JimG50

For info and books about Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) see ARRL.ORG. For equipment google ICOM, Yaesu, Kenwood or go on Ebay searching for amateur equipment. Or build your own. 73. JIm

Nice work. Be sure to spray with a clear coating to prevent rust.

Neat idea. Thnx.

Good input on general lube of WD-40. Another was to remove labels. I found if substrate can handle it, use a heat gun. On cardboard boxes I remove the shipping labels to reuse the box when needed. WD-40 would ruin the box.

Perhaps a voltage clamp and R-C combo on the primary would assist in reducing arcs on the contacts and high voltage spikes. Otherwise used in 1920s to 50's on car radios.

Neat idea to solder only one contact then place part first. Thanks.

Found an occasional coconut oil wipe of brass doorknobs in this high humidity environment where knobs are exposed to sunlight keeps them shined up.

Hi,For info I attended a Ham meeting last night where the guest speaker discussed flying balloons around the world. Amazing stuff. He described ten milliwatt transmitter chips bought from Texas Instruments using surface mount components and GPS for tracking from Blox - or a name close to that. The GPS must be able to work at high altitudes. All components were controlled by an ARM microprocessor. Amazing construction weighing only 20 Grams but so small required magnification to assemble to solder parts. With temperatures at 14 KM around -60C parts have to be reliable. Balloons were small, maybe a meter in diameter but filled to just provide a small amount of lift. Now if you want to have fun with a short duration flights at low levels, I suggest you google milliwatt transmitters that c...

Hi,For info I attended a Ham meeting last night where the guest speaker discussed flying balloons around the world. Amazing stuff. He described ten milliwatt transmitter chips bought from Texas Instruments using surface mount components and GPS for tracking from Blox - or a name close to that. The GPS must be able to work at high altitudes. All components were controlled by an ARM microprocessor. Amazing construction weighing only 20 Grams but so small required magnification to assemble to solder parts. With temperatures at 14 KM around -60C parts have to be reliable. Balloons were small, maybe a meter in diameter but filled to just provide a small amount of lift. Now if you want to have fun with a short duration flights at low levels, I suggest you google milliwatt transmitters that conform to your countries codes of frequencies allowed with no license. As well get to know some hams, get your license, and learn how to build to your requirements. Hams have free software allowing digital transmission of data. Google WSPR and FLDIGI are just two of many. Good Luck!

Real fun project for school. What lucky students to have someone like you do this. You could get a HAM Radio license and shout out real time data including landing site. Besides students would find terrific scientific and every day use of the license if they were encouraged to get their own.

Neat deal Spaceshark. I've been a ham 62 years starting at 14 years old and even made my career in electronics due to Ham Radio, getting patents and all that stuff, What is so interesting is the science of shortwave propagation, talking to other Hams around the world, using Ham satellites, building gear like you did plus hour upon hour of fun experiences and experiments. How about putting a small VHF transmitter on a balloon and finding how far it can be heard? The formula for line of sight on a curved earth could be checked out and I bet distances (DX) will be greater due to the bending of radio waves due to the atmosphere. In addition you can send pictures as the balloon is in the air. Again, very nice instructable, I plan to use some of your ideas. 73, Jim K5BTV.

Neat idea to use a bucket of water and a pump instead of using water mains. This way any problem will be limited to water in the bucket. A small amount of Miracle grow ought to be a great fertilizer too. I'm gonna try it next spring

Good app and will work well with DC motors. I've used this circuit for several years for another application . The graphic of PWM is a little misleading though because it does not apply to this circuit design. In this circuit, the modulation is a fixed width of one polarity as set by the potentiometer not variable during the "firing" as shown the sine wave example.