I have recently purchased a Yaesu FT-817 radio for HAB tracking and amateur radio use.
Yaesu FT-817
Reply
Category Archives: Projects
NSE1 – Tracker v0.2
This is the second version of my Ublox6 NTX2 ATMega328 tracker.
It is built around the TinyGPS library and reports back its GPS Time, Coordinates, Battery voltage and Temperature over a 434.65Mhz RTTY radio link.
Tracker Specification:
Chip: Atmel ATMega328P-PU
Chip bootloader: Arduino
PCB Design: ExpressPCB
PCB Etching: Toner Transfer
Voltage Measurement: Voltage divider and 1.1v internal analog reference
5V Regulator: TS2950CT low drop out regulator
Transmission mode: RTTY, 50 Baud, 425mhz shift, 7-bit ASCII, no parity with 2 stop bits on 434.650MHZ
Antenna: 1/4 wave with 4 radials
Battery: 4x Energizer Lithium AA cells
Radio Module: Radiometrix NTX2 (From HabSupplies)
GPS Module: Ublox 6 (From HabSupplies)
Find the highest point in a given radius
I have recently built a quick tool using the google maps API to find the highest point within a radius of a given coordinate.
The tool can be found at http://chris-stubbs.co.uk/extras/maps/alt/
Gregory has since made a much prettier version. Check it out: http://gregoryalary.xyz/apex/ https://github.com/gregoryalary/summit-finder / https://gregoryalary.github.io/summit-finder/
Other tools include the Solwise elevation tool and HeyWhatsThat profiler.
NSE1 – High Altitude Balloon
This has been on the back burner for years. Those that do not know much about high altitude ballooning I suggest you check out http://ukhas.org .
NSE1 is currently in development and will contain:
GPS/RTTY tracker – Sends GPS location over a radio signal.
GPS/GSM tracker – Sends GPS location over SMS as a backup.
808 camera – Cheap mini camera to record the flight
Energizer Lithium AA Batteries – Work well at low temperature and are very light.
Foam payload box – keeps everything insulated and together.
Photos can be seen on Flickr
DIY UPS system *FEATURED*
Where I live, short power cuts are fairly frequent and can be very irritating. I have also wanted to experiment with CCTV for some time. After experimenting with test UPS systems using cheap inverters and old car batteries I decided to scale it up.
When homes have an alarm system installed it usually contains a backup battery in case of power failure. These batteries need to be replaced every few years to ensure the system performs correctly.
The waste batteries are usually sold to scrap dealers for their lead content, but alarm installers are usually happy to give/sell them to you for an incredibly low price. We have picked up 7AH batteries for less than 50p each.
The project was designed, tested and built by myself and Dom.
Check out the video:
A full how-to is availible at http://www.instructables.com/
I am proud to announce that he write up has been featured by the authors of Instructables on their homepage and has also made appearances on Hack A Day and Life Hacker. Gaining the project well over 10 thousand hits (not including hackaday)!
If you like the project please vote for us to win the Green Tech contest on Instructables.com (Vote button in header of page). Thanks!
ATTiny13 programming & servo data interception
After a digital out put from your hobby RC reciver on the cheap? You could glue a microswitch to a servo, or you could read those servo commands using an ATTiny in the Arduino programming enviroment. Then you can control your digital outputs according to the position being sent, without the need for a servo!
Before jumping straight into reading pulse signals. Lets get started out with the basics of the ATTiny13.
Programming:
Coding:
Testing:
For the full write up, please take a look at my instructable.
Prusa Mendel RepRap 3D Printer
After having a interest in CNC machines for a while now, and playing around constructing things like my modified Cannon Pixma IP3000. I have decided to build a RepRap Mendel. This should be more successful than my previous CNC attempts as it uses widely available parts, and any special/custom parts i can download from RepRap.org and print on the RapMan 3.1 printer at college
I will post updates in the form of images of the build on my Flickr account
Great success! 3D printer is complete and working well: Flickr
Homing axis:
Time lapse of printing a “Footed Vertex”:
I was having troubles with my steppers jumping, i have now moved on to Sanguinololu electronics.
Trimming the current pots seem to help with jumping motor problems.
I have adapted several hot end designs in order to make parts as simple as possible to produce.
.NET Gadgeteer Gadgesketch
This is our end of UK pilot scheme competition entry from the Cambridge event back in January 2012.
Built and coded by myself (Chris Stubbs) and Dom Taglialvore, students of The Sandon School 6th Form.
The casing is made from vacuum formed acrylic and uses the standard FEZ Spider board.
Graphics are at first drawn to memory before being displayed on the screen to help prevent flickering.
The Gadgesketch lets you draw an image using the two potentiometers, then save it to an SD card to share.
Microsoft have taken the gadget over the USA to show their colleges an example of what students have been making.
Some clips from the Microsoft event can be seen below
Code: http://chris-stubbs.co.uk/Gadgeteer/EtchASketch%20Bitmaps.zip
Link: http://www.netmf.com/gadgeteer/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=2386
RGB LED Lighting Control Software
RGB LED VB.NET serial control software for RGB LED lights
My code is here at last!
RGB LED Lighting Controller by Chris Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
Based on a work at chris-stubbs.co.uk.
All credit for hardware goes to picprojects.org
USB Robot *Instructables Robotics Week Winner*
We won! The prize is a “Robotics starter pack”. Will post the contents when i get it!
Update: The pack contained an Instructables badge and some stickers, 3 packs of “sugru” silicone putty and a copy of Autodesk SketchBook Pro! Thanks Instructables!
This instructible will describe the processes required to build a system for interfacing with a robot (and the basics of building a robot) around the velleman K8055 USB interface board (availible online or at maplins) The robot is built mostly from scraps i had at home and parts from a car breakers yard the whole project cost around £50 but will be much less if you have parts at home