As I have mentioned in the podcast and in blog posts, I have a lot of trouble picturing HOW 20 meter photons somehow fly off my antenna. I understand how EM WAVES are generated. But there doesn't seem to be any corresponding explanation for how the photons are generated.
This video looks at a related question: How BIG are the photons of visible light? I am not sure this is all correct (and neither, apparently, is the creator of this video) but it is very interesting.
Check out the shadow at my feet. The sun is directly overhead. This happens here on July 31, shortly after noon. We define "the tropics" as the area of the earth at which -- as some point in the year -- the sun will be directly overhead. Here we are at about 18 degrees North latitude, so for us, the overhead date is July 31. We are definitely in the tropics. A good graphical description of what is happening appears here:
20S 0943Z 0543L K8JSM/AM Sean, pilot on a 757/300. En route from San Francisco to Orlando with 246 souls on board, including a bunch of kids going to Disneyland. Was 35,000 feet over Louisiana (12 miles East of Shreveport) when I first spoke to him. (He had been in QSO with Andrew VK6IK in Western Australia. I could hear Andrew also.) Sean was using the 400 W Rockwell-Collins transceiver on the plane (that's his picture of the control panel, above), with the antenna vertical in the back vertical stabilizer (rudder). I told him I was running 20 watts from a homebrew rig to a vertical ¼ wave ground plane antenna about 70 feet up; he speculated that the fact that we were both vertically polarized must have been helping. Sean said he also pilots 767s transatlantic.
I really had two contacts with him, Around 0600 local he was calling CQ and no one was answering. So I called him again and we continued: I told him about the Aeronautical Mobile contact I had had from Samana. I also told him about my contacts with MIR and RS-10 (and the RS-10 robot!) from the Dominican Republic 1992-1996. I told him that Elisa had been present for many of the contacts with Norm Thagard on Mir station (Elisa walked in the HI7 shack at around this time – Sean said hello.) Sean said he has been a ham for a long time – since before he was a pilot. He has built a 2 meter “tape measure and PVC” antenna. I told him we have a little aircraft radio and use it to listen to the tower at Punta Cana airport, and to aircraft calling the regional ATC in Santo Domingo. Sean says he too has a little airband receiver and often uses it to listen to airplane tower traffic. Sean said the airline encourages this kind of contact because it is a way to keep pilots alert on long overnight flights (other pilots have other activities to do the same). As we spoke he was waiting for a meal (salmon). He mentioned that he could see the constellation Orion out the window; I told him I had been looking at Orion in low in the East just before talking to him. In the end, Sean had to sign as the plane crossed into Florida and aircraft pilot duties took precedence.
3) Note that a rule of thumb I have used successfully in adjusting RF Power MOSFET
bias is to increase the voltage in 100mV steps, measuring the RF Output Power
each time, and stop as soon as you start to see significantly diminishing returns.
4) Although I did mention a plexiglass cover (the idea was from the Electroluminescent
Receiver in photo below) in a 2017 entry I made on my QRZ page, I never built one, because I have found a cover of any kind to be unnecessary and even detrimental based on operating portable outdoors in a public park with my rigs once every month for 10 years.
From these experiences I have enjoyed the wonderment and respect I have received
from fellow hams as well as passersby who have universally admired my creations.
If the truth were known, my homebrew Alfresco transceivers might be the most
photographed radios in all of ham history!
Therefore, the only box I bring to my ham radio outings is for my lunch, because nobody
really gets excited about photographing just another box.
However, I do use plastic carrying cases per the photo for any rigs I carry
in the trunk of my car. If it rains, the top of the carrying case can be used as a
temporary cover, so I know contacts can be made in a light rain because I have done it.
[Of course, credit card hams are not capable of operating portable even on a cloudy day
or their $$$$ radios would suffer from high humidity disease and need to be sent
back to the offshore factory for $$$ refurbishment!]
5) Lastly I will mention that I have never used any type of wood for a radio base because
wood is too heavy (and 1/8 inch aircraft plywood is too expensive), and the strength of
wood is not necessary to support a measly 5 pounds of electronic parts.
