{hacking,music,electronics,radio}
Here are the toots from my Mastodon account. If you’re into ham radio and technology this is a great inclusive server with an awesome mascot called Alex.
I just made myself a “Gherkin Express” 40% keyboard. It’s as big as a credit card, but fairly thick because I accidentally ordered the wrong size PCB.
Still, it worked once I filed the connector down! Instructions etc. at: https://www.40percent.club/2020/08/gherkin-express.html as well as endless awesome tiny keyboard projects.
10 days after the last RC we have WSJT-X 2.4.0-rc3.
It looks like the changes are mainly bug fixes, and this release is focussed on Q65. I guess it’s time to build more antennas!
Release notes at: https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/Release_Notes.txt
Announcement at:
https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/37240209/
Downloads in the normal place: https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html
→ View toot on mastodon.radioWSJT-X 2.4.0-rc2 has been announced.
This includes bug fixes and improvements to Q65 and removes the ISCAT mode. Expect 2.3.1 soon too.
Release notes at:
https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/Release_Notes.txt
Announcement at:
https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/37233410/
Downloads at: https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html as normal.
→ View toot on mastodon.radioSo ofcom is updating spectrum licenses to require that all stations comply with EMF exposure regulations because people are afraid of 5G and “electro-sensitivity” (TIL).
Here’s my favourite bit of the latest consultation:
Some, mainly confidential, respondents raised fears that 5G and other technologies could be used for surveillance and crowd control purposes.
At least the requirements will be fairly easy to comply with!
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/214663/emf-implementation-update.pdf
→ View toot on mastodon.radioHot on the heels of 2.3.0 WSJT-X 2.4.0-rc1 has been announced!
This adds a new experimental mode, Q65, “for minimal two-way QSOs over especially difficult propagation paths.”
Announcement at:
https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/37211965/
Downloads at: https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html as normal.
→ View toot on mastodon.radioOooh, now WSJT-X 2.3.0 GA has been released.
Release notes at: https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/Release_Notes.txt
Announcement at:
https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/37210392/
Downloads via: https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html
Headline features are “FST4 and FST4W, new digital protocols designed particularly for the LF and MF bands.”
There’s a 64-bit arm release for Pi users and a caveat that you might need to generate some locale config ( https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/37210475/).
→ View toot on mastodon.radioHot off the press: WSJT-X 2.3.0-rc4 is out.
This is a “stop-gap” to verify some changes in hamlib, plus a few other small changes.
Release notes at: https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/Release_Notes.txt
Announcement at:
https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/37204989/
→ View toot on mastodon.radioJust reading about the Raspberry Pi Pico: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-silicon-pico-now-on-sale/
It’s a microcontroller rather than a computer like the rest of the Pis but it seems super cheap compared to other similar products and it looks like it’ll be well supported.
→ View toot on mastodon.radioARRL reminds radio users that using radios for crime is a crime:
→ View toot on mastodon.radioHas anyone here come across “C Connectors” aka MIL-STD-348 ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_connector / https://www.amphenolrf.com/connectors/c-type-connectors.html)
Dad has a dummy load which uses this sort of socket and I can’t find parts! They look like really chunky BNC connectors, I’m assuming from the MIL code that it’s ex-military from the US.
→ View toot on mastodon.radio