Make: Online: Wireless Archives

Archive: Wireless

June 15, 2009

Tether your Palm Pre

Here're some instructions for tethering your Palm Pre. It works the same way as tetherbot for Android in that it's an SSH tunnel to the phone running as a SOCKS proxy. It'll only get you HTTP, but hey, it's something! Via BBG.

More:

Tetherbot - browse on your laptop through the T-Mobile G1

Summits on the Air: mountaintop ham radio

Most makers probably already know of Diana Eng. She was one of the contestants, the so-called "fashion nerd", on the second season of Project Runway. She's also been a guest blogger on CRAFT and is the author of the new book Fashion Geek: Clothes Accessories Tech. And Diana Eng is no poser nerd. To prove it, she's here to talk about... ham radio? That's right, Diana is a licensed ham! She loves the hobby and is excited about introducing a new generation of amateurs to it. She'll be contributing some posts here about ham, like this convention report, and doing some radio projects. We're thrilled to have her. Welcome, Diana! - Gareth Branwyn

SOTA, Summits on the Air, is an award program that encourages hams to make contacts in the mountainous outdoors. SOTA is not only for hikers, the program recognizes Activators, Chasers, and Short Wave Listeners. Activators hike up registered SOTA summits and activate the location by setting up a station and making a minimum of 3 contacts. Chasers can operate from home or other SOTA locations, and make contact with activators. Short Wave Listeners who are often unlicensed hear but do not contact activators. Activators and Chasers earn points towards awards.

SOTA began in the UK in March 2002 as the brain child of John Linford, G3WGV. Early on, most activity was on VHF and UHF FM frequencies (70 cm and 2 m) using lightweight handheld radios. Since activators and chasers were usually in the same country, there was no need for long range HF. The high elevation also helped the propagation, particularly of VHF. Now as the popularity of SOTA grows and technology gets smaller, activators and chasers are using HF to make contacts around the world. SOTA now has 28 active associations in locations ranging from France and Belgium to South Africa and Macedonia.

I recently hiked up Mt. Carmel in Connecticut with Tom Tumino, N2YTF and Dave Clausen, W2VV. Tom Tumino is SOTA Association Manager for the W1 call area and SOTA Regional Manager for New Jersey as well as President of the Hall of Science Amateur Radio Club, HOSARC. At the time, Tom had submitted Mt. Carmel to SOTA headquarters for formal inclusion in the SOTA program. As of July 1, 2009 Mt. Carmel is a part of the SOTA program with the designator W1/HH-002.

I asked Tom some questions about SOTA:
[Diana Eng] How did you get started with SOTA and what made you want to bring
it to the United States?
[Tom Tumino] I got started with SOTA when my friend, Tom Golero, KC2CBA wanted to try something new and suggested that we try activating a nearby summit in the SOTA program. I now have 8 expeditions to 6 different summits under my belt and am the leading activator in the US.

[DE] How do you feel SOTA compares to other ham activities?
[TT] The ham radio population is facing many of the same challenges with weight and fitness that the American population is general is facing. SOTA is a great way for hams to develop their field and emergency preparedness skills while also increasing their physical fitness level and enjoying some spectacular views and in this sense SOTA is almost completely unique in the Amateur Radio world. The SOTA program provides interested hams with a list of summits worthy of hiking for hams of all physical fitness levels. Also, the SOTA websites are a great repository of information for hams interested in facing the challenges of setting up a portable global HF setup on a summit with only battery power. All SOTA activations must take place in an environmentally friendly manor and the activating hams must get to the summit under human power with all of their gear.

I feel that the SOTA program is the most exciting and challenging award scheme in ham radio and holds many benefits for its participants unavailable in other popular award schemes. Participation in SOTA has taken me to heights and summits I never would have known about never mind hike up.

[DE] What type of radios and rigs are used most often by SOTA activators?
[TT] A nice collection of photos of activators and their gear can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/sota_pics/

Many activators carry small, lightweight "dc to daylight" rigs such as the Yaesu FT-817. Such rigs can be used on voice and Morse code modes on HF, VHF, and UHF frequencies. Unfortunately, radios such as the FT-817 afford only 5w of output and are not optimized for low current drain meaning operators have to bring up more than 2 AH of battery power.

