marxy's musing on technology

Richard, VK3TXD, kindly sent me a preview of two of OzTenna 's new antennas for the QRP enthusiast. Now that the rain has stopped I took...

I've been having a good time with the Creality Ender 3 v2 3D printer here but today something weird happened and it refused to print. At...

I purchased a LiPo battery pack from Paul Paton, VK3AHM, at the Rosebud Radio Fest and it triggered the desire to make a portable setup for ...

This review was written for  ABC Alumni . Radio Australia was founded in 1939 by Prime Minister Robert Menzies to project the perspective of...

This year's Rosebud Radio Fest was a first for me. It was a very well organised event with a wide range of equipment to buy and excelle...

Is it ever the rational to pay a hacker's ransom? Controversially, I make the case that sometimes it is. I'm a guest again on Marc F...

Many years ago, when I lived in Suburban Sydney, I built an e-field or "probe" antenna.  The benefits of these antennas is their ...

My 3D skills are improving. This morning I was out testing an end fed half wave supported by a squid pole and a tree. Attaching a wire to th...

Starting to see some useful products from the 3D printer. I've designed and printed a nice case for the TTGO ESP32+LCD boards I like usi...

A few months ago I purchased a low cost 3D printer. I had just one project in mind but that was enough to get me started. The Creality Ender...

I've been raising antennas by running a line over tree branches. Various techniques have been used including an arborist's throw, a ...

I've updated WSPR Watch in recent weeks.  It's a free app for iOS that pulls data from WSPRnet and other sites so that you can con...

I purchased a small (26cm) active loop antenna called a GA-800.  So far quite impressed.  The bottom part has a re-chargeable battery with U...

The re-branding of the BOM to The Bureau of Meteorology, hereinafter to be referred to The Bureau is reported to be costing $220,000. But w...

I was a guest again this week on Marc Fennell's "Download This Show" on ABC RN.  As I no longer live in Sydney I'm a remot...

This radio promises very wide coverage and while it is disappointing as an HF receiver, it is a passable receiver of narrow band FM on the 2...

A GDO is a useful little test instrument for finding the resonance of a tuned circuit. These tuned circuits might be in a VFO or perhaps a t...

To get a line over high branches here I've been using a cheap but decent drone out of China called a Flyhal FX1. They are about AU$300 b...

One of the most impressive recent bits of SDR software is the open source SDR++ (often spelt sdrpp). It's very responsive when used loc...

Recently I've been tinkering with antennas here and one of the resonant dipoles I put up is for 20m. I normally run digital modes on the...