Current active projects:

  • OpenWebRX - This is a Raspberry Pi 4 connected to an RTL-SDR and an antenna on the roof. The antenna is shared with other equipment and sometimes will be disconnected. I have preconfigured it with some fun presets that include HAM radio (analog and digital modes) as well as FM broadcast radio, Air Band, CB Radio, Marine VHF radio and a few other interesting spots on the spectrum. NOTE: I have just upgraded this to OpenWebRX+ and a SDRplay RSPdx. The config is still in flux, but the site is up to play with.
  • FlightFeeder - This is an SDR connected to an antenna specifically tuned to receive ADS-B broadcasts from aircraft. The data is then submitted to FlightAware, which provides real-time worldwide flight tracking. This is a bespoke piece of hardware from FlightAware that is actually their property and I just let it use my roof.
  • PiAware - This is a Raspberry Pi configured to do what the FlightFeeder does, but I own the hardware and have configured it to also send data to FlightRadar24 and ADSB Exchange. The antenna is one I got on eBay from a guy in Bulgaria and is mounted on the same mast as the FlightFeeder antenna. The SDR is a FlightAware ProStick with a seperate 1090MHz filter.
  • Weather Underground / Ecowitt / Weathercloud / MetOffice WOW - All those links on the left provide real-time data from the weather sensor I recently upgraded on the roof. It's an ECOWITT Wittboy Pro which replaces my nearly 10 year old unit. The new one is completely solid state, using haptic sensors for rain and microphones to "hear" the wind. Will be interesting to see how accurate this new sensor is compared to the official BOM station nearby.
  • Bloomsky - Sadly this company has gone bust. I bought their first device many years ago on Kickstarter and I've been capturing daily time lapse images of the sky. Pretty much nothing works any more, but as of this writing, the web site is still showing some data. There is an active group on Facebook that are trying to keep the infrastructure alive by other means.
  • URADMonitor - Radiation monitoring with a little IOT device mounted by a busy road. Hopefully no sudden spikes in this data.
  • SolarEdge - All this infrastructure and more is powered by a 12.5kWp solar array on the roof. If you click on this link you can get a current dashboard of the production data. I've also built my own battery storage/UPS system using a Victron Energy MultiPlus-II and a bunch of batteries. I'm still waiting for the price of a proper full-house battery/UPS system to become economic.