Author Archive
50MHz FT8 and aircraft scatter
Playing with the new FT8 mode on 50MHz, I spotted something interesting on semi-local signals affected by aircraft scatter. On JT65A, I notice quite a few UK stations affected by aircraft scatter – you can always tell by a slight (sometimes more than slight!) slant to the main trace.
What’s interesting on FT8 is that you get two separate decodes – one of the main signal and one of the reflected signal. Look at this screenshot and the signals from G0GGG
70MHz cumulative – and more SSTV from the ISS
Randomly, I was browsing through Facebook this morning and I noticed Paul G4RRA say that he was about to drive up to the site for the RSGB 70MHz cumulatives.
Although I only have the vertical available for 70MHz, I wondered what if anything I would be able to hear. Of course, having the Noble NR4SC readily available means that there is no fiddling around connecting up transverters. Which, on a sleepy Sunday morning might have been enough to to deter activity!
The SSTV activity from the ISS generates a huge amount of interest. I noticed some of the RTL-SDR groups on Facebook having a lot of fun decoding the pictures. Good publicity for the hobby!
70MHz cumulative – and more SSTV from the ISS
Randomly, I was browsing through Facebook this morning and I noticed Paul G4RRA say that he was about to drive up to the site for the RSGB 70MHz cumulatives.
Although I only have the vertical available for 70MHz, I wondered what if anything I would be able to hear. Of course, having the Noble NR4SC readily available means that there is no fiddling around connecting up transverters. Which, on a sleepy Sunday morning might have been enough to to deter activity!
The SSTV activity from the ISS generates a huge amount of interest. I noticed some of the RTL-SDR groups on Facebook having a lot of fun decoding the pictures. Good publicity for the hobby!
Raspberry Pi2 up and running; DUMP1090, Piaware, GPredict as well as browsing the web
The Raspberry Pi2 was delivered very quickly – thank you CPC! However, owing to a bit of silliness on my part I didn’t get it running until today. I’d assumed – always a dangerous thing – that the Pi2 used an SD card for its storage, like the Pi. Oh no it doesn’t! It uses a micro SD card. I didn’t discover this until I went to plug the SD card in!
Ah well. A quick Amazon order later and a micro SD card and an adapter was on the way. Those arrived here this morning, so I quickly prepared the micro SD card.
I had a bit of fun getting decent video on my rather old monitor in the shack and was starting to think I wasn’t going to find something better than VGA! However, a setting of hdmi_group=2 and hdmi_mode=16 gave me a reasonable compromise between getting a decent amount on the screen and being able to read it without green and yellow flashing in the background.!
The first bit of software I installed was the Gpredict satellite prediction program. It’s nice to have the map running in the shack. That went well and only seemed to be taking a very small percentage of CPU.
Then I installed RTLSDR and tested it, without any problems. I installed DUMP1090 – the ADS-B decoder as well as the Piaware software which uploads the ADS-B spots to Flightaware. Those programs run quite happily at the same time as Gpredict and use around 7% of CPU.
I fired up the Epiphany web browser and went to Twitter – again, the CPU was quite happy.
This looks very useful. I think I’d better order it a case!
Raspberry Pi2 up and running; DUMP1090, Piaware, GPredict as well as browsing the web
The Raspberry Pi2 was delivered very quickly – thank you CPC! However, owing to a bit of silliness on my part I didn’t get it running until today. I’d assumed – always a dangerous thing – that the Pi2 used an SD card for its storage, like the Pi. Oh no it doesn’t! It uses a micro SD card. I didn’t discover this until I went to plug the SD card in!
Ah well. A quick Amazon order later and a micro SD card and an adapter was on the way. Those arrived here this morning, so I quickly prepared the micro SD card.
I had a bit of fun getting decent video on my rather old monitor in the shack and was starting to think I wasn’t going to find something better than VGA! However, a setting of hdmi_group=2 and hdmi_mode=16 gave me a reasonable compromise between getting a decent amount on the screen and being able to read it without green and yellow flashing in the background.!
The first bit of software I installed was the Gpredict satellite prediction program. It’s nice to have the map running in the shack. That went well and only seemed to be taking a very small percentage of CPU.
Then I installed RTLSDR and tested it, without any problems. I installed DUMP1090 – the ADS-B decoder as well as the Piaware software which uploads the ADS-B spots to Flightaware. Those programs run quite happily at the same time as Gpredict and use around 7% of CPU.
I fired up the Epiphany web browser and went to Twitter – again, the CPU was quite happy.
This looks very useful. I think I’d better order it a case!
Raspberry Pi 2 ordered
I was excited to see the Raspberry Pi 2 announced today
One is on the way. It will be interesting to see how it works out – particularly for some of the more heavy duty apps I have tried in the past such as FLDigi.
A new version of the OS compiled for the new processor is required and can be downloaded here
More news when it arrives!
Raspberry Pi 2 ordered
I was excited to see the Raspberry Pi 2 announced today
One is on the way. It will be interesting to see how it works out – particularly for some of the more heavy duty apps I have tried in the past such as FLDigi.
A new version of the OS compiled for the new processor is required and can be downloaded here
More news when it arrives!