A Crummy Commercial

 Save some time Watch this short film instead of a bazillion movies As I recall I first saw this at the end of some movie I recorded off the air while living in the Chicago area.  It must have been updated in 1996 with a few newer movies but it's basically the same. My favorite part of the film ?  Actually it's the Randy Newman music at the end from: The Natural, always gives me a tingle. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

source:  https://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/collins_radio/75s_3b_1117052.jpg This post was triggered by a picture I saw of an S-line on a ham's shelf (not the one above), the top was covered by a cloth and there were papers piled on the cloth.  This covering will become significant later. I developed a negative attitude towards the Collins S-line in college.  It isn't the radios as such although the PTO range always seemed to stop right about where the band got interesting and you had to switch to the next segment and roll the knob all the way back to continue scanning. No the problem was actually the radio club itself.  We had a 75S-3B and 32S-3 with the matching supply.  Very nice rigs, I was especially impressed with the under chassis wiring of the power supply, all laced up and routed just like in the handbook.  But actually the thing that was really impressive about the club station to me was the way the facilities people had drilled through the thick plate glass of

 Found an Archer branded Radio Shack antenna tuner in a box.  The 1973 catalog describes it this way:  Antenna Tuner.  Matches any antenna impedance between 10 and 1000 ohms.  To 500 watts of RF power.  $9.95 I don't know where the manual is, couldn't find one or a schematic online.  The two knobs control compression caps.  There is a somewhat complicated tri-filar air-core coil resulting in an unusual tuner circuit configuration.  I suppose that unlike most ham antenna tuner circuits, this one could concentrate on one band (CB).  I was hoping to use it on 10 meters to help with receiving but can't get an audible peak. I tried tracing out the circuit schematic: I measured the output winding to the antenna as 0.128 uH.  The  windings are side by side, wire is about 1 mm diameter (#18 ?).  The coil is air-core, about 12 mm in diameter, 6 turns.  The compression caps are marked 200 - I assume that means 200 pF ?  I tried measuring the left cap, got a maximum of 288 pF (tight)

I found this file on the web site recently: http://wb9kzy.com/ltc1799.wav It's a recording of an LTC1799 chip the simple example circuit for the LTC1799 chip , here is an article from the vendor on using the LTC1799: https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/lt-journal-article/ltmag_v11n1_feb01.pdf Here is the LT1799 product page: https://www.analog.com/en/products/ltc1799.html#product-overview I tried using the chip because I thought it might be useful for a beacon.   I had also seen an announcement from Ocean State Electronics or maybe Philmore that a VFO kit or module would be sold using the chip.  As can be heard from the audio sample, the RC oscillator has an unpleasant warble to it.  Probably not a good choice for a VFO.  The LTC1799 output frequency also drifted higher as time went on (positive temperature correlation).  But it was a really simple circuit. Here is data in a text file from a 60 minute drift test run on the LTC1799: http://wb9kzy.com/ltc1799b.dat

 I received my Autumn 2022 issue of SPRAT (Small Powered Radio Amateur Transmissions), the 192nd issue of the official journal of the GQRP Club on Saturday.   Unlike the IEEE mentioned yesterday I've been an on and off member of the GQRP club for well over a decade.  The complete info on SPRAT and the club can be found here: https://www.gqrp.com Membership is on a calendar year basis, the club will accept payment for the 2023 calendar year starting on October 31, 2022.  The dues are 15 Pounds per year, which is an increase but due to the changes in the exchange rate the actual payment in US Dollars is lower than for 2022.  The Club doesn't accept payment for more than 1 year at a time. The club has parts for sale and also back PDF issues of SPRAT on a USB stick. SPRAT itself comes out 4 times a year in the familiar plastic bag.  It's a small format magazine similar to the original sizes of QST, CQ, Ham Radio or 73 Magazine.  But each issue is usually packed with useful circ

In a way the IEEE is a little like the ARRL.  The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers was formed in the 1960s from the merger of the IRE (International Radio Engineers) and the AIEE (American Institute of Electrical Engineers). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Electrical_and_Electronics_Engineers The organizations are alike in that they are member supported, publish magazines and books, are technically inclined.  But the IEEE is for engineers working in industry while the ARRL is an advocacy group for hobbyists. I've never joined the IEEE.  Maybe like some hams who've never joined the ARRL ?  I just never saw the value in joining.  I read the magazine (Spectrum) in college and could look at the various transactions papers but even the student membership pricing was high.  When I graduated the membership price went up and it was even less of a deal for me.  Also engineers at the time could get tons of free trade publications (which have either gone online

I finished reading the first of the Tom Corbett novels: Stand by for Mars https://tomswiftfanfiction.thehudsons.com/TS-Yahoo/TomCorbettBooks/Tom%20Corbett%2001.pdf  Previously mentioned the source for the novels in this blog post: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/07/rick-brant-and-tom-corbett-books.html The book contains the origin story for the crew of the Polaris, a rocket ship of the Solar Guard.  The action takes place some time in a future where  Mars and Venus have been colonized.  Roger Manning functions as the troublemaker, radar-man but with a heart of gold and a troubled past.  Astro is an outsized Venusian with a innate ability for rocket mechanics.  Tom Corbett is the born leader of the crew of cadets.  The crew is quartered together at the Space Academy on Earth.  They have a lot of difficulties but eventually bond together during a death defying adventure on Mars. It's a good book, not quite up to Space Cadet by Robert Heinlein but it functions well as a sorta sequel

 As I kid we heard about the submarines built during World War II in Manitowoc.  And my class went on a field trip to tour the USS Cobia (which must have been docked in Milwaukee).  Interestingly the USS Cobia wasn't built in Wisconsin but the ones from Manitowoc were similar.  Here is a snapshot of the USS Cobia docked in Milwaukee: source: http://www.submarinesailor.com/Boats/Reserve/Cobia245-1960.jpg Here is a page with more info on the USS Cobia in Manitowoc: https://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/submarines/ But I never knew that any shipbuilding was done in Milwaukee.  Then I saw this photo from the Milwaukee Country Historical Society on face: The USS Sandusky hitting the water in Milwaukee A history page on the USS Sandusky: https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Assets/Water/All/Article/2553258/uss-sandusky-pf-54/ The USS Sandusky was built by Froemming Brothers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froemming_Brothers Froemming Brothers had their shop on the Kinnickinnic River,

 Even though I saw this story from Eric Berger on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/this-should-be-the-absolute-peak-of-hurricane-season-but-its-dead-quiet-out-there/ it is hurricane season with Puerto Rico encountering Hurricane Fiona. I remember that my childhood friend, Perry (last blog mention: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-name-koss-reminds-me-of-1960s.html had some relative in Florida who gave him a board game, probably this one: a press photo from 1966 on ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/394207635110 As I recall the storms had rings that were put on to indicate their size (category) depending on the spinner or dice throw, also the direction/speed depended on chance.  Supposedly the storms could go up to New England.  (update 9/24/2022: the remnants of Hurricane Fiona actually caused a lot of problems in Canada !). I think I only played the game once or so, that's how games are for me, sometimes they are fun but usually it's: who cares ?  I can&

 As previously blogged:   https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/02/informed-delivery-and-lotw.html I use the USPS Informed Delivery.  Today I saw this letter in the email from the USPS: Chaney Electronics (AKA Electronic Goldmine) is sending me some 1st class mail ?   A little more searching found this: https://media.dojmt.gov/wp-content/uploads/Consumer-Notification-Letter-567.pdf Yikes, yet another data breach and credit monitoring ?  This is another reason why I stopped accepting Paypal for kit purchases.  I don't need this kind of trouble with the kit selling. I wonder how this will affect Chaney Electronics (Electronic Goldmine) ?  They sell surplus components, assemblies and products.  Their specialty seems to be Geiger counters. I don't order from them all that much but unfortunately I did place an order during that time frame they were hacked.  Haven't seen any funny business so far although I did get a different card replaced in 2022 due to a phony charge, who knows ? 

