Beautiful Homes

Archive for August, 2006

Question: Best RC transmitter for underwater torpedo type thing I want to build.?

Ok I’ve got this 4’’ O.D. x 50" pipe that I’m going to build a torpedo shaped underwater sub thing in. It will have pumps, a camera, lights, servos, and batteries, homemade circuits all that good stuff. But what’s the best way to control the thing I was thinking an RC transmitter but that might be sort of hard and I don’t know how good it would work underwater, but I was also thinking of doing it with Parallax transceivers and a homemade remote dashboard control thing maybe even computer software if I get adventures. Or is it better to do all this with a tether.

Answer: Best rf transmitter is not an RF transmitter at all. At most RF frequencies water either attenuates or absorbs the radio waves to such a degree that transmission at most useful frequencies is almost impossible.

You can use som eVLF, or very low frequency rf to transmit data. Best bet would be to use a modulated sonic or ultrasonic system to transmit and receive data and contr0l signals. Basically sonar. Something in the 50 to 100KHz range should work.

You will need to find either surplus sonar transducers, or possibly get a hold of an old Fish finder or depth finder from Ebay or another source. You can probably modify it to send and receive data other than finding fish or the sea bottom depth.

Believe it or not, it would be a relatively simple process to say, modulate the sonar wave with a signal from an IR remote, and detect it at the other end as a sound wave that modulates an LED and couples the data transmission to one of those $3.49 IR detector/demodulators that Radio Shack sells. couple that to an onboard microcontroller like one from Microchip, and you might have a strange, but entirely feasible under water remote control!

Sounds like an interesting projects. Feel free to contact me and I might be able to help you out more. I started a few underwater projects myself, including an underwater "GPS" system for divers...Can help with the microcontroller stuff too.

Also, remember to come up with a dead reconning system to bring the thing back to the surface.
Oh yeh, the tether approach woul be much easier, but what fun would that be?

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Question: Where would I look to find the history of a piece of property, home and/or land?

We just purchased a piece of property and would like to find out if there is any "history" behind the house and/or land. The home is a beautiful victorian 2-story house in an older part of town. Just wondering

Answer: First thing is to search tax records of the property which usually starts at when the house was built,type,footage,taxes per year,add ones,etc. then move on to your library.

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Question: Can anyone tell me which is the best brand of interior paint out there?

I'm moving into a beautiful brand new home that of course will have white walls. The brand of paint I planned on usingwas Behr. I've been told there' a better one, but the person forgot the name of it. Help please

Answer: Consumer Reports, an unbiased, independent and nonprofit source, rated Behr (specifically their "Premium Plus" paints) as the number one interior paint.

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