Mark VK5QI

YouTube video by Mark Jessop ARDF at Mt Gambier - by Mark VK5QI and Grant VK5GR - AREG September 2025 Presentation

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...

I love this set! It's like I turned up to an A&B show :)

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!

The big koala is definitely creepy looking. Those eyes...

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...

Ohhh the habanero sauce is pretty good isn't it!

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.

It is indeed extremely unpleasant outside.

YouTube video by Mark Jessop webhorus - A browser-based Horus Binary decoder!

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...

The sondehub.org receiver network has been watching!

Truly a terrible day...

times are tough yall, but we are tougher! stand strong and trans rights

A black & white cat photographed from above, looking up at the camera, blurry as the cat is jumping upwards.

Peppy in motion. (Being annoying as usual)

YouTube video by Mark Jessop Transporter 12 Launch, 14th January 2025

Finally got to see a rocket launch! Transporter 12, viewed from West Ocean Avenue near Lompoc.
youtu.be/sNXiFN2nm3Q

Awesome set!

Having just finished watched Squid Game season 1... Why the hell does this show have a McDonalds tie in meal?!!?!?

Oh shit they did a rendition of "Remember this Name" (probably one of the most incredible music moments in the game) AND they did the final 'catch' music!

YouTube video by senzoku game music brass 【吹奏楽】ゼルダの伝説 ティアーズ・オブ・ザ・キングダム

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...

It certainly looks like an angry teenager!

While the fixes to our RFI installed by SA Power Networks have certainly improved matters, we're still seeing residual RFI showing up on hot days. Whether this is some other mechanism, or just from a different like I'm not sure yet.

This is probably the best way I can explain it. 19 kV AC couples capacitively through the insulators. Ideally this would just be grounded, but if the electrical connection between the insulators is poor, it can result in flashover and broadband EMI.

Another look at the installation of these. You can see the tech getting ready to insert the wire brush (already dipped in grease) into one of the joints.

YouTube video by Mark Jessop Power-line RFI getting fixed at AREG's Remote HF Receive Site

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

Yeah..... when it hits 31˚C in your office it's time to go home.

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...

Now that takes me back... pretty sure GPS spoofing tech has advanced a long way from that ancient GPS simulator we were using... Of course how relevant it is to whatever is happening in NJ, who knows. (probably not very)

I worked it out :-) Congratulations!

Flight report for Horus 63 is now up! www.areg.org.au/archives/212...