David Bellerose, a retired electronic equipment repairman for the New York State Thruway, has had a variety of careers that have honed the DIY skills he employs in his Lady Lake, FL, workspace.
Bellerose has been a US Navy aviation electronics technician and a computer repairman. “I also ran my own computer/electronic and steel/metal welding fabrication businesses, so I have many talents under my belt,” he says.
Bellerose’s Protostation, purchased on eBay, is on top shelf (left). He designed the setup on the right, which includes a voltmeter, a power supply, and transistor-transistor logic (TTL) oscillators. A second protoboard unit is on the middle shelf (left). On the right are various Intersil ICM7216D frequency-counter units and DDS-based signal generator units from eBay. The bottom shelf is used for protoboard storage.
Bellerose’s project interests include model rockets, video security, solar panels, and computer systems. “My present project involves Intersil ICM7216D-based frequency counter modules to companion with various frequency generator modules, which I am also designing for a frequency range of 1 Hz to 12 GHz,” he says.
His workspace is an 8′-by-15′ shed lined with shelves and foldable tables. He describes how he tries to make the best use of the space available:
“My main bench is a 4′-by-6’ table with a 2’-by-6’ table to hold my storage drawers. A center rack holds my prototype units—one bought on eBay and two others I designed and built myself. My Tektronix 200-MHz oscilloscope bought on eBay sits on the main rack on the left, along with a video monitor. On the right is my laptop, a Heathkit oscilloscope from eBay, a 2.4-GHz frequency counter and more storage units. All the units are labeled.
“I try to keep all projects on paper and computer with plenty of storage space. My network-attached storage (NAS) totals about 23 terabytes of space.
“I get almost all of my test equipment from eBay along with parts that I can’t get from my distributors, such as the ICM7216D chips, which are obsolete. I try to cover the full EMF spectrum with my test equipment, so I have photometers, EMF testers, lasers, etc.”
The main workbench has a 4′-by-6′ center rack and parts storage units on the left and right. The main bench includes an OWON 25-MHz oscilloscope, storage drawers for lithium-ion (Li-on) batteries (center), voltage converter modules, various project modules on the right, a Dremel drill press, and a PC monitor.
Photo 3: This full-room view shows the main bench (center), storage racks (left), and an auxiliary folding bench to work on large repairs. The area on right includes network-attached storage (NAS) and two PCs with a range extender and 24-port network switch.
Various versions of Bellerose’s present project are shown. The plug-in units are for eight-digit displays. They are based on the 28-pin Intersil ICM 7216D chip with a 10-MHz time base oscillator, a 74HC132 input buffer, and a 74HC390 prescaler to bring the range to 60 MHz. The units’ eight-digit displays vary from 1″ to 0.56″ and 0.36″.
This is a smaller version of Bellerose’s project with a 0.36″ display mounted over an ICM chip with 74HC132 and 74HC390 chips and 5-V regulators. Bellerose is still working on the final PCB layout. “With regulators, I can use a 9-V adapter,” he says. “Otherwise, I use 5 V for increased sensitivity. I use monolithic microwave (MMIC) amplifiers (MSA-0486) for input.”
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