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Sunday, January 15, 2017

Wonderful "QSO Today" Interview with Ian Keyser G3ROO

N2CQR and G3ROO

I knew it was going to be a good Sunday morning in the shack when I saw that Eric 4Z1UG had posted an interview with Ian Keyser G3ROO.   This wonderful interview brought back memories of my visit to G3ROO's amazing facility in Dover.  (Thanks to Tony Fishpool who brought me out there.)

In this interview, you will hear Ian state -- in a very nonchalant English way -- that he built his first receiver at age 8.  And I really loved the story of how Ian got his call sign.  FB Ian.  

Ian is a very prominent member of the G-QRP club.  I was oddly relieved to learn that he is working on a LEGAL LIMIT LINEAR AMPLIFIER.  I hope he has special dispensation from Rev. George Dobbs.  I intend to cite this project if we ever have to defend Pete Juliano from charges of QROism.

Listen to the interview here:



That is a key designed for use aboard a hydrogen balloon.  This is the kind of thing that Ian has in his shack.
 
This is Ian's variometer -- mentioned in the interview.

That's me using one of  Ian's spy sets. 

Ian's antenna book:

Here are the SolderSmoke Daily News posts about Ian and the Dover Construction Club:



Saturday, January 14, 2017

BITX40 to BITX40 In Australia -- Both Rigs on the Beach, Video at Both Ends



There is so much great homebrewing going on down-under.   It makes me jealous.  And so much of it is for phone.  FB.

I really like VK3YE's sand graphic proclaiming to the world (or at least to the beach!) that a BITX40 to BITX40 contact had been made. 

Looks like both rigs were using VK3YE's ceramic resonator mod for the VFO.

Be sure to check out the BITX 40 Mods blog:
http://bitxhacks.blogspot.com

Thursday, January 12, 2017

N6ORS's Franken-SDR Superhet


Of course, I love it.  MOSFETS!  NE602's!  10.7 Mc IF cans!  Cycles, not hertz! And a Tayloe Quadrature Sampling Detector made from junkbox parts from the Reagan administration. FB Keith.   And the frequency display is icing on the cake.  

Bill:

I thought the group might find my new Franken-SDR interesting.
It is an SDR with a superhet front end. 


I wanted to play with an SDR but I didn't want to get a kit or buy
parts, so I scrounged through he drawers and found a mux chip
cd-4016 circa-1980 some old 7400 logic that is probably per-1980.
This could make a QSD but only very low frequencies. Well I thought
how about at IF frequencies?


The frontend is a MOSFET mixer (1975) , the 10.7 IF is a dual gate MOSFET
(1975), the second mixer is a NE602, the IF cans are all stagger tuned to
give a bandwidth of 50kcs.
The only thing modern is the DDS but I old-time-ifyed it with BCD switches.


Keith N6ORS





VK6FTH did something similar: http://www.vk6fh.com/vk6fh/SDRradio.htm


Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Understanding the "O" (organic) in OLED


That's the one I'm using.  Less than 1 inch on each side.  No back light.  8 bucks shipped:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KRZY7PW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is a thorough description of the technology:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Boatanchors! HT-37 to HT-37 contact with W1ZB


Jerry W1ZB and I met up on 40 a week or so ago.  He was running a Hallicrafters  HT-37.  This spurred me to clear up the T/R problem that had knocked me out of the competition on Straight Key Night  (I'm sure I would have won!).  One spray of DeOxit D5 on the HT37 relay contacts was all it took.  Jerry and I set up a schedule for this morning on 40 minutes.   Above you can see a short video of the first part of our HT-37 to HT-37 contact.

Jerry has an amazing collection of beautiful old tube radios.  Check out his QRZ.com page:
https://www.qrz.com/lookup/w1zb

BTW:  Speaking of old rigs talking to identical old rigs:   Last night on 40 I worked TI2NF in San Jose, Costa Rica.  He was running a Collins KWM-2 to a Collins 30-L1.  It was real nice to talk to somebody who was using an unusual rig.  Right after we finished, VE3OCZ called  TI2NF.   VE3OCZ was ALSO running a KWM-2 to a 30-L1.   TRGHS.  
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