Instead, per the photo, I have used Coroplast yard sign material (usually two sheets
with the channels crosswise then taped or glued together with the top covered using copper tape) common school science fair poster board, or good heavy duty cardboard such as from a TV set box.
Either light or heavy-duty double-sided tape and 4-40 or 6-32 nuts, bolts, and washers (sometimes oversized) are used to hold everything on board. Occasionally L brackets, standoffs, hot glue, and foam or balsa wood support pieces are also utilized.
In summary, keep up your good work as the new star on the Soldersmoke Podcast and
That's me at the operating position. Window looks out to the terrace and to the ocean to the East, the Mona channel. The shack is on the top (seventh) floor.
Here is the view from the terrace, looking South. The big terrain feature is Cabo San Rafael.
From the terrace looking North.
Looking East into the morning sun
From the terrace looking West.
Antennas will go up there. Perhaps solar panels too.
A bog portion of the shack is a workbench with tools and test gear.
Yesterday an old friend from Santo Domingo, Luis Ernesto HI8LEZ stopped by. Thirty years ago we were pioneers in the use of amateur radio satellites from the Dominican Republic. Luis Ernesto is in the book!
The delay was caused by my being at SolderSmoke Shack South and not having an Audacity audio editor in my ancient Chrome book. Thanks to Dean KK4DAS for doing the editing, and for stripping the audio from the YouTube video. I am getting a better computer so things should be back to normal soon.
Thanks Lex: Your message reminded me of a comment sent to me on the YouTube channel. The commenter seemed to criticize my use of a digital oscilloscope. Well, the criticism came to me via the internet, computers, and Starlink, so, yes, there are great advantages to using new technology! 73 from HI7 Bill N2CQR
Hello Bill and Pete,
On hackaday there is a post with the question : Are Hackers the future of amateur radio?
Although the term "hackers" is only seen by the masses as a term for someone who gains unauthorized access to computer systems (it even appears in the dictionary that way), IMHO it is much broader. I always explain it as someone who is interested in technology and uses techniques to use things in a different way than what they where intended or to add new functionality to existing things. But also inventing new things, whether or not to satisfy his curiosity, or to learn new things in order to expand his knowledge or be able to make new things.
With this in mind let us go back to the question: "Are hackers the future for amateur radio?"
I think that from the beginning of amateur radio, the OMs were a kind of "hackers" who satisfied their curiosity and tried things out by making things themselves. And I think it will certainly remain that way. The fact that we have started using more computer technology / digital things in our hobby is nothing but progress. You take technology as you can or want to use it. Think about the analog VFO from Bill and the Si5351 VFO from Pete, or petrol cars and electronics cars. Both have the same goal, just different tech. Or for example you can tighten a screw by hand, but you can also use a cordless drill. Do you have less technical skills? No, I don't think so, you are just more efficient, digital technology and computer technology have added efficiency to our hobby. And if other invent new things that we can use, who are we not to use those techniques to be more efficient our self or make new things?
Dan, KB6NU's put some nice HamRadio Hacking examples in his presentation (https://www.kb6nu.com/there-is-hope-for-amateur-radio/) like the SBITX (Full SDR with Raspberry PI), creating new firmware for Chinese ports, etc. We could even return to the question discussed earlier on soldersmoke: Are radio hams 'makers'.
And yes, the availability of off-the-shelf transmitters/receivers allows OMs, who are not so technically skilled or don't want to spend the time on it, to practice facets of our wonderful and broad hobby. So you don't have to be a "hacker" to enjoy our hobby. And to all the (self-styled) soldering iron moral knights who criticize these OMs, take a look around your shack, you probably didn't (or even can) make everything yourself and once you have bought things. It could be that boatanchor, your brass morse key or your first rig. And have you ever thought about you soldering iron, multi meter, magnifier lamp, wire cutters etc. . . Ok I'm just teasing now, but you all get the point.
Most of all, aside from the question if hackers are the future of amateur radio, lets enjoy our great hobby and when you like to melt some solder . . . Just do it.
