Author: scruss

  • Space Gamelan

    I picked this up just before midnight last night around 7305 MHz. It’s probably a digital mode of some kind, but I like it: 7305mhz-201105290357z.

  • Parsing ADIF with Perl

    In ham radio, we’re plagued with a data log standard called ADIF, the Amateur Data Interchange Format. It certainly is amateur, in the bad sense of the word. It looks like someone once saw SGML in a fever dream, and wrote down what little they remembered.

    Anyway, the following Perl snippet will parse an ADIF file into an array of hashes. It was based on some code from PerlMonks that kinda worked. This works for all the file (singular) I tested.

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w
    # modified from perlmonks - TedPride - http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=559222
    use strict;
    
    my ( $temp, @results ) = '';
    
    ### Fast forward past header
    while (<>) {
      last if m/<eoh>\s+$/i;
    }
    
    ### While there are records remaining...
    while (<>) {
      $temp .= $_;
    
      ### Process if end of record tag reached
      if (m/<eor>\s+$/i) {
        my %hash;
        $temp =~ s/\n//g;
        $temp =~ s/<eoh>.*//i;
        $temp =~ s/<eor>.*//i;
        my @arr = split( '<', $temp );
        foreach (@arr) {
          next if (/^$/);
          my ( $key, $val ) = split( '>', $_ );
          $key =~ s/:.*$//;
          $hash{$key} = $val unless ( $key eq '' );
        }
        push @results, \%hash;
        $temp = '';
      }
    }
    
    # example: just pull out CALL and GRIDSQUARE for each record that has them
    foreach (@results) {
      next unless exists( $_->{GRIDSQUARE} );
      print join( "\t", $_->{CALL}, $_->{GRIDSQUARE} ), "\n";
    }
    
    exit;
    

    If you want some real code to manipulate ADIF files, adifmerg works.

  • The Accidental DXer

    Update: I have a much better Ham Radio QSO Map now.

    I had modest expectations when I set up my antenna and rig. I might’ve expected to work some of Canada, the northern US states, and maybe far western Europe, and that’s about it. But this map, extracted from my logs, shows different:

    New Zealand, Ukraine, Patagonia, Greenland, Brazil, the Azores … way beyond what I expected.

    I know the map’s not quite right. The lines should really be curved to be great circle lines on a Mercator map. Also, the NZ contact path was probably roughly SW through Hawaii. This round world doesn’t work on a flat page.

  • Baby groundhogs on Ashtonbee

    Catherine alerted me that there were baby groundhogs behind the S. A. Armstrong factory on Ashtonbee.

  • bixing

    I’ve been using BIXI every day, despite the rain. They’re slightly different from the test-ride bikes; the ex-Montreal ones had 8 gears, while Toronto flatlanders only get three. The brakes work better too; I’m expecting to get rear-ended any day at a stop sign, since I seem to be the only one who even tries to stop at these things.

    I’ve worked out a nifty route down St George and Beverley across the lanes to Simcoe and Queen. Takes me 10 minutes down, 12 back up. Fun!

  • Life in (Feld) Hell: The Dot-Matrix Printer Heard ‘Round the World

    I’m a bit of a sucker for odd digital radio modes at the moment. Sometimes, a whole new set of tones comes through the waterfall, and I’m left wondering what it is. I’d read about Hellschreiber before, and thought that no-one could possibly want to use a mode that turned your radio into a very slow dot matrix printer.

    Last night, I sent out CQ on 40m, and was immediately answered by Don (WB8MKH) in Michigan. We had a good long talk, and Don let me know about the Feld Hell Club and their monthly sprints. I didn’t think I’d be much for contesting, but this sets my nerd whiskers aquiver.

  • accidental solar panda butt kaleidoscope

    is what you get when you look down a Schletter PV Maxâ„¢ triangular aluminium solar panel support

    at this image of pandas:

  • G5RV in the mist

    There it is – I finally have the antenna installed. Works like a champ on 30 to 6m — when I remember to tune it, that is. I’d really like to thank Bob Morton of Maple Leaf Communications for helping me with the equipment choice. There’s also a J-Pole for VHF-UHF out of shot, but they’re not so interesting.

    I’ve spoken on local 10m nets (and probably blasted people away, as I was on 100W and didn’t realize it). I’ve mostly been working PSK31 on 20 and 30m — so far, I’ve reached Poland, Russia, Wales, Germany, the US (from WA to FL), the Canary Islands, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico (and been gently berated from there for using too much power, oops). While it would be easy to e-mail folks in all of those countries, with PSK31, you don’t know who you’re going to get. All these folks can be calling in on the waterfall, and if you and they can exchange messages, they’re your neighbours, whether they’re in Podgorny or next door.

    PSK31 sounds a bit like aliens whistling. Here’s what my CQ sounds like: va3pid-cq-psk31.mp3.

