http://www.bengamblin.com Blog of Ben Gamblin http://www.bengamblin.com/entry/511/ http://www.bengamblin.com/2010-07-30/samsung-n210/ Last Wednesday I added to my collection of computers by purchasing a Samsung N210 netbook - a small, low-power, long-life laptop computer. My primary reason for purchasing such a machine was for a forthcoming holiday, allowing me to backup photographs, v... Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:36:59 +0100 http://www.bengamblin.com/entry/510/ http://www.bengamblin.com/2010-07-07/mis-information-over-the-digital-future-of-radio/ Today seems to be a day of negative digital radio news - and not necessarily entirely accurate news at that. Be warned, I'm going to ramble on for a bit. If you can't be bothered to read it all, I sum up my point at the end. An Open Letter to Rt. Hon. ... Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:49:35 +0100 http://www.bengamblin.com/entry/501/ http://www.bengamblin.com/2010-04-14/magnetic-loop-tweaks/ I've made some slight changes to my magnetic loop aerial. Nothing major, but useful none-the-less. The original design, as copied from G4ILO, featured a T shaped mast with hooks on the left and right of the top bar to support a loop of RG-213 coax. The... Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:39:56 +0100 http://www.bengamblin.com/entry/499/ http://www.bengamblin.com/2010-04-03/uk-postcode-data-search/ On 1 April 2010, Ordnance Survey opened up a lot of it's data including a cut-down version of Code-Point - a database of UK postcodes. Since this data is available free of charge, and has a licence aligned to the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence;... Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:09:41 +0100 http://www.bengamblin.com/entry/496/ http://www.bengamblin.com/2010-03-09/testing-the-magnetic-loop/ I've been further testing my magnetic loop aerial over the last 24 hours, but haven't made any changes to the setup as such. I did find out why, just before writing my blog yesterday, I couldn't get a good SWR reading despite doing so the day before. Ra... Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:19:28 +0000 http://www.bengamblin.com/entry/495/ http://www.bengamblin.com/2010-03-08/magnetic-loop-aerial/ About 6 months ago, I visited the website of Julian, G4ILO who had detailed how to build what he has called a 'Wonder Loop' - a small indoor magnetic loop aerial. Following this visit I was inspired to build one myself. As is my way, I've taken a little... Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:17:57 +0000 http://www.bengamblin.com/entry/493/ http://www.bengamblin.com/2010-02-25/new-digital-mode/ A new digital mode is on the scene called ROS - a spread spectrum mode ideal for weak signal/QRP use. The mode can operate at two symbol rates - 1 and 16 baud; the former is ideal for very weak signals with the user guide stating transmissions can be dec... Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:34:28 +0000 http://www.bengamblin.com/entry/486/ http://www.bengamblin.com/2009-10-17/psk31_a-day-at-the-keyboard/ I know I said I wouldn't do anymore serious testing until I'd built a new PC, but I just couldn't help myself. Over the last few days I have been active on 20m with reasonable success. After experimenting with different settings on the computer soundcar... Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:39:29 +0100 http://www.bengamblin.com/entry/485/ http://www.bengamblin.com/2009-10-11/psk31_first-experiences/ Over the last month, I've been preparing my station to operate on digital modes by building a radio to soundcard interface. After various hurdles I finally got the device working and conducted my first on air test yesterday, using PSK31. Unfortunately i... Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:34:42 +0100 http://www.bengamblin.com/entry/484/ http://www.bengamblin.com/2009-10-04/national-hamfest/ Just a quick note to say I visited the National Hamfest in Newark along with Charlie, M0PZT yesterday. It was quite a long trip - about 2.5 hours to get up there, but good fun. I'd gone with a small shopping list in mind - nothing big, but some bits and... Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:07:58 +0100