Something I saw reminded of the name: Vomax.  We used a speech processor called the Vomax on Field Day (1970s/80s).  It was a small box which connected between the mic and the rig - an audio speech processor.  Either it didn't sell too well or they are closely held by owners because I didn't see any on ebay.  Found this pic on eham.net: source:  https://www.eham.net/data/classifieds/images/486395.jpg As I recall it was very easy to use.  While talking into the mic the pot was turned until the green LED turned on and that was it, start transmitting.  It was supposed to make the signal 10 dB stronger without too much distortion.  I never heard one on the air but it seemed to work OK for us on Field Day.  There were several iterations of the Vomax, another looks similar to the picture above but the panel layout is reversed with the switch on the left. The Vomax used 4 sets of active filters/clippers to split the audio into 4 bands and process each one separately and then re-filter

I saw this tweet showing the fireworks at Lambeau after the Packers beat the Bears, 27-10. https://twitter.com/cheeseheadtv/status/1571697898621911042 a screen cap of the tweet While the Packers organization are truly fireworks crazy the thing that I noticed was all the people on the sidewalks walking, presumably to their cars ?  Trying to beat the traffic and get home ?  They've all paid big money to see the game, get attired, fed and so on.  Why not spend a little time to savor the win, see the fireworks ? I can remember when I was a kid going to a Braves game with my Dad.  It was the last season before the Braves moved to Atlanta.  Honestly the Braves weren't too good that year or that night.  I can't remember who the opposition team was or where we sat.  But I do remember that with the Braves losing my Dad said something like:  "let's go home" about the 7th inning.  I had built a little flasher that we clipped to the antenna of the car to help us find it i

When I was a new ham I remember reading an article in the surplus column of CQ Magazine (December 1972) which dealt with the PRC-74, a synthesized solid state radio used in Vietnam by the Army. from the manual   The radio was built by Hughes Aircraft Co. in California.  As I recall the author didn't mention where he got the rig from, of course no Ebay back then but there were a lot more surplus dealers. Not sure why but I was fascinated by this radio machine.  In addition to being fully solid state (still a novelty in the 1970s) it was also synthesized.  Just set your frequency on the 4 switches and the clarifier gave you wiggle room in between the 1 kHz settings.  The synthesizer used 46 crystals in 4 switched banks to generate a 3.75 to 19.749 MHz carrier. from the synthesizer schematic   The single conversion IF frequency was 1.75 MHz.  Depending on the version the radio covered from 2 to 12 MHz or 2 to 18 Mhz continuously.  The rig was basically a USB radio but it could receive

 Most hams would know Tommy Rockford as the hero of a series of Ham Radio based stories for young adults written by Walker Tompkins.  They are fun stories, full of action and Ham Radio plays an important part in each one.  Author Tomkins (K6ATX) wrote the first 3 books featuring Tommy Rockford during the amazing solar cycle 19 of the 1950s/60s.  You can find two of them on Archive.org: SOS at Midnight (1957)           https://archive.org/details/sosatmidnight00tomp CQ Ghost Ship (1960)             https://archive.org/details/cqghostship00tomp DX Brings Danger (1962)          I couldn't find a 1962 version Later Tomkins revised the first 3 books for the ARRL in the 1980s and added 3 new titles: https://archive.org/details/sosat-midnight-walker-atomkins-ed-3-1985 https://archive.org/details/cqghost-ship-walker-atompkins-ed-3-1985 https://archive.org/details/dxbrings-danger-walker-atompkins-ed-3-1983 https://archive.org/details/death-valley-qthwalker-atompkins-ed-1-1985 https://archiv

