WD0AJG &#8211; Hamming for over 40 years

THE ‘OPTO’ IN OPTOELECTRONICS — PART 3

The basic nature and behavior of fiber optic cables and communication systems.

More on optoelectronics and the ‘light-beam manipulators’ theme. This time, we’ll tackle fiber optic cables and communication systems.

THE GLOBESPAN WORLD BAND RECEIVER

You should hear what you’ve been missing!

The most unbiased source of international news today is shortwave radio. The propaganda style of the cold war is mostly gone and countries are often surprisingly honest about themselves and about the state of the world.

Build It Now!

WHAT THE L IS IT?

Check inductors quickly with a PIC-based meter that also measures frequency.

After years of fumbling with capacitors and signal generators, it’s extremely gratifying to be able to touch any old inductor to the contact pads and have the meter tell me its value. I hope you’ll find this device as useful as I do.

Check Your Inductors Now!

STAND-ALONE WATCHDOG TIMERS

Watchdog timers are an excellent way to insure that a microcontroller-based system continues to operate unattended if occasional failures occur.

These circuits monitor the operation of the microcontroller and its software, and restart it if a problem is detected.

Monitor Your Circuits Now!

Nuts & Volts On CD-ROM

RetroGame

Altaids Computer Kit

Solar Charge Controller

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T & L Publications, Inc, 2279 Eagle Glen Pkwy #112-481, Corona, CA 92883, United States, 951 371-8497

Amateur Radio Weekly Newsletter – Week of January 30, 2021

Amateur Radio Weekly Newsletter

Ham radio news, commentary, giveaways, and more!
Celebrating 25 years of service – 1995-2020
Over 8,000 subscribers!
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Saturday, January 30, 2021

I’m back
It has been 15 days since my last post but my last post was about our cat Oliver and our best buddy who we said goodbye to. Some may think it strange but we have his ashes back home now in a cat urn. It’s only his ashes but to Julie a…

Snow stopped Transmission.
This Sunday morning we have had a good dumping of snow over the Midlands area.. Around 12:00 GMT as I write this, my VHF/UHF array of antennas strapped to the side of the house are well plastered with the white stuff. Outsid…

AN/GRC-9 aka “Angry Nine”
AN/GRC-9 – Long lived military commsMy lovely (and radioactive) RT/77-GRC/9I don’t recall where I first read about the Angry Nine, but it captured my imagination. I read everything I could find about them and decided it would be great fun t…

LHS Episode #389: Jailbird Jamboree
Welcome to Episode 389 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts discuss illegal activity on the air, the purpose of amateur radio, a remote head unit …

Do you remember your first?
I was doing some cleaning around the house the other day and came across a QSL card of the very first contact I made. It was June 6th, 1989 and I was pounding out CQ with my Bencher BY-1 Iambic paddle. I had a script all made up with a step…

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Optoelectronics, Microcontrollers, Software, and You, Measure the Air Quality Index, What Exactly is Electronics?

Newsletter #207

THE ‘OPTO’ IN OPTOELECTRONICS — PART 2

The basic nature and behavior of optical prisms and lenses.

This second part of our mini-series on optoelectronics continues the ‘light-beam manipulators’ theme by describing the nature and behavior of optical prisms and lenses.

MICROCONTROLLERS, SOFTWARE, AND YOU — PART 3

Last time, we ran Part 4 by mistake. This part will fill in the gaps.

While getting the correct answer to a programming problem is crucial when designing a program, it should not be your only objective. You also want to write it with sufficient clarity that someone else can read your code and easily understand what the code does. Let’s take a look at an example program to show the square of a number.

MEASURING THE AIR QUALITY INDEX

Know if it’s safe to go outside.

Add the ability to monitor the Air Quality Index onto the Graphing Weather Station, which is a feature-rich unit previously presented that includes outdoor and indoor temperature, outdoor and indoor humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall, and barometric pressure.

Upgrade Your Weather Station Now!

SO, EXACTLY WHAT IS ELECTRONICS?

