Whoa! Back up the truck. What in the world is 'Solder Sniffers', anyway!?
Okay, Solder Sniffers is the special interest group within the Longmont Amateur Radio Club that is learning about how all this electronic stuff works, AND actually building working electronic devices!
Perhaps you were like me, and thought that originally all electronic stuff worked by smoke and mirrors; and that the reason it was able to get smaller is that they had to take the mirrors out, so that now it all just runs on smoke. (There wouldn't be room inside a transistor for mirrors anyway would there?) Perhaps you know this theory to be true, because by letting some of the smoke out of one of your devices, you observed that it quit working!
Anyway, about two years ago, twenty or so learning deprived folks began to meet at the Fairgrounds Office building (where the club meetings are held) to begin to learn more about the magic inside the devices. And how they can work together in circuits, and to ACTUALLY BUILD some pretty cool stuff. The first thing we built was a simple code oscillator. (While I say it was simple because we got 'em all built in one afternoon, it was really a very nifty craftily conceived little gizmo. ('Gizmo' is a technical term. We have learned many other technical terms at Solder Sniffers gatherings.) The circuit was partially designed, and many of the parts provided, by past LARC President Gary Walls.
Good journalistic procedure would have had me naming the principals in this adventure way back at the "top of the story." Bob Dornan WA2EKU was the inspiration for this entire adventure and remains today as the lead instructor/mentor. Bob and Earl Cate NØISB used to have "Bob and Earls" on Saturday afternoons at the club station where they worked on their own projects, and would help anybody else who happened by. Unfortunately, not too many people did. Bob is currently ably assisted by John West KB0ONB (from Michigan no less!), Randy Stevens N0NMD, and others whose volunteering is as yet unknown to them.
Bob works part time at a little start-up with tentacles into many areas of ham radio all over the world. It's called Alpha Power. There are many folks available on many subjects through that affiliation. Not to mention all the technical people who belong to LARC and the folks they know. So interesting things to learn are just about inexhaustible.
Sir Robert has a talent very rare in the world. He will research something that interests him six ways from Sunday FOR A MONTH OF SUNDAYS! Then he will have nearly the total accumulated knowledge of mankind about THAT one subject mastered. But it will go away whenever he is done with the current project. By sharing with us, he will retain far more of the knowledge, himself. And because of his amazing ability to distill and be succinct, we can gain a reasonable understanding in a very short time!
The sessions on Saturday afternoons (see schedule below) starting at 1:00 p.m. will, from now on, follow a predictable format: The first thirty to forty-five minutes will be a lecture/chalk talk. The second hour or so will be the current project of the group (see listing below). The third hour or so will be a combination of investigation of troubleshooting using ham radio related participant supplied devices, and building projects, or a continuation of the group project.
Here's the promised chalk talk schedule:
December 11th - Practical antenna stuff (another technical term)
January 8th - Digital modes
January 22nd - More digital modes
February12th - DSP (Digital Signal Processing) for hams
February 26th - logging programs
March 11th - ?
March 25th - ?
April 8th - ?
April 22nd - ?
These talks, as well as the projects listed below, are not set in stone. If you have an idea related to ham radio about which you would like to learn more, and Bob is interested in it, too: he'll do a chalk talk on it!
At the meeting held Saturday November 27, we learned quite a bit about basic antenna theory. While the math is purposely kept as simple as possible, we did learn that the wavelength (in feet) is equal to 938.6/F(frequency in MHz) x VF (the velocity factor of the medium in which the wave travels) (The length of a half wave dipole formula: 468/F many of us learned to take our various test was derived from that information taking into consideration the velocity factor of air.)
We also discussed the rudimentary theory of ground plane antennas, yagis and other larger antennas. The resistance, capacitative and inductive reactances and the formulae for determining same were covered. (You DO remember, don't you, that in a capacitative circuit current leads voltage and in an inductive circuit the voltage leads the current�. ELI the ICE man.(Bob hates that!)
Project List:
2 meter cw keyer/oscillator (as soon as we get the PC board.)
Home-brew SWR meter
Home-brew transmission line tuner
Home-brew remote antenna tuner (There is a difference
between these two!)
All parties are invited to Solder Sniffer functions, even those who only want to have a cup of coffee and kibitz. For more information contact Bob at his E-mail.
73
Congratulations to Rachel Perley (Longmont), Bret Moreland (Boulder), Carol Wilson (Broomfield), Kody Paul (Broomfield) and Andrew Schmidt (Ft. Collins) for qualifying for their first license, Technician Class. Earning Technicain Plus licenses were, James Morton, KC0FST (Lyons) and Brian Bowman, KC0FSO ( Longmont). Bob Balise II, KB0SXQ completed the written exam for General Class. Jonathan Troup, KC0FNC completed all requirements for Extra Class. Again, we congratulate you.
The V.E. Team will not conduct a test session for this month December, 1999. Our next session will be held on January 22, 2000, the first month of the final year of this millenium.
We wish you Happy Holidays and success in your testing for new and upgrade licenses.
