T&L Publications

I need to drive a low-current relay with my PC's serial port. I can handle the programming part, but can anyone point me to a schematic they've used and had good luck with?

Thanks.

Dimbulb, races are won with improvements that can be measured in fractions of a second. Seeking another competitive advantage makes me just like every other racer looking for a competitive edge. Not to mention it's fun to problem solve just for the sake of doing so. :) CeaSaR, you gotten my hopes up...

Hmm, stereo vision. I'll take a look.

My system needs to be pretty portable. I plan to use it at more than one track. So for RF, I'll need to spend a mint on electronics, huh? Schucks. I had envisioned coming to the track, strategically setting up a few tripods with beacons on them, and commencing with laps. Oh well, when my grandkids s...

Some Googling yielded this:

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm? ... 043&page=1

The twin-GPS idea is an interesting one. I've got two Garmin eTrex that might work. Hmm.

Cameras leave too much to one's interpretation. I'm thinking I can be more precise.

Let me be more simplistic. What is the easiest (yet most accurate) way to use radio or another wavelength to measure distance?

My son is a karter. I'd like to keep a better account of where he is on the track at any moment in time such that we can refine his line and do other coaching based on the data we log. There are kits out there that measure how he's using the kart's controls, but his position on the track isn't quite...

Philba,

Did you mean to post a link?

Philba,

Did you mean to post a link?

I think it's cool, personally. If I were his neighbor, I'd try to one-up him.

Speaking of which, did he HAVE to spend all that money with LOR or can dimmer packs be built on the cheap?

Miguel,<p>I'm local. Any way I can come look?<p>Thanks,
Kurt

It looks like you can get a simple answering machine going for under $10 provided you have a PC lying around. I'm using an old Pentium 90 with 64MB RAM. Works fine.<p>Check out:<p> Digium <p>for a ready to run FXO card (X100P - $25.95). Or if you have your soldering iron handy:<p> Howto -and- laptop...

It's much more than you're asking for, but you might check out www.asterisk.org. <p>Asterisk is an open-source PBX system that can be configured to act as a full-fledged call router/voicemail/voip system. I got started with $14.99.<p>I've set up a single-line FXO device to be a call screener. Depend...

John,<p>Let me preface this by saying I know NOTHING about HAM software. However, I have tried to get old programs to work with newer hardware with some success.<p>I come at things from a programmer-nerd standpoint and often go where no person who values unwasted leisure time will go. But if you're ...

110V appliances, that is.