the joys and sorrows of building your own rigs. and some ......fast forward to 1993. dominican...

“Rig here is homebrew”The Joys and Sorrows of Building your own Rigs.

And some tips for the daring.

“Electrically Inclined”

Grandma’s light timer…

Clearly, I had THE KNACK.

Jean Shepherd WOR, W9QWN, K2ORS

Teenage Homebrew Disappointment: The Herring Aid Five -- More on this later….

Fast Forward to 1993. Dominican Republic. The Michigan Mighty Mite “JOO!”

Dominican Republic: Homebrew Transmitter“VXO-Controlled 6 Watter”

Back in Virginia – Barebones Super-Het “Station is homebrew”

Out to the Azores –DOUBLE Sideband

•

17 Meter DSB Fun in the Azores

• “Hey, you are on the wrong sideband OM!17 meter is UPPER sideband.”

I would tell them I was transmitting BOTHsidebands.

I would tell them to hit the LSB button on their rigs and they would hear me just the same.

SINGLE Sideband Transmitter

• Inspired by an article in SPRAT

• Parts from a Dominican Republic Swan 240

• Panel meter from the Crystal Radio Club 1973

• “Hey Bill, something is wrong – you’ve LOSTone of your sidebands!”

Back in the USA – The BITX Transceivers

• Bi-Directional Transceiver• Designed by Farhan VU2ESE• No un-obtanium – Nylon Washer Coils• Homebrew crystal filters• Cheap. Five Bucks.

• I used “Manhattan” style construction.

BITX in a Box (a wood box from Michael’s)

Frequency Readout – Old or New

Other BITX rigs – BITX20, uBITX, DIGI-TIA

Back to my teenage failure…. Herring Aid 5

• Tried again in 2014 (38 years later)• STILL couldn’t do it. • From afar, ZL2DEX spotted something• I had wound the oscillator coil wrong. TWICE! • Shortcomings in the QST article. And errors.• But in 2014 I had more knowledge, books, test gear, AND THE INTERNET.

38 Years Later… I finally got it to work.

Some Tips On Homebrewing….

Start small – Don’t jump straight into a big SSB transceiver project• .

View rigs as collections of sub-circuits.

Focus on these circuits.

Take Shep’s Approach:Strive to UNDERSTAND the circuits you build.

Be patient. This is NOT plug and play radio.

This isn’t easy.

For every moment of joy, there is a tale of woe.

Don’t pull your hair out. Take it easy. Take a break. Take a walk around the block.

Shep’s bad date story.

As you build rigs, also build your library, your workbench and your parts supply (junk box).

• No single book is going to provide all the answers.

Join forces with like-minded builders – near and far.Dex ZL2DEX: Pete Juliano, N6QW

SolderSmoke“I listened to the magic that only comes from a radio that you built yourself.”

In that one sentence Ian Abbot described the feeling that can arise in the midst of a room full of solder smoke,and the reward that awaits those who

build their own gear.

Some links

SolderSmoke blog: http://soldersmoke.blogspot.comSolderSmoke Twitter: @soldersmokeSolderSmoke Podcast archive: http://soldersmoke.comSolderSmoke YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/M0HBRJean Shepherd on SolderSmoke: http://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search/label/Jean%20ShepherdMany of my simple rigs: http://www.gadgeteer.us/