Podcasting since 2005! Listen to Latest SolderSmoke
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
SolderSmoke Re-Play: Goggle EMBRACES Morse Code: Gmail Tap
Saturday, May 15, 2021
SolderSmoke Podcast #230 is available! Apr 1, Mars, Group Build, SDR, SSB, Mich Mighty Mites, Mailbag
SolderSmoke Podcast #230 is available for download
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke230.mp3
Saturday, April 3, 2021
A VERY Successful April Fools' Day
Thursday, April 1, 2021
FCC to Ban "Legacy" Equipment and Circuitry
From the FCC Newsline:
Out with the old
In a long-expected policy move, the Federal Communications Commission today announced that starting on April 2, 2022, all equipment in use by the amateur radio service must comply with strict emission purity standards. The Commission's rule-making focuses on the bandwidth of high frequency transceivers. Starting one year from tomorrow, amateur equipment will be limited to a bandwidth of 3500 cycles per second. Emissions outside the bandwidth limits must be at least 100 db below the average power in the bandpass. In effect, this means that amateur equipment must make use of the kind of "brick wall" filtering only available from software defined equipment. Bringing the service into conformity with commercial practices, all high frequency equipment will be on Upper Sideband.
"No more skirts"
An FCC official -- who requested anonymity because of "threats" -- told Newsline that part of the motivation behind today's announcement was a desire to end the unseemly discussion of the filter "skirts" of "legacy" ham radio gear: "Obviously there were concerns about the pejorative way many hams were referring to 'the skirts.' This is the 21st century! It was time to be more inclusive!"
Audio Tinkering to Continue
The FCC official told Newsline that the Commission is not in any way attempting to discourage hams from tinkering with the "audio quality" of their commercial SDR equipment: "As long as they keep the bandwidth to 3500 Hz, they can tinker and adjust to their hearts' content," said the official. He went on to use some of the colorful language recently heard on the ham bands: "If they want to include very low audio frequencies -- what some call 'the thunder down under' they can do that. Or if they want to emphasize the high frequencies -- for that "Krispy Kreme" sound -- they can do that too. All they have to do is learn how to set the menus on their equipment. We understand that the manufacturers will soon be making available software packages that will -- with just a simple download -- set the menus according to the desires of the consumer. Uh, I mean of the radio amateur."
The FCC official said he thinks the ruling will actually encourage and facilitate audio tweaking. "We know this is important to modern hams. It makes them feel connected to the days when hams actually built their own equipment. We have noticed the development of an amazingly rich technical vocabulary, terms like 'presence' "muddy' 'bright' and 'punchy' are now in common use. Clearly the Commission would not want to stand in the way of this kind of technical advancement!"
Sinking the Boatanchors
The FCC acknowledged that this ruling spells the end for on-the-air use of older ham equipment. "Clearly none of that old junk will meet the new requirements. I mean these guys were literally using hunks of rock to filter their sidebands. It was practically medieval! Time to wake up, smell the decaffeinated coffee, and get with the SDR program OM!"
Fears of violent push-back
The FCC official did acknowledge that there are fears of possible violent push-back from certain "sub-cultures" in the ham radio world. "Working closely with our partners in Homeland Security, we have looked closely at the possibility of violent pushback. Of particular concern are groups that appear to be fiercely loyal to what they sometimes defiantly refer to as 'Hardware Defined Radio.' There are some truly frightening groups out there. One group is called the CBLA -- The Color Burst Liberation Army. They seem especially fond of quartz crystals and are radically opposed to the new SDR requirements. Also of concern are groups that continue to insist on using Double Sideband Unsuppressed Phone generated by equipment using vacuum tube. Vacuum tubes! They call them 'thermatrons.' Again this is really medieval." The spokesman said that the FBI is monitoring these groups, but is not very concerned because of the physical condition of many of the fanatics. "Most of these guys rarely leave their homes. In fact, for the last year many of them seem to have been repeating a strange "Stay in the Shack" mantra. Many still smoke, never exercise, and now refuse to take the vaccine. So we are not too worried, " said the FBI spokesman.
