GLOWBUGS TIMES

TNT Uncovered - Flea-Power (QRP) Telegraph Transmitter in the Pilot Radio's "Radio Design" magazine, 1930's

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:14:00 +0000

I found this article in the Lloyds Dipsy Dumpster - site, where you can find a lot of rare vintage radio articles, manuals and data sheets.

It is remarkable, that "Pilot Radio & Tube Corporation", well known as a manufacturer of the great Super-Wasp receivers, was a publisher of a Ham-Radio literature, handbooks and magazines, as well as many of early radio manufacturing companies. As for me, I like that sort of advertising much more, than modern spam in my mailbox and if it would be possible, it should be a nice choice to make this QRP transmitter using a native Pilot's parts only.

Anyway, when I've read this article, one interesting fact has drawn my attention - I can recognize the TNT when I see a TNT design, but in the text this transmitter has been described as a TPTG.. Moreover, there is a grid capacitor on the assembles view, but with a opposite description below: "condenser is not needed". So, in the article we can see that mysterious moment, when as the chrysalis becomes the butterfly, TPTG transmitter was transformed into a trendy TNT.

Real Radio?

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:23:00 +0000

Yeah, it glow!

Breadboarding the new T.N.T. based transmitter design. Coming soon.

6N7 Tube QRP Power Amplifier - One Rainy Day DIY Project

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:36:00 +0000

Once upon a time I'd decided to join a Big Guns Gang and made a Super-Duper Powerful Vacuum Tube QRP amplifier for my 800mW QRPP homebrew telegraph vacuum tube transceiver "3T" (I promise to write a separate article or two about this three tube transceiver project later). It was not an easy decision to me because for that legendary time I'd almost a year used the QRPP power of less than a watt, but there was a rainy spring day, I've called CQ again and again without any takers and, at very last, somebody took over my only rock bound frequency. "That's all" - I said - "Enough!" ..and turned on my Soldering Iron.

Let me describe the scheme. Grounded-Grid design has been chosen because it is simple, easy to matching to coaxial impedance, provides the necessary level of amplification and typically requires no neutralization. After several experiments with triodes and double triodes I'd chose a 6N7S (6H7C) valve - Russian glass shaped version of well known 6N7 vacuum tube. I know that there was a 6N7G and 6N7GT American glass tubes, but as I heard these ones was not as common as metal 6N7.

Radio Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:05:00 +0000

Occasionally found this Radio Girl album browsing the web, I knew that it is slightly offtopic here in this blog, but I have to post it anyway. It is soft acoustic rock music by Nick Wilkinson, naive young guitar dancing around the vintage radio set, maybe too sappy, but it is exactly as I like. And look at cover art - how could I resist, who can resist at all? Listen to the Radio Girl!

<a href="http://nickwilkinson.bandcamp.com/track/radio-girl">Radio Girl by Nick Wilkinson</a>

Building A Vintage 1929 Style Transmitter - Best HOWTO

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:51:00 +0000

Yes, Best HOWTO Ever, but not mine - hats off to Steve VE7SL. I've found this great article reading the Glowbugs mail list and I have to post it here because this article is a pure gem. Even if you never did it before, after the reading of this article you can to, you have to make your first TNT or Hartley transmitter and trust me - it is only first steps into the amazing world of glowing history!

BUILDING A 1929 VINTAGE TNT TRANSMITTER
Quote:

"After some research into the 1929 transmitter style, it became apparent that most amateurs of the period were using either a Tuned-Plate-Tuned-Grid (TPTG), a Hartley oscillator or a Tuned-Not-Tuned (TNT) design. I can well imagine the countless late night 160m AM QSO's of the day discussing and arguing the virtues of each amateur's chosen design. Eventually I decided on the TNT, a simpler off-shoot of the TPTG design."

READ COMPLETE ARTICLE AND DO IT YOURSELF! >>

Junkyard Warz Novelty Transmitter by W9QZ

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:18:00 +0000

Several month ago I found a great, probably most artistic Glowbugs Radio homebrewer in the WEB - Rick Weber, W9QZ. I've been very impressed, downloaded some beautiful photos of those stylish Rick's HAM-Radio artefacts and, naturally, forget to check this page again - it was my mistake. Take this:

Rick:

"Junkyard Warz Novelty Project. This is a working Hartley transmitter I built with all non-radio components except for one 027 vacuum tube."

