{"id":1595,"date":"2024-06-13T21:11:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T01:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/?p=1595"},"modified":"2024-08-11T14:29:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-11T18:29:41","slug":"workshop-2-an-on-air-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/?p=1595","title":{"rendered":"Workshop #2:  An &#8220;On-Air-Display&#8221;!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">George N2APB<\/span> and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Cecil Clontz<\/span> (a technology guru in TLARC) have been collaborating on another really cool project for our radio benches. It&#8217;s a colorful light that indicates when we are &#8220;On the Air&#8221; &#8230; that some of our &#8220;TLARC Makers&#8221; are now building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this Workshop #2, a laser-etched acrylic display is illuminated by a colorful and ever-changing string of NeoPixel LEDs under the control of an ESP32 microcontroller located in the base, using a single input line to indicate when the radio station is \u201con the air\u201d. See the short video below, followed by some particulars of how we anticipate this workshop running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"On Air Display - n2apb\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OXFcrV7Fjzc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So as you heard explained in the video, either a \u201ckeyline\u201d signal from the radio or a small RF-detection circuit is able to trigger the display to show a new color pattern when transmitting, and and then have it blinks rapidly if a \u201ckeydown timer\u201d has been exceeded &#8230; which can alert the operator to prevent repeater shutdowns by long-winded transmissions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We use open-source Arduino C++ software to enable tech-savvy hams to customize the color patterns for the different states of the display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The project consists of &#8230;<\/strong><br>a) Your very own laser-etched acrylic (you chose beforehand the text and graphics you want on it and Cecil &amp; George will etch it for you in advance);<br>b) A small enclosure;<br>c) A handful of NeoPixel LEDs that you&#8217;ll attach to the inside of the box<br>d) A ESP32 microcontroller to which you&#8217;ll solder wires, LEDs and download your customized software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The project costs are $15 per person.<\/strong> Cecil and George are contributing parts &amp; materials needed for the 3-D printed enclosure, the acrylics and operating the 40W CO2 laser etcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">THE PROJECT IS FULL!!!!!<\/mark><\/strong><br>The Lexan plates are now etched and we are arranging a date for these TLARC Makers to gather at George&#8217;s QTH to assemble, program and test out their personalized On-Air Display.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NOTE:  <em><strong>TLARC Makers <\/strong>are actually anyone who participates in our frequent workshops.  We like to make things &#8230; for the shack, antennas for the field, and gadgets for the sake of gadgets.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>REFERENCE &#8230;<\/strong><br>Here&#8217;s where the idea originated &#8230; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-hackaday wp-block-embed-hackaday\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"n8gqovil9s\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2021\/10\/19\/sign-detects-rf-to-show-you-are-on-the-air\/\">Sign Detects RF to Show You are on the Air<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Sign Detects RF to Show You are on the Air&#8221; &#8212; Hackaday\" src=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2021\/10\/19\/sign-detects-rf-to-show-you-are-on-the-air\/embed\/#?secret=p6l74j7iNY#?secret=n8gqovil9s\" data-secret=\"n8gqovil9s\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George N2APB and Cecil Clontz (a technology guru in TLARC) have been collaborating on another really cool project for our radio benches. It&#8217;s a colorful light that indicates when we are &#8220;On the Air&#8221; &#8230; that some of our &#8220;TLARC Makers&#8221; are now building. In this Workshop #2, a laser-etched acrylic display is illuminated by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4638,"featured_media":1597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tlarc-club-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1595"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1705,"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1595\/revisions\/1705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tlarc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}