Sorry this one’s a bit late - didn’t have anything properly finished by last Sunday, and I’d rather post something worth reading than rush out half-thoughts just to meet an arbitrary schedule.
This week’s been dominated by radio projects, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been following along. I’ve started working on an FM transmitter with the grand ambition of eventually hosting some sort of radio show. Nothing fancy, mind you - keeping it sensible at 1 watt to stay well within the restrictions of the General User Radio License. The whole thing started as a bit of a thought experiment really, but now I’m genuinely excited about the possibilities. And definitely no music, because that way lies licensing madness and paperwork that would make my head spin. Radio podcasting, perhaps? Not sure that’s even a proper term, but it sounds about right for whatever this endeavour might become.
The FM transmitter build has been more involved than I initially thought. Getting clean modulation at low power whilst keeping spurious emissions in check is trickier than it looks on paper. I’ve been spending hours tweaking the oscillator circuit and trying to get the audio input stages just right. There’s something deeply satisfying about watching the spectrum analyser display clean up as you adjust component values, even if it means ordering yet another batch of capacitors because you’ve somehow managed to use every 22pF cap in the parts box.
The other major radio project eating up my time has been trying to resurrect a Kenwood TS930S that’s been giving me grief for weeks now. This radio has character, I’ll give it that - most of it problematic. The antenna tuner was completely borked when I got it, so that’s been bypassed entirely now. Sometimes the simplest solution really is the best one, and frankly the internal tuner on these older rigs can be more trouble than they’re worth anyway.
The only remaining issue, as far as I can tell, is the complete absence of CW sidetone. Which would be quite annoying if I was actually testing it on-air. It’s one of those problems that could be anything from a blown audio amplifier to a dodgy switch contact, but without proper test equipment it’s mostly educated guesswork. Bit of a chicken-and-egg situation really - can’t properly diagnose the radio without an antenna, but don’t want to put up an antenna until I’m sure the radio’s working properly and won’t do something embarrassing on the airwaves.
On the non-radio front, I tackled an iPhone SE 2020 screen repair this week, which is always good fun in that slightly masochistic way that delicate electronics work tends to be. Someone had properly done a number on this one - the screen was a spider web of cracks, and there were bits of glass embedded in the home button assembly. There’s something oddly satisfying about successfully separating a shattered screen from its housing without destroying the LCD underneath, even when your hands are cramping from holding tiny screws and your eyes are going crossed from squinting at ribbon cables thinner than human hair.
The whole process is a masterclass in patience, really. Heat gun, plastic prying tools, endless tiny screws that seem determined to disappear into the carpet dimension. The satisfaction when it all goes back together and actually works is worth the inevitable mild panic attacks along the way, especially that moment when you press the power button for the first time and genuinely don’t know if you’ve just created an expensive paperweight or actually fixed something.
In between all this technical mayhem, I’ve been spending time talking to her over the phone, which is the next best thing to being there in person. She somehow managed to listen to my rambling explanations about the history of HP calculators (whilst only getting mildly irritated), which is honestly more patience than most people would show when someone starts going on about stack operations and reverse Polish notation for the third time in a week. There’s something quite wonderful about having someone who at least pretends to be interested from time to time, even if I can practically hear her eyes rolling through the phone when I get particularly enthusiastic about floating-point precision.
Such is the life of amateur radio and amateur repair work - half the hobby seems to be fixing the things that are supposed to help you do the hobby in the first place, whether that’s transceivers, test equipment, or the phones you use to look up circuit diagrams when you’re properly stuck. The other half is trying to explain to people why any of this matters, which is considerably easier when you’ve got someone who actually wants to understand.
More technical adventures to come, no doubt. Maybe next week I’ll actually have that antenna sorted, and perhaps the FM transmitter will be ready for its first proper test. Though knowing my luck, I’ll probably find three more problems that need fixing first.
73, Daniel