Fundamental electronics knowledge and basic articles (not only) for beginners.
Electret microphones are cheap and extremely useful for DIY audio projects. One of their drawbacks, as with many microphones, is their very low voltage output level. The easy solution is to build a simple microphone preamplifer that boosts the signal to a much higher level.
This article plunges you into the mesmerrizing world of early radio technology through the assembly and analysis of a DIY spark gap transmitter. This project offers a practical insight into the fascinating dynamics of damped harmonic oscillators and explains charasteristics such the logarithmic decrement, decay rate, damping factor, q factor, and beyond. Prepare to spark your curiosity in a technology that once revolutionized global communication.
This article supplements to my article titled THD Measurement with an Oscilloscope and FFT, which appeared in Elektormagazine. Here I will explain how the formula to calculate THD-F from relative power values (in dBc) was derrived from the standard voltage-ratio formula. A more in-depth explanation of the entire subject can be found in my research paper titled Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) analysis utilizing the FFT capabilities of modern digital storage oscilloscopes.
Thermal design is one of those things engineers don’t really learn in school and hobbyists often don’t even think about. This article is going to show some basic math with a practical example. One of my portable police scanners has an external 6V jack. To use it in my car I used my standard linear … [Read more…]