  • Mario, the solar photographer

    I’m taking a Canadian Solar Institute course at Earth Rangers. Mario, the instructor, has quite a nifty photoblog: Mario Borsato – Nature Photo Blog. Here’s a close encounter with a timber wolf he had:

    Timber Wolf - copyright 2010, Mario Borsato

    Mario’s company is Soleil Power Canada, if you’re needing solar installation or training.

    (image copyright 2010, Mario Borsato.)

  • My 30 Days of Biking

    Here’s my record of 30 Days of Biking:

    April 2011
    Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
              1
    it begins!
    2
    just popped down the shops for some milk
    3
    is by the lake
    4
    knows it's a good day for mudguards
    5
    Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to ...
    6
    has been earlier than this
    7
    needs lights on this foggy soggy morning
    8
    knows where the cheesewagons sleep
    9
    had a sunny ride with Catherine to a Tim's lunch
    10
    is on Pharmacy's endangered bike lane
    11
    Is back from the ham radio club
    12
    used the secret tunnel
    13
    sees world's nastiest snowpile
    14
    sees ya later, elevator
    15
    is half way there
    16
    is only doing this because of #30daysofbiking
    17
    beholds the majestic Taylor-Massey creek
    18
    has the enormous laptop today
    19
    ting!
    20
    light
    21
    sees blue skies over the handlebars
    22
    is voting
    23
    sees the tree of religious tolerance
    24
    sees a transformer house
    25
    sees mini-fairground
    26
    is grateful for mudguards
    27
    2getha 4eva
    28
    wishes you could see the wind
    29
    says, 'thanks, toronto'
    30
    the end ... Or is it?
  • not some obscure radio signalling protocol

    I do a lot of conference calls. Usually there’s a tone and the participant’s name played when they sign out. If it’s a big call and everyone leaves at the end, this signout cascade gets quite lengthy. Here’s part of one I recently caught: signout cascade.

  • don’t overcomplicate your sloth party …

    David Barnes’s new book What’s Weird? arrived today. It’s lovely.

    David has an — unsurprisingly — unusual youtube channel and an etsy store. One of his prints hovers above my desk, and an original runs on my work desk.

  • I ♥ D19

    We go to Phở Vietnam a lot. Catherine probably tires of my attempts to sneak a durian shake onto the order list instead of her usual choice, but really, what can be wrong with a drink that’s made of everyone’s favourite cow-poop-smelling spiny fruit?

    So tonight, I thought I’d order it for real. I was very pleasantly surprised. Instead of a beverage with a barnyard reek, it had a delicate flavour, with sweet high notes like a citrusy cantaloupe. I’ll definitely order it again; it’s not one side short of a D20.

  • first try with Inkscape

    I made a card for Catherine:

    The original has her contact details, which I’ve left out here. I’d never used Inkscape before; the tricky part was working out the layer alignment while allowing for the bleed. I exported it as a 600 dpi PNG, then sent it to Staples Copy & Print. Turned out pretty well, I thought.

  • not for spooky sounds

    I finally got one. A real Moog Music one, too. For cheaper than a kit, even. Yes, a theremin; everyone’s favourite hand-wavey, LC circuit beat-frequency wobbly noise thing.

    Playing anything recognizable is a way off yet. For now, I’m just vastly amused by the sounds it makes when you turn it on and off.

  • out of my tree

    Well, the above may not be the most orthodox antenna placement, but my Maple Leaf Communications Portable J-Pole works a champ when wedged in the tree by our deck. Important reception equipment is here:

    I was on two nets tonight; the SARC 2m net and The Mississauga Amateur Radio Club‘s 8:30pm 2m net. I think I’ve got the hang of squelch on the Wouxun now — thanks to Chris and Nick (VE3CLT [of the awesome PC PSU mod] and VE3EBC) for the advice basically to never use CTCSS on a repeater that you’re not 100% sure uses it.

  • an expensive hobby

    Looks like this amateur radio thing is going to get expensive.

    The rig I was looking at — the Yaesu FT-8900R — appeared to be considerably cheaper than all the other multi-band units. It appears that it’s FM only, which is rarely used on the HF bands. The considerably more expensive FT-857D is the cheapest unit that will do 10m/6m/2m/70cm, which I reckon is pretty much where my interest lies.

    Then there’s power supplies. Yeah, these beasts need external power supplies. Great big honkin’ 13.8V DC power supplies; about $200 for a rig of this size. Yet more desk space taken up; more cables, more clutter.

    If that weren’t enough, there’s the antenna issue. I appear to live in a Faraday cage surrounded by overhead TX lines. Something’s going to have to go on the roof. Well, actually two somethings, as the chance of getting an antenna to work even roughly well on HF and VHF (unless I splash on the expensive and fiddly looking Maldol HVU-8) is close to nil.

    So basically, I’m looking to drop a couple of grand on this. Eep.

    In better ham news, last night I received my first radiogram, welcoming me to the hobby. Thanks, Paul (VA3PB)!

  • vawt’s up with durham college?

    And for once, most of them were working:

    as seen at Durham College.