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Monday, June 6, 2011
Radio Telescope Ausie Eye Candy
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Homebrew VHF Phone from Down Under
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Hi Bill,
I know you like DSB transceivers, so I'm sending you a link to my 144Mhz
DSB transceiver which I've just completed.
Thought I would try and see if I could get the same circuits I use on HF
to work on VHF, turns out they do with a few minor tweaks.
Anyway here it is: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jgprice/2M-DSB.html
Keep up the good work, love listening to your show.
Cheers
John Price
VK3AJG
Friday, June 3, 2011
Copenhagen Rocket Launched!
From New Scientist:
Original post from 1618 GMT:
A rocket built by a group of Danish space enthusiasts has successfully launched on a short flight high above its sea-based launch platform.
The non-profit organisation Copenhagen Suborbitals built the rocket for around £42,000. They hope to eventually fly a human on a suborbital flight to space using a beefed-up version of the rocket, which is just big enough for one person.
Their first launch attempt a year ago failed to achieve lift-off due to a malfunctioning hairdryer used as a heater inside the rocket.
But their second try on Friday was a success. A video of the flight can be viewed here.
In the video, the rocket can be seen lifting off from its launch pad on the Baltic Sea and soaring high into the sky amid cheers. "We're going supersonic!" someone is heard saying shortly after lift-off.
A few minutes later, the rocket is seen splashing down in the ocean.
Though the rocket itself seems to have performed well, the parachute meant to slow its return to Earth does not appear to have fully opened. "There has been mission anomalies – we are now analysing," someone says in the video.
It was not immediately clear how high the rocket flew. The goal was an altitude of about 15 kilometres.
But the launch team was clearly thrilled with the flight. "The joy is just so huge," Peter Madsen of Copenhagen Suborbitals told Denmark's TV 2, according to a Google translation.
"We've written a little piece of history," added Kristian von Bengtsen, also of Copenhagen Suborbitals.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Amateur Manned Spaceflight?
Initially, I had my doubts about this one... Intriguing as it is, when I watched the video, I was struck by how similar their "just build it" approach is to my own. You know, build first, design later... Well, we have seen the results here, and I wouldn't want my life to depend on it! But who am I to judge? And the rockets they have produced are really impressive. Check it out. And there is an amateur radio homebrew connection.
Thanks Lars!
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I thought that you might be interested in following the guys at:
http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/
It is an amateur group with the mission of sending a human into space - I guess that there are quite a few knack victims among them ;-)
They are about to launch a test rocket in a few days, and they are quite serious about what they are doing!
Actuallly you have come across one of them, their electronics guy is OZ2CPU who has the picture of the opened SBL-1 DBM on his website http://webx.dk
Vy 72/73 de Lars OZ1CJX / OZ9G / 5Q5RP
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Excellent AT&T Video on SWR
http://techchannel.att.com/play-video.cfm/2011/3/7/AT&T-Archives-Similarities-of-Wave-Behavior
I really like the way Dr. Shive brings together mechanical and electrical phenomena. You get the sense that he had "The Knack" -- note the twinkle in his eye when he explains a particularly intriguing point.
Warning: I think the AT&T archive of which this is part will become another enormous (but worthwhile) time sink for many of us. Thanks Ken. Thanks Dr. Shive.
Monday, May 30, 2011
European Very Large Telescope Video (Warning: It May Make you Cry)
The guys who run Slashdot are not known to be very sentimental, but they warned that this video may bring viewers to tears. They were right. This one is really magnificent. Makes me want to ditch the diplo gig and move to the Atacama desert. Sit back, put this on full screen mode, turn up the speakers a bit, and prepare to be amazed.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Please Help Get SolderSmoke into RadioShack Stores
Several listeners sent me the link to a new campaign by the RadioShack stores. They apparently want to get back into supplying parts for the electronics DIY community. Great! I always liked the oft-maligned stores. I missed them when overseas, and was always saddened to see them drifting away from the world of our kind of radio shack. But it appears that the 'shack might be coming back! RadioShack has asked customers to leave comments on their blog page listing the three items that they would like to see added to the RadioShack inventory.
I would really appreciate it if you guys would go to that page and tell them that you think it would be a good idea for them to sell the book "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" in their stores. You can point them to the link http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm
Some things you might mention in your comments on the RadioShack blog:
-- One of the reasons I wrote the book was because I wanted to try to help perpetuate the old, friendly, cooperative ham radio spirit: The culture of the Elmer and all that. The shared junk box. The willingness to help someone with a project or a technical problem. This book might help foster the kind of sense of community that would help everyone (including RadioShack!)
-- The book was in part inspired by the RadioShack publications of the great Forrest Mims. Like Mim's books, SolderSmoke has lots of hand-drawn diagrams.
-- The book actually contains (already!) a very favorable comment about the important role played in DIY by the RadioShack stores.
-- While it is mostly about ham radio, it was written to appeal to the broader electronics DIY community, and contains wide variety of projects including astronomy, kite aerial photography and rocketry.
-- The author -- Bill Meara -- would be willing to work something out with them (!)
So, gentlemen: Please get typing! Don't tell them I sent you ;-) Let's make this seem like a spontaneous outpouring of popular support.
Here is the blog location for RadioShack: http://blog.radioshack.com/post/2011/05/19/RadioShack-And-The-DIY-Community-You-Talked-Were-Listening.aspx
or http://blog.radioshack.com/post.aspx?id=f7239c83-8fd3-47e4-9fb9-395f57b56bb7
If you are so inclined you could also tweet them your input @Radio Shack
And you could put your comments on their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RadioShack
Thanks a lot!