Blog
The blog is here to compliment the projects. Most of the useful stuff will be in the Projects documentation but here you’ll find some stuff that is ’time based’. There’s room in the world for proper blogs. If you want micro blogging then the fediverse is where the cool kids hang out.I use the mastodon.radio server. Feel free to join me and the others there. I can be contacted through XMPP on the same server
52 Week Challenge
Rather than have 1 post per week, I will be posting a weekly update on my progress in the 52 Week Challenge. ✅ is done 🚧 is work in progress ❌ is not started Week 1 - Design a QSL card ✅ Job done. The QSL card on the front page is mine…ordered some and so I’ll have to use them now. The JoyPlot is the bit I’m keen on as it comes from the Joy Division album Unknown Pleasures which was done by Peter Saville. There’s a subtle red dot for the QTH and the font is Acid and the logo’s were just turned into single colour ones as opposed to multiple colours.
August 6, 2025
zBitX
The zBitX is a software defined radio (SDR) project that comes from teh the ‘Bit’ stable of HF radio. The specs and details can be found on the link so I’m not going to repeat them here. Needless to say I’m writing about it because I bought one. Why did I buy one when I already have a few little HF rigs? Well, because this one is different. The rig runs off a Raspberry Pi Zero (Oh and the screen is managed with a Raspberry Pi Pico). So what? Well this means that a cheap, small and basic radio can have all sorts of additional features packed into it. Out of the box is does what you might expect, CW, SSB and AM but also FT8. I’m by no means and FT8 user but making the mode integrated into the radio makes for a totally different proposition.
August 1, 2025
Wefax
For a few years I’ve dipped into Wefax. I like the idea of a receiver trotting along and generating images from sound. I suppose it is a bit nostalgic but there’s something nicer about investing in a result rather than jusy turning it on. Setting up a reciever and decoding software to optimise the picture, only to be presented with a fuzzy output isn’t entirely awesome either. So, the happy medium is something that Patrick, ON4CDJ pointed me towards today. I’d been struggling to get a decent image out of the GYA and DDH/DDK Transmissions. So to improve things I’d switched to my Airspy HF+ Discovery receiver (which is amazing btw) only to be stumped with piping audio from one place to another.
March 26, 2025
LoRa
For a little while now I’ve been mucking about with LoRa devices. These modules come in all sorts of varieties but all have a few things in common. A microcontroller and at least a LoRa module. Quite a few are ESP32 based with SX… LoRa modules and other are nRF… modules. Basically they are really similar and they seem to be an offshoot of IoT devices. But….and here’s the useful bit. There are 433MHz versions as well as 868MHz versions.
January 13, 2025
Update to site
This is the start of a different approach to documenting my stuff. Hope it all works out. Main points are Its still using Hugo The ‘Digital Garden’ didn’t really work for me This format is a better fit.
December 1, 2024