Michael (DL6MHC) @DL6MHC@mastodon.radio

#Introduction to mastodon.radio: I'm a newly licensed (July 19) amateur radio operator from Germany. My callsign is DL6MHC. I work in the field of information security, like to photograph on film, play games on 8-bit computers, support the FSFE, play chess (very unsuccessful) and prefer a command line over a GUI. Thanks for having me :)

The Hardrock-50 Remote Display is making progress. You can now execute shell scripts/programs on the server side or send predefined commands to the HR50 with a short or long push on the built-in button. In my case a short press switches antennas via a USB relay and a long press instructs the tuner to retune during the next transmission.

Server side code runs now threaded so there will be no conflicts of serial commands anymore.

I have to admit that I really don't like ESP/Arduino programming.

Is there a single board computer that can be powered directly with 13,8V DC? Doesn't need to be performant at all.

Coding a Python application for Windows is a weird experience but now I have a "fancy" tool to control and monitor my Hardrock-50 power amplifier over the network.

I think I have found a solution: A matrix server is now running on a dedicated VPS with several bridges: IRC, Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp. Looks very promising!

Dear Mastodonians! I have the problem that I have been recently forced to use Whatsapp. I bought a burner phone and got a prepaid SIM for it. This is a crappy solution and I am looking for an alternative. Something that forwards ingoing Whatsapp messages to Threema/Signal/etc. Maybe even to two different phones (wife's and mine). I don't need to be able to answer/send messages, only need to read them. And no, it is not possible to convince others not to use Whatsapp and yes, I need the messages.

I released two small projects last night:

* A Hardrock-50 API which basically wraps HTTP around the serial interface of the power amplifier
* A standalone, WiFi enabled, ESP32 based display that remotely displays all the information you could normally read from the LCD which is built into the Hardrock-50 power amplifier.

I wrote a blog post with further information here: https://qrz.is/hardrock50-remote-display/

What I wrote there should have been the alternative text for the image. I’m getting old…

ESP32 Board with OLED display showing information from a remote ham radio power amplifier

And the remote display is working! Next step will be to add some more API methods to alter settings on the PA via the ESP32 board.

The server side code is beta enough for production. Now I need to wait for the ESP32 board to arrive the next days.

Now I have this nice power amplifier running at a remote place and I am not able to read its display to gather important information like SWR, power of the selected band. And there's a unreachable button for initating the tuning cycle. :(

What did you say? Query the data from its serial port, wrap an API around it with Python Flask, order an ESP32 with an OLED, let it pull the data over the network and make a tiny, portable and wifi connected display? Maybe with a tune button?

Ok, let's go!

So this is the QSL card I received from the fiverr artist (with some minor edits by me). What do you think?

Yesterday I accidentally learned about Fiverr and suddenly had the idea to hire an artist to design a new QSL card for me. I have a good feeling about this after she obviously did some research and came back to me with photos of my QRZ page. I think it will be her first QSL card but I like her other work so I am very excited how it will turn out.

Trying to find the source of RFI that sporadically locks up my PA‘s controller. Today: shielding everything inside the transceiver that belongs to the data connection between the transceiver and the power amplifier.

3D printers are awesome! Bought a Behringer CMD DC-1 MIDI controller in order to control the software "SDR Console" with proper hardware buttons and knobs. The knob of the main rotary encoder was tiny and is now replaced with a self designed and printed larger VFO style knob.

I don’t know why but in order to develop a feeling for a software solution that is new to me, I read the docs on how to backup it for a full recovery. This gives me a quick idea on what makes it run and where and how it is configured. The quality of this section of the documentation gives me also an idea of the maturity of the product as well on how time is spent within the project.

I think I've found a satisfying solution for my unusal need to heat a server rack. A used mini PC from ebay with a i3 CPU is now in my rack running BOINC. I now support the project worldcommunitygrid.org with distributed CPU power while generating heat. There is even a Amateur Radio team you can join. If you like to join the team and to donor CPU time, you can use this referral link: https://join.worldcommunitygrid.org?recruiterId=1149800&teamId=J65RSMBR9N1
I don't get money for this, just a virtual badge ;)