Posts

Showing posts from November, 2022

A really cool selfie

Image
  https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/11/orion-flies-far-beyond-the-moon-returns-an-instantly-iconic-photo/ Eric Berger at Ars Technica mentioned this photo of the Orion spacecraft - the payload of the Artemis 1 mission. way out   Since the Orion is in a pretty eccentric orbit around the moon it comes as close as 62 miles and as far as 40,000 miles. close up the far side Just amazing !   I just hope that when NASA returns people to the moon that the voice comm links will be better quality than with Apollo 11 when Neil Armstrong's first words on the surface were garbled. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Alcohol Lamp

Image
 After learning about the flame rectifier and flame triode (see yesterday's blog): https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/11/it-flames.html I knew I had to try this for myself, my first inclination was to check ebay and buy an alcohol lamp.  There are a number of choices for alcohol lamps there.  But that would take time/money :)  So then I thought:   Alfred Morgan must have had some thoughts on the subject. Sure enough in his book: Getting Acquainted with Chemistry on pages 21 & 22 he shows an alcohol lamp made from a mucilage or ink bottle, a rubber stopper, metal tube and some cotton cord as the wick. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.84767/page/n23/mode/2up . Well, I haven't seen mucilage in years and the same is true for bottled ink.  After thinking about it I found a 4 oz canning jar, usually called a jelly jar.  It has the advantage of being very stable, no one wants a tippy alcohol lamp.  Also, it should be easy to punch a hole in the metal lid.  Finally when

It Flames !

Image
I saw a mention of flame rectification on the PIC list, looked on Youtube and sure enough, a flame TRF radio: source:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXRtLhuYcIo But even neater, a video of a flame triode: . source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNl0sFViaxs The CPO at the end ( where he sends:  V DE K7NS V V ) is both very cool and hot at the same time ! See more on K7NS's amazing site:   http://www.sparkbangbuzz.com/flame-amp/flameamp.htm It boggles my mind that Lee DeForest never patented these ideas :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm 

Atomic Experiments for Boys by Raymond Yates

Image
. source: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ab/c0/8e/abc08e9174282e246c323b9d545909c4.jpg While doing the blog post on the other authors contemporary with Alfred P. Morgan: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/11/alfred-p-morgan-had-rivals.html I saw this title by Raymond Yates & did a quick search and found this scanned copy: https://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/e_AEFB.PDF BTW, the Dangerous Laboratories has several other ebooks similar to the Yates book: https://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/e_books.html Also found this rather terse and dismissive review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/raymond-f-yates-4/atomic-experiments-for-boys/ I guess I have to sorta agree, the Yates book suffers in comparison to this one: https://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/e_atomics.pdf But the kind of "seat of the pants, build it yourself" motivation of the Yates book is fun. After looking at these books I was reminded of the article in Harper's Magazine: The Radioactive Boy Scout

More poetry read by Jean Shepherd

Image
 Previous blog post on Jean Shepherd reading poetry: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/11/jean-shepherd-reads-poetry.html I tried a radio show database search for poetry on the wonderful Flicklives.com site devoted to Jean Shepherd: https://www.flicklives.com/index.php?pg=227&XA=%2F&findit=poetry&Search=submit Lots to choose from but I tried this one where Jean reads the Robert W. Service poems of the Yukon: https://archive.org/details/01americanscenefull/1965+01+15+Robert+Service.mp3 There's just so much content on the internet, I'll never be able to read or listen to a fraction of it. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Found it !

Image
See the previous blog entry on my first QSO: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/06/first-contact.html I finally found the QSL card from my first contact: 6 cents postage ! I signed portable 9 since I was operating from the Nicolet High School club station. For some reason the picture of the Swan 400 aren't coming up so here's more from a different site: source: https://rigreference.com/storage/uploads/rigs/68/4122/swan-400.jpg   and here is the Swan 420 VFO: Now to find all the other stuff I've been looking for !! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm 

Alfred P. Morgan had rivals ?

