Just go to http://soldersmoke.com. On that archive page, just click on the blue hyperlinks and your audio player should play that episode.
http://soldersmoke.com
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.
W5KUB has a really good interview with Farhan. There are several spots where the Skype connection gets quite choppy, but hang in there -- it gets better. Farhan provides a lot of good info on the history of the BITX rigs, his design philosophy, and the importance of the EMRFD book. He also talks about how the BITX 40 Module is produced. And he talks a bit about possible future rigs. Great stuff. I was very pleased to hear that Farhan is trying to eliminate the need for his FT-817 (he currently needs it for its general coverage receiver) so that he can have a completely homebrew hamshack. FB!
This is one of those projects that sort of just happened. First I built an Si5351/Arduino synthesizer with a small OLED I2C display (program by Thomas LA3PNA -- thanks Thomas). Tom Hall AK2B up in New York helped me get the Si5351 VFO and BFO going -- thanks Tom. Then, over the holidays I decided to build a rig of some sort around the Si5351. I started with a superhet receiver using an NE602 as the mixer and another as the product detector. I power the NE602 with an 8 volt regulator from W8NSA -- thanks Jim. I made a 4 crystal 11 MHz Cohn filter using crystals left over from a BITX project. The software from AADE helped me design the matching networks to match the filter to the 1500 ohm impedances of the NE602s. I built the circuits on a milled board sent to me by Pete Juliano N6QW -- thanks Pete! I put a dual tuned circuit at the front end, going into a MOSFET RF amplifier. For audio amp I have an LM386. The whole thing is screwed down to a barbeque grilling plank from Whole Foods -- thanks Whole Foods! (This seems appropriate -- the "O" in OLED is for "Organic"!) It sounds nice. I may eventually try to put some relays in to switch the NE602s and the filter around to make this a transceiver.
Mike Herr WA6ARA was on 40 meters with old gear this Straight Key Night. Mike was receiving with a venerable Heath HR10B. One of his favorite QSOs was with Keith W6SIY; Keith was running Conar twins that had the kind of "swing" that stirs up the kind of memories that SKN is all about. FB. Mike made a bandscan recording of what 40 sounded like, and he made another of W6SIY's beautiful signal. You can listen by clicking on these links: http://soldersmoke.com/SKNBANSCAN.mp3 http://soldersmoke.com/SKNQSO.mp3 My own SKN effort was cut short this year by technical difficulties. The HT-37's relays stopped doing their thing. Probably the relay drive tube going soft. But I did manage to make two great contacts on 40: WA6URY is in Los Angeles. This was a very timely contact -- my wife and I went to see the movie "La La Land" on New Year's eve -- the film features a lot of beautiful LA scenery. Dan was running a kilowatt to a 2 element Yagi on 40. He too owns an HT-37 and a Drake 2B. He was on a straight key "with dirty contacts." FB Dan, thanks. And then I worked W1PID! Wow! Jim is well known for his operations from field locations and for his intrepid participation in many of the radio adventures of Michael Rainey AA1TJ. Jim was on the Maine sea coast expedition when Michael was attempting to cross the pond with his voice-powered radio. On SKN Jim was in New Hampshire running 35 watts to a Windom off-center fed dipole. His Morse key is a Kent.TRGHS.Thanks Jim.
"SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" is now available as an e-book for Amazon's Kindle.
Here's the site:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V9FIVW
Re: Another vote for the LP100A
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By DX EXPLORER
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