Left Coast Political Scene

Now, I am just permanently gone! I will leave the prior radio postings on the blog until year end when all of the info will be wiped clean like I was never here. This was a fun yet disappointing ride! Like a friend (Hal Parker, SK) once said: Put your finger in a glass of water and remove it quickly and see how big of a hole you leave. There is no hole, so the demise of this blog will leave no hole. The disappointment stems from the low number of blog readers and extending to low views counts of the you tube videos -- those are metrics you can't deny. The crowd sizes are indeed almost miniscule! I am considering creating a political blog where I can rant unrestrained at you know who.  Thanks to those who rode along and maybe picked up a piece or two of some obscure radio knowledge. 73's Pete N6QW

 

A Hiatus for The N6QW Blog I now will shortly begin an undefined period of hiatus and may (or may not ever) in the future return to blogging. I apologize to those few who daily, faithfully read the blog and are subjected to the outpouring of random comments from my weird, and slightly bent brain. [Homebrew radios and the 300-pound Mary Jo are indeed divergent subjects.] But right now, the effort to keep things fresh and relevant exceeds my capacity to do so. As Adam Clayton Powell so aptly stated -- Keep the Faith and I add don't eat your pets. [For many, Adam Clayton Powell just doesn't ring any bells, but he was a very colorful and powerful Congressman representing Harlem for decades.] But for now, we move to the final of the three-part series on the FAT display and start with a part fit check. The photo below shows a compact layout that keeps a small footprint yet provides the functionality that was the original goal. Note the 3.2 Inch display is larger than the board by a b

  This is the current display on the P3ST QRP SSB Transceiver which shows a lot of info on a 128X160 small sized screen. It is of the ST7735 form of Display. What is presented are two VFOs (A &B) that have VFO memory, but also a much smaller display of the VFO frequencies with a thought of split operation. The simulated Green LED's signal what is "hot".  The initial theory was that you could receive on the A VFO but actually transmit on the B VFO. While the logic exists in the sketch, it was never actually implemented. Albeit you can switch the VFOs with a panel switch but not split operation. We also have the Step Tuning rate and the S Meter which by the way is implemented using an audio sample. I included my call sign just in case I forget and the title under the A VFO directs me to the Arduino sketch in the Arduino directory. Lest I forget we show which sideband is selected with a simulated RED LED.   Needless to say, it took many hours of programming to get this d

A hallmark of many of the current homebrew rigs is compact size aimed at portable operation and the ever-popular POTA / SOTA events. Half Size OLEDs used as an SDR Spectrum Display are a reality.  But going the other direction for those of us whose eyesight can no longer spot a 29A from a 44DD at a half a mile, then we need bigger displays. The next couple of postings will cover the use of larger displays such as those that employ the ILI9341 scheme. Note you can see the pixels on the display.  Feast your eyes on this display using the ILI9341. I should add that I have several of these displays ranging in size from 1.8 inches to 3.2 inches. The pinouts and the code are the same for either. This is the 3.2 Inch display. ILI 9341 on a Rig Resist simply taking your current display using the ST7735 wiring and "plug er in". You risk smoking something as the ILI 9341 Display inputs like to see no more that 3.3 VDC. Thus, you need a CD4050 level shifter or a simple voltage divider,

AI is at work on my Pixel 7 when stuff shows up on the phone like the town Coober Pedy. Well, firstly Coober Pedy is the Opal Capital of the world and so that would put it in the middle of nowhere in downtown Australia. At first, I thought it might be a CIA site like Pine Gap near Alice Springs, but it is not. Other notable info is that it is so hot there that many folks live underground in what is known as dugouts. They even boast dugout motels! Dugout Motel ~ Comfort Inn Coober Pedy [Flash News: A friend in the CIA advises that CP is the home of Fred and Ethel of the AI duo. You heard it here 1st.] There is a real issue in Coober Pedy because so many of the opal mines are shallow and located not too far underground. Many of these mine shafts pass right under the city. Thus, a high risk of sink holes I grew up in Arnold, Pennsylvania and the same issue with the coal mines. One year a whole residential city block started to collapse into an old mine shaft.  But you tuned into this blog