A journal of hobbies
In my previous post I looked at weather balloons and sondehub.org, the online tracking site where you can monitor the balloons. In this post I will cover my setup of a monitoring station using an SDR to monitor balloons and upload the data to SondeHub. It is much simpler and cheaper than I expected. Monitoring... Continue Reading →
I've had an interest in weather balloons since the 1970's. I couldn't have imagined back then the amazing resources that are now available to monitor and track them and that I would so easily set up a monitoring station. Why would you want to monitor radiosondes? I have found it is surprisingly interesting and it... Continue Reading →
Update 18 Sept 2026: Since making this post the code has been updated to allow the network and time zone settings to be updated over WiFi, rather than hard coding them in the Arduino sketch. This post has been updated to reflect those changes. If there was only one type of electronics project I was... Continue Reading →
A while back I made a Tuning Wheel For SDR Radio on my PC Using an Angle Sensor. When plugged into a PC, this behaves as a mouse wheel. I'm using it as a tuning knob for SDR software. It works well but I was never very happy with the enclosure. I guess 'enclosure' is... Continue Reading →
We have developed a habit each Friday to go to our local Tip shop. They often have a few old speakers stacked in a corner. I don't need any more but I always have a look, just in case there is something special that wants to come home with me. Normally there are a couple... Continue Reading →
I have a great deal of trouble laying out items for project front panels, particularly where multiple holes have to be aligned. I don't have a CNC router or other high tech tools. I just have old basic tools. I do have a basic saw bench but I think it is at least 70 years... Continue Reading →
I watch quite a bit of YouTube and over time I have found some I recommend following. BBC archive is one of these. It is an official archive channel from the British Broadcasting Corporation that curates and publishes historical BBC television content. I like the calm, slow, deliberate style instead of the modern fast-cut media.... Continue Reading →
I've been working on a SI4732 radio for nearly two months and it's finally finished. The SI4732-A10 is a cheap little IC that contains almost everything needed for an LW, AM, FM, and SW radio. It is controlled through an I²C interface. There are lots of radios out there based on this design, including the... Continue Reading →
I've been thinking if there is an easy way to make a simple and cheap control knob to replace those cheap quadrature rotary encoders in Arduino projects without the need to change the Arduino code or at least very minimal changes. This would only work if the angle sensor could produce a quadrature output like... Continue Reading →
I've been experimenting with angle sensor modules to use them as a replacement for those cheap rotary encoders. I like those cheap rotary encoders, but I'm looking for something better where the knob turns smoothly and it doesn't wear out. The cheap encoders wear fairly quickly and then contact bounce can become a problem. Also,... Continue Reading →
