Collaborate Disseminate
A tuned circuit formed by a capacitor and an inductor is a familiar enough circuit, and it’s understood that it will resonate at a particular frequency. As that frequency increases, …read more Continue reading Cavity Filters, The Black Art You Have A Chance Of Pursuing
When you buy a cheap ham radio handy-talkie, you usually get a little “rubber ducky” antenna with it. You can also buy many replacement ones that are at least longer. …read more Continue reading VHF/UHF Antennas, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Even Worse
[ZXGuesser] has pulled off a true feat of Meccano engineering: building a Meccano Hellschreiber machine. The design is a close replica of the original Siemens Feld-Hell machine as documented here. …read more Continue reading Meccano-based Hellschreiber Machine
In the days before integrated circuits became ubiquitous, providing advanced functionality in a single package, designers became adept at extracting the maximum use from discrete components. They’d use clever circuits …read more Continue reading So Much Going On In So Few Components: Dissecting A Microwave Radar Module
Falling firmly under the fascinating science category of ‘What if…?’ comes the idea of powering airplanes with beamed microwaves. Although the idea isn’t crazy by itself, since we can even …read more Continue reading Powering Airplanes With Microwaves: an Aviation Physics Challenge Amidst Many
Morse code, often referred to as continuous wave (CW) in radio circles, has been gradually falling out of use for a long time now. At least in the United States, …read more Continue reading Learning Morse Code with a DIY Trainer
OK, it’s official: the Quansheng UV-K5 is the king of hackable ham radios — especially now that a second version of the all-band hardware and firmware mod has been released, …read more Continue reading UV-K5 All-Band Mod, Part 2: Easier Install, Better Audio, and Two Antennas
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: being able to build your own radios is the best thing about being an amateur radio operator. Especially low-power transmitters; there’s …read more Continue reading A Super-Simple Standalone WSPR Beacon
The entertainment systems in modern vehicles is akin to a small in-dash computer, and handles all manner of digital content. It probably also incorporates a radio, but increasingly that’s treated …read more Continue reading A 1940s Car Radio Receives Some Love
Making a software defined radio (SDR) receiver is a relatively straightforward process, given the right radio front end electronics and analogue-to-digital converters. Two separate data streams are generated using clocks …read more Continue reading The Pi Pico, An SDR Receiver Front End