These are my personal rants and opinions and they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my family, employer, religion, volunteer organizations, social group, or any other group, organization, or person with whom I may be affiliated.
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Go here to download the IDE for your preferred OS (Windows, Linux, Mac). You can also buy boards and "shields" here but they are likely cheaper on Amazon. Arduino is an open hardware and open software project so "clone" boards are available as well as the original Arduino boards.
The Arduino UNO R3 is an excellent choice for prototyping and learning about coding. I strongly encourage you to start here if you are new to embedded programming, Arduino, etc. The boards are inexpensive (under $10 for "clone" board via Amazon).
The UNO is based on the Atmel ATmega328P processor. It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, and runs at 16MHz and 5 volts.
The UNO board (clone) I was using at the DIY night is (currently, as of Nov 2024) available for $9 via Amazon (affiliate link).
After you get your project working with the UNO board and a breadboard, it's time to convert it to a permanent project. For this, I'd encourage you to look at some of the smaller Arduino boards:
The Pro Mini (ignore what the page says, these are still commonly available and in use) is a great board for small projects. It has the same capabilities as the UNO (14 digital input/output pins 6 of which can be used as PWM outputs, 6 analog inputs, 16MHz at 5V) but lacks a USB port. You'll have to buy an adapter to go from USB to the TX/RX pins on the board. It's easy to do and the adapters are commonly available (affiliate link) for a few dollars. Search for "usb to ttl serial" to find them
Pro Mini's are available for < $5 each on Amazon at 3 for $14, 5 for $18, (affiliate links) and even cheaper as the quantity goes up.
Another option is the Pro Micro which has a USB port built in thanks to the 32U4 chip (vs the 328P on the UNO and Pro Mini).
These boards are basically the same in terms of capabilities: 9 channels of 10-bit ADC, 5 PWM pins, 12 DIOs as well as hardware serial connections Rx and Tx. Running at 16MHz and 5V.
They are available with USB micro or USB C on Amazon (affiliate links) for slightly more than the Pro Mini. Roughly $19 for 3.
There are literally dozens of other Arduino boards available, each with their own characteristics and capabilities. Everything from the Nano to the Mega (many more than are shown below). Some with BLE others with WiFi, etc.
Books about Arduino & Ham Radio
There are numerous books about using Arduino with ham radio. Here are a couple from ARRL:
Best of Arduino Projects for Ham Radio by Arduino expert Glen Popiel, KW5GP, includes 17 Arduino projects to build your programming and microcontroller skills. It’s a collection of the best projects presented in Arduino for Ham Radio, More Arduino Projects for Ham Radio, and More Arduino for Ham Radio.
More Arduino for Ham Radio introduces many of the new Arduino boards and add-on modules, followed by an overview of the software, tools, and techniques needed to bring projects to life. 10 practical projects showcase a variety of applications and include detailed descriptions of how the software “sketches” work.
Other books are available from Amazon (affiliate links):
Do you want to increase the functionality and value of your ham radio without spending a lot of money? This book will show you how! Arduino Projects for Amateur Radio is filled with step-by-step microcontroller projects you can accomplish on your own--no programming experience necessary. This practical guide provides detailed instructions, helpful diagrams, lists of low-cost parts and suppliers, and hardware and software tips that make building your own equipment even more enjoyable. Downloadable code for all of the projects in the book is also available.
introduces you to the fun and rewards of experimenting with microcontrollers. Editor Leigh L. Klotz Jr, WA5ZNU, and many other contributors have designed projects that will enhance your ham radio station and operating capabilities. Or, take it to the next step, using these projects as a launch pad for creating your own projects.
Sites about Arduino & Ham Radio
DX Zone has a page of over 100 Amateur Radio Arduino Projects (power meters, SDR, antenna analyzer, QRP transceiver, beacons, repeater controller, automatic antenna tuner, antenna rotator controller, etc.) as well as a sub page with dozens of Arduino Morse Code Projects.
The Instructables site has numerous projects for ham radio many of which use an Arduino.
Node-RED is a tool for easily connecting devices, APIs, and online services to automate tasks, create dashboards, and control your environment.
Background
A little background will help you understand the concepts being used in Node-RED and automation in general.
Node-RED
Node-RED is a drag-and-drop based programming tool, originally developed as a side project in 2013 by Nick O’Leary and Dave Conway-Jones of IBM’s Emerging Technology Services group and it is now a part of the OpenJS Foundation.
You create Node-RED programs by dragging different "nodes" from a palette of available functions and then connect these nodes together. Each node has a well defined purpose; it does something with it's input and passes the result onto the next node(s) in the program.
Node-RED started out as a tool for visualizing and manipulating mapping between MQTT topics. It has grown far beyond that in the decade or so since it was invented. You can read more about Node-RED if you are interested.