Given the rapid evolution of the electronics field over the past few years, exactly how do you define electronics today?

Does "electronics" have to include a soldering iron? Does programming DSP chips and other keyboard activity qualify? Where do you see electronics going in, say, 10 years?

Nuts & Volts On CD-ROM

RetroGame

Altaids Computer Kit

Solar Charge Controller

Nuts & Volts Magazine | 2279 Eagle Glen Pkwy #112-481, Corona, CA 92883
951.371.8497 | editor | www.nutsvolts.com

T & L Publications, Inc, 2279 Eagle Glen Pkwy #112-481, Corona, CA 92883, United States, 951 371-8497

Amateur Radio Weekly Newsletter – Week of January 23, 2021

Amateur Radio Weekly Newsletter

Ham radio news, commentary, giveaways, and more!
Celebrating 25 years of service – 1995-2020
Over 8,000 subscribers!
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Saturday, January 23, 2021

LHS Episode #385: The Weekender LXIII
It’s time once again for The Weekender. This is our bi-weekly departure into the world of amateur radio contests, open source conventions, special events, listener challenges, hedonism and just plain …

LHS Episode #386: SSDY
Welcome to the 386th episode of Linux in the Ham Shack, our second episode of 2021. In this episode, the hosts discuss changes and additions to state QSO parties, the …

AmateurLogic 152: Hands On Raspberry Pi 400
AmateurLogic.TV Episode 152 is now available for download. This month we’ve got three great topics to start 2021 out right. George give his first impressions of the Raspberry Pi 400 Personal Computer Kit and it’s a keeper. Mike introduces the ADALM-PLUTO SDR & Satsagen Spectrum Analyzer software. Emile begins building the K5OZ Lightning Rig Saver. … Continue reading AmateurLogic 152: Hands On Raspberry Pi 400

ICQ Podcast Episode 342 – Improving your Handy Talkie
In this episode, Martin M1MRB is joined by Chris Howard (M0TCH), Martin Rothwell (M0SGL), Ed Durrant (DD5LP), Frank Howell (K4FMH) and Bill Barnes (WC3B) to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief and in thi…

Radio Fun on Threemile Mountain (W0C/SP-107)
Lately, for the ARRL January VHF contest, I try to find a SOTA summit to activate. Operating time is usually just a few hours, so it does not make for a big score. The main advantage is for VHF SOTA (Summits On The Air) because there is a lot more activity on 2m CW and … Continue reading Radio Fun on Threemile Mountain (W0C/SP-107) →

The post Radio Fun on Threemile Mountain (W0C/SP-107) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

LHS Episode #387: Compiling Software Deep Dive
Hello and welcome to the 387th episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts discuss concepts related to building software from source code. Topics include proper …

Hunting For NDBs In CLE 264
YEK – 329 (courtesy ve3gop.com) It’s CLE time! ‘CLE’s are ‘Co-ordinated Listening Events, and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of the NDB spectrum. This time…

LHS Episode #388: The Weekender LXIV
It’s time once again for The Weekender. This is our bi-weekly departure into the world of amateur radio contests, open source conventions, special events, listener challenges, hedonism and just plain …

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Matt W1MST
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editor
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How to set up your own ham radio blog – Get started in less than 15 minutes

AmateurRadio.com
P.O. Box 45
Hampden ME 04444
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Optoelectronics, Microcontrollers, Software, and You, Build the Toilet Sentinel, Setting Up a Test Bench

Newsletter #206

THE ‘OPTO’ IN OPTOELECTRONICS — PART 1

This first of four episodes on optoelectronics deals with the basic nature and behavior of light, and with mirrors.

Most electronics hobbyists have few problems understanding the purely electronic aspects of optoelectronics, but probably have very limited knowledge of its optical parts. This four-part series aims to remedy that situation by giving fairly concise descriptions of vital optoelectronics-related ‘opto’ subjects.

