Hackaday Newsletter 0x99

Having the gear isn't enough: You've got to have the knowledge. [HACKADAY]() Space Mirrors: Dreams of Turning The Night Into Day Around the Clock [Read Article Now»]( Understand Your Tools: Finger Exercises By [Elliot Williams]( A dip meter is basically a coil of wire that, when you excite it, you can use to tell if something inside that coil is resonating along. This lets you measure unknown radio circuits to figure out their resonant frequency, for instance. This week, we featured a clever way to [make a dip meter with a nanoVNA](, which is an odd hack simply because a dip meter used to be a common spare-parts DIY device, while a vector network analyzer used to cost more than a house. Times have changed, and for the better. Nowadays, any radio amateur can pick up a VNA for less than the cost of all but the cheesiest of walkie talkies, putting formerly exotic test equipment in the hands of untrained mortals. But what good is a fancy-pants tool if you don’t know how to use it? Our own Jenny List [faced exactly this problem when she picked up a nanoVNA](, and her first steps are worth following along with if you find yourself in her shoes. All of this reminded me of an excellent series by Mike Szczys, “[Scope Noob](”, where he chronicled his forays into learning how to use an oscilloscope by running all of the basic functions by working through a bunch of test measurements that he already knew the answer to. It strikes me that we could use something like this for nearly every piece of measuring equipment. Something more than just an instruction manual that walks you through what all the dials do. Something that takes you through a bunch of example projects and shows you how to use the tool in question through a handful of projects. Because these days, access to many formerly exotic pieces of measuring gear has enabled many folks to have gear they never would have had before – and all that’s missing is knowing how to drive them. From the Blog --------------------------------------------------------------- [Mining and Refining: Tungsten]( By [Dan Maloney]( Tungsten isn't just in lightbulb filaments, but how do you get the world's toughest metal? [Read more »]( [Wrencher-2: A Bold New Direction For Hackaday]( By [Jenny List]( Yes, it's April 1st, but we thought it was funny. [Read more »]( [PCB Design Review: Tinysparrow, A Module For CAN Hacking Needs]( By [Arya Voronova]( Arya takes a six-layer design down to four in this tight design review [Read more »]( [Hackaday Podcast]( [Hackaday Podcast Episode 265: Behind the Epic SSH Hack, 1980s Cyber Butler, The Story of Season 7]( By [Hackaday Editors]() What happened last week on Hackaday? The Podcast will get you up to speed. [Read more »]( If You Missed It --------------------------------------------------------------- [Fire Up The 3D Printer and Build Yourself a Spiderbot]( [Espressif’s ESP32-P4 Application Processor: Details Begin To Emerge]( [Recovering a Physically Broken SD Card]( [Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ Shopping is Out, Moves to Dash Carts at Its Grocery Stores]( [Vibratory Rock Tumbler Bounces on Printed Spring]( [Finally Taming Thunderbolt With Third-Party Chips]( [Hackaday]() NEVER MISS A HACK [Share]( [Share]( [Share]( [Terms of Use]( [Privacy Policy]( [Hackaday.io]( [Hackaday.com]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update preferences]( Hackaday.com · 61 S Fair Oaks Ave Ste 200 · Pasadena, CA 91105-2270 · USA