SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics – Free

SolderSmoke is the story of a secret, after-hours life in electronics. Bill Meara started out as a normal kid, from a normal American town. But around the age of 12 he got interested in electronics, and he has never been the same.
To make matters worse, when he got older he became a diplomat. His work has taken him to Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, the Spanish Basque Country, the Dominican Republic, the Azores islands of Portugal, London, and, most recently, Rome. In almost all of these places his addiction to electronics caused him to seek out like-minded radio fiends, to stay up late into the night working on strange projects, and to build embarrassingly large antennas above innocent foreign neighborhoods. SolderSmoke takes you into the basement workshops and electronics parts stores of these exotic foreign places, and lets you experience the life of an expatriate geek. If you are looking for restaurant or hotel recommendations, look elsewhere. But if you need to know where to get an RF choke re-wound in Santo Domingo, SolderSmoke is the book for you.
SolderSmoke is no ordinary memoir. It is a technical memoir. Each chapter contains descriptions of Bill’s struggles to understand (really understand) radio-electronic theory. Why does P=IE? Do holes really flow through transistors? What is a radio wave? How does a frequency mixer produce sum and difference frequencies? If these are the kinds of questions that keep you up at night, this book is for you.
Finally, SolderSmoke is about brotherhood. International, cross-border brotherhood. Through the SolderSmoke podcast we have discovered that all around the world, in countries as different as Sudan and Switzerland, there are geeks just like us, guys with essentially the same story, guys who got interested in radio and electronics as teenagers, and who have stuck with it ever since. Our technical addiction gives us something in common, something that transcends national differences. And our electronics gives us the means to communicate. United by a common interest in radio, and drawn closer together by means of the internet, we form an “International Brotherhood of Electronic Wizards.”

Recent Posts

3D printed desktop rack for KX3 / PX3

November 12, 2019 No comments

“Robert K5TD makes me wish I had a KX3. His own design of a 3D printed rack beautifully shows off the radio and panadapter and, from observation... Read more

Ham Radio EMP Kit, The Tactical Trash Can

August 31, 2020 No comments

“Many believe the worst threat to our electronics is being damaged by an Electromagnetic Pulse. Today I show you how to prevent that damage and... Read more

Italians gain 60m allocation [ 5MHz ]

November 04, 2018 No comments

The Italian Minister of Economic Development has approved a Decree updating Italy’s national frequency plan to allocate the 60m band to amateurs. The... Read more

The First Portable Built-in Camera – U4 Digital & Analog 5w 30-88MHz Wide Low Band Portable Radio

January 16, 2016 No comments

  U4 Digital & Analog Smart Radio 1．Description A new generation of Comart U4 series Digital & Analog smart portable, which was taken as... Read more

ARRL Searching for its Next CEO

April 06, 2018 No comments

ARRL is seeking a full-time Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in Newington, Connecticut, to direct its day-to-day activities. ARRL has 159,000 members, an... Read more

How Do You Know Your Antenna & Radio Are Setup And Working Correctly?

June 08, 2019 No comments

“A question you may have asked yourself, “Is my radio working? I don’t hear anyone!” Or worse, you can hear other stations, bu... Read more

Project DX15 – Young Members DXpedition to Wales

July 24, 2015 No comments

The Radio Society of Great Britain’s Youth Committee are running a Kenwood-sponsored Youth DXpedition and will be active as MC0RYC from the Brecon Bea... Read more

World Wide Digi DX Contest

June 29, 2019 No comments

The World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (“WWROF”), in collaboration with the Slovenia Contest Club (“SCC”), is pleased to announce the first annual... Read more

RSGB response to PC Pro article by Jon Honeyball, Issue 250, August 2015

August 15, 2015 No comments

A very valid and useful technology by John Gould, G3WKL “We enjoyed Jon Honeyball’s trip down memory lane to when he took his exam 30 years ago... Read more

Free HPM 150th Birthday Event Logging Software Now Available

July 31, 2019 No comments

Scott Davis, N3FJP, perhaps best known for the ARRL Field Day software that bears his call sign, has developed a free logging program for ARRL’s Happy... Read more