The NEW PicoScope 4000A Series

With 2-, 4- and 8-channel models available, the PicoScope 4000A Series boasts 12-bit hardware resolution (to 16 bits with Resolution Enhancement), 256 MS deep capture memory, 20 MHz bandwidth with 80 MS/s sampling speed, up to 70 dB SFDR and a built-in 14-bit triggerable signal generator and 80 MS/s AWG.

Get More Details!

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MICROCONTROLLERS, SOFTWARE, AND YOU — PART 4

Learn how to program microcontrollers.

We ended our Part 3 article by giving you an assignment that emulates the card game, often called In Between (but better as known Acey Deucey). Recall that the objective of the game was to have the “dealer” turn two cards face up and then have the player bet that the next card would fall “in between” the two face-up cards. Let’s see how close your code came to mine.

BUILD THE TOILET SENTINEL

This circuit alerts you when the toilet flapper has not sealed properly.

Ever have trouble with the flapper in your toilet not seating properly, allowing water to continually run? Well, consider that problem solved with this handy and inexpensive circuit called the Toilet Sentinel. It will alert you to this problem with a buzzer.

Build It Now!

SETTING UP A TEST BENCH

What equipment do you really need for monitoring and testing all your projects?

I can hardly imagine an electronics enthusiast without some sort of test bench. This can be as simple as a folding table and a couple of hand tools, along with a cheap DMM (Digital MultiMeter). Or, it can be as elaborate as a spare room just loaded with TE and a full complement of tools and accessories to go with it.

Nuts & Volts On CD-ROM

RetroGame

Altaids Computer Kit

Solar Charge Controller

Nuts & Volts Magazine | 2279 Eagle Glen Pkwy #112-481, Corona, CA 92883
951.371.8497 | editor | www.nutsvolts.com

T & L Publications, Inc, 2279 Eagle Glen Pkwy #112-481, Corona, CA 92883, United States, 951 371-8497

Amateur Radio Weekly Newsletter – Week of January 16, 2021

Amateur Radio Weekly Newsletter

Ham radio news, commentary, giveaways, and more!
Celebrating 25 years of service – 1995-2020
Over 8,000 subscribers!
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Saturday, January 16, 2021

Ham College 72
Ham College episode 72 is now available for download. Extra Class Exam Questions – Part 10. E2D Operating methods: VHF and UHF digital modes and procedures, APRS, EME procedures, meteor scatter procedures. 1:00:28 Download YouTube

Armbian Linux for Arm processors and Android TV Boxes.
It’s always interesting when I write, to see what feedback or help is out there. I encourage you all to write in the comments below.The recent blog about Linux Mint 20.1 created a stir on amateurradio.com, where my scribbles are relayed over and duplic…

Best VHF SOTA Antenna?
Charlie/NJ7V and Gaston/KT1RUN did a comparison of VHF antennas during a SOTA activation. Specifically, they compared a rubber duck antenna, a J-pole antenna on a tall mast, and a 3-element Yagi antenna. Spoiler Alert: the rubber duck sucks (they all do) but the Yagi and J-pole performed about the same. Joyce/K0JJW and I use the … Continue reading Best VHF SOTA Antenna? →

The post Best VHF SOTA Antenna? appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Thank you for being an AmateurRadio.com reader and subscriber to the Amateur Radio Newsletter.

Do you like to write? Please consider submitting an article.

Matt W1MST
Managing Editor
editor
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How to set up your own ham radio blog – Get started in less than 15 minutes

AmateurRadio.com
P.O. Box 45
Hampden ME 04444
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GNU Radio Companion, Microcontrollers, Software, and You, Speaker Protection, Death of Leaded Components

Newsletter #205

FM RECEPTION WITH THE GNU RADIO COMPANION

Have fun building FM broadcast band receivers using GRC and learning about SDR.

The complexity and sophistication of the electronic hardware required to recover composite baseband signals in the FM band is beyond the capability of most experimenters. However, modern digital signal processing software, capable PCs, and inexpensive software defined radio (SDR) hardware can now be easily combined to receive the information in these broadcasts. Learn how to combine this hardware, software, and your PC to build SDRs to receive FM radio broadcasts and more.