Support from Industry and the Major Ham Organization
FCC officials tell Newsline that the major equipment manufacturers -- along with the principal ham radio organization -- were very supportive of this move, seeing it as a major opportunity to "stimulate" both sales and advertising revenue.
Saturday, May 5, 2018
SolderSmoke Podcast #204 April 1, SPRAT Cover 2, uBITX mania, MAILBAG
SolderSmoke Podcast #204 is available!
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke204.mp3
5 May 2018
April 1 Recap -- We thank you for your support!
Pete's Rig on Cover of SPRAT 174
uBITX Mania
uBITX Dual Conversion Design
uBITX Gettng more out of the Arduino/Si5351 combo
uBITX KD8CEC's amazing software
uBITX Future Possibilities
uBITX On-the-Air Experiences, with CW too!
MAILBAG
KD8CGH's Hyderabox -- THERE ARE TWO!
QSO with N1AW's cardboard uBITX
DuWayne on QSO TODAY
Jack 5R8SV -- Radio Gods NOT Happy
Jack Purdum W8TEE -- Thanks OM
Charles AI4OT
Chris KB4PBT 15 inch telescope
John WJ0NF Reading SolderSmoke
Ken W8KTP Ordering a uBITX
Darren KG7KOI Listening
Gary AK4NA New Word: "Cabinetize" FB OM!
Monday, April 2, 2018
REPRIEVE! SolderSmoke Saved by a Loophole!
The expressions of concern were really quite touching. One listener asked if he should -- in an effort to keep us out of hot water -- destroy his SolderSmoke coffee mug. With fans like that, well, what can I say?
In responding to the legal crisis, our listeners displayed ASTOUNDING creativity in their crafting of alternative names for the podcast.
Buck seems to have a real "knack" for name-smithing. He wrote:
The easiest would be Solder Haze - it's a simple scan & replace. But
Sunday, April 1, 2018
NO MORE SMOKE: Lawsuit Leads to Podcast Changes
First, an apology. Some of what we told you was, in retrospect, kind of misleading. Pete's computer didn't really crash. Sure, he did have to reconstruct a lot of files, but his original computer was just fine. The problem was that it had been taken by court order as part of the legal mess we find ourselves in.
Here is the deal: We got hit with a "violation of trademark" lawsuit. It seems that one of the new agricultural industries that has sprung up recently in California has taken a very aggressive legal stance in protecting their "rights." Part of this effort is a proactive filing for trademark protection for any product name that could in the future be related to their product. So apparently anything with "smoke" in the name was scooped up by them. They also claim to forsee the possibility of a "solder-scented recreational product." We also suspect they are in cohoots with the new electronic cigarette "vaping" industry. We have heard that they are working with a "vaping" company in Birmingham, England that calls itself "SodderSmoke." (As you may have heard, the word has a different connotation in the UK.) They are using this British Vaping thing to bolster their claim that we are violating their trademark.
Pete feels terrible about all of this. The fact that he is located in California was what allowed the LA lawyers to take us to court in that state. And we have been advised that we do not have much of a chance in this matter. You see, marijuana has become a very important product in Pete's state. And "vaping" with e-cigarettes is also very big out there. So there is big money and big cultural forces behind this effort. We a tiny small fish caught in the net of big new industries.
Pete wants to fight this (you know how he is) but I think we will have to just give in and move on. Look, STARTING TODAY they are threatening to sue us for ONE MILLION DOLLARS every instance in which we use name of the podcast that you have all come to love so much. I am scrambling to expunge the title from all the blog files. Just look at the header on the top of this blog page.
