Mark VK5QI
@vk5qi.bsky.social
He/Him; 'Strayan; Amateur Radio Operator (VK5QI); RF Engineer; High-Altitude Ballooning - http://sondehub.org; http://libre.space Contributor;
Attempting to make a 'press-fit' 4x BNC plug for easier band changes on my KrakenSDR DoA system. First step is to try out disassembling a BNC plug and using just the inner bit. Made a 3d-printed holder for it. Seems to work OK!
July 31, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Attempting to make a 'press-fit' 4x BNC plug for easier band changes on my KrakenSDR DoA system. First step is to try out disassembling a BNC plug and using just the inner bit. Made a 3d-printed holder for it. Seems to work OK!
Down at Mt Gambier, SA, having a go in the Australian Foxhunting (Radio) Championships! My combination of KrakenSDR and beam-out-the-window setup is doing fairly well! Mt Gambier has brought on the weather though, and it's been very very wet...
June 7, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Down at Mt Gambier, SA, having a go in the Australian Foxhunting (Radio) Championships! My combination of KrakenSDR and beam-out-the-window setup is doing fairly well! Mt Gambier has brought on the weather though, and it's been very very wet...
Playing with one of these cheapo 'EMF' meters. Meter starts blinking scarily with only about 40mW/m^2 incident power density. For reference, at the frequency I was transmitting on, the General Public limit (ARPANSA RPS S-1) is 2000 mW/m^2. No wonder these things make people freak out.
May 10, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Playing with one of these cheapo 'EMF' meters. Meter starts blinking scarily with only about 40mW/m^2 incident power density. For reference, at the frequency I was transmitting on, the General Public limit (ARPANSA RPS S-1) is 2000 mW/m^2. No wonder these things make people freak out.
Attempting to push my KrakenSDR-based Foxhunting (ARDF) system up to the 23cm (1296 MHz) band. Teeny DoA array made from PCB and SMA sockets. Surprisingly (to me) it works! Unfortunately a harmonic of the 28.8 MHz RTLSDR clock falls right on 1296 MHz, which will limit sensitivity.
May 10, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Attempting to push my KrakenSDR-based Foxhunting (ARDF) system up to the 23cm (1296 MHz) band. Teeny DoA array made from PCB and SMA sockets. Surprisingly (to me) it works! Unfortunately a harmonic of the 28.8 MHz RTLSDR clock falls right on 1296 MHz, which will limit sensitivity.
Peppy in motion. (Being annoying as usual)
February 1, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Peppy in motion. (Being annoying as usual)
While the fixes to our RFI installed by SA Power Networks have certainly improved matters, we're still seeing residual RFI showing up on hot days. Whether this is some other mechanism, or just from a different like I'm not sure yet.
December 25, 2024 at 6:17 AM
While the fixes to our RFI installed by SA Power Networks have certainly improved matters, we're still seeing residual RFI showing up on hot days. Whether this is some other mechanism, or just from a different like I'm not sure yet.
This is probably the best way I can explain it. 19 kV AC couples capacitively through the insulators. Ideally this would just be grounded, but if the electrical connection between the insulators is poor, it can result in flashover and broadband EMI.
December 24, 2024 at 3:00 AM
This is probably the best way I can explain it. 19 kV AC couples capacitively through the insulators. Ideally this would just be grounded, but if the electrical connection between the insulators is poor, it can result in flashover and broadband EMI.
Another look at the installation of these. You can see the tech getting ready to insert the wire brush (already dipped in grease) into one of the joints.
December 24, 2024 at 1:27 AM
Another look at the installation of these. You can see the tech getting ready to insert the wire brush (already dipped in grease) into one of the joints.
"What are you looking at?" SCREEEEECH
December 22, 2024 at 7:29 AM
"What are you looking at?" SCREEEEECH
radiosonde_auto_rx 1.8.0 is now out! This adds full support for ka9q-radio, allowing coverage of the complete radiosonde band using an Airspy! github.com/projecthorus...
December 15, 2024 at 3:52 AM
radiosonde_auto_rx 1.8.0 is now out! This adds full support for ka9q-radio, allowing coverage of the complete radiosonde band using an Airspy! github.com/projecthorus...
Flight report for Horus 63 is now up! www.areg.org.au/archives/212...
December 14, 2024 at 9:47 AM
Flight report for Horus 63 is now up! www.areg.org.au/archives/212...
Typical Australian Fauna.
December 7, 2024 at 6:11 AM
Typical Australian Fauna.
When this particular insulator had its connecting clip poked at, the noise dropped away quite significantly, indicating that poor connections between the insulators may be our issue! SAPN has a fix for this, which they will install in a few weeks time.
December 5, 2024 at 6:26 AM
When this particular insulator had its connecting clip poked at, the noise dropped away quite significantly, indicating that poor connections between the insulators may be our issue! SAPN has a fix for this, which they will install in a few weeks time.
Today we had SA Power Networks visit AREG's remote HF receiver site and investigate the powerline RFI that's been annoying us for a while. After a lot of poking at high voltage things with long sticks, we're pretty sure the issue is related to connections between glass-disk insulators!
December 5, 2024 at 6:26 AM
Today we had SA Power Networks visit AREG's remote HF receiver site and investigate the powerline RFI that's been annoying us for a while. After a lot of poking at high voltage things with long sticks, we're pretty sure the issue is related to connections between glass-disk insulators!
For reference this was the old album cover (from Horus 57, back in 2022)
December 1, 2024 at 9:54 AM
For reference this was the old album cover (from Horus 57, back in 2022)
Today's Horus 63 flight tested a new cross-band (2m in, 70cm out) FM repeater, and a new imagery payload. Many contacts were made across South Australia on the repeater. We hit some focus issues with the imagery payload, but still were able to capture some great photos!
December 1, 2024 at 9:37 AM
Today's Horus 63 flight tested a new cross-band (2m in, 70cm out) FM repeater, and a new imagery payload. Many contacts were made across South Australia on the repeater. We hit some focus issues with the imagery payload, but still were able to capture some great photos!
New album cover dropped. (From today's Horus 63 high-altitude balloon launch)
December 1, 2024 at 9:30 AM
New album cover dropped. (From today's Horus 63 high-altitude balloon launch)
Finding a few bugs though! Almost softlocked myself here...
November 21, 2024 at 11:41 AM
Finding a few bugs though! Almost softlocked myself here...
Finally playing Stray, now that it's out on Switch! (I don't have a gaming PC)
November 21, 2024 at 11:41 AM
Finally playing Stray, now that it's out on Switch! (I don't have a gaming PC)
Their replacements certainly don't make the same nice (?) sound!
November 10, 2024 at 8:56 PM
Their replacements certainly don't make the same nice (?) sound!
Today was testing out the new Wenet imagery payload outside. Hung it from my tower, let it run for a while. Hit an odd issue on the first half of the run where load averages spiked, and the Pi crashed. Have since added in watchdog timers. Don't expect temperatures to be as much of an issue in flight
November 10, 2024 at 3:33 AM
Today was testing out the new Wenet imagery payload outside. Hung it from my tower, let it run for a while. Hit an odd issue on the first half of the run where load averages spiked, and the Pi crashed. Have since added in watchdog timers. Don't expect temperatures to be as much of an issue in flight
Thermal testing time! With an ambient temp of 21.5˚C, the body of the Yaesu FT-530 (within the box), got to about 52˚C after 30 min of continuous transmit at low power.
November 9, 2024 at 6:09 AM
Thermal testing time! With an ambient temp of 21.5˚C, the body of the Yaesu FT-530 (within the box), got to about 52˚C after 30 min of continuous transmit at low power.
... also working on a new Wenet imagery payload (github.com/projecthorus...) using a PiCam v3 in autofocus mode. This will also fly on the December launch.
November 8, 2024 at 4:31 AM
... also working on a new Wenet imagery payload (github.com/projecthorus...) using a PiCam v3 in autofocus mode. This will also fly on the December launch.