Review and Teardown of Radio Shack AM/FM Portable Radio
OverviewThe Radio Shack “Digital AM/FM Pocket Radio” looks great on paper and I really want to like it. It’s everything I would have wanted in a radio 30 years ago: lightweight, digital tuning, stereo headset jack, speaker, great battery life, memory presets and an alarm function (To see all the features, check out the user’s manual) Even with all these features, the unit’s few weaknesses … Continue reading Review and Teardown of Radio Shack AM/FM Portable Radio
Water Metering Part 2
In the previous post we looked at options available for water meters and how to interface them with a Raspberry Pi. In this post we will delve into the details and go through the steps to make the actual connection to the meter and set up the software. We’ll push the water flow rate to Home Assistant using MQTT as well as the amount of … Continue reading Water Metering Part 2
Remote Access Without Port Forwarding
Generally when you have a device in your home that you want to access over the internet from the outside, you need to set up what is known as “port forwarding” on your router. This tells your router to send outside traffic to a particular device which is “listening” on that port. In some cases, this can be a potential security risk because hackers are … Continue reading Remote Access Without Port Forwarding
“Popi” Was Here
This is a wall on Sansom Street in Philadelphia near 16th Street. Do you see the small holes between the two large windows in this photo? Back in 1999 during the height of the first dot-com boom, a company named Popi installed a pay phone here. It was no ordinary pay phone. You could make calls for free but the catch was that you had … Continue reading “Popi” Was Here
Suburban Square Restaurant History At 105 Coulter
This spot on the square at 105 Coulter Avenue has been home to a number of (mostly) long-running restaurants over the last 30 years. It’s not completely clear when this location was constructed and what the original use was for the domed octagonal space that juts out from the front. In the mid-1980s it was Eden Restaurant, a trendy cafeteria-style concept launched by Steven Poses, … Continue reading Suburban Square Restaurant History At 105 Coulter
Ardmore Macy’s Closing And Renovation
The Ardmore Macy’s closed its doors for good on Sunday, March 20th 2016 after almost 86 years of continuous operation. The Suburban Square Macy’s was opened in May 1930 as Strawbridge and Clothier, one of the first suburban branch department stores in the country. In 1996 the store was purchased by May Department stores, and took on the Macy’s name in 2006. What little merchandise … Continue reading Ardmore Macy’s Closing And Renovation
Update: RisingHF Gateway RHF0M301 with Loriot Community Network
It’s been about a year since I posted an unofficial manual for getting the Seeed Studio 915 MHz RisingHF Raspberry Pi gateway up and running with Loriot. In that time, I had hoped that there would be more resources available for enthusiasts to find information about setting up gateways, nodes and sensors. However, it looks like complete and reliable information is still hard to come … Continue reading Update: RisingHF Gateway RHF0M301 with Loriot Community Network
Listening to HD Radio with an SDR
“HD Radio” is the technology by which US radio stations broadcast digital audio along with their regular analog signal. Standard FM radios only receive the analog signal and ignore the digital data. You need an HD Radio to listen to the digital audio. HD radios are most popular as features in newer automobiles, but adoption outside of car radios, as well as awareness by the … Continue reading Listening to HD Radio with an SDR
Getting Started with LoRa
LoRa is a radio technology for long range, low bit rate communication among sensors (temperature, light, location etc…) and other IOT devices. The sensors send their data to a radio receiver known as a gateway. The leading protocol used by sensors and gateways to manage communications, frequency, data rate and security is known as LoRaWAN. The gateway transfers the sensor data to the cloud so … Continue reading Getting Started with LoRa
Ardmore, PA Radio Shack Closed
My local Radio Shack closed on June 27, 2017 after 50 years in operation. This was my go to place for electronic parts and occasional electronics since 1988 and it will be greatly missed. Originally the store was listed as one that would remain open, but it was not to be. In addition to the store’s longevity, some of the staff had been there for … Continue reading Ardmore, PA Radio Shack Closed