Category: Random Ramblings

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Amateur Radio Random Ramblings

Pi-star Facebook Group & Forum

*** Warning contains strong language and views ***

Pi-star is a great hotspot operating system for the raspberry pi and a few other SoC (System on Chip) that has been embraced to pretty much be the standard for multi mode digital voice. But there's a very dark side to the small group of people who are the Admins/Moderators for the Facebook group and the Forum. These people are totalitarian and will not take criticism for their actions.

This is a post to the Forum from me complaining about being soft banned from the Facebook group for what all I can assume was to refer a person to a thread on the forum where another person was complaining about his posts to the Facebook group were being deleted and or the comments being switched off. Then the next time I went to check out that forum post it was removed! Ok so I figured that I would start a new thread (picture above) that lasted for about a day and it was deleted.

So I started another thread, oh and you guessed it, deleted!

So again I started yet another thread… Deleted!

Ok so it's pretty obvious that whoever the admin/moderator that keeps deleting my posts has a problem with my complaint!

So this is the final post on the topic and as of the time of writing the above post was still available… But for how long?

So if anyone else has issues with the pi-star Facebook group or Forum you're fucked because if you raise the issue you will be deleted by these spineless cunts who clearly believe that they are of a higher value than any one else…

Fuck you!

Edit:

It now appears that I have been banned from the Facebook group as it's no longer visible from my Facebook account. Also I ended up posting one last post on the forum…

And yup you guessed it… Deleted. Not sure if I'm banned from the forum as I can still view it on Tapatalk.

Categories
Amateur Radio Random Ramblings

Baofeng UV5-RX3 From Radioddity

For those familiar with the UV-5xx series radio's they are targeted for Amateur Radio use (that may change in the future) for both the 2m VHF and 70cm UHF bands however this model also includes the 220MHz 1.5m band (predominately used in the USA)

Supplied items

  • UV-5RX3
  • 1800mAh Li-ion Battery
  • Dual Band Antenna
  • 220MHz Single Band Antenna
  • Desktop Charger Adapter
  • Original Earpiece
  • Wrist Strap
  • Belt Clip
  • User Manual

As there are two antennas supplied you need to ensure that you use the appropriate antenna for the intended frequency otherwise you will damage the radio. As the 220MHz band is not permitted here in Australia my testing for this radio was limited to the 2m & 70cm bands.

Specifications & Functions:

  • Frequency Range: 136-173.975MHz, 220-225MHz, 400-519.975MHz
  • FM Radio: 68-105MHz (RX)
  • Memory Channel: 128
  • Output Power: 5 Watts
  • Tone Scanning: CTCSS, DCS
  • Wide/Narrow Bandwidth Setting
  • Tone Burst
  • DTMF
  • VOX

This radio works well and the build quality is good, although for the Australian market having access to 220MHz is of no benefit as VHF DVBT is primary service and there is no 1.5m band available within Australia.

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Amateur Radio Random Ramblings

GA-5S From Radioddity

I was lucky enough to be selected to review the GA-5S dual band FM Radio. I've never used or owned any of these entry level Chinese radio's so I was interested to see how they compare to some other known brands radios!

Unboxing this radio reveals that it comes with…

  • 1 x Radioddity GA-5S
  • 1 x 1800mAh Li-ion Battery
  • 1 x High Gain Antenna
  • 1 x Charging Cradle (with 100~240V Power Adapter)
  • 1 x Belt Clip
  • 1 x Earpiece
  • 1 x Wrist Strap
  • 1 x User Manual

After assembling the radio (antenna & battery) and powered the unit to find that it was programmed with frequencies that are not for general use in Australia, this is not a problem as I'll be reprogramming this for the 2m and 70cm bands and limiting the receive to the amateur bands only (144-148MHz 430-450MHz) as the ACMA are not to keen on these radios because of how easy it is to use them on frequencies that are not for the general public. Now I've not had or used baofeng radio's before so this is essentially the internals of (from what I have read online) a UV5-R. The supplied software for programming the radio is very basic, but it is compatible with Chirp so you can take advantage of the repeater database and import your local repeaters. At the time I first tried Chirp the support for the GA-5S wasn't available, but on the second reprogramming I did the latest daily build had included both the GA-5S and the UV5-RX3.

For the price point this radio is targeted for its certainly fine, however I'd possibly not run it on full power for extended periods as the radio will get hot!

