Category: QRP

A Frequency Readout for the Fish Soup 10 (with cool BLUE numerals)

Note the cool BLUE numerals. They represent 7040, 7050, 7060, 7070. The little black “pointer” is from a power cord wall fastener. My tuning cap has a nice reduction drive — the pointer follows the movement of the capacitor blades. The VFO is very stable.

Simplicity is a virtue. CW is, I think, outmoded and kind of absurd (one letter at a time? really?), but it does allow for extreme simplicity. Using a rig with just 10 transistors, putting out half a watt of RF, I am regularly communicating with people. This is what I like about CW.

I’ve had about 12 solid contacts with this rig since putting it on the air earlier this month. The VFO was a huge improvement over being crystal controlled. Crystal control was OK back when receivers were broad and hams tuned around for replies, but those days are gone. Getting the transmit offset set correctly was another huge improvement.

The “Fish Soup 10” Homebrew QRP CW Transceiver

The box with the two grey knobs on the left is the Herring Aid 5, the receiver that took me 38 years to complete. The box on the right is a VFO I originally built for my first BITX40Module — it started out around 4 Mhz but I pulled turns off the coil until it was in the 40M CW band. The Altoids in near center has the buffers — a 40673 MOSFET and a 2n3904 BJT. The box in the back holds the Tuna Tin 2. There the oscillator has been reconfigured as an amp. A relay switches the output from the buffers between the receiver and the transmitter. That big switch in the center switches the antenna and the 12 V for T/R. The circular black thing is piezo buzzer used for CW sidetone — I have it glued to the board upside down to keep the volume down.

The whole thing is mounted on a kitchen cutting board. A breadboard!

The most difficult part of all this was getting the needed 800 Hz drop in TX freq on transmit. You need to do this with a rig like this or else you won’t be in the other fellow’s passband. I did a lot of cut and try — in the end I put a 5 pf cap across the coupling cap from VFO to buffer. This 5 pf cap switches in on transmit via a small relay. It works. I just spoke to N8AFT out in Columbus, Ohio and I was in his passband.

So five transistors in the receiver, two in the transmitter and three in the VFO/Buffer. So it is the Fish Soup 10.

It puts out about half a watt. On CW. I am feeling virtuous and vaguely superior. I’ve made several more contacts. It all works very well and is a lot of fun.

Feedback on QSOs — Listeners are Listening

On opposite coasts and with rigs at opposite ends of the technology spectrum, Pete and I have been putting new homebrew rigs on the air. I’m working on a QRPp transceiver using 10 transistors. Pete is working on an SDR rig that must use, what?, thousands or millions of transistors.

We’ve both been getting nice feedback, often from SolderSmoke podcast listeners. Above you can see my 8 July notes on a contact with K3QP. I was running about 1/2 watt, crystal control, from the Fish Soup 7 combo rig.

———————————
In an earlier post I mentioned Pete’s success in working coast-to-coast on 40 SSB with his homebrew SDR RADIG. Turns out that someone in St. Louis heard the contact:

From: Steve
Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2019 6:16 PM
To: Pete
Subject: Friday QSO

Hi Pete
Heard your QSO to Virginia last evening. Conditions were rough but could hear good enough. I’m located west of St Louis and was outside portable with KX2 and wires tossed in a couple trees. Tried to tail end but of course my signal was not good for you in California.
I really am amazed at the work you put into your projects, websites, and podcast. Can’t thank you enough. Please keep it up.
I worked at McAir in St Louis and spent many hours in the MDEC building St Charles. That was in the late 80s.
Steve
K0SAM
———————————-

Finally, earlier in July I had a contact with K1PUG. Someone north of the border heard us:

On Sunday, July 7, 2019, 01:17:47 PM EDT, Dave wrote:

I heard your QSO with Hank K1PUG at my cottage in Canada (FN15ac) this morning. I wondered why you were so faint (since I had been getting good reports with 5W into your area) but when I read this morning’s entry in SolderSmoke, and saw you were 750mW, all became clear.

73,
Dave KM6CPF / VA3NIA

The Fish Soup 7 QRP Rig — On the Air on 40 Meters (video)

I don’t know why, but this weekend I got the urge to get on the air with a very low power homebrew QRP rig. I reached for my Tuna Tin 2 — Herring Aid 5 combo. I call it the Fish Soup 7 (seven transistors in total).

