Make It Tea

Formatting Syntax

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 06:44:15 +0000

Formatting Syntax

DokuWiki supports some simple markup language, which tries to make the datafiles to be as readable as possible. This page contains all possible syntax you may use when editing the pages. Simply have a look at the source of this page by pressing “Edit this page”. If you want to try something, just use the playground page. The simpler markup is easily accessible via quickbuttons, too.

Basic Text Formatting

DokuWiki supports bold, italic, underlined and monospaced texts. Of course you can combine all these.

DokuWiki supports **bold**, //italic//, __underlined__ and ''monospaced'' texts.
Of course you can **__//''combine''//__** all these.

You can use _subscript and ^superscript, too.

You can use <sub>subscript</sub> and <sup>superscript</sup>, too.

You can mark something as ~~deleted~~ as well.

You can mark something as <del>deleted</del> as well.

Paragraphs are created from blank lines. If you want to force a newline without a paragraph, you can use two backslashes followed by a whitespace or the end of line.

This is some text with some linebreaks
Note that the two backslashes are only recognized at the end of a line
or followed by
a whitespace \\this happens without it.

This is some text with some linebreaks\\ Note that the
two backslashes are only recognized at the end of a line\\
or followed by\\ a whitespace \\this happens without it.

You should use forced newlines only if really needed.

Links

DokuWiki supports multiple ways of creating links.

External

External links are recognized automagically: http://www.google.com or simply www.google.com - You can set the link text as well: This Link points to google. Email addresses like this one: andi@splitbrain.org are recognized, too.

DokuWiki supports multiple ways of creating links. External links are recognized
automagically: http://www.google.com or simply www.google.com - You can set
link text as well: [[http://www.google.com|This Link points to google]]. Email
addresses like this one: <andi@splitbrain.org> are recognized, too.

Internal

Internal links are created by using square brackets. You can either just give a pagename or use an additional link text.

Internal links are created by using square brackets. You can either just give
a [[pagename]] or use an additional [[pagename|link text]].

Wiki pagenames are converted to lowercase automatically, special characters are not allowed.

You can use namespaces by using a colon in the pagename.

You can use [[some:namespaces]] by using a colon in the pagename.

For details about namespaces see namespaces.

Linking to a specific section is possible, too. Just add the section name behind a hash character as known from HTML. This links to this Section.

This links to [[syntax#internal|this Section]].

Notes:

Links to existing pages are shown in a different style from nonexisting ones.
DokuWiki does not use CamelCase to automatically create links by default, but this behavior can be enabled in the config file. Hint: If DokuWiki is a link, then it's enabled.
When a section's heading is changed, its bookmark changes, too. So don't rely on section linking too much.

Interwiki

DokuWiki supports Interwiki links. These are quick links to other Wikis. For example this is a link to Wikipedia's page about Wikis: Wiki.

DokuWiki supports [[doku>Interwiki]] links. These are quick links to other Wikis.
For example this is a link to Wikipedia's page about Wikis: [[wp>Wiki]].

Windows Shares

Windows shares like this are recognized, too. Please note that these only make sense in a homogeneous user group like a corporate Intranet.

Windows Shares like [[\\server\share|this]] are recognized, too.

Notes:

For security reasons direct browsing of windows shares only works in Microsoft Internet Explorer per default (and only in the “local zone”).
For Mozilla and Firefox it can be enabled through different workaround mentioned in the Mozilla Knowledge Base. However, there will still be a JavaScript warning about trying to open a Windows Share. To remove this warning (for all users), put the following line in conf/lang/en/lang.php (more details at localization):
conf/lang/en/lang.php
```
<?php
/**
 * Customization of the english language file
 * Copy only the strings that needs to be modified
 */
$lang['js']['nosmblinks'] = '';
```

Image Links

You can also use an image to link to another internal or external page by combining the syntax for links and images (see below) like this:

[[http://php.net|{{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png}}]]

Please note: The image formatting is the only formatting syntax accepted in link names.

The whole image and link syntax is supported (including image resizing, internal and external images and URLs and interwiki links).

Footnotes

You can add footnotes ¹⁾ by using double parentheses.

You can add footnotes ((This is a footnote)) by using double parentheses.

Sectioning

You can use up to five different levels of headlines to structure your content. If you have more than three headlines, a table of contents is generated automatically – this can be disabled by including the string ~~NOTOC~~ in the document.

Headline Level 3

Headline Level 4

Headline Level 5

==== Headline Level 3 ====
=== Headline Level 4 ===
== Headline Level 5 ==

By using four or more dashes, you can make a horizontal line:

Media Files

You can include external and internal images, videos and audio files with curly brackets. Optionally you can specify the size of them.

Real size:

Resize to given width:

Resize to given width and height²⁾:

Resized external image:

Real size:                        {{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png}}
Resize to given width:            {{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png?50}}
Resize to given width and height: {{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png?200x50}}
Resized external image:           {{https://www.php.net/images/php.gif?200x50}}

By using left or right whitespaces you can choose the alignment.

{{ wiki:dokuwiki-128.png}}
{{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png }}
{{ wiki:dokuwiki-128.png }}

Of course, you can add a title (displayed as a tooltip by most browsers), too.

{{ wiki:dokuwiki-128.png |This is the caption}}

For linking an image to another page see Image Links above.

Supported Media Formats

DokuWiki can embed the following media formats directly.

Image	`gif`, `jpg`, `png`
Video	`webm`, `ogv`, `mp4`
Audio	`ogg`, `mp3`, `wav`
Flash	`swf`

If you specify a filename that is not a supported media format, then it will be displayed as a link instead.

By adding ?linkonly you provide a link to the media without displaying it inline

{{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png?linkonly}}

dokuwiki-128.png This is just a link to the image.

Fallback Formats

Unfortunately not all browsers understand all video and audio formats. To mitigate the problem, you can upload your file in different formats for maximum browser compatibility.

For example consider this embedded mp4 video:

{{video.mp4|A funny video}}

When you upload a video.webm and video.ogv next to the referenced video.mp4, DokuWiki will automatically add them as alternatives so that one of the three files is understood by your browser.

Additionally DokuWiki supports a “poster” image which will be shown before the video has started. That image needs to have the same filename as the video and be either a jpg or png file. In the example above a video.jpg file would work.

Lists

Dokuwiki supports ordered and unordered lists. To create a list item, indent your text by two spaces and use a * for unordered lists or a - for ordered ones.

This is a list
The second item
- You may have different levels
Another item

The same list but ordered
Another item
1. Just use indention for deeper levels
That's it

  * This is a list
  * The second item
    * You may have different levels
  * Another item

  - The same list but ordered
  - Another item
    - Just use indention for deeper levels
  - That's it

Also take a look at the FAQ on list items.

Text Conversions

DokuWiki can convert certain pre-defined characters or strings into images or other text or HTML.

The text to image conversion is mainly done for smileys. And the text to HTML conversion is used for typography replacements, but can be configured to use other HTML as well.

Text to Image Conversions

DokuWiki converts commonly used emoticons to their graphical equivalents. Those Smileys and other images can be configured and extended. Here is an overview of Smileys included in DokuWiki:

8-)
8-O
:-(
:-)
=)
:-/
:-\
:-?
:-D
:-P
:-O
:-X
:-|
;-)
^_^
m(
:?:
:!:
LOL
FIXME
DELETEME

Text to HTML Conversions

Typography: DokuWiki can convert simple text characters to their typographically correct entities. Here is an example of recognized characters.

→ ← ↔ ⇒ ⇐ ⇔ » « – — 640×480 © ™ ® “He thought 'It's a man's world'…”

-> <- <-> => <= <=> >> << -- --- 640x480 (c) (tm) (r)
"He thought 'It's a man's world'..."

The same can be done to produce any kind of HTML, it just needs to be added to the pattern file.

There are three exceptions which do not come from that pattern file: multiplication entity (640×480), 'single' and “double quotes”. They can be turned off through a config option.

Quoting

Some times you want to mark some text to show it's a reply or comment. You can use the following syntax:

I think we should do it

> No we shouldn't

>> Well, I say we should

> Really?

>> Yes!

>>> Then lets do it!

I think we should do it

No we shouldn't

Well, I say we should

Really?

Yes!

Then lets do it!

Tables

DokuWiki supports a simple syntax to create tables.

Heading 1	Heading 2	Heading 3
Row 1 Col 1	Row 1 Col 2	Row 1 Col 3
Row 2 Col 1	some colspan (note the double pipe)
Row 3 Col 1	Row 3 Col 2	Row 3 Col 3

Table rows have to start and end with a | for normal rows or a ^ for headers.

^ Heading 1      ^ Heading 2       ^ Heading 3          ^
| Row 1 Col 1    | Row 1 Col 2     | Row 1 Col 3        |
| Row 2 Col 1    | some colspan (note the double pipe) ||
| Row 3 Col 1    | Row 3 Col 2     | Row 3 Col 3        |

To connect cells horizontally, just make the next cell completely empty as shown above. Be sure to have always the same amount of cell separators!

Vertical tableheaders are possible, too.

	Heading 1	Heading 2
Heading 3	Row 1 Col 2	Row 1 Col 3
Heading 4	no colspan this time
Heading 5	Row 2 Col 2	Row 2 Col 3

As you can see, it's the cell separator before a cell which decides about the formatting:

|              ^ Heading 1            ^ Heading 2          ^
^ Heading 3    | Row 1 Col 2          | Row 1 Col 3        |
^ Heading 4    | no colspan this time |                    |
^ Heading 5    | Row 2 Col 2          | Row 2 Col 3        |

You can have rowspans (vertically connected cells) by adding ::: into the cells below the one to which they should connect.

Heading 1	Heading 2	Heading 3
Row 1 Col 1	this cell spans vertically	Row 1 Col 3
Row 2 Col 1		Row 2 Col 3
Row 3 Col 1		Row 2 Col 3

Apart from the rowspan syntax those cells should not contain anything else.

^ Heading 1      ^ Heading 2                  ^ Heading 3          ^
| Row 1 Col 1    | this cell spans vertically | Row 1 Col 3        |
| Row 2 Col 1    | :::                        | Row 2 Col 3        |
| Row 3 Col 1    | :::                        | Row 2 Col 3        |

You can align the table contents, too. Just add at least two whitespaces at the opposite end of your text: Add two spaces on the left to align right, two spaces on the right to align left and two spaces at least at both ends for centered text.

Table with alignment
right	center	left
left	right	center
xxxxxxxxxxxx	xxxxxxxxxxxx	xxxxxxxxxxxx

This is how it looks in the source:

^           Table with alignment           ^^^
|         right|    center    |left          |
|left          |         right|    center    |
| xxxxxxxxxxxx | xxxxxxxxxxxx | xxxxxxxxxxxx |

Note: Vertical alignment is not supported.

No Formatting

If you need to display text exactly like it is typed (without any formatting), enclose the area either with <nowiki> tags or even simpler, with double percent signs %%.

This is some text which contains addresses like this: http://www.splitbrain.org and **formatting**, but nothing is done with it. The same is true for //__this__ text// with a smiley ;-).

<nowiki>
This is some text which contains addresses like this: http://www.splitbrain.org and **formatting**, but nothing is done with it.
</nowiki>
The same is true for %%//__this__ text// with a smiley ;-)%%.

Code Blocks

You can include code blocks into your documents by either indenting them by at least two spaces (like used for the previous examples) or by using the tags <code> or <file>.

This is text is indented by two spaces.

This is preformatted code all spaces are preserved: like              <-this

This is pretty much the same, but you could use it to show that you quoted a file.

Those blocks were created by this source:

  This is text is indented by two spaces.

<code>
This is preformatted code all spaces are preserved: like              <-this
</code>

<file>
This is pretty much the same, but you could use it to show that you quoted a file.
</file>

Syntax Highlighting

DokuWiki can highlight sourcecode, which makes it easier to read. It uses the GeSHi Generic Syntax Highlighter – so any language supported by GeSHi is supported. The syntax uses the same code and file blocks described in the previous section, but this time the name of the language syntax to be highlighted is included inside the tag, e.g. <code java> or <file java>.

/**
 * The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
 * simply displays "Hello World!" to the standard output.
 */
class HelloWorldApp {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello World!"); //Display the string.
    }
}

The following language strings are currently recognized: 4cs 6502acme 6502kickass 6502tasm 68000devpac abap actionscript3 actionscript ada aimms algol68 apache applescript apt_sources arm asm asp asymptote autoconf autohotkey autoit avisynth awk bascomavr bash basic4gl batch bf biblatex bibtex blitzbasic bnf boo caddcl cadlisp ceylon cfdg cfm chaiscript chapel cil c_loadrunner clojure c_mac cmake cobol coffeescript c cpp cpp-qt cpp-winapi csharp css cuesheet c_winapi dart dcl dcpu16 dcs delphi diff div dos dot d ecmascript eiffel email epc e erlang euphoria ezt f1 falcon fo fortran freebasic freeswitch fsharp gambas gdb genero genie gettext glsl gml gnuplot go groovy gwbasic haskell haxe hicest hq9plus html html4strict html5 icon idl ini inno intercal io ispfpanel java5 java javascript jcl j jquery julia kixtart klonec klonecpp kotlin latex lb ldif lisp llvm locobasic logtalk lolcode lotusformulas lotusscript lscript lsl2 lua m68k magiksf make mapbasic mathematica matlab mercury metapost mirc mk-61 mmix modula2 modula3 mpasm mxml mysql nagios netrexx newlisp nginx nimrod nsis oberon2 objc objeck ocaml-brief ocaml octave oobas oorexx oracle11 oracle8 oxygene oz parasail parigp pascal pcre perl6 perl per pf phix php-brief php pic16 pike pixelbender pli plsql postgresql postscript povray powerbuilder powershell proftpd progress prolog properties providex purebasic pycon pys60 python qbasic qml q racket rails rbs rebol reg rexx robots roff rpmspec rsplus ruby rust sas sass scala scheme scilab scl sdlbasic smalltalk smarty spark sparql sql sshconfig standardml stonescript swift systemverilog tclegg tcl teraterm texgraph text thinbasic tsql twig typoscript unicon upc urbi uscript vala vbnet vb vbscript vedit verilog vhdl vim visualfoxpro visualprolog whitespace whois winbatch wolfram xbasic xml xojo xorg_conf xpp yaml z80 zxbasic

There are additional advanced options available for syntax highlighting, such as highlighting lines or adding line numbers.

Downloadable Code Blocks

When you use the <code> or <file> syntax as above, you might want to make the shown code available for download as well. You can do this by specifying a file name after language code like this:

<file php myexample.php>
<?php echo "hello world!"; ?>
</file>

myexample.php

<?php echo "hello world!"; ?>

If you don't want any highlighting but want a downloadable file, specify a dash (-) as the language code: <code - myfile.foo>.

RSS/ATOM Feed Aggregation

DokuWiki can integrate data from external XML feeds. For parsing the XML feeds, SimplePie is used. All formats understood by SimplePie can be used in DokuWiki as well. You can influence the rendering by multiple additional space separated parameters:

Parameter	Description
any number	will be used as maximum number items to show, defaults to 8
reverse	display the last items in the feed first
author	show item authors names
date	show item dates
description	show the item description. All HTML tags will be stripped
nosort	do not sort the items in the feed
n[dhm]	refresh period, where d=days, h=hours, m=minutes. (e.g. 12h = 12 hours).

The refresh period defaults to 4 hours. Any value below 10 minutes will be treated as 10 minutes. DokuWiki will generally try to supply a cached version of a page, obviously this is inappropriate when the page contains dynamic external content. The parameter tells DokuWiki to re-render the page if it is more than refresh period since the page was last rendered.

By default the feed will be sorted by date, newest items first. You can sort it by oldest first using the reverse parameter, or display the feed as is with nosort.

Example:

{{rss>http://slashdot.org/index.rss 5 author date 1h }}

Over 200 Economists Say 'We Must Act Now' On AI's Economic Impact by BeauHD (14/07/26 04:30 BST)
Microsoft Promises To Fix Search With Major Windows 11 Overhaul by BeauHD (14/07/26 00:00 BST)
US Government Warns That Russia State Hackers Are Coming After Your Router by BeauHD (13/07/26 23:00 BST)
German Firm Files For Insolvency After Cybercriminals Shut Down Production For 6 Weeks by BeauHD (13/07/26 22:12 BST)
States Sue to Block Paramount-Warner Bros Merger, Defying DOJ by BeauHD (13/07/26 21:00 BST)

Control Macros

Some syntax influences how DokuWiki renders a page without creating any output it self. The following control macros are availble:

Macro	Description
~~NOTOC~~	If this macro is found on the page, no table of contents will be created
~~NOCACHE~~	DokuWiki caches all output by default. Sometimes this might not be wanted (eg. when the <php> syntax above is used), adding this macro will force DokuWiki to rerender a page on every call

Syntax Plugins

DokuWiki's syntax can be extended by Plugins. How the installed plugins are used is described on their appropriate description pages. The following syntax plugins are available in this particular DokuWiki installation:

Blockquote Plugin 2020-09-27 by Anika Henke (previous author: Gina Haeussge)
Write quotations in a semantically correct way
Blog 2023-10-24 by Michael Hamann, Michael Klier, Gina Haeussge
Use DokuWiki as blogging tool. (previous authors: Esther Brunner)
catlist plugin 2023-12-16 by Félix Faisant
List pages and namespaces recursively
Changes Plugin 2023-12-14 by Andreas Gohr
List the most recent changes of the wiki
Cloud Plugin 2023-02-11 by Michael Hamann, Michael Klier, Gina Haeussge
Displays the most used words in a word cloud.
color syntax plugin 2022-10-19 by Harald Hanche-Olsen
Write colored text in DokuWiki.
Comment Syntax support 2022-01-01 by Satoshi Sahara
Allow to use source comment syntax to leave edit instructions of the page. Comments are visible only in the source view, not rendered as any page elements.
config:htmlok Plugin 2023-07-12 by Luis Machuca Bezzaza
Enables raw HTML like the old 'config:htmlok' behaviour.
discussion plugin 2025-07-04 by Michael Hamann, Gerrit Uitslag, Gina Häussge, Christopher Smith, Michael Klier, Esther Brunner, Matthias Schulte
Provides discussion funtionality for wiki pages
Encrypted Passwords Plugin 2023-12-20 by Andreas Gohr
This plugin let you store 256 bit AES encrypted passwords in your DokuWiki pages. The password can be decrypted by clicking them (Javascript must be enabled).
folded plugin 2023-07-22 by Michael Hamann, Fabian van-de-l_Isle, Christopher Smith, Esther Brunner
Foldable page sections
iframe plugin 2023-08-17 by Christopher Smith
Allows external URLs to be loaded into an iframe in your DokuWiki page.
include plugin 2025-07-22 by Michael Hamann, Gina Häussge, Christopher Smith, Michael Klier, Esther Brunner
Functions to include another page in a wiki page
Info Plugin 2020-06-04 by Andreas Gohr
Displays information about various DokuWiki internals
keyboard 2023-02-23 by Gina Häußge
The keyboard plugin provides a combined syntax and action plugin in order to markup text as keyboard keys, similar to (and making use of) the existing (X)HTML tag <kbd>…</kbd>. A quick button for the markup is automatically inserted into the toolbar of the edit form.
Lastmod Plugin 2016-02-03 by Dennis Ploeger
Displays the timestamp of the last modification of the current or another page.
log plugin 2019-02-27 by Adrian Lang
Provide simple logs
Note Plugin 2024-04-15 by Anael Mobilia
Add Note/Important/Tip/Warning Capability (DIV+CSS box)
nspages plugin 2024-11-22 by Guillaume Turri
Presents a toc of the selected namespace using <nspages>
Numbered Headings 2023-09-12 by Satoshi Sahara
Prepend tiered numbers as indexes for hierarchical headings
orphanswanted plugin 2023-05-30 by Doug Edmunds, Cyrille37, Federico Ariel Castagnini, Andy Webber, Matthias Schulte, Christian Paul, alexdraconian
Display Orphans, Wanteds and Valid link tables
Pagelist Plugin 2023-08-27 by Matthias Schulte, Michael Hamann, Michael Klier, Gina Haeussge
Lists pages in a nice formatted way
PageQuery Plugin 2025-03-04 by Mark C. Prins, previously Symon Bent
Search for (fulltext) and list wiki pages, sorted and optionally grouped by name, date, creator, abc, etc. in columns. Insert the pagequery markup wherever you want your list to appear. E.g.{{pagequery>[query;fulltext;sort=key:direction,key2:direction;group;limit=??;cols=?;inwords;proper]}} [..] = optional
tabbox plugin 2018-04-29 by Andreas Gohr
Insert a tabbed box in a page
Tag Plugin 2023-10-17 by Michael Hamann, Gina Häussge, Christopher Smith, Michael Klier, Esther Brunner
tag wiki pages
ToDo 2025-08-26 by Leo Eibler, Christian Marg, Markus Gschwendt, Robert Weinmeister
Create a checkbox based todo list with optional user assignment (basic syntax: <todo>This is a ToDo</todo>). It can also be used as a lightweight task list management system.
Wrap Plugin 2023-08-13 by Anika Henke
Universal plugin which combines functionalities of many other plugins. Wrap wiki text inside containers (divs or spans) and give them a class (choose from a variety of preset classes), a width and/or a language with its associated text direction.

¹⁾

This is a footnote

²⁾

when the aspect ratio of the given width and height doesn't match that of the image, it will be cropped to the new ratio before resizing

Radio Update - QRP etc

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:05:14 +0000

Radio Update - QRP etc

After setting up a basic station in the small “office” - just one rig and my keys - I decided to make a “real” hamshack with more radios, some tools, test equipment etc.

I added two shelves above the desk to hold radios, PSUs, 'scope, tools etc. I've now got a “one-desk shack” that can be used for operating on air and building & repairing equipment (on a small scale)

I found that the stock mic for my FT891 was faulty - the mic element is open-circuit - so I bought a Heil HMM fist mic and spent some time setting up the EQ for a reasonable “communications” quality audio. I'm not naturally a 'phone operator, so I'll not be having lots of “ragchew” QSOs, and “communications quality” is all I'm aiming for - to be audible - not quite as extreme as a Clansman but with enough HF emphasis, and enough compression to cut through the noise.

I though briefly about limiting myself to SSB for a few months, to get used to talking on the radio, but that's NEVER going to happen.

The QMX

Then I found a box with an unbuilt QRPLabs "QMX" kit! I'd bought it in August 2023, and hadn't built it. I have a QCX-mini for 40m and it's a great little radio, and I thought the QMX would be the next obvious step. Then I forgot about it.

So, on Saturday I got the box, opened it. Printed out the Assembly Manual. Watched Hans's You Tube video highlighting the pitfalls. And got started.

The first thing was to check if my early (Rev 1) board has the “Power Board Short” issue - and it did - so I got out my hot-air station and moved the MOSFET a mm or two to remove the short.

Then down to business…. building.

I did it all in one day, with the occasional break for food, dog walk, etc….. The most challenging thing was winding the 2 binocular ferrite transformers - the PA output transformer and the SWR brigge transformer. The “normal” toroid cores were all straightforward.

I built it for 9V operation (this determines the form of the PA output transformer).

I worked first time. Which is amazing given the small size and relatively dense component layout.

On a PSU set for 9V I get at least 5W on all bands. I made a string of 4 x 1N4001 diodes to drop ~2.4V and powered it from the normal shack supply. And used the handy config option “Limit PA Volts” to set a limit of 9.5V. This gives a comfortable 5W on all bands without any risk of overheating the finals etc.

I've used it on WSPR - both via WSJT-X and using the internal standalone WSPR Beacon mode.

I upgraded to the current beta firmware 1_04_002 and the main change seems to be the removal of the Beacon mode and its replacement with “Virtual U3S” - a mimic of the functionality of the U3S multi-function beacon TX. Currently only WSPR is supported - but the other modes will follow. This works well - and allows a “schedule” to change frequency / Mode etc on sequential TX periods.

Back to QRP CW

Then I had to try it on CW.

My first CW QSO was on 30m with Rob, OK7SX, on Wednesday 29th.

Last night I had 3 x CW QSOs : F/FK8IK (Mic nr Vichy), IK3/UY7LA (Alex, nr Venice) on 30m and the icing on the cake was a chat with Will GM0HKS on 40m.

Will was using a K2 at 5W, but did mention that he still has the “wee K1” - that's my old K1 that I built back in 2003. I sold it (and deeply regret doing so) and it ended up in Will's care. We've had a few QSOs over the years and he never fails to mention the “wee K1”.

The next step

I've been thinking about where I want to go with radio recently.

What actually gives me pleasure?

What can I do to avoid the aspects of the hobby that spoil it for me?

Building and using the QMX reminded me of the fun I got with I first built the “wee K1” in 2003.

I hadn't been active in the hobby for many years, my log book shows a couple of FM contacts in 2002 with locals on the repeater, and prior to that I was using Packet Radio in 1994, while still living in Huddersfield and working at Holme Moss. The last time I'd actually been on HF CW was while I was at UMIST, in 1985 using the club station.

I built the K1 in 2003 and went CW crazy!

The basic chronology :

pre-2003
- 1983 - first licensed as G4SLV, still at school. Used 10mFM and 2m CW before going away to University in 1984
- 1984 - 1988 - at UMIST, and active in the Radio Society. Used club station for HF CW, as well as 70cm ATV and “other” things
- 1988 - 1995 - not much radio - some Packet on 2m
- 1995 - moved to Wick. Some HF SWL using my old AR88D. No “ham” radio
- 1999 - moved to Shetland. Some 2m activity on local repeater. Some HF SWL with AR88D and AR7030.
August 2003 - K1 - 2 bands - 40m / 20m - lots of QSOs. A very active phase on the hobby on-the-air.
Some time in 2004 - K1 - added 4 band board & concentrated on 40/30/20
Some time in 2004 - IC706MK2G - all bands - 100W - K1 use still frequent - but the lure of 100W was strong for a while - plus digimodes (PSK31 etc)
November 2004 - 60m use began - mostly SSB - K1 still in use for QRP CW
2007 - K2 added to the shack
July 2007 - Start of 500kHz “experiment”. All HF working stopped and lots of time spent with MF - Sold K1 & K2 and IC706. Bought IC718
Jan 2009 - Back to HF, mix of QRO and QRP. Mostly CW, Some SSB and digimodes
Nov 2010 - Back to 500kHz, with some HF mixed in.
Jan 2011 - Back to HF

At some point during the MF phase I sold the K1 and K2.

From 2012 I spent most of my time on 60m using digimodes, mostly Olivia. I still dabbled on HF CW. Mostly QRO. Bought IC7200 to add to the Shack.

The three main phases were

QRP CW on 40m/20m with K1
500kHz CW (and some WSPR etc)
60m Digimodes

Looking at my logbooks I can tell that I really delved deeply into QRP CW with the K1. I worked many, many people in many, many places and had a lot of fun with such a simple little radio.

The K2 was fun to build, but it got little use - I remember preferring the “wee K1” to its big brother. The 500kHz experiment in 2007 intervened and pushed the QRP HF rigs to the side and they were sold to fund “more important” items.

On 60m I had a lot of fun, learning a lot about the propagation on the band, and about the different behaviour of the various digimodes.

I came back to HF CW a few times - but nothing sparked joy like those early times with the K1.

The future?

Building the QMX has shown me that it's possible to have fun building and then have more fun using simple QRP radios. And this might be the push I need to get back into QRP.

It's more challenging these days - as most people in urban environments have raised noise levels and struggle to hear “normal weak signals” - but there are still people actively using QRP, and only QRP, to fully enjoy the hobby.

If I can't work someone due to my weak signal, then so be it… move on… there'll always be someone else to work.

One area I've never tried is QRP SSB. So I've turned the power on my FT891 (the “SSB rig”) down to 10 watts. I'll give it a try some time. But once more my focus is back to CW. And now with an additional slant - QRP, and only QRP.

I'll write more as I explore.

My G-QRP Club membership number is 2377, dating back to around 1984…. so I've been at it a long time, in fits and starts.

radio, cw, qrp, qmx

Damasko DA36

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Watches

Damasko DA36

Bought Date	25/10/2016
Bought From	Damasko, Germany
Price	€1796
Movement	ETA2836-2 : 25 Jewels, Automatic, Day/Date, 28,800vph
Serial Number	DA36-1981
Anti-magnetic	80,000A/m,1000 Gauss
Water Resistance	100m
Strap	Damasko Steel Bracelet

The DA36

I see this watch as a modern version of Rolex's Milgauss - tough with the same level of Magnetic Resistance as the original Milgauss (1000 Gauss). The original anti-magnetic engineer's watch from Rolex wasn't the multi-thousands-of-pounds bauble they sell today.

Originally Rolex produced relatively expensive, but still affordable, tool-watches.

Unlike the Veblen Goods they churn out today.

Damasko's original and iconic watch, the DA36, is something akin to an early Rolex. Not cheap, but also not ridiculously over-priced. It has no obvious external frills, but has plenty of technology inside to justify the price and to add functional value.

I often ponder whether I'd buy a Milgauss if I could afford the £7000+ price tag. And now I've lived with the DA36 for almost 6 years I don't know that I would. My watch is now my watch. Why swap for another expensive toy?

Damasko have recently re-configured their range of watches and dropped the DA36, and most of the others from their early years of production, as they move upwards, into making higher price watches with in-house movements, rather than using off-the-shelf ETA units.

I'd love a DA36 to appear with the in-house movement, but I don't know that this is going to happen.

UPDATE — John Pumford-Green 24/04/23 17:45

The DA36 has now reappeared - as the DK36 with the new in-house A26-3 movement.

DK36 at Damasko

My watch developed a fault after a couple of years but this was easily repaired by Damasko. I might have introduced the fault myself after opening it up a few times to regulate it - perhaps I let in some dirt that found its way to the escapement and caused some abrasion?

I don't know.

It's now working perfectly well after 2½ years of continuous daily wear. I only take it off to have a bath/shower and (usually) to sleep, and very rarely if I need to squeeze my left hand into a tight space when working on cars, Land Rovers or transmitters. I don't think I've let it run down since the repair in December 2019.

The Milgauss

A modern Milgauss for comparison. There's not a lot of aesthetic similarity, the modern Milgauss is quite gaudy, with its green sapphire crystal and shiny dial.

The 1960's version ref. 1019 (not the original submariner style with a timing bezel) looks more workmanlike and is the one I'd go for if I had the money. When I last looked a birth year 1966 Milgauss fetches around £22,000…. so I'll stick with my DA36 and let it age with me.

The Damasko Steel Bracelet

The DA36 was bought with the Damasko steel bracelet and initially I was happy with it.

It is super-engineered. Each link, of ice hardened bead-blasted steel to match the watch's case, is fixed with strong torx secured pivot pins. The whole bracelet can be dismantled for cleaning. It's very strong, very well designed and very well made.

After time though the lack of adjustment (even with the two supplied “long” links) meant it became difficult to find a good comfortable fit.

The DA36 was then worn mostly on the Damasko leather strap or a variety of NATO straps, including some elastic MN types, which are certainly very comfortable.

The steel bracelet was sold in 2017, to someone in the USA, after I decided I couldn't get on with it.

Following the appearance of the rate-error fault in 2018, I switched to my Seiko SKX007 on a Strapcode Oyster steel bracelet, and liked it so much I decided to buy another Damasko steel bracelet for the DA36, and to request a set of additional adjustment links to allow more variation in size. The longer links can be bought in sets of 2 pairs, which along with the 2 pairs that come with the bracelet, allow a smooth adjustment in tiny steps, almost matching the difference made by adding or removing a normal link.

The new bracelet and links were bought in November 2019.

This allowed the use of up to 5 ¹⁾ adjustment links to step smoothly between the jump in one normal link. A good fit was obtained with 3 or 4 added long links. After some time I found I could wear the bracelet with no adjustment links, my wrist settled to a size that suited a whole number of normal links, but I have the option of a good range of adjustment, if things should change in future.

I occasionally put a NATO strap on, but it rarely stays for more than a day or two before the pull of the super-strong super-engineered bracelet wins out.

[✓ John Pumford-Green, 2025-03-09] ~~add some photos of the DA36~~

Watch-u-seek threads

A Year On the Wrist

Damasko Pics.....

History

Bought : 25/10/16 Arrived : 2/11/16

Initial Rate Tests

First 20 Days : Δ +11.4s -> +0.6s/d

Watchcheck data etc ....

Month	Δ / s	Average Rate s/d
Nov 2016	+19.2	+0.7
Dec 2016	+28.0	+1.2
Jan 2017	+50.2	+1.4
Feb 2017	+7.4	+0.2
Mar 2017	+6.9	+0.3
Apr 2017	-1.3	0.0
May 2017	-47.4	-1.4
Jun 2017	-43.4	-1.6
Jul 2017	-79.4	-2.6
Aug 2017	-84.3	-2.7
Sep 2017	-67.5	-3.9

First Regulation after 12 months

18/12/17	+22.0	-2.3
19/12/17	+20.9	-1.1		__1st attempt to regulate → __
20/12/17	+22.1	+4.0		after regulation and dial-down overnight
21/12/17	+22.5	+0.4		dial-up overnight (usual position)
22/12/17	+22.7	+0.1		regulation seems to have corrected rate error
23/12/17	+22.3	-0.4		time reset to -0.3 s

Second Regulation

19/01/18	-11.0	-2.2
20/01/18	-16.1	-5.1		???
21/01/18	-19.2	-3.0		??
22/01/18	-22.2	-3.7		regulated later in day to attempt to correct recent -ve rate
23/01/18	-22.1	+0.8		timegrapher showed odd spells of low amplitude.
24/01/18	-20.5	+1.5

Third Regulation

05/03/18	+24.1	+5.8
06/03/18	+31.9	+8.1
07/03/18	+37.2	+5.4
08/03/18	+44.6	+6.9		__Regulated for 3rd time__ to reduce rate.
09/03/18	+44.4	-0.1
10/03/18	+42.8	-1.6		too far?

Fourth Regulation

21/03/18	+18.4	-0.9
22/03/18	+17.7	-0.7
23/03/18	+13.8	-4.1		__regulated for 4th time__ to increase rate
24/03/18	+13.2	-0.5
25/03/18	+12.6	-0.6		reset to DST. -0.7s
26/03/18	+0.3	+1.2
27/03/18	+0.5	+0.2

Fault apparent

29/08/18	-5.7	-2.1
30/08/18	-36.3	-31.4		????? Massive loss in one day!!!

Rate and amplitude errors v. bad on Timegrapher.

Watch put aside and not worn, until October 2019!!

Worn again after 12 months

10/11/19	-11.9	-2.4		dial down overnight
11/11/19	-14.1	-2.3		dial up overnight. Low amp. observed during the previous day?
12/11/19	-16.2	-2.2		Overnight on winder. Low amp. observed during the previous day
13/11/19	-18.6	-2.3		overnight on winder. being consistent day → day despite amplitude concerns.
14/11/19	-21.0	-2.3		overnight on winder.

Fault Re-appears

New period - fault re-appearing

14/11/19	-32.6	-44.9 		(21:04:32) on winder for previous hour. 2 seconds lost.    	      
15/11/19	-45.2	-19.5  		(17:36:45) on TG since 06:30.... variable amp. & poor rate

2019 Repair Details

Sent to Damasko for inspection and repair : 18/11/19

Damasko confirm fault as

After checking it our watchmaker told us that there is many abrasion in the movement.

Repair details

Cleaning, and oiling the escapement

Regulate DA36.1981 €120

Shipping costs UK €50

Total amount €170

Returned from Damasko : 14/12/19

Fault now absent

Performance after repair

Timegrapher Check 20/11/20

After 11 months of daily wear

Pos	Amp	Rate
Dial Up	321	+8
Dial Down	290	+6
6H	278	+2
3H	283	+2
9H	295	+5
12H	302	+4
Ave	(294)	+4
D		-6

Timegrapher Check 19/12/21

2 Years after repair. Worn Daily

Pos	Amp	Rate
D up	321	+5
D dn	308	+3
6H	305	+2
3H	306	+1
9H	291	+1
12H	303	0
Ave	(305)	+2
D		-3

Timegrapher Check 18/1/22

Still wearing daily

Pos	Amp	Rate
D up	313	+2
D dn	316	+1
6H	296	+1
3H	292	0
9H	278	0
12H	286	0
Ave	(297)	+1
D		-1

Watchcheck 2022

Start	Stop	Average
1/1/22	1/2/22	+0.9
1/2/22	1/3/22	+1.2
1/3/22	27/3/22	+0.3
27/3/22	17/5/22	-1.0
17/5/22	22/5/22	-2.1

Rate is now dropping after 2½ years of daily wear. Will monitor and wait for rate to exceed manufacturer's specification before sending for service/regulation.

See dedicated page Repair and Service 2022

Timegrapher Check 22/5/22

A morning and afternoon test to compare readings of different levels of power.

Time : 10:15
- After overnight Dial Up

Pos	Amp	Rate
D up	299	-3
D dn	300	-1
6H	277	-4
3H	272	-4
9H	269	-3
12H	277	-4
Ave	(282)	-3.3
D		-1

Time : 15:45
- worn for 7 hours

Pos	Amp	Rate
D up	317	+1
D dn	307	+3
6H	289	-1
3H	302	0
9H	301	0
12H	299	-1
Ave	(303)	+0.3
D		-2

Update May 2022

I've owned the DA36 now for over 5 years. After the repair, and getting the 2^nd bracelet, it's rarely off my wrist. I'll occasionally wear another watch (typically a Casio GW-M5610) on my right wrist.

The DA36 stays on the left.

The ice-hardened steel is very resistant to scratching or other marks. After 5 years I can see some slight blemishes - just signs of an active life. The bracelet has more marks than the watch case itself - links rub against each other and the bracelet is more likely to be rubbed against hard surfaces than the watch - and as time goes by it slowly (very slowly) starts to look less like a new watch and more like a tool watch.

There are marks on the bezel, and on the bracelet end-link, at the 12 o'clock position, I guess I caught it on something abrasive at some time…. more wabi-sabi

The hardened steel, and matte bead-blasted finish, mean that there is no slow development of a general swirly patina. A scratch shows up, in the right light, as a shiny area of un-bead-blasted reflective steel. It's just the characteristic of the material. I wonder what it'll look like in another 10 years?

Time Keeping performance

Still well within COSC standards ( -4 / +6 ) at around -2s/d as of May 2022. Rolex now guarantee their watches to run better than COSC, at ±2 s/d. My DA36 has been within this range for the last few years, and is only now starting to fall outside that range. It may wander back towards zero over time. Who knows how all the different variables inter-react to make up the overall rate error, and how they vary with time?

Time Grapher 23/5/22

Pos	Amp	Rate
Dial Up	316	+2
Dial Down	315	+4
6H	283	-2
3H	288	-1
9H	288	0
12H	288	0
Ave	(299)	+0.5
D		-4

Quick shot on the TimeGrapher…

Photos

On a Marine-Nationale Green/Yellow NATO

— John Pumford-Green 31/05/22 12:54

A change from the super-tough steel bracelet.

New WatchGecko NATO

— John Pumford-Green 05/06/22 17:25

https://www.watchgecko.com/watchgecko-signature-nato-strap-olive-green

Page created Sun May 22 00:25:30 2022 by John Pumford-Green

Page last updated: 30/12/25 09:55 GMT

watch, damasko

¹⁾

yes, I've actually got 5 pairs in total, can't remember the details of how this happened!

CCIR493 Selcall

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:08:18 +0000

←Radio Topics

CCIR493 Selcall

HF Selcall Experiments

Background

I became interested in HF selcall when I was looking for a way of setting up impromptu QSOs with specific stations, for doing tests etc., without the need for listening by ear for calls. Various ideas were considered for controlling an audio mute, and alerting the operator, on HF, but nothing seemed appropriate (CTCSS, DTMF etc) until I stumbled on CCIR493 HF Selcall, specifically designed to cope with conditions on the HF bands.

The protocol was familiar, as it's very similar (but slightly simpler) than GMDSS DSC. This led to more reading and research. CCIR493 is widely used in Land Mobile HF SSB in Australia and in other countries which use HF SSB as a communications method. It seems largely unused in Europe. In Australia it is used on the networks set up to assist 4WD outback travellers, with Selcall used to initiate contact with the various base stations.

Selcall's beacon and 99 beacon functions can be used to check if a particular station is reachable before attempting a voice call.

This seemed ideal…. down the rabbit hole of HF Selcall…..

Basic details

CCIR493 HF Selcall is a predecessor to GMDSS DSC used in Marine Radio.

Two Tone FSK with 170Hz shift
100baud signalling rate
Tone frequencies 1700 = 0, 1870 = 1 (tone centre = 1785)
- compare with DSC: 1615 = 1, 1785 = 0 (tone centre = 1700, inverted shift)
Symbols are 10-bit words, 7 bit + 3 parity bits
Dotting pre-amble of alternating 1010….. 2 to 20 seconds depending on expected scan-group size
Same “symbol repeat after 4” RX/DX interleaving as DSC
Same phasing sequence as DSC
No overall Error Check Sum, unlike DSC

At its simplest a selcall transmission can be either:

Directed call to a specific address
1. Selcall = send a revertive signal over the air AND alert the remote operator. The FMT symbol = 120
2. Directed-Beacon = send revertive signal over the air, but do not alert remote operator. The FMT symbol = 123
99-beacon call to a group of addresses = all stations send revertive signal over the air, but do not alert remote operator. The 99-beacon call is a special form of a directed selcall, with the FMT symbol of 120 and the final two digits of the destination address = 99. Receiving decoders understand to treat the call as a special type of beacon call despite the FMT being 120 (Selcall)

The directed-beacon to a specific address will confirm if that station is reachable, without disturbing the operator.

The 99-beacon call confirms whether any station in the group are reachable - the group is “any station with the first two digits matching”. The address used for the 99-beacon call is XX99, where XX is the leading digits of the desired group. For example, a group stations 3610, 3602, 3603, 3654 would all respond to a 99-beacon call addressed to 3699

Jenal SC2 Mic

HF Selcall is widely used in Australia, and there is a large market for add-on Selcall devices (to convert non-selcall radios) there. One manufacturer of Selcall equipment is JENAL.

At the time of my first exploration of Selcall I found that the SC2 microphone seemed like the perfect solution. The SC2 had been out of production, but Jenal had just released a new batch and I bought TWO of them, allowing me to experiment in isolation, should I fail to find any other amateur stations suitably equipped.

SC2 Handbook

One SC2 microphone can be connected to a Xiegu G90 portable HF transceiver, capable of 20W pep, and the other SC2 can be connected to a home made 60m SSB transceiver, also capable of 20W PEP, at the main station.

Scanning

The SC2 is capable of controlling the transceiver to scan, waiting for incoming selcall dotting signals, when it will pause the scan to decode any selcall message and act upon it as appropriate. Scan will resume after a certain period. The simplest scanning method is to pulse the channel up or channel down line present on most ham-grade transceivers on the mic-connector and thus the radio will step through its memory channels looking for selcall signals.

Previous Selcall Activity

In previous periods of activity with Selcall I have managed a few contacts and QSOs. Mainly with two stations who were already equipped with Barrett or Codan radios which can use CCIR493 “out of the box”.

GM4WMM - with a Barrett 950. We successfully operated on a small set of predetermined channels in the 80m, 60m, 40m bands, scanning, and selecting the optimum channel using beacon calls.
F6EMT - with a Codan . Made several contacts on 20m, some of them while mobile, initiated as random Selcall QSOs.

For 2023 I hope to find some more Selcall-equipped stations willing to try some experiments.

Selcall Activity 2023

[✓ John Pumford-Green, 2023-04-30] ~~Attach SC2 to Xiegu G90~~
[✓ John Pumford-Green, 2023-04-30]~~Set up 60m homebrew radio & amplifier & attach SC2~~
[✓ John Pumford-Green, 2023-05-05]~~Install mobile whip on van for use with G90~~
[✓ John Pumford-Green, 2023-04-30]~~Make adaptor for IC-M710 to allow easy connection of SC2 in place of usual datamode interface, for access to more bands~~
Try to make contact with like minded experimenters for on-air tests

UPDATE — John Pumford-Green 30/04/23 16:57

When not otherwise engaged I'll leave my main station IC-M710 monitoring 14.343MHz or 18.163MHz with Selcall ID 3658. I may not be able to respond directly to any calls the Selcall will send revertives (at 50W) for successful selcall or beacon calls to 3658or for 99-beacon calls to 3699

For skeds please contact me by email - address at https://www.qrz.com/db/GM4SLV

I have re-enabled emails from the hf-link groups.io https://groups.io/g/hflink to see what's happening here - the only place where CCIR493 appears to be discussed/used.

Further Information

For new (2026) adventures in Selcall : CCIR493 Selcall - 2026

~~Blackcat Android app for generating various Selcalls, including Barrett/Codan~~

Code snippets

My Python2 Selcall TX encoder

selcal_functions.py (Click to view)

# CCIR 493-4 Selcal Symbol Generator / CPFSK Modulator
# Wire2waves Ltd
# March 2015
# with CW ID for use on Amateur Radio bands
 
version = "v0.2"
 
# Imports
import numpy
import pyaudio
import struct
import time
from math import *
 
# quick and dirty CW Ident
# words per minute
wpm = 20
# dot period
cwdit = 1.2 / wpm
# dash period
cwdah = cwdit * 3
 
w_amp = (2**15) - 1
 
# define the output audio stream for the main data
p = pyaudio.PyAudio()
cpfsk_stream = p.open(format=pyaudio.paInt16, channels=1, rate=9600, output=1)
 
# make a second stream for the Tune carrier & cw ident
pt = pyaudio.PyAudio()
tunestream = pt.open(format=pyaudio.paInt16, channels=1, rate=9600, output=1)
 
pc = pyaudio.PyAudio()
cwstream = pc.open(format=pyaudio.paInt16, channels=1, rate=9600, output=1)
 
# convert text to symbol value using dictionaries
fmt_symbol_dict = { "sel" : "120", "bcn" : "123" }
cat_symbol_dict = { "rtn" : "100"}
eos_symbol_dict = { "req" : "117" }
 
 
# list containing Phasing Symbols in DX/RX order. 
 
phasing_symbol = [ "125", "109", "125", "108", "125", "107", "125", "106", "125", "105", "125", "104" ]
 
# Instead of doing bit-twiddling to convert each symbol
# value to its 10-bit parity protected word, which involves padding to full 7-bits, counting zeros,
# reversing the bit order, shifting bits and "ORing" in the parity bits
# we just use a dictionary containing the conversion between symbol value and its 10-bit parity protected word
#
parity_table = { 
"00" : "0000000111", "01" : "1000000110", "02" : "0100000110", "03" : "1100000101", 
"04" : "0010000110", "05" : "1010000101", "06" : "0110000101", "07" : "1110000100",
"08" : "0001000110", "09" : "1001000101", "10" : "0101000101", "11" : "1101000100", 
"12" : "0011000101", "13" : "1011000100", "14" : "0111000100", "15" : "1111000011", 
"16" : "0000100110", "17" : "1000100101", "18" : "0100100101", "19" : "1100100100", 
"20" : "0010100101", "21" : "1010100100", "22" : "0110100100", "23" : "1110100011", 
"24" : "0001100101", "25" : "1001100100", "26" : "0101100100", "27" : "1101100011", 
"28" : "0011100100", "29" : "1011100011", "30" : "0111100011", "31" : "1111100010", 
"32" : "0000010110", "33" : "1000010101", "34" : "0100010101", "35" : "1100010100", 
"36" : "0010010101", "37" : "1010010100", "38" : "0110010100", "39" : "1110010011", 
"40" : "0001010101", "41" : "1001010100", "42" : "0101010100", "43" : "1101010011", 
"44" : "0011010100", "45" : "1011010011", "46" : "0111010011", "47" : "1111010010", 
"48" : "0000110101", "49" : "1000110100", "50" : "0100110100", "51" : "1100110011", 
"52" : "0010110100", "53" : "1010110011", "54" : "0110110011", "55" : "1110110010", 
"56" : "0001110100", "57" : "1001110011", "58" : "0101110011", "59" : "1101110010", 
"60" : "0011110011", "61" : "1011110010", "62" : "0111110010", "63" : "1111110001", 
"64" : "0000001110", "65" : "1000001101", "66" : "0100001101", "67" : "1100001100", 
"68" : "0010001101", "69" : "1010001100", "70" : "0110001100", "71" : "1110001011", 
"72" : "0001001101", "73" : "1001001100", "74" : "0101001100", "75" : "1101001011", 
"76" : "0011001100", "77" : "1011001011", "78" : "0111001011", "79" : "1111001010", 
"80" : "0000101101", "81" : "1000101100", "82" : "0100101100", "83" : "1100101011", 
"84" : "0010101100", "85" : "1010101011", "86" : "0110101011", "87" : "1110101010", 
"88" : "0001101100", "89" : "1001101011", "90" : "0101101011", "91" : "1101101010", 
"92" : "0011101011", "93" : "1011101010", "94" : "0111101010", "95" : "1111101001", 
"96" : "0000011101", "97" : "1000011100", "98" : "0100011100", "99" : "1100011011", 
"100" : "0010011100", "101" : "1010011011", "102" : "0110011011", "103" : "1110011010", 
"104" : "0001011100", "105" : "1001011011", "106" : "0101011011", "107" : "1101011010", 
"108" : "0011011011", "109" : "1011011010", "110" : "0111011010", "111" : "1111011001", 
"112" : "0000111100", "113" : "1000111011", "114" : "0100111011", "115" : "1100111010", 
"116" : "0010111011", "117" : "1010111010", "118" : "0110111010", "119" : "1110111001", 
"120" : "0001111011", "121" : "1001111010", "122" : "0101111010", "123" : "1101111001", 
"124" : "0011111010", "125" : "1011111001", "126" : "0111111001", "127" : "1111111000" 
}
 
cw_table = {
"A" : ".-",
"B" : "-...",
"C" : "-.-.",
"D" : "-..",
"E" : ".",
"F" : "..-.",
"G" : "--.",
"H" : "....",
"I" : "..",
"J" : ".---",
"K" : "-.-",
"L" : ".-..",
"M" : "--",
"N" : "-.",
"O" : "---",
"P" : ".--.",
"Q" : "--.-",
"R" : ".-.",
"S" : "...",
"T" : "-",
"U" : "..-",
"V" : "...-",
"W" : ".--",
"X" : "-..-",
"Y" : "--.-",
"Z" : "--..",
"1" : ".----",
"2" : "..---",
"3" : "...--",
"4" : "....-",
"5" : ".....",
"6" : "-....",
"7" : "--...",
"8" : "---..",
"9" : "----.",
"0" : "-----",
" " : "",
"/" : "-..-.",
"?" : "..--..",
"+" : ".-.-."
}
 
#####################
# function definitions
#
 
##############
#  Tone generators (not used for data, but for Tune and CW signals)
#
# Setting the "cspace" and "lspace" amplitudes (pwr) to non-zero
# will produce FSK-style CW, as used in Beacons etc,
 
def sine(frequency, length, rate):
    length = int(length * rate)
    factor = float(frequency) * (pi * 2) / rate
    return numpy.sin(numpy.arange(length) * factor)#
#
# Generate a carrier to allow Auto-ATU to re-tune when changing frequency
# reduced amplitude, 3 seconds 
#
def tune_carrier(pwr):
    frequency = 1785
    length = 3
    rate = 9600
    chunks = []
    chunks.append(sine(frequency, length, rate))
    chunk = numpy.concatenate(chunks) * (w_amp * pwr)
    tunestream.write(chunk.astype(numpy.int16).tostring())
 
def dash(pwr):
    frequency=1900
    length=cwdah 
    rate=9600
    chunks = []
    chunks.append(sine(frequency, length, rate))
    chunk = numpy.concatenate(chunks) *  (w_amp * pwr)
    cwstream.write(chunk.astype(numpy.int16).tostring())    
 
def dot(pwr):
    frequency=1900
    length=cwdit
    rate=9600
    chunks = []
    chunks.append(sine(frequency, length, rate))
    chunk = numpy.concatenate(chunks) *  (w_amp * pwr)
    cwstream.write(chunk.astype(numpy.int16).tostring())  
 
def cspace(pwr):
    frequency=1700
    length=cwdit
    rate=9600 
    chunks = []
    chunks.append(sine(frequency, length, rate))
    chunk = numpy.concatenate(chunks) *  (w_amp * pwr)
    cwstream.write(chunk.astype(numpy.int16).tostring())     
 
def lspace(pwr):
    frequency=1700
    length=cwdah
    rate=9600
    chunks = []
    chunks.append(sine(frequency, length, rate))
    chunk = numpy.concatenate(chunks) *  (w_amp * pwr)
    cwstream.write(chunk.astype(numpy.int16).tostring())      
#
#   
################################
 
def make_call(cw_table, call):
    callsign = ""
    for i in call:
        callsign += cw_table[i]
        callsign += "s"        
    return callsign
 
def cwid(call, pwr):
    callsign = make_call(cw_table, call)
    for i in callsign:
        if i == "-":
            dash(pwr)
            cspace(pwr)
        elif i == ".":
            dot(pwr)
            cspace(pwr)
        elif i == "s":
            lspace(pwr)
 
###########
 
 
# split a 4 digit Selcal into two 2-digit symbols
# resulting symbols are returned as a list
def sel_id_symbol(sel_id):
    sel_id_list = [(sel_id[i:i+2]) for i in range(0, len(sel_id), 2)]    
    return sel_id_list
 
 
# build the basic Call:
# Selcal messages are of the form:  "fmt to_id cat self_id eos eos eos"
 
def build_call(f_s, a_s, c_s, s_s, eos_s):
 
    sel_call = []
 
    sel_call.append(f_s)
 
    for i in a_s:
        sel_call.append(i)
 
    sel_call.append(c_s)
 
    for i in s_s:
        sel_call.append(i)
 
    sel_call.append(eos_s)
 
    sel_call.append(eos_s)
    sel_call.append(eos_s)
 
    return sel_call
 
 
 
# interleave the symbols into DX and RX sequence 
# at the same time convert between symbol value and
# 10-bit parity word by looking in the parity_table dictionary.
 
def interleave(parity_table, phasing, sel_list):
 
    symbol_count = len(sel_list)
 
    sel_dxrx = []
    # interleave the phasing sequence
    for p in range(0,12):
        sel_dxrx.append(parity_table[phasing[p]]) #dxrx
 
    # add dx and rx copies of the format symbol
    sel_dxrx.append(parity_table[sel_list[0]]) #dx
    sel_dxrx.append(parity_table[sel_list[0]]) #rx
 
    # add the DX copy of the the to_ID
    sel_dxrx.append(parity_table[sel_list[1]]) #dx
 
    # add another RX copy of the format symbol
    sel_dxrx.append(parity_table[sel_list[0]]) #rx
 
    # add the DX copy of the category symbol
    sel_dxrx.append(parity_table[sel_list[2]]) #dx
 
    # loop through the remaining symbols to add the RX and DX versions 
    for i in range(0,symbol_count-3):
        sel_dxrx.append(parity_table[sel_list[i]]) #rx
        sel_dxrx.append(parity_table[sel_list[i+3]]) #dx
 
    # add a final DX and RX copy of the EOS symbol
    sel_dxrx.append(parity_table[sel_list[-1]])
    sel_dxrx.append(parity_table[sel_list[-1]])    
 
    # sel_dxrx is a list of 10-bit words, as ones and noughts, for the complete message
    return sel_dxrx
 
 
# Make a 600-bit dotting period of alternating 1/0 in a string
 
# Selcal dotting periods often 6 seconds (and up to 20 seconds in some
# instances) to allow for capturing scanning radios. 
# We send 300 bits / 6 seconds for now, pending a decision to extend or reduce the dotting period.
 
# Append to the string each 10-bit interleaved word, to create a string of 
# ones and noughts.
 
# return a string of ones & noughts representing the complete message
 
def make_bitstream(sel_dxrx):
    sel_bitstream= "10"  * 300 # dotting
    for i in sel_dxrx:
        sel_bitstream += i
    return sel_bitstream
 
 
 
# DSC and Selcall use tone spacing and baud rate that prevents the use of 
# "Sunde's FSK" method to create glitch-less bit transitions.
#
# To minimize bandwidth it's necessary to use "Continuous Phase FSK" which
# has a smooth transition of the waveform at the bit boundary. The method used is time-consuming
# as we have to create each audio sample based on the phase-advance of each bit-period and 
# store them in a buffer before sending them out to the soundcard via PyAudio.
# 
# This function is courtesy of Bill Lionheart : billlionheart@gmail.com
#
# Make the CPFSK-modulated sample values, pack them into a list, and convert to a string 
# to feed PyAudio  
#
 
def modulate(fmsg, fcarrier, f0, f1, fsample, baud, amp):
 
    if amp > 1.0:
       amp = 1.0
 
    sel_amp =  (w_amp * amp)
 
    mlen = len(fmsg)
 
    mtime = mlen/baud  
 
    nsamp = int(round(fsample*mtime))
 
    deltaT = 1.0/fsample
 
    ph=0
 
    y = [0] * nsamp
 
    for i in range(nsamp): # i = sample number
 
        thisbit = int(floor((i/float(nsamp))* mlen)) 
 
        # "thisbit" is the index number of the data-bit being modulated,
        # the same data-bit is used for "the number of samples which occupy 1 bit period"
 
        if fmsg[thisbit]:
            f = f1 
        else:
            f = f0 
 
        # if this bit is a 1 then f = mark-freq, else f = space-freq
 
        ph +=  2*pi*(fcarrier + f)*deltaT
 
        # phase advances during sample period according the actual mark or space freq
        # when the bit changes between 1 and 0, the phase advance in deltaT is small, and
        # continuity in phase is achieved. The signal then starts to advance
        # in phase according to the new frequency appropriate the the bit (one or nought)
        #being sent.
 
        # reset phase to zero every 360 degrees
        if ph> 2*pi: 
            ph = ph - 2*pi
 
        y[i]=sel_amp*(sin(ph)) # y is an 8-bit value
        # y[i] is the current sample's amplitude - the "sin of current accumulated phase"
 
    wave_list = []
    for v in y:
        vp = struct.pack('h',v)
        wave_list.append(vp)
    wavestring = ''.join(wave_list)
 
    return wavestring
 
 
# Take the message to be sent and
# 1) interleave
# 2) make bitstream as a string
# 3) convert to list, for the CPFSK modulator function, 
# 4) calculate the sample values using the "modulate()" function
# 5) write the string of sample values to pyaudio
 
 
def transmit_sel(sel_call, pwr):
    #
    # 1) interleave the message and phasing DX and RX symbols together, and also convert to 10-bit parity words
    sel_dxrx = interleave(parity_table, phasing_symbol, sel_call) 
 
    # 2) create a string with the ones and noughts representing the full message
    sel_bitstream = make_bitstream(sel_dxrx)
 
    # 3) convert the string into a list, to feed the CPFSK modulator
    bitstream_list = [int(sel_bitstream[i:i+1]) for i in range(0, len(sel_bitstream), 1)]
 
    # 4) get a list of sample values from the CPFSK modulator
    #
    # arguments for modulate() : (source of message_bits(a list), f-centre, space_dev, mark_dev, sample_rate, baud_rate, amplitude)
    # returns a string of 8-bit signed values to feed PyAudio
 
    wave = modulate(bitstream_list, 1785, -85, +85, 9600, 100.0, pwr)
 
    # 5) make some noise...
 
    cpfsk_stream.write(wave)
 
    return

selcal_gui.py (Click to view )

# Wire2waves Ltd
# CCIR 493-4 Selcal Generator & Modulator
# Generic, non-TX GUI
 
 
from Tkinter import *
from selcal_functions import *
import threading
import Queue
import time
 
version = "v0.2"
 
 
class Application(Frame):
    def __init__(self, master):
        """ Initialize frame"""
        Frame.__init__(self, master)
        self.grid()
        self.create_widgets()
 
        # we manage the three sound-producing functions in Threads, run at startup but only produce
        # output when their Queues are set to "1"
        self.selqueue = Queue.Queue()
        self.tunequeue = Queue.Queue()
        self.cwqueue = Queue.Queue()
        self.tunequeue.put(0)
        self.selqueue.put(0)
        self.cwqueue.put(0)
        t1 = threading.Thread(target = self.tune)
        t1.setDaemon(True)
        t1.start()
        c1 = threading.Thread(target = self.send_cwid)
        c1.setDaemon(True)
        c1.start()
        d1 = threading.Thread(target = self.send_sel)
        d1.setDaemon(True)
        d1.start()
 
 
    def create_widgets(self):
 
        ###### 
        #
        # The Address Entry Fields
        self.to_l = Label(self, width = 15, text = "To ID", fg = 'red').grid(row = 0, column = 0, sticky = W)
        self.to_sel_id_e = Entry(self, width = 10, fg = 'red')
        self.to_sel_id_e.grid(row = 0, column = 1, padx = 5, pady = 5, sticky = W)
        self.to_sel_id_e.insert(0, "3922")
 
 
        self.from_l = Label(self, width = 15, text = "Self ID", fg = 'blue').grid(row = 1, column = 0, sticky = W)
        self.from_sel_id_e = Entry(self, width = 10, fg = 'blue')
        self.from_sel_id_e.grid(row = 1, column = 1, padx = 5, pady = 5, sticky = W)
        self.from_sel_id_e.insert(0, "3921")
 
        ###################
        #
        # The "Format" selection radio buttons
        self.fmt = StringVar()
        self.fmt_l = Label(self, width = 15, text = "Format").grid(row = 5, column = 0, sticky = W)
        self.sel_r = Radiobutton(self, text = "Sel", variable = self.fmt, value = "sel")
        self.sel_r.grid(row = 5, column = 1, sticky = W)
        self.bcn_r = Radiobutton(self, text = "Bcn", variable = self.fmt, value = "bcn")
        self.bcn_r.grid(row = 5, column = 2, sticky = W)
        #self.fmt_e = Entry(self, width = 10, fg = 'blue')
        #self.fmt_e.grid(row = 5, column = 1, padx = 5, pady = 5, sticky = W)
        #self.fmt_e.insert(0, "120")
 
        #
        # click the "SEL" radio button
        self.sel_r.invoke()
        #
        ########
 
        ######
        #
        # The "Category" selection radio buttons
 
        self.cat = StringVar()
 
        self.cat_l = Label(self, width = 15, text = "Category").grid(row = 6, column = 0, sticky = W)
        self.saf_r = Radiobutton(self, text = "Routine", variable = self.cat, value = "rtn")
        self.saf_r.grid(row = 6, column = 1, sticky = W)
        #self.cat_e = Entry(self, width = 10, fg = 'blue')
        #self.cat_e.grid(row = 6, column = 1, padx = 5, pady = 5, sticky = W)
        #self.cat_e.insert(0, "100")
 
 
        # For selcal we may require other categories, but at present only "Routine" is used
        #self.urg_r = Radiobutton(self, text = "Urgent", variable = self.cat, value = "urg")
        #self.urg_r.grid(row = 6, column = 2, sticky = W)
        #self.dis_r = Radiobutton(self, text = "Distress", variable = self.cat, value = "dis")
        #self.dis_r.grid(row = 6, column = 3, sticky = W)
 
        # click the "Safety" radio-button
        self.saf_r.invoke()
        #
        ########
 
        ####
        #
        # The "EOS" selection radio buttons
 
        self.eosv = StringVar()
        self.eos_l = Label(self, width = 15, text = "EOS").grid(row = 9, column = 0, sticky = W)
        self.req_r = Radiobutton(self, text = "REQ", variable = self.eosv, value = "req")
        self.req_r.grid(row = 9, column = 1, sticky = W)
        #self.eos_e = Entry(self, width = 10, fg = 'blue')
        #self.eos_e.grid(row = 9, column = 1, padx = 5, pady = 5, sticky = W)
        #self.eos_e.insert(0, "117")
 
        # leave these in case other EOS symbols would be useful in the future 
        #self.ack_r = Radiobutton(self, text = "ACK", variable = self.eosv, value = "ack")
        #self.ack_r.grid(row = 9, column = 2, sticky = W)
 
        #self.eos_r = Radiobutton(self, text = "EOS", variable = self.eosv, value = "eos")
        #self.eos_r.grid(row = 9, column = 3, sticky = W)
 
        # click the "REQ" radio button
        self.req_r.invoke()
        #
        ###########
 
 
        ###########
        #
        # The "do something" buttons
 
        self.go_b = Button(self, text = "Send Selcal", command = self.selqueue_on)
        self.go_b.grid(row = 10, column = 0, sticky = W+E)
 
        self.tune_b = Button(self, text = "Tune", command = self.tunequeue_on)
        self.tune_b.grid(row = 13, column = 0, sticky = W+E)
 
        self.cw_call_e = Entry(self)
        self.cw_call_e.grid(row = 14, column = 1, columnspan = 2)
        #
        # The CW Text is pre-set, but can be edited as required on the GUI
        self.cw_call_e.insert(0, "   de GM4SLV   ")
 
        self.cw_b = Button(self, text = "Send CW ->", command = self.cwqueue_on)
        self.cw_b.grid(row = 14, column = 0, sticky = W+E)
 
        ######
        #
        # The display of Selcal Symbols
        #
 
        self.sel_title = Label(self, text = "Sending Selcal Symbols: " , fg = 'blue').grid(row = 16, column = 0)
 
        sel_call_f = Frame(self, relief = GROOVE, borderwidth = 2, pady = 5)
        sel_call_f.grid(row = 17, column = 0, columnspan = 5, padx = 5, pady = 5, sticky = W+E)
 
 
        self.sel_label = StringVar()
        self.sel_l = Label(sel_call_f, textvariable = self.sel_label, fg = 'blue', height = 2, wraplength = 350, anchor = W)
        self.sel_l.grid(row = 0, column = 0)
        #
        #####
 
 
    # When a Tune is required we call tunequeue_on() which puts a "1" into the queue.
    # The queue is read by tune() which is running constantly (while True:) in a thread. 
    # If a "1" is found the tune_carrier() function is triggered
    # then tunequeue_off() will put a "0" in the queue which will inhibit any further
    # tune signals. 
 
    # Since the Tune, CWID and Selcal Transmit all run in their own threads, with their own queues
    # it's possible to do all three functions at once, and still retain an active GUI
    # this may not be "the right way" to do this, but it works...
 
    def tunequeue_on(self):
        self.tunequeue.put(1)
 
    def tunequeue_off(self):
        self.tunequeue.put(0)
 
 
    def tune(self):
 
        while True:
            t_on = self.tunequeue.get()
            if t_on == 1:   
                pwr = 0.7
                tune_carrier(pwr)
                self.tunequeue_off()
 
 
    def cwqueue_on(self):
        self.cwqueue.put(1)
    def cwqueue_off(self):
        self.cwqueue.put(0)
 
    def send_cwid(self):
        while True:
            c_on = self.cwqueue.get()
            if c_on == 1:
                pwr = 0.7
                call = self.cw_call_e.get().upper()
                cwid(call, pwr)
                self.cwqueue_off()
 
    def selqueue_on(self):
        self.selqueue.put(1)
    def selqueue_off(self):
        self.selqueue.put(0)
 
    def send_sel(self):
 
        while True:   
            go = self.selqueue.get()
            if go == 1:
                a_sel_id = self.to_sel_id_e.get()
                s_sel_id = self.from_sel_id_e.get()
                fmt = self.fmt.get()
                cat = self.cat.get()
                eos = self.eosv.get()
                pwr = 0.7
 
                # restrict to 4-digit 493-4
                if len(a_sel_id) != 4:
                    continue
                if len(s_sel_id) != 4:
                    continue
 
                # convert the format, category and eos to the appropriate symbol values
                fmt_symbol = (fmt_symbol_dict[fmt])
                #fmt_symbol = self.fmt_e.get()
 
                cat_symbol = (cat_symbol_dict[cat])
                #cat_symbol = self.cat_e.get()
 
                eos_symbol = (eos_symbol_dict[eos])
                #eos_symbol = self.eos_e.get()
 
                # convert the 4-digit selcal IDs into two 2-digit symbols
                a_symbol = sel_id_symbol(a_sel_id)
                s_symbol = sel_id_symbol(s_sel_id)
 
                # build the call by joining the symbol values into a list
                sel_call = build_call(fmt_symbol, a_symbol, cat_symbol, s_symbol, eos_symbol)
 
                #we want the basic selcal message returned to us, to display on the GUI
                self.sel_label.set(sel_call)
 
                # turn the selcal queue off to stop further transmissions
                self.selqueue_off()
 
                # then we pass the selcal list and required "power" into "transmit_sel() which does the rest...
                transmit_sel(sel_call, pwr) 
 
 
 
if __name__ == '__main__':
    root = Tk()
 
    root.geometry("350x350+10+10")
    root.title("GM4SLV HF CCIR 493-4 Selcal " + version)
    root.resizable(0, 0)
    app = Application(root)
 
 
    root.mainloop()

— John Pumford-Green 29/04/23 11:42

Last Modified : 08/06/26 18:08 BST

radio, selcall

Sandbox Server

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Archive

Sandbox Server

UPDATE — John Pumford-Green 04/03/25 08:02 GMT

The hardware running this little machine has recently become unreliable, the SSD is dying, so I've turned it off. I'll leave any old information about this box for future reference

UPDATE — John Pumford-Green 27/04/23 06:16

I have removed the self-signed SSL configuration on the shack sandbox server and reverted it to plain HTTP. I may re-instate it at some point in the future, but I decided I didn't want the hassle of persuading Chrome to accept the self-signed unsafe certificate all the time.

The details below show how it was originally set up, and can be used in future should I decide to repeat the process.

Encryption

The shack webserver has a mirror of my real dokuwiki, to use as a test-bed and after setting it up I discovered that the encryption plugin I was using on the real wiki Encrypted Passwords Plugin didn't work.

After some head scratching, and after trying out another plugin (dokucrypt2 plugin), I figured out the difference between the 2 web servers….

The real server is configured to do proper HTTPS, with a real, signed SSL certificate. The shack server only does plain old HTTP, no encryption.

To test out my theory that this is what was breaking Encrypted Password Plugin I setup self-signed SSL on the shack webserver. It's just for local testing so there's no need for traceable certification, just the ability to handle HTTPS traffic.

It turned out to be quite simple….

I found the information here : https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-create-a-self-signed-ssl-certificate-for-apache-in-ubuntu-16-04

gm4slv@shack:~/ssl_setup$ sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/private/apache-selfsigned.key -out /etc/ssl/certs/apache-selfsigned.crt
Generating a RSA private key
.......................+++++
...........+++++
writing new private key to '/etc/ssl/private/apache-selfsigned.key'
-----
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:GB
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:Shetland
Locality Name (eg, city) []:Clousta
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:GM4SLV
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:GM4SLV
Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR name) []:shack
Email Address []:

The certificates are put in the directories already pointed to in the default SSL site config file so all I had to do was tell apache to enable ssl

sudo a2enmod ssl

and enable the default SSL site

gm4slv@shack:/etc/apache2/sites-enabled$ sudo a2ensite default-ssl.conf
Enabling site default-ssl.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
  systemctl reload apache2
gm4slv@shack:/etc/apache2/sites-enabled$ sudo service apache2 restart

SSL enabled

Browse to https://shack/dokuwiki and I got the usual dire Chrome warning

…. but chose to continue anyway…

and it works!

Encrypted Password Plugin

Then I tested the Encrypted Passwords Plugin and it also works

UPDATE— John Pumford-Green 31/05/22 21:13

The plugin page does say that HTTPS is needed:

Please note that the modern encryption mechanisms used within this Plugin require a modern Browser, JavaScript enabled and a wiki served via HTTPS!

Result!

I can now use the sandbox wiki to test everything that's running on the real wiki server.

Redirect to https

(UPDATE — John Pumford-Green 31/05/22 10:08)

edit

/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf

to add

ServerName gm4slv.plus.com
Redirect permanent / https://gm4slv.plus.com/

Open & forward router's port TCP/443 to the shack webserver

sudo service apache2 restart

Hey presto - external access to HTTPS

Page Info

— John Pumford-Green 30/05/22 19:05

Page last updated: 30/12/25 09:55 GMT

ssl, apache, dokuwiki

Prepping

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

Prepping

— John Pumford-Green 21/12/22 23:07

We had a “weather event” on Monday December 12th 2022 - a short, sharp and vicious snow storm. Some snow fell earlier in the day, but until lunchtime it wasn't really anything to get excited about….

Then it turned nasty, and somewhat surreal.

The Shetland Power Outage of December 2022

The snow became heavier and had a peculiar “sticky wetness” about it, causing it to cover roads quickly. More significantly it started to cling to overhead power lines, building rapidly and freezing on the lines causing them to begin to fail as the strong wind began to blow the thickened and heavily weighted lines to break under the strain.

I'll ignore the specific sequence of events of my day, as I'm more interested here in the longer term consequences of the snow storm rather then the “excitement” of the day's drama.

We eventually got home after a 4 hour journey in very poor weather, with bad roads (and not a few poor drivers, unused or unable to drive in snow) to contend with, at approx 8pm to find the power at home had failed. This is not unusual, and initially the electricity company (SSEN) were estimating 23:00 for restoration. No problem, we have wood-burning stoves for heating, in two rooms, and a gas (propane) cooker for heating water and for cooking food.

One evening without power is not unusual, and nothing to worry about.

We had our Petzl headtorches on, we lit the woodstoves and we made a meal.

As the evening went on, the full severity of the power failures began to be known, and the repair estimate moved to “22:00 tomorrow”…. It moved further and further away with each successive update.

This was the start of a 6 day power outage, in sub-zero weather conditions, with snow and ice and occasional gale force winds.

The 3 mile section of single track road connecting us to the main road network, and to shops for supplies, was almost impassable by the next morning. I certainly wasn't willing to try my luck, in a 2WD van, for the next 3 days, so we were effectively trapped at home with no power, and the estimated restore time kept being extended as more and more was known of the severity of the damage to the overhead power distribution system. Many, many lines and poles were down. Crews of engineers, and materials, specialized vehicles, helicopters were mobilized from the mainland and began to arrive in the following days.

Short sharp weather event, long power failure

The damage occurred on Monday afternoon, after approx 4 hours of heavy snowfall.

Our power was reconnected at 00:20 on Sunday morning, almost 6 days later.

In that time we had managed to get new food and other supplies on Thursday and Friday, as the road became passable, and the power remained off.

We maintained a continuous online internet and mobile phone connection
we had lighting from headtorches
heat from multi-fuel (Morso Squirrel) stoves
cooking from propane gas cooker.
The water supply remained on throughout.
Food supplies were initially limited for the first few days

“Monday is shopping day” and we usually run-down the stores during the week and replenish the larder on a Monday. The “event” on Monday prevented the usual weekly shop.

We don't keep any emergency supplies of food.

Things that were helpful

a supply of pre-charged 12V Sealed Lead Acid batteries. This allows for re-charging of USB devices (phones, headtorches, USB Battery-power-banks etc) when paired with a 12V powered USB hub, or using a quickly home-made 12V → 5V regulator (7805).
a battery powered 4G MiFi router with an appropriate (EE) SIM card (PAYG, with plenty of Data Credit). This allows continuous connection to internet - important to keep in touch with friends, and to keep abreast of news and announcements about the progress of power repairs.
Petzel headtorches always close at hand. We each have Petzl “Actik Core” headtorches with USB rechargable battery packs. The batteries can be replaced with 3 x AAA batteries if necessary.
a supply of fuel for the Morso Squirrel stoves. This was a recent delivery of £300 worth of softwood logs. At other times of the year we may not have a stock of firewood.
a source of cooking and water heating that doesn't rely on electricity. Propane (Calor) gas powered kitchen cooker, common in rural areas.