-- This is the first podcast from SolderSmoke Shack South: Eastern tip of Island of Hispaniola. Cap Cana, DR, 70 feet up, 1 mile from Mona Channel. Seventh floor shack with view of the ocean. Antennas: Dipoles for now, maybe Moxons or Hex later. STARLINK
- The San Francisco case against me. One guy thinks we DESERVE prosecution! Get off of my lawn!
But one fellow wrote letter to the mayor asking for leniency. Proposes "Bill Meara Day in SF." FB! I fell victim myself this year: Mike WU2D got me with WA1HLR on SSB video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLvCNJ_OnEc
-- Dean: Fighting a spur in the sBITX. Filters?
-- Dean: Exploring Class A, Class AB and the RD06HHF1
-- Dean: Extensive work on getting flat gain from FETs up through 10 meters.
-hh- Dean and Bill: OIP3 measurement and setting the bias on an RD06HHF1
-- Pete fixes Dean's relay chattering problem: SUBTHRESHOLD CONDUCTION! Yikes!
-- Pete's refurb and rejuvenation of the Drake Twins,
-- MXM news. New docs, and ads from WD5L. All on the blog. 7030 crystals. Why MXM? Chuck Adam's mods, Joh DL6ID's questions about VFO. Yes! VFO from RX. Was Bruce Williams an early Swan Designer?
-- Weird paradox with 25 MHz filter: Low profile xtals have higher Q, but produce more rounded passbands. Why? I note that Minima's 20 MHz filter also had curved passband.
-- Allison's wisdom on filters at higher frequencies. The importance of physical layout. Diodes in the dark! It is indeed more difficult up there. But don't let the perfct be the enemy of the good!
-- Is Bill the only one to ever build a 10-15 Dual Bander using a 25 MHz crystal filter. Why? Farhan's Minima has a 20 MHz 6 pole QER crystal filter. And it too had a rounded passband. But it tooc WORKED.
-- Did my receiver sound tinny due to rising frequency response of uBITX Rev 4 amp? Yes! So I put in a TJ DC RX Af amp.
-- Bill BLOWS UP a Tiny SA Ultra. Ooops. But quickly got a new one from R&L Electronics. Very, very useful. I knew 25 MHz IF rigs were inferior, but by how much? How much was the carrier suppressed? Which filters worked better? What was the opposite sideband rejection. TinySA permitted measurement and comparison.
-- Bill quit 15 meter SSB (for a moment) and went to the 1.22 nanometer band with a Wilson Clound Chamber. Videos on the blog.
SHAMELESS COMMERCE: Thanks to new Patreon sponsors. I am sending some additional video content to the sponsors.
MAILBAGg
-- Thanks to Bob Crane W8SX for FDIM interviews. I will get them out!
--Wes -- W7ZOI has a new TIA amp with variable gain on his web site: https://w7zoi.net/
-- Geoff N6GWB's Rad Receiver https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-rad-receiver-from-n6gwb.html
-- Dave K1KA sent Ensemble RTX SDR parts. Thanks Dave.
-- Chuck Adams AA7FO provided good background on my MXM rig, including the meaning of MXM (1990) . Again, great to hear from Chuck, a true homebrew hero.
-- Gerardo HI8P collecting info on the other HI8P, my friend Pericles (SK)
-- Alvin N5VZH picked up a Silktronix CB VFO. What to do?
-- Jorgen SM4WWG listening from Sweden, and making PCBs. FB!
-- Mike WN2A Wondered about opposite sideband rejection of MXM. Not great.
This is a really wonderful video. I especially liked his presentation on the nature of the EM spectrum, and his use of the centimeter waves to demonstrate wave behaviour. The two slit experiment was very nice. Sir Lawrence's presentation on SWR was brilliant.
Still, you wonder how would all this be done if those waves of Sir Lawrence (and Young, Maxwell and Faraday) were considered to be the photons that they also really are?
Mike WU2D put out this nice video (above) about whether or not he should part out his Heath SG-6 signal generator, using the parts in a Paraset construction project. I faced a similar question years ago:
I just solid stated the SG-6. I was influenced by Farhan and the drinking straws that he picked up with his kids at a McDonalds in Hyderabad.