I first tried to turn this rig into a transceiver by taking the VFO signal from the receiver (it is direct conversion) and using it to excite the Tuna Tin 2, but it just didn’t work out. The oscillator in the Herring Air 5 is very bare bones — no buffering and an LC circuit that is mostly L (10 uH). It became very difficult to get a stable amount of CW offset. So I went back to crystal control for the transmitter. I did replace the 5K tuning pot in the RX with a 10k 10 turn pot (thanks to W8NSA). Tuning is now very smooth. I used my old UK freq counter to monitor my receive freq. (Thanks to Tony Fishpool G4WIF– back in 2009 he sent me the CMOS chip that brought this counter back to life.)

I was putting out about 750 milliwatts.

I had a very quick contest-like contact with K2D — one of the “13 Colony” stations. Then a longer chat with Hank K1PUG (see video above).

I had lost my 7050 crystal, but this morning it re-appeared. TRGHS.

As you can see in the video I am using the beautiful VU3XVR key that Farhan brought me from India.

This was fun. I may try to put a VFO of some sort into the TT2, just to get more agility. But I want to keep things simple.

Look for me on 7050.

The Wizard of Wimbledon M0JGH: “Always Listen to Pete!”

Dear Bill and Pete,

Sincere apologies for my chronic lack of correspondence but life has proven exceedingly eventful of late. As a long-standing member of our international brotherhood I am aware of a reoccurring, often subliminal, theme: “Always listen to Pete!”. What follows is a cautionary tale of one humble ham following the sage advice offered to him during Soldersmoke 186’s Mailbag…

You might recall the report of my Christmas 2015 escapades from rural Italy, making homebrew CW contact with friends operating GB2RN aboard HMS Belfast, whilst trying to fend-off curious locals from tampering with the wire I’d strung through their trees. Throughout these shenanigans my remarkably-understanding girlfriend was nearby minding her own business (albeit with a certain degree of eye-rolling).

The following year we returned to the same summit above Frascati. Before setting off I advised her that, being a generous chap, there were now two miniature radios in my coat pocket: one for each of us to enjoy. She was politely thrilled by the prospect… but still faithfully assisted with antenna rigging.

Once operational I insisted that we should try her radio first and, following Pete’s advice from SS186, I slipped the tiny red box out of my jacket pocket and knelt down on one knee… (Fear not, Pete, other sage opinions were consulted in the matter first too!).

Remarkably, she said yes! And, exceedingly generously, I was allowed me to make a few contacts too… after all, we had gone to the trouble of lugging it from London and setting up the antenna. Owing to poor telephone reception the first person to learn of our wonderful news was an unsuspecting DL on 40m CW.

We are now happily married so I’m pleased to report that, unsurprisingly, the SolderSmoke tribal knowledge offered to me back in 2016 appears to have been spot on. To return the favour here is my own life lesson to take from the story:

Should one ever need to conceal a surprise gift from a loved one, a radio shack is a cavernous world which even the most curious spouse is unlikely to dare explore.

Furthermore, if one “has previous” (as British policemen say) for smuggling tiny boxes of radio wizardry away on holiday, what better cover could there be for the unsuspected transportation of an engagement ring?

The power of QRP knows no bounds…

All the very best for 2019 and thanks again for the life-changing advice.

Jonathan
M0JGH

 Editor’s note: In case you don’t remember SS186, Pete’s advice — upon hearing of the ham radio tolerance of Jonathan’s then-girlfriend — strongly advised him to “marry that woman!”



Please Listen for Dave AA7EE’s New “Boris Beacon”

https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2019/01/03/putting-the-hifer-brs-boris-beacon-on-the-air-finally/

 From Dave’s blog:

The beacon sends the letters “BRS” at 10wpm, with a break of 3 or 4 seconds between the end of one transmission and the beginning of the next, with a mighty power to the dipole of about 1mW. The frequency is a nominal 13556.9KHz (13.5569MHz), which varies either way by a few tens of Hz, depending on the outside ambient temperature. I will be overjoyed if anyone, anywhere hears it! There is no battery, so it transmits during daylight hours only. It comes on about half an hour after local sunrise, and goes off about half an hour before local sunset. I’ll update this with more accurate information, as I observe the on and off times over the next few days.
—————
AA7EE is in Oakland California. His cat is named SPRAT. Please send him a report (and if possible a recording) if you hear his beacon.