Things that could have been better, with pre-planning

Food - have a dedicated supply of long-shelf-life food items, that can be relied on even if the normal food supply is at a low ebb. Keeping a slightly larger “normal” larder, by allowing a reserve to build up week by week, without going mad would also be of assistance, especially for items that wouldn't be suitable for the “emergency long-shelf-life” food cache.
Hygiene and health - have a supply of toilet paper, wet wipes, pain killers, simple first aid items, batteries, candles, matches, lighters. Keep these in one box where they will only be used “in an emergency”.
Water. While this event did not involve a loss of mains water for us, it did affect water supplies elsewhere. In any future event it is not unrealistic to imagine a loss of supply. It would be worthwhile having a stock of water, for drinking, cooking, hygiene etc.
A better form of 12V power - larger capacity batteries, that were known to be fully charged. A 100Ah Leisure battery and a number of 24Ah Sealed Lead acid battery would be longer lasting and provide more confidence, than a random group of “condition unknown” smaller (3Ah?) SLABs.
A pre-prepared source of fuel for the Morso stoves. Wood is useful, but in general is not likely to be kept in sufficent quantity. A better option are smokeless Ovoids. Once the stoves are lit with Ovoids they can be kept burning continuously, 24/7 for days or weeks at a time, and only require 2 daily top ups of new fuel. One bag of ovoids, with care, can fuel 2 stoves for 2 days.
Lighting - a supply of tea-lights and candles would have allowed background room-lighting to supplement the head torches and make the long dark winter evenings more enjoyable. Perhaps a system of 12V powered LED lighting would be even better.
Batteries - have a supply of AA, AAA and CR123 batteries for torches, radios etc
Battery powered AM/FM radio for entertainment without relying on internet/streaming.
Power for ADSL router to allow internet connection without relying on a 4G mobile phone signal. It is possible the ADSL connection may not be available, depending on the state of the power at the local exchange. Having a choice between 4G and ADSL would allow options, though.

Thoughts for the future

Having experienced a 6-day power outage following a single afternoon of heavy snow, it's now easy to imagine a much longer storm, causing much more widespread damage, and leading to a much longer period without power, and without access to the “outside world”.

I am tending to the opinion that it is worthwhile planning for a period of 14 days. Being self-sufficient, at home, with no external assistance, for 2 weeks might never be needed, but the security and confidence of building up this level of preparedness, is liberating. It also means that we won't be a burden on any support services, allowing them to concentrate on the more vulnerable and less well prepared. We can also provide assistance to others if we have a surplus of stores, supplies, tools, batteries, etc.

Becoming a Prepper

I've often read online prepper websites and watched Prepper You Tube videos. Many of them have a few sensible points, but often are aimed at a level of “disaster survival” that seemed of little relevance.

Now, after, a simple snow storm (admittedly of a peculiar type of very wet, very heavy , icy snow) led to being isolated at home for 6 days with no power, it is EASY to imagine a much worse, or longer lasting, event requiring off-grid living, at home, for a longer time period.

I see the benefit of making some simple pre-preperations. Not to survive “the Zombie Apocalypse” or “TEOTWAWKI”, but just a failure of our utility supplies - Electricity, Water or the blockage of transport routes by snow, ice, landslide etc.

If you are going to lay in stores of materials, consumables, food and water, then it's probably worth trying to aim for 14 days of self-sufficiency. Even if not for “natural disaster” - perhaps sudden unforseen job loss, lack of accessible cash/online payment - having enough at home to live for 2 weeks relieves some of the stress.

COVID, with the orders to stay at home, for shops to either be told to close, or for panic buying to rapidly empty the shelves has also shown that unusual situations can occur without warning, and the ability to sit-tight for 2 weeks allows time for a degree of normality to be restored, and shops to be restocked.

More examples come to mind as I think of scenarios to prepare for. Until recently they would appear fanciful, but now, post COVID with climate change starting to impact even the temperate UK weather systems, it's perhaps not hysterical to start planning and prepping for future events.

I'll start adding more pages to the WiKi as I explore Prepping as a project, with the aim of achieving a 14 day autonomy over the course of the next few months.

First Ideas

Some initial thoughts on what might be useful to gather in preparation

Based on the experience from December 2022 6-day power failure.

Some items are already available, other things are newly listed after considering the experience and the intention to extend the autonomy period to 14 days, and including water to the requirement.

Hygiene / Consumables / Household

Toilet Rolls → 9 pack
Candles → 4 per day → 56 → 6 x 10 pack
Tea Lights → 4 per day → 56 → 2 x 50 pack = 100
Batteries
- AA → 2 x 12
- AAA → 2 x 16
- CR123 → 2 x 4
Matches → 4 boxes “Cooks Matches”
Lighters → 4 x BIC/Clipper
Medication
- Paracetamol
- Ibuprofen
- Aspirin
- Prescription?
First Aid - plasters/dressings etc
Wet wipes / hand sanitzer

Fuel

In addition to normal household supplies

Stoves : Ovoids → 7 bags
Firelighters → 4 boxes
Propane → 1 x 13kg
Jet Boil → camping gas

12V batteries and USB power

100Ah Leisure Battery x 1
24Ah SLAB x 3
3Ah & 7Ah & 18Ah SLAB - various
12V → USB Charging device(s)
Solar Panel for recharging batteries
USB Power Banks

Lighting

personal headtorches
personal pocket torches
candle-lantern(s)
12V LED lighting

Food

Pasta → 3 x 1kg (75g per person per meal → 2 x 14 x 75g → 2.1kg)
Rice → 3 x 1kg
- Rice and Pasta combined, and with pulses, makes a meal with complete protein
Dried Noodles
Porrige Oats (can be made with plain water if milk not available, or dried milk powder?)
Tins
- Soup x 28
- Pulses x 14
- Fish x 7
Jars
- Pesto x 4
- Curry Paste x 4
Baking Goods
- Bread Flour
- Dried Yeast
Drinks
- Coffee
- Tea Bags
- Dried Milk
Sundries
- Olive Oil
- Stock Cubes
- Marmite

Shelf Life esitmate

Tins
- Pulses : 4 year
- Soup : 2 year
- Fish : 3 year
Jars
- Pesto : 3 year
- Curry Paste : 3 year
Dried Goods
- Pasta : 2 years
- Rice : 2 years

Water

Aim for 1 gallon per person per day

2 persons x 14 day x 1 gallon → 28 gallons → 6 x 5 gallon jerry cans.

Animals

Dog food → 15kg bag

Communications

Mobile Phones with choice of SIM cards → EE or Vodafone
4G battery powered MiFi router
12V DC powered ADSL router/Wifi Access point
Old DTMF manual dial telephone
Investigate Ham Radio HF Email
Marine Band VHF radio for Coastguard

— John Pumford-Green 22/12/22 09:42

Further Information

prepping

Comparison - The Thief Of Joy

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 18:04:20 +0000

Comparison - The Thief Of Joy

As I mentioned in another post, I've rekindled my interest in playing musical instruments….

I'm learning the Alto recorder and I've got my mandolin down off of its hanger.

I haven't (yet) exhumed my D/G melodeon from its case, hiding on top of the bookshelf, but that's only a matter of time, surely?

I've dipped in and out of playing music all my life and never got to the stage where I feel I'm any good at it.

This isn't false modesty. I just haven't ever got past the “advanced-beginner-early-intermediate” stage, got to the point where I'm comfortable playing (in public/with an audience etc), to where I make few mistakes, where I can get through a tune if not artistically, then at least competently.

I've tried, over the years:

Recorder
Guitar
Piano
Mandolin
Bodhran
Tin Whistle
Melodoen

![mandolin1](/content/images/comparison-the-thief-of-joy/mandolin1.jpg)

I played recorder at primary school, and learned to read music. I had piano lessons at age 12, or so. I never liked it, never practiced, abandoned it as soon as my parents realized it was a waste of their hard-earned money. I've tinkered with other instruments on and off ever since.

Why do I fail to reach “competency” each time?

#### How long is long enough?

How long should I try an instrument before deciding I'm just not going to become acceptably good enough? How many hours of noodling, of targeted exercises, of repetitive tune mangling?

It's never got to the point where I'd be comfortable to say publicly “I play the (Insert instrument of choice here)”.

How many hours….? Is it the mythical 10,000 hours? That seems like, on one hand *an awful long time* and on the other hand *fairly reasonable*. 3 hours a day (if you're serious, you'll spend the time) is 3333 days. Let's call that 10 years. Seems a long time. I've been tinkering with music since I was a child. I'm 60 years old now. That's plenty of 10,000 hour opportunities to get good enough.

Of course it isn't a simple as “spend 10 years at something and you'll be good at it”. The 10,000 hour magic number has largely been debunked now, anyway.

But undeniably *time spent doing the thing* is a major factor in how good you become *at the thing*.

#### Talent or Commitment?

Failed amateur musicians often point at successful amateur musicians and say *“but they've got talent, and I must have none”*.

And the successful amateur musicians reply *“no… I practiced hard, for many hours, many days, weeks and years, to get this good. It's not talent, it's commitment”*

But the failed musician might have started out just as keen, just as motivated, spending just as much time and energy as the successful one. Who can say? Why was one successful and the other a dispirited *failure*? What happened in the first year or two that made the successful player *keep playing*? Were they actually improving more rapidly, and the feedback kept them keen and motivated?

Did the failures (I count myself in this group) improve much more slowly, if at all, and give up because of a pragmatic realization that they can't devote *even more* time and energy than they already are doing, and therefore it looks like they aren't going to improve to any significant degree?

The successful player uses the positive feedback of early progress to fuel their hard work, the failure uses the negative feedback of their lack of early progress to justify giving up.

I spent years at the melodeon.

I played for hours and hours and hours and hours. I took it to work with me. I took it everywhere. I played alone though, with no tuition. I learned tune after tune after tune. None of them done particularly well. I just never made that longed-for breakthrough where I suddenly felt like I *was* a melodeon player. I can't count the hours I've spent at it.

I was in my mid-late 30s and early 40s. I wasn't a kid, I understood that things took time and effort and commitment. Yet still I wasn't good enough. And again, that's not false modesty. I *really wasn't good enough*.

I saw other people take it up, on forums etc. and within months were posting really competent You Tube videos of their progress. Much, much better than anything I could do.

Did they *really* spend so much more time playing and practicing than I did?

*Really?*

I truly think there is such a thing as *talent* which decides whether you're going to become good at an instrument. The *talented* people will spend time getting better, and better. The *un-talented, but keen* people (myself?) will spend the same amount of time initially, muddling along, but getting slowly, inexorably disenchanted at their progress, then the time spent dwindles until they just give it up.

Yes, the *talented* people commit *huge* amounts of time, hours upon hours upon hours of practice.

And they improve.

They attain competency.

They become musicians.

And they put it all down to the time spent.

They tell the failures *“if you'd spent as much time as me practicing you'd be just as good”*. They believe it's all down to their undeniably hard work. They spend more and more time at it as they progress, because the positive feedback makes them feel the investment of time and effort is justified.

Failures gradually spend less and less time at it, for the same reason; the time invested isn't justified.

Go and find something else to spend all those wasted hours on.

#### A new beginning

From this negative-sounding introduction, I'm now feeling positive about playing again.

Yes, I still haven't got the talent, but now I'm comfortable with that.

But I *do* have more talent than a lot of other people. It's a sliding scale. There are some people who, no matter *how many hours* they spend they just aren't going to become musical.

I am at least capable of making some musical noises on my instruments. I *can* play in an *ok* way most of the time.

That's the realization I've had recently. I don't need to get to be a good musician, I just need to enjoy spending the time actually doing it. If I can get to that stage, where my amateur squeaks and plucks and squeezes are enjoyable to me, *and me alone* then that's a worthwhile use of my time.

##### another way of looking at it

I do a bit of sketching - mostly in my diary. A few years ago I forced myself to learn how to do it after a lifetime of being *“unable to draw”*.

![tea1](/content/images/comparison-the-thief-of-joy/tea1.jpg)

And I came to the conclusion that with sketching there is no *right or wrong*. Just whether you like the outcome. I read a quote somewhere which helped me accept my scribblings

They aren't mistakes, they're your style

![eggs1](/content/images/comparison-the-thief-of-joy/eggs1.jpg)

My sketches are sometimes poorly done, nothing like what I was aiming for. But the more time I spend doing it the more I feel the “mark-making” is done with confidence and it's the confidence of the lines that shows, as you do it more and more and more.

It might not look any different to the scribbling of a child, but it *feels* different.

![lft1](/content/images/comparison-the-thief-of-joy/lft1.jpg)

It *feels* right. Good, even, well, good enough anyway.

Another phrase I like

Done is better than perfect

How does this relate to music?

I need to accept that I'll never be note-perfect in my playing, just like my sketches aren't a perfect representation of what I'm trying to draw. My imperfect drawing shows my own particular *style*. In music I'm going to start believing the same thing is possible. As long as I can start to ignore gross mistakes while playing, and just keep going through a tune, I can start accepting that the *“mistakes are my style”* and stop trying to be completely accurate according to the dots on the paper. Especially with folk music. There's no “right or wrong”. There's a basic form for the tune. You have to stick to the skeleton. Listening to different renditions of the same tune on You Tube it's obvious that nobody plays according to the dots. Everybody puts something of themselves into the tune. The dots are just the bare minimum, lowest common denominator representation of a tune that has got many, many different interpretations *in the wild*.

The dots are just a starting point.

![dots1](/content/images/comparison-the-thief-of-joy/dots1.jpg)

This isn't classical music, I'm not playing with an orchestra, I don't need to slavishly follow the score. As long as I interpret the tune in a pleasing way, adding my own variations (sometimes they are done to make a phrase easier to play, sometimes because it sounds better, sometimes to just change it a bit for one-time-around, to add variety).

And ignore mistakes - stop stopping each time there's a wrong note. Push on, get to the end.

Of course you need to spend *some* deliberate time practicing a tune phrase by phrase, working out complicated twiddly bits. And some other time doing drills, scales and exercises. You need to build up muscle memory and mechanical skills.

But stop trying to be perfect.

### Embrace the wonkiness

Don't compare yourself to other people, even those that inspire and motivate you. Find the joy in the act, despite what you see around you.

music, joy

Music - A Return To An Old Hobby

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 08:45:07 +0000

Music - A Return To An Old Hobby

date: 2026-03-02 14:52

I used to play a lot of music - by this I mean actually play it myself, on instruments like mandolin, bodhran, guitar….

I first fiddled with guitar as a teenager. Badly. I had a cheap nylon strung “classical” guitar, and even for a while a very cheap and very, very nasty electric guitar.

When I went to University in 1984 I was already into folk music, as well as heavily into early Mike Oldfield. So I knew of the bodhran. I bought myself a basic model mandolin and found a guy who made bodhrans in a small workshop in Manchester. All I could afford was a very basic calf-skin bodhran but it was enough to get the hang of it.

I listened to a lot of Planxty, Bothy Band, Boys from the Lough, Andy Irvine etc. back then, all on vinyl. I still have the same vinyl albums and play them occasionally even now.

Here's a B&W photo of my stash of instruments from around 1986. I developed & printed it myself, using an enlarger a mate had borrowed & set up in the bathroom in his flat. I recently found the photo again, and put it in a clip frame and hung it in my den.

I later bought a better mandolin, and also got better goatskin bodhran from Hobgoblin Music.

I sold my 1st mandolin, and bodhran to a mate of mine. I think he still has them. I certainly still have my 2nd mandolin and bodhran.

While I was at UMIST, between 1984 and 1988 I used to drink in the Jolly Angler in Ducie Street. It was a backstreet Irish pub, but had no music session. I went to play pool with mates and drink copious quantities of Hyde's Anvil bitter (and at Christmas time their strong Winter Ale from a small barrel on the bar).

The landlord had a niece who at that time was doing her O levels and was struggling with maths. She was a mean piano accordion player too. We started a weekly maths tuition followed by a few tunes. I took my mandolin and she took her PA.

After a few weeks of this a few customers asked

“is this a regular session?”

“no, just us having a few tunes”

“is it ok if we join in next week? There's no good session on a Thursday nearby”

“ Yeah! that'd be fun”

and then it exploded from there.

More and more and more people came on a Thursday night. After only a few weeks I found I was well out of my depth, and stopped playing, or trying to play. I'd learned a few new tunes in the first few weeks of the session but then found all I could do was sit and watch and listen.

But I still played mandolin for my own amusement. I wasn't particularly good, but I enjoyed it.

There have been various instruments over the years since then.

Later, after leaving UMIST and getting a job I bought myself a bouzouki from Hobgoblin too.

My parents had found an old Hohner Double-Ray Black-Dot in B/C at an antiques fair which I later bought by visiting the guy's house in Cramlington (nr. Newcastle) while we were visiting.

The story of this is on my old, old website which I recently uncovered…

https://g4slv.info/website/pages/music.htm

I then bought a 2nd hand Saltarelle “Le Bouebe” melodeon in D/G in around 2002, and later a Castagnari Lilly melodeon for my 40th birthday in 2006. I later sold the Lilly, as I wasn't playing it enough to justify keeping it.

I still have the Saltarelle. But I rarely ever take it out and play it any more.

Here's an old photo of me in the Westings, Shetland.

I got to be “ok” on melodeon - but nothing better then “ok”.

In fact I've never got better than “ok” on anything, in the 45+ years of my trying to play.

I didn't have a guitar for several years and during Covid lockdown in 2020 I bought a cheap classical guitar (Yamaha C40) and spent a lot of time while isolated at home trying to learn proper classical guitar. I followed some of the excellent courses by Bradford Werner https://www.thisisclassicalguitar.com/start-here/. When life returned to normal I stopped studying, but I'd already found some physical problems with my wrists and hands due to the Rheumatoid Arthritis. I still noodle on the guitar, but I can't see me being able to really immerse myself in learning it properly.

I also bought a Treble Recorder last year and then neglected to do anything about it. I'd played Descant Recorder as a primary schoolboy aged 10 or so. That's where I learned to read music. So the Treble Recorder was supposed to be my way of reconnecting with the fun of learning a new (and at face value fairly simple) instrument. Of course the Recorder is a vastly under-rated instrument capable of magical sound when played by an expert.

I recently found some old mp3 recordings I'd done in around 2002, in a zip file which contained the HTML and other files from a website I had back then. There were 4 mp3 files that had me playing mandolin, and bodhran (and guitar, out of tune)

They are badly recorded - from memory I did it by using a pair of cheap stereo headphones as a microphone (!) and recording using grecord on a linux box (an old Gnome app for simple sound recording - probably running on Red Hat 6?)

To multi track I'd play the 1st recording back from the speakers on another linux box while recording the 2nd track (and the playback of the 1st which was audible in the background….) and I'd repeat this again to get a 3rd track.

The are in https://g4slv.info/website/pshed/ and these are the links to the files

The future?

So, now, at 60 years old I'm wondering what to do with myself. What hobby to persue. How to find joy and fun again.

I found myself looking up at my mandolin a few nights ago, thinking *“I wonder if I remember any tunes?”* and I took it down from its hanger. And 2 hours later I forced myself to put it down & go to bed….

I've been a little lost recently, not knowing what to do with my spare time. Perhaps this is the answer. Just enjoy playing music for my own amusement again.

music

Another diversion... I3 Tiling WM

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 07:18:16 +0000

Another diversion... I3 Tiling WM

— John Pumford-Green 09/10/22 13:58

After setting up Alpine and some other console-mode software I got the urge to try going back to another window manager I've played with in the past - I3 WM

I used it on my touchscreen Raspberry Pi that used to live in the LandRover as a control panel for the Icom IC-M710 HF radio - as it's good for simple mouse-less control.

I delved into the usual round of other tiling WMs:

I3
DWM
Herbstluftwm (HLWM)

After setting up some things on I3 to work the way I wanted I didn't see the need to re-invent the wheel by spending time learning/configuring DWM or HLWM so I've settled on I3

There are some snippets of info and configs on a page in the Wiki:

I3 Window Manager

I have it setup on my laptop which runs Antix Linux from a USB memory stick, without using the Hard Drive, and with Persistent Storage working well it's a great, fast and responsive, Linux-on-the-desktop user machine. I'm limited by how much software can be installed, as it all has to fit in 3GB of RAM once it boots. There's some USB storage available for data/documents etc. too.

I'm also setting I3 up on the old laptop I have in the shed as my main fixed machine - which is where I'm learning to write 6502 Assembly, and using I3 tiling WM is great for this - one large tile can have a VIM session to edit the source code, smaller tiles with terminal/shell can be used to assemble the code and to write/burn it to EEPROM, and to handle GIT commits/uploads to GITHUB.

Linux is just so versatile!

YaDDNet : New VPS

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 07:43:18 +0000

←YaDDNet

YaDDNet : New VPS

Moving YaDDNet from USA to UK

Background

YaDDNet started hosted on a machine in my shed
In 2019 I almost gave up maintaining & hosting it and was approached by Alan Spindel ex. of WLO/Mobile Radio with the offer of a free VPS in the States
I moved everything from my own PC to the new Cloud Server - as documented largely here Yaddnet Migration
It's run quietly and without too may hiccups since 2019 until now, April 13th 2024
Alan has now been asked to contribute financially for continued access to the VPS - up to $200 per month
This is way too much money!
I looked at my current VPS hosted by Fasthosts and they do a VPS with similar specs to the existing USA-based server - for £12 per month
I let Alan know I'd take on the new server and migrate YaDDNet ASAP, and began the process of obtaining server, installing software required, copying YaDDNet Python code, transferring YaDDNet HTML/PHP web pages and then the big job of taking a MYSQL dump of the YaDDNet database and copying it over, and putting it into the new SQL server.
Let the fun begin

New VPS

I bought a VPS L from Fasthosts
- 120GB HDD, 4GB RAM, 2 CPU, Ubuntu 20.4
I copied the yaddnet python code (in a tar-ball) that deals with the network feeds of Yadd and DSCDecoder and injects the resulting data into the MySQLdatabase from the existing server.
I installed the necessary software
- Python2.7
- python-is-python2
- python-dev-is-python2
- MySQL Client
- MySQL Server
- Apache2
- PHP
- Tmux
- Vim
- copied my .bashrc from the old server for colour prompt etc.

Using the previous Yaddnet Migration info Yaddnet Migration I had some guidance of any tweaks needed.
I needed extra Python2 supporting libraries
- For MySQLdb → pip install MySQL-python
- but for pip…. I need pip2… how to get it - it's no longer available from Ubuntu's apt repositories.
  - I found a script get-pip.py at github
    - https://github.com/pypa/get-pip
    - also need python-dev from apt
    - also need my_config.h from where..?
    - finally can pip install MySQL-python

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/2.7/get-pip.py --output get-pip.py
sudo python2 get-pip.py
sudo apt-get install python-dev
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paulfitz/mysql-connector-c/master/include/my_config.h -O /usr/include/mysql/my_config.h
sudo pip2 install MySQL-python

at this point I could run the python server code, in a tmux session as usual, using the shell script in the python directory extracted from the tar-ball. All the supporting libraries were there.

MySQL config

My old notes had instructions of how to set MySQL for password-less root access, but I found by trial and error that these steps no longer work in Ubuntu 20.4, with systemd
I found some help online https://ostechnix.com/how-to-reset-root-password-in-mysql-8-on-ubuntu-linux/
- the basic is that it's now necessary to add options to MySQL via systemd
- for skip-grant-tables

$ sudo systemctl stop mysql
$ sudo systemctl status mysql
$ sudo systemctl edit mysql

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mysqld --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl start mysql
$ sudo mysql -u root

mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY '';
mysql> exit

$ sudo systemctl revert mysql
$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl restart mysql

Make database for yadd

$mysql -u root

mysql> create database yadd;
mysql> quit;

Get the data

on the old server

$ mysqldump -u root yadd > yadd_backup.sql

and wait…. and wait…..
eventually there's a 6.2GB sql file containing all the existing data
bzip2 the file to make it smaller (it's about 400MB now) for scp transfer to the new server
send it across:
- scp yaddnet_backup.sql.bz2 gm4slv@109.228.53.165:

on the new server
- bunzip2 yaddnet_backup.sql.bz2
- and wait….and wait
then inject it into the new yadd database

mysql -u root yadd < yaddnet_backup.sql

and wait…. and wait…. and wait
eventually the command returns and the database is restored on the new machine

Web pages

extract the backed-up webpages from the old server and copy them to /var/www/html
To be able to retrieve SQL data via PHP I needed to install more

sudo apt-get install php-mysql

Almost there….
New MYSQL user with a password for PHP data retrieval
- Alan Spindel informed me that there was an update some time ago and it was necessary to create a new MySQL user, with a password, and to modify the PHP files to use it in the PHP → MySQL transactions

CREATE USER 'XXXXX'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'YYYYY';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'XXXXX'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

XXXXX is the username as set in all the PHP files and YYYYY is the password for the user
to perform some of the SQL queries (group-by) - need to alter sql-mode but again the old method using *.cnf files no longer works

# MySQL systemd service file

[Unit]
Description=MySQL Community Server
After=network.target

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

[Service]
Type=notify
User=mysql
Group=mysql
PIDFile=/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
PermissionsStartOnly=true
ExecStartPre=/usr/share/mysql/mysql-systemd-start pre
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mysqld  --sql-mode=STRICT_TRANS_TABLES,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION
TimeoutSec=infinity
Restart=on-failure
RuntimeDirectory=mysqld
RuntimeDirectoryMode=755
LimitNOFILE=10000

# Set enviroment variable MYSQLD_PARENT_PID. This is required for restart.
Environment=MYSQLD_PARENT_PID=1
~
~

Then

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl restart mysql

start the Python code to listen for new data

./new_tmux.sh

open firewall for UDP/50666 and UDP/4530
set up my own Yadd receiver pointing at 109.228.53.165 port 50666 and let it send new data….
it's arriving!
Alter DNS for the domain at Fasthosts to point yaddnet.org and www.yaddnet.org → 109.228.53.165
Wait for new data from other YaDD receivers to start arriving as the DNS change propagates….
it's arriving
make /var/www/html/pages/php/test/tmp world read/writable to allow new text files to be written there (eg REU searches etc.)

Clean up

that's everything working correctly
crontab entries to maintain everything

@reboot sleep 60; sudo -u gm4slv /home/gm4slv/yaddnet/tmux_yadd.sh >/dev/null 2>&1
 
 
15 */4 * * * /home/gm4slv/yaddnet/purge_err.sh > /dev/null
* * * * * /home/gm4slv/yaddnet/purge_tmp.sh > /dev/null

get SSL certificates from Fasthost and convert Apache2 to HTTPS, per previous posts
- SSL Install on VPS
- VPS Notes
add a PayPal Donate button

install mercurial on new server and make new code repositories

hg init
hg add
hg com -m "first commit, new server"

yaddnet_repo containing the python and various bash scripts for handling incoming data and SQL injection
yaddnet_web_repo containing the html and php web pages

Extra

config directory needs access control via .htaccess and .htpasswd
- first apache2 needs config tweaking

<Directory /path/to/website/database_tweaks/config>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
</Directory>

.htaccess file in config directory

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Password Protected Area"
AuthUserFile  /path/to/website/database_tweaks/config/.htpasswd
Require valid-user

create a .htpasswd file for the user who can have access to config
restart apache2
to prevent directory file-listing (where there's no index.html file) remove Indexes from apache2.conf

<Directory /var/www/>
        Options  FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride None
        Require all granted
</Directory>

to allow the test directory itself to be listed (I can't be bothered to maintain an index for these scraps of php)

<Directory /var/www/html/pages/php/test/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride None
        Require all granted
</Directory>

restart apache2

— John Pumford-Green 14/04/24 18:11 BST

Further Information

yaddnet, radio

Arduino Project

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 07:27:53 +0000

Arduino Project

I dabbled with Arduino to build some small projects back in 2021, mostly using the SI5351 PLL chip.

A lot was learned from the You Tube channel, and blog, of Charlie Morris ZL2CTM

https://www.youtube.com/c/CharlieMorrisZL2CTM and https://zl2ctm.blogspot.com/.

I designed and built a 60m QRP SSB/CW/Digimode transceiver which started as a Direct Conversion DSB radio and then morphed into a superhet SSB rig with 9MHz IF and crystal filter. I was also was in the process of building a phasing RX and CW TX to make an HF CW transceiver - band TBC but it was working on 17m when I drifted off the path and abandoned radio for a while.

I've dug out the 60m rig and it's still working. I've got it in my new shack as a 60m monitor RX. One of its features is a “scanner” - just cycling around a selection of channels pausing for a second and moving on which is handy for spotting activity popping up on one or other channel.

Today I also went searching for the Arduino sketches for all my little experiments at the time, and found them on the old laptop I used in the shed-shack at the time. This laptop is physically decrepit - screen broken etc. - but can still be accessed over the LAN. I've retrieved all the sketches and they are linked at the bottom of the page.

It's been a while (5 years!) since I played with Arduino and the 5351 PLL, so I'm a little rusty, but I'm considering making a QRSS TX to run on 60m if I can find somewhere to put a small base-loaded vertical (perhaps a helical linear-loaded vertical?). The first step will be to write the Arduino sketch to make the 5351 make pretty patterns on a waterfall. Then a simple 500mW PA strip shouldn't be too difficult.

I still have some un-used Seeduino Nano boards and some 5351s, so I think I'll rig up a development board and start writing code. Small baby steps….

(I've begun QRSS MEPT )

Further Information

My old Ardiuno Code sketches: arduino_sketches.tar

radio, arduino, qrss, homebrew

Finding Things In A Diary

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 08:48:07 +0000

Finding Things In A Diary

I've been keeping a diary now almost daily since 2017. A few days are missing, but to the best of my knowledge the are no missing days since mid-2022….

I don't (generally) write about current affairs, news, politics etc. unless it has particular and direct relevance to my own life. I want to capture the stuff that would be lost to history, stuff that I might want to remember at some point in the future, stuff about my day-to-day life. News and current affairs and politics and world events are already well-recorded by the media and a whole host of bloggers and journal writers. Nobody is documenting the specifics of *my* life, except me. And nobody is generally interested in any of the details, except me.

But what's the point of writing it down if I can't find it again later?

Ideally I'd like to be able to answer any question like “When did we get the new car?” or “When did I start playing the recorder again?”

an example

I was swimming with a friend and his 9 year old daughter on Sunday, something I've been doing on an off for a few years. We started swimming with his two little girls - now 9 and 13 - some years ago. How many years ago….? Can't be sure. The older 13-year old “E” is now a teenager and therefore much too cool to come out on a Sunday morning with her old man. So it's just 3 of us. Me, “T” and his younger daughter “B”

The question was raised by younger sibling *“What age was E when she swam a length underwater first?”*

The younger daughter is now 9 and wants to match her older sibling.

I couldn't remember. Her dad couldn't remember.

In fact between us we couldn't even remember when we'd started this regular Sunday morning swim.

Was is pre-covid? post-covid? Two years, three years…?

“I'm sure that Samuel Pepys here will find it in his dairy”

Hmm… but will I? I've tried to keep an index - in a separate book - just a topic and page-number for reference to allow things to be found. But did I have this particular thing in my index?

In the end it wasn't in my index-book, but I did find it in my dairy itself. It took some searching. I write around 4 diary books per year - each covers roughly 3 months. I had to do a binary search to pin point the date we started the regular swims (Sunday 9th January 2022) and then a slow search forward looking to see if I'd noted down “E swam a length under water”… And I did find that entry, too, on Sunday 1st May 2022.

I can answer the question….. posed by a 9 year old.

It's an example of little consequence - if I'd been unable to find it we'd have just said “she was about your age” and left it at that. But the ability to be certain of something - anything - after any number of years. That's more powerful, when it applies to something more important to you.

My Current Index

My index looks like

It gets more and more complicated and messy as new things are added - you can't always leave enough space when adding entries to be sure there's room for something new later on, so it becomes harder to add new entries, and harder to quickly find them when they aren't in a logical order on the page.

Thoughts on better indexing

I thought about starting again - use the current index as a starting point and get a new blank A5 notebook, and re-create the same layout - but now with so many entries to work with I could make a better stab at laying it out in a better manner - more space between entries to allow new ones to fit. But the same problem will still occur, in time. I'll run out of space to add new topics in the correct places and then they'll get added willy-nilly all over the place.

I'd thought about, and even tried a small experiment, using a 5×3 card index. Each “topic” can have its own card. Space to record many diary entries for each topic on its own card. New topics get a new card that can be slipped into the correct alphabetical position. If a topic needs to be split into sub-topics it's a simple matter to take the existing card, and make new ones that follow any sub-divisions I think are necessary. Then just copy across the existing diary references to the new card(s) and insert them in their proper place(s) in the index box. No worries about squeezing things into a full page in a book, just shuffle a few cards and job's done.

So I'm now rebuilding my index in a 5×3 card index box. I've got everything from my book-form index done on 5×3 card. I'm now able to add any new things wherever they need to go. This includes indexing things I've written about in older diaries, but have so far neglected to add to the index.

I plan on slowly working through the old diaries and indexing anything I feel has been overlooked. And in addition anything I look up in the future will get added to the index (if it's not already there). The swimming examples above are just the sort of thing I mean. If I have to search through the diaries for something once, then I'll index it to make sure I don't have to do it again.

diary

Privacy ?

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 08:45:35 +0000

Privacy ?

Private versus Public

I recently got totally fed-up with the state of *the internet*. Mobile phones so tightly tied to *Google* or *Apple* that they track your every move and communicate every action you make online with databrokers that use this to profile you and target ads (and worse?) at you….

Why isn't it possible just to use a phone to make phone calls, send text messages, and to innocently and privately look at websites?

De-Googling etc.

I started *de-googling*[^1] as far as I could. And this included my *desktop* interaction with the web too. I'd already been using adblockers for years, but this time I went further.

And I found it's *impossible to fully de-google*.

Of course I *knew* this - after all, Android *is* Google. And the web *is* Google.

But I made tiny first steps. Why do I need accounts with Google and other major enshitifiers to do the things I still enjoy online? This feeling also tied in with a desire to cut-back on online shopping (I'll do a post on my *no-buy* aspirations another time) so I got rid of other accounts too.

I got rid of my accounts with (at least these, probably others that I've forgotten about):

Google
- My You Tube Channel was deleted too
Microsoft
Amazon
Paypal
eBay
Reddit

I didn't have *Facebook* or *Twitter/X* or *Mastodon* or *Instagram* or *Tik-Tok* or any other *social media* accounts, so there was no FOFOMO[^2] to worry about.

#### A quiet online life?

This still means I can use the internet but reduces the level of *integration* which happens - where everything talks to everything else *via Google*.

#### To properly de-Google?

After doing as much as I could with my stock Android phone I ran into the usual problem of how tightly integrated even the simplest of apps is with the Google eco-system and that it didn't seem possible to use a *normal* Android phone and at the same time to be invisible to Google & to escape its spying.

A fully de-googled-at-source-android was the answer. There are a few options. I won't go into them in detail, I just took the easiest route.

I bought a Fairphone6 pre-installed with /e/OS.

I tried it first *without* running *micro-G* (which spoofs some of the functionality of *Google Play Services* etc. and which gives access to certain Google services anonymously so that the apps that rely on some Google functionality can still be installed and will run).

But that limited my options for apps.

So I enabled *micro-G* and installed a *very small number* of non-FOSS Android apps:

2 Banking apps for my personal and business bank accounts
BBC Sounds - but only because *I can't abide adverts* even in podcasts - and the BBC is the only source I can trust not to shove commercial adverts at me during podcasts
Canon Print - to access my little Canon Selphy printer (yes, it is possible without the Canon Print app, but it's fiddly and error-prone)

And that's all.

Everything else is either the pre-installed version from /e/OS or it's a FOSS version from *f-Droid*

/e/OS has a built in system-level tracking blocker which circumvents the many (many) *phone-home* tracking messages that these non-FOSS apps send to various analytic/tracking providers. It's quite scary to see just how chatty these apps are, and how many external 3++rd++ party tracking services are fed data - quite separately from the actual application's useful and necessary network traffic (this still flows and allows the app to function normally).

#### Privacy - hiding from real people on the internet

I took things a step further - and tried to extract myself from *any online activity* which would involve showing anything of mine to *strangers on the internet*.

I made my [Commonplace Wiki](https://g4slv.info/dokuwiki/) private - nothing was readable by passing strangers.

I'd deleted my You Tube stuff already, as a part of *de-googling* so that had already been taken care of.

I started to delete various accounts that I had on web-forums, and thus my old posts disappeared too (I don't contribute much, and my words are unlikely to be missed by anyone).

I wanted to *disappear* from the online world.

I know it's not possible to remove all traces of your past online life - but I wanted my future involvement with the web to be invisible.

#### The Hypocrisy of this

But I was still reading *other* people's websites and blogs. Watching other people's You Tube videos - but *not-logged-in* and via a browser with an *adblocker* (or more often via `NewPipe` or by downloading the video to my laptop 1++st++ by using `yt-dlp`)

I was *consuming* but not *contributing*

This seems selfish and petty.

So I un-hid my dokuwiki site, and it's now readable by anyone. I don't know if anyone finds any of it useful, it exists mainly for me to have a place to store *useful-to-me* information.

I figure though that it's *good* to share stuff online (even when there are probably very few people that'll ever read it). But, because *I* find other peoples' stuff useful, interesting etc. then should I not let other people make up their own minds about my stuff? By at least making it accessible.

The important thing to me now is that this sharing *must be done without involving the enshitifying platforms* like *Google*, *Meta* etc. etc.

I *can* share my thoughts, experiments, notes etc. with real people on the internet - but only by hosting it myself.

This can be done with a blog (like this one) or a wiki like [this one](https://g4slv.info/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=start) and even with an old hand-built plain html website from more than 20 years ago, like [this one](https://g4slv.info/website/index.html) which I used to have back in the early 2000's and which has been languishing in a zip file for many years.

#### Blogging in 2026

After deciding that I don't want to hide from *real* people, that the internet is (still) a good thing when used for good reasons. It allows us to share with other *real* people. Enshitification has largely spoiled the *mainstream* web, but there are still lots of personal web sites, blogs, wikis etc.

Let's keep them going.

This is why I'm blogging now. It's been a few years since I last did any blogging, but I think I can enjoy it again (regardless of the number of readers) and create a small corner of the internet out of my own head. It might be self-indulgent twaddle, it might be pointless and meaningless and if *I* get some happiness out of making it, that's enough. But it *has* to be online and *has* to feel like it's a small fight against the enshitification that the major platforms have wrought on the once wonderful web.

[^1]: I use this as a generic term for *cutting out as much surveillance and tracking as possible* [^2]: Is this a new coining? Fear of FOMO The fear that I'll suffer *“Fear of Missing Out”*

QRSS

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 16:22:31 +0000

QRSS

I've been running my QMX on WSPR, using its DigiMode and the USB interface to a laptop running WSJT-X, when I'm not using for real QSOs.

But I got to thinking “is that all there is?”

I've seen almost continuous QRSS signals on the WSJT-X waterfall on 30m while running WPSR, and I remembered running a grabber on 600m/500kHz back in the early days of access to that band, and I wondered what activity there still was using QRSS. So I looked around the 'net and found that the “QRSS Knights” group are still going and I wondered about joining it. It would give a more human interaction and more human use of the “down time” - I could still monitor propagation, but not using the computer to do everything… you still need to actively look at the waterfall and read the morse code from the noisy trace on the screen.

I've joined the Knights QRSS on groups.io https://groups.io/g/qrssknights and last night I set about getting a grabber up and running.

I settled on good old Spectrum Lab which I know has always worked well under Wine on Linux. After a bit of fiddling I got a working setup to display the “QRSS Watering Hole” on 30m, my band of interest, and then fiddled with some bash scripts to automate the “grab and upload” function to send images to my website. https://g4slv.info/

On this image from 10:20UTC today there are several QRSS signals….

From the top:

S52AB
G0PKT
M0BMN
G0MBA
G4JQT
IK2JET

I tried sending some QRSS at 1W this morning for an hour or so, but only saw the faintest of traces on the grabber of Fabian (DJ5CW) on his Polish-sited Grabber SO5CW which might have been me.

Once again, it seems that my quiet location is better for receive than transmit.

My grabber is now included on the grabber list at https://swharden.com/qrss/plus/ so let's see what appears on my screen.

I'll put some details of the simple bash scripts that do the uploads on the main wiki Radio pages, and add more info about QRSS there, when I get a chance.

Update

I ran on TX again in the afternoon and Fabian DJ5CW/ SO5CW confirmed reception in Poland!

The “L” really pops out at one point!

radio, qrss, qrp, qmx, knightsqrss

Desk15 - firmware for the DM15

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 20:14:55 +0000

←3rd Party Firmware

Desk15 - firmware for the DM15

From HP Forum https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-23488.html
You Tube https://youtu.be/ktrKZzN3wJw
Github for firmware and brief README guide https://github.com/zooxo/desk15

Firmware Files

Date	Firmware	Comment
17/02/26	desk15-001.hex	Version 01

README

The developer's README (click to read)

This software is protected by the BSD 3 Clause Licence
and copyright (c) 2025 by deetee. All rights reserved.


DESK15 - Calculator suite (including a Spreadsheet) for the DM-15

____________________

PREAMBLE
____________________

The HP-15c was probably the most simple but versatile scientific calculator.
Similar to DESK42 (for the DM42) DESK15 offers an alternative firmware for the
DM15/DM15L replica of Swissmicros with a suite of some applications like a
complex number calculator, a spreadsheet, a symbolic, a tabletop calculator
and even a sliderule and a simple text editor.

Have fun!
deetee


____________________

INSTALLATION
____________________

To install a new firmware to a DM-15 (Voyager) calculator have a look at
chapter Firmware Update of the Swissmicros Voyager Series User Manual at:
  https://technical.swissmicros.com/voyager/firmware/

On linux computers for example install the package lpc21isp and flash the
desired firmware (hex file) to the calculator with:
  sudo lpc21isp <firmware.hex> /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 12000

After starting this command press the reset button on the backside of the
calculator with a paperclip. After the flashing procedure ends you might need to
reset the calculator again. Every Swissmicros-Calculator has a reset button
on the PCB (even if there is no hole to reach it).


____________________

DESK
____________________

When you start DESK15 the first time you see the application launcher DESK. You
can launch the desired application with the keys 7, 8, 9 and 4, 5, 6:

  7 PLEX ... Complex Number Calculator
  8 FLEX ... Symbolic Calculator
  9 RAX  ... Spreadsheet
  4 TTOP ... Table Top Calculator
  5 RULE ... Slide Rule Simulation
  6 TEX  ... Text Editor

On the right side of the screen you see some extra information like the battery
level, date (day) and time (24 hour format).

Please note that the battery level is a momentarily value that varies due to the
momentarily activity of the calculator. But if you see the empty battery symbol
quite often you might consider changing the battery.

____________________

PLEX
____________________

PLEX is a scientific calculator generically designed to work with complex
numbers. Many routines of PLEX are used by other applications (even if they work
with real numbers only). Beside advanced mathematic functions it even offers an
extensive function analysis (function value, slope, solve, integrate and plot).

PLEX supports the following functions:
  Basic
    0-9.      Number input
    ENTER     Enter number (stack lift) or duplicate TOS
    + - * /   Basic operation
    CHS       Negate TOS (ends number input)
    EEX       Push Y*10^X to the stack
    BSP gBSP  Clear number entry or TOS, clear stack and statistics data
    LASTx     Push last ENTERed number to stack
    SWAP      Swap X and Y
    ROT up/dn Rotate 3 stack elements
    STO RCL   Store TOS or push stored number to stack (store 0 to delete)
  Complex number operations
    fTAN      Convert X and Y (real values) to complex number (and vice versa)
    f1 g1     Display number in rectangular or polar view
    f-        Swap real and imaginary part of complex number
    fCHS      Conjugate complex number
  Advanced mathematics
    SQRT, SQR, EXP, LN, 10^X, LOG, Y^X, %, 1/X, delta%,
    FRAC, INT, ABS, PI, Pxy, Cxy, lnGAMMA (f0),
    SIN, COS, TAN, aSIN, aCOS, aTAN, SINH, COSH, TANH, aSINH, aCOSH, aTANH
    fENTER    NAND ~(X & Y) ... useful in HEX mode
    g-        Calculate 2 roots of quadratic equation xx+px+q=0 (enter p q)
    fCOS      PV (present value) of interest rate (%) and duration (periods)
  Statistics
    SUM+ SUM- Add/remove number to/from statistics registers
    g0 g.     Mean value and standard deviation
    fSUM      Parameters a and b of linear regression (y=a*x+b)
    gBSP      Clears statistics registers (and stack)
  Function analysis
    gR/S      Start key recorder to input f(x) (gR/S R/S to delete)
    R/S       Stop key recorder, calculate y=f(x)
    fg/ fg*   Solve, slope, integrate, plot
    GSB 8/9   SAVE/LOAD a recorded function to/from one of 6 slots
  Conversions
    fg7 8 9   cm<>in, km<>mi, km<>nmi
    fg4 5 6   kg<>lbs, °C<>°F, l<>gal
    fg1 2 3   rect/polar view, h<>h.ms, deg<>rad
  Menu
    GSB       QUIT, SAVE/LOAD, Physical Constant, Size of font, HEX mode
    fGSB      BATTERY, set LCD brightness/voltage, set OFFTIME
    gGSB      Get/set DATE, get/set TIME

    Please note:
    When in HEX mode enter numbers >9 with a dot (ie .1=a, .6=f).
    To set the OFFTIME (default is 60s) enter the desired value (5-300) in
    seconds to the stack and press Toff (fGSB6).
    Be careful when setting the lcd brightness (fGSB4, 0-64) or lcd voltage
    (fGSB5, 0-5-7). The default values are 0 and 5.
    Get/set date and time from/to the real time clock (RTC) with the gGSB menu.
    The format for the date on the stack is YY.MMDDw (where w is the number of
    the weekday (0=Monday). The format for the time is HH.MM.

  Physical constants keys (GSB4):
    ENTER     Select (push) constant
    2 8 3 9   Down, Up, PgDown, PgUp
    GSB       Quit (without selecting)

  Physical constants;
    0  c    299792458         Speed of light
    1  g    9.80665           Acceleration of gravity
    2  G    6.67430e-11       Newton constant of gravity
    3  Vm   0.02271095464     Molar volume of ideal gas
    4  NA   6.02214076e23     Avogadro constant
    5  Rinf 10973731.568160   Rydberg constant
    6  h    6.62607015e-34    Planck constant
    7  Phi0 2.067833848e-15   Magnetic flux quantum
    8  a0   5.29177210903e-11 Bohr radius
    9  k    1.380649e-23      Boltzmann constant
    10 R    8.314462618       Molar gas constant
    11 F    96485.33212       Faraday constant
    12 t    273.15            Celsius temperature
    13 atm  101325            Standard atmosphere
    14 e    1.602176634e-19   Elementary charge
    15 eps0 8.8541878128e-12  Vacuum electric permittivity
    16 mu0  1.25663706212e-6  Vacuum magnetic permeability
    17 Z0   376.730313668     Impedance of vacuum
    18 mU   1.6605390666e-27  Atomic mass constant
    19 re   2.8179403262e-15  Electron radius
    20 me   9.1093837015e-31  Electron mass
    21 mp   1.67262192369e-27 Proton mass
    22 mn   1.67492749804e-27 Neutron mass
    23 mmu  1.883531627e-28   Muon mass
    24 muB  9.2740100783e-24  Bohr magneton
    25 muN  5.0507837461e-27  Nuclear magneton
    26 mue  -9.2847647043e-24 Electron magnetic moment
    27 mup  1.41060679736e-26 Proton magnetic moment
    28 mun  -9.6623651e-27    Neutron magnetic moment
    29 mumu -4.4904483e-26    Muon magnetic moment
    30 alph 7.2973525693e-3   Fine structure constant
    31 sigm 5.670374419e-8    Stefan-Boltzmann constant
    32 G0   7.748091729       Conductance quantum
    33 gamp 2.6752218744e8    Proton gyromagnetic ratio
    34 C1   3.741771852e-16   First radiation constant
    35 C2   1.438776877e-2    Second radiation constant


____________________

RAX
____________________

RAX is the spreadsheet application of DESK15. When starting RAX you are in the
navigation mode, where the number keys work as cursor pad (see below). The
navigation mode is also active when you refer in a formula to a specific cell.

Keys in navigation mode:
  2 4 6 8  Navigation (Down/Left/Right/Up)
  ENTER 5  Edit selected cell, edit new formula cell
  R/S      Define and edit a new text cell
  BSP      Delete cell
  STO RCL  Save/load spreadsheet to/from one of 6 slots
           Please note that a text in the last cell (D8) is used as slot name.
  GSB      Menu: Quit RAX, New sheet, Copy&Glue/Paste, Hex mode (see PLEX)

Keys in edit mode (ENTER to select and quit):
  SST GTO        Cursor left/right
  SUM+           Insert a stack enter command to separate numbers
  BSP            Backspace - delete character
  RCL            Reference (Select reference cell and enter)
  ENTER GSB R/S  Quit edit mode to navigation mode

Keys in text edit mode (R/S):
  2 4 6 8    Navigation (Down/Left/Right/Up)
  7 1 5      Pos1, End, Center
  SST GTO    Cursor left/right
  BSP        Delete character (left of cursor)
  R/S ENTER  Exit text editing mode
  Any other key inserts the selected character.


____________________

FLEX
____________________

The symbolic calculator FLEX has the look and feel of PLEX, but actually
calculates in the first cell of a RAX spreadsheet. Hence you can see and edit
(with R/S) the formula that yields to the result.

Quit FLEX (and go back to the DESK menu) with GSB.

____________________

TTOP
____________________

TTOP is a tabletop calculator that enables (simple) calculations with big
numbers (even in HEX format) with up to 17 digits. If desired two digits are
used for decimals (ie for cent amounts). PLease note that entering decimals
(after pressing ".") always "shifts the pressed number key in".

TTOP supports the following functions:
  + - * / Basic operation
  CHS     Negate TOS (ends number input)
  EEX     Push Y*10^X to the stack (Y*16^X in HEX mode)
  ENTER   Enter number (stack lift) or duplicate TOS
  SWAP    Swap X and Y
  ROT     Rotate 3 stack elements
  BSP     Clear last number
  SQRT    Calculate square root
  SUM+    NAND ~(X & Y) ... useful in HEX mode
  STO RCL Store TOS or push stored number to stack (store 0 to delete)
  GSB     Menu: Quit TTOP, 0/2 decimals, HEX mode


____________________

RULE
____________________

RULE is a simulation of a historic slide rule for reasons of education and
reminiscence.

RULE supports the following functions:
  SQRT /   Slide one pixel left/right
  EXP 9    Slide 5 pixel left/right
  POW10 8  Slide 10 pixel left/right
  POW 7    Slide 20 pixel left/right
  GSB      Quit RULE


____________________

TEX
____________________

TEX is a (very) simple line oriented text editor. But as entering a text with
cursor keys is quite a pain TEX is sufficient to manage a ToDo or shopping list
or some important formulae. Please note that TEX can manage a maximum of 255
characters (with not more than 18 characters per line).

TTOP supports the following functions:
  4 8 3 9  Navigation (Down/Up/PdDown/PgUp)
  ENTER    Edit (top) line
  /        Edit line but split line at cursor position after editing
  *        Join two lines
  - BSP    Delete (top) line
  +        Insert line before top line
  STO RCL  Save/load TEX document to/from one of 6 slots
  GSB      Quit TEX

  To enter a new line after the last line edit with split option (/) and
  leave editor immediately (ENTER).
  To edit a text TEX uses the text editing routines of RAX (see above).

Further Information

Page created : 17/02/26 17:44 GMT

Page updated : 19/04/26 21:14 BST

calculator, dm15l, desk15

Benchmarking

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:35:47 +0000

←Calculators

Benchmarking

Various methods to test the speed of calculators

HP Museum Benchmarks

These pseudo-code examples need tweaking for each calculator, some have alpha register names, some numeric.

The handling of the <loop> is different in each calculator,too.

The Programs are run for 1 minute and the result (the number of loops completed) is found in register 2 (or wherever is used in the calculator being tested).

HP Museum Maths Benchmark

psuedo code

LBL <whatever>
0
STO 2
1.01234 EEX 6
STO 0
2.345
STO 1
<loop>
RCL 1
RCL 0
*
RCL 1
-
RCL 0
/
RCL 1
*
3.5
/
SQRT
1
STO+ 2
GTO <loop>

HP Museum Trig Benchmark

pseudo code

LBL <whatever>
56.26
STO 0
0
STO 2
<loop>
RCL 0
SIN
ASIN
COS
ACOS
TAN
ATAN
LN
e^x
1
STO + 2
GTO <loop>

Overall Results

sorted by Maths Benchmark

Date	Calculator	Serial No	Firmware	Maths Result	Maths % ¹⁾	Trig Result	Trig %²⁾	Comment
12/01/26	DM15L *	21350	lf15c_250408.hex	99,869	14,708%	17,306	43,265%	3rd Party Firmware
21/09/24	DM15L *	21350	lf15c_beta240920.zip	68,791	10,131%	14,159	35,397%	3rd Party Firmware
20/07/23	DM32	00812	2.03	46,265	6,813%	12,224	30,560%
26/05/22	DM42	06434	3.21	24,701	3,637%	3,741	9,352.5%
09/05/24	DM42 *	06434	C47 00.109.01.03a2	4,976	732.8%	210	525.0%	3rd Party Firmware
02/08/24	DM41X	01266	2.2	3,273	482%	627	1,690%	FAST/USB power
17/09/24	DM15L *	21350	lf15c_beta240916_2.zip	1,346	198%			3rd Party Firmware
26/05/22	DM41X	01266	2.1	1,117	164%	228	570%	FAST mode
02/08/24	DM41X	01266	2.2	1,038	152%	206	515%	FAST
14/01/26	DM41X	01266	2.3	900	132%	177	442%	FAST
23/01/26	DM15L	21350	DM15_M1B_34	790	116%	199	497%	48MHz
26/05/22	DM15L	21350	DM15_M1B_32	676	99%	185	462.5%	48MHz
26/05/22	HP35S	PHA9150KFF	n/a	292	43%	113	282.5%
23/12/25	DM41L	05121	DM41_34	261	38%	140	350%	48MHz
26/08/24	DM41L	05121	DM41_32	154	22%	108	270%	48MHz
26/05/22	DM15L	21350	DM15_M1B_32	150	22%	41	102.5%	12MHz
26/08/24	DM41L	05121	DM41_32	96	14%	40	100%	12MHz
26/05/22	DM41X	01266	2.1	93	13%	18	45%	SLOW mode (original HP41 Speed)
02/08/24	DM41X	01266	2.2	93	13%	18	45%	SLOW
28/07/22	HP11C	2219AO3710	n/a	37	5.45%	9	22.5%

Reference is HP9100 : Maths Score = 679, Trig Score = 40

Code

State Files for DM32

Maths : hpbmm : hpbmm.d32 : Run as XEQ A : Get result from RCL C

Trig : hpbmt : hpbmt.d32 : Run as XEQ A : Get result from RCL C

Maths Benchmark Listing for DM42

LBL "BM"
0
STO 02
1.01234E6 
STO 00
2.345
STO 01
LBL 02
RCL 01
RCL 00
x
RCL 01
-
RCL 00
÷
RCL 01
x
3.5
÷
SQRT
1
STO+ 02
GTO 02
END

Raw File : Maths Benchmark (bm) file for DM41X & DM42 bm.raw

Raw File : Trig Benchmark (bmt) file for DM41X & DM42 bmt.raw

Maths Benchmark Listing for DM41X

LBL ¬BM
0
STO 02
1.01234 E6
STO 00
2.345
STO 01
LBL 02
RCL 01
RCL 00
*
RCL 01
-
RCL 00
/
RCL 01
*
3.5
/
SQRT
1
ST+ 02
GTO 02
END

Maths Benchmark Listing for HP35S

LBL X
0
STO C
1.01234E6
STO A
2.345
STO B
RCL B  <-- loop in
RCL A
x
RCL B
-
RCL A
÷
RCL B
x
3.5
÷
√x
1
STO+ C
GTO X008  --> loop in

Maths Benchmark Listing for DM15L / HP15C

LBL E
0
STO 2
1
.
0
1
2
3
4
EEX
6 
STO 0
2
.
3
4
5
STO 1
LBL 2
RCL 1
RCL 0
x
RCL 1
-
RCL 0
÷
RCL 1
x
3
.
5
÷
√x
1
STO + 2
GTO 2
RTN

Maths Benchmark Listing for DM32

LBL A
0
STO C
1.01234 E 6
STO A
2.345
STO B
LBL B
RCL B
RCL A
X
RCL B
-
RCL A
/
RCL B
X
3.5
/
SQRT
1
STO+ C
GTO B
RTN

DM15L Memory Dump : Maths Benchmark = LBL A, Trig Benchmark = LBL B

DM15_M1B
00  05626000000001  01000000000000  01000000000000  00000000000000
04  04975000fff000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00999999999eae
08  00000000000000  2a2f87beda1280  00000000bcaf80  00000000000000
10  05626000000001  02345000000000  00000000000000  04000000000001
14  f0000000000402  1b4c4c4c4c4c4c  000000000007f7  000000000007fe
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  01990000000002
1c  01387265622000  01579783596001  05000000000000  03000000000000
20  00000000000000  00000000000000  04000000000000  08000000000000
24  02100000000001  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
f4  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000  b21282dff1cafd
f8  f5c0f3fc31fd30  fb31fc30310241  f5f4f3c0f240f6  c6f4f3f2f1f0c0
fc  f142f00ab21382  dff1cbbbb9c9b8  c8b7c7300342f0  40f6f2c0f6f50b
A: 04975000fff000  B: 04975000fffeae  C: 00999999999eae
S: 00000000000000
M: 04000000000000  N: 04975000000000  G: 06

The SAVAGE benchmark

From HPCC Datafile V37N1 pp38-42

Raw File : Savage Benchmark (svg) for DM41X & DM42 svg.raw

State File : savage for DM32 savage.d32 : XEQ S

Listing for self-timed version

LBL "SVG"
"SAVAGE"
AVIEW
RAD
2499
STO 00
1
ENTER
ENTER
ENTER
STO 01
TIME
X<> 01
LBL 01
X^2
SQRT
LN
E^X
ATAN
TAN
+
DSE 00 
GTO 01
TIME
RCL 01
HMS-
HR
3600
*
END

Listing for the simple (manual timed) version

No time calculation, it needs a stopwatch to measure the time… for calculators without TIME functions

LBL A
RAD
2499
STO A (for HP11C "STO I", for DM15L "STO 0")
1
ENTER
ENTER
ENTER
LBL B
X^2
SQRT
LN
E^X
ATAN
TAN
+
DSE A  (for HP11C "DSE", for DM15L "DSE 0" )
GTO B
RTN

DM15L Memory Dump

DM15_M1B
00  01000000000000  01000000000000  01000000000000  00000000000000
04  32499970322000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  40997997010eae
08  00000000000000  3ebeefb6e4228f  e79282e8bc2ac0  00000000000000
10  00000000000000  08000000000000  06000000000000  02498970322003
14  f0000000000504  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000001fc  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  06000000000000
1c  04000000000000  07000000000000  05000000000000  03000000000000
20  00000000000000  00000000000000  04000000000000  08000000000000
24  02100000000001  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
fc  000000000000b2  1b82fac9b9cbbb  caba0bc1c1c1f1  40f9f9f4f2e80a
A: 32499970322000  B: 32499970322eae  C: 40997997010eae
S: 00000000000000
M: 00000000000000  N: 02499970322003  G: 09

LF15C Memory Dump

Results

On Battery:

Calculator	Firmware	Seconds	Mins/seconds	Comment	Displayed Result
DM15L *	LF15c_beta250217b	3.862 seconds	0 mins 3.862 sec	Timed by internal function “runTime”	2500.00000000118
DM15L *	LF15c_beta250215	3.969 seconds	0 mins 3.969 sec	Timed by internal function “runTime”	2500.00000000118
DM15l *	LF15C_250408	4.008 seconds	0 mins 4.008 sec	Timed by internal function “runTime”	2500.00000000118
DM15L *	LF15c_beta241006	5.9510 seconds	0 mins 5.951 sec	Timed by internal function “runTime”	2500.00000000118
DM15L *	LF15C_beta240928	6.3 seconds	0 min 6.3 sec	manually timed	2500.00000000118
DM32	2.03 & 2.06	6.3 seconds	0 min 6.3 sec		2500.00000000
DM42	3.22	14.9 seconds	0 min 14.9 sec		2500.00000000
DM41X	2.3	143.69 seconds	2 min 26.69 sec	FAST mode / USB Power	2499.970322
DM41X	2.1	207.03 seconds	3 min 27.03 sec	FAST mode	2499.970322
DM41X	2.2	244.2 seconds	4 min 4.25 sec	FAST mode	2499.970322
DM15L	DM15_M1B_34	247.3 seconds	4 min 34.3 sec	48MHz	2499.970322
DM41X	2.3	284.15 seconds	4 min 44.15 sec	FAST Mode	2499.970322
DM15L	DM15_32	288 seconds	4 min 48 sec	48MHz	2499.970322
DM41L	DM41_34	513.73 seconds	8 min 33 sec	48MHZ	2499.970322
DM41L	DM41_32	758.67 seconds	12 min 38.67 sec	48MHz	2499.970322
HP35S	n/a	877 seconds	14 min 37 sec		2499.99939863
DM41L	DM41_34	1285.93 seconds	21 min 25.93 seconds	12MHz	2499.970322
DM41X	2.1	2652.37 seconds	44 min 12.37 sec	SLOW mode	2499.970322
HP11C		5160 seconds	1 hour 26 min 0 sec		2499.970322

On USB Power :

DM41X : 58.1 seconds (FAST mode) (F/W/ Version ?)
DM42 : 5.56 seconds

N-Queens

https://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-bin/articles.cgi?read=700

Raw File : N-Queens file (nqu) for DM41X & DM42 nqu.raw

State File : nqu for DM32 nqu.d32

Listing for HP41/DM41X/DM41L/HP42/DM42

// for HP41 / HP 42  ... DM41X, DM41L, DM42
// shows run-time on completion

LBL "NQU"   
CLRG
TIME
STO 20
8 
STO 11
LBL 00  
RCL 00 
RCL 11
X=Y? 
GTO 04
ISG 00 
DEG
STO IND 00
LBL 01 
ISG 10 
DEG
RCL 00 
STO 09
LBL 02  
DSE 09 
DEG
RCL 09 
X=0? 
GTO 00
RCL IND 00 
RCL IND 09 
-
X=0? 
GTO 03
ABS 
RCL 00 
RCL 09 
-
X<>Y? 
GTO 02
LBL 03  
DSE IND 00 
GTO 01
DSE 00 
GTO 03
LBL 04 
RCL 10
TIME 
RCL 20
HMS-
HR
3600
*
RTN

Listing for DM15L with LF15C firmware

LBL 88
CLEAR REG
8
STO 10
LBL 80
RCL 0
RCL 10
X=Y?
GTO 84
1
STO+ 0
RCL 0
STO I
RCL 10
STO (i)
LBL 81
1
STO+ 11
RCL 0
STO 9
LBL 82
1
STO- 9
RCL 9
X=0?
GTO 80
RCL 0
STO I
RCL (i)
RCL 9
STO I
RDN
RCL (i)
-
X=0?
GTO 83
ABS
RCL 0
RCL 9
-
X<>Y?
GTO 82
LBL 83
RCL 0
STO I
1
STO- (i)
RCL (i)
X<>0?
GTO 81
1
STO- 0
RCL 0
X<>0?
GTO 83
LBL 84
RCL 11
runTime
RTN

LF15C Memory Dump

Listing for DM15L / HP15C

LBL A
CLR_REG
8
STO .0
LBL 0
RCL 0
RCL .0
TEST 5
GTO 4
1
STO+0
RCL 0
STO I
RCL .0
STO (i)
LBL 1
1
STO+.1
RCL 0
STO 9
LBL 2
1
STO-9
RCL 9
x=0
GTO 0
RCL 0
STO I
RCL (i)
RCL 9
STO I
R_down
RCL (i)
-
x=0
GTO 3
ABS
RCL 0
RCL 9
-
TEST 6
GTO 2
LBL 3
RCL 0
STO I
1
STO-(i)
RCL (i)
TEST 0
GTO 1
1
STO-0
RCL 0
TEST 0
GTO 3
LBL 4
RCL .1
RTN

DM15L Memory Dump

DM15_M1B
00  08000000000000  08000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
04  065140fffff000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00000000999eae
08  00000000000000  22af8d9e7e0080  00000000000000  00000000000000
10  08000000000000  08000000000000  01000000000000  01000000000000
14  f0000000000537  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000007f7  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  04000000000000
1c  01000000000000  03000000000000  06000000000000  02000000000000
20  07000000000000  05000000000000  00000000000000  08000000000000
24  08760000000002  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
f4  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000  b25104137030a0
f8  dff1117086bddf  f19730031276fb  3930b313ecfb86  c4973986973010
fc  ec39a9dff10249  3091dff1019650  973080dff11475  50300060f8a50a
A: 065140fffff000  B: 065140fffffeae  C: 00000000999eae
S: 00000000000000
M: aaaaaaaaaaaaaa  N: 06514000000000  G: 04

Date	Calculator	Serial No.	Firmware	Seconds	Mins : Secs	Comment
12/01/26	DM15L*	21350	LF15C_250408	0.992 seconds	0:0.992	Self-timed with runTime function
14/04/26	DM32	00812	2.11	3.02 seconds	0:03.02	Manual Timed. Battery
14/04/26	DM32	00812	2.11	1.3 seconds	0:01.30	Manual Timed. USB Power
28/01/26	DM42	06434	3.23	7.30 seconds	0:07.30	Battery
14/01/26	DM41X	01266	2.3	49.55 seconds	0:49.55	FAST mode / USB Power
10/01/26	DM41X	01266	2.3	101.29 seconds	1:41.29	FAST mode / battery
23/01/26	DM15L	21350	DM15_M1B_34	202.16 seconds	3:22.16	48MHz, manually timed
10/01/26	DM41L	05121	DM41_34	509.19 seconds	8:29.19	48MHz
11/01/26	DM41L	05121	DM41_34	870.58 seconds	14:30.58	12MHz
10/01/26	DM41X	01266	2.3	1008.60 seconds	16:48.60	SLOW mode / battery

* Running 3rd party firmware https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-20046.html

Tony's Benchmark

From http://www.thimet.de/CalcCollection/CalcPerformance.html

Code

Listing for the benchmark

LBL A  (For DM41X and DM42 : LBL "AA")
10
STO A  (For DM41X and DM42 : STO 00 )
LBL B
1
+
4.567E-4
-
70
+
69
-
7
x
11
/
RCL A (RCL 00)
1
-
STO A (STO 00)
X≠0?
GTO B
R↓
LOG
SIN
SQRT
SQRT
RTN


LBL C  (For DM41X and DM42 : LBL "TBM")
XEQ A  (XEQ "AA")
RCL C  (RCL 03)
1
-
STO C (STO 03)
X≠0?
GTO C (GTO "TBM")
RTN

For multiple loops store a Loop Count in C (or in Register 03)

(1000 STO C) and then XEQ C

For single loop (slow calculator) simply XEQ A

Result is the time to complete the loop(s) and deliver the answer 0.264577

Performance Index is calculated as

Loops x 34 / Time

For 1000 loops in 13 seconds:

1000 x 34 / 13 = 2615.38

Results

Date	Calculator	Serial No	Loops	Time	Performance Index	Comments	Result
22/11/23	DM42	06434	1000	8 sec	4250	USB Power
22/11/23	DM32	00812	1000	13 sec	2615	f/w : 2.06	0.26457749818
22/11/23	DM42	06434	1000	21 sec	1619	Battery Power	0.26457749818
21/09/24	DM15L *	21350	1000	42.8 sec	794	3rd Party Firmware : LF15C_beta240921	0.26457749817596
21/09/24	DM15L *	21350	100	4.5 sec	756	3rd Party Firmware : LF15C_beta240921	0.26457749817596
22/11/23	DM41X	01266	20	6 sec	113	FAST mode / USB
09/05/24	DM42 *	06434	30	9.6 sec	106	3rd Party Firmware : C47 00.109.01.03a2
22/11/23	DM15L	21350	10	12 sec	28	48MHz	0.264577498
22/11/23	DM41X	01266	10	10 sec	24	FAST mode / Battery	0.264577498
22/11/23	HP35S	PHA9150KFF	5	25 sec	6.8
22/11/23	DM15L	21350	10	54 sec	6.3	12MHz	0.264577498
22/11/23	DM41X	01266	10	118 sec	2.8	SLOW mode/ Battery
22/11/23	HP11C	2219A03710	1	21 sec	1.6

Fingerprinting

Each calculator handles the calculation of functions (SIN, COS etc) differently - different algorithms, different degrees of precision etc.

One way of spotting similar underlying hard/firmware is to carry out a fixed chained calculation on each calculator and to observe the result.

One common test is a sequence of SIN COS TAN ATAN ACOS ASIN on a relatively low starting number - such as 9

9SINCOSTANATANACOSASIN gives a number (hopefully) very close to the starting value of 9 - and the variance from 9 is a fingerprint that can be used to spot similarities between different models.

Calculator	Displayed Result ³⁾	Error (Result - 9)	Firmware
HP11C	9.000417403	4.17403e-4
DM15L	9.000417403	4.17403e-4	DM15_32
DM41X	9.000417403	4.17403e-4	2.1
DM41L	9.000417403	4.17403e-4	DM41_32
HP35S	8.99999986001	-1.3999e-7
DM15L *	8.99999999983416	-1.65842e-10	3rd party LF15C_beta240916 17/09/24
DM42	9.00000000000	-6.2466e-29	DM42 3.22 / Free42 3.0.15
DM32	9.00000000000	-6.2466e-29	2.06

I also found a different version of the same idea at https://tangentsoft.com/rpn/wiki?name=Ballpark+Accuracy#results

Instead of subtracting 9 from the result this test divides the result by 9 and then finds the LOG₁₀ of this fractional error

9SINCOSTANATANACOSASIN 9 / LOG

Here are some of these results

Calculator	Displayed Result	Error=(Result / 9)	Log₁₀(Error)	Comments
DM41X	9.000417403	1.000046378	2.0141242e-05	f/w 2.3
DM41L	9.000417403	1.000046378	2.0141242e-05	f/w DM41_34
DM15L*	8.99999999983416	0.999999999981573	-8.0027125631e-12	3rd Party F/W LF15C_250408
DM42	9.00000000000	1.00000000000	3.01430771055e-30	DM42 3.26 / Free42 3.3.10
DM32	9.00000000000	1.00000000000	3.01430771055e-30	DM32 2.11

Page Info

Page created Thu May 26 07:58:36 2022 by John Pumford-Green

Page last updated: 14/04/26 14:35 BST

Further Information

calculator

¹⁾

versus HP9100 : 679

²⁾

versus HP9100 : 40

³⁾

at max. display resolution

DM41X Matrix

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 08:26:58 +0000

←Hints & Tips

DM41X Matrix

Matrix functions in the Advantage Pac

Background

The matrix functionality isn't a standalone program, with a menu, like CFIT and PLY.

It's a collection of individual programs that can be used for many matrix tasks. Each one has to be called individually as needed.

There are many commands, the most used are those for

Dimensioning a new matrix MATDIM
Editing a matrix to enter values - there are 2 versions
- Real Matrix MEDIT
- Complex Matrix CMEDIT
Inverting a matrix MINV
Transposing a matrix TRNPS
Finding the determinant MDET
Multiplying two matrices together M*M
Solving a system of equations defined by 2 matrices MSYS

Shortcuts to Matrix Commands

To make things easier it's best to use the DM41X CST custom command shortcut mechanism.

Start with a blank CST and add the commands you need. Then save this CST so that it's easy to switch to other CST setups, and then return to the Matrix setup later.

I have the following

A	`MATDIM`	I
B	`MEDIT`	J
C	`CMEDIT`	K
D	`MINV`	L
E	`M*M`	M	`ZK?YN`
F	`MDET`	N	`EMDIR`
G	`TRNPS`	O	`EMDIRX`
H	`MSYS`	P	`PURFL`

Matrices are saved in Extended Memory, and I put commands in CST to find and remove them once I'm finished: EMDIR, EMDIRX and PURFL and I have ZK?YN to quickly access DM41X 41z Module complex number functions (assuming the module is plugged-in).

Basic Workflow

All matrix addressing is done via the ALPHA register

Dimension a new Matrix

Put the name of the matrix in the ALPHA register.
- Use single letters A, B, C etc. - these will create the matrix in Extended Memory
- ALPHA A ALPHA
Put the dimensions in the X register
- this is in the form r.ccc with 3 decimal places for the column
- for a 3×3 : 3.003 (3 rows, 3 columns)
- for a 4×2 : 4.002 (4 rows, 2 columns)
- 3.003
  - puts the dimensions in the X register ready for MATDIM to assign to the matrix named in ALPHA
Execute the MATDIM command from the CST menu A
- CST A
- This creates matrix A in extended memory

Populate a new Matrix

Populate the matrix with values using MEDIT from the CST menu B

For a 3×3 matrix

| 1 1 -1 | | 4 6 6 | | 1 8 9 |

CST B
1:1= 1R/S
1:2= 1R/S
1:3= 1CHSR/S
2:1= 4R/S
2:2= 6R/S
2:3= 6R/S
3:1= 1R/S
3:2= 8R/S
3:3= 9R/S

Determinant

With A still in the ALPHA register use the MDET command from the CST menu F

CST F
-50.000

Matrix A will now be in LU Decomposition form.
It can be used in this form for some other functions, but it's possible to get it back to normal form by Inverting twice using MINV from CST menu D
- CST D
- CST D
- You can check the element values by using MEDIT again, but just cycling through each with R/S and not changing any values
  - it's possible to set flag 08 which prevents any changes to values

Multiplication

Using M*M

For matrix multiplication you need 3 matrix definitions:

Matrix A and Matrix B are the two matrices to be multiplied
- Matrix A and Matrix B are dimensioned with MATDIM and populated with MEDIT
Matrix C is the matrix to hold the result
- Matrix C is simply dimensioned with MATDIM and will be filled automatically by the function M*M

To multiply two matrices together they must have the correct dimensions

Columns in A must equal Rows in B
Results matrix C will have the dimensions Rows of A x Columns of B

Create Matrix A

Follow the same procedure as above.

Make sure ALPHA has only the letter A

A different numerical example

A will be a 3×2 matrix

use MATDIM via CST menu
- 3.002 CSTA

| 2 3 | | 4 5 | | 7 6 |

Use MEDIT via CST menu
- CST B
- 1:1= 2R/S
- 1:2= 3R/S
- 2:1= 4R/S
- 2:2= 5R/S
- 3:1= 7R/S
- 3:2= 6R/S

Create Matrix B

B will be a 2×2 matrix

Make sure ALPHA only has B and then dimension B with MATDIM from CST menu A

ALPHA B ALPHA
2.002 CSTA

| 2 3 | | 4 5 |

* Use MEDIT via CST menu

CST B
1:1= 2R/S
1:2= 3R/S
2:1= 4R/S
2:2= 5R/S

We now have defined the matrices to be multiplied together.

Create Matrix C

We need a results matrix C

The dimensions of C will be rows of A and columns of B which is 3 rows and 2 columns : 3.002

Make sure ALPHA only has C and dimension C with MATDIM from CST menu A

ALPHA C ALPHA
3.002 CSTA

That's enough to create the results matrix

Multiply the matrices

Put the matrix names in ALPHA in the form Matrix 1,Matrix2,Results Matrix
- ALPHA = A,B,C
ALPHA A , B , CALPHA
Execute M*M from the CST menu
- CST E
C will now hold the answer

View the result

Put C in the ALPHA register
ALPHA C ALPHA
Use MEDIT from the CST menu and cycle through the elements (it's a 3×2 matrix)
CST B
- 1:1= 16.000? R/S
- 1:2= 21.000? R/S
- 2:1= 28.000? R/S
- 2:2= 37.000? R/S
- 3:1= 38.000? R/S
- 3:2= 51.000? R/S

The result in C is

| 16 21 | | 28 37 | | 38 51 |

System of Equations

A simple example first

Set of Equations

3 unknowns

3x + 4y + 6z = 39.7 2x - 4y - 3z = -7.0 y + 8z = 63.4

Matrix representation

Matrix A

| 3 4 6 | | 2 -4 -3 | | 0 1 8 |

Dimensions 3.003

Matrix B

| 39.7 | | -7.0 | | 63.4 |

Dimensions 3.001

Simultaneous Equations represented in Matrix Form

|A| x |C| = |B| | 3 4 6 | | x | | 39.7 | | 2 -4 -3 | x | y | = | -7.0 | | 0 1 8 | | z | | 63.4 |

Create Matrix A

ALPHA A ALPHA
3.003 CST A (MATDIM)
CST B (MEDIT)
- 1:1= 3 R/S
- 1:2= 4 R/S
- 1:3= 6 R/S
- 2:1= 2 R/S
- 2:2= 4 CHS R/S
- 2:3= 3 CHS R/S
- 3:1= 0R/S
- 3:2= 1R/S
- 3:3= 8R/S

Create Matrix B

ALPHA B ALPHA
3.001 CST A (MATDIM)
CST B (MEDIT)
- 1:1= 39.7 R/S
- 2:1= 7 CHS R/S
- 3:1= 63.4 R/S

Run MSYS

Put A,B in ALPHA
- ALPHA A , B ALPHA
Run MSYS - the solution matrix for x, y and z will be placed in Matrix B
- CST H

Examine Matrix B

Put B in ALPHA
- ALPHA B ALPHA
Run MEDIT from CST menu
- CST B (MEDIT)
  - 1:1= 1.500 'R/S/
  - 2:1= -3.800 R/S
  - 3:1= 8.400 'R/S

The solution

x = 1.5 y = -3.8 z = 8.4

Matrix A

A is now in LU-decomposed format
It can be restored to normal by Inverting Twice
Put A in ALPHA
Run MINV via CST menu twice
- CST D CST D
A is now back to normal and can be inspected and edited by MEDIT via the CST menu

Another way to solve a system

Instead of the MSYS function you could do it manually by entering Matrix A and Matrix B, and define Matrix C such that

A X C = B

C = B / A

C = A* X B where A* is Inverse A

Create Matrix C with dimensions 3.001 in the usual way then and do:

Put A in ALPHA
Invert A using MINV from CST menu (A is replaced by its inverse)
Put A,B,C in ALPHA
Multiply using M*M
- this multiplies B by the inverse of A which is effectively dividing B by the original A
C now contains the solutions for x, y and z
Put C in ALPHA
Examine C with MEDIT
- 1:1= 1.500 R/S
- 2:1= -3.800 R/S
- 3:1= 8.400 R/s
This preserves B unlike the MSYS method.
The Inverse of A can be reversed by repeating MINV with A in ALPHA
We can even run M*M on A and C to re-create B
- Put A,C,B in ALPHA
- Run M*M from CST menu
- B will be re-created

The Complex Matrix

It is possible to define, edit and carry out operations with matrices containing Complex Numbers.

