Author: Peter Marks

VE7BPO’s QRP POPS IS BACK!

We were all understandably concerned when Todd VE7BPO announced this Fall that he was taking down his beloved QRP POPS web site. I’m pleased to report that Todd has transitioned from Web Site to blog. The spirit of QRP POPS lives on here:

http://qrp-popcorn.blogspot.com/


There are also links on this blog to all the great stuff that was on Todd’s site:


Three cheers for Todd! Hip-hip…

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Now in Santo Domingo

I wrapped up my Samana HI9 operation yesterday morning. I found a very friendly Spanish-language round table – they were all willing to try to pull my QRP DSB sigs out of the noise. Within a few minutes I worked KI4PZE, CO8OT,WA4RME,and CO8KB. So that made a total of 18 solid contacts with 3 more that might not qualify as full-fledged QSOs.
We have moved on to very urban Santo Domingo – no room for antennas here!

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A Very Simple and Stable VFO

From the November 1964 issue of 73 Magazine, by way of a compendium book sent to me from New York City by Dave W2DAB, comes words of wisdom about how to make a simple, super-stable VFO. Lots of great ideas in this article. My favorite was running the thing off D cell batteries and leaving it on all the time! The article was written by Roger Taylor, K9ALD.

Here is the article:

http://archive.org/stream/73-magazine-1964-11/11_November_1964#page/n11/mode/1up

Thanks to Dave, Roger, Wayne Green and the Internet Archive.



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Pete Tries Baluns on the DBM

A couple of weeks ago I ran a post about an old 73 Magazine article that extolled the virtues of putting baluns at the RF input and IF output of diode ring mixers. Dedicated experimenter that he is, Pete Juliano gave it a try:

Hi Bill,
I did the modification and used 20 bifilar turns of #26 on a FT-50-43 core for each transformer.
The most important observation is that I did not see any degradation of performance and in fact I think has helped an overloading situation I was seeing on some extremely strong signals.
The photo is of a DBM that is behind a bilateral stage that on Rx is the RF amplifier and on Tx is the Tx pre-driver. I do have another single transistor RF amp ahead of this. In normal operation the next stage would be the Band Pass Filter.
The back end is an IF amplifier, AGC, Product Detector, balanced modulator and mic amp stage all on a board that came out of a Hallicrafters FPM-300 SSB/CW transceiver. There is a you tube video of this prototype project.
73’s

Pete N6QW

Thanks Pete!

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N5AB’s Mighty Midget 40

Bill & Pete,

Your recent podcast on the Michigan Mighty Mite got me excited about hooking up
the one I built a few months ago.
The wattmeter claims it’s putting out 700 mW into a dummy load.
The old crystal I’m using is 7.108 mHz

The shack receiver verifies I’m on 7.108
The receiver also says I’m very strong on 14.216
I added a low-pass filter kit (now apparently discontinued) from kitsandparts.com

Even with the filter, I’m still hearing a strong signal on 14.216.
I’m not sure what’s going on here. Perhaps the transmitter coil is radiating the harmonic I’m
hearing on the shack reciever.

You guys are putting out some great podcasts! keep up the good work.

Bill N5AB

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Liberating a 3.579 Rock in a Home Depot Parking Lot

IMG_8671a
I think Ben should give that crystal another chance. It may still be working on 3579. But in any case, for the quick thinking and dedication to the cause displayed in that Home Depot parking lot, I hereby award Ben KK6FUT the Brass Figlagee medal. (Who can tell us the origin of that prestigious award?)
Hi guys, thought I’d share my story about two free toilets, Home Depot, the record breaking rainfall, and my failed attempt to join the Colorburst Liberation Army.
The short version, is our local water company gave away free low flow toilets today, and in my process of (absolutely failing) to install them at home (give me solder over plumbing any time!!) ran to Home Depot for some parts.
In the parking lot, someone had smashed a television set, and I suddenly recalled your story about how old televisions use 3.579Mhz crystals!!
I jumped out of my car, and immediately spotted and “liberated” the crystal above! I pulled it from the TV while in the middle of the parking lot…

However, it appears the rain the TV had been subject to in the last few days (or maybe the smashing) changed the crystal in question somewhere in the range of 10.2Mhz to 10.4Mhz… So no go! But an amusing adventure anyway, and I do have a random 10.4Mhz crystal to show for it.
Ben
KK6FUT

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A New Jersey Battalion for the CBLA? The NJQRP SNAP on 3.579

Back in 2000, the NJQRP club came up with a nice little transmitter called the SNAP. It was designed by Chuck Adams K7QO. Dave K5YFO alerted us to it and suggested it as an alternative to the Mighty Midget. One advantage over the MMM is that the SNAP needs no variable capacitor. But it does need a couple of coils wound on toroids. The SNAP design includes a low pass filter, something that has to be added on to the MMM. Check it out. Even if you’ve already built the MMM, you could easily take the crystal and use it in a SNAP build.

More info on the SNAP here:

http://www.njqrp.org/atlanticon/atlanticon%202000/snap.html

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Another Great Blog from Canada

Earlier we wrote about QRP POP’s reemergence in blog form.

Here’s another great blog from Canada, this one from Steve VE7SL:

http://ve7sl.blogspot.com/

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Midwest Mighty Mite from KK0S


Wow, beautiful job Bruce. I was hoping that a check of the Reverse Beacon Network would reveal that someone had heard you, but no joy. Keep at it. You may become the first CLA member in this round to make a contact.

