Any other interesting hobbies to share?

I like to fiddle with electronics. I build repair/computers and video game systems. I have repaired an Electro-magnetic Pinball Machine and got it working from a non working state. I enjoy building RC Cars/Planes. I spend way too much time on YouTube. I also spend way too much money on collecting old Transformers figures and Spawn figures. I have well over 100 figures, many are still sealed. I am a "former" drummer, I'll get back to it at some point when I get rich and can afford to replace my drumset (needs all new heads and a new double bass pedal). I have a 1972 Chevelle with a 454 bored .30 over, and I love working on hot rods. I also love video games quite a bit. My favorite thing though is taking my wife and daughter places. We went to Sea World about 2 months ago and had a blast. My daughter is 18 months as of today.

Sounds like a blast haha lots of hobbies is good! So is family :beer:

No supercharger on that Chevelle?

Got my ham license in 1973, built this moonbounce 144 MHz 16 X 32 element phased cross-Yagi array in 1998 to communicate with other hams around the world using the moon as a passive satellite/reflector. My echo's were extremely loud, so loud I could use single side band voice and hear my own voice echo back about two and a half seconds later.

Wow. I had enough trouble phasing a
turnstyle. Does the ISS, but only when it's
directly overhead

Alaskan said:

Got my ham license in 1973, built this moonbounce 144 MHz 16 X 32 element phased cross-Yagi array in 1998 to communicate with other hams around the world using the moon as a passive satellite/reflector. My echo's were extremely loud, so loud I could use single side band voice and hear my own voice echo back about two and a half seconds later.

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I'll need to show that picture to the guys at the radio society AGM tonight!

I have a few hobbies outside of lasers.

Amateur radio, computers and guitar.

Well lately I have been intensively researching batteries and flashlights and I am going to get a thrunite archer 2c v2 as my next big light.
Since I was 10 years old I enjoyed playing with lightbulbs and electricity.

I once made a small air cannon using pvc pipe, a soccer ball valve, a bike pump, and a soda bottle. I unfortunately don't have anything left of it.


My most interesting hobby is bladesmithing which I started doing 2 years ago.

I enjoy making holes in paper, not all that unique of a hobby, but I enjoy it.

Ride motorcycles, collect coins. Got a BMW and a Harley.

Right now im on a Star Trek original phaser run I have 4 AA Diamond select phasers one with metal upgrades and a 150mw 532, one with 5mw red and working on a 80mw ish green 532 also a yard sale ray gun that im putting a 532nm in. What ever was "the in thing" growing up. Coin collections, was an avid bicycle rider and have a raleigh frame when the crome molly 531 tubing was the best and campanolgna parts. As I only have a FID I still enjoy my shotgun and 2 .22 rifles but have access to family members collections. My 1970 Buick GS Stage 1 is still my passion. This might sound lame but im making various GM Big Block V8s from the muscle car days out of popsicle sticks and trying to keep them visioualy correct with correct engine colors and accesorys in place. I enjoy reading everyone elses hobbys and get a kick out of it @RedCowboy that looks like some good shooting to me!

Haha, finally some people who do radio!

My hobby would be shortwave. Its a really interesting field with strange things like number stations and drunk dutch pirates. I remember being in touch with a pirate and giving him ideas on his anniversary, he even gave me a couple of special QSL cards he made for me!

I got a simple long wire antenna on my roof, gets the job done with the limited space that I have. I was also thinking of building a LULU transmitter to broadcast a station or use it for free radio to give awareness. I actually built a loop antenna out of washing line with a steel core, works wonders on my Grundig G3. I even found a new noise station which has the indenficstion of XDE (after Doppler effect) but wasnt seen for almost a year!

You may have seen me by my nickname which is WeightedCube-Ali on the twente sdr or IRC channels so if you see me, make sure you say hi!

I've been cycling for two years now.

I hope this thread isn't too old for me to jump in. I've been into electronic hobbies for about 15 years or so. For a while I used to build/repair computers. The rest of the time I ended up inventing a couple gadgets, usually when my wife says something like "why can't they sell/make something that does ...".

Necessity is the mother of invention.

We've been using an alarm clock I made in 1999 that brings up the lamp anywhere from 15-60 minutes before an audible alarm goes off. My wife saw such a gadget in Skymall, the airplane catalog, but the lamp was permanently attached to the electronics and she wanted something while she was on the road, this one was just too big. So I separated the electronics from the lamp so she can use any incandescent lamp with it. Plug the lamp into the widget, plug the widget into the wall. Presto.

My latest invention is a landline call blocker. We got over 100 calls/month. A lot of remodeling marketing calls. I tried everything on the market. Finally built one. This project took 3+ years to get it where we wanted it. Spam calls have dropped about 1/3 to 1/2 but the ones that still call don't ring our phone. Instead they hear that my phone line has been disconnected (including the 3 SIT tones the phone company uses to alert callers the line is no longer available). I added everything I could think of that would fit (HW/SW). I put manuals revisions here, this link may only work for a while.

https://www.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=8b7064885e62717d6b9b

The Bill of Materials (BOM) alone is over $200 plus it takes me about 2-3 days to make one so it is not at all commercially viable. But it certainly gets the job done in my house and a few of my friends and family members.


OVNI

I've thought about building a call blocker too, but one which picks up the phone when it rings and asks the caller to input a code to allow the phone to ring through, otherwise they can't get through.

Alaskan said:

I've thought about building a call blocker too, but one which picks up the phone when it rings and asks the caller to input a code to allow the phone to ring through, otherwise they can't get through.

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There is a call blocker that does that. That was one of the ones I bought because I liked the fact the caller didn't ring my phone until they were deemed OK (I don't recall what make/model it was at the moment). What I discovered didn't work for me was that the call blocker answers the call in order to query to caller and when the caller presses the right code, the call blocker simulates a ringing phone - but it's only in that room on that call blocker. Not everywhere in your home that you have a phone.

I thought about building something to reproduce the ringing tone and send it to the phones but the ringing signals are ~100VAC. That one hurt my head too much so I went a different route. Mine simply blocks the signal from reaching your phones for the first ring then lets it through if it passes all the user specified conditions.

OVNI

Ringing voltage does sting like hell, been there done that too many times. I worked for a telephone company for 20 years

An answering machine, a relay and a touch tone decoder circuit and you can build that, you will give your friends and family the code to input when they call and then your phone will ring through, otherwise the telemarketers never get past the answering machine.