tommyjones.bsky.social
@tommyjones
Electronics, maker, builder, engineer, ham radio (PD4MP), cnc, software development
I found one of these (extremely cheap) sold by someone who didn’t have a clue what he was selling.
I hope the EU will focus more on EU based AI like Germany's SOOFI-S. Working with AI for product development, people quickly realize how much of their knowledge and ideas go the other way around. So they get AI support which can boost their productivity but in return they have to share every detail.
My master piece clock from (I think) 2019 was published in a magazine. It had a radar sensor for sleep movement, wake-up sequence with light and music (internet radio) plus text to speech info with news an weather. It had thin wood veneer skin.
T2LT antenna. How nice to see low takeoff angle for dx is a real thing. Reverse beacon network shows clear improvement compared to my EFHW.
Next iteration of my antenna analyzer. Working on the third PCB prototype now. The firmware is about 70% done. It has a remote terminal with (simple) speech, it tells you “long”, “short”, etc. So hands-free.
My new shack. It’s a fully enclosed and insulated cabinet in the workshop. No dust gets in and the temperature is regulated. Important for keeping the humidity in check.
I use one to light my electronics bench, very effective, no shadows.
On the topic of batteries. Last week I tested Kodak AA alkaline batteries v.s. Ikea Ladda AA rechargeable batteries. Each using 4 batteries on my Korad electric load on 140mA constant current with cutoff at 4.8V. The Kodaks did ~8.5h and the Ladda’s ~14h.
First sweep results. Looking good, speed is fine (just a few seconds, depending on range and resolution). High resolution for complete 20m band in just over a second.
Quick and dirty antenna surrogate for testing the HF Tracer. Simple series RLC network with dip between 13-17MHz.
Years ago I made an alarm clock that would read out the weather forecast (among other things). I fetched the forecast from an API and fed it to a text to speech API. It was picked up by a magazine too 😄.
Old radio hobby publications found in someone’s attic. Always nice to see what previous generations were up to.
Testing prototype 2 and do some enclosure fitting. The signal generator of the HF Tracer (antenna analyzer) works as expected; >20dB above the first harmonic. Good enough for its purpose. Next week testing the ADC and work out a small problem with the power circuit. #hamradio #electronics
Tindie and Lectronz. I like Lectronz most but some buyers prefer Tindie.
Nice. Before I switched to smd fully (and use cheap Chinese pcb manufacturers) I tried every method I knew. This fits with what I did with spray paint and a simple diode laser. It’s a bit higher in resolution. Pictures below are laser printed transparent sheet with photosensitive material.