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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Forrest Mims on amateur science

Here's another dose of inspiration from one of our "Homebrew Heroes." Forrest Mims has been one of my heroes for a long time. A colleague yesterday gave me a copy of a recent article in Make about his ozone measuring device (build at home with Radio Shack parts!). With this device he was able to outshine NASA in the data accuracy department. Check out the article:
http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol24?pg=28#pg28

Here's another interesting article by Forrest on amateurs in science: Forrest Mim's article in Science

Cyber Monday extended through Tuesday!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Cyber Monday Sale for SolderSmoke!

Knock 25% off your Lulu purchases. Tomorrow only.

Don't just buy "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"
but check out these other fine Knack-related publications:

http://stores.lulu.com/6sj7comics
("Lid, Kid, Space Cadet" "Sky Buddies" by Jeff K1NSS

http://stores.lulu.com/ian_g3roo (Ian, G3ROO's amazing antenna book)

http://www.lulu.com/copperwood
("Carl and Jerry" books -- scroll down a bit)

http://stores.lulu.com/soldersmoke (SolderSmoke and Bill's other book)

AJ4VD Solves the Barcode Mystery

The QRSS world was recently mystified by the sudden appearance of this monster on the European grabber screens. People quickly realized that it was a "QR barcode" -- kind of a souped-up version of the standard barcodes, this version holding more information. But what was the message? Scott Harden, AJ4VD, got on the case, and solved the mystery. Read about it here:
http://www.swharden.com/blog/2010-11-11-deciphering-qr-code-from-radio-spectrograph/
Scott is a very interesting fellow, and surely one of the younger "Knights of the QRSS." Check out his bio page: http://www.swharden.com/blog/?page_id=344
Bravo Scott!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

More from Kitty Hawk

Kitty Hawk N.C., Thanksgiving 2010. Wright Brother's test site. The big rock marks the take-off point. You can see a reproduction of the monorail they used in lieu of landing gear. the white markers behind me show the distances covered on those first four flights. Off in the distance you can see the final, longest flight of that day: 852 feet. 59 seconds aloft.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving at Kitty Hawk


We spent a very pleasant Thanksgiving day with family out on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in Kitty Hawk. Of course, we visited the site 0f the Wright Brother's famous first flight. I'll have more about this in the next SolderSmoke podcast. For now, let me share with you this interesting quote about the importance of play and toys (from Wikipedia):

"In 1878 their father, who travelled often as a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, brought home a toy "helicopter" for his two younger sons. The device was based on an invention of French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Pénaud. Made of paper, bamboo and cork with a rubber band to twirl its rotor, it was about a foot long. Wilbur and Orville played with it until it broke, and then built their own. In later years, they pointed to their experience with the toy as the initial spark of their interest in flying."

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

SolderSmoke in Botswana!

Frosty, K5LBU, sent us this report from Botswana:

I just completed reading your book tonight. I had taken it with me on the Dxpedition to Botswana and while there Jay W5SL read it and enjoyed it very much. But what was so great in his reading it was to see a good friend of mine mentioned in your book. He was there with us and having a great time working the pileups. This person was none other than Gianfranco I0ZY. I have visited with him at his office and operated his great station in his home there in Rome. What a small world it is. I will be back in Rome to pick up a new Amplifier from Gianfranco. 73' Charles Frost Frosty K5LBU

We had a blog post about Gianfranco and his amplifiers last year. Check it out here:
http://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2009/06/italian-experimental-station-in-good.html
Designer: Douglas Bowman | Dimodifikasi oleh Abdul Munir Original Posting Rounders 3 Column