Sorry, I just couldn’t resist the urge to make a Raspberry Pi-rate graphic.
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Paul, for this article on Make Magazine that teaches you how to turn your Raspberry Pi
What a simple hack:
(If the embedded video above doesn’t appear, simply click here to watch at Makezine.com.)
Raspberry Pi’s are very inexpensive (less than $40 US on Amazon)
(Source: Southgate ARC)
“Due to the numerous requests from his Build-a-radio-in-5-minutes, radio amateur Tommy Helgevold OZ4KID decided to make a better video with explanations on how to make a radio like this
He also decided to beat his old challenge as well…
…so without further ado, I present to you – How to build a radio in less than 1 minute, can you build it?
There’s even a schematic in the end of the video + an animated version of the entire breadboard setup.
Thanks for watching, & enjoy.
Watch Build a radio in less than 1 minute”
Click here to view on YouTube.
While less detailed, you can also view OZ4KID’s DIY Radio in less than 5 minutes by clicking here or viewing via the embedded video below:
Recently, I posted a video showing how @LondonShortwave uses the GarageBand plugin, SoniqWare SG-1, for noise reduction. Since GarageBand is an Apple application, I didn’t believe SoniqWare SG-1 would work on a Windows PC, but SWLing Post reader Jeff Benedict (KB7AIL) writes:
“I run Mac OSX and GarageBand so it’s not really a concern of mine but, according to the documentation, SG-1 is compatible with Windows sound processing applications.
Here’s the documentation from SoniqWare:From: http://www.soniqware.com/pdf/
SoniqWare-SG-1.pdf
p. 17System Requirements
• Microsoft Windows XP/Vista,
• Mac OS X 10.5/10.6,
• 512 MB RAM,
• VST, VST3, or AU compatible host softwareAn explanation of the VST and a list of applications for Windows which are compatable with VST plug-ins:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Virtual_Studio_Technology Of course, this comes with the caveat that I do not run any version of Windows or any of these sound processing applications so YMMV.
A short explanation of the different formats for sound processing plug-ins:
Many thanks, Jeff, for the tip!
Many thanks to @LondonShortwave, on Twitter, who made a video showing how to use a GarageBand plugin to filter noise out of shortwave audio in real time. He describes this on his YouTube channel:
“I recently discovered a Mac AudioUnit plugin called Soniqware SG-1 that allows real-time noise filtering based on a brief noise sample (sometimes referred to as the “noise profile” or the “noise fingerprint”). This video shows it being applied to shortwave radio signals, which I believe is a first, as I have been unable to find anyone else who has already done it. In a number of cases, it turns laborious DXing into armchair listening.
The antenna used in these experiments is a Wellbrook ALA1530SP-1 and is positioned indoors. More information is contained in the first few seconds of the video.”
Click here to watch the video on YouTube.
Note that GarageBand is an application only available on the Mac OS X platform. Fortunately, it comes free with every new Apple computer purchase. You can find the Soniqware SG-1 spectral noise gate plugin by clicking here.
Be sure to follow @LondonShortwave on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LondonShortwave
Really? This radio could find a missing toy?
While watching Curious George on PBS Kids with my four year old, I learned something. In the episode we viewed–“Curious George, Metal Detective”–George needs a metal detector to find a toy robot he’s lost in the sand, but the one he’s borrowed has run out of batteries. “How about making one?” his scientist friend suggests. Make one? “It’s easy,” she explains: simply by taping an AM radio and calculator together, you can make your own metal detector. George tries it, and–lo and behold–finds his missing toy.
Really? I wondered. Was this PBS show feeding my skeptical children science fiction?
I quickly googled the notion, and apparently, it works! Watch the video below for a tutorial on building your own deluxe model:
Lessons learned? You’re never too old to learn from Curious George, PBS, or the fellow in this video. And radios are clearly even more versatile than even I guessed.
Now, back to metal detecting…Is that another soda can?