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Showing posts from November, 2021

Thinking Out of the Circuit Board

  A Time Long Ago, Things Were Different. As a homebrewer (starting back in the early 1950's with a CK722 transistor) I find that today we have lost an important insight into what we do. I didn't; but many have. Gone is the quest to learn new things and to strike out on our own. Frequent emails to me ask where is the circuit board or send me the Gerber Files. That gives rise to several questions. So why do you need a circuit board and  Why can't you design one yourself? The same applies to Arduino Sketches and Code. Typically, most rigs are not totally dependent on just one set of software to run the radio. The problem maybe is that to write code, one would really have to know something beyond asking for the circuit board. I really don't have any special radio skills. But what I do have is some processes to attack problems and processes to approach a new radio project.  I call it noodling and there is a lot of research that I do up front. The last thing I do is to turn

The PSSST Is on "hackaday"

  The PSSST is on "hackaday" https://hackaday.com/2021/11/20/pssst-heres-a-novel-ssb-radio-design-with-only-seven-transistors/     Hackaday Yes! The PSSST has "street creds" as it has been recognized by a well-read blog post. To The Tribes (BITX, TIA, EMRFD, Nano VNA and Facebook groups) it is posted there without having a link to one of your Tribes. OMG, somebody went around the Tribal system of group recognition. But there is a huge problem with our hobby, and that is how we view things and worst of all what we have become. So far there are two comments on "hackaday" there may be more by now. I suspicion that the two posters belong to The Tribes (BITX, TIA, EMRFD, Nano VNA or Facebook groups) as this is what they posted. Later Input as there now are over 6 comments and one in particular has me scratching my head. The commenter denigrated the design as using musty old parts and the PC Board with squares was like doing brain surgery with a rusty spoon. But

The PSSST ~ A Minimalist Scratch Built SSB Transceiver

  Talk About Jaw Dropping! https://www.n6qw.com/PSSST_20.html With only 7 transistors I keep being amazed by the performance of this Jewel! Yes, it is like a Crown Jewel and I regret not using the Steerable IF Module (shown below) in other projects. This will now become a staple of future projects. [ November 13, 2021. I now think you can do it with SIX (06)  transistors. If we steer the Mic Amp with two more relays, we now can also use it as the Audio Pre-Amp as it is exactly the same circuit. Scroll to the end. So OK the challenge --can we do it with just 5 Transistors?] Here is what makes this unique and it wasn't until I made a block diagram that I realized the impact of the design.   The initial thoughts on this IF Module were that it would be steered between two ADE-1 DBM's depending upon whether it was receiving or transmitting as shown below with the ADE-1's. In Receive, the signal is steered to the input side of the IF Module from the Rx Tx Mixer stage wherein the

Meet The PSSST ~ A Scratch Built Minimalist SSB Transceiver

  Meet the PSSST! Pete's Simple Seven SSB Transceiver (PSSST) [A Plug for Jameco Electronics and My Story ] Documented QSO The PSSST ~ You know when we want to get someone's attention we go "PSSST". Well it also is an acronym abbreviation for " Pete's Simple Seven SSB Transceiver !" Did I get your attention? I have posted videos of how the receiver portion sounds on crowded bands and hopefully you have been impressed. I was!  My work involved NO bilateral circuits, NO TIA amps, it has not been published QEX and there are no Facebook groups and neither are there any group.io lurkers to make snarky comments. The band of choice is 20 Meters The best part there are only 7 transistors in the whole rig. Five of the transistors are 2N2222A's along with one 2N2219A and one IRF510. The power output is 4 watts and I have a confirmed "1st contact" (DX no less to Canada @ 1200 miles). [I now have a RD006HHF1 in the mix versus the IRF510 and have made a

A Scratch Built Minimalist SSB Transceiver

A Minimalist SSB Transceiver? November 6th Update.  Listen to the CQ WW CW Contest. Can your radio hold up in a crowded band with lots of strong signals? **** Now with a Color TFT display! 11/05/21 First Receive and Transmit tests. Very Promising... HD8R is an Expedition to the Galapagos Islands! 11/04/21 Just as there is a difference between a 29A and a 44DD, the replacement homebrew audio amp for the eBay module certainly points the direction and stands out in a crowd. It is superb sounding with the final device being the the LM-380N-8. This will be in the final design. The 1st Sounds of the Minimalist SSB Transceiver. I held the phone up to the earbuds to make the recording. C Change - The eBay amplifier module is underwhelming in its performance. I will have to sub in one of my homebrew modules. But this is encouraging! It does have a formal name but not a YL's name.  These days I seem to be reflecting on the past and harken back to 1959 with an analogy. So in 1959 (I was 18) m