# Ep022: King of Power Banks, Great SDR Hacks, Sand Reflow, and Rat Rod Mower

- Show: [Hackaday Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast)
- Published: 2019-06-07
- Length: 42m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower
- Listen: https://hackaday.libsyn.com/ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower

## Summary

Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams review a week of hardware hacks, highlighting Josh Conway’s portable SDR rig built around a Raspberry Pi and DIY waveguide antennas, and Kennedy Liu’s high-capacity power bank featuring 188 watt-hours of 18650 cells and an AC inverter. They also discuss Tony Nardy’s reverse engineering of restaurant pagers using Universal Radio Hacker and GnuRadio, and a one-legged jumping robot named Salto developed by researchers at Berkeley. The episode covers various fabrication techniques, including sand-assisted skillet reflow for SMD soldering and the repair of a Disklavier piano control unit.

## Chapters

- [0:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower#t=3) Introduction: Zork gameplay and keyboard projects
- [4:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower#t=255) Josh Conway's portable SDR and signal analysis tools
- [8:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower#t=488) Sand-assisted skillet reflow soldering technique
- [11:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower#t=696) Motion tracking face art piece and single-sensor logic
- [15:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower#t=916) Salto: The one-legged jumping robot and PID challenges
- [18:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower#t=1092) Kennedy Liu's high-capacity power bank build
- [22:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower#t=1337) Reverse engineering restaurant pagers with SDR
- [26:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower#t=1617) Quick Hacks: Chore gamification, remote scopes, and click farms
- [29:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower#t=1790) Non-electronic hacks: Bronze casting and rat rod mower
- [33:25](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2019-06-07-ep022-king-of-power-banks-great-sdr-hacks-sand-reflow-and-rat-rod-mower#t=2005) Disklavier repair and Starlink satellite observations

## Topics

- [Wireless & RF](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/wireless-and-rf)
- [PCB design & layout](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pcb-design)
- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [Batteries & low-power design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/batteries-and-low-power)

## Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

## Mentioned

- Josh Conway (other)
- Kennedy Liu (other)
- Tony Nardy (other)
- Salto (product)
- Raspberry Pi (chip)
- Universal Radio Hacker (tool)
- GnuRadio (tool)
- Inspectrum (tool)
- CSDR (tool)
- Disklavier (product)
- Starlink (product)
- 18650 (chip)
- Mitsubishi (company)
- Yamaha (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [012 - Cheese vs. SDR](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2018-06-29-012-cheese-vs-sdr) (Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast)
- [Raspberry Pi 500, Robot Roadies, Huge 3d Printers and Car Hacking!](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-electromaker-show/2023-11-26-raspberry-pi-500-robot-roadies-huge-3d-printers-and-car-hacking) (The Electromaker Show)
- [Electromaker of the Month Winners, Maker Music Festival, and more!](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-electromaker-show/2022-03-10-electromaker-of-the-month-winners-maker-music-festival-and-more) (The Electromaker Show)
- [016 - Supercon 2018 Part 1](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2018-11-10-016-supercon-2018-part-1) (Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast)
- [Productive Pi Hacks, Amazing Arduino Inventions, New Hardware Galore!](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-electromaker-show/2023-07-27-productive-pi-hacks-amazing-arduino-inventions-new-hardware-galore) (The Electromaker Show)

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