Queen piping...

[Floss]

I had the wonderful experience tonight of sitting by my hive with an old stethoscope listening to the queen (s) piping (yes, it was, I checked it out on line!) along with the extroidinary range of other communication going on in my strongest colony! An amazing sound!

So I would recommend getting one to anyone who has'nt one - get a stethoscope !

Floss

 

[BDaddy]

So I would recommend getting one to anyone who has'nt one - get a stethoscope !

Floss

Totally agree Floss I think the stethoscope should be on the list of essential equipment. I use mine everyday on each of my hives. As you say there's a wealth of information you get from listening to whats going on inside. Fascinating stuff!

 

[Tempus Fugit]

have you followed this thread and this post ?

 

[steve1958]

My family think I'm daft enough already in keeping Bees in the garden.
If they see me out there dressed as a Dr with a stethoscope listening to the Bees.
They will really think I have lost it

I shall give it a go anyway

 

[Floss]

have you followed this thread and this post ?

Tx, thats v interesting and, as I suspect they are going to swarm (if they have'nt already) as soon as it gets warm enough!!!! I have split this hive already - lots of capped queens dealt with, a suspersedure cell left and a novices assumption that nature will do her thing regardless despite my efforts......

Floss

 

[SixFooter]

Great! Yet another piece of kit to buy!

 

[Tempus Fugit]

you're saved,
the Woods Apidictor has been out of production for over 30 years :lol:
(unless you know differently !)

 

[Repwoc]

... but you can make your own:

http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/apidictor/

 

[Tempus Fugit]

oh yes, just try and source those components these days, Ha !

you'd have to be pretty electronics-savvy to devise an equivelant circuit using current technology and (as a qualified electronics engineer) I would suggest that you would need a fair bit of test equipment to set up and test the filters, it's not a traditional shed or kitchen table DIY job for the typical handyman !

 

[Roy S]

http://www.vintage-parts.com/transistors.htm#aname

Cant see anything in the component list that cant be got hold of or substituted.....if anyone wants to be bothered that is!

 

[Tempus Fugit]

http://www.vintage-parts.com/transistors.htm#aname

Cant see anything in the component list that cant be got hold of or substituted.....if anyone wants to be bothered that is!

the obvious problem components are the magic eye indicator and the high voltage transformer to feed it, as I said it would be a complete redesign job to avoid the problem of finding the chokes in the filter circuits.

 

[Roy S]

You can still get them, but would you be bothered, the reason I keep bees is to go through hives and actually see for myself whats going on, not having to build and look at something that resembles some old ex military test kit.....and having done 9 years as a radar tech in the RAF(many moons ago)....I've seen a fair bit of it.

Nope, a stethoscope could do....but I'd still rather know for certain

 

[CliffDale]

I'm would class myself as an electronics boffin and could recommend a source of components from various companies.

Unfortunately the circuit diagram blurs out when you zoom in so I cant see the values of components.

Can anyone post a clear image of the circuit diagram?

First impressions seems that components are outdated. I would be happy to simplify the diagram and post up date parts. All I need is a clear image!

Also price list is way out of date!!!

Thyristor £5.00 Ha! 35p now
Cliff

 

[plumberman]

It's in an odd place, but right at the bottom of the blurb on the beesource page under the Authors name (T.R.Boys) is the link to the pdf file that has a far better image as well as other details

http://www.beesource.com/files/apidictor.pdf

 

[Onge]

I'm would class myself as an electronics boffin and could recommend a source of components from various companies.

Unfortunately the circuit diagram blurs out when you zoom in so I cant see the values of components.

Can anyone post a clear image of the circuit diagram?

First impressions seems that components are outdated. I would be happy to simplify the diagram and post up date parts. All I need is a clear image!

Also price list is way out of date!!!

Thyristor £5.00 Ha! 35p now
Cliff

That sounds like a plan.

I may even break out the old strip board

Seriously I would love it if you updated the design and components, would be a good project for next winter.

 

[wightbees]

This got me thinking and would a pc program work just as good?
Theres beens some research into it , i have read here>(not the software but Audio sound bees)
http://www.sze.hu/~botzheim/evoluci...cation of queen bees in honeybee colonies.pdf

 

[roche]

There are plenty of audio spectrum analysers on the net - all you need is a microphone to run into your PC.

 

[wightbees]

and someone to explain what it all means to me lol

 

[roche]

Doesn't babelfish work?

 

[Hombre]

No, but Google translate is getting close . . .
Without looking, I seem to recollect that the apidictor circuit functions and operation are described. I don't claim that it's easy, but function by function it should be replicable using modern techniques such as active filters - I got the impression that the filters were for ranges of frequencies, with no hard and fast boundaries and led display technology is very capable. The nature of the display need not be the same as long as it's display is understood.

In it's day the Apidictor was a very technical piece of kit, but should hold no great mysteries in this day and age when a lot of the theories are known by a great many more people - I think.

If the sound care can simultaneously decode 16+ psk31 signals off air and MorseRunner do much the same for CW signals, then there is talent out their to make a degree of sense from the audio in a hive, if only to log and condense it to provide a synopsis over time that can be interpreted by a viewer.

Build on the shoulders of giants such as Mr Woods. Computers weren't built to play solitaire.