So at this point we find ourselves in search of a new name. We turn to you, our loyal listeners, for ideas. We hope to come up with something that will remind people of what we once were, of the good times we had under the old name. Please send us your suggestion. PLEASE DO NOT use the e-mail address that has the old name in it. That would just make the lawyers and the "farmers" rich. Instead, send your suggestions to n2cqr@yahoo.com
Bill and Pete
Saturday, May 6, 2017
SolderSmoke Podcast #196 Rockets, Pete's EXPULSION, SDR, DiFX, '602 rigs, T.O.M.
View from rocket. I'm in front of the swing-set, with hat on. Billy to my left. |
5 May 2017
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke196.mp3
Shenandoah Rocket Launch -- With video!
MAILBAG
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Pete Juliano's Expulsion from the QRP Hall of Fame
First, I'd like to thank the many, many radio amateurs who sent in e-mails demanding that our friend Pete Juliano stay in the QRP Hall of Fame. Their outrage at his expulsion was palpable. They were angry and fired up. Many compared Pete Juliano to baseball great Pete Rose (who also got expelled from a Hall of Fame). They wrote to us from all around the globe. Several saw the action against Pete as yet another example of the deep divisions that are affecting modern society -- several saw it as being connected to our recent Presidential election, and/or BREXIT.
Some writers took a diplomatic approach and tried to suggest ways that this ugly conflict might be ended -- one fellow suggested that Pete try to redeem himself by agreeing to enter some kind of QRP 12 Step Program. Others got legalistically combative and said we should just "lawyer-up."
A number of our correspondents took note of the seasonal nature of these kinds of events. Who can forget the April move a few years back by the New Jersey State Legislature to ban the use of soldering irons in the home? "This kind of thing always seems to happen in the Spring-time!" said one irate Juliano surrogate, "It is like Shakespeare wrote: 'Beware the Ides of March' -- only two weeks later!" Another ham also spotted the seasonal nature of these stories and quoted from T.S. Elliott's poem "The Wasteland": "April is the cruelest month, especially the first day!"
We must point out that not all those who wrote were opposed to Pete's expulsion -- one writer said, "It is about time that that Pete "KW" Juliano got what he deserved! Good riddance!" (We have sent this e-mail to one of Pete's Italian-American relatives in New Jersey for, uh, action.)
Several of those who wrote in support of Pete are prominent members of the amateur radio community (they will -- if they follow our instructions -- remain anonymous.)
One activist supporter said that Pete's expulsion should lead to a street protest movement called "Pete's Award Matters" and that the chant at demonstrations could be "NO JULIANO, NO PEACE!" Kind of catchy don't you think?
Anyway, we sincerely hope you have ALL figured out what was going on here. For those who have not, and for all those who wrote in, let me complete the tradition by saying it: "April Fool!"
We'd like to thank all who participated in this long-standing amateur radio tradition. Special thanks to Preston Douglas and the QRP-ARCI for putting up with all this. (Tony Fishpool told us that he knew this couldn't be real, because someone as nice as Preston Douglas would NEVER expel anyone.)
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Soldersmoke Podcast #186 Is Available -- April 1 Rap Up, Pi Talk from Pete, Collins and Raspberries, Bill's Analog RX, Visits and Hamfests, MAILBAG
Monday, April 4, 2016
April 1 and WireWrapRap: How to Calculate Your Score
Even though "more involvement in contesting" was just another part of our WireWrapRap hoax, I thought it would be appropriate to offer a scoring scheme for those who participated in our little April 1 special event. Just answer the following questions and keep track of how many points you earn for each:
When you read the WireWrapRap April 1 blog post, how many paragraphs did you read through before you knew it was an April Fool's Day joke? (Maximum 12 points. If you knew it was a joke as soon as you read the title, award yourself ZERO points.)
When you read the WireWrapRap April 1 blog post, were you at any point further convinced of its authenticity by the fact that the title of the blog had been changed? If so, award yourself 2 points.
If after reading the WireWrapRap April 1 blog post you Googled "Wire Wrap," award yourself 5 points. Award 15 more points if you even briefly thought that this might be a nice alternative to soldering.
When you read the section about the digital modes, did you at any point question the existence of the "new" SNICKR, Oreo, and Oregano modes? If not, award yourself 5 points.
