Links:
14 May 08
Many web sites include long lists of links to other web sites.
These are often extremely useful and entertaining. We won't
try to follow suit here, but we urge you to build up your own list of
"Favorites" or "Bookmarks." Here are some links that
I have found especially useful or interesting. Some may not
be as familiar as the normal ones.
http://www.soldersmoke.com/
One of the most interesting sites I have encountered in recent times
is this one. It is a web site that leads to audio "podcasts" called
"SolderSmoke." Once at the web site you can download MP3
files that you can listen to on your computer, which I do. Or
if you are a little younger, you can download the MP3 file to your IPod
or similar portable MP3 audio player. Soldersmoke is in the form
of an on-the-air contact between the two principal players in the effort,
Bill, M0HBR, in the center of London, and Mike, KL7R, in Juneau, Alaska.
The "contacts" usually happen in Mike's evening hours while
Bill gets up in the early morning time frame. The latest (on
7Oct06) issue, Soldersmoke34, also included an interesting visitor, Farhan,
VU2FAX, who is the designer of the well known BITX20 transceiver found in
a listing further down this page. Mike and Bill are active builders
who are doing both CW and sideband rigs and these efforts are the central
core of their discussions. It's fun to listen to the experiments.
Give it a try; but be careful, for the enthusiasm can be contagious.
7 Oct 06
Update: It was with great
sorrow that I received an email from Bill, M0HBR, on Jan 23, 2007, telling
me that Mike, KL7R, had died the previous day in a car crash in Hawaii.
Mike was with his wife and son on a vacation to some warmer weather.
I had encountered Mike on the air from time to time, most recently
in SKN, Jan 2007, and had been corresponding with him on some design and
simulation projects. I was just getting to know him.
We will certainly miss him. The latest word we have is that
Bill will continue with Soldersmoke
in one form or another. I'm
sure Bill will let us know through the usual QRP internet sources.
Further Update: Bill is indeed
continuing with the Soldersmoke Podcast. At this writing he is up
through #83. Bill is on the air again after a move to Italy and uses
the call I0/N2CQR. 14May08
http://www.highfrequencyelectronics.com
This is the web address for a new magazine dealing with RF Design issues.
Go to the January 2004 issue and you will find a paper by Rick Campbell,
KK7B. This paper discusses the mixer circuits that we have
used in some commercial applications. The example schematic
diagram in that paper is for the integrated circuit shown on the front
cover of EMRFD.
Coincidentally,
we should all applaud the magazine High Frequency Electronics for their
unusual viewpoint. They publish all of their articles
on line, so those of us us no longer directly affiliated with part of
the industry can still read them. This is a great boon to
the experimenting amateur as well as professional folks working in an
industry segment outside the RF mainstream.
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cotton/SA1.html
This is the page of Jim Cotton who was one of the early builders of
our spectrum analyzer. He has photographed each module as
it went together and has assembled an excellent web site to help the
builders. This is a "must see" one for the analyzer builders.
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzevz222/
This is the site of Mike, KC8OAN, who built one of our spectrum
analyzers. He has done a super job of documenting his work
on the web. (Update, 14May08)
http://www.qrp.pops.net/
This is a site generated by Todd, VE7BPO. Todd has
done a lot of experiments in building simple equipment, all in an easy
to duplicate breadboard format, and has then described that work on his
web page. This is a good read, for it not only communicates
some good experimental ideas, but a wonderful spirit of curiosity.
20 Aug 04
http://www.proaxis.com/~boblark/dsp10.htm
Bob Larkin, W7PUA, has created some wonderful designs, both in the
DSP arena where we now talk of the "software defined radio," or SDR,
and in the area of microwave circuits and propagation. This
web site concentrates on the DSP-10, a 144 MHz all mode transceiver ideal
as an IF for journeys off to the higher bands, including the microwaves.
http://www.shelbrook.com/~ve7ca/
Here is another site from Western Canada, this one from Markus, VE7CA.
