Yesterday saw my first ever solid-state build, courtesy of N3KCB's breadboard, components and guidance. It's a conceptual leap for me to overcome the fact that an integrated circuit can perform more than one function at the same time, such as being both an amplifier and oscillator all-in-one, but the simple circuit worked well.
In minutes, I'd built a direct conversion RX for 7040, changed it to a 40m RX, and then an 80m RX by merely using the correct bandpass and a signal gen as VFO. While the concepts are certainly not foreign, using a breadboard and an IC certainly are.
After 20+ years in tubes, it feels good to no longer be a stranger to solid-state, even if it does represent the "dark side" of electronics. IC's don't light when you power them up, after all ;)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment