[Laser] Add a new band for only $15 bucks!

[Tim Toast]

Hi Les,

That sound's like an excellent way to add a new mode easily. No 
computer needed. Modifing it to have more range or interfacing it 
with an outboard transceiver would be a good project. One way to 
give them more range might be to construct a "repeater" for them to 
use. Like the kind they sell for extending the range of remote 
controls. The toys might use the same modulators as most IR remotes. 
30 or 40 Khz?

-toast

> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 18:49:13 -0600
> From: "Les Rayburn" <les at highnoonfilm.com>
> Subject: [Laser] Add a new band for only $15 bucks!
> To: <laser at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID:
> <1AFEEE2520154498B53BABA69AFAFD6B at ownerVAIO>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed;
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>     reply-type=original
> 
> While looking at the toy aisle in Wal-Mart for a birthday
> gift for my niece, 
> I found a carded device called an "SMS Messenger" targeted
> at kids age 6-11. 
> It's basically a pair of plastic boxes with a keypad that
> resemble 
> cell-phones. They have an LCD readout, and can be used to
> send "text" 
> messages between the two devices using IR light.
> 
> Practical range at nighttime is about 200 feet according to
> our tests, but 
> daytime range was considerably less. With some modification
> and the addition 
> of cheap lenses, these should work out to several hundred
> yards easily.
> 
> The keyboards are not WYSISWYG but rather use a single key
> to send up to 
> four letters and the number depending on how many times
> it's pushed. Kind of 
> like the way we used to send text messages using standard
> cell phones. Most 
> of us have upgraded to Smartphones, and may have lost the
> skill, but it can 
> be quickly relearned. The toy also allows you to program up
> to 12 "standard" 
> messages into the device so that they can be quickly sent
> again.
> 
> So things like "CQ CQ CQ DE NXXX EM74 K" can be put into
> memory and reused 
> easily.
> 
> Are these serious devices for the optical experimenter?
> No...but they can 
> get you on a "new band" for under $20 bucks, and you can
> have some fun 
> experimenting with optical communications.
> 
> 73,
> 
> 
> Les Rayburn, N1LF
> EM63nf
> 121 Mayfair Park
> Maylene, AL 35114
> 
> 6M VUCC #1712
> Grid Bandit #222
> Life Member Central States VHF Society 
>