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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Another Treasure Trove Discovered

Our man in Ankara, Grayson, KJ7UM, sent me links to the truly amazing web site of Dr. J.B. Calvert, Professor Emeritus of Engineering at the University of Denver. Great stuff!
Sorry about the Istanbul/Ankara mix-up Grayson. I must say, Istanbul sounds cooler and more exotic. Good luck with the beer OM.
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Hi Bill,

Thought I would pass along the web site of quite an amazing fellow. While not a ham, he is a homebrewer, experimenter, and total scientist.
Guys like this amaze me!
http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/index.htm

This is the site of Dr. James Calvert. On his site are hundreds of "papers" (articles?) on hundreds of scientific topics, history optics, astronomy, etc. I have read quite a few and I am damn impressed with the guys style, and curiosity.
Check out his paper on vacuum tubes. I learned a hell of a lot from this about a subject I though I know pretty well.

Check out this link
http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/electron/elecindx.htm
and the section on tubes:
http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/electron/elect27.htm
It is excellent. Enough to keep me reading for years.

Thanks for the plug in your last podcast.
BTW, I live in Ankara (the capital). If i did live in Istanbul, parts would be much easier to get. Actually I have found a source of parts, but what I REALLY need is a good source of decent beer! TUrkey only has one beer and it sucks. Anyone want to send me a good beer I would be most appreciative (then I can homebrew much better!)!

Take care and keep poding

Grayson
KJ7UM/TA2 - Ankara, Turkey
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Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Russia, Vermont, Sputnik, Old Parts

When I heard of the terrible floods in Vermont, I thought immediately of OM Michael, AA1TJ (aka Comrade Mikhail, the Chief Designer) and his underground hamshack. I heard this morning that Michael is high and dry, up at his mountain top lair (the TV transmitter). Here is an update on the Sputnik project:

Fellas,
This morning DL3PB was kind enough to bring Peter, DL3JIN's recent work to my attention.
I think you will agree that Peter has made a beautiful job of it! He not only used Russian tubes (valves), he even had a 21.060MHz Russian-made quartz crystal on-hand. Many of the passive components appear to be ex-Soviet surplus as well. His front panel really shows great spirit. With 96Vdc on the PA anode he's seeing an RF output power of 650mW.
It should be great fun come October 4!
73/72,
Mike, AA1TJ

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

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Natural Disaster Report

We have battened down the hatches and are enjoying a quiet evening at home as Hurricane Irene approaches. The radar image from Norfolk Virginia describes the current situation quite well. You can see the eye about 150 km south-east of us. We currently have moderate rain and wind. I don't think it is going to be bad for us. Best wishes for all those under this storm.

As for the earthquake, well, most everyone has their earthquake story (those who don't are said to have Earthquake Envy). I was at poolside with Billy and Maria. It was quite a jolt here, stronger than anything we felt in Italy. When we got home, the only noticeable impact was that Maria's ET doll had fallen from a shelf in the shack. More details in SolderSmoke 137.

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

Friday, August 26, 2011

Beautiful Homebrew Gear from Italy

We may have had Fabio Bonucci's rigs on the blog before, but they are so nice I thought it would be OK to feature them again. Bravo Fabio!

http://nuke.ik0ixi.it/Autocostruzione/Ricetrasmettitori/tabid/484/Default.aspx
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Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Get SolderSmoke Daily News by e-mail

We have a new feature on the blog: You can easily arrange to get an e-mail whenever I post something new. You can get early notification on new podcast episodes. Just enter your e-mail address in the box to the upper right of the blog page.

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

Homebrew Microphone Using Cream of Tartar (NOT Tartar Sauce)

Podcast listeners will recall that this year's April 1 edition featured a story about my (supposed) efforts to cure long-standing audio problems by "chemically tailoring" home-made microphone elements. I asked for listener suggestions on which kitchen ingredients I should add to the mix. Very few listeners fell for it. But now -- as often happens -- somebody out there has completed the project that we were using as our annual hoax. Check it out. Very interesting:
http://leafcutterjohn.com/?p=1518
And I think he has a follow-up post.

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

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Radio Drama about RADIO!

Dale, W9DKB, alerts us to a radio drama from 1973 that is all about mysterious radio signals from space. Very cool. Thanks Dale.
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Hi Bill,


I've enjoyed your podcast for the past 2 years, never miss it. And I enjoyed your book, Global Adventures.

Last night I listened to a free radio show from Jim French Productions and thought of you. It's a story that involves computerized data signal processing, communication with aliens, radio noise analysis, NASA, Apollo, Skylab, deciphering codes based on chemical specific gravities, neat jazz music ... all the th
ings a knack victim like yourself would enjoy. And here's the kicker - the production was made in 1973! You can hear the old 500 series Bell telephones used for sound effects and all that. Give it a listen. I think you'll like it.

This is an episode of "Dameron". If you like listening to radio dramas, this is a great site to visit as they post a new
show on their "Listen Now" page each week. The Harry Nile adventures are great. But so are the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Of course all of them are available for download at a modest cost. (No, I have no affiliation with Jim French Productions.)

http://jimfrenchproductions.com/zc137m/index.php?main_page=page&id=2&chapter=0
is the link. Scroll down the page. The show you want is titled WEEK 804, Dameron, "Earth is Ours". Just click the blue "Listen Now" label.


73,
Dale
W9DKB
River Falls, WI

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