Blog Archive — 2023

A New Project: Plane/Sailing Portable

Written on Saturday 18 Nov 2023

As I lamented a few years back while first putting the Plane/Sailing system together, my location down in a “dip” prevents me having line of sight to any AIS-equipped vessels or APRS transponders. While AIS coverage is surprisingly workable, APRS tends to only get a few packets in if someone...

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First Steps with Winlink

Written on Sunday 20 Aug 2023

Just in time for this week, I saw a post from W0RMT advertising a Friday Winlink net, and figured I should take part! Winlink is a digital radio system that I’d not really considered using before. In terms of digital ham radio modes I’ve mostly played with the likes of...

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Spring, Year Four

Written on Friday 5 May 2023

Spring, year four. Just like each of the last thirty-something years, the blooming of the lilac trees brings with it May Day, my birthday, and the acceleration of Spring into the coming Summer. For the first time since I was three years old, one of those lilacs is in my...

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Making Meteograms in Python

Written on Sunday 9 Apr 2023

I have a couple of Raspberry Pi computers sitting around, and given the recent situation I figured I ought to at least use one for something. I thought I would have a go at some kind of passive information display, and discovered these ultra-widescreen displays which look pretty cool. At...

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Getting the Boat Back Together

Written on Sunday 26 Mar 2023

After seven years sat in storage, I have finally decided to dig my old RC boat out and have another go at it. I last touched it seven years ago, when I got it working as a remote control toy, but stopped short of getting it fully autonomous. There were...

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Look Mum, I made an AI!

Written on Saturday 4 Mar 2023

All the cool kids are making AI these days, and probably dooming the human race or whatever, so I made one too. Caveat: might just be a Markov chain bot? Ten years ago (ten years?!) I took part in something called NaNoGenMo—National Novel Generation Month. An alternative to its much...

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Rejecting the Infinite Scroll

Written on Saturday 28 Jan 2023

In an effort to be more conscious about time spent idly scrolling through “content” on my phone every day, I’ve decided on a new policy for apps: no infinite scroll. By this I mean making an effort not to use any app that offers an endless feed of posts or...

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Winter, Year Three

Written on Sunday 22 Jan 2023

Winter, Year Three. The cats put up with the frozen ground, while the foxes snooze on tarpaulin covering soil fertilised ready for the year to come.

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