Post-Defense Day 1
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Two hours after getting home from work I’m already basking in the newfound carefreeness thanks to the successful completion of my thesis defense (and graduation requirements). Yesterday I went to SkyCraft, early this morning I posted a schematic diagram of a basic circuit concept for a radio/microphone interface box with tone generating functions, and this afternoon I finished its assembly. It’s hacked together, I know, but it’s just a prototype. What does it do? It’s complicated. It’s basically just an exercise in microchip programming.
Future Scott reacts to this in August, 2019 (10 years later)
LOL! That's a pipette box! A chip socket was sunk into a plastic enclosure somehow! And that "regulated power supply" is an LM7805 on non-metallic perfboard screwed to two Jenga blocks!
Here’s the little setup with the main control unit and a DC to DC regulated power supply / serial microchip programmer I made.
Here’s the main control box. Notice the “2-way lighted switches” which I described in the previous entry. I found that proper grounding (floating pin prevention) was critical to their proper function. I’m still new to these chips, so I’m learning, but I’m making progress!
Getting a little artsy with my photographs now… this is the core of the device. It’s a picaxe 14m!
This is a 5v regulated power supply I built. The headphone adapter is for easy connection to the serial port. It has a power switch and a program/run switch (allowing use of pin 13, serial out) while still “connected” to the PC.
I’ve slightly improved the connection between my radio’s coax cable to the J-pole antenna I made.
I’m able to get pretty good signals from this antenna, but it’s probably not likely to do much to my assembly skills (and lack of tuning), and more likely due to the fact that I have an unobstructed view of middle/southern Orlando from the 3rd story of my apartment balcony. I could probably wire up a rubber duck on a stick and get good results with that location! I’ll miss my reception when I move.