Visit W9QZ Vintage Gears and enjoy the fire of these FireBottles (not only fire - you can find some bottles turned into HF insulators in the Lab of Great Steampunk Wizard, W9QZ)

Second Life of Dead MFM Hard Drives - Iambic Paddle

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:54:00 +0000

Just finished my first in life "Instructable" at the D.I.Y. host site instructables. It is short sketch about Iambic Paddle which has been made using a spare parts from the dead MFM HDD drive. I got a lot of fun posting to that site, and I think that it should be good idea to post more detailed article here. Frankly, this homebrew project is not a Pure Glowing Bug, but I'm not so puristic today.
Well, let me explain - why I decided to use HDD heads as a levers in this Iambic Paddle Project. For many years I've collected computer spare parts for no reason, just because I have a big, nearly endless Junk Box and it was impossible to me to throw such high-tech toys in the trash. But one morning I found that my Junk Box is full and The Time of Trash Bags has come. It was a hard work, but under the tons of debris I found the treasure - my first homemade Z80 Sinclair Spectrum and five old 5 inch MFM hard drives from my second computer.
As you remember, these drives was a big rounded shaped boxes, ideal as a chassis for any homemade electronic projects, tube glowbugs as well as solid state stuff. Another interesting things - powerful electromotor and magnetic cylinders itself, thick shiny discs which are so usable as a dial or scale part, looked much better than a CD in this role. And last but not least - yes, precision bearings on the easy to mount axis in magnetic head's block. What a beautiful hardware! When I opened and totally disassembled these hard drives, I realized that I literally had a very new telegraph key, usual one lever, dual lever iambic paddle or even straight key - not so important, it is easy to make any kind of telegraph manipulator using these nice spare parts. Watch this video demonstrating a working Iambic Paddle and take a look at step by step constructing process here:

Big Nick and the Cydecos - Glowbugs Radio Hide-And-Seek

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:22:00 +0000

Today I decided to become (at very last) a real blogger and to invite some celebrities as a trendy stuff. But as it turned out, neither Madonna nor Britney Spears did not make the tube radios, Arnold Schwarzenegger is possible and would do, but too busy at work, and Michael Jackson .. Okay, let's not about sad - the result of my quest was a brilliant success:

6P3 (6П3) Beam Power Tetrode

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 10:36:00 +0000

6L6 vacuum tube has been introduced by Radio Corporation of America in July 1936 and since 1937 it began to be produced in the USSR on equipment provided by RCA. For the first time it was usual metal 6L6 , but later was chosen glass bulb design in order to avoid overheating, so just before the WWII tube factories started to produce 6P3 (6П3) valves (left on photo), which was actually Soviet version of 6L6-GB tube.

After the forties, design has been changed (center tube on the photo) and the new one got additional "S" mark, which meant "Oktal" according to the post-war standard specification. There was some modifications such as 6P3S-E (6П3С-Е) (at the right on the photo) and 6P3S-EV (6П3С-ЕВ). I heard a lot of controversial stories about these extra letters, but according to the GOST it is Durability (E) and Reliability (V), so 6P3S-EV is just a high mechanical quality version of general 6P3S (6П3С) with warranted lifetime, probably military or industrial purpose. As for claimed electrical parameters, these 6P3S-E (6П3С-Е) and 6P3S-EV (6П3С-ЕВ) tubes has less current and voltage deviations than common 6P3S but according to my subjective opinion WWII 6P3 tube was a best performer in this family.

Naturally, 6P3 tube has always been one of the most popular in a variety of radio enthusiasts, it can be found in a Hi-End audio amplifier as well as in a HAM-Radio transmitter. BTW, not only HAM-Radio - it was and it is The Legendary Tube of the xUSSR Radio Pirates. Every Pirate Newbie starts with "The Whistle" - classical simple one 6P3S tube AM transmitter and so remarkable that a main web site of these guys is http://6P3S.ru

USSR HAM-Radio CallBook in 1926

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:22:00 +0000

I just found a very interesting paper - a complete list of all transmitting amateur radio stations in 1926 in the USSR, club stations, as well as personal ones. It is remarkable, that the frequencies and power levels of club stations are selected in such a way that ensures reliable traffic between distant regions and Moscow - the farther station from center, the higher its power and shorter its wavelength. And another note - individuals had managed to use different wavelengths, so it was not too easy to contact each other that times.
READ MORE >>

Free Radio Nova

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:22:00 +0000

Long Live Glorious D-STAR, DRM, SDR, VoIP, DSP, and their Amazing SMT!

