Hellschreiber Clock

A small microcontroller is programmed to output a series of tones which, when fed to a PC soundcard and processed by a spectrum analyser program, displays an image of the current time.

Step 1: Spectrum Lab software

All the hard work of analysing and displaying the tones is performed by a piece of free software, the "Spectrum Lab" written by an Amateur Radio enthusiast, DL4YHF. It analyses the sound fed in via the sound card and displays the result as a picture.

The type of display used here is called the "waterfall" display, and it is set to scroll from right to left. It traditionally scrolls from top to bottom, and hence the term, waterfall.

This program is used by amateurs to communicate halfway around the earth with fractions of a watt, among other things. It is a very capable program, and has a multitude of settings which have to be adjusted just right to result in a good display.

The term "Hellschreiber" originated in the field of telegraphy, a long time ago, and literally means writing with light.

The display shown on the introduction is a plot of intensity of frequency against time.

The microcontroller is programmed to generate a series of tones, such that an image of the information is painted by this program.

This mode is defined as "sequential multi tone Hellschreiber" and is used for communicating over long distances using relatively simple transmitting equipment.

Comments

[killerjackalope]

Pretty nice 'ible, the cool thing about these is the name though... Hellschreiber just sounds the mutt's nuts (if you don't understand that is a good thing, not sure where you are or if that phrase is used, lately people keep asking what things mean)

[neelandan]

It's German, and said to be a play on words.

[cyberpageman]

I believe "Hellschreiber" is German for "Light Writer."

[bricabracwizard]

It means - light recorder

[DonQuijote]

Hellschreiber is not the german word for light writer. i mean, it could be, but it is not the case, because the original mechanism did not use any kind of light system to writ with. it is named after it's inventor, a gentleman named Hell and i can't remember his other name.

[killerjackalope]

I wonder how well this would work if you had more 'pixels' to play with, like a higher resolution, only you'd need highly accurate inputs and minimum noise...

[richms]

Reminds me of that aphex twin face thing :) really awesome to see it done on a simple microcontroller like that, and with a really low clock speed no less. wonder if you could do it with a more pin micro and sum the pulses to get a ghetto DAC to get all the "pixels" atop each other. anyway, gives me something to play with on my arduino soon.. ;)

[Maniacy]

Hellschreiber does not mean 'writing with light'. It's more like 'bright writer'.

[jhack]

.... as DonQuijote said (see below) and trusting Wikipedia :
Hellschreiber ist ...: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellschreiber

.. so no special meaning, no mystics at all.

very cool idea - never seen that before.
Hell would be begeistert to see that !

Jürgen

[nak]

what does bright writer mean

[daveanton]

OH MY GOSH! WHAT is WRONG with you people!!!! Can ya just FORGET about "it being done" ... or "I could have done better" OR "NOT Technically an Instructable" (!!!!) you drive me crazy! DO SOMETHING YOURSELF AND LEAVE THE NEGATIVITY FOR YOUR DOG(regretfully)

[psychlones]

Them that can... do Them that can't... become critics

[-Aj-]

pretty colours..... weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee cool instructable, first time ive seen this thing. i like it very much. if you do it on your pc and feed it out to a projector it would be very cool.

[-Aj-]

lawl.

[cvxdes]

somebody already did that rant, and I could have definably done better. In fact, that's not even a rant.

[daveanton]

(removed by author or community request)

[cvxdes]

That was supposed to be a joke. You said stop with saying instructables have been done before, so I said your comment has been done before. Then I stated that I could have done better, as your comment said not to do. Then I said your comment isn't really a comment. I actually agree with what you originally said. It is a bit annoying when people do that.

[daveanton]

*sigh*

soorrryy ... just a little hyper sensitive today... these comments ruin t for me. but alas, it is my fault for letting them bug me.
sorry.

[hcold]

One would think he was actually trying to bait you, the "In fact, that's not even a rant." Specifically points this out.

[LinuxH4x0r]

Its been done before, but still, very cool!

[neelandan]

Yes, Rudolph Hell patented the technique in 1929. That is nearly eighty years ago. This old mode needs to be used more.

[creative_35]

Neelandan Evideyaa sthalam?

[neelandan]

thalasthana pattanam

[LinuxH4x0r]

No, I meant someone already made an instructable about it.

[Maniacy]

Oh yes, I forgot: Great work! :-)

[thecheatscalc]

good job on the instructable! looks pretty cool!

[GorillazMiko]

Dang, this looks so hard. But nice job, and you have a funny background. ;-)

[S1L3N7 SWAT]

Anonymous petty arguments aside, this is a really cool Instructable, I'm definitely going to try this. I want to make a permanent clock like that, it would be so awesome.

[nf119]

cool i am gonna try this

[munchman]

I like it