Santa is On the Air Via Ham Radio

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Santa is On the Air Via Ham Radio

As Christmas approaches, many amateur radio clubs carry out an annual tradition of helping kids talk directly to Santa Claus while he is still at the North Pole before his big ride.

On Saturday 10th December 2022, the Wallingford Amateur Radio Group in Connecticut connected kids to Santa and Mrs. Claus via amateur radio during their Calling Santa event. The group organizes the event in cooperation with the Wallingford Health Department, Youth & Social Services, and support from an Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) grant to the Meriden Amateur Radio Club (MARC).

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Big Promise from Ultra-Tiny Battery

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Battery technology continues to change, and the latest evolution announced recently is a super-small rechargeable "micro-battery" with a high tolerance for variations in temperature - and a lifespan of between one and two decades. Kent Peterson KCØDGY tells us about this new development and what scientists are saying about it.

A company in France believes it has come up with the latest solution to provide battery power for micro-power devices. The company, ITEN, has developed an ultra-small rechargeable lithium battery. At first glance, the surface-mount solid-state battery might easily be mistaken for an SMD chip as its housing is only slightly larger than the battery's own dimensions of 3.2 by 2.5 mm. They are, of course, not chips: These batteries have a capacity of between 0.1 mAh and 0.5 mAh. They were found capable of tolerating temperatures between minus 40 degrees Celsius, or minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, all the way to 85 degrees Celsius, or 185 degrees Fahrenheit.

Their ability to deliver peak currents make them especially useful for powering RF transmissions such as Bluetooth, Sigfox and LTE, to deliver packets of data via sensors. The website, CNX software, also sees the batteries as being useful for sensor data loggers, beacons and backup power supplies for microcontrollers.

The solid-state technology is considered another plus contributing toward a usable lifespan of between 10 and 20 years. The company has said the batteries are also fast-charging.

“We’d be particularly interested to learn about their temperature sensitivity when it comes to soldering, as we’ve taken to heart the warnings about soldering to more traditional lithium cells.”
— Hackday

The website noted that there are apparently some evaluation kits available directly from the company in France.