David July, who runs sutrotower.org, posted a fascinating set of pictures documenting his tour of San Francisco’s Sutro Tower.

The Bay Area Educational Amateur Radio Society (BAERS) is hosting a Ham Cram on Saturday, January 9th from 8AM-5PM at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco.  The cost is $30 including the VEC fee.

A “Ham Cram” is a one day workshop where you can get your ham radio license (usually the Technician level) without studying in advance.  I’m not sure I completely agree with their methods of blind memorization over actually understanding the rules, but apparently this method works and most people pass on their first attempt.  If you’re short on time and want to get your license in a hurry, this is one option.

Thanks to Robert for the heads-up on the January session.

AERO is another SF-based group that regularly posts flyers advertising their own ham cram sessions.  Their most recent poster is outdated, but the site mentions there will likely be an upcoming session in February 2010.  I just took the General license exam at their November session and was really impressed by how many people were there and how professionally run the event was.

Update: Their next session is on February 7th, 2010 at 8:45AM.  Details here.

Studying the old fashioned way:

If you don’t like the “cram” method, you can always pick up a study guide (Technician, General, Extra Class) and spend a few weeks studying for the test like I did for both my Technician and General license exams.  There are even a couple online practice tests to help you study.  When you feel comfortable with the material, you can take the exam at the sessions above for a $14 VEC fee without doing the cram.  I know AERO allows this, but it would probably be a good idea to check and make sure BAERS permits this as well.  In either case, I recommend that you RSVP to ensure you get a seat and get notification about changes to the venue, etc.  Contact info for each group is on their respective websites.

Good luck and 73 from KF6PBP!

Tonight from 6-10PM, The Exploratorium keeps their doors open late for Exploratorium After Dark, an adult-oriented evening at my favorite science museum. EAD takes place on the first Thursday of every month.

I went last month and enjoyed being able to spend time at my favorite exhibits without being pushed aside by hoards of small children on their school field trips.

More information about tonight’s event is below. Every month has special guests, and in addition to the special features you are free to hang out at the cash bar or roam the museum.

Admission is $14.  Members get in free!

speakers:

anselm hook – augmentia: scratching the surface of augmented reality
http://hook.org

shelly farnham – steve the robot h.e.ai.d.: a large scale generative
music and laser play space
http://shellyfarnham.com

david gessel – stalking slanderizing trolls
http://blackrosetech.com

gian pablo villamil – 360 degree panoramic video without the megabucks
http://villamil.org/?p=621

I’m planning to head over around 7pm and will hopefully see some mightyohm.com readers and dorkbot regulars there tonight!

Speakers include Mark Pauline of SRL, Timothy Childs of TCHO, and ITP graduate Michael Ang.

Sutro Tower DTV Conversion in Progress

Back in February, I first posted about the DTV conversion project that was beginning to make waves¹ at San Francisco’s iconic Sutro Tower wireless broadcast facility.

Since then, there have been some big changes at the tower: the end of analog television broadcasts in June, the complete removal and replacement of one (two?) of the tower’s huge antenna masts, and the addition of several new bright red digital TV antennas near the top of the tower.  On a clear day (which is not often this time of year), workers can often be seen climbing around the tower, like tiny ants on a large, red and white striped giant.

For anyone who is interested in getting a closer look at the heavy construction on the tower, San Francisco resident Larry Kenny recently posted a link to his Sutro Tower webpages, which feature a detailed photo journal of the DTV conversion thus far.  There are lots of great shots of the tower itself as well as the mangled remains of the original analog TV antennas, which, when seen on the ground, help give some idea of the scale of things atop the tower.  When assembled, these things must be the size of tractor trailers!

I also recently revisited sutrotower.org, the website of David July, a Florida resident who has been fascinated by the tower since his first visit to San Francisco in 1989.  (Sutro is also one of the things I remember most about visiting SF as a child.)  David’s site is the most comprehensive source of information about the tower I have ever seen. Included are many fascinating photos of the tower spanning it’s 37-year lifetime, such as these photos of the tower’s construction in 1971-72:

Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library (source: sutrotower.org)

Sutrotower.org also includes photos of the original Sutro Mansion and the first broadcast tower to be installed, a far cry from the tower that sits atop Mount Sutro today!  If that’s not enough for the real “tower junkies” out there, there are also links to several tours of the tower, with lots of photos.  (Sutro Tower Staff: Where do I sign up?)

That’s all I have for today, but I’ll keep my eyes on the progress at the tower.  San Francisco landmark, controversial neighbor, and engineering marvel, Sutro Tower never ceases to amaze me.

(And to those who don’t live in San Francisco and have no idea what I’m talking about: Well, now you have one more reason to visit.  )

¹ Pun intended.

This change is reflected by their status page, which now shows the top of the antenna mostly dark with the exception of a few FM radio stations, as shown below.  The DTV mast in the center of the tower is providing temporary digital television service during the tower’s massive DTV conversion project.

According to Gene Zastrow, Sutro’s general manager, the existing analog television antennas will be replaced with new primary DTV antennas over the next several weeks.  This could make for some great photo opportunities if the weather is decent, as I expect that given the size of the antennas there will be some serious equipment being used on and around the tower.

More details here and here.

Disclosure: I’m leading the meeting tonight, taking over for our usual host Andrew Milmoe.

Come and check out Make:SF!

This is my 100th post to the blog.

When I started blogging in July of last year I wasn’t sure what I would post about or where all of this would go.  Eight months later, the blog has exceeded my expectations in many (and many unexpected) ways.  The major driving force behind this blog has always been my desire to share my projects and my passion for electronics with the world, in addition to (hopefully) inspiring some other people to do cool things with electronics as well.

My favorite post?  Definitely the Arduino-based AVR High Voltage Programmer.  I never expected such a simple circuit to help so many people.  There has been so much ongoing interest in this project that I am putting together an Arduino shield kit based on the original design.  The kit features a slick double-sided PCB and an integrated 5 to 12V step up converter so you don’t need an external 12V supply to use the programmer.  More details very soon!

Tony’s Wifi Radio Sketchup Model

Tony created this awesome Google Sketchup model of an enclosure for my Wifi Radio project.  After I made a very crude first draft, Tony took my design and turned it into something that is sort of modern, sort of retro.  Perfect!

Dorkbot Tonight

In other news, there is a Dorkbot SF meeting tonight at Parisoma at 7:30PM.  Arrive early to get a seat!  Details at dorkbot-sf.

The California Academy of Sciences is hosting a new event called Nightlife every Thursday evening, starting tonight (Feb. 12th).

Features include music (tonight’s performer is DJ Fluid), cocktails, and science!

Admission is $10.  Ages 18 and up.

NightLife: California Academy of Sciences

Update: Tonight is SOLD OUT, but tickets are available for upcoming Thursdays.