A journal of hobbies
DFRobot's DFPlayer mini is a small, inexpensive MP3player module and the info page for it lists some of its uses as: Railway station, bus safety inspection voice prompts; The public security border control channel voice prompts; and Multi-channel voice alarm or equipment operating guide voice. Anyway, this post is not about using it for that,... Continue Reading →
I've had an interest in detecting lightning for many years. I remember reading an article about Benjamin Franklins lightning experiments back in the 80's or early 90's. I thought the article was in an issue of Electronics Australia, but I have not been able to locate it. Ben Franklin is fairly well known for flying... Continue Reading →
Choosing an Anemometer I've been considering what to use for an anemometer for my weather station. I was thinking of making my own, but a significant downside would be calibrating it. I checked what was available on AliExpress. Many are plastic and I don't want a plastic one and I don't want to have to... Continue Reading →
Whenever someone pointed out to a work colleague that there was an easier way to do what he was attempting, he’d look confused and then reply, “Well, anyone can do it the easy way.” I seem to find myself avoiding the usual easier way with projects, just to try do it differently. That's how I... Continue Reading →
I've been working on building a weather station over the last few months and while I haven't completed all the sensors, I have a few done including recently a rain gauge. The receiver is based around the "Random Nerd Tutorials ESP-NOW Web Server Sensor Dashboard" in which the data is displayed on a web page.... Continue Reading →
Around 1976 a friend and I became very interested in CB radio. The craze had not long taken off in Australia and it was still illegal to use them at that time. Dick Smith Electronics and later Tandy’s sold CB radios, antennas and accessories. Despite being illegal to use them, that didn’t stop a lot... Continue Reading →
While I don't have an Amateur Radio license, I do find radio interesting. I often listen to the Soldersmoke podcast and look at their blog. I became interested in the Direct Conversion Radio they had designed. The radio covers the 40-meter or 7-MHz amateur radio frequency band. It is fairly simple and deliberately uses discrete... Continue Reading →
I was browsing Aliexpress the other day and came across this phone holder. It appeared in the Choice tab and at the time was only AUD$2.89, although it seems to have gone up a bit since then. I have an ANENG AN8008 multimeter. It was inexpensive and I find it quite good, but I have... Continue Reading →
I’ve never owned a proper set of helping hands for soldering, so I can’t tell you how good they are. I've tried using metal spring clams, but that didn't work well. For the last few years I've been using blu tack the Julien Illet way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZygyqx6AOY It works well, but sometimes I just need to... Continue Reading →
I've made a few power supplies over the years. The first one was in 1978 or 79 when I was about 13 or 14, At that time what is now TAFE NSW (Technical and Further Education) in Australia ran short night courses for hobbyists. My mother went to quite a few including sewing, upholstery, carpentry... Continue Reading →
Garry's blog 