MQTT
MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) was created by Dr. Andy Stanford-Clark and Arlen Nipper in 1999. The original purpose for MQTT was to allow remote monitoring devices used in the oil and gas industry to send their data to servers over expensive satellite connections.
MQTT is a lightweight machine-to-machine (M2M) messaging protocol for clients that are resource constrained (need a small code and data footprint) and are connected to unreliable networks or networks with limited or expensive bandwidth resources.
MQTT use a pub-sub (publish / subscribe) architecture. There are two basic components, clients and brokers. Clients connect to brokers and can publish data, subscribe to topics, or both.
MQTT messages contain a topic and a payload. Both the topic and payload are application defined.
The topic describes what the data is in a hierarchical format, like the directory structure on a computer. The '/' character is used to separate each level. Some examples might be home/livingroom/temperature, garage/temperature, or cabin/bedroom/humidity.
The payload is the data. Since the payload is application defined it could be an image from a camera, a sensor value (temperature, humidity, brightness level, on, off, etc.), a command ('on', 'off', 'dim', 'bright', etc.), or a collection of information (name: 'Jenny', phone: '888-867-5309', email: 'jenny@example.com'), audio data, and so on. Anything that can be digitized can be sent as a payload in MQTT.
This ~5 minute video will give you a brief intro to MQTT if you want to know more.
MQTT Broker (Mosquitto)
Mosquitto is an open source MQTT broker. Versions are available for a variety of platforms (windows, mac, linux, raspberry pi, etc.). They also host a test instance of their broker that you can use to test clients or just to get familiar with MQTT. They also have clients available for different platforms so you can subscribe to topics or publish messages.
RTL-SDR Software defined radios
More and more utilities are moving to "smart meters" that allow reading information without having to physically access the meter. Orem city just moved to smart water meters last year. And Rocky Mountain Power has been using smart power meters for several years.
The rtl-sdr.com site has a number of tools for reading and decoding data from smart meters, tire pressure sensors in cars, weather sensors and a host of other RF devices. It's a simple matter to start reading and recording your power or water usage.
Water readings
Orem's water meters are easy to read via the rtlamr tool using the SCM+ protocol. You just need to open your meter box and look for the number printed in very large text on the side of your device. Put that number into the following command in place of xxxxx and you'll start seeing data within a minute or two.
The meter transmits data once a minute. Depending on the location of your antenna you may get all the messages or only a few of them. Note that even though it sends a message once a minute, the actual meter reading is only updated hourly (unfortunately). Also, the meter reading appears to be in 10ths of a gallon. In other words a value of 10 represents one gallon, not ten gallons.
Power readings
Reading your power meter should work very similarly using the rtlamr tool. I have a net meter so I don't have any direct experience here unfortunately (see caveat below). At the top of the power meter, above the display, is a sticker with some FCC info on it and a big long number. That's the device ID you need to filter on.
I tried reading a meter on a local utility pedestal. I can see the meter and get readings from it in rtlamr, but the readings don't seem to change. Over a three day period, the "consumption" value remained constant even though the actual display on the meter changed.
One caveat - Rocky Mountain Power seems to have moved their customers with rooftop solar to the new Itron Gen5 Riva meters. These seem to be configured in 2.4GHz mesh mode so you can no longer read the data with the usual rtlamr 900MHz tools. This seems to only apply to net metering solar customers, not non-solar customers.
You can copy and "import" these to your node-RED instance. Hit the hamburger menu on the top right, then select "import" from the menu. Copy and paste the text below (without the title) into the box & hit import.