 I saw a big white pickup parked at the end of my driveway by the mailbox about 10:20 AM.  I was working on an order so I got that finished and the truck was still there.  I  took the parcel out to the mailbox and did the old man thing:  "this isn't a parking lot".  I can't help myself, 66 years old. One of the young men said he'd move the truck.  He said they were spraying invasive plants next door.  I asked what poison it was and he gave the generic name for Roundup.  He said it was pretty safe. I hope so, TV lawyer ads say different. Why would they spray in September ?  Wouldn't it be smarter to spray in the spring before the plants produce seeds ?   Anyway they were gone in less than an hour. Those plants were either water plants or they just like the dredged muck from nearby Jackson Harbor.  Another contractor dumped the gray muck there a few years ago - but that's the tale of another ruined day :( Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

 No, not a tiny obnoxious bug that looks like a flat spider - an audio tick. On my 10 minute timer and Morse Clock kits I included an on the second tick sound.  Since piezo sounders were being used (basically looks like a capacitor to the PIC) I just would change the level of the output from low to high or high to low and let it sit until the next second.  A click sound would result. But I noticed that WWV and WWVH use a pulse of tone for the on the second tick sound. https://www.nist.gov/time-distribution/radio-station-wwv/wwv-and-wwvh-digital-time-code-and-broadcast-format WWV uses 5 cycles of 1000 Hz.  WWVH uses 6 cycles of 1200 Hz.  Both equate to a 5 mS tick. I tried listening to WWV on 10 MHz and saw this with the scope: Looks like either the K2 is ringing a bit OR WWV actually uses 7 cycles of 1000 Hz but shapes the tone ? Anyway, in an upcoming Morse timer kit I changed the tick sound to send 3 cycles of approximately 600 Hz tone.  It is a little louder (obnoxious?) this way an

 One frustrating thing about selling kits is customer communications.  Sometimes a customer will have trouble with their kit.  I try to be as quick as I can responding to any emails.  And if there is a problem I suggest fixes. And then often, NOTHING. I realize that people owe me nothing as far as closing the loop.  And people are very busy these days.  I hate to pester them so I answer promptly but don't press them for more info.  Also, a lot of people use phones or tablets for reading email which works OK but responding is a chore, I get that. But then sometimes days/weeks even months later I'll get another email from the customer:  it still doesn't work.    A lot of times I never really know the fate of a kit. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

 I've never had a good memory, in fact I can remember some times in high-school & college when my memory let me down, going to the blood drive after it was done, seeing a teacher I was supposed to have a meeting with, getting to see Cliff Robertson at the student union in college just as he stopped speaking because I forgot the starting time of the event, that kind of thing. But I used to remember where I kept my electronic stuff (junk box), especially in the old apartment in IL.  Now after moving here that old adage my grandfather used to quote: "three moves are as good as a fire" seem to have come true. One thing I try to notice in videos by hams or engineers is how to they store stuff, sometimes it's amazing how orderly these folks are.  But it's probably worth it depending on how you value your time.  I've always subscribed to the old filing maxim to put everything in one place and then at least you know it'll be there, somewhere :) Now I'm try

 The Sony 2010 shortwave receiver is one of my favorite radios.  It is synthesized, has memories, no menus, covers shortwave, air band and FM, has symchronous detection as well as a BFO for SSB and it has timers.  I blogged a little about it here: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/05/accessorizing-sony-2010-receiver.html One problem mentioned in that post was the dreaded deafness on AM and shortwave due to the front end JFET, Q303, being damaged by static.  Here is a zoom into the Sony 2010 schematic: Q303 is at the lower center right Sony protected the built-in whip with diodes but the external antenna does not have diodes.  It's easy to add diodes to the included antenna assembly: a zoom into the diodes, back to back 1n4148 soldered from the hot lead to ground: Q303 is identified on the schematic as a 2SK-152-1, a Sony part.  When my Sony 2010 was damaged a couple of decades ago I was still able to buy these from a reputable place online.  I *think* this parts vendor was MCM Elect

