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I have an original Outin battery powered espresso machine . It lives in my campervan as the only time I use coffee pods as it keeps the mess down and I like something that is roughly espresso like in the morning rather than a longer style of coffee. I've had it for a couple of years and been very happy with it. However, while at the otherwise excellent Electromagnetic Field it stopped charging.…
As part of an ongoing project to create an interactive display based around the CubeSatSim that I have been lent I thought it would be nice to display the Solar Panel and Battery voltages in a way that was more than just 'numbers on a screen'. Initially I thought I'd use something like the analog dial gauges, either the voltmeter or ammeter variants. However, these turn out to be surprisingly…
It is something of a rite of passage for Amateur Radio Enthusiasts to build an antenna and to receive images from overhead passing weather satellites. The usual way to do this as a beginner is to build a 137Mhz dipole and (at least in Europe) stand in the garden and capture the NOAA satellites . This approach is common, well documented, and approachable with fairly standard hardware. It can be…
Recently, I've set up a Packet Radio node. This receives what is affectionately called 'Packet Nonsense' in the form of bulletins and personal mail. The APIs and availability of data around this is fairly limited and somewhat archaic. I started poking at various bits of code to see if I could improve that. Mostly with the somewhat redundant aim of checking my Packet Mail from my phone. This meant…
As with a lot of my projects, this one started with a message: David: "Sooo I think I want to launch a high altitude balloon..." Me: "Sounds like fun! Why? Got plans?" David: "I have this dream of sending a camera up really really high. From first attempts at research, looks to be plausible" There was some scope creep. The story of the balloon aspect of the project will be saved for another day,…
Recently, I had the pleasure of taking part in ITERA-lite 2023 as a pair with my good friend David . We crossed the start line (our main ambition) and made it to Transition 3 after 26 hours and 150km before my fitness gave up and we withdrew. However, in the process of preparing for the race, we were lucky enough to be supported by a bunch of people who have a lot of experience with this event and…
The Intro I've been doing a small amount if bikepacking and lightweight bicycle touring over the last 18 months or so. The distinction between bikepacking and touring is a somewhat hazy one, and there are plenty of Think Pieces about how to tell. Short form for me is that I prefer framebags to panniers and wider tyres to 25mm. This is mostly a reminder list for myself, it's not definitive and it's…
"I've been thinking about running a knife making workshop". Those were the words in the email that got my attention. Someone was offering to run a workshop and had a PID controlled heated knife oven to do the heat cycle and tempering. Seemed like a good idea to me. This write up is mostly a 'this is what I did', the end product is usable, but not ideal. It's a first attempt and a learning process.…
There's an IRC channel for our local geeks. Some of the people in it have blogs. In an idle conversation about the state of the modern internet, the idea of a webring came up and continued into 'why aren't blog planets' a thing anymore? Wait, a what now? A planet is an aggregator of blogs usually centered around a topic or project. With the slow death of blogging and the idea of commercial…