73,
Earle, N0ISB
From the Editor:
Hello Again! It�s a bit of a fluke but, you�re getting two Splatters this month. It was rough going getting started last month and then good ol� Win95 blew my Netscape Navigator away. How about som eone coming up with a better operating system for the IBM compatible? HEE HEE I finally got settled down with a machine that I hope, won�t give me any trouble for a long time to come. So, in the coming months, the Splatter will be getting out in a more timely manner.
On a personal note, I�m going for the General License again, I have the CSCE for the written element, now I just need to get some time in pounding the brass. Is there anyone else who would like to set up a schedule for on the air practice? Is there a net already runnning on 2 meters? What would be a good simplex frequency to find others of similar interest on? The upcoming Solder Sniffer project for a 2 meter code keyer/oscillator should give a boost to interest in this area. Keep your eyes on the solder sniffers for more on this Project. See you all next month. KB0SXQ
L.A.R.C.
Christmas Party
December 11, 1999
Saturday
6 PM to 9 PM
Altona Grange At the Corner of
Nelson Road / N. 39th Street
west on Nelson about 2 miles to 39th, turn left. Ham, drinks, plates & forks (if you need one) Provided No charge but
Bring a salad or desert or vegetable tray
To feed more than your family.
For the Sunday Night 11/28/99 Net here are the following checkin's: kb0yue kc0dqb kc0fso kc0gog kb0qdx kc0fst kc0gid w0hch wb8vqi w0lqv k5znf n0isb n5jyk w0ipl ka0lki w9srz w0ata kb0sxq kc0eod
For those of you who indulge the Holidays , here�s something extra.
A Ham's Night Before Christmas
(Yet another corruption of Clement Clarke Moore's classic Christmas tale, this time distorted by Gary Pearce KN4AQ, and the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society, Raleigh, NC, December 2, 1996.)
Twas the night before Christmas,
And all through two-meters,
Not a signal was keying up
Any repeaters.
The antennas reached up
From the tower, quite high,
To catch the weak signals
That bounced from the sky.
The children, Tech-Pluses,
Took their HT's to bed,
And dreamed of the day
They'd be Extras, instead.
Mom put on her headphones,
I plugged in the key,
And we tuned 40 meters
For that rare ZK3.
When the meter was pegged
by a signal with power.
It smoked a small diode,
and, I swear, shook the tower.
Mom yanked off her phones,
And with all she could muster
Logged a spot of the signal
On the DX PacketCluster,
While I ran to the window
And peered up at the sky,
To see what could generate
RF that high.
It was way in the distance,
But the moon made it gleam -
A flying sleigh, with an
Eight element beam,
And a little old driver
who looked slightly mean.
So I thought for a moment,
That it might be Wayne Green.
But no, it was Santa,
The Santa of Hams.
On a mission, this Christmas
To clean up the bands.
He circled the tower,
Then stopped in his track,
And he slid down the coax
Right into the shack.
While Mom and I hid
Behind stacks of CQ,
This Santa of hamming
Knew just what to do.
He cleared off the shack desk
Of paper and parts,
And filled out all my late QSLs
For a start.
He ran copper braid,
Took a steel rod and pounded
It into the earth, till
The station was grounded.
He tightened loose fittings,
Resoldered connections,
Cranked down modulation,
Installed lightning protection.
He neutralized tubes
In my linear amp...
(Never worked right before --
Now it works like a champ).
A new, low-pass filter Cleaned up the TV.
He corrected the settings
In my TNC.
He repaired the computer
That would not compute,
HE backed up the hard drive
And got it to boot.
Then, he reached really deep
In the bag that he brought,
And he pulled out a big box.
"A new rig?" I thought!
"A new Kenwood? An Icom?
A Yaesu, for me?!"
(If he thought I'd been bad
it might be QRP!)
Yes! The Ultimate Station!
How could I deserve this?
Could it be all those hours
that I worked Public Service?
He hooked it all up
And in record time, quickly
Worked 100 countries,
All down on 160.
I should have been happy,
It was my call he sent.
But the cards and the postage
Will cost two month's rent!
He made final adjustments,
And left a card by the key:
"To Gary, from Santa Claus.
Seventy-Three."
Then he grabbed his HT,
Looked me straight in the eye,
Punched a code on the pad,
And was gone - no good bye.
I ran back to the station,
And the pile-up was big,
But a card from St. Nick
Would be worth my new rig.
Oh, too late, for his final
came over the air.
It was copied all over.
It was heard everywhere.
The Ham's Santa exclaimed
What a ham might expect,
"Merry Christmas to all,
And to all, good DX."
1996 by Gary Pearce KN4AQ
Permission granted for any print or electronic reproduction.
Once again, there will be NO VE TESTING session held for the month of December, as the testing date falls on the 25th. The next testing date will fall on January 22nd 2000. Tests will be held at the Boulder County Fairgrounds Office Building. This is the building where LARC holds its monthly meetings. The sessions begin at 10:00 A.M. SHARP. You will need to bring the original and a copy of your current license, the original and a copy of any CSCE you intend to act upon, and two forms of I.D., one of which being a form of PHOTO I.D. If any further details are needed, contact Earle Cate, N0ISB