Category: Old radio

W6IQY’s Homebrew SSB Transceiver from the mid-1960s

Oh wow, it is definitely a thing of beauty. Bob W9RAN acquired this homebrew gem and put it back on the air. Bob also wrote a very nice article about the rig and how it was made. (Mike WU2D should brace himself — many surplus rigs were cannibalized in the process.) It is especially fitting that I post this today because February 9 is the day of the Classic Exchange on-the-air event. (My DX-100 is warming up.)

Here is the article: http://tinyurl.com/rjqq6eo

Bob’s site has some more really wonderful articles. You can read about Heathkit monobanders, DX-60s. ELMAC power supplies and — my favorite — Mike Hopkins and the Five Meter Liberation Army. The FMLA was, of course, the forerunner and inspiration for our current Color Burst Liberation Army.

See it all here:

https://www.rantechnology.com/index.cfm?key=browse_resources&PostDate=all&CategoryID=8E884CE4-9CED-4957-872B-5EBDB058D540


Thanks Bob!

AM Rally Report — Great Contacts on 40 AM

The AM Rally this past weekend was a lot of fun. I was reminded of how the guys that you talk to on AM are just so much more likely to be running interesting homebrew or vintage gear.

 First contact was with Howard VE2AED who has one of the most amazing antenna farms I have ever seen. Take a look:
https://www.qrz.com/db/VE2AED
He also has an R-390 and a KWM2 in his shack.

Next I spoke to Robert W0VMC (Voice Modulated Carrier) out in Wisconsin. Robert is a homebrewer of AM gear with a Knack story that is very familiar: http://w0vmc.com/

 Next up was W4GON. Joel was on the homebrew AM transmitter that we reported on back in 2017:
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2017/08/thermatrons-al-fresco-w4gons-fb-hb-am.html

Joel has completed his rig, adding a FB front panel. Here it is:

Then came the W1AW contact. See the video above.

Finally, I talked to Jack W9GT who was running a rig that must be unique on the amateur bands: A Federal 167 B Maritime transmitter. You can see this magnificent transmitter here:
https://www.qrz.com/db/w9gt


SolderSmoke Podcast #217 — Beach trip, ’30s station, uBITX mods, HRO RX AM, ELMAC, Teensy, MAILBAG

Bill’s Bavaro DR Beach Station
uBITX in the box, HB key
SolderSmoke Podcast #217 is available:


1 February 2020

Travelogue! Dominican Republic trip. uBITX on the Beach. EFHW. LiPo Battery. First contact of the new year.

Bill’s Bench Report

Following up on proposed uBITX mods:
— Put pot on sidetone line from Raduino to keep the sidetone a bit quieter.
— Fixed the key — pounding brass
— Will install 4 States QRP Active AF filter.
— Need to reduce power on CW to 5W
— Stereo to mono headphone adapters.
— Turning off display and mic amp circuit not really worth it — they don’t pull much current.


Pete’s Bench Report:
ELMAC Power Supply project
1930s era transmitter?
Teensy and SDR
PETE’S IDEA ABOUT GETTING LSB AND USB FROM BITX40
KWM-2 suggestions

Back to Bill’s Bench:

Working on HRO-ish Receiver.
Bad SBL-1
Got idea for wider ceramic filter from Paul VK3HN
Ordered parts from Mini-kits in Australia. They sent 6kc filters.
Bruce KK0S sent me some 10 kc filters too.
Installed 6 kc filter with L network matching networks. Works great.
Also installed Infinite Impedance Detector that Paul used.
Needed some additional amplification ahead of the IID, so I used one stage of BITX amp.
Works great. I can tune full 40 meter band AND 49 meter SW band. Radio Romania, China, Radio Marti, Brazil, South Carolina.
Beefed up the shielding to cut down on AM detection.

MISCELLANY
— AM and DSB in LTSpice
— Duly Noted: Paul VK3HN’s RIG: “THIS MACHINE KILLS KILOWATTS”
Kanji YC3KNJ’s QRPesso Expresso Coffee in the field
— The DANGERS of powerful magnets.