Long Live Modern HAM-Radio, FairLand of Bells, Whistless and other Adaptive Filters!

Heil to the Morse Decoder Software!

Voice Keyer is Our Savior! Huray! eQSL!

* * *
But now.. [drums] But now...
* * *

SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!

Yes, it is Pirate Radio and yes, We are The HAMs, We are proud to be not a hobby, but Emergency Service. I confirm. Don't shoot me, please. I've just read a short message about this station on the Irish Paul's blog and I recognized The Radio when I met. Even without LCD.

6P7S (6П7С) Sweep Tube

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:21:00 +0000

6P7S (6П7С) TV sweep tubes, as their western sisters 6BG6 was used as a horizontal driver in some early black'n'white TV sets. In fact, this tube is not a direct 6BG6 clone, it is an octal modification of G-807 tube, which one was soviet clone of famous 807. Interesting, that both 6P7S and 6BG6 tubes has the same pinout and nearly the same characteristics.
I heard that 6BG6 valves sounds much better than 6P7S in audio devices and that 6P7S is worthless audio tube, much worse than G-807 and 6P3S ones. At the other hand, I heard that 6P7S has a beautiful clear treble, better than 6P3S. I'm not quite sure - it's just rumors.
As for me, 6P7S is a good choice if you have to put something more powerful than 6P3S (6L6) into the octal socket. Strangely, but 6P7S tubes are rarely used in HAM-radio (compared with G-807 and 6P3S).
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Evergreen Exciter for the Special Night

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:53:00 +0000

Several days ago I listened to the completely empty ten meters band. There was a lot of noises, quiet CB chewing and nothing else.
Suddenly I heard a slow, quiet, but very clear telegraph code, resembling W1AW QST. I have not heard the beginning, but wrote all heard:

..Santa placed tubes on the sockets and lit it.
The soft red glow from its ones tiny heaters brightened the room.
"The glow of the valves represents how man can show his thanks for the gift of God's Son that Christmas Eve long ago.
Teach the novices to let their lamps shine before men that all may see it and glorify God.
This is what is symbolized when the red lights shine on the twilight around the world
like hundreds of bright, shining candles, each of them representing one of God's beloved radio amateurs
whose signals are sounding for all to hear."

"Yes, red glowing" said Santa, "is the first color of Christmas." He pointed to the Rudolph, Red-Nosed Reindeer.
"But the second color is green" Santa reached into his bag and pulled out Magic Eye tube and set it into the socket.
"Teach novices about Magic Eye. Green is the second color of Christmas.
The stately evergreen with its unchanging color represents the hope of eternal lif.....

At this point I lost to hear mysterious broadcast, only a few dits and dashes appeared in the noise, someone laughed quietly and that's all.
But I realized that I have to add something green to my radio. I went to my attic and found a Magic Eye tube in my junk box.

MAGIC EYE TRANSMITTER HOWTO
It is easy to install 6E5 on the place of oscillator tube because socket's pinout of this amazing valve is nearly the same to pinout of common 6J5 and 6C5 triodes.
So, you can replace these tubes with The Magic Eye without any soldering. But if you want to see The Legendary Green Glowing, you have to apply some voltage to the Pin #6 (fluorescent screen).
It will not affect the excitation or amplification, this electrode do not cross the main electronic stream in the tube, so it is unecessary to use a regulated voltage in this circuit.
Let me demonstrate:

As you can see this is my last year's SKN MOPA transmitter with some minor changes.

6C5 replaced with 6E5
6P3 (6L6) replaced with 6P7S (6BG6)
adjusting capacitor C9 in exciter added
amplifier's screen voltage powered by +400V through R7
Magic Eye fluorescent screen is powered from the same source
choke L4 in the amplifier's grid circuit (in place of 33k resistor)

I got more power, better tone, and, finally, The Magic Green Glow. Santa was right.

