MAKE: Blog: HOW TO - Make an Altoids tin morse code oscillator

HOW TO - Make an Altoids tin morse code oscillator

P1010161
Nginuity from the Hacked Gadgets forums made a fun Altoids tin morse code oscillator...

"I finally finished that morse code oscillator I was working on. It works okay for what it is, but I have some serious heat dissipation issues I need to look into for next time. The caps going to ground get real hot if I keep the morse keyer depressed, and, the pitch gets higher as it heats up too. That 500 ohm pot is REAL hot to the touch. I think with beefier components (I was thinking of replacing the ceramic caps with tantalum), and a diode in between pin 7 and pin 2 of the 555 timer, and a zener diode between pin 2, and the 15 K resistor will bring down the heat a bit. The diodes were suggested for a more stable duty cycle anyway. " [via] - Link.

Related:

Video: Morse coders beating SMSers - Link.
Morse code - text to MP3 and learn morse code! - Link.
DIY Morse code Palm keyboard interface board - Link.
-- --- .-. ... . -... . .- - ... ... -- ... - Link.
Make Morse Code Music - Link.
Fun with flashing lights - Link.
This is not your grandfather's HAM radio... - Link.
Simple Working Telegraph System - Link.
HOW TO - Build a computer controlled radio transmitter - Link.
Mint tin projects... Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 15, 2007 09:28 PM
Altoids and tin cases, DIY Projects, Electronics | Permalink | Comments (1)

Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Just a quick update: The heat was being caused by a short across the Altoids tin. Everything is fine now, I just had to isolate the morse code jack from the tin. Nothing a little hot glue couldnt fix!

Posted by: NGinuity on March 12, 2007 at 11:06 AM

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