Daily DIY

Micrel SemiconductorsEbay{{{I have noticed that some people are concerned that due to surface mount technology you can’t make electronic stuff anymore. It is not true. A search will quickly find forums discussing how homebuilt electronics experimenters are getting around this. I have a nifty RF development kit for sale on ebay. See ebay link below. These development kits are used by new product developers to quickly get their RF prototypes up and running to develop software, hardware and firmware without the steep learning curve associated with starting development with discrete components. These boards allow you to build custom devices that can comunicate with each other up to a mile apart. Although this is not quite ham worthy distance someone might be able to have some fun with the kit. I have just one, but more (and the actual rf chip) could be acquired through Micrel Semiconductors. Anyway, I have this listed as an industrial item, so I am not sure the right people will see the ad. For those interested in playing with current technology RF.

}}}




By: fordmodelb

TECGRAF DOC



How to transmit data using a cheap RF module trough USB. The circuit receives energy from the USB port (may provide 100mA and with some programming you can reach 500mA)



List of Materials:

1 - One pair of RF module (like Laipac RLP/TLP433A) look after it in sparkfun.com (they have different operating frequencies: 315, 433 and 917(?) MHz)

1 - TSUB3410 - Serial-to-USB integrated chip (QFP-32) from Texas Instruments.

1 - One Power LED (you may skip it)

1 - 3.3V LDO (Low Drop-out) regulator - to connect in the +5V (+/- 10%) line from the USB.



Start with the "walkthrough.pdf" guide, after it we will improve the wireless link to be connected to an USB port.



! ! ! - Altought it may look like a very simple circuit (just the RF link), you may find some rocks in your pathway.

I still don’t know if this is a reliable circuit..so be carefull where you are going to use it. Be advised to try this circuit ONLY when you are in a good mood! if not go play PS2…otherwise this can damage your parasympathetic nervous system!


By: barmak

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Via instructables comes a DIY for a Portable Skype Phone:
“how to make a portable skype phone from an old cordless phone.
You need an old cordless phone. (one that you dont care about.. because you might break it) try and get one that has an “intercom” because they are much easier..
IMPORTANT- […]

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A great Low Power PLL FM Transmitter Project via hacked gadgets:
“There are some very interesting projects over at Dick Cappels’ Project Pages. They range from simple LED voltage boost circuits to this complex PLL FM Transmitter. The video of it in action is quite interesting since he installed an LED to monitor […]

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Via make comes a great HOWTO for a DIY Telephone FM Transmitter:
“This project is taken from www.electronics-lab.com.
With some modification, I create my own version of FM Telephone bug complete with stripboard layout.
Theortically, the frequency range is from 88MHz to 94MHz but you may experiment with the coil structure to tune it”
-Link

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Instructables has a great tutorial on a DIY BFO Metal Detector:
“BFO ( beat frequency oscillator ) metal detectors use two oscillators, each of which produces a radio frequency. One of these oscillators uses a coil of wire that we call the search loop. The second oscillator uses a much smaller coil of […]

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Check out this DIY RC Helicopter page:
“Flying RC helicopter is really very exhilarating. Their versatility gives a RC pilot a complete access to the three-dimensional space in such a way that no other machines can! I have played RC helicopter for more than one year but still find that I have just […]

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Robert Maria has a great DIY for a cheap cellphone antenna:
“It all started with my Nokia Communicator and my dad. My dad lives in a rural part of Oklahoma where the cell signal in the house is bad. He made a decision last year to get rid of the land line and […]

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Tired of those bulky wireless headphones on your head? Instant Arcade has come up with a solution by adding a jack so you can plug in your own earbud headphones!
“I started this project because I was unhappy with my Sennheiser HDR 45 wireless headphones. […] After doing some searching for wireless […]