I am still here!

I have not abandoned the blog. I have just been fiddling
with antennas and playing with FPGAs.

Here is an interesting link that will be worth watching

One more DATVer in the world

I would like to congratulate Al W8KHP on getting
his USRP2 DATV system up and running for the first
time this weekend.

64 Bits

This is a picture of the 'portable' setup which consists of a Laptop running
64 bit Linux, a USB video capture / mpeg encoder, JVC camcorder and of
course the USRP2. The system is sitting on top of my big rig rack.

To get the system to run on 64 bit Linux I had to make some slight changes
to the Assembly code (mainly to replace push %eax with push %rax).
At the moment only the DVB-S mode works under 64 bit, DVB-T will require
a bit more work. So far it seems better under 64 bit than it was under 32 bit.

I have also almost completed the K1FO designed 70cms Yagi. I am just waiting
for a few bits to complete the driven element. I have changed the design slightly
in order to make the feed arrangement more robust. Electrically it should be the
same. I bought the tubing and insulators from Sandpiper Aerials which made it a
doddle to put together. Without the drill press I bought a couple of years ago
I would not have been able to achieve the required accuracy for the element
mounting holes.