Archive for the ‘kh6wz’ Tag
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has been and continues to be one of my passions, I want to make sure people understand that today’s ham radio is not an outdated, dying hobby that no one uses any more.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. . .
No speedos or boxers?
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!
University of California, Davis engineering students Sam Dawson (left) and Andrew Chung (right) demonstrate their engineering project at the Bay Area Maker Faire. The microprocessors in each box are equipped with infrared sensors and emitters that “talk” to each other and glow different colors to indicate their relationships to another box.
The project provided hands-on experience in both hardware and software to supplement lectures and textbook learning.
Watch the video on YouTube Channel KH6WZ.
For more information on the UC Davis Engineering programs, visit
The Davis Adaptive RF Technology (DART) Lab
UC Davis College of Engineering – Electrical and Computer Engineering
2014 UC Davis Picnic Day
Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio
Maker Faire Bay Area 2014
The laser harp drew a lot of attention from little kids. The string less musical instrument features laser beams, laser sensors and an electronic harp that can actually teach how to play a tune.
Click here for more information on the UC Davis Laser Harp Project.
Watch the video on KH6WZ.
More Bay Area Maker Faire pictures and stories coming soon!
University of California, Davis Engineering Project at Maker Faire Bay Area 2014
This radar system operates at 2GHz (S-band). The Arduino stack consists of a radio front end, controlled by an Ardunio Uno and signal processing is performed using an Arduino Due. A Bluetooth link moves the data from the radar system to the notebook computer, where the radar information can be seen using a “waterfall” visual display.
The DART lab is located in Kemper Hall on the UC Davis campus and is led by Dr. Xiaoguang “Leo” Liu, pictured at left. Daniel (center) and David on the right demonstrated the 2GHz radar system to the Maker Faire visitors. For more information on the UC Davis Engineering programs, visit
The Davis Adaptive RF Technology (DART) Lab
UC Davis College of Engineering Electrical and Computer Engineering
2014 UC Davis Picnic Day
Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio
Maker Faire Bay Area 2014
Every year, the Maker Faire hosts a paella dinner for the Makers. This year, the event was sponsored by Liquid Wrench. Here are some images, and you can watch the Paella video on channel KH6WZ. . .
Gerard’s Paella feeds 2,500 people very quickly!
Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio
Dennis W6DQ displayed his Flex 1500 software defined radio with 10 GHz and 24 GHz transverters. There were many questions about SDRs and many visitors were surprised to learn ham radio operators have this technology. But this is another example of what radio hams are using these days. The system Dennis showed is actually three systems in one: The SDR, which is being used as the “intermediate system,” and transverters (transmitter-receiver-converters) for 10 GHz and 24 GHz microwave ham radio. The posters briefly explain the transverter system:
The SDR is a Flex-1500, made by FlexRadio Systems
APRS: Automatic Packet Reporting System – and High Altitude Ballooning
Someone asked if it would be possible to track a high altitude balloon using ham radio. It is possible to track a vehicle, aircraft or person using the amateur radio application called APRS, the automatic packet reporting system. Basically, the system consists of a two-way radio (usually for the 2m ham band), a GPS receiver, a modem to interface/control the data to and from the GPS, and an antenna for the radio and the GPS.
By coincidence, I am collecting parts for such a system, see the photo above. The radio antenna is on the left – it is a piano wire dipole for the 2 meter ham band. On the upper right is a Byonics Tiny Trak SMT – the interface between the two-way radio and the GPS. Inside the orange plastic box is an old 2m handie-talkie, with its cabinet parts and battery pack removed. Not shown in the picture are the other ingredients, which include a tiny GPS module and the video cameras for Amateur Television (ATV).
Here are some links I used in my research.
Byonics – Makers of the Tiny Trak series of APRS beacons
Amateur Radio High Altitude Ballooning
Sparkfun – High Altitude Balloon Launch
Low-cost Near Space Without HAM Radios or Cellphones
Breaking the Amateur Radio Balloon Altitude Record
BEAR (Balloon Experiments with Amateur Radio)
Watch this space for more Bay Area Maker Faire stories and pictures!
Photo by Kyle Cothern of CrashSpace
Here are some amazing photos of Anouk Wipprecht and some of her costumes at the Maker Faire Bay Area. The photos were taken by Kyle Cothern of CrashSpace, in Culver City, CA
In these photos, you can see lightning effects created by a giant Tesla coil, made and “played” by ArcAttack!
Photo by Kyle Cothern of CrashSpace
Photo by Kyle Cothern of CrashSpace
Photo by Kyle Cothern of CrashSpace
Photo by Kyle Cothern of CrashSpace
Photo by Kyle Cothern of CrashSpace
Learn more about Anouk Wipprecht in this CNN article!
Stay tuned for more Bay Area Maker Faire images and stories!
wayneyoshidakh6wz 