As with the QF-1, I say to Mike: GO FOR IT OM! You need those parts for other projects. Don't feel bad about the SG-6. But keep that switched coil assembly -- it is quite useful.
Let me start by saying that I LIKE Ham Radio Workbench. But I found a lot in the current edition that I disagreed with. The whole panel seems to be chuckling at the older gear. And the guest is from... Flex radio. So what do you expect? The title was "Radio Rejuvenation" -- I expected something different. I thought we'd hear more about how to get old tube radios going. Instead, the focus seems to have been on how to take an old radio and stuff an RTL dongle, or a Raspberry Pi, or a Flex radio in there. Yuck.
At one point they are laughing at old magic eye tubes! They wonder if there is a digital way of recreating this tube in digital form. Sorry fellows, that has already been done:
There were a lot points in Eric's interview with Will that resonated with me:
-- Will told about how his very understanding and perceptive wife KNOWS when a homebrew project is not going well. Yea, we have the same situation here!
-- Will mentions the wisdom of Wes Hayward, Doug Demaw, and Pete Juliano.
-- Eric mentioned that there is a bit of his own blood in most of his homebrew projects. One slip of he screwdriver is often enough. My projects also often have a bit of my A+ in them. This adds soul to the new machine.
-- Will spoke of S-38s and HW-8s. I have both these devices here with me in the Dominican Republic. I have used both of them here.
-- Will mentioned the magic that comes when you listen with a receiver you built yourself. Yes.
-- NanoVNA. Yes, very useful.
Lots more great stuff in this interview. Thanks Eric and thanks Will.
Mike WU2D recently put out this interesting video. I vaguely remember the springs on the Radio Shack kits -- I also remember (bitterly) not being able to get their shortwave receiver to work. I really wanted to tune in HCJB and Radio Moscow. This probably led me to ask Santa for a Lafayette HA-600A receiver in 1973 or so.
An earlier influence was the little intercom kits. I think they worked over the AC lines? We took some of them to the beach bungalows we had in Lavallette NJ. With them we were able to speak clearly to similar units in nearby bunalows. Wow, that was cool. That got me interested in radio.
Cassette tape recorders were another early influence. I still have a recording I made with a tape recorder I got for Christmas, probably in 1972. I used this recorder to practice CW for the ham exam.
I managed to escape the CB madness. But I came close to falling into the groovy psycho stuff of the early 1970s. I remember the Transcendental Meditation gizmos. I never built one, but if I had I may have been better off with CB.
I kind of wish I had followed the example of the Woz and Jobs by making telephone blue boxes. This could have led me to riches. But as Jean Shepherd used to say, young men often come to a fork in the road: one path leads to wealth, the other to ham radio flea markets. I got on the second path.
The new shack is coming together in HI7 land. I will need a shelf for the test gear -- I am looking for something thatcan sit on the main workbench -- the wall behind the bench is drywall and won't support any weight. I will have to get some plywood to protect the nice woodwork. I have melted some solder already -- I had to fix the little magnifying lamp -- it felt good to get back in the game.
The AM radio station that was providing background music was from just across the Mona passage -- they were in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. My S38-E shows the frequency as being a bit above 700 kHz, but as with most things S38-E, this readout is suspect. Can anyone tell me the call sign of this station?
I have been using the homebrew 15-10 rig, but only in receive mode so far.
I am also doing some VHF scanning, using a Realistic Pro-36 scanner that Bob KD4EBM gave me. So far I am picking up aircraft approaching Santo Domingo from the East. I have the maritime calling freq also programmed in and hope to hear some ships at sea. Thanks Bob.
Dino asked about astronomy. As you can see in the video, the Orion telescope is ready to go, but we are in rainy season here, so the skies aren't too great right now. They will be better in the winter.
Hurricane Beryl is approaching, but current projections are for it to pass to our south on Tuesday. The eye of the storm is not expected to hit this island.
