NJ2X

March 25, 2016

Respected education...

"I have always respected education, which is why I actually went back secretly and taught school for eight years." -- Steve Wozniak

March 18, 2016

"I just believe that the way that young people's minds develop is fascinating. If you are doing something for a grade or salary or a reward, it doesn't have as much meaning as creating something for yourself and your own life." -- Steve Wozniak

February 12, 2016

The Scientific Man...

"The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter - for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way." -- Nikola Tesla

February 6, 2016

Azden AZ-61 6m FM HT - Tip #6 - Automatic Power-Off

This is an article in a series regarding the Azden AZ-61 6m FM Transceiver.

Joey, W5TFW, sent me an email asking is there is a timer on the AZ-61 and how to disable it. The functions on the AZ-61 are a challenge to operate without instructions. Thank you Joey for your questions. Hope the information below helps you master the automatic power-off function on your AZ-61.

Automatic Power-Off Overview

The automatic power-off function, when enabled, will automatically switch off a preset amount of time after the last transmission.
One minute before the switch-off, an alarm is given.
The automatic power-off delay is adjustable: 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 50 minutes, 60 minutes, or 120 minutes.
The initialized power-off delay is set to 60 minutes.
After the automatic power-off function has switched off the radio, the radio can be turned back on by turning the power off, waiting 5 seconds, and then turning the radio back on.

Activate Automatic Power-Off Function

Press FUN + APOF to activate the automatic power-off function.
APO will be displayed if automatic power-off is activated.

Disabling Automatic Power-Off Function

Press FUN + APOF to disable the automatic power-off function.
APO will not be displayed if automatic power-off is disabled.

Azden AZ-61 HT

February 5, 2016

Regard old problems from a new angle...

"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science." - Albert Einstein

February 4, 2016

Azden AZ-61 6m FM HT - Tip #5 - how to reset the radio

This is an article in a series regarding the Azden AZ-61 6m FM Transceiver. John VK2XGJ, recently sent me an email asking how to reset the AZ-61. Like many of the functions on the AZ-61 resetting the radio is easy to do but near impossible without instructions. Thank you John for your question. We hope this information helps you get your AZ-61 back on the air soon.

To reset the AZ-61, turn on the power source while pressing the CLR key. This erases all the stored information and returns the radio to the initialized state.

Azden AZ-61 HT

Azden AZ-61 6m FM HT - Tip #11 - Battery Saver

Azden AZ-61 6m FM HT - Tip #12 - Optional Accessories

© Michael W. Maher and NJ2X.COM, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Michael W. Maher and NJ2X.COM with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

January 29, 2016

High School Electronics

"I'd learned enough about circuitry in high school electronics to know how to drive a TV and get it to draw - shapes of characters and things." -- Steve Wozniak

January 22, 2016

Interested in radio...

"When I was a teenager in the late 30's and early 40's, electronics wasn't a word. You were interested in radio if you were interested in electronics." -- Ken Olsen

January 15, 2016

Jobs on Woz

"I met Woz when I was 13, at a friend's garage. He was about 18. He was, like, the first person I met who knew more electronics than I did at that point. We became good friends, because we shared an interest in computers and we had a sense of humor. We pulled all kinds of pranks together." -- Steve Jobs

January 8, 2016

Kind of a one-man army...

"I was a kind of a one-man army. I could solder circuits together, I could turn out things on the lathe, I could work with rockets and balloons. I'm a kind of a hybrid between an engineer and a physicist and astronomer." -- James Van Allen

January 1, 2016

Impossible not to feel stirred...

It is impossible not to feel stirred at the thought of the emotions of man at certain historic moments of adventure and discovery—Columbus when he first saw the Western shore, Pizarro when he stared at the Pacific Ocean, Franklin when the electric spark came from the string of his kite, Galileo when he first turned his telescope to the heavens. Such moments are also granted to students in the abstract regions of thought, and high among them must be placed the morning when Descartes lay in bed and invented the method of coordinate geometry. -- Alfred North Whitehead

Alfred North Whitehead, photo by Richard Carver Wood 1936

December 25, 2015

An iron rod...

An iron rod being placed on the outside of a building from the highest part continued down into the moist earth, in any direction strait or crooked, following the form of the roof or other parts of the building, will receive the lightning at its upper end, attracting it so as to prevent it's striking any other part; and, affording it a good conveyance into the earth, will prevent its damaging any part of the building. -- Benjamin Franklin

December 23, 2015

Project: Pico Paso Kit - Light Controlled Analog Noise Machine

We attended the 2015 Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo, California back in June 2015. It was a day filled with amazement and wonderful creativity. It was one big show and tell event.

As you would expect, there were plenty of great kits for sale and we picked up a few including the Pico Paso by Bleep Labs. The Pico Paso kit is a light controlled analog noise machine and is based on the Atari Punk Synth concept. It is powered by a 9V battery.

This photograph shows the loose components and PCB prior to assembly for the bleeplabs.com Pico Paso kit

NJ2X's Pico Paso kit opened and ready to be built

Kit assembly was straightforward with only a small number of components in the circuitry. The Pico Paso kit is suitable for beginner builders. The only trouble we had during soldering was when we inadvertently installed the audio jack on the wrong side of the board. A quick desoldering followed by a reinstallation of the jack on the proper side of the board resolved the issue. It does indeed help to follow the kit instructions as this was plainly explained.

This is a photograph of the fully assembled Pico Paso kit (top side) showing two knobs, two buttons, two photocells, and other assorted components installed on a PCB.

NJ2X's finished build of the Pico Paso kit

This is a fun little kit to build and play with after construction. We fed the 1/4" mono audio out from the Pico Paso to our vintage Fender Champ amp using a standard guitar cable and it sounded amazing. The kit is not designed to work with headphones.

By manipulating the knobs, buttons, and photocells, all manner of interesting sounds could be created from tweeting bleeps to house rumbling oscillations. We highly recommend this kit for anyone interested in kit building and having fun with knob-twisted synthesized sonic mayhem.

Happy Holidays!

Good DX and 73, NJ2X

© Michael W. Maher and NJ2X.COM, 2015.