{"id":7067,"date":"2025-05-09T11:13:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T01:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2025\/05\/09\/ramakrishnan-vu2jxns-fb-soldersmoke-direct-conversion-receiver-extremely-thrilled-hooked\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T12:36:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T02:36:17","slug":"ramakrishnan-vu2jxns-fb-soldersmoke-direct-conversion-receiver-extremely-thrilled-hooked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2025\/05\/09\/ramakrishnan-vu2jxns-fb-soldersmoke-direct-conversion-receiver-extremely-thrilled-hooked\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramakrishnan VU2JXN&#8217;s FB SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver: &#8220;Extremely thrilled!  Hooked!&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"247\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AGWBEjzUq3M?si=d3r1yiLM-ZpfB-mF?rel=0\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"440\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>This is a really important Hall of Fame entry for us. This is our first completed SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver from India (more will come). <\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Most importantly, this receiver was built by our good friend Ramakrishnan VU2JXN (ex VU3RDD). Ramakrishnan goes way back in SolderSmoke history. He was the one who first suggested (in 2006!) that our podcast needed a blog to go with it. This was the origin of the SolderSmoke Daily News. A short time later we announced the birth of Ramakrishnan&#8217;s daughter. That same daughter now has her ham license and will build a second receiver with her dad. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image_1753099895.png\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-original-height=\"314\" data-original-width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image_1753099895.png\" width=\"245\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;\">Ramakrishnan VU2JXN<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p><b>The roots of this receiver are deep in India. When Dean and I first went to the local high school to talk about ham radio support, I carried with me a Direct Conversion Receiver inspired by Farhan VU2ESE. In fact, that receiver had a picture of Farhan and quotes from him taped to the wooden base. When Dean and I designed the receiver that we tried to build with the High School kids, we used an oscillator based on the DC receiver that Farhan was building with youngsters at Indian girl&#8217;s schools. That is the receiver design that we are using in this SolderSmoke Challenge. <\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Ramakrishnan is in Bangalore now, which is where he built this receiver. Ashish N6ASD is also there now, and is building a receiver. <\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Ramakrishnan writes: <\/b><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i><b>This morning before I got ready to come to work, I got a few minutes <\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i><b>to turn on the radio and catch the morning nets. Extremely thrilled to<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><b><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"> get this working. The PTO is very stable.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/i><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><b><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">Needless to say, you folks convinced me to get back into homebrew<br \/><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">and you have hooked me into it with this project.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/i><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/i><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">I am off to my ailing mother&#8217;s <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">place tonight. I don&#8217;t have a station <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/i><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">there, but I am carrying a copy<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">of EMRFD with me (I have two!).<br \/><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/i><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">I want to listen with this <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">receiver as you all always say <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/i><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">and make simple modification to this <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">receiver and improve it.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/i><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\"> <br \/><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">Again, couldn&#8217;t turn off from it even though I am at work! The bug has<br \/><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\">caught me.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/i><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/i><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"background-color: white;\"><b>Here is some more video of Ramakrishnan&#8217;s receiver: <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"background-color: white;\"><b><br \/><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"247\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/f8zaI1Z_oQs?si=Uaww5VYspVsNozmE?rel=0\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"440\"><\/iframe><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"background-color: white;\"><b><br \/><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<p> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"800\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QLctClEjdQo?rel=0\" title=\"Ramakrishnan VU2JXN's SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver (3)\" width=\"440\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>Congratulations Ramakrishnan. Welcome to the Hall of Fame! <\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><br \/><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/b><\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px;\"><b><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Join the discussion &#8211; SolderSmoke Discord Server:<\/span><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><u><\/u><u><\/u><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px;\"><b><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt;\"><a data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/discord.gg\/Fu6B7yGxx2&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1739470652838000&#038;usg=AOvVaw1ZoxkyzfQb8pwED_KtyCKW\" href=\"https:\/\/discord.gg\/Fu6B7yGxx2\" style=\"color: #1155cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">https:\/\/discord.gg\/Fu6B7yGxx2<\/span><\/a><\/span><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><u><\/u><u><\/u><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px;\"><b><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"> <\/span><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><u><\/u><u><\/u><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px;\"><b><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Documentation on Hackaday:<\/span><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><u><\/u><u><\/u><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px;\"><b><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><a data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/hackaday.io\/project\/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1739470652838000&#038;usg=AOvVaw026vJuHIWdv6aJ9NJ9QDHJ\" href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.io\/project\/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver\" style=\"color: #1155cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/hackaday.io\/project\/<wbr><\/wbr>190327-high-schoolers-build-a-<wbr><\/wbr>radio-receiver<\/a><\/span><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><u><\/u><u><\/u><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px;\"><b><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"> <\/span><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><u><\/u><u><\/u><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px;\"><b><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">SolderSmoke YouTube channel:<\/span><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><u><\/u><u><\/u><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: \"Trebuchet MS\", Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.61px;\"><b style=\"color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;\"><span face=\"Arial, sans-serif\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><a data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@soldersmoke&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1739470652838000&#038;usg=AOvVaw3FnV3eIUU7IiaVG8c_Qd3v\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@soldersmoke\" style=\"color: #1155cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@<wbr><\/wbr>soldersmoke<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a really important Hall of Fame entry for us. This is our first completed SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver from India (more will come). Most importantly, this receiver was built by our good friend Ramakrishnan VU2JXN (ex VU3RDD). Ramakrishnan goes way back in SolderSmoke history. He was the one who first suggested (in 2006!) &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2025\/05\/09\/ramakrishnan-vu2jxns-fb-soldersmoke-direct-conversion-receiver-extremely-thrilled-hooked\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Ramakrishnan VU2JXN&#8217;s FB SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver: &#8220;Extremely thrilled!  Hooked!&#8221;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11,66,68,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dc-receiver-build","category-dc-rx-hall-of-fame","category-farhan","category-india","category-tj-dc-rx"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7069,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7067\/revisions\/7069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}