MICROCONTROLLERS, SOFTWARE, AND YOU — PART 2

Learn how to program microcontrollers.

In the previous installment, we discussed the Five Program Steps and how we can use those five steps to organize our thoughts about writing programs. In this article, we’ll discuss the format that the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) requires for your program to execute in the IDE. We’ll then examine how the IDE allows us to easily organize a program using the Five Program Steps.

SPEAKER PROTECTION AND MUTING WITH AN OPTICAL COUPLER

Build this optically-coupled speaker protection circuit when using homebrew or vintage amplifiers.

Vintage amplifiers may sound great, but in many cases they lack any form of output protection. In the event of a catastrophic output failure, some amps deliver the full power supply rail voltage to the speakers! This circuit not only protects your speakers from amp failure, but also eliminates the dreaded “turn on thump” some classic solid-state amplifiers exhibit.

Build It Now!

LEADED COMPONENTS: REPORTS OF THEIR DEATH HAVE BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED

Leaded components are easy to work with, so don’t discount them just yet.

If you’re just getting into electronics, don’t be dismayed — or distracted — by the world of SMT. A traditional perfboard, a good supply of leaded components, and a few schematics to work from will get you started.

Altaids Computer Kit

RetroGame Kit

Solar Charge Controller

Nuts & Volts On CD-ROM

Nuts & Volts Magazine | 2279 Eagle Glen Pkwy #112-481, Corona, CA 92883
951.371.8497 | editor | www.nutsvolts.com

T & L Publications, Inc, 2279 Eagle Glen Pkwy #112-481, Corona, CA 92883, United States, 951 371-8497

Amateur Radio Weekly Newsletter – Week of January 9, 2021

Amateur Radio Weekly Newsletter

Ham radio news, commentary, giveaways, and more!
Celebrating 25 years of service – 1995-2020
Over 8,000 subscribers!
Unsubscribe

Saturday, January 9, 2021

AmateurLogic 151: Rockin’ 2020 New Year’s Eve
In case you weren’t able to join us live on New Year’s Eve, you can watch it here. Lots of friends and fun moments. https://youtu.be/iQtY3bbbEyM?t=7983

A Different Approach to a New Year: the Ham Systems Think!
What is the most important aspect of life? Having fun! (Of course!). Perhaps it is unusual to wax philosophical in an amateur radio forum, but I am going out on a limb to share a perspective that hopefully is refreshingly new and full of life: Systems thinking — an amateur radio approach. What I’m sharing herein, I find very intense, invigorating, challenging, and motivational! The […]

ICQ Podcast Episode 341 – Listener Q and A
In this episode, Martin M1MRB is joined by Leslie Butterfield G0CIB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Edmund Spicer M0MNG and Ruth Willet KM4LAO to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief and in this episode’s features …

The UK VAT grab that was impossible to enforce?
Good news!! No VAT at all on imports under a certain value.Rules changed AGAIN a few days ago.New Notice 143:Section 2.3 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-143-a-guide-for-international-post-users/notice-143-a-guide-for-intern...

VAT we are confused, but even they are confused?
Even companies exporting to the UK are now caught up in the confusing VAT debacle ..The BBC are now picking up on the story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55530721Why wasn’t a transition period put in place for all this, allowing a smooth c…

LCSC Electronics
LCSC has been in my Far East component suppliers list for sometime now.. I was short of a few obscure components so I thought I would give them a whirl.Website was easy to use, ordering was very quick, straight forward and simple. A small handling…

QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo some new tidbits………….
More news on the upcoming QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo March 13-14 2021

Recommended Colorado Hotspot Frequencies
A big trend in ham radio activity is the use of internet-connected transceivers commonly referred to as hotspots. These devices often use one (or more) of the popular VHF/UHF digital formats (DMR, D-STAR, Fusion) but analog FM is also used. They allow a radio amateur to have a local RF connection into one of the extensive … Continue reading Recommended Colorado Hotspot Frequencies →

