Carolina Flashers
Photonics Group
| Welcome to the Carolina Flashers Photonics Group |
The Ramsey Electronics LB56C LED Communicator Kit is as good an introduction into light-beam communications as any. We use the term “light-beam” loosely here. The transmitter actually sends an infrared signal that’s invisible to the naked eye, but we’ll discuss how to finesse that later. Ramsey states that these kits will work across a thirty foot path as supplied, and will do a quarter mile “LOS” (line of sight) with “simple lenses.” At $34.95 plus $11.34 UPS ground shipping (as of January, 2010) on Ramsey's own website, it’s certainly affordable even at list price, and if you've never put an electronics project kit together it’s also as good an introduction to kit building as any. |
A quick internet search revealed quite a few different distributors for this and other Ramsey kits at varying prices, and we chose All Spectrum Electronics, which, at $28.99 plus $5.12 first class mail shipping (as of January, 2010), seemed to be the most economical supplier. We received our kit in perfect condition about two days after placing our online order. Your mileage may vary, of course... |
Several plastic bags contain all the components, and these, with the printed circuit board(s), are inside a blister pack along with the attractive “Ramsey style” plastic enclosure. A set of matching knobs is included so that your completed kit will have a finished look to it. Accompanying the parts is a generally well written manual which, with only a few exceptions (noted later), makes for an easy job of assembly and test. The kit is actually two-kits-in-one: The LB5 LED transmitter and LB6 photodiode receiver are side-by-side on a single printed circuit board, and they can be separated and used individually by easily snapping the circuit board apart at its perforations, assuming there is any valid reason to do so. The whole shebang is powered by a single 9V battery that lives within the enclosure, and two jumper wires run the DC power from the transmitter board to the receiver board. |
Unlike virtually every HF Amateur Radio transceiver that’s ever been made, the transmitter and the receiver boards of the LB56C both operate at the same time, which means that you have the luxury of full duplex operation. Therefore, if you’re experimenting with light-beam communication by yourself, you only need one kit. You can listen to yourself speak by aiming the unit at a retroreflector to receive your own transmissions. Of course, if you actually intend to communicate back and forth with someone else located at a distant end, you’ll each need a kit of your own. |
Well, so much for the preliminaries. Let’s get out the diagonal cutters, the needle nose pliers, and the soldering iron and start stuffing components into that PC board! |