WB8VGE on QSO Today — QRP, HB, Boatanchors, Drift, Solar Power

Picture

Eric 4Z1UG has a really good interview with Mike Bryce, WB8VGE.

Listen here:

https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/WB8VGE

 I’ve been a big fan of Mike’s for many years. I’ve talked to him on the air a couple of times. I liked his QRP column in 73 magazine. I share his enthusiasm for Boatanchor rigs. He is a fellow member of the QRP Hall of Fame (who, like Pete and me, at times seems to be pushing the QRO envelope). I like his approach to solar power. He too has been bothered by appliance ops who complain that his boatanchor rigs are 150 hertz “too low.”

His attitude toward contesting is similar to mine — I may be more opposed than he is. I think contesting encourages a kind of harshness and competitiveness that runs contrary to the spirit of the Radio Amateur’s code.

I got a chuckle about Mike’s claim that he almost Worked All States in RECEIVED Official Observer reports. And that he at one point owned THIRTY 104s.

Mike’s observations on the dumbing down of ham radio and on the social (psychological?) problems of 75 meters (“net starting in 5 minutes!” “QRP not allowed on 75”) are sadly on the mark.

Mike’s hint about using a white-out pen to spruce up the front panel of an old Drake radio adds a new household/office material to our rig-fixing arsenal.

Eric’s comment on the Lafayette Catalog resonated with me. I used to read it too.

I hope Mike decides to get on the air more frequently. Just avoid 75 meters and 7.200 MHz Mike.

VK3YE QRP by the Bay Goes VHF/UHF

Peter Parker again hosted the VK3 radio amateurs. This time the event fell on VHF/UHF Field Day weekend. So Peter and his friends went up in frequency and up into SPACE!

VK3HN has a nice blog post here:

https://vk3hn.wordpress.com/2017/11/25/qrp-by-the-bay-chelsea-beach-melbourne-25-11-2017/

Be sure to read about Peter’s ankle manacles — he apparently uses them to get a good ground (sea) plane while running pedestrian mobile on the sea shore. Peter is DEDICATED!

SolderSmoke Podcast #200! 17, Knack Nobel, QCX, 630, UHF, Fessenden, TROUBLESHOOTING

DL3AO 1950

SolderSmoke Podcast #200 — TWO HUNDRED!!!!– Is available

 http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke200.mp3

 — Old friends on 17 meters.

— Another Knack Nobel in Physics.

— Hans Summers’ QCX transceiver: $50 IS THE NEW 10 GRAND!

— New Bands! 630 and 2200 Meters. BIG ANTENNAS!

— Nuke Powered QRP. No joke!

— The Challenge of UHF. Not for the faint of heart.

— Reginald Fessenden, Father of Phone.

PETE’S BENCH REPORT: The New Simple-ceiver. Soon to be a Transceiver.

BILL’s BENCH REPORT: Discrete, Direct Conversion, Ceramic Receiver in iPhone Box.

THE EDUCATIONAL PORTION OF TODAY’s PROGRAM:
HOW TO TROUBLESHOOT A HOMEBREW RECEIVER.

MAILBAG.

DL3AO 1950


SolderSmoke Podcast #200! 17, Knack Nobel, QCX, 630, UHF, Fessenden, TROUBLESHOOTING

DL3AO 1950

SolderSmoke Podcast #200 — TWO HUNDRED!!!!– Is available

 http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke200.mp3

 — Old friends on 17 meters.

— Another Knack Nobel in Physics.

— Hans Summers’ QCX transceiver: $50 IS THE NEW 10 GRAND!

— New Bands! 630 and 2200 Meters. BIG ANTENNAS!

— Nuke Powered QRP. No joke!

— The Challenge of UHF. Not for the faint of heart.

— Reginald Fessenden, Father of Phone.

PETE’S BENCH REPORT: The New Simple-ceiver. Soon to be a Transceiver.

BILL’s BENCH REPORT: Discrete, Direct Conversion, Ceramic Receiver in iPhone Box.

THE EDUCATIONAL PORTION OF TODAY’s PROGRAM:
HOW TO TROUBLESHOOT A HOMEBREW RECEIVER.

MAILBAG.