Image
 Alfred P. Morgan was my favorite author of books as a kid, so today I'll give thanks that his books were available to me in grade school.  Alfred P. Morgan revisited the radio/electronics topic over and over but the books were all interesting.  Mr. Morgan also wrote some non-radio books for kids - my very favorite was Adventures in Electrochemistry. source: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81VmrD-Lx0L.jpg But I suspect that when I was a kid I also borrowed other books on similar subjects by other authors.  However I don't have any memories of those books.  Fortunately in the 21st century the internet allows a glance at the past.  I've found at least a couple of other authors writing similar books.   The first is Harry Zarchy with a book entitled:  Using Electronics.  Of course Worldradiohistory has a pdf copy: https://worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Author-Groups/Zarchy/Using-Electronics-Zarchy-1958.pdf but there is also this compact pdf file: http://heartandhoof.co

Tempted by a Triplett ?

Image
 I saw a picture of a Triplett 310C: source: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0255/5586/1564/products/3022_1622x2400.jpg The most recent version of the mini VOM.  I'm sure it's a good unit but several questions came to mind:  Are they still made in the USA ?   I didn't see anything on the website so I suspect not.  If it is imported, why so expensive ?  And almost all the remaining VOMs have mirrored scales, why didn't they ever add that (to eliminated parallax). Of course I used to use the Simpson 260 at work but that was mainly to "buzz" out continuity problems.  We had a fancier Fluke DVM but it had a dodgy LCD display - the Simpson or the Triplett 630 (the big brother of the 310 above) just worked all the time. I'm not going to buy a Triplett 310 mainly because I don't want to buy yet another thingy that I fool with briefly and then box up and forget about it.  If it's something that will be used regularly then OK (I'll make an exception: 

 Where was I when I heard about the JFK assassination ?

Image
source: https://i.cbc.ca/1.2436271.1385122028!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_1180/jfk-archival.jpg I was at Maple Dale grade school, 3rd grade, Miss Pedersen's class, see us on page 8 of this scrapbook: https://archive.org/details/maple-dale-6/page/n7/mode/2up The thing is that while I remember being at school in the hallway by the cafeteria with my class - I think we were going to the library or coming back and had stopped at the bubbler for water.  Then one of the secretaries told Miss Pedersen about JFK. But a couple of guys who were also in 3rd grade but had different teachers remember it differently.  Their experiences are on that linked page.   I do remember the field trip but I don't remember it being on that day. It might just be the difference between hearing that the President had been shot and confirming that he was dead. It was a long time ago and I was 8 years old - memory is a weird thing, I definitely don't trust mine. Best Regards, Chuck

A Few thoughts on the Bug Descratcher III kit

Image
 The Bug Descratcher III kit: http://wb9kzy.com/bugde3.htm remains a consistent seller.  I added an enclosure kit last year using an aluminum or fiberglass circuit board as the top on a phenolic box. The kit idea came from a Hint and Kink in QST by Dave Cuthbert, WX7G.  The first two versions were done with hardware (although different from the WX7G circuit) but on the third version I changed to a PIC microprocessor. The design goals for the third version were to make it as bulletproof as possible so the LM2936 regulator was used along with a PN2222 output transistor to make the kit more resistant to static damage, polarity reversals and so on. In addition, no elaborate software debouncing was used.  Instead a simple RC hardware based approach was used.  The PIC wakes up when the key input goes low and turns the output transistor ON.  Then the PIC ignores the input for a time "programmed" by the external RC circuit of R4+R5 and C5.  The values in the kit result in an approxim

Book Report: Getting Acquainted with Radio

Image
 Getting Acquainted with Radio is yet another book available on the irreplaceable Worldradiohistory web site: https://worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/A.P.Morgan/Getting%20Aquainted-With-Radio-Morgan.pdf One of the many Alfred P. Morgan books on the hobbyist bookshelf of the Worldradiohistory site: https://worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Bookshelf_Hobbyist.htm Usually when finding one of these older books I'll just browse through it and then close the file.  But this time I decided to read the book all the way through.  Of course since it is a 1940 book it features the vacuum tube almost exclusively (crystal detectors are mentioned).  And unlike most of Morgan's books this one is less on building and more on the theory of radio. A couple of items stood out to me: 1) unlike a previous Morgan book mentioned in this blog post: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/07/multi-wire-antennas-early-20th-century.html Morgan doesn't mention Tesla at all !  No entry in the index.  He

The concept of zero as it relates to ham radio ?