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Nonprofit Random Ramblings

Ten Years with WordPress!

So a thing happened…

It all started from reading Linux magazine that had a feature article on WordPress and well I must liked it cause I'm still using it! Originally I was hosting my own website from home, but after quite a few years I then moved to hosting with Gandi and its lived there ever since… 😀

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Random Ramblings Raspberry Pi

Zumspot Revival (I was wrong!)

Ok so I wrote recently that the ZUMspot Pi boards were no longer available from Bruce and I made the mistake of concluding that meant they were no longer available. Tuns out I was wrong! The ZUMspot Pi boards are available in the USA exclusively from HRO (Ham Radio Outlet)

There's four listing's when you do a search on their website for "ZUMspot"

So yup, I was wrong! I'm happy to wrong because it means that you can still get yourself a ZUMspot Pi board!

Edit: Updated links to Zumspot products

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Random Ramblings

Death of the ZUMspot

Sadly it's seems that the Chinese push into the mmdvm hot spot market (aka Jumbospot) has taken its toll on the ZUMspot team and they have ceased operations with a departing notice on mmdvm.blogspot.com stating that they no longer sell the ZUMspot Pi and the MMDVM Pi boards with a further notice advising to visit www.zumspot.com however that domain name no longer resolves!

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Random Ramblings

Cancer Ten Years On

As I've mentioned on this blog I had a bit of a run in with Lymphoma back in 2006/2007. Well here we are and ten years have passed so what's changed in this time? LOTS! But more importantly what has changed within me, the survivor?
Well I'm cancer free, and I have issues related to my treatment that have effected me both physically and mentally. It's more of the mental health that are my biggest problems.

I have issues with certain parts of the treatment I received, namely Radiotherapy and the high dose of Methotrexate. It was the latter that causes me the most trouble. But why? this is the question that plagues me still. There's no logic in why I feel the way I do, but if the mind was this simple to question then my issues wouldn't exist! The issue of Radiotherapy isn't one of a mental issue but that of a physical. I suffered from burns to my tongue, throat and neck, and the healing of these wounds took longer than it would if my body wasn't so run down. Today the effects of those burns has affected my taste due to about 2/3rd of my taste buds being removed!

All through this I'd lost my ability to smell, I originally thought it was due to the necrotic tissue that had physically blocked my nose. However several months post radiotherapy and my nose had almost cleared up, but not a hint of my sense of smell was going to return any time soon. 😡

Then finally in 2013 we got around to doing what was planned for 2006! (but only one!)

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Arduino Random Ramblings

Arduino Due & Electrosmash pedalSHIELD

I recently purchased an Arduino Due from an $18USD credit from ITEAD. I immediately went searching for something unique to use it for, that's when I found the ElectroSmash pedalSHEILD and thought that's the perfect thing.

Above is a picture off Electrosmash's website showing how it all fits together, below is my finished product. 

It took me about two hours to complete the kit. The instructions were clear and precise and plenty of pictures if you needed to double check something. 

Below is the ITEAD Arduino Due clone that was purchased separately. This is the only board that can be used with the pedalSHIELD Due, however there's the option for the Arduino Uno called the pedalSHIELD Uno. (not pictured) 

At this stage I've tried all the example sketches but haven't had time yet to try my hand at making something uniquely my own sound. 

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Politics Random Ramblings

Seriously Joking, Right? 

Most likely the worst twitter suggested follow I've ever received! #youhavegottobefuckingkiddinme

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Arduino Random Ramblings

STEMTera Kickstarter

On September 28th the STEMTera bread board was launched on Kickstarter. This is an Arduino compatible micro controller inside a modified solder less bread board. This caught my attention because I mainly tinker with Arduino stuff whilst sitting on the couch! So there are times when I'd have multiple pieces of gear with a rat's nest of wires (that's pretty much the norm for this kind of thing!) However the STEMTera bread board essentially removes the need to have your micro controller then a bread board for components , in that you can place items directly on the STEMTera thus saving some space (if that's a concern) so I pledged for the $45 backing with delivery for mid to late December. Oh and I got mine in black as that to me seemed logical for the least amount of light bleeding through the plastic cover.

stemtera black

Skip forward a few weeks and I'm now using the STEMTera board as my go to board for anything Atmel 328p based. I'm kind of hoping that a SAMD (M0) or STM32 (M3) will become a reality in the not to distant future.