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Thursday, November 24, 2016

HB2HB: Butch K0BS with a KWM2 and a Hombrew 4-1000 Amp

Wow!  Now THAT is a shack! This morning I heard Butch K0BS and his friends on 40 meter SSB.  I knew I was listening to the voices of kindred spirits when I heard them talk about a drifting VFO and the need to heat up the filaments of an ART-13.   As the group was shutting down to begin their preparations for Thanksgiving dinners, I gave Bruce a call with my BITX 40 Module. He was on a KWM-2 (the rig that had been drifting a bit) and a homebrew 4-1000 amplifier.  I told him that I think a bit of VFO drift is a sign of good character. 

You really need to check out the pictures on Bruce's QRZ.com page:  

https://www.qrz.com/db/K0BS

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating the holiday.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) on Making Things and Making Mistakes

Driving home from work the other day I heard this NPR interview with the woodworking guy from the TV show "Parks and Recreation."  I've never seen the show, but I really liked the comments on the benefits of what we would call homebrewing:

MCEVERS: I feel like there are a lot of people out there listening who have spent exactly zero days being handy, like, their entire lives. Is there hope for people like this, and does your book provide it?

OFFERMAN: I think so. I mean, a lot of my own woodworking education comes from books and periodicals like Fine Woodworking and Popular Woodworking magazines. They're great teachers, but they're very somber. They're very sober. So it was important to me for this book to be really friendly and gentle and fun to let you know that whether you're getting into woodworking or making anything with your hands, it's really important to know going in that you're supposed to make mistakes. You're supposed to screw it up.

And not only do I think this is a very friendly introduction to woodworking, but I really have become a little bit of an evangelist to encourage - find something to make. If you make stuff for your house or your loved ones, you're curating your life in a way, saying, I don't have to just limit my choices to what I can buy at Amazon. I can also choose to make a table myself. And even if it looks crappy, it's still so much more charming because you've made that gesture.

You can listen to the 6 minute interview (it is funny) by clicking on the "PLAY" arrow in the upper left of this page:  

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/17/502476216/nick-offerman-shares-his-love-of-woodworking-in-good-clean-fun

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

HB2HB! Pete Talks to Famed SSDRA Project Builder Jeff Damm WA7MLH


Jeff "Roadkill" Damm 

Wow, THE RADIO GODS HAVE SPOKEN (TRGHS).  Pete gets on 40 with his new-old FPM5 homebrew rig and works homebrew legend Jeff Damm WA7MLH, who was also running a homebrew SSB rig.   HB2HB!   For those of you who don't know, Jeff is the guy who built many of the inspirationally ugly rigs in Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur.  Pete's second QSO was with SolderSmoke podcast listener K7ADD.  TRGHS! 

Hi Bill,
Was on 40M yesterday with the FPM5 rig and after finishing a QSO was called by WA7MLH (Jeff Damm –the road kill guy and protégé of Wes Hayward). Jeff was operating portable 7 in NW Montana running a homebrew 40 Watt SSB transceiver off of batteries being charged by a solar panel. Now that is real radio. I thanked him once again for sending me a goodie box about 5 years ago and am still using those parts.
Later after another QSO was called by K7ADD, Ben, and he couldn’t wait to tell me he was a long time SS listener and stated listening to SS made him take a whole new interest in ham radio –especially building stuff.
So you never know.

Pete

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Homebrew Processor with Discrete Transistors and LEDs



I've been working with an Arduino today.  Seeing this video makes me feel like such an APPLIANCE OPERATOR.  FB OM!  No store-bought mystery boxes for him! 

Thanks to Steve N8NM for alerting us to the magnificent project.

More details here:

http://www.popsci.com/man-builds-huge-megaprocessor

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Analog TO THE MAX! An Old School Readout for the BITX 40

Perhaps this was a reaction to a frustrating morning spent trying to get a 20x4 digital display to work with an Si5351 and an Arduino Uno via an I2C bus (I feel my blood pressure rising just due to the typing of those words).   After much digital fiddling, I declared a "BASTA!"  and looked around the shack for an antidote for the digital frustration.  There on the bench was my fully analog BITX40Module rig, with its homebrew L-C analog VFO.   It needed a better frequency readout. And this morning, it got one.  

The pointer is Sharpie ink on a bit of PC board.  It is held in place by superglue, suspended by a piece of wood about 1/4 inch off the chassis (to reduce dial parallax).  The numerals are in Dymo tape -- there was not enough room for the "7" but I think I will be able to remember this. 

Very therapeutic and satisfying.   
Designer: Douglas Bowman | Dimodifikasi oleh Abdul Munir Original Posting Rounders 3 Column