Here is short clip of a very cool HB2HB contact on 17 meters. Thanks Jens!
Check out his QRZ page here: https://www.qrz.com/db/DL2RMM
Serving the worldwide community of radio-electronic homebrewers. Providing blog support to the SolderSmoke podcast: http://soldersmoke.com
Solar X-rays: Geomagnetic Field: |
Here is short clip of a very cool HB2HB contact on 17 meters. Thanks Jens!
Check out his QRZ page here: https://www.qrz.com/db/DL2RMM
SolderSmoke Podcast #247 is available:
Audio Podcast: http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke247.mp3
Bill’s Bench:
The 15-10 Dual Bander.
n 10
pole crystal filter at 25 MHz.
n G3UUR,
Dishal, AADE and all that..
n Testing
woes. Looked bad. But it was a bad test cable. Duh.
n VFO
(Colpitts) at around 3.5 MHz.
n Buffer
blues: Bad J-310s. Beware!
n Variable
cap from a Heath Q Multiplier
n A
bit of a black art – competing goals. Freq coverage, etc.
n BFO
needed an amp to turn on the diodes in the balanced modulator
n TIA
amps. SIX dual direction TIAs. 18 transistors.
n On
a pine board (like Frank Jones)
n Will
use the N6QW all discrete AF amp.
n Maybe
an RD16 in the final?
n Will
build a second one for the DR.
Shameless Commerce: Mostly DIY RF and the PSSST kit. Todd K7TFC reports: “The P3ST is on
track for Lee Deforest's birthday release (August 26th). I'm going to send out
another newsletter on July 4th, and I'll give some details on P3ST development.”
Results of Todd’s Survey.
Pete’s
Bench
n
FT-8 on the KWM-1!
n
Presentation to the ham club.
n Why the Icom 7300 is the anti-thesis of homebrew.
MMAILBAG:
-- SPRAT 195 Summer 2023, in the
mailbox. A happy day at N2CQR
-- Armand WA1UQO sent a wonderful book about Faraday and Maxwell… And told
me Jim K8OI was heading to our area. I
met Jim at the VWS Field Day event.
FB. Thanks Armand.
-- Tony G4WIF sent Father’s Day greetings.
-- Alvin N5VZH asking about electrolytics for his 2-B. Hayseed Hamfest!
-- John AC2RL replacements for the IBEW.
We need to start over!
-- Steve “Snort Rosin” Smith WB6TNL was in the area. Sorry I missed him.
-- Joh DL6ID helping us to track down origins of a homebrew receiver
Grayson saw in Berlin.
-- Grayson KJ7UM was in Europe visiting his wife’s relatives. But I think he is back in the USA.
-- Walter KA4KXX sent a QRP HB family portrait.
-- Wouter ZS1KE sent info on surface mount soldering.
-- George Zaff KJ6VU Ham Radio Workbench – re-runs! Recommended audio
processor. Let me know how it sounds.
-- Michael AA1TJ Great to hear
from him.
-- Alan Wolke W2AEW on the toroids
he used in Diode Ring video.
Thanks Alan!
-- Dean KK4DAS, AI and SWR meter project
And new lexicon word:
Hamsplaining.
-- Bob N7SUR -- Let me know we are semifinalists in the Hack-A-Day prize!
Dear Bill,
I've been reading about Polyakov (or "sub-harmonic") Detectors for a long time:
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search/label/Polyakov--Vladimir
But until now, I never built one. Recently, Dean KK4DAS and the Vienna Wireless Makers group have been building a Direct Conversion receiver. Their receiver uses an Si5351 as the VFO, but of course Dean and I have decided to try to do things the hard way by building non-digital VFOs. At first we just came to the conclusion that my earlier Ceramic Resonator VFO wasn't much good (it drifted too much). This led us into standard Colpitts and Armstrong VFOs, and the fascinating world of temperature compensation. Then I remembered the Polyakov circuit -- this would allow us to use a 3.5 MHz VFO on the 7 MHz band. Lower frequency VFOs are easier to stabilize, so I started building my first Polyakov receiver. You can see the results (on 40 meters) in the video above.
I started working with a circuit from SPRAT 110 (Spring 2002). Rudi Burse DK2RS built a Polyakov receiver for 80 and 40 that he called the Lauser Plus. (Lauser means "young rascal" or "imp" in German.) For the AF amplifier, I just attached one of those cheap LM386 boards that you can get on the internet. With it, I sometimes use some old Iphone headphones, or an amplified computer speaker.