Some of the more physically fit operators are bringing up large, portable radios such as the Yaesu FT-897 & FT-857, or Icom -706MKIIG which allow an output of up to 100w on HF and 50w on VHF if activators can bring up batteries capable of sustaining current draws of 20 amps.

Recently there has been a move back to basics in SOTA, with some operators favoring light weight, CW only HF rigs with low current drain. Such radios are "no nonsense designs" that allow hikers to tackle the highest and most challenging summits with a minimum of extra weight. Many of these radios are built by the activators themselves from readily available kits.

I would say the most popular antennas are simple wire antennas for HF and simple home made Yagi type antennas for VHF/UHF.

[DE] What is your SOTA setup?
[TT] Lately I have been bringing a Kenwood TH-D7AG APRS hand held radio with me to the summits along with an Elecraft K3 (a small desktop radio). Together these radios give me all mode HF, and FM VHF and UHF capability along the ability to relay my position in real time to the global chaser community via APRS.

[DE] Which do you think is the most interesting SOTA award, and why?
[TT] As the Association Manager for the W1 area I have to say I am a bit biased to some of the unique awards we have in W1. The Master of the Black Dog Certificate which is particularly interesting for its connection to local legend. To be eligible for the Master of the Black Dog Certificate, an activator must have completed valid activations from all of the three summits in the Hanging Hills Region.

The Black Dog of the Hanging Hills is a supernatural hound that appears in Hanging Hills folklore. Folklore holds that the spirit has haunted the region since the early 1800s and manifests itself as a small black dog, often gregarious in nature, who leaves no footprints and makes no sound. According to legend, to see the Black Dog the first time results in joy while a second sighting results in misfortune. Seeing the Black Dog a third time is said to be a death omen.

One of the earliest accounts of the Black Dog was published in the Connecticut Quarterly, (April-June, 1898) by New York geologist W.H.C. Pynchon. According to Pynchon, in February 1891 he and geologist Herbert Marshall of the United States Geological Survey were conducting geologic research in the Hanging Hills when they saw The Dog. Pynchon had seen The Dog once before. Marshall, who had seen The Dog twice, scoffed at the legend. Shortly after the two of them saw The Dog, Marshall slipped on the ice atop one of the cliffs and plunged to his death. His body was later recovered by authorities.

For the record I have yet to see The Dog...

[DE] How does a mountain become a SOTA Summit?
[TT] To qualify as a SOTA summit, a summit must in general have a prominence of more than 500 feet .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prominence Once an individual identifies a summit with a prominence of more then 500 feet, he/she can submit the summit to the Association Manager that handles the geographic area that encompasses the prospective summit. In the north east states that would be me. If I can verify the prominence of the summit, I can submit the peak to SOTA headquarters for formal inclusion in the SOTA program.

[Makezine] How can people get started with SOTA?
[Tom]Regardless of your interest (Activator, Chaser, or Short Wave Listener (SWL)), the first step is to register so that you may upload logs of your contacts to the SOTA system. There are no fees for participation in the SOTA system.

If you can't get out/have no desire to go hiking, you can get a list of upcoming activations and activations heard live on the air (spots) and tune your rig accordingly.

If you are interested in activating a summit, SOTA maintains an excellent repository of information submitted by its members to make hikes easier. From this website you can find a summit near your location and perhaps a little about where to park and find proper hiking maps for the summit. You may also find links to pictures and video of past activations on the summit you are interested in. The Yahoo SOTA group "Summits" also has a helpful file titled summits.kml for Google Earth. You can find summits.kml in the file section of the Yahoo SOTA groupl.

You can check out the general rules for SOTA and the specific Association Reference Manuals.

Of course prospective participants should feel free to email the Association Manager of their region with any questions they may have and we will be happy to help them.

June 10, 2009

Android Scripting Environment

Google recently released the Android Scripting Environment, which allows an Android user the ability to access the myriad APIs available directly from the device itself. Initially Python, Lua, and BeanShell are supported, but Ruby and JavaScript are on the way. Some folks will definitely find this very useful for prototyping in the field.