MAILBAG:
–KK4DAS Dean doing great things. MMM heard at Penn State. Where is the rest of the CBLA?
— Thanks to Don for kind donation to the SolderSmoke cause
— Dale BA4TB — First SolderSmoke feedback from China. Thanks Dale!
–Steve Silverman: Sideswipers and bugs were made to handle “carpal tunnel of the day” So do I need a keyer for casual CW work?
— Peter VK8VWA on the limited knowledge gained from kit building. Listens to podcast while walking on the beach in Australia.
— Allan Hale — Clothes Pins as Toroid holders. Yes! More Clothes Pins Wild Woody Keys from Dave Ingram
— Pete WB9FLW 100 Watt Amp from WA2EUJ
— Dave Wilcox K8WPE A medical question: Does the Michigan Mighty Mite work differently depending on what kind of medicine was in the pill bottles used for the coil form? Good question Doc! Dave suggest that putting CBD on the coil or the crystals. Anything to mellow out the ham bands…

Pete’s Plank SDR
When you know stuff, you can do stuff!


Junk Box Ethics — I Plead Guilty! (video)

I cringed when, at about the 32 minute mark, during a discussion of the moral necessity of preserving old gear, Michael appeared on the screen with a Heathkit Q multiplier sitting right there next to him. It was as if he was talking about me. I felt as if I had been hauled into Ham Radio Court, Judge Michael Murphy presiding.

I have already REPEATEDLY admitted to sacrificing MULTIPLE Q MULTIPLIERS. But I did it for good reasons:

1) I have some objections to use of regeneration, especially in superhet receivers. After all, Armstrong created the superhet in part to free us from the tyranny of regeneration (that he had also invented).

2) This is a case where the parts ARE greater than the sum. Specifically that variable cap WITH reduction drive. And that perfectly sized metal box. Those capacitors are currently in service in at least two of my homebrew SSB transmitters. And as I look around the shack, I see one of those boxes housing an Si5351 VFO, and another holding the dual-digital frequency displays for my DX-100/HQ-100 AM station.

3) Mike notes that these Q-multipliers are being sold for TWO DOLLARS at hamfests. At prices like this, temptation is just too strong.

So I plead guilty, your honor. But I ask the court to consider the circumstances under which I dismantled this obsolete gear, and the good uses that I made of the parts that I obtained. Also, I’d like to make note of the fact that I salvaged from a junk pile a Heath VF-1 (I completely rebuilt it) AND I restored to usefulness a Heath DX-40 — both these devices appeared in the WU2D video. Finally, if anyone really needs the remaining parts from the now deceased QF-1s, I’d be willing to donate them (in an effort to redeem myself).

Thanks Mike!

Mr. Carlson’s Lab Attacked by Dangerous Canadian Snow Static! (Video)

Even when describing something as simple and basic as snow, Mr. Carlson is electronically awesome. This video made me realize that in the event of an EMP, his will probably be the only lab to survive.

 The SolderSmoke Daily News took up the topic of snow static back in 2011. Be sure to read the comments, especially the one from KC7IT about the QUARTER INCH ARCS that woke him up in the dorm at MIT. Check it out:

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2011/10/snow-static.html#comment-form

 I’ve got to get one of Mr. Carlson’s 2020 calendars!

Mr. Carlson’s Lab Attacked by Dangerous Canadian Snow Static! (Video)

Even when describing something as simple and basic as snow, Mr. Carlson is electronically awesome. This video made me realize that in the event of an EMP, his will probably be the only lab to survive.

 The SolderSmoke Daily News took up the topic of snow static back in 2011. Be sure to read the comments, especially the one from KC7IT about the QUARTER INCH ARCS that woke him up in the dorm at MIT. Check it out:

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2011/10/snow-static.html#comment-form

 I’ve got to get one of Mr. Carlson’s 2020 calendars!

Mike WU2D on QSO Today with Eric Guth 4Z1UG

Eric Guth has a great interview with homebrew and boatanchor guru Mike WU2D.

Listen here:

https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/WU2D

 Wow: “My receiver was from a Sherman tank.”

