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Showing posts with label aircraft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aircraft. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Nine Homebrew Transceivers by Walter KA4KXX (and some QRP and QRO RC planes)

 

Our friend Walter KA4KXX in Orlando recently sent us this really cool "family photo" of his homebrew rigs.  Be sure to see the key that explains the photo (below) FB Walter.  Thanks too for the model airplane pictures. (Click on the images for better viewing.) 

Walter wrote: 

I recently realized that I am now operating nine homebrew transceivers, which would fit nicely in an “aerial” photograph, so I grabbed my stepladder and everything did fit well in the frame.  Six of them come from the BITX side of the family, with #1 and #7 direct conversion and #9 a single conversion superhet but using the NE602.  More basic information is included in the sketch.

I tried a Si5351 VFO once in the dual-band rig #4, but by the time I built the QRP Labs kit with so much closely-spaced soldering, and then added sufficient filtering and amplification to properly drive a 50 ohm load, I was exhausted!

These nine were created during the past eight years, and were preceded by eight more transceivers that I can document, but those have all been disassembled, with many of the parts being used in these later rigs.  I build my transceivers to be operated often, and since 20 Meters has been hot lately, for example, my POTA Hunter log shows over 300 CW and SSB contacts in 2023 alone, so rig numbers 7 - 9 have been earning their keep lately.

In summary I have created a lifetime total of seventeen transceivers so far, and although I am nowhere near the fifty-plus tally of Pete N6QW, I did spend a lot of years instead homebrewing many radio-controlled model airplanes of my own design.  Two photos show one example that I flew in the 2011 Blue Max Scale R/C Contest at the Fantasy of Flight Museum in Polk City, Florida against some stiff QRO competition.

—Walter KA4KXX


Tuesday, January 17, 2023

A True Measure of a Jean Shepherd Fan: Did You Fly One of His Ornithopters?

 


I did.  Shep had as a sponsor the maker of a flying bird.  It was a wind-up ornithopter powered by a rubber band.  It was kind of like the one in the picture, but I remember mine as being yellow.  My dad got it for me after hearing Shep talk about it on his program.  Wow, what a sponsor!  Shep must have made DOZENS of dollars from that deal! 

It looks like Shep was pitching this thing in 1972, which was my first year in high school.   

It took some coaxing and adjustment, but it did fly. 

My thinking about this was prompted by an article on Hack-A-Day:  

(I want to hear that program about the wedding on 75!)

EXCELSIOR!

Monday, January 9, 2023

Other Workshops: Building a Flying 21:1 Scale Airbus A-380


This is simply awesome.  At almost every minute of this video, I found myself thinking, "Yea, I'd screw that up."  Even the simple stuff, like cutting out the cockpit windows: "Yea, I'd screw that up too."

More info on the builder: 

Friday, December 9, 2022

R-390s, KWM-2s, Airplanes, and Magnetic Loops -- A Really Interesting Interview with Ted Robinson K1QAR


Eric Guth 4Z1UG has a really interesting interview with Ted Robinson K1QAR.  

I really enjoyed hearing Ted's inspiring story: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUUzlKMMANg

https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/K1QAR

Listeners will like the discussion of the R-390 and the KWM-2.  And his talk about airplanes.  And the joy of repair.  



Here is Ted's QRZ.com page:  https://www.qrz.com/db/K1QAR

Thanks Eric!  Thanks Ted! 

Thursday, September 15, 2022

SolderSmoke (Old Smoke) Podcast #103 -- March 15, 2009 -- From Rome -- QRSS, Knights and Wizards, LTSpice, and an Echolink QSO with Jeff KO7M (the guy with the Piper Cub)

 15 March 2009 

Beware the Ides of March! 
Ostia Beach and Ostia Antica
248 Knights of QRSS. And Wizards! 
ET Phones Home (with QRSS?) 
Possible new grabbers in VK6 and Dubai
Telescope, Satellites... 
REAL QRP QSOs on 80 and 40
Saving an old Toshiba Laptop
ECHO-QSO WITH JEFF, KO7M: 
-- Piper Cubs and MFJ Cubs
-- Satellite QSOs 
-- LT Spice and test gear
MAILBAG: 
Gene W3PM listens from QE2, HB WSPR rig
Jim AL7V sending parts for my W3PM rig
Jim AB3CV's color burst Gnat
Jason NT7S on Tektronix guys and SolderSmoke
Kevin ZL3KE on old computers
Paul M1CNK's DDS 30-based QRSS beacon
Soeren OZ2DAK on exercise bikes to power beacons

