Now why would you do THAT?

We're though to the next round! This morning I was advised that "FireFinder" has progressed to the semi finals of the Terasic InnovateFPGA 2021/22 Design Contest. The contest goals are protecting/improving the environment through intelligent edge technologies.  My design is attempting to detect and locate dry lightning strikes, which start a lot of bushfires in Australia, before they get out of control. Can it be done?  In principle, yes.  Can we win it?  Let's find out shall we? Feel free to check out my work so far:   https://www.innovatefpga.com/cgi-bin/innovate/teams.pl?Id=AP004&All=1

I have actively avoided doing this for a while , but now I need to run CUDA-dependent OpenCV Code on a Windows Machine.  So it's time to bite the bullet and get it done. Want to go for a ride?  It will be fun, I promise! Background This is being run on a Gigabyte Motherboard with a 10th-Generation i7 CPU, 64GB RAM and Windows 11 (Release).  You want at least 4GB of RAM and an i5 to do the build with any sort of efficiency. First, get your pre-requisites You will need: Visual Studio 2019.  The free version is just fine. ( https://www.visualstudio.com ) OpenCV and OpenCV-Contrib source code from Github ( https://github.com/opencv ) Python (https://www.python.org) CMake ( https://www.cmake.org ) NVIDIA Drivers to suit your GPU ( https://www.nvidia.com ) NVIDIA CUDA libraries and CuDNN version to suit your GPU ( https://developer.nvidia.com ) A pot of coffee or other suitable beverage Install CUDA, Python, Visual Studio and CMake.  Make sure they are in the user pat...

Now that I have your attention...   (You too can turn your long dipole into these tiny wires!) Back in the day when CB Radios were all the rage (We're talking late 1970's here), most of us had a pretty standard 1/4 Helical antenna attached to some kind of pole so we could have a base station. We were kids then, so not a lot of money to spend on my radio hobby.  People told me I should tune my antenna for "optimal SWR", but I never did so because: I really only ever contacted local folks, so range wasn't a problem. I was afraid of cutting my precious antenna in case I cut too much off it. It worked, so I just didn't mess with it. These days however I want to contact people further afield than Sydney and with a limit of ten watts right now, I need all the help I can get.  It's definitely time to get past my phobia and do things properly. As an aside, if you are taking your 4WD into remote regions and you're going to be relying on a radio for emergencies,...

But is it any good? As you might have noticed, I am now a freshly licensed radio amateur .  As such I do need a transceiver or two in order to get on the air.  This is the story of one of my new radios. I have a limited discretionary budget to use for my new hobby, and I have to say from the outset that my lovely wife has been very supportive.  As such, I want to try and get the best value for our money.  One evening I stumbled upon this little item on Banggood for a little over $A150 including shipping.  Covering both 2m and 70cm bands with a claimed 20W output it seemed almost too good to be true.  I bought one. About ten days later a tiny package arrived for me.  At just 98mm x 43mm x 126mm the photos don't convey quite how small it actually is.  The entire case serves as a heatsink so it is heavier than it looks, but certainly not bulky. The standard power cable comes with a cigarette lighter plug.  As I intended to run it from home usin...

DIY feed-through panel for your antenna cables I'm fortunate that I have a nice warm space inside to use as my "shack", but logically my various antennae are outside, so how do I get the cables from the antenna to my radios?  I don't want to go drilling holes in walls etc. because that would make me very unpopular with my wife and it would also invite leaks, drafts, pests and other generally unwanted things. Since I have a large window near where my gear will be located, I hit on the idea of making a filler panel and then attach a bunch of connectors to it.  Naturally I wanted it to look as nice as possible. The only modification to required to the window is to remove the insect screen.  In my case, this is fine since we never open this window anyway.  Otherwise you may consider making up a narrower screen. The window closes up on this panel holding it in place and keeping everything sealed up. I chose bulkhead connectors because I don't need to solder any connect...

 Ham: without the sandwich   My wife loves to call me "a bit of a ham" , and I am proud now to say that she is right.  Herein lies the story: Somewhere around 1976 I was a boy scout when I attended a Jamboree Of The Air at the home of Lyle Patterson (VK2ALU) in Mt St Thomas in Wollongong.  I think that the furthest contact was New Zealand, but most contacts that day were actually around the Illawarra.  Nonetheless I was amazed by this concept.  I could have my own transmitting station and talk to anyone, anywhere?  Sign me up! Turns out that in those days, it was not so simple and the idea of learning Morse Code, even at 5 words per minute scared me off.  Yes, I could have gone for the "Z-Call", which did not have this requirement but I wanted to reach the world, and this meant HF.  The idea got shelved because school got in the way (and having no money was also something of a concern) but I did get involved in building and restoring plenty o...

I had a really interesting experience recently which I hope might enlighten others as much as it did me: I was approached (via LinkedIn) by a recruiter from one of the big tech firms, as they put it "based on the work you've been publishing on image analysis and learning models".  I would have to admit that doing this kind of work for one of the holy trinity sounds like a dream job for a hardcore geek like myself. So I went along late one afternoon (they kindly offered to meet with me at their premises in town at the end of the day to allow me to focus on my current job).  To be completely honest, I am happy where I am, but what's the harm in hearing what they have to say, right?  What they had to say was truly fascinating. After the usual niceties, we got down to my professional history.  " I see you've been working in the technology industry since the early 1980's.  That must be a misprint right? "  I briefly explained the somewhat circuitous path ...