BACKGROUND INFO, LEGAL ASPECTS, CAREFULNESS ETC
(things which are supposed to be understood and not
repeated with each new elsketch project page)
http://www.stamash.com/secs_stamash_educational_centers/elsketch/


OVERVIEW OVER ONLINE AVAILABLE ELSKETCH PROJECTS --
http://www.stamash.com/secs_stamash_educational_centers/elsketch/sitemap/
-- THESE HAVE ALL BEEN CAREFULLY STUDIED IN REAL LIFE,
NOT JUST AS AN EMULATION ON A COMPUTER, AND FOUND TO
WORK AS PROMISED; NOTE THAT SUCH AS AM MW RADIOS IS 
-- FOR ANY LONG-RANGE USE -- EXTREMELY TIED UP TO 
ALL SORTS OF WEATHER CONDITIONS AND THE EXTENT TO 
WHICH IT IS NIGHTTIME

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For the G15 Multiversity: Background works

Also part of the Stamash Educational CenterS, SECS

For general info about G15 Yoga6dorg see also www.norskesites.org/fic3

In general terms, we might use the following
vocabulary: Each Elsketch project constitutes
also a report over successfully completed 
electronics development and implementation work,
in a sense a bit of 'neopopperian research',
intended to be replicated in an improvised,
intuitive, playful way by anybody who likes
to educate herself in this way.

This report is dated August 14, 2013. For
general info about copyright confer the spirit
of honoring acknowledgements as found in our
www.yoga4d.org/cfdl.txt.

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Elsketch: Winding your own ferrite coils for the 1st radio module

-- appreciating the magic of manganese-zinc (and nickel-zinc)
ferrites





[note: for ease of composing the materials, frequent mentions
in the Elsketch texts are made of things which belong to the
future -- future Elsketch activities include making even a
whole G15 computer, and parallel activities are also referred
to in the same manner, such as the chemical educational activity
we have named Atomlite. apart from these references to things not
yet done as if they have been done, each elsketch project describes
a project actually carried out to success, and well tested, and
fully doable in the present by following the instructions.]