Thursday, February 24, 2022

Old Military Radios at the Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center, and Autogyros

 
My son Bill and I were out at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center (out near Dulles Airport, where they display the really big stuff).  We spotted these old military radios.  The ARC-5 Command sets caught my eye.  Of course I was thinking about the great VFO parts inside those boxes...   The acknowledgement of the ARC-5's contribution to ham radio (on the card) was nice. 

 They also have an ART-13 on display.  


We had a lot of fun looking at all the planes.  We were especially impressed by the Autogyros. 
The Bensen B-6 Gyroglider seemed to be really pushing the envelope (of good sense!).   This was a an Autogyro with NO MOTOR.  It was towed!  No license required as long as you didn't release the tow line.   Note that it was designed in 1954 to introduce teenagers "to the thrills of flight at minimal cost." The headgear and goggles were key.  And the kit was only $100! 




Thursday, November 5, 2020

Peter Sripol's Electric Ultralight (and his workshop)


It has been a while since we looked in on Peter Sripol.  Thanks to Hack-A-Day we got to see this really nice video on his latest project -- an electric-powered ultralight.

I thought the foam wings held together by Gorilla glue were cool.  The electric motor was very nice.  But I guess the thing I liked the most about this video was the window it gave us into Peter's workshop.  That is obviously a REAL workshop where things are really built.   I like the white board -- I need one of those. The heat gun also seems very useful. 

Three cheers for Peter's very supportive dad.  it must be tough for him to watch his son take off in those foam contraptions, sometimes with water bottles taped to the tail!    

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Aeronautical Mobile Contact from the Dominican Republic

767
On the morning of January 9, 2020, I was up early, sitting alone out in my open-air tropical hamshack on Bahia Rincon on the Samana peninsula of the Dominican Republic.   I had been looking at the stars. As the sky brightened I was listening to band noise from a still-dead 20 meter band on my uBITX.  

Skies were partly cloudy.  The Big Dipper hung upside down in front of me.  I had also seen Corvus, Scorpio, Andromeda, and Leo.  There were a few meteors and one bright satellite.  

But 20 was quiet... until, suddenly,  BOOM! A very loud and clear SSB signal came through.  It was KX4WE/Aeronautical Mobile.  Mike was in a 767.  I called him and he came back right away, giving me a 57 report. He gave his position as 170 miles Northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico.  He was heading to Port-o-Spain, Trinidad from Miami.  We had a quick QSO -- it reminded me a lot of my contacts with the MIR space station from Santo Domingo in the mid-1990s.  Suddenly Mike's signal dropped very significantly.  I figured that he had moved further south and was no longer line-of-site with me. I had some hills to my south and they were now attenuating Mike's signal.  I could hear him working M0NKL.  We were Mike's only two contacts on 20. 

I realized later that had I looked up, I might have seen the lights of the plane.  Below is the track of the aircraft.  He was at 35,000 feet when he passed over the DR. 



This contact was a lot of fun. Thanks Mike! 

Friday, June 29, 2018

Two Videos from Other Kinds of Workshops -- Dobson Makes a Telescope, Peter Builds an Airplane


Above you can watch a video showing the legendary John Dobson making a big telescope. Born in Beijing, Dobson is the former Hindu monk who left the monastery to show people how to make big telescopes out of shipping tubes and port-hole glass.  Think of it as the BITX of amateur astronomy.  Dobson is the founder of the "sidewalk astronomy" movement -- that's when you set up your 'scope on an urban sidewalk and show the wonders of the universe (or at least the solar system) to passers-by.  We did this in London with Saturn.  (Some of the cynical Londoners couldn't believe it was real -- they thought I had a transparency in the scope tube.) Dobson developed a very simple and popular method of mounting telescope tubes -- the "Dobsonian" method.   

More on Dobson here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dobson_(amateur_astronomer)

Below you can see a short update on Peter's homebrew airplane. 