His story about getting in trouble after “borrowing” his friend’s callsign was really great.

I also liked his wise comment about how anyone who homebrews simple gear will collect some “wallpaper” from official observers and the FCC. Mike is right: we shouldn’t get too concerned about minor transgressions. If we do, we run the risk of becoming so careful, cautious, and fearful that we never BUILD anything.

There is a wonderful discussion of the Paraset.

Mike coins a term that we might want to add to the SolderSmoke lexicon: RetroQRP. (Over to you Steve Silverman. Your call OM.)

Mike WU2D on QSO Today with Eric Guth 4Z1UG

Eric Guth has a great interview with homebrew and boatanchor guru Mike WU2D.

Listen here:

https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/WU2D

 Wow: “My receiver was from a Sherman tank.”

His story about getting in trouble after “borrowing” his friend’s callsign was really great.

I also liked his wise comment about how anyone who homebrews simple gear will collect some “wallpaper” from official observers and the FCC. Mike is right: we shouldn’t get too concerned about minor transgressions. If we do, we run the risk of becoming so careful, cautious, and fearful that we never BUILD anything.

There is a wonderful discussion of the Paraset.

Mike coins a term that we might want to add to the SolderSmoke lexicon: RetroQRP. (Over to you Steve Silverman. Your call OM.)

Crystals — Old and New and World War Two

I was watching Greg Charvat’s great video about the WWII ARC-5 receiver yesterday. Greg admonished all of us to preserve any WWII gear we might have in our shacks. Just one day earlier I had found the crystal pictured above in my junk box. There is some old stuff floating around in here! I will preserve this one.

Speaking of crystals, Walter KA4KXX recently sent me some 40 meter crystals for use with my ET-2 transceiver. Walter suggested that I use them to check into the daily (1300Z) Sunrise Net on 7123 kHz. These were modern “short” computer crystals. So I put them into FT-243 and FT-241 holders. (Don’t worry Greg, no WWII gear was destroyed in the process). It was kind of fun to put the new rocks in old boxes. They work just fine in the ET-2. Thanks again Walter!

Finally, Chris KD4PBJ has been helping a buddy of his buy a Drake 2B. This morning Chris asked about the E Crystal adjustment coil on the back of the Drake. I told him that was to allow the use of “overtone” crystals. But, sadly, I advised him not to worry about it too much because the days of ordering bespoke crystals (overtone or otherwise) are behind us.

SolderSmoke Podcast #215 Regen Madness, KWM-4, Paesano, Mailbag

Latest N2CQR version of N0WVA’s Regen

SolderSmoke Podcast #215 is available.

25 November 2019

 http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke215.mp3

 Happy Thanksgiving!
Transit of Mercury
Book Reviews

Bill’s Minimalist Adventures:
— 15 Contacts with the ET-2
— Ethical issues: Is spotting yourself OK? OK to use TWO FETs?
— Using Reverse Beacon Network
— How to keep receiver on the right frequency
— N0WVA’s receiver sounded better, so I built a second N0WVA receiver
— Regens reach back to Edwin Howard Armstrong’s 1912-1923 breakthrough
— Regens are fun, but they are not good projects for new builders.

— Pull out those Michigan Mighty Mites and listen for yourself via on-line SDR receivers.

 Pete’s Projects:
“WHEN YOU KNOW STUFF YOU CAN DO STUFF!”
— Left Coast SSB — “The Paesano” — To be featured in December 2019 SPRAT.
— Pete’s KWM-4 on The Collins Collectors Net
— Pete builds an N0WVA regen — just in time for Sweepstakes CW Saturday!
— Arduino IDE Library trouble
— uBITX 6.0? Fake News?

No more BITX40 Modules. Long Live BITX40 HOMEBREW!

BITX-101. Intriguing but on second thought, no.