After reading the WireWrapRap April 1 blog post, did you -- in an effort to confirm your suspicions -- go to the comment section to see if others had declared it an April Fool's joke? If so, award yourself 10 points. (Be honest here guys. We got 41 comments on this post, a new record for the SolderSmoke blog. For some reason a lot of people were checking the comments section. I'm just sayin...)
If, after reading the WireWrapRap April 1 blog post you felt anger toward the author for the way he had so selfishly and greedily abandoned the cause of analog, discrete component, Hardware Defined, axial lead electronics, award yourself 5 points.
If, when you noticed that MANY of the comments on the April 1 blog post had been "removed by the blog administrator," you assumed they were obscene, irate, or perhaps (justified?) threats, award yourself 15 points. (In fact they all said "APRIL FOOL!" and were removed so that they wouldn't spoil the fun for late arrivals.)
If one of your comments was among those "removed by the blog administrator" award yourself NEGATIVE 5 points.
If your anger about the changes being announced to the SolderSmoke podcast led you to send a complaining or threatening e-mail (or text or tweet!), go ahead and award yourself 10 points (and please consider enrolling in an anger management program).
If, on the other hand, after reading the WireWrapRap April 1 blog post you actually sent us an e-mail, comment, text, or tweet congratulating us or wishing us well on the new WireWrapRap podcast, award yourself a richly deserved 25 points. And thanks for the kind wishes.
If this scoring scheme is making you angry now, award yourself 5 points and seriously consider the anger management thing.
If, after reading the WireWrapRap April 1 blog post you actually tried to find out how to get the new podcast from Soundcloud, award yourself 25 points.
Please send me your scores. You can put them in the comments section (and I know you know how to do this). Or you can e-mail them to soldersmoke@yahoo.com. Or you can text them or tweet them to us or send them to the Soundcloud (just kidding). Don't worry, we probably won't be announcing the winner.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Our New Sponsor: HOMEBREW 4 U! 家釀的ä½
As I mentioned in the last podcast, we've been in some pretty serious negotiations with a new sponsor that I think is going to bring some MAJOR changes to the podcast.
"Homebrew 4 U" å®¶é‡€çš„ä½ is an innovative new company based in Fakeszuhow, China. Up until now they specialized in custom circuit board manufacturing, but they recently contacted us with an expansion idea that we found very interesting. They have been listening to the podcast, reading the ham radio magazines, and monitoring the U.S. amateur frequencies (especially 75 and 40). They noticed some things:
Most hams DO NOT build their own gear.... but many seem to feel vaguely guilty about this. They seem to react with unease when they encounter a ham using a homebrew rig. They grow defensive and scornful. The jealousy is quite palpable. Obviously there is an exploitable niche in those sentiments!
Many hams express a DESIRE to build gear but then follow-up and say they "have no time" (what with all the contesting, video games, NASCAR, and golf!)
Other hams say that they really want to build their own gear, but don't know anything about electronics (even though they are Extra Class -- how did that happen?) and they don't really want to learn.
Some hams say they would really like to build their own gear but find parts of the process quite distasteful. Like winding toroidal coils. Or reading schematics. And then there's all that soldering! But they insist that in spite of all this distaste for actual building, they really DO want to join the ranks of the homebrewers.
So.... Homebrew 4 U is developing a FANTASTIC product line that meets the needs of these guilty, busy, knowledge-free, toroid hating, solder-averse homebrew wannabes!
On April 1, 2016, Homebrew 4 U will roll out a line of GENUINE homebrew radios. To bolster their genuiness, they will henceforth be referred to not as radios but as "RIGS" (nice touch, don't you think?)
Unless the buyers select the optional "really build" option (see below), each "rig" will be complete and ready to operate. And here is the beautiful part: it will be a genuine homebrew rig, BECAUSE the company is doing all their work in an actual HOME in Fakezuhow! Pretty great huh? So you WILL be able to proudly announce on 40 meters that you are running a homebrew rig (Remember: rig, not radio!)
