The Maker Faire Team from the San Bernardino Microwave Society (SBMS) and the 50 MHz and Up Group is once again displaying their newest projects at the Bay Area Maker Faire.
We are “Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio” – Maker Number 50122
Archive for the ‘Maker Projects’ Category
2015 Bay Area Maker Faire is Coming – May 16 and 17 Leave a comment
Announcing: The Egg Paint! Leave a comment
Attention Orange County, CA
Artists, Kids, Seniors and Anyone Else!
My friend Jack Knight announces the Egg Paint will once again be be taking place on Wednesday, April 1st at the Michael E. Rodgers Seniors’ Center located at 1706 Orange Avenue, Huntington Beach, CA 92648, from 12:30 – 3:30. This is a free, fun event and is open to all ages and is aimed at bringing together the young and old through the shared creative experience.
Technical Conference Alert: Amateur Radio Microwave Update 2015 Leave a comment
SAN DIEGO, Calif., March 19, 2015 — Microwave Update (MUD), the paramount international conference on Amateur Radio experimentation above 1,000MHz, will take place from Thursday, October 15 to Sunday, October 18, 2015 at the Crowne Plaza San Diego.
MUD 2015 will include technical programs, a banquet and the opportunity to network with fellow microwave ham radio enthusiasts from around the world. This year’s event is sponsored jointly by the San Bernardino Microwave Society (SBMS) and the Microwave Group of San Diego (MGSD).
Special hotel rates are available to MUD 2015 attendees. Be sure to mention the Microwave Update 2015 when making hotel reservations.
Call for Papers and Presentations
MUD is a great opportunity to share your ideas by presenting and writing papers. If you are interested in writing and/or presenting a topic for the 2015 MUD, send an e-mail message to mud2015-presentations@ham-radio.com with an abstract or a general idea. This will help the conference planning and scheduling team organize the event.
Presentation and paper guidelines are posted at
http://www.ham-radio.com/sbms/mud2015/mud2015_call_for_Papers.pdf
The deadline for proceedings submissions is September 1 and deadline for presentations is September 25.
For more information and the latest updates on MUD 2015, go to:
http://www.ham-radio.com/sbms/mud2015/
Hotel Information
The hotel is taking reservations now, so take advantage of the discount rate. Remember to ask for the Microwave Update (MUD) special rate.
Crowne Plaza San Diego
2270 Hotel Circle North
San Diego, CA 92108 USA
Phone: +1-888-233-9527
http://www.ihg.com/crowneplaza/hotels/us/en/san-diego/sancp/hoteldetail
About the San Bernardino Microwave Society
The SBMS, founded in 1955, is a non-profit technical organization and Amateur Radio club and dedicated to the advancement of communications above 1,000MHz. Affiliated with the ARRL, the SBMS membership includes over 90 Amateurs from Hawaii and Alaska to the East Coast and beyond. Meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 7 pm at the American Legion Hall, 1024 Main St., Corona, CA. For more SBMS information, go to http://www.ham-radio.com/sbms/
About the Microwave Group of San Diego (MGSD)
The MGSD is an informal association of Radio Amateurs interested in the frequencies above 1000 MHz. A net is held on the air each Monday night, except the third Monday of the month, on the Palomar Amateur Radio Club Repeater, 146.730 (-0.600), (tone 107.2) at 9:00 PM. For more MGSD information, go to
http://www.ham-radio.com/sbms/sd/mgsd.htm
2015 Bay Area Maker Faire Discount Tickets Available Leave a comment
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- Maker Faire – Where it’s Cool to be Smart
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- Photo by Kyle Cothern of CrashSpace
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- The Electric Giraffe at Maker Faire
Maker Faire headquarters announced early bird discounts for Maker Faire Bay Area on May 16 and 17, 2015.
What’s Maker Faire? Take a look at this Drone’s Camera View from Bay Area Maker Faire 2014.
The sale ends on February 28, so don’t delay!
Order your tickets now to take advantage of the discount.
I will see you there – Look for “Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio” and our new projects!
Call for 2015 Bay Area Makers is Now Open! Leave a comment
The call for Bay Area Makers is open now. The deadline is Sunday Feb 15.
What’s a Maker? Take a look at what a lot of us are doing in The Maker Movement.
But if you think this idea is new, read this post about re-inventing the wheel. In this case, the wheel is the definition of “Maker.”
More info on the 2015 Bay Area Maker Faire. . .
Just to whet your appetite about the upcoming Maker Faire – take a look at a Drone’s Eye View of Maker Faire 2014!
