Matt MØPUH @m0puh@mastodon.radio

Enjoying #introductions, so here's mine:

I got my full license in July, having done my intermediate in Jan and Foundation in Dec, so I consider myself a newbie with an M0 license.

Got into radio to regain some knowledge in electronics (I have a degree in it, but don't use it for work so have forgotten a LOT).

Loving it so far, especially construction and and messing with digital modes. Definitely still a bit mic shy but working on it!

Also, I 100% recommend the Bath based courses!

I love these "copper tape" circuits https://hackaday.com/2020/01/15/the-flexible-permanence-of-copper-tape-circuits/

#electronics

Found a really (suspiciously?) cheap FT817 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00OD1432I - £309.00

#hamradio

https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/Electronics-Winfield-Hill-Paul-Horowitz/product/0521809266?active=price_amazon&context=home_popular confirmed!

It's not currently in stock but this is a great price for "The Art of Electronics (3rd edition)" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronics-Winfield-Hill-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521809266 £23.50!

I must have paid about £50 when I was an undergrad back in the 00s 😂

Got a lovely anodised red case for my new 60% keyboard. Really pleased with the effect!

Slightly old news, but this business card which also runs linux is neat: https://www.thirtythreeforty.net/posts/2019/12/my-business-card-runs-linux/

Today's project was Cordwood Puzzle 1, a secret santa present from a good mate.

Just hard enough to complete without cheating! (although I should have left the leads longer to keep things symmetrical).

Oh, and Happy New Year all!

I updated my website to use a different Hugo theme and switched comments to commento (https://commento.io/) from disqus.

I also disabled google analytics (inspired by my instance buddies!).

Not 100% sure about the theme yet, and I see there's a fair amout of link-rot, but it's clean and quick. Oh, and @ https://hackerific.net

Happy Holidays everyone!

Here's hoping everyone gets a bit of quality time with some random projects 🥂

So far, I've repaired Dad's PSU (it works!) and build a new 60% mechanical keyboard. Some info here: https://github.com/mattfoster/gh60-satan-keymap Fun times!

Just pulled a dead rectifier from Dad's EP-925 PSU.

It's basically identical to the PS-30M I have which I repaired last year when a pass transistor shorted. Chunky and hard to get inside but generally fairly simple.

Fingers crossed this is the only problem with it. 🤞

#hamradio #repair

@carbontwelve Please add me to Ham Radio. #Trunk

Forgot to mention I found the AirSpy HF repo on github: https://github.com/airspy/airspyhf

These tools work with the Airspy HF+ Discovery on the Pi and Mac, (although I did still need a windows box to update the firmware). They're also not yet packaged on Debian, or in the official homebrew project.

I've not had much time to play, but I think airspyhf_rx should work a lot like the RTL tools.

Also, this blog has a lot of cool content, even though I can't read it: spinorlab.matrix.jp/ja/page/3/

#sdr

Well that was depressing to wake up to!

Looking around for some interesting/good news, I've found:

https://github.com/jketterl/openwebrx -- A fork of OpenwebRX with support for AirSpy HF+ (https://groups.io/g/airspy/message/33180)

Also, someone put an ultrasonic transducer on an SDR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8z02pICisM So I could you could use this to make a bat detector? It's super cool to hear the doppler shift.

#hamradio #amateurradio #sdr

Put a fixed pulley on the top of my antenna pole last night, and added a section of conduit to keep the cord close to the pole.

Hopefully that'll stop it jangling in the wind.

#hamradio #amateurradio

Just got to work and took off my jumper…

I then touched my keyboard and got a massive static shock…

Which killed the USB port on my dock!

I wonder if the same thing would have happened to the computer if i was attached directly.