I know there are some readers who dislike Starlink, but I think the technology is interesting. This morning I saw an article about how the Starlink constellation survived the May 2024 G5 solar storm. Note the references to "collision avoidance" and "ion thrusters." Give the devil is due! This is all pretty cool.
As I get ready to build the SolderSmoke Shack South, the Radio Gods (well at least YouTube) keep sending me these workshop videos. Today's is also for a shop specializing in the repair of vintage audio gear, but the lessons-learned and observations are also applicable to a ham radio workshop. This fellow's shop is in New York City, where space is very limited. Check it out. Lots of great ideas here.
The SolderSmoke crew thought it had a tough time this Field Day: Pete N6QW had hoped to do something, but was stymied by hot California weather. Dean KK4DAS had even worse weather. Bill HI7/N2CQR was at a remote QTH with an HW-8 and a wire antenna -- he managed just ONE contact (W7RN in Nevada on 15 CW). But none of us had as much trouble as our friend Farhan had. In his account of Field Day in Hyderabad, we see an intrepid ham standing up against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that Field Day often throws at true radio amateurs. Here is Farhan's Field Day story:
-----------------------------
You asked for it, so here it goes...
I got the chance last evening to head out to our farmland. My daughter Ramsha had her friend were over. By the time we all got into the SUV, it was already 5:30 pm. I had loaded in the Spiderbeam fiberglass pole, the sbitx with LiPo battery and an EFHW ATU strapped on, into the back into my backpack, the toolbox with a few hand tools.
On the way to the farm, rain begin to come down. Rayyan (son, VU3ECQ) started said as much, I turned up the volume on Bruno Mars...
By the time we got to the farm, the rain was over(Ha!). We immediately begin to set up the antenna. I chose an inverted V config for the antenna and to use a tree as the support. The spiderbeam, as any who has been taken in by it knows, is a telescoping 33 feet high mast made of fiberglass. A curious villager decided to help us too. The girls had already taken off to pick the Mulberries.
So, Rayyan, the curious fellow, and I tried to telescope out the mast. The curious fellow, having never read the manual, picked up the mast from the wrong end and all the pieces fall out the other end. (Censored @#$%...). Within 15 minutes, we had all the pieces put back in the order of their thicknesses. I scotchtaped the center of the 66 feet wire to tip of the mast and we all hauled it up vertical. For those who don't forget maths, you can figure that two section of 66 feet wire will be exactly 33 feet high and when you tie this to the high end of a 33 feet high pole -- they just hang down vertically in a straight line. I was trying hard to remember the math teacher's name when the telescoping mast decided to untelescope into a 5 feet, collapsed height. My son commented that it has worked as advertised. Now, I wanted to remember my son's Moral Lessons teacher's name...
Next, we scotch taped the center of the 66 feet wire to approximately 2/3rd height. The curious guy and I walked it up back and took it to the tree. Rather we tried to. The branches kept getting in the way. Finally, managed to get within 4 feet of the trunk and I declared that we could just tie it up with the packing nylon rope bundle we were carrying. We did and it held up.
By now, the two ends of wire had gotten all twisted around each other. We all had an excellent arm workout trying unwind them. The techniques -- never mentioned in any antenna handbook -- is to hold both ends of the twisted pair in one hand each, spread out your arms and make overhead sweeping motion to flick one wire over the other. This method only adds more twists into the wire. I discovered that wires could be twisted around each other both ways. There is no untwisting them. I discovered this amazing feature!
After watching us for 10 minutes, Humera, my XYL, asked us to forgive the world and bring down the mast and untangle the wires on the ground. By now, a stray cow had also sauntered in on her way back home. I think our language attracted her. She was bellowing for her calf to come and watch.
Next, we, efficiently undid the wire twists. Rayyan and the curious fellow held the two ends away from each other and I raised the mast. Or rather I tried to. At 45 degree tilt, the mast sections add up huge amount of weight. I was tottering around with it when it thankfully leaned onto the tree branches. At this time, I declared it done. We tied the mast at 6 feet height by the rope to the tree trunk. One end went to the a branch of a bush and the other we walked to the point where it was taunt and touched the ground.
