Ian Renton

Software engineer and builder of robots
Bournemouth, UK

Hi! I'm Ian. My hobbies include tinkering with robots, radios and computers. For work I do the same stuff but get paid for it. I'm also a keen amateur cook, gardener and photographer.

You can email me at ian@ianrenton.com, view my CV, or find me on the air as MØTRT.

Recent Projects

UKBOTA n-fer finder

Another fusion of my previous amateur radio mapping Python tools, this script finds areas where the activation zones of three or more bunkers overlap in the UK Bunkers on the Air programme, and outputs the result as KML.

Check out the project →
QSO Map Tool

Following the shutdown of the tool I used to make QSO maps for my blog posts, I decided to implement my own. I have expanded it to include some extra features I wanted to see, such as custom icons for outdoor activities, changeable basemaps and marker sizes, etc.

Use the web application →
POTA New Park Finder

For anyone chasing Parks on the Air (POTA) completion in their local area, this web-based tool shows local parks coloured according to whether you, or anyone, has activated them. POTA New Park Finder is a synthesis of my two recent Python-based utilities for POTA, but reworked as an interactive web application that is free for anyone to use.

Use the web application →

Famous Projects

Raspberry Tank

The Raspberry Tank was possibly the first tank-like robot powered by a Raspberry Pi, way back in 2012. It’s smartphone- or laptop-controlled, streams video from its webcam, fires plastic pellets and can navigate autonomously.

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Field Spotter

An easy-to-use, mobile-first Amateur Radio spotting tool for POTA, SOTA & WWFF. It provides a geographical and band position display, with filtering, to allow you to easily find park-to-park and summit-to-summit contacts.

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Plane/Sailing

“Plane/Sailing” is my home tracker for aircraft, ships and more! It receives radio signals via antennas on my house, processes them to share with popular tracking websites, and displays the combined results on a website using military symbology.

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Big Mouth Phatt Bass

To quote Winston Churchill, “No hour of life is wasted, that is spent making a Billy Bass play techno.” Big Mouth Phatt Bass is a Billy Bass hack using an ESP32 microcontroller to sync the fish motion to a variety of new songs.

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Linux on Linx 1010B Tablet

A guide on how to install Linux, plus a few bonus operating systems, on the low-cost Linx 1010B Windows tablet.

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Roast Dinner Timing Chart

Some Javascript magic to help you cook the perfect Sunday roast. Simply select your ingredients and a time to serve, and it will generate you a list of timed steps.

Use the web application →
Hypixel Skyblock Bazaar Flipping Calculator

A quick weekend project to help my kid make money in the Hypixel Skyblock Minecraft server, this simple JavaScript tool has rapidly become the most searched-for of all my software.

Use the web application →

Older Projects

Home Meteogram Display

My home Meteogram display is a passive weather and calendar display that lives in the kitchen and provides a customised weather forecast for the coming days on an ultra-wide screen.

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USV-01 “Harry Paye”

USV-01 “Harry Paye” is an off-the-shelf remote control boat refitted as a testbed for an autonomous navigation system, capable of speeds up to 40 knots.

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Quadcopter

Because the Raspberry Tank was confined to just the two boring dimensions, I built a quadcopter and put a Raspberry Pi on that too. It features live video streaming and is switchable between remote and autonomous control.

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All-Terrain Pi

The All-Terrain Pi is a “off-road” remote control toy fitted with a Raspberry Pi, with live video streaming, controllable by touch/tilt input from a smartphone, and capable of running programs written in Scratch.

Read more →

More Projects →

Blog

52 Week Ham Radio Challenge Roundup: Weeks 25-28

Written on Sunday 13 Jul 2025

If you’ve read the first post in this series or are playing along yourself, you’ll be aware of the 52 Week Ham Radio Challenge. If not, hit up that link for the details! This post covers the challenges from weeks 25-28, which were: Locate local noise sources in your shack/flat/house....

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Back Here Again: A Return to Win Green, and a Year of Portable Amateur Radio in Review

Written on Sunday 29 Jun 2025

Win Green, the highest point in Cranbourne Chase. From the small copse of trees on top of this hill, you can see for miles in every direction; to Stourhead in the north, towards Southampton in the east, and to the south, all the way to home and the sea. Panorama...

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Flashing OpenGD77 on the Retevis RT-3S

Written on Friday 27 Jun 2025

A while back I purchased a Retevis RT-3S radio, as I wanted to try out the OpenGD77 firmware’s advanced features for working satellites. I have now managed to flash the OpenGD77 firmware onto the radio, thanks to the information detailed on this page, this official thread and this video. However,...

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POTA Activation Report: The River Frome

Written on Monday 23 Jun 2025

GB-2522 River Frome Site of Special Scientific Interest had stood unactivated for around nine months, and had been on my to-do list for almost that long as well. The SSSI stretches all the way from Dorchester to Wareham, but encompasses only a few tiny scraps of riverbank—mostly, it’s just the...

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Bunkerfest 2025: The Hike to the Huff Duff

Written on Monday 16 Jun 2025

Despite Saturday’s poor band conditions on 40m, I was saved from a disappointing activation by the huge number of Bunkerfest stations on the air. But while I was benefitting from Bunkerfest, there was no bunker near my summit, so I wasn’t really contributing. Of course I couldn’t let that stand,...

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