Apple posts iPhone 4 press conference video, ’smartphone antenna performance’ page
Apple posts iPhone 4 press conference video, 'smartphone antenna performance' page originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
I Think We Have a Winner in the iPhone 4 Case Category [Cases]
At the very, very least, it keeps the hand away from the antennas. But somehow I suspect the venn diagram of 12 year old girls and Steve Jobs fans doesn't have too big of an intersection. [Crystal Icing] More
iPad 3G Dismantled: There Are Five Antennas [Apple]
We've seen its communications board before, but now the entire iPad 3G has been torn open and had its parts analyzed. Here's what makes it different from a Wi-Fi-only iPad according to the guys at iFixit: More
The Gear That Keeps London’s Pirate Radio Hidden [Pirateradio]
Untraceable infrared links. Backpacks full of back-up transmitters. Cloak and dagger secrecy. Hundreds of pirate radio stations broadcast in London every day, but this 20 minute documentary shows that only the tech-savviest stay a step ahead of the police. More
How-To: Make a multiband EFHWA for amateur ham radio
For portable radio operation, I like End-Fed Half-Wavelength Antennas (EFHWA, pronounced "EF-WAH"). This type of antenna is similar to the common half-wavelength dipole, but with one significant advantage. A dipole has its feedpoint (where it connects to the radio) in the middle of the antenna, but an EFHWA's feedpoint is at one end. This makes it very convenient to throw the antenna up in a tree and connect the bottom of it to your radio. Here are instructions for making a multiband end-fed half-wavelength antenna that works on 17, 20, 30, and 40-meter bands.
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How-To: Make a multiband EFHWA for amateur ham radio
TV antenna disguised as picture frame
Long range over-the-air HDTV antennas can get mighty unsightly and expensive. Clixxun’s “Fancy Alpha” attempts to stem that tide with a $40 TV antenna that’s disguised as an unassuming picture frame.
The frame holds a 4
Badass Mobile Datacenter Van for Itinerant Sysadmins [EBay]
For sysadmins with an ache for the open road, these Ford E350 4x4 vans, complete with telescoping 35-foot mast, are datacenters on wheels.
Eleven of the vans were built by EMI Technologies in the '90s for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to monitor radio frequency interference. That's why in addition to the 35-foot antenna mast, each of the vans has a massive air conditioning unit inside, complete with in-wall duct work, as well as Onan 6.5K generators mounted inside a standard 19-inch server rack. A couple of them even have flip-down desks and rear-facing captain's chairs for pulling all-nighters.
EMI Technologies is still building similar vehicles for government agencies, but when I called them this morning they didn't have a whole lot to say about the vehicles. "How they were used might be classified," one man told me. But probably not—given the NTIA's purview, it's more likely these were used to make sure broadcast television stations weren't overstepping their spectrum or something.
What makes them a real deal are the vans themselves. Adam, the man who is selling the one with the lowest miles, said he'd probably let it go for around $16k. That's a fantastic deal for a dually van with the Quigley 4x4 conversion, even if it is over ten years old. I know this because I've been out pricing vans to convert into an ersatz Sportsmobile. I nearly wept when I saw these, because living in an impractical 4x4 van with an antenna mast tall enough to get a strong 3G signal on a remote mountaintop is my idea of heaven. I'm just not sure that there'd be enough living space inside for me and my dog next to the antenna pole and the 19-inch rack, even if I did remove the ridiculously large A/C unit. But love would find a way.
Here are the other two vans. If you buy one, let me drive it around someday!
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Badass Mobile Datacenter Van for Itinerant Sysadmins [EBay]
Strechable, Flexible, Twistable Antennas [Science]
Traditional copper antennas are rigid yet delicate. And in the age when almost every gadget we use requires some sort of antenna, they're a lousy solution. Luckily, new tech is on its way.
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed an alloy antenna that can be bent a la pretzel before resuming its native shape. The feat is accomplished through the micro liquid metal chambers that form as the building blocks of the antenna, allowing the device to so receive RF like metal, but maintain flexibility, like liquid.
Of course, as with any promising technology, the military is slated to get it first. And after hundreds of thousands of our service men and women develop strange, liquid-metal-related tumors, the public will get to buy an ever so safer 2.0 version. [Gadget Lab]
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Strechable, Flexible, Twistable Antennas [Science]