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4 August 2015
08 TechKnowledgey 2014
Events, Advances, and News
Read about a method for cancelling shockwaves,
giving your device the finger, 3D printed cars,
and more.
12 Q&A
Reader Questions Answered Here
Answers to questions about furnace data acquisition
and electronics around vehicle fuel tanks.
15 The Spin Zone
Adventures in
Propeller Programming
Fun with Charlieplexing.
Learn about this method of LED control that takes
advantage of a processor’s ability to manipulate
the pin state.
60 The Design Cycle
Advanced Techniques for
Design Engineers
Giving Our “Board” Wings to Fly Over
LANs or the Internet.
The A- 10 Thunderbolt II (also known as the Warthog)
is built around its 30 mm cannon. This month’s
offering is built around its own 10 MB Ethernet port.
I’ve got the itch, so let’s scratch-build the “board”
which is based on the Microchip PIC32MX795F512L.
70 Near Space
Approaching the Final Frontier
CubeSats — Part 5: Designing a
Model CubeSat for School Use.
As CubeSats continue to play a pivotal role in space
exploration, it’s important to introduce more
schools to this technology. Here’s a kit that can
do just that.
76 Practical 3D Printing
Real World Uses for the
Electronics Experimenter
Pegboard Solder Holder.
Never lose your roll of solder again with this handy
bench organizational tool.
22 Motion Triggered Plane Aisle
Night Lighting
Build this nightlight on steroids to keep twilight
walkers safe and your electric bill down.
■ By Geoff Clark
25 Build a 50 MHz Dipole Out of Crutches
Here’s a fun way to “break” into ham radio!
Use this unique antenna design to find signals —
weak or strong.
■ By Bob Fischer
28 Microprocessors and Model Trains
Meet Head On!
Let your Arduino ride the rails to make realistic
crossing flashers for your model train setup.
■ By Bob Fink
34 The Garage Sentinel
Yep. We’ve got yet another parking assistant project
that will save you from the ’ol hanging tennis ball.
■ By Larry Coyle
40 A Web Controlled Music and
Internet Radio Player
Never be at a lack for music with this incredibly
flexible system that features the Pi MusicBox
software.
■ By Craig A. Lindley
48 How to Craft a PIC Barometer
Of all the ingredients that make up a weather
forecast, knowing what the current atmospheric
pressure is doing is the most important.
■ By Thomas Henry
53 A DIY Indoor Air Quality
Monitoring System
The air that we breathe indoors — whether at home
or at work — can put us at risk for health problems
if there are common pollutants in it. Be sure of what
you’re breathing with this prototype system that
features many types of sensors.
■ By Tom Kibalo Columns
August 2015
06 DEVELOPING
PERSPECTIVES
Vintage Repair
07 READER FEEDBACK
20 NEW PRODUCTS
21 SHOWCASE
47 ELECTRO-NET
66 NV WEBSTORE
69 CLASSIFIEDS
78 TECH FORUM
80 AD INDEX
Departments
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