The matrix is defined with twice as many rows and columns as appears necessary, and edited with the function CMEDIT, in CST menu C

Example Definition

| 1+j2 5+j6 | | 3+j4 7+j8 |

Two rows and two columns 2×2 containing complex numbers, so the definition/dimension is 4.004

The numbers are actually saved as if in a larger real matrix as

| 1 -2 5 -6 | | 2 1 6 5 | | 3 -4 7 -8 | | 4 3 8 7 |

The entry is via CMEDIT via CST menu C, which asks for each Real and Imaginary part in turn

ALPHA A ALPHA
4.004 CST A
CST C
- RE. 1:1= 1 R/S
- IM. 1:1= 2 R/S
- RE. 1:2= 5 R/S
- IM. 1:2= 6 R/S
- RE. 2:1= 3 R/S
- IM. 2:1= 4 R/S
- RE. 2:2= 7 R/S
- IM. 2:2= 8 R/S

Multiplication of Complex Matrices

Create a second matrix

Matrix B of size 2×1 which can be multiplied by A as A x B

| 3+j4 | | 2+j6 |

Dimension second matrix

This is dimensioned as double the basic size of 2×1 : 4.002 and then populated with CMEDIT

ALPHA B ALPHA
4.002 CST A
CST C
- RE. 1:1= 3 R/S
- IM. 1:1= 4 R/S
- RE. 2:1= 2 R/S
- IM. 2:1= 6 R/S

Create a result matrix

Matrix 'C' which will be also be a 2×1 complex with dimension :4.002

ALPHA C ALPHA
4.002 CST A

Multiply A X B = C

ALPHA A , B , C ALPHA
CST E

Inspect Result Matrix C

ALPHA C
CST C
- RE. 1:1= -31.000 R/S
- IM. 1:1= 52.000 R/S
- RE. 2:1= -41.000 R/S
- IM. 2:1= 82.000 R/S

The result matrix is therefore

| -31+j52 | | -41+j82 |

Which agrees with my long-hand calculation (thanks to DM41X 41z Module )

|(1+j2).(3+j4) + (5+j6).(2+j6)| |(3+J4).(3+J4) + (7+J8).(2+J6)|

| (-5+j10) + (-26+j42) | | (-7+j24) + (-34+j58) |

| -31+j52 | | -41+j82 |

Systems of Complex Equations....

Once you can enter and manipulate Complex Matrices you can also use MSYS to solve systems with complex matrices in the same way as usual - the only difference is entering the matrices as Complex.

Clearing Up Extended Memory

After creating and manipulating (and some finger trouble) there will be a bunch of files in Extended Memory.

Most will be simple matrix definitions with obvious names A, B, C etc. but occasionally you'll accidentally have run MATDIM with some nonsense in the ALPHA register and created a nonsensical filename in extended memory, which it's tricky to spell out correctly in ALPHA in order to run PURLF - this is where EMDIRX comes in.

To simplify clearing up I include EMDIR, EMDIRX and PURFL in the CST menu.

Assuming you have other files in Extended Memory, the quickest way is to find the number of files in EM with EMDIR.

Run EMDIR from CST menu
- CST N
Count the files to find the number of the first file you've created using MATDIM - i.e. the first one after your other EM files
Put this number in x
Run EMDIRX from CST menu
- CST O
- this puts the name of the specified-numbered file in ALPHA and means you don't have to type it in yourself
Run PURFL from CST menu to delete this filename
- CST P
Run EMDIRX again (with the same number in X)
- If X returns as non-zero we've found another junk-matrix file in EM and ALPHA will have its name
- Run PURFL again
Keep doing this until EMDIRX returns 0.00 in X which means there are no more files to delete
- all your original files are still safe, as they are numbered below the number we were searching for

Further Information

calculator, dm41x

DM41X HP16C Module

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:15:00 +0000

←Hints & Tips

DM41X HP16C Module

Keyboard Overlay

Background

The HP16C Programmer's Calculator is made for manipulating numbers in Binary/Octal/Hexadecimal/Decimal to help with programming and other areas that rely on the nitty-gritty of bit-twiddling.

Swiss Micros make a modern hardware emulation (similar in form to the DM15L I already own) but rather than adding another calculator to my (growing) collection I found there is a ROM/Module method to add all (and more) the same features to the DM41X (and presumably the HP41, if you can find a hardware ROM plugin with it).

I occasionally need to do some conversions/calculations into Hex and Binary (thinking of TCP/IP networking, subnet masks etc. or perhaps debugging RS232 serial data, or when writing rig control software?) and being able to do everything on the DM41X (along with the Complex Number module) means the DM41X will become even more useful day-to-day.

The manual for the HP16C Module hp_16c_emulator_manual.pdf

The versions of modules I'm using : hp-16c_rev.1a.zip

The HP16C

The HP16C Manual : https://literature.hpcalc.org/community/hp16c-oh-en.pdf

The DM16L

https://www.swissmicros.com/product/dm16l

I bought a DM16L in August 2022

Basic Operation

Like the 41Z Complex Number module, a USER keyboard assignment is made to a trigger command which then automagically re-maps the whole keyboard for one command, then it reverts to normal. A mental image of the re-mapped keyboard starts to develop with use, making operation easier with time.

I've assigned the LN key to the trigger command 16C for the USER keyboard

SHIFT ASN ALPHA SHIFT 1 SHIFT 6 C ALPHA LN

User Keyboard comments

With USER keyboard active I generally won't miss the loss of LN as I rarely use it.

If I do need LN I can simply turn off the USER keyboard.

The same applies for using the ∑+ key for entering Statistical Data - it's assigned to the Complex Keyboard trigger ΣZL.

I won't ever be using statistics at the same time as complex numbers (or HP16C functions).

The USER keyboard can generally remain active all the time except when I want to do statistics or calculate a natural logarithm. Two easy sacrificed keys. Are there others I can do without for additional assignments to frequently used functions or modules?

I've noticed that it's possible to assign the 16C command to the ∑+ key.

This allows a single key to be used both to trigger 16C mode, and then to trigger input mode 16NPT.

It means less hopping around.

The ∑+ key is doing double duty but ∑+ ∑+ seems a little more user friendly than LN∑+ for inputting numbers.

SHIFT ASN ALPHA SHIFT 1 SHIFT 6 C ALPHA ∑+

16KEYS?

16KEYS? info

I played with the LADYBUG module recently ( see DM41X Ladybug Module ) and enjoyed the more “immediate” keyboard input - with the whole keyboard re-mapped while using the module (in “INTEGER” mode). No need to preface each instruction with a trigger to enable the special keyboard for one command at a time.

I found that the HP16C Module can be switched to “full-time” 16KEYS mode too….

You need to get to the ∑BITS launcher and then select Y (for 16KEYS) and answer Y or N.

The 16KEYS function can't be reached any other way, that I've found. The simplest way is to use the DM41X CST menu to run the 16C ∑MOD launcher, then press SHIFT to switch to the ∑BITS launcher, then select Y (for 16KEYS).

You'll need to enable USER key mode, and then the 16C module can be used without the the need to trigger every command with 16C (normally ASN'd to LN key).

You still need to use 16NPT to input numbers (this is mapped to the A (∑+) key. Otherwise most things are just more intuitive. No need to use 16C before an arithmetic operation like + or - etc.

Example

Switch to BIN view

B

Enter a binary number 10111011

16NPT10111011ENTER

Convert to HEX

E

H: bb

Convert to DEC

D

d: 187

Enter a Decimal Number 23

16NPT23ENTER

d : 23

Add them

+

d: 210

Convert to BIN

B

b: 11010010

Much more intuitive….

Select the Base

USER keyboard active.

16C is USER assigned to LN - referred to as 16C hereafter.

I'll use the alpha letter for the top-row keys to describe them for Base Selection

16C B = BINARY

16C C = OCTAL

16C D = DECIMAL

16C E = HEX

Enter a number

HEX

Enter HEX value 5F

Use the 16NPT function which lives on the Σ+ button (it switches from the complex assigned ΣZL to 16NPT when the 16C is invoked)

16C E (to get into HEX mode)

16C 16NPT 5 F ENTER

Convert to BIN

16C B gives 1011111

Enter a new BIN number

16C 16NPT (i.e. Σ+) 1101100 ENTER

Add them together

16C + gives 11001011

Convert to HEX

16C E gives Cb

Convert to DEC

16C D gives 203

always enter numbers with 16C 16NPT the number ENTER

always use the 16 versions of mathematical functions

16C +

16C X

etc.

NOT, OR, AND, XOR

These are on shifted (and triggered with 16C) math keys:

- = NOT

+ = OR

x = AND

÷ = XOR

Example, in binary….

AND two numbers:

11011101 AND 10001001 →

16C B (to get into Binary mode if needed)

16C 16NPT 11011101 ENTER

16C 16NPT 10001001 ENTER

16C SHIFT X gives 10001001

In HEX…. XOR →

16C E (to get into HEX)

16C 16NPT BEEF ENTER (first number) (make sure at least 16-bit word size for this example Word Size

16C 16NPT CAFE ENTER (second number)

16C SHIFT ÷ (XOR) gives 7411

Convert answer to DEC

16C D gives 29713

Convert answer to BIN

16C B gives a long string of 1 and 0 that scroll across the screen…

Window

View the long BIN number using a WINDOW to look at 8 bits at a time…

16C SHIFT R/S

This asks WINDOW _ and enter 0 for the 1^st (MSB) 8 bits:

W0: 11101000:b

Scroll to sequential WINDOW slices with + and - →

+ →

W1: 0010001:b

+ →

W2: :b

The full 16-bit number is therefore:

111010000010001

Setting Word Size and negative number convention

The word size can be up to 64 bits. In general most stuff is 4, 8 or 16 bits wide, so you can set the size of the binary number in the ∑MOD launcher:

16C USR (one of several different ways of getting to ∑MOD)

16KEYS methods

There is then a choice of settings

B:O:D:H:F - 0: 1:2:W:S:?

The first four can set the mode to Binary, Octal, Decimal, Float.

0 sets UNSIGNED integers
1 sets ONE'S COMPLEMENT
2 sets TWO'S COMPLEMENT

Word size is checked with S

Word size is set with W then enter (eg) 16 to set 16-bit words.

Word Size can also be set directly from a 16C keyboard function 16WSZ accessed via 16C SHIFT 5 rather than via the ∑MOD menu/launcher

? displays the current settings (press ? then quickly press and hold it to read the displayed info)

0c - 16 - DEC

This means unsigned integers, 16-bit words, DECIMAL mode.

Other Launchers

Lots of functions are available in launcher sub-menus, eg a menu of rotate functions, or shift functions.

The various launchers are available cyclically via the 16C XEQ along with SHIFT and A

Some trial and error is needed to find what you want, but it starts:

16C XEQ → R: L LN RN R which is a menu to do bit-rotations.

Rotate 1-bit Left by pressing top-row button B

Rotate N-bits left with top-row button C (and enter the number of bits)

Rotate N-bits Right with top-row button D (and enter the number of bits)

Rotate 1-bit Right with top-row button E.

From the R menu:

A give the S: L LN RN R menu to SHIFT bits Left or Right

From the S menu:

XEQ gives ∑R : …………………. which gives lots of options to do things rightwards with the bits. list them

This goes on via XEQ and SHIFT (ORANGE button) to access several menu launchers. Trial and Error and muscle memory.

A brief map/list of launchers

16CXEQ → ∑ROT

∑ROT → XEQ → ∑LEFT → XEQ → ∑MOD → XEQ → ∑ROT

∑ROT → A → ∑SHF

∑SHF → XEQ → ∑RIGHT → XEQ → ∑BIT → XEQ → ∑SHF

∑LEFT ↔ SHIFT ↔ ∑RIGHT

∑MOD ↔ SHIFT ↔ ∑BIT

∑SHF ↔ SHIFT ↔ S“:

∑ROT ↔ SHIFT ↔ RC:

Registers etc

Numbers can be saved in 16C registers via 16C STO NN

e.g. save a subnet mask of 11111100 into 16C REG 00 (i.e. the last octet of a /30 network 255.255.255.252)

16C B (go to BINARY mode)

16C 16NPT 11111100 ENTER 16C STO 00

Use the stored value

What is 123 AND MASK ? (what's the network base number for host address of 123 using a netmask of 252?)

16C D (decimal so you can enter 123 rather than a BINARY number)

16C 16NPT 123 ENTER

recall mask (it doesn't matter that it was initially stored as a BINARY number, it's displayed in whatever base you are currently using)

16C RCL 00

AND them

16C SHIFT x

answer is 120

The MASK is still in 16-Register 00 if needed again….

Net address of a host with address 43?

16C D

16C 16NPT 43 ENTER

16C RCL 00

16C SHIFT x

answer : 40

xxx.xxx.xxx.43 has a network address of xxx.xxx.xxx.40

Most Used Functions

16C = LN (i.e. E on top-row)

16NPT = ∑+ (i.e. A on top-row, must be triggered with 16C) ²⁾

16C 16NPT type in a number ENTER (enter a number in whatever base is currently selected)

BIN OCT DEC HEX = 16C then one of top-row buttons B, C, D, E (select the required base)

∑MOD = 16C USR …. or 16C SHIFT 2 (open a settings menu to set the choice of mode/word/signed)

NOT / OR / AND / XOR = 16C SHIFT then one of - + x ÷ (logic functions)

RL / RR = 16C then one of SIN or COS (rotate Left or Right 1-bit)

RLN / RRN = 16C SHIFT then one of SIN or COS (rotate Left or Right N-bits _ _)

SLN = 16C TAN (shift Left N-bits _ _)

SRN = 16C SHIFT TAN (shift Right N-bits _ _)

Sb = 16C SHIFT 7 (set a bit _ _)

Cb = 16C SHIFT 8 (clear a bit _ _)

B? = 16C SHIFT 9 (is a bit _ _ set or not?)

#BITS = 16C SHIFT ∑+ (i.e. A on top-row) (how many bits are high?)

See Keyboard Overlay Pic above for more hints on 16C key assignments

EVERYTHING STARTS WITH ''16C''

It is recommended to change the assigned key occasionally to prevent wearing it out…..

I3 Window Manager

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Archive

I3 Window Manager

Various Things related to I3

Background & Conky

Some tiled windows

Floating scratchpad terminal with ranger file manager

Floating scratchpad terminal with Alpine email client

I3 Config and tweaks

Autotile

Make new windows be created in alternating horizontal / vertical arrangement, depending on aspect ratio of the current window.

https://github.com/nwg-piotr/autotiling

I3 Config File

config

# This file has been auto-generated by i3-config-wizard(1).
# It will not be overwritten, so edit it as you like.
#
# Should you change your keyboard layout some time, delete
# this file and re-run i3-config-wizard(1).
#
 
 
 
# i3 config file (v4)
#
# Please see https://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html for a complete reference!
 
set $mod Mod4
 
# Font for window titles. Will also be used by the bar unless a different font
# is used in the bar {} block below.
#font pango:monospace 8
 
# This font is widely installed, provides lots of unicode glyphs, right-to-left
# text rendering and scalability on retina/hidpi displays (thanks to pango).
font pango:DejaVu Sans 10
 
 
default_border normal 3
hide_edge_borders none
binding_mode_indicator yes
 
#set $bg-color #2f446f
#set $inactive-bg-color #2f343f
#set $text-color #ffb25a
#set $inactive-text_color #676e7d
#set $urgent-bg-color #bd2c40
 
#client.focused $bg-color $bg-color $text-color #2255ff
#client.unfocused $inactive-bg-color $bg-color $text-color #225ff
#client.focused_inactive $inactive-bg-color $inactive-bg-color $inactive-text-color #2255ff
#client.urgent $urgent-bg-color $urgent-bg-color $text_color #2255ff
 
workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes
 
# The combination of xss-lock, nm-applet and pactl is a popular choice, so
# they are included here as an example. Modify as you see fit.
 
# xss-lock grabs a logind suspend inhibit lock and will use i3lock to lock the
# screen before suspend. Use loginctl lock-session to lock your screen.
#exec --no-startup-id xss-lock --transfer-sleep-lock -- i3lock --nofork
 
# NetworkManager is the most popular way to manage wireless networks on Linux,
# and nm-applet is a desktop environment-independent system tray GUI for it.
#exec --no-startup-id nm-applet
 
exec --no-startup-id synclient tapbutton1=-1
exec --no-startup-id /home/gm4slv/noblank.sh
exec --no-startup-id conky
exec --no-startup-id xsetroot -solid midnightblue
 
 
exec --no-startup-id ~/background.sh
 
#exec --no-startup-id polybar example
 
exec_always --no-startup-id autotile
#exec_always --no-startup-id ~/autosplit
 
bindsym $mod+p exec --no-startup-id ~/promote-window
 
# Use pactl to adjust volume in PulseAudio.
set $refresh_i3status killall -SIGUSR1 i3status
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ +10% && $refresh_i3status
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ -10% && $refresh_i3status
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ toggle && $refresh_i3status
#bindsym XF86AudioMicMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-source-mute @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ toggle && $refresh_i3status
 
#bindsym XF86AudioMute exec amixer sset 'Master' toggle
#bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec amixer sset 'Master' 5%-
#bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec amixer sset 'Master' 5%+
 
 
# Use Mouse+$mod to drag floating windows to their wanted position
floating_modifier $mod
 
# start a terminal
#bindsym $mod+Return exec i3-sensible-terminal
bindsym $mod+Return exec lxterminal
 
# kill focused window
bindsym $mod+Shift+q kill
 
# start dmenu (a program launcher)
bindsym $mod+d exec --no-startup-id dmenu_run
# A more modern dmenu replacement is rofi:
# bindcode $mod+40 exec "rofi -modi drun,run -show drun"
# There also is i3-dmenu-desktop which only displays applications shipping a
# .desktop file. It is a wrapper around dmenu, so you need that installed.
# bindcode $mod+40 exec --no-startup-id i3-dmenu-desktop
 
# change focus
bindsym $mod+h focus left
bindsym $mod+j focus down
bindsym $mod+k focus up
bindsym $mod+l focus right
 
# alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
bindsym $mod+Left focus left
bindsym $mod+Down focus down
bindsym $mod+Up focus up
bindsym $mod+Right focus right
 
# move focused window
bindsym $mod+Shift+h move left
bindsym $mod+Shift+j move down
bindsym $mod+Shift+k move up
bindsym $mod+Shift+l move right
 
# alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
bindsym $mod+Shift+Left move left
bindsym $mod+Shift+Down move down
bindsym $mod+Shift+Up move up
bindsym $mod+Shift+Right move right
 
# split in horizontal orientation
#bindsym $mod+h split h
 
# split in vertical orientation
#bindsym $mod+v split v
 
# enter fullscreen mode for the focused container
bindsym $mod+f fullscreen toggle
 
# change container layout (stacked, tabbed, toggle split)
bindsym $mod+s layout stacking
bindsym $mod+w layout tabbed
bindsym $mod+e layout toggle split
 
# toggle tiling / floating
bindsym $mod+Shift+space floating toggle
 
# change focus between tiling / floating windows
bindsym $mod+space focus mode_toggle
 
# focus the parent container
bindsym $mod+a focus parent
 
# focus the child container
#bindsym $mod+d focus child
 
# Define names for default workspaces for which we configure key bindings later on.
# We use variables to avoid repeating the names in multiple places.
set $ws1 "1"
set $ws2 "2"
set $ws3 "3"
set $ws4 "4"
set $ws5 "5"
set $ws6 "6"
set $ws7 "7"
set $ws8 "8"
set $ws9 "9"
set $ws10 "10"
 
# switch to workspace
bindsym $mod+1 workspace number $ws1
bindsym $mod+2 workspace number $ws2
bindsym $mod+3 workspace number $ws3
bindsym $mod+4 workspace number $ws4
bindsym $mod+5 workspace number $ws5
bindsym $mod+6 workspace number $ws6
bindsym $mod+7 workspace number $ws7
bindsym $mod+8 workspace number $ws8
bindsym $mod+9 workspace number $ws9
bindsym $mod+0 workspace number $ws10
 
# move focused container to workspace
bindsym $mod+Shift+1 move container to workspace number $ws1
bindsym $mod+Shift+2 move container to workspace number $ws2
bindsym $mod+Shift+3 move container to workspace number $ws3
bindsym $mod+Shift+4 move container to workspace number $ws4
bindsym $mod+Shift+5 move container to workspace number $ws5
bindsym $mod+Shift+6 move container to workspace number $ws6
bindsym $mod+Shift+7 move container to workspace number $ws7
bindsym $mod+Shift+8 move container to workspace number $ws8
bindsym $mod+Shift+9 move container to workspace number $ws9
bindsym $mod+Shift+0 move container to workspace number $ws10
 
# reload the configuration file
bindsym $mod+Shift+c reload
# restart i3 inplace (preserves your layout/session, can be used to upgrade i3)
bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart
bindsym $mod+Shift+x exec i3lock
# exit i3 (logs you out of your X session)
bindsym $mod+Shift+e exec "i3-nagbar -t warning -m 'You pressed the exit shortcut. Do you really want to exit i3? This will end your X session.' -B 'Yes, exit i3' 'i3-msg exit'"
 
 
 
##############################
#
#  Program Shortcuts
#
##############################
 
# "b" for "browser"
bindsym $mod+b exec --no-startup-id firefox
 
 
##############################
#
#  SCRATCHPAD
#
#
###############################
 
set $scratchpad-size 1000 700
 
bindsym $mod+Shift+minus move scratchpad
bindsym $mod+minus scratchpad show
 
bindsym $mod+m [title="AlpineMail"] scratchpad show ; move position center
bindsym $mod+n [title="NewsboatReader"] scratchpad show ; move position center
bindsym $mod+comma [title="RangerFM"] scratchpad show ; move position center
bindsym $mod+period [title="Connman"] scratchpad show ; move position center
 
exec --no-startup-id lxterminal -T AlpineMail -e ~/rpine 
exec --no-startup-id lxterminal -T NewsboatReader -e /usr/bin/newsboat
exec --no-startup-id lxterminal -T RangerFM -e ranger
exec --no-startup-id cmst -M
 
for_window [title="Connman System Tray"] floating enable, resize set $scratchpad-size, move scratchpad
for_window [title="AlpineMail"] floating enable, resize set $scratchpad-size, move scratchpad
for_window [title="NewsboatReader"] floating enable, resize set $scratchpad-size, move scratchpad 
for_window [title="RangerFM"] floating enable, resize set $scratchpad-size, move scratchpad 
 
 
################################################
#
#
#
 
 
# resize window (you can also use the mouse for that)
mode "resize" {
        # These bindings trigger as soon as you enter the resize mode
 
        # Pressing left will shrink the window’s width.
        # Pressing right will grow the window’s width.
        # Pressing up will shrink the window’s height.
        # Pressing down will grow the window’s height.
        bindsym j resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt
        bindsym k resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt
        bindsym l resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt
        bindsym semicolon resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt
 
        # same bindings, but for the arrow keys
        bindsym Left resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt
        bindsym Down resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt
        bindsym Up resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt
        bindsym Right resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt
 
        # back to normal: Enter or Escape or $mod+r
        bindsym Return mode "default"
        bindsym Caps_Lock mode "default"
        bindsym $mod+r mode "default"
}
 
bindsym $mod+r mode "resize"
 
 
 
# Start i3bar to display a workspace bar (plus the system information i3status
# finds out, if available)
bar {
     font pango:DejaVu Sans mono 10
     status_command i3status -c ~/i3status.conf
}

i3status bar

i3status.conf

# i3status configuration file.
# see "man i3status" for documentation.
 
# It is important that this file is edited as UTF-8.
# The following line should contain a sharp s:
# ß
# If the above line is not correctly displayed, fix your editor first!
 
general {
        colors = true
        interval = 5
}
 
#order += "ipv6"
order += "wireless _first_"
order += "ethernet _first_"
order += "battery 0"
#order += "disk /"
order += "load"
order += "cpu_usage"
order += "cpu_temperature 0"
#order += "memory"
order += "tztime local"
 
wireless _first_ {
        format_up = "W: (%quality at %essid) %ip"
        format_down = "W: down"
}
 
ethernet _first_ {
        format_up = "E: %ip (%speed)"
        format_down = "E: down"
}
 
battery 0 {
	status_chr = "⚡"
        status_bat = "🔋"
        status_unk = "? "
        status_full = "☻ "
	low_threshold = 10
        format = "B: %status %percentage %remaining"
}
 
 
 
disk "/" {
        format = "%avail"
}
 
load {
        format = "L: %1min"
}
 
cpu_temperature 0 {
	format = "T: %degrees°C"
}
 
cpu_usage {
	format = "CPU0 %cpu0 / CPU1 %cpu1"
}
 
memory {
	memory_used_method = "classical"
        format = "%free / %used"
	threshold_degraded = "2G"
        format_degraded = "MEMORY < %available"
}
 
tztime local {
        format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"
}

Conky

.conkyrc

# Standard antiX .conkyrc file
# For conky editing help and commands visit = Casey's Conky Reference with Examples {http://www.ifxgroup.net/conky.htm}
 
# set to yes if you want Conky to be forked in the background
background yes
 
short_units yes
 
cpu_avg_samples 1
net_avg_samples 1
 
out_to_console no
 
# X font when Xft is disabled, you can pick one with program xfontsel
#font 7x12
#font 6x10
#font 7x13
font 8x12
#font 7x12
 
# Use Xft?
use_xft yes
 
# Xft font when Xft is enabled
#xftfont gentium:size=12
#ftfont DejaVu Sans:size=10
xftfont DejaVu Sans:bold:size=9
#xftfont DejaVu Sans:size=9
 
# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus, pcmanfm and rox desktops)
own_window yes
own_window_class Conky
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar
own_window_type override
 
# Text alpha when using Xft
xftalpha 1.0
 
#on_bottom no
 
# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 1
 
# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes
 
# Minimum size of text area
minimum_size 55
maximum_width 190
 
# Draw shades?
draw_shades no
 
# Draw outlines?
draw_outline no
 
# Draw borders around text
draw_borders no
 
# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders 0
 
# border margins
#border_margin 10
 
# border width
border_width 2
 
# Default colors and also border colors
default_color white
default_shade_color white
default_outline_color white
 
#color ffffff
color4 yellow
color8 77ccff
color9 5599cc
 
# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
# alignment top_left
alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
#alignment bottom_right
 
# Gap between borders of screen and text
 
gap_x 20
gap_y 40
 
# Add spaces to keep things from moving about?  This only affects certain objects.
use_spacer right
 
# Subtract file system buffers from used memory?
no_buffers yes
 
# if_up_strictness link:  up | link | address
if_up_strictness address
 
# set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
uppercase no
 
TEXT
${alignc}$nodename
${alignc}${color8}${font DejaVu Sans:size=12}${time %H:%M} ${font} ${color}
${alignc}${time %a %d %b}
${alignc}Uptime: $uptime
#${alignc}${exec disp=${DISPLAY#:}; disp=${disp%.[0-9]}; cat $HOME/.desktop-session/desktop-code.$disp 2>/dev/null}
#res:${alignr}${execi 60 xdpyinfo | sed -n -r "s/^\s*dimensions:.*\s([0-9]+x[0-9]+).*/\1/p"}
#dpi:${alignr}${execi 60 sed -nr "s/^\s*Xft.dpi:\s*([0-9]+(x[0-9]+)?).*/\1/p" $HOME/.Xresources | grep "[0-9]" || echo 96}
#Automount: ${alignr}${execi 60 grep -q "^automount=TRUE" $HOME/.desktop-session/automount.conf 2>/dev/null && echo "enabled" || echo "disabled"}
Freq:${alignr}${freq}
CPU:${alignr}${cpu}%
#${color}Init:${alignr}${color3}${execi 60 detect-init.sh}
${alignr}${cpugraph cpu0 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}
Disk:${alignr}${diskio}
${alignr}${diskiograph 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}${if_up eth0}
eth0 up: $alignr ${upspeed eth0}
${alignr}${upspeedgraph   eth0 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}
eth0 down: $alignr ${downspeed eth0}
${alignr}${downspeedgraph eth0 30,170  5599cc 5599cc}${endif}${if_up eth1}
eth1 up: $alignr ${upspeed eth1}
${alignr}${upspeedgraph   eth1 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}
eth1 down: $alignr ${downspeed eth1}
${alignr}${downspeedgraph eth1 30,170  5599cc 5599cc}${endif}${if_up wlan0}
 
Wireless 
IP  $alignr ${addr wlan0}
Gate $alignr  $gw_ip
NS $alignr $nameserver
 
wlan0 up: $alignr ${upspeed wlan0}
${alignr}${upspeedgraph   wlan0 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}
wlan0 down: $alignr ${downspeed wlan0}
${alignr}${downspeedgraph wlan0 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}${endif}${if_up wlan1}
wlan1 up: $alignr ${upspeed wlan1}
${alignr} ${upspeedgraph   wlan1 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}
wlan1 down: $alignr ${downspeed wlan1}
${alignr}${downspeedgraph wlan1 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}${endif}
${alignr}${color8}Used / Total ${color}
RAM:${alignr}$mem / $memmax
Swap:${alignr}$swap / $swapmax
/ Disk:${alignr}${fs_used /} / ${fs_size /}
#${alignc}${execi 1000 persist-enabled}
 
${font DejaVu Sans Mono:size=10}${execi 30 ~/ruptime}

Gather ruptime information about local LAN Linux boxes from the rwhod service and format it with a small script ~/ruptime called from conkyrc

${font DejaVu Sans Mono:size=10}${execi 30 ~/ruptime}

ruptime local script

#!/bin/bash
 
/usr/bin/ruptime -a | cut -c1-8,13-16,18-27

Real ruptime returns:

gm4slv@antix1:~ $ ruptime 
antix1        up    1+04:34,     0 users,  load 0.63, 0.48, 0.47
aprs          up  116+04:03,     0 users,  load 0.00, 0.01, 0.00
laptop        up    9+16:04,     0 users,  load 1.27, 1.09, 1.04
nas1          up  185+23:19,     0 users,  load 0.33, 0.48, 0.47
shack         up      16:19,     0 users,  load 0.16, 0.22, 0.21

My small script formats it for conky

gm4slv@antix1:~ $ ./ruptime 
antix1    up   1+04:34
aprs      up 116+04:03
laptop    up   9+16:04
nas1      up 185+23:19
shack     up     16:19

add neofetch output as image to root window

background.sh

#!/bin/bash



while :
do
	
	neofetch --disable term > fetch

	ansilove -q -m transparent fetch

	feh --bg-center -B midnightblue fetch.png

	sleep 300

done

Keys cheatsheet

$mod+p = promote window

$mod+Return = terminal

$mod+Shift+q = kill window

$mod+d = dmenu

$mod+h = focus left
$mod+j = focus down
$mod+k = focus up
$mod+l = focus right


$mod+Shift+h = move left
$mod+Shift+j = move down
$mod+Shift+k = move up
$mod+Shift+l = move right


$mod+f = fullsreen toggle


=== When using Autotile these are for the next window to be created ====

$mod+s = stacking
$mod+w = tabbed
$mod+e = toggle h or v

=== Toggle a window between tiled and floating ===

$mod+Shift+space = floating toggle

=== Switch focus between a floating window and the tiled window(s)

$mod+space focus mode_toggle


$mod+a = focus parent

Additional Software

urxvt

Configured vi ~/.Xdefaults

For Ranger icons use DejavuSansMono NFM:size=11:style=Book

A bug makes font rendering odd, with too much space between characters (kerning is wrong)

A fix is to put Xft.rgba: none into ~/.Xdefaults

Another fix is to put URxvt.letterSpace=-1 into ~/.Xdefaults

Here's the ~/.Xdefaults I use:

Some un-used lines are commented out, but might be useful in testing….

Xft.rgba: none
#Xft.hintstyle: hintfull
#URxvt.letterSpace:-1
 
Xcursor.size:10
#URxvt.skipBuiltinGlyphs: true
URxvt.scrollBar: false
URxvt.boldFont: 
#URxvt.font: xft:DejaVuSansMono:style=Book:size=11
#URxvt.font: xft:Monospace:size=11, xft:DejaVuSansMono NFM:style=Book
URxvt.font: xft:DejaVuSansMono NFM:size=11:style=Book

Ranger

Image Previews: /etc/ranger/config/rc.conf :

set preview_images true

set preview_images_method w3m

Draw borders round segments of display /etc/ranger/config/rc.conf :
```
set draw_borders both
```
Icons following instructions here: https://github.com/alexanderjeurissen/ranger_devicons
- /etc/ranger/config/rc.conf :
```
default_linemode devicons
```
Font for icons : https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases/download/v2.2.2/DejaVuSansMono.zip
- unzipped into : ~/.fonts
- font cache re-built with
```
fc-cache -fv
```
Use Lxterminal - handles icons and image previews (st is poor for image previews)
commands for exracting and creating compressed archives (zip, tar, tar.gz etc) from here https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ranger#Archives
- added both python snippets to /etc/ranger/config/commands.py
- added keybindings to /etc/ranger/config/rc.conf
```
 
map ,n console compress 
map ,m compress temp.zip
map ,e console extract_here 
```
- extract a zip/tar/tar.gz by the keystroke ,e
- create an automatically named temp.zip archive by selecting the files (Space) and then ,m
- create a named archive of your choice ,n your_archive_name.[tar|zip|tar.gz]

<insert> : touch (new file)

gg   : move to top
G    : move to bottom

<F1> : help
<F2> : rename
<F3> : view (less)
<F4> : edit (vim) 
<F5> : copy
<F6> : cut
<F7> : mkdir
<F8> : delete
<F10>: quit


<space> : select
uv : un-select

yy : yank (copy)
dd : cut

ud : un-cut
uy : un-cut(yank)

pp : paste


gh : GoHome
zh : show hidden dotfiles

Archive operation commands
,n : new named archive 
,m : new "temp.zip"
,e : extract_here

— John Pumford-Green 09/10/22 12:38

Further Information

Antenna Changes

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:04:47 +0000

Antenna Changes

Now that I'm turning my attention back to QRP I decided that the antenna I've used for many years - an Inverted-L held up by (over the years) different supports, and currently a 10m SOTA-pole with the top few sections removed - tuned against a mess of radials and ground rods by a CG-3000 Auto-ATU - was due for a change.

The Auto-ATU needs “a few watts” to trigger a re-tune on a new frequency. Occasionally it'll work with 5W but not consistently, and certainly won't re-tune at anything lower than 5W. This means occasionally having to give it a carrier from a QRO radio to re-tune before switching to a QRP radio.

Not cool!

I'd considered a trapped inverted-L configuration, with traps for each band at the 1/4 wave points. But in a rare 60m SSB QSO with Stuart GM4WMM he told me he's using a multiband trapped End-Fed-Half-Wave. Fed via a 49:1 transformer, with the traps at the 1/2 wave points.

This removes the need for a good, low impedance ground connection and simplifies things. It also means “more wire” in the air for each band.

First Step - EFHW for 30m

I removed the Auto-ATU and put my nanoVNA on the current antenna/ground feed point to see what I've got now (a totally random length). The first resonance/low SWR is around 3.2MHz. That means a 1/4 wave at 3.2MHz or around 23m. I can perhaps squeeze a little more wire into the space but I'll accept that the new antenna overall length will be limited to “around 23m”.

Next I wound a 49:1 transformer on a FT50-43 toroid (the largest type-43 toroid I could find), and added the usual 100pF capacitor across the 50 ohm input.

Connecting this to the antenna - and also adding a connection to the existing ground system, mostly for consistency, and some static drain etc, I found a very good resonant return loss dip at around 6MHz. And another at 12MHz and another at 18MHz. As it stands I could use it as a 3 x 1/2 wave on 17m….

My main band is 30m. So the next step, to allow me to use 30m while I build the traps, was to shorten it to 1/2 wave resonance on 10.1MHz.

I now have a resonant “End Fed Half Wave” for 30m.

No need for an ATU (auto or manual).

Next step - trapped EFHW for 2 bands - 30m & 40m

I made a trap for 10.1MHz and added it to the end of the current antenna, then added wire to make a dual-band 30m / 40m antenna. That should cover my normal CW operations for a while.

I found that adding the trap and additional 40m section caused the the 30m resonance to move up about 200kHz, so I had to add about 12“ of wire to the first part of the antenna to bring it back down into band. Otherwise it was a simple to add the trap, add the extra wire, trim the far end to bring the 40m resonance into band.

I'm thinking of also trying to get 60m, but a 1/2 wave on 60m is around 30m and won't fit in the space - UNLESS the loading effect of the 30m and 40m traps, below their resonance, will add enough inductance shorten the required wire length sufficiently.

I need to re-make the 49:1 transformer with a larger toroid. Some calculations would imply that a 50-size core isn't suitable for 5W. So far I've not seen any evidence of problems (I'm assuming overheating would lead to a loss of correct transformer action, and loss of the impedance transformation - and hence high SWR. This hasn't been seen yet on CW at 5W or on WSPR at 1W, so perhaps it'll survive long enough for me to replace it with a 140-size toroid, once I buy a few….

radio, antenna, qrp

Diaries

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 08:56:27 +0000

Diaries

I write this in the hope that anyone reading it might be inspired to start diary writing if they don't already or to continue, and to discuss their process, if they do.

I like to store memories on paper, for later. Mundane daily life or exciting events….

What is a diary as a rule?

A document useful to the person who keeps it.

Dull to the contemporary who reads it…

…and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it.

Walter Scott

I keep a diary

I started in 1992, my mid-20's but then I let it lapse after a few inconsistent years of intermittent diary writing. Looking back the snatches of life I recorded from those days are (to me) fascinating and I regret not having kept it up.

I started bullet journaling in 2016, a few days before my 50^th birthday.

After about a year of this small A6 format *bullet-points-with-longer-bits-and sketches-every-now-and-again* I started *proper* daily diary writing later in 2017. Bullet-journaling is still one aspect of my practice, but not for task-management - just for remembering what I did.

I've been at it ever since.

I'm 60 now, so that's 10 year's worth of life captured, in 46 A-5 sized Volumes (I'm now on Volume 47)

My general process

I write short bullet points at the beginning of the day, and add others if necessary at other times. These can be quickly scanned when searching for things at a later data.
I do small sketches (usually pen & ink & watercolour) of little things that will jog my memory later

I write a long-form entry each morning telling the story of the previous day, usually between 2-5 pages, after the bullet-sketch-quick-view page(s)
I stick in ephemera
- cinema tickets
- photographs
- till receipts
- bus tickets
- labels & tags from significant purchases
I write longer angsty brain-dumps on whatever topic is on my mind, to try and think-through something that's bothering me

In more bullet-journal style…..

Things I track

I keep track of various regular occurrences
I keep track of purchases, online orders etc
I keep a record of medications and medical treatments and consultations and symptoms

I keep track of the scores of our almost daily chess games

I note the weather each day
I track what days I work (I'm self-employed, so it's a bit variable)
if I've walked the dogs
if I got to bed before 11pm
I track if I cooked tea
if I went swimming
I note the family finances each week
and the electricity meter reading
and heating oil level and when the last delivery was
I note when I last changed the cooker's propane gas bottle
and when I last had a haircut (in the kitchen, by my own hand, with clippers)
and when the dog last had a haircut (at the groomer's for the sum of £60, every roughly 6 weeks)
I note the deaths of *“significant”* celebrities

I get through an A5 Leuchtturm hard-back in around 9 weeks.

My motivation?

Everything can be interesting when viewed later, from the future, even my own humdrum life.

I can now look back at almost 10 years of my “middle-age” life, in my 50s.

When I see the first frog spawn of the year…

When the car broke down, how often I've agitated the septic-tank to break up fat-blockages (yes, indeed, the joys of isolated rural living). I can find that time when we kept pigs, or the dog had a cruciate ligament rupture (and the subsequent repair & recovery).

And there's the strange blank period of a couple of months in mid-2018, when I'd had a heart-attack and I seemed unable to write anything in my diary about it (or anything else). Until I was back to normal again. I think I felt that I would remember everything anyway, without writing it down. I'm glad I did write a quick precis of the events of those weeks, even if it took a few months to get it down on paper.

I'm inspired by Mass Observation, the diaries of Alan Bennet, the writings of Simon Garfield, the passionate call-to arms in Irving Finkel's video (see below).

Indexing

In December 2023 I decided that I need a way of finding old entries/events/facts etc. so I started an Index…. more later in a blog post…

Finding Things In A Diary

Influences

Alan Bennet

Writing Home
Keeping on Keeping on
House Arrest

Simon Garfield

Wartime Mass-Observation diary collections
A Notable Woman. The diary of Jean Lucey Pratt.
- Jean was one of the Mass Observation diarists in the Wartime collections above (anonymized as “Maggie Joy Blunt”), but Jean also kept a separate diary covering her whole life, starting in 1925 aged 15 until she died in 1986.

The Great Diary Project

The wonderful Irving Finkel mini lecture on You Tube Rescuing unwanted diaries gives a feel of why I think capturing everyday life, in ordinary peoples' diaries, is important.

The result of Irving's discovery of the importance of diaries is the The Great Diary Project

The Man Who Saves Life Stories

The American Diary Project

There is a similar project in the USA The American Diary Project

Anne Lister

Now well known after the BBC dramatization as “Gentleman Jack” - Anne Lister lived in the 18th Century, was a land-owning woman (unusual) and most famously, gay.

Her diaries were written partly in a “secret” code, to hide the more personal aspects.

They were researched and sections published in 2 volumes by Helena Whitbread.

Anne Lister

I've read the first volume, and it's a fascinating insight into life in the 1820s - leaving aside the sexual aspects - just the practicalities of life, the leeches and quack medical treatments. The amount of walking needed to get anywhere, the poor diets (even for the wealthy). The physical discomfort tolerated (even by the wealthy).

John Gadd

I recently discovered John Gadd and his diary.

He seems to have kept a very similar style of journal to mine - writing daily in one book storing EVERYTHING, writing, photos, tickets, labels…. and a record of his day, his thoughts and only touching on “world news” if it particularly meant something to him.

He called it his “Omnium Gatherum”.

He died aged 90 on 2020, after keeping his diary consistently since 1947, really settling on its eventual format in the early 1970s. His diary was a memory-aid, as is mine, but of course it also captures lots of other things, mundane at the time but over a lifetime the mundane becomes the historical, and illustrate how life changes.

I'd love to see the books and look through the pages, and see how he indexed everything to make it searchable and to find anything within a few minutes.

My Diaries

Book of choice: Leuchtturm1917 A5 Hardback Dot Grid
Pen(s) of choice : Lamy Safari EF nib, TWSBI Eco and Pigma Micron 02
Fountain Pen Inks of choice : Diamine Eau de Nil & Platinum Carbon Black
Watercolours of choice : Winsor & Newton Cotman Sketcher Pocket Set with the China White swapped for some Payne's Grey instead.
Shop of Choice : Cult Pens

Some pics:

More Pics

Bloods

Shack To Makerspace

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 21:47:25 +0000

Shack To Makerspace

I used to have a radio-shack in the house, with component drawers on the walls, a filing cabinet to keep tools, parts, hardware etc.

I built things and operated radios.

Move to the shed

Then in around 2013 I renovated the old garden shed and moved my shack out there. It was a pleasant few years having a space to do as I pleased, with just enough space to have a radio-bench and a work-bench.

Gradually the shed succumbed to the ravages of the Shetland weather and I decided it wasn't really worth continuing using it. And at the same time I gave up playing radio at all.

I had a few brief periods of in-the-house radio operation last year, but never really got deeply involved.

Move back to the house

Now, in 2026 I'm getting interested in radio again - in operating and in building. So I started setting up a shack. One rig was brought out of retirement. Then another.

I put shelves over the operating desk to hold some test gear etc. but I still had no real building/tinkering facilities. My component drawers, junk boxes, books and test gear were still in the shed.

Today I put a filing cabinet in the new shack. Moved books, test gear, some old projects and work in progress into the shack and then moved my wall-mounted component drawers from the shed to the new shack. I can now sit and tinker with circuits on my tiny operating desk. I can build projects. I can experiment. All from the relative comfort of my tiny shack.

I'm still finding places for everything, so it's a bit of a mess, but here's how it looks at the moment.

radio, shack

Laptop FreeBSD

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 08:43:16 +0000

←Computers

Laptop FreeBSD

I moved my Dell laptop from Devuan Linux to FreeBSD and here are some things I needed to do and some things I did for convenience….

Graphics

I found the basic install of the recommended drm-kmod package and i915kms driver wouldn't work - it crashed/hung during boot.

Removing this package and using the SCFB video driver worked, but didn't give (for example) DPMS control of the LCD screen.

I used SCFB temporarily be adding an xorg conf file 20-vesa.conf to /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Card0"
        Driver "scfb"
EndSection

This was a reasonable workaround, but I found the solution to using correct Intel i915kms driver here : https://blog.hofstede.it/freebsd-150-on-the-thinkpad-t480-efficient-stable-and-8-hours-on-battery/

This is what worked:

Installed new packages

drm-latest-kmod

gpu-firmware-intel-kmod-kabylake

added to /etc/rc.conf

kld_list="i915kms"

added to /boot/loader.conf

# Graphics and power tuning
i915kms_load="YES"
drm.i915.enable_rc6=7
drm.i915.enable_fbc=1
drm.i915.lvds_downclock=1
drm.i915.enable_psr=1
compat.linuxkpi.i915_disable_power_well="0"

i915kms now loads and I have access to DPMS for turning off the LCD screen.

LCD Panel on/off

I made a few small shell scripts to assist in controlling the battery consumption by being able to alter LCD brightness, and turn the LCD off via DPMS and makde i3 shorcuts to them.

(later I made the same key actions for DWM when I moved back to using DWM)

now I can “$mod+Shift+o” to reduce brightness and “$mod+Shift+p” to increase it, and “$mod+Shift+i” to turn the LCD screen off completely.

I also added a devd rule to turn the LCD screen off when the lid is closed - this confused me initially, as it worked when testing it by adding the rule, restarting devd and testing, from within an X-Session…. but didn't work when devd was started during bootup…

This was due to the lack of DISPLAY if the script was triggered from “outside” the X session. Changing the script to set the DISPLAY variable was the solution.

/etc/devd/rules.d/lid.conf

notify 20 {
match "system" "ACPI";
match "subsystem" "Lid";
match "notify" "0x01";
action "/home/g4slv/bin/on";
};
notify 20 {
match "system" "ACPI";
match "subsystem" "Lid";
match "notify" "0x00";
action "/home/g4slv/bin/off";
};

The lid actions call one of these →

~/bin/on

#!/usr/local/bin/bash
 
su g4slv -c 'setenv DISPLAY :0.0 && /usr/local/bin/xset dpms force on'

~/bin/off

#!/usr/local/bin/bash
 
su g4slv -c 'setenv DISPLAY :0.0 && /usr/local/bin/xset dpms force off'

Other tweaks

Small scripts to automate swithing between Wifi and Ethernet

net_wlan.sh

#!/bin/sh
 
doas service netif stop em0 
doas service netif start wlan0
doas service dhclient restart wlan0

net_eth.sh

#!/bin/sh
 
doas service netif stop wlan0 
doas service netif start em0
doas service dhclient restart em0

Serial USB Adaptors

To get access to a USB serial device as normal user (as long as I'm in the wheel group) I added a rule in /etc/devd.conf

notify 100 {
        match "system"          "DEVFS";
        match "subsystem"       "CDEV";
        match "type"            "CREATE";
        match "cdev"            "ttyU[0-9]+";
        action "chmod ug+rw /dev/$cdev";
 
};

This makes the device R/W for the wheel group. Without this rule (the chmod part) the device is only R/W for root.

Other Config Files

/etc/rc.conf

hostname="proton"
keymap="uk.kbd"
wlans_iwm0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA  DHCP"
ip6addrctl_enable="NO"
ipv6_activate_all_interfaces="NO"
ifconfig_wlan0_ipv6="inet6 ifdisabled"
ifconfig_em0_ipv6="inet6 ifdisabled"
ifconfig_lo0_ipv6="inet6 ifdisabled"
create_args_wlan0="country GB regdomain NONE"
sshd_enable="YES"
sshd_flags="-4"

ntpd_enable="YES"
ntpd_sync_on_start="YES"
ntpd_flags="-4"

ftpd_enable="YES"
ftpd_flags="-4"


moused_nondefault_enable="NO"
# Set dumpdev to "AUTO" to enable crash dumps, "NO" to disable
dumpdev="AUTO"
zfs_enable="YES"
cupsd_enable="YES"
devfs_system_ruleset="system"
dbus_enable="YES"


avahi_daemon_enable="YES"

avahi_dnsconfd_enable="YES"
inetd_enable="YES"
rwhod_enable="YES"

kld_list="i915kms"

powerd_enable="YES"
powerd_flags="-a adaptive -b minimum "
update_motd="NO"
dynamic_motd="YES"
ifconfig_em0="DHCP"
autofs_enable="YES"

/boot/loader.conf

kern.geom.label.disk_ident.enable="0"
kern.geom.label.gptid.enable="0"
zfs_load="YES"
i915kms_load="YES"
drm.i915.enable_rc6="7"
drm.i915.semaphores="1"
drm.i915.enable_fbc="1"
drm.i915.lvds_downclock=1
drm.i915.enable_psr=1
compat.linuxkpi.i915_disable_power_well="0"
fuse_load="YES"
iwm8265fw_load="YES"

~/.xinitrc

xrdb -load ~/.Xdefaults
setxkbmap -layout gb
xset s noblank
xset s noexpose
xset dpms 600 660 670
backlight 40
 
eval $(gnome-keyring-daemon --start)
export SSH_AUTH_LOCK
 
feh --bg-center -B "#005577"  ~/freebsd.svg
 
pulseaudio &
 
dwmblocks &
 
pasystray &
 
nextcloud & 
 
exec dbus-launch --exit-with-x11 dwm

pkg prime-list

Here's the list of intentionally installed packages currently

FreeBSD-kernel-generic
FreeBSD-kernel-generic-dbg
FreeBSD-set-base
FreeBSD-set-lib32
FreeBSD-set-minimal
alpine
ansilove
automount
avahi
bash
bombadillo
claws-mail
claws-mail-bogofilter
claws-mail-dillo
claws-mail-pdf_viewer
detox
dmidecode
doas
drm-latest-kmod
dunst
dynamic_motd
evince
feh
ffmpegthumbnailer
figlet
firefox-esr
fldigi
foomatic-db-hpijs
freebsd-ftpd
freebsd-telnetd
fusefs-jmtpfs
gmake
gnome-keyring
gnucash
gopher
gpu-firmware-intel-kmod-kabylake
gvfs
hplip
i3blocks
imv
iperf
libptytty
libreoffice
librewolf
lynx
mixertui
most
mousepad
mpv
musikcube
nano
neofetch
nextcloudclient
nss_mdns
openshot
pasystray
pavucontrol
pcmanfm
pkg
pkgconf
polo
py311-i3ipc
py311-pip
rename
rsync
sacc
scrot
setsid
shotwell
slock
slrn
thunar
thunar-archive-plugin
tightvnc
tmux
vim
vlc
wireshark
xarchiver
xorg
yt-dlp
zip

Further Information

Page created : 04/06/26 11:04 BST

Page updated : 05/06/26 09:43 BST

computer, freebsd

Old stuff but good

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Archive

Old stuff but good

Alpine

.pinerc

#
# Alpine configuration file
#
# This file sets the configuration options used by Alpine and PC-Alpine. These
# options are usually set from within Alpine or PC-Alpine. There may be a
# system-wide configuration file which sets the defaults for some of the
# variables. On Unix, run alpine -conf to see how system defaults have been set.
# For variables that accept multiple values, list elements are separated by
# commas. A line beginning with a space or tab is considered to be a
# continuation of the previous line. For a variable to be unset its value must
# be blank. To set a variable to the empty string its value should be "".
# You can override system defaults by setting a variable to the empty string.
# Lines beginning with "#" are comments, and ignored by Alpine.

# Over-rides your full name from Unix password file. Required for PC-Alpine.
personal-name=

# Sets domain part of From: and local addresses in outgoing mail.
user-domain=gm4slv.plus.com

# List of SMTP servers for sending mail. If blank: Unix Alpine uses sendmail.
smtp-server=relay.plus.net:587/user=gm4slv@gm4slv.plus.com

# NNTP server for posting news. Also sets news-collections for news reading.
nntp-server=""

# Path of (local or remote) INBOX, e.g. ={mail.somewhere.edu}inbox
# Normal Unix default is the local INBOX (usually /var/spool/mail/$USER).
inbox-path={imap.plus.net:993/ssl/user=gm4slv@gm4slv.plus.com}inbox

# List of folder pairs; the first indicates a folder to archive, and the
# second indicates the folder read messages in the first should
# be moved to.
incoming-archive-folders=

# List of folders, assumed to be in first folder collection,
# offered for pruning each month.  For example: mumble
pruned-folders=

# Over-rides default path for sent-mail folder, e.g. =old-mail (using first
# folder collection dir) or ={host2}sent-mail or ="" (to suppress saving).
# Default: sent-mail (Unix) or SENTMAIL.MTX (PC) in default folder collection.
default-fcc={imap.plus.net:993/ssl/user=gm4slv@gm4slv.plus.com}Inbox.Sent

# Over-rides default path for saved-msg folder, e.g. =saved-messages (using 1st
# folder collection dir) or ={host2}saved-mail or ="" (to suppress saving).
# Default: saved-messages (Unix) or SAVEMAIL.MTX (PC) in default collection.
default-saved-msg-folder=

# Over-rides default path for postponed messages folder, e.g. =pm (which uses
# first folder collection dir) or ={host4}pm (using home dir on host4).
# Default: postponed-msgs (Unix) or POSTPOND.MTX (PC) in default fldr coltn.
postponed-folder=

# If set, specifies where already-read messages will be moved upon quitting.
read-message-folder=

# If set, specifies where form letters should be stored.
form-letter-folder=

# If set, specifies where trash is moved to in Web Alpine.
trash-folder=

# Contains the actual signature contents as opposed to the signature filename.
# If defined, this overrides the signature-file. Default is undefined.
literal-signature=

# Over-rides default path for signature file. Default is ~/.signature
signature-file=

# List of features; see Alpine's Setup/options menu for the current set.
# e.g. feature-list= select-without-confirm, signature-at-bottom
# Default condition for all of the features is no-.
feature-list=combined-folder-display,
	expanded-view-of-folders,
	expose-hidden-config,
	no-force-arrow-cursor,
	enable-incoming-folders,
	combined-subdirectory-display,
	enable-incoming-folders-checking,
	preopen-stayopen-folders,
	no-enable-msg-view-forced-arrows,
	enable-full-header-and-text,
	enable-cruise-mode,
	prefer-plain-text,
	enable-mail-check-cue,
	no-show-cursor,
	quell-empty-directories,
	no-separate-folder-and-directory-entries,
	no-enable-dot-folders,
	vertical-folder-list,
	single-column-folder-list,
	expanded-view-of-distribution-lists,
	disable-take-last-comma-first,
	no-assume-slow-link,
	show-plain-text-internally,
	enable-msg-view-addresses,
	no-enable-arrow-navigation-relaxed,
	no-enable-lame-list-mode

# Alpine executes these keys upon startup (e.g. to view msg 13: i,j,1,3,CR,v)
initial-keystroke-list=

# Only show these headers (by default) when composing messages
default-composer-hdrs=

# Add these customized headers (and possible default values) when composing
customized-hdrs=

# When viewing messages, include this list of headers
viewer-hdrs=

# When viewing messages, number of blank spaces between left display edge and text
viewer-margin-left=

# When viewing messages, number of blank spaces between right display edge and text
viewer-margin-right=

# When viewing messages, number of lines of quote displayed before suppressing
quote-suppression-threshold=

# Determines default folder name for Saves...
# Choices: default-folder, by-sender, by-from, by-recipient, last-folder-used.
# Default: "default-folder", i.e. "saved-messages" (Unix) or "SAVEMAIL" (PC).
saved-msg-name-rule=

# Determines default name for Fcc...
# Choices: default-fcc, by-recipient, last-fcc-used.
# Default: "default-fcc" (see also "default-fcc=" variable.)
fcc-name-rule=

# Sets presentation order of messages in Index. Choices:
# Subject, From, Arrival, Date, Size, To, Cc, OrderedSubj, Score, and Thread.
# Order may be reversed by appending /Reverse. Default: "Arrival".
sort-key=

# Sets presentation order of address book entries. Choices: dont-sort,
# fullname-with-lists-last, fullname, nickname-with-lists-last, nickname
# Default: "fullname-with-lists-last".
addrbook-sort-rule=

# Sets presentation order of folder list entries. Choices: alphabetical,
# alpha-with-dirs-last, alpha-with-dirs-first.
# Default: "alpha-with-directories-last".
folder-sort-rule=

# Sets the default folder and collection offered at the Goto Command's prompt.
goto-default-rule=

# Sets message which cursor begins on. Choices: first-unseen, first-recent,
# first-important, first-important-or-unseen, first-important-or-recent,
# first, last. Default: "first-unseen".
incoming-startup-rule=

# Allows a default answer for the prune folder questions. Choices: yes-ask,
# yes-no, no-ask, no-no, ask-ask, ask-no. Default: "ask-ask".
pruning-rule=

# Controls behavior when reopening an already open folder.
folder-reopen-rule=

# Style that MESSAGE INDEX is displayed in when threading.
threading-display-style=

# Style of THREAD INDEX or default MESSAGE INDEX when threading.
threading-index-style=

# When threading, character used to indicate collapsed messages underneath.
threading-indicator-character=

# When threading, character used to indicate expanded messages underneath.
threading-expanded-character=

# When threading, character used to indicate this is the last reply
# to the parent of this message.
threading-lastreply-character=

# Reflects capabilities of the display you have.
# If unset, the default is taken from your locale. That is usually the right
# thing to use. Typical alternatives include UTF-8, ISO-8859-x, and EUC-JP
# (where x is a number between 1 and 9).
display-character-set=

# Reflects capabilities of the keyboard you have.
# If unset, the default is to use the same value
# used for the display-character-set.
keyboard-character-set=

# Defaults to UTF-8. This is used for outgoing messages.
# It is usually correct to leave this unset.
posting-character-set=

# Defaults to nothing, which is equivalent to US-ASCII. This is used for
# unlabeled incoming messages. It is ok to leave this unset but if you receive
# unlabeled mail that is usually in some known character set, set that here.
unknown-character-set=

# Specifies the program invoked by ^_ in the Composer,
# or the "enable-alternate-editor-implicitly" feature.
editor=

# Specifies the program invoked by ^T in the Composer.
speller=

# Specifies the column of the screen where the composer should wrap.
composer-wrap-column=

# Specifies the string to insert when replying to a message.
reply-indent-string=

# Specifies the introduction to insert when replying to a message.
reply-leadin=

# Specifies the string to replace quotes with when viewing a message.
quote-replace-string=

# When these characters appear in the middle of a word in the composer
# the forward word function will stop at the first text following (as happens
# with SPACE characters by default)
composer-word-separators=

# Specifies the string to use when sending a  message with no to or cc.
empty-header-message=

# Program to view images (e.g. GIF or TIFF attachments).
image-viewer=

# If "user-domain" not set, strips hostname in FROM address. (Unix only)
use-only-domain-name=

# This variable takes a list of programs that message text is piped into
# after MIME decoding, prior to display.
display-filters=

# This defines a program that message text is piped into before MIME
# encoding, prior to sending
sending-filters=

# A list of alternate addresses the user is known by
alt-addresses=

# A list of keywords for use in categorizing messages
keywords=

# Characters which surround keywords in SUBJKEY token.
# Default is "{" "} "
keyword-surrounding-chars=

# Characters between subject and opening text in SUBJECTTEXT token.
# Default is " - "
opening-text-separator-chars=

# This is a list of formats for address books.  Each entry in the list is made
# up of space-delimited tokens telling which fields are displayed and in
# which order.  See help text
addressbook-formats=

# This gives a format for displaying the index.  It is made
# up of space-delimited tokens telling which fields are displayed and in
# which order.  See help text
index-format=

# The number of lines of overlap when scrolling through message text
viewer-overlap=

# Number of lines from top and bottom of screen where single
# line scrolling occurs.
scroll-margin=

# The number of seconds to sleep after writing a status message
status-message-delay=

# Number of times per-second to update busy cue messages
busy-cue-rate=

# The approximate number of seconds between checks for new mail
mail-check-interval=

# The approximate number of seconds between checks for new mail in folders
# other than the current folder and inbox.
# Default is same as mail-check-interval
mail-check-interval-noncurrent=

# The minimum number of seconds between checks for new mail in a Mail Drop.
# This is always effectively at least as large as the mail-check-interval
maildrop-check-minimum=

# For newsgroups accessed using NNTP, only messages numbered in the range
# lastmsg-range+1 to lastmsg will be considered
nntp-range=

# Full path and name of NEWSRC file
newsrc-path=

# Path and filename of news configuration's active file.
# The default is typically "/usr/lib/news/active".
news-active-file-path=

# Directory containing system's news data.
# The default is typically "/var/spool/news"
news-spool-directory=

# Path and filename of the program used to upload text from your terminal
# emulator's into Alpine's composer.
upload-command=

# Text sent to terminal emulator prior to invoking the program defined by
# the upload-command variable.
# Note: _FILE_ will be replaced with the temporary file used in the upload.
upload-command-prefix=

# Path and filename of the program used to download text via your terminal
# emulator from Alpine's export and save commands.
download-command=

# Text sent to terminal emulator prior to invoking the program defined by
# the download-command variable.
# Note: _FILE_ will be replaced with the temporary file used in the download.
download-command-prefix=

# Sets the search path for the mailcap configuration file.
# NOTE: colon delimited under UNIX, semi-colon delimited under DOS/Windows/OS2.
mailcap-search-path=

# Sets the search path for the mimetypes configuration file.
# NOTE: colon delimited under UNIX, semi-colon delimited under DOS/Windows/OS2.
mimetype-search-path=

# Sets the path for the system ssl certificates issued by a trusted
# certificate authority. Note that this could be a list of paths, if the same
# pinerc is used in different systems. Alpine always chooses the first one that
# it finds. Value must be an absolute path.
system-certs-path=

# Sets the path for the system ssl file container of certificates issued by a
# certificate authority. Note that this could be a list of container files,
# if the same pinerc is used in different systems. Alpine always chooses the,
# first one that it finds. Value must be an absolute path.
system-certs-file=

# Sets the path for a file that contains certificates that a user trusts.
Note that this could be a list of container files,
# if the same pinerc is used in different systems. Alpine always chooses the,
# first one that it finds. Value must be an absolute path.
user-certs-path=

# Sets the path for a file that contains certificates that a user trusts.
Note that this could be a list of container files,
# if the same pinerc is used in different systems. Alpine always chooses the,
# first one that it finds. Value must be an absolute path.
user-certs-file=

# List of programs to open Internet URLs (e.g. http or ftp references).
url-viewers=

# List of directories that are preferred locations to save or export attachments.
default-directories=

# The maximum number of non-stayopen remote connections that Alpine will use
max-remote-connections=

# A list of folders that should be left open once opened (INBOX is implicit)
stay-open-folders=""

# Sets the time in seconds that Alpine will attempt to open a network
# connection when checking for new unseen messages in an incoming folder.
#  The default is 5.
incoming-check-timeout=

# Sets the approximate number of seconds between checks for unseen messages
# in incoming folders. The default is 180.
incoming-check-interval=

# Sets the approximate number of seconds between checks for unseen messages
# for other than local or IMAP folders. The default is 180.
incoming-check-interval-secondary=

# List of incoming folders to check for unseen messages. The default if left
# blank is to check all incoming folders.
incoming-check-list=

# Specifies the number of dead letter files to keep when canceling.
dead-letter-files=

# Sets the filename for the newmail fifo (named pipe). Unix only.
newmail-fifo-path=

# Sets the width for the NewMail screen.
newmail-window-width=

# List of incoming msg folders besides INBOX, e.g. ={host2}inbox, {host3}inbox
# Syntax: optnl-label {optnl-imap-host-name}folder-path
incoming-folders=W2W {imap.123-reg.co.uk:993/ssl/user=john@wire2waves.co.uk}INBOX

# List of directories where saved-message folders may be. First one is
# the default for Saves. Example: Main {host1}mail/[], Desktop mail\[]
# Syntax: optnl-label {optnl-imap-hostname}optnl-directory-path[]
folder-collections="W2W Folders" {imap.123-reg.co.uk:993/ssl/user=john@wire2waves.co.uk}[],
	PlusNet {imap.plus.net:993/user=gm4slv@gm4slv.plus.com/ssl}INBOX.[]

# List, only needed if nntp-server not set, or news is on a different host
# than used for NNTP posting. Examples: News *[] or News *{host3/nntp}[]
# Syntax: optnl-label *{news-host/protocol}[]
news-collections=

# List of file or path names for personal addressbook(s).
# Default: ~/.addressbook (Unix) or \PINE\ADDRBOOK (PC)
# Syntax: optnl-label path-name
address-book=

# List of file or path names for global/shared addressbook(s).
# Default: none
# Syntax: optnl-label path-name
global-address-book=

# Set by Alpine; controls beginning-of-month sent-mail pruning.
last-time-prune-questioned=122.9

# Set by Alpine; controls display of "new version" message.
last-version-used=6.24

# This names the path to an alternative program, and any necessary arguments,
# to be used in posting mail messages.  Example:
#                    /usr/lib/sendmail -oem -t -oi
# or,
#                    /usr/local/bin/sendit.sh
# The latter a script found in Alpine distribution's contrib/util directory.
# NOTE: The program MUST read the message to be posted on standard input,
#       AND operate in the style of sendmail's "-t" option.
sendmail-path=

# This names the root of the tree to which the user is restricted when reading
# and writing folders and files.  For example, on Unix ~/work confines the
# user to the subtree beginning with their work subdirectory.
# (Note: this alone is not sufficient for preventing access.  You will also
# need to restrict shell access and so on, see Alpine Technical Notes.)
# Default: not set (so no restriction)
operating-dir=

# If no user input for this many hours, Alpine will exit if in an idle loop
# waiting for a new command.  If set to zero (the default), then there will
# be no timeout.
user-input-timeout=

# Sets the time in seconds that Alpine will attempt to open a network
# connection.  The default is 30, the minimum is 5, and the maximum is
# system defined (typically 75).
tcp-open-timeout=

# Network read warning timeout. The default is 15, the minimum is 5, and the
# maximum is 1000.
tcp-read-warning-timeout=

# Network write warning timeout. The default is 0 (unset), the minimum
# is 5 (if not 0), and the maximum is 1000.
tcp-write-warning-timeout=

# If this much time has elapsed at the time of a tcp read or write
# timeout, Alpine will ask if you want to break the connection.
# Default is 60 seconds, minimum is 5, maximum is 1000.
tcp-query-timeout=

# If this much time has elapsed at the time of a tcp read or write timeout,
# Alpine will close the connection automatically without user intervention.
# Setting this value to zero (the default) disables this. Setting this variable
# to a smaller value than tcp-query-timeout will close the connection
# automatically, and you will never be asked if you want to wait.
close-connection-timeout=

# Sets the format of the command used to open a UNIX remote
# shell connection.  The default is "%s %s -l %s exec /etc/r%sd"
# NOTE: the 4 (four) "%s" entries MUST exist in the provided command
# where the first is for the command's path, the second is for the
# host to connect to, the third is for the user to connect as, and the
# fourth is for the connection method (typically "imap")
rsh-command=

# Sets the name of the command used to open a UNIX remote shell connection.
# The default is typically /usr/ucb/rsh.
rsh-path=

# Sets the time in seconds that Alpine will attempt to open a UNIX remote
# shell connection.  The default is 15, min is 5, and max is unlimited.
# Zero disables rsh altogether.
rsh-open-timeout=

# Sets the format of the command used to open a UNIX secure
# shell connection.  The default is "%s %s -l %s exec /etc/r%sd"
# NOTE: the 4 (four) "%s" entries MUST exist in the provided command
# where the first is for the command's path, the second is for the
# host to connect to, the third is for the user to connect as, and the
# fourth is for the connection method (typically "imap")
ssh-command=

# Sets the name of the command used to open a UNIX secure shell connection.
# Typically this is /usr/bin/ssh.
ssh-path=

# Sets the time in seconds that Alpine will attempt to open a UNIX secure
# shell connection.  The default is 15, min is 5, and max is unlimited.
# Zero disables ssh altogether.
ssh-open-timeout=

# Sets the version number Alpine will use as a threshold for offering
# its new version message on startup.
new-version-threshold=

# List of mail drivers to disable.
disable-these-drivers=

# List of SASL authenticators to disable.
disable-these-authenticators=

# A range in the form min,max that sets the minimum amd maximum versions of the
# SSL protocol that Alpine will use when connecting to a secure server.
encryption-protocol-range=

# Set by Alpine; contains data for caching remote address books.
remote-abook-metafile=

# How many extra copies of remote address book should be kept. Default: 3
remote-abook-history=

# Minimum number of minutes between checks for remote address book changes.
# 0 means never check except when opening a remote address book.
# -1 means never check. Default: 5
remote-abook-validity=

# Your default printer selection
printer=

# List of special print commands
personal-print-command=

# Which category default print command is in
personal-print-category=

# Your client-id and client-secret information to authenticate using XOAUTH2
xoauth2-info=

# Patterns and their actions are stored here.
patterns-roles=LIT:pattern="/NICK=Wire2waves/FLDTYPE=SPEC/FOLDER={imap.123-reg.co.uk:993\/ssl\/user=john@wire2waves.co.uk}Personal,W2W" action="/ROLE=1/FROM=John Pumford-Green <john@wire2waves.co.uk>/SMTP=smtp.123-reg.co.uk\/ssl\/user=john@wire2waves.co.uk/RTYPE=NC/FTYPE=NC/CTYPE=NC"

# Patterns and their actions are stored here.
patterns-filters2=

# Patterns and their actions are stored here.
patterns-scores2=

# Patterns and their actions are stored here.
patterns-indexcolors=

# Patterns and their actions are stored here.
patterns-other=

# Patterns and their actions are stored here.
patterns-search=

# Controls display of color
color-style=use-termdef

# Controls display of color for current index line
current-indexline-style=flip-colors

# Controls display of color for the titlebar at top of screen
titlebar-color-style=default

# Choose: black, blue, green, cyan, red, magenta, yellow, or white.
normal-foreground-color=255,255,255
normal-background-color=000,000,000
reverse-foreground-color=
reverse-background-color=
title-foreground-color=000,255,255
title-background-color=000,000,174
title-closed-foreground-color=
title-closed-background-color=
folder-foreground-color=
folder-background-color=
directory-foreground-color=
directory-background-color=
folder-list-text-foreground-color=
folder-list-text-background-color=
status-foreground-color=
status-background-color=
keylabel-foreground-color=000,255,255
keylabel-background-color=000,000,174
keyname-foreground-color=255,255,000
keyname-background-color=000,000,174
selectable-item-foreground-color=
selectable-item-background-color=
meta-message-foreground-color=
meta-message-background-color=
quote1-foreground-color=
quote1-background-color=
quote2-foreground-color=
quote2-background-color=
quote3-foreground-color=
quote3-background-color=
incoming-unseen-foreground-color=
incoming-unseen-background-color=
signature-foreground-color=
signature-background-color=
prompt-foreground-color=
prompt-background-color=
header-general-foreground-color=
header-general-background-color=
index-to-me-foreground-color=
index-to-me-background-color=
index-important-foreground-color=
index-important-background-color=
index-deleted-foreground-color=
index-deleted-background-color=
index-answered-foreground-color=255,255,255
index-answered-background-color=000,000,174
index-new-foreground-color=
index-new-background-color=
index-recent-foreground-color=
index-recent-background-color=
index-forward-foreground-color=
index-forward-background-color=
index-unseen-foreground-color=
index-unseen-background-color=
index-highpriority-foreground-color=
index-highpriority-background-color=
index-lowpriority-foreground-color=
index-lowpriority-background-color=
index-arrow-foreground-color=
index-arrow-background-color=
index-subject-foreground-color=
index-subject-background-color=
index-from-foreground-color=
index-from-background-color=
index-opening-foreground-color=
index-opening-background-color=

# Colors in which tokens will be displayed in the index screen
index-token-colors=

# When viewing messages, these are the header colors
viewer-hdr-colors=

# Colors used to display keywords in the index
keyword-colors=

# Public certificates are kept in files in this directory. The files should
# contain certificates in PEM format. The name of each file should look
# like <emailaddress>.crt. The default directory is .alpine-smime/public.
smime-public-cert-directory=

# If this option is set then public certificates are kept in a single container
# "file" similar to a remote configuration file instead of in the
# smime-publiccert-directory. The value can be a remote or local folder
# specification like for a non-standard pinerc value. The default
# is that it is not set.
smime-public-cert-container=

# Private keys are kept in files in this directory. The files are in PEM format.
# The name of a file should look like <emailaddress>.key.
# The default directory is .alpine-smime/private.
smime-private-key-directory=

# If this option is set then private keys are kept in a single container
# "file" similar to a remote configuration file instead of in the
# private-key-directory. The value can be a remote or local folder
# specification like for a non-standard pinerc value. The default
# is that it is not set.
smime-private-key-container=

# Certificate Authority certificates (in addition to the normal CACerts for the
# system) are kept in files in this directory. The files are in PEM format.
# Filenames should end with .crt. The default directory is .alpine-smime/ca.
smime-cacert-directory=

# If this option is set then CAcerts are kept in a single container
# "file" similar to a remote configuration file instead of in the
# ca-cert-directory. The value can be a remote or local folder
# specification like for a non-standard pinerc value. The default
# is that it is not set.
smime-cacert-container=

# LDAP servers for looking up addresses.
ldap-servers=

# RSS News feed
rss-news=

# RSS Weather feed
rss-weather=

# Web Alpine index table row height
wp-indexheight=

# Web Alpine number of index lines in table
wp-indexlines=

# Web Alpine aggregate operations tab state
wp-aggstate=

# Web Alpine various aspects of cross-session state
wp-state=

# Web Alpine preferred width for message display in characters
wp-columns=

telnet

I've put telnetd on the shack box and telnet clients on anything that didn't already have it.

SSH is great, but sometimes it's nice to go back to simpler times…..

ftp

And the same for ftp….

