Saturday 27 December 2014

Pi in the Sky!



The new Pi-in-the-sky board add on the new Raspberry Pi Model A+ is a complete telemetry module for High Altitude Balloons. It is a brilliant example of using amateur radio as the "Enabling Technology" for demonstrating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for young people.


Even though we aren't officially allowed to do it under the terms of our licence, it gets around this loop-hole by using a licence-free 433 MHz module similar to those used in car key fobs, and to decode the signal all you need is a very cheap TV dongle and some clever software!

Sunday 14 December 2014

HF Data Communications


In this part we take a look at where data communications using HF, or Shortwave, might fit into emergency communications.  We will examine the issues around antennas and propagation, and the multitude of software packages you might use and modes that you might encounter on air.



Part 3 - HF Data Modes