A motley collection of ideas
Multiverzum kiadó, 2023328 oldal, 5990 Ft Morte annyit tesz: halál. Úgy, hogy Mort, lehetne egy bújós házi cica is, vagy a Madagaszkár-filmek idétlen egérmakija. Robert Repino regényében Mort(e) egy meglehetősen nagy macska, aki nem akar messiás lenni, csak a barátját szeretné megtalálni egy tébolyult világban: egy kutyát. „A kutyának köszönhetően érezte magát normálisnak. Mert ő … Read more
In the spring of 2019, I wrote an article about the so-called “wasp garage,” prompted by the fact that these things started appearing in many supermarkets and pet stores. Lots of people bought them, put them out in their gardens—and nothing happened. NGOs and local governments also installed them in public spaces, and there are … Read more
I inherited this device from my father—he brought it from the Soviet Union at some point. It was manufactured in 1974 and is a typical example of the simple yet extremely robust Soviet devices. It doesn’t contain any “smart” electronic circuits, so there’s nothing in it that could burn out or break. It’s simply built … Read more
It is well known that, thanks to its favorable balneological and geothermal conditions, Hungary is a country rich in thermal waters. Although the demand for the energy utilization of thermal water is increasing, geothermal energy remains our largest untapped energy source, due to the unique geological characteristics of the Carpathian Basin. The average domestic heat … Read more
Spotters, SWL (shortwave listening) enthusiasts, and amateur radio operators all enjoy listening to aircraft communications — and nowadays, even drone pilots find it useful to monitor air traffic. A good handheld airband transceiver easily costs well over a hundred thousand forints, whereas the device described here is dirt cheap by comparison. Of course, it’s not … Read more
The Bajai fisherman’s soup is more than just a dish — it is part of Hungary’s cultural heritage, a true hungarikum. Its preparation is quick and simple: unlike other regional versions, the fish is not pressed through a sieve but simply cooked with onion, and served at the end with thin noodle “gyufatészta” (matchstick pasta). … Read more
The handheld meter has been a staple in almost every technician’s toolkit for nearly 100 years. Today, the majority of handheld meters have digital displays. However, until the 1970s, most meters featured analog readouts. These were typically multimeters capable of measuring voltage, current, resistance, and occasionally capacitance and frequency. “Pocket watch”-style measuring instruments were popular … Read more
The purpose of this project is to extend the range of an older (and more affordable) frequency counter into the VHF and UHF bands. The idea was inspired by an article published in Rádiótechnika (1990/7, pp. 341–342), although the original circuit was designed by Zeljko Bozic, S52ZB, and later published in a 2006 issue of … Read more
The Practical Electronics for Inventors, Fourth Edition, 4th Edition is a fully-updated, no-nonsense guide to electronics. It cover anything that you need to develop and construct your own gadgets. People often ask me about electronics, physics, and science, but I usually don’t like to answer directly. Instead, I prefer to hand them a book and … Read more
Sometimes I find myself wondering which of my portable digital voltmeters I can actually trust. The old 4½-digit M4650? The Fulke? Or the younger METEX? (Okay, I have one from Lidl too, but that’s not even a question.) Generally, they all show pretty similar values, and I rarely need better than 1–2% accuracy—but it still … Read more