Mark VK5QI
@vk5qi.bsky.social
He/Him; 'Strayan; Amateur Radio Operator (VK5QI); RF Engineer; High-Altitude Ballooning - http://sondehub.org; http://libre.space Contributor;
Last night I gave a presentation on go at the Australian Foxhunting (Amateur Radio Direction Finding) Championships - It's now up on YouTube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz0Y...
ARDF at Mt Gambier - by Mark VK5QI and Grant VK5GR - AREG September 2025 Presentation
YouTube video by Mark Jessop
www.youtube.com
September 20, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Last night I gave a presentation on go at the Australian Foxhunting (Amateur Radio Direction Finding) Championships - It's now up on YouTube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz0Y...
Attempting to make a 'press-fit' 4x BNC plug for easier band changes on my KrakenSDR DoA system. First step is to try out disassembling a BNC plug and using just the inner bit. Made a 3d-printed holder for it. Seems to work OK!
July 31, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Attempting to make a 'press-fit' 4x BNC plug for easier band changes on my KrakenSDR DoA system. First step is to try out disassembling a BNC plug and using just the inner bit. Made a 3d-printed holder for it. Seems to work OK!
Down at Mt Gambier, SA, having a go in the Australian Foxhunting (Radio) Championships! My combination of KrakenSDR and beam-out-the-window setup is doing fairly well! Mt Gambier has brought on the weather though, and it's been very very wet...
June 7, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Down at Mt Gambier, SA, having a go in the Australian Foxhunting (Radio) Championships! My combination of KrakenSDR and beam-out-the-window setup is doing fairly well! Mt Gambier has brought on the weather though, and it's been very very wet...
Playing with one of these cheapo 'EMF' meters. Meter starts blinking scarily with only about 40mW/m^2 incident power density. For reference, at the frequency I was transmitting on, the General Public limit (ARPANSA RPS S-1) is 2000 mW/m^2. No wonder these things make people freak out.
May 10, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Playing with one of these cheapo 'EMF' meters. Meter starts blinking scarily with only about 40mW/m^2 incident power density. For reference, at the frequency I was transmitting on, the General Public limit (ARPANSA RPS S-1) is 2000 mW/m^2. No wonder these things make people freak out.
Attempting to push my KrakenSDR-based Foxhunting (ARDF) system up to the 23cm (1296 MHz) band. Teeny DoA array made from PCB and SMA sockets. Surprisingly (to me) it works! Unfortunately a harmonic of the 28.8 MHz RTLSDR clock falls right on 1296 MHz, which will limit sensitivity.
May 10, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Attempting to push my KrakenSDR-based Foxhunting (ARDF) system up to the 23cm (1296 MHz) band. Teeny DoA array made from PCB and SMA sockets. Surprisingly (to me) it works! Unfortunately a harmonic of the 28.8 MHz RTLSDR clock falls right on 1296 MHz, which will limit sensitivity.
Check out webhorus - a Horus Binary high-altitude balloon telemetry decoder in a browser! Thanks to @xssfox , this supports audio decoding, and now even RTLSDRs via WebUSB! www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCGZ...
webhorus - A browser-based Horus Binary decoder!
YouTube video by Mark Jessop
www.youtube.com
March 12, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Check out webhorus - a Horus Binary high-altitude balloon telemetry decoder in a browser! Thanks to @xssfox , this supports audio decoding, and now even RTLSDRs via WebUSB! www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCGZ...
Reposted by Mark VK5QI
times are tough yall, but we are tougher! stand strong and trans rights
January 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
times are tough yall, but we are tougher! stand strong and trans rights
Peppy in motion. (Being annoying as usual)
February 1, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Peppy in motion. (Being annoying as usual)
Finally got to see a rocket launch! Transporter 12, viewed from West Ocean Avenue near Lompoc.
youtu.be/sNXiFN2nm3Q
youtu.be/sNXiFN2nm3Q
Transporter 12 Launch, 14th January 2025
YouTube video by Mark Jessop
youtu.be
January 14, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Finally got to see a rocket launch! Transporter 12, viewed from West Ocean Avenue near Lompoc.
youtu.be/sNXiFN2nm3Q
youtu.be/sNXiFN2nm3Q
Having just finished watched Squid Game season 1... Why the hell does this show have a McDonalds tie in meal?!!?!?
January 3, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Having just finished watched Squid Game season 1... Why the hell does this show have a McDonalds tie in meal?!!?!?
Amazing renditions of some Tears of the Kingdom music by a wind orchestra (senzoku game music brass) @l-train.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTx0...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTx0...
【吹奏楽】ゼルダの伝説 ティアーズ・オブ・ザ・キングダム
YouTube video by senzoku game music brass
www.youtube.com
January 1, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Amazing renditions of some Tears of the Kingdom music by a wind orchestra (senzoku game music brass) @l-train.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTx0...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTx0...