The Android Scripting Environment (ASE) brings scripting languages to Android by allowing you to edit and execute scripts and interactive interpreters directly on the Android device. These scripts have access to many of the APIs available to full-fledged Android applications, but with a greatly simplified interface that makes it easy to:

Handle intents

Start activities

Make phone calls

Send text messages

Scan bar codes

Poll location and sensor data

Use text-to-speech (TTS)

And more

Scripts can be run interactively in a terminal, started as a long running service, or started via Locale.

June 5, 2009

Monthly best of Make: en Español

Gatito Cam

P.R.M.M Sebastrón 1

Botes beliceños en Cholula

Un día antes de la Maker Faire

May 18, 2009

Connect a monitor to your wireless AP

Ever feel that the web configuration interface for your wireless access point didn't give you the control you desired? Why not just connect a keyboard and monitor directly to the router and bypass having to access it from another device? That's what Sven Killig has done with this clever hack using a DisplayLink device and some open source know-how.

Plug a monitor into your Linux based router [via reddit]

May 15, 2009

External Antenna mod for Asus EEE 4G Surf

Looking to extend the range and flexibility of his netbook, maker Larry Pesce from PaulDotCom modified his Asus EEE 4G Surf with an external RP-TNC antenna connector. His detailed instructions document the process of adding the connector and the last minute ingenuity that delivered a rather clean looking result.

Modding the Asus EEE 4G Surf for an external antenna

May 14, 2009

Effortless podcasting on iPhone with Audioboo

Record iPhone audio directly to the cloud with the intuitive Audioboo app and have it automatically update facebook, twitter, and iTunes for effortless podcasting fun.

AudioBoo Makes Podcasting With iPhone Dead Simple [via Mashable]

May 13, 2009

How-To: Use SlingPlayer iPhone app over 3G

Folks looking for a little tube time with the new SlingPlayer iPhone app whilst bounding about outside of their Wi-Fi comfort zone can breathe easy again. Sebastien over at iPhone Download Blog has posted a short tutorial explaining how to get the SlingPlayer app to run over 3G and Edge networks. It's assumed you've already purchased all relevant products and services and don't mind taking the extra steps necessary for true ownership.

Use a SlingPlayer over 3G

May 12, 2009

Android handset as Wii-style controller

Using the compass and accelerometer in the G1, Jubei has turned his Android handset into a Wii-style controller.

[via androidguys]

May 11, 2009

Wireless power

As the effort to save Wardenclyffe continues, I thought this Instructables on wireless power was an appropriate real-world example of the sheer awesomeness and audacity of the late Nicola Tesla's vision.

[via Instructables]

Android "Cupcake" widgets

Starting today T-mobile will start pushing the latest Android update to folks with G1 smartphones. One of the more interesting features of Android 1.5 "Cupcake" is the ability to author widgets. This is a boon for people looking for an easy way to remotely monitor a service without having to resort to developing a full-blown app. The above video shows off some of the early widgets currently available through the Android Market.

[via phonedog]

Bluetoothing a motorcycle helmet

This how-to shows you how to add a bluetooth wireless headset inside of a full-face motorcycle helmet.

Bluetooth Motorcycle Helmet DIY Design

May 8, 2009

iPhone-controlled full-sized R2D2

Check out this detailed R2D2 reproduction. Using the accelerometer or OSC slider control on the iPhone makes this R2 unit's dome whirl back and forth. There are also buttons that control banks of sounds for different moods. Eventually more controls will make it over to the iPhone. Right now it's taking its first steps forward.

Astromech R2D2 [via ApplePhoneHacks]

May 7, 2009

Android-controlled robotic blimp

YARB is a robotic blimp controlled using an Android phone. Images are sent over Wi-Fi from the blimp to the phone's display as it's maneuvered along using the tilt sensor inside the G1.

Source code for the control interface is hosted at code.google.com/p/srv1console/

The tilt sensors in the Android phone work quite nicely for rotor control - we have proportional steering so the amount of tilt controls the amount of power, and live video is displayed on the Android screen from the blimp's onboard Surveyor SRV-1 Blackfin camera, carried via the same radio channel that sends the control signals.

