This post is part of [tj]’s blog more in June challenge. You should join us and take part - just make 4 posts in June! As part of the general move to do more radio / do radio in a field, I’ve been doing radio in a field instead of preparing for it. Here’s a breakdown of the portable station, and what I’ve been doing with it. Radio My Radio is a Yaesu FT-891. …

This post is part of [tj]’s blog more in June challenge. You should join us and take part - just make 4 posts in June! As part of the general move to do more radio / do radio in a field, I’m configuring a raspberry pi to be a permanent companion to my radio. One challenge of the pi is the lack of any human interface equipment. In the past I’ve used 5" waveshare touchscreens and more fo amateur radio on a pi, but they just don’t cut it. …

This post is part of [tj]’s blog more in June challenge. You should join us and take part - just make 4 posts in June! As part of the general move to do more radio / do radio in a field, I’m configuring a raspberry pi to be a permanent companion to my radio. One challenge of the pi is the lack of an RTC, and this isn’t something I’m particularly fussy about fixing with dedicated hardware - typically it’s quite expensive. …

This post is part of [tj]’s blog more in June challenge. You should join us and take part - just make 4 posts in June! I have an amount of portable, HF radio equipment that I don’t use enough. One reason is just how awkward and cumbersome it can be to move everything around. I would like to have a small bag/box I can attach to a backpack or my bike before I go out. Powering things in the field is a significant part of that problem. …

So, I’ve been slowly working on the lights in the hackerspace. I’ve rewired them using Weidmuller WDU2.5 terminals on DIN rail, as this is what I use in work. It’s a pretty great system and lets me have clean wiring, easy to read wiring and things will probably be safer. The next steps I’d like to take are to implement the Internet of Shit on our LED lamps above the main workspaces. Because these are lights and need to be used by real people, they cannot be solely internet connected, that would be ridiculous. This means I’ll need to consider per-LED-BANK physical buttons to compliment my software implementation. We’ve got 4 banks of LEDs, so 4 inputs and 4 outputs will be needed. …