Welcome new users KalyanProdhan and Slim Jim

2 nights in the new house.
Only another 40 boxes to unpack.
Most of furniture re-assembled.
Back ache.
Broken big toe on right foot!
Off work, sick.

SNACU!!

Light at the end of the tunnel. Hope it is the opening at the end, but knowing my luck it is the Cleethorpes Express (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransPennine_Express) heading towards me!!

BR Harry

You certainly have your hands full Harry! Good luck getting everything together.
Best wishes
Jim

I used to have a lot of test equipment but when I moved from a 3-floor villa in the country, I had to down-size a lot.
I also have a "life shortening" illness so Maj-Lis is always "at" me to get rid of stuff. Usually stuff that I care for.

Today I am building more test gear, and until I have a usable workshop I will not retire. My work is my technical hobby.

So now I will have to be a bit inventive. I am building that AF generator, oscilloscope, RF generator, 5A PSU and a few other bits and pieces. Some of the projects have now been built and only need to be put in boxes. But with only "stolen time" it is difficult. When Maj-Lis was in Spain for a month I had four weeks (when not moving, building, renovating or decorating).

So that is my present situation. "Hobby time" is a dream that I have yet to fulfil.

BR Harry

Good to know you got back safely Harry.

Yes OwO is an interesting character. I can understand why you have no time for hobbies...moving home is bad enough and moving countries is on another level. We did it in September, moving back to London after three years in NYC. You have a lot on your plate!

Your work day sounds very similar to mine. I have an 09.15 video call via zoom in which I'll be sporting that same 50/50 dress code!

I don't have much in the way of test equipment - just my ears for sound quality, an sdr for signal analysis and car for range testing. The ears work quite well, the sdr will give me an approximation of signal qualith, relative to my other rigs and the range test will have to wait due to current restrictions.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Take care and speak soon.
Kind regards
Jim

I didn't want to say too much about OwO but my own experiences are identical. I received two pieces FOC and I feel very disappointed that I have not had the time to try them. We are presently packing up TWO homes since we have sold the apartment in Sweden and the villa in Spain. We have also bought an end-of-terrace house in Sweden. So right now we have no time for hobbies in Sweden, and no facilities in Spain.

Yes, Jim, we are back in Sweden now. We made it back with the assistance of the Swedish Consulate and got new tickets (SEK 11,000) with SAS.

At the moment I cannot sleep, but daytime I am working from home. WFH means that when I work I have a very different dress-code  . Just climb out of bed, have a pee, then login online. If I have a video meeting I only need to put on a shirt (and be careful not to stand up  ).

BR Harry

That really made me laugh. And you're absolutely right....like a watched kettle never boils.

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know I'm in contact with user OwO now via email. He or she uses the name of a japanese fictional character, Gabriel Tenma White, a 16 year old female school drop out. You can find out more if you google the name.

Anyway our friend OwO prefers to remain anonymous and lacks any social graces yet is perfectly pleasant in correspondence and extremely generous in deed. (S)he is based in China and is sending me 2 of their QN8007 based transmitters completely foc. I was quite taken aback.

(S)he is fluent in english and exceptionally articulate. Working as an RF engineer in China on the nanovna v2 design having previously spent 2016 and 17 in Dublin Ireland.

Our correspondence resulted in a desire to create a low cost 'proper' FM transmitter with built in mp3 player and power source. Proper meaning not using one of the all in one chips. I'm sure it'll be posted on the forum when completed.

(S)he is a complete mystery yet intriguing and engaging. Let's see where it goes!

Are you back in Sweden now?

Jim

I find it easy to do "finger trouble" these days.
It is funny how things seem to work perfectly, until you really need them and rely, just that once. It is like the computer KNOWS I am relying on it.

First rule in computers: "Never let the computer know you are in a hurry"
Second rule: "Always watch your printer. It only jams when you turn away"

Many years ago I bought my first CD burner. It burned at 2x (300kB/s or something), so it always took about 40 minutes to burn a CD. I tried to go away and take a coffee, but it crashed and ruined the CD. If I stayed and watched it, the thing ALWAYS worked. I tried it about 25 times and always exactly the same result: I HAD to watch it.