Each of the H4U rigs will share some common features, all designed to provide the proud buyer (I mean homebrewer) with opportunities to remind people that he is running a genuine homebrew rig:
-- They will drift a bit. Not too much, but enough to provide you with the chance to mention that your "rig" is "homebrew." Prepare to be envied my friends!
-- The frequency readout will be set up to put you automatically on "wrong" frequencies.
Like 7.162.025 instead of the "correct" 7.162.000000000000000000000000000000000000. Again, another opportunity to gloat. Pretty neat, huh?
-- The audio quality on SSB will be SUPERB. EXCELLENT. This will provide some wonderful opportunities to compare signals with the Enhanced SSB gang. Yours will sound as good or better than theirs, and you can follow-up by telling them that you are using a Radio Shack electret mic element, a one transistor mic amp, and NO EQUALIZER. They'll love it!
REALLY BUILD OPTION: For those wanting to enhance the truthiness of their on-the-air homebrew experience, for just a few dollars extra, H4U will leave one part UNCONNECTED. You will then be able to make that critical final connection (don't worry, it won't be a toroid, and the connection will be via alligator clips -- if you've gone this far we know you don't own a soldering iron!). You will thus be able to tell your envious interlocutors about the happy day when you "finished" your radio. I mean rig. You know what I mean.
Pete is heading out to China this week to supervise the manufacturing (I mean the homebrewing). Thanks Pete! Skype in OM!
So remember, the roll-out is set for April 1, 2016. Watch out Yaesu!
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Monday, April 2, 2012
Google CW!
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
Homebrew Microphone Using Cream of Tartar (NOT Tartar Sauce)
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
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
EDN Article on April 1 and other Pranks
http://www.edn.com/blog/Anablog/40759-Pranking_bosses_friends_and_competitors_.php
Here is one of my favorite segments (it involved a 'scope and a soldering iron):
You should beware of prank escalation. Len Sherman, application engineer at Maxim recalls a prank exchange with Jim Williams when they were at MIT. As he loves to do, Williams had bought an old broken oscilloscope and worked on it all day, bringing it back to life and perfect operation. After Williams went home for the night, Sherman put a piece of toilet paper under Jim’s oscilloscope graticule. The paper was unnoticeable, but made the scope trace fuzzy. It looked like a focus problem. Jim went crazy the next day trying to fix this problem. He had the covers off and was measuring all the high voltage circuits. It took a few hours before he found the paper.
To retaliate, Williams took the hinge pins out of the lab door and tied a rope to the doorknob that he pulled back into the room, threw over a beam in the ceiling, and tied to 100 pounds of ballast. The next morning Sherman put the key in the lock and turned the knob. The entire door left it hinges and glided, upright, back into the lab about 10 feet. It then stopped and fell over. “It looked like something out of a Stephen King movie,” recalls Sherman.
Sherman then rigged up a water nozzle to a photo-switch triggered by the lab lights. He rigged a soldering iron with coil of solder around it used as a fuse, to time out the prank. Sherman didn’t want to flood the lab, just run the water nozzle for a minute or so. Williams got wet.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
SolderSmoke Podcast #123
SolderSmoke #123
4/1/2010
Spring! Equinox! Sap in Vermont! Aurora in Norway! Birds singing in Rome!
SolderSmoke on Oprah. Program Schedule:http://www.soldersmoke.com/oprah.html
Special Report from MASSCON QRP Convention by Mark, NX1K
Propagation improvingWSPR as a personal sunspot detector
Building the W3PM WSPR rig
Colpitts oscillators
Polyakov's "Russian Mixer" BANDSWEEP: A low-frequency sweep by Chris, KD4PBJ
EMRFD on Direct Conversion and Direct Aversion
Faraday's toroid diagram
NA5N's ISBN
MAILBAG
SolderSmoke--THE BOOK:
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3999032
SolderSmoke--THE STORE:
http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke