My mobile rig, a Kenwood TM-D710E, needed a GPS receiver for APRS use. The GPS-710 wasn’t readily available and, besides, is quite expensive. I therefore decided to build my own.
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GPS receiver for Kenwood TM-D710E
My DIY Brain Stimulation Headset
With nights drawing in, many people particularly in the northern parts of the world are being affected by seasonal affective disorder. A Finnish company called Valkee claims to cure the winter blues with its bright light headset. According to the company, shining a bright torch in your ears has been shown to have a therapeutic effect.
I won’t comment on the bogosity of Valkee’s claims. I did, however, decide to see how cheaply I could build something similar to their £185 device.
My headset isn’t the same as Valkee’s. Theirs seems to use fiber optic, presumably to keep the size and temperature down. Mine uses ultra-bright LEDs. Their’s has a fancy timer. Mine doesn’t. Theirs has a rechargeable battery. Mine draws its power from a USB socket.
On with the show!
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DIY PID controller for sous-vide
Here are a few pictures of my sous-vide PID controller project. Inspiration came from the Seattle Food Geek. Being an engineer, I wanted to create a standalone system so I added sockets for the heater elements, pump and thermometer probe. I also didn’t see the benefit of hanging the mains-powered system above the bath, so I made the controller a separate tabletop unit.
Transatlantic beverage adventures
Have you met my hot friend the coke bottle? She has a less attractive American cousin.
For the record, I hate the word beverage.
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Beverage adventures in Japan
Miksi Otto tykkää japanilaisista koulutytöistä? Koska Otto on lonkero!
English speakers: nevermind. Anyway, I, too, saw this yesterday. Didn’t have my camera along though.
Dialogue with the Oxford Chiropractic Clinic
So, a few people have been contacting their local friendly chiropractors regarding the recent ASA ruling. I think Martin was the first; jdc325 and Tristan have also done their bit, the latter with remarkable success!
The ASA ruling states that the chiropractor could not “refer to the treatment of IBS, colic and learning difficulties” in his advertising. Now, it should be noted that the ASA do not regulate advertising on websites (but, randomly, they do on leaflets!) However, the General Chiropractic Council’s own Code of Practice states that chiropractors may “publicise their practices or permit another person to do so consistent with the law and the guidance issued by the Advertising Standards Authority.” My interpretation of the GCC guidelines is that they extend the ASA’s recommendations from advertising to all information published by GCC members.
Recording scanner output dictaphone-style, with silence detection
I tried to find a Linux solution to automatically record scanner traffic, something like Scanner Recorder for Windows. It looks like I am not alone. Anyway, I figured it out.
This is how I did it under Ubuntu:
- Download xpvox here.
- Compile it (I had to install libforms and then change all instances of
#include "forms.h"to#include <X11/forms.h>). - Install speex.
- Make sure /dev/dsp0 exists (if not, mknod /dev/dsp0 c 14 3).
- Run
xpvox -ios | speexenc -V --rate 44100 - out.spx.
After you quit xpvox, you’ll find a file called out.spx which contains all recorded traffic, with silent bits cut out.
A land of a thousand islands
Apparently, British Airways wants to assure its customers that its routes will not change after the polar ice caps have melted. Take a look at this scan from the February 2008 edition of their in-flight High Life magazine, pages 96-97.
This is what BA thinks Europe looks like:
Cropped around Finland:
Google Earth’s view on the same area:
The map is proudly produced by Oxford Cartographers.
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