True story: One day I put a mirror on my camera tripod, went out of the room and hid outside the door, but I secretly watched the computer through the mirror without it knowing. It crashed.
It was the screen-save that kicked in after 20 minutes, switching off the hard disks and switching the CD burner off 1/2 way through the burn. Every time previously I sat there and watched it I did something with the machine that reset the screen-saver timer.

BR Harry

Thanks Harry. I sent a follow up message and received a speedy response so it does work even though the sent message wasn't in the sent box. Having said that, my previous message wasn't received....or maybe it wasn't sent. Let's call that one user error haha.
Best wishes
Jim

Hi ahain Jim,
I am sorry, but I know not of any PM problems. It is so seldom used these days. I never had a problem with it before.
As a registered member you should have full access to send/receive PMs.

I will check the settings.
BR Harry

Hope you get back safely. These are trying times.

You didn't tell us the result of your medical assessment in Cyprus hahaha. But they let you stay anyway. Sounds like you made the best of your situation there and came away with a tidy sum too. Well done.

Quick question regarding the messaging facility: is there a glitch in viewing sent messages? My first message to OwO didn't appear in the sent box so I re sent it. Then the reply came and it was clear that both my messages had been sent and received. I replied and again there's no record of my reply in the sent box. Any insight you can provide would be appreciated. Thank you, Jim

... and I shall look forward to your reading your findings.
Glad you found the Cyprus story interesting. i had a lot of fun there.

Masirah was considered one of those s#1tty postings. 9-months of misery. I found I was saving all my wages with just £5 a week, the rest to the bank. I went to the photography club and did a LOT of photography, including a life-sized photo of myself. Used 1/2 a bucket of developer in a plastic bag from a bed matress. Did electronics in the Transmitter Site workshop, active member of Radio 65 (BFPO65).

I had my tour extended to 12 months. After 11 months I asked if it could be extended longer, but they sent me to the medical officer to be sure I was not gay or psycho

But after a year there I saved almost £1000, which was a lot in 1975.

Ok, thank you for participating in the forum. Look forward to more info.

BTW - yesterday I was mega-depressed - Norwegian airlines cancelled the flights home due tot he corona virus. They said there was a slim chance of a flight in about another month! Today I found that the flight is still going, but most probably with non-ecconomy passengers onboard.

We are now booked on an expensive "business-class" flight with another airline; we leave on Friday   Always the same, most problems can be solved if you thow money at them. But £1000 was not all that much. It would have cost more to stay here, buying black-market toilet rolls, renting a local car, visiting a private doctor to get a local prescription for the chemotherapy, etc.

Catch you later - very best regards from Harry - SM0VPO

Fascinating stuff, Harry. Love the Cyprus story!
Guess we all have our pet interest. Some love to build the transmitters and some love to use them....
Good luck with the MW project. Jimmy Clitheroe, The Navy Lark and The Goons. Fond memories!
One point on the SJ antenna - it took me far longer than 10 minutes! I used 300 ohm ladder line with stranded wire and stripping the insulation for the coax attachment points was a pain. Then it took forever to tune the blasted thing. Up a bit...stop. Too far. Down a bit...stop. Too far. Up a bit...Doh! And I soldered it each time when I should have used crocodile clips to test.
Anyway, nice to connect. I will post my findings on the OwO transmitter when received.
Best wishes and stay safe,
Jim

Hello Jim,
Thank you very much for the information. It was very interesting to read.

I used to have a radio show in "Radio 65", a radio station on the island of Maserah, affiliated to BFPS Cyprus. I became the senior controller and my own show was rather comical: "Sounds Different". There were loads of single soldiers on the island (including myself) and only two women. They were from the "Mission To Military Garrisons" organisation.

I wrote to the publishers of Mayfair and Penthouse, explained my situatation, and they started sending me magazines that were returned unsold. These I gave away as prizes when guys phoned in old jokes, or particularly good jokes. I had a lof of audience participation from just a few 100 guys :-)

I have always been interesting in the technical side of transmitters. I built pirate AM and FM transmitters, but only ever put one of them on the air seriously. My fun was the actual design and construction.

