That's me at the operating position.   Window looks out to the terrace and to the ocean to the East, the  Mona channel.  The shack is on the top (seventh) floor.  Here is the view from the terrace, looking South.  The big terrain feature is Cabo San Rafael.  From the terrace looking North.  Looking East into the morning sun  From the terrace looking West.  Antennas will go up there.  Perhaps solar panels too.   A bog portion of the shack is a workbench with tools and test gear.   Yesterday an ol ..read more

The delay was caused by my being at SolderSmoke Shack South and not having an Audacity audio editor in my ancient Chrome book.   Thanks to Dean KK4DAS for doing the editing, and for stripping the audio from the YouTube video.  I am getting a better computer so things should be back to normal soon.  Here is the link to the audio podcast:  http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke252.mp3 ..read more

Thanks Lex:  Your message reminded me of a comment sent to me on the YouTube channel.  The commenter seemed to criticize my use of a digital oscilloscope.  Well, the criticism came to me via the internet, computers, and Starlink, so, yes, there are great advantages to using new technology!  73 from HI7   Bill  N2CQR Hello Bill and Pete, On hackaday there is a post with the question : Are Hackers the future of amateur radio? See: https://hackaday.com/2024/07/18/are-hackers-the-future-of-amateur-radio/  I want to share my thoughts on this ..read more

We will try to get an audio-only version out soon. But for now, here is the video of the latest podcast.  -- The first podcast from SolderSmoke Shack South:   Eastern tip of Island of Hispaniola.  Cap Cana, DR, 70 feet up, 1 mile from Mona Channel.  Seventh floor shack with view of the ocean.  Antennas:  Dipoles for now, maybe Moxons or Hex later. STARLINK.  - The San Francisco case against me.  One guy thinks we DESERVE prosecution!  Get off of my lawn!  Like the library cop on Seinfeld: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9tP9fI2z ..read more

I'm going to move the antenna up onto the roof (out of sight).    ..read more

Mike WU2D put out this nice video (above) about whether or not he should part out his Heath SG-6 signal generator, using the parts in a Paraset construction project.  I faced a similar question years ago:  https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=SG-6 I just solid stated the SG-6.  I was influenced by Farhan and the drinking straws that he picked up with his kids at a McDonalds in Hyderabad.  As with the QF-1, I say to Mike: GO FOR IT OM!  You need those parts for other projects.  Don't feel bad about the SG-6.  But keep that switched coil assembly -- it is ..read more

Let me start by saying that I LIKE Ham Radio Workbench.  But I found a lot in the current edition that I disagreed with.  The whole panel seems to be chuckling at the older gear.  And the guest is from... Flex radio.   So what do you expect.  The title was "Radio Rejuvenation" -- I expected something different.  I thought we'd hear more about how to get old tube radios going.  Instead, the  focus seems to have been on how to take an old radio and stuff an RTL dongle, or a Raspberry Pi, or a Flex radio in there.  Yuck.   At one point ..read more

I really liked Eric's interview with Will KI4POV:   https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/KI4POV Will has appeared on this blog and podcast before:  https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=KI4POV There were a lot points in Eric's interview with Will that resonated with me:  -- Will told about how his very understanding and perceptive wife KNOWS when a homebrew project is not going well.  Yea, we have the same situation here! -- Will mentions the wisdom of Wes Hayward, Doug Demaw, and Pete Juliano.   -- Eric mentioned that there is a bit of his own blood in m ..read more

Mike WU2D recently put out this interesting video.  I vaguely remember the springs on the Radio Shack kits -- I also remember (bitterly) not being able to get their shortwave receiver to work.   I really wanted to tune in HCJB and Radio Moscow.  This probably led me to ask Santa for a Lafayette HA-600A receiver in 1973 or so.  An earlier influence was the little intercom kits.  I think they worked over the AC lines?   We took some of them to the beach bungalows we had in Lavallette NJ.  With them we were able to speak clearly to similar units in ..read more

The new shack is coming together in HI7 land.   I will need a shelf for the test gear -- I am looking for something thatcan sit on the main workbench -- the wall behind the bench is drywall and won't support any weight.   I will have to get some plywood to protect the nice woodwork. I have melted some solder already -- I had to fix the little magnifying lamp -- it felt good to get back in the game.   The AM radio station that was providing background music was from just across the Mona passage -- they were in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.   My S38-E shows the ..read more