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I’ve been trying to tinker with the ESP8266 and the Arduino IDE

The latest version of Arduino from http://arduino.cc/ has a thing called ‘Boards Manager’ where you can use the IDE with other boards such as the ESP8266

Learn more about the ESP8266 and the Arduino IDE here

https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino

once you have the IDE set up it still isn’t that straightforward to get going... The settings in the screenshot above are what worked for me using a ESP-01, the trickiest part of the equation is getting the correct drivers for your USB->SERIAL adapter. I had a bunch of prolific chips here and even when I managed to get the drivers installed I still couldn’t get them to work.

A genuine FTDI adapter from Sparkfun does work... and the final hurdle was remembering that to flash the ESP you really need to have the Upload Speed set to 115200!

There is a handy little test script in the examples folder called CheckFlashConfig. This will check that the settings you have set under tools match your ESP8266 board :-) This is well worth running first to make sure you are not causing more problems than needed ;-)

73

#esp8266 #arduino

Got busy with the Laser Cutter at the Swansea Hackspace last night making some decs for Crimbo.

http://swansea.hackspace.org.uk/

#Swansea Hackspace #laser cutter #christmas decorations #homemade

ESP8266 data

Has a broadband failure for a week from 2nd Oct to 8th Oct 2015 :-(

#ESP8266

two for the price of one tonight - another great video shared by hackaday!

#hamradio #amateurradio #swr #standingwavesratio #measurement #weshouldknowthisstuff

If you are a hacker, you might consider ham radio operators as innovative. Most people, however, just see them as cheap. So it is no surprise that hams like [jmharvey] will build an antenna analyzer f...

I’ve looked at a few of these designs. I like this one!

#hamradio #amateurradio #antennaanalyser #hacking #making

Ever wonder how a crystal oscillator works? How does that little metal can with a sliver of quartz start vibrating to produce a clock signal for just about everything we use...

and now, for something completely different :-)

#amateur radio #hamradio #crystal oscillators #hackaday

How to make an effective QFH (quadrifilar helix) antenna for receiving weather satellites in the 137 MHz band, using PVC pipe and co-axial cable.

I love this write up by Julian Moss G4ILO on his homebrew QFH - it is on my list of things to build.

New URL for the Radio Tales from WW blog that I posted before...

#sota #amateur radio #carmarthenradioclub

Tonight I learnt how to use a Laser Cutter safely at the Swansea Hackspace. This is a little wooden token about 44mm diameter, the 'G' is the international Geocaching logo. This takes previous experience using Adobe Illustrator etc designing through to making. #EveryDayASchoolDay

#geocaching #lasercutter #Swansea Hackspace #making #hacking

Elderflower Cordial

I suppose if you are into making you don’t stop at the electronic or the physical, you probably enjoy making food as well.

Summer is here at long last and the hedgerows are bursting with elderflowers.

They are quick to pick, and they make a delicious cordial.

Some say you should pick the flowers in the morning, on a dry day, I picked mine later afternoon in the rain, but the resulting cordial was still delicious.

I used 25 - 30 flower heads (I use more when they are small), took the stems off and made sure there were no insects lurking (you can give them a gentle wash if you like).

I put 1.5L of water in my largest saucepan, added 2.5Kg of sugar and gently brought the mixture up to a simmer until the sugar was all dissolved. Then boiled it for about 5 mins.

I added the zest of three unwaxed lemons and an orange to the flowers. Then I juiced the three lemons and just half the orange. I added the zest and the juice to the boiling syrup.

After allowing the syrup to cool for a while I put in the flowers and covered the pan and left it stand for 24 hours.

The fun bit comes the following day... strain the syrupy mixture through a piece of fine muslin and bottle the clear liquid in freshly sterilized bottles (I use small 500ml plastic ones so I can then pop them in the freezer).

Alternatively you can freeze the syrup in ice cube trays... popping out what you need when you need it later.

Serve in a glass, with cold water - pop in an ice cube or two as well if you like. Delicious with a mint leaf or a slice of lemon popped in the glass too.

#hedgerow #wildfood #summerishere

this looks like a cool project... and a purpose for the Pi

Had three more goes at the SSTV transmissions from the ISS. Here are all four photos that I managed to get tonight. All received on a Baofeng UV5R handheld using the supplied stubby antenna and decoded using an iPhone.

#hamradio #sstv #iss

My MFD clone felt a bit flexible so decided to inspect the 'element' in question. There was an air gap under the rubber. I think MK II will be constructed using braid :-)

SSTV ISS 12 April 2015 16:35z There should be a better pass of the ISS later. Will give it another shot then.

Programming the ESP8266 with the Arduino IDE discussion on Hackaday

http://hackaday.com/2015/03/28/arduino-ide-support-for-the-esp8266/

#esp8266 #arduino #programming

Time for another project and this time it is the Adventure Tuner kit from SotaBeams http://www.sotabeams.co.uk/adventure-tuner-kit-or-built/ that has grabbed my attention.

A very small kit of parts arrived in the post yesterday and it was then a matter of nipping over to Home Bargains to grab a tube of acrylic paint, giving the masking paper a quick rub to make sure it was stuck on properly, then applying the paint. By this morning it had dried nicely and after a bit of TLC the job is a good one. It was well worth the effort to apply the paint.

It took very little time today to mount all the hardware, and tonight after work I will settle down with the soldering iron and finish off the job.

#hamradio #sotabeams #antennatuner #amaterradio #kit #constructionproject #qrp

New Call Sign... 2W0MWM

Well I finally had my new call sign, it didn’t help that the RSGB put the wrong post code on my letter that had the certificate and letter of congratulations within. It had been on an outing to Llanybydder where the other two candidates lived that passed at the same time as me at the Carmarthen Radio Soc.

And as you can see, I’ve renamed this blog with the new call sign.

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