Section Two

— John Pumford-Green 30/09/22 18:26

Further Information

DokuWiki Tweaks

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 15:02:31 +0000

←Dokuwiki

DokuWiki Tweaks

Hide Revisions and Page Source for not-ADMIN in Users

Edit ../lib/tpl/monobook/conf/tabs.php to add the check of AUTH_ADMIN for the tabs for Page Source and Revisions

            if(!empty($INFO["exists"])){
                $_monobook_tabs["ca-edit"]["text"] = $lang["btn_edit"]; //language comes from DokuWiki core
            }else{
                $_monobook_tabs["ca-edit"]["text"] = $lang["btn_create"]; //language comes from DokuWiki core
            }
        }
    }elseif (actionOK("source") && (auth_quickaclcheck($ID) == AUTH_ADMIN)){ //check if action is disabled and also that AUTH_ADMIN is logged in
        $_monobook_tabs["ca-edit"]["text"]      = $lang["btn_source"]; //language comes from DokuWiki core
        $_monobook_tabs["ca-edit"]["accesskey"] = "E";
    }
 
 
    //old versions/revisions tab
    if (!empty($INFO["exists"]) &&
            actionOK("revisions")
        && (auth_quickaclcheck($ID) == AUTH_ADMIN)) // check AUTH_ADMIN is logged in to see old revisions
        { //check if action is disabled
        //ATTENTION: "ca-history" is used as css id selector!
        $_monobook_tabs["ca-history"]["text"]      = $lang["btn_revs"]; //language comes from DokuWiki core
        $_monobook_tabs["ca-history"]["href"]      = wl(cleanID(getId()), array("do" => "revisions"), false, "&");
        $_monobook_tabs["ca-history"]["accesskey"] = "O";
        if ($ACT === "revisions"){ //$ACT comes from DokuWiki core
            $_monobook_tabs["ca-history"]["class"] = "selected";
        }

Include / Blog "Read More..."

The default is for a “read more…” link to be placed at the extreme right of the page - which is not ideal when using Monobook template.

I found the css setting that controls the position of “read more…” in ../lib/plugins/include/style.css

div.dokuwiki p.include_readmore {
  text-align: right;
}

changing it to

div.dokuwiki p.include_readmore {
  text-align: left;
}

solved the problem and “read more…” is now on the left, directly at the point that the eyes get to when reading a post on the main blog index page.

To prevent this being overwritten on updates I found it works to put the same stanza in ../conf/userstyle.css which should keep it safe…

Vector / Monobook tweaks

I like the Vector and Monobook templates, very similar feel to Wikipedia

Logout errors with later versions of Dokuwiki

After upgrading Dokuwiki to Igor it became impossible to log out due to a warning

Security Token did not match. Possible CSRF attack.

I initially ignored it but then downgraded back to Hogfather as there seemed to be no fix - other than to use a different template.

I recently upgraded to the latest Dokuwiki (Jack Jackrum), and upgraded all plugins and templates where possible. However the problem with logout with Vector and Monobook re-appeared.

I found there was a fix described on the forum:

https://forum.dokuwiki.org/d/20248-security-token-did-not-match-possible-csrf-attack-cannot-log-out

and the cure is to edit the appropriate line in main.php for each template, as the author seems not to be maintaining these templates any more, at least not the official ones accessed via Dokuwiki's Template/Extension installer. The github repository shows that the fix has been applied to Vector, and a pull request submitted to fix Monobook, the fixes haven't appeared in the official versions.

The does work, though…

For Vector edit /var/www/html/dokuwiki/lib/tpl/vector/main.php to add , 'sectok' ⇒ getSecurityToken() in the array statement after “do” ⇒ “logout”

 echo  "      <li id=\"pt-logout\"><a href=\"".wl(cleanID(getId()), array("do" => "logout", 'sectok' => getSecurityToken()))."\" rel=\"nofollow\">".hsc($lang["btn_logout"])."</a></li>\n"; //language comes from DokuWiki core

and the same for Monobook

 echo  "          <li id=\"pt-logout\"><a href=\"".wl(cleanID(getId()), array("do" => "logout", 'sectok' => getSecurityToken()))."\" rel=\"nofollow\">".hsc($lang["btn_logout"])."</a></li>\n"; //language comes from DokuWiki core

Monospace font

I found the style applied to monospace text was a little underwhelming.

I found the place to change it:

/var/www/html/dokuwiki/lib/tpl/{vector|monobook}/user/screen.css

add the the following and adjust as needed:

div#content .dokuwiki code {
  font-size: 100%;
  padding-left: 5px;
  padding-right: 5px;
  background-color: #eee;
  color: #00f;
  direction: ltr;
  text-align: left;
}

Footer Buttons

Remove the default footer buttons by editing {vector|monobook}/user/buttons.php and adding

For Monobook, change to

$_monobook_btns = array();

//delete all (defaults)
$_vector_btns = array();

this suppresses the inclusion of footer buttons from vector/conf/buttons.php

Add just the Dokuwiki and Vector/Monobook Buttons

Edit {vector|monobook}/user/buttons.php

Swap monobook for vector as appropriate

<?php
 
//check if we are running within the DokuWiki environment
if (!defined("DOKU_INC")){
    die();
}
//delete all (defaults)
$_vector_btns = array();  
 
//note: The buttons will be rendered in the order they were defined. Means:
//      first button will be rendered first, last button will be rendered at
//      last.
//DokuWiki button
$_vector_btns["dw"]["img"]      = DOKU_TPL."static/img/button-dw.png";
$_vector_btns["dw"]["href"]     = "https://www.dokuwiki.org/";
$_vector_btns["dw"]["width"]    = 80;
$_vector_btns["dw"]["height"]   = 15;
$_vector_btns["dw"]["title"]    = "DokuWiki";
$_vector_btns["dw"]["nofollow"] = !(cleanID(getID()) === "start");
 
//"vector for DokuWiki" button
$_vector_btns["vecfdw"]["img"]      = DOKU_TPL."static/img/button-vector.png";
$_vector_btns["vecfdw"]["href"]     = "https://www.dokuwiki.org/template:vector";
$_vector_btns["vecfdw"]["width"]    = 80;
$_vector_btns["vecfdw"]["height"]   = 15;
$_vector_btns["vecfdw"]["title"]    = $lang["vector_mdtemplatefordw"];
$_vector_btns["vecfdw"]["nofollow"] = !(cleanID(getID()) === "start");

Symbol Chooser font size

The drop-down picker for choosing a symbol to insert in the text being edited is very small in Monobook as standard.

It's controlled by the pickerbutton class and is set at 80% in the standard monobook css.

It's adjusted thus (to 1.2em) and some extra margin added around the symbols:

button.pickerbutton {

padding: 0px;
margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px;
border: 0;
background-color: transparent;
font-size: 1.2em;
cursor: pointer;

}

Put this in user/screen.css with all the other tweaks.

Mobile Scaling

The layout on a phone isn't too good, and can't be zoomed/scaled.

I found this thread:

https://forum.dokuwiki.org/d/12469-vector-template-doesn-t-display-correctly-on-mobile-devices/6

and applied the comment-out of the line :

//echo "<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1\" />";

in main.php and mediamanager.php

the page now scales/zooms okay to make it useable on a phone.

Monobook user/screen.css

/* Give sidebar more space.
 
   Default widths:
   - 12.2em as left spacer for the content area. This example is using 14.2em
     instead.
   - 11.6em as sidebar width. This example is using 13.6em instead.
   - 10.9em as width for the search input field. This example is using 12.9em
     instead.
   - 150px as left spacer for the Ajax searchbox. This example is using 180px.
*/
/* move content container more to the right */
#content {
  margin: 2.8em 0 0 14.2em;
}
#column-content {
  margin: 0 0 .6em -14.2em;
}
#column-content #content {
  margin-left: 14.2em !important; /* adjustment for  IE (7) */
}
/* redefine sidebar width + tab bar position */
.portlet {
  width: 13.6em;
}
#p-cactions {
  left: 13.6em; /* tab bar */
}
/* search input field */
#qsearch__in {
  width: 11.5em;
}
/* ajax "matching pagename" searchbox */
#qsearch__out {
  left: 180px
}
 
div.dokuwiki #dw__toc {
  margin: 1.2em 0 0 2em;
  float: right;
  width: 200px; 
  font-size: 100%;
  clear: both;
  background-color: __background__;
} 
 
div#content .dokuwiki code {
  font-size: 1.1em;
  padding-left: 5px;
  padding-right: 5px;
  background-color: #eee;
  color: #22f;
  border-radius: 4px;
  direction: ltr;
  text-align: left;
  white-space: pre;
}
 
div#content .dokuwiki pre {
        border-radius: 5px;
	background-color: #faffff !important;
}
 
button.pickerbutton {
  padding: 0px;
  margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px;
  border: 0;
  background-color: transparent;
  font-size: 1.2em;
  cursor: pointer;
}
.pBody {
	font-size: 1.1em;
	padding-bottom: 1em;
}
 
#bodyContent {
	font-size: 1.1em;
}
 
kbd.__keyboard {
  color: #0000ff;
  background-color: #defede !important;
  text-align: center;
  border-left: 1px solid #cfcfcf;
  border-top: 1px solid #cfcfcf;
  border-right: 3px solid #666666;
  border-bottom: 3px solid #666666;
  -moz-border-radius: 4px 4px 4px 4px;
  border-radius: 6px 6px 6px 6px !important;
  padding-left: 3px;
  padding-top: 0px;
  padding-right: 3px;
  padding-bottom: 0px;
  margin-left: 2px;
  margin-right: 2px;
  vertical-align: top;
  font-family: sans-serif;
  white-space: nowrap;
  font-size: 1.1em !important;
}
 
div.qq-upload-button {
 border: 1px solid __border__;
}

Dokuwiki Template CSS

Standard settings for font sizes etc. for different elements is here:

/var/www/html/dokuwiki/lib/tpl/dokuwiki/css/design.less

add any modified tweaks to the CSS to a userstyle.css i.e. /var/www/html/dokuwiki/conf/userstyle.css

font-size etc

pre {
        border-radius: 10px;
        background-color: #fcffff
}
 
 
code {
    color: #c72522;
    font-size: 1.1em;
    padding: 0.1em 0.3em;
    border-radius: 0px;
    }
 
 
.dokuwiki .aside {
    font-size: 90%;
    }
 
 
body {
    font-size: 90%;
 
}
.dokuwiki div.breadcrumbs {
    font-size: 90%;
    }

Dokuwiki Template Tagline

<p style="font-size:12px;background-color:#a5e4fa;">Try to learn <b><i>something</i></b> about everything, and <b><i>everything</i></b> about something <br> <i> -Thomas Huxley “Darwin's bulldog” (1824-1895)</i></p>

Dokuwiki Timezone

I noticed the timestamps on file creation/modification were in UTC
I'd rather have “local time” so I don't have to think too hard
The answer is here → https://www.dokuwiki.org/tips:timezone
I used the first option, after successfully testing the second (editing php.ini)
I created conf/local.protected.php with

<?php
date_default_timezone_set("Europe/London");

I did sudo chown www-data:www-data local.protected.php too, just to be sure
All looks good - pages created/modified while in summer time show the time in BST and pages modified in winter time show the time in GMT

