
counter to give you an erroneous output when
you first power it up. For similar reasons, a 1µF
capacitor is added to the phototransistor output.
Only one series resistor is used for the 10
LEDs, because only one of them will be powered
at a time.
You can add a beeper and arrange with your
friend that they should send you a single pulse
if they want to communicate. Then you can
send a single pulse in response, indicating that
you’re ready to receive. In the world of serial
communications, such preliminary signals are
known as “handshaking.”
The photograph in Figure
N
shows my
complete test setup using separate breadboards
for sending and receiving. ...