LED Contest

The Instructables LED Contest is back again this year.

Prizes include an Ipod 2, Kindle, and others.

Contest ends June 19Th.

http://www.instructables.com/contest/led2011/?show=ENTER

Good Luck!

Armstrong's Circuit

In light of the complex circuitry employed in most of today's television's and stereos, Armstrong's superheterodyne circuit seems remarkably simple and essential. And the circuit has survived because of its economy. It does its job simply and elegantly. Today it forms the basis of the tuner found in virtually every radio and television, as well as in such other devices as radar detectors and police scanners.

Empire Of The Air
The Men Who Made Radio
By Tom Lewis

Clap-Off Bra

The Clap-Off Bra from Randy Sarafan on Vimeo.

Just when you think you have seen it all, now comes the Clap-Off Bra.

This caught my eye this morning from the web site Instructables. The best part is you can build you own for the wife or girlfriend. I would also bet you won't see this item "AS Seen On TV" for sale anytime soon but who knows?

But keep in mind your constant clapping would get old very fast.

(PLEASE NOTE: Video is OK for all, I never use inappropriate content or language on this site, if your not going to say it at the dinner table with the family, I would not use it on a blog.)

SMT - Training Course

It was a nice day to start a new kit on a overcast damp cloudy Sunday afternoon.

Finally got up the courage to do surface mount soldering with the Elenco SMT - Training Course Model SM-200K. The kit when complete will be a decision maker with 6 LED's, switch, and buzzer mounter on a board. This is more of a fun build but looking forward to working with these small SMT devices and I mean tiny.

For this project I broke out and mounted the magnifier with a built in light on my desk and the eye glasses were an absolute must. For starters the kit includes six 0 Ohm resistors and a dummy spot on the PC boards for practice. In my usual slow pace I soldered on the chip resistors and capacitors carefully inspecting each under the magnifier. Two of the caps a .0039uF and a 0.15uF seemed extra small, if you drop one of theses on the floor good luck.

Within the next few days I will tackle the two electrolytic caps, and the semis. The two cups of coffee did not help the steadiness of the hands one bit.

It's fun working with the little parts.

Clean Up Clean Up...

Everybody do you share. I remember that song from years ago watching Barney that purple dinosaur on TV with my kids.

New basements windows are on order which means I am in the process of cleaning out my valuable items / stuff, never junk for the installer in a few weeks. Well that means all my radio and building items put away in plastic boxes I picked up at Lowe's this afternoon.

When the job is complete I am thinking of just leaving all the tools, meters, etc. in the boxes and take them out as needed, appearance is so much neater. Only problem is my radio cables are coming into bottom sill with two holes drilled, any new ideas are more than welcome regarding running cables into house and keeping the wife happy?

Time to check out my antenna books for a few ideas.

Simple Times

Here is a video if your about 40+ years in age.

So much of this I can relate to.

Enjoy your weekend!