Category Homebrew

CLI for dutch water data

Here in the Netherlands we have a public organisation named Rijkswaterstaat. This organization keeps track of all the water in and around our country. Think about sea levels, locks in rivers, etc. To do so they have an extensive network…

CLog 1.2: maintenance release

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There is a small but consistent group of users of my command line logbook software named ‘CLog’. The project has been hibernating for some years, however thanks to some user questions and issues I recently released version 1.2 (and today…

The Morse Challenge!

Geocaching is a popular hobby here in The Netherlands. Since my wife and I search for these caches from time to time, the idea came to me to build a cache myself, one that challenges geocachers to listen and decode…

Walt’s Keyer

Almost every nerd is a fan of automation. So whenever we find a repetitive job, we think of a solution to automate it. Since I’m both into automation and amateur radio, I was thinking on automating one of my straight…

Prepare for a new time!

Time… For some reason we tend to stick to an ancient system which has no logic at all. Let’s be honest: if we would invent a new time system nowadays, it would probably not have 7 days in a week,…

My first bat detector

During the summer season bats fly around almost every day in the twilight. I spot them in the evening, when they fly along our house and hunt for small flying insects, mostly mosquitoes and flies. Their soundless air show is…

SOTAbeams Go4Lo SWR-Power Indicator kit

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Adrian PA0RDA heard about the SOTAbeams Go4Lo SWR-Power Indicator. Since it has an audible SWR indicator, it sounded interesting for blind operators. So he ordered a kit and asked me to build it. This article discusses my findings regarding this…

CLog transferred to GitHub

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Recently I have transferred the CLog software to my GitHub repository. I’m currently centralizing my code at GitHub since I wanted to get rid of sourceforge.net (my previous repository for CLog) and prefer GitHub nowadays.

How to get rid of your prototype board

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When you started discovering microcontrollers, you probably bought some kind of evaluation or prototype board. The microcontroller chip itself is placed in a nice socket on a PCB, surrounded by power circuit, some I/O, and RS232 or USB connector for…

Step attenuator kit

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I’m the proud owner of a MiniVNA for quite a few years already. One of its features is that you can use it as an RF signal generator. However, the output power cannot be adjusted, so I needed an attenuator.…

Short DL6WU yagi for 23cm

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In the previous Winter I built a HB9CV-in-a-box for 23cm for my uplink to the local ATV repeater PI6ATV. Although this antenna works nicely, its gain just isn’t enough when their 23cm preamp is broken (which, unfortunately, is the case…

Simple signal tracer

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I found a really simple project for kids to attract them to homebrewing and hamradio. It is also very nice for people who want to learn soldering electronics. It’s a “signal tracer”, which means it detects all kinds of RF…

5/8 Wave vertical antennas for HF

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Lots of radio amateurs build their own verticals. Most of them tend to stick to vertical antennas with a 1/4 or 1/2 wave sizing. Just a happy few build a 5/8 wave vertical antenna. This is remarkable, since the 5/8…