MAILBAG

 Steve Silverman: Lexicon: “Audible Modes.”
Felipe CU2BD Old buddy from the Azores
Michael Rainey AA1TJ: Come back Mike! The ionosphere needs you!
Jack Welch AI4SV is in 5G land (Cyprus, not the cell phone thing).
Walter AC4IM is at the San Vito Solar Observatory in Italy. DO SOMETHING WALTER!
Kostas SV3ORA has an amazing homebrew web site. Thanks Kostas!
Mike KC6SAX — How to deal with the frustration of HB projects that don’t work.
Paul KL7FLR — Pete is 7 Hz high.
Keith W3ISZ sent his photo of the Transit of Mercury.

PLEASE USE THE AMAZON SEARCH BOX ON THE SOLDERSMOKE BLOG PAGE WHEN DOING YOUR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE SOLDERSMOKE CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE.

N2CQR’s ET-2 with callsign Tattoos

SolderSmoke Podcast #215 Regen Madness, KWM-4, Paesano, Mailbag

Latest N2CQR version of N0WVA’s Regen

SolderSmoke Podcast #215 is available.

25 November 2019

 http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke215.mp3

 Happy Thanksgiving!
Transit of Mercury
Book Reviews

Bill’s Minimalist Adventures:
— 15 Contacts with the ET-2
— Ethical issues: Is spotting yourself OK? OK to use TWO FETs?
— Using Reverse Beacon Network
— How to keep receiver on the right frequency
— N0WVA’s receiver sounded better, so I built a second N0WVA receiver
— Regens reach back to Edwin Howard Armstrong’s 1912-1923 breakthrough
— Regens are fun, but they are not good projects for new builders.

— Pull out those Michigan Mighty Mites and listen for yourself via on-line SDR receivers.

 Pete’s Projects:
“WHEN YOU KNOW STUFF YOU CAN DO STUFF!”
— Left Coast SSB — “The Paesano” — To be featured in December 2019 SPRAT.
— Pete’s KWM-4 on The Collins Collectors Net
— Pete builds an N0WVA regen — just in time for Sweepstakes CW Saturday!
— Arduino IDE Library trouble
— uBITX 6.0? Fake News?

No more BITX40 Modules. Long Live BITX40 HOMEBREW!

BITX-101. Intriguing but on second thought, no.

MAILBAG

 Steve Silverman: Lexicon: “Audible Modes.”
Felipe CU2BD Old buddy from the Azores
Michael Rainey AA1TJ: Come back Mike! The ionosphere needs you!
Jack Welch AI4SV is in 5G land (Cyprus, not the cell phone thing).
Walter AC4IM is at the San Vito Solar Observatory in Italy. DO SOMETHING WALTER!
Kostas SV3ORA has an amazing homebrew web site. Thanks Kostas!
Mike KC6SAX — How to deal with the frustration of HB projects that don’t work.
Paul KL7FLR — Pete is 7 Hz high.
Keith W3ISZ sent his photo of the Transit of Mercury.

PLEASE USE THE AMAZON SEARCH BOX ON THE SOLDERSMOKE BLOG PAGE WHEN DOING YOUR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE SOLDERSMOKE CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE.

N2CQR’s ET-2 with callsign Tattoos

SPRAT, the FETer, DLR headphones, and recent QSOs on the ET-2

Yesterday we had QSO #13 on the ET-2. This was with Jim W1PID. In an earlier contact Jim told me I had some chirp. I fiddled with the coupling cap and the bias pot and am now T9! These days, chirp is an endearing, nostalgic problem to have. Thanks for the report and QSOs Jim!

Contact #9 was with Fred K9SO. He is in Wisconsin and QRZ.com put our distance at 633 miles. That is our DX record so far. Not bad for 92 milliwatts to a dipole on 40 meters.

Most of my contacts come as a result of pleas for assistance on DX Summit or the SKCC Sked page. But I did make one “random” contact: Contact #6 with N2VGA. He just heard my CQ and gave me a call. FB.

I checked to see if OM Glen Yingling W2UW — the guy who started all this with his ET-1 — is still around. He became a silent key in 2012. But his ideas live on…

SPRAT 137 (Winter 2008/09) has a great article by QRP hero G3XBM. Roger built a version of the ET-1. His was for 80 meters and he called it the FETer. FB. I was struck by his estimate of the sensitivity of the ET-1 receiver: -100 dbm. I measured the N0WVA receiver (the one that I am using) has having a minimum discernible signal of -93 dbm. Pretty close. We may be at the limit of what you can expect from a single transistor receiver.

