Old Ham Radio Movie – A video documentary gives a glimpse of history in ham radio.

This movie appeared on the MAKE page a couple weeks ago and I finally got around to watching all the way through. It’s a good watch and intriguing to see how tinkering is as old as humankind!! Check it out some time. 73 JG1FSZ/NH2GX Continue reading Old Ham Radio Movie – A video documentary gives a glimpse of history in ham radio.

The Last 10 Years In Mobile Phones

This is a neat write-up of a timeline of the mobile phone over the past ten years. I wrote a similar timeline for the RSA security conference here is Japan last May, but went much further back to the original mobile phones. Wikipedia also has a great timeline in the history section of the mobile phone category. This is something we take for such granted these days, and was a rich man’s novelty just 20 years ago; but even then it was limited to gadgets installed in vehicles for the most part. My claims to this historical bit are – … Continue reading The Last 10 Years In Mobile Phones

Altoids Wireless Microphone

I do not know which one came up with the idea first, but these two web pages- AL7FS Jim Larsen and Pirate Nation Radio – show circuit board designs that fit into an Altoids box. But I also remember an IT Infrastructure Manager at a company that I used to work at that always had stacks of Altoids boxes on his desk. Wonder if any of those ‘empty’ boxes was really packing something like this little version. The view from the front is a bit deceiving except for the little yellow tail coming out of the back. For surveillance on … Continue reading Altoids Wireless Microphone

The WanAway… A work In Progress

Over the past year or so, a friend and I have been mulling over a device that can be used in a variety of ways to deter animals from entering certain perimeter areas – such as keeping a dog from doing his business at the front gate of your house. There are other applications as I have learned that apply to keeping wolves off of ranches, or keeping coyotes away from designated areas. The high level design involves a circuit that produces an ultrasound output at about 20 KHz combined with a circuit that detects motion and size. The motion … Continue reading The WanAway… A work In Progress