If you already have got the 1st radio module AM MW radio to
work, you are interested, for sure, in getting the grips on
making coils. That turns out to be simple, once we have 
this beautiful wonderful thing called ferrite -- which comes
in several forms, all a chemical rather exact blend into
rather crystalline molecules with plenty of interesting
q-field properties of iron (as in steel), oxygen, and a
metal. In 20th century terminology -- don't ask me why --
they call the types of ferrite we're most interested in
when it comes to AM radios for 'soft'. (The 'hard' ferrites
are the magnets in electrical engines, high-power relays,
electrical buzzers -- and some types of ferrites, eg 
through their powder-form, to which expoxy is added, can
be used to tape analog or digital data because they can
store magnetic info.)
  But they're anything but soft, unless by soft we mean
'splendid, magical, brilliant, organic' -- for that's what
they are. The manganese-zinc ferrite (most common in AM MW
radio, and another type also usable in radios make use of
nickel and zinc instead of managnese and zinc) has the 
capacity, put very simply, of amplifying the coil you're
making, both in size and in quantity.
  Now let's be clear that medium wave, MW, involves waves
which are such as two hundred meters long. We can calculate
these sizes by musing over just how many cycles pr second
(hertz) they have, combined with the fact that light moves
at the very respectable speed of 300.000 kilometers pr
second, which is to say 300.000 times 1000 meters, or 
300.000.000 -- 300 million meters pr second. If the cycle
has one second to it, it's a wave that isn't two hundred
meters but many millions of meters. A 'cycle' may mean a
sine wave -- going just like the letter 's' sideways, by
a common visualisation -- and in a sense we're speaking
two waves within one cycle. It's not necessary to do 
fine-calculations here. Let's just figure out how to 
make a coil given such as a copper wire of some half a
millimeter, which has been given a little bit paint of
some usually rather transparent thing, like a kind of
epoxy glue, and where we have a couple of meters of this --
and we want to make a coil that resonates as perfectly
as possible with waves two, three hundred meters long.
  Well, if you wind it around a pen, or around even a
decent metal like copper, you'll have to have loads of
patience, loads of copper wire, and loads of copper, and
the radio will grow considerably in size. You may find
that it isn't quite worth the trouble.
  Instead, throw something like 32, 40 or 70 turns around
a ferrite bit the size of a cube of 1 x 2.5 x 3 centimeter
(many other sizes incl rod possible, but then you vary the 
amount of turns a little), with a nice half-circle of radius
half a centimeter dug out from it -- with delicious 
carelessness in how you do the winding -- and you may find
that the radio works just wonderfully well with this. You
will find that it fetches various parts of MW, the longest
coil touching on the longest waves tending towards LW, 
and that the reception may be enhanced by putting two
beside one another, near or almost touching in the way on 
the picture. Other pieces of metal like copper might in some
occasions be very useful to amplify the whole circuit, but
with this type of ferrite shape, having another ferrite
the same shape beside seems to be more than enough.
  In all these reports, we emphasize authenticity about the
timing of the report: it must be written with the 'empirics',
that is, the experience of actually getting these things to
work in the manner stated, and with a photograph or more
where apt, fresh in mind. Sometimes things get stated in a
way that leaves a little bit to be desired -- things which
might be spelling or grammatical errors, or a bit too quick
thinking. This is a typical feature of all the essays, of
course, even as we emphasize enormous correctness in the
actually implemented programs delievered as mountable G15
Yoga6dorg apps.
  On the main page, I know of a couple of things -- but I
leave them in there, because they're part of the soul of
the report. One place it says: you can put coils in series,
and their strength will add. This is a statement that is
correct under a set of very particular conditions only --
such that the coils share the same direction, are 
entirely near, and share core elements tightly. In general,
if you have the luxury to have individual cores doing the
job of connecting to each band you want to tune into with
a variable capacitor, that's the adviced approach. Tying
up coils after one another may in some cases have very
peculiar effects indeed, although in well-tested cases,
or when one has a type of frequency that doesn't do too
many things in terms of strange resonances -- audio
frequencies for instance -- it may be the correct thing 
to do. Another thing with the main report is, if I remember
correctly, that it is says 'emitter' connected to NPN a
place where it ought to say 'collector'. So let's just
keep in mind that you have to have your own mind with
you as you read any of these reports.
  So zinc is a metal, manganese (and nickel) metal, iron
of course metal, while oxygen is the breathing part of 
air. When oxygen through humidity acts on iron we get
rust, over time. But the particular -- oxide, as it is
called -- we get between iron and oxygen when made into
a compound or alloy or whats-the-word with these rather
crystalline metals zinc and manganese -- also, like iron
and oxygen, parts of the natural mineral & vitamin intake
that human beings should have many times a week, for they
are part of the organic functionality of all cells in the
body, obviously -- transforms the whole into a completely
different type of functionality, a functionality that can
only be properly understood in quantum physics terms,
if we speak 20th century science -- or in supermodel
terms, in q-field terms, by allowing us to use our own