GK-71 (ГК-71) Power Pentode

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:11:00 +0000

GK-71 (ГК-71) is a somewhat similar (but not the same) to the famous 813 by RCA. There was another soviet replica of RCA 813 - GU-13.
GK-71 (ГК-71) has a narrower frequency range and a slightly less gain than, say, GU-13 tube, but there are some advantages - it was dirt-cheap and has a terrific endurance (resultant of massive graphite anode block and durable heavy-duty construction).
Possible, GK-71 was the most popular power tube in the AM pirate's masonic fellowship. I'm not quite sure, I have no statistical data of pirate's preferences, but all of my unsocial friends was a GK-71 fanatics.
At the other hand, this power pentode was a "Full Legal Limit" tube for the HAM radio amateurs and one GK-71 final have to be approved without power measuring. There are many fairtales about the one GK-71 tube multy-megawatters, asbestos glove for quick tube replacement etcetera, but reality is slighly less wondrous - 350 watts from one tube without overheating, up to 450-500 watts if you are out-and-outer.

GU-50 (ГУ-50) Power Pentode

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:41:00 +0000

GU-50 (ГУ-50, folklore HAM name "poltinnik" meant "half-a-buc") was an universal, most common xUSSR power tube from the 50's up to the present days. It could be found in an every technical shop everywhere and was so inexpensive, in an usual TV-set's tubes price range. So funny, but sockets for those halfbucs was so rare and priced much more.
These power pentodes has been used as a transceiver final (one or pair of ones in parallel), in a modulator for the more powerful tube in AM transmitters, in a driver stages and (when SSB times comes) in the most common general class amplifier - three (or four) GU-50 in parallel with all grids connected to the ground.
GU-50 is russian version of WWII Luftwaffe LS 50 general purpose HF power pentode by Telefunken, also known as RL 12 P 50 tube in Wermacht's transmitters. Main difference between russian and german versions - socket's construction and dimentions, so I'm not quite sure that it is possible to use russian GU-50 as a spare part for a vintage german transmitter.
There are several other members in this family, such as DDR SRS 552 M tube, SL 152 (~12.6V filament) and EL 152 (~6.3V), but I don't know any more about these tubes, only that these tubes exists.
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Simplified Amplification

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:44:00 +0000

There was a Book Of The Books in early 1970's - "Amateur Radio SSB Equipment" by S. Bunimovich (UB5UN) and L. Yailenko (UT5AA). Funny, but this book can be found in a common pirate's shack as well as in an Extra-class (1-st xUSSR category) HAM one. Yes, xUSSR pirates used AM only (mainly?), but this book was a great source of knowledge about tubes, transmitting equipment etc for everyone who been proud to heat The Ether.
There is a huge pile of a very complex things that described so comprehensible in this book, such as Phase Shift SSB Modulators, complete Transmitters, SSB Receiver's features, Dynamic Biasing and much more, but it is too hard work for me to translate all of those great articles and I decided to start with exposition of pair of a Ground Grid Linear Amplifiers - so simple, not so powerful, but namely these amplifiers was most popular in 1970's. Thought, every xUSSR HAM made one of these amplifiers and used one with a great success.
As for me, I did :)
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Straight Key Night M.O.P.A. Transmitter

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Nechaevsky) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:24:00 +0000

After reading a lot of ancient QSTs, ARRL and Jones Handbooks plus e-mail conversations with my friend, Louis VE3AWA about American depression-era style rig design, I decided to build a classic breadboard transmitter in time for Straight Key Night.

Well, breadboard MOPA seemed like a very interesting idea, it was absolutely unusual for me - I never used wooden chassis (breadboard) without any metal shielding before. Second problem - I'd started this project too late, for only one week before the SKN.
To my surprise, I got my firefly finished and fired-up during Straight Key Night! Without any success - there was no SKN participants over here. But what done is done and I was so glad to hear many "loud and clear" signal reports and heartwarming words from EU CW stations. Maybe next SKN, VE and W stations will make a sked to work UU1CC.
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