Several months ago, the best and brightest of the embedded engineering community were challenged to compete against each other in the ZiLOG Flash for Cash Z8 Encore®! International Design Contest. They responded in droves, submitting cutting-edge electronics projects developed in labs from every corner of the globe. For weeks the judges sifted through the pile of submissions, slowly whittling down the number of possible candidates for the Grand Prize. And then there was one.

Congratulations to Glen Worstell, whose Ham Radio Repeater Locator has taken the top spot. The device consists of a ZiLOG microcomputer with the locations and frequencies of several thousand repeaters stored in its flash memory. In addition to displaying the distance to the nearest eight repeaters, a detail line shows the frequency and tone for the selected one. Glen’s design is sure to be a hit with all of the ham radio enthusiasts out there.

The judges have rewarded several other designers for their effort. Despite the apparent differences between these designs, they all have one thing in common, the Z8 Encore!® MCU. If this contest proves nothing else, it’s that the Z8 Encore!® definitely accelerates design development while reducing system cost.

Grand Prize: Ham Radio Repeater Locator
Glen Worstell

First Prize: Multilab
Brian Millier

Second Prize: Karaoke and Audio Processor
Bradley Stewart

Third Prize: Crane Robotics Controller
Indranil Majumdar

Honorable Mention

Distinctive Merit