Being charmed by the video of G3RJV, the late Reverend George Dobbs I looked up some of the things mentioned by him and links about him and those he mentioned. I found two things that might be interesting to the complete beginner, one was his book on how to make your own transistor radio, which I may try as my first attempt before trying to make a transceiver. I made one of these from a hobby store kit when I was a kid, without an antenna or a battery it managed to pick up several local AM radio stations which didn't interest me much. The instructions didn't tell me anything about how to make it better. I wonder if I could make one that would get short-wave transmissions. I've got a number of radio antennas stringed up.
The second thing was a fascinating publication of his group, SPRAT "Dedicated to low power communication" The Pixie Files which gives a number of schematic descriptions and information about building these tiny, incredibly cheap transmitters.
Here's a list for sourcing kits and parts which might come in handy for anyone who is interested. I am kind of interested in seeing what I might take out of old, broken radios. There is no shortage of those around, though I will need a more modern solder iron with a smaller point - haven't used one for forty years, for Pete's sake - and a better magnifier stand. That alone is going to take a lot of practice for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment