1 Jan, 2009

3 Jan, 2009

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7 Jan, 2009

Lamenting the passing of local AM radio? Desert island or outback mining camp based? Unable to clamber up on the roof for a long wire aerial anymore? Here's a simple medium wave tunable loop that, even indoors, will bring signals out of thin air!

8 Jan, 2009

No doubt most readers will have seen the TV commercials for the current model Honda V6 Accord. The commercial shows a graphic demonstration of the engine's three modes whereby it can run on three, four or six cylinders. But while groups of musicians playing kettledrums might be spectacular, it does not give a clue as to how it's done.

11 Jan, 2009

13 Jan, 2009

Do you have to manually switch your PC's peripherals on (and later off again) each time you boot your PC? If so, this project will make life a lot easier. It monitors your PC's USB port and automatically turns all that other gear on and off as required.

15 Jan, 2009

SatNav (GPS) units were one of the "hot" items at Christmas time. Most were the low-cost, low-featured variety. But we wanted to see what was offered in the top-of-the-range models and Navman came to the party with their just-released "Platinum" S300t. About the only thing it doesn't have is the kitchen sink. Oh, did I miss that?

17 Jan, 2009

Manufactured in the US in the early 1950s, the Philco 52-545 is a 5-valve broadcast-band superhet. It's a transformerless AC/DC that runs directly off 115V AC and so a care must be exercised when working on it.

20 Jan, 2009

The PC board used for the USB Sensing Power Switch can also be used to build a remote mains relay. This can be used for switching mains power to lights or appliances using a remote switch (or relay) linked by low-voltage wiring. It can also be used for controlling security lights from the relay contacts on a PIR sensor.

21 Jan, 2009

Dual-boot set-up tutorials usually assume that you're installing the two operating systems into separate partitions on the same hard disk drive (HDD). But what if you want to use two hard drives - one for each OS - and keep both bootloaders intact?

24 Jan, 2009

Ideal for remote control of practically anything you like and with a range of more than 200m, this wireless transmitter and receiver pair use pre-built UHF modules that make it easy to construct and use.