Older Stuff.
I have been experimenting with low Voltage valve radios and a couple of the early circuits are shown here. Click the "Nick Radio mk1" link to see the latest and greatest receiver I have built. Valves draw a lot of current for the heaters but they have a reasonable amount of gain and are lots of fun to work with!
The output of one of the early radios I built used mains valves with lower gain at 12V so I used a push-pull audio amplifier section using four triode valves (ecc82), two each in parallel. The first radio I made was basically just an amplified crystal set but then I worked on RF amplification and started making my own inductors using some one-inch toroids I bought from eBay. I made a reasonable RF amplifier using tuned circuit anode loads as shown in the second circuit diagram here.
I am experimenting with different types of receivers. I have built a superhet and several regenerative receivers.
My current project is a battery valve regenerative receiver using as few components as possible.
I am now using my new (personalised) callsign, m0NjP instead of my old Foundation m3vow, because I passed the Full licence recently! (20.7.7).
Agnes (m3xyf) and I attended the 2007 Rochdale G-QRP Mini-Convention as part of a Northern Holiday. Agnes visited museums and galleries while I was at the convention and enjoyed being with all the interesting, kind and friendly G-QRPers. Below is a thumbnail leading to a picture of my haul...
My Award winning Morse machine!
In 2006 I won a trophy from the Swindon radio club (www.sdarc.net) for this machine.
It uses two valves, configured as an oscillator and amplifier, plus a programmed PIC chip, to provide pre-programmed morse messages and to convert the output of my 1970's Bencher iambic paddle into a normal "straight" key for use with a transmitter. You can adjust the speed and pitch of the morse and also interrupt the messages at any time. I built it into a jewellery box from a charity shop and the brass plate insert is from a kind chap on Swindon Freecycle (which I help to run).
73 cheers!
Nick m0NjP (QTH Swindon, SW England. IARU locator: IO91dn N51:33:11 W1:44:02)
Memo To Wives And Mothers by J. E. Kitchin (The Radio Constructor, November 1959)
(Also if applicable, to sisters and brothers and any other relative who thinks amateur radio men are "a queer lot.")
Does "he" give you the "willies" with his fiddling around with his gear? Does he never get the contraption working to his satisfaction? Does he wake you up at 2 am to the hilarious shout of "I've got Bongo-Bongo in south-west Africa!"? If so, you needn't take any pills or potions, or even give him any. Just leave him alone, occasionally say "Oh, that's good," and go back to sleep. To help you out, here are a few rules which, will, it is hoped, ease the strain of being a wife, mother, guardian, or what have you, of a radio enthusiast.
1. Don't keep asking when "it" is going to be finished unless he mentions the subject first.
2. Don't even ask if it is EVER going to be finished - it might never be! (That's part of the fun. In case you haven't already found out, nothing was ever made to the complete satisfaction of a radio man.)
3. Don't object to the hobby too strenuously; at least you know where he is at night.
4. If you like his company and the gear is in the cellar, why not suggest a small set upstairs? Lots of radio men have transmitters and receivers in boxes no larger than your sewing basket - and they make good "conversation pieces" too. (Not sure about about this!! - Nick m0NjP)
5. Don't ever suggest that he spends so much time with his gear that he hasn't the time to fix the fence, toaster, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, paint the room, mow the lawn, or take you out. Simply say offhandedly, "Now that reception conditions aren't too good, why not fix the fence to give you something to do?" (You can't possibly get caught in a jam with this one because reception conditions are always bad on some frequency or other).
6. Puzzled over what to give him for Christmas, or an anniversary, or a present for no good reason at all? (Yeah, right! - Nick m0NjP) Just look, casually at some of his catalogues and say: "That's a nice (substitute neat, queer, odd, awful - as required) looking thing, what does it do?". You'll get your answer! (Caution! Look at the price first and if it is a foreign catalogue mentally add enough to cover import duty and shipping charges. (also VAT nowadays - Nick m0NjP)).
7. Show this last suggestion to HIM. WHy don't you fix the blinking fence or whatever it is? You've got lots of time and you can finish that wiring job tomorrow - it will give you something to look forward to, and remember that Amateur Radio is a hobby!
Good luck to you both!
If Dr. Seuss Were a Technical Writer.....
Here's an easy game to play.
Here's an easy thing to say:
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!
If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash,
then your situation's hopeless, and your system's gonna crash!
You can't say this? What a shame, sir!
We'll find you another game, sir.
If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
'Cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!
When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk,
And the micro-code instructions cause unnecessary risk,
Then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to ram your rom.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mum!
from the Unix fortune database, attributed to DementDJ@ccip.perkin-elmer.com in the rec.humor.funny newsgroup