physics approach (the infinitely better one ;).
  What we find then is not only that the ferrite -- or
manganese-zinc ferrite, to be more precise -- is highly
able to acquire then let go of magnetic impulses (and
also so that peculiar magnetics can be felt if you 
get into a sensitive mood and experiment on putting such
ferrite bits near each other in various ways and in 
various directions), and not only do we find that the
metal-properties of iron (or steel) is retained at a
molecular level, so to speak, even as the ferrite 
itself doesn't transport electricity any much, but it
also acts as a whole q-field that interacts with any
coil near it. And this interaction means that instead
of having to make thousands of turns in an elaborate
way we can just make a few dozen and get all the MW
we want. Going to very much higher frequencies isn't
nearly that much fun when we speak radios, although in
some computer contexts we do need a higher clock
speed for pleasant operational speed. The principle of
the oscillator is the same, then, but instead of 
this ferrite we can, when we go to higher frequencies,
use simpler ways as for coils -- for at higher 
frequencies we get much less of a wavelength (e.g.,
10 meters). In some cases where unusual precision is
required one can also mount a pure tiny crystal together 
with a modulator and capacitor and make use of the 
resonant properties of this crystal instead of having
a coil-capacitor thingy.
  Now we want to have first-hand electronics here:
just how first-hand is ferrite? The fact is that it isn't
all that complicated to make, and simpler to make than
a transistor. So the transistor is, and remains, the
most complex item we require in first-hand electronics
of the touchable, maintainable, hobby kind. We can't
do without it, even though it requires pretty much
fine-tuning and great precision in extracting pure
germanium (or silicon) or the like, and then blend
with other peculiar metals in precise ways and using
carefully controlled temperatures and stuff like that.
Ferrite makes everything about AM MW radios and 
oscillators and so on far far simpler. It is a 
chemical product but a very natural one to make,
now that we know about it, and an important one. We
must surely embrace it as a conscious part of 
first-hand electronics work. And let's always 
remember that anything we do in first-hand hobby
electronics oriented towards transistors, is just
about perfectly copied into the microscopic scale
when computer chips are made. This microscopic scale
may contain hundreds of thousands of components all
on the space of a fingernail -- but the whole theory
of how they work is all derived from real work with
tinning real big transistors, modulators, coils and
capacitors. The chip is nothing without the big-size
work. The chip is merely a factory-production in a
compressed form of hobby first-hand large-size
electronics. One cannot say that one understands
anything about anything if all one does is to wire
chips. But if you're able to wire up a radio and
wind your own ferrite coils using some thin enameled
copper wire to change bands, then you can indeed say
that you do understand something. You know something
about the essence of electronics, and this essence 
touches directly on the essence of the most general
type of energy transfers found anywhere in the whole
manifest universe.
  Let's muse just for another moment on the importance
that ferrite doesn't hold on to magnetism. Please don't
reduce the quality of a good chunk of manganese-zinc
ferrite by holding it near a magnet (in some cases
some forms of ferrite can be 'healed' by strong heat
afterwards, though), unless you're ready to throw that
chunk. But the fact is that magnets -- which are 
another type of ferrite altogether -- can't get the
radio-type of ferrite to stick to its magnetism. 
Ferrite is eminent just as stupid blondes are eminent:
magnetism passes through the ferrite, and the radio
ferrite still smiles and remembers nothing, just as
stupid blondes -- with all respect -- smile no matter
what is said to them, and of course learns nothing 
from it. This eminent capacity of relating in a 
memory-less fashion to the moment in full means that
we have just about the ultimate tunable oscillator
and the ultimate type of sensitivity for a radio
with the radio type of ferrite. There are other
possible chemical compounds of other metals that can
enact some of the same properties even more extremely,
but manganese-zinc ferrite remains the most powerful
natural obvious way.
  Let's also note: even as the ferrite is able to
'conduct' magnetism, and let go of it, it doesn't
waste energy by allowing electricity to grow when you
use it as a radio coil. If you set electrons flowing
in a metal by having a coil wound around it, then
that process chews up some energy -- and means also
that the electrons will retain a memory of their
direction, a memory that chews up still more energy
to switch around when the oscillation process around
it, the context around it -- which may be that an
antenna is coupled to it, or even that it works on
its own rather as an antenna -- and so we get less
of a response from the coil. This has to be countered
by pushing more energy to the coil and having more
turns of it, perhaps very very very many more turns
of it. This is perhaps the nearest we can come to
describing how the q-field of the manganese-zinc
(or nickel-zinc) ferrite 'amplifies' the coil you
make around it. But let's always remember that q-fields
are nonlocal in that they act with principles going
beyond even the speed of light, touching on the whole
context of the functionality in an organic way -- 
in other words, going beyond the pre-20th century
type of physics, which tried to describe all as
mechanical parts pushing and pulling on each other.
The ferrite coil is an organic q-field whole, and
must be understood and used on that principle.








