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A DIY Tracker Tough Enough for the Arctic

Cars That Think

So, I set about building an open-source ice tracker from DIY components that not only proved to be much, much cheaper but also much more capable than the commercial options. Doing in situ data processing and reduction is especially important because of the limited and expensive bandwidth available via the Iridium satellite network.

DIY 93
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A DIY E-bike Conversion on the Cheap

Cars That Think

E-bike availability and ridership have exploded. It uses an "outrunner" motor designed for electric skateboards. motor designed for electric skateboards for $88 and fashioned a mount for it out of a few pieces of scrap aluminum. Most components are inexpensive and readily available. Fast forward a dozen years.

DIY 145
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A DIY E-bike Conversion on the Cheap

Cars That Think

E-bike availability and ridership have exploded. It uses an "outrunner" motor designed for electric skateboards. motor designed for electric skateboards for $88 and fashioned a mount for it out of a few pieces of scrap aluminum. Most components are inexpensive and readily available. Fast forward a dozen years.

DIY 98
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IoT-ize Your Old Gadgets With a Mechanical Hijacking Device

Cars That Think

Just about every device you own is probably available with Internet connectivity. needs Internet connectivity is up for debate. Connectivity usually comes at a premium, and it also usually involves buying a brand new whatever it is, because new hardware and software and services are required.

DIY 139
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Hacking Ham Radio for Texting

Cars That Think

Navy researcher Robert Bruninga and was originally designed to track tactical information in real time. APRS supports sending text messages, and if you're in range of an Internet-connected gateway node you can even. MicroAPRS , which is an open-source and Arduino-compatible firmware package for DIY packet radio modems.

DIY 145
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Detect Quakes With “Raspberry Shakes”

Cars That Think

Searching the interwebs, I found no shortage of leads about how to build a DIY seismometer. The problem is that the DIY seismometer designs I was seeing were large and ungainly contraptions. Most geophones are designed for measuring frequencies above 10 Hz. The lowest-frequency models generally available are for 4.5

Panama 100
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Build Your Own Hi-fi Ear Defenders

Cars That Think

Now, after countless versions of wiring things together, and even designing my own audio mixers, I finally have a DIY solution that works within a reasonable budget. The WM8960 has a quieter initial gain stage that’s designed for microphones. A detailed step-by-step guide is available on the SparkFun website.)

Building 119