Electronics

Enhancing the AVR ISP II

in tech    4 min. read

May 23, 2011

The AVR ISP II is a device to program an AVR microcontroller using a 6 pin header in a circuit. It does not contain any capability to power the circuit being programmed. This could be very handy. Dave Jones at the EEVBlog has a video about adding power to the ISP cable, using an LM317 to provide both 5V and 3.3V. The issue with this, as he stated, was that the 5V source was very close to the required dropout voltage of the regulator to get the …

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Amateur Extra Class - No More Tests

in tech    1 min. read

February 9, 2011

I studied for a month or so and re-learned quite a bit of electronics for AC circuits. Resistance, Reactance, Polar Impedance. I took the test on the morning of February 5th and missed 1 out of 50. So now I am an Extra Class Licensed Ham Radio operator. No more tests to take. This is as high as it gets. I am still working on what type of antenna to put up. I will probably do an 80 meter dipole that I can tune to higher frequencies. I have built …

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I'm such a HAM...

in tech    2 min. read

December 18, 2010

Years ago, Dad and I attended meetings for Amateur Radio at the local Red Cross building in Jeffersonville. We both worked through passing the 5 words per minute Morse Code and test to get our Novice license and then studied and passed the test for Technician Class. I was licensed in 1990 and expired in 2000. Just when I was starting work in the “Real World”, outside of college. I didn’t bother renewing.

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