SolderSmoke NUMBER 100

SPECIAL CENTENARY EDITION
A look back to the beginning
Rome Travelogue: Palatine Hill
Fixing my old freq counter: Trials and Tribulations
Empire of the Air:
More great history, but more tech faux pas
"The radio art"
An historical precedent for our GONG
Lake DeForest?
A. Frederick Collins
Understanding Beta Independence
Understanding Feedback and Distortion
SPRAT 137: Minimalist Radio:
The FETer/ET-1: "Haiku from Solder"
Regens: Not for the faint of heart

KD1JV's Surface Mount Video

OK SolderSmoke fans, here's a video for YOU! Steve "Melt Solder" Weber has put out his first video. It is about surface mount soldering. It is all very interesting, and some actual solder smoke is released, but I was a bit disturbed when Steve put the PC board on an electric stove and then started using this purple thing that looked and sounded like a hair dryer. Made me yearn for my Weller soldering gun. Great video Steve, thanks!

SolderSmoke 97

DSB 80 "Kickpanel" project:
Rig reform
Harder than SSB?
Do we need to match diodes?
Terminating balanced modulators
An antenna for my "spot" ("net") circuit, LED
Thinking of speech processing
Driver hotter than final
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MEPT QRSS:
VK2ZAY crosses Oz on 470 micro-watts
Using 9H1LO's grabber engine as time machine
My beacon box: 10 and 30 in same enclosure
Knights QSY to lower bands (temporarily)
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Theory:
Thanks for beta independence help
Why does feedback lower distortion?
W3JDR's Ne602 modeling
Grinding resistors for precision
Broken counter leads to learning logic

Get it at http://www.soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke97.mp3

TNT Transmitter Details

Direct conversion receiver - a demonstration

W2ICE and Early Ham Transmitters

SolderSmoke, December 8, 2008

Moj Music
Rome winter: Snowcapped mountains, Starlings
Billy’s Blog – Please visit!
“Make” redeems itself with LED video
80 DSB rig: LTSpice, Design, Diplexers, Decoupling
Properly terminating balanced modulators
The virtues of feedback
80 meter DSB QRP (in a contest)
Reading Recommendation: January 2009 “Air and Space”
Jupiter and Venus aligned
Saturn picture with (sorta) homebrew rig
Ben’s Balloon Beacon
Laurence KL1X in N. China – will set up QRSS grabber
MAILBAG
Roger K7RXV and Bob KD4EBM on SolderSmells
Jerry NR5A has WSPR-mania
Scott KD5NJR on “Soul of a New Machine”
Bob K7HBG “Real radios have knobs”

Get it at http://www.soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke96.mp3

K7QO Lab

This document will demonstrate how I experiment and build radio equipment in a small room (which I call the lab) on the second floor of the hacienda. It is work in progress and will take some time to complete and edit and modify as I go along. Will have to decide just how much to write about. This is just about how I do things and nothing is sacred and nothing is set in concrete. Different hams do things differently. Please use safety precautions and remember that tools and lots of stuff we play with can be dangerous if you get careless or don’t think about what you’re doing.

More at http://www.k7qo.net/lab.pdf

SolderSmoke #95

November 23, 2008

Amp design adventures with Spice, EMRFD
WANTED: NE602 Spice model
Pictures (from pirates?) in 80 meter waterfall
Problems space with tools and solar panels
QRSS news: W1BW 50 mw heard in VK6 and VK7
WSPR QRO controversy
IK0IXI's video on HB 8 band SSB rig
Ordering parts -- the aroma factor
1 uF caps OK for HF bypass?
Reading Recommendation: December 2008 Discover Magazine
MAILBAG:
Thanks for help on CD for Mike's wife
Paul WA1MAC: Chapstick PTO, alternate use for political lawn signs
Aisea 3D2AA: Listening from Fiji. Just retired, has Softrock kit
Bob NT7S: Has setup SolderSmoke Facebook
Steve G0FUW: Bath Build-a-thon January 17, 2009
Roberto XE1GXG: Getting married, took detour to radio row
Ben N1VF: An old friend from Vienna Wireless Society
Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith: Wants real gong, "Once upon a clip lead..."
John VK3AJG's FB SSB rig
Steve KG6NRM TAK-40 Pic project

Get it at http://www.soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke95.mp3

DXE-UT-80P

Assembly tool for PL-259's on Coaxial Cable ...

DXE-UT-8213

Coax prep tool for Ham Radio. Works GREAT - no more razor blades & cut fingers!!! ...

SolderSmoke93.mp3

October 12, 2008
HB Pi Network Tuna (with mystery)
Hamfest report from Belgium
Space Hackers removed from YouTube
Verdict on Judica Cordiglia brothers
FB Italian ham magazines
I shift to FSK on 30 meters
Gimmick capacitors
QRSS QSY woes
SolderJoke
MAILBOX:
Jerry NR5A Back in action
Scott KD5NJR on Space Hacker controversy
Steve WB6TNL on the different flavors of solder smoke!
Paul WA1MAC labled PC boards with SSDRA page numbers
Ramakrishnan VU3RDD getting back on the air
Jim K9JM had 60 POUNDS of 2N2222
Jim AL7R listening from Yuma
Wes W7ZOI on plumbing washer toroids
Paul WA5WCP on laser safety
Terry G4GHU also went to KSC on honeymoon
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Get it at http://www.soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke93.mp3

Soldersmoke92

Get it at http://www.soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke92.mp3

Mega Parts Storage

Have a lot of parts to store? Here's a great way to store them. More at http://www.vk2zay.net/article.php/66

eHam.net: The St. Louis Key

The St. Louis key is actually a not so much an individual key, but a way of making all sorts of keys. The "key" ingredient ( pardon the pun) is the use of parts salvaged from old Telephone Lever Switches and telephone relays. These parts are long springy levers with very good contact points, sometimes even made of silver.

More at http://www.eham.net/articles/20086

How and WHY to Solder Correctly

Soldering Iron Wattage vs. Temperature

Soldering Tutorial

Surface Mount Soldering 101

Basic Soldering