A motley collection of ideas
In this section, you’ll find all kinds of articles. Some of them are machine translations of my older writings in Hungarian, which may contain grammatical errors or content that is no longer up to date. I apologize for these mistakes, and I would be very glad if you let me know when you come across any. Happy reading!
This mixer did not fall victim to a teardown — it was repaired. The pictures show how it can be disassembled (not easy, but not impossible either). It was still manufactured at a time when the possibility was considered that someone might actually want to repair it. As can be seen in the pictures, the … Read more
Bats normally hibernate during the winter, but nowadays, thanks to the mild winters, we can encounter bats even in January. The real bat season, of course, begins in March–April and lasts until the end of October. This is the best time to go bat-hunting. In urban environments, the most common species are the serotine bat … Read more
In 1983, Rádiótechnika magazine published an article about a clock built around the TMS1122 IC. I redesigned the circuit and the PCB somewhat, then built it. It served continuously for 27 years, essentially without being turned off. Due to lack of space, I recently scrapped it, though it was still in working condition. The Clock … Read more
Fluorescent lamps are becoming less and less fashionable these days, as LEDs are pushing them out—but they’re really not that bad. The technology improved a lot between the 1970s and 1990s: the unpleasant light of old fluorescent tubes is a thing of the past. Flickering and color distortion have been reduced so effectively that in … Read more
With Schlieren photography, even a person’s breath can be captured. It is often used to illustrate various flows, shockwaves, bullets, flames, and fire propagation. NASA has even developed a version of the method that allows supersonic aircraft to be photographed in flight. Most people have probably seen such images before — in recent years, the … Read more
In the spring of 2019, I wrote an article about the so-called “wasp garage,” prompted by the fact that these things started appearing in many supermarkets and pet stores. Lots of people bought them, put them out in their gardens—and nothing happened. NGOs and local governments also installed them in public spaces, and there are … Read more
I inherited this device from my father—he brought it from the Soviet Union at some point. It was manufactured in 1974 and is a typical example of the simple yet extremely robust Soviet devices. It doesn’t contain any “smart” electronic circuits, so there’s nothing in it that could burn out or break. It’s simply built … Read more
It is well known that, thanks to its favorable balneological and geothermal conditions, Hungary is a country rich in thermal waters. Although the demand for the energy utilization of thermal water is increasing, geothermal energy remains our largest untapped energy source, due to the unique geological characteristics of the Carpathian Basin. The average domestic heat … Read more
Spotters, SWL (shortwave listening) enthusiasts, and amateur radio operators all enjoy listening to aircraft communications — and nowadays, even drone pilots find it useful to monitor air traffic. A good handheld airband transceiver easily costs well over a hundred thousand forints, whereas the device described here is dirt cheap by comparison. Of course, it’s not … Read more
The handheld meter has been a staple in almost every technician’s toolkit for nearly 100 years. Today, the majority of handheld meters have digital displays. However, until the 1970s, most meters featured analog readouts. These were typically multimeters capable of measuring voltage, current, resistance, and occasionally capacitance and frequency. “Pocket watch”-style measuring instruments were popular … Read more