I get a lot of interesting things via email. Here are a few things that I think you might find interesting, too…..Dan
Every year at Dayton, I pick up a copy of Nuts and Volts magazine. I feel kind of guilty about it, too. I always intend to subscribe, but I never seem to get around to it.
I do subscribe to their free email newsletter. It usually has something interesting. For example, the last one had a link to a free article that describes how to Build an RF Frequency Counter Buffer for HF. Another recent article that some of you might find interesting and useful is the Know Your Basics series.
Check it out.
About a week ago, I got an email from Pat, W5WTH. He writes:
I wrote up a short blog post, “Ham Radio: My thoughts after 365 Days.” I link to your site in #10. Any problem with that?
It’s an interesting post, and not because he links to my blog. :) So, of course, I gave him permission. Most of his takes are spot on. One that I might take exception with is, “The hobby is as cheap (or as expensive) as you want it to be.” There’s a certain minimum amount of money that you need to spend to really have fun with amateur radio. If you go too cheap, then you’re missing out.
While I was on his site, I surfed around a bit and found the Internet Time Morse Code Clock. This clock uses an ESP8266 with on board WiFi. At power up, the rig connects to WiFi and fetches the time from the internet. After booting up, it outputs the time of day in Morse Code to a speaker and an LED tower. The speed is adjustable by a variable in the source code.
I’m thinking about building one of these myself.
What’s the Difference between PNP and NPN? In this Electronic Design article, Maria Guerra explains the differences between PNP and NPN transistors. It’s kind of basic, but hey, you gotta know the basics.
I had to build a buffer for a VFO, the VFO and frequency counter loaded each other down. They each need a buffer. Once the buffer was between them, then I could see the frequency, and I could watch for drift. The VFO got the buffer, and I need to build another for the frequency counter. Interesting the magazine has that article…