READER INPUT

Young makers, DTV praises, a melted

museum, and a CRAFTer’s lament.

MAKE, Volume 19, is by far my favorite issue. The only thing I like more than a week in the shed with my tools and MAKE magazine is a week in the shed with tools, MAKE, and my son! Not only were there lots of projects for him and me, but he especially enjoyed the photos of young people who enjoy building too. (Dad says: good examples.) My wife and I hope this continues to be a regular feature. Great job! Thanks for remembering the younger builders, like my son, Marty.

—Matthew and Marty Ruane, Richland, Wash.

Thank you for an incredible magazine. I love it! In fact, we use MAKE in our museum’s Science Center for inspiration and to design experiments and exhibits for our visitors.

At the Science Center we have opened an exciting and very special exhibition about global climate change. Visitors have to put on rubber boots as the exhibition floor is covered with 10cm of water to illustrate the effect of increasing sea level.

Enormous melting ice cubes symbolize the melting of the Arctic ice cap. The visitors use remote controlled boats to visit kiosks representing different geographical places around the world. By entering one of the kiosk’s harbors with the boat, the visitor can start a short movie featuring a climate witness. The exhibition is very inventive and exciting, just like MAKE.

—Jon Haavie, Oslo, Norway

Norsk Teknisk Museum, tekniskmuseum.no

I really enjoyed the Make: television program on how to make a DTV antenna [Episode 4 at makezine.tv] , and I tried it. We were having problems getting TV reception on our old antenna. The signal strength was only 18%. After building the DTV antenna, all channels came in sharp and clear with a signal strength of 65%.

I only made a few changes on the one I built. Where the coat hangers crossed, I used heat-shrink

12 Make: Volume 20

tubing instead of electrical tape, and for a better connection, I used 2 washers where the transformer connects, sandwiching the connections between them. Thanks for the good and useful project.

—Len Hart, Niangua, Mo.

I am one of the sad saps who received MAKE as the consolation prize when CRAFT folded. This was not a chance for me to experience something new, since I was already a MAKE subscriber. I read that MAKE had planned on expanding to satisfy what CRAFT was doing, and for the last few issues since the end of CRAFT, I have felt satisfied. Now, with Volume 19, I feel like you have shaken off all former CRAFT subscribers to return to a more digital/tech-heavy focus. As far as some constructive criticism, here are things that I’d like to see:

• More projects that lean towards mechanical skills to balance out the digital.

• More projects about food/alcohol/beverage science and production.

Oooorrr, you could scrap that and just bring back CRAFT. I would still subscribe to both.

—Emily Armstrong, Troy, N. Y.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Emily, we’re glad you’re sticking with us and we remain committed to featuring all kinds of making in MAKE. Naturally Volume 19, the Robots issue, had lots of technology; we hope you’ll enjoy this new issue focused on projects for Kids of All Ages. And don’t forget about our content-rich website, craftzine.com, updated daily.

MAKE AMENDS

In Volume 19, page 79, “My Robot, Makey,” the 0.1μF capacitor is Jameco part #151116, not #15229. Thanks to reader Joseph E. Mayer for catching the error.

Also in Volume 19, we omitted Daniel Klaussen, who tested the instructions for the Speed Vest project, (page 100). Thanks, Daniel, for all your help!