Contests, Ham Radio & TWIT.tv - Ham, Spam, Thank You Ma'am

The Amp Hour · 10 May 2011 · 1h 03m · Episode 42

What this episode covers

Dave Jones and Chris Gammell discuss recent industry news, including Element14's integration of PCB prototyping via Pentalogix into Eagle, and Intel's 22nm 3D transistor technology. They critique Touchstone Semiconductor's design contest rules for the TS1001 op-amp, noting the problematic IP clause, and review the LTC4000 battery management chip. The hosts also cover ham radio trends, contest outcomes, and a creative RFID power harvesting project using an AVR microcontroller.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Hackaday Podcast · 53m

    Ep052: Shorting Components, Printing Typewriter Balls, Taking Time Lapse, and Makerspace Movie Prop

    Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams discuss several hardware projects, including Elliot's discovery of Chinese clone STM32 microcontrollers (CS32, GD32) on 'Blue Pill' boards that caused programming failures with standard tools. They also explore Top Point TV's zero-ohm jumpers in various SOT packages, which offer creative but risky PCB layout solutions. The episode highlights a 3D-printed Selectric typewriter ball, an ESP32-based time-lapse camera project by Bitlooney that battles a shared GPIO bug, and a detailed look at RF modulation using RTLSDR dongles.

  • Hackaday Podcast · 55m

    Ep 313: Capacitor Plague, Wireless Power, and Tiny Everything

    Hosts Elliot Williams and Jenny List recap Hackaday Europe, detailing the logistical chaos of the SAO badge production, including customs delays and the heroic work of Voyer Antonich in programming PIC microcontrollers. They discuss a retrospective on the early 2000s capacitor plague, analyzing Asianometry’s theory that thermal design failures, rather than industrial espionage, caused the systemic component failures. The episode highlights several hardware hacks, including a thermal microscope using germanium lenses, inefficient but large-scale wireless power transfer experiments, and the use of PCB spring connectors in passive resistance boxes. Finally, they examine the trend of extreme miniaturization, featuring Mike Roller’s tiny PCB blinky and Texas Instruments’ new ultra-small microcontroller, while noting the potential for extracting rare earth elements from coal fly ash.

  • Hackaday Podcast · 42m

    Episode 343: Double Component Abuse, a Tinkercad Twofer, and a Pair of Rants

    Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos discuss the upcoming Supercon badge, featuring an ESP32 and LoRa radio, and highlight several Component Abuse Challenge entries, including a coaxial voltage multiplier by Craig D. and conductive PLA fuses by Donald. They review a POV globe drone by Eric, a beehive-simulation desk by Full Stack Woodworking, and a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 handheld by Roman Schubber. The episode concludes with rants on software lockdowns, the future of removable batteries under new EU regulations, and the history of movable type.

  • Embedded.fm · 59m

    464: Please Make This Monster Look Scary

    Elecia White and Christopher White discuss Elecia's upcoming third edition of 'Making Embedded Systems' and Christopher's contract work with Logical Elegance. They debate the design of a potential embedded.fm branded PCB, weighing the utility of a simple radio against the complexity of a full development board, and explore the ethical implications of using Large Language Models for creative and professional tasks. Christopher also provides an update on his progress assembling a QRP Labs QCX+ transceiver for amateur radio communication with his father.

  • The Spark Gap · 1h 04m

    The Spark Gap - Episode 44

    Hosts Carl and Corey discuss a grab bag of embedded electronics topics, starting with their new remote recording setup using Shure and MXL microphones. They review the TI ADS1263 32-bit ADC and the Lattice iCE40 FPGA ecosystem, highlighting the open-source Project Ice Storm toolchain. The hosts then critique the Raspberry Pi Zero's limited I/O and the safety issues surrounding lithium-ion batteries in 'hoverboards', before Corey airs a grievance about poor PCB differential pair routing practices.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Amp Hour. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.