Tag Archives: CODING

CODING

Learn basic coding and electronics using Adventure Kit: 30 Days Lost in Space

Six months ago I first began seeing advertisements on social media for Adventure Kit: 30 Days Lost in Space (InventrKits LLC). I was instantly intrigued by the cleverness of the kit and ingenuity of the young men who created it. To show my support and satisfy my curiosity, I ordered one.

The kit is reminiscent of the Radio Shack electronic project lab I once received from Santa Claus as a child. In retrospect, I believe I was probably a few years too young to grasp the enjoyment of the project lab. It sat unused for many years until being tossed out during my college years when my family moved to a new home.

Adventure Kit: 30 Days Lost in Space is a small box of basic electronic components, an Arduino Hero board, and online access to 30 video tutorial lessons (20-30 minute running time each) on basic programming and electronic components.

What I found most clever is how the team at InventrKits LLC crafted a video tutorial series based upon a science fiction scenario that finds our spaceship stranded beneath an ocean of a distant planet. Through the 30 video tutorials, we’re taught how to repair our spaceship by controlling basic electronic components like switches and light emitting diodes (LEDs).

I don’t want to spoil the entire story line, but for example, Day #2’s lesson finds us learning how to restore power to our ship’s lighting system (by controlling the power to a LED).

Once the kit is in-hand, all that remains is to download the free, open-source Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) to a PC, MAC, or LINUX computer. This is the software application where the Arduino firmware code is written, and then pushed from the computer across the included USB cable to the Arduino board.

The kit is proving to be great fun. If you are considering this for a young person, I recommend it is suitable for people age 11 years and up.

The Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is the software used to write code that controls the Arduino board once uploaded to the hardware using a USB cable. Day #3 finds us controlling the LED via a dip switch.
Arduino Hero board and an electronic prototype bread board mounted to a small piece of pine wood (not included) to help keep the pieces more steady on a work surface.

AMATEUR (HAM) RADIO

Frequency Recorder/Graph by KD2OTG

History

When I earned my first amateur radio license in autumn of 2017 and purchased a hand-held transceiver, I wanted to know what frequencies, modes, repeaters, and times-of-day that were popular with other amateur operators near me. To accomplish this, I created a heatmap – a grid on a sheet of paper showing hours of the day down the left-hand column, and various modes and frequencies across the top of the page. Over the period of several weeks I listened to my transceiver and placed checkmarks in the grid whenever I heard activity. After some time and effort, I had a visual heatmap representation of the popularity of amateur radio in my area.

It is now two and a half years later and I continue to enjoy the amateur radio hobby, therefore I decided to take this concept to the next level by creating a software application that can run unattended while I am at work or asleep.
I have successfully used the application for:

  • Determining popularity of local 2-meter and 70-cm analog and digital repeaters
  • Determining popularity of 2-meter SSB by monitoring 144.200 MHz
  • Monitoring the International Space Station for unscheduled 2-meter FM voice transmissions on 145.800 MHz
  • Monitoring popularity of the 40-meter AM calling frequency on 7.290 MHz
  • Monitoring VHF air band frequencies, amateur simplex frequencies, and rail/public transmissions

Download and Use for Free

Visit https://mattrobb.net/frg/