Projects
From Tesla coils and RF kits to embedded gadgets and restoration work, here’s a look at what some of our members build with the help of the Wireless makerspace.
info at nuwireless.org or message an officer on Slack and we’ll add you
to the gallery.
1953 Transistor Radio Restoration
Restoring a 1953 transistor radio of unknown model: mapping the board layout and sourcing the antenna.
- Access to soldering equipment and the circuit design skills taught in Wireless Club workshops.
Keyboard Reverse-Engineering
Reverse engineering a RADAR air-traffic control keyboard and trackball combo by analyzing its custom protocol, with the goal of building a working adapter.
- Saleae logic analyzer
- Bench power supplies
QRP Labs QMX+ Kit Build
Built the QMX+ multiband QRP transceiver kit from QRP Labs, hand-winding 19 toroids to make a multi-band QRP rig. It has been used extensively as an FT8 and WSPR transceiver, with upcoming support for SSB via new firmware to be tested soon.
- Access to lab
DIY Curve Tracer
A self-contained handheld transistor tester: plug in any transistor and the device uses dual DACs to sweep voltage across its terminals while applying a DC bias. The resulting current is plotted live on a small touchscreen, powered by an Arduino Pro Mini.
Built over a couple of months, with several specialty components (like the DACs and socket) directly funded by the Wireless Club budget.
- Funding for critical parts (DACs, transistor socket)
- Access to stocked components, soldering tools, and workspace
- Lab environment for testing and refining the design
Solid State Tesla Coil
A high-frequency driver circuit pushes wall power through power transistors at ~300 kHz, producing ~100 kV and 1.5-ft arcs Built over a semester of winding coils, wiring, and assembly almost entirely in the Wireless club shack.
The arcs are low-current, so they can be touched without a severe shock (though it’s not advised!).
- Wire, wood panels, tools, soldering and wiring setup, and stocked components
- Advice from fellow members and a large knowledge base in the lab
- Access to test equipment for circuit debugging and measurements
40-meter Woodpecker (CW transceiver)
The 40m Woodpecker is a low-power CW transceiver kit for the 40-meter band. It uses a direct-conversion receiver with a tunable bandpass filter, audio shaping, and muting, paired with a simple two-stage transmitter with sidetone and QSK. Output is about half a watt. This build is still in progress and is being developed to support curriculum design for Professor Farhat’s Wireless Communication Circuits course (EECE 4574).
- Comfortable lab space with 24/7 access, especially useful for late-night soldering.
- Soldering stations and tools.
- Test equipment for circuit debugging and measurements.
- Extra components and replacements (e.g. jumpers, capacitors) that not only filled in for a couple of missing parts but also let me go beyond the standard kit build, making the wiring and layout much cleaner.
AIR
Part of a Cornerstone project, AIR demonstrates multiple "clients" and a "controller" communicating over a single 433 MHz channel. Off-the-shelf radio modules are paired with a custom protocol written by Vlad based on time-division multiplexing, assigning timeslots to eliminate interference between clients.
- Soldering stations and test equipment (oscilloscope, function generators)
- Misc. equipment (coax, cables, speakers, etc.)
- Consumables (protoboards, components, wires, ferrite materials)
- Referenced electronics books from the shack library
- Peer discussions and troubleshooting in the lab
- Borrowed radio modules specifically for AIR
AM Receiver (WIP)
A simple diode detector AM receiver that demodulates radio into audio using a ferrite-rod antenna. It is a simple design that does not allow tuning, so the strongest local station dominates. PCB and tuning improvements are still in progress.
- Soldering stations and test equipment (oscilloscope, function generators)
- Misc. equipment (coax, cables, speakers, etc.)
- Consumables (protoboards, components, wires, ferrite materials)
- Referenced electronics books from the shack library
- Peer discussions and troubleshooting in the lab
CW Transmitter
Vlad's first project with radio! A Colpitts oscillator driving a random wire antenna with a carrier wave. The transmitter operates only while the button is pressed, allowing Morse code transmission. Despite limited frequency stability, a clear signal was received a few feet away using an SDR.
- Soldering stations and test equipment (oscilloscope, function generators)
- Misc. equipment (coax, cables, speakers, etc.)
- Consumables (protoboards, components, wires, ferrite materials)
- Referenced electronics books from the shack library
- Peer discussions and troubleshooting in the lab