SPRAT 137 had something else that really resonated with me. G3YVF had an article on a minimalist rig using only one 6V6 tube. Geoff opened the article with this warning “Don’t try this unless you have a set of balanced armature type DLR ‘phones as they are really sensitive.” I have a collection of old headphones that I picked up at hamfests in London years ago. When building the ET-2, I checked all the old phones for sensitivity. A set marked DLR was the most sensitive. So Geoff’s observation had been independently confirmed. QRP Quarterly had an article comparing the sensitivities of old headphones — we should dig that article up.

SPRAT #137 is a reminder of what a great resource SPRAT — The Journal of the GQRP Club — really is. As we say on SolderSmoke, if you are not a SPRAT subscriber you are just wrong! Here is how to join GQRP and subscribe to SPRAT: http://www.gqrp.com/join.htm

SolderSmoke Podcast #214 is FINALLY out!


WE ARE WORKING TO IMPROVE THE AUDIO QUALITY. IN THE FIRST RELEASE OF THIS PODCAST SOME OF THE AUDIO WAS KIND OF MUFFLED. I TRIED TO FIX IT THIS MORNING AND I THINK I MADE SOME IMPROVEMENTS. THE IMPROVED AUDIO IS NOW AT THE LINK BELOW.

4 November 2019 (shockingly late!)

 http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke214.mp3

 The visit of Farhan to Northern Virginia
“I heard this guy from Southern California on 20…”
Fire Report from Pete

 Pete’s Bench Report
“When you know stuff, you can do stuff!”
The CRAP rigs
Old Boatanchors — the Swan 120 with SUPER STABLE ANALOG VFO!
Ten Tec rigs dial cord replaced with Chinese digi sig counter
Pete’s 500 mW encounter with a QRO curmudgeon
The ZL2BMI Challenge has Pete building crystal filters
The Left Coast Loafer CW rig

Bill’s Bench Report

 ET-2 Refinements
N0WVA’s Regen Receiver
Going from ET-1 to ET-2
J-310s vice MPF-102
100 mW from a single J-310
Receiver kind of deaf -103 dbm MDS
10 contacts so far in 9 states
THREE contacts yesterday.
Worked Wisconsin – 633 miles on 92 mW
We are at sunspot minimum.
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Simplicity is the real reason for CW

IDEA: Get those Michigan Might Mites on the air!
Use Reverse Beacon Network to see if you are getting out
Use SDR receivers to make contacts

 MAILBAG
DL1AJG
KC6SAX
W9VNE
KA4KXX
N0WVA
Zl2BMI
AJ6BD




The BGCD: A Regenerodyne Receiver built on Pencil, Candy, and Tea Tins. Circuit from 1937 QST

David Newkirk recently put up a nice website on ham radio. The page below provides details on the amazing creation pictured above: The BGCD: “The Byron Goodman — Clinton DeSoto Regenerodyne.” It is a beautiful piece of work, made more beautiful by the metal containers used in construction: pencil, candy and tea tins. The circuit is based on a 1937 QST article.

David’s site reminded me of the wonderful writing of his father, Rod Newkirk of “How’s DX” fame. More on him in due course.

 More on the BGCD here:

http://dpnwritings.nfshost.com/ej/pictures/pictures1.htm?fbclid=IwAR2-lmJ8E1kEBT_jsB3Q8UnPaN0vc472dP783ifABK7eSxgpe5M1Pl0N77g

The Collins Mechanical Filter — An Advertisement from Australia, 1963

Peter VK2EMU sent me this ad a while back. He said he regretted being unable to send a filter — all he could send was the ad. Thanks Peter — I think that ad is a work of art. Radio art.