Image
. I was watching this PBS NOVA program titled Zero to Infinity: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AcOv8D3-pM One thing that occurred to me as far as zero and ham radio was with Morse code, specifically the difference between dits and dahs.  People usually say a dit is 1/3 the length of a dah (actually they say a dah is 3x the length  of a dit but I still use fractions just to be irritating). Morse code speed is usually specified as 1.2 / dit length.   But people ignore the face that Morse code is OOK (On Off Keying).  They forget the OFF part.  A dit is defined as key down for a dit length PLUS key up for another dit length (2 dit lengths in total) AND a dah as being key down for 3 dit lengths and key up for a dit length (4 dit lengths in total).  So a dah isn't 3 times the length of a dit, it's twice the length of a dit. If you think of dits and dahs this way (especially if programming a computer to decode Morse) then non-standard keying weight isn't as big a probl

Why not take the train to Chenoa instead of riding with the Stembottoms ?

Image
source:            https://www.shorpy.com/node/10501 https://archive.org/details/VicandSade1941/Vic_And_Sade_411100_CROWDED_CAR_RIDE.mp3 He can't find his pants. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

It's that new tin time of the year

Image
I saw this cookie tin in the most recent Target sale flyer: from: https://www.target.com/p/m-38-s-all-butter-scottish-shortbread-assortment-stag-tin-22-9oz/-/A-86656858 Looks nice but IMO not as good a deal as the big Kirkland cookie tins from Costco: (and you get the possibility of cancer, too !  ??) Today I received my 2022 Swiss Colony catalog in the mail.   It's getting thinner and more threatening:  "This may be your last catalog unless . . ."  I used to buy food items from Swiss Colony but not recently.  They do still have my favorite tin size: But note that this free tin will require spending at least $15 plus tax. Here is an audio filter I built into a similarly size Swiss Colony tin: And here is that Swiss Colony tin on top of the Kirkland tin: The Swiss Colony is perfect for medium sized projects too big for a candy tin - the Kirkland tin remains unused for now, maybe some kind of receiver or transceiver ?  We'll see. I think that either you are a Tin person

Artemis 1 rides for the first (and only) time !

Image
 I've had several blog posts on the failed attempts: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/09/artemis-1-scrubbed-again.html https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/09/artemis-1-bad-sensor.html https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/08/artemis-1-launch-scrubbed.html But finally, last night we got this: source:  https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Artemis-1-Nov-16-2022-0262-3.jpg There is still a long mission to complete.  But NASA is back ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

The last person to try an Impossible Burger

Image
 Yes, I finally tried one.  They were on sale at Mann's, $6.99 for the two, four ounce frozen burger patties. source:   https://impossiblefoods.com/products/burger/patty-2-pack I actually liked them - probably due to all the added sodium. The only thing to me was the heavy plastic plate they are packaged in - that can't be better for the environment than a foam tray and a little Saran wrap on top.  But the tray does keep the patties in good shape. I suppose the plastic tray could be kept to form patties from the much cheaper ground beef ? :) But as mentioned in the book: Run to Daylight, Vince Lombardi ate as many as 3 burgers a day during football season.  Lotsa burgers in any form probably not a wise health choice. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Back in winning form

Image
 After 5 weeks in the RED the Packers finally got a win at home versus Dallas: Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm              

Shorpy.com

Image
 I really enjoyed finding this site - lots of pictures, many very high quality.  And a lot of silly, slightly bent titles and comments :)  BTW, the above picture of the Milwaukee Post Office is from 1901. source:                        https://www.shorpy.com/node/20639 I think of that building as the old Federal building.  I was only in there twice.  First in 1972 (or was it 1973 ?) to take the exam for my General class amateur radio license.  Second in 1974 to register for the draft. Anyway, Shorpy.com highly recommended ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Relay Actuator One Shot

Image
 I had a problem posed to me, the idea was to actuate a relay briefly using an applied DC voltage which couldn't be applied for less than 1 minute.  The voltage is being applied to the relay (I *think*) via an internet controlled relay.  So in other words a one shot type of circuit is needed to close the relay briefly. I tried a Bing search with these words:   pulsing a relay on via a series capacitor and the top result was: https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/need-a-circuit-to-pulse-a-relay-on-and-off.11112 I then tried the RC circuit mentioned using an old 5 volt SPDT relay from Radio Shack.  A 1000 uF cap in parallel with a 10,000 ohm resistor was used as follows: The relay coil is about 70 ohms.  The actuation time is about 100 milliseconds.  The capacitor discharge time from 5 volts to 0.5 volts is roughly 25 seconds. relay goes on for about a tenth of a second Basically the same circuit can be used as a relay power saver.  The capacitor is used to handle the initial ac

