Vintage tube radios are nostalgic. The crackle of the game on the after dark high powered AM station from 500 miles away. The smell of the tubes and the warmth of the tones. They remind us of simpler times. Times when families sat together – not blankly staring unengaged at the TV, bur rather talking, reading, playing games and enjoying each other’s company.
So often I see these beautiful old radios ripped apart and stuffed with trendy soon to be outdated electronics. This is not that kind of story. This is a story of a radio rescue and a modern modular non-invasive upgrade.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
