This set of links include a website for homemade tools, another source of kits, and a report on an electronic technology to replace CMOS.
Home-made tools. This is a new site from the founder of Hotrodders.com, established to organize all of the homemade tools posted on forums and websites around the net. The site currently has nearly 3,000 different homemade tools, with new tools added regularly. Be sure to check out the electrical section, which has many tools that you can use around the ham shack. It includes a $3 battery charger, a low-cost 12 V benchtop power supply, and a manual pick-and-place station to use when building with surface-mount components.
Kits by K5BCQ, K5JHF, and the Austin QRP Club. Kees, K5BCQ; John, K5JHF; and other members of the Austin QRP Club are making available some useful kits at reasonable prices to encourage kit building and homebrewing. The kits are all based around readily available, low-cost microcontrollers, flash memory, and LCD displays. I’m thinking about buying the The Si570 Controller and Frequency Generator Kit #2. At $54 or less, I think it’s a steal.
NRI to lead new five-year effort to develop post-CMOS electronics. This article from the NIST Tech Beat describes a project to develop a next-generation electronics technology to replace the venerable CMOS technology. According to the article, new technology is needed because pretty soon IC manufacturers won’t be able to make transistors any smaller.
Leave a Reply