by KYW's Paul Kurtz
While most kids are outside enjoying the summer, one group of middle schoolers spent time in the classroom this week learning the basics of wireless communications.
Twelve-year-old Joey Valenti has immersed himself in a world of wires and circuits.
Joey and ten of his classmates have taken the "Marconi challenge" -- a weeklong summer camp hosted by Temple University professor Dennis Silage.
Silage (right) describes the challenge:
"It's to send information from one point to another using infrared light beams, very similar to what a home remote control would be. But what they're learning is how to physically construct the circuit, what the spectrum of an infrared signal is, and how to make measurements like an engineer would do."
It sounds like pretty heady stuff, but these kids have the heads for it.
(sound of Morse code) "So that's K, Y, W..."
It's the sound of old-fashioned text messaging!
(Photo from Temple Univ.)
E-Mail Story
Print Story