As regards the "Slim J..." antenna, I devised this micro-cost antenna some time ago. http://sm0vpo.altervista.org/antennas/vpole0.htm
A bit of power cable, strip of wood and you can have modest gain omni-directional antenna built in about 10 minutes. The hardest part is perhaps stripping back the end of the coaxial cable to connect it to the antenna ;-)

At the moment I have a long-term project. I have a Vidor Lady Margaret radio and a vintage germanium transistor radio. "6 transistors and one diode" was the advert for it in the 60s. I want to make a board with about six MW modulators and modulate each carrier with an MP3 player, playing loads of archive music files. I have a few hundred hours of Radio Luxemburg, Radio Moscow, Radio Caroline, the BBC Light program, plus many more. Not to mention about 500 episodes of the Jimmy Clitheroe Show, the Navy Lark and a few Goon-Show files.

As you can see from my homepages I have designed several FM projects, such as:

The "222 Stereo Encoder" http://85.226.178.87/audio/stereo_enc.htm

150mw V7 FM transmitter http://85.226.178.87/tx/v7b_proj.htm

That was also controlled by an educational synthesizer http://85.226.178.87/conv/synth-10.htm

As always I found the design and construction was a lot more fun than actually using anything.

I have an Owo FM transmitter but unfortunately I have not got the time to do anything with it. For the past few years I have moved house several times, lived in a hotel, and at the moment I am quarantined in Spain. I seem to have been totally occupied renovating, decorating, moving, building, travelling and ...

At the moment we have just bought a house in sweden (not moved in yet), sold the micro-apartment and we have also managed to sell the villa in Spain, so from the end of May this year I hope to have a workshop, a bit of garden for antennas, but of course, something (corona-virus) just had to happen to increase the complications.

Another week and if there are no symptoms I can travel back to Sweden and start another two weeks quarantine, assuming the flights are not cancelled.

But thank you once again for your history. It was really good and interesting to ready. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

Very best regards from Harry Lythall - SM0VPO

Thank you Harry.
I'm a music lover and part time radio presenter with an interest in FM broadcasting, mainly because of the high quality audio signal. It beats DAB, DAB+ and almost all internet radio streams by a significant and audible margin.
One of the great functions of FM radio has been to bring music to new audiences and, through the presenter, to deepen listeners' appreciation.
Sadly here in the UK, the dial has been monopolized by the BBC, Baur and Global who all play the same songs, often using automation. In other words, they're failing to deliver in the one area that FM radio could differentiate itself from all other forms of broadcasting, including online streaming services.
I should say that BBC3 is an exception but it's mainly Classical music which has limited appeal.
We also have licenced local 'Community' stations but they either don't last long or else they just mimic the major stations and fill in with local news. Even the pirates are unadevntutous. Most still play music which harks back 15-20 years. Yet there are many new artists and music styles here that would benefit from more airplay and recognition.
I joined the site to connect with user OwO which I have now done and I'm looking forward to trying out their QN8007 based transmitter design. At least there'll be one station I can listen to at home!
Final point - I have a rudimentary understanding of electronics though I wouldn't know where to start with a transmitter build. I have built a few antennas, the latest one being a Sli....no, I'll let you guess what type of antenna it is lol. I'm very pleased with it and at a cost of £12 it out-performs a £200 pro folded dipole. A good result!
Long intro perhaps. But you did ask!
Best wishes to you all,
Jim

Welcome new users KalyanProdhan and Slim Jim. Welcome to SM0VPO's forum.

As you are aware, the object of the forum is to spread knowledge and have a bit of fun. Please feel free to share your knowledge and experiences and do not be afraid to ask new questions. Please remember that there are no silly questions.

You membership has been activated and you can respond to posts, create new topics, post URL links and post pictures.

Perhaps you may like to introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself?
I hope that you have a nice time here and on www.sm0vpo.com.

Very best regards from Harry - SM0VPO