A Drake 2-B from KW4H
Steve Reed, KW4H, refurbished a Drake 2-B and a 2-BQ and sent them to me as a gift for the serial-number work. Serial 10219 now lives here.
▶ 2026
Drake 2-B serial catalog
Rear-apron photographs of Drake 2-B serial numbers collected from eBay listings, as a companion to the German-tank estimate of how many were built.
Testing Harmonics on some Baofengs (Old and New)
2 m spectrum captures — transmit power and harmonic spur levels for several Baofeng handsets, with and without filtering.
Balanced Mixers: How LO and RF Become IF (and AF)
How a four-diode double-balanced ring mixer multiplies LO and RF to produce intermediate-frequency products at the sum and difference of the two input tones — from classic 455 kHz superhets to direct-conversion receivers where the IF sits near DC and audio.
How many Drake 2Bs were ever made?
# How Many Drake 2-Bs Were Ever Made? Counting Boatanchors with the German Tank Problem It started, as these things do, with Bill (N2CQR) thinking out loud. On an episode of the *SolderSmoke* podcast he wondered how many Drake 2-B receivers the R.L. Drake Company had ever actuall
▶ 2024
Analysis of Fake Numbers Station (Greensleeves) — October 2024
Yet another Greensleeves numbers-station transmission, decoded and analyzed.
More Greensleeves Numbers Station — Late September 2024
A long late-September transmission from the fake Greensleeves numbers station.
Analysis of Fake Numbers Station (Greensleeves) — September 2024
A new fake numbers station emerges, reading oddly high-pitched numbers between 0 and 25.
Subtraction Borrowing is Biased
A pencil-and-paper observation about the asymmetry of the borrowing algorithm.
Analyzing the WWV/WWVH Time Signal on 15 MHz
At the start of every UTC minute, WWV and WWVH each transmit an 800 ms pulse on 15 MHz — often both audible at once. By stacking those pulses and fitting a smooth envelope model, we can read off their relative delay and watch WWVH fade while WWV stays steady.
▶ 2023
Oddity on 15025 kHz — September 2023
A strange shortwave signal spotted by Ormu on the HF Underground Discord.
False Turkey Tail: Stereum ostrea.
Some excellent basidiomycete fungus nearby today. This is the false Turkey tail: Stereum ostrea.
Pleated Inkcaps
Parasola plicatilis
Accidental Flower
This one just came up in a sandy and rocky part of the yard that is complexly neglected. That seems to make it extra special.
Canadian Smoke and Light Scattering
Another hazy day with smoke from the Canadian wild fires. I’ve noticed this before, but shadows on a day like this are subtly interesting. To me they seem to have a hint of blue in them (see below) and for that matter the lite areas seem more red. Is this an optical illusion or t
Another mushroom grove: probably Panaeolus sp.
Probably Panaeolus foenisecii or Panaeolus cinctulus.
Nice Astro-Conjunction
Captured this last night. From left to right we have Mars, (tree), Venus and then the Moon. I don’t claim this is a great photo, just a cool conjunction. Captured on the (northern) Summer Solstice as well.
New Mushrooms
Most likely Coprinopsis atramentaria or the common ink cap
▶ 2022
Interesting Numbers Are More Likely Than You Think
An RSA SecureID Dongle Story
Ukraine Went Dark On The Amateur Radio Bands
Amateur radio is a popular hobby practiced by about 3 million people world wide. Using several different transmission types, amateurs…
▶ 2021
How Much π Do You Need?
How many decimal places of π do you know? π is one of those numbers we call irrational . Rational numbers can be described as the ratio of…
▶ 2018
Fall
Not ‘the Fall’, just Fall – as in Autumn.
Chicken of the woods
Mushroom season is well under way and this weekend in the Middlesex Fells I came across the largest patch of ‘Chicken of the Woods’ mushroom (Laetiporus sulphureus). See below: This lovely mushroom is apparently edible but I didn’t take any to try. Regretting that now. It should
Another Polypore Mushroom (Daedaleopsis confragosa)
I know I’ve been coming thick and fast with the mushroom updates but this weekend I solved a mystery that has been bothering me for a while. There seem to be two major, large, polypore mushrooms that I see attached to tree trunks in my area – the first was identified as the Birth
In Search Of Turkey Tail Mushrooms – Failure – but found something else!
Wild mushroom literature is obsessed with a few types of mushroom species – usually for their flavour or medicinal value. When it comes to medicinal, none seems to be more prized than the Turkey Tail Mushroom (Trametes versicolor). This polypore mushroom (think pores, not gills,
Mushrooms in the Middlesex Fells – Identifications!
We recently had some warm weather often extremely frigid conditions between Christmas 2017 and the first week and a half of 2018. Well, it warmed up to about 13 °C / 55 °F on Saturday so I hit up the Middlesex Fells with the dog. Over Christmas I’ve been reading more and more abo
▶ 2017
Pirate radio can be beautiful
6950 kHz, just before 0100 UTC 2017/9/5 – heard from Florida.
Shrooms!!!
I had a another nice walk in the Middlesex Fells this weekend – just a quick one really with the dog this time. We happened to stumble upon this nice cluster of mushrooms, however. If anyone knows what species they are, I’d love to know! I have never seen such a cool cluster of m
A Walk In The Woods – The Silver Mine in Middlesex Fells
Today I went on a nice little walk in the woods, just me and dog – like I do most weekends. Our favourite haunt is the Middlesex Fells, situated in the northern suburbs area of Boston. We’ve been going for about a year, so I have seen all seasons in the park/forest and know most
Random Number Generation Part II – Some Data Analysis
Following on from my last post, I’ve been trying to read the voltage values that are generated from the random number generator I put together. I was initially using an arduino unit so I could control the voltage output down to below 1 volt. Ultimately I want to read the values w
Random Number Generation Part I – The Hardware
Intro: The notion of randomness has consistently intrigued me, so I have always wanted to build a random number generator and play with it. Just how easy is it to generate truly random numbers as opposed to pseudo-random numbers? First of all, pseudo-random numbers are based on a