Bill –
Hello from the Midwest chapter of the CLA. Here’s pix of my just completed Michigan Mighty Mite. Nothing was purchased specifically for this project. It was put together using only parts already on hand. The only previously unused parts were the front panel sockets and one resistor. The rig uses a 2N2219A transistor salvaged from a junked industrial control board and a color burst crystal that actually first oscillated in a tube-type color TV some 40 years ago. Loading into my ground-mounted vertical, this MMM seems to be most stable at a draw of 87ma at 12.6 volts. The arithmetic seems to work out at somewhere around 650mw into the ether. I called for about half an hour around 2300Z, but got no takers… it was still pretty early for 80m and I had an extremely high local noise level. The rig seems to run about 1khz high. I’ll give it another go this weekend.
72 – Bruce – KK0S.

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Jean Shepherd’s Shack Gets Hit by Lightning


 Yikes! This is really good! Thanks to Harv for sending us this link: Poor Shep!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akyTVNorXQ8&feature=player_detailpage

Greetings Bill,

Have been loving each Soldersmoke Podcast and Blog Segment recently.
You and Pete have made the program a superb treat while I’ve been busy with the Radio Room construction.

Building the Radio Room is like constructing an ARK in your Basement. Everything is being done in pairs
and the water keeps rising. (No kidding)…
I encountered two water breaks in the Radio Room while construction was under way but, that is a whole different story.
Fortunately none of my prized boat anchors were damaged.

The project; (The Radio Room), includes operating positions for 14 complete stations.
That wouldn’t be too bad except I’m constructing walls, benches and over-head lighting from complete scratch.
While this is going on, I wanted to finish my 3.579 MHz CBLA transmitter and return to the Minima build that I started in April 2014.
However, in September, I retired and moved to another state. The reality of the latter took awhile to sink in. Most Ham Projects took a back seat to higher priorities. I will soon have the Radio Room I always dreamed of. The Drake 2B fills the space with the sound of 20 Mtr CW and the anticipation of having the HT-37 brewing away is just around the bend.

I’m taking a short sabbatical from the Ham Shack construction to get caught up on some other household projects.
In this notion of taking a needed break, I rediscovered Jean Shepherd’s programs on Youtube.
I started to dissect Sheps monologue when I found that familiar path in my own life as a 15 yr. old Ham in the mid-1960s.
I’m sure you too can relate to Jeans’ life as a kid.
I really liked his broadcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akyTVNorXQ8&feature=player_detailpage
“Lightning Hits the Ham Radio.” Near the end of the program, he mentions that his life was over because his
Dad hammered him over the damage to the house by the lightning strike. I’d love to hear the rest of that story!!!

Please keep up the great efforts with Soldersmoke and bringing us all that good Tribal Knowledge. I think we should all go build something.
Looking forward to what’s next. Thanks to You and Pete.

73’s
De -=WA3EIB=- Harv
Eastern Idaho

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Mahalo! WH7TT’s Hawaiian Mighty Mite



 This is our western-most MMM. Edward took one of the 3.579 rocks and, using a Radio Shack breadboard (much used by Michael Rainey AA1TJ) built his version of the Mighty Mite. When I saw the long clip leads to the coil I was apprehensive, but obviously it works. Great job Edward and thanks for sharing with us your island rig. Mahalo! (I like saying that!)

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W1KF’s Connecticut Mighty Mite

Steve W1KF’s Connecticut Mighty Mite is the neatest build so far: it has a front panel and knobs and plugs and everything! Pete Juliano commented: “Very cool –and elegant. I loved the transistor in a front panel mounted socket with heat sink. Wished I had thought of that –great idea.” Steve is on the air at grey line times, looking for contacts at 3.579 Mhz.

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New Homebrew Book: The Joy of Homebrew Oscillations

Sent to us by Ben Tovar. Soon to be available in EE-book (get it!) Thanks Ben!

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

SolderSmoke Podcast 169: The Colorburst Liberation Army, Arduino DDS and the Tradition of Ham Experimentation

SolderSmoke Podcast #169 is now available:

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke169.mp3

 — 25 crystals “deployed” to new Colorburst Liberation Army recruits
— OBJECTIVE: For now, just oscillation
— Using the Reverse Beacon Network (when time comes to transmit)
— W2DAB’s Mighty Mite: trials, tribulations, triumphs (and karma)
— Explaining the Mighty Mite (all 7 parts)
— Minima IF evolution — up to 25 Mhz?
— Chuck Adams and “Experimental METH”!!!!!!!!!!
— Different kinds of Arduinos
— Si5350s and amateur experimentation
— First menus, now KEYPADS!
— The launch of Orion
— N2CQR/HI Beach Portable DSB on 20
— Video review: “The Wanderers”

 EL CLA UNIDO JAMAS SERA VENCIDO!

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Launch of the new Orion rocket

The Saturn V was, of course, far more impressive and beautiful. But the Orion is pretty cool. When I was looking at the drawings depicting the various stages of the spacecraft, that Apollo-shaped capsule brought back some deep memories. I was 10 years old when Apollo 11 launched.

A page from the scrapbook I made during the flight of Apollo 11.

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CBLA Field Manual

I’m starting to worry about a visit from Homeland Security. I found this on the blog of W6IEE. He blames K6FWT.

The CBLA has a Yahoo Group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CBLA/info


Up the revolution! Fight the Powers that Be!

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Another NY Mighty Mite Oscillates — on 40! N2HTT (Video)

Inspired by all the talk of Mighty Mites, N2HTT put together a nice 40 meter version:

Details on his blog: http://n2htt.net/

Click on the video above to see and hear it in action.

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