[[[several practical helpful hints in the present context: 
some comments here -- ferrite core availabilities,
where to buy hobby electronics things in general, and
what measurement instruments your hobby lab should have.
  ferrite cores are provided as part of the Elsketch kit
we're working on putting together for the educational
contexts. very well-equipped hobby electronics stores
as well as specialised ferrite factories provide 
ferrite rods. far more common is the type of ferrite
used as a kind of metal wrapping around ends of 
data wires to prevent noise. these typically have just
the form shown in the images -- two halves make up one
'choke' ferrite cable noise reductor, and are usually
delievered together with a plastic box. if you cut 
away this plastic box and use the ferrite elements
independently and not as a 'choke', then it will work
perfectly and superbly if the ferrite is of the right
material. indeed, the types of ferrite cores used in
the above report are one of those found on this page,
and sold as choke ferrites for noise reduction:
  http://www.electrade.no/ferrit.htm.
  I think it's in place to also suggest something about
where to go and buy these things, in general terms.
the above norwegian link is to a perfect good hobby store.
it's worth putting a bit extra travel-time and money 
into actually going to a real well-equipped and thoughtfully 
made hobby electronics store rather than ordering everything
from vast catalogues via people who may have no understanding
nor appreciation of hobby work. the catalogue people who run
catalogue-based electronics netshops are usually 
the types of people who believe in chips, big loadspeakers,
remote control via infrared, and high definition TV. 
these may scoff at people who work on first-hand 
transistors directly and with experimental designs.
catalogue-oriented people may not like hobby folks
going around buying components a few dollars apiece.
catalogue folks want companies to buy a thousand
parts at a time, and may consider individual customers
with a hobby slant as a bloody nuissance. so it's
worth getting to a real physical well-equipped
store that actually has components in it at the
right price, even if you have to travel a hundred miles
to get there. then you get to select a diversity of
components in a first-hand way, and what could be
better when you want to make first-hand equipment
by it? usually, people who equip stores with stuff
oriented towards hobby electronics do so with a
capacity to fetch just the right variety. apparently
super-equipped catalogue-based netshops often have
very serious lacks in their scope, because they're
not in direct touch with what they're supposed to
be working with -- one may even suspect that they're
only in it for the money, though it may sound
incredible. 
  the good hobby store above also has a lot of 
model trains and the like: there's a natural 
affinity in having a variety of hobby relevant
first-hand electronics stuff and also dealing with
smallsize cars and trains and such, because the most
advanced smallsize enthusiasts want all sorts of
little special-made controls and not just 
prefabricated modules. they also deal excessively
with low voltages and so do not clutter the store
with stuff which are high-voltage oriented.
  finally, let me suggest something about measurement
instruments: the only reason a digital meter may be
valuable in doing simple first-hand hobby electronics
is that it can be too much a bother to get the analog
to be accurate enough when doing ohms, and it can be
even more a bother to decode the color lines on the
modulators if you're uncertain which is which, e.g.
when they have escaped their package, or you're
uncertain whether they're packaged rightly. voltmeter
is good enough with analog, and the principle of
analog meter is of course only that of a coil that
pushes something by its magnetism, to which a 
few modulators and a battery is added. the digital
meter may cost as little as the cheapest analog
meter these days, so why not throw it in. but the
digital meters that promise a lot lot more often
are entirely irrelevant. the price may easily be
forty times bigger than for the cheapest digital
meters but do they actually give anything in return?
or do they overwhelm the first-hand hobby lab 
you're working in with its own machinery? most
of them are not giving any real high frequency
measurement and most medium-expensive digital
meters don't give exact measurements for pf
capacitors. they may have temperature measurement
and usb port but who cares? and very very few give
any meaningful measure of coils. still, if you have a
lot of capacitors around, it's probably worth it, at
some point, to get a meter that has got a good
enough fine-tuning not just for nf and mf capacitors
but also for pf capacitors -- especially as capacitors
often have incredibly ambiguous markings. we'll 
return to the measurement questions in later,
more advanced elsketch projects, and see if we
can't put together something ourselves if we have
only cheap digital (or analog) meters, and our
own electronics thinking.
  if you do acquire a well-tuned frequency meter
like the inexpensive UT61D going up to say 10MHz 
(which is better than most much-hyped Fluke 
instruments at several times the price), produced
at a license in China for
  www.clasohlson.com, 
it works really well to measure the frequency of 
the tuning at the moment of the Elsketch AM radio 
with connectors to the side of the coil that connects
to the modulators, and the other probe connector
to the E pole. It works entirely well when you put
black 'COM' (common) connector to the coil and red,
which ordinarily signifies positive, to the E or
negative pole, when UT61D or similar is switched to 
the frequency measurement mode. UT61D is charmingly
also coming with its own RS232 cable -- a first-hand
type of connector if there ever were one. Producer's
Hong Kong office is http://www.uni-trend.com.hk
and at the time of writing UT61D specifications are found
not just at Clas Ohlson but also at 
http://www.uni-trend.com/UT61D.html
and they have other interesting models also.
  as for connectivity between UT61D and PC: Hardware
wise, apart from any software questions, this might 
be used with a Y2000 classical PC of the kind that
can be put together in a game-oriented desktop
PC shop if you equip it with RS232, since it
comes with RS232 not just USB, and perhaps put
both Firth and CentOS 5.5 on it. The 1024*768
4"3 monitors are always in production, somewhere
(recently I saw Lenovo had at least one), and
the DOS-compatible classical desktop PC's still
set the standard for a range of must-have classical
games for the enthusiasts and this type of machine
will always be available, as long as one is willing
to pay a little bit more for it than for the most
commercially put together PCs sold where they
also sell fridges and ovens). The Firth release
of the G15 (G15SP_F) has full RS232 support,
though at the moment I haven't checked whether
the interaction is well enough documented that
one can make one's own programs to interact with
the equipment -- though RS232 is usually pretty
open and obvious to 'hack' into. we'll come back
with more about measurements as said, but also
with more that pertains to rs232 for those who
are interested in robotics and other things like
that, with firth g15.]]]




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BACKGROUND INFO, LEGAL ASPECTS, CAREFULNESS ETC
(things which are supposed to be understood and not
repeated with each new elsketch project page)
http://www.stamash.com/secs_stamash_educational_centers/elsketch/


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