The post Recommended Colorado Hotspot Frequencies appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

VAT is the way we are going to collect it.
Already there are moans from buyers, "they have charged me VAT!"ebay have now rolled into the mix now implementing the 1st January 21 VAT rules for UK buyers and EU. As I mentioned at the start of writing this thread, they will nail it at source …

Starting the New Year with a new PC
And so it begins At the end of 2020, I decided it was time to update my PC as it has never been done for over 10 years. The choice I had was to purchase a new PC or rebuild what I have, I decided to rebuild the existing PC I have. I choose this a…

Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa Xfce released.
Latest version of Linux Mint released https://blog.linuxmint.com/ I am hopeful there will be a version for Arm processors soon?

North America Adventure Frequency: 146.58 MHz
Recently, on the nasota group, there was a discussion about designating an alternative 2m FM frequency for Summits On The Air (SOTA) use (instead of 146.52 MHz). The main driver for this is that 146.52 MHz can get busy with other radio traffic and/or a busy SOTA activation can tie up the calling frequency for … Continue reading North America Adventure Frequency: 146.58 MHz →

The post North America Adventure Frequency: 146.58 MHz appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Saying good-bye to my little buddy.
Today we said good-bye to my best buddy of 15 years…..Oliver. Peace be with you, my little buddy you will be missed very much.

Kiwi online SDR G4DYA
The online G4DYA Kiwi SDR receiver is just 9 miles North of my QTH. Situated at Stone, Staffordshire. UK.It has an excellent range of Amateur bands, and even goes down to LF 136KHz and 472KHz, it also has some good decoders built in to play around with…

Thank you for being an AmateurRadio.com reader and subscriber to the Amateur Radio Newsletter.

Do you like to write? Please consider submitting an article.

Matt W1MST
Managing Editor
editor
Twitter / Facebook

How to set up your own ham radio blog – Get started in less than 15 minutes

AmateurRadio.com
P.O. Box 45
Hampden ME 04444
USA

Static Discharge Offers Cure, Arduino Based Data Acqusition, Rebuild a THS7X0 Battery Pack, Microcontrollers, Software and You

Newsletter #204

STATIC DISCHARGE HELPS "CURE" AUDIO AMPLIFIER

This is the first time in 60 years that static electricity has ever HELPED with one of my projects.

After trying different things to troubleshoot an intermittent problem with my MicroBITX kit (multi-band, software-defined ham radio transceiver), it turned out static discharge was the answer to my problems

ARDUINO BASED DATA ACQUISITION

If you enjoy data and acquiring and measuring it easily, then you’re going to love this method that utilizes Microsoft Excel and PLX-DAQ from Parallax with a low cost Arduino.

I love data. Measuring things, plotting the results in a way to instantly visualize the behavior, and — most importantly — analyzing the results. This is especially exciting when I can collect the measurements by computer and utilize the power of easy-to-use yet powerful tools to perform the plotting and analysis.

REBUILDING A TEKTRONIX THS7X0 PORTABLE OSCILLOSCOPE BATTERY PACK

One of the best portable devices on the electronics bench over the last two decades is the Tektronix THS700 series. Here’s how I was able to replace the dead batteries in my oscilloscope at minimal expense.

When batteries fail, they can be replaced or rebuilt, but it’s usually at considerable expense. Here’s one application with a Tektronix THS700 oscilloscope where a very expensive battery pack can be easily rebuilt at a fraction of the replacement cost, returning the device to useful portable service.

Rebuild It Now!

MICROCONTROLLERS, SOFTWARE, AND YOU

There’s no excuse for not learning how to program microcontrollers.

Most of us have invested some time in learning those things we want or need to do. Learning how to program is no different, and it can be an extremely satisfying endeavor. Seeing a device respond to code you wrote is, well, intoxicating in a good way. My goal is to create an interest in exploring microcontrollers and encourage you into investing $5 and some of your time into that exploration. I honestly think you’ll enjoy the journey.