Form Factor and Integration

We want to do more and more with our personal computing devices - smart phones, GPS watches, tablets, etc. We've seen new smart phones get larger, so that we can have bigger screens. The GPS watches are not exactly tiny. Tablets come in a variety of sizes, too.

I think this really is the future - wearable computing. The key will be the integration of these devices in a personal area network (PAN). I'm sure the internal electronics will continue to get smaller, but if the devices can leverage each other, so there isn't so much redundancy, there is a real opportunity do more with less.

Baofeng UV-3R: Fix for Extremely Low Power

Many hams have measured the output of the UV-3R on low power and noted that is extremely low - as low as 100 mW. SP3SWJ reports a fix by "exchange some inductance in first stage transistor driver from 47nH to 220nH." You see his notations in the schematic here. He also reports the change improves the spurious transmissions on the harmonic.

Here are his measurements using Motorola R2670 on SMA antenna port:

HI POWER +33 dBm
2nd harmonics -27 dB
3rd harmonics -41 dB

LO POWER +16 dBm --- before fix
2nd harmonics -10 dB
3rd harmonics -44 dB

LO POWER +31.4 dBm --- after fix
2nd harmonics -27 dB
3rd harmonics -47 dB

He says the the change improves the output across all VHF frequencies.




Bert, DD5XL, verified that the mod works:

He "used a 150nH wire-wound 0603 SMT coil to replace the stock 47nH type. Before that my low-power output was around 60mW, it increased by nearly 10dB now up to 620mW with a fully charged battery (4,1V). High output is at 2,1W now, this increased of about 200mW compared with before mod.

I've also made a quick check with the spectrum analysator for the low-power setting, the first harmonic is now down to roughly -45dB, this is also an improvement although I already had a improved harmonic suppression by the PA0EJW filter mod."

Via the UV-3R Yahoo Group

Stupid

I try to avoid doing intentionally stupid things. I fight back when others try to rope me in. Case in point, I asked one of our service providers to send me a copy of their SAS70/SSAE-16 report for my auditors. When the report was ready, they asked me for the shipping address of the CFO of my company. Their auditors, who prepared the report, required that it only be sent to the CFO.

Really? In a completely pathetic attempt to protect their intellectual property, they want to ship the document to someone who a) doesn't even know anything about the service provider and b) will just send it on to me anyway. Reality check, aisle one.

After sending an e-mail to the COO of the service provider, they decided it would be okay to send the report directly to me.

I have several more examples of similar stupid audit rules and requests. I hope others are pushing back. Auditors aren't magical. Heck, their entire industry is built on GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). Generally accepted? That sounds cut and dried to me.

Lets stop being stupid and start being productive.

Adidas adiZero Rush

Maybe my next running shoe... I really like my current Adidas shoes.

wesrucker247 Bet they have an orange one. RT @darrenrovell: Adidas unveils adiZero Rush, its 7.5 oz running shoe ($100/pair) yfrog.com/nubypcsjTue, Jan 17 16:46:30 from TweetDeck

Game of Thrones - Season 1

Watch it again (or for the first time) in preparation for Season 2.

Season 1 will play on Thursdays at 10PM starting on January 26th. Season 2 starts on April 1.

It is the little things - MagPod

Inventing something brand new gets the glory, but I am equally impressed when people improve upon existing things.



Via Fred at Guns and Coffee

What to believe?

Oh how the internets make my head hurt sometimes. I read it on the internet so it must be true.

Uncle says the Republicans are intentionally throwing the race as they don't want to be in charge during another dismal four years.

Tam says that the Democrats miss giving the president a hard time and don't want to win, so we can expect a Republican to win.

Worlds collide! Is it too late for the Galt/Taggart ticket?

SOPA and Ham Radio

I knew that Reddit and Wikipedia among others were going to protest SOPA by doing a blackout, but I just read that APRS.FI will be off-line on Wednesday.

"Although the law is being made in the U.S., it will break the Internet on a global scale by making sites such as aprs.fi liable for links and content posted by the users of the site. Sites like aprs.fi are commonly run by individual developers or small volunteer teams. Due to the huge volume of automatically published user-generated content (50 packets per second currently!) it would be impossible for me to go through it all before publishing. If some APRS user would post links to copyright-infringing material, even when that material would reside somewhere else than aprs.fi itself, aprs.fi could be shut down in the U.S. and there would not be much that I could do about it."

Egg McMuggin

I tried my second Egg McMuggin this morning. I'm trying to eat more protein as part of my elite athlete diet and stumbled across this quick and easy breakfast.

• Take a coffee mug and coat the inside with olive oil or some non-stick spray. Forget this step and clean-up is a pain!
• Crack two eggs into the mug.
• Add salt/pepper and scramble the eggs.
• Microwave for 45 seconds. (Maybe less depending on your microwave and how dry you like your eggs.)
• Add small pieces of cheese, ham, or bacon as you see fit. (Pro-tip: Prep the bacon/ham/cheese in a batch, so you have some ready to easily add).
• Stir all the ingredients.
• Microwave again for 45 seconds. (Maybe less depending on your microwave and how dry you like your eggs.)
• Your Egg McMuggin is now ready to eat, but be careful as it will be really hot!

Harbrace

Also from my Tennessee Alumnus reading tonight... how did I not know that Hodges was responsible for Harbrace? No wonder he has a huge library named after him. I still use my Harbrace - not that you could tell from my raw, lazy, and unpolished writing for the blog. Proof reading is for the professionals.