Add DW2PDF

To allow export of pages from Wiki → PDF format install plugin dw2pdf
to enable functionality it was necessary to install php-mbstring package on the VPS
1. ```
sudo apt-get install php-mbstring
```
```
sudo service apache2 restart
```

UPDATE

— John Pumford-Green 26/04/23 10:04

removed dw2pdf plugin, it is largely unused and adds pointless bloat.

Increase maximum file size upload for Media Manager

edit php.ini
1. ```
sudo vi /etc/php/XX/apache2/php.ini
```
2. change upload_max_filesize = 2M to upload_max_filesize = 20M
3. change post_max_size = 2M to post_max_size = 20M
4. ```
sudo service apache2 restart
```

Allow any file-type upload

From https://forum.dokuwiki.org/d/3318-allow-upload-of-any-filetype/5

Edit /var/www/html/www/dokuwiki/inc/media.php and comment out :

    // because a temp file was created already
    //if (!preg_match('/\.(' . $regex . ')$/i', $fn)) {
    //    return [$lang['uploadwrong'], -1];
    //}

jpg upload error - XML

Media manage red warnings when uploading jpg image files

Error: Call to undefined function xml_parser_create()

New VPS was missing the php-xml package.

sudo apt install php-xml
sudo service apache2 restart

https://forum.dokuwiki.org/d/21045-error-call-to-undefined-function-xml-parser-create

Acronyms & Abbreviations

I find the underlining and “explanation” of some abbreviations/acronyms by dokuwiki, when rendering a page, to be annoying.

such as DNS and ACL

The process is described HERE

To disable this I simply copied the default conf/acronyms.conf to a local version conf/acronyms.local.conf and then edited the local version to remove all the explanations.

# Acronyms.

ACL
AFAICS
AFAIK
AFAIR
API
ASAP
ASCII
BTW
CMS
CSS
DNS
EOF
EOL
EOM
EOT
FAQ
FTP
FOSS
FLOSS
FUD
FYI
GB
GHz
GPL
GUI
HTML
IANAL
IE
IIRC
IMHO
IMO
IOW
IRC
IRL
KISS
LAN
LGPL
LOL
MathML
MB
MHz
MSIE
OMG
OS
OSS
OTOH
PITA
RFC
ROTFL
RTFM
spec
TIA
TL;DR
TOC
URI
URL
W3C
WTF?
WYSIWYG
YMMV

This supresses the annoyance.

— John Pumford-Green 30/04/23 13:49

Add folded plugin

make a clickable hide/reveal section with

++++ visible text | hidden text blah blah ++++

e.g.

There is a table here...

Col1	Col2	Col3
one	two	three

def func():
    print "hello world"

Increase TAGCLOUD font size

edit /var/www/html/dokuwiki/lib/plugins/cloud/style.less

increase size factor

/* Size factor. */
@sF: 1.2;

force re-fresh of browser to show new font size.

Keyboard Plugin

tweak the size, border and colour

example keys

Ctrl+C

Tweaks

/var/www/html/dokuwiki/lib/plugins/keyboard/all.css

kbd.__keyboard {
  color: #0000ff;
  background-color: #defede !important;
  text-align: center;
  border-left: 1px solid #cfcfcf;
  border-top: 1px solid #cfcfcf;
  border-right: 3px solid #666666;
  border-bottom: 3px solid #666666;
  -moz-border-radius: 4px 4px 4px 4px;
  padding-left: 3px;
  padding-top: 0px;
  padding-right: 3px;
  padding-bottom: 0px;
  margin-left: 2px;
  margin-right: 2px;
  vertical-align: top;
  font-family: sans-serif;
  white-space: nowrap;
  font-size: 1.2em;
 
}

Dokuwiki Template monospace font

the colour of the mono font is the same as general text and doesn't stand out as well as in other templates.
edit /var/www/html/dokuwiki/lib/tpl/dokuwiki/css/basic.less with a hex code for a better colour
- but see below for a better place to do the configuraiton

code {
    color: #c72522;
    font-size: 1.1em;
    padding: 0.1em 0.3em;
    border-radius: 0;
    }

To prevent upgrades overwriting these changes - add them to /var/www/html/dokuwiki/conf/userstyle.css
pre relates to the blocks of <code> ////// </code>
code relates to monospaced text

pre {
        border-radius: 10px;
         background-color: #fcffff
 
}
 
code {
    color: #c72522;
    font-size: 1.1em;
    padding: 0.1em 0.3em;
    border-radius: 0px;
    }

Remove Dokuwiki template footer buttons

edit /var/www/html/dokuwiki/lib/tpl/dokuwiki/tpl_footer.php

comment out (  ) the license stanza and/or the <div> that contains the “buttons”

<?php
/**
 * Template footer, included in the main and detail files
 */
 
// must be run from within DokuWiki
if (!defined('DOKU_INC')) die();
?>
 
<!-- ********** FOOTER ********** -->
 
 
 
<div id="dokuwiki__footer"><div class="pad">
 
<!--    <?php tpl_license(''); // license text ?> -->
 
<!--    
<div class="buttons">
        <?php
            tpl_license('button', true, false, false); // license button, no wrapper
            $target = ($conf['target']['extern']) ? 'target="'.$conf['target']['extern'].'"' : '';
        ?>
        <a href="https://www.dokuwiki.org/donate" title="Donate" <?php echo $target?>><img
            src="<?php echo tpl_basedir(); ?>images/button-donate.gif" width="80" height="15" alt="Donate" /></a>
        <a href="https://php.net" title="Powered by PHP" <?php echo $target?>><img
            src="<?php echo tpl_basedir(); ?>images/button-php.gif" width="80" height="15" alt="Powered by PHP" /></a>
        <a href="//validator.w3.org/check/referer" title="Valid HTML5" <?php echo $target?>><img
            src="<?php echo tpl_basedir(); ?>images/button-html5.png" width="80" height="15" alt="Valid HTML5" /></a>
        <a href="//jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer?profile=css3" title="Valid CSS" <?php echo $target?>><img
            src="<?php echo tpl_basedir(); ?>images/button-css.png" width="80" height="15" alt="Valid CSS" /></a>
        <a href="https://dokuwiki.org/" title="Driven by DokuWiki" <?php echo $target?>><img
            src="<?php echo tpl_basedir(); ?>images/button-dw.png" width="80" height="15"
            alt="Driven by DokuWiki" /></a>
    </div>
-->
 
 
</div></div><!-- /footer -->
 
 
<?php
tpl_includeFile('footer.html');

Bootstrap3 ThemeByNamespace

To force specific bootstrap/bootswatch themes dependant on the namespace

enable ThemeByNamespace option
create a file in <dokuwiki>/conf called bootstrap3.themes.conf
chown www-data:www-data bootstrap3.themes.conf
add the required theme/namespace mapping:

# Namespace  Bootswatch Theme
start                   bootswatch/darkly
public                  bootswatch/darkly
public:calculator       bootswatch/slate
public:journal          bootswatch/journal
private                 bootswatch/flatly
playground              bootswatch/united
private:wire2waves      bootswatch/paper
blog                    bootswatch/yeti

it seems necessary to disable showThemeSwitcher and to select a default theme to be used outside of any listed in the conf file

Alternative

Using the loadskin plugin

it's possible to switch to the default dokuwiki template when on a mobile device and the vector template when on a computer.

The loadskin plugin seems to lead to problems switching between monobook and vector - the navigation sidebar seems to disappear on one or the other. Not sure where the problem is.

Note Plugin

Various Coloured notes:

<note>
This is my note ! Remember it!!
</note>

<note important>
Warning ! You're about to lose your mind ;-)
</note>

<note tip>
The clues are in the images.
</note>

<note warning>
Beware of the cat when you open the door !!
</note>


++++Note in a Folded section|
<note warning>
Ça fonctionne seulement avec le //div// pas le //span//.
</note>
++++

This is my note ! Remember it!!

Warning ! You're about to lose your mind

The clues are in the images.

Beware of the cat when you open the door !!

Note in a Folded section

Monobook Tweaks

PDF Export Tab

The dw2pdf plugin provides a button on many templates to trigger export to PDF but not on monobook. It's possible to add a tab to the top of the page, beside the edit etc. tabs, to do the the pdf export function.

add the following code to to monobook/user/tabs.php

//PDF plugin: export tab
if (file_exists(DOKU_PLUGIN."dw2pdf/action.php") &&
    !plugin_isdisabled("dw2pdf")){
    $_monobook_tabs["tab-export-pdf"]["text"] = "pdf export";
    $_monobook_tabs["tab-export-pdf"]["href"] = wl(getID(), array("do" => "export_pdf"), false, "&");
}

Vector Interwiki Icons

The icon shown on interwiki links almost always appears as a small “lock” rather than the correct icon

commenting out the .link-https section in /vector/static/3rd/vector/main-ltr.css stops this :

div#content a.external,
div#content a[href ^="gopher://"] {
        background: url(static/3rd/vector/external-link-ltr-icon.png) center right no-repeat;
        padding: 0 13px 0 0;
}
 
/*
div#content a[href ^="https://"],
.link-https {
        background: url(static/3rd/vector/lock-icon.png) center right no-repeat;
        padding: 0 13px 0 0;
}
*/
 
div#content a[href ^="mailto:"],
.link-mailto {
        background: url(static/3rd/vector/mail-icon.png) center right no-repeat;
        padding: 0 13px 0 0;
}

Page Updated: 19/04/26 16:02 BST

dokuwiki

Dokuwiki Interwiki Links

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 15:20:41 +0000

←Dokuwiki

Dokuwiki Interwiki Links

A list of the shortcuts for interwiki linking

1. Shortcuts

the standard shortcuts

var/www/html/dokuwiki/conf/interwiki.conf

wp        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/{NAME}
doku      https://www.dokuwiki.org/
rfc       https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc
man       http://man.cx/

Some of these don't actually function correctly and may be changed at some time, to more useful versions

1.1 Use

Most commonly used is the Wikipedia shortcut

[[wp>dokuwiki]]

Gives the interwiki link to Wikipedia's page about DokuWiki:

dokuwiki

and Dokuwiki itself

[[doku> | Dokuwiki's own wiki]]

Dokuwiki's own wiki

— John Pumford-Green 05/07/22 11:06

Further Information

dokuwiki

CRT SS9900

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:39:56 +0000

←Rig and Key List

CRT SS9900

Multi-Mode 10m/11m/12m

Background

I wanted a mobile 10m radio for use on 10m FM, and occasionally SSB, to try and re-capture the fun I had in the early days of being a ham (1983). Looking around I found a lot of choice of radios covering 12m and 10m amateur bands, and (of course) all the space in between containing the 11m/CB bands.

I bought a CRT9900 which seemed to offer the best versatility - it's more like a ham radio than a channelized CB.

It's hardly been used - I don't think I've ever had a QSO with it yet - so I now intend to make a concerted effort to get some use from it, and even looking at 11m when 10m is moribund.

Propagation conditions should be improving as Solar Cycle 25 peaks, and (writing this in early May 2023) the summer Sporadic-E season should also bring some inter-Europe propagation too.

p.s. I even have a CB callsign from the Charlie Tango group : “108 CT 2182” (108 = Scotland and I asked for 2182 as a nod to SSB marine radio)

https://charlietangodxgroup.forumotion.com/t147-world-ct-call-signs-92-div-to-137-div

User Manual

manual_crt_ss9900_eng.pdf

Configurations

Date	Config files	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	Comments
05/05/23	ss9900_050523.zip	S.S.Low	S.Low	Low	Mid EU	High	S.High	UK40	10m?	10m?	10m?
09/05/23	ss9900_090523.zip	S.S.Low	S.Low	Low	Mid EU	High	S.High	UK40	28.200 - 28.590	28.910 - 29.300	29.310 - 29.700	LSB mode added

Last Update : 04/06/26 07:39 BST

Further Information

CB Channels - All Freeband

CB Channels - Legal UK

— John Pumford-Green 05/05/23 09:59

Further Information

radio, 10m, 11m, cb, ss9900

Icom IC-706

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:39:56 +0000

←Rig and Key List

Icom IC-706

Mark 1 - the original “Shack-in-a-box”

HF 100W
6m 100W
2m 10W

Background

From the Silent Key equipment of Peter GM0CXQ

First impressions

In poor condition cosmetically, internally and externally
Intermittent RX performance on several bands, most severely 6m, due to LPF switching relays
No Power cable
- ordered via eBay 24/5/23
No microphone
- ordered via eBay 25/5/23
Not “MARS” modified → no TX on 60m

Initial tests

Sensitivity ok on all HF bands
6m shows intermittent “deafness” after changing bands - LPF relays?
Initially some higher HF bands also showed slow decrease in sensitivity after a few minutes. After transmitting a few times on each band this tendency stopped - have the LPF relay contacts “wiped” themselves clean by carrying more significant signal current on TX?
- 6m still suffers random RF signal loss on RX
TX power ok on all HF bands, and 6m, with 100W FM carrier at setting “H”
All controls work correctly
Fitted FL-223 “Narrow SSB” filter option appears to work (TBC)
Frequency calibration not checked but appears to be acceptable.

Repairs and Modifications

Cleaning

All knobs removed and washed in warm soapy water and all grooves in knobs scraped clean with toothpicks.
Front Panel cleaned, all recesses around buttons/controls cleaned with toothpicks and warm water (being careful….)
Covers from main unit removed and washed to remove build up of dirt from inside and outside.
Inside of main unit vacuumed and blown to attempt to remove as much loose powdery dirt deposits as possible without damaging any connectors or components. Some cleaning of surfaces done where possible.
Re-assembled

6m LPF relays

To cure signal loss on RX I removed the LPF board and was able to pop the clear plastic tops from the 2 relays, used on either side of the 6m LPF section.
Contacts in RL2 and RL3 were cleaned with Contact Cleaner spray, and wiped with paper soaked in cleaner, to remove any dirt/contamination build-up.

Tops replaced on relays and LPF board replaced into radio.
Receive sensitivity now good and does not vary with time, or following band changing.
The relays used on the other HF bands are of a different (more easily sourced) type and can't be opened in this manner. Fortunately they all seem to be healthy at the moment.

MARS TX Mod

To allow use on the 60m band I carried out the simple modification to remove “D59” from the Main PCB, which removes the “TX only in Ham Bands” restriction.
Radio now transmits across the whole HF band, including 60m

Signalink USB

For Digimodes using fldigi and a Signalink USB soundcard requires a simple Cat5 ethernet cable to connect the IC-706 Mic socket to the Signalink USB soundcard. The Jumper information is here : https://tigertronics.com/sl_wirebm.htm

Rigctl / Hamlib

Connect serial RS232 from laptop to IC-R75 and then C-IV cable between IC-R75 and IC-706. The IC-R75 will convert between RS232 and C-IV. Separate C-IV hex addresses means each radio can be addressed individually through one serial connection (/dev/ttyUSB0)

rigctl -m 3009 -s 9600 -r /dev/ttyUSB0

gm4slv@laptop:~ $ rigctl -m 3009 -s 9600 -r /dev/ttyUSB0
 
Rig command: f
Frequency: 10147600
 
Rig command: m
Mode: USB
Passband: 2400
 
Rig command: q
gm4slv@laptop:~ $

Documentation

User Manual

Further Information

https://groups.io/g/IC706
http://www.hampedia.net/icom/ic-706-enables-out-of-band-transmit.php
Possible alternative Microphone HM-152 hm152schematic.pdf

radio, ic706

HF Utilities

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 20:01:20 +0000

←SWL Pages

HF Utilities

Some useful HF Utilities Frequencies

Aeronoautical

North Atlantic NAT

G = Gander
NY = New York
SM = Santa Maria
S = Shanwick
I = Iceland
B = Bodo

NAT	Stations	3MHz	5MHz	8MHz	11MHz	13MHz	17MHz	Area
A	G,NY,SM,S	3016	5598	8906		13306	17946	43N → 47N
B	B,G,S	2899	5616	8864		13291	17946	47N → 64N
C	B,G,S	2872	5649	8879	11336	13306	17946	47N → 64N
D	B, I, G, S	2971	4675	8891	11279	13291	17946	> 62N
E	NY, SM	2962	6628	8825	11309	13254	17946	< 43N
F	G, S	3476	6622	8831		13291	17946
H	SM	3491	6667

RDARA-NAT
1/1E	3491	5583	6667	10021	10036
1B	2890	5484	5568	6550	6595
10E	2944	3446	4651	5460	5481	5559	5577	6547
1C (Bodo)	2893	4666	6544	8849

VOLMET	3MHz	5MHz	8MHz	11MHz	13MHz
RAF		5450		11253
Shannon	3413	5505	8957		13264
NY/Gander	3485	6604		10051	13270

USAF HFGCS

Primary	Secondary Day	Secondary Night	CRO Night
8992	13200	4724	6712
11175	15016	6739

ALE channels		3137	4721	5708	6721	9025	11226	13215	15043	18003	23337

Some more

Cadet Radio Info

— John Pumford-Green 07/05/23 13:22

Further Information

CW - 2023

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 21:16:55 +0000

←Radio Topics

CW - 2023

CW always was my main mode of operation

I've spent a lot of time with Digimodes (mainly on 60m) and recently even tried SSB on the HF bands (and might use SSB more often in future) but CW is really where I feel happiest. For a long time it was my only mode of operation on HF. Even now, at times when I'm out of practice, and my sending gets a bit wobbly, I feel comfortable with CW. There's something magical about communicating over the airwaves without speaking, without typing, just using a series of dits and dahs controlled by your own hand and turned from sound into meaning in your own brain.

When I started my current (Summer 2023) resurgence of interest in radio I thought I'd push myself to use SSB, to speak to people, and this would be the “novelty” I was looking for to kick start my interest in the hobby.

After a few weeks of getting things up and running I find I'm gravitating towards the CW end of the bands again, I've wired up all my keys, including my Vibroplex bug which has seen very little use on the air since I bought it. I did use it a few times in 2021 during a previous spell of on-air activity, but I let it lie dormant for the next 2 years, until NOW.

Let the CW-fest begin.

Current Setup

Vibroplex “Presentation” bug : Serial No 198474, Plate “Patented 833 Broadway” (D6 Plate). The Serial Number list ww7p-serial-number-list.pdf indicates 1957
Hi-Mound HK-708 (the same one I've had since 1982)
GPO brass key
“Russian army” key
Vibroplex “Champion” bug : Serial No 211617, Plate “Patented 833 Broadway” (D6 Plate), date 1960

Icom IC-7200 main HF radio
Icom IC-706 second HF

Plans

No Iambic/electronic keyers

I enjoy straight key sending and have occasionally used my Vibroplex on the air for faster QSOs than I'm able to manage with a straight key. The bug is taking some time to feel comfortable, and all I can do is practice, practice and more practice.

I'll try to do most of my QSOs on the bug, currently set at 18wpm (according to my spots on RBN) which is a comfortable speed for me at the moment, both for sending and receiving. I had my first “new” CW QSO using the bug today (June 12th) on 40m with Lada, OK2PAY who I remember working before, some years ago. In fact here's a video of the QSO on my You Tube OK2PAY 30m CW - the QSO was 16 July 2016 on 30m…. wow, 7 years ago!

I've re-joined the FISTS CW club with my old member number 17686 - and I see my SKCC old membership number is still listed as 3214. I'll try to take part in more activities by these clubs.

Have QSOs → rag-chews, rubber-stamp, all sorts…..

I hope to get enough air-time and enjoyment that perhaps I can justify a new key or even a new bug (I have been looking in wonder at the Begali Intrepid )……

Update 23/6/23 : New (to me) bug…. 1960 Vibroplex Champion from eBay Vibroplex Champion Bug

Receive Practice

One of my favourite sources of material for “head copy” practice is the ARRL's Code Practice Archive

http://www.arrl.org/code-practice-files

Here you can download MP3 files of their Code Practice recordings, which are extracts from QST magazine, sent at various speeds from 5 wpm to 40 wpm.

I have put a lot of the 25, 30, 35 and 40 wpm files on a USB stick to play in the van and on my phone to play whenever/wherever.

I find it is good to just let the CW flow and to grasp as much as you can, in bursts, and then let the “meaning” sink in - even when you miss the odd letter or word. In “conversational” CW it's best to let go of mistakes and just concentrate on making sense of what you're hearing. Exact “carbon copy” is only needed for formal messages (telegrams, RAYNET etc). Just letting the CW flow in through the ears and the “meaning” of the message condense in your brain makes you feel more comfortable about glitches and missing parts. In a QSO nobody is going to know how much you actually copied, as long as you get the important bits - name, QTH etc - which are usually sent more than once. If you don't respond to a question (because you missed it being asked) they can always ask again, and assume you just forgot. The key is to not care too much about 100% accurate copy, and the more you have QSOs, the easier it becomes and the more you copy, a virtuous circle.

— John Pumford-Green 12/06/23 13:22

Further Information

The Art and Skill of Radio Telegraphy : tasrt.pdf
Articles by Tom McElroy (thanks to Ian IK4EWX)

radio, cw

K2 - 2023

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 21:16:35 +0000

←Radio Topics

K2 - 2023

Building an Elecraft K2

Background

I built a K2 several years ago (2005 or 2006?) and have fond memories of the building process. Unfortunately I felt the need to sell it some years later, and have regretted this ever since.

I recently discovered that Elecraft still produce and sell K2 kits - although with occasional hold ups in supply due to the global problems of parts procurement. This discovery made me keen to build myself another one, and not to ever contemplate selling it. My first one had several modules added

Auto ATU
160m/RX antenna port
60m module
SSB module

This time around I plan on only adding the 160m/RX antenna module - the 60m module would have been nice but is now discontinued, and I don't see any value in the Auto ATU or SSB module for how I expect to use the K2 - in the shack, CW only.

Order

I ordered the K2 kit and 160m module today, July 27th 2023. I'm now waiting to hear about a likely shipping date. Hopefully it'll arrive before the winter, as I'd like to build it as an autumn/winter project - with a view to using it for Straight Key Night or G-QRP Winter Sports.

Progress

I plan to make notes here of the build process, and also to make some You Tube videos of the main milestones & test and alignment process. And of course of the first QSO.

— John Pumford-Green 27/07/23 23:25

Order Cancelled

After waiting for over 3 months, and still no sign of the K2 being available, I decided for various reasons to cancel the K2 order. I can't justify the expense and can find more important uses for both the money and for the time it would take to build a K2.

If Elecraft make K2 kits available sometime later, in 2024, I may consider ordering one at that time.

— John Pumford-Green 09/11/23 08:06

Further Information

https://elecraft.com/collections/full-kits-1/products/k2-the-classic-hf-transceiver-full-kit

radio, k2

6502 based homebrew computer

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 07:48:37 +0000

←6502 Project

6502 based homebrew computer

— John Pumford-Green 17/09/22 12:29

I started a new project last month. I'd been thinking of what to use my new DM16L for, apart from simple Decimal to Hex to Binary conversions.

In a roundabout manner I found the work of Garth Wilson and his excellent resources for 6502 hardware and assembly-language. Then I found the excellent YouTube videos of Ben Eater and I was convinced that I needed to start building and learning 6502. I've always struggled with some aspects of software - it seems too abstract and not rooted in anything hard and physical. I found I enjoyed learning about machine code, and then Assembly, as it is tied very firmly to the hardware, you need to understand what happens on each clock cycle, where the data goes, how it can be manipulated.

And a DM16L calculator is right at home with the bit-twiddling needed to write code at the machine-code/assembly level. After all, the HP16 was originally designed for Programmers back when machine-code and bit-level programming was all there was!

I got a Ben Eater 6502 kit and haven't looked back.

I plan eventually to fix a hardware design, once I've experimented on Vero-board, and perhaps design some PCBs and build it “properly”….

6502 Project

6502

Goals : 6502

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 07:49:25 +0000

←6502 Project

Goals : 6502

What do I want to achieve

Phase One

~~Follow Ben Eater's 6502 Tutorials and become familiar with the mechanism of programming the 6502~~
~~Adapt some of the code to gain experience at modifying 6502 assembly code~~
make some mini code projects to get experience of handling input, output and interrupts

Phase Two

~~add key-pad for simple user input~~
~~write simple ''monitor'' firmware to gain experience with user i/o etc.~~
add serial port hardware and enough software to send/receive RS232 to/from a terminal
write routines for LCD display of RS232 data received
investigate using additional VIA port(s) to interact with external hardware
~~refine hardware design and move OFF breadboard onto more permanent hardware (vero/perf board etc)~~
investigate parsing and reacting to input via RS232, beyond simply receive/transmit and display - interact with the machine!

Phase Three

specific projects - e.g. DSC, Selcall etc
keep an open mind and keep learning new techniques….
- this phase will largely depend on what is learned earlier….

— John Pumford-Green 15/08/22 09:23

Further Information

6502

Bloods

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Diaries

Bloods

Some Diary entries…

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and the medications I take need regular blood monitoring. It gets tedious, so I try to decorate most of the mentions of Blood Tests with a bit of a sketch and some Red ink, to lighten things up a bit

Further Information

diary

Explorations

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 18:42:09 +0000

←AllStar Linking

Explorations

Digging Deeper into Allstar

I've seen a few examples of small networks and am interested in building up a mixed protocol system too.

Some examples that interested me:

Milnet http://milnet.io/ with Allstar connected nodes and a DMR bridge
- Allstar node status http://stats.allstarlink.org/nodeinfo.cgi?node=424611
W2YMM https://w2ymm.home.blog/allstar-howto/ with a group of connected gateways, repeaters and a bridge to DMR etc.
- This one was discovered by accident on Allstar's Portal I mistyped my own original base node ID (pre-NNX) 48148 as 48418 and found his system with lots of information on his blog

Adding more nodes

It's possible to have up to 10 individual Node IDs with a single Allstar node number, by using NNX to add a 6th digit to the base node number…

My Base Number is 48148 and I activated the NNX feature and created 3 nodes

481480
481481
481482

Since they are all behind a NAT firewall, sharing one public IP address the nodes must use different UDP ports. To make this possible I created 2 new Server instances on the Allstar Portal, one per node, and chose the UDP ports :

https://www.allstarlink.org/portal/servers.php

node481480 ⇒ UDP 4569
node481481 ⇒ UDP 4570
node481482 ⇒ UDP 4571

The choice of which server is used per node is chosen on the Node configuration page for each node, on the Allstar Portal

https://www.allstarlink.org/portal/nodes.php

Then I flashed new SD cards for the new nodes using the ASL 2.0.0 Beta 6 image I've used for the initial VHF Gateway node.

https://github.com/AllStarLink/ASL-Live-Build/releases/download/2.0.0-beta.6/asl-2.0.0-beta.6-kc1kcc-20210324-raspberrypi-armhf.img.zip

The config. for the original node had to be changed, to reflect the new node number 481480 versus 48148 which means editing (at least)

/etc/asterisk/rpt.conf
/etc/asterisk/iax.conf
/etc/asterisk.extensions.conf

To ensure each internal LAN node can find each other (can't rely on Allstar's DNS) it's necessary to add each one to the [nodes] stanza in each node's config file /etc/asterisk/rpt.conf using the appropriate IP and UDP port depending on which node is being configured.

; from the VHF Gateway node 481480
[nodes]
481480 = radio@127.0.0.1:4569/481480,NONE      

481481 = radio@192.168.21.241:4570/481481,NONE  

481482 = radio@192.168.21.242:4571/481482,NONE

I added the DVSwitch bridging to the hub node 481481 which is configured as radioless, I made a local/private node on that machine 1399 for this purpose.

All 3 nodes have supermon and this needed some configuration to make sure the Asterisk Manager ports were available on their external interfaces bindaddr = 0.0.0.0 and not just on the loopback bindaddr = 127.0.0.1

/etc/asterisk/manager.conf ⇒

;
; Asterisk Call Management support
;

; By default asterisk will listen on localhost only.
[general]
enabled = yes
port = 5038
bindaddr = 0.0.0.0

[admin]
secret = YOUR_MANAGER_PASSWORD
read = all,system,call,log,verbose,command,agent,user,config
write = all,system,call,log,verbose,command,agent,user,config

Port Forwarding

My ADSL router has the following port forwards to allow external incoming connections to be set up

UDP 4569 ⇒ 192.168.21.240 for the VHF Gateway / Echolink node
UDP 4570 ⇒ 192.168.21.241 for the DMR Bridge node
UDP 4571 ⇒ 192.168.21.242 for the Test Node
UDP 5198-5199 ⇒ 192.168.21.240 for Echolink client connections
TCP 42110 ⇒ 192.168.21.240 for the VHF Gateway/Echolink node's Dashboard
- http://gm4slv.plus.com:42110
TCP 42111 ⇒ 192.168.21.241 for the DMR Bridge node's Dashboard
- http://gm4slv.plus.com:42111
TCP 42112 ⇒ 192.168.21.242 for the Test node's Dashboard
- http://gm4slv.plus.com:42112

To allow the node numbers to be resolved to useful names tp display on the dashboards the script astdb.php should run nightly to maintain a lookup table.

The image came with several copies of astdb.php in different places, all updating a central data file /var/log/asterisk/astdb.txt. Which was confusing, as they all looked in different places for the file detailing private nodes.

Private Node Names

To allow private node numbers to appear as useful information, rather than not in database you first put the information in a file privatenodes.txt

1399|GM4SLV|Bridge to DMR|TGIF TG2354429
1398|GM4SLV|Bridge to DMR|TGIF TG2354435

and then the astdb.php script pulls it in, with all the other nodes downloaded from the web, but astdb.php must know where to find the privatenodes.txt file.

The easiest way is to run the astdb.php from the directory containing privatenodes.txt

and therefore it's the copy in /var/www/html/supermon/ that is used, since privatenodes.txt resides here too.

To automate the process the update is done nightly via /etc/cron.daily/allstar_helpers which was modified to point to the correct version of astdb.php

#!/bin/bash
 
 
# Get new allmon data daily
/var/www/html/supermon/astdb.php

Semi-automated Private Node descriptions

I've written a small bash script on the gateway node481480.local to make it easier to re-name the internal “private nodes” as they appear listed in Supermon
for this to work it's necessary to arrange public-key authentication on the nodes, with passwordless logins. But that's normal, anyway, no?

#!/bin/bash
 
NODE1=node481480.local
NODE2=node481481.local
NODE3=node481482.local
WEB=/var/www/html/supermon/
 
PRIVATE_NODES=/home/gm4slv/privatenodes.txt
 
 
sudo cp $PRIVATE_NODES $WEB
sudo $WEB/astdb.php
 
 
scp $PRIVATE_NODES gm4slv@$NODE2:
ssh $NODE2 'sudo cp /home/gm4slv/privatenodes.txt /var/www/html/supermon/ && /var/www/html/supermon/astdb.php'
 
 
scp $PRIVATE_NODES gm4slv@$NODE3:
ssh $NODE3 'sudo cp /home/gm4slv/privatenodes.txt /var/www/html/supermon/ && /var/www/html/supermon/astdb.php'

Just make changes to the privatenodes.txt file in my local directory on the gateway node481480 and then run

gm4slv@node481480:~$ ./update_private.sh
Success: astdb.txt 1422647 bytes
privatenodes.txt                              100%   79    39.0KB/s   00:00
Success: astdb.txt 1422647 bytes
privatenodes.txt                              100%   79    24.9KB/s   00:00
Success: astdb.txt 1422647 bytes

Favourites

to keep the favorites.ini file consistent on all nodes I've written a script that distributes a copy to all nodes
I edit the copy in my home directory on node481480 and run

./update_favorites.sh

#!/bin/bash
# update_favorites.sh
# a script to keep the supermon favorites.ini file synchronized on all nodes
 
NODE1=node481480.local
NODE2=node481481.local
NODE3=node481482.local
WEB=/var/www/html/supermon/
 
FAVORITES=/home/gm4slv/favorites.ini
 
sudo cp $FAVORITES $WEB
 
scp $FAVORITES gm4slv@$NODE2:
ssh $NODE2 'sudo cp /home/gm4slv/favorites.ini /var/www/html/supermon/'
 
scp $FAVORITES gm4slv@$NODE3:
ssh $NODE3 'sudo cp /home/gm4slv/favorites.ini /var/www/html/supermon/'

Supermon : allmon.ini

The nodes monitored, and the menu to select them, and external websites, on each node's Supermon Dashboard is configured by allmon.ini

Here's the current version:

Generic /var/www/html/supermon/allmon.ini

[All Nodes]
nodes = 481480,481481,481482,1399,1398
menu = yes
system = Nodes
 
[481480]
host = 192.168.21.240:5038
user = admin
passwd = "XXXX"
menu = yes
hideNodeURL = no
system = Nodes
 
[481481]
host = 192.168.21.241:5038
user = admin
passwd = "XXXX"
menu = yes
hideNodeURL = no
system = Nodes
 
[481482]
host = 192.168.21.242:5038
user = admin
passwd = "XXXX"
menu = yes
hideNodeURL = no
system = Nodes
 
[1399]
host = 192.168.21.241:5038
user = admin
passwd = "XXXX"
menu = yes
hideNodeURL = yes
system = Nodes
 
[1398]
host = 192.168.21.242:5038
user = admin
passwd = "XXXX"
menu = yes
hideNodeURL = yes
system = Nodes
 
[lsNodes 481480]
url = "http://gm4slv.plus.com:42110/cgi-bin/lsnodes_web?node=481480"
menu = yes
system = LsNodes
 
[lsNodes 481481]
url = "http://gm4slv.plus.com:42111/cgi-bin/lsnodes_web?node=481481"
menu = yes
system = LsNodes
 
[lsNodes 481482]
url = "http://gm4slv.plus.com:42112/cgi-bin/lsnodes_web?node=481482"
menu = yes
system = LsNodes
 
[Node 481840]
url = "http://gm4slv.plus.com:42110/"
menu = yes
system = Dashboards
 
[Node 481841]
url = "http://gm4slv.plus.com:42111/"
menu = yes
system = Dashboards
 
[Node 481842]
url = "http://gm4slv.plus.com:42112/"
menu = yes
system = Dashboards
 
[GM4SLV Wiki]
url = "https://gm4slv.org.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=start"
menu = yes
system = External Sites
 
[Echolink Link Status]
url = "https://echolink.org/links.jsp?d=1&gs=IP90gg&sel=gridsq"
menu = yes
system = External Sites
 
[TGIF]
url = "https://tgif.network/"
menu = yes
system = External Sites
 
[AllStarLink]
url = "http://www.allstarlink.org"
menu = yes
system = External Sites

I've also made it easy to distribute the same allmon.ini file to all nodes

#!/bin/bash
# update_allmon.sh
# a script to distribute a common supermon config to all nodes
 
NODE1=node481480.local
NODE2=node481481.local
NODE3=node481482.local
WEB=/var/www/html/supermon/
 
ALLMON=/home/gm4slv/allmon.ini
 
sudo cp $ALLMON $WEB
 
scp $ALLMON gm4slv@$NODE2:
ssh $NODE2 'sudo cp /home/gm4slv/allmon.ini /var/www/html/supermon/'
 
scp $ALLMON gm4slv@$NODE3:
ssh $NODE3 'sudo cp /home/gm4slv/allmon.ini /var/www/html/supermon/'

Node Callsigns instead of Numbers

To have the telemetry say the callsign of a connected node, instead of its node number, install the script write_node_callsigns_ulaw.sh

I put it in /usr/local/bin/ and run it via root's crontab each day - but via a wrapper script /usr/local/bin/update_names.sh that then deletes the ulaw sound file for my own nodes, as I don't want all of them to be announced as GM4SLV - I'd rather hear the actual node numbers:

#!/bin/bash
 
/usr/local/bin/write_node_callsigns_ulaw.sh
 
rm /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames/481480.ulaw
rm /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames/481481.ulaw
rm /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames/1399.ulaw
rm /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames/1398.ulaw
rm /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames/48148.ulaw
rm /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames/481482.ulaw

I forget where I found it, so here's the write_node script itself

write_node_callsigns_ulaw.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
#  Created by Marshall Dias
#  Modified by Doug, WA3DSP 8/18/2015
#
# using ULAW format
#
# Script to write Calls to /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
# which will then be used in place of node numbers. This script
# will NOT overwrite exisitng files unless you use the -o option.
# If you want to start clean and delete all nodename files do
#    rm -rf /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames/*
# or delete just the files you want to replace.
#
# A single node number can be specified on the command line with
# the -n node -ex. -n 40000
#
# A -v option gives a little more info
 
# See all comments below
 
# Set the source directory to the Allstar database on your system.
# 'locate astdb.php'  This file will exist if you are running any of the
# images from hamvoip.org or you have installed allmon or lsnodes on
# your system. For the BBB and RPi2 it will generally be /var/log/asterisk
 
SRCDIR=/var/log/asterisk
#SRCDIR=/var/www/html/allmon
 
# Set the destination directory.
# Use a tmp directory for testing
# The final destination for Allstar would be
# /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
# Use the -d path option to overide
 
DESTDIR=/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
# Test destination directory - must exist
#DESTDIR=/tmp/nodes
 
# Definitions of sound file directories
 
NODENAMES=/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
LETTERS=/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/letters
NUMBERS=/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/digits
STRING=""
 
usage()
{
cat << EOF
 
Usage: $0 options
 
Writes voice files of call signs from node numbers
 
OPTIONS:
   -h        Show this message
   -o        Overwrite existings file(s)
   -n node   Specify node number - single write
   -d path   Specify path to output files
             Default: /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
   -v        Verbose
 
Write callsign for node 40000, no overwrite -
 
  $0 -n 40000
 
Write callsign for node 40000, overwrite -
 
  $0 -on 40000
 
Write all callsigns, no overwrite -
 
  $0
 
Write all callsigns, overwrite
 
  $0 -o
 
Write single node to specific directory -
 
  $0 -n 40000 -d /etc/asterisk/local
 
 
EOF
}
 
OVERWRITE=""
VERBOSE=""
 
while getopts "hovn:d:" OPTION
do
     case $OPTION in
         h)
             usage
             exit 1
             ;;
         d)
             DESTDIR=$OPTARG
             ;;
         o)
             OVERWRITE=1
             ;;
         n)
             node=$OPTARG
             ;;
         v)
             VERBOSE=1
             ;;
         ?)
             usage
             exit
             ;;
     esac
done
 
# Form filenames from callsign
make_call ()
{
 STRING=""
 foo=${f2,,}
 for (( i=0; i<${#foo}; i++ )); do
  char=${foo:$i:1}
 
                case ${foo:$i:1} in
                [0-9]*) FILENAME=$NUMBERS/$char.ulaw ;;
                "/") FILENAME=$LETTERS/slash.ulaw ;;
                "-") FILENAME=$LETTERS/dash.ulaw ;;
                [a-z]*|[A-Z]*) FILENAME=$LETTERS/$char.ulaw ;;
                esac
STRING="$STRING $FILENAME"
done
}
 
# Concatenate filenames into final audio file
write_call ()
{
if [ ! $OVERWRITE ]
 then
   if [ -f "$DESTDIR/$f1.ulaw" ]
     then
        echo "$DESTDIR/$f1.ulaw exists - not overwriting"
        return
   fi
fi
echo "Writing $DESTDIR/$f1.ulaw"
cat $STRING > "$DESTDIR/$f1.ulaw"
}
 
# If no node given process all nodes
if [ -z "$node" ]
then
  while IFS='|' read f1 f2 f3 f4
  do
    if [ $VERBOSE ]; then echo "Processing Node Number: $f1 - Callsign: $f2" ; fi
    make_call
    write_call
  done < $SRCDIR/astdb.txt
else
# process just given node
  CALL=`grep -m 1 $node $SRCDIR/astdb.txt`
  if [ -z "$CALL" ]
    then
      echo "No Call found for node - $1"
      exit
    else
      f2=`echo $CALL | awk -F"|" '{print $2}'`
  fi
  f1=$node
  if [ $VERBOSE ]; then echo "Processing Node Number: $node - Callsign: $f2" ; fi
  make_call
  write_call
fi

There's a version that uses GSM coded files which didn't work on my system, as all the numbers and letters are in ulaw format, but for completeness here's the gsm version

write_node_callsigns.sh

# !/bin/bash
#
#  write_node_callsigns.sh v0.8
#
#  Doug, WA3DSP 8/18/2015
#  Portions by Marshall Dias
#
# Script to write Calls to /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
# which will then be used in place of node numbers. This script
# will NOT overwrite exisitng files unless you use the -o option.
# If you want to start clean and delete all nodename files do
#    rm -rf /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames/*
# or delete just the files you want to replace.
#
# A single node number can be specified on the command line with
# the -n node -ex. -n 40000
#
# A -v option gives a little more info   
#
# v 0.7 - removed level changing as this is accomplished in 
#         global telemetry level parameters. Files should
#         stay at nominal levels.
 
# V 0.8 - added code to ignore semicolon comments.  6/5/2020, WA3DSP
 
# See all comments below
 
# Set the source directory to the Allstar database on your system.
# 'locate astdb.php'  This file will exist if you are running any of the
# images from hamvoip.org or you have installed allmon or lsnodes on
# your system. For the BBB and RPi2 it will generally be /var/log/asterisk
 
SRCDIR=/var/log/asterisk
 
# Set the destination directory. 
# Use a tmp directory for testing
# The final destination for Allstar would be 
# /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
# Use the -d path option to overide
 
DESTDIR=/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames 
# Test destination directory - must exist
#DESTDIR=/tmp/nodes
 
# Definitions of sound file directories
 
RPTSOUNDS=/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt
NODENAMES=/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
LETTERS=/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/letters
NUMBERS=/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/digits
STRING=""
 
 
usage()
{
cat << EOF
 
write_node_callsigns.sh v0.8
Usage: write_node_callsigns.sh options
 
Writes Asterisk Allstar voice files of call signs from node numbers
 
OPTIONS:
 
   -h        Show this message
   -a        Process all nodes
   -i        Include node number with call
   -o        Overwrite existing file(s)
   -n node   Process single node (overrides -a)
   -d path   Specify path to output files
             Default: /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
   -v        Verbose
 
Write callsign for node 40000, no overwrite, all nodes -
    $0 -n 40000
Write callsign for node 40000, overwrite, all nodes -
    $0 -on 40000
Write all callsigns, no overwrite -
    $0 -a
Write all callsigns, overwrite
    $0 -ao
Write single node to specific directory -
    $0 -n 40000 -d /etc/asterisk/local
Write single node including both call and node number, overwrite
    $0 -ion 40000
 
EOF
}
 
OVERWRITE=""
VERBOSE=""
INCNODE=""
VOLUME=""
 
if [ $# -eq 0 ];
then
    usage
    exit 0
fi
 
if [ ! -e $SRCDIR/astdb.txt ]
then
  echo "$SRCDIR/astdb.txt not found - Be sure to point SRCDIR in script to file location."
  exit
fi
 
while getopts "hail:ovn:d:" OPTION
do
     case $OPTION in
         h)
             usage
             exit 1
             ;;
	 a)  ;;
	 d)
	     DESTDIR=$OPTARG
	     ;;
	 i)
	     INCNODE=1
	     ;;
         o)  
	     OVERWRITE=1
             ;;
         n)
             node=$OPTARG
             ;;
         v)
             VERBOSE=1
             ;;
         ?)
             usage
             exit
             ;;
     esac
done
 
# Form filenames from callsign
make_call ()
{
 foo=${1,,}
 for (( i=0; i<${#foo}; i++ )); do
  char=${foo:$i:1}
 
                case ${foo:$i:1} in
                [0-9]*) FILENAME=$NUMBERS/$char.gsm ;;
                "/") FILENAME=$LETTERS/slash.gsm ;;
                "-") FILENAME=$LETTERS/dash.gsm ;;
                [a-z]*|[A-Z]*) FILENAME=$LETTERS/$char.gsm ;;
                esac
STRING="$STRING $FILENAME"
done
}
 
# Concatenate filenames into final audio file
write_call ()
{
if [ ! $OVERWRITE ]
 then
   if [ -f "$DESTDIR/$f1.gsm" ]
     then
        echo "$DESTDIR/$f1.gsm exists - not overwriting"
	return
   fi
fi
 
echo "Writing $DESTDIR/$f1.gsm"
    cat $STRING > $DESTDIR/$f1.gsm
}
 
# If no node given process all nodes
if [ -z "$node" ]
then
  Total=0
  while IFS='|' read f1 f2 f3 f4
  do      
    if [[ $f1 =~ ^\; ]]; then continue ; fi
    if [ -z $f1 ]; then continue ; fi
    if [ $VERBOSE ]; then echo "Processing Node Number: $f1 - Callsign: $f2" ; fi
    ((Total=Total+1))
    STRING=""
    make_call $f2
# Test for including node number 
   if [ $INCNODE ]
    then
     STRING=$STRING" $RPTSOUNDS/node.gsm "
     make_call $f1
    fi
    write_call
  done < $SRCDIR/astdb.txt
  echo -e "\nProcessed $Total Nodes\n"
else
# process just given node (-n node)
  CALL=`grep -m 1 $node $SRCDIR/astdb.txt`
  if [ -z "$CALL" ]
    then
      echo "No Call found for node - $1"
      exit
    else
      f2=`echo $CALL | awk -F"|" '{print $2}'`
  fi
  f1=$node
  if [ $VERBOSE ]; then echo "Processing Node Number: $node - Callsign: $f2" ; fi
  STRING=""
  make_call $f2
# Test for including node number  
  if [ $INCNODE ]
  then
    STRING=$STRING" $RPTSOUNDS/node.gsm "
    make_call $f1
  fi
  write_call
fi

I only have this on the node that's my VHF Gateway 481480

Nodes Created

See : The Nodes

Accessing remotely via IAX

See IAX Remote Access

Morse / Speech IDs

See Over the air ID

Bridges

DMR : DMR Bridging
NXDN : NXDN Bridging

Configs

— John Pumford-Green 05/06/25 22:30 BST

Further Information

radio, allstar, dvswitch, dmr, echolink

Yaddnet Migration

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:39:56 +0000

←YaDDNet

Yaddnet Migration

My http://www.yaddnet.org DSC database originally ran on various machines in my shack at home. It was migrated to a server donated for the purpose - located in Las Vegas, in 2019. This document records the steps needed to transfer everything and get it running on the new Virtual Private Server. In case it ever needs doing again in future this will help jog my memory of what's involved.

Moving YaddNet to a Virtual Server in the Clouds

Created Thursday 24 October 2019

Server IP: 64.235.39.127

Create SQL database

UPDATE 13/04/24

MIGRATING TO A NEW UBUNTU 20.4 VPS REQUIRED THE FOLLOWING

https://ostechnix.com/how-to-reset-root-password-in-mysql-8-on-ubuntu-linux/

The original Process

1) sort out passwordless root access to MySQL

add skip-grant-tables to end of config file:

(such as….)

/etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf

restart mysqld

$ mysql -u root
mysql>FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql>ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY '';
mysql>quit;

remove skip-grant-tables from /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf

restart mysqld

2) create blank/empty yadd database

$ mysql -u root

mysql> create database yadd;
mysql> quit;

2a) scp migrate tarfile to remote server

and wait….

2b) untar migrate tarfile

3) use saved schema file to create the tables:

$ mysql -u root yadd < schema.sql

4) import the full database backup:

$ mysql -u root yadd < yadd_xxxxx.sql

and wait……. and wait……

5) test all the data is there…!

Create Web site

6) extract yaddnet files from tarball

7) extract html files into /var/www/

8) permissions/ownership of /var/www/html ? Not Needed

9) apache “sites-enabled” - change virtual server's port? Not needed

Configure auto-start of Input servers

10) /etc/rc.local command to start tmux session

sleep 60; su USER -c /home/USER/yaddnet/tmux_yadd.sh &

11) start tmux session and see if it's working…

12) fire some test packets at it from uCoastTester.py

13) crontab entries

15 */4 * * * /home/USER/yaddnet/purge_err.sh > /dev/null 
* * * * * /home/USER/yaddnet/purge_tmp.sh > /dev/null

Tweaks

14) Character encoding for pages

edit /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini

change default_charset from UTF-8 to ISO-8859-1:

default_charset = "ISO-8859-1"

This renders “degree” signs etc. on web pages correctly.

15) mysql config

add to /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.conf

sql_mode = "STRICT_TRANS_TABLES,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO,NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION"

restart mysql

This (among other things) allows the group-by queries to work.

16) Open firewalld UDP port 4530 for DSCDecoder (and close unneeded port 9999)

firewall-cmd --permanent --service=yadd --add-port=4530/udp

firewall-cmd --permanent --service=yadd --remove-port=9999/udp

firewall-cmd --complete-reload

Firewall Config - note 21/5/22

While creating this Wiki page, from a previous note in ZimWiki, I wondered about the firewall config, as it appears I didn't explicitly open UDP/50666 for YaDD's traffic, but I added udp/4530 for DSCDecoder.

Looking at /etc/firewalld/services/yadd.xml I see:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<service>
  <short>yadd</short>
  <description>YaDD Service</description>
  <port port="50666" protocol="udp"/>
  <port port="4530" protocol="udp"/>
</service>

so 50666 must have been added when the VPS was built (not my me). I guess I asked for it when the offer to provide the VPS was made, but forgot about DSCDecoder until later.

Get Domain Name

16) Buy domain yaddnet.org from “fasthosts.co.uk” and set DNS record to point host www.yaddnet.org to the new server IP address

£10.79 per year, auto-renew via PayPal.

UPDATE 18/11/19

Received an email from kb7ypf@yahoo.com:

“I have been using yaDD 1.7.1 monitoring and logging GMDSS signals. I have been using it for about two weeks. This morning when I started yaDD it worked great, as usual, however, when I went to the web and accessed the message logging page, I got this message: “Failed to connect to MySQL: Access denied for user 'root'@localhost' …….”

Unattended-Upgrade breaks MySQL

I confirmed the same symptoms…

but it was working this morning?!

SSH'd into the server and couldn't access mysql from the commandline, either, same error.

This reminded me of the behaviour of a “stock” mysql server before doing the steps in 1) above.

Found an entry in /var/log/apt/history.log from 06:25 PST (14:25 UTC)

Start-Date: 2019-11-18  06:25:08
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Upgrade: mysql-server-5.7:amd64 (5.7.27-0ubuntu0.18.04.1, 5.7.28-0ubuntu0.18.04.4), mysql-server-core-5.7:amd64 (5.7.27-0ubuntu0.18.04.1, 5.7.28-0ubuntu0.18.04.4)
End-Date: 2019-11-18  06:25:29

Looks like “unattended-upgrade” has upgraded mysql, and also reset the normal permissions/privileges. Bloody Hell!

stop mysql
edit mysqld.cnf to add “skip-grant-tables”
start mysql
log in to mysql “mysql -u root”

$ mysql -u root
mysql>FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql>ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY '';
mysql>quit;

stop mysql
remove “skip-grant-tables” from mysqd.cnf
start mysql
test…

looks like we lost about 1 hour of DSC loggings while the SQL server refused to talk to us, from 14:25 UTC until ~15:30 UTC when I got it running normally again.

…..and relax!

going forward

Have 2 choices - remove unattended-upgrades package and lose all automatic security upgrades OR configure unattended-upgrades to blacklist mysql-server from upgrades.

https://wiki.debian.org/UnattendedUpgrades and https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AutomaticSecurityUpdates

has some helpful info… found where to blacklist individual packages….

service unattended-upgrades stop

edit /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades to blacklist mysql

	// List of packages to not update (regexp are supported)
	Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {
			"mysql-server";
			"mysql-server-5.7";
			"mysql-server-core-5.7";
	};

service unattended-upgrades start

check it's running:

gm4slv@lasvegas-nv-datacenter:~$ apt-config dump APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade

APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";

hopefully that will sort it?

Page Updated: 04/06/26 07:39 BST

yaddnet, mysql, apache, linux

Make It Tea

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 13:36:21 +0000

Make It Tea

The Blog...

My random thoughts on topics and projects that I'm currently thinking about, or doing, or thinking about doing…

The Make It Tea Blog

2026:
- April
- June
- July

9 Post(s) for July 2026

Arduino Project	10/07/26 23:15 BST	John Pumford-Green	radio, arduino, qrss, homebrew
Soldersmoke	10/07/26 22:40 BST	John Pumford-Green	radio, soldersmoke, podcast
Shack To Makerspace	09/07/26 22:40 BST	John Pumford-Green	radio, shack
Some QRSS Grabs	09/07/26 13:08 BST	John Pumford-Green	radio, qrss, qmx, grabber
QRSS	08/07/26 11:33 BST	John Pumford-Green	radio, qrss, qrp, qmx, knightsqrss
QMX Two Way QSO	06/07/26 11:17 BST	John Pumford-Green	radio, qmx, qrp, cw
Radio Clubs	05/07/26 17:08 BST	John Pumford-Green	radio, radio club, q-qrp-c, fists, cw
Antenna Changes	05/07/26 08:52 BST	John Pumford-Green	radio, antenna, qrp
Radio Update - QRP etc	02/07/26 10:05 BST	John Pumford-Green	radio, cw, qrp, qmx

Comments

Any active discussions & comments on Blog posts will appear here…

The Wiki...

Pages with information and notes to help me remember things. Some of it might be useful to other people. Or not.

Use the sidebar navigation to find the area of interest….

The Full Site Index Category Index

Newest Wiki Pages

Page	Date	Tags
QRSS MEPT	12/07/26 07:54 BST	radio, qrss, arduino, mept
60m Transceiver	11/07/26 10:09 BST	radio, arduino
Arduino Projects	11/07/26 09:54 BST	radio, arduino
QRSS	08/07/26 12:06 BST	radio, qrss, 30m, qmx, grabber
QRP Labs QMX	02/07/26 10:16 BST	radio, qmx

The QRSS Grabber...

https://g4slv.info

The Tag List...

10m(3) 11m(2) 30m(1) 4m(2) 60m(1) 6502(7) allstar(15) antenna(1) antix(1) apache(3) aprs(4) ar7030(1) arduino(4) assembly(2) automount(1) backup(1) bike(4) blog(2) bug(2) cadet(1) calculator(43) casio(1) cb(2) computer(6) cosc(1) cw(8) damasko(6) dbus(1) desk15(1) diary(4) dm15l(7) dm16l(2) dm32(5) dm41l(3) dm41x(16) dm42(2) dmr(9) dokuwiki(9) dsc(1) dv(5) dvswitch(7) echolink(9) fediverse(1) fists(1) fldigi(1) fm1100(2) freebsd(1) ft2980(1) ft3d(1) ft60(1) ft891(1) g90(1) github(2) grabber(2) gshock(1) hf(1) homebrew(1) hp11c(2) hp35s(2) html(1) iax_rpt(1) ic706(1) ic7200(1) icm710(1) icr75(1) joy(1) k2(1) key(2) knightsqrss(1) landie(5) lf15c(2) linux(16) lowband(1) makeittea(1) mastodon(2) mb7aze(4) mediawiki(2) mept(1) mmdvm(1) monobook(1) music(2) mysql(1) ndb(1) network(1) nrn(1) nxdn(2) openwebrx(1) peertube(1) photography(1) pi(11) pistar(2) podcast(1) prepping(1) pure(2) python(4) q-qrp-c(1) qcx(1) qmx(6) qrp(4) qrss(5) radio(89) radio_club(1) rolex(1) sdr(1) selcall(1) shack(1) soldersmoke(1) ss9900(1) ssb(1) ssh(1) ssl(4) startx(1) stationery(1) svxlink(10) swl(1) th-d72(1) thd72(1) thunar(1) tm-d710(1) tmd710(1) tmux(1) trek(3) twitter(1) unison(2) vhf(1) vps(4) watch(12) xgate(2) yaddnet(5) ysf(2)

DokuWiki

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 06:43:48 +0000

DokuWiki

DokuWiki is a simple to use and highly versatile Open Source wiki software that doesn't require a database. It is loved by users for its clean and readable Formatting Syntax. The ease of maintenance, backup and integration makes it an administrator's favorite. Built in access controls and authentication connectors make DokuWiki especially useful in the enterprise context and the large number of plugins contributed by its vibrant community allow for a broad range of use cases beyond a traditional wiki.

Read the DokuWiki Manual to unleash the full power of DokuWiki.

Download

DokuWiki is available at https://download.dokuwiki.org/

All documentation and additional information besides the syntax description is maintained in the DokuWiki at www.dokuwiki.org.

About DokuWiki

Installing DokuWiki

Using DokuWiki

Customizing DokuWiki

DokuWiki Feedback and Community

Copyright

2004-2020 © Andreas Gohr andi@splitbrain.org¹⁾ and the DokuWiki Community

The DokuWiki engine is licensed under GNU General Public License Version 2. If you use DokuWiki in your company, consider donating a few bucks .

Not sure what this means? See the FAQ on the Licenses.

¹⁾

Please do not contact me for help and support – use the mailinglist or forum instead

Becoming Teetotal

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 08:52:44 +0000

Becoming Teetotal

My 2nd time → “back to Teetotal”

I first tried a break from alcohol in 2016. For various reasons. I just wanted to stop drinking.

I'd read a few “sober blogs” and had been increasingly unhappy about how much I was drinking and how much mental energy I was expending on thinking about how to moderate it.

So I stopped. Just like that. It was easy, really.

Other people were the problem. Not the not drinking. People. It became obvious that drinkers just don't like a non-drinker - it makes them feel as though they're being judged, or makes them question their own relationship with alcohol. And they get uncomfortable.

I blogged about it for a while at https://makeittea.wordpress.com/ (don't look for it, it's long-gone) and I enjoyed the writing of the blog posts. And I enjoyed the positive feedback I got from the few people who read my posts.

I started drinking again in early 2017 - but regretted it. Regretted giving in.

After a heart-attack in 2018. After developing Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2019. Being on a bucket-load of medications. After the 2020 Covid-lockdown-shielding-wine-o'clock adventure.

After all that….

Enough was enough, and I stopped again in April 2021. Although I didn't do it in any ceremonial way. There was no “Today I stop drinking” watershed moment.

I decided to not drink one day, and then the next day I did the same… until after a few days I thought “I'm just going to keep this going….”. It took a few more days to realize that this was my chance to do it “properly”. I had sympathy and support this time. There wouldn't be the silent (and not-so-silent) peer-pressure.

This time, unlike the first time in 2016 (when I was doing it for no obvious reason and thus I was an annoyance to everyone around me) I was doing it with good, medical reasons.

And everyone forgave me now for being a teetotaler. I wasn't judging them after all, and I wasn't just being a martyr, wasn't being holier-than-thou….

If anything I was a poor victim.

“Health Reasons?”

“Can't drink because of your medications?”

“You poor thing!”

But if I'm honest, I gave up this time, in 2021, for the same reasons as my first try, 5 years earlier.

I wanted to stop & I enjoyed the peace and freedom of not drinking.

The new “Day One” was April 23^rd 2021, but I only know this because I've just checked back in my diary. I've had 5 sober Christmases, 5 sober Birthdays, 5 sober Wedding Anniversaries. 5 sober New Year's Eves.

Anyway…. back to blogging….

I found on the *Wayback Machine* one archived capture from my old long-deleted makeittea.wordpress.com blog and the capture has several of my posts.

I might make some new posts out the the recovered material from Wayback Machine and published them here….

makeittea

Radio Clubs

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:04:32 +0000

Radio Clubs

I've been a member of the G-QRP Club on and off since the early 1980s. I let my membership lapse for several years, after starting work, getting married etc…., while I wasn't active in the hobby. I rejoined after I came back into the hobby in the early 2000s. It took some digging to find my original membership number.

I eventually found it (2377) on a QSL card I'd received via the G-QRP-Club QSL bureau, and I was re-issued my old number. Now, more than 20 years after re-joining I'm still a member.

I love small-format, real paper club magazines - SPRAT, FISTS etc. - and I'm glad they still publish these in physical form. It's always a pleasure to come across an old copy hidden in a box, cupboard, drawer etc. You never have these little moments of serendipity with electronic format magazines.

I renewed my G-QRP-Club membership for 2026 a few weeks ago, when I realized I'd (once again) let it slip.

I've also renewed my subscription to the QRP-ARCI magazine “QRP Quarterly” and my membership of the FISTS Club. Both organizations still provide paper magazines.

radio, radio club, q-qrp-c, fists, cw

Fairphone6 Screen

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 09:43:56 +0000

Fairphone6 Screen

I dropped my relatively new Fairphone6, face down, on a pavement….

I was on the way into a supermarket in the run up to Christmas - going in to do the annual Christmas-battle-trolleys food shop. I picked it up, fearing the worst and found just a small chipped/cracked area at the bottom left of the screen. Just where the *back* arrow softkey is. It worked, but the cracks extended across the screen, and the focal point of the break was slowly crumbling into glass-dust. And every time I swiped my thumb across the *back* softkey I was worried it'd start depositing slivers of glass in my flesh.

I waited a couple of months, trying to ignore it.

I know one of the major reasons for owning a Fairphone is that they are user-repairable, with parts easily available and easily replaceable. But I wanted to wait until the desire to fix it overcame my reluctance to spend money. (I'm on a no-buy. Spending money to fix things *is* acceptable in my self-imposed rules, but somehow I now find it difficult to spend *any* money that isn't strictly necessary. The phone still worked, so it took some mental bullying to force myself to spend to fix it.)

Last week I ordered the screen and a Torx-5 screwdriver from the Fairphone website. Today it arrived. It took me less than 10 minutes to take the phone apart, replace the screen and put it back together again.

The hardest part was unclicking the plastic locking tabs on the top-rear cover. Using a guitar plectrum. But it wasn't *that* difficult.

Once back together the phone booted up and the screen is perfect.

Update - front camera

It took me while to notice (several weeks), as I don't take many selfies and rarely use the front facing camera, but when I did I saw the image was very blurred and blue tinted…

I wondered if I'd damaged something when I fitted the screen, so I took it apart again to look…. and found a blue peel-off protective film on the inside of the screen over the aperture that the front camera looks out through!

Peeled it off, reassembled and its all perfect again.

There's no mention of this film in the instructions, and it's not immediately obvious the small piece of blue film is there, so its easy to overlook.

Some QRSS Grabs

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:44:44 +0000

Some QRSS Grabs

I ran the QMX in QRSS FSKCW at 1W on 30m this morning for an hour or so.

I saw my signal on 3 grabbers:

LA5GOA : JO29oi, Visnes on Karmoy, Norway https://la5goa.manglet.net/grabber/
SA6BSS : JO68sc, Sweden https://www.qsl.net/sa6bss/
SO5CW : KO01mw, nr Warsaw, Poland https://fkurz.net/ham/qrss/

LA5GOA

SA6BSS

SO5CW

Back to RX

I went back to RX, feeding my own grabber and almost immediately found TF3HZ

radio, qrss, qmx, grabber

The Fediverse

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:05:25 +0000

The Fediverse

I restarted my amateur radio hobby recently, on a small scale, just HF CW.

I had a QSO with Julian G4VHJ on 30m CW and he reminded me of the You Tube videos I'd made a few years ago when I was fairly active on CW and making You Tube videos of CW QSOs seemed a nice niche thing to do.

Since I left the mainstream internet behind - so-called De-Googling - and deleted my Google/You Tube account among many other things, and decided to concentrate on “smol web” methods - Gopher, and this wiki mostly - I did have qualms about not being able to share short personal hobby-related videos. I didn't miss consuming lots of You Tube content - it's still possible to watch You Tube without an account, and with an Ad Blocker, if you forgo the “history” and algorithmic pushing of content. But not being able to share my own short video clips was beginning to make me consider my position regarding Google/You Tube….

Then I remembered “Peer Tube” - I'd heard of it, but wasn't sure what it involved. So I had a look, and it's just what I was hoping for. I don't want a huge audience, I don't want “followers” and certainly don't want Advertising and monetization etc. Just a simple way of making short geeky videos available on the web….

So I created an account at makertube.net : https://makertube.net/c/rf_eclectica/videos and made a couple of videos of some CW QSOs, and dug out an old one from 2023 as well, just to get the ball rolling.

So far, so good….

Then I re-discovered Mastodon - I'd tried it in the past and found it partly good, and partly annoying.

The post-Twitter-migration dust seems to have settled and perhaps this is time to re-think.

I managed to get my account at mastodon.radio re-activated thanks to Christopher M0YNG and I've been refreshing my memory about using it.

I'm @gm4slv@mastodon.radio

I still want to continue my Gopher hole - but perhaps also re-ignite my use of this wiki/blog and Mastodon too.

mastodon, peertube, fediverse

Calculators

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 20:10:15 +0000

←Make It Tea

Calculators

External Links

News

May 2023 - a re-issue of the HP15C !!!!
- Update Jan 2026 : They are all gone https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-24640.html
The DM32 is out in Beta - June/July 2023
- Some videos of it here: https://www.youtube.com/@N.A._McBee/videos
- Ordered online 15/7/23
Swiss Micros have released a new Credit Card sized DM15C
- there's a DM16C too!
Dec 2025 - Swiss Micros have started production of the R47 - a small number of initial units sold out immediately
- https://www.swissmicros.com/product/model-r47

Page Updated : 30/12/25 09:55 GMT

calculator

DM41X 41z Module

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 15:42:44 +0000

←Calculators

DM41X 41z Module

Keyboard Overlay

Setup

assign the complex keyboard Z i.e. function ΣZL to USER menu on key Σ+
- SHIFT ASN ALPHA SHIFT F Z L ALPHA Σ+
  - SHIFT F is the method of getting Σ from the ALPHA keyboard (see the back of calculator)
- Enter USER mode with USR key
- The Σ+ now activates a complex number function when it's pressed - for one operation only

The rest of the guide was written without the use of full-time ZKEYS in mind

in the forum thread dealing with the factorization bug in the deluxe version Angel recommended I use the ΣZL method. He fears that occasionally ZKEYS might be broken with incorrect/missing USER assignments - so I'll try to stick to the normal ΣZL method.

Quick Ref

Z = Σ+

↑IM/AG = Z XEQ
ZREAL↑ = Z Z RCL
ZIMAG↑ = Z Z XEQ
ZINV = Z 1/X
POLAR = Z Z R→P (i.e. 6)
RECT = Z Z P→R (i.e. 5)
ZCONJ = Z SHIFT CHS (complex conjugate)
Z ^ X = Z EEX
Z ^ 1/X = Z Z EEX (root(s) of complex number) : see Cubic Roots
- ZNXTNRT _ = Z Z SHIFT √x NEXT ROOT enter the root you want
ZWDOT = ZZ. : dot product of 2 vectors/complex numbers
ZWCROSS = ZZ2 : Magnitude of the Cross Product of 2 vectors/complex numbers (no sign)
ZWDET = ZZ7 : Determinant (Cross Product) of 2 vectors/complex numbers, incl. sign/direction

Basic Operation

enter two numbers and add them together

The ''natural'' entry method

Enter a complex number to the stack
- 5 + j 20
  - 5 Z XEQ 2 0 ENTER
    - Z XEQ is ^IM/AG - set the imaginary part
add a second number to the stack
- 10 - j 32
  - 10 Z XEQ 3 2 CHS ENTER
add the two numbers together
- Z +
15 - j 12

Enter a real number

2.75 + j 0
- 2.75 Z Z RCL

Enter an imaginary number

0 + j 3.1415 (i Pi)
- SHIFT π Z Z XEQ

Use it to calculate with....

calculate e^iπ
- Z SHIFT e^x
- - 1 + j 0
- e^iπ = -1

Parallel Impedances

This involves the complex inverse function Z 1/x

Z1 = 50 + j 13 in parallel with Z2 = 23 - j 85
- enter Z1 50 Z XEQ 13 ENTER and invert it Z 1/X
  - 0.02 - j 4.87E-3
- enter Z2 23 Z XEQ 85 CHS ENTER and invert it Z 1/X
  - 2.97E-3 + j0.01
- add them together Z +
  - 0.02 +j0.01 and invert Z 1/X
    - 42.72 - j 11.99

convert to Rectangular ⇔ Polar operation

Z = 50 - j 23
initially in rectangular form…¹⁾
- enter Z as usual
  - 50 Z XEQ 23CHS ENTER
- convert to Polar format
  - Z Z 6 ( 6 is R→P but needs two presses of Z to activate it)
  - 55.04 ∠ -24.70
- convert back to Rectangular operation
  - Z Z 5
  - 50 - j 23

enter a number directly in Polar format

To enter 5 ∠ 53.13 directly
- switch to Polar format Z Z 6
- enter Mag / Angle:
  - 5 Z XEQ 53.13 ENTER
  - display : 5 ∠ 53.13
convert to Rect
- Z Z 5
  - display : 3.00 + j 4.00

Cubic Roots

Rectangular

enter complex real number -8 + j 0
- 8 CHS Z Z RCL
  - -8 + j 0
- enter 3 (goes into the normal X register)
- find the result of Z↑1/x
  - Z ZEEX
    - 1 + j 1.732 (the first of the cube-roots of -8)
- find the next root with the function ZNXTNRT
  - Z Z SHIFT√x
  - enter 3 at the _ prompt
    - -2 + j 0
- find the next root with the function ZNXTNRT
  - Z Z SHIFT √x
  - enter 3 at the _ prompt
    - 1 - j 1.732

The 3 cube roots of -8 are

1 + j 1.732
-2 + j 0 (the basic real cube root)
1 - j 1.732

Polar

enter complex real number -8 + j 0
- 8 CHS Z Z RCL
  - -8 + j 0
  - convert to POLAR
    - Z Z6
      - 8 ∠ 180
- enter 3 (goes into the normal X register)
- find the result of Z↑1/x
  - Z Z EEX
    - 2 ∠ 60.000 (the first of the cube-roots of -8)
- find the next root with the function ZNXTNRT
  - Z Z SHIFT √x
  - enter 3 at the _ prompt
    - 2 ∠ 180
- find the next root with the function ZNXTNRT
  - ZZSHIFT√x
  - enter 3 at the _ prompt
    - 2 ∠ -60.000

The 3 cube roots (in POLAR) of -8 are

2 ∠ 60.000
2 ∠ 180
2 ∠ -60.000

Alternate input method

BEWARE

key Imaginary part first & press normal ENTER
key real part (and no ENTER)
do complex enter (Z ENTER) or another complex function (e.g. Z +) (be careful with the stack lift or it gets confusing)
e.g. 52 + j 36
- 36 ENTER 52 Z ENTER
- 52 + j 36 is now in Stack
enter second number
e.g. 23 - j 15
- 15 CHS ENTER 23 (don't Z ENTER this…!!)
to add them together use Z + now (instead of Z ENTER)
result : 75 + j 21

gotcha

pressing Z ENTER after the second number (instead of the required complex function) will give you

Stack value	Stack
	U
52 + j 36	V
23 - j 15	W
23 - j 15	Z

doing a Z + now will add the second number to itself and the result will be 46 - j 30

This is normal RPN stack behaviour, but is confusing when you're building complex numbers.

use ↑IM/AG instead

The natural entry mode is much better

you enter the real and imaginary parts in the order you expect them
the stack operation is less obscure.
It just seems more intuitive.

Page created Wed May 25 15:14:29 2022 by John Pumford-Green

Page last updated: 17/02/26 15:42 GMT

calculator, dm41x

¹⁾

Z Z 5 to make sure!

DM41X PPC ROM Solve & Integrate

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 20:11:47 +0000

←Hints & Tips

DM41X PPC ROM Solve & Integrate

Solve (SV)

Similar to other Solvers (e.g. the Advantage Pac Solve) but with some minor differences to be aware of.

ASTO the Global Label (name) of the program (in this example it's LBL AA) containing the expression to be solved in Register 06
- ALPHAAAALPHA
- XEQALPHAASTOALPHA06
The program with the expression to be solved must be written as though unknown x is on the x-stack only
- other solvers “fill the stack” with x
- here you need to manipulate the stack to get x as needed. It's easiest is to just ENTER ENTER ENTER and then treat the stack the same as other solvers (i.e. as if it's filled with x and you use x<>y to pull a fresh copy of x as needed in the expression).
Put a “step size” in y and a “start value” in x (e.g. -3)
- 0 ENTER -3
run SV

example

2x² + 3x - 4 = 0

Prog “AA”

LBL AA
ENTER
ENTER
ENTER
x^2
2
*
x<>y
3
*
+
4
-
RTN

for the first root

0 ENTER 1
XEQALPHA SV ALPHA

and the answer comes…..

0.850781059

for the second root

0 ENTER -3
XEQALPHA SV ALPHA

and the answer comes…..

-2.350781060

Integrate (IG)

This is very similar to SV - the main difference is that the Global Label for the program containing the expression to be integrated is stored with ASTO in Register 10.

I'm using AA as a general scratchpad Program label for use with Solve and Integrate…

ALPHAAAALPHA
XEQALPHAASTOALPHA10

For SV it's R06.

Otherwise carry out the same procedure for storing the expression.

Time taken for integration, and the accuracy obtained, is set by the display format - the more digits the longer the integration takes.

Set SCI 04 for most cases.

Set the name of the prog. in Reg 10
Edit the prog. for the expression to be integrated
Set the display format/accuracy to SCI 04
The limits of integration are set
- lowerENTER upper
Then the IG routine is executed
- XEQALPHAIGALPHA

Further Information

DM41X Hints & Tips

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 08:09:46 +0000

←Hints & Tips

DM41X Hints & Tips

Module Switching

Using the Ladybug module for Integer/Base calculations means it's impossible to also have the 41Z complex number module or the HP16C simulator module and the necessary library “plugged in” at the same time. There is a clash between Library 4 needed for 41z (and also needed for 16C) and OS/4 which is needed for Ladybug.

I've used the DM41X “module save/load” function to have different module-plugged states:

41z.m41 : with 41Z 2×2 Deluxe and Library 4 modules active
16c.m41 : with HP16 C Simulator and Library 4 modules active
lady.m41 : with Boost, OS/4 and Ladybug modules active
adv.m41 : with Advantage Pac module active

These are accessed via setup → 2. Module → 4. Load Modules → 1. Load AM list

Choosing the required *.m41 file will automatically unplug/plug whichever modules were active when the config. was saved.

This makes it easier to remember which supporting library/module are needed to use each particular module's functions.

It's possible to also save the flash state - which modules have been pre-loaded into the DM41X's Flash Memory making them available to be plugged in using different options at the setup 2. Module choices…. you'll work it out.

Advantage Pac : Flag 21

I found that using some of the Advantage Pac programs (e.g. MATRX or CFIT) would lead to AVIEW instructions in programs run subsequently to cause a HALT - requiring use of the R/S key.

I was told via a question on the Swiss Micros Forum that this was likely to be due to the Advantage Pac setting FLAG 21 (printer active) to help in its own presentation of information on the display.

FLAG 21 SET while FLAG 55 is CLEAR (since there's no Printer Module active) causes AVIEW instructions to halt awaiting user intervention (R/S key)

To restore things to normal : either CLEAR Flag 21 via CF or simply turn the calculator off and on again.

See APPENDIX D in the HP41CX User Manual Volume 2 for a better explanation of the use of Flag 21 to control AVIEW behaviour.

Extended Memory

Copy a program to Extended Memory:

Put Prog's name in Alpha register
XEQ storep
The prog remains in main memory but can be deleted (CLP) if memory needed
To restore to main memory put name in Alpha and then XEQ GETSUB

DDAYS

To find the number of days between two dates

enter 1^st date into Y-stack as dd.mmyyyy
key in 2^nd date into X-stack as dd.mmyyyy
XEQ ALPHA D D A Y S ALPHA
result is the difference in days.
DDAYS can be added to the CST program chooser to make it easier if multiple calculations are required

Example

Days between 27/2/66 and 31/5/22

27.021966 ENTER 31.052022 XEQ ALPHA D D A Y S ALPHA

Result = 20,547

Check :

365 ÷

Result 56.293

I'm 56 and a bit… sounds right…

XYZALM

Various Alarm functions

Put any message for the Alarm into the ALHPA register

Load the stack registers with:

Z : Repeat Interval HHHH.MMSSs or 0
Y : Date DD.MMYYYY or 0
X : Time HH.MMSSs

Execute XYZALM to set the alarm

When alarm goes off it is acknowledged by pressing any key except STO.

Acknowledging a non-repeating (i.e. Z was 0) alarm cancels it.
Acknowledging a repeating alarm cancels it and re-arms it, adding the Repeat Interval to create the new alarm time.
Pressing STO cancels the alarm but makes it a PAST DUE alarm.

Example

Set alarm for 22:20, today, not repeating, called Supper

ALPHA S U P PER ALPHA
0 ENTER (for Z = repeat interval)
0 ENTER (for Y = Date = Today)
22.20 XEQ ALPHA X Y Z A L M ALPHA

At 22:20 the alarm is activated. ALPHA shows SUPPER.

Alarm is cancelled by pressing any key but STO

Pressing STO creates a PAST DUE alarm which means it gets re-triggered if the calculator is turned off. It can be cancelled and deleted by pressing any key (except STO) and then the calculator will turn off. Pressing STO will create a new Past Due alarm, and allow the calculator to turn off. On turn on the Past Due alarm will still exist and turning off will trigger it again.

A Past Due alarm is useful to remind you that something happened previously and turning the calculator off is a memory-jogger.

CATALOGUE 5 R/S and ⇑ ⇓ steps through all alarms.

To clear an alarm from the Catalogue: SHIFT C ( where C is √ on top row )

— John Pumford-Green 31/05/22 13:13

Page last updated: 24/01/26 08:09 GMT

calculator, dm41x

DM41X Polynomial Solver

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 20:11:18 +0000

←Hints & Tips

DM41X Polynomial Solver

Advantage Pac Polynomials

Assuming Advantage Pac is plugged in…

Finds all roots, including complex ones.

Save to registers

To save the discovered roots in registers

Enter the polynomial coefficients as normal
prior to pressing RT to do the solve SET FLAG 06
- ShiftSF06
This will save the discovered roots in R24 upwards
- saves in pairs as REAL and IMAGINARY
  - R24 = REAL root 1
  - R25 = IMAG root 1
  - R26 = REAL root 2
  - R27 = IMAG root 2
  - etc
  - etc

Roots of a quadratic

To find the roots of a simple quadratic (with 2 real roots)

x² - 3x + 2 = 0

XEQ ALPHAPLYALPHA
Asks for DEGREE=?
- this is the highest power of x in the polynomial
- enter 2 R/S
Asks for a2=?
- the coefficient of x²
- enter 1 R/S
Asks for a1=?
- the coefficient of x
- enter 3 CHS R/S
Asks for a0=?
- the constant term
- enter 2 R/S
Display shows FX RT NEW
- FX = Function value at your choice of x
- RT = Root(s) of the entered polynomial
- NEW = Enter a new polynomial
- Choose RT B
Display shows ROOT = 2.0000
- to see next root press R/S
Display shows ROOT = 1.0000

The roots of our quadratic are 2 and 1

Higher order with complex roots

Either press TAN (J) to get the menu, and then NEW (LN) or XEQ PLY again

4x⁴ - 8x³ - 13x² - 10x + 22 = 0

This should have 4 roots, and most likely some will be complex.

DEGREE=?
- 4 R/S
a4=?
- 4 R/S
a3=?
- 8CHSR/S
a2=?
- 13 CHSR/S
a1=?
- 10 CHSR/S
a0=?
- 22R/S
FX RT NEW
- RT B

Roots are displayed:

U = -1.0000 R/S
V = 1.0000 R/S
U = -1.0000 R/S
V = -1.0000 R/S
ROOT = 3.1180 R/S
ROOT = 0.8820 R/S
FX RT NEW

The 4 roots are

-1 + j 1
-1 - j 1
3.1180
0.8820

Cube Roots of minus 8

If x is the cube root of minus 8 then x³ = -8 and as a polynomial x³ + 8 = 0

Simply use 0 as the coefficient of X² and x

XEQ ALPHAPLYALPHA
Degree=? 3 R/S
a3=? 1 R/S
a2=? 0 R/S
a1=? 0 R/S
a0=? 8 R/S

RT B
- ROOT = -2.0000 R/S
- U = 1.0000 R/S V = 1.7321
- U = 1.0000 R/S V = -1.7321

Roots are
- 2.0000
- 1 + j 1.7321
- 1 - j 1.7321

— John Pumford-Green 26/01/26 09:55 GMT

Further Information

Page updated : 19/04/26 21:11 BST

calculator, dm41x

DM15L Info

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:45:56 +0000

←Calculator Hardware

DM15L Info

Purchase Information

Date : September 2021
From : Swiss Micros (direct)
Price : £95
Serial : 21350
New Battery
- July 27^th 2022
- July 26^th 2024
- April 17^th 2026

Firmware

Upgrade firmware on Linux

sudo lpc21isp <firmware_file> /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 12000

bash scripts

just to reduce the typing…. still need to press the hidden reset button to start the flashing and to start the new firmware.

You can have separate scripts for ease of loading different firmware

./lf_flash.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
 
FWARE=LF15C_250408.hex
 
lpc21isp $FWARE /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 1200

./dm32_flash.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
 
FWARE=DM15_M1B_32.hex
 
lpc21isp $FWARE /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 1200

./dm34_flash.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
 
FWARE=DM15_M1B_34.hex
 
lpc21isp $FWARE /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 1200

Upgrade firware on Windows

Serial USB Driver for Windows

cp210x_universal_windows_driver.zip

Windows Firmware Upload Tool

voyage_firmware_tool.zip

Swiss Micros Official

Swiss Micros Firmware files

Date	Serial No.	Firmware	Version	Firmware Files	Comments
24/05/22	21350	DM15_M1B	32	dm15_m1b_32.zip	Extended User Registers
22/11/23	21350	DM15	32	dm15_32.zip	Standard User Registers
21/12/24	21350	DM15_M1B	33	dm15_m1b_33.zip	New 2-line stack and other mods
23/01/26	21350	DM15_M1B	34	dm15_m1b_34.hex	Bug fixes to new version

ROM	Allocatable registers	RAM base addr.	Initial Memory Status
DM15 (Original ROM)	64	0xc0	19 46 0-0
DM15_M80	128	0x80	19 110 0-0
DM15_M1B	229	0x1b	19 211 0-0

LF15C - 3rd Party Firmware

From HP Forum https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-20046.html

For more details see LF15C - firmware for the DM15

DESK-15 - 3rd Party Firmware

From HP Forum https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-23488.html
You Tube https://youtu.be/ktrKZzN3wJw
Github for firmware and brief README guide https://github.com/zooxo/desk15

I'll try it out and write up some details…..

Desk15 - firmware for the DM15

RTC Error

RTC is not capable of calibration/correction
RTC appears to continue running even when switching firmware
- LF15C has no ability to display RTC but it the rate appears unaffected by the firmware changes
- Requires that Swiss Micros firmware is loaded in order to check current RTC time

Update January 2026

Using my python Watchcheck

Date Start	Date Check	Delta	Latest Rate Error	Average Rate Error	Comments
23/01/26		-49.0			Delta -49.0. New firmware DM15 V34 loaded. New Period
23/01/26	24/01/26	-47.0	+2.1	+2.1	After 24 hours
23/01/26	26/01/26	-43.4	+1.9	+2.0	After 3 days
23/01/26	27/01/26	-41.9	+1.8	+1.9	After 4 days. LF15C loaded after time check
23/01/26	11/02/26	-11.2	+2.0	+2.0	After 19 days. DM15_M1B_34 reloaded to check time
23/01/26	04/04/26	+88.3	+1.9	+1.9	After 71 days

Swiss Micros Info

Firmware : https://technical.swissmicros.com/voyager/firmware/
Documentation : Online HTML User Manual
Documentation : PDF Manual
Product Page : DM15L

HP-15C Owner's Handbooks

Download from https://literature.hpcalc.org/

HP-15C Owner's Handbook : https://literature.hpcalc.org/community/hp15c-oh-en.pdf
HP-15C Advanced Functions Handbook : https://literature.hpcalc.org/community/hp15c-afh-en.pdf

DM15L Memory Dumps and Program Listings

See DM15L Progs

calculator, dm15l

DM41X Info

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:35:30 +0000

←Calculator Hardware

DM41X Info

Purchase Information

Date : February 2022
From : Swiss Micros (Direct)
Price : £185
Serial : 01266
Battery Swap
- 22/09/22
- 11/02/25
- 19/02/26
- 13/04/26

Firmware

Date	Serial No.	DM41X Version	DMCP Version	Firmware Files
24/05/22	01266	2.1	3.20	dmcp_flash_3.20_dm41x-2.1.zip
27/07/24	01266	2.2	3.25	dmcp_flash_3.25_dm41x-2.2.zip
21/12/25	01266	2.3	3.28	dmcp_flash_3.28_dm41x-2.3.zip

RTC Correction

approx. error +3.5s/d = +40.5ppm
Correction factor C from C = 2^20 P /(10^6 + P)
Approximations :
- C = 1.04858 P
- P = 0.953674 C
Calculated C = -42.47

Put a text file /rtccalib.cfg in root directory of FAT drive with contents:

-42.47

Update 28/5/22

After a period of observation the rate is now over-corrected. Try reducing correction to -37.5 which corresponds to a ppm error of 35.76ppm, or 3.26 s/d.

Date Start	Date Check	Accumulated Error (s)	Rate Error (s/d)	Comments
28/3/22	24/5/22		-0.1	correction applied (C=40). Uncorrected error +3.5
24/5/22				new correction C=-42.47
24/5/22	25/5/22		-0.3	new correction in wrong direction?
28/5/22			-0.3	still over-corrected. New factor: -37.5. DM41X reports this is a correction of -35.3ppm
28/5/22	31/5/22		+0.2	Now under-corrected? Difference across 3 days is only 0.5 seconds, so perhaps needs longer to reduce reaction-time-error
28/5/22	28/6/22		+0.1	Almost 1 month later. Delta 31/5/22 = -15.7s, Delta 28/6/22 = -11.6s. +4.1s in 28 days
28/5/22	8/7/22		+0.1	Delta -10.1s
28/5/22	21/9/22		+ 0.2	Delta +1.2s. Still slightly under-corrected but good enough
28/5/22	15/4/23	-7.6	+0.0	Delta -7.6s in 322 days = 0.02 s/d
15/04/23	22/11/23	+33.3	+0.2	33.3s in 221 days = 0.15 s/d

Update January 2026

Using my python Watchcheck

Date Start	Date Check	Delta	Latest Rate Error	Average Rate Error	Comments
23/01/26		+2.7			New Period: correction-35.3ppm
23/01/26	24/01/26	+2.6	-0.1	-0.1	After 24 hours
23/01/26	26/01/26	+3.0	+0.2	+0.1	After 3 days
23/01/26	27/01/26	+3.2	+0.3	+0.1	After 4 days
23/01/26	04/02/26	+5.0	+0.2	+0.2	After 12 days
23/01/26	11/02/26	+6.1	+0.1	+0.2	After 19 days

Notes

Complex Numbers

For more about the 41Z see the separate page DM41X 41z Module

I'm using the 41Z complex number module by Angel Martin to add a 4-level complex number stack. It's a bit confusing at first to get to grips with, but adds a lot of functionality to the the DM41x.

After a bit of trial and error (this is my first play with a “plug-in module” after all) I discovered the simplest way to make the keyboard function normally, and get easy access when needed to the complex functions, was to assign a USER key (usually the statistics summation key ∑+ to the 41Z module function ∑ZL.

Each press of ∑+ now temporarily modifies all the keys to access specific 41Z functions. The functions available are extensive, through the use of the SHIFT key and by multiple presses of the ∑+ (henceforth referred to as Z) key.

I drew out a diagram to show the various functions available.

Once a selection is made the keyboard switches back to its normal behaviour, so all the usual functionality is available.

Most of these are unlikely to be used often - and it's also possible to make a much narrow selection of 41Z functions and make your own USER assignments, rather than use the ∑ZL keyboard - although this might mean you block access to inbuilt functions you might want - which would mean switching out of USER keyboard mode at times. At the moment the ∑ZL option seems the most versatile.

Many of the 41Z functions available are beyond my pay grade and unlikely to ever find a use, but the Complex Keyboard still makes things much easier to deal with.

For example the two keypresses:

Z 1\x

is much easier than the 7 it would otherwise need to invert a complex number

XEQALPHAZINVALPHA I need to practice finding the right function (the main ones printed on the keyboard as well as the new ones provided by 41Z's ∑ZL keyboard, but my fingers are slowly starting to move in the right direction.

One thing I do notice, though, as that due to the need to press various keys (XEQ, ALPHA, SHIFT etc) it's sometimes possible to make a real mess if you miss a vital key in the middle of entering lots of data & instructions and find your stack totally screwed up, or several lines of program code full of nonsense….

I'm sure it'll all become second nature soon enough.

HP16C Emulator module

This is another interesting module to add the functionality of the HP16C - the Programmer's Calculator designed to handle calculations in various mathematical bases as used in computer programming and networking : Binary, Octal, Hexadecimal and Decimal. I adds much more value than the rather basic functions in the Advantage Pac module.

After much trial and error I found a combination of HP16C module and Library 4 library that worked correctly. The HP16C module needs the Library 4 module, but I found some problems with different versions. Using the versions contained in the Swiss Micros package had a weird bug - the 16* (multiplication) function simply didn't work. I found a post by Angel Martin on the HP Calculator Forum with a ZIP file containing the 2 modules that worked correctly.

Here is the zip file : hp-16c_rev.1a.zip

I'll make a separate guide to using the main features here DM41X HP16C Module

Guides

Hints & Tips

Swiss Micros Info

Firmware : https://technical.swissmicros.com/dm41x/firmware/
Documentation : Online User Manual
Documentation : PDF Manual
Product Page : DM41X

Issues

Arrived new with a speck of dirt behind the glass in front of the LCD.
- Able to remove by carefully prising the glass from its bezel (it's held in with double-sided tape)

41Z Deluxe Module

Weird behaviour with its "common factor" display

Update September 2024

The factorization error in the deluxe version has been fixed by Angel….

Swiss Micros forum discussion about the issue

the fixed version 41z_bs_2x2_2_.zip
My page DM41X 41z Module

DM41X Program Listings

See DM41X Progs

HP-41CX Owner's Manuals

Download from https://literature.hpcalc.org

HP-41CX Owner's Manual Vol. 1 : https://literature.hpcalc.org/community/hp41cx-om-vol1-en.pdf
HP-41CX Owner's Manual Vol. 2 : https://literature.hpcalc.org/community/hp41cx-om-vol2-en.pdf
HP-41CX Quick Reference Guide : https://literature.hpcalc.org/community/hp41cx-qrg-en.pdf

Page Updated : 13/04/26 19:35 BST

calculator, dm41x

HP-11C Info