DL3AO 1950


The Road to QRO Perdition


 I want to start out by saying that this is NOT my fault. I have been TRYING to do QRP things. Remember my recent Tuna Tin 2, Herring Aid 5 rig? I am aware of the ever-present threat of expulsion from the QRP HoF. We all remember what happened to poor Pete back on April 1, 2017.

But sometimes people just deliberately put temptation in your path. That is what happened this week. Our old friend Rogier KJ6ETL (formerly known as PA1ZZ) sent me the very LARGE chunk of aluminum that you see in the picture above. Look at that thing. It is practically begging to be turned into a very QRO push-pull amplifier.

At first I told myself that it would be impossible to tap the big heat sinks on the sides. How would I get the drill in there? But then I realized that I can just put the threads in from the outside. I can almost smell the machine oil. And the heat sink compound…

Thanks lot Rogier. This is all your fault.





Amazing $49 Rig from QRP Labs

Hans Summers’ QRP Labs has an amazing new rig — The QCX — that is chock-full of features and FB technology. Hans has long been one of the most innovative guys in ham radio, and this latest rig is one of his most amazing creations. Like Farhan’s BITX40 Module, this new rig is priced in the 50 dollar range. Hams who are paying many thousands of dollars for their “radios” should be asking themselves a question: Could I be having much more fun for far less money? This rig is in big demand and there is already a waiting list, so place your order now if you want to work on this during the winter. Here is the link:
http://qrp-labs.com/qcx.html

QCX Features:

  • Easy to build, single-board design, 10 x 8cm, all controls are board-mounted
  • Professional quality double-sided, through-hole plated, silk-screen printed PCB
  • Choice of single band, 80, 60, 40, 30, 20 or 17m
  • Approximately 3-5W CW output (depending on supply voltage)
  • 7-16V recommended supply voltage
  • Class E power amplifier, transistors run cool… even with no heatsinks
  • 7-element Low Pass Filter ensures regulatory compliance
  • CW envelope shaping to remove key clicks
  • High performance receiver with at least 50dB of unwanted sideband cancellation
  • 200Hz CW filter with no ringing
  • Si5351A Synthesized VFO with rotary encoder tuning
  • 16 x 2 blue backlight LCD screen
  • Iambic keyer or straight key option included in the firmware
  • Simple Digital Signal Processing assisted CW decoder, displayed real-time on-screen
  • On-screen S-meter
  • Full or semi QSK operation using fast solid-state transmit/receive switching
  • Frequency presets, VFO A/B Split operation, RIT, configurable CW Offset
  • Configurable sidetone frequency and volume
  • Connectors: Power, 3.5mm keyer jack, 3.5mm stereo earphone jack, BNC RF output
  • Onboard microswitch can be used as a simple straight Morse key
  • Built-in test signal generator and alignment tools to complete simple set-up adjustments
  • Built-in test equipment: voltmeter, RF power meter, frequency counter, signal generator
  • Beacon mode, supporting automatic CW or WSPR operation
  • GPS interface for reference frequency calibration and time-keeping (for WSPR beacon)

Straight Key QRP Homebrew Adventures — TRGHS

Last Saturday I put the Tuna Tin Two Top together with my Herring Aid Five 38 (year) Special and the Indian key that Farhan gave me. I discovered that some of my 40 meter CW FT243 crystals had disappeared into the entropy of the shack. But I was able to find one for 7050 kHz. That was a bit of good luck because it turns out that 7050 is the frequency of a congenial group of operators known as the Straight Key Century Club. I felt right at home. I have been inducted. My SKCC number is 17272. Very QRP, don’t you think? It is almost a Vanity SKCC. Clearly, TRGHS.

I have been having excellent luck with this 7 transistor rig. I have had one contact each day since I put it on the air, all of them in response to my CQ calls. I’ve worked:

K1PUG Hank in Connecticut (twice)
W8HOG Jerry in Ohio
WA4GQG Kevin in North Carolina
WA2AAW Frank in New York
KM4FO Dwight in Kentucky


This morning I added a little piezo buzzer for sidetone. I am thinking of adding a VFO to the Tuna Tin.

