W2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least!

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My buddy, W3BBO has been busy again.

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 12:41 PM PST
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This time building a crystal radio and an antenna to use with it:


Admittedly, we are both fascinated by the ability of a diode, capacitor and
a coil to detect radio waves and convert them to audible signals that you
can actually listen to. "The Magic of Radio" as we both refer to it. It
never gets old, and it seems that as technology gets ever more
sophisticated and complicated and involved, we are both still fascinated by
and drawn to the simpler aspects of radio. That may mean crystal sets or
just "doing HF" like we used to - twiddling the dial, making QSOs without
the aid of Clusters, Panadapters, and other gadgets and hoo-haws, and just
enjoying being on the radio.

Isn't his handiwork the coolest?



You might think a crystal radio wouldn't be worth much; but this is how Bob
described it to me in an e-mail:

"I removed the headphones and attached my old Radio Shack amplified
speaker. Basement filling sound, just like having a “real� radio on. I
find it’s performance amazing! The only power source is the 9-volt battery
in the amplified speaker!"

That's the wonder of it all - radio from a receiver that's not powered by
anything, really.

When I was a young one, I had one of these:


I used to sit in our kitchen with the alligator clip attached to the metal
finger stop on our rotary wall phone. I was able to pick up WWOR and WABC
and a few other NYC stations, as well as WCTC our local AM station in New
Brunswick, NJ.

Looking back at it, I think that like Bob, it was crystal radio that
planted the seed about RF that eventually bloomed into the Amateur Radio
flower.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

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Thoughts of SKN

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 06:52 AM PST
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The weather forecast for New Year's Eve this coming Monday is a rainy one.
We rarely go out on New Year's Eve anyway. Marianne and I are not partying
people. Our idea of a big New Year's Eve is to go out to a quiet restaurant
for dinner and then come home to watch the ball drop in NYC via the
television.

Sign of the times - I saw a commercial the other day for WABC's "New Year's
Rockin' Eve" and I was able to recognize only two of the performing
artists. I am getting old.
I will undoubtedly jump on the air for a QSO or two for SKN. Hopefully they
will be nice rag chews. I am debating what to use this year - my Llaves
Cootie Key

or my Vibroplex Original.

I have had more practice with the Vibroplex and while I'm a bit rusty, I
don't sound too terrible. After using a keyer and paddles for so long, it
is harder for me to transition to the sideswiper. When you get so used to
one side of a key making "dits" and the other side making "dahs", it
becomes harder for me to send somewhat decipherable Morse Code with the
Cootie.
Maybe I'll practice for a bit this weekend with the VOX on the KX3 turned
off so that it becomes one of the most expensive code practice oscillators
in the world.
72 de Larry W2LLJQRP - When you care to send the very least!