Alternet

I’ve decided to move spectrum analyzer posts onto their own page.  I’ve been getting complaints from approx. 25% of my readership (hi, Katie) that I’m crossing the line to “too nerdy”.  So, I’ll let you opt-in to hearing about it.  The page is available under the title banner, near the “about” and “thesis” page.  I’ll write sub pages for each module.  Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a way to make an RSS feed of changes to this page, so if you’re interested you’ll just have to check in occasionally.  I’ll also post when it’s all done, so there is that to look forward to.  Anyway, that’s all.  :)

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IF Amplifier cooling down

I’ve decided to hold off posting spectrum analyzer modules until they’re complete.  I’ve been collecting tons of pictures along the way, so hopefully the post for each module will be interesting and visually appealing.  With that in mind, I can’t post about any of the modules with the exception of this one.   Read more…

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Mixer 2 completed and verified against schematic

I’ve verified each of the 3 mixers that I need for the spectrum analyzer.  The one above is mixer 2.  The schematic for this mixer is available from Scotty’s site. Read more…

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IMPORTANT!!  – I’ve made a special page for my construction and testing of the spectrum analyzer.  It’s available on the navigation bar below the blog title banner, or here.

A while back I bought a spectrum analyzer kit.  It can display waveforms in the frequency domain from 0 to 1000 Mhz.  I haven’t worked on it for a while, but I’ve decided to start working on it again.  If you’re interested in more information, there is a webpage for the analyzer by the guy who designed it, and there’s a Yahoo group, also. If you’re really-really interested there is a group buy open (until the 28th of march 2010) here.  Anyway, I’m sure it’s of limited use to my usual readers (thanks, friends & family! [oh who am I kidding, most of my family doesn't read this ]), but it may be useful to others working on the kit.  I’ll post the “annotated” CAD images for each board here, and add images of the completed boards when I finish them.  Who knows, it may be interesting for someone.  Also, I’ll include my thoughts and observations while building these boards.  Finally, not all the boards that come with the kit include annotated layouts, so I’ll have to dig around and figure out what they do and what to put on them Read more…

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In this video, I’ve tried to synchronize video from a camcorder with the in flight camera.  I think it turned out really well.  I wish I knew how to make the canvas larger in iMovie so I could put the video side-by-side.  If you select the highest quality (480, I think) and make it full screen, I think it looks pretty good.

This video is from Tom and I trying to fly in some kind of formation so I could record his plane in flight.  It was very challenging because my plane is a lot faster than his.  I was flying on the brink of a stall most of the time while he was full-throttle.  There’s a moment where we almost had a midair.  We didn’t, so no harm.

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Comparing antennas

I’ve finished building the first (and my first) Yagi antenna for the Kadet video downlink.  I mentioned in the first video post that a new, and better, antenna would help greatly. Read more…

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The weather sucked, but I was able to get out the the field this morning. I recorded about 17 minutes of video in total.  In the embedded clip, I edited out the majority of the static.  I’m a little disappointed that the signal quality is so poor.  I found a site that has some cheap Yagi antenna designs in 50 and 75 ohms.  I’ll probably try to build one this week and see how it goes.

More information about the camera is available in these posts, if you haven’t already seen them.

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Camera installed with Transmitter

I’ve just finished building a camera module for my Kadet.  When I was building the plane I knew that I was going to try and put a camera and transmitter approximately where the pilot’s head would be in a real plane.   Read more…

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I’ve been developing a RF transceiver for use with my Kadet.  I really like these Micrel RadioWire modules, but they basically must be reflow soldered.  They’re also about $16/ea. in single unit quantities, so I want to make sure that the carrier PCB works before I solder on the module (I’ve made that mistake already!).  With that in mind, I had to figure out how to solder the module on after all the other components were installed.  This means hand soldering.  Looking on the datasheet, they say that it can be done, using solder paste.  So, here’s documentation of my attempt.

PCB ready for module

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Wow, that was a whirl-wind day. Hack-a-day linked to my iPhone TV Lift, generating over 1000 new visitors from almost everywhere in the world!

- Update: In the 2 days since, there has been an additional 1000 users!

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