Category: Electronics

Introduction In previous posts I tested the various HF/VHF/Microwave antennas that I have using the versatile NanoVNA (Ref.1/5). For the past six months my apartment balcony has been under construction and finally it’s finished. Unfortunately when I setup my HF Buddipole antenna there was no reception, so I suspected that the transmission line which was… Continue reading HF Tx Line Testing with NanoVNA

Introduction In the previous post (Ref.1) I examined how we can create an embedded python block on GNU Radio to communicate with the RaspberryPi4 GPIO. In this post I build on the concept by adding a Python module to enable us to create a Marine VHF channel scanner. I struggled with how to time step… Continue reading RTL-SDR for Marine VHF Scanner on GNU Radio

Introduction Recently I revisited OpenPlotter after a two year interval to see what had changed in the latest version 3 (Ref.1). I tested the Starter and Headless images and setup AIS & GPS on OpenCPN. In 2021 I had looked at various aspects of version 2 (Ref.2/12). In this post I will look at the… Continue reading OpenPlotter3 – Sensors_a

Introduction In many previous posts I have examined the use of the RTL-SDR with GNU Radio and on RaspberryPi4 (Ref.1/5). The combination makes an inexpensive, simple and rugged platform for the reception of a variety of signals. Figure 1 shows a typical implementation. The RTL-SDR is used to receive a Marine Weather signal at 162.4MHz… Continue reading GNU Radio Embedded Python Block for RaspberryPi4 GPIO

Introduction Recently I was asked a question about AIS & OpenPlotter. I looked at various aspects of OpenPlotter2 several years ago (Ref.1/11) so I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the latest version3 of the Program. I downloaded RPi4_32bit images for Starter & Headless. Starter Image Setup I first downloaded the RPi4_32bit… Continue reading OpenPlotter3 Headless For GPS & RTL-SDR AIS on RPi4