Category: video

“The Journey to Palomar”

This is a wonderful documentary that will definitely appeal to SolderSmoke listeners. Check out Jim Gunn working on the electronics for the CCD cameras that they attached to the 200 inch ‘scope (described in Preston’s “First Light”).


Once again, sorry if readers outside the U.S. have trouble with this link. I hope you all can find other ways to see this video.


http://www.hulu.com/watch/76165

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Two great sites from Rogier

Our Bay Area correspondent Rogier (orignally PA1ZZ, now KJ6ETL) recently sent us links to two very interesting sites. The first is a collection of Jean Shepherd programs. EXCELSIOR!
http://www.flicklives.com/Mass_Back/massbackpodcast.xml

The second is a collection of electronics tutorial videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Afrotechmods?feature=watch

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Alan Sends Video Through HIs ‘Scope

Who needs plasma screens! Real hams get their video on the screens of Tektronix oscilloscopes!

Good one Alan! Glad to see that you made it onto Hack-a-Day with this one!

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

“Analog Man” by Joe Walsh

Very cool to have world famous rocker and fellow boatanchor enthusiast Joe Walsh singing about the virtues of analog.
What next?
An ode to 60/40 solder?
Some troubleshooting blues?

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Ponderosa Knack! Bonanza Astronomy!

I loved this episode, and I think most of you guys will too. I was alerted to it by an article by famed comet hunter David Levy. Wow! I never would have thought that in a 1962 episode of the cowboy show Bonanza, we would find amateur astronomy and experiments to determine the speed of sound and the speed of light. Amazing. There is no radio in this so it is not really The Knack, but young Mr. Michelson (yes, the Nobel Prize winner) does set up a shack-like workshop and he is trying to measure c. So this is all very Knack-like. There is also a very nice moral to this story, a moral that is related to our notion of an International Brotherhood of Electrical Wizards.
Three cheers for Ben Cartwright!

You can find the episode here. It runs for 48 minutes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzPRGV0HbMk

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

EE Web Featured Engineer: Alan Wolke, W2AEW

I really liked this interview with our friend Alan. You can see definite signs of an early case of The Knack here: I was especially impressed by the fact that he made one of his first antennas from wire salvaged from the deflection coil on an old TV. (I took the easy path and chopped up my dad’s extension cords!)

I also liked Alan’s response to the question about his favorite software tool: “Gee, solder is soft, can we consider that software? I use a lot of that!” This is very reminiscent of a quote from the legendary Bob Pease (colleague of Jim Williams): “My favorite programming language is solder.” (That quote was sent to me by Steve WA0PWK. Thanks Steve.)

Lots of good troubleshooting wisdom in this interview, and Alan’s enthusiasm for electronics clearly shines through:
http://www.eeweb.com/spotlight/interview-with-alan-wolke

If you’re also interested in the field of electronic repairs, visit www.guidetocareereducation.com for a list of schools offering electronics and engineering training programs.

Also, be sure to check out Alan’s YouTube videos, especially those on how to use an oscilloscope:
http://www.youtube.com/user/w2aew


Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Twisted Waves Across the Venice Lagoon

I don’t really understand the physics behind this, but it seems to be important. And the video is a lot of fun. There is much Italian brio and bella figura in this. They even got Princess Elettra Marconi involved. And the video features audio from Marconi himself.
Hypertuning! Radio Vorticity! Helicoidal Parabolic Antennas! Gondolas! Segnale Ricevuto! Bravi!

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/48869

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Ralph Baer, Electronic Wizard

Here is a another nice video, this one about Ralph Baer, one of the pioneers of video games. At age 90 Ralph is still creating things at his workbench.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Amazing R/C Airplane Video From Germany

Wow, this is real techno-art. Take seven minutes, put it on full screen, crank up the audio and sit back to enjoy a unique aerial view of a beautiful part of Germany. Thanks to Bill, N5AB, for alerting us to this.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

CircuitLab Online Simulator

I gave the new CircuitLabs online circuit simulator a test drive this morning. It worked very well, even on my clunky old computer. I think this online system will open up circuit simulation for people who haven’t used a simulator before. And it looks like a great tool for collaboration. Give it a spin!

https://www.circuitlab.com/

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D

This is about 2 years old, but somehow I missed it. It is really beautiful, and it helps keep things in perspective.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Beautiful Videos from the Space Station

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/Videos/CrewEarthObservationsVideos/

The link above takes you to a really spectacular collection of videos taken recently from the International Space Station. Great stuff. Be sure to check out the aurora. And the stars as they become visible over Canada. The St. Lawrence seaway is very apparent in the Mexico to New Brunswick video. In that one you can also see where the Rockies really start to rise (not so many lights). Over the Great Plains you can see where the main North-South and East-West highways are (straight lines of lights!).

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Knacktivity in the White House: The Mashmallow Cannon

I thought this was a lot of fun. And in another video I saw that the kid was using an Altoid tin to hold the batteries that power the trigger.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Building a Wright Model D

There is a lot of Knack-like activity in this project. I think you guys will like this show. I’m not sure the Hulu link will work outside the U.S.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/23333/nova-wright-brothers%E2%80%99-flying-machine

There is also a lot of good background info here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wright/

And as long as we’re talking about Knack-related aviation, here’s a great article about an avionics engineer who has made a big difference in the world:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017426408_bateman05.html
Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Some unbridled Australian enthusiasm… (Two Videos from Oz)

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

DIY at the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum)

http://blog.makezine.com/2012/01/17/the-power-of-making-at-the-va/

Power of Making from Juriaan Booij on Vimeo.

One of the many perks that I enjoyed during my four years in London was living near that city’s amazing museums. I was more of a Science Museum or Natural History Museum guy, but the we also loved the V&A. Each day on my way to work, the 414 bus took me past the V&A’s magnificent facade. I always tried to get a seat that would allow me to get a good look.
The Maker Blog reports that the Victoria and Albert recently had an exposition on people who make things in their own private workshops. We are not alone! The video imbeded above is some sights and sounds from the world of DIY. The link below takes you to another video that includes some nice interviews with folks who are making things.

http://blog.makezine.com/2012/01/17/the-power-of-making-at-the-va/

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20