Birth of a Book - Smith-Settle Printers, Leeds, England

I'd love this video to be longer but as it is I still found it fascinating to watch a book come to life in a few minutes.

For the Daily Telegraph. Shot at Smith-Settle Printers, Leeds, England. 

The book being printed is Suzanne St Albans’ 'Mango and Mimosa' published as part of the Slightly Foxed series.

Shot, Directed & Edited by Glen Milner

Another hand-made vacuum tube!

Another hand-made vacuum tube video! This time it is a French amateur radio operator by the name of Claude Paillard creating a more familiar type of triode tube with a custom four pin base.

The video runs for approximately 17 minutes and is accompanied by an instrumental version of "The Man I Love" written by George Gershwin.

Now I understand - Measuring capacitance with a micro-controller

The excellent article by Rajendra Bhatt explains not only how capacitance can be measured but also how a micro-controller can be interfaced to an analog circuit to create a useful piece of test equipment.

Capacitance meter by Rajendra Bhatt

I found the explanation of the RC time constant method of measurement as interesting as the micro-processor project itself and congratulate Raj on demonstrating a practical and workable real-life example of what can normally be a dry textbook subject.

Click here : http://embedded-lab.com/blog/?p=4400 to read the article which includes everything you need to duplicate his project. 

The page is part of the excellent http://embedded-lab.com/ web site which is well worth a look. I know it is going in my bookmarks and RSS feed.

New season of Dr Who on the way ...

Watch the exclusive, just-released teaser trailer for the all new season of DOCTOR WHO, premiering later this year on BBC America!

http://doctorwho.tumblr.com
http://bbcamerica.com/doctorwho

In the words of The Doctor: "Anachronistic electricity, keep-out signs, aggressive stares - has someone been peeking at my Christmas list?!"

The new season will see the last days of the Ponds, with Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill making their final rollercoaster voyage with The Doctor (Matt Smith). Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) have been at the Doctor's side for more than two seasons but what will he do after their heartbreaking departure?

New guest stars so far confirmed to star will include David Bradley, Rupert Graves and Mark Williams. Season 7 will then see a dramatic turn of events when The Doctor meets a new friend - the recently-announced new companion, played by Jenna-Louse Coleman. Prepare yourselves for thrills, adventures and dramatic surprises as the show builds towards its enormous, climactic 50th anniversary year.

Fourteen big, blockbuster-movie episodes - each a brand new epic adventure featuring new monsters and some familiar foes as you've never seen them before.

And keep up with all of the best shows on BBC America by following us on Facebook and Twitter!

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Ham Radio and Mesh Networks

Lately I've been fascinated by the capabilities of mesh networks. The ability to quickly create ad-hock computer networks could be an invaluable resource for amateur radio operators in general and particularly for emergency communications (EMCOM)

The particular device and software I have been experimenting with is the Linksys WRT54G router and HSMM-MESH firmware from http://hsmm-mesh.org/.

Installing the HSMM-MESH firmware changes the way the Linksys router functions and allows it to automatically connect to other HSMM routers in a mesh network. No special configuration is required after setting your callsign. All TCP/IP configuration is pre-configured, even down to automatically assigning addresses to connecting clients.

Mesh networks are highly fault tolerant. Every router in the network is aware of every other router and has the ability to move network packets through from one unit to another provided there is a link, or chain of linked routers, between them.
In the diagram to the right each router is represented by a numbered circle. If router number 6 were to fail then network packets that needed to move between router 1 and 7 would travel through routers 2 & 3 or 5 & 10 until 6 was repaired. All this happens automatically and quickly enough so that there is no disruption to the traffic.

Anything you can access on a normal computer network can be made to work on a mesh network. Some of the services that have been demonstrated include email, voice over IP (VOIP), video conferencing, file sharing, web servers & groupware applications.

With simple modified antennas the modest output power from the WRT54G (100 to 200mW) can be used to reach distances of many miles or tens of miles with directional antennas. Mounting the router on a mast in a sealed enclosure can reduce losses from long cable runs while running off 12V power makes them compatible with ham radio power sources including solar and wind power.

The example to the left is from NG5V located on hsmm-mesh.org and consists of an omni-directional external antenna and a lawn sprinkler controller box from a popular home improvement store.

Did you know that ... Frequencies used by channels one through six of 802.11b and 802.11g fall within the 2.4 GHz amateur radio band. Licensed amateur radio operators may operate 802.11b/g devices under Part 97 of the FCC Rules and Regulations, allowing increased power output but not commercial content or encryption.

I hope to acquire a few more WRT54G routers and put together a mesh network in the Katy TX area as a resource for experimentation and education in an area not normally touched upon by regular amateur radio operators. Who knows what the future holds & it behooves us to investigate this technology and bend it to our own needs.

The Amateur is Progressive ... He keeps his station abreast of science. It is well built and efficient. His operating practice is above reproach.