Technology, Innovation & Telecomm

New version of the blog…

Administrator — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:09:29 +0000

I installed a new version of WordPress and updated to a new theme. I’ll be working on it more as time goes on, but this is the general feel for the time being. I hope you like it.

I’m baaaaaaackkkkkkk!

Administrator — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:27:50 +0000

Man, it’s been forever since I wrote a post. A lot has happened in my life since last we met…not least of which was the recent Presidential election. I’m not ashamed to say I’m highly disappointed. And, it’s not only that I’m disappointed in the outcome. I’m also disappointed in the reasons *why* folks voted the way they did. But all that’s a topic for other posts. I the mean time, I’m going to try to get back to the keyboard more often. We’ll see what comes of it.

Happy Independence Day!

Administrator — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:50:10 +0000

Take a moment to remember that we live in the best country in the world…warts and all! Celebrate the freedoms that you have and remember the sacrifices made and those that made (make) them.

…In fact, we should do that every day…

Happy 4th of July!

Powerful…

Administrator — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:16:04 +0000

http://www.afr.net/newafr/wekickedgodout.asp

Where’s the scandal?

Administrator — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:37:26 +0000

Call me thick-headed, but I’m really having a hard time with this whole attorney-firing “scandal”. Where is the originating malfeasance? Last I heard, US attorneys work at the pleasure of the President. The department fired 8 of 93. When Bill Clinton was President, he and Janet Reno fired all 93, didn’t they? In fact, those kinds of positions are always in jeopardy, since they are “at the pleasure of…” jobs.

Now, if you’re tempted to analyze this from a “yeah, but were the firings motivated by the goal of serving some political purpose…” perspective, consider these:

1. At least one of the 93 attorneys fired during the Clinton administration were in the process of investigating him.

2. Since when is *anything* in Washington *not* politically motivated?

3. Since when is the motivation for firing someone subject to Congressional investigation, subpoena, etc.?

4. Nowhere in my career has there ever been a guarantee that if I were fired, it would be for the “right” reasons. That may not make it right, but it is the way of the world.

5. What particular advantage would be gained by firing only the 8?

This is yet another case of a media-enhanced, drive-by “scandal” created to try to make the current administration look as bad as possible for the upcoming election. No, by itself it won’t make or break the election, but the more of these kinds of trumped-up situations that can be shoved in the public’s face, the better, as far as the liberals and liberal press is concerned.

Lastly, when you place individuals into a situation (our current attorney-general) where they have to justify something they should have free reign to do, with the glaring lights of the media on them, what kind of responses would you imagine they’d give? I will never justify lying, but this isn’t a clear case of that either.

Plus, just what is the real importance of any of this?

Busy, busy, busy…

Administrator — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 16:41:12 +0000

Whew…

I’ve been well and truly busy over the last several weeks. There are two activities that have pretty much consumed 100% of my time:

1. Work - I’m responsible for the firmware of a product whose first phase was to be delivered in mid-March. We met part of that deadline, but the last part needs to be completed and shipped. It’s been 12-18 hour days, 7 days a week for the last several weeks.

2. ARF - I was working pretty feverishly on it prior to the WASHFest (see the home page). I’m waiting on final pricing from my distributor, needing to complete documentation and and needing to finish the business entity aspects before I can start shipping. I’m really anxious to get it into the “real” world. It’s been a long haul and it’s time.

I can’t promise that I’ll be posting here often in the near term, but you should see more activity at the ARF site. Take a gander at my home page to link there for the latest activity…

Later.

It’s a little surprising…

Administrator — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 00:31:36 +0000

I put a small notice about the ARF site on a forum of a well-known Amateur Radio Web site. It was merely something to get folks looking at what’s coming. Hams are known for their technical interests and generally helpful attitudes. Our hobby has a reputation for encouraging other Hams, encouraging experimentation, electronics, etc.

So, I was surprised by two of the comments that were posted in the forum in response to my notice. They were extremely negative and in fact rude. Worse, the arguments they put out make no sense to me, given the advantages ARF offers. Also, neither one bothered to ask me any questions, asked me to clarify any points, or offered any advice at all.
Still, I do have to consider that the product idea could be a bad one. So it got me thinking…
…and the more I think about it, the more I think they’re wrong. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but I’ve gotten such good feedback from local Hams who’ve heard about ARF, used it and contributed ideas to its design, that I’m sure the two commenters have missed something in my description. However, it’s my fault if it isn’t clear how things work, so I guess I need to improve the site’s content.

One way or another, the site will improve and I hope along with that, so will people’s understanding of what ARF is and what it can do. That said, I’m still a little shocked at the responses. I realize that not everyone will like ARF, and it won’t fill everyone’s needs. And, I know that I’ll need to develop a thicker skin. But for goodness sake I hope that folks will at least try to be a little objective and respectful.
I want to continue to believe that Ham Radio is a hobby that has remained above the level of so many other activities, as it has been for so long. I’m in it because of the type of encouragement I’ve received from Hams over the years and to a large extent, my choice of profession was influenced by Hams. Here’s hoping this recent experience doesn’t represent the new “norm” for the hobby.

The commercials just didn’t cut it…

Administrator — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 18:58:09 +0000

…My wife and I recorded the Super Bowl last night. We did it specifically so we could watch the commercials (I really had no interest in the football game this year…!). I have to say that I was disappointed. There were some good ones, but nothing that really grabbed me this time. Kinda disappointing…

Oh well, there’s always next year.

ARF site and new home page

Administrator — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 03:20:14 +0000

As you may have noticed if you arrived by way of my home page…I have a new home page! You also may have noticed a new link on that page related to the ARF (see previous post). There is a whole new sub-site dedicated to the ARF and all things related. Please take a look around at it and please let me know what you think!

Introducing A.R.F

Administrator — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 23:22:38 +0000

As you might know, I’m an amateur radio operator. I’ve always been interested in the hobby, having spent 20+ years traveling to the largest Ham Radio convention in the world, but it’s been in the last 5 years that I finally got my license and began operating.

A.R.F. is a product I’ve developed for the Amateur Radio community to address a need that was identified to me by a friend and that I’ve had for some time. The need is for a global, mobile database of Amateur Radio repeaters. When many Hams travel, they take along mobile radios that are capable of connecting to local repeater nodes. This allows them to participate in conversations with other Hams in other locations. The need that ARF fills is for something that lets the mobile operator know about those repeater stations. There are various pieces of information that an operator must know in order to use that repeater. A device that can travel with the operator, that can tell them what repeaters are available in the area and what those parameters are can be a true time saver. A.R.F. does just that.

Let me stop here though and tell you what A.R.F. stands for:

Amateur Repeater Finder

…

Anyhow, ARF is a device that has an on-board database of all of the repeaters that the ARRL knows about. Each record of this database contains Latitude and Longitude information about the repeater, so that when the user connects a GPS unit to ARF (or uses the optional built-in GPS), it can immediately tell them about the repeaters that are nearby. This location feature is always available, updating the list of nearby repeaters as you move. Since there are various types of repeaters, ARF allows the operator to filter on these and other parameters to provide a list of up to 16 of the closest repeaters meeting those criteria.In addition to providing information about the repeaters on a 4×20 LCD, ARF can program various radios from its on-board serial port. This allows the operator to select one of the repeaters that ARF has located and have the radio be immediately capable of using that local repeater. This feature is extended as well, by a “scan” capability. ARF can walk through the list of repeaters it’s found, programming the radio as it does so. The scan rate is programmable and can be sped up or slowed down by the simple twist of a the device’s main control knob. If there is activity on a particular repeater, the operator can quickly stop the scan and begin using that repeater.

ARF has an on-board speaker that can announce the call sign of each repeater by means of Morse code. The speed that the code is sent, as well as the “sidetone” frequency can be configured. ARF also supports what is known as Farnsworth speed. This allows the operator to select a high character speed, with a slower pace between each character and word. This feature allows one to more easily “copy” the code characters, while spacing things at a more comfortable pace.

ARF is packaged as a kit, designed for those with intermediate-level soldering and construction skill. There are two surface-mount components on the board, only one of which the user must mount. That part is a fairly large-pitch component and can be mounted easily with appropriate care. The other surface-mount component is the microcontroller. This part is pre-mounted on the circuit board so that the builder doesn’t have to worry about it. The remainder of the components are through-hole types, so construction is simple. The basic kit includes all of the components and circuit board. No case or cabling is included. There is an optional aluminum case and an optional on-board GPS for those who want a complete solution.

All aspects of ARF’s firmware can be updated, including the resident software and the repeater database. These packages will be available from the ARF website once the kit is ready for sale.

I expect to have the kit ready for purchase some time in February. It will be undergoing some field trials in the next few weeks, in order to shake out any pending problems. As things progress, I’ll be providing more information in future posts. There are other features to the product that I’ll be describing in future posts as well, so stay tuned.

One last note. I consider ARF to be simply one of many possible applications for the hardware. Thus, you’ll note that I will be separating the ARF firmware from the hardware platform in my future discussions. I have other ideas for application firmware that can be used on this platform, so ARF will hopefully be but the first of many others to come.

If you’re an Amateur Radio operator, this is a great product to have and use. I hope that you’ll agree!