481THz transceiver ready for QSOs

The electronics of the 481THz AM transceiver

My first complete optical speech transceiver has been finished and is ready for a line-of-sight test over a few kms. The pictures show the assembly of both the electronics and the optics. All the TX and RX electronics are built "dead bug" style on a piece of copper laminate and housed in a small metal box. There are holes for the BPW34 detector diode and the high brightness LED that line up with the focal point of each 100mm optics tube.

The optics showing the 2-tube construction with sighting scope

A quick "in strong daylight" test down the road over 0.3km was successful one way: my wife could see my TX beam strongly and I could detect my CW beacon OK, so I am hopeful that a proper 2-way amateur QSO with this kit should now be possible. Sensitivity at night is very considerably better.

G4HJW is set up to do a 2-way test, so this is now likely to be attempted in the next few days. if successful I will then try to make a better, more permanent, version.

144MHz across the Atlantic?

A new beacon, GB3WGI in Ulster, has been approved by OFCOM. When turned on it will radiate at least 100W ERP (possibly much more) in the direction of the USA. It will be monitored in the USA and Canada for possible 144MHz openings across the Atlantic.

For many years people have speculated about the possibility of working across the Atlantic on 144MHz. On very rare occasions, this might be achieved by various propagation modes including multi-hop Es, auroral E, tropo or MS, or more probably a combination of these. There have been tantalising hints that this path has been open before now, but no objectively verifiable proof. With new weak signal modes it surely will happen sometime soon.

481THz optical transceiver progress

My AM baseband optical transceiver build is nearly finished (mechanics and electronics both almost complete), although I have to optimise the sensitivity as it is several dB less sensitive than my stand-alone optical receiver.  I am not quite sure why. All being well I should be ready for a real QSO with fellow local optical enthusiast G4HJW next week.

RSGB member for 50 years

When we got back from seeing our grandchildren in Kent today there was a small package from the RSGB on the doormat. I'd not ordered anything, so was a little puzzled what it might be.

Inside was a very nice letter and a personalised callsign RSGB lapel badge as a thank you for being a continuous RSGB member for 50 years this month. Apparently it was April 1962 when I first joined. It was very gratifying to get this: thank you RSGB!

Things have changed a great deal in the hobby since then, but there is as much, if not more, to enjoy today than back then. Whether I get to reach 60 years of membership remains to be seen but I certainly intend to do all I can to enjoy radio electronics for as long as I possibly can.

The RSGB has had a difficult recent history but it deserves our support so that it can work for UK radio amateurs in the years ahead.

Finningley Optical Transceiver (G4HJW)

Bernie G4HJW is well known for his innovative microwave designs as well as many other good projects in recent years. This year he has produced another winner for the Finningley Round Table in mid July:  a baseband optical transceiver kit designed with SMA components. For details see http://www.earf.co.uk/nanotrx.htm . I am not sure if Bernie is planning to make kits available more generally. Bernie has tested this design over a 65km line-of-sight path recently.

Dayton and new QRP transceivers

Not being in the USA, I don't get to visit the big Dayton Hamvention held each May, but I do look out for announcements from the big suppliers about newly released products, especially QRP radios. Elecraft were displaying the new KX3 and Ten-Tec announced a new Argonaut VI due to be released later this year. This is a little larger than the FT817 and has HF only coverage (less 12m) but looks ideal for a high spec, inexpensive QRP radio up to 10W. For more on the Ten-Tec Argonaut VI (was the Ten-Tec 539) see this link.

But, yet again Yaesu has NOT released, as far as I am aware, a successor to the FT817.

One of the best places to look for news of Dayton is http://qrper.com/ which has reports and photos of new products.

Sonicencoders.msi - where can I get it?

My 7 year old Dell Inspiron 630m WinXP laptop has been restored to "as factory settings" to properly clean it out of files detritus that had accumulated over the period despite numerous defrags, ccleaner clean-ups and deletion of unwanted files. I've loaded Windows service packs, McAfee etc and all seems to be well ....apart from one small annoying issue: I keep getting a pop up box  telling me I need a file called sonicencoders.msi to install some software which I think is to do with some Sonic software for DVD burning. This never goes away and it tells me the file is on a D/ drive which I don't have access to. This is a partition allowing full and partial restores on a Dell machine.

Searching the internet it appears this is a very common issue yet no-one seems to be able to tell me where to find this file which I appear to need to even delete the files that are causing the problem. Ccleaner doesn't allow me to delete it, neither does the usual Windows add/remove programs.

When I first had the PC, from my son about 5 years ago, I seem to vaguely recall having the same issue and I managed to fix it but I haven't a clue what I did back then.

Anyone know how to get this file or how to stop the annoying pop-up message? I am not a PC expert at all by the way, so keep it very simple. Ideally someone please email me the file and put me out of my misery.

136kHz grabbers and a DC receiver for the band

A list of all the known LF grabbers (on-line to the internet LF receivers) in the world is available at http://icas.to/argo/grabbers-list.htm . A receiver to use with a 136kHz grabber is available as a kit or ready built from http://icas.to/e/ . This is a simple, but effective, direct conversion design which is already in use at several grabbers around the world.

Germany- Venezuela on 136kHz

DK7FC has been helping YV7MAE set up a grabber for 136kHz and over the last month they have been improving the system day by day. Last night Stefan's DFCW signal was copied quite well for the first time over a distance of 7818km. This is the first time a European station has been copied in South America I believe on this band. The grabber can be seen at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/74746618/LF/YV7MAE_LF_Grabber.html .

Universal QRP Projects Box?

This is really a follow-on from the previous post. As a "mechanically challenged" QRPer I really do hate the stage of putting a completed project into a tidy box. Some people love drilling holes but many do not, so I wonder if there is a market for a "universal" QRP projects box with pre-drilled holes at the front and back? Perhaps a variation of the GQRP Limerick project box could be made available for wider project use?

Most QRP transceivers need a power connector, a coax socket and a key on the back. They need a VFO(or VXO) control knob, a gain control and a socket for phones. Maybe another control and a couple of front panel switches.

So, I wonder why no-one (as far as I know) produces a pre-drilled box that could be used for a range of projects. Surely there is a market for this. A set of water transfer control legends could also be supplied with the box (remember the Radio Constructor sets?).

Just my thoughts having spent an afternoon engineering a 481THz transceiver mechanics and drilling an aluminium box.