I brought out the radio, much to the curious fellow's surprised, who was looking forward to me doing more entertaining things with the mast rather than a radio. We switched it on, I quickly peaked the ATU to maximum noise and keyed up. The sbitx shut off. Our battery was discharged.
An intrepid ham is never dissuaded by the flings and arrows of time which, when taken at a tide, leads to Field Day. I decided to move the operations to the farm cottage where we had power. But there was no supporting tree nearby. I decided to use the SUV as support.
We packed the SUV at an approximately correct distance from the vernadah of the cottage. We carried the mast over to the SUV and strapped it at two points: on the foot rest and on the overhead luggage rock. At this point the Spiderbeam fiberglass collaspible mast took a commercial break and demonstrated rapid collapse, into the much vaunted 5 feet size. Rayyan was rolling in the grass with mirth. This divided my anger between two opposing directions: toward my progeny and toward my antenna mast. I didn't move.
I thought like an engineer. The curious fellow and I carried the mast to an illuminated part of the farm, laid it down, and scotch taped each section to the next as the spiderbeam folks had warned us to do. It is strange how memory works better when your blood pressure is up.
The mast went up again, this time strapped to the SUV's rack, door column, and the footrest. I setup the radio on a table outside the cottage, running the extension cord from inside. The SUV and the antenna were too far for the EFHW to reach the radio.
We asked Humera (XYL) and the girls who were watching us while having their mulberries to DO SOMETHING and not just SIT THERE. So, Humera got inside the SUV and started to roll it towards the cottage. A loud crunching sound announced the sad departure of the sunflower plants we had tied the other end of EFHW from mother Earth. The EFHW had unrooted its support as the SUV pulled it away. These minor inconviences never deter a determine man, remember Gandhiji!
Finally everything was in place, and we fixed up the rig but the microphone wouldn't key up. So what? I can just operate from the in-built mic and the thoughfully provided on-screen keyboard for CW, right? Well I could but I needed to key CW contiuously to set the SWR. So I opened up the mic. The curious fellow who had carried the radio to the new operating position was new to radio etiquette. He had just picked up the radio and walked, dragging the mic through the slush and weeds. The mic connector had come out.
I took the matters into my hands, by now, Rayyan was trying to show empathy for the old man by making loud noise like Aww! Shucks! and other unmentionables. I cut the cable with teeth, unbraided a small section and wired it up on the connector so I could short it to key the rig. Why can't the imbecile radio designers think of providing a tune button on the screen??
Finally, everything was in place. I tuned up and AIR net was on. This is the national evening SSB net on 7150. I tried breaking in with SSB a few times but didn't get through. Finally, I changed to CW and called. The net control asked "the CW station to QSY, this is the AIR net....". Finally some other SSB station who could copy my CW translated my CW to the net control and we had a three way contact.
At this point the girls declared we had to head home now that I had had my contact.
I was about to let out my public school vocabulary when I heard them say that they were hungry and there was lamb curry at home. The idea of getting back home and drying out, and eating the hot lamb curry and mangoes was too much for me. We folded up. But the mast refused to collapse. The curious fellow who had taken charge of the mast engineering had finally gotten hang of it. With superhuman strength, he had pulled the section of the mast out so tightly that no power on earth could potentially loosen them. I decided to trick the mast into thinking that we wanted it to stay up, so we put it back up vertically and slammed it into the ground. It dutifully woke up and demonstrated the much vaunted ability to fit back into a 5 feet tube.
I looked into the darkness to find the EFHW winder but I couldn't locate it. The curious fellow had left, scared by the racket the radio was making. The cow and the calf had gone home. We too headed back home.
In the picture, you can see Rayyan standing while I am checking into AIR net. In the background is the SUV with spiderbeam fiber mast that is easy to carry in a 5 feet size.
73, de Farhan VU2ESE with a little help from my friends and family.
Wow. Really great test gear, and an amazing parts collection. This guy even gets a "nice workshop" comment from Mr. Carlson. Pac1085 seems to be in Rochester N.Y. and he says he specializes in the repair of vintage audio gear. He should have more subscribers. Does anyone have more info on him?
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