[450] I/Q and cheap Spectrum Analyzers

[David McKenzie]

And if you do for some reason need a radiation source, go buy a smoke detector.

On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 9:46 PM, David McKenzie <k1fsy at vhfwiki.com> wrote:
> you don't need a radioactive source, you can sample background
> radiation like sparkfun did with their 2012 free day for true
> randomness.
>
> On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 9:39 PM, John Foege <john.foege at gmail.com> wrote:
>> While the bulk emission of radioactive sources can be modeled
>> probabilistically via a poisson process, the individual emissions of
>> alpha, beta, gamma rays (whichever you fancy) are totally
>> non-deterministic and thus provide a fantastic source of real
>> randomness.
>>
>> And the fact that it's possible to build such a thing with crap
>> scrounged from old 1950s labs on ebay...that's the coolest part!
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 3:36 AM, John Foege <john.foege at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> My mind is too busy contemplating building a quantum random number
>>> generator to be of any use to you guys right now....
>>>
>>> 2kV PSU, scintillator, photomultiplier, some pulse shaping and
>>> sampling circuitry and voila...
>>>
>>> Where the f* am I going to get a radioactive source though? Anyone has
>>> some Cesium laying around? :P
>>>
>>> And the question that will indoubtedly be asked is, WHY? Why? Because
>>> science is damned interesting!
>>>
>>> On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 1:21 AM, Bob <n1ujs at toast.net> wrote:
>>>> Well get on board and help us out Mr. Technology!  We want a dongle device
>>>> which interfaces your PC with an rf sampler and allows you to measure
>>>> deviation, maybe even turns your PC into a scope and whatever else we can
>>>> add to it.  We need to make it and market it before anyone else does in a
>>>> package simple and cheap enough for the average ham.  Are you in?  We could
>>>> be rich!!!
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 10:52 AM, John Foege <john.foege at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> When I saw you guys (Bob and Dave) mentioning these things, I think it
>>>>> warmed my heart for a few milliseconds....
>>>>>
>>>>> :)
>>>>>
>>>>> Awesome indeed that you are starting to get as nerdy as me about the
>>>>> electronics....
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> 450 mailing list
>>>>> 450 at lists.vhfwiki.com
>>>>> http://lists.vhfwiki.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/450
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> 450 mailing list
>>>> 450 at lists.vhfwiki.com
>>>> http://lists.vhfwiki.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/450
>>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 450 mailing list
>> 450 at lists.vhfwiki.com
>> http://lists.vhfwiki.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/450