E.T. Communicator (Phone Home)

Unfortunately, we were unable to meet the deadline of the Sci-Fi Contest; we refilled our oxygen tank, but we're actually still waiting on a UHF tuner.  Hopefully, HaD will have a Sci-Fi-Contest v2 that we can put this under, but otherwise, we'll keep the details posted here as we finish up.  Best of luck to everyone else who entered!  We saw some cool projects on Hackaday.io, and look forward to the results!

We did this a few days ago...the walkie-talkie...a simple component with a twist.Added long hook-up wire to the speaker and a coaxial cable in lieu of the antenna.

I want to kick that Murphy guy squah in the nahts...

We ran out of oxygen in the oxy-acetylene torch (while trying to remove the carbide tips on the sawblade and to bend the butter knife) and other issues have presented themselves changing out the new makeshift record player spindle.

(Photo of old spindle with freshly bored hole.)

The "new" spindle is [long enough, but] too thin, causing the platter to tilt ... we're working on a fix (without a 3D printer or CNC).  It would be nice to have exact-sized sleeve bearings, but it may just turn into papier mâché soaked in 3-in-1 if we can't find something feasible in the garage.  There could be some copper tubing hiding in a corner that might suffice....

WTF Murphy?  We're only modding collectibles from the 1980's...sheesh.

After exchanging parts between a Version 1 and a Version 2 Speak and Spell, we were finally able to get one of them working!

After hunting down a lot of parts, we're beginning to assemble this Rube Goldberg radio.  It seems there were a few details left out of the old magazine article and our other references, but this project is all about improvisation, engineering, creativity...or hacking, really.

Supershwa (finally) found a 24-tooth 10" sawblade at Home Depot that will store our "message"; this means we transmit only 24 characters in a loop through the Speak & Spell.  We could have used a saw blade with more teeth, but as it turns out, hunting down an old-fashioned, basic saw blade is really hard to do these days.  Now, we have a ton of varieties in the number of teeth, grain, body and expansion slots, gullets, shoulders and carbide tips ... all variables that have created issues in hunting down an appropriate blade.

For example:  the fork in the ratchet system seems to be catching on the small carbide tips of our chosen blade when retracting (pushing the saw blade backwards).  We may have to try tearing these off using pliers and an oxy-acetylene torch since they're welded to the tips.  We're glad it's only a $12 blade, because we're about to void another warranty in addition to our defilement of vintage memorabilia.

Schtuben is working with duct-tape and aluminum foil, attaching it to the golf umbrella in a manner that allows us to open/close it when needed (we do not have enough space for an always-open umbrella in the man cave).

We're also going to check with some elderly neighbors regarding the 70's/80's-era UHF tuner we have yet to acquire...we are hoping to find something in the depths of their attics or basements...cross your fingers for us; this has been the most difficult part to hunt down.

We found another (older) Speak and Spell with raised buttons instead of the membrane keyboard model we previously scavenged (the new one is just like the movie).  To top it off, we also found a small bundle of ancient 1930's-1950's wooden coat hangars we're about to drill holes in.

Somewhere out there, an antique collector is about to go postal on us.

Here's the jist of it:
The challenge will be in making this (somewhat) work as a makeshift ham radio.  It is all very doable in principle, but we expect difficulties with the UHF tuner (we have yet to find an appropriate model.)

Various parts we ordered on eBay are beginning to show up.  On Wednesday, the record player arrived; yesterday our Fisher Price Sky Talker walkie-talkies.  All of these items smell like the mildew of the ages...we're nailing "vintage" right on the head.

Today, I'm taking a trip to Walgreens to pick up bobby pins.  I know this will raise an eyebrow or two at the counter, but at least it's not tampons, right?