 I saw this on Floolbook: And noticed the address for Dow-Key as being in Thief River Falls, MN.  Of course Digi-Key is also in Thief River Falls, was there some connection ? interesting time line here for Dow-Key:            http://www.n7cfo.com/tgph/dow/dow.htm I never knew that Dow-Key made actual bugs and keys.  I always thought of them as the RF relay folks.  We had a Dow-Key relay for a TR switch at the Nicolet High School Radio Club. from September 1968 QST page 144 Digi-Key was founded by Ronald Stordahl, AE5E, not sure exactly when.  This page says "about 1969" :) https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/ham-radio/ham-radio  Ronald Stordahl (then K0UXQ) published an article in April 1968 QST with Richard Halverson, W0ZHN, titled:  An Integrated Circuit Electronic Keyer    I *think* that Richard Halverson was one of Ronald's professors at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/twincities/name/richard-halverson-obituary?pid=

I found my Arduino - this is about as far as I ever got with the Arduino: not terribly original I don't know if it's the C language or the way that updating the Aruduino software can "break" a working compile but I just lost interest. Has the Arduino passed it's peak ?  I'm not sure, it has spawned a whole infrastructure of little blue (or red) modules that can easily be jumpered to an Arduino (or any other kind of microcontroller).  But the prices !  Although the parcels are more likely to actually arrive in a decent amount of time, the tracked parcels that predominate ebay mean much higher prices on Arduinos and the accompanying bits.  Also, the newer, faster chips like those from STM used in the nanoVNA or tinySA are becoming popular along with the new single board computers like the Raspberry Pi.   I didn't get on the Arduino train until late, the prices seemed kind of high at first (at least from the perspective of a kit producer).  The open source

Review the previous Laserjet cartridge exploits here:   https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/08/stuff-happens.html I tried buying a generic cartridge on ebay to replace the bad HP cartridge.   One of the main reasons for buying this particular cartridge was that it was located in Fond du Lac, WI which is close to Appleton, WI which happens to be the last jumping off point recorded on any USPS parcel tracking.  So hopefully I'd get the cartridge in a day or so.  BZZZZT !  Nope.  I purchased the cartridge on August 30, a Tuesday afternoon before 3pm.  It was sent on September 6 and I received in on September 8.  So much for my plan of a quick transaction.  Of course there was a Monday postal holiday. After receiving the cartridge I tried printing a test sheet: But after putting in a request to return the cartridge the seller asked me if I had "pulled the tape" - I hadn't.  There was no ring on the tape so I figured that it had already been pulled and then cut off.  Bad assu

 When I first saw this picture (from 1938 by famed photographer Berenice Abbott)  "Heins and" was cropped - all I could see was: "and Bolet" on the second sign.   So I wasn't sure what a Bolet was ? (maybe a Bolet store like Crate and Barrel is a barrel store :). Nope, it's Heins and Bolet   A little internet searching revealed that this picture was taken on Cortland street in lower Manhattan aka Radio Row.  Heins and Bolet was a radio store.  By 1961 as seen in this catalog from Ebay, Heins and Bolet appears to have veered from radio to TV and appliances.  For example these Hamilton washers and dryers which were made in Wisconsin, see https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/05/hamilton.html Other stores from Radio Row like Avnet or Arrow concentrated on electronic parts and still exist today as distributors selling mostly to industry.  But Heins and Bolet didn't seem to thrive (or even survive ?) after Radio Row was demolished to make room for the World Tra

 I saw this code diary posted to the Radio Premiums group by Larry Zdeb on Faseboo:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/907249652996436 Can you imagine being a kid in 1941, listening to a show where there's a never ending battle with evil, listening to secret codes, with the USA less than a year away from entering an ongoing war  but also being organized enough to keep a diary of Captain Midnight Secret Squadron messages ?  I know I never would have been that smart. I mentioned the 1942 Captain Midnight secrets in a previous blog posting: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/05/lives-there-heart-so-un-kid-like-that.html Interesting thing here is the master code record.  Over 7 sessions they only used 4 of the 26 master codes !  Pierre Andre should have been ashamed of himself, this was providing aid and comfort to the forces of Ivan Shark.  Using the same master code over and over makes it easier for those evil doers to crack the cipher and thus be enabled in the evil !  :)   I looked on