Air quality flow
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ISS
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Ham DB lookup with map
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});\n})(scope);\n</script>","storeOutMessages":false,"fwdInMessages":true,"resendOnRefresh":false,"templateScope":"local","className":"","x":720,"y":480,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"23caf401.9d6d4c","type":"ui_button","z":"134851ca88c24fe4","name":"Open ham tab","group":"93eb817c13fb862d","order":2,"width":"3","height":"1","passthru":true,"label":"Ham DB","tooltip":"Open the HAM DB tab","color":"","bgcolor":"","className":"","icon":"fa-id-card-o","payload":"ham","payloadType":"str","topic":"change-tab","topicType":"str","x":360,"y":460,"wires":[["6d6a371c653a1e38"]]},{"id":"6d6a371c653a1e38","type":"trigger","z":"134851ca88c24fe4","name":"reset","op1":"","op2":"","op1type":"pay","op2type":"str","duration":"250","extend":false,"overrideDelay":false,"units":"ms","reset":"","bytopic":"all","topic":"topic","outputs":1,"x":550,"y":480,"wires":[["5e1f0081.6dc3c"]],"info":"This is necessary or the window code won't move to the same window twice in a row"},{"id":"3c9e94c07a6eace1","type":"switch","z":"134851ca88c24fe4","name":"Success or fail","property":"payload.hamdb.messages.status","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"eq","v":"OK","vt":"str"},{"t":"else"}],"checkall":"true","repair":false,"outputs":2,"x":700,"y":180,"wires":[["95478a0270885a54"],["fc65050e80308d0a"]],"outputLabels":["success","fail"]},{"id":"fc65050e80308d0a","type":"change","z":"134851ca88c24fe4","name":"fail - show status","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"payload","pt":"msg","to":"$flowContext('callsign') & \" \" & $.payload.hamdb.messages.status","tot":"jsonata"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":830,"y":240,"wires":[["4deeb220be58cf5a"]]},{"id":"0a7906eba955ab06","type":"delay","z":"134851ca88c24fe4","name":"delay .25 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conditions","tab":"5af3bc9c93f141e7","order":3,"disp":true,"width":"9","collapse":true,"className":""},{"id":"93eb817c13fb862d","type":"ui_group","name":"Default","tab":"5af3bc9c93f141e7","order":1,"disp":true,"width":"6","collapse":true,"className":""},{"id":"5af3bc9c93f141e7","type":"ui_tab","name":"Home","icon":"dashboard","order":2,"disabled":false,"hidden":false}]
Update the default list of search engines in Chrome
Chrome allows you to manage the list of searches available via the address bar. You can add new site searches and such by clicking the Add button. What you can't do is move a search engine from the "Site search" section to the "Search engines" section. You are effectively stuck with the list that Google curated. Here's how to fix that.
Side note: The data we want to edit is stored in a SQLite database. You'll need a copy of the SQLite command line tool for your OS in order to edit this database. Good news, SQLite is free software! Just run on over to the SQLite home page at https://sqlite.org and hit the download button.
In your browser go to chrome://settings/searchEngines
Click the "Add" button (highlighted above) to add your new search engine. You could also search the list of engines and see if it's already there (use the search box in the top right, also highlighted above).
Once you've added or activated your desired search engine, you need to EXIT chrome. That includes all instances that might be running. I don't just mean close the settings tab, I mean completely exit all running instances of Chrome. This is necessary because the file storing this information is locked when Chrome is running.
Now we need to edit the database storing this info. Go to your Chrome profile directory. In Windows 10 it is located in the C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default directory in the "Web Data" file.
sqlite> update keywords set prepopulate_id=id where url like '%brave%';
sqlite> .q
In this case I added the Brave search engine to my list of default search engines by updating the "prepopulate_id" field to a non-zero value. To search for your preferred engine, substitute the domain or some other unique part for the word brave in the queries above. Note that you need to keep the single quotes and the percent signs. The single quote tells SQLite that this is a string value. The percent signs are wildcards for characters before and after the keyword you are looking for.
You could also remove search engines from the default list by, you guessed it, setting the prepopulate_id to zero.
sqlite> update keywords set prepopulate_id=0 where url like '%ecosia%';
Now start Chrome again and your selected search engines should show up in the list of default search engines.
Yesterday the CDC released new guidance on masks. The new rules call for everyone to wear masks whether vaccinated or not. This is based on secret data that the CDC has thus far refused to release (citing "CDC COVID-19 Response Team, unpublished data, 2021"). They've promised this data "real soon now" but thus far they have not been forthcoming with this crucial information.
Let's leave aside the lack of any supporting data for the moment and just focus on the policy. So the original theory was that the "vaccine" (see more about why it's not really a vaccine below) would allow us to "return to normal". Now, however, the CDC cryptically says that those who are vaccinated are still catching and transmitting the virus. Thus, everyone needs to wear masks again.
The CDC wants everyone to get vaccinated but they acknowledge that this won't prevent you from getting or transmitting the virus. So how, exactly, will everyone getting vaccinated help? Their "logic" defies ... well ... logic if we're honest about it.
Since the vaccine doesn't stop the virus we want everyone, including those who are vaccinated, to return to wearing masks. And since the virus isn't stopped by the vaccine, the only logical conclusion is that we will all be wearing masks forever.
But let's not forget, if masks worked we would have crushed this virus the last time we went through this charade. If masks stopped the virus, we wouldn't need an untested, experimental vaccine.
The "vaccine" wont stop the virus (according to CDC's unpublished data). Wearing masks also wont stop the virus (as we've already proven for the past year). Where does that leave us?
The real answer is what medical professionals said from the beginning. We need actual heard immunity. And that comes from a majority of the population getting the disease (not a vaccine that doesn't provide immunity or masks that don't slow or stop the spread).