Note that this url has changed from the original
one we posted. Markus has built his own high end transceiver
as well as a lot of test equipment, and describes much of it on his web
site. The transceiver was the subject of the major paper in the
March 2006 QST. It is interesting to note that this
article appeared in the same issue as the product review on the latest
offering from Yaesu. Both transceivers were measured in the
ARRL lab and both were about the same in performance, but I doubt that
Markus has $US 10,000 invested in his box. In fairness to Yaesu
(?), the rig that Markus built does not use a synthesizer and is not general
coverage on receive. There is a profound message here should anyone
care to listen! Markus also hikes a bit with his gear, taking both
HF and VHF homebrew gear into the field. (April
11, 2006)
http://www.cebik.com/radio.html
L.B. Cebik is well known to readers of the amateur radio journals for
his insightful treatment of antenna topics. This work is
expanded many fold in this web site. The site is loaded
with ideas for new skywires. Now if we only had the towers
to support such things!
http://www.qsl.net/aa3sj/HOME.html
Ed Kessler, AA3SJ, has built numerous portable and home rigs
for the HF bands and describes them on his web site. His
more recent efforts include SMT breadboarding methods. A
recent addition to Ed's site is info on a 6 Meter transceiver he has built.
Ed is also a hiker who takes his gear to the hilltops. (The last
times I tried to get into Ed's site were unsuccessful. These may
be problems with qsl.net. (17Sept06
)
http://www.ka7exm.net/
This url has changed from the original one we
posted. Roger, KA7EXM, uses this site to present his efforts
in experimenting with dsp, mountain top vhf and uhf gear, and embedded
software applications. Roger is also walking into
the backcountry with his radio gear and shows just a few photos on the
site. Congratulations to Rog for the 2006 DeMaw award
for Technical Excellence for his PIC Power Meter papers in QEX/QST.
17Sept06
http://users4.ev1.net/~wsprowls
Here's a site belonging to Scotty Sprowls, a non-ham, who has built
a high end spectrum analyzer that can be built by the experimenter.
There are a number of interesting ideas here that may be useful to the
experimenter. Among others, he presents methods that will
let a computer act as the display for a simple analyzer. 5Sept04
http://pulsar.princeton.edu/~joe/K1JT/
This site was created by Joe, K1JT, and shows how cutting edge software
can be used to expand the horizons of a VHF station. The
games we play are indeed changing.
http://www.eznec.com/index.shtml
This is the site of Roy Lewallen, W7EL, who wrote and distributes the
widely acclaimed EZNEC software program used for antenna analysis.
Version 4.0 is now available. 20Aug04.
BITX20. This relates
to the site of Ashhar Farhan, VU2FAX,
an engineer in India. His transceiver, the BITX20,
is a classic, one of the simplest SSB transceivers that I've seen.
Check out his web site, http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/bitx.html.
Try the Yahoo group devoted to it, found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BITX20/
7 Oct 06.
http://users.adelphia.net/~n2pk/index.html
This site is the effort of Paul, N2PK. Paul has developed
a DDS based, very high performance VECTOR network analyzer.
When we emphasize VECTOR, it is done to state that the instrument generates
both the magnitude and angle of gain and reflection parameters for a
two port network such as an antenna, amplifier or filter. His analyzer
functions in the .05 to 60 MHz spectrum, and can be extended to VHF and
UHF. Full construction details are presented in this site.
I'm sorry that I was not able to persuade Paul to publish his work in an
archived, peer reviewed journal, but this is the nature of our times.
Paul has added some more information to his site, and there is now a Yahoo
Group devoted to the N2PK VNA.
Revised 20 Aug 04.
http://f6feo.homebuilder.free.fr/
Michel Van Der Biest, F6FEO, authored this wonderful site.
The main features are descriptions, in French, of two experimental SSB
transceivers that he has designed and built. The single
band designs for 7 and 14 MHz, although simple, show care in both design
and implementation. The reader should also examine
the construction methods. These transceivers are truly
breadboards in that they seem to be built on a wood base, but with a
metal front panel. The circuitry itself resides on a collection
of small circuit boards interconnected with small coaxial cable.
27Feb05
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EMRFD/
There is now a Yahoo Group for EMRFD. The group
offers a chance for folks to kick ideas around that relate to the material
in the book. 28Sept06