Thanks too to all those who sent me mechanical filters. Pete sent the first one (it is currently in my HRO-ish receiver), then two more (both inside SBE transceivers, where they will remain — it would be a sin to cannibalize those beautiful rigs.) Then Mike Herr WA6ARA sent one as did Brad. Brad assures me that the one he sent was boxed up by Art Collins himself!

Thanks again guys.

Brad wrote:

To:soldersmoke@yahoo.com

Jun 23 at 7:49 AM

Kudos to Pete for 60 years! And I’ve always thought he was much younger than you……
Catching up on your podcast, I was surprised to learn that no one answered your call for a spare filter.
I’m one of those older guys who is making his way back after leaving amateur radio in 1968 for girls and/or recreational drugs.
No one told me that The Force (electro-motive, that is) would require me to catch up on all the junk I would have acquired during my nearly 50 years away from the hobby (see list below).
A recent impulse purchase, the most beautiful thing with tubes ever made (SX-42), happened to be near Newington. On the way home I visited ARRL HQ hoping they had some sort of a chapel where I could perform an act of penance and ask for guidance in dealing with my affliction. Apparently, this is the equivalent of asking a crack dealer where the closest Narcotics Anonymous meeting is held. I ended up buying a copy of “200 Meters and Down” and have since acquired a couple of Atwater Kent projects.
My place is full now, and my sweetheart would like back the half of her garage I’ve slowly taken by electronic eminent domain. It seems that for every 100 pounds that departs to a ham fest, 125 pounds comes back. Is this considered a normal ratio?
In order to be able to tell her that I have, indeed, gotten rid of something, I’ll be sending you a F 455 filter (QRZ address OK?).
Thanks for you help,
–Brad

Radio Art — Zenith Tube Ad

This ad was recently shown on the K9YA Telegraph. I was wondering about its origins. I asked noted thermatron guru Grayson Evans — he referred the question to fellow tube guru and author Ludwell Sibley. OM Ludwell gives us the origins:


She’s in a promo for Zenith, an Italian prewar brand that sold European triodes of types originated by Philips, and a few equivalents of American types. She’s based on classical Italian art. Doing a high-wire act while holding a small early-‘20s European radio! I have an 11 x 17 glossy color print framed on the wail in the display room. I ran her as the cover art in a long-ago issue of “Tube Collector.” “Three cheers for the red, white, and green!”

Ludwell Sibley is the editor of “The Tube Collector.” Great stuff. Their web site is here:

http://www.tubecollectors.org/tubecoll.htm

Sibley’s book “Tube Lore” can be purchased here:

https://www.amazon.com/Tube-lore-reference-users-collectors/dp/0965468305/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Tube+Lore&qid=1569660647&sr=8-1

Thanks Grayson, Ludwell, and to the K9YA Telegraph.

Ham Radio in Germany 1955 (video)

Don’t be deterred by the lack of English subtitles — radio amateurs around the world will be able to follow what is going on in this very interesting 1955 film. It is only about 14 minutes long.

This video takes us back to a time when hams were hams and rigs were RIGS!

 Note the German OM who apparently slept fully dressed (with necktie) in order to be ready to spring into action on the ham bands in the middle of the night. That’s dedication my friends.

Also note the fellow sending out QSL cards that feature the schematic diagram of his rig. Lots of solder melted in 1955. Great stuff.

Thank God for the Heaviside Schicht!

FDIM Interview — NM0S on John Reinartz W1QP K6BJ — Scandal on an Arctic Expedition?

John Reinartz, 1QP, at the operating position of WNP aboard the Bowdoin

Bob Crane W8SX interviewed Dave Cripe NM0S about his FDIM presenation on radio pioneer John Reinartz 1QP and later K6BJ. Listen to the interview here:

http://soldersmoke.com/NM0S FDIM 2019.m4a

 Here is Reinartz’s obit in the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/07/john-l-reinartz-pioneer-in-radio.html

 Here is some background info on Reinartz:

http://k6bj.org/Club_History/WhoWasK6BJ.htm

 Dave Cripe’s interview left me wondering what the north pole scandal was all about. I found this passage from a book that seems to partially explain what happened. Can anyone else shed more light on this unfortunate event?