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Peter's New Airplane



Again.  Amazing.  What a great workshop.   Note his comments on the importance of DESIGNING FIRST, THEN BUILDING.  Words to live by my friends, words to live by.  Read and heed.  

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Building an Airplane in the Basement with Insulation Foam, Tape, Glue, Poplar...



But this one is not a model RC plane.  This kid intends to pilot this plane while actually sitting in it.  

As a parent, I must say this is really nuts.  Stick to the models Peter!  Or maybe put some goggles on the big dog and let him fly it!  

Nevertheless, this is an inspriational look at what can be built in a basement using stuff from Home Depot or Lowes.    

For more info see:
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/14/building-an-ultralight-out-of-foam-in-a-basement/#more-268614

Here's Peter's earlier Cargo Plane project:



Sunday, January 15, 2017

Wonderful "QSO Today" Interview with Ian Keyser G3ROO

N2CQR and G3ROO

I knew it was going to be a good Sunday morning in the shack when I saw that Eric 4Z1UG had posted an interview with Ian Keyser G3ROO.   This wonderful interview brought back memories of my visit to G3ROO's amazing facility in Dover.  (Thanks to Tony Fishpool who brought me out there.)

In this interview, you will hear Ian state -- in a very nonchalant English way -- that he built his first receiver at age 8.  And I really loved the story of how Ian got his call sign.  FB Ian.  

Ian is a very prominent member of the G-QRP club.  I was oddly relieved to learn that he is working on a LEGAL LIMIT LINEAR AMPLIFIER.  I hope he has special dispensation from Rev. George Dobbs.  I intend to cite this project if we ever have to defend Pete Juliano from charges of QROism.

Listen to the interview here:



That is a key designed for use aboard a hydrogen balloon.  This is the kind of thing that Ian has in his shack.
 
This is Ian's variometer -- mentioned in the interview.

That's me using one of  Ian's spy sets. 

Ian's antenna book:

Here are the SolderSmoke Daily News posts about Ian and the Dover Construction Club:



Friday, April 25, 2014

Sunday, April 6, 2014

QRPp Model Planes


Michael, AA1TJ, alerted me to this very interesting hobby.  The video is really beautiful.

http://floatdocumentary.com/documentary

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

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Kishan Has the Knack! (video)



Many of us were staring out similar windows, also dreaming of model airplanes, and of transmitter circuits, and telescopes, and rockets... This video runs only 12 minutes.  Don't be deterred if you don't speak Hindi -- the story is easy to follow.

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

Friday, July 5, 2013

"I Make Stuff" Chuck Stottlemyer (video)



More about Chuck Stottlemyer here:
http://makezine.com/2013/07/02/movers-and-makers-charles-chuck-stottlemyer/

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

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Drone Dudes



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, December 24, 2012

A Christmas Present from Argentina


There is an old saying in Spanish:  "No hay mal que por bien no venga."   More or less this is the same idea as: "Every dark cloud has a silver lining."  Well, the dark cloud was my techno-agony with the parasitic oscillations (see below).  The silver lining was the e-mail from Edgardo, LU1AR, in Buenos Aires that helped me get rid of them.    Edgardo advised putting a resistor across the primaries of the JBOT amplifier stages.  This is an old "lower the Q" trick, the idea being that lowering the Q might help prevent the amp from self-oscillating.     I used 680 ohm resistors.   First I put one across the primary of Q1.  No joy. Then Q2.  No luck.  Then I put one right across the primary of that big output transformer.  That did it!  The parasitics disappeared.   And I still get a nice 4 watts of output.  Thanks Edgardo.  I hope to make a contact with this rig today. 

The real silver lining in this story comes, however, in the form of Edgardo's blog site.  Wow, what an inspiring example of Argentinian Knack.  Radios, telescopes, auto-giros.  This guy is also into homebrew DSB rigs.  Wonderful stuff.  Check it out.  (Google will translate it for you, if necessary, but even if you don't read Spanish, the pictures tell most of the story.) 
http://www.lu1ar.blogspot.com.ar/
Thanks to all who sent advice and encouragement.  Merry Christmas! 

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
Designer: Douglas Bowman | Dimodifikasi oleh Abdul Munir Original Posting Rounders 3 Column