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke239.mp3
TRAVELOGUE:
James
Webb Space Telescope. Mars returning to
opposition in early December.
BILL'S BENCH
Hex Beam K4KIO - on roof – TV Rotor – 20-17-12 Lots of fun.
Working Japan regularly, Australia, South Africa on long path 17,000
miles. 52 countries SSB since July 11.
VFOs and Temp stabilization.
Dean KK4DAS found my ceramic resonator VFO for DC receiver drifty. He
was right. So I built a real LC Colpitts
VFO. Got me into temp stabilization. A new hobby!
An obsession. HT-37 and Ht-32
parts. Ovens? WU2D’s second VFO video. Understanding thermal drift and how to
address it. Split stator caps. Cut and
try.
Built a Polyakov DC Receiver. https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2010/03/polyakov-plus-dual-band-receiver-with.html Lauser Plus. Lauser = Imp or Young Rascal! DK2RS. He used a ceramic Resonator VXO at 3.58 MHz. Mine works great on 40 with VFO running 3.5 -- 3.65 MHz. See schematic below.
On 40 AM with DX-100 and MMMRX. DX-100 died.
12BY7 VFO buffer went bad. How
common is failure in this tube type? Nice QSO with Tim WA1HLR about the DX-100.
Got my Dominican license: HI7/N2CQR! SSSS on the way. Thanks to Radio Club Dominicano and INDOTEL.
Getting more active in the Vienna Wireless Society.
BOOK REVIEW:
"The
History of the Universe in 21 Stars” by Giles Sparrow. Written during the pandemic. Published by Welbeck, in London. https://www.amazon.com/History-Universe-21-Stars-imposters/dp/1787394654 Also:
From “Atoms to Amperes” by F.A. Wilson available for download. See blog.
SHAMELESS COMMERCE DIVISION:
Todd K7TFC getting ready to launch “Mostly DIY
RF.” I used his TIA boards in my 1712
rig. He will have boards like this and
much more. Stay tuned.
I need more viewers on YouTube. They want 4,000 hours IN A CALENDAR
YEAR! Please watch!
FARHAN’S NEW “DAYLIGHT AGAIN” RIG. Analog.
VFO. Comments, observations. We need to get him on the podcast. Maybe two shows: SDR and HDR.
PETE'S BENCH
Time very limited. But still sharing lots of tribal wisdom.
Wireless set with tubes!
Tool recommendation – Air compressor
Farhan VU2ESE – Speaking of big antennas “Whenever
I look at the huge construction cranes in Hyderabad, I always think how one
could make 160m, 4 element yagi using it as a boom..”
Todd K7TFC in Spain, spotting Log Periodics in Madrid.
Andreas DL1AJG: Can
Biologists fix Radios?
Janis AB2RA Wireless Girl.
Expert on Hammarlunds. And was my
first contact with the Tuna Tin 2. She too was HB!
Peter Parker VK3YE on Owen Duffy VK1OD
Lex PH2LB on homebrew radio
Would this really be homebrew? Mail from H-A-D article on FM receiver
F4IET a DSB rig from France
Ciprian got his ticket YO6DXE
Josh G3MOT sent us a good video about the Vanguard satellite
and IGY.
Dave Wilcox K8WPE bought Chuck Penson’s Heathkit book.
Rogier -- So many great articles and links from PA1ZZ
Bill AH6FC Aloha.
Retiring. Wants to build. Mahalo!
Grayson KJ7UM Working
on an Si5351. Gasp.
Mike KE0TPE viewing YouTube while monitoring 6 meters. He will have a lot of time to watch!
Chris KD4PBJ spotted Don KM4UDX from VWS FB
Mark WB8YMV building a superhet. Having trouble with 455 kc IF can filter.
Walter KA4KXX Great comment on the Daylight Again rig.
Ramakrishnan Now VU2JXN was VU3RDD. Found lost Kindle with SolderSmoke book on it. Building SDR rig from junk box. Trouble with the LM386.
Pete, Farhan and Tony: Shelves of Shame
Andreas points to diagrams in the article (see below). The first (A) shows how the biologist might view the radio. The schematic (B) shows how engineers or technicians view it:
Thank you Klaus! And thanks to JF3HZB! (Does anyone have more information on him?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_village_fran%C3%A7ais
In season 3, Episodes 7 and 8, resistance members parachute in from London. They are equipped with what looks a lot like a paraset. One of their tubes develops an open filament. The Germans engage in radio direction finding. The Morse code is fairly good (but not great). All in all, there is quite a bit of radio-related material.
"A French Village" is a very well-done series. But it is (of course) quite dark.