Easing Into STEM
by Bryan Bergeron
I’m often asked what the best way is to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education with electronics.
January 2016
Nuts and Volts Magazine
Are your capacitors suffering from diminished capacity? Build this ESR meter and find out!
Features
SmartThings and the Device Maker
by John Rucker
How about a home automation platform with a cloud-based development environment that lets you create custom apps and microcontroller-based devices to talk to over Zigbee that you can control with your smartphone.
Beyond the Arduino — Part 8
Power: Less is definitely more here as we focus on ways to reduce the power consumption in our projects so they can run for longer on less.
Projects
Build an ESR Meter for Your Test Bench
by Larry Coyle
Test your stash of capacitors with this ESR Meter and weed out any bad ones before you install them in your projects.
Rock It with a MIDI Keytar
by Dan Lavin
Using a Rock Band 3 keyboard, you can construct a very inexpensive, yet very capable MIDI controller for use in the studio or on stage.
Vintage Computing — Five Easy Projects for Your Mentor’s Friend
by Dane Weston
Utilizing the Amigo retro computer, here are some fun projects to get you started on a technology adventure, exploring computers and programming.
Columns
The Ham’s Wireless Workbench
by H. Ward Silver
Transmission Lines and SWR
Any conductor carrying an AC current can be treated as a transmission line. Here, we'll talk about a basic element of transmission lines: the standing wave ratio. Find out why it’s important and how to measure it.
Q&A
by Tim Brown
Reader Questions Answered Here (1.2016)
Scanner frequency change, a simple remote control, and a telephone off-hook indicator.