Search for “Makers” and “Maker Faire” on this site to see some of my previous projects and participation at Maker Faire.
D25 – A Boat in the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade Leave a comment
Celebrating 10 Consecutive Years of Winning
Peter Barbour, a fellow ham radio operator and volunteer of the Huntington Beach Fire Department RACES group, has been sharing his holiday cheer and enthusiasm of the Christmas season by decorating his sailboat and entering the Newport Beach (CA) Christmas Boat Parade. As this is being written, winners for 2014 have not been announced, so stay tuned and cheer for D25!
Peter combines his computer programming and hardware-hacking skills with his knowledge of sailing that result in a series of award-winning and crowd-pleasing displays.
I am proud to be one of Peter’s helpers in constructing some of his award-winning entries.
2014 marks Peter’s tenth entry and it continues the D25 tradition of “more is better.”
Here are some pictures of D25 under construction:
Where is D25 Right Now?
D25 is equipped with an Amateur Radio tracking system called APRS. Click here to see D25’s real-time location and map.
For more information on ham radio APRS, the Automatic Packet Reporting System, click here.
D25’s Records
D25 2004: 2nd Place Best Use of Lights and Animation
Theme: Santa’s Sailing Sled
D25’s debut design was inspired by the idea of Santa’s sailing sled being borrowed by a mischievous elf.
D25 2005: 1st Place Best Humor & Originality
Theme: Classic Christmas
D25’s second design was inspired by a classic Christmas living room scene. A large decorated Christmas tree with presents stacked below the bows and a star atop, red brick fireplace with a roaring fire and stockings hung below a mantle.
D25 2006: Best Boat Under 30 Feet
Theme: North Pole Holiday Magic
In the middle of November, Original Productions, Inc. asked Peter to appear on a documentary on intense holiday decorations for TLC: The Learning Channel. The episode “More Crazy Christmas Lights” premiered on December 8, 2007.
D25 2007: 1st Place Best Humor & Originality
Theme: Surf’s Up – Light Wave
Surf’s Up on D25 features over 5,025 lights brilliantly illuminating a holiday surfer’s dream wave. D25’s strobe light marks the lip of the wave and a hot-doggin’ holiday penguin is in the cave catching some gnarly tubular action.
D25 2008: 1st Place Best Humor & Originality
Theme: Tropical Island Cheer – Lanterns to Lights
D25 for 2008 was inspired by the origins of the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade on July 4, 1908. John Scarpa, an obscure Italian gondolier, led a parade with eight fellow small boat operators. The boats were illuminated by Japanese lanterns.
D25 2009: 1st Place Best Animation & Special Effects
Theme: Joys of Christmas Toys
In 2009, D25 demonstrated one of the most complex designs in the series. The entry included a matrix of colored ornaments, made with hundreds of individual bulbs. The matrix enabled the computer controller to make an amazing array of “bouncing ball” images that danced across a black background.
D25 2010: Best Boat Under 30 Feet
D25 2011: 1st Place Best Humor & Originality
D25 2012: Best Sailboat
D25 2013: 1st Place Animation & Special Effects
Some facts and figures of the Christmas vessel D25
The boat: 11-foot dinghy with a Nissan 4-stroke, 5HP engine. Oars for backup
Typical number of lights: Over 10,000 (Peter counted them once, but now simply adds lights up to the generator capacity)
Current consumption: Approx. 33 amps at 120 VAC
Power source: Two Honda EU2000i generators providing a total of 4,000 watts at 120 VAC
Wiring: Over 625 feet of custom extension cords
Safety items: GFCIs (ground fault circuit interrupters) on all circuits and an automatic bilge pump
Communications: A 5 Watt VHF ham radio is interfaced to a GPS for reporting location, and is available for emergency
Sound system: 150W audio power with wireless mike for music and personal greetings
Computer controllers: Four Light-O-Rama (LOR) controllers
Other items:
A masthead rotating strobe
An automobile classic “AH-OO-GA” horn
Fog Machine
Simulated flames & coals in fireplace
Chasing rope lights
Urban Workshop Open House – A Hacker Space in Irvine Leave a comment
I discovered an announcement of this open house the night before the event. The lead came from a Meet Up post from Make: OC, since I have been displaying at Maker Faire for several years now. It was a very short notice — but I am glad I saw it — especially since the Urban Workshop is less than 5 minutes away from my office.
Steve Trindade is the Founder and CEO of the Urban Workshop.
Urban Workshop is a hacker space, a membership organization where creative and talented people can get together and learn from each other. Urban Workshop provides the tools and support staff to help people build what they imagine.