YARB robotic blimp controlled by Google Android G1 phone

May 5, 2009

Using Skype over 3G on iPhone

Here's a simple tutorial on how to make Skype and other VoIP calls using 3G on a jailbroken iPhone:

Yet another reason why I am glad to have a jailbroken phone. Yup, this one is limited to those who are jailbroken, or willing to jailbreak. Anyway, it is possible, even easy to make VoIP calls on the iPhone using a cellular connection, which in my case is AT&T's 3G network.

[via iPhoneFreak]

April 23, 2009

Relay control with Xbee modules

In this adafruit video, Limor demonstrates how to set up Xbee modules to wirelessly control both standard-type and latching relays.

Using Xbees to control relays

April 13, 2009

Flatulance-twittering chair

Randy Sarafan made a chair that tweets his toots. Uses all the staples: Arduino, XBee, Python, Twitter. And it's open source, check the Instructable!

April 8, 2009

Weatherproof Bluetooth RFID reader

Instructables user tamberg writes:

This instructable connects the popular BlueSmirf Bluetooth module to the ID12 RFID reader and shows how to make a dust and water resistant (IP55) RFID reader that sends IDs to your PC or mobile phone over Bluetooth radio without an additional micro controller and without an external power source. Created as a prototype for an online swim lap counter system named Rfish, it can be used for any project in need of a self contained, weather proof RFID reader.

April 5, 2009

Updated Power Glove with Bluetooth and Arduino

Power Glove 20th Anniversary Edition -- Build Video from Matt Mechtley on Vimeo.

Matt Mechtley is responsible for this maker's dream project: getting a classic Nintendo Power Glove to work with custom games by replacing it's brain with an arduino, implanting an accelerometer for motion detection, and using a bluetooth modem for wireless connectivity. He's outdone himself with downloadable code, schematics, this awesome video, and an Instructable to top it off. You may remember Matt from my asphalt mosaics video, or from the many appearances of the video games he works on around the internet. Matt writes:

I always loved the Nintendo Power Glove. Not because it was a fun or useful peripheral -- it wasn't. In fact it wasn't bad, as Lucas asserted, it was absolutely terrible. Only two games were ever made to work with it -- Super Glove Ball and Bad Street Brawler. You could use it with other NES games of course, but it was just an obfuscated controller. Plus, it was horribly imprecise, and since it required a sensor bar to find its orientation, you had to hold your hand at shoulder level all the time. No, I loved the Power Glove for what it represented -- a precursor to virtual reality, a way for humans to directly manipulate computers, like an artifact from some sort of alternate future Earth.

I realized one day that we're actually living in that future. It doesn't look the same as we imagined it, but the necessary elements are all there. It's been 20 years now since Mattel released the Power Glove, in 1989. Especially in the last few years, the availability of sophisticated sensing equipment to hardware hackers has grown by leaps and bounds. Technology like programmable microcontrollers, accelerometers, and Bluetooth are readily available -- and cheap. In short, the time is ripe to re-make the Power Glove -- and make it right.

March 28, 2009

Code cracker remade

During World War II, British brainiacs helped save their country and defeat the Nazis. Recently, the equipment they used has been rebuilt and the surviving members got together for a reunion.

The rebuild project appears to be a maker's delight: code, electronics, old-school manufacturing, and rapid prototyping all wrapped up in a world-changing quest to win the war.

The Bombe was the brainchild of Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman, and the 210 machines manufactured by the British Tabulator Machine Company did vital work cracking encoded German military traffic - a feat which shortened the war by two years, Bletchley Park suggests.
The original devices were destroyed after the war on security grounds, but in 1970 a set of blueprints turned up at Bletchley and the idea to reconstruct a Bombe was born. The rebuild team, led by volunteer John Harper, has finally succeeded in putting the beast together:

Nice of them to recover that lost knowledge. Were you involved in the rebuild of the Turing Bombe? Let us know about the experience in the comments.

Check out MAKE, Volume 17: The Lost Knowledge issue!