Curiosity Puts Morse Code in the Martian Dust

Jim, K1KJW, and others alerted me to this very cool move by the inventive minds at JPL.  They put a Morse Code pattern in the tire treads of the Curiosity rover.   So now as it drives around, it spells out JPL in the Martian regolith.  
 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120829f.html

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Singapore Knack

Bunnie Huang has The Knack.  This was confirmed when, with obvious delight, he said that he'd found in China a book of schematic diagrams of a wide variety of laptops.  He then studied said schematics and endeavored to understand the role played by one transistor in the LED display of one of the computers.  KNACK CONFIRMED!  Somebody get Bunnie a ham license!  Cool video.  

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Give the Moon a Wink for Neil Armstrong

As I'm sure is the case with many of you, Neil Armstrong was one of my childhood heroes.   Neil passed away yesterday.   His family made a very nice request for those wishing to do something on the occasion of his passing:

"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

SolderSmoke on Tinkernation

SolderSmoke is on the Tinkernation web site: 
http://www.tinkernation.com/your-story/bill-meara-homemade-radios-and-magic-carpets/#more-698
(Note that SPRAT is in both pictures.)

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Curiosity's Descent to Mars

Maybe it's because I've done some parachuting myself... I was really blown away by this picture.  Taken by the Mars Orbiter as Curiosity descended.

And here is the initial low-res video from the rover itself.  Very cool.


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Completely Homebrew Cuban Ham Station

Wow, OM Orlando even homebrewed the rotor controller... AND THE ROTOR!  FB!  Thanks to Ernie, AJ4BP, for alerting us to this.  For more info and photos, go to CM6OMA's QRZ.com page. 

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Curiosity Goes for the Gold!

The Olympics are fun but the real big event tonight will be the rover Curiosity's landing on Mars.  
What an amazing machine!   The Atlantic has a collection of photos guaranteed to get you psyched for the descent to Mars and the exploration that will follow.  Fingers crossed!  

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

How many hams in China? Not many.

I've been wondering about amateur radio in mainland China.  Given the very large population, and the high levels of technical and engineering activity, you'd expect to see evidence of more ham radio activity from that country.  Sure, there are plenty of commercial rigs manufactured there, but I've never seen an article about a Chinese homebrew rig, or a reprint from a Chinese ham radio magazine.   I did some Googling, and unfortunately found out that my suspicions are correct:  There are very few Chinese radio amateurs.  

What a pity!  Imagine the great rigs and circuits that would come out of that country.   


Here are the numbers from from a 2009 IARU report (authored by the Chinese Radio Sports Association:

The total number of individual amateur radio stations in the mainland of China is about 19,000, while the number of active club stations is 124， as counted in March 2009. In fact there are over 10,000 new comers get amateur radio station licenses each year, the total number of certified amateur operators during the past 10 years is accumulated as over 70,000. However, as the license is valid for 2 years and about the same number of previous licensees did not renew their license in time in each year, the net population of valid transmitting amateur radio station appears almost flat.

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