They have an impressive array of stationary power tools for wood as well as metal, including a laser cutter and CNC mill. They have all types of welding equipment, too. And of course, they have a very expensive-looking 3D printer.
There is a full page of classes on a variety of subjects, including automotive alignments and race car chassis setups, CAD concepts, CNC router programming, electronics soldering basics and Arduino programming, machine tool instruction and more.
The equipment is all high-end, professional gear, and looks brand new.
Click here for more information on Urban Workshop.
Here are some pictures. . . .
Parts Among Potato Salad – The SBMS Summer BBQ at W6DQ Leave a comment
Immediately after the San Bernardino Microwave Society (SBMS) Tune-Up Party at the Fairview Park in Costa Mesa, the annual summer BBQ was held at the QTH of Dennis, W6DQ.
As usual, the food was great, and Dennis did a great job at the BBQ. It is nice to be a guest at a BBQ every now and then….
Probably the best thing I enjoy at these events is catching up with the club members and see what projects they are working on.
The Original Makers Leave a comment
Anyone interested in young people education has probably heard of the Maker movement and the Maker Faire. Or, at least, they may have seen a copy of Make: magazine on the newsstands. Many educators understand the connection between science and technology education and how this Maker movement can be used to make learning fun.
Well, I have to say this is a lot of successful marketing hype – since so many people worldwide think this is a new and wonderful phenomenon. Here’s some news for everyone: This is not a new idea. Amateur radio operators (“hams”) have been among the original Makers since the early 20th century.
In case you have not heard about Makers, here is a brief description: The Maker movement is about making something rather than buying something, fixing it rather than throwing it away, pre-cycling or recycling instead of throwing it away and modifying something to make it work better or different.
This “making” refers to anything you can think of, from clothing and costumes and computers to bicycles and cars and aircraft. And for ham radio operators – it’s making or modifying radio communications equipment.
A Personal Passion and Mission
Since ham radio has been and continues to be one of my passions, I want to make sure people understand that today’s ham radio is not an outdated, dying hobby that no one uses any more. It is not necessarily a hobby for old retired engineers talking to strangers from their basements and closets. The Amateur Radio Service is much more chic and many of us are using today’s technology and applying it to ham radio activities. And as a science and an educational tool, ham radio has a lot to offer.
A Timely Showcase
The Bay Area Maker Faire is at the end of May each year. Sponsored by Make magazine, the Maker Faire website describes this event as, “A two-day, family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness and a celebration of the Maker movement.”
When you actually get there, you may describe it as a giant playground for everyone where science, art, food, clothing, bicycles, fire, machines, lasers, steam, electricity and music all crunch together into one giant gathering. And I can insert ham radio into this cornucopia of educational fun.
In 2012, my ham radio friend Dennis Kidder had some free passes to the Bay Area Maker Faire. Since the tickets were a great bargain, we had to make the all-day drive to the Silicon Valley to see this thing. We had such a great experience that year we decided to create our own display to show off our ham radio projects. Besides, we got to meet Grant Imahara from the Discovery Channel show “Myth Busters,” and a famous female hacker named Jeri Ellsworth. Adam Savage, also from the Myth Busters show, is the Maker Faire emcee.
Amazingly, Maker booths are free. Considering how much commercial exhibitors pay for booth space, electricity, water, compressed air and cleaning for tradeshow booths, this is an incredible deal.
For 2014, my Maker Faire theme, “Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio!” continues for the third consecutive year. Our displays include a wide range of experiments, demonstrations and practical wireless communications equipment using a mixture of traditional and the most modern techniques. Here are some examples of our projects from previous Maker Faire events…
Ramsay Electronics KH6WZ laser communicator
W6DQ – Dennis 10 GHz transmitter-receiver with software defined radio (SDR)
79 GHz transmitter-receiver system by Tony KC6QHP
Antenna positioning system by Brian W6BY
See more stories on my LinkedIn pages. . .
A Musical Sculpture at Maker Faire Bay Area 2014 Leave a comment
Here is a wonderful musical sculpture crafted by Christopher T. Palmer on display at the Maker Faire. The piece is called “Nicht mit dem Titel, ein” Google translate says this means “Not with the title, a” or something like that.
It uses restored cuckoo clock whistles, a microcontroller, some model servos. It plays every 15 minutes.
More information on Chris and his studio can be found here.
Watch the video on YouTube Channel KH6WZ!
More Maker Faire pictures and stories to come! Stay tuned!
wayneyoshidakh6wz 