We had another visit by SA Power Networks to AREG's remote site today, to install fixes for our power-line noise issue. Technicians inserted wire brushes into the insulator joints, which had an instant effect on the noise! Thanks SAPN! www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5R_...
Power-line RFI getting fixed at AREG's Remote HF Receive Site
YouTube video by Mark Jessop
www.youtube.com
December 23, 2024 at 2:47 AM
We had another visit by SA Power Networks to AREG's remote site today, to install fixes for our power-line noise issue. Technicians inserted wire brushes into the insulator joints, which had an instant effect on the noise! Thanks SAPN! www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5R_...
"What are you looking at?" SCREEEEECH
December 22, 2024 at 7:29 AM
"What are you looking at?" SCREEEEECH
radiosonde_auto_rx 1.8.0 is now out! This adds full support for ka9q-radio, allowing coverage of the complete radiosonde band using an Airspy! github.com/projecthorus...
December 15, 2024 at 3:52 AM
radiosonde_auto_rx 1.8.0 is now out! This adds full support for ka9q-radio, allowing coverage of the complete radiosonde band using an Airspy! github.com/projecthorus...
Flight report for Horus 63 is now up! www.areg.org.au/archives/212...
December 14, 2024 at 9:47 AM
Flight report for Horus 63 is now up! www.areg.org.au/archives/212...
Typical Australian Fauna.
December 7, 2024 at 6:11 AM
Typical Australian Fauna.
Today we had SA Power Networks visit AREG's remote HF receiver site and investigate the powerline RFI that's been annoying us for a while. After a lot of poking at high voltage things with long sticks, we're pretty sure the issue is related to connections between glass-disk insulators!
December 5, 2024 at 6:26 AM
Today we had SA Power Networks visit AREG's remote HF receiver site and investigate the powerline RFI that's been annoying us for a while. After a lot of poking at high voltage things with long sticks, we're pretty sure the issue is related to connections between glass-disk insulators!
Today's Horus 63 flight tested a new cross-band (2m in, 70cm out) FM repeater, and a new imagery payload. Many contacts were made across South Australia on the repeater. We hit some focus issues with the imagery payload, but still were able to capture some great photos!
December 1, 2024 at 9:37 AM
Today's Horus 63 flight tested a new cross-band (2m in, 70cm out) FM repeater, and a new imagery payload. Many contacts were made across South Australia on the repeater. We hit some focus issues with the imagery payload, but still were able to capture some great photos!
New album cover dropped. (From today's Horus 63 high-altitude balloon launch)
December 1, 2024 at 9:30 AM
New album cover dropped. (From today's Horus 63 high-altitude balloon launch)
Finally playing Stray, now that it's out on Switch! (I don't have a gaming PC)
November 21, 2024 at 11:41 AM
Finally playing Stray, now that it's out on Switch! (I don't have a gaming PC)
Today was testing out the new Wenet imagery payload outside. Hung it from my tower, let it run for a while. Hit an odd issue on the first half of the run where load averages spiked, and the Pi crashed. Have since added in watchdog timers. Don't expect temperatures to be as much of an issue in flight
November 10, 2024 at 3:33 AM
Today was testing out the new Wenet imagery payload outside. Hung it from my tower, let it run for a while. Hit an odd issue on the first half of the run where load averages spiked, and the Pi crashed. Have since added in watchdog timers. Don't expect temperatures to be as much of an issue in flight
Thermal testing time! With an ambient temp of 21.5˚C, the body of the Yaesu FT-530 (within the box), got to about 52˚C after 30 min of continuous transmit at low power.
November 9, 2024 at 6:09 AM
Thermal testing time! With an ambient temp of 21.5˚C, the body of the Yaesu FT-530 (within the box), got to about 52˚C after 30 min of continuous transmit at low power.
Latests updates in the Project Horus space... new payloads! Have just finished building a new crossband repeater based around a Yaesu FT-530. This will fly on the next launch, in early December.
November 8, 2024 at 4:29 AM
Latests updates in the Project Horus space... new payloads! Have just finished building a new crossband repeater based around a Yaesu FT-530. This will fly on the next launch, in early December.
Trying out BlueSky. I'm also over on Mastodon at cloudisland.nz/@vk5qi
I do amateur radio, foxhunting (no, not real foxes), and high-altitude ballooning stuff.
I do amateur radio, foxhunting (no, not real foxes), and high-altitude ballooning stuff.
November 8, 2024 at 4:26 AM
Trying out BlueSky. I'm also over on Mastodon at cloudisland.nz/@vk5qi
I do amateur radio, foxhunting (no, not real foxes), and high-altitude ballooning stuff.
I do amateur radio, foxhunting (no, not real foxes), and high-altitude ballooning stuff.