A Fishy Rig: Herring Aid Five, Tuna Tin Two, VU2XVR Key

Haunted by a fear of rapid expulsion from the QRP Hall of Fame, I decided that I should immediately do something to establish some form of QRP street cred. Looking around the shack, I realized that all of the ingredients were there: My Herring Aid Five Direct Conversion receiver (completed after only 38 years), my Tuna Tin Two transmitter, the VU2XVR key that Farhan gave me, one 7050 kc FT243 crystal. I put it all on a piece of scrap plywood. A couple of nice connectors from W8NSA supported the DPDT T/R switch and the coax connector. I keep the receiver LO running all the time.

Now, let’s be clear: running 250 milliwatts, rock bound with a Direct Conversion receiver that tunes both sides of zero beat is not for the faint of heart. The log book does not fill up rapidly. But hey, I made one contact the following morning. K1PUG said I was 559 in Connecticut.

Homebrew History is Made: Farhan @ W7ZOI

Thanks to Wes W7ZOI for sending me the link to his page describing the visit of our friend Farhan. I think this visit was a historic gathering of homebrew heroes and their groundbreaking rigs. Read all about it here: http://w7zoi.net/Farhan-visit.html


Please help me convince Farhan to visit SolderSmoke HQ before returning to India! Send him (or me) e-mails, texts, tweets, or just post messages of support below this post.

Pete Juliano’s Expulsion from the QRP Hall of Fame

First, I’d like to thank the many, many radio amateurs who sent in e-mails demanding that our friend Pete Juliano stay in the QRP Hall of Fame. Their outrage at his expulsion was palpable. They were angry and fired up. Many compared Pete Juliano to baseball great Pete Rose (who also got expelled from a Hall of Fame). They wrote to us from all around the globe. Several saw the action against Pete as yet another example of the deep divisions that are affecting modern society — several saw it as being connected to our recent Presidential election, and/or BREXIT.

Some writers took a diplomatic approach and tried to suggest ways that this ugly conflict might be ended — one fellow suggested that Pete try to redeem himself by agreeing to enter some kind of QRP 12 Step Program. Others got legalistically combative and said we should just “lawyer-up.”

A number of our correspondents took note of the seasonal nature of these kinds of events. Who can forget the April move a few years back by the New Jersey State Legislature to ban the use of soldering irons in the home? “This kind of thing always seems to happen in the Spring-time!” said one irate Juliano surrogate, “It is like Shakespeare wrote: ‘Beware the Ides of March’ — only two weeks later!” Another ham also spotted the seasonal nature of these stories and quoted from T.S. Elliott’s poem “The Wasteland”: “April is the cruelest month, especially the first day!”

We must point out that not all those who wrote were opposed to Pete’s expulsion — one writer said, “It is about time that that Pete “KW” Juliano got what he deserved! Good riddance!” (We have sent this e-mail to one of Pete’s Italian-American relatives in New Jersey for, uh, action.)

Several of those who wrote in support of Pete are prominent members of the amateur radio community (they will — if they follow our instructions — remain anonymous.)

One activist supporter said that Pete’s expulsion should lead to a street protest movement called “Pete’s Award Matters” and that the chant at demonstrations could be “NO JULIANO, NO PEACE!” Kind of catchy don’t you think?

Anyway, we sincerely hope you have ALL figured out what was going on here. For those who have not, and for all those who wrote in, let me complete the tradition by saying it: “April Fool!”

We’d like to thank all who participated in this long-standing amateur radio tradition. Special thanks to Preston Douglas and the QRP-ARCI for putting up with all this. (Tony Fishpool told us that he knew this couldn’t be real, because someone as nice as Preston Douglas would NEVER expel anyone.)

Micro-Shocks (and QRP Power?) from Nearby High Voltage Lines (video)

I spotted this on Hack-A-Day. It caught my attention because many time, while riding my bike along the Washington and Old Dominion bike path, I have felt electrical shocks from the handlebars.
Now, before you all conclude that OM Bill is losing it and start suggesting that I wear an aluminum foil hat, realize that the bike path is directly under some seriously high voltage power lines. And that esteemed UK newspaper “The Daily Mail” confirms that these shocks are, as the kids say, a thing.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2655190/Cyclist-told-grab-metal-bike-time-rides-overhead-power-line-gives-ELECTRIC-SHOCK.html
So think these Russian dudes are onto something. How long will it be before the QRP community starts exploiting this power source? (Please be careful about where you put the antenna!)