Categories
Isle of Man

Open Data Camp

I went along to the Open Data Camp in Douglas. Here’s some of the things I learned about: The IATI (International Aid Transparency Initiative) has guidance about what data governments and organisations should make available, and what format it should be in. The UK government has moved to publishing data using open standards, but it […]

Categories
Hardware

The RC2014 Computer

While at Liverpool Makefest last June, I bought myself a kit to build an RC2014 Z80-based computer. The kit was very well made, with high quality circuit boards which accepted solder very easily, along with sufficient documentation to make the whole building process smooth and enjoyable. I found the process quite educational too, as the […]

Categories
Stuff

Liverpool Makefest

I took the boat from the Isle of Man to Liverpool for the day, to visit Makefest in Liverpool. This was a great day out, and I saw loads of good things. The highlights were: Having my portrait drawn from a webcam by a DIY plotter made from DVD drives An impromptu meeting with lots […]

Categories
Stuff

Leaving Twitter

When I joined Twitter in 2009, it was a place to find interesting people sharing interesting ideas and learning from one another.  You could ask questions on very technical topics, and people would take the time to reply in detailed and thoughtful ways. Over time, more and more people joined and the conversations grew. Twitter […]

Categories
Amateur Radio Hardware

SharkRF OpenSpot

I’ve been having a lot of success using my MD380 DMR transceiver together with the Isle of Man’s DMR repeater network. Sadly though, my house isn’t in coverage of the repeaters. This means I can’t use my handheld at home. The solution to this problem has come in the form of a Radio/IP gateway called […]

Categories
Amateur Radio

Losing yourself…

About once every year, I like to log in to Ofcom’s website and re-validate my amateur radio licence. I do this so that it becomes a sort of habit, and so that I’ve no risk of going beyond the statutory five year limit. This year, my login details didn’t work. It turns out that Ofcom […]