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:31:18 +0000

←Calculator Hardware

HP-11C Info

Purchase Information

Date : 24/7/22
From : eBay
Price : £63.49
Serial : 2219AO3710

Notes

Bought on eBay as a first, relatively cheap, vintage HP Voyager model. Some of the keys are a little vague feeling, although always registering positively and never missing a key-press (unlike the Swiss Micro DM15L which occasionally misses a key-press if it's not performed with enough pressure).

I like the old feel, and although it's noticeably slower than more modern calculators, it has plenty of useful features and functions to be carried and used when the higher power or features of the DM42, DM41X or DM15L are not needed.

Guides

Hints & Tips

Issues

HP-11C Owner's Handbook

Download from https://literature.hpcalc.org

HP-11C Owner's Handbook & Problem-Solving Guide : https://literature.hpcalc.org/community/hp11c-oh-en.pdf

HP11C Program Listings

See HP11C Progs

Page Updated : 17/02/26 16:31 GMT

calculator, hp11c

DM15L Progs

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:01:20 +0000

←Programs

DM15L Progs

Dumps taken from the DM15L using a serial console session in Putty.

DM15L Startup Keys & Serial Console

Stock Swiss Micros Firmware

Dumps are also converted to readable program listings using the Swiss Micros online encode/decode tool at https://technical.swissmicros.com/decoders/nut/

Normal + "Complex Z to....."

LBL E converts Z=R±jX to RL, SWR, |ρ|∠ρ, |Z|∠Z

Data input :

if Z = R + j X, put R in Y-stack and X in X-stack and then run LBL E

R ENTER
X (and CHS as needed)
F
E

Results appear:

Stack X → Return Loss
Stack Y → SWR
Stack Z → (Re) |ρ| (Im) ∠ρ
Stack T → (Re) |Z| (Im) ∠Z

DM15_M1B
04  000000fffff000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00000996010eae
08  00000000000000  2faf8befbe2280  00000000000000  00000000000000
10  91000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000  02875000000998
14  f0000000000000  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000002ef  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  01900000000001
1c  02232142865997  01800000000002  02232142865997  01004474273000
20  05302556024001  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
ec  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000  0000000000b237
f0  36a43433a43231  44db43e1a43433  42db41e1a43231  47c3fcf0f2bc35
f4  46fda5cff185cf  f145b3db44db43  fdfaf0f5a43231  fbf0f5a4323141
f8  c5420eb23344fc  c3f0f2bcfdfaf1  33fbf143fda2cf  f182cff142cafd
fc  0ab2c3fcf0f2bc  fdfaf132fbf142  0bb2fdfbf132fa  f142ccfdf0f20c
A: 000000fffff000  B: 000000fffffeae  C: 00000996010eae
S: 00000000000000
M: 00000000000000  N: 00000000000000  G: 04

Decoded Dump

001  LBL C        | 42,21,13
002  2            |        2
003  0            |        0
004  /            |       10
005  10^x         |       13
006  STO 2        |    44  2
007  1            |        1
008  +            |       40
009  RCL 2        |    45  2
010  1            |        1
011  -            |       30
012  /            |       10
013  RTN          |   43  32
014  LBL B        | 42,21,12
015  STO 2        |    44  2
016  1            |        1
017  -            |       30
018  RCL 2        |    45  2
019  1            |        1
020  +            |       40
021  /            |       10
022  LOG          |   43  13
023  2            |        2
024  0            |        0
025  *            |       20
026  CHS          |       16
027  RTN          |   43  32
028  LBL A        | 42,21,11
029  /            |       10
030  sqrt         |       11
031  STO 2        |    44  2
032  1            |        1
033  RCL+2        | 45,40, 2
034  1            |        1
035  RCL-2        | 45,30, 2
036  /            |       10
037  STO 3        |    44  3
038  1            |        1
039  -            |       30
040  RCL 3        |    45  3
041  1            |        1
042  +            |       40
043  /            |       10
044  LOG          |   43  13
045  2            |        2
046  0            |        0
047  CHS          |       16
048  *            |       20
049  STO 4        |    44  4
050  RCL 3        |    45  3
051  RTN          |   43  32
052  LBL E        | 42,21,15
053  STO 2        |    44  2
054  x<>y         |       34
055  STO 1        |    44  1
056  RCL 1        |    45  1
057  RCL 2        |    45  2
058  I            |   42  25
059  5            |        5
060  0            |        0
061  -            |       30
062  RCL 1        |    45  1
063  RCL 2        |    45  2
064  I            |   42  25
065  5            |        5
066  0            |        0
067  +            |       40
068  /            |       10
069  STO 3        |    44  3
070  Re<>Im       |   42  30
071  STO 4        |    44  4
072  Re<>Im       |   42  30
073  ABS          |   43  16
074  STO 5        |    44  5
075  1            |        1
076  RCL+5        | 45,40, 5
077  1            |        1
078  RCL-5        | 45,30, 5
079  /            |       10
080  STO 6        |    44  6
081  RCL 5        |    45  5
082  LOG          |   43  13
083  2            |        2
084  0            |        0
085  *            |       20
086  CHS          |       16
087  STO 7        |    44  7
088  RCL 1        |    45  1
089  RCL 2        |    45  2
090  I            |   42  25
091  ->P          |     43 1
092  STO 1        |    44  1
093  Re<>Im       |   42  30
094  STO 2        |    44  2
095  RCL 3        |    45  3
096  RCL 4        |    45  4
097  I            |   42  25
098  ->P          |     43 1
099  STO 3        |    44  3
100  Re<>Im       |   42  30
101  STO 4        |    44  4
102  RCL 1        |    45  1
103  RCL 2        |    45  2
104  I            |   42  25
105  RCL 3        |    45  3
106  RCL 4        |    45  4
107  I            |   42  25
108  RCL 6        |    45  6
109  RCL 7        |    45  7
110  RTN          |   43  32

"Normal"

### 27/7/22 ####
# This is the usual set of 3 useful tool progs I have in the DM15L for quick calculation/conversion
# of antenna parameters.
#

Ref Power ENTER Fwd Power fA → SWR x<>y RL
SWR fB → Return Loss
Return Loss fC → SWR

DM15_M1B
00  03400000000001  01000000000001  08000000000000  00000000000000
04  155000000ff000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00002000010eae
08  00000000000000  2faf0bde7aa28f  000080bcbcaf80  00000000000000
10  00000000000000  01000000000001  00000000000000  03400000000001
14  f7365289440000  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000004f8  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  01387265622000
1c  01387265622000  01579783596001  05000000000001  02500000000003
20  01800000000002  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
f8  000000b23344fc  c3f0f2bcfdfaf1  33fbf143fda2cf  f182cff142cafd
fc  0ab2c3fcf0f2bc  fdfaf132fbf142  0bb2fdfbf132fa  f142ccfdf0f20c
A: 155000000ff000  B: 155000000ffeae  C: 00002000010eae
S: 00000000000000
M: 00000000000000  N: 05500000000001  G: 06

Decoded dump

LBL C
20

/
10^x
STO 2
1
+
RCL 2
1
-
/
RTN
LBL B
STO 2
1
-
RCL 2
1
+
/
LOG
20

*
CHS
RTN
LBL A
/
sqrt
STO 2
1
RCL+2
1
RCL-2
/
STO 3
1
-
RCL 3
1
+
/
LOG
20

CHS
*
STO 4
RCL 3
RTN

001  LBL C        | 42,21,13
002  2            |        2
003  0            |        0
004  /            |       10
005  10^x         |       13
006  STO 2        |    44  2
007  1            |        1
008  +            |       40
009  RCL 2        |    45  2
010  1            |        1
011  -            |       30
012  /            |       10
013  RTN          |   43  32
014  LBL B        | 42,21,12
015  STO 2        |    44  2
016  1            |        1
017  -            |       30
018  RCL 2        |    45  2
019  1            |        1
020  +            |       40
021  /            |       10
022  LOG          |   43  13
023  2            |        2
024  0            |        0
025  *            |       20
026  CHS          |       16
027  RTN          |   43  32
028  LBL A        | 42,21,11
029  /            |       10
030  sqrt         |       11
031  STO 2        |    44  2
032  1            |        1
033  RCL+2        | 45,40, 2
034  1            |        1
035  RCL-2        | 45,30, 2
036  /            |       10
037  STO 3        |    44  3
038  1            |        1
039  -            |       30
040  RCL 3        |    45  3
041  1            |        1
042  +            |       40
043  /            |       10
044  LOG          |   43  13
045  2            |        2
046  0            |        0
047  CHS          |       16
048  *            |       20
049  STO 4        |    44  4
050  RCL 3        |    45  3
051  RTN          |   43  32

N-Queens Benchmark 27/7/22

DM15_M1B
00  08000000000000  08000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
04  065140fffff000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00000000999eae
08  00000000000000  22af8d9e7e0080  00000000000000  00000000000000
10  08000000000000  08000000000000  01000000000000  01000000000000
14  f0000000000537  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000007f7  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  04000000000000
1c  01000000000000  03000000000000  06000000000000  02000000000000
20  07000000000000  05000000000000  00000000000000  08000000000000
24  08760000000002  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
f4  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000  b25104137030a0
f8  dff1117086bddf  f19730031276fb  3930b313ecfb86  c4973986973010
fc  ec39a9dff10249  3091dff1019650  973080dff11475  50300060f8a50a
A: 065140fffff000  B: 065140fffffeae  C: 00000000999eae
S: 00000000000000
M: aaaaaaaaaaaaaa  N: 06514000000000  G: 04

Decoded Dump

LBL A
CLR_REG
8
STO .0
LBL 0
RCL 0
RCL .0
TEST 5
GTO 4
1
STO+0
RCL 0
STO I
RCL .0
STO (i)
LBL 1
1
STO+.1
RCL 0
STO 9
LBL 2
1
STO-9
RCL 9
x=0
GTO 0
RCL 0
STO I
RCL (i)
RCL 9
STO I
R_down
RCL (i)
-
x=0
GTO 3
ABS
RCL 0
RCL 9
-
TEST 6
GTO 2
LBL 3
RCL 0
STO I
1
STO-(i)
RCL (i)
TEST 0
GTO 1
1
STO-0
RCL 0
TEST 0
GTO 3
LBL 4
RCL .1
RTN

001  LBL A        | 42,21,11
002  CLR_REG      |   42  34
003  8            |        8
004  STO .0       |    44 .0
005  LBL 0        | 42,21, 0
006  RCL 0        |    45  0
007  RCL .0       |    45 .0
008  TEST 5       | 43,30, 5
009  GTO 4        |    22  4
010  1            |        1
011  STO+0        | 44,40, 0
012  RCL 0        |    45  0
013  STO I        |   44  25
014  RCL .0       |    45 .0
015  STO (i)      |   44  24
016  LBL 1        | 42,21, 1
017  1            |        1
018  STO+.1       | 44,40,.1
019  RCL 0        |    45  0
020  STO 9        |    44  9
021  LBL 2        | 42,21, 2
022  1            |        1
023  STO-9        | 44,30, 9
024  RCL 9        |    45  9
025  x=0          |   43  20
026  GTO 0        |    22  0
027  RCL 0        |    45  0
028  STO I        |   44  25
029  RCL (i)      |   45  24
030  RCL 9        |    45  9
031  STO I        |   44  25
032  R_down       |       33
033  RCL (i)      |   45  24
034  -            |       30
035  x=0          |   43  20
036  GTO 3        |    22  3
037  ABS          |   43  16
038  RCL 0        |    45  0
039  RCL 9        |    45  9
040  -            |       30
041  TEST 6       | 43,30, 6
042  GTO 2        |    22  2
043  LBL 3        | 42,21, 3
044  RCL 0        |    45  0
045  STO I        |   44  25
046  1            |        1
047  STO-(i)      | 44,30,24
048  RCL (i)      |   45  24
049  TEST 0       | 43,30, 0
050  GTO 1        |    22  1
051  1            |        1
052  STO-0        | 44,30, 0
053  RCL 0        |    45  0
054  TEST 0       | 43,30, 0
055  GTO 3        |    22  3
056  LBL 4        | 42,21, 4
057  RCL .1       |    45 .1
058  RTN          |   43  32

Savage Benchmark 23/01/26

DM15_M1B
00  01000000000000  01000000000000  01000000000000  00000000000000
04  32499970322000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  40997997010eae
08  00000000000000  3ebeefb6e4228f  e79282e8bc2ac0  00000000000000
10  00000000000000  08000000000000  06000000000000  02498970322003
14  f0000000000504  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000001fc  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  06000000000000
1c  04000000000000  07000000000000  05000000000000  03000000000000
20  00000000000000  00000000000000  04000000000000  08000000000000
24  02100000000001  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
fc  000000000000b2  1b82fac9b9cbbb  caba0bc1c1c1f1  40f9f9f4f2e80a
A: 32499970322000  B: 32499970322eae  C: 40997997010eae
S: 00000000000000
M: 00000000000000  N: 02499970322003  G: 09

UPDATED "Butterworth" program 12/2/22

############################
#
#  Updated 12/2/22 : change to reduce amount of looping/storing 
#  Sub routine "LBL 8" changed
DM15_M1B
00  05108827280994  05000000000999  05000000000999  00000000000000
04  24547fff912000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00012012012eae
08  00000000000000  b6000a9eda000f  e6220040000000  00000000000000
10  07000000000000  05108827295994  08007000000000  05000000000001
14  f0000000012435  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000006f1  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00300  07293277408990
1c  01261776142994  04547284088990  01261776142994  07293277408990
20  05108827280994  01103787069994  04026420096990  08509227540993
24  02583151782990  04031222906993  05481145266989  07025940305993
28  09506412356989  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
2c  03500000000006  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
f0  00000000000000  00b2fcf2c7fdfc  f230fcf0f8f1fb  f1fcf200171195
f4  96ce50ff20eb87  012640b340ff72  c56930ff83ff0a  17b2139596fdf0
f8  f52805b2139596  fcf0f5280410ff  1950ffa3fdf2eb  87032607b297fa
fc  f1fdf0f0f0f130  06b21514ec00ff  b21415ec09b2fd  fcb6fcf2598608
A: 24547fff912000  B: 24547fff912eae  C: 00012012012eae
S: 00000100000000
M: 05108827280994  N: 04547284088990  G: 23

Dump above decoded at Swiss micros

001  LBL 8        | 42,21, 8
002  RCL (i)      |   45  24
003  RCL .9       |    45 .9
004  2            |        2
005  *            |       20
006  PI           |   43  26
007  *            |       20
008  /            |       10
009  RTN          |   43  32
010  LBL 9        | 42,21, 9
011  x=0          |   43  20
012  GTO 5        |    22  5
013  GTO 4        |    22  4
014  RTN          |   43  32
015  LBL .0       | 42,21,.0
016  x=0          |   43  20
017  GTO 4        |    22  4
018  GTO 5        |    22  5
019  RTN          |   43  32
020  LBL 6        | 42,21, 6
021  RCL 0        |    45  0
022  1            |        1
023  0            |        0
024  0            |        0
025  0            |        0
026  /            |       10
027  1            |        1
028  +            |       40
029  STO I        |   44  25
030  RTN          |   43  32
031  LBL 7        | 42,21, 7
032  GSB 6        |    32  6
033  LBL 3        | 42,21, 3
034  RCL I        |   45  25
035  INT          |   43  44
036  2            |        2
037  /            |       10
038  FRAC         |   42  44
039  F? 0         | 43, 6, 0
040  GTO 9        |    22  9
041  GTO .0       |    22 .0
042  LBL 4        | 42,21, 4
043  GSB 8        |    32  8
044  5            |        5
045  0            |        0
046  *            |       20
047  STO (i)      |   44  24
048  ISG I        | 42, 6,25
049  GTO 3        |    22  3
050  RTN          |   43  32
051  LBL 5        | 42,21, 5
052  GSB 8        |    32  8
053  5            |        5
054  0            |        0
055  /            |       10
056  STO (i)      |   44  24
057  ISG I        | 42, 6,25
058  GTO 3        |    22  3
059  RTN          |   43  32
060  GTO 7        |    22  7
061  LBL A        | 42,21,11
062  ENG 3        | 42, 9, 3
063  SF 0         | 43, 4, 0
064  STO .9       |    44 .9
065  x<>y         |       34
066  TEST 2       | 43,30, 2
067  CF 0         | 43, 5, 0
068  ABS          |   43  16
069  STO 0        |    44  0
070  GSB 6        |    32  6
071  LBL 1        | 42,21, 1
072  RCL I        |   45  25
073  INT          |   43  44
074  GSB 0        |    32  0
075  F? 0         | 43, 6, 0
076  1/x          |       15
077  STO (i)      |   44  24
078  ISG I        | 42, 6,25
079  GTO 1        |    22  1
080  GTO 7        |    22  7
081  LBL 0        | 42,21, 0
082  2            |        2
083  *            |       20
084  1            |        1
085  -            |       30
086  1            |        1
087  8            |        8
088  0            |        0
089  *            |       20
090  RCL 0        |    45  0
091  2            |        2
092  *            |       20
093  /            |       10
094  SIN          |       23
095  2            |        2
096  *            |       20
097  RTN          |   43  32

Dump

################################

DM15_M1B
00  01040000000003  01750000000002  01750000000002  00000000000000
04  08200000910000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00002000009eae
08  00000000000000  2faf8bf9fe2280  be220040bcaf80  00000000000000
10  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000  06283185308000
14  f7365289446075  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000007f2  000000000003ff
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  01924950591000
1c  01924950591000  01000000000001  05000000000001  02500000000003
20  01800000000002  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
f0  00000000000000  00000000000000  b23344fcc3f0f2  bcfdfaf133fbf1
f4  43fda2cff182cf  f142cafd0ab2c3  fcf0f2bcfdfaf1  32fbf1420bb2fd
f8  fbf132faf142cc  fdf0f20cb2fcf0  f1bcfdc3f3c6f1  fdf0f5ba0db2ca
fc  fcf0f5fcc3f3c6  f1ccfdf0f10eb2  c3fcf0f2bcfdfa  f1c5fbf1c1c100
A: 08200000910000  B: 08200000910eae  C: 00002000009eae
S: 00000100000000
M: 00000000000990  N: 08200000000990  G: 19

Dump above decoded @ Swiss Micros

# https://technical.swissmicros.com/decoders/nut/
#
001  LBL 0        | 42,21, 0
002  ENTER        |       36
003  ENTER        |       36
004  1            |        1
005  -            |       30
006  x<>y         |       34
007  1            |        1
008  +            |       40
009  /            |       10
010  LOG          |   43  13
011  2            |        2
012  0            |        0
013  *            |       20
014  CHS          |       16
015  RTN          |   43  32
016  LBL E        | 42,21,15
017  1            |        1
018  0            |        0
019  /            |       10
020  10^x         |       13
021  1            |        1
022  EEX          |       26
023  3            |        3
024  CHS          |       16
025  *            |       20
026  5            |        5
027  0            |        0
028  *            |       20
029  sqrt         |       11
030  RTN          |   43  32
031  LBL D        | 42,21,14
032  x^2          |   43  11
033  5            |        5
034  0            |        0
035  /            |       10
036  1            |        1
037  EEX          |       26
038  3            |        3
039  CHS          |       16
040  /            |       10
041  LOG          |   43  13
042  1            |        1
043  0            |        0
044  *            |       20
045  RTN          |   43  32
046  LBL C        | 42,21,13
047  2            |        2
048  0            |        0
049  /            |       10
050  10^x         |       13
051  STO 2        |    44  2
052  1            |        1
053  +            |       40
054  RCL 2        |    45  2
055  1            |        1
056  -            |       30
057  /            |       10
058  RTN          |   43  32
059  LBL B        | 42,21,12
060  STO 2        |    44  2
061  1            |        1
062  -            |       30
063  RCL 2        |    45  2
064  1            |        1
065  +            |       40
066  /            |       10
067  LOG          |   43  13
068  2            |        2
069  0            |        0
070  *            |       20
071  CHS          |       16
072  RTN          |   43  32
073  LBL A        | 42,21,11
074  /            |       10
075  sqrt         |       11
076  STO 2        |    44  2
077  1            |        1
078  RCL+2        | 45,40, 2
079  1            |        1
080  RCL-2        | 45,30, 2
081  /            |       10
082  STO 3        |    44  3
083  1            |        1
084  -            |       30
085  RCL 3        |    45  3
086  1            |        1
087  +            |       40
088  /            |       10
089  LOG          |   43  13
090  2            |        2
091  0            |        0
092  CHS          |       16
093  *            |       20
094  STO 4        |    44  4
095  RCL 3        |    45  3
096  RTN          |   43  32

Dump

######################################################


DM15
00  01544068044001  01544068044001  01544068044001  00000000000000
04  1154407ffff000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00000000000eae
08  00000000000000  362f0d9e8a808f  00000000002a00  00000000000000
10  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000  02000000000001
14  f0000000000027  c0d2d2d2d2d2d2  000000000004f8  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  00000000000000
c0  01406828223000  01406828223000  01544068044001  00000000000000
f8  000000b23344fc  c3f0f2bcfdfaf1  33fbf143fda2cf  f182cff142cafd
fc  0ab2c3fcf0f2bc  fdfaf132fbf142  0bb2fdfbf132fa  f142ccfdf0f20c
A: 1154407ffff000  B: 1154407ffffeae  C: 00000000000eae
S: 00000000000000
M: 15440680436000  N: 01544068044001  G: 04

Decode of Dump above

#
001  LBL C        | 42,21,13
002  2            |        2
003  0            |        0
004  /            |       10
005  10^x         |       13
006  STO 2        |    44  2
007  1            |        1
008  +            |       40
009  RCL 2        |    45  2
010  1            |        1
011  -            |       30
012  /            |       10
013  RTN          |   43  32
014  LBL B        | 42,21,12
015  STO 2        |    44  2
016  1            |        1
017  -            |       30
018  RCL 2        |    45  2
019  1            |        1
020  +            |       40
021  /            |       10
022  LOG          |   43  13
023  2            |        2
024  0            |        0
025  *            |       20
026  CHS          |       16
027  RTN          |   43  32
028  LBL A        | 42,21,11
029  /            |       10
030  sqrt         |       11
031  STO 2        |    44  2
032  1            |        1
033  RCL+2        | 45,40, 2
034  1            |        1
035  RCL-2        | 45,30, 2
036  /            |       10
037  STO 3        |    44  3
038  1            |        1
039  -            |       30
040  RCL 3        |    45  3
041  1            |        1
042  +            |       40
043  /            |       10
044  LOG          |   43  13
045  2            |        2
046  0            |        0
047  CHS          |       16
048  *            |       20
049  STO 4        |    44  4
050  RCL 3        |    45  3
051  RTN          |   43  32
########################################################################

Dump 23/12/21

### 23/12/21
# A = Stack Y -> Ref, Stack X ->Fwd -> [f][A] -> Stack Y = RL, Stack X = SWR
# B = SWR -> RL
# C = RL -> SWR
# D = PiAttn : (y = attn, x = Zo) -> [f][D] -> (y = series R, x = shunt Rs)
# E = Fibonacci Number x = n -> f(n)
# 


DM15_M1B
00  03400000000001  01000000000001  08000000000000  00000000000000
04  155000000ff000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00002000010eae
08  00000000000000  2faf0bde7aa28f  000080bcbcaf80  00000000000000
10  00000000000000  01000000000001  00000000000000  03400000000001
14  f7365289446057  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000001f1  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  01387265622000
1c  01387265622000  01579783596001  05000000000001  02500000000003
20  01800000000002  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
f0  00000000000000  000000000000b2  3344fcc3f0f2bc  fdfaf133fbf143
f4  fda2cff182cff1  42cafd0ab2c3fc  f0f2bcfdfaf132  fbf1420bb2fdfb
f8  f132faf142ccfd  f0f20cb2333444  c0cffdc2cff2fb  ba32f143c0cffd
fc  a2cff182cff142  ccfdc3f0f241c5  400db21182c5b1  fa01f0c1f1400e
A: 155000000ff000  B: 155000000ffeae  C: 00002000010eae
S: 00000000000000
M: 00000000000000  N: 05500000000001  G: 06

Decode of dump above

# 
#
001  LBL E        | 42,21,15
002  STO 0        |    44  0
003  1            |        1
004  ENTER        |       36
005  0            |        0
006  LBL 1        | 42,21, 1
007  +            |       40
008  LSTx         |   43  36
009  x<>y         |       34
010  DSE 0        | 42, 5, 0
011  GTO 1        |    22  1
012  RTN          |   43  32
013  LBL D        | 42,21,14
014  STO 0        |    44  0
015  x<>y         |       34
016  STO 1        |    44  1
017  2            |        2
018  0            |        0
019  CHS          |       16
020  /            |       10
021  10^x         |       13
022  STO 2        |    44  2
023  1            |        1
024  RCL+2        | 45,40, 2
025  1            |        1
026  RCL-2        | 45,30, 2
027  /            |       10
028  RCL*0        | 45,20, 0
029  STO 3        |    44  3
030  1            |        1
031  RCL 2        |    45  2
032  x^2          |   43  11
033  -            |       30
034  2            |        2
035  RCL*2        | 45,20, 2
036  /            |       10
037  RCL*0        | 45,20, 0
038  STO 4        |    44  4
039  RCL 4        |    45  4
040  RCL 3        |    45  3
041  RTN          |   43  32
042  LBL C        | 42,21,13
043  2            |        2
044  0            |        0
045  /            |       10
046  10^x         |       13
047  STO 2        |    44  2
048  1            |        1
049  +            |       40
050  RCL 2        |    45  2
051  1            |        1
052  -            |       30
053  /            |       10
054  RTN          |   43  32
055  LBL B        | 42,21,12
056  STO 2        |    44  2
057  1            |        1
058  -            |       30
059  RCL 2        |    45  2
060  1            |        1
061  +            |       40
062  /            |       10
063  LOG          |   43  13
064  2            |        2
065  0            |        0
066  *            |       20
067  CHS          |       16
068  RTN          |   43  32
069  LBL A        | 42,21,11
070  /            |       10
071  sqrt         |       11
072  STO 2        |    44  2
073  1            |        1
074  RCL+2        | 45,40, 2
075  1            |        1
076  RCL-2        | 45,30, 2
077  /            |       10
078  STO 3        |    44  3
079  1            |        1
080  -            |       30
081  RCL 3        |    45  3
082  1            |        1
083  +            |       40
084  /            |       10
085  LOG          |   43  13
086  2            |        2
087  0            |        0
088  CHS          |       16
089  *            |       20
090  STO 4        |    44  4
091  RCL 3        |    45  3
092  RTN          |   43  32
=======================================================================
#

Dump 10/2/22

#
#    10 Feb 2022
#    Butterworth Filter designer
#    enter filter order (n) into Y register (+ = HPF, - = LPF) , 
#    enter Freq into X register
#    execute program with [f] [A]
#    Values for each component are obtained from registers R1 -> Rn 

DM15_M1B
00  02251666050002  03218976343993  03218976343993  00000000000000
04  16640fff000000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00012012012eae
08  00000000000000  36800bdf7e820f  bef20200000000  00000000000000
10  05000000000000  03218976343993  06005000000000  02000000000000
14  f0000000012377  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000005f0  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00300  04918158214989
1c  09947183945992  04918158214989  03218976343993  01103787069994
20  04547284088990  01103787069994  04026420096990  08509227540993
24  02583151782990  04031222906993  05481145266989  07025940305993
28  09506412356989  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
2c  04000000000007  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
f0  0000b2fcf2c7fd  fcf230fcf0f8f1  fbf1fcf2001811  9596ce50ff20eb
f4  87012640b340ff  72c56930ff83ff  0a17129596fdfc  b6fcf25986eb87
f8  022608b2139596  fdf0f58605b213  9596fcf0f58604  10ff1950ffa3fd
fc  f2eb87032607b2  97faf1fdf0f0f0  f13006b21514ec  00ffb21415ec09
A: 16640fff000000  B: 16640fff000eae  C: 00012012012eae
S: 00000100000000
M: 02000000000001  N: 06639528095001  G: 23

Decode of dump above

=====================================================================
001  LBL 9        | 42,21, 9
002  x=0          |   43  20
003  GTO 5        |    22  5
004  GTO 4        |    22  4
005  RTN          |   43  32
006  LBL .0       | 42,21,.0
007  x=0          |   43  20
008  GTO 4        |    22  4
009  GTO 5        |    22  5
010  RTN          |   43  32
011  LBL 6        | 42,21, 6
012  RCL 0        |    45  0
013  1            |        1
014  0            |        0
015  0            |        0
016  0            |        0
017  /            |       10
018  1            |        1
019  +            |       40
020  STO I        |   44  25
021  RTN          |   43  32
022  LBL 7        | 42,21, 7
023  GSB 6        |    32  6
024  LBL 3        | 42,21, 3
025  RCL I        |   45  25
026  INT          |   43  44
027  2            |        2
028  /            |       10
029  FRAC         |   42  44
030  F? 0         | 43, 6, 0
031  GTO 9        |    22  9
032  GTO .0       |    22 .0
033  LBL 4        | 42,21, 4
034  RCL (i)      |   45  24
035  5            |        5
036  0            |        0
037  *            |       20
038  STO (i)      |   44  24
039  ISG I        | 42, 6,25
040  GTO 3        |    22  3
041  RTN          |   43  32
042  LBL 5        | 42,21, 5
043  RCL (i)      |   45  24
044  5            |        5
045  0            |        0
046  /            |       10
047  STO (i)      |   44  24
048  ISG I        | 42, 6,25
049  GTO 3        |    22  3
050  RTN          |   43  32
051  LBL 8        | 42,21, 8
052  GSB 6        |    32  6
053  LBL 2        | 42,21, 2
054  RCL I        |   45  25
055  INT          |   43  44
056  RCL (i)      |   45  24
057  RCL .9       |    45 .9
058  2            |        2
059  *            |       20
060  PI           |   43  26
061  *            |       20
062  /            |       10
063  STO (i)      |   44  24
064  ISG I        | 42, 6,25
065  GTO 2        |    22  2
066  GTO 7        |    22  7
067  LBL A        | 42,21,11
068  ENG 3        | 42, 9, 3
069  SF 0         | 43, 4, 0
070  STO .9       |    44 .9
071  x<>y         |       34
072  TEST 2       | 43,30, 2
073  CF 0         | 43, 5, 0
074  ABS          |   43  16
075  STO 0        |    44  0
076  GSB 6        |    32  6
077  LBL 1        | 42,21, 1
078  RCL I        |   45  25
079  INT          |   43  44
080  GSB 0        |    32  0
081  F? 0         | 43, 6, 0
082  1/x          |       15
083  STO (i)      |   44  24
084  ISG I        | 42, 6,25
085  GTO 1        |    22  1
086  GTO 8        |    22  8
087  LBL 0        | 42,21, 0
088  2            |        2
089  *            |       20
090  1            |        1
091  -            |       30
092  1            |        1
093  8            |        8
094  0            |        0
095  *            |       20
096  RCL 0        |    45  0
097  2            |        2
098  *            |       20
099  /            |       10
100  SIN          |       23
101  2            |        2
102  *            |       20
103  RTN          |   43  32

Dump 07/02/25

###############
# 7 Feb 2025
# LBL A = y : ref/ x : fwd fA -> y : RL / x : SWR
# LBL B = SWR -> RL
# LBL C = RL -> SWR
# LBL D = Gas calc (tare ENTER gross ENTER cylinder "full gas weight" (i.e. 6/13/19kg) f D -> percentage full
# LBL E = DTT Freq <-> Channel conversion

DM15_M1B
00  09806650000000  02200000000001  03060000000002  00000000000000
04  066261ff934000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00000991000eae
08  00000000000000  39a287df7e2200  dba00240000000  00000000000000
10  01579783596001  01579783596001  00000000000000  08000000000000
14  f0000000000014  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000005f0  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  01387265619000
1c  01387265622000  01579783596001  00000000000000  00000000000000
f0  0000b2fdfbf1c5  faf1c1c1ccfdf0  f20cb2c3fcf0f2  bcfdfaf1c5fbf1
f4  c1c10bb23344c3  fcf0f2bcfdfaf1  33fbf143fda2cf  f182cff142cafd
f8  0ab2fcf0f0f1fd  32fbc531fcf4f5  f4c0fafdf6f1fc  f0f0f1a3c5ebc1
fc  40c441c4420db2  faf6f0f3fcf809  b2fdf8fbf6f0f3  1978c5f6f0f30e
A: 066261ff934000  B: 066261ff934eae  C: 00000991000eae
S: 00000100000000
M: 03060000000002  N: 06626070150966  G: 04

Work Tools 23/01/26

###################################
#
#   Label A = DTT : Freq / Channel conversion
#   Label B = Gas : Tare/Gross/Size to calculate percentage-full
#   Label C = Return Loss to SWR conversion
#   Label D = SWR to Return Loss conversion
#   Label E = Reflected & Forward power to Return Loss and SWR calculation

DM15_M1B
00  03060000000002  04925000000001  04925000000001  00000000000000
04  2698000000f000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  00002001001eae
08  00000000000000  bfaf0bfe7e228f  02f082bcbcaf80  00000000000000
10  04002000000001  03650000000001  06000000000000  03060000000002
14  f0000000000100  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000005f0  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  01622214211999
1c  01387265622000  01579783596001  05000000000000  03000000000000
20  00000000000000  00000000000000  04000000000000  08000000000000
24  02100000000001  00000000000000  00000000000000  00000000000000
f0  0000b2faf6f0f3  fcf809b2fdf8fb  f6f0f31978c5f6  f0f30ab2fcf0f0
f4  f1fd32fbc531fc  f4f5f4c0fafdf6  f1fcf0f0f1a3c5  ebc140c441c442
f8  0bb2c3fcf0f2bc  fdfaf1c5fbf1c1  c10db2fdfbf1c5  faf1c1c1ccfdf0
fc  f20cb23344c3fc  f0f2bcfdfaf133  fbf143fda2cff1  82cff142cafd0e
A: 2698000000f000  B: 2698000000feae  C: 00002001001eae
S: 00000000000000
M: 06980000000000  N: 06980000000002  G: 06

Decoded Dump

001  LBL E        | 42,21,15
002  /            |       10
003  sqrt         |       11
004  STO 2        |    44  2
005  1            |        1
006  RCL+2        | 45,40, 2
007  1            |        1
008  RCL-2        | 45,30, 2
009  /            |       10
010  STO 3        |    44  3
011  1            |        1
012  -            |       30
013  RCL 3        |    45  3
014  1            |        1
015  +            |       40
016  /            |       10
017  LOG          |   43  13
018  2            |        2
019  0            |        0
020  *            |       20
021  CHS          |       16
022  STO 4        |    44  4
023  RCL 3        |    45  3
024  RTN          |   43  32
025  LBL C        | 42,21,13
026  2            |        2
027  0            |        0
028  /            |       10
029  10^x         |       13
030  ENTER        |       36
031  ENTER        |       36
032  1            |        1
033  +            |       40
034  x<>y         |       34
035  1            |        1
036  -            |       30
037  /            |       10
038  RTN          |   43  32
039  LBL D        | 42,21,14
040  ENTER        |       36
041  ENTER        |       36
042  1            |        1
043  -            |       30
044  x<>y         |       34
045  1            |        1
046  +            |       40
047  /            |       10
048  LOG          |   43  13
049  2            |        2
050  0            |        0
051  *            |       20
052  CHS          |       16
053  RTN          |   43  32
054  LBL B        | 42,21,12
055  STO 2        |    44  2
056  R_down       |       33
057  STO 1        |    44  1
058  R_down       |       33
059  STO 0        |    44  0
060  ENTER        |       36
061  INT          |   43  44
062  x<>y         |       34
063  FRAC         |   42  44
064  1            |        1
065  0            |        0
066  0            |        0
067  *            |       20
068  1            |        1
069  6            |        6
070  /            |       10
071  +            |       40
072  .            |       48
073  4            |        4
074  5            |        5
075  4            |        4
076  *            |       20
077  RCL 1        |    45  1
078  x<>y         |       34
079  -            |       30
080  RCL 2        |    45  2
081  /            |       10
082  1            |        1
083  0            |        0
084  0            |        0
085  *            |       20
086  RTN          |   43  32
087  LBL A        | 42,21,11
088  3            |        3
089  0            |        0
090  6            |        6
091  x<>y         |       34
092  TEST 8       | 43,30, 8
093  GTO 9        |    22  9
094  3            |        3
095  0            |        0
096  6            |        6
097  -            |       30
098  8            |        8
099  /            |       10
100  RTN          |   43  32
101  LBL 9        | 42,21, 9
102  8            |        8
103  *            |       20
104  3            |        3
105  0            |        0
106  6            |        6
107  +            |       40
108  RTN          |   43  32

LBL A = DTT MHz or Channel No f A → Channel No or MHz
LBL B = Gas : tare weight ENTER gross kg ENTER cylinder size kg f B → Fill percentage %
LBL C = Return Loss dBf C → SWR
LBL D = SWR f D → Return Loss dB
LBL E = Reflected Power ENTER Forward Power f E → Return Loss dB (y), SWR (x)

Solve with an Integral

from HP34C manual pp233
Solves Bessel function for Bessel-zero mod. index value

DM15_M1B
00  02404827787000  00000000000000  01570796327996  30001fd33ff996
04  024048fffff000  00000000000008  0000000000000c  40999997000eae
08  00000000000000  2fbf8db6e42080  00000000000040  00000000000000
10  02404827787000  00000000000000  00000000000000  95139629874993
14  00000000000000  1b2d2d2d2d2d2d  000000000006fd  00000000000000
18  00000000000000  0000000000007f  00000000a00000  00000000000000
fc  00000000000000  00b2fdb6c8fc30  c703b2b170a2ed  b333efb6f0400a
A: 024048fffff000  B: 024048fffffeae  C: 40999997000eae
S: 00000000000000
M: 000000000060fd  N: 02404827787000  G: 04


LBL A
STO 0
0
PI
∫ 3
ABS
         // THIS IS A METHOD OF RESTRICTING SOLVE TO A CERTAIN ACCURACY TO REDUCE THE TIME..
x<=y?    // y has the Integration accuracy estimate. We test if our "zero" is <= this. No point in trying further. Limits search time
CLx      // if our current guess for "zero" is better than the integration accuracy estimate we wipe "x" to an "actual" zero so that the SOLVE will complete
x≠0?     // if it wasn't "zero" we replace the last estimate of the integration and the SOLVE continues
LASTx
RTN

LBL 3
SIN
RCL 0
*
COS
PI
/
RTN

be in RAD angle mode
put initial guesses of 0 ENTER 1 and then f SOLVE A
first bessel zero at mod index 2.405

Program dumps for LF15C

Firmware details

LF15C - firmware for the DM15

Start of thread : https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-20046.html
- Serial Port dump info : https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-20046-post-194697.html#pid194697
Serial Port settings
- Rate : 57600
- Data : 8 bit
- Stop : 1 bit
- Parity : None
- Flow Control : None
To extract a dump from calculator press and hold STO
- the non-zero digits can be copy/pasted into a text file for storage
To upload a previously saved dump
- copy it to clipboard and then
- press and hold RCL until the terminal shows Paste PrgMemory:
- in Putty ShiftFnInsert to paste clipboard text into terminal

Butterworth Filter

43 8 17 255 17 19 30 39 103 39 40 86 43 9 118 12 7 5 7 4 86 43 10 118 12 7 4 7 5 86 43 6 17 0 26 25 25 25 40 26 37 13 254 86 43 7 6 6 43 3 17 254 93 30 40 53 115 0 7 9 7 10 43 4 6 8 31 25 39 13 255 75 254 7 3 86 43 5 6 8 31 25 40 13 255 75 254 7 3 86 7 7 43 100 76 3 107 0 13 19 14 118 3 111 0 104 13 0 6 6 43 1 17 254 93 6 0 115 0 20 13 255 75 254 7 1 7 7 43 0 30 39 26 38 26 32 25 39 17 0 30 39 40 11 30 39 86 0

Order n (+ is HPF, - is LPF) → y
Frequency (Hz) → X
fA
Results are in R01 … R0n

Benchmarks

Savage, 8-queens, HP Maths and HP Trig

43 77 31 35 29 30 35 13 0 25 13 2 43 78 17 0 11 91 15 95 19 99 88 8 26 121 2 7 78 86 43 104 25 13 2 26 29 25 26 30 34 27 23 35 13 0 30 29 34 27 31 13 1 43 2 17 1 17 0 39 17 1 38 17 0 40 17 1 39 34 29 31 40 4 26 121 2 7 2 86 43 88 54 32 13 10 43 80 17 0 17 10 118 6 7 84 26 121 0 17 0 13 254 17 10 13 255 43 81 26 121 11 17 0 13 9 43 82 26 122 9 17 9 118 12 7 80 17 0 13 254 17 255 17 9 13 254 10 17 255 38 118 12 7 83 104 17 0 17 9 38 118 7 7 82 43 83 17 0 13 254 26 122 255 17 255 118 1 7 81 26 122 0 17 0 118 1 7 83 43 84 17 11 58 86 43 100 112 30 27 36 36 13 0 26 22 22 22 43 101 84 4 88 8 99 19 37 71 0 7 101 58 86 0

Savage is prog A : fA
8-Queens is prog 88 : f LBL 88
- Both the above use runTime to measure execution time - returns result in y and time in x
HP Museum Maths Benchmark is prog E : fE.
- Run for 60 seconds, press R/S and find result in reg 02 RCL02
HP Museum Trig Benchmark is prog 77 : fLBL 77.
- Run for 60 seconds, press R/S and find result in reg 02 RCL02

Work Tools

43 104 40 4 13 2 26 125 2 26 126 2 40 13 3 26 38 17 3 26 37 40 92 30 25 39 24 17 3 86 43 103 22 22 26 38 14 26 37 40 92 30 25 39 24 86 43 102 30 25 40 12 22 22 26 37 14 26 38 40 86 43 101 13 2 10 13 1 10 13 0 22 93 14 53 26 25 25 39 26 35 40 37 29 27 31 27 39 17 1 14 38 17 2 40 26 25 25 39 86 43 100 34 25 31 14 118 8 7 1 32 39 34 25 35 37 86 43 1 34 25 35 38 32 40 86 0

LBL A = DTT (Channel ↔ Freq )
LBL B = Gas
LBL C = Return Loss → SWR
LBL D = SWR → Return Loss
LBL E = Reflected Power & Forward Power → Return Loss & SWR

Work Tools & Benchmarks

43 55 31 35 29 30 35 13 0 25 13 2 43 56 17 0 11 91 15 95 19 99 88 8 26 121 2 7 56 86 43 44 25 13 2 26 29 25 26 30 34 27 23 35 13 0 30 29 34 27 31 13 1 43 45 17 1 17 0 39 17 1 38 17 0 40 17 1 39 34 29 31 40 4 26 121 2 7 45 86 43 88 54 32 13 10 43 80 17 0 17 10 118 6 7 84 26 121 0 17 0 13 254 17 10 13 255 43 81 26 121 11 17 0 13 9 43 82 26 122 9 17 9 118 12 7 80 17 0 13 254 17 255 17 9 13 254 10 17 255 38 118 12 7 83 104 17 0 17 9 38 118 7 7 82 43 83 17 0 13 254 26 122 255 17 255 118 1 7 81 26 122 0 17 0 118 1 7 83 43 84 17 11 58 86 43 66 112 30 27 36 36 13 0 26 22 22 22 43 67 84 4 88 8 99 19 37 71 0 7 67 58 86 43 104 40 4 13 2 26 125 2 26 126 2 40 13 3 26 38 17 3 26 37 40 92 30 25 39 24 17 3 86 43 103 22 22 26 38 14 26 37 40 92 30 25 39 24 86 43 102 30 25 40 12 22 22 26 37 14 26 38 40 86 43 101 13 2 10 13 1 10 13 0 22 93 14 53 26 25 25 39 26 35 40 37 29 27 31 27 39 17 1 14 38 17 2 40 26 25 25 39 86 43 100 34 25 31 14 118 8 7 1 32 39 34 25 35 37 86 43 1 34 25 35 38 32 40 86 0 0

LBL A = DTT (Channel ↔ Freq )
LBL B = Gas
LBL C = Return Loss → SWR
LBL D = SWR → Return Loss
LBL E = Reflected Power & Forward Power → Return Loss & SWR

Savage is prog is prog 66 : f LBL 66
8-Queens is prog 88 : f LBL 88
- Both the above use runTime to measure execution time - returns result in y and time in x
HP Museum Maths Benchmark is prog is prog 44 : f LBL 44
- Run for 60 seconds, press R/S and find result in reg 02 RCL02
HP Museum Trig Benchmark is prog 55 : fLBL 55.
- Run for 60 seconds, press R/S and find result in reg 02 RCL02

Dot/Cross/Uvec

43 12 22 104 40 86 43 11 13 99 10 13 98 55 17 99 39 17 98 17 99 55 39 38 30 78 40 86 43 10 13 98 10 13 99 17 98 55 39 17 98 17 99 55 39 37 30 40 86 0 0

* Dot Product of 2 complex numbers in y and x

|Y||X|Cosθ
- Y = Y_re + j Y_im
- X = X_re + j X_im
- Dot Product Y ⋅ X = Y_reX_re + Y_imX_im
Another way without splitting the complex number into its real & imaginary parts
- Dot Product Y ⋅ X = (Y^*.X + Y.X^*) / 2
  - f LBL 10

Cross Product of 2 complex numbers in y and x
- |Y||X|Sinθ
  - Y = Y_re + j Y_im
  - X = X_re + j X_im
  - Cross Product Y ⊗ X = Y_reX_im - Y_imX_re
- Another way without splitting the complex number into its real & imaginary parts
  - Cross Product Y ⊗ X = (Y^*.X - Y.X^*) / 2i
    - f LBL 11

Unit Vector of a complex number in x : f LBL 12

Dot Product

LBL 10
STO 98
R↓
STO 99
RCL 98
f (i)
x
RCL 98
RCL 99
f (i)
x
+
2
/
RTN

Cross Product

LBL 11
STO 99
R↓
STO 98
f (i)
RCL 99
x
RCL 98
RCL 99
f (i)
x
-
2
f Re<>Im
/
RTN

UVEC

LBL 12
ENTER
ABS
/
RTN

Work Tools & Dot/Cross/UVEC

43 104 40 4 13 2 26 125 2 26 126 2 40 13 3 26 38 17 3 26 37 40 92 30 25 39 24 13 4 17 3 86 43 102 30 25 40 12 22 22 26 37 14 26 38 40 86 43 103 22 22 26 38 14 26 37 40 92 30 25 39 24 86 43 101 13 2 10 13 1 10 13 0 22 93 14 53 26 25 25 39 26 35 40 37 29 27 31 27 39 17 1 14 38 17 2 40 26 25 25 39 86 43 100 34 25 35 14 118 9 7 9 34 25 35 38 32 40 86 43 9 32 39 34 25 35 37 86 43 12 22 104 40 86 43 11 13 99 10 13 98 55 17 99 39 17 98 17 99 55 39 38 30 78 40 86 43 10 13 98 10 13 99 17 98 55 39 17 98 17 99 55 39 37 30 40 86 0 0

LBL A = DTT MHz or Channel No f A → Channel No or MHz
LBL B = Gas : tare weight ENTER gross kg ENTER cylinder size kg f B → Fill percentage %
LBL C = Return Loss dBf C → SWR
LBL D = SWR f D → Return Loss dB
LBL E = Reflected Power ENTER Forward Power f E → Return Loss dB (y), SWR (x)

LBL 10 = Dot Product
LBL 11 = Cross Product
LBL 12 = Unit Vector

Solve with an Integral

from HP34C manual pp233
Solves Bessel function for Bessel-zero mod. index value

differs from the DM15L (HP15C) version because the Integration Accuracy estimate is very small so the test of x < = y? will never be true
instead we store a required ACC value (much like in the HP42S/DM42) in R001 and test against this instead

Memory Dump

43 100 13 0 25 103 79 3 104 17 1 118 8 98 118 1 102 86 43 3 11 17 0 39 15 103 40 86 0 0

Code


LBL A
STO 0
0
PI
∫ 3
ABS
RCL 1
x>y? // test if current guess (y) is better (lower) than our required accuracy (x)
CLx   // if it is, we're near enough, put a real zero in x
x≠0   // if it isn't zero we need to continue
LASTx // put back the last guess into x and the SOLVE goes on
RTN


LBL 3
SIN
RCL 0
*
COS
PI
/
RTN

be in RAD angle mode
put your ACC value in R001 (e.g. 0.0001 or 0.00001)
put initial guesses of 1 ENTER 2 and then f SOLVE A
first bessel zero at mod index 2.4048

Integrate Tests

The 12 Integration examples from the PPC ROM handbook section IG

43 12 84 24 26 37 14 24 30 37 39 4 86 43 11 28 16 14 84 24 26 37 4 39 14 24 30 37 26 34 22 30 40 16 40 86 43 10 84 24 26 37 4 86 43 9 30 20 24 16 86 43 8 88 15 86 43 7 35 25 25 103 39 37 4 14 4 37 14 11 84 35 25 25 39 14 40 86 43 6 24 27 37 14 39 4 86 43 5 4 14 26 38 40 14 88 20 38 86 43 4 88 86 43 3 103 39 11 86 43 2 4 86 43 1 27 14 84 26 37 40 86 0 0

SCI04 display mode

12 programs. Set limits and then execute f ∫ prog number

For example for program 1

0 ENTER 1 f ∫ 0 1 gives answer 3.1416

Limits 0 → 1 answer 3.1416
Limits 0 → 1 answer 6.6667 E-1
Limits 0 → 1 answer 6.3662 E-1 (rads mode)
Limits 0 → 1 answer -1.000
Limits 0 → 1 answer 3.6490 E-2
Limits 0 → 2 answer 3.1416
Limits 0 → π answer 2.1102 E1
Limits 0 → 1 answer 5.0000 E-1 (rads mode)
Limits 0 → 1 answer 2.0000
Limits 0 → 1 answer 7.8540 E-1
Limits -1 → 1 answer 2.3857 E-2
Limits -1 → 1 answer 2.2033

Using FIX10 still allows the integrations to complete almost instantly except for Program 8 which takes around 8 seconds!

Dropping to FIX08 and program 8 integration completes almost instantaneously too. Strangely Program 8 has some odd behaviour regarding display precision.

FIX04 → FIX07 → instantaneous answer 0.5000….
FIX08 → instantaneous answer 0.50000….
FIX09 → 8 seconds answer 0.499964689
FIX10 → 8 seconds answer 0.4999747623
FIX11 → 10 seconds answer 0.49999489949
FIX12 → 10 seconds answer 0.499999962001
FIX13 → instantaneous answer 0.5000……
FIX14 → instantaneous answer 0.500000……
FIX15 → instantaneous answer 0.5000000……

Page Info

Page created Thu May 26 17:35:39 2022 by John Pumford-Green

Page last updated: 16/04/26 16:01 BST

Further Information

calculator, dm15l, lf15c

DM16L Progs

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 15:34:14 +0000

←Programs

DM16L Progs

Some Programming aids…

65C22 Timer values

To calculate T1CH & T1CL values for an audio frequency tone generator (akin to the DM41X Ladybug version DM41X Progs)

Counter calculation

The required count is calculated from Φ₂ and the audio frequency required.

Count (decimal)

{ Φ₂ / ( 2 x F ) } - 2

for 1000Hz and a 1MHz Φ₂ :

Count = { 1,000,000 / ( 2 X 1000 ) } - 2 = 498

498d → $01F2

Start in DEC mode (and UNSIGNED integers)

put required audio tone frequency in X

GSBA

Result is shown in hex

e.g.

DEC 1000 GSBA Result 001F2 H

$01F2

T1CH = $01
T1CL = $F2

The Program Listing

43,22,A   | g LBL A
44 0      | STO 0
2         | 20
0
42 44     | f WSIZE (i.e. WSIZE = 20)
1         | 1000000
0
0
0
0
0
0
45 0      | RCL 0
2         | 2
20        | x
10        | /
2         | 2
30        | -
23        | HEX
43 21     | g RTN

Version 2

To calculate VIA T1 values with different CPU Φ₂ clock frequencies.

Switch to DEC mode. Set word size to 24.

Put required CPU Φ₂ in Y and required audio freq. in X

GSBB

Answer is in HEX.

e.g 1MHz CPU Φ₂ and 1000Hz Audio

1000000 Enter 1000 GSBB

0001F2 H

Timer values T1CL → $F2 and T1CH → $01

or for 4MHz and 100Hz (e.g. for a 10ms TICK)

4000000 Enter 100 GSBB

4E1E H

Timer values T1CL → $1E and T1CH → $4E

Routine B

— John Pumford-Green 07/08/22 07:14

Further Information

calculator, dm16l

Dokuwiki Mirror

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 07:17:18 +0000

←Archive

Dokuwiki Mirror

I'm running a SANDBOX installation of dokuwiki on the small headless server in have in the shack.

This is to allow me to mess around with templates and layouts and things without impacting the real wiki.

To give it some data - a full mirror of the existing real wiki - I've used rsync

cd /var/www/html/
sudo rsync -av --delete gm4slv@gm4slv.org.uk:/var/www/html/dokuwiki/ ./dokuwiki/

This copies the production wiki into the web server root on the little sandbox machine.

UPDATE — John Pumford-Green 27/04/23 05:53

Added –delete to the command, to remove pages in the Mirror copy that have been deleted from the VPS (production) server, to keep them properly in step.

I can then play around to my heart's content.

The same mechanism would work to retrieve/install the whole wiki from a backup

I've put it in a shell script:

#!/bin/bash
 
WEBDIR=/var/www/html/dokuwiki/
 
SERVERDIR=/var/www/html/dokuwiki/
 
SERVER=gm4slv.org.uk
 
 
sudo  rsync -e "ssh -l gm4slv -i /home/gm4slv/.ssh/id_rsa"  -av $SERVER:$SERVERDIR $WEBDIR

This means I can automate the mirroring with crontab of I wanted to, but it would mean the sandbox will lose any local modifications I've done. Perhaps it's best to keep the option to revert to production version as something I do from time to time, rather then automatically.

(UPDATE — John Pumford-Green 30/05/22 19:37 )

Encrypted Password Plugin…. see Sandbox Server

Page Info

— John Pumford-Green 30/05/22 13:37

Page last updated: 04/06/26 08:17 BST

dokuwiki, linux

Dropbox

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Archive

Dropbox

Quitting Dropbox

Thought process

I've had a Dropbox Plus account for many years, but lately I find I use it less and less, and it's becoming bloated with useless features.

I have other options for backup and easy access :

Dokuwiki (two separate wikis : personal and business) - accessible via web from anywhere - VPS has a 20GB hard drive for file storage
VPS directly - using rsync or Unison
NAS - 2TB on home LAN (make accessible externally via HTTP?)
Google Drive - Free 15GB - sync with PC, Web, Phone - simpler replacement for Dropbox
Photos from phone automatically back-up (low resolution) to Google Photos
- Download occasionally via USB to Shack Laptop then delete originals from phone
- rsync from Shack Laptop → NAS1 Pictures share

Steps

~~Move wanted document files etc. from Dropbox to NAS, until up against the big “Pictures” folder….~~
~~Delete large bulk of files (i.e. those already safe on NAS1) from Dropbox~~
~~Start caja-dropbox on shack laptop and allow it to sync the remaining files (predominantly Pictures plus some remaining documents etc.)~~
~~Once everything is on Shack Laptop or NAS box → stop caja-dropbox on Laptop → delete Dropbox's copies of everything needed to get below 2GB~~
~~rsync everything else to NAS1 from Shack Laptop~~
~~Downgrade Dropbox account cancel subscription → Confirm refund of this year's subscription → when absolutely certain Delete Dropbox account~~

Plus Side

This Laptop now seems not to get bogged down every time you do anything, once Dropbox is gone!

— John Pumford-Green 02/05/23 08:28

Further Information

Linux Serial Console

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Archive

Linux Serial Console

To configure Debian 11 for a serial console

Grub

Edit /etc/default/grub to add the console setting to the end of

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash resume=UUID=d6a8791e-201a-4207-99e1-eafadec6713f console=ttyS0,19200n8"

Then update grub to use the new setting.

sudo update-grub

Once the systemd changes are made it's worth rebooting to see that the boot process appears on the console.

systemd

sudo systemctl enable serial-getty@ttyS0.service
sudo systemctl start serial-getty@ttyS0.service

— John Pumford-Green 30/09/22 11:59

Further Information

Using some old text mode software again….

email with Old stuff but good

Pure Blog

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 07:32:20 +0000

←Archive

Pure Blog

I've installed Pure Blog

After trying the Blog Plugin in dokuwiki and Chyrp-Lite PHP/SQLite blogging platform I switched to Pure Blog.

It's just what I need, and nothing extra to make it big and bloated.

Installation & Configuration

See https://g4slv.info/installing-pure-blog for some info.

Webfonts used

CSS

.tag-cloud a {
   margin: 0 0.5rem;
   line-height: 2rem;
 
}
 
.archive li {
  line-height: 1.5rem;
  font-size: 1.1rem;
  list-style-type: none;
}
 
body {
  font-size: 1rem;
  line-height: 1.25rem;
}
 
main {
  max-width: 50rem;
}
 
article {
  margin-bottom: 0;
}
 
p.post-archive-view {
  font-size : 1.1rem;
  line-height: 1.1rem;
}
main h1 {
  font-size: 2.8rem;
}
 
header, footer{
  font-family: "atkinson_next", sans-serif;
  font-size: 1.1rem;
}
 
footer {
  margin-top: 3rem;
}
 
main h1, main h2, main h3, main h4, main h5, main h6 {
  margin-left: -1rem;
  font-family: "atkinson_next", sans-serif;
}
 
.tag-list {
    border-top: 1px solid var(--border-color);
    padding-top: 2rem;
}
 
.post-nav {
  margin-top : 0;
  margin-bottom: 3rem;
}
@font-face {
  font-family: 'atkinson_next';
  src: url('/content/fonts/AtkinsonHyperlegibleNext-Regular.woff2') format('woff2');
       font-weight: normal;
       font-display: swap;
       font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
  font-family: 'atkinson_next';
  src: url('/content/fonts/AtkinsonHyperlegibleNext-Bold.woff2') format('woff2');
       font-weight: bold;
       font-display: swap;
       font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
  font-family: 'atkinson_next';
  src: url('/content/fonts/AtkinsonHyperlegibleNext-RegularItalic.woff2') format('woff2');
       font-weight: normal;
       font-display: swap;
       font-style: italic;
}
@font-face {
  font-family: 'atkinson_next';
  src: url('/content/fonts/AtkinsonHyperlegibleNext-BoldItalic.woff2') format('woff2');
       font-weight: bold;
       font-display: swap;
       font-style: italic;
}
@font-face {
  font-family: 'atkinson_mono';
  src: url('/content/fonts/AtkinsonHyperlegibleMono-Regular.woff2') format('woff2');
       font-weight: normal;
       font-display: swap;
       font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
  font-family: 'atkinson_mono';
  src: url('/content/fonts/AtkinsonHyperlegibleMono-RegularItalic.woff2') format('woff2');
       font-weight: normal;
       font-display: swap;
       font-style: italic;
}
@font-face {
  font-family: 'atkinson_mono';
  src: url('/content/fonts/AtkinsonHyperlegibleMono-Bold.woff2') format('woff2');
       font-weight: bold;
       font-display: swap;
       font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
  font-family: 'atkinson_mono';
  src: url('/content/fonts/AtkinsonHyperlegibleMono-BoldItalic.woff2') format('woff2');
       font-weight: bold;
       font-display: swap;
       font-style: italic;
}
 
:root {
  --font-stack: "atkinson_mono", system-ui, monospace;
}
 
pre {
  font-family: "atkinson_mono", monospace;
}
 
code {
  font-family: "atkinson_mono", monospace;
}

Addons

Kev sent me 2 PHP scripts to provide a Tag-Cloud and a full site Archive page.

I tweaked them a bit, and here are my current versions.

tag-cloud.php

<?php
 
 
 
declare(strict_types=1);
 
 
 
$pageTitle = 'Tag Cloud';
 
$metaDescription = 'All tags, sized by how often they appear.';
 
 
 
$tagIndex = load_tag_index();
 
$tagCounts = [];
 
if ($tagIndex) {
 
    foreach ($tagIndex as $slug => $slugs) {
 
        $tagCounts[$slug] = count($slugs);
 
    }
 
}
 
 
 
// Collect original display names from posts (slugs alone lose capitalisation/spaces)
 
$originalNames = [];
 
foreach (get_all_posts(false) as $post) {
 
    foreach (($post['tags'] ?? []) as $tag) {
 
        $slug = normalize_tag($tag);
 
        if (!isset($originalNames[$slug])) {
 
            $originalNames[$slug] = $tag;
 
        }
 
    }
 
}
 
 
 
// Sort alphabetically by display name
 
uksort($tagCounts, function (string $a, string $b) use ($originalNames): int {
 
    return strcasecmp($originalNames[$a] ?? $a, $originalNames[$b] ?? $b);
 
});
 
 
 
$maxCount = $tagCounts ? max($tagCounts) : 1;
 
$minCount = $tagCounts ? min($tagCounts) : 1;
 
$range    = $maxCount > $minCount ? $maxCount - $minCount : 1;
 
 
 
require PUREBLOG_BASE_PATH . '/includes/header.php';
 
render_masthead_layout($config, ['page' => null]);
 
?>
 
<main>
 
    <h1>Tag Cloud</h1>
 
 
 
    <?php if (empty($tagCounts)): ?>
 
        <p>No tags found.</p>
 
    <?php else: ?>
 
        <p class="tag-cloud">
 
            <?php foreach ($tagCounts as $slug => $count):
 
                $name     = $originalNames[$slug] ?? $slug;
 
                $ratio    = ($count - $minCount) / $range;
 
                $fontSize = round(0.85 + $ratio * 1.4, 2);
 
                $postWord = $count === 1 ? 'post' : 'posts';
 
                echo '<a href="/tag/' . e(rawurlencode($slug)) . '"'
 
                   . ' style="font-size: ' . $fontSize . 'em"'
 
                   . ' title="' . e((string) $count) . ' ' . $postWord . '">'
 
                   . e($name) .  '(' .  e((string) $count) . ')' .  '</a>' . '&emsp;&emsp;';
 
            endforeach; ?>
 
        </p>
 
    <?php endif; ?>
 
</main>
 
<?php render_footer_layout($config, ['page' => null]); ?>
 
</body>
 
</html>

archive.php

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
 
$allPosts = get_all_posts(false);
$postsByYear = [];
 
foreach ($allPosts as $entry) {
    $year = !empty($entry['date']) ? date('Y', strtotime((string) $entry['date'])) : 'Unknown';
    $postsByYear[$year][] = $entry;
}
 
krsort($postsByYear, SORT_NATURAL);
 
$pageTitle = 'Archive';
$metaDescription = 'Browse all published posts by year.';
?>
<?php require PUREBLOG_BASE_PATH . '/includes/header.php'; ?>
<?php render_masthead_layout($config); ?>
<main class=archive>
    <article>
        <h1>Archive</h1>
        <p><?= e((string) count($allPosts)) ?> published posts.</p>
 
        <?php if (!$allPosts): ?>
            <p>No published posts yet.</p>
        <?php else: ?>
            <?php foreach ($postsByYear as $year => $yearPosts): ?>
                <h3><?= e((string) $year) ?> (<?= e((string) count($yearPosts)) ?>)</h3>
                <ul>
                    <?php foreach ($yearPosts as $postItem): ?>
                        <li>
                            <?php if (!empty($postItem['date'])): ?>
                              <!--  <small> -->
                                    <time datetime="<?= e((string) $postItem['date']) ?>">
                                        <?= e(date('D Y-m-d H:i', strtotime((string) $postItem['date']))) ?>
                                    </time>
			   <!--     </small> -->
				&emsp;
                            <?php endif; ?>
                            <a href="/<?= e((string) ($postItem['slug'] ?? '')) ?>">
                                <?= e((string) ($postItem['title'] ?? 'Untitled')) ?>
                            </a>
                        </li>
                    <?php endforeach; ?>
                </ul>
            <?php endforeach; ?>
        <?php endif; ?>
    </article>
</main>
<?php render_footer_layout($config); ?>
</body>
</html>

Further Information

pure, blog

Page created : 02/03/26 08:50 GMT

Page updated : 03/03/26 07:32 GMT

R Pi Image files

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Archive

R Pi Image files

Various tips and tricks for working with Raspberry Pi Disk Images

Taking an image

remove SD card from Pi
insert into PC
unmount the image partitions if they get auto-mounted

take the image using dd

sudo dd if=/dev/mmblahblah of=name_of_image.img bs=4M

wait….. and wait….
this can now be either
1. saved as it is (possibly a big file)
2. compressed with gzip
```
gzip name_of_image.img
```
an alternative is to make sure the image is as small as it needs to be, appropriate to the space actually needed by the installed OS.

Using ''losetup'' to work with the image file

The image can be used as a loop device and then mounted as a normal disk to allow access to the files etc.

To access the image as a loop device you let losetup find the partitions automatically and convert them to to loop partitions loop0p1 (the /boot partition) and loop0p2 the root partition. You can then mount whichever one you need.

gm4slv@laptop:~/piimg $ sudo losetup -Pf igate.img
gm4slv@laptop:~/piimg $ lsblk
NAME      MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0       7:0    0   4.3G  0 loop
├─loop0p1 259:0    0   256M  0 part
└─loop0p2 259:1    0     4G  0 part
sda         8:0    0 298.1G  0 disk
├─sda1      8:1    0 235.1G  0 part /
├─sda2      8:2    0     1K  0 part
├─sda3      8:3    0  50.9G  0 part
└─sda5      8:5    0  12.1G  0 part [SWAP]
sr0        11:0    1  1024M  0 rom
gm4slv@laptop:~/piimg $ sudo mount /dev/loop0p2 /mnt
gm4slv@laptop:~/piimg $ cd /mnt
gm4slv@laptop:/mnt $ ls
bin  boot  dev  etc  home  lib  lost+found  media  mnt  opt  proc  root  run  sbin  share  srv  sys  tmp  usr  var
gm4slv@laptop:/mnt $ cd etc/
gm4slv@laptop:/mnt/etc $ cat hostname
igate
gm4slv@laptop:/mnt/etc $

This allows you to change files (one example is to set a fixed IP address in /etc/dhcpcd.conf) as required.

Shrinking the image

If the OS had been expanded after install to fill the whole SD Card space there is now a lot of pointless wasted space in the image that

takes up disk space to store
makes copying to a new SD card slow
makes it impossible to copy to a smaller card

The image can be shrunk to a more appropriate size.

The gist of it is here

unmount the loop device:
```
sudo umount /mnt
```
use gparted (need to be at a machine with a graphical session) to shrink the partition to a more suitable size, leaving some room for safety
dispose of the loop device
```
sudo losetup -d loop0
```
The *.img file is still the same size, but the partitions within the file are smaller, the rest of the space needs to be stripped from the *.img file with truncate
Use fdisk to inspect the image file to see where the partitions start and end

gm4slv@laptop:~/piimg $ sudo fdisk -l igate.img
Disk igate.img: 4.25 GiB, 4563402752 bytes, 8912896 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x38ea48c4
 
Device     Boot  Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
igate.img1        8192  532479  524288  256M  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
igate.img2      532480 8912895 8380416    4G 83 Linux

The second partition ends at block 8912895 so you shrink the filesystem to this point (plus one). This requires the calculation of the actual number of bytes, based on the block size of 512 bytes.
Either calculate it yourself, or put the calculation in the command:
- ```
 sudo truncate --size=$[(8912895+1)*512] name_of_image.img
```

Voila, a smaller image on file which uses just enough space for the already known to be working OS

Page Updated: 30/12/25 09:55 GMT

linux, pi

SSL Install on VPS

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Archive

SSL Install on VPS

I decided to bite the bullet and obtain an SSL certificate and install it on this VPS, and configure Apache2 to use HTTPS instead of plain HTTP.

I used Fasthost again to obtain the SSL certificate, and some of their instructions were a little dodgy regarding the steps to install it and get Apache to work with SSL. I managed in the end though.

gm4slv.org.uk now has a SSL certificate and connections to port 80 HTTP will be automatically redirected to port 443 HTTPS.

The steps with Apache (ignoring the process of obtaining the certificates):

There are 3 certificate files:

*.key is generated on the VPS itself with

openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout gm4slv.org.uk.key -out gm4slv.org.uk.csr

the signed *.crt file obtained from the signing authority via FastHost (it's the gm4slv.org.uk.csr key signed by the authority's key)
the “intermediate” file obtained from the signing authority via FastHost (this is the “chain of authority” file?)

Once the keys are to hand:

copy the 3 certificate files to a directory on the VPS. I used /usr/local/ssl/
tell Apache where to find the keys:
- add to default-ssl.conf virtual host site file
  - SSLCertificateFile /usr/local/ssl/signed.crt
  - SSLCertificateKeyFile /usr/local/ssl/gm4slv.org.uk.key
  - SSLCertificateChainFile /usr/local/ssl/ca.pem
add ssl mod to Apache:
```
 a2enmod ssl 
```
make symbolic link in sites-enabled pointing to sites-available/default-ssl.conf
restart apache
open VPS firewall port 443 in FastHost control panel
browse to https://gm4slv.org.uk

set up redirect of plain HTTP to SSL HTTPS by adding to 000-default.conf

    ServerName gm4slv.org.uk
    ServerAlias www.gm4slv.org.uk
    Redirect permanent / https://gm4slv.org.uk/

restart apache

Job Done

ssl, apache, vps

Unison

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Archive

Unison

I used unison previously to maintain sync/backup of files between machines on my own LAN.

This has been used to keep files on a PC synchronized to the Dropbox folders on another PC, and thereby with the Dropbox cloud.

Now that I have access to a remote Debian Linux VPS machine I thought I'd revisit the use of Unison to keep folders synchronised - perhaps to keep a remote backup of certain files.

You can never have too many backups

I installed the Debian package of unison on the new VPS machine and made a matching pair of configurations - one on the VPS and one on the Shack Laptop (which already has unison installed).

The configurations:

Laptop

root = /home/gm4slv/test_dir
root = ssh://gm4slv.org.uk/test_dir
sshargs = -C

VPS

root = /home/gm4slv/test_dir
root = ssh://gm4slv.plus.com:27659/test_dir
sshargs = -C

Unison version

I put some files in one “test_dir” and ran

unison vps

from the Shack Laptop and got this:

Unison 2.51.3 (ocaml 4.11.1): Contacting server...
Fatal error: Received unexpected header from the server:
 expected "Unison 2.51 with OCaml >= 4.01.2\n" but received "Unison 2.48\n\000\000\000\000\017",
which differs at "Unison 2.4".
This can happen because you have different versions of Unison
installed on the client and server machines, or because
your connection is failing and somebody is printing an error
message, or because your remote login shell is printing
something itself before starting Unison.

Incompatible versions. Laptop is running Debian 11 “Bullseye” and the packaged version of Unison is 2.51.3, whereas the VPS machine is running Debian 10 “Buster” and that has Unison version 2.48.

I've had this happen before, Unison is very touchy about having the same version at both sides.

I removed the older 2.48 from the VPS and downloaded a matching V2.51.3(ocaml 4.11.1) from github:

https://github.com/bcpierce00/unison/releases/tag/v2.51.3

Unpacked and moved unison to /usr/local/bin on the VPS.

Success

Now I was able to sync between the machines.

Adding the SSH public keys from both machines to the '~/.ssh/authorized_keys2'' of its peer meant it all went ahead without password prompting.

Now I have two “mirrored” directories on two separate machines I can use the VPS as a low-key remote file store.

Page Updated : 30/12/25 09:55 GMT

John Pumford-Green Tue May 3 22:29:31 2022

unison, vps, linux

Monobook template wikis

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 18:23:06 +0000

←Dokuwiki

Monobook template wikis

A list of wikis I've found that use the monobook (occasionally vector)template

I'm a fan of the vintage style of monobook and vector wikis
here are some I've found, listed here for easy reference
they often include interesting techniques & plugins etc. or are a just glimpse into the past

https://tjgrant.com/wiki/projects:monobook_for_dokuwiki

http://www.can-wiki.info/doku.php?id=start

https://support.rbg.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/wiki//en/start

https://www.dam.brown.edu/dpd/doku.php/start

https://badgrads.berkeley.edu/

https://wiki.alienbase.nl/ Vector

https://docs.slackware.com/ Vector

http://www.trirand.com/jqgridwiki/doku.php?id=start

http://wiki.synchro.net/wiki:index

https://users.ece.cmu.edu/~jhoe/doku/

http://dispim.org/start

https://murmann-group.stanford.edu/doku.php?id=main_page

https://math.chapman.edu/~jipsen/structures/doku.php?id=start

http://bkchem.zirael.org/wiki/start

http://wordspace.collocations.de/doku.php/start

https://www.astron.nl/wsrt/wiki/doku.php?id=start

https://www.pmstieber.com/mstieber/doku.php?id=start

https://www.dpeddi.com/about

https://punbb.informer.com/wiki/start

https://wikihost.nscl.msu.edu/gretina/doku.php/start

http://computer-chess.org/doku.php

Dead Links (or no longer Monobook/Vector)

~~https://wiki.sahanafoundation.org/start~~

~~http://www.dpi.inpe.br/terralib5-design/doku.php?id=wiki:designimplementation~~

~~http://topas.dur.ac.uk/topaswiki/doku.php?id=topas~~

~~http://wiki.greenstone.org/doku.php?id=index~~

~~https://wiki.urspringer.de/~~

~~https://services.byu.edu/sw/~~

~~http://troop-394.org/wiki/doku.php/start?do=recent~~

~~http://www.cptcif.com/pfe/wiki/doku.php~~

~~http://www.ub.edu/persp/metaphysics/doku.php?id=start~~

~~http://pacs.ece.ohio-state.edu/doku.php~~

~~http://www.chemical-engineering.at/doku.php~~

Last Modified : 28/01/26 18:23 GMT

monobook, dokuwiki

Photography

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Miscellany

Photography

I'm still using film… mostly Ilford HP5 black & white

Nikon F60

My film camera, loaded with HP5

Nikon F60
Nikon AF 50mm 1:1.8D Lens

Some snaps

Further Information

photography

MediaWiki

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 17:18:19 +0000

MediaWiki

— John Pumford-Green 02/07/22 09:00

I have been thinking about moving to MediaWiki instead of Dokuwiki and decided to try it first to see if I preferred MediaWiki.

I installed MediaWiki on my sandbox server using the basic process that I later documented : MediaWiki VPS Install

I do like the look/feel of MediaWiki as a reader but the operation and maintenance as a user is very different to Dokuwiki.

It looked like there would be a steep learning curve, and a lot of functionality I'd added to Dokuwiki via plugins would not immediately be available. I also installed it on my main VPS server, and imported a few pages, and then did a lot of editing to get them to look right. It was going to take A LOT of work if I was to fully import this wiki over to MediaWiki.

There are some conversion scripts around to (partially) convert Dokuwiki formatted text into MediaWiki format, but they are far from perfect and the converted pages still need a lot of work.

After spending|wasting several hours I decided to abandon the idea of switching to MediaWiki and to stay using Dokuwiki. It does make a lot of sense - I'm comfortable with the syntax, it's much easier to backup, as all the pages are simply flat text files, adding functionality via plugins is much easier to do. It just works.

So, I've deleted/removed the MediaWiki install & MariaDB SQL server from the VPS machine. I might keep the Sandbox Server MediaWiki install, just to play with from time to time, but unless something serious happens I can't see any point in spending|wasting hours and hours trying to get my existing Wiki converted to MediaWiki, and then learning how best to organize a MediaWiki setup.

— John Pumford-Green 27/04/23 07:40

I deleted the Mediawiki install & MariaDB server from the Sandbox machine today too, as I don't think I will be migrating to MediaWiki.

dokuwiki, mediawiki

COSC

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Watches

COSC

History

COSC

Test definitions

15 day test regime

Day	Temp/°C	Pos	Daily rate	Variance
1	23	6H	M1
2	23		M2	V1
3	23	3H	M3
4	23		M4	V2
5	23	9H	M5
6	23		M6	V3
7	23	Dd	M7
8	23		M8	V4
9	23	Du	M9
10	23		M10	V5
11	8	Du	M11
12	23	Du	M12
13	38	Du	M13
14	23	6H	M14
15	23	6H	M15

Test	ID	Description	Limit
Mean Daily Rate M(1→10)	M	average of M1 → M10	-4/+6
Mean Variation	V	average of V1 → V5	2
Greatest Variation	V_max	Largest of V1 → V5	5
Difference V → H	D	Average(M1→M2) - Average(M9→M10)	-6 / +8
Largest Variation from mean	P	Largest Value difference between any individual M and average of M(1→10)	10
Thermal Variation	C	(M13 - M11) / (38 - 8)	±0.6
Rate Resumption	R	M15 - Ave(M1→M2)	±5

pseudo Tests with Timegrapher

Ignoring Temperature Variations.

Make 2 measurements on Timegrapher in each position, separated by 24 hours and record them in table:

Day	Pos	Daily rate	Variance
1	6H	M1
2		M2	V1
3	3H	M3
4		M4	V2
5	9H	M5
6		M6	V3
7	Ddn	M7
8		M8	V4
9	Dup	M9
14	6H	M14
15	6H	M15

Some results

Archimede Deck watch (a 10 day test, not a timegrapher pseudo-test)

Day	Pos		Daily rate		Variance
1	6H	M1	+0.3
2		M2	+1.3	V1	1.0
3	3H	M3	-0.7
4		M4	-1.7	V2	1.0
5	9H	M5	+8.2
6		M6	+6.1	V3	2.1
7	Dd	M7	+11.0
8		M8	+10.9	V4	0.1
9	Du	M9	+9.9
10		M10	+9.5	V5	0.4
14	6H	M14	+2.5
15	6H	M15	+2.7

Test	Desc	Result	Pass/Fail	Limit
M	Mean Daily Rate	+5.5	Pass	-4 / +6
V	Mean Variation	0.9	Pass	2
V_max	Greatest Variation	2.1	Pass	5
D	Difference Vert → Horiz	-8.9	Fail	-6 / +8
P	Largest Difference from Mean	7.2	Pass	10
R	Rate resumption	1.9	Pass	-5 / +5

Page created Sun May 22 00:23:48 2022 by John Pumford-Green

Page last updated: 30/12/25 09:55 GMT

watch, cosc

Watchwinder

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Watches

Watchwinder

Home Brew Winder

I built a simple watch-winder to keep automatic watches fully wound when not being worn. Mainly as a small project to play with a pyBoard and a servo motor.

A short piece of microPython makes the servo turn, first one direction, then then other, then a pause, at a speed that makes sure a watch is fully wound overnight. The speed depends on the required number of turns to achieve full-wind, which depends on the watch movement, and whether the movement winds in one or other, or both, rotational directions.

The watch is placed in a plastic box attached to the servo motor and the motor is simple clamped in a panavise, with the axis of the servo at about 45°

Photos

pyBoard Quick Reference

[✓ John Pumford-Green, 2025-03-09]~~add some photos~~

Python Code

microPython code for Pyboard to control continuous rotation servo.

# main.py -- put your code here!
 
 
import pyb
 
servo1 = pyb.Servo(1)
 
# LED colours
# red flash = motor stopped
# green on = manual stop for 120 seconds
# yellow on/flash = motor running
# blue flash = 5 seconds before a change of state
 
ledr = pyb.LED(1) 
ledg = pyb.LED(2)
ledy = pyb.LED(3)
ledb = pyb.LED(4) 
 
# servo speeds to achieve approx 6 rpm in either direction.
ccw = 14
cw = -7
stop = 0
 
 
# 12 minute cycle :
# observed turns complete per stage:
# 2 min CW = ~11 turns
# 4 min stop
# 2 min CCW = ~ 12 turns
# 4 min stop
# 23 turns / 12 min = 115 turns / hour
# ETA 2836-2 requires 650 turns / day for full winding 
# this would take 5.6 hours on winder per day to guarantee full wind.
 
period = 120 # seconds
 
# turn LEDs off (unneccesary?)
ledr.off()
ledg.off() 
ledy.off()
ledb.off()
 
# interrupt function to allow changing/removing watch
def stop_servo():
 
	# red LED on at start of interruption
	ledr.on()
	ledy.off()
 
	# turn off any flashing LEDs during interruption
	tim4.callback(None)
 
	# flash blue LED to signal stop imminent
	flash_blue()
 
	# stop servo
	servo1.speed(0)
 
	# red LED off and green LED on to indicate "safe to proceed"
	ledr.off()
	ledg.on()
 
	# pause for 2 minute
	pyb.delay(120 * 1000)
 
	# flash blue LED to signal re-start imminent
	flash_blue()
 
	# green LED off to indicate end of interruption.
	ledg.off()
 
	pyb.hard_reset()
 
	# after resumption from interrupt the next stage will usually be a 
	# "stop" period, assuming the interrupt occurred during a "run" period
	# perhaps need to look at the best way of resuming? or even quit()
	# at the end of the stop_servo() interrupt and then manually reset via the 
	# RST button?
 
	# main programme resumes where it left off....
	return
 
def cycle_led():
 
	ledb.on()
	pyb.delay(500)
	ledy.on()
	pyb.delay(500)
	ledg.on()
	pyb.delay(500)
	ledr.on()
	pyb.delay(500)
	ledb.off()
	ledy.off()
	ledg.off()
	ledr.off()
 
	return
 
def flash_blue():
 
	t = 0
	while t < 10:
 
		ledb.toggle()
		pyb.delay(500)
		t += 1
	return
 
def rotate_cw(p):
 
	# solid yellow LED when going CW
	ledy.on()
	servo1.speed(cw, 1000)
	pyb.delay(p * 1000)
	flash_blue()
	ledy.off()
 
	return
 
 
def rotate_ccw(p):
 
	# flash yellow LED when going CCW
	tim4.callback(lambda t: ledy.toggle())
	servo1.speed(ccw, 1000)
	pyb.delay(p * 1000)
	flash_blue()
	tim4.callback(None)
	ledy.off()
 
 
	return
 
 
def pause(p):
 
	# flash red LED during motor pause period
	tim4.callback(lambda t: ledr.toggle())
	servo1.speed(stop, 1000)
	pyb.delay(p * 1000)
	flash_blue()
	tim4.callback(None)
	ledr.off()
 
	return
 
 
# USR on-board switch used to pause running to allow
# watch to be removed / changed
sw = pyb.Switch()
 
# callback to run the function that pauses the operation
sw.callback(stop_servo)
 
#timer to flash LEDs
tim4 = pyb.Timer(4, freq=2)
 
cycle_led()
 
# the main loop
while True:
 
		rotate_cw(period)
 
		pause(2 * period)
 
		rotate_ccw(period)
 
		pause(2 * period)

Page Info

Page created Sun May 22 00:52:45 2022 by John Pumford-Green

Page last updated: 30/12/25 09:55 GMT

watch, python

Yaesu FT-891

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:39:56 +0000

←Rig and Key List

Yaesu FT-891

HF/50MHz all mode

Information

Date : March 2025
Purchased from : Martin Lynch FT-891
Price : £639
- plus Wideband TX Mod : £25

Firmware Versions
- Main : V01-10
- DSP : V02-05
- LCD : V01-01
These appear to be the current, most up to date versions

SSB TX EQ

I'm not naturally a 'phone operator and avoid playing with audio settings as much as possible. I prefer simple “communications quality” audio when I use SSB. As the FT-891 is intended to be my “phone mode radio” and I've done some initial adjustments to try and achieve a clean, basic communications-quality setup.

From what I can work out, the “bandwidth” settings of the EQ refer to Q - the smaller the number the lower the Q and the wider the affected bandwidth. I'm aiming for gentle shaping of the voice band to cut the low-end boomy bass and lift the high end “articulation” so I've set a low-Q on each pole of the EQ filter. I've set both the non-Compression and the Compression EQ settings to the same values - I want the audio to sound the same with and without the processor. The Mic's rear “tone” switch can be used to give a slight increase in low frequencies by switching → 1 if I ever feel the need.

Here are the settings I've got on the FT-891

MH31 Fist Mic rear switch → 2

Deep Menu Settings

11-09	SSB TX Bandwidth	300-2700
16-07	SSB Mic Gain	15

EQ values for "Processor OFF"

15-01	EQ 1 Freq	300
15-02	EQ 1 Level	-10
15-03	EQ 1 Bandwidth	1

15-04	EQ 2 Freq	1200
15-05	EQ 2 Level	3
15-06	EQ 2 Bandwidth	1

15-07	EQ 3 Freq	2500
15-08	EQ 3 Level	10
15-09	EQ 3 Bandwidth	1

EQ values for "Processor ON"

15-10	P-EQ 1 Freq	300
15-11	P-EQ 1 Level	-10
15-12	P-EQ 1 Bandwidth	1

15-13	P-EQ 2 Freq	1200
15-14	P-EQ 2 Level	3
15-15	P-EQ 2 Bandwidth	1

15-16	P-EQ 3 Freq	2500
15-17	P-EQ 3 Level	10
15-18	P-EQ 3 Bandwidth	1

Function Menu settings

MEQ	ON
PRC	ON	30

User Manuals

Basic Manual ft-891_om_eng_eh065h201_1611a-bo-2.pdf
Advanced Manual ft-891_advance_manual_eng_1806-f.pdf

— John Pumford-Green 27/03/25 13:21 GMT

Further Information

radio, ft891

Hi-Mound HK-708 Key

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 20:50:34 +0000

←Rig and Key List

Hi-Mound HK-708 Key

My original key from 1982

My HK-708 in all its glory

I got this key while I was still at school, in around 1982, to use for learning to send CW. It was all I could afford at the time, and must have been quite cheap. I've had it, and used it, for over 40 years now, and it's still my main straight key for most QSOs.

Inscribed with my original callsign in about 1983

(and if the recently announced OFCOM licence review goes through unchanged I'll be allowed to revert to G4SLV again, despite living in Scotland. And I can't wait to go back to my “real” callsign!)

I didn't like the original small plastic disc-like knob and at some point, at University in around 1985, I exchanged it for the channel select knob from a Decca Voyager HF SSB Marine transceiver that I had stripped for parts. This is a much larger and heavier aluminium knob which make the key feel much more solid.

The replacement Decca Voyager knob mounting details

The axle (trunnion?) ends are supported by ball bearings, tensioned with springs and the key, for all its cheapness, feels nice and smooth. I've often toyed with getting rid of it and getting something “proper” (a Marconi 365, a PS213, a Junkers, a NATO, or something modern and handmade and brass) but I keep coming back to it and don't see the need to replace it. Of course a small collection of keys is still an option, for interest and variety, but not a necessity while I have this one.

Modern version

I noticed recently that the currently available version of the HK-708 is significantly different to my old one from 40 years ago.

The new one has the same small disc-like knob (which I didn't like) but the main lever is straight, not curved downwards at the knob and I see that the tension spring is forward of the axle, towards the front of the key, so it must be in compression, rather than tension. Whether that makes a difference to the feel, I don't know. I also don't know if the pivots are still ball-bearings or simple bushes. I don't think I'll risk getting a new one to keep on hand in case of need!

— John Pumford-Green 20/06/23 05:45

Further Information

radio, key, cw

Icom IC-7200

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:39:56 +0000

←Rig and Key List

Icom IC-7200

Rugged HF/50MHz

Background

This is my 2nd IC-7200. I foolishly sold my original one and very quickly regretted it.
From the Silent Key equipment of Peter GM0CXQ
Obtained 01/06/23

Repairs & Modifications

HM36 Microphone Mod

The current HM-36 microphone supplied with IC-7200 is poorly designed and problems are well documented on the internet.
I carried out the “K1RF/PY3SS Modification” documented here : k1rf_modified_py3ss_hm-36_mic_mod_reva.pdf
The newly modified HM-36 now functions “correctly” with adequate drive for the radio, and a better frequency response.
It is now possible to set Mic Gain < 20 and Compression = 4 and obtain adequate ALC and full power out and a reasonable degree of compression without the need to “Close Talk” the microphone.
It is also now possible to obtain full power out, and some ALC deflection, without use of Compression, by adjusting the Mic Gain accordingly. This was difficult/impossible with the stock HM-36

Fan Mod

I found that on a long (> 1 hour) Olivia QSO at 50W that the rear panel/heatsink reaches 60°C, and even the side-handles reach 43°C
The fans initially turn on with the PTT and run for a few seconds after dropping back to RX
As the temperature increases the fans switch to medium, and then fast speeds while running during TX and also remain running for longer at the switch back to RX
One mod suggests adding a small resistor across the fan switching transistor to keep the fans running slowly at all times, so that duing RX they might remove even more heat before the next period of TX
The mod is here ic_7200_fan_mod.pdf
I carried out the mod, with a 120 ohm resistor and then had a similar long Olivia QSO to compare the temperatures of the rear heatsink and side handles.
Despite the continuous running fan I found that the rear panel still reached 60°C and the handles reached at least 40°C during the TX phase.
They probably cooled down a little more on RX, but not significantly, and not enough that the temperature on TX was noticeably lowered.
There seems no major benefit in the mod, as the thermal design of the radio seems able to cope without it.
There may be a downside though, the fans will now run continuously whenever the radio is turned on, which will cause them to prematurely wear out, or become noisy.
After one night's use I removed the modification and restored the fan control to normal.

Documentation

— John Pumford-Green 02/06/23 08:04

Further Information

radio, ic7200

Icom IC-M710

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:39:56 +0000

←Rig and Key List

Icom IC-M710

Repairs / Mods

2023 : No Transmit Output Power.

Receive functions normally
trace to - pre-drive TX buffer amp transistor - Q1 Main PCB
- No Drive to PA from Main Board
- TX signal present at base of Q1 but no signal at collector
- Q1 2SC4673 sourced from eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322993473692
- 07/02/23 : Replaced Q1 and full transmit power restored.

Remote Control

Python module for netradio

Some functions aren't needed for receive only, and should be removed (ptt_on ptt_off etc.). This module originally came from another project (not “object oriented”) and I had to add lots of self statements to the needed functions, ignoring the ones not used for “netradio”. I'll trim it, later, if I remember.

m710.py code

m710.py

'''
Python NMEA Radio Functions module for Icom IC-M710 Marine HF SSB Transceiver
 
    Copyright (C) 2015  John Pumford-Green
 
    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
    (at your option) any later version.
 
    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    GNU General Public License for more details.
 
    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
'''
 
# serial port for Icom IC-M710 Rig Control
 
import serial
import threading
import time
version = "v0.1"
 
sport = '/dev/ttyUSB0'
sbaud = 4800
 
#ser = serial.Serial(sport, 4800, timeout=1)
lock = threading.Lock()
 
# NMEA Codes
preamble = "$PICOA,"
controller = "90"
radio = "01" 
cr = "\x0d"
lf = "\x0a"
 
 
# Commands are sent as NMEA private sentences:
#
# $PICOA,controller_id,radio_id,command,<parameter>,*HH<CR><LF>
#
# where HH is the 2 digit ECC value below:
#
# The protocol document states that for messages FROM the controller TO the radio
# the ECC bytes are optional, and may be omitted. This appears to be false information, and
# the ECC bytes seem to be necessary.
#
# The ECC checksum, is a two-digit hex value found by XORing the hex values of the characters 
# between "$" and "*" (but not including the $ or *)
#
# The first part of the message is always:
# "PICOA,90,01," and this has an XOR value of (decimal) 112
# we then XOR this with each character's decimal ASCII value, in the required command
# and convert the result to a 2-digit hex value
#
 
class m710(object):
    def __init__(self, model):
        self.ser = serial.Serial(sport, sbaud, timeout=0.1)
        self.model = model
        print "model", model
 
 
    def get_ecc(self,command):
        ecc = 112
        for c in command:
            ecc = ord(c) ^ ecc
        hecc = '{0:02x}'.format(int(ecc))
 
        return hecc
 
# we must force the radio into "Remote" mode before sending any other commands.    
    def remote_on(self):
        command = "REMOTE,ON"
        ecc = self.get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble+controller+","+radio+","+command+"*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = self.tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return
        else:
            return self.remote_on()
 
 
 
# we can leave the radio in "Remote" mode for as long as we want to control it remotely
# but we must close the "Remote" mode when finished. The previous radio settings (channel/power etc) are
# restored after Remote mode is closed.
    def remote_off(self):
        command = "REMOTE,OFF"
        ecc = self.get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble+controller+","+radio+","+command+"*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = self.tx_rx(sendStr) 
        if result:
            #ser.close()
            return
        else:
            return self.remote_off()
 
 
    def ptt_on():
        command = "TRX,TX"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble+controller+","+radio+","+command+"*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return
