KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Interesting gadgets I wish I had time for

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 01:04 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


Im on a lot of mailing lists and participate in a bunch of amateur radio
forums. As a result, I see a lot of interesting gadgets that guys are
buying or are thinking about buying. Here are threeÂ*of the latest that look
interesting to me. I wish I had time (and money) to purchase all of these
and try them out.

Android antenna analyzer



On Reddit, some of the guys have been talking about the Mini60 Antenna
Analyzer. Its frequency range is 1 60MHz, but the cool thing about this
device is that you can use it standalone with the built-in LCD display or
with some software and a Bluetooth device to get fancy frequency vs. SWR
plots as shown above.

Of course, this is made in China, but how can you beat the price? It costs
$112 shipped.
Multi-functional component tester

Heres another marvel of Chinese engineering and manufacture a smart
component tester for only $25, shipped. This isnt the first one to hit the
market, but the unique thing about this unit is that it has a graphical
display that not only identifies the type of component that youve connected
to it, but also draws the schematic symbol of the part. See the video below:


Make your RPi into a desktop PC

Newark/element 14 will soon start selling a kit of part that will make it
easier to turn your Raspberry Pi into a desktop PC. The kit includes:

Intelligent and Safe Power Controller
Interface to connect mSATA SSD (upto 1TB)
Real Time Clock to keep track of time
Heat Sink
Enclosure


They dont list the price just yet, but this might be what I need to
actually make use of the Raspberry Pi 3 I bought several months ago.

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Ham Radio Blog.