Polyakov MOSFET mixer

Image
 This translated article fro 1983:   http://zpostbox.ru/rf_mixer_for_direct_conversion_receivers.html refers to this Polyakov article in April 1983 Radio, pages 19 & 20: And an interesting footnote to the article is this US patent : https://patents.google.com/patent/US3383601 from the famous radio designer, William K. Squires of Squires-Sanders.  Here is an interesting page on Squires-Sanders: http://www.radiopharos.it/SQUIRES-SANDERS,%20INC._n.p._4.htm I definitely have to try this circuit though. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Jean Shepherd reads poetry

Image
 Jean Shepherd held the call K2ORS during the time he did the WOR radio broadcasts.  And he did many shows on a variety of topics.  But this was one of the most interesting shows he ever did: https://ia600205.us.archive.org/15/items/JeanShepherd1968/1968_06_28_Strange_Poetry.mp3 I remember going to see 2001 in the theater, buying the soundtrack album and also reading the Mad magazine parody: 201 minutes of a space idiocy: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8324/8146256265_c22bb15193_k.jpg BTW this was my favorite creepy poem: https://poets.org/poem/fish-2 It's always fun to be made aware of something that you never heard of before, at least for this novelty craver. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Someone needs to get busy on these, it's been over 65 years !

Image
 I saw this picture on Facebox, posted by Larry Zdeb on the Radio Premiums group: It's a pocket locator aka a walkie talkie - from the Captain Midnight / Jet Jackson TV show: source first episode:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN9xksVDtXw The kid  is in San Diego, CA.     Captain Midnight and his lab guy, Tut (Olan Soule), are at the secret mountain base, location unknown.  So the pocket locator must have great range. Someone has to put this on their to-do list ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Polyakov mixer articles: better translations by Google ?

Found another site for the magazine: Radio that has a number of the Polyakov articles clipped and they are easily translated via Google: https://us3iat-qrz-ru.translate.goog/radio/1978/1978.htm?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc https://us3iat-qrz-ru.translate.goog/radio/1979/1979.htm?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc another site: https://qrp-ru.translate.goog/files/literature/category/10-ra3aaedocs?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc That's the trouble with the internet, there's always another site to look at, need to turn the machine off and the soldering iron ON. :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Found the Vladimir Polyakov, RA3AAE, mixer article in Radio, December 1976

Image
I took a look for the Polyakov articles, unable to find anything on an old computer, so tried another round of internet searches.  First step was to pinpoint the issue number in 1976, got that from this page, reference 1: http://zpostbox.ru/rf_mixer_for_direct_conversion_receivers.html Second step, since Radio was a Russian language magazine, tried a machine translate of radio to cyrillic: Then punched in:  радио 1976 and found this nice archive site for Radio: http://archive.radio.ru/web/1976/ here are the two pages of the RA3AAE mixer article in the December issue: http://archive.radio.ru/web/1976/12/021/ http://archive.radio.ru/web/1976/12/022/ It's a pretty long article so I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to translate the article using the Yandex site: https://translate.yandex.com/ocr Gotta stop searching and start building ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm     

Polyakov mixer DC receiver article in Czech

Image
 I was searching the always useful Worldradiohistory site for: polyakov radio 1976 and found a June 1983 article in Ham Radio magazine: https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-DX/Ham%20Radio/80s/Ham-Radio-198306.pdf pages 44 and 45 and a couple of Australian articles in Amateur Radio Australia: https://www.americanradiohistory.com/AUSTRALIA/Amateur-Radio/Amateur-Radio-AU-1979.pdf pages 432 and 433 https://www.americanradiohistory.com/AUSTRALIA/Amateur-Radio/Amateur-Radio-AU-1996.pdf pages 391 and 392 but also this article in Czech from Amaterske Radio, October 2009: https://www.americanradiohistory.com/INTERNATIONAL/Amaterske Radio/Amaterske%20Radio%202009-10.pdf pages 42 and 43 This brings up another chance to try my favorite machine translate site: https://translate.yandex.com/ocr? Here is the schematic of a DC receiver from the article using the Polyakov mixer: Here are the article translations from page 42 & 43: . . . . The reason for searching for:  Polyakov radio 1976