, AI, PNP, MAILBAG

SolderSmoke #253 is available in video form. See above or:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQBojTLL7VY

The audio version is available in the post immediately above this one, here:

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/10/soldersmoke-podcast-253-audio-version.html

Monitoring Maritime Radio Messages with YADD

Click on the image for a clearer view
This is really cool and very easy. Easy nerd thrills.

On Friday, Steve VE7SL, put up a blog post on how we can relive the glories of our youth by monitoring HF long-distance maritime traffic. In the old days the ships were on CW and many report that it was great fun to listen to the various “fists” in action from coastal stations, and from ships on the high seas. While the CW is long gone, this maritime traffic is still on the air. Today they are using a SEL call system called Digital Selective Calling or DSC.

Happily, it is very easy to decode these transmissions. Steve recommends a program called YADD (Yet Another DSC Decoder). I downloaded it in seconds and had it installed on my computer in minutes. Next I had to find a general coverage receiver. I thought about pressing my old HQ-100 into service, or maybe even the S-38E, but a cooler head prevailed. I remembered that Farhan had given us a general coverage receiver in his uBITX transceiver. So it came off the shelf and got powered up. Around dawn on October 14, 2024 I put the receiver on 8.415 MHz LSB. I didn’t even have to do a real connection to the computer — I just put the speaker close to the mic and that was sufficient.

Boom. Soon I was getting signals from ships afloat and from coastal stations. I heard Shanghai, New Zealand, and Australia. See above. From the U.S., I heard Miami, but the most emotional for me was hearing the station at Pt. Reyes, in California. This is the station that Dick Dilman W6AWO has volunteered at for many years. FB.

Back in 2017, Steve had another post on DSC and YADD:
https://ve7sl.blogspot.com/2017/08/yadd.html
Thanks Steve!

This site explains very well what DSC is. From this I think we can see that there is nothing illegal about using YADD to monitor the DSC alerts (that are all emergency-related): https://infoshipping.tripod.com/gmdss_dsc.html

The Transistor that Changed the World — the MOSFET

Another great video from Asianometry.

My only quibble is that it kind of left unclear the differences between JFETs and MOSFETs. After all, we still use both. Note our beloved J310 JFET. And the IRF510 is a MOSFET.

Google’s AI explains:

A JFET (Junction Field-Effect Transistor) and a MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor) are both types of field-effect transistors, but the key difference is that in a JFET, the channel conductivity is controlled by a reverse-biased PN junction, while in a MOSFET, it’s controlled by an electric field across an insulating layer between the gate and the channel, allowing for a much higher input impedance and greater design flexibility in MOSFETs; essentially, MOSFETs are considered a more advanced version of JFETs with superior performance in many applications like high-speed switching and integration into complex circuits.

Tally Ho! Leo Solders — Aurora — Satellites — Meteors — Tides — Starlink

I’ve been following this YouTube channel, probably since early in the pandemic. It is not about radio, but in this episode we see Leo actually do some soldering. NOT BAD! Lots of other related stuff.

Here is the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SampsonBoatCo

What Happened to the SolderSmoke Blog?

The conclusions of this article ring true, but I am not certain that changes to the Google algorithm, or the introduction of AI answers to Google queries explain the changes that are reflected in the above chart.

Here’s the article:


Take a look at the traffic going to the SolderSmoke blog over the last year (see chart above).

Something bad happened to us around April 15.

What do you guys think? What happened?

4Z4GE’s Homebrew Tube SSB Transmitter from Israel, 1974

https://www.nzeldes.com/Miscellany/SSB-rig.htm

Very cool. I like his description of how he found parts for this transmitter:

The power amplifier tubes needed ventilation as well as shielding; that was always a challenge because I had no good source of perforated metal. The black sheet with the round holes actually came from the cover of a car air filter that I found in the trash.

There is a lot more interesting stuff on Nathan Zelde 4Z4GE’s site:

https://www.nzeldes.com/possiblyinteresting.htm

Thanks Nathan!