"Paul Burridge" wrote in message
...
On 09 Sep 2004 11:42:56 GMT, (Troglodite) wrote:

About the closest group to beating us in
public visibility is probably those guys and gals with the battling
robots
with buzz saws on PBS robot wars, right? ;-) ;-)

But technically, those machines are NOT robots. If they were true robots,
they
would devise their own strategy. They are simply radio controlled
devices.

Yes, as yet. But given time, no doubt there'll be a category for
autonymous fighting robots. A few of us have attempted it, but only
scratched the surface of the possibilities.


I only have a link to this one.
http://www.cuuav.org/


There are already soccer playing robots in development (and playing games in
competition) at some universities. You obviously don't watch TV's NOVA.

--
Steve N, K,9;d, c. i My email has no u's.
..

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 14:00:59 -0500, "Steve Nosko"
wrote:


There are already soccer playing robots in development (and playing games in
competition) at some universities. You obviously don't watch TV's NOVA.

I try not to watch TV at all, if I can help it. Thanks for the update,
though.

--

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd." - William Blake, 1793.

(Bob Monaghan) wrote in message ...
I suspect we old-timers are wrong in believing that more radios were
designed or made in the past than today, probably by factors of 500% or
more. The main reason is QRP radios using modern ICs for the receivers and
MOSFET transmitters, coupled with a revival of nostalgia tube simple
transmitters.

Some snipped to save space

Bob, a very well reasoned and written response to the original posting
- I can only concur. What seems to be forgotten is that amateur radio
has only ever been a hobby appealing to a small minority of
technically inclined people - the same numbers are still there, but
with the ready availability of store bought radios, the numbers seem
even smaller. A cursory search of the net reveals many people doing
many interesting things.

If we keep canning each other with "Yor only a CBer" type labels, then
yes indeed, things are grim - things will NEVER be as good as the "old
days" -thats why we call it nostalgia, and your points about using
surplus ww2 junk etc are correct - that wasnt homebrew, it was
adaption of existing equipment.

There is SO much stuff out there that can be modified/adapted to ham
use - junked computer UPS supplies provide a BIG 18v power transformer
for a homebrew linear supply, ex computer switchmode supplies are easy
to mod to 12v at 20 amps plus.

Perhaps the problem is lack of lateral thinking - one thing is for
sure, as long as we continue to argue and bitch and denigrate amongst
ourselves, how can we expect (or even deserve) continued free access
to the radio spectrum we are licensed to use!

73 de VK3BFA Andrew.

"Airy R. Bean" wrote in message
...
Ham Radio is what Hams do, and not what the regulatory
powers seek to restrict.

Radio Hams are technical people. Those who buy radios
off-the-shelf, notwithstanding that they may have qualified
as Hams are behaving as CBers and are viewed as such.


And how technical does one need to be? Enough practical experience to screw
up a PL259 correctly? (Note I said correctly and by screw up do not mean
fettle.)
Enough to know the nature of EM radiation (no heat bands). Enough to
understand DSP?

Do tell Gareth. Do tell.

"Airy R. Bean" wrote in message
...
I think that you are confusing my wish to preserve Ham
Radio as a technical pursuit with your own mental processes
which you project so well below.

Perhaps it is that you are an unwitting CBer-Masquerading-
As-A-Radio-Ham who is annoyed at being "outed" and which
annoyance results in you revealing the innermost workings
of your psyche as below?

It is a very exciting and inspiring thing to continue to
educate yourself in all matters of technology - try it and
you'll find that there is more to Ham Radio than your
own CBisation of it!


Be you are a confessed CBer. Remember "some of my best friends" etc.

"Airy R. Bean" wrote in message
...
Not conclusive - golf is for the brain-dead, as are off-the-shelf
rigs.


Shall we list the off the shelf rigs you have owned? We could highlight the
ones you have been unable to maintain- too nervous was it?

The other thing that causes brain deaf is drink- Special Brew for example.

Paul Burridge wrote:
Hi guys,

Well do you think it is? I personally can't think of any other
passtime accessible to the individual which requires such a high
degree of technical knowledge to succeed at. If anyone can think of
something more complex, let's hear it!

Paul
Depends. Other hobbies that require some serious skills:

Amateur Telescope Making (lets see you design AND TEST multiple optical
surfaces with the reqired tolerance).

Home Foundary. Special skills required in safely handling white hot
molten metal, and making sand molds.

Amateur Rocketry. (Yup this IS rocket science! Im NOT talking
Estes here!)

Home building aircraft. Besides a pilots licence (to test the final
product) the skill to do it right (you going to actually FLY that thing
YOURSELF!).

Then there was the guy I met in college that built his own SUBMARINE!
(he was a scuba diver).

BTW, I AM interrested in numbers 1 and 2, and at one time number 4
(but I havn't flown since my 10 year old kids were born).

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 18:00:37 -0400, Ken Scharf wrote:

Depends. Other hobbies that require some serious skills:
[...]
Home Foundary. Special skills required in safely handling white hot
molten metal, and making sand molds.

With you on that one, I've made plenty of mistakes in amateur radio but
learnt a few things along the way.

Making mistakes in metal casting is not so forgiving...

--
Duncan Munro
http://amateur.duncanamps.com/
also http://metal.duncanamps.com/ !

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 23:37:17 +0100, Duncan Munro
wrote:

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 18:00:37 -0400, Ken Scharf wrote:

Depends. Other hobbies that require some serious skills:
[...]
Home Foundary. Special skills required in safely handling white hot
molten metal, and making sand molds.

With you on that one, I've made plenty of mistakes in amateur radio but
learnt a few things along the way.

Making mistakes in metal casting is not so forgiving...

It doesn't make it any more technical. Or dangerous, for that matter.

--

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd." - William Blake, 1793.

yes, Andrew, thanks for that note and some very good points...

we recently had our annual regional Hamcom 2004 convention, at which I had
the chance to catch local microwave and antennas guru Kent Britain's
WA5VJB's seminar on microwaves modifications. My favorite was a obsolete
cell phone 3 watt output chip that does 18 watts nicely on 13.8 Vdc ;-)
All the wi-fi and garage door conversions into microwave transceivers, and
the police radar detectors into microwave setups. And how about some of
the simple conversions of TV tuners into spectrum analyzer projects? ;-)
And the cable TV modules that do all sorts of jobs from preamps to power
amps ;-) So I just joined the North Tx Microwave Society to expand beyond
the satellite and ATV stuff we are doing now into new areas for our club
;-)

so thanks to computer and phone co. surplus, we may have a second
generation of surplus conversions to rival those of the 1950s and 1960s
for military surplus to amateur radio uses?

grins bobm

--
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* Robert Monaghan POB 752182 Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Tx 75275 *
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