Kirt Cathey, NH2GX, JG1FXZ

This movie appeared on the MAKE page a couple weeks ago and I finally got around to watching all the way through. It’s a good watch and intriguing to see how tinkering is as old as humankind!!

Share on Facebook

I spent a couple of hours today researching/working on an APRS setup. Came very close but no cigar… need to make a quick trip into Akihabara tomorrow to pickup some connector components and solder them together. THEN, I will finally have an APRS (packet radio) node going with GPS output. The cool thing about this technology, however, is that it’s not just GPS information, it’s not just weather information,

Share on Facebook

This posting has nothing to do with security, but everything to do with electronics and building devices. If you’re looking for a fun personal project, read on! Helicopter flying skills required. A couple weeks ago, a friend called and said he was driving into Akihabara, Tokyo, and asked if I wanted to join for the [...]

Share on Facebook

This is a neat write-up of a timeline of the mobile phone over the past ten years. I wrote a similar timeline for the RSA security conference here is Japan last May, but went much further back to the original mobile phones.

Share on Facebook

I do not know which one came up with the idea first, but these two web pages- AL7FS Jim Larsen and Pirate Nation Radio – show circuit board designs that fit into an Altoids box. But I also remember an IT Infrastructure Manager at a company that I used to work at that always had [...]

Share on Facebook

Over the past year or so, a friend and I have been mulling over a device that can be used in a variety of ways to deter animals from entering certain perimeter areas – such as keeping a dog from doing his business at the front gate of your house. There are other applications as I have learned that apply to keeping wolves off of ranches, or keeping coyotes away from designated areas.

Share on Facebook

Today was the last day of a very productive four-day weekend. Do not know exactly what the motivation to get in a train (I hate trains lately, especially in pandemic Japan) and take a ride into Akihabara, but it was probably because I had to get up early and escort the kids to school. Anyway, [...]

Share on Facebook

After my article yesterday, I have all but setup the breadboard prototype to continue the experimentation. I’ll get to that this afternoon, but already suspect that the prototype design I posted yesterday will NOT work. The main reason I think it will not work is because the USB to serial conversion chip needs to register with the USB host (i.e. the computer) before it will ‘speak’ USB and recognize traffic on the bus and convert that information to serial. We’ll test that this afternoon after I return from Part II of the home office cleanup.

Share on Facebook

Now that the GROL+RADAR+GMDSS studying is over and I have all the wireless and radio technical certifications I need to ‘experiment’ and research over the air waves, it’s time to go back into the home office and start designing again. First and foremost, I want to resume the keyboard research that I left off about six months ago. Desktop and server keyboards are still so vulnerable. Except for a few and very rare solutions in the market, there is absolutely no encryption between the keyboard and the processor. Of course, laptops make it slightly more difficult to grab keystrokes in this way, but the last time I was in a data center, the most exotic replacement for a keyboard visible was a KVH box that allowed a single keyboard to access multiple servers. This even makes the endeavor even more interesting.

Share on Facebook

Well, for all reasonable purposes, I have passed the GROL – well, not completely, but that will be resolved within days… I passed with 96% on Element 3, 96% on Element 8, and 98% on Element 9 – not bad for government work, heh? Now onto the real stuff – making things and making things [...]

Share on Facebook