        else:
            return ptt_on()
 
    def ptt_off():
        command = "TRX,RX"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble+controller+","+radio+","+command+"*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return
        else:
            return ptt_off()
 
 
 
    def get_freq(self):
        fkhz = self.get_rxfreq()
        #fkhz = "%.3f" % (float(f) * 1000)
        return fkhz
 
    def set_freq(self,freq):
 
        self.set_rxfreq(freq)
        self.set_txfreq(freq)
        return "Set freq success"
 
    def get_rxfreq(self):
        command = "RXF"
        ecc = self.get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble+controller+","+radio+","+command+"*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = self.tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            list = result.split(",")
            f = list[4].split("*")[0]
            fkhz = "%.3f" % (float(f) * 1000)
            return fkhz
        else:
            return self.get_rxfreq()
 
 
    def get_txfreq(self):
        command = "TXF"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble+controller+","+radio+","+command+"*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = self.tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            list = result.split(",")
            f = list[4].split("*")[0]
            fkhz = "%.3f" % (float(f) * 1000)
            return fkhz
        else:
            return self.get_txfreq()
 
 
    def get_mode(self):
        command = "MODE"
        ecc = self.get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble+controller+","+radio+","+command+"*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = self.tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            list = result.split(",")
            mode = list[4].split("*")[0]
            return mode
        else:
            return self.get_mode()
 
 
 
    def set_mode(self,mode):
        mode = mode.upper()
        command = "MODE,"+mode
        ecc = self.get_ecc(command)
 
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        print "in set_mode with ", sendStr
        result = self.tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return self.set_mode(mode)
 
 
    def set_rxfreq(self,freq):
 
        fmhz = float(freq) / 1000
        f = str(fmhz)
 
        command = "RXF,"+f
        ecc = self.get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = self.tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return self.set_rxfreq(freq)
 
 
    def set_txfreq(self,freq):
 
        fmhz = float(freq) / 1000
        f = str(fmhz)
 
        command = "TXF,"+f
        ecc = self.get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = self.tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return self.set_txfreq(freq)
 
    def get_txpower():
        command = "TXP"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            list = result.split(",")
            power = list[4].split("*")[0]
            return power
        else:
            return get_txpower()
 
    def set_txpower(p):
        command = "TXP,"+p
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return set_txpower(p)
 
    def get_smeter(self):
        command = "SIGM"
        ecc = self.get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble+controller+","+radio+","+command+"*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = self.tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            list = result.split(",")
            smeter = list[4].split("*")[0]
            return smeter
        else:
            return self.get_smeter()
 
    def speaker_on():
        command = "SP,ON"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return speaker_on()
 
 
    def speaker_off():
        command = "SP,OFF"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return speaker_off()
 
    def sql_on():
        command = "SQLC,ON"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return sql_on()
 
    def sql_off():
        command = "SQLC,OFF"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return sql_off()
 
    def nb_on():
        command = "NB,ON"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return nb_on()
 
    def nb_off():
        command = "NB,OFF"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return nb_off()
 
    def dim_on():
        command = "DIM,ON"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return dim_on()
 
    def dim_off():
        command = "DIM,OFF"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return dim_off()
 
    def agc_on():
        command = "AGC,ON"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return agc_on()
 
    def agc_off():
        command = "AGC,OFF"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return agc_off()
 
    def get_vol():
        command = "AFG"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble+controller+","+radio+","+command+"*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            list = result.split(",")
            vol = list[4].split("*")[0]
            return vol
        else:
            return get_vol()
 
 
 
    def set_vol(v):
        command = "AFG,"+v
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return set_vol(v)
 
    def get_rfg():
        command = "RFG"
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble+controller+","+radio+","+command+"*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            list = result.split(",")
            rf = list[4].split("*")[0]
            return rf
        else:
            return get_rfg()
 
    def get_att(self):
        return
 
    def get_pre(self):
        return
 
    def set_rfg(v):
        command = "RFG,"+v
        ecc = get_ecc(command)
        sendStr = preamble +controller+","+radio+"," + command + "*"+ecc+cr+lf
        result = tx_rx(sendStr)
        if result:
            return result
        else:
            return set_rfg(v)
 
    # The message FROM the radio may be corrupted so we do a check on the received ECC versus our calculated cECC
    # from the received characters - which are everything AFTER the "$" and BEFORE the "*"
    #
    # starting the ECC calculation at message[1] ignores the "$" and we iterate through the message XORing each 
    # character's ASCII (decimal) value until we have the final cECC which is converted by formatting it
    # into a two-digit hex value. This is then compared to the received (rECC) value from the radio's message. 
    # If they match the message is acceptable and check_ecc() returns True to tx_rx(), 
    # otherwise check_ecc() function returns "False" to tx_rx()
    # the True/False value is tested in tx_rx(). 
    # If True then tx_rx() returns the incoming string to the calling function
    # otherwise it returns "False". 
    # The calling function then checkS the boolean state of the returned value. 
    # If True (ie it has the radio's message and the ECC was good) the message 
    # is sent back to the client. 
    # If False the function calls itself again, and attempts to get an error-free reply from the radio, via tx_rx()
 
    def check_ecc(self,message, recc):
        i = 1
        cecc = 0
 
        while i < len(message):
            cecc = ord(message[i]) ^ cecc
            i += 1  
 
        cecc = '{0:02x}'.format(int(cecc))  
 
        if cecc == recc:   
            return True
        else: 
            return False
 
    def tx_rx(self,sendStr):
        print "in tx_rx, sendStr =  " , sendStr
        lock.acquire()
 
        self.ser.write(sendStr)
        time.sleep(0.1)
        result = self.ser.readline()
 
        print result
        reply = result.split("*")
        ecc = reply[1][0:2].lower()
        message = reply[0]
        lock.release()
 
        if self.check_ecc(message, ecc):
            return result
        else:
            return False
 
 
 
 
 
#

Documentation

Page Info

Page created Tue May 24 23:59:35 2022 by John Pumford-Green

Page last updated: 04/06/26 07:39 BST

radio, icm710

TYT MD380

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:39:56 +0000

←Rig and Key List

TYT MD380

Files

Date	File	Comments
17/03/24	current_380_170324.zip	Codeplug 3 DMR and DMR2YSF
17/03/24	tytoolz_v1_08c_beta.zip	Firmware flash tool for TyToolz & DB

Firmware

Running the TyToolz fork of MD380 Tools
Similar functionality to the original Tools firmware but with some nicer modifications that make it more pleasant to operate.

Page Info

Page created Wed May 25 00:05:34 2022 by John Pumford-Green

Page last updated: 04/06/26 07:39 BST

Vibroplex Presentation Bug

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 20:49:09 +0000

←Rig and Key List

Vibroplex Presentation Bug

1957 Presentation Model

Bought : ? , eBay
Cost : ?
Serial Number : 198474
Date : 1957
Plate : D6

Features the “La Hiff” adjustable mainspring, which was only used on the original “genuine” Presentation models.

Photos

Details

This was my first bug key and has had to have some work to repair damage to the frame. The tapped holes for the screws that hold the frame to the base were stripped, and the frame couldn't be tightened sufficiently to the base. I found the easiest (although not invisible) way to fix it was to drill through the original holes, all the way, and then tap a new thread (M6) and use longer screws to secure the frame to the base. This has spoiled the key's “original” appearance, but made it actually useable as a bug key, which to my mind is much more important. I'm sure old-time professional bug users would make whatever repairs were necessary to keep their favourite keys in operation, caring little of maintaining “originality”. You can see one of the protruding bolts here:

— John Pumford-Green 20/06/23 05:43

Further Information

radio, bug, cw

HF Weather FAX

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:39:56 +0000

HF Weather FAX

— John Pumford-Green 22/10/22 08:25

I thought I'd have a look at some other HF signals and found that Fldigi will decode Weather FAX.

I found a big list of active FAX stations:

https://www.weather.gov/media/marine/rfax.pdf

and set up Fldigi and my Icom IC-R75.

PT. REYES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.

I'd like to receive FAX from NMC/Point Reyes in California…. and perhaps I'll leave fldigi monitoring one of their frequencies for a period

CALL SIGN	FREQUENCIES	TIMES (UTC)	EMISSION	POWER
NMC	4346 kHz	0140-1608	J3C	4 kW
	8682 kHz	ALL BROADCAST TIMES	J3C	4 kW
	12786 kHz	ALL BROADCAST TIMES	J3C	4 kW
	17151.2 kHz	ALL BROADCAST TIMES	J3C	4 kW
	22527 kHz	1840-2356	J3C	4 kW

CCIR493 Selcall - 2026

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:46:06 +0000

←Radio Topics

CCIR493 Selcall - 2026

I am tempted to revisit my previous experiments with CCIR493 selcall. There's a page giving details and info of what I've already done with HF Selcall here

Today (June 6^th 2026) I saw a Mastodon post from Peter OE1LFB https://mastodon.radio/@oe1lfb showing a new Codan Envoy, and an idea sparked that perhaps there were other active Selcall users around. I sent a Mastodon post offering to try CCIR493 selcall but Peter informed me that the Codan was “..being used with the Austrian Red Cross, for emcom.”

But the idea took root anyway and I dug out both my Jenal SC2 microphones.

I initially connected one to my Xeigu G90, via its rear panel “data” connector and this seemed to work well. To properly test I wired the second SC2 to a mic plug for my Icom IC-7200.

I now have two separate HF Selcall transceivers. I put them both into dummy loads and tried various selcalls, beacon and beacon-99 calls between them. All working correctly.

In the past I've done selcall tests with a couple of stations - GM4WMM and F6EMT. I need to think about what to do this year as a mini-project.

Peer Tube Video

I've put a rambling video on Peer Tube : https://makertube.net/w/kPHwY1jNVMrH4fxvzHKhuN

When not otherwise being used I'll try to leave the IC-7200 monitoring one of these frequencies (all USB) with Selcall ID 3657

60m : 5371.5kHz
40m :
30m :
20m : 14343.0kHz
17m : 18163.0kHz
15m : 21427.0kHz
12m : 24977.0kHz
10m : 28305.0kHz

I plan to take the G90 and its selcall mic to various portable locations and test the path back to my home station using selcall beacons.

If anybody has the ability to use Barrett/Codan/CCIR493 selcall on HF and would like to try some tests and perhaps set up a net or sked please let me know! My email address is on the home page of this wiki, and is on my G4SLV @ QRZ.com page.

I have also been thinking about an “Engineer Order Wire” back-channel using Allstar for co-ordination and discussion of HF tests. I'll write a new Allstar wiki page about my new Allstar setup but in the meantime - I'm at Allstar node 481483. I don't monitor 24/7, but try to keep an ear on it while I'm near the shack.

Further Information

Page created : 06/06/26 21:40 BST

Page updated : 01/01/70 01:00 BST

Fldigi Parrot

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:39:56 +0000

←Radio Topics

Fldigi Parrot

Experimental HF Digi-mode message-relay system using Fldigi and Python

Work in progress

Uses xml-rpc in python to communicate with fldigi and read the incoming RX Text.

When a particular text sequence is received (ZCZC CALL CALL) to trigger the “parrot” function, the RX text is then read searching for an end of message string (…end). When this is found the full message is then re-transmitted, with self-identification added to ensure it is clear which station is the source of the message and which is the source of the relay.

Transmitter control via RS232 / NMEA (for an IC-M710 marine HF transceiver) is also included to allow for remote commands to change frequency to be handled. Fldigi does the rig control (via its own hamlib configuration). Fldigi is told what we want the radio to do via xml-rpc rather than have direct control ourselves.

Monitoring

A web-page is provided that shows the Fldigi receive text, in almost real time at:

~~Fldigi RX Text~~

and another shows the parrot activity:

~~Fldigi Parrot~~

Software

The python scripts to run these functions are run within a tmux session which is set up with the following script:

tmux script

fldigi_xml.sh

#!/bin/sh
 
session="Shack"
 
tmux start-server
 
tmux new-session -d -s $session 
 
tmux rename-window "fldigi"
 
tmux selectp -t 0
tmux send-keys "python2 ./rx_buf.py" C-m
 
 
 
tmux selectp -t 0
tmux splitw -h -p 50
tmux send-keys "python2 ./parrot_flmsg.py" C-m
 
tmux selectp -t 1 
tmux attach-session -t $session

The python scripts

rx_buf.py
parrot_flmsg.py
flfn.py

are as follows:

rx_buf.py

rx_buf.py reads the Fldigi RX Buffer and provides the online web page to allow remote observation of what is being received.

rx_buf.py

import xmlrpclib
import time
import os
 
s = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy("http://192.168.21.107:7362")
rx_text = ""
n = 0
index = 0
count = 0
 
def get_status():
 
    try:
        status = s.main.get_status1()
    except:
        status = "Fldigi Offline"
    return status
 
def get_mode():
 
    try:
        mode = s.modem.get_name()
    except:
        mode = "Fldigi Offline"
    return mode
 
def get_freq():
    try:
        freq = s.main.get_frequency()
        carrier = s.modem.get_carrier()
        centre = (float(freq) + int(carrier))/1000
    except:
        centre = 0.0
    return centre
 
def write_file(text):
    print "in write_file() with ", text
    text_asc = "".join(x for x in text if (ord(x) > 31 and ord(x) < 128) or ord(x) == 13 or ord(x) == 10 or ord(x) == 9)
    filename = r'/var/www/html/pages/gm4slv_fldigi.txt'
    f = open(filename, 'a+')  # a+ is "append to file, create it if it doesn't exist"
    f.write(text_asc)
    f.close()
    return
 
def stamp_file():
    mode = get_mode()
    centre = get_freq()
    status = get_status()
    timenow = time.strftime("*** Time Stamp : %Y-%m-%d %H:%M :  ", time.gmtime(time.time()))
    #print mode
    write_file("\r\n\n%s *** Modem : %s : Centre Freq : %.3f *** SNR : %s \r\n\n" % (timenow, mode, centre, status))
 
def tail(n):
    filename = r'/var/www/html/pages/gm4slv_fldigi.txt'
    tailfile = r'/var/www/html/pages/gm4slv_tail.txt'
    fin = open(filename, 'r')
    list = fin.readlines()
    fin.close()
    tail_list = list[-n:]
    fout = open(tailfile, "w")
    fout.writelines(tail_list)
    fout.close()
 
 
while True:
    '''
    try:
        rx_length = s.text.get_rx_length()
        rx_text = str(s.text.get_rx(index,rx_length - index))
        index = rx_length
    except:
        rx_text = ""
    '''
    rx_length = s.text.get_rx_length()
    print "rxl ", rx_length
    print "index ", index
    print "getting %d, %d" % (index, rx_length - index)
    rx_text = str(s.text.get_rx(index,rx_length - index))
    index = rx_length
    if rx_text == "empty rx buffer!":
        rx_text = ""
    #s.text.clear_rx()
    #os.system('cls' if os.name == 'nt' else 'clear')
    print  rx_text
 
 
 
    write_file(rx_text)
    tail(100)
 
    count += 1
 
    if count == 180:
        # hourly 180 * 20 secs = 3600 secs = 60 mins
        stamp_file()
        count = 0
    time.sleep(20)

parrot_flmsg.py

parrot_flmsg.py handles the message-relay functions.

Recent changes were made to handle the longer formal message formats of flmsg.

The parrot also provides some simple remote control of the HF transceiver's frequency and power level via QSY? and PWR? commands.

parrot_flmsg.py

#
#######
##  test file
#
 
import xmlrpclib
import time
import os
#import subprocess
 
import flfn
 
s = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy("http://shack:7362")
 
 
rx_text = []
zc_flag = 0
nn_flag = 0
message_time = 0
 
qsy_flag = 0
qsy_time = 0
 
mycall = "GM4SLV"
 
info = "GM4SLV INFO\nTest Relay\nIC-M710 50W\nInverted-L\n"
help_text = "Usage : \nZCZC\nRELAY_CALL FROM_CALL [ INFO? | HELP? | TO_CALL ]\nNNNN"
 
### remove old crud
#
s.text.clear_rx()
 
flfn.do_qsy(5366.5)
 
def write_file(text):
    filename = r'/var/www/html/pages/parrot_log.txt'
    f = open(filename, 'a+')
    f.write(text)
    f.close()
 
def parse_message(text):
    global qsy_flag
    global qsy_time
    #print "Parsing : ", text
    header_line=text.split('\n')[0]
    message_text = "\n".join(text.split('\n')[1:])
    print "Header Line :\n", header_line
    print "Message Text : \n", message_text
 
    calls_list = header_line.split()
 
    if len(calls_list) > 1:
        if len(calls_list) < 5:
 
            qsy_time = time.time()
 
            print "Calls List ", calls_list
 
            relay_call = calls_list[0].upper()
 
            print "Relay call ", relay_call
 
            from_call = calls_list[1].upper()
 
            if len(calls_list) > 2:
                to_call = calls_list[2].upper()
            else:
                to_call = "ECHO"
 
            print "From ",from_call
 
            print "To ",to_call
 
            user = call_asc(from_call)
 
            target = call_asc(to_call)
 
            if len(calls_list) == 4:
                command = calls_list[3]
 
            message = "\n".join(text.split('\n')[1:])
 
            if target == "INFO?":
                target = user
                user = "ECHO"
                message = info
 
            if target == "PWR?":
                pwr = flfn.do_pwr(command)
                target = "BOGUS"
                user = "BOGUS"
                message = "New Power preset %s" % (command)
 
            if target == "QSY?":
                qsy = flfn.do_qsy(command)
                target = "BOGUS"
                user = "BOGUS"
                message = "New Freq %s" % (command)
                #print "command was ", command
                if command != "HOME":
                    qsy_flag = 1
                    print "set qsy_flag ", qsy_flag
                    #print qsy_time
                else:
 
                    qsy_flag = 0
                    print "reset qsy_flag ", qsy_flag    
 
            if from_call == "HELP?" or target == "HELP?":
                target = user
                user = "ECHO"
                message = help_text
 
            if relay_call == mycall:
                return(user,target,message)
 
            else:
                print "Wrong Relay Call"
                return("BOGUS","BOGUS","Not for Me")
 
        else:
            print "Header too long"
            return("BOGUS", "BOGUS", "Too Long")
    else:
        print "Header too short"
        return("BOGUS", "BOGUS","Too Short")
 
def call_asc(call):
    call_asc = "".join(x for x in call if (ord(x) > 46 and ord(x) < 58) or (ord(x) > 62 and ord(x) < 91))
    return(call_asc)
 
 
 
def qsp(text, snr):
    print "\nQSP triggered"
 
    timenow = time.strftime("*** Time Stamp : %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S :  ", time.gmtime(time.time()))
 
    user,target,message=parse_message(text)
    print "Message : \n",message    
    if user == "BOGUS":
        print "Ignoring"
        write_file("\n%s\nNOT RELAYED\n%s" % (timenow, text))
        #subprocess.call("./log.sh")
        s.text.clear_rx()
 
        return
 
    time.sleep(10)
    s.text.clear_rx()
 
    print "PTT ON"
 
    timemsg = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S ", time.gmtime(time.time()))
    s.main.tx()
    s.text.add_tx("\n"+timemsg+"\nTo "+target+" from "+user+" via GM4SLV ("+snr+")\n\n"+message+"\n\n\n"+target+" de "+user+" via GM4SLV kn \n  ^r")
 
    timenow = time.strftime("*** Time Stamp : %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S :  ", time.gmtime(time.time()))
    timemsg = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S ", time.gmtime(time.time()))
 
    modem = s.modem.get_name()
    car = s.modem.get_carrier()
    f = s.main.get_frequency()
    rfc = (f + car) / 1000
 
    write_file("\n%s\n%s (%s)  Message Relayed on %0.1f for : %s\n%s\n====================\n" % (timenow, modem, snr, rfc, user, text))
    #subprocess.call("./log.sh")
 
    return
 
 
def watchdog():
    #print "In Watchdog ", qsy_flag
    if qsy_flag == 1:
        print "We were QSY'd"
        delta_t = time.time() - qsy_time
        print delta_t
        if delta_t > 300:
            print "Timeout"
            qsy_end = "GM4SLV GM4SLV QSY? HOME"
            parse_message(qsy_end)
            timenow = time.strftime("*** Timeout : %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S :  ", time.gmtime(time.time()))
            write_file("\n%s : Returning to HOME channel\n" % (timenow))
    else:
        return
 
 
while True:
    try:
        rx_length = s.text.get_rx_length()
   #     print "rx_length ",rx_length
        for l in range(rx_length-2000, rx_length):
            rx = str(s.text.get_rx(l,1))
            rx_text.append(rx)
            for i in range(len(rx_text)):
                if rx_text[i] == "C" and rx_text[i-1] == "Z" and rx_text[i-2] == "C" and rx_text[i-3] == "Z":
 
                    if not zc_flag:
                        print "Found ZCZC...."
 
                        modem = s.modem.get_name()
                        if modem != "RTTY":
                            stat1 = s.main.get_status1()
                        else:
                            stat1 = s.main.get_status2()
 
                    zc_flag = 1
                    zc_index = i+2
 
                if rx_text[i] == "d" and rx_text[i-1] == "n" and rx_text[i-2] == "e" and rx_text[i-3] == " " and rx_text[i-4] == "." and rx_text[i-5] == "." and rx_text[i-6] == ".":
                    if not nn_flag and zc_flag:
                        print "Found end"
                    nn_flag = 1
                    nn_index = i-3
            text =  ''.join(rx_text)
 
        if zc_flag == 1:
 
            print "found start... waiting for end  ", message_time
            if message_time < 300:
                message_time += 1
            else:
                print "Timeout waiting"
                s.text.clear_rx()
                message_time = 0
                rx_text= []
                zc_flag = 0
                nn_flag = 0
 
        else:
            rx_text=[]
 
 
        if zc_flag == 1 and nn_flag == 1 : # message complete
            print "Message complete"
            #print "zc_index %d, nn_index %d" % (zc_index, nn_index)
            #print "Text  %s " % (rx_text[zc_index:nn_index])
            if zc_index < nn_index:
                message_time = 0
                print "Index correct"
                message = ''.join(rx_text[zc_index:nn_index+8])
                print "Raw Message ", message
                zc_flag = 0
                nn_flag = 0
 
                message_asc = "".join(x for x in message if (ord(x) > 31 and ord(x) < 128) or ord(x) == 13 or ord(x) == 10 or ord(x) == 9)
                rx_text = []
 
                qsp(message_asc, stat1)
 
 
            else:
                rx_text = []
                zc_flag = 0
                nn_flag = 0
 
    except:
        rx_text = []
 
 
    watchdog()
    time.sleep(2)

flfn.py

flfn.py is a helper module of functions to communicate with fldigi using xml-rpc.

flfn.py

import xmlrpclib
import time
 
s = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy("http://shack:7362")
 
 
def do_qsy_tune(ttime):
    while s.main.get_trx_status() != "rx":
        trx = s.main.get_trx_status()
        print "starting while ",trx
        #s.main.rx()
        time.sleep(1)
 
    s.main.tune()
    time.sleep(ttime)
    trx = s.main.get_trx_status()
    print "tune? ",trx
    while s.main.get_trx_status() != "rx":
        trx = s.main.get_trx_status()
        print "ending while ",trx
        s.main.rx()
        time.sleep(1)
    trx = s.main.get_trx_status()
    print "final status ",trx
    return
 
def fld_qsy():
    cur_modem_carrier = s.modem.get_carrier()
    cur_dial_freq = s.main.get_frequency()
    new_dial_freq = (cur_dial_freq + cur_modem_carrier - 1500)
    s.modem.set_carrier(1500)
    s.main.set_frequency(new_dial_freq)
    return
 
def do_qsy(freq):
    if freq == "HOME":
        print "in do_qsy with HOME"
        do_home()
        time.sleep(2)
        do_qsy_tune(3)
        do_home()
        return freq
    else:
        print "in do_qsy with ", freq
        s.main.set_frequency(float(freq)*1000)
        s.modem.set_carrier(1500)
 
        do_qsy_tune(3)
        return freq
 
def do_reverse():
    s.main.toggle_reverse()
    return
 
def do_rxid():
    s.main.toggle_rsid()
    return
 
def do_txid():
    s.main.toggle_txid()
    return
 
def do_home():
    s.main.run_macro(14)
    return
 
def do_pwr(pwr):
    if pwr == "1":
 
        s.main.run_macro(20)
    elif pwr == "2":
        s.main.run_macro(21)
    elif pwr == "3":
        s.main.run_macro(22)
    elif pwr == "4":
        s.main.run_macro(23)
    else:
        pass
    return

Parrot Operation

Basic overview

To trigger a message relay you need to send the following format of text:

ZCZC GM4SLV <YOURCALL> (replacing <YOURCALL> with your actual callsign)

This is the start of message trigger.

Then type/paste/otherwise send your message-to-be-relayed.

To end the message send:

… end

If you are using flmsg to to create and send the message it will send the correct end of message string … end itself, otherwise you need to add it manually.

After a short delay, if successful, you should hear/see your message being relayed.

Further examples of operation

add screenshots of relaying in operation

A simple “ECHO” relay

Page Updated: 04/06/26 07:39 BST

radio, fldigi, python

QRSS

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:56:16 +0000

←Radio Topics

QRSS

I've started playing with QRSS, inspired by getting involved with QMX and QCX and the QRP world. QRSS is something to use the equipment for while I'm not actively operating CW, and by either transmitting QRSS for other people to receive, or running a receive “grabber” for other people to observe, I'm helping with other people's experimental use of the hobby (and my own). I could continue using WSPR for similar ends, but I find QRSS much more human.

First Step

I need to be able to receive - never transmit if you can't receive first. I remember using Spectrum Lab in the past, on 500kHz for a grabber, and I knew it ran well under Wine on Linux. So I installed Spectrum Lab on my Linux shack laptop.

A bit of fiddling and I got it to display QRSS nicely.

Grabber

Receiving locally is nice, but the real fun comes from sharing the waterfall image via the internet…. a “grabber”

That just required setting Spectrum Lab to make regular screen captures, and to deposit them in a directory where they can be accessed by the Linux system easily.

And then a small bash script to send the file by SCP to my VPS webserver.

#!/bin/bash
DIR=/home/g4slv/Screenshots
 
sleep 5
 
scp -P 2182 $DIR/capt.jpg g4slv@g4slv.info:
rm $DIR/capt.jpg

and on the VPS another bash script to rename the new capture to include a datestamp, and then to copy the new capture to the webserver, along with the date-stamped copy.

#!/bin/bash
 
 
DATE=`date +%y%m%d_%H%M`
 
DIR=/home/g4slv
sleep 30
if [ -e capt.jpg ]
then
        cp capt.jpg capt_$DATE.jpg
        sudo mv $DIR/*.jpg /var/www/html/grabs/
fi

This makes sure I don't lose all the grabs, and can access them via the website, to look for interesting artifacts, or signals of interest.

Both scripts run every 10 minutes via Crontab. Each script has a sleep command to delay its operation to allow the correct sequence of actions, and to give time for the SCP operation to upload the new capture file to the VPS.

On the following grab, at 12:00 UTC 8 Jul 2026 are:

GM4GKH using some Hell variant rather than QRSS CW
S52AB
SO5CW
G0PKT
M0BMN
G0MBN
G4JQT
IK2JET

QRSS TX

To set the QMX to operate as a QRSS beacon is a bit convoluted….

Protection
- PA Max volts → 3V - this will give approx 1W
Messages
- Message 1 → GM4SLV
Keyer (from single click of Menu key in normal operation mode) → 6 (dot = 6 seconds)
Beacon
- Mode → FSKCW
- Frequency → 10,140,050
- Frame → 10 (repeat every ten minutes)
- Start → 0 (start on minute zero)
- Time → set to any random time, it's just used to start each TX cycle every “Frame” minutes. Absolute time isn't important.

Sending “GM4SLV” at 6-second dot takes about 7 minutes, and then there's 3 minutes of RX to allow the PA to cool down, and the cycle repeats every 10 minutes. I don't know if the RTC is accurate enough to allow for “stacking” to improve reception of my signals, without GPS time lock it might drift around a little?

Further Information

Knights QRSS Group : https://groups.io/g/qrssknights
QRSSPlus Grabber collection : https://swharden.com/qrss/plus/
QXM User Guide : operation_1_03_002.pdf
Spectrum Lab Installation file obtained from https://www.qsl.net/dl4yhf/spectra1.html : install_speclab.zip
Spectrum Lab usr file for the grabber : gm4slv_30m_grabber.usr

Page created : 08/07/26 11:44 BST

Page updated : 08/07/26 13:56 BST

radio, qrss, 30m, qmx, grabber

Monitor

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 07:50:09 +0000

←6502 Project

Monitor

My first attempts at a Monitor program

Features

RAM is tested at power-up- writing and checking with 2 different bit patterns, then zeroing RAM if successful (avoiding ZeroPage and Stack areas)
display a “Mission Elapsed Time” counter and reset to zero with a button press
step forward and backward through memory locations
display hex data and its ASCII equivalent for each memory location (PEEK)
enter a 2-digit hex value and write it into the currently selected memory location (POKE)
enter a 4-digit hex value and move to that chosen memory address
display an 8-byte block of memory data on one line, starting at the currently selected address
display an 8-byte block of memory data and have it auto-refresh at 1 second intervals
move to a pre-determined address ($3F00) in memory and begin executing code from that point
- this allows machine code to be entered directly from $3F00 onwards and then executed. It's cumbersome, but makes the machine programmable!

Data/addresses are entered on the keypad. Commands are entered by pressing the “SHIFT/INSTRUCT” button at the same time as one of the pre-set instructions.

`Shift`+`1` `MET CLOCK`	2	`Shift`+`3` `BLOCK UP`	`Shift`+`A` `UP`
`Shift`+`4` `dec→hex`	`Shift`+`5` `GO`	`Shift`+`6` `BLOCK DOWN`	`Shift`+`B` `DOWN`
7	8	`Shift`+`9` `auto-update Block view`	`Shift`+`C` `CLS`
`Shift`+`E` `POKE`	0	`Shift`+`F` `BLOCK`	`Shift`+`D` `PEEK`

Shift+1 = MET Clock
Shift+2
Shift+3 = Display the next 8-byte block up - aka “page Up”
Shift+A = Memory selected = UP one
Shift+4 = Convert an entered decimal number to its HEX equivalent
Shift+5 = GO! (jsr $3F00)
Shift+6 = Display the next 8-byte block down - aka “page Down”
Shift+B = Memory selected = DOWN one
Shift+7
Shift+8
Shift+9 = Update 8-byte block view at 1-second intervals
Shift+C = Clear Screen
Shift+E = Enter data byte into selected memory address - aka POKE
Shift+0
Shift+F = Display an 8-byte block of data, starting from current memory address
Shift+D = move to the new memory location provided in last 4 digits entered

monitor_dev.s

 
.localchar '@'
 
;.SEGMENT "ZEROPAGE"
.zeropage
 
DUMP_POINTER:     .res 2
FLAGS:            .res 1
TOGGLE_TIME:      .res 1
CLOCK_LAST:       .res 1
MESSAGE_POINTER:  .res 2
TICKS:            .res 4
CENTISEC:         .res 1
HUNDRED_HRS:      .res 1
TEN_HRS:          .res 1
HRS:              .res 1
TEN_MINUTES:      .res 1
MINUTES:          .res 1
TEN_SECONDS:      .res 1
SECONDS:          .res 1
MEM_POINTER:      .res 2
 
 
;.SEGMENT "BSS"
.bss
 
INKEY:            .res 1
ASCII:            .res 4
BYTE:             .res 2
TENS:             .res 1
HUNDREDS:         .res 1
HEX:              .res 2
HEXB:             .res 2
TEMP:             .res 1
TEMP2:            .res 1
 
.include "../includes/ioports.inc"
.include "../includes/lcd.inc"
.include "../includes/getkey.inc"
.include "../includes/functions.inc"
.include "../includes/rtc.inc"
 
 
.code
 
 
reset:
  ldx #$ff
  txs
 
  cli      ; interrupts ON
 
  jsr via_1_init ; set-up VIA_1 for LCD/Keypad 
  jsr lcd_init ; set-up 4-bit mode 
  jsr lcd_start ; set-up various features of lcd 
 
init_variables:
  stz TICKS
  stz TICKS + 1
  stz TICKS + 2
  stz TICKS + 3
  stz DUMP_POINTER
  stz DUMP_POINTER + 1
  stz MESSAGE_POINTER
  stz MESSAGE_POINTER + 1
  stz TOGGLE_TIME
  stz CLOCK_LAST
  stz CENTISEC
  stz FLAGS
  stz SECONDS
  stz TEN_SECONDS
  stz MINUTES
  stz HRS
  stz TEN_HRS
  stz TEN_MINUTES
  stz HUNDRED_HRS
  stz TEMP
  stz TEMP2
  stz TENS  
  stz MEM_POINTER
  stz MEM_POINTER + 1
 
 
 
;; test then clear RAM between 
;; $0200 - $3FFF - avoids the ZP and STACK areas
 
ram_clear:
  lda #$02            ; start at $0200
  sta MEM_POINTER + 1
  ldy #$00
loop_ram:
  lda #$AA
  sta (MEM_POINTER),y
  lda #$FF
  lda (MEM_POINTER),y
  cmp #$AA
  bne mem_fail_1
  lda #$55
  sta (MEM_POINTER),y
  lda #$FF
  lda (MEM_POINTER),y
  cmp #$55
  bne mem_fail_2
  lda #$00
  sta (MEM_POINTER),y
  iny
  beq next_page
  jmp loop_ram
next_page:
  lda MEM_POINTER + 1
  inc
  cmp #$40
  beq done_ram
  sta MEM_POINTER + 1
  jmp loop_ram
 
 
done_ram:
 
  lda #<mem_pass_msg
  sta MESSAGE_POINTER
  lda #>mem_pass_msg
  sta MESSAGE_POINTER + 1
  jsr print 
  smb5 FLAGS
  jmp loop
 
mem_fail_1:
  lda #<mem_fail_msg_1
  sta MESSAGE_POINTER
  lda #>mem_fail_msg_1
  sta MESSAGE_POINTER + 1
  jsr print
  jmp loop
 
mem_fail_2:
  lda #<mem_fail_msg_2
  sta MESSAGE_POINTER
  lda #>mem_fail_msg_2
  sta MESSAGE_POINTER + 1
  jsr print
  jmp loop
 
 
 
; go straight to MONITOR at startup
;  lda #<splash
;  sta MESSAGE_POINTER
;  lda #>splash
;  sta MESSAGE_POINTER + 1
;  jsr new_address
 
; main loop
loop:
  wai
  jsr check_flags
  jmp loop
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;; FUNCTIONS ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;
 
check_flags:
  bbs0 FLAGS, update_block_address
  bbs5 FLAGS, clock_time
  ; check other flags... other actions....
  rts
 
update_block_address:
  sec
  lda TICKS
  sbc TOGGLE_TIME
  cmp #$32
  bcc exit_update_block
  jsr block_address
  lda TICKS
  sta TOGGLE_TIME
 
exit_update_block:
  rts
 
 
clock_time:
 
  sec
  lda TICKS
  sbc CLOCK_LAST
  cmp #$32
  bcc exit_clock
 
  jsr lcd_cursor_off
 
  jsr lcd_home
 
  lda HUNDRED_HRS
  jsr bintoascii
  lda TEN_HRS
  jsr bintoascii
  lda HRS
  jsr bintoascii
  lda #':'
  jsr print_char
  lda TEN_MINUTES
  jsr bintoascii
  lda MINUTES
  jsr bintoascii
  lda #':'
  jsr print_char
  lda TEN_SECONDS
  jsr bintoascii
  lda SECONDS
  jsr bintoascii
  lda #' '
  jsr print_char
  lda TICKS
  sta CLOCK_LAST
exit_clock:
  rts
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;      update screen when new memory location is selected
;;
;;
new_address:
 
  jsr lcd_clear
 
  jsr lcd_cursor_on
 
 
print_address:
  lda #'$'
  jsr print_char
  lda DUMP_POINTER + 1
  jsr bintohex
  lda DUMP_POINTER
  jsr bintohex
 
  lda #' '
  jsr print_char
 
print_data:
 
  ldy #$00
 
  lda (DUMP_POINTER),y
  jsr bintohex
  lda #' '
  jsr print_char
  lda (DUMP_POINTER),y
  jsr print_char
 
message_end:
  jsr print   ; add second line (cursor) after re-writing the top line
  rts
 
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;; display 8 bytes of data for a "block" of memory
;;
;;
block_address:
 
  jsr lcd_clear
 
  ldy #$00
 
print_block_address:
  lda #'$'
  jsr print_char
  lda DUMP_POINTER + 1
  jsr bintohex
  lda DUMP_POINTER
  jsr bintohex
 
  jsr lcd_line_2
 
print_block:
 
  lda (DUMP_POINTER),y
  jsr bintohex
  lda (DUMP_POINTER),y
  iny
  cpy #$08
  bne print_block
 
 
block_message_end:
  rts
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;; re-draw line 2 cursor
;;
;;
print:
 
  jsr lcd_line_2
 
  ldy #0
line1:
  lda (MESSAGE_POINTER),y
  beq end_print
  jsr print_char
  iny
  jmp line1
 
end_print:
 
  rts
 
 
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;      Monitor function - decrement the selected address 
;;
;;
decrement_address:
 
  sec
  lda DUMP_POINTER
  sbc #$01
  sta DUMP_POINTER
  sta BYTE
  lda DUMP_POINTER + 1
  sbc #$00
  sta DUMP_POINTER + 1
  sta BYTE + 1
dec_ok:
  rts
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;      Monitor function - increment the selected address 
;;
;;
 
increment_address:
 
  clc
  lda DUMP_POINTER
  adc #$01
  sta DUMP_POINTER
  sta BYTE
  bcc inc_ok
  inc DUMP_POINTER + 1
  lda DUMP_POINTER + 1
  sta BYTE + 1
inc_ok:
  rts
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;      Monitor function - increment the selected block of  addresses by 8 
;;
;;
 
increment_block:
  clc
  lda DUMP_POINTER
  adc #$08
  sta DUMP_POINTER
  sta BYTE
  lda DUMP_POINTER + 1
  adc #$00
  sta DUMP_POINTER + 1
  sta BYTE + 1
  rts
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;      Monitor function - decrement the selected block of  addresses by 8 
;;
;;
 
decrement_block:
 
  sec
  lda DUMP_POINTER
  sbc #$08
  sta DUMP_POINTER
  sta BYTE
  lda DUMP_POINTER + 1
  sbc #$00
  sta DUMP_POINTER + 1
  sta BYTE + 1
  rts
 
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;          use last 4 entered ASCII characters from the keypad and convert 
;;          them to TWO 8-bit binary bytes in RAM
;;
;;
ascii_byte:
 
  lda ASCII + 1
 
  jsr ascii_bin
  clc
  asl
  asl
  asl
  asl
  sta BYTE
 
  lda ASCII
 
  jsr ascii_bin
  ora BYTE
  sta BYTE
 
  lda ASCII + 3
  jsr ascii_bin
  clc
  asl
  asl
  asl
  asl
  sta BYTE + 1
 
  lda ASCII + 2
 
  jsr ascii_bin
  ora BYTE + 1
  sta BYTE + 1
  rts
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;    toggle the display/update of Clock on each appropriate keypress
;;
show_clock:
 
  bbs5 FLAGS, reset_bit5
  smb5 FLAGS
  jmp exit_show_clock
 
reset_bit5:
 
  rmb5 FLAGS
 
exit_show_clock:
 
  rts
  ;jmp debounce
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;    toggle the automatic update view of the "8-byte memory block"
;;
show_block:
 
  bbs0 FLAGS, reset_bit0
  smb0 FLAGS
  jmp exit_show_block
 
reset_bit0:
 
  rmb0 FLAGS
 
exit_show_block:
 
  rts
  ;jmp debounce
 
;debounce:
;  ldx #$ff
;  ldy #$ff
;delay:
;  nop
;  dex
;  bne delay
;  dey
;  bne delay
;  rts  
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; INTERRUPT HANDLERS ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;      CB1 : reset & restart timer
;;
 
cb1_handler:
  stz HUNDRED_HRS
  stz TEN_HRS
  stz TEN_MINUTES
  stz TEN_SECONDS
  stz HRS
  stz MINUTES
  stz SECONDS
 
  smb5 FLAGS
 
  rts
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;     CB2 : lap-time pause timer
;;
 
cb2_handler:
  jsr show_clock
  rts
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;                    MONITOR / KEYPAD 
;;
;;
 
keypad_handler:
 
  jsr get_key     ; READs from PORTA which also re-sets VIA's Interrupt flag
  sta INKEY       ; put the ASCII value of input into RAM ( $00 ) 
 
  lda PORTB_1       ; check for SHIFT/INSTRUCTION button
  and #%10000000
  beq check_keypress ; done this way to get around the limit in size of branch jumps....
  jmp handle_new_char
 
check_keypress:
  lda INKEY       
 
; choose action of "SHIFTed" key-press
check_a:
  cmp #'A'
  ; move up one memory address and display contents
  bne check_b     
  jsr increment_address
  jsr new_address
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_b:
  cmp #'B'
  ; move down one memory address and display contents
  bne check_c
  jsr decrement_address
  jsr new_address
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_c:
  cmp #'C'
  ; return to MONITOR
  bne check_d
  rmb5 FLAGS
  jsr lcd_clear
  lda #<splash
  sta MESSAGE_POINTER
  lda #>splash
  sta MESSAGE_POINTER + 1
 
  jsr new_address
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_d:
  cmp #'D'
  ; move monitor to entered 4-digit memory address
  bne check_e
  lda BYTE
  sta DUMP_POINTER
  lda BYTE + 1
  sta DUMP_POINTER + 1
  jsr new_address
  jsr print
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_e:
  cmp #'E'
  ; insert (POKE) byte of data in to current memory address, then increment to next address
  bne check_f
  lda BYTE
  ldy #$00
  sta (DUMP_POINTER),y
  jsr increment_address
  jsr new_address
  jsr print
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_f:
  cmp #'F'
  ; show 8-byte wide block of memory
  bne check_1
  ldy #$00
  lda BYTE
  sta DUMP_POINTER
  lda BYTE + 1
  sta DUMP_POINTER + 1
  jsr block_address
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_1:
  cmp #'1'
  ; show/auto-update clock
  bne check_3
  jsr lcd_clear
  lda #<emt
  sta MESSAGE_POINTER
  lda #>emt
  sta MESSAGE_POINTER + 1
  jsr print
  smb5 FLAGS
 
  ;jsr show_clock
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_3:
  cmp #'3'
  bne check_6
  ldy #$00
  jsr increment_block
  jsr block_address
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_6:
  cmp #'6'
  bne check_9
  ldy #$00
  jsr decrement_block
  jsr block_address
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_9:
  cmp #'9'
  bne check_4
  jsr show_block
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_4:
  cmp #'4'
  bne check_5
  lda BYTE
  sta HEXB
  lda BYTE + 1
  sta HEXB + 1
  jsr byte_to_hex
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
check_5:
  cmp #'5'
  bne exit_key_irq
  jsr $3F00
  jmp exit_key_irq
 
 
handle_new_char:
  lda ASCII + 2
  sta ASCII + 3
  lda ASCII + 1
  sta ASCII + 2
  lda ASCII
  sta ASCII + 1
  lda INKEY       ; get the new ASCII keypress value and... 
  sta ASCII
  jsr print_char  ; and print it on LCD
 
  jsr ascii_byte  ; convert the rolling 4-byte ASCII character data into two binary bytes
 
exit_key_irq:
 
 
  jsr scan  ; re-enable keypad
 
  rts
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
nmi:
  rti
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;;    interrupt is triggered by HIGH edge on VIA CA1 pin
;;     PORTA low nibble (keypad columns) inputs are diode ORed to CA1
;;
 
irq:
; put registers on the stack while handling the IRQ
  pha
  phx
  phy
 
;  find responsible hardware
 
;  Is it VIA_1?
 
  lda IFR_1   ; if IFR_1 has Bit7 set (ie sign=NEGATIVE) then it IS the source of the interrupt
  bpl next_device ; if it's not set (ie sign=POSITIVE) then branch to test the next possible device
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;
;; IFR Flags
;; B7  B6  B5  B4  B3  B2  B1  B0
;; IRQ TI1 TI2 CB1 CB2 SR CA1 CA2
;;
;; Interrupt source is found by sequentially shifting IFR bit left to put bit-of-interest into the CARRY place
;; and then branching based on whether CARRY is SET or not
;;
;; Only add tests for IRQ sources in use, and adjust the ASLs in each test as necessary
;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
test_timer1:
  asl           ; shift IFR left twice puts the TI1 bit into CARRY....
  asl
  bcc test_cb1  ; carry clear = next test
  bit T1CL_1      ; clear not clear = handle the TIMER interrupt
  jsr rtc
  jmp exit_irq
 
test_cb1:
  asl
  asl
  bcc test_cb2
  bit PORTB_1
  jsr cb1_handler
  jmp exit_irq
 
test_cb2:
  asl
  bcc test_ca1
  bit PORTB_1
  jsr cb2_handler
  jmp exit_irq
 
test_ca1:
  asl           ; shift CA1 bit into the CARRY bit & test
  asl
  bcc exit_irq        ; carry clear = leave
  jsr keypad_handler  ; carry not clear = handle the CA1 interrupt (keypad)
  jmp exit_irq
 
 
next_device:
 
exit_irq:
  ply
  plx
  pla
 
 
  rti
 
emt: .asciiz "hhh mm ss  MET"
splash: .asciiz "cmon> "
error_message: .asciiz "Not Decimal"
mem_pass_msg: .asciiz "RAM Test Pass"
mem_fail_msg_1: .asciiz "RAM Test 1 Fail"
mem_fail_msg_2: .asciiz "RAM Test 2 Fail"
 
; Reset/IRQ vectors
 
.segment "VECTORS"
 
 
  .word nmi
  .word reset
  .word irq

See CA65 Setup for the details of the additional includes files needed to assemble the code.

Notes

The idea of basic features came from

http://www.suppertime.co.uk/blogmywiki/2021/03/6502-breadboard-computer-part-7-working-monitor/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK2JIZREgYM

My version is similar, but different.

The Keypad scanning routine came from :

https://www.asinine.nz/2022-05-01/6502-part4/

I wanted to write a routine to poll the 16-key pad and needed some hints. I understood what was needed, but was uncertain about the best way to achieve the correct results, so I looked at various bits of code online. When I worked through this snippet I understood what it was doing, and could perhaps in future come up with a similar working solution myself. It's all a matter of studying, understanding and then using the new knowledge. In the meantime this snippet of code works well enough that I see no point in re-inventing the wheel, so I'm just using it verbatim.

To allow key presses to trigger interrupts I have to set the 4 row-outputs (PA4-PA7) high and then diode-OR the switch's column lines, feeding this OR'd signal in to CA1 on the 65c22. Pressing any key pulls CA1 high, triggering an interrupt, and the interrupt routine then calls the keypad reading function itself which then determines which key was pressed.

— John Pumford-Green 27/08/22 09:24

Further Information

6502, assembly

Photos

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 13:22:23 +0000

←6502 Project

Photos

Some pics of the project

Version 1 - veroboard

Mark 1 in all its glory

Twin LCD displays. 2-line for RTC and Uptime. 4 Line for monitor.

RTC Chip and 2 debounced push buttons on the top breadboard. RTC is fed with 32.768kHz from a function generator awaiting for a new xtal.

4-input AND gate for VIA IRQ connection to CPU on the other breadboard.

I/O board with 2 65C22 VIAs. Beeper piezo sounder in the Altoids tin.

Version 2

Planned to be built using Wirewrap methods but seems to have been forgotten about
- I'll possibly return to the project in winter 2024/5?

— John Pumford-Green 29/09/22 08:21

Further Information

6502 Project

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Archive

6502 Project

My New 2022 Project

I've never really considered myself to be a programmer. I dabble very badly in Python but I've always been confused by what goes on at the CPU level.

Assembler & Machine Code seem to be where you get to grips with what's really happening.

I'm going to build a small 6502-based computer, with the bare minimum of hardware & features…. CPU, ROM, RAM, I/O and some form of display.

I was going to source the parts myself, but found it impossible to find a supplier with stock of the usual 28C256 EEPROM. I've been watching the excellent You Tube video series by Ben Eater:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypFbtuVMUVXNR0z1mu7dp7eH

Ben supplies a kit with everything needed to build the basic computer - just add a PSU and an EEPROM programmer - so I've bought one of his kits.

https://eater.net/6502

I've ordered a TL866 programmer from Amazon as well as a well-regarded book Programming the 65816: Including the 6502, 65C02, and 65802

Tutorial Progress

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←6502 Project

Tutorial Progress

A record of my progress through the Ben Eater You Tube tutorial

Day One : Tuesday 16/8/22

Kit arrived
Installed:
- CPU
- EEPROM
- NAND Gate
- Address & Data lines between CPU and EEPROM and address decoder for EEPROM
Used python “makerom.py” script to burn eprom:

rom = bytearray([0xea] * 32768 )
 
rom[0] = 0xa9
rom[1] = 0x42
 
rom[2] = 0x8d
rom[3] = 0x00
rom[4] = 0x60
 
rom[0x7ffc] = 0x00
rom[0x7ffd] = 0x80
 
with open("rom.bin", "wb") as out_file:
     out_file.write(rom)

ROM file hexdump:

00000000  a9 42 8d 00 60 ea ea ea  ea ea ea ea ea ea ea ea  |.B..`...........|
00000010  ea ea ea ea ea ea ea ea  ea ea ea ea ea ea ea ea  |................|
*
00007ff

Unable to confirm correct running - still waiting for Arduino Mega to act as a logic analyzer. LEDs on data or Address lines show activity….

Next stage

add the 65C22 VIA and use LEDs on output to show correct running

make an 8-bit binary counter with LEDs as an exercise

Day Two : Wednesday 17/8/22

Using Siglent Function Generator as the CPU PHI2 clock

added 65C22 VIA and 8 leds
much debugging of hardware/wiring - breadboard is a NASTY way of doing this…..!
- ordered some IC sockets & other hardware to allow me to build a version on Vero/perf board and move away from breadboard once I've got the the point in the tutorials where all the hardware is stable.
used python script to get the “01010101 → 10101010” LED sequence running.

Self-study

modified assembly code to make the LEDs flash in a binary count

8 bit counter

### 8-bit Counter
 
code = bytearray([
    0xa9, 0xff,         # lda #$FF
    0x8d, 0x02, 0x60,   # sta $6002 : put 11111111 into VIA's Port B control register - all port pins are OUTPUT
 
    0xa9, 0xff,         # lda #$ff (start with all LEDs lit)
    0x8d, 0x00, 0x60,   # sta $6000
 
    0x1a,                # inc A
 
    0x4c, 0x07, 0x80,   # jmp $8007
    ])
 
 
rom = code + bytearray([0xea] * (32768 - len(code)))
 
rom[0x7ffc] = 0x00
rom[0x7ffd] = 0x80
 
with open("rom.bin", "wb") as out_file:
     out_file.write(rom);

This assembles as :

00000000  a9 ff 8d 02 60 a9 ff 8d  00 60 1a 4c 07 80 ea ea  |....`....`.L....|
00000010  ea ea ea ea ea ea ea ea  ea ea ea ea ea ea ea ea  |................|
*
00007ff0  ea ea ea ea ea ea ea ea  ea ea ea ea 00 80 ea ea  |................|
00008000

LEDs flash in binary count to 255 and cycle round… endlessly.

16 bit counter

I wanted to see if I could extend the counter to 16-bits, using 2 VIA ports to drive the LEDs

To make life easier I moved to assembly language and the VASM assembler as recommended in the tutorial.

To count beyond a single 8-bit byte needs a way of holding 2 separate bytes of the count, the low byte and high byte, and only increment the high byte when the low byte rolls past 11111111. Tricky with no RAM installed yet.

I used the 2 index registers X and Y. The carry bit is set as a result of arithmetic on the Accumulator register, so X (low byte) has to be copied to the Accumulator for the addition of 1 each time round the loop.

        .org $8000
 
reset:
        lda #$ff
        sta $6002    ; set port B pins to all output
        sta $6003    ; set port A pins to all output
        lda #$00
        tax          ; X holds the low byte. initialize to zero
        tay          ; Y holds the high byte. initialize to zero
 
 
loop:
        txa          ; copy low byte to A
        adc #$01     ; add 1
        tax          ; copy new value to X
        bcs high_b   ; if carry flag set, branch to increment the high byte
 
 
print:
        txa          ; bring the low byte to A
        sta $6000    ; send low byte to Port B LEDs
        tya          ; bring the high byte to A
        sta $6001    ; send high byte to Port A LEDs
        jmp loop
 
high_b:
 
        iny          ; increment high byte in Y
        jmp print
 
        .org $fffc
        .word reset
        .word $0000

Assembled code

00000000  a9 ff 8d 02 60 8d 03 60  a9 00 aa a8 8a 69 01 aa  |....`..`.....i..|
00000010  b0 0b 8a 8d 00 60 98 8d  01 60 4c 0c 80 c8 4c 12  |.....`...`L...L.|
00000020  80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000030  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00007ff0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 80 00 00  |................|
00008000

Add another 8 LEDs, to Port A, to show the High Byte….

It now counts to 1111111111111111 or $FFFF or 65535 as displayed by the LEDs attached to both VIA ports.

Next stage

is to add the LCD module in place of the flashing LEDs

Day Three : Friday 19/8/22

LCD

added the LCD module to the VIA output port(s)
put the “hello.s” assembled code into ROM
LCD printed Hello, w and no more….

8 Characters… what, why?

Lots of messing about with the assembler code to see if I could get all the Hello, world! message to print to the LCD.

By adding the necessary instruction to change the display position I could use all 16 characters of the display, but I couldn't get it to print all the message in one go…. The same happened with a different LCD module.

Eventually I checked, and re-checked, the address and data lines between CPU, ROM and VIA and must have re-inserted one that was loose. Afterwards the display showed Hello, world! correctly.

I assume the error was that an address line between CPU and ROM wasn't connected, so at one step of the program the ROM went to the wrong address and returned garbage data, and the program stopped, or just randomly stepped through the otherwise empty ROM?

Anyway, whatever the mechanism, ensuring all address & data lines were seated correctly cured the bug.

Next Stage

adding RAM
rebuilding on “properly wired” stripboard to remove the annoyance of breadboard wires coming adrift.

Day 4 : Saturday 21/8/22

added RAM
re-wrote “hello_world” to use 4-bit LCD addressing and moved LCD to PORTB of VIA, freeing up all of PORTA for other uses
began building veroboard version to

Day 5 : Sunday 22/8/22

completed veroboard build and tested with 4-bit/2-line LCD “Hello world”

 
PORTB = $6000
PORTA = $6001
DDRB = $6002
DDRA = $6003
 
 
E  = %01000000
RW = %00100000
RS = %00010000
LED = %10000000
 
  .org $8000
 
reset:
  ldx #$ff
  txs
 
  lda #%11111111 ; Set all pins on port B to output
  sta DDRB
  lda #%00000000 ; Set all pins on port A to input
  sta DDRA
 
  jsr lcd_init
  lda #%00101000 ; Set 4-bit mode; 2-line display; 5x8 font
  jsr lcd_instruction
  lda #%00001110 ; Display on; cursor on; blink off
  jsr lcd_instruction
  lda #%00000110 ; Increment and shift cursor; don't shift display
  jsr lcd_instruction
  lda #%00000001 ; Clear display
  jsr lcd_instruction
 
  ldx #0
 
print1:
  lda message1,x
  beq print2
  jsr print_char
  inx
  jmp print1
 
message1: .asciiz "Shed-o-tron II "
 
message2: .asciiz "* * 22/8/22 * * "
 
 
loop:
  lda #LED
  sta PORTB
  jmp loop
 
print2:
  lda #%10101001
  jsr lcd_instruction
 
  ldx #0
line2:
  lda message2,x
  beq loop
  jsr print_char
  inx
  jmp line2
 
 
 
lcd_wait:
  pha
  lda #%11110000  ; LCD data is input
  sta DDRB
lcdbusy:
  lda #RW
  sta PORTB
  lda #(RW | E)
  sta PORTB
  lda PORTB       ; Read high nibble
  pha             ; and put on stack since it has the busy flag
  lda #RW
  sta PORTB
  lda #(RW | E)
  sta PORTB
  lda PORTB       ; Read low nibble
  pla             ; Get high nibble off stack
  and #%00001000
  bne lcdbusy
 
  lda #RW
  sta PORTB
  lda #%11111111  ; LCD data is output
  sta DDRB
  pla
  rts
 
lcd_init:
  lda #%00000010 ; Set 4-bit mode
  sta PORTB
  ora #E
  sta PORTB
  and #%00001111
  sta PORTB
  rts
 
lcd_instruction:
  jsr lcd_wait
  pha
  lsr
  lsr
  lsr
  lsr            ; Send high 4 bits
  sta PORTB
  ora #E         ; Set E bit to send instruction
  sta PORTB
  eor #E         ; Clear E bit
  sta PORTB
  pla
  and #%00001111 ; Send low 4 bits
  sta PORTB
  ora #E         ; Set E bit to send instruction
  sta PORTB
  eor #E         ; Clear E bit
  sta PORTB
  rts
 
print_char:
  jsr lcd_wait
  pha
  lsr
  lsr
  lsr
  lsr             ; Send high 4 bits
  ora #RS         ; Set RS
  sta PORTB
  ora #E          ; Set E bit to send instruction
  sta PORTB
  eor #E          ; Clear E bit
  sta PORTB
  pla
  and #%00001111  ; Send low 4 bits
  ora #RS         ; Set RS
  sta PORTB
  ora #E          ; Set E bit to send instruction
  sta PORTB
  eor #E          ; Clear E bit
  sta PORTB
  rts
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
; Reset/IRQ vectors
  .org $fffc
  .word reset
  .word $0000

Next Stage

begin expanding software
- routines to examine memory contents and display (in HEX) the contents of selected memory location(s)
- add switches to VIA PORTA and begin reading state of switches and update LCD with information
- a power-on memory test and toggle LED/LCD?

Further Information

Github : https://github.com/gm4slv/6502

6502

Update Sept 2022

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 11:12:24 +0000

←6502 Project

Update Sept 2022

Some recent modifications and additions

Hardware

2 more 65C22 VIA chips to give a total of 3 VIAs providing six 8-bit I/O ports.
- VIA #1 ($6001) : Port A = Keypad
- VIA #1 ($6000) : Port B = LCD_1 (4×20 in 4-bit mode)
  - VIA #1 : IRQ connection to CPU for keypad and CB1 & CB2 buttons
  - VIA #1 Port B handshaking CB1 and CB2 connected to debounced buttons for user input experiments
- VIA #2 ($5001) : Port A = Spare
- VIA #2 ($5000) : Port B = SPI (bit0,1,2,6), Piezo Sounder (bit7)
  - VIA #2 : T1 Timer = square wave generator for sounder using Port B bit7
- VIA #3 ($4801) : Port A = LCD_2 (2×16 in 4-bit mode)
- VIA #3 ($4800) : Port B = Spare
  - VIA #3 : T1 Timer = System Clock Ticks at 10ms rate via NMI connection to CPU
main LCD changed to a 4 line by 20 character display
2nd LCD (2 x 16) added on VIA #3 Port A
LED indicator plug-in boards made to give easy visual indication of VIA output port state
Piezo sounder connected to VIA #2 Port B, bit 7
SPI interfacing using VIA #2 Port B
Buttons for controlling interrupt driven events, each de-bounced with a 555 monostable
555 timer as a power-on CPU reset

Firmware

ROM Monitor code extended to support the new hardware.

SPI transceive to communicate with a basic SPI slave running on a PyBoard
LCD #2 display of either “Mission Time” or SPI TX/RX data to/from PyBoard
code to send audible beeps of different pitch/duration (controlled by the 2 buttons)
keypad - confirmation keypress beeps
Byte (binary) to ASCII decimal conversion to show 16-bit/2-byte binary data as a human readable decimal number
Use of FLAGS to control background tasks extended/explored

Next Steps

add Serial Interface using Rockwell 65C51 ACIA and MAX232
learn how to code for interacting via serial interface
connect to a Wyse-185 Serial Terminal
[✓ John Pumford-Green, 2022-09-26]~~add DS1306 RTC via SPI~~
[✓ John Pumford-Green, 2022-09-26]~~move system clock back to VIA_1 using IRQ interrupt~~
[✓ John Pumford-Green, 2022-09-26]~~move beep to VIA_3 port B7~~
[✓ John Pumford-Green, 2022-09-26]~~move SPI interface to VIA_3 port B, for future connection to DS1306 RTC~~
- this will leave :
  - VIA_2 ports A & B free for external use
  - VIA_3 Port A = LCD2
  - VIA_3 Port B = Beep and SPI/RTC

— John Pumford-Green 17/09/22 11:50

Further Information

6502, assembly

Damasko DA36 Repair (2019)

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Damasko DA36

Damasko DA36 Repair (2019)

Created Monday 18 November 2019

15/11/19

Sent an email asking for advice on having the watch repaired on 15/11/19 :

Good morning,

I bought a DA36 in October 2016, direct from Damasko and I have been very pleased with it and it has been very reliable, keeping good time over the last 3 years.

The serial number is DA36.1981

Recently I have noticed that it randomly loses a up to one minute in a single day, when most of the time it keeps to within ± 2 seconds per day.

On these occasions I have observed the watch using a Timegrapher machine, and I see that the displayed rate can be as low as -240 s/d and the displayed amplitude can be as low as 126 degrees. These periods of poor performance occur randomly and do not appear to be related to any physical activity etc. Often the watch returns to normal behaviour after a few hours. I now feel that I cannot rely on the watch to be reliable in normal use.

Can I arrange for the watch to be repaired or serviced to return it to it's previous excellent and reliable performance?

Since I bought the watch direct from Damasko I am happy to return it to yourselves for the repair.

Please advise me on how to proceed.

Best wishes,

John Pumford-Green

18/11/19

Nadja Damasko replied to my email:

Dear Mr Pumford-Green

Thank you for your enquiry and your interest in returning the watch to us. Please return the watch to:

Damasko GmbH c/o Repair Department Unterheising 17c 93092 Barbing Germany

Please send us BEFORE you return the watch, the following documents/information:

-your serial number -your copy of invoice and warranty card -your exactly delivery and invoice address -your phone number

Moreover, please inform us when your returned the watch. After we received it, we will inform you and later, we come back to you with an exactly cost estimate. If you have any further questions, please let me know it.

Please note: If your watch is not under warranty and/or you decide not to carry out the repair, we have to charge you €25.21 net for the expenses incurred. Bitte beachten Sie: Falls Ihre Uhr nicht unter Gewährleistung fällt und / oder Sie die Reparatur nicht durchführen lassen sollten, behalten wir uns vor, für den entstandenen Aufwand €25.21 netto zu berechnen.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Nadja Zacherl

(geb. Damasko / née Damasko)

I sent back by email scans of the invoice and "Watch Passport" front page, as well as the other information she requested.

Dear Nadja,

Thank you for your email and instructions for sending the watch back for repair.

Attached are scans of the invoice and Passport/warranty page.

The serial Number is : DA36.1981

I am returning the watch on a leather strap, rather than send back the steel bracelet.

My address for invoice/delivery is:

''my address''

My phone number is: my phone number

I will include the above information with the watch, too, along with a description of the problem.

I will send the watch today and will confirm the shipping details by email once I have sent it.

I look forward to hearing from you when the watch arrives and you can provide a quote for the cost of the repair.

Best regards,

John

update 18/11/19 18:00

posted via Royal Mail at Lerwick Main PO at 1:40pm

Tracking : RS229341324GB

Unable to insure adequately - Royal Mail only up to £250, Parcel Force won't insure “jewellery and watches”.

Sent using International Tracked and Signed (£12.05)

Informed Nadja of sending, and the Tracking Number.

https://www.royalmail.com/track-your-item#/tracking-results/RS229341324GB

update 23/11/19

The DA36 arrived at Damasko's Barbing factory yesterday (Fri 22nd).

Email from Isabella:

Dear Mr Pumford-Green

Today we have received your DAMASKO DA36.1981.

It will be checked by our watchmaker now. After we have a feedback we will inform you about necessary repairs.

Please note: If your watch is not under warranty and/or you decide not to carry out the repair, we have to charge you €25.21 net for the expenses incurred.

Bitte beachten Sie: Falls Ihre Uhr nicht unter Gewährleistung fällt und / oder Sie die Reparatur nicht durchführen lassen sollten, behalten wir uns vor, für den entstandenen Aufwand €25.21 netto zu berechnen.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Isabella Morell

Now to await the verdict….

Update 2/12/19

Email from Isabella:

Dear Mr Pumford-Green

Thank you for sending us your DAMASKO DA36.1981.

After checking it our watchmaker told us that there is many abrasion in the movement.

In the following I may offer you the following cost estimate:

Cleaning, and oiling the escapement

Regulate DA36.1981 €120

Shipping costs UK €50

Total amount €170

The named prices are without VAT.

Please let me know, if we can go ahead with your watch.

Reply from me:

Hello Isabella,

Thank you for the information.

I would be very happy for the repair to go ahead.

I can pay in advance by PayPal or would you prefer to complete the repair before payment, in case of additional expenses that might be necessary?

Regards,

John

Reply from Isabella:

Thank you for your quick reply.

I would send you the invoice for payment by PayPal when I get the watch back by our watchmaker. May I know which invoice and delivery address I can use?

Now to wait for the repair to be complete.

What is “many abrasion” in the escapement - did I do it while regulating - introducing some foreign bodies, dirt/dust? Will not do any further regulation once I get it back, and just have it serviced every few years…. I can put up with a few seconds/day here and there, as long as it's not > ± 10s/d

Page Updated: 30/12/25 09:55 GMT

damasko, watch

Damasko DA36 Tests 1 (2019)

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Damasko DA36

Damasko DA36 Tests 1 (2019)

Created Thursday 31 October 2019

Investigation into fault last seen Aug 2018

Fault symptoms from 30/8/18

rate error high (> 30s/d) and dependant on position
amplitude low ≤200°
hand-winding would not increase amplitude or improve random fluctuating rate.

Investigation to confirm fault prior to arranging repair : 30/10/19

wind 40 turns manually & set time: Δ = -0.7s
on wrist 19:00
take TG measurements as auto power builds up over evening

Reference Values for comparison to "Normal" behaviour

Last known full set of amplitude / rate measurements:

16/12/17
Dial up	: 274° : 0
Dial dn	: 278° : 0
6H	: 256° : -6	: D = -6
3H	: 263° : 0
9H	: 262° : -2
12H	: 261° : +4
Mean	: -0.7

Last known good “full power” TG rate measurements:

8/3/18 13:30
Dial up	: 291°	: +1
Dial dn	:	: 0
6H	:	: -3	D = -4
3H	:	: +2
9H	:	: 0
12H	:	: +1
Mean	: +0.7

TG measurements 1st day 30/10/19

19:25
Dial up : 231° : -11

20:15
Dial up : 271° : -3
Dial dn : 263° : -3

21:15
Dial up : 282° : -1
Dial dn : 271° : 0

22:15
Dial up : 270° : -2
Dial dn : 259° : -1
6H	: 252° : -6	: D = -4
3H	: 257° : 0
9H	: 241° : -3
12H	: 262° : +1
Mean	: -1.8

23:15
Dial up : 287° : 0
Dial dn : 263° : 0
6H	: 249° : -7	: D = -7
3H	: 271° : 0
9H	: 261° : -3
12H	: 266° : +1
Mean	: -1.5


00:15
Dial up : 302° : 0
Dial dn : 295° : 0
6H	: 260° : -6	: D = -6
3H	: 278° : 0
9H	: 271° : 0
12H	: 291° : +1
Mean	: +0.8

TG measurements 2nd day 31/10/19

06:10
Dial up : 272° : -2
Dial dn : 282° : 0
6H	: 249° : -7	: D = -5
3H	: 260° : 0
9H	: 261° : -2
12H	: 259° : +3
Mean	: -1.3


07:10
Dial up : 276° : 0
Dial dn : 275° : +1
6H	: 249° : -5	: D = -5
3H	: 266° : +1
9H	: 252° : -4
12H	: 252° : +2
Mean	: -0.8

08:30
Dial up : 275° : 0
Dial dn : 274° : +2
6H	: 258° : -5	: D = -5
3H	: 264° : +1
9H	: 256° : -1
12H	: 257° : +4
Mean	: -0.16

09:35
Dial up : 279° : -1
Dial dn : 281° : +1
6H	: 266° : -4	: D = -3
3H	: 270° : +1
9H	: 261° : -3
12H	: 267° : +4
Mean	: -0.33

10:30
Dial up : 265° : -2
Dial dn : 261° : 0
6H	: 240° : -8	: D = -6
3H	: 248° : -1
9H	: 236° : -5
12H	: 259° : +3
Mean	: -2.3

13:10
Dial up : 283° : 0
Dial dn : 276° : 0
6H	: 262° : -3	: D = -3
3H	: 258° : +2
9H	: 248° : 0
12H	: 259° : +4
Mean	: +0.5

14:55
Dial up : 278° : -2
Dial dn : 275° : -1
6H	: 257° : -7	: D = -5
3H	: 266° : 0
9H	: 257° : -1
12H	: 266° : +2
Mean	: -1.6

17:10
Dial up : 288° : 0
Dial dn : 277° : 0
6H	: 264° : -3	: D = -3
3H	: 268° : 0
9H	: 261° : -4
12H	: 269° : +2
Mean	: -0.8

21:30
Dial up : 272° : -2
Dial dn : 277° : -1
6H	: 252° : -8	: D = -6
3H	: 262° : -1
9H	: 256° : -4
12H	: 277° : +1
Mean	: -1.8

TG measurements 3rd day 1/11/19

06:00
Dial up : 262° : +1
Dial dn : 260° : +3
6H	: 248° : -4	: D = -5
3H	: 257° : +3
9H	: 251° : 0
12H	: 251° : +7
Mean	: +1.6

16:35
Dial up : 283° : 0
Dial dn : 283° : 0
6H	: 271° : -5	: D = -5
3H	: 271° : 0
9H	: 264° : 0
12H	: 279° : +1
Mean	: -0.6

TG measurements 4rd day 2/11/19

07:45
Dial up : 260° : +1
Dial dn : 268° : +4
6H	: 245° : -5	: D = -6
3H	: 250° : +1
9H	: 249° : 0
12H	: 251° : +3
Mean	: -0.6

16:15
Dial up : 294° : -1
Dial dn : 293° : 0
6H	: 268° : -5	: D = -6
3H	: 266° : 0
9H	: 273° : -2
12H	: 273° : +1
Mean	: -1.6

19:30
Dial up : 299° : -1
Dial dn : 298° : 0
6H	: 267° : -5	: D = -4
3H	: 267° : 0
9H	: 273° : -4
12H	: 272° : +1
Mean	: -1.5

TG measurements 5th day 3/11/19

07:00
Dial up : 258° : +1
Dial dn : 264° : +6
6H	: 251° : -1	: D = -2
3H	: 255° : +1
9H	: 254° : 0
12H	: 251° : +3
Mean	: +1.6

16:10
Dial up : 291° : 0
Dial dn : 281° : 0
6H	: 271° : -4	: D = -4
3H	: 264° : 0
9H	: 259° : -2
12H	: 271° : +3
Mean	: -0.5

21:00
Dial up : 289° : -1
Dial dn : 278° : 0
6H	: 261° : -5	: D = -4
3H	: 262° : 0
9H	: 258° : -1
12H	: 260° : +2
Mean	: -0.8

TG measurements 6th day 4/11/19

06:15
Dial up : 264° : +1
Dial dn : 256° : +3
6H	: 240° : -5	: D = -6
3H	: 249° : 0
9H	: 256° : 0
12H	: 248° : +4
Mean	: +0.5

11:25
Dial up : 292° : 0
Dial dn : 283° : +1
6H	: 267° : -4	: D = -4
3H	: 277° : +1
9H	: 262° : -1
12H	: 268° : +3
Mean	: +0.0

Amplitude vs Position vs Mean Rate

Date     	Time		Du	Dd	6h	3h	9h	12h	Av	M
=============================================================================================	
30/10/19 	22:15		270	259	252	257	241	262	257	-1.8	
30/10/19 	23:15		287	263	249	271	261	266	266	-1.5

31/10/19 	00:15		302	295	260	278	271	291	283	+0.8	
31/10/19 	06:10		272	282	249	260	261	259	263	-1.3
31/10/19 	07:10		276	275	249	266	252	252	262	-0.8
31/10/19 	08:30		275	274	258	264	256	257	263	+0.2
31/10/19 	09:35		279	281	266	270	261	267	271	-0.3
31/10/19 	10:30		265	261	240	248	236	259	252	-2.3
31/10/19 	13:10		283	276	262	258	248	259	264	+0.5
31/10/19 	14:55		278	275	257	266	257	266	267	-1.6
31/10/19 	17:10		288	277	264	268	261	269	271	-0.8
31/10/19 	21:30		272	277	252	262	256	277	266	-1.8

01/11/19 	06:00		262	260	248	257	251	251	255	+1.6
01/11/19 	16:35		283	283	271	271	264	279	275	-0.6

02/11/19 	07:45		260	268	245	250	249	251	254	+0.6
02/11/19	16:15		294	293	268	266	273	273	279	-1.6
02/11/19	19:30		299	298	267	267	273	272	279	-1.5

03/11/19	07:00		258	264	251	255	254	251	256	+1.6
03/11/19	16:10		291	281	271	264	259	270	273	-0.5
03/11/19	21:00		289	278	261	262	258	260	268	-0.8

04/11/19	06:15		264	256	240	249	256	248	252	+0.5
04/11/19	11:25		292	283	267	277	262	268	275	+0.0

Watchcheck data

Date		Time	Δ(s)	Error(s/d)	Ave(s/d)	Comment
31/10/19 	06:17 	-2.2
01/11/19 	06:06 	-4.2	-2.0		-2.0		Dial up overnight
02/11/19 	07:43	-6.7	-2.3		-2.2		Dial up overnight
03/11/19 	06:54	-7.5	-0.8		-1.8		Dial down overnight
04/11/19	06:32	-8.5	-1.0		-1.6		Dial down overnight

TimeGrapher Pseudo-COSC Test

16:00 1/11/19 (Full Power) & 07:45 2/11/19 (After overnight resting dial-up)

M1	-5
M2	-5	Mean 6H	: -5	V1 : 0
M3	+2
M4	+1	Mean 3H	: +1.5	V2 : 1
M5	0
M6	0	Mean 9H	: 0	V3 : 0
M7	+2
M8	+4	Mean DD	: +3	V4 : 2
M9	0
M10	+1	Mean DU : +0.5	V5 : 1
M11	n/a
M12	-5

                         Limit		
M	0	Pass	(+6/-4) 	Mean Daily Rate			: Ave of M1..M10
Vavg	0.8	Pass	(2)		Mean Variation			: Ave of V1..V5
Vmax	2	Pass	(5)		Max Variation 			: Max of V1..V5
D	-5.5	Pass*	(+8/-6) 	Difference Vert-Horiz		: Ave of M1..M2 minus Ave of M9..M10
P	5	Pass	(10)		Largest Variation from mean	: Value of M1.. M10 with largest difference from overall M
R	+0	Pass	(+5/-5) 	Rate Resumption			: M12 minus Ave of M1..M2

Power Reserve Test

Start fully wound : “day 0”

Put on Timegrapher, dial up, to observe rate/amplitude during period of test

ETA 2836-2 spec = 38 hours

Off wrist date time 	:	04/11/19	11:35
Stopped date time	:	05/11/19	21:27
Elapsed time		:	33:52

TG Checks during Power Reserve test, Dial Up

	
Date		Time	Elapsed	Amp	Rate	Δ-NTP
04/11/19	11:35	0:00	279	0	-8.5
04/11/19	14:35	3:00	270	+1		
04/11/19	17:35	6:00	271	0
04/11/19	21:10	8:35	260	0
04/11/19	23:20	11:45	251	0
05/11/19	06:20	18:45	243	0
05/11/19	08:35	21:00	233	-1
05/11/19	09:30	21:55	234	-1	-9.4
05/11/19	13:55	26:20	213	-6
05/11/19	15:00	27:25	212	-7	-10.9
05/11/19	16:45	29:10	203	-10
05/11/19 	17:35	30:00	198	-12
05/11/19	18:35	31:00	191	-14
05/11/19	19:35	32:00	179	-19	-13.3
05/11/19	20:35	33:00	168	-27
05/11/19	21:27	33:52	STOPPED....

Power reserve	:	33:52

DA36Measurements

Created Friday 08 November 2019

8 November 2019

	08/11/19 : 06:15
	Dial up : 254° : -1
	Dial dn : 261° : +4
	6H	: 243° : -6
	3H	: 237° : -1
	9H	: 222° : -6
	12H	: 226° : 0
	D 	: -5
	Mean	: 241° : -1.6

	08/11/19 : 12:45
	Dial up : 284° : 0
	Dial dn : 281° : +1
	6H	: 266° : -3	
	3H	: 263° : 0
	9H	: 259° : -1
	12H	: 266° : +3
	D 	: -3
	Mean	: 270° : 0

	08/11/19 : 23:20
	Dial up : 280° : -2
	Dial dn : 277° : 0
	6H	: 260° : -3	
	3H	: 261° : 0
	9H	: 254° : -2
	12H	: 259° : +3
	D 	: -1
	Mean	: 265° : 0

9th November 2019

09/11/19 : 06:50
Dial up : 256° : +1
Dial dn : 254° : +3
6H	: 230° : -7	
3H	: 227° : -4
9H	: 234° : -2
12H	: 227° : +1
D 	: -8
Mean	: 238° : -1.3

09/11/19 : 13:10
Dial up : 281° : 0
Dial dn : 282° : 0
6H	: 264° : -4	
3H	: 263° : 0
9H	: 268° : 0
12H	: 260° : +3
D 	: -4
Mean	: 270° : -0.2

09/11/19 : 23:00
Dial up : 286° : -2
Dial dn : 280° : 0
6H	: 260° : -6	
3H	: 256° : -2
9H	: 272° : 0
12H	: 263° : +1
D 	: -4
Mean	: 270° : -1.5

10th November 2019

10/11/19 : 07:05
Dial up : 251° : 0
Dial dn : 246° : +1
6H	: 232° : -8	
3H	: 220° : -8
9H	: 230° : -3
12H	: 230° : 0
D 	: -8
Mean	: 236° : -3

10/11/19 : 14:20	
Dial up : 256° : -4
Dial dn : 248° : -5
6H	: 233° : -13	
3H	: 228° : -6
9H	: 227° : -8
12H	: 226° : -5
D 	: -9
Mean	: 236° : -6.8

Wound manually 40 turns:

Dial up	: 238°	: -5
Dial dn	: 234°	: -6
6H	: 225° 	: -14

Amplitude still low…..

Wound manually > 100 turns:

	
Dial up : 263° : -1
Dial dn : 264° : 0
6H	: 244° : -9	
3H	: 245° : -3
9H	: 256° : -2
12H	: 249° : 0
D 	: -8
Mean	: 253° : -5.0

Rate improved but amplitude still low - can't achieve “full wind power”?

10/11/19 : 16:30
Dial up : 274° : 0
Dial dn : 259° : 0
6H	: 238° : -9	
3H	: 250° : -2
9H	: 245° : -3
12H	: 242° : 0
D 	: -9
Mean	: 251° : -2.3

Back to on-wrist for further observations @ 16:50

Amplitude vs position vs mean rate error

	Date     	Time		Du	Dd	6h	3h	9h	12h	Av	M	
	============================================================================================
	08/11/19	06:15		254	261	243	237	222	226	241	-1.6
	08/11/19	12:45		284	281	266	263	259	266	270	+0.0
	08/11/19	23:20		280	277	260	261	254	259	265	+0.0

	09/11/19	06:50		256	254	230	227	234	227	238	-1.3
	09/11/19	13:10		281	282	264	263	268	260	270	-0.2
	09/11/19	23:00		286	280	260	256	272	263	270	-1.5
	
	10/11/19	07:05		251	246	232	220	230	230	236	-3.0
	10/11/19	14:20		256	248	233	228	227	226	236	-6.8 !!!!!
	10/11/19	16:30		274	259	238	250	245	242	251	-2.3
	10/11/19	17:30		286	281	265	268	259	263	270	-1.
	10/11/19	19:10		259	269	248	249	260	253	256	-1.8
	10/11/19	21:00		293	284	264	260	266	267	272	-2.5
	10/11/19	23:00		270	277	266	250	261	252	262	-3.0

Over to Damasko DA36 Tests 2 (2019)

Dial-Up Amplitude & Rate

Date		Time	Amp.	Rate
=====================================
08/11/19	06:15	254	-1
08/11/19	12:45	284	0	
08/11/19	15:40	281	0
08/11/19	17:00	272	0
08/11/19	23:20	280	-2

09/11/19	06:50	256	+1
09/11/19	10:40	270	-1
09/11/19	13:10	281	0
09/11/19	20:30	288	-1
09/11/19	23:00	286	-2

10/11/19	07:05	251	0
10/11/19	10:10	267	-3
10/11/19	14:20	256	-4 !!! Low amplitude all positions after several hours on wrist.

Goto Damasko DA36 Tests 2 (2019)

Watchcheck measurements

Android Watchcheck (one per day to show overall rate):

Date		Time	Δ(s)	Error(s/d)	Ave(s/d)	Comment
=======================================================================================

08/11/19	06:24	-7.7	-1.6		-2.0		overnight dial down
09/11/19	07:04	-9.5	-1.7		-1.9		overnight dial down
10/11/19	07:02	-11.9	-2.4		-2.1		overnight dial down
11/11/19	06:25	-14.1	-2.3		-2.1		overnight dial up


Python Watchcheck (2 per day to show difference between on-wrist and resting position):

dd/mm/yyyy HH:MM:SS	Δ(s)        Error(s/d)       Ave(s/d)	Comment
===================================================================

08/11/2019 06:25:07     -7.8            +3.6            -1.3	Nighttime dial down = positive
08/11/2019 23:19:10     -10.3           -3.6            -2.0 	daytime on wrist = negative
09/11/2019 07:05:09     -9.5            +2.6            -1.4	Nighttime dial down = positive
09/11/2019 23:05:12     -12.6           -4.8            -2.1	Daytime on wrist = negative
10/11/2019 07:03:11     -11.6           +3.1            -1.6	Nighttime dial down = positive
10/11/2019 23:10:14     -14.2           -3.8            -2.0 	Daytime worn = negative
11/11/2019 06:23:14     -14.1           +0.1            -1.8 	Dial Up overnight. Zero

@watches

Post Power Test Measurements

Return to wrist and allow to reach adequate auto-winding power. Set time & take new Watchcheck reading once amplitude and rate have settled.

21:50 On wrist

22:00
Dial up : 235° : -15
Dial dn : 221° : -17
6H	: 214° : -21	: D = -6
3H	: 229° : -15
9H	: 225° : -16
12H	: 220° : -19
Mean	: -17

* worn overnight in bed - MINIMAL ADDITIONAL AUTO-WINDING? *

Day 1 6/11/19

06:00 	
Dial up : 226° : -10
Dial dn : 233° : -10
6H	: 214° : -20	: D = -10
3H	: 235° : -7
9H	: 210° : -15
12H	: 223° : -6
Mean	: -11

12:15 	
Dial up : 265° : -1
Dial dn : 252° : 0
6H	: 242° : -7	: D = -6
3H	: 241° : -1
9H	: 238° : -4
12H	: 249° : +1
Mean	: -2

15:50	 	
Dial up : 289° : 0
Dial dn : 276° : 0
6H	: 259° : -6	: D = -6
3H	: 267° : 0
9H	: 273° : -1
12H	: 269° : +1
Mean	: -1

19:50	 	
Dial up : 277° : 0
Dial dn : 283° : 0
6H	: 254° : -6	: D = -6
3H	: 251° : -2
9H	: 241° : -3
12H	: 266° : +4
Mean	: -1.5

Day 2 7/11/19

06:00	 	
Dial up : 260° : +1
Dial dn : 252° : +4
6H	: 241° : -4	: D = -5
3H	: 230° : -4
9H	: 199° : -17	********
12H	: 200° : -11    ********
Mean	: -5.2

07:00	 	
Dial up : 270° : -1
Dial dn : 260° : 0
6H	: 246° : -7	: D = -6
3H	: 245° : -2
9H	: 240° : -5
12H	: 245° : 0
Mean	: -2.5

09:20	 	
Dial up : 284° : -1
Dial dn : 281° : +1
6H	: 269° : -2	: D = -1
3H	: 265° : +1
9H	: 265° : 0
12H	: 261° : +3
Mean	: +0.3

21:30		 	
Dial up : 287° : -2
Dial dn : 281° : 0
6H	: 254° : -6	: D = -4
3H	: 262° : -1
9H	: 265° : -2
12H	: 261° : +2
Mean	: -1.5

Day 3 8/11/19

06:15
Dial up : 254° : -1
Dial dn : 261° : +4
6H	: 243° : -6	: D = -5
3H	: 237° : -1
9H	: 222° : -6
12H	: 226° : 0
Mean	: -1.6

12:45
Dial up : 284° : 0
Dial dn : 281° : +1
6H	: 266° : -3	: D = -3
3H	: 263° : 0
9H	: 259° : -1
12H	: 266° : +3
Mean	: 270° : 0

Date     	Time		Du	Dd	6h	3h	9h	12h	Av	M
=============================================================================================
06/11/19	06:30		226	233	214	235	210	223	223	-11.0
06/11/19	12:15		265	252	242	241	238	249	248	-2.0
06/11/19	15:50		289	276	259	267	273	269	272	-1.0
06/11/19	19:50		277	283	254	251	241	266	262	-1.5

07/11/19	06:00		260	252	241	230	199!!	200!!	230	-5.2
07/11/19	07:00		270	260	246	245	240	245	251	-2.5
07/11/19	09:20		284	281	269	265	265	261	271	+0.3
07/11/19	21:30		287	281	254	262	265	261	268	-1.5

08/11/19	06:15		254	261	243	237	222	226	241	-1.6
08/11/19	12:45		284	281	266	263	259	266	270	+0.0




Android Watchcheck:

Date		Time	Δ(s)	Error(s/d)	Ave(s/d)	Comment
=======================================================================================
06/11/19 	06:41 	-3.6					New period started
06/11/19	12:32	-5.4	-7.4		-7.4		after ~6 hours
06/11/19	20:02	-6.2	-2.5		-4.6		after further 7.5 hours
07/11/19	05:55	-6.1	+0.2		-2.6		overnight dial down
08/11/19	06:24	-7.7	-1.6		-2.0		overnight dial down



Python Watchcheck:

dd/mm/yyyy HH:MM:SS	Δ(s)        Error(s/d)       Ave(s/d)	Comment
===================================================================
06/11/2019 20:22:06     -6.2            -2.5            -2.5	Daytime = negative
07/11/2019 05:56:06     -6.1            +0.3            -0.8	Nighttime dial down = positive
08/11/2019 00:36:08     -8.6            -3.3            -2.1	Daytime = negative
08/11/2019 06:25:07     -7.8            +3.6            -1.3	Nighttime dial down = positive

Conclusion

There seems to be nothing wrong.

4 full days of on-wrist testing shows normal amplitude and rate error.

Power-run-down test gives a reserve time of ≥33 hours. This is less than the ETA 2836-2 spec of 38 hours. This may be due to starting the test with less than full wind? 33 hours is still acceptable. Rate and amplitude drops after 24 hours, but accumulated error is still acceptable if the test had been stopped before completion and the watch worn (an additional ~5 seconds of loss over the 33 hours of testing).

Restarting and achieving full-power/amplitude & normal rate error takes some time on-wrist - avoiding manually winding as far as possible, just enough to start the movement running. Is there still an intermittent problem with the winding or power?

Time will tell.

Further monitoring under Damasko DA36 Measurements (2019)

Page Updated: 30/12/25 09:55 GMT

watch, damasko

Repair and Service 2022

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 09:55:07 +0000

←Damasko DA36

Repair and Service 2022

A mishap leading to having it repaired and a full service at Damasko

The Accident 9/11/22

I dropped my watch!

I dropped it face down, “flat on the crystal” on a tiled floor! I was initially relieved to see, when I picked it up from its landing place, that the crystal had survived. I initially thought I'd been lucky, and it had escaped unscathed.

However the shock of landing had dislodged the layer of luminous paint from the minute-hand. It came off in one single piece, and was free inside the watch, looking like another hand just rattling around inside.

The watch was now 6 years old and was probably due a service, the timekeeping had slowly drifted to around -2 seconds per day and appeared to be getting gradually worse month by month.

I emailed Isabella at Damasko to ask about the possibility of a service and the any repairs necessary, including a new hour-hand. She replied very quickly to say that a Full Service would be €260 and new hands were €25 each. The hand replacement would be done as part of the service (no additional costs beyond the part(s) themselves.

Sending it to Barbing 9/11/22

We aren't in the EU any more. What idiots thought that BREXIT was a good idea??

In the past it was simple, and quick, to send something back to Germany for repair. Not this time.

I used Royal Mail, but this time needed to declare the contents on a Customs form, and hope that the German Customs assessor didn't apply import duty on the way IN to Damasko (and then hope that the UK Customs don't charge me on the way back).

The watch was posted on November 9th 2022 and arrived, after a long delay in German Customs, on December 1st 2022.

Repair go-ahead 5/12/22

I received a full estimate, including return carriage of €100 (Brexit again!), of €385 on 5th December, after the watch had been examined by the Damasko watchmaker. This was for full strip-down, clean, inspect, lubricate, rebuild, test/regulate, water-proof check etc. as well as replacement of the hour-hand. I gave the go-ahead by return email.

Invoice received 19/12/22

The repair was done, some additional parts were needed (second wheel, intermediate wheel and third wheel).

The invoice was received and I arranged payment via PayPal the next morning.

The watch is on its way back via FedEx, on 20th December. Now I have to wait to see what happens on the return trip. What will UK Customs do? How long will it take.

And how will it run?

— John Pumford-Green 22/12/22 06:58

Watch returns... 30/12/22

Against all expectation my DA36 came back before the end of the year. It was delivered on Friday 30th December.

It came in a nice parcel with a Damasko Baseball Cap, Damasko pen, catalogue, Christmas Card and the old parts that were replaced in the service.

It's such a pleasure to have my watch back on my wrist again after over 2 months.

I'll keep track of its timekeeping now. Before the accident it was gradually slowing, and had reached the point of losing 4 seconds/day. It will be interesting to see what the rate is now, following a full service, in which 3 train wheels were replaced. I'll put it on the Timegrapher tomorrow afternoon once it's had 24 hours of normal wear to get fully wound. I'll also start a new “WatchCheck” measurement period to observe the overall daily rate each morning, as usual.

Timegrapher Data

First check on the Timegrapher after 2 days on the wrist.
Initial indications are that it's power and positional variance is improved, rate is a little faster than expected

Pos	Amp	Rate
Dial Up	297	+9
Dial Down	297	+7
6H	294	+6
3H	290	+6
9H	285	+9
12H	293	+6
Ave	(293)	+7.2
D		-2

Further Information

Allstar - 2026

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 21:44:47 +0000

←AllStar Linking

Allstar - 2026

I've put an Allstar node back on the air!

Shari Pi 70cm

I built a Shari-Pi 3U node last year, to use as a portable Allstar/Echolink node - accessing the internet via my mobile phone hotspot. At that time I also had a “hig power” 2m node running at home.

After a while I became disenchanted with radio and turned everything (even HF) off…

In May 2026 I became interested in the hobby again, and started to re-build a few parts of my station. Once the HF gear was up and running I put the Shari-Pi 70cm Allstar node online. The range is rather limited, given the low, low power and short stubby antenna - it's only intended for “within the house” coverage, after all. On a walk today I found I could hear still access, and hear it up to a mile away, almost line of site!

At the same time I'm starting to think about HF Selcall and hoping to find some other people around Europe (or further?) who might be interested. The thought struck me that Allstar would work as an “Engineer Order Wire” - a back-channel for co-ordination and discussion.

Greater Range?

How could I make the Allstar node have a better range, around my local - remote, rural, isolated - area? Should I resurrect my other Allstar node - a R.Pi, CM108 modified sound-dongle, 2m radio?

I have in the shack a TM-D710 V/UHF radio capable of cross-band repeat, I have a TH-D72 and together these make a great remote-controllable cross-band repeater system. Could I use a 2m frequency for access, cross-banding to the Shari-Pi's 70cm frequency?

Yes, it works!

Using the “Wireless Control” functions built into the TM-D710/TH-D72 it's possible to have a cross-band repeater that can be enabled & disabled over the air from the handheld, and effectively make the Allstar private 70cm hotspot into a high power 2m Gateway. (Where “high power” = 5 watts).

TH-D72 and remote control

Make the Left Side of the TM-D710 the Active side, set to the Shari-Pi's 70cm Frequency/Tone : 430.050MHz / 77Hz CTCSS
Put the Right Side of the TM-D710 on 2m : 144.9125MHz / 77Hz CTCSS
Turn off
Hold “Rev” and power on
- Radio should be in Remote Control mode
Use the TH-D72 to start/stop the Repeat function, change TX power on the 70m port, etc….
- Put the TH-D72 on the chosen 20m frequency : 144.9125MHz / 77Hz CTCSS
- Turn off
- Hold MR and PTT and power on
- This should be “Moblie Ctrl” mode
  - To Enable Cross Band Repeat : Press C (aka MR) (No need to hold PTT button)
  - To Disable Cross Band Repeat : Press D (aka Call)
- To exit “Mobile Ctrl” mode - reverse the porcess
  - Turn Off
  - Hold MR and PTT and power on
- Now it's possible to use normal Allstar DTMF commands to control the linking etc. of the Shari-Pi node, transparently it seems to be on 2m

Further Information

Page created : 06/06/26 22:19 BST

Page updated : 06/06/26 22:44 BST

radio, allstar, tm-d710, th-d72

Allstar & Echolink

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 07:46:15 +0000

←AllStar Linking

Allstar & Echolink

Revisiting Allstar with Node 48148 for 2024

Node 48148

I've set up an Allstar node/gateway - in place of the Svxlink node I did yesterday SVXLink : Install from source

Platform	Rapsberry Pi
Interface	CM108 Soundcard
Radio	FT-8900
Frequency	144.9125 MHz
Monitor	Supermon
AllStar	http://stats.allstarlink.org/stats/48148

It turned out to be not too difficult, as I already had all the correct working configs from the last time I used Allstar, so I was able to copy them onto the new SD card image and have a working node straight from boot up!

Editing the image

I downloaded the most recent V2.0 beta image for Raspberry Pi here : 2.0.0-beta.6

Once I had the img file unzipped I thought it would be fun to try and add my config to the image before writing it to the SD Card. I had enough information here to show me how to mount an image as a block device (ie disk). Once that was done I could simply copy any files onto the mounted image and then unmount it. The image could then be dd to the SD card in the usual way.

