Call In Show #4

• Chris will be leaving for Europe soon. If you're interested in getting together, here are the days he'll be there:
  • Berlin, April 5th and 6th.
  • London, April 19th, 20th.
    • The London meetup will be at the Yorkshire Grey (2 Theobalds Road WC1X 8PN London) at 6:30 pm on April 19th.
    • Watch @chris_gammell's twitter account for any last minute updates/changes.
• Callers!
• Trevor
  • He works on wholesale electricity and was wondering about how they change voltages on generators. Chris eventually started talking about different taps on the windings, but that could be wrong still.
  • Trevor is also interested in DSP
    • Chris suggested a theoretical book by Oppenheim.
    • Dave mentioned the free online DSP guide.
    • This is in hopes of hacking Zwave devices.
  • Get in touch! Either correct us in the comments below or talk to Trevor directly on Twitter: @trevorstweeting
• Todd
  • He's from the Upper Peninsula, making him a "Yooper"
  • Surface wave transmission line by N6GN. Some YouTube videos:
    • https://youtu.be/-VWBUDJv2n0
    • https://youtu.be/Q1oXTZiBXV0
    • https://youtu.be/2irtYGsb5kg
    • https://youtu.be/GxcwdmcLxHM
  • They hope to also use it for powering weather ballons / quads, not just transmitting signal. This would be useful for a technology like Makani (now owned by Google)
• Sam
  • Wavetek 27xt
  • He was asking about whether to start a kickstarter with a friend and whether he can focus on a problem that is sufficiently technical.
  • Chris recommends the book "Scale"
• Arsenio
  • Arsenio called in to our first callin show about his rocket. There was an issue with i2c layout and the library. He has since gotten a 1054Z at Dave's recommendation. And has shipped off his first board to OSHpark!
  • He's having issues with spiders in the workshop. Not as big as the one Dave had in his workshop a few years back.
  • Dave recommended trying something like an ultrasonic cockroach repeller. Chris recommended asking Tim and Greg from Backyard brains who have been on the show before. 
• Chris
  • He's working with a battery powered ATTiny 84 board that controls an RC boat. Recently switched from a linear regulator to a switching power module...and started blowing stuff up.
  • Dave predicts that it is SCR Latchup on the logic. He has made a video about that before.
  • This could possibly be solved with an N-channel mosfet controlling power distrbution to the rest of the board.
• Intel news
  • Andy Grove passed away.
  • Intel is toning down their process jumps, indicating a shift in the predictive power of Moore's law.
• William
  • The Fried Circuits USB tester has steadily added features, but he's not sure how to get more resolution at the low end. This is a dynamic range problem.
  • Current chip is the INA219, also has been looking at the INA169
  • The new USB C version requires 24 super narrow pitch pins and does not allow for any breaks in the line because of the high speed signals. 

Thanks to everyone who called in! We'll continue to refine this type of show and keep trying to answer your questions!