Why it isn't a "vaccine"
Definition of "vaccine" from Oxford Languages
Vaccines, by definition, confer immunity (think MMR, DTAP, etc.). As we've seen, that's not the case with this "vaccine". Rather the COVID vaccines are more properly classified as therapeutics since all they actually do is reduce symptom severity. This is the same benefit provided by other therapeutics such as Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin.
This article was originally written in 2018. It was updated with new prices and information in 2022.
Articles and Information
The following articles include basic information about how to solder and what tools you need. Many of these include videos and links to other resources.
Note that if you use the links below, I may get an Amazon affiliate commission. This in no way influences my recommendations.
Technically only 2 things are required to solder, a soldering iron and solder (there are even some soldering strips that you can activate with a match, but that's getting a bit out there). So let's talk briefly about solder then soldering irons. After that we'll look at some clamping options to hold things in place and then some other tools you might want to consider.
Solder
Solder comes in basically two varieties, rosin core and acid core. Acid core solder is for plumbing, NOT for electronics. DO NOT use acid core solder for electronics! Pretty much any rosin core solder will work just fine. I personally prefer lead-free solder in a small plastic tube (rather than on a roll). While slightly more expense, it is much easier to work with, and easier to carry for field work. You should avoid breathing solder fumes no matter what kind of solder you use, but this is especially important if you buy the (generally) less expensive tin-lead solder.
Soldering Irons
Irons can range from the cheap (sub $10) versions that plug directly into the wall up to thousands of dollars for high end soldering and rework stations. If you are just getting started, you don't need to spend a fortune to get a reasonable piece of equipment. At the end of this section are some soldering options for emergency and field use.
Save yourself some frustration and don’t buy a cheaper soldering iron from Radio Shack or Harbor Freight. Especially if you are just starting out, at least invest in a descent tool. For $32 you can get the Velleman VTSS5U adjustable temperature soldering station. It has an analog temperature control with no display so you don’t know exactly where it is set, but at least it’s adjustable.
Hakko FX-888D digital soldering station ($106) is an excellent tool for hobbyists. This is the iron I'd recommend if you have any intention of soldering more than one or two small projects. This kit comes with a pair of the best cutters you’ll ever use. I love my Hakko cutters. I have several of them and I use them all the time.
For emergency / field use (only) there are some alternative soldering irons:
A USB powered one for $13 (use it with a USB battery pack)
If you plan to solder much at all, you are going to want some way to clamp things in place while you solder them. This is true whether you are soldering wires together, soldering parts on a board, or soldering wires to a connector. Again, it doesn't have to be super expensive to be effective. Start with putty and clothespins and then move up to a vice if you find you are doing more soldering.
Plasti-Tak (poster putty, adhesive putty, mounting putty, reusable putty) is a great and cheap way to hold parts to boards, hold boards still, or hold wires and or connectors in place while soldering. The cheapest you can find should work just fine (Elmers $6.50, or Loctite$2). Try this video if you want to see it in action (“Blu-Tack” is the same as poster putty, Plasti-Tak, etc.). Some people use Silly Putty instead. That works too but I prefer the extra stick and stiffness of the poster putty.
Wooden (not plastic; they melt) clothespins make a great inexpensive clamp for holding wires, boards, or small parts when soldering. You can cut the angled ends off to make a ‘flush’ or ‘flat’ face to your “clamp” (see picture above). Combine clothespins with reusable putty (previous tip) and you have a very portable, inexpensive, and versatile clamping system. This guy made a fixture to hold the clothespins in place. You could do the same with a piece of scrap wood (1x6, etc.) for essentially free.
The Stick Vise ($35) is a great little portable vice for soldering. Takes almost no space and you can 3D print your own jaws if you are so inclined.
There are some 3D printable clamps you might consider as well.
MobilVise (a portable, printable version of the stick vise)
Tools
In addition to clamps, there are a number of other tools you might consider. Three of the most useful are wire cutters, pliers, and a soldering mat.
As I mentioned previously, I love my Hakko CHP-170 micro cutters ($9). They are relatively inexpensive, and worth every penny. I have several pair that I keep stashed around so a pair is always within easy reach.
Hakko long nose pliers ($15) are just a pleasure to use. The jaws close nice and flat and they hold parts very nicely.
A silicone mat ($8) is one of the best investments you can make. They are very inexpensive but make it much easier to work. It helps you keep track of parts and, unlike your kitchen table, you can’t burn the mat with your soldering iron.
Safety
A fume extractor / air filter ($26) is a great piece of safety equipment, especially if you use lead based solder. The fumes given off during soldering are toxic and should be avoided. You should also clean the table or other areas where you soldered with wet wipes to remove any dust or debris.
As with most projects, safety glasses ($2) are also recommended. Solder can pop and spatter, especially when desoldering or soldering wires.