So I retrieved the last set of config file backups and copied all the *.conf files that go in /etc/asterisk into the mounted image device i.e. to /mnt/etc/asterisk/

Unmount the image from the filesystem sudo umount /mnt

Then

sudo dd if=my_new_image.img of=/dev/mmblblahblah bs=4M

and wait.

It's alive

Once written I put the CD card into the Pi. Booted up, and heard my callsign ID on the radio - it worked, without having to go through the rigmarole of a new install configuration.

I SSH'd in via the DHCP address it had been given, and to change the IP to a static one I checked the peculiar name of the Ethernet interface: enxb827eb6f9954 and edited /etc/dhcpcd.conf to use a static IP address on this device. Using eth0 didn't work, as the interface wasn't called eth0

# Example static IP configuration:
interface enxb827eb6f9954
static ip_address=192.168.21.109/24
static routers=192.168.21.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.21.1 8.8.8.8

Reboot again, and now I can SSH via the correct static IP address

Next Steps

Add my own user (don't want to use the built in repeater user)
Add myself to the necessary groups (sudo etc.)
change the hostname from repeater → asterisk
- remember to edit /etc/hosts as well as /etc/hostname
set timezone to Europe/London
Check the RX/TX levels/deviation with /usr/sbin/simpleusb-tune-menu - the levels were spot on due to using the same setup, and the same config. files as the previous incarnation.
Enable Echolink by editing /etc/asterisk/modules.conf to load the Echolink Module (last time I'd disabled it)
Copy any necessary allmon2 files to /var/www/html/allmon2/ & set up allmon2
Port Forward on router:
- UDP/4569
- UDP/5198
- UDP/5199
All working…!

First QSO

* I was called on Echolink by G0RAS while I was out walking the dogs. We had a good chat, so that was a good test that it's all working

Section Two

some macros as configured in /etc/asterisk/rpt.conf for quick connect/disconnect

*531

[macro]
 
11 = *141223# ; disc. hubnet
21 = *241223# ; monitor hubnet
31 = *341223# ; transceive hubnet
 
 
12 = *12197# ; disc Freedom Net
22 = *22197# ; monitor Freedom Net
32 = *32197# ; transceive Freedom Net
 
13 = *129332# ; disc Alaska
23 = *229332# ; monitor Alaska
33 = *329332# ; transceive Alaska
 
;14 = *154383# ; disc CQ North
;24 = *254383# ; monitor CQ North
;34 = *354383# ; transceive CQ North
 
;191 = *140894# ; disconnect hubnet Echo
;391 = *340894# ; connect hubnet echo
 
;192 = *13009999#       ; dis echolink echotest
;392 = *33009999#       ; con echolink echotest

— John Pumford-Green 07/04/24 10:03

Further Information

radio, allstar, echolink

GM4SLV Allstar 2025

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 18:47:10 +0000

←AllStar Linking

GM4SLV Allstar 2025

New explorations into Allstar and Bridging

This was an initial experiment, I've used what I learned to set up a bigger system (still under development) and described here : Explorations

Hardware

Platform	Rapsberry Pi
Interface	CM108 Soundcard - modified
Radio	FT-1500M
Frequency	144.9125MHz
Allstar Node	48148
Dashboards	http://gm4slv.plus.com:42110/

DVSwitch Bridging

To investigate the bridging of Allstar analogue nodes and DMR I installed DVSwitch on the Allstar node.

Instructions here: ASL to DMR Bridge

The first part is easy, modifying a working Allstar node to add the private node and the USRP channel driver that will be used for the connection to the bridging.

My configs

/etc/asterisk/rpt.conf before bridging added

; Radio Repeater configuration file (for use with app_rpt)
; Your Repeater
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; This is where you define your nodes which can be connected to.
;
 
[nodes]
; Note, if you are using automatic update for allstar link nodes,
; no allstar link nodes should be defined here. Only place a definition
; for your local nodes, and private (off of allstar link) nodes here.
 
;481480 = radio@127.0.0.1:4569/481480,NONE	; This must be changed to your node number
48148 = radio@127.0.0.1:4569/48148,NONE	; This must be changed to your node number
                                        ; and iax port number if not the default
 
;[481480]					; Change this to your assigned node number
[48148]					; Change this to your assigned node number
 
                                        ; Must also be enabled in modules.conf
					; Rx audio/signalling channel. Choose ONLY 1 per node stanza
 
					; Enable the selected channel driver in modules.conf !!!
;rxchannel = dahdi/pseudo	        ; No radio (hub)
rxchannel = SimpleUSB/usb_48148	; SimpleUSB
; rxchannel = Pi/1                      ; Raspberry Pi PiTA
; rxchannel = Radio/usb_48148		; USBRadio (DSP)
; rxchannel = Dahdi/1			; PCI Quad card
; rxchannel = Beagle/1			; BeagleBoard
; rxchannel = USRP/127.0.0.1:34001:32001; GNU Radio interface USRP
; rxchannel = Voter/48148                ; RTCM device
 
 
duplex = 1                              ; 0 = Half duplex with no telemetry tones or hang time.
                                        ;     Special Case: Full duplex if linktolink is set to yes.
                                        ;     This mode is preferred when interfacing with an external multiport repeater controller.
					;     Comment out idrecording and idtalkover to suppress IDs also
                                        ; 1 = Half duplex with telemetry tones and hang time. Does not repeat audio.
                                        ;     This mode is preferred when interfacing a simplex node.
                                        ; 2 = Full Duplex with telemetry tones and hang time.
                                        ;     This mode is preferred when interfacing a repeater.
                                        ; 3 = Full Duplex with telemetry tones and hang time, but no repeated audio.
                                        ; 4 = Full Duplex with telemetry tones and hang time. Repeated audio only when the autopatch is down.
 
linktolink = no				; disables forcing physical half-duplex operation of main repeater while
					; still keeping half-duplex semantics (optional)
 
linkmongain = 0				; Link Monitor Gain adjusts the audio level of monitored nodes when a signal from another node or the local receiver is received.
					; If linkmongain is set to a negative number the monitored audio will decrease by the set amount in db.
					; If linkmongain set to a positive number monitored audio will increase by the set amount in db.
					; The value of linkmongain is in db. The default value is 0 db.
 
erxgain = -3				; Echolink receive gain adjustment
					; Note: Gain is in db-volts (20logVI/VO)
etxgain = 3				; Echolink transmit gain adjustment
					; Note: Gain is in db-volts (20logVI/VO)
eannmode = 2                           ; 1 = Say only node number on echolink connects (default = 1)
                                        ; 2 = say phonetic call sign only on echolink connects
                                        ; 3 = say phonetic call sign and node number on echolink connects
 
;controlstates = controlstates		; system control state stanza
 
scheduler = schedule			; scheduler stanza
functions = functions			; Repeater Function stanza
phone_functions = functions		; Phone Function stanza
link_functions = functions		; Link Function stanza
 
telemetry = telemetry			; Telemetry stanza
morse = morse				; Morse stanza
wait_times = wait-times			; Wait times stanza
 
context = radio				; dialing context for phone
callerid = "Repeater" <0000000000>	; callerid for phone calls
accountcode = RADIO                     ; account code (optional)
 
hangtime = 200				; squelch tail hang time (in ms) (optional, default 5 seconds, 5000 ms)
althangtime = 300			; longer squelch tail
totime = 300000				; 5 mins (12/4/22) transmit time-out time (in ms) (optional, default 3 minutes 180000 ms)
 
telemnomdb = -3				;
telemduckdb = -10			;
 
;idrecording = /home/gm4slv/gm4slv_id
;idrecording = /home/gm4slv/mb7aze_id
idrecording = |iGM4SLV				; Main ID message
 
;idtalkover = |iGM4SLV				; Talkover ID message
idtalkover = |iGM4SLV				; Talkover ID message
					; See Telemetry section Example: idrecording = rpt/nodenames/48148
idtime = 900000				; 15 mins (12/4/22) id interval time (in ms) (optional) Default 5 minutes (300000 ms)
politeid = 30000			; time in milliseconds before ID timer expires to try and ID in the tail. (optional, default 30000)
 
unlinkedct = ct12			; Send a this courtesy tone when the user unkeys if the node is not connected to any other nodes. (optional, default is none)
remotect = ct3				; remote linked courtesy tone (indicates a remote is in the list of links)
linkunkeyct = ct4			; sent when a transmission received over the link unkeys
;nolocallinkct = 0			; Send unlinkedct instead if another local node is connected to this node (hosted on the same PC).
 
; Supermon smlogger
connpgm=/usr/local/sbin/supermon/smlogger 1
discpgm=/usr/local/sbin/supermon/smlogger 0
 
;connpgm = yourconnectprogram		; Disabled. Execute a program you specify on connect. (default)
					; passes 2 command line arguments to your program:
					; 1. node number in this stanza (us)
					; 2. node number being connected to us (them)
;discpgm = yourdisconnectprogram	; Disabled. Execute a program you specify on disconnect. (default)
					; passes 2 command line arguments to your program:
					; 1. node number in this stanza (us)
					; 2. node number being disconnected from us (them)
 
lnkactenable = 0			; Set to 1 to enable the link activity timer. Applicable to standard nodes only.
 
lnkacttime = 3600			; Link activity timer time in seconds.
lnkactmacro = *73			; Function to execute when link activity timer expires.
lnkacttimerwarn = custom/timeout		; Message to play when the link activity timer has 30 seconds left.
 
;remote_inact_timeout =	60		; Specifies the amount of time without keying from the link. Set to 0 to disable timeout. (15 * 60)
;remote_timeout =			; Session time out for remote base. Set to 0 to disable. (60 * 60)
;remote_timeout_warning_freq =		; 30
;remote_timeout_warning =		; (3 * 60)
 
;nounkeyct = 0				; Set to a 1 to eliminate courtesy tones and associated delays.
 
holdofftelem = 0			; Hold off all telemetry when signal is present on receiver or from connected nodes
					; except when an ID needs to be done and there is a signal coming from a connected node.
 
telemdefault = 1                        ; 0 = telemetry output off
                                        ; 1 = telemetry output on (default = 1)
                                        ; 2 = timed telemetry output on command execution and for a short time thereafter.
 
telemdynamic = 1                        ; 0 = disallow users to change the local telemetry setting with a COP command,
                                        ; 1 = Allow users to change the setting with a COP command. (default = 1)
 
beaconing = 0				; Send ID regardless of repeater activity (Required in the UK, but probably illegal in the US)
 
parrotmode = 1				; 0 = Parrot Off (default = 0)
					; 1 = Parrot On Command
					; 2 = Parrot Always
					; 3 = Parrot Once by Command
 
parrottime = 1000			; Set the amount of time in milliseconds
					; to wait before parroting what was received
 
;rxnotch=1065,40                        ; (Optional) Notch a particular frequency for a specified
                                        ; b/w. app_rpt must have been compiled with
                                        ; the notch option
 
startup_macro = *80*81*70
 
; nodenames = /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames.callsign	; Point to alternate nodename sound directory
 
; Stream your node audio to Broadcastify or similar. See https://wiki.allstarlink.org/wiki/Stream_Node_Audio_to_Broadcastify
; outstreamcmd = /bin/sh,-c,/usr/bin/lame --preset cbr 16 -r -m m -s 8 --bitwidth 16 - - | /usr/bin/ezstream -qvc /etc/ezstream.xml
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Need more information on these
 
;extnodes = extnodes-different	; section in extnodefile containing dynamic node information (optional)
;extnodefile = /home/gm4slv/rpt_extnodes	; Points to nodelist file containing dynamic node info default = /var/lib/asterisk/rpt_extnodes (optional)
;extnodefile2 =			; Is this a list of node files? Possible a list of private nodes or a list of static IPs for known nodes????
;nodenames = /foo/names         ; locaton of node sound files default = /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
;archivedir = /tmp              ; defines and enables activity recording into specified directory (optional)
;monminblocks = 2048            ; Min 1K blocks to be left on partition (will not save monitor output if disk too full)
 
;                               ; The tailmessagetime,tailsquashedtime, and tailmessagelist need to be set
;                               ; to support tail messages. They can be omitted otherwise.
;tailmessagetime = 300000       ; Play a tail message every 5 mins
;tailsquashedtime = 30000       ; If squashed by another user,
;                               ; try again after 30 seconds
;tailmessagelist = msg1,msg2    ; list of messages to be played for tail message
 
; alt_functions
; ctgroup
; dphone_functions
; idtime
; iobase
; iospeed
; locallist
; mars		Remote Base
; memory
; nobusyout
; nodes
; nolocallinkct
; notelemtx
; outxlat
; parrot
; propagate_phonedtmf
; rptnode
; rptinactmacro  Macro to execute when inactivity timer expires
; rptinacttime   Inactivity timer time in seconds  (0 seconds disables feature)
; rxnotch	Optional Audio notch
; simplexphonedelay
; tonemacro
; tonezone
; txlimits
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
 
; *** Status Reporting ***
 
; Comment the following statpost line stop to reporting of the status of your node to stats.allstarlink.org
statpost_url = http://stats.allstarlink.org/uhandler ; Status updates
 
[functions]
 
; Prefix	Functions
; *1		Disconnect Link
; *2		Monitor Link
; *3		Connect Link
; *4		Command Mode
; *5		Macros
; *6		User Functions
; *7		Connection Status/Functions
; *8		User Functions
; *9		User Functions
; *0		User Functions
 
; *A		User Functions
; *B		User Functions
; *C		User Functions
; *D		User Functions
 
 
; Mandatory Command Codes
1 = ilink,1		; Disconnect specified link
2 = ilink,2		; Connect specified link -- monitor only
3 = ilink,3		; Connect specified link -- tranceive
4 = ilink,4		; Enter command mode on specified link
 
70 = ilink,5		; System status
 
;99 = cop,6              ; PTT (phone mode only)
 
; End Mandatory Command Codes
 
73 = ilink,6		; Disconnect All Links
74 = ilink,16		; Reconnect links disconnected with "disconnect all links"
 
80 = status,11         ; Force ID (local only)
81 = status,12         ; Give Time of Day (local only)
 
91 = cop,21		; Enable Parrot Mode
92 = cop,22		; Disable Parrot Mode
93 = cop,55		; Parrot Once if parrot mode is disabled
 
98 = cop,2		; System enable
99 = cop,3		; System disable
 
901 = cop,1				; System warm boot
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
; Macro Commands
5 = macro
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
; Autopatch Commands
; Note, This may be a good place for other 2 digit frequently used commands
 
;61 = autopatchup,noct = 1,farenddisconnect = 1,dialtime = 20000  ; Autopatch up
;62 = autopatchdn                                                 ; Autopatch down
 
; autopatchup can optionally take comma delimited setting=value pairs:
 
; context = string		; Override default context with "string"
; dialtime = ms			; Specify the max number of milliseconds between phone number digits (1000 milliseconds = 1 second)
; farenddisconnect = 1		; Automatically disconnect when called party hangs up
; noct = 1			; Don't send repeater courtesy tone during autopatch calls
; quiet = 1			; Don't send dial tone, or connect messages. Do not send patch down message when called party hangs up
				; Example: 123=autopatchup,dialtime=20000,noct=1,farenddisconnect=1
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
; Status Commands
 
; 1 - Force ID (global)
; 2 - Give Time of Day (global)
; 3 - Give software Version (global)
; 4 - Give GPS location info
; 5 - Last (dtmf) user
; 11 - Force ID (local only)
; 12 - Give Time of Day (local only)
 
;721 = status,1          ; Force ID (global)
;722 = status,2          ; Give Time of Day (global)
;723 = status,3          ; Give software Version (global)
;724 = status,4          ; Give GPS location info
;725 = status,5          ; Last (dtmf) user
 
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
; Link Commands
 
; 1 - Disconnect specified link
; 2 - Connect specified link -- monitor only
; 3 - Connect specified link -- tranceive
; 4 - Enter command mode on specified link
; 5 - System status
; 6 - Disconnect all links
; 7 - Last Node to Key Up
; 8 - Connect specified link -- local monitor only
; 9 - Send Text Message (9,<destnodeno or 0 (for all)>,Message Text, etc.
; 10 - Disconnect all RANGER links (except permalinks)
; 11 - Disconnect a previously permanently connected link
; 12 - Permanently connect specified link -- monitor only
; 13 - Permanently connect specified link -- tranceive
; 15 - Full system status (all nodes)
; 16 - Reconnect links disconnected with "disconnect all links"
; 17 - MDC test (for diag purposes)
; 18 - Permanently Connect specified link -- local monitor only
 
; ilink commands 1 through 5 are defined in the Mandatory Command section
 
;806 = ilink,6			; Disconnect all links
;827 = ilink,7			; Last Node to Key Up
;808 = ilink,8			; Connect specified link -- local monitor only
;809 = ilink,9,48148,"Testing"	; would send a text message to node 48148 replace 48148 with 0 for all connected nodes
;810 = ilink,10			; Disconnect all RANGER links (except permalinks)
;811 = ilink,11			; Disconnect a previously permanently connected link
;812 = ilink,12			; Permanently connect specified link -- monitor only
;823 = ilink,13			; Permanently connect specified link -- tranceive
;815 = ilink,15			; Full system status (all nodes)
;817 = ilink,17			; MDC test (for diag purposes)
;818 = ilink,18			; Permanently Connect specified link -- local monitor only
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
; Control operator (cop) functions.
; Change these to something other than these codes listed below!
; Uncomment as needed.
 
;901 = cop,1				; System warm boot
 
; 904 = cop,4				; Test tone on/off (toggle)
; 905 = cop,5				; Dump system variables on console (debug use only)
 
; 907 = cop,7				; Time out timer enable
; 908 = cop,8				; Time out timer disable
 
; 909 = cop,9				; Autopatch enable
; 910 = cop,10				; Autopatch disable
 
; 911 = cop,11				; User linking functions enable
; 912 = cop,12				; User linking functions disable
 
; 913 = cop,13				; Query system control state
; 914 = cop,14				; Set system control state
 
; 915 = cop,15				; Scheduler enable
; 916 = cop,16				; Scheduler disable
 
; 917 = cop,17				; User functions enable (time, id, etc)
; 918 = cop,18				; User functions disable
 
; 919 = cop,19				; Select alternate hang time (althangtime)
; 920 = cop,20				; Select standard hangtime (hangtime)
 
 
; 924 = cop,24				; Flush all telemetry
; 925 = cop,25				; Query last node un-keyed
; 926 = cop,26				; Query all nodes keyed/unkeyed
; 927 = cop,27				; Reset DAQ minimum on a pin
; 928 = cop,28				; Reset DAQ maximum on a pin
 
; 930 = cop,30				; Recall Memory Setting in Attached Xcvr
 
; 931 = cop,31				; Channel Selector for Parallel Programmed Xcvr
 
; 932 = cop,32				; Touchtone pad test: command + Digit string + # to playback all digits pressed
 
; 933 = cop,33				; Local Telemetry Output Enable
; 934 = cop,34				; Local Telemetry Output Disable
; 935 = cop,35				; Local Telemetry Output on Demand
 
; 936 = cop,36				; Foreign Link Local Output Path Enable
; 937 = cop,37				; Foreign Link Local Output Path Disable
; 938 = cop,38				; Foreign Link Local Output Path Follows Local Telemetry
; 939 = cop,39				; Foreign Link Local Output Path on Demand
 
; 942 = cop,42				; Echolink announce node # only
; 943 = cop,43				; Echolink announce node Callsign only
; 944 = cop,44				; Echolink announce node # & Callsign
 
; 945 = cop,45				; Link Activity timer enable
; 945 = cop,46				; Link Activity timer disable
; 947 = cop,47				; Reset "Link Config Changed" Flag
 
; 948 = cop,48				; Send Page Tone (Tone specs separated by parenthesis)
 
; 949 = cop,49				; Disable incoming connections (control state noice)
; 950 = cop,50				; Enable incoming connections (control state noicd)
 
; 951 = cop,51				; Enable sleep mode
; 952 = cop,52				; Disable sleep mode
; 953 = cop,53				; Wake up from sleep
; 954 = cop,54				; Go to sleep
 
; 956 = cop,56                            ; Rx CTCSS Enable
; 957 = cop,57                            ; Rx CTCSS Disable
 
; 958 = cop.58                            ; Tx CTCSS On Input only Enable
; 959 = cop,59                            ; Tx CTCSS On Input only Disable
 
; 960 = cop,60                            ; Send MDC-1200 Burst (cop,60,type,UnitID[,DestID,SubCode])
;                                         ; Type is 'I' for PttID, 'E' for Emergency, and 'C' for Call
;                                         ; (SelCall or Alert), or 'SX' for STS (ststus), where X is 0-F.
;                                         ; DestID and subcode are only specified for  the 'C' type message.
;                                         ; UnitID is the local systems UnitID. DestID is the MDC1200 ID of
;                                         ; the radio being called, and the subcodes are as follows:
;                                         ; Subcode '8205' is Voice Selective Call for Spectra ('Call')
;                                         ; Subcode '8015' is Voice Selective Call for Maxtrac ('SC') or
;                                         ; Astro-Saber('Call')
;                                         ; Subcode '810D' is Call Alert (like Maxtrac 'CA')
 
; 961 = cop,61                            ; Send Message to USB to control GPIO pins (cop,61,GPIO1=0[,GPIO4=1].....)
; 962 = cop,62                            ; Send Message to USB to control GPIO pins, quietly (cop,62,GPIO1=0[,GPIO4=1].....)
 
; 963 = cop,63                            ; Send pre-configred APRSTT notification (cop,63,CALL[,OVERLAYCHR])
; 964 = cop,64                            ; Send pre-configred APRSTT notification, quietly (cop,64,CALL[,OVERLAYCHR])
; 965 = cop,65                            ; Send POCSAG page (equipped channel types only)
 
[functions-remote]
 
0 = remote,1                            ; Retrieve Memory
1 = remote,2                            ; Set freq.
2 = remote,3                            ; Set tx PL tone
3 = remote,4                            ; Set rx PL tone
40 = remote,100                         ; Rx PL off
41 = remote,101                         ; Rx PL on
42 = remote,102                         ; Tx PL off
43 = remote,103                         ; Tx PL on
44 = remote,104                         ; Low Power
45 = remote,105                         ; Medium Power
46 = remote,106                         ; High Power
711 = remote,107                        ; Bump -20
714 = remote,108                        ; Bump -100
717 = remote,109                        ; Bump -500
713 = remote,110                        ; Bump +20
716 = remote,111                        ; Bump +100
719 = remote,112                        ; Bump +500
721 = remote,113                        ; Scan - slow
724 = remote,114                        ; Scan - quick
727 = remote,115                        ; Scan - fast
723 = remote,116                        ; Scan + slow
726 = remote,117                        ; Scan + quick
729 = remote,118                        ; Scan + fast
79 = remote,119                         ; Tune
51 = remote,5                           ; Long status query
52 = remote,140				; Short status query
67 = remote,210				; Send a *
69 = remote,211				; Send a #
;91 = remote,99,CALLSIGN,LICENSETAG     ; Remote base login.
                                        ; Define a different dtmf sequence for each user which is
                                        ; authorized to use the remote base to control access to it.
                                        ; For examble 9139583=remote,99,WB6NIL,G would grant access to
                                        ; the remote base and announce WB6NIL as being logged in.
                                        ; Another entry, 9148351=remote,99,WA6ZFT,E would grant access to
                                        ; the remote base and announce WA6ZFT as being logged in.
                                        ; When the remote base is disconnected from the originating node, the
                                        ; user will be logged out. The LICENSETAG argument is used to enforce
					; tx frequency limits. See [txlimits] below.
85 = cop,6                              ; Remote base telephone key
 
 
[telemetry]
 
; Telemetry entries can be shared across all repeaters, or defined for each repeater.
; Can be a tone sequence, morse string, or a file
;
; |t - Tone escape sequence
;
; Tone sequences consist of 1 or more 4-tuple entries (freq1, freq2, duration, amplitude)
; Single frequencies are created by setting freq1 or freq2 to zero.
;
; |m - Morse escape sequence
;
; Sends Morse code at the telemetry amplitude and telemetry frequency as defined in the
; [morse] section.
;
; Follow with an alphanumeric string
;
; |i - Morse ID escape sequence
;
; Sends Morse code at the ID amplitude and ID frequency as defined in the
; [morse] section.
;
; path/to/sound/file/without/extension
;
; Send the sound if in place of a constructed tone. Do not include the file extension
; Example: ct8 = rpt/bloop
; Example: idrecording = rpt/nodenames/48148
 
ct1 = |t(350,0,100,2048)(500,0,100,2048)(660,0,100,2048)
ct2 = |t(660,880,150,2048)
ct3 = |t(440,0,150,4096)
ct4 = |t(550,0,150,2048)
ct5 = |t(660,0,150,2048)
ct6 = |t(880,0,150,2048)
ct7 = |t(660,440,150,2048)
ct8 = |t(700,1100,150,2048)
ranger = |t(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,50,0)(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,50,0)(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,50,0)(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,50,0)(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,50,0)(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,150,0)
remotemon = |mR
;remotemon = |t(1209,0,50,2048)                                  ; local courtesy tone when receive only
remotetx = |mK
;remotetx = |t(1633,0,50,3000)(0,0,80,0)(1209,0,50,3000)		; local courtesy tone when linked Trancieve mode
cmdmode = |t(900,903,200,2048)
;functcomplete = |mW
functcomplete = |t(1000,0,100,2048)(0,0,100,0)(1000,0,100,2048)
remcomplete = |t(650,0,100,2048)(0,0,100,0)(650,0,100,2048)(0,0,100,0)(650,0,100,2048)
pfxtone = |t(350,440,30000,3072)
patchup = rpt/callproceeding
patchdown = rpt/callterminated
 
ct12 = |me
ct13 = |mR
 
; As far as what the numbers mean,
; (000,000,010,000)
;   |   |   |   |-------amplitude
;   |   |   |-------------duration
;   |   |-------------------Tone 2
;   |-------------------------Tone 1
 
; So, with 0,0,10,0 That says No Tone1, No Tone2, 10ms duration, 0 Amplitude.
; Use it for a delay.  Fine tuning for how long before telemetry is sent, in conjunction with the telemdelay parameter)
; The numbers, like 350,440,10,2048 are 350Hz, 440Hz, 10ms delay, amplitude of 2048.
 
; Morse code parameters, these are common to all repeaters.
 
[morse]
speed = 20				; Approximate speed in WPM
frequency = 600				; Morse Telemetry Frequency
amplitude = 2048			; Morse Telemetry Amplitude
idfrequency = 1065			; Morse ID Frequency
idamplitude = 1024			; Morse ID Amplitude
 
;
; This section allows wait times for telemetry events to be adjusted
; A section for wait times can be defined for every repeater
;
 
[wait-times]
telemwait = 400                        ; Time to wait before sending most telemetry
idwait = 500                            ; Time to wait before starting ID
unkeywait = 200                        ; Time to wait after unkey before sending CT's and link telemetry
calltermwait = 2000                     ; Time to wait before announcing "call terminated"
 
; Memories for remote bases
 
[memory]
;00 = 146.580,100.0,m
;01 = 147.030,103.5,m+t
;02 = 147.240,103.5,m+t
;03 = 147.765,79.7,m-t
;04 = 146.460,100.0,m
;05 = 146.550,100.0,m
 
; Place command macros here
 
[macro]
 
 
11 = *141223# ; disc. hubnet
21 = *241223# ; monitor hubnet
31 = *341223# ; transceive hubnet
 
 
12 = *1424611# ; disc MilNet
22 = *2424611# ; monitor MilNet
32 = *3424611# ; transceive MilNet
 
;13 = *129332# ; disc Alaska
;23 = *229332# ; monitor Alaska
;33 = *329332# ; transceive Alaska
 
;14 = *154383# ; disc CQ North
;24 = *254383# ; monitor CQ North
;34 = *354383# ; transceive CQ North
 
;191 = *140894# ; disconnect hubnet Echo
;391 = *340894# ; connect hubnet echo
 
19 = *13009999#	; dis echolink echotest
39 = *33009999#	; con echolink echotest
 
 
 
; Data Acquisition configuration
 
;[daq-list]
;device = device_name1
;device = device_name2
 
;Where: device_name1 and device_name2 are stanzas you define in this file
 
;device = daq-cham-1
 
; Device name
 
;[daq-cham-1]				; Defined in [daq-list]
;hwtype = uchameleon			; DAQ hardware type
;devnode = /dev/ttyUSB0			; DAQ device node (if required)
;1 = inadc				; Pin definition for an ADC channel
;2 = inadc
;3 = inadc
;4 = inadc
;5 = inadc
;6 = inadc
;7 = inadc
;8 = inadc
;9 = inp				; Pin definition for an input with a weak pullup resistor
;10 = inp
;11 = inp
;12 = inp
;13 = in				; Pin definition for an input without a weak pullup resistor
;14 = out				; Pin definition for an output
;15 = out
;16 = out
;17 = out
;18 = out
 
;[meter-faces]
 
;face = scale(scalepre,scalediv,scalepost),word/?,...
;
; scalepre = offset to add before dividing with scalediv
; scalediv = full scale/number of whole units (e.g. 256/20 or 12.8 for 20 volts).
; scalepost = offset to add after dividing with scalediv
;
;face = range(X-Y:word,X2-Y2:word,...),word/?,...
;face = bit(low-word,high-word),word/?,...
;
; word/? is either a word in /var/lib/asterisk/sounds or one of its subdirectories,
; or a question mark which is  a placeholder for the measured value.
;
;
; Battery voltage 0-20 volts
;batvolts = scale(0,12.8,0),rpt/thevoltageis,?,ha/volts
; 4 quadrant wind direction
;winddir = range(0-33:north,34-96:west,97-160:south,161-224:east,225-255:north),rpt/thewindis,?
; LM34 temperature sensor with 130 deg. F full scale
;lm34f = scale(0,1.969,0),rpt/thetemperatureis,?,degrees,fahrenheit
; Status poll (non alarmed)
;light = bit(ha/off,ha/on),ha/light,?
 
;[alarms]
;
;tag = device,pin,node,ignorefirst,func-low,func-hi
;
;tag = a unique name for the alarm
;device = daq device to poll
;pin = the device pin to be monitored
;ignorefirstalarm = set to 1 to throwaway first alarm event, or 0 to report it
;node = the node number to execute the function on
;func-low = the DTMF function to execute on a high to low transition
;func-high = the DTMF function to execute on a low to high transition
;
; a  '-' as a function name is shorthand for no-operation
;
;door = daq-cham-1,9,1,2017,*7,-
;pwrfail = daq-cham-1,10,0,2017,*911111,-
;
; Control states
; Allow several control operator functions to be changed at once using one command (good for scheduling)
;
;[controlstates]
;statenum = copcmd,[copcmd]...
;0 = rptena,lnkena,apena,totena,ufena,noicd  ; Normal operation
;1 = rptena,lnkena,apdis,totdis,ufena,noice  ; Net and news operation
;2 = rptena,lnkdis,apdis,totena,ufdis,noice  ; Repeater only operation
 
; Scheduler - execute a macro at a given time
 
[schedule]
;dtmf_function =  m h dom mon dow  ; ala cron, star is implied
;8 = 55 12 * * *   ; at midnight, execute macro 2.
 
; See https://wiki.allstarlink.org/wiki/Event_Management
[events]
 
#includeifexists custom/rpt.conf

/etc/asterisk/rpt.conf after bridging added

; Radio Repeater configuration file (for use with app_rpt)
; Your Repeater
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; This is where you define your nodes which can be connected to.
;
 
[nodes]
; Note, if you are using automatic update for allstar link nodes,
; no allstar link nodes should be defined here. Only place a definition
; for your local nodes, and private (off of allstar link) nodes here.
 
;481480 = radio@127.0.0.1:4569/481480,NONE	; This must be changed to your node number
 
 
1999 = radio@127.0.0.1:4569/1999,NONE
 
48148 = radio@127.0.0.1:4569/48148,NONE	; This must be changed to your node number
                                        ; and iax port number if not the default
 
 
 
[1999]
rxchannel = USRP/127.0.0.1:34001:31001 ; Use the USRP channel driver. Must be enabled in modules.conf
 ; 127.0.0.1 = IP of the target application
 ; 34001 = UDP port the target application is listening on
 ; 32001 = UDP port ASL is listening on
duplex = 0 ; 0 = Half duplex with no telemetry tones or hang time. Ah, but Allison STILL talks!
hangtime = 0 ; squelch tail hang time 0
althangtime = 0 ; longer squelch tail hang time 0
holdofftelem = 1 ; Hold off all telemetry when signal is present on receiver or from connected nodes
 ; except when an ID needs to be done and there is a signal coming from a connected node.
telemdefault = 0 ; 0 = telemetry output off. Don't send Allison to DMR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trust me.
telemdynamic = 0 ; 0 = disallow users to change the local telemetry setting with a COP command,
linktolink = no ; disables forcing physical half-duplex operation of main repeater while
 ; still keeping half-duplex semantics (optional)
nounkeyct = 1 ; Set to a 1 to eliminate courtesy tones and associated delays.
totime = 180000 ; transmit time-out time (in ms) (optional, default 3 minutes 180000 ms)
idrecording = |ie ; id recording or morse string see http://ohnosec.org/drupal/node/87
idtalkover = |ie ; Talkover ID (optional) default is none see http://ohnosec.org/drupal/node/129
 
 
 
;[481480]					; Change this to your assigned node number
[48148]					; Change this to your assigned node number
 
                                        ; Must also be enabled in modules.conf
					; Rx audio/signalling channel. Choose ONLY 1 per node stanza
 
					; Enable the selected channel driver in modules.conf !!!
;rxchannel = dahdi/pseudo	        ; No radio (hub)
rxchannel = SimpleUSB/usb_48148	; SimpleUSB
; rxchannel = Pi/1                      ; Raspberry Pi PiTA
; rxchannel = Radio/usb_48148		; USBRadio (DSP)
; rxchannel = Dahdi/1			; PCI Quad card
; rxchannel = Beagle/1			; BeagleBoard
; rxchannel = USRP/127.0.0.1:34001:32001; GNU Radio interface USRP
; rxchannel = Voter/48148                ; RTCM device
 
 
duplex = 1                              ; 0 = Half duplex with no telemetry tones or hang time.
                                        ;     Special Case: Full duplex if linktolink is set to yes.
                                        ;     This mode is preferred when interfacing with an external multiport repeater controller.
					;     Comment out idrecording and idtalkover to suppress IDs also
                                        ; 1 = Half duplex with telemetry tones and hang time. Does not repeat audio.
                                        ;     This mode is preferred when interfacing a simplex node.
                                        ; 2 = Full Duplex with telemetry tones and hang time.
                                        ;     This mode is preferred when interfacing a repeater.
                                        ; 3 = Full Duplex with telemetry tones and hang time, but no repeated audio.
                                        ; 4 = Full Duplex with telemetry tones and hang time. Repeated audio only when the autopatch is down.
 
linktolink = no				; disables forcing physical half-duplex operation of main repeater while
					; still keeping half-duplex semantics (optional)
 
linkmongain = 0				; Link Monitor Gain adjusts the audio level of monitored nodes when a signal from another node or the local receiver is received.
					; If linkmongain is set to a negative number the monitored audio will decrease by the set amount in db.
					; If linkmongain set to a positive number monitored audio will increase by the set amount in db.
					; The value of linkmongain is in db. The default value is 0 db.
 
erxgain = -3				; Echolink receive gain adjustment
					; Note: Gain is in db-volts (20logVI/VO)
etxgain = 3				; Echolink transmit gain adjustment
					; Note: Gain is in db-volts (20logVI/VO)
eannmode = 2                           ; 1 = Say only node number on echolink connects (default = 1)
                                        ; 2 = say phonetic call sign only on echolink connects
                                        ; 3 = say phonetic call sign and node number on echolink connects
 
;controlstates = controlstates		; system control state stanza
 
scheduler = schedule			; scheduler stanza
functions = functions			; Repeater Function stanza
phone_functions = functions		; Phone Function stanza
link_functions = functions		; Link Function stanza
 
telemetry = telemetry			; Telemetry stanza
morse = morse				; Morse stanza
wait_times = wait-times			; Wait times stanza
 
context = radio				; dialing context for phone
callerid = "Repeater" <0000000000>	; callerid for phone calls
accountcode = RADIO                     ; account code (optional)
 
hangtime = 200				; squelch tail hang time (in ms) (optional, default 5 seconds, 5000 ms)
althangtime = 300			; longer squelch tail
totime = 300000				; 5 mins (12/4/22) transmit time-out time (in ms) (optional, default 3 minutes 180000 ms)
 
telemnomdb = -3				;
telemduckdb = -10			;
 
;idrecording = /home/gm4slv/gm4slv_id
;idrecording = /home/gm4slv/mb7aze_id
idrecording = |iGM4SLV				; Main ID message
 
;idtalkover = |iGM4SLV				; Talkover ID message
idtalkover = |iGM4SLV				; Talkover ID message
					; See Telemetry section Example: idrecording = rpt/nodenames/48148
idtime = 900000				; 15 mins (12/4/22) id interval time (in ms) (optional) Default 5 minutes (300000 ms)
politeid = 30000			; time in milliseconds before ID timer expires to try and ID in the tail. (optional, default 30000)
 
unlinkedct = ct12			; Send a this courtesy tone when the user unkeys if the node is not connected to any other nodes. (optional, default is none)
remotect = ct3				; remote linked courtesy tone (indicates a remote is in the list of links)
linkunkeyct = ct4			; sent when a transmission received over the link unkeys
;nolocallinkct = 0			; Send unlinkedct instead if another local node is connected to this node (hosted on the same PC).
 
; Supermon smlogger
connpgm=/usr/local/sbin/supermon/smlogger 1
discpgm=/usr/local/sbin/supermon/smlogger 0
 
;connpgm = yourconnectprogram		; Disabled. Execute a program you specify on connect. (default)
					; passes 2 command line arguments to your program:
					; 1. node number in this stanza (us)
					; 2. node number being connected to us (them)
;discpgm = yourdisconnectprogram	; Disabled. Execute a program you specify on disconnect. (default)
					; passes 2 command line arguments to your program:
					; 1. node number in this stanza (us)
					; 2. node number being disconnected from us (them)
 
lnkactenable = 0			; Set to 1 to enable the link activity timer. Applicable to standard nodes only.
 
lnkacttime = 3600			; Link activity timer time in seconds.
lnkactmacro = *73			; Function to execute when link activity timer expires.
lnkacttimerwarn = custom/timeout		; Message to play when the link activity timer has 30 seconds left.
 
;remote_inact_timeout =	60		; Specifies the amount of time without keying from the link. Set to 0 to disable timeout. (15 * 60)
;remote_timeout =			; Session time out for remote base. Set to 0 to disable. (60 * 60)
;remote_timeout_warning_freq =		; 30
;remote_timeout_warning =		; (3 * 60)
 
;nounkeyct = 0				; Set to a 1 to eliminate courtesy tones and associated delays.
 
holdofftelem = 0			; Hold off all telemetry when signal is present on receiver or from connected nodes
					; except when an ID needs to be done and there is a signal coming from a connected node.
 
telemdefault = 1                        ; 0 = telemetry output off
                                        ; 1 = telemetry output on (default = 1)
                                        ; 2 = timed telemetry output on command execution and for a short time thereafter.
 
telemdynamic = 1                        ; 0 = disallow users to change the local telemetry setting with a COP command,
                                        ; 1 = Allow users to change the setting with a COP command. (default = 1)
 
beaconing = 0				; Send ID regardless of repeater activity (Required in the UK, but probably illegal in the US)
 
parrotmode = 1				; 0 = Parrot Off (default = 0)
					; 1 = Parrot On Command
					; 2 = Parrot Always
					; 3 = Parrot Once by Command
 
parrottime = 1000			; Set the amount of time in milliseconds
					; to wait before parroting what was received
 
;rxnotch=1065,40                        ; (Optional) Notch a particular frequency for a specified
                                        ; b/w. app_rpt must have been compiled with
                                        ; the notch option
 
startup_macro = *80*81*70
 
; nodenames = /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames.callsign	; Point to alternate nodename sound directory
 
; Stream your node audio to Broadcastify or similar. See https://wiki.allstarlink.org/wiki/Stream_Node_Audio_to_Broadcastify
; outstreamcmd = /bin/sh,-c,/usr/bin/lame --preset cbr 16 -r -m m -s 8 --bitwidth 16 - - | /usr/bin/ezstream -qvc /etc/ezstream.xml
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Need more information on these
 
;extnodes = extnodes-different	; section in extnodefile containing dynamic node information (optional)
;extnodefile = /home/gm4slv/rpt_extnodes	; Points to nodelist file containing dynamic node info default = /var/lib/asterisk/rpt_extnodes (optional)
;extnodefile2 =			; Is this a list of node files? Possible a list of private nodes or a list of static IPs for known nodes????
;nodenames = /foo/names         ; locaton of node sound files default = /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/rpt/nodenames
;archivedir = /tmp              ; defines and enables activity recording into specified directory (optional)
;monminblocks = 2048            ; Min 1K blocks to be left on partition (will not save monitor output if disk too full)
 
;                               ; The tailmessagetime,tailsquashedtime, and tailmessagelist need to be set
;                               ; to support tail messages. They can be omitted otherwise.
;tailmessagetime = 300000       ; Play a tail message every 5 mins
;tailsquashedtime = 30000       ; If squashed by another user,
;                               ; try again after 30 seconds
;tailmessagelist = msg1,msg2    ; list of messages to be played for tail message
 
; alt_functions
; ctgroup
; dphone_functions
; idtime
; iobase
; iospeed
; locallist
; mars		Remote Base
; memory
; nobusyout
; nodes
; nolocallinkct
; notelemtx
; outxlat
; parrot
; propagate_phonedtmf
; rptnode
; rptinactmacro  Macro to execute when inactivity timer expires
; rptinacttime   Inactivity timer time in seconds  (0 seconds disables feature)
; rxnotch	Optional Audio notch
; simplexphonedelay
; tonemacro
; tonezone
; txlimits
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
 
; *** Status Reporting ***
 
; Comment the following statpost line stop to reporting of the status of your node to stats.allstarlink.org
statpost_url = http://stats.allstarlink.org/uhandler ; Status updates
 
[functions]
 
; Prefix	Functions
; *1		Disconnect Link
; *2		Monitor Link
; *3		Connect Link
; *4		Command Mode
; *5		Macros
; *6		User Functions
; *7		Connection Status/Functions
; *8		User Functions
; *9		User Functions
; *0		User Functions
 
; *A		User Functions
; *B		User Functions
; *C		User Functions
; *D		User Functions
 
 
; Mandatory Command Codes
1 = ilink,1		; Disconnect specified link
2 = ilink,2		; Connect specified link -- monitor only
3 = ilink,3		; Connect specified link -- tranceive
4 = ilink,4		; Enter command mode on specified link
 
70 = ilink,5		; System status
 
;99 = cop,6              ; PTT (phone mode only)
 
; End Mandatory Command Codes
 
73 = ilink,6		; Disconnect All Links
74 = ilink,16		; Reconnect links disconnected with "disconnect all links"
 
80 = status,11         ; Force ID (local only)
81 = status,12         ; Give Time of Day (local only)
 
91 = cop,21		; Enable Parrot Mode
92 = cop,22		; Disable Parrot Mode
93 = cop,55		; Parrot Once if parrot mode is disabled
 
98 = cop,2		; System enable
99 = cop,3		; System disable
 
901 = cop,1				; System warm boot
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
; Macro Commands
5 = macro
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
; Autopatch Commands
; Note, This may be a good place for other 2 digit frequently used commands
 
;61 = autopatchup,noct = 1,farenddisconnect = 1,dialtime = 20000  ; Autopatch up
;62 = autopatchdn                                                 ; Autopatch down
 
; autopatchup can optionally take comma delimited setting=value pairs:
 
; context = string		; Override default context with "string"
; dialtime = ms			; Specify the max number of milliseconds between phone number digits (1000 milliseconds = 1 second)
; farenddisconnect = 1		; Automatically disconnect when called party hangs up
; noct = 1			; Don't send repeater courtesy tone during autopatch calls
; quiet = 1			; Don't send dial tone, or connect messages. Do not send patch down message when called party hangs up
				; Example: 123=autopatchup,dialtime=20000,noct=1,farenddisconnect=1
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
; Status Commands
 
; 1 - Force ID (global)
; 2 - Give Time of Day (global)
; 3 - Give software Version (global)
; 4 - Give GPS location info
; 5 - Last (dtmf) user
; 11 - Force ID (local only)
; 12 - Give Time of Day (local only)
 
;721 = status,1          ; Force ID (global)
;722 = status,2          ; Give Time of Day (global)
;723 = status,3          ; Give software Version (global)
;724 = status,4          ; Give GPS location info
;725 = status,5          ; Last (dtmf) user
 
 
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
; Link Commands
 
; 1 - Disconnect specified link
; 2 - Connect specified link -- monitor only
; 3 - Connect specified link -- tranceive
; 4 - Enter command mode on specified link
; 5 - System status
; 6 - Disconnect all links
; 7 - Last Node to Key Up
; 8 - Connect specified link -- local monitor only
; 9 - Send Text Message (9,<destnodeno or 0 (for all)>,Message Text, etc.
; 10 - Disconnect all RANGER links (except permalinks)
; 11 - Disconnect a previously permanently connected link
; 12 - Permanently connect specified link -- monitor only
; 13 - Permanently connect specified link -- tranceive
; 15 - Full system status (all nodes)
; 16 - Reconnect links disconnected with "disconnect all links"
; 17 - MDC test (for diag purposes)
; 18 - Permanently Connect specified link -- local monitor only
 
; ilink commands 1 through 5 are defined in the Mandatory Command section
 
;806 = ilink,6			; Disconnect all links
;827 = ilink,7			; Last Node to Key Up
;808 = ilink,8			; Connect specified link -- local monitor only
;809 = ilink,9,48148,"Testing"	; would send a text message to node 48148 replace 48148 with 0 for all connected nodes
;810 = ilink,10			; Disconnect all RANGER links (except permalinks)
;811 = ilink,11			; Disconnect a previously permanently connected link
;812 = ilink,12			; Permanently connect specified link -- monitor only
;823 = ilink,13			; Permanently connect specified link -- tranceive
;815 = ilink,15			; Full system status (all nodes)
;817 = ilink,17			; MDC test (for diag purposes)
;818 = ilink,18			; Permanently Connect specified link -- local monitor only
 
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 
; Control operator (cop) functions.
; Change these to something other than these codes listed below!
; Uncomment as needed.
 
;901 = cop,1				; System warm boot
 
; 904 = cop,4				; Test tone on/off (toggle)
; 905 = cop,5				; Dump system variables on console (debug use only)
 
; 907 = cop,7				; Time out timer enable
; 908 = cop,8				; Time out timer disable
 
; 909 = cop,9				; Autopatch enable
; 910 = cop,10				; Autopatch disable
 
; 911 = cop,11				; User linking functions enable
; 912 = cop,12				; User linking functions disable
 
; 913 = cop,13				; Query system control state
; 914 = cop,14				; Set system control state
 
; 915 = cop,15				; Scheduler enable
; 916 = cop,16				; Scheduler disable
 
; 917 = cop,17				; User functions enable (time, id, etc)
; 918 = cop,18				; User functions disable
 
; 919 = cop,19				; Select alternate hang time (althangtime)
; 920 = cop,20				; Select standard hangtime (hangtime)
 
 
; 924 = cop,24				; Flush all telemetry
; 925 = cop,25				; Query last node un-keyed
; 926 = cop,26				; Query all nodes keyed/unkeyed
; 927 = cop,27				; Reset DAQ minimum on a pin
; 928 = cop,28				; Reset DAQ maximum on a pin
 
; 930 = cop,30				; Recall Memory Setting in Attached Xcvr
 
; 931 = cop,31				; Channel Selector for Parallel Programmed Xcvr
 
; 932 = cop,32				; Touchtone pad test: command + Digit string + # to playback all digits pressed
 
; 933 = cop,33				; Local Telemetry Output Enable
; 934 = cop,34				; Local Telemetry Output Disable
; 935 = cop,35				; Local Telemetry Output on Demand
 
; 936 = cop,36				; Foreign Link Local Output Path Enable
; 937 = cop,37				; Foreign Link Local Output Path Disable
; 938 = cop,38				; Foreign Link Local Output Path Follows Local Telemetry
; 939 = cop,39				; Foreign Link Local Output Path on Demand
 
; 942 = cop,42				; Echolink announce node # only
; 943 = cop,43				; Echolink announce node Callsign only
; 944 = cop,44				; Echolink announce node # & Callsign
 
; 945 = cop,45				; Link Activity timer enable
; 945 = cop,46				; Link Activity timer disable
; 947 = cop,47				; Reset "Link Config Changed" Flag
 
; 948 = cop,48				; Send Page Tone (Tone specs separated by parenthesis)
 
; 949 = cop,49				; Disable incoming connections (control state noice)
; 950 = cop,50				; Enable incoming connections (control state noicd)
 
; 951 = cop,51				; Enable sleep mode
; 952 = cop,52				; Disable sleep mode
; 953 = cop,53				; Wake up from sleep
; 954 = cop,54				; Go to sleep
 
; 956 = cop,56                            ; Rx CTCSS Enable
; 957 = cop,57                            ; Rx CTCSS Disable
 
; 958 = cop.58                            ; Tx CTCSS On Input only Enable
; 959 = cop,59                            ; Tx CTCSS On Input only Disable
 
; 960 = cop,60                            ; Send MDC-1200 Burst (cop,60,type,UnitID[,DestID,SubCode])
;                                         ; Type is 'I' for PttID, 'E' for Emergency, and 'C' for Call
;                                         ; (SelCall or Alert), or 'SX' for STS (ststus), where X is 0-F.
;                                         ; DestID and subcode are only specified for  the 'C' type message.
;                                         ; UnitID is the local systems UnitID. DestID is the MDC1200 ID of
;                                         ; the radio being called, and the subcodes are as follows:
;                                         ; Subcode '8205' is Voice Selective Call for Spectra ('Call')
;                                         ; Subcode '8015' is Voice Selective Call for Maxtrac ('SC') or
;                                         ; Astro-Saber('Call')
;                                         ; Subcode '810D' is Call Alert (like Maxtrac 'CA')
 
; 961 = cop,61                            ; Send Message to USB to control GPIO pins (cop,61,GPIO1=0[,GPIO4=1].....)
; 962 = cop,62                            ; Send Message to USB to control GPIO pins, quietly (cop,62,GPIO1=0[,GPIO4=1].....)
 
; 963 = cop,63                            ; Send pre-configred APRSTT notification (cop,63,CALL[,OVERLAYCHR])
; 964 = cop,64                            ; Send pre-configred APRSTT notification, quietly (cop,64,CALL[,OVERLAYCHR])
; 965 = cop,65                            ; Send POCSAG page (equipped channel types only)
 
[functions-remote]
 
0 = remote,1                            ; Retrieve Memory
1 = remote,2                            ; Set freq.
2 = remote,3                            ; Set tx PL tone
3 = remote,4                            ; Set rx PL tone
40 = remote,100                         ; Rx PL off
41 = remote,101                         ; Rx PL on
42 = remote,102                         ; Tx PL off
43 = remote,103                         ; Tx PL on
44 = remote,104                         ; Low Power
45 = remote,105                         ; Medium Power
46 = remote,106                         ; High Power
711 = remote,107                        ; Bump -20
714 = remote,108                        ; Bump -100
717 = remote,109                        ; Bump -500
713 = remote,110                        ; Bump +20
716 = remote,111                        ; Bump +100
719 = remote,112                        ; Bump +500
721 = remote,113                        ; Scan - slow
724 = remote,114                        ; Scan - quick
727 = remote,115                        ; Scan - fast
723 = remote,116                        ; Scan + slow
726 = remote,117                        ; Scan + quick
729 = remote,118                        ; Scan + fast
79 = remote,119                         ; Tune
51 = remote,5                           ; Long status query
52 = remote,140				; Short status query
67 = remote,210				; Send a *
69 = remote,211				; Send a #
;91 = remote,99,CALLSIGN,LICENSETAG     ; Remote base login.
                                        ; Define a different dtmf sequence for each user which is
                                        ; authorized to use the remote base to control access to it.
                                        ; For examble 9139583=remote,99,WB6NIL,G would grant access to
                                        ; the remote base and announce WB6NIL as being logged in.
                                        ; Another entry, 9148351=remote,99,WA6ZFT,E would grant access to
                                        ; the remote base and announce WA6ZFT as being logged in.
                                        ; When the remote base is disconnected from the originating node, the
                                        ; user will be logged out. The LICENSETAG argument is used to enforce
					; tx frequency limits. See [txlimits] below.
85 = cop,6                              ; Remote base telephone key
 
 
[telemetry]
 
; Telemetry entries can be shared across all repeaters, or defined for each repeater.
; Can be a tone sequence, morse string, or a file
;
; |t - Tone escape sequence
;
; Tone sequences consist of 1 or more 4-tuple entries (freq1, freq2, duration, amplitude)
; Single frequencies are created by setting freq1 or freq2 to zero.
;
; |m - Morse escape sequence
;
; Sends Morse code at the telemetry amplitude and telemetry frequency as defined in the
; [morse] section.
;
; Follow with an alphanumeric string
;
; |i - Morse ID escape sequence
;
; Sends Morse code at the ID amplitude and ID frequency as defined in the
; [morse] section.
;
; path/to/sound/file/without/extension
;
; Send the sound if in place of a constructed tone. Do not include the file extension
; Example: ct8 = rpt/bloop
; Example: idrecording = rpt/nodenames/48148
 
ct1 = |t(350,0,100,2048)(500,0,100,2048)(660,0,100,2048)
ct2 = |t(660,880,150,2048)
ct3 = |t(440,0,150,4096)
ct4 = |t(550,0,150,2048)
ct5 = |t(660,0,150,2048)
ct6 = |t(880,0,150,2048)
ct7 = |t(660,440,150,2048)
ct8 = |t(700,1100,150,2048)
ranger = |t(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,50,0)(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,50,0)(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,50,0)(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,50,0)(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,50,0)(1800,0,60,3072)(0,0,150,0)
remotemon = |mR
;remotemon = |t(1209,0,50,2048)                                  ; local courtesy tone when receive only
remotetx = |mK
;remotetx = |t(1633,0,50,3000)(0,0,80,0)(1209,0,50,3000)		; local courtesy tone when linked Trancieve mode
cmdmode = |t(900,903,200,2048)
;functcomplete = |mW
functcomplete = |t(1000,0,100,2048)(0,0,100,0)(1000,0,100,2048)
remcomplete = |t(650,0,100,2048)(0,0,100,0)(650,0,100,2048)(0,0,100,0)(650,0,100,2048)
pfxtone = |t(350,440,30000,3072)
patchup = rpt/callproceeding
patchdown = rpt/callterminated
 
ct12 = |me
ct13 = |mR
 
; As far as what the numbers mean,
; (000,000,010,000)
;   |   |   |   |-------amplitude
;   |   |   |-------------duration
;   |   |-------------------Tone 2
;   |-------------------------Tone 1
 
; So, with 0,0,10,0 That says No Tone1, No Tone2, 10ms duration, 0 Amplitude.
; Use it for a delay.  Fine tuning for how long before telemetry is sent, in conjunction with the telemdelay parameter)
; The numbers, like 350,440,10,2048 are 350Hz, 440Hz, 10ms delay, amplitude of 2048.
 
; Morse code parameters, these are common to all repeaters.
 
[morse]
speed = 20				; Approximate speed in WPM
frequency = 600				; Morse Telemetry Frequency
amplitude = 2048			; Morse Telemetry Amplitude
idfrequency = 1065			; Morse ID Frequency
idamplitude = 1024			; Morse ID Amplitude
 
;
; This section allows wait times for telemetry events to be adjusted
; A section for wait times can be defined for every repeater
;
 
[wait-times]
telemwait = 400                        ; Time to wait before sending most telemetry
idwait = 500                            ; Time to wait before starting ID
unkeywait = 200                        ; Time to wait after unkey before sending CT's and link telemetry
calltermwait = 2000                     ; Time to wait before announcing "call terminated"
 
; Memories for remote bases
 
[memory]
;00 = 146.580,100.0,m
;01 = 147.030,103.5,m+t
;02 = 147.240,103.5,m+t
;03 = 147.765,79.7,m-t
;04 = 146.460,100.0,m
;05 = 146.550,100.0,m
 
; Place command macros here
 
[macro]
 
 
11 = *141223# ; disc. hubnet
21 = *241223# ; monitor hubnet
31 = *341223# ; transceive hubnet
 
 
12 = *1424611# ; disc MilNet
22 = *2424611# ; monitor MilNet
32 = *3424611# ; transceive MilNet
 
;13 = *129332# ; disc Alaska
;23 = *229332# ; monitor Alaska
;33 = *329332# ; transceive Alaska
 
;14 = *154383# ; disc CQ North
;24 = *254383# ; monitor CQ North
;34 = *354383# ; transceive CQ North
 
;191 = *140894# ; disconnect hubnet Echo
;391 = *340894# ; connect hubnet echo
 
19 = *13009999#	; dis echolink echotest
39 = *33009999#	; con echolink echotest
 
 
 
; Data Acquisition configuration
 
;[daq-list]
;device = device_name1
;device = device_name2
 
;Where: device_name1 and device_name2 are stanzas you define in this file
 
;device = daq-cham-1
 
; Device name
 
;[daq-cham-1]				; Defined in [daq-list]
;hwtype = uchameleon			; DAQ hardware type
;devnode = /dev/ttyUSB0			; DAQ device node (if required)
;1 = inadc				; Pin definition for an ADC channel
;2 = inadc
;3 = inadc
;4 = inadc
;5 = inadc
;6 = inadc
;7 = inadc
;8 = inadc
;9 = inp				; Pin definition for an input with a weak pullup resistor
;10 = inp
;11 = inp
;12 = inp
;13 = in				; Pin definition for an input without a weak pullup resistor
;14 = out				; Pin definition for an output
;15 = out
;16 = out
;17 = out
;18 = out
 
;[meter-faces]
 
;face = scale(scalepre,scalediv,scalepost),word/?,...
;
; scalepre = offset to add before dividing with scalediv
; scalediv = full scale/number of whole units (e.g. 256/20 or 12.8 for 20 volts).
; scalepost = offset to add after dividing with scalediv
;
;face = range(X-Y:word,X2-Y2:word,...),word/?,...
;face = bit(low-word,high-word),word/?,...
;
; word/? is either a word in /var/lib/asterisk/sounds or one of its subdirectories,
; or a question mark which is  a placeholder for the measured value.
;
;
; Battery voltage 0-20 volts
;batvolts = scale(0,12.8,0),rpt/thevoltageis,?,ha/volts
; 4 quadrant wind direction
;winddir = range(0-33:north,34-96:west,97-160:south,161-224:east,225-255:north),rpt/thewindis,?
; LM34 temperature sensor with 130 deg. F full scale
;lm34f = scale(0,1.969,0),rpt/thetemperatureis,?,degrees,fahrenheit
; Status poll (non alarmed)
;light = bit(ha/off,ha/on),ha/light,?
 
;[alarms]
;
;tag = device,pin,node,ignorefirst,func-low,func-hi
;
;tag = a unique name for the alarm
;device = daq device to poll
;pin = the device pin to be monitored
;ignorefirstalarm = set to 1 to throwaway first alarm event, or 0 to report it
;node = the node number to execute the function on
;func-low = the DTMF function to execute on a high to low transition
;func-high = the DTMF function to execute on a low to high transition
;
; a  '-' as a function name is shorthand for no-operation
;
;door = daq-cham-1,9,1,2017,*7,-
;pwrfail = daq-cham-1,10,0,2017,*911111,-
;
; Control states
; Allow several control operator functions to be changed at once using one command (good for scheduling)
;
;[controlstates]
;statenum = copcmd,[copcmd]...
;0 = rptena,lnkena,apena,totena,ufena,noicd  ; Normal operation
;1 = rptena,lnkena,apdis,totdis,ufena,noice  ; Net and news operation
;2 = rptena,lnkdis,apdis,totena,ufdis,noice  ; Repeater only operation
 
; Scheduler - execute a macro at a given time
 
[schedule]
;dtmf_function =  m h dom mon dow  ; ala cron, star is implied
;8 = 55 12 * * *   ; at midnight, execute macro 2.
 
; See https://wiki.allstarlink.org/wiki/Event_Management
[events]
 
#includeifexists custom/rpt.conf

/etc/asterisk/modules.conf after bridging added

;
; Asterisk configuration file
;
; Module Loader configuration file
;
; By default DIAL does NOT load every module, only what is needed
 
; You can enable or disable any of the asterisk modules
; All modules are compiled and installed.
 
; To enable a module: load => module_name.so
; To disable a module: noload => module_name.so
 
; You will want to enable the channel driver modules you will be using.
; There are below in the Channle Driver section
; The most common Channel drivers for app_rpt are:
; chan_echolink.so   echolink channel driver
; chan_simpleusb.so  Simple USB Radio Interface Channel Drive
; chan_usbradio.so   USB Console Channel Driver
; chan_usrp.so       USRP Channel Module
; chan_voter.so      radio Voter channel driver
 
[modules]
 
autoload=no
 
; Applications
 
noload => app_adsiprog.so ;			Asterisk ADSI Programming Application
noload => app_alarmreceiver.so ;		Alarm Receiver for Asterisk
noload => app_amd.so ;				Answering Machine Detection Application
load => app_authenticate.so ;            	Authentication Application
noload => app_cdr.so ;				Tell Asterisk to not maintain a CDR for
noload => app_chanisavail.so ;			Check channel availability
noload => app_channelredirect.so ;		Channel Redirect
noload => app_chanspy.so ;			Listen to the audio of an active channel
noload => app_controlplayback.so ;		Control Playback Application
noload => app_dahdibarge.so ;			Barge in on channel application
noload => app_dahdiras.so ;			DAHDI RAS Application
noload => app_dahdiscan.so ;			Scan Zap channels application
noload => app_db.so ;				Database Access Functions
load => app_dial.so ;				Dialing Application
noload => app_dictate.so ;			Virtual Dictation Machine
noload => app_directed_pickup.so ;		Directed Call Pickup Application
noload => app_directory.so ;			Extension Directory
noload => app_disa.so ;				DISA (Direct Inward System Access) Appli
noload => app_dumpchan.so ;			Dump Info About The Calling Channel
noload => app_echo.so ;				Simple Echo Application
load => app_exec.so ;				Executes dialplan applications
noload => app_externalivr.so ;			External IVR Interface Application
noload => app_festival.so ;			Simple Festival Interface
noload => app_flash.so ;			Flash channel application
noload => app_followme.so ;			Find-Me/Follow-Me Application
noload => app_forkcdr.so ;			Fork The CDR into 2 separate entities
noload => app_getcpeid.so ;			Get ADSI CPE ID
noload => app_gps.so ;				GPS interface module
noload => app_hasnewvoicemail.so ;		Indicator for whether a voice mailbox ha
noload => app_ices.so ;				Encode and Stream via icecast and ices
noload => app_image.so ;			Image Transmission Application
noload => app_lookupblacklist.so ;		Look up Caller*ID name/number from black
noload => app_lookupcidname.so ;		Look up CallerID Name from local databas
load => app_macro.so ;				Extension Macros
noload => app_meetme.so ;			MeetMe conference bridge
noload => app_milliwatt.so ;			Digital Milliwatt (mu-law) Test Applicat
noload => app_mixmonitor.so ;			Mixed Audio Monitoring Application
noload => app_morsecode.so ;			Morse code
noload => app_mp3.so ;				Silly MP3 Application
noload => app_nbscat.so ;			Silly NBS Stream Application
noload => app_page.so ;				Page Multiple Phones
noload => app_parkandannounce.so ;		Call Parking and Announce Application
load => app_playback.so ;			Sound File Playback Application
noload => app_privacy.so ;			Require phone number to be entered, if n
noload => app_queue.so ;			True Call Queueing
noload => app_radbridge.so ;			Radio Bridging interface module
noload => app_random.so ;			Random goto
noload => app_readfile.so ;			Stores output of file into a variable
noload => app_read.so ;				Read Variable Application
noload => app_realtime.so ;			Realtime Data Lookup/Rewrite
noload => app_record.so ;			Trivial Record Application
load => app_rpt.so ;				Radio Repeater/Remote Base Application
noload => app_sayunixtime.so ;			Say time
noload => app_senddtmf.so ;			Send DTMF digits Application
load => app_sendtext.so ;			Send Text Applications
noload => app_setcallerid.so ;			Set CallerID Application
noload => app_setcdruserfield.so ;		CDR user field apps
noload => app_settransfercapability.so ;	Set ISDN Transfer Capability
noload => app_sms.so ;				SMS/PSTN handler
noload => app_softhangup.so ;			Hangs up the requested channel
noload => app_speech_utils.so ;			Dialplan Speech Applications
noload => app_stack.so ;			Stack Routines
load => app_system.so ;				Generic System() application
noload => app_talkdetect.so ;			Playback with Talk Detection
noload => app_test.so ;				Interface Test Application
load => app_transfer.so ;			Transfer
noload => app_url.so ;				Send URL Applications
noload => app_userevent.so ;			Custom User Event Application
noload => app_verbose.so ;			Send verbose output
noload => app_voicemail.so ;			Comedian Mail (Voicemail System)
noload => app_waitforring.so ;			Waits until first ring after time
noload => app_waitforsilence.so ;		Wait For Silence
noload => app_while.so ;			While Loops and Conditional Execution
noload => app_zapateller.so ;			Block Telemarketers with Special Informa
 
; CDR
 
noload => cdr_csv.so ;				Comma Separated Values CDR Backend
noload => cdr_custom.so ;			Customizable Comma Separated Values CDR
noload => cdr_manager.so ;			Asterisk Manager Interface CDR Backend
 
; Channels
 
noload => chan_agent.so ;			Agent Proxy Channel
noload => chan_alsa.so ;			ALSA Console Channel Driver
noload => chan_beagle.so ;			Beagleboard Radio Interface Channel Driver
load => chan_dahdi.so ;				DAHDI Telephony
load => chan_echolink.so ;			echolink Channel Driver
noload => chan_features.so ;			Feature Proxy Channel
noload => chan_gtalk.so ;			Gtalk Channel Driver
load => chan_iax2.so ;				Inter Asterisk eXchange (Ver 2)
load => chan_local.so ;				Local Proxy Channel (Note: used internal
noload => chan_oss.so ;				Channel driver for OSS sound cards
noload => chan_phone.so ;			Generic Linux Telephony Interface driver
noload => chan_pi.so ;				DMK Engineering "PITA" Board on Rpi2/3 Channel Driver
load => chan_simpleusb.so ;			CM1xx USB Cards with Radio Interface Channel Driver (No DSP)
noload => chan_sip.so ;				Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
noload => chan_tlb.so ;				TheLinkBox Channel Driver
noload => chan_usbradio.so ;			CM1xx USB Cards with Radio Interface Channel Driver (DSP)
load => chan_usrp.so ;			GNU Radio interface USRP Channel Driver
noload => chan_voter.so ;			Radio Voter Channel Driver
 
; Codecs
 
; CODEC          AUDIO QUALITY   BANDWIDTH (including IP and Ethernet headers)
; ULAW           best            87 kilobits per second (kbps)
; ADPCM          good            55 kbps
; GSM            mediocre        36 kbps
; g726aal2
; ilbc
 
load => codec_adpcm.so ;			Adaptive Differential PCM Coder/Decoder
load => codec_alaw.so ;				A-law Coder/Decoder
load => codec_a_mu.so ;				A-law and Mulaw direct Coder/Decoder
noload => codec_dahdi.so ;			Generic DAHDI Transcoder Codec Translato
load => codec_g726.so ;				ITU G.726-32kbps G726 Transcoder
load => codec_gsm.so ;				GSM Coder/Decoder
load => codec_ulaw.so ;				mu-Law Coder/Decoder
noload => codec_ilbc.so ;			http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Low_Bitrate_Codec
 
; Formats
 
load => format_g723.so ;			G.723.1 Simple Timestamp File Format
load => format_g726.so ;			Raw G.726 (16/24/32/40kbps) data
load => format_g729.so ;			Raw G729 data
load => format_gsm.so ;				Raw GSM data
load => format_h263.so ;			Raw H.263 data
load => format_h264.so ;			Raw H.264 data
load => format_ilbc.so ;			Raw iLBC data
noload => format_jpeg.so ;			JPEG (Joint Picture Experts Group) Image
load => format_pcm.so ;				Raw/Sun uLaw/ALaw 8KHz (PCM,PCMA,AU), G.
load => format_sln.so ;				Raw Signed Linear Audio support (SLN)
load => format_vox.so ;				Dialogic VOX (ADPCM) File Format
load => format_wav_gsm.so ;			Microsoft WAV format (Proprietary GSM)
load => format_wav.so ;				Microsoft WAV format (8000Hz Signed Line
 
; Functions
 
load => func_base64.so ;			base64 encode/decode dialplan functions
load => func_callerid.so ;			Caller ID related dialplan function
load => func_cdr.so ;				CDR dialplan function
load => func_channel.so ;			Channel information dialplan function
load => func_curl.so ;				Load external URL
load => func_cut.so ;				Cut out information from a string
load => func_db.so ;				Database (astdb) related dialplan functi
load => func_enum.so ;				ENUM related dialplan functions
load => func_env.so ;				Environment/filesystem dialplan function
load => func_global.so ;			Global variable dialplan functions
load => func_groupcount.so ;			Channel group dialplan functions
load => func_language.so ;			Channel language dialplan function
load => func_logic.so ;				Logical dialplan functions
load => func_math.so ;				Mathematical dialplan function
load => func_md5.so ;				MD5 digest dialplan functions
load => func_moh.so ;				Music-on-hold dialplan function
load => func_rand.so ;				Random number dialplan function
load => func_realtime.so ;			Read/Write values from a RealTime reposi
noload => func_sha1.so ;			SHA-1 computation dialplan function
noload => func_strings.so ;			String handling dialplan functions
noload => func_timeout.so ;			Channel timeout dialplan functions
noload => func_uri.so ;				URI encode/decode dialplan functions
 
; PBX
 
noload => pbx_ael.so ;				Asterisk Extension Language Compiler
load => pbx_config.so ;				Text Extension Configuration
noload => pbx_dundi.so ;			Distributed Universal Number Discovery (
noload => pbx_loopback.so ;			Loopback Switch
noload => pbx_realtime.so ;			Realtime Switch
noload => pbx_spool.so ;			Outgoing Spool Support
 
; Resources
 
load => res_adsi.so ;				ADSI Resource
noload => res_agi.so ;				Asterisk Gateway Interface (AGI)
noload => res_clioriginate.so ;			Call origination from the CLI
noload => res_convert.so ;			File format conversion CLI command
load => res_crypto.so ;				Cryptographic Digital Signatures
load => res_features.so ;			Call Features Resource
load => res_indications.so ;			Indications Resource
noload => res_jabber.so ;			AJI - Asterisk Jabber Interface
noload => res_monitor.so ;			Call Monitoring Resource
noload => res_musiconhold.so ;			Music On Hold Resource
load => res_smdi.so ;				Simplified Message Desk Interface (SMDI)
noload => res_snmp.so ;				SNMP [Sub]Agent for Asterisk
noload => res_speech.so ;			Generic Speech Recognition API
 
[global]

/etc/asterisk/extensions.conf after bridging added

[general]
 
static = yes       ; These two lines prevent the command-line interface
writeprotect = yes ; from overwriting the config file. Leave them here.
 
[globals]
HOMENPA = 999 ; change this to your Area Code
NODE = 48148   ; change this to your node number
NODE1 = 1999
 
[default]
 
exten => i,1,Hangup
 
[radio-secure]
exten => ${NODE},1,rpt,${NODE}
exten => ${NODE1},1,rpt,${NODE1}
 
[iaxrpt]                                ; entered from iaxrpt in iax.conf
exten => ${NODE},1,rpt(${NODE}|X)       ; NODE is the Name field in iaxrpt
                                        ; Info: The X option passed to the Rpt application
                                        ; disables the normal security checks.
                                        ; Because incoming connections are validated in iax.conf,
                                        ; and we don't know where the user will be coming from in advance,
                                        ; the X option is required.
 
[iax-client]				; for IAX VIOP clients.				
exten => ${NODE},1,Ringing
exten => ${NODE},n,Wait(3)
exten => ${NODE},n,Answer
exten => ${NODE},n,Set(NODENUM=${CALLERID(number)})
exten => ${NODE},n,Playback(rpt/node|noanswer)
exten => ${NODE},n,SayDigits(${EXTEN})
exten => ${NODE},n,Set(CALLERID(num)=0)
exten => ${NODE},n,Rpt,${NODE}|P|${CALLERID(name)}
exten => ${NODE},n,Hangup
exten => ${NODE},n(hangit),Answer
exten => ${NODE},n(hangit),Wait(1)
exten => ${NODE},n(hangit),Hangup
 
; Comment-out the following clause if you want Allstar Autopatch service
[pstn-out]
exten = _NXXNXXXXXX,1,playback(ss-noservice)
exten = _NXXNXXXXXX,2,Congestion
 
; Un-comment out the following clause if you want Allstar Autopatch service
;[pstn-out]
;exten = _NXXNXXXXXX,1,Dial(IAX2/allstar-autopatch/\${EXTEN})
;exten = _NXXNXXXXXX,2,Busy
 
[invalidnum]
exten = s,1,Wait,3
exten = s,n,Playback,ss-noservice
exten = s,n,Wait,1
exten =  s,n,Hangup
 
[radio]
exten = _X11,1,Goto(check_route|${EXTEN}|1);
exten = _NXXXXXX,1,Goto(check_route|1${HOMENPA}${EXTEN}|1)
exten = _1XXXXXXXXXX,1,Goto(check_route|${EXTEN}|1)
exten = _07XX,1,Goto(parkedcalls|${EXTEN:1}|1)
exten = 00,1,Goto(my-ip|s|1)
 
[check_route]
exten =_X.,1,Noop(${EXTEN})
; no 800
exten = _1800NXXXXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
exten = _1888NXXXXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
exten = _1877NXXXXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
exten = _1866NXXXXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
exten = _1855NXXXXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
; no X00 NPA
exten = _1X00XXXXXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
; no X11 NPA
exten = _1X11XXXXXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
; no X11 
exten = _X11,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
; no 555 Prefix in any NPA
exten = _1NXX555XXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
; no 976 Prefix in any NPA
exten = _1NXX976XXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
; no NPA=809
exten = _1809XXXXXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
; no NPA=900
exten = _1900XXXXXXX,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
 
; okay, route it
exten = _1NXXXXXXXXX,2,Goto(pstn-out|${EXTEN:1}|1)
exten = _X.,2,Goto(invalidnum|s|1)
 
[my-ip]
exten = s,1,Set(MYADDR=${CURL(http://myip.vg)})
exten = s,2,Wait,1
exten = s,3,SayAlpha(${MYADDR})
exten = s,4,Hangup
 
[allstar-sys]
exten => _1.,1,Rpt(${EXTEN:1}|Rrpt/node:NODE:rpt/in-call:digits/0:PARKED|120)
exten => _1.,n,Hangup
 
exten => _2.,1,Ringing
exten => _2.,n,Wait(3)
exten => _2.,n,Answer
exten => _2.,n,Playback(rpt/node)
exten => _2.,n,Saydigits(${EXTEN:1})
exten => _2.,n,Rpt(${EXTEN:1}|P|${CALLERID(name)}-P)
exten => _2.,n,Hangup
 
exten => _3.,1,Ringing
exten => _3.,n,Wait(3)
exten => _3.,n,Answer
exten => _3.,n,Playback(rpt/node)
exten => _3.,n,Saydigits(${EXTEN:1})
exten => _3.,n,Rpt(${EXTEN:1}|Pv|${CALLERID(name)}-P)
exten => _3.,n,Hangup
 
exten => _4.,1,Ringing
exten => _4.,n,Wait(3)
exten => _4.,n,Answer
exten => _4.,n,Playback(rpt/node)
exten => _4.,n,Saydigits(${EXTEN:1})
exten => _4.,n,Rpt(${EXTEN:1}|D|${CALLERID(name)}-P)
exten => _4.,n,Hangup
 
exten => _5.,1,Ringing
exten => _5.,n,Wait(3)
exten => _5.,n,Answer
exten => _5.,n,Playback(rpt/node)
exten => _5.,n,Saydigits(${EXTEN:1})
exten => _5.,n,Rpt(${EXTEN:1}|Dv|${CALLERID(name)}-P)
exten => _5.,n,Hangup
 
[allstar-public]
 
exten => s,1,Ringing
exten => s,n,Set(RESP=${CURL(https://register.allstarlink.org/cgi-bin/authwebphone.pl?${CALLERID(name)})})
exten => s,n,Set(NODENUM=${CALLERID(number)})
exten => s,n,GotoIf($["${RESP:0:1}" = "?"]?hangit)
exten => s,n,GotoIf($["${RESP:0:1}" = ""]?hangit)
exten => s,n,GotoIf($["${RESP:0:5}" != "OHYES"]?hangit)
exten => s,n,Set(CALLSIGN=${RESP:5})
exten => s,n,Wait(3)
exten => s,n,Playback(rpt/node|noanswer)
exten => s,n,Saydigits(${NODENUM})
exten => s,n,Set(CALLERID(name)=${CALLSIGN})
exten => s,n,Set(CALLERID(num)=0)
exten => s,n,Rpt(${NODENUM}|X)
exten => s,n,Hangup
exten => s,n(hangit),Answer
exten => s,n(hangit),Wait(1)
exten => s,n(hangit),Hangup
 
#includeifexists custom/extensions.conf

The next bit was more tricky on an old Debian Buster ASL Beta image that hadn't been updated/upgraded in a long time….

Installing DVswitch

Installing DVSwitch was a bit convoluted, as my old version of the ASL Beta 2.0.0 wasn't up to date… and needed some work to add necessary APT gpg keys, and adding the dvswitch repository.

apt-get update –allow-releaseinfo-change to accept the release name change

Adding DVSwitch repository keys

As root :

apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 0E98404D386FA1D9
 
apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 6ED0E7B82643E131
 
curl -s http://apt.allstarlink.org/repos/repo_signing.key | apt-key add - && apt update
 
wget http://dvswitch.org/buster
 
chmod +x buster
 
./buster
 
apt-get update
 
apt-get install dvswitch

Configuring DVSwitch

The changes were made to the existing asterisk configs, as per the pdf document, then DVSwitch was installed, and then the pdf document was followed again to make the necessary configs to:

/opt/Analog_Bridge/Analog_Bridge.ini

and

/opt/MMDVM_Bridge/MMDVM_Bridge.ini

everything seemed to work okay - although there I think one of the UDP ports was initially wrong for the USRP traffic in Analog_Bridge.ini and I had to double check by looking in

/etc/asterisk/rpt.conf

[1999]
rxchannel = USRP/127.0.0.1:34001:31001

and setting Analog_Bridge.ini to match:

[USRP]
address = 127.0.0.1              
txPort = 31001                        
rxPort = 34001

Testing

I initially set the MMDVM_Bridge to connect to Brandmeister and Analog_Bridge to send traffic to TG2354429 (an ad hoc TG with my DMR ID).

in the asterisk CLI issue the command to link the main node 48148 with the internal private node 1999 to complete the bridge:

rpt cmd 2100 ilink 3 1999

transmit on the VHF FM input to the Gateway and listen on a DMR radio via my DMR hotspot connected to Brandmeister TG2354429 and the DMR radio sprang into life with my DMR ID….

transmit on the DMR radio, via the hotspot to Brandmeister and the VHF FM handheld carried the audio from the DMR radio.

I also tried setting MMDVM_Bridge to connect to DVS-Ph F and used the Options=TS2_1=842 to set TG842 as static. Setting Analog_Bridge to use TG 842 and once more the traffic was bi-directional Allstar ↔ DMR

So Far So Good

To boost the audio via the bridge

Analog_Bridge.ini to change from AUDIO_UNITY to AUDIO_USE_GAIN

[USRP]
address = 127.0.0.1                     
txPort = 31001                         
rxPort = 34001                       
usrpAudio = AUDIO_USE_GAIN            
usrpGain = 3                        
;usrpAGC = -20,10,100                 
tlvAudio = AUDIO_USE_GAIN                
tlvGain = 0.35

I set the various DVSwitch things to be enabled or disabled:

systemctl enable asterisk
systemctl enable analog_bridge
systemctl disable md380-emu
systemctl enable mmdvm_bridge

Later I found the other bridges available (P25, YSF, NXDN etc) were running, but not configured, so I used systemctl to disable them.

Allmon2 / supermon

I added the new node 1999 to allmon2 and supermon, so I can control/monitor the bridging via the web.

/var/www/html/allmon2/allmon.ini.php

[48148]
host=127.0.0.1:5038
user=admin
passwd=xxxx
nomenu=no
hideNodeURL=no
 
 
[1999]
host=127.0.0.1:5038
user=admin
passwd=XXXX
nomenu=no
hideNodeURL=no
 
[Grouped Nodes]
nodes=48148,1999
 
[lsNodes]
url = "/cgi-bin/lsnodes_web?node=48148"
;url = "/cgi-bin/lsnodes_web?node=481480"
menu = yes

/var/www/html/supermon/allmon.ini

[48148]
host = 127.0.0.1:5038
user = admin
passwd = XXXX
menu = yes
hideNodeURL = no
 
[1999]
host = 127.0.0.1:5038
user = admin
passwd = XXXX
menu = yes
hideNodeURL = no
 
[All Nodes]
nodes = 48148,1999
menu = yes

— John Pumford-Green 03/06/25 17:55 BST

Further Information

radio, allstar, mmdvm, dvswitch

HF APRS Mobile/Portable

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:54:52 +0000

←APRS

HF APRS Mobile/Portable

Initial Thoughts

My plan is to use either of

TinyTrak3 + serial GPS as a one-way tracker
Netbook with direwolf and a USB GPS
1. a tracker
2. xastir for maps etc

Either of these will interface with a Xiegu G90 and some form of mobile whip.

I may use 30m hoping to get packets directly to other iGates in Europe or use 10m and run an iGate on 10m at home. It's all on the drawing board at the moment. It will be interesting to compare local coverage between 30m and 10m as well as seeing how well 30m mobile with a short whip can perform.

Tiny Trak 3

Uses serial GPS to provide position data
Only transmits, no receive/decode
Can transmit VHF (1200bd) or HF (300bd) APRS

HF APRS configuration settings

Date	Config.
April 2023	xxxx

Firmware/Docs

Firmware	tinytrak3_v1.42.zip
User Guide	tinytrak3plus_v1.03.pdf
Configuration Utility	tinytrak3_config_v1.4.6.zip

Test and Setup

First Reception

From aprs.fi - packets being received in Germany at DK4XI

https://aprs.fi/?c=raw&call=GM4SLV-11

2023-04-29 07:47:49 BST: GM4SLV-11>APT311,qAR,DK4XI-30:>John on HF
2023-04-29 07:47:52 BST: GM4SLV-11>V0QWRY,qAR,DK4XI-30:`w5Nl  j/"3x}
2023-04-29 07:52:50 BST: GM4SLV-11>V0QWSP,qAR,DK4XI-30:`w5Nl ^j/"4+}

Mobile Journey #1 on 30m

02/05/23:

using 10m “stinger” mobile whip and G90's internal ATU / 20W
not very encouraging local coverage between mobile and home QTH
large gap in coverage - journey actually went to Lerwick and back….
next experiment will be to use 10m - hopefully antenna is more efficient on that band

03/05/12

found that the antenna used yesterday was tuned to 31MHz… short whip
swapped for 2nd whip and this is tuned to 28.2MHz…. longer whip. More efficient?

— John Pumford-Green 26/04/23 15:02

Further Information

TinyTrak3 website : https://www.byonics.com/tinytrak3

radio, aprs

Svxlink Update (Dual Gateway)

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 19:58:40 +0000

←SVXLink

Svxlink Update (Dual Gateway)

— John Pumford-Green 02/06/22 19:56

To allow testing and comparison between 2m and 70cm I've got two SVXLink gateways running.

MB7AZE : 70cm : 430.050MHz @ 3W using FT-60
GM4SLV : 2m : 144.625MHz @ ??W using FT-8900

Both feed the same dual band colinear via a duplexer.

Both are connected to G4NAB's SVXReflector http://svxportal-uk.ddns.net:81/index.php

(UPDATE — John Pumford-Green 03/06/22 09:05)

I now realize that the DTMF problems were due to setting de-emphasis ON while actually using the audio feed from the FT-8900 for 1200 packet, which already has de-emphasis applied. So I was doing double-de-emphasis.

No wonder the tones were being mangled.

The ~~deleted~~ section below shows what steps I took to restore the tone detection in this situation, but this isn't actually necessary if the correct audio feed is used. The quick-fix is to turn SVXLink's de-emphasis OFF and restore the DTMF twist to its normal value. The better fix will be to re-wire the interface to use the flat 9600 baud audio and restore SVXLink's de-emphasis.

Set up audio levels MB7AZE SvxLink Config

Some tweaks were necessary to get GM4SLV to work - DTMF detection was flaky on certain digits when RX de-emphasis was enabled - which is necessary when using the 9600 packet flat-audio feed from the FT-8900. The issue seems to be the roll-off of the de-emphasis affecting the DTMF digits that use the widest spaced tone-pairs. There's are configuration items that can fix the problem: DTMF_MAX_FWD_TWIST and DTMF_MAX_REV_TWIST in the [Local Receiver] section. I had to set DTMF_MAX_FWD_TWIST to 15 to fix the problem.

The GM4SLV gateway now uses the FT-8900 via an unmodified CM108 sound dongle.

The PTT is from GPIO25 and SQL is from CTCSS.

I've swapped the Echolink service from MB7AZE-L to GM4SLV-L.

For the next period of testing MB7AZE will be lower profile, and the FT-60 handheld can not handle long periods of transmitting (e.g. when set on HUBNET or similar).

The start-up script that also sets up GPIO (for PTT):

#!/bin/bash
 
CFG=/usr/local/etc/svxlink/svxlink.conf
LOG=/home/gm4slv/svxlink.log
 
sudo killall svxlink
sudo killall svxlink
sudo killall svxlink
 
echo "25" > /sys/class/gpio/export
 
sleep 2
 
echo "out" > /sys/class/gpio/gpio25/direction
 
sudo svxlink --daemon --logfile=$LOG --config=$CFG
exit 0

crontab to start it at reboot

@reboot sleep 30 && sudo -u gm4slv /home/gm4slv/svx_ref.sh >/dev/null 2>&1

Here is the current ''svxlink.conf'' for GM4SLV :

 
 
[GLOBAL]
LOGICS=SimplexLogic,ReflectorLogic
CFG_DIR=svxlink.d
TIMESTAMP_FORMAT="%c"
CARD_SAMPLE_RATE=48000
LOCATION_INFO=LocationInfo
LINKS=LinkToReflector
 
[SimplexLogic]
TYPE=Simplex
RX=Rx1
TX=Tx1
MODULES=ModuleHelp,ModuleParrot,ModuleEchoLink	
CALLSIGN=GM4SLV
SHORT_IDENT_INTERVAL=0
SHORT_CW_ID_ENABLE=0
SHORT_VOICE_ID_ENABLE=0
CW_AMP=-20
CW_PITCH=1000
CW_WPM=20
LONG_IDENT_INTERVAL=0
LONG_VOICE_ID_ENABLE=0
LONG_CW_ID_ENABLE=0
EVENT_HANDLER=/usr/local/share/svxlink/events.tcl
DEFAULT_LANG=en_GB
RGR_SOUND_DELAY=0
TX_CTCSS=ALWAYS
MACROS=Macros
FX_GAIN_NORMAL=0
FX_GAIN_LOW=-12
ONLINE_CMD=998877
TIME_FORMAT=24
RGR_SOUND_ALWAYS=1
 
[RepeaterLogic]
 
[ReflectorLogic]
TYPE=Reflector
HOSTS=svxportal-uk.ddns.net
HOST_PORT=5300
CALLSIGN="change this"
AUTH_KEY="change this too"
JITTER_BUFFER_DELAY=0
DEFAULT_LANG=en_GB
DEFAULT_TG=0
MONITOR_TGS=8,91,235,2350,2351,23561
TG_SELECT_TIMEOUT=60
ANNOUNCE_REMOTE_MIN_INTERVAL=300
MUTE_FIRST_TX_LOC=0
MUTE_FIRST_TX_REM=0
TMP_MONITOR_TIMEOUT=3600
EVENT_HANDLER=/usr/local/share/svxlink/events.tcl
NODE_INFO_FILE=/usr/local/etc/svxlink/node_info.json
 
[LinkToReflector]
CONNECT_LOGICS=SimplexLogic:9:,ReflectorLogic
DEFAULT_ACTIVE=1
OPTIONS=DEFAULT_CONNECT,NO_DISCONNECT
 
[QsoRecorder]
REC_DIR=/var/spool/svxlink/qso_recorder
MAX_TIME=3600
SOFT_TIME=300
MAX_DIRSIZE=1024
 
[Voter]
 
[MultiTx]
 
[NetRx]
 
[NetTx]
 
[Rx1]
TYPE=Local
AUDIO_DEV=alsa:plughw:1,0
AUDIO_CHANNEL=0
SQL_DET=CTCSS
SQL_START_DELAY=0
SQL_DELAY=0
SQL_HANGTIME=200
VOX_FILTER_DEPTH=20
VOX_THRESH=1000
CTCSS_FQ=77.0
HID_DEVICE=/dev/hidraw0
HID_SQL_PIN=!VOL_DN
SIGLEV_SLOPE=1
SIGLEV_OFFSET=0
SIGLEV_OPEN_THRESH=30
SIGLEV_CLOSE_THRESH=10
DEEMPHASIS=0
PREAMP=0.0
DTMF_DEC_TYPE=INTERNAL
DTMF_MUTING=1
DTMF_HANGTIME=40
DTMF_SERIAL=/dev/ttyS0
#DTMF_MAX_FWD_TWIST=8
#DTMF_MAX_REV_TWIST=4
 
[WbRx1]
 
[Tx1]
TYPE=Local
AUDIO_DEV=alsa:plughw:1,0
AUDIO_CHANNEL=0
PTT_TYPE=GPIO
PTT_PIN=gpio25
HID_DEVICE=/dev/hidraw0
HID_PTT_PIN=GPIO3
PTT_HANGTIME=500
TIMEOUT=300
TX_DELAY=500
CTCSS_FQ=77.0
CTCSS_LEVEL=20
PREEMPHASIS=1
DTMF_TONE_LENGTH=100
DTMF_TONE_SPACING=50
DTMF_DIGIT_PWR=-15
MASTER_GAIN=0
 
[LocationInfo]
APRS_SERVER_LIST=euro.aprs2.net:14580
STATUS_SERVER_LIST=aprs.echolink.org:5199
LON_POSITION=1.25.30W
LAT_POSITION=60.17.18N
CALLSIGN=EL-GM4SLV
FREQUENCY=144.625
TX_POWER=2
ANTENNA_GAIN=3
ANTENNA_HEIGHT=5m
ANTENNA_DIR=-1
BEACON_INTERVAL=60
TONE=77
COMMENT=Connected to UK Svx Reflector
 
[Macros]
1=EchoLink:9999#
2=EchoLink:973498#
3=EchoLink:662666#
4=:91235#
5=:9123561#
9=:910#

overview of config

See MB7AZE SvxLink Config

Page Info

— John Pumford-Green 02/06/22 19:56

Page last updated: 04/06/26 20:58 BST

echolink, svxlink, radio

Day	Temp/°C	Pos	Daily rate	Variance
1	23	6H	M1
2	23		M2	V1
3	23	3H	M3
4	23		M4	V2
5	23	9H	M5
6	23		M6	V3
7	23	Dd	M7
8	23		M8	V4
9	23	Du	M9
10	23		M10	V5
11	8	Du	M11
12	23	Du	M12
13	38	Du	M13
14	23	6H	M14
15	23	6H	M15

Day	Pos	Daily rate	Variance
1	6H	M1
2		M2	V1
3	3H	M3
4		M4	V2
5	9H	M5
6		M6	V3
7	Ddn	M7
8		M8	V4
9	Dup	M9
14	6H	M14
15	6H	M15

Day	Temp/°C	Pos	Daily rate	Variance
1	23	6H	M1
2	23		M2	V1
3	23	3H	M3
4	23		M4	V2
5	23	9H	M5
6	23		M6	V3
7	23	Dd	M7
8	23		M8	V4
9	23	Du	M9
10	23		M10	V5
11	8	Du	M11
12	23	Du	M12
13	38	Du	M13
14	23	6H	M14
15	23	6H	M15

Day	Pos	Daily rate	Variance
1	6H	M1
2		M2	V1
3	3H	M3
4		M4	V2
5	9H	M5
6		M6	V3
7	Ddn	M7
8		M8	V4
9	Dup	M9
14	6H	M14
15	6H	M15

Day	Temp/°C	Pos	Daily rate	Variance
1	23	6H	M1
2	23		M2	V1
3	23	3H	M3
4	23		M4	V2
5	23	9H	M5
6	23		M6	V3
7	23	Dd	M7
8	23		M8	V4
9	23	Du	M9
10	23		M10	V5
11	8	Du	M11
12	23	Du	M12
13	38	Du	M13
14	23	6H	M14
15	23	6H	M15

Day	Pos	Daily rate	Variance
1	6H	M1
2		M2	V1
3	3H	M3
4		M4	V2
5	9H	M5
6		M6	V3
7	Ddn	M7
8		M8	V4
9	Dup	M9
14	6H	M14
15	6H	M15