I was recently away on holiday with my wife and was happily sitting in a cafe taking advantage of their free wifi hotspot. We were with some friends and talking about hiring a car for a few days so I checked some prices and worked out the cost. It was a bit more than I thought it would be but still a good deal so I decided to check my bank account balance online to check it wouldn’t push us into the red.

I opened up an new internet tab in the browser and logged into my internet bank account. One of my friends looked shocked and started to tell me how I shouldn’t use public wifi access to login to anything, especially not bank accounts! I let them continue whilst they fired off loads of facts about insecure networks, man-in-the-middle attacks and fake access points collecting my information. I looked on trying to put a worried look on my face.

After about 10 minutes I grew bored of being “educated” and decided to share the secret as to why I didn’t worry about open networks and the security of my data. I use a VPN.

I’m not going to explain what it is – you can take a look for yourself here – https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=what+is+a+vpn – but here are the 3 main reasons why I use one…

Security

A VPN creates a secure tunnel through open networks so you can be confidant that your data is not being snooped by anyone in the middle. Of course, the connection is only secure as long as you can trust the VPN supplier. Thats why I picked mine carefully.

Breaking free of restrictive networks

Sometimes organisations or wifi hotspot providers block access to websites like Facebook, Twitter and other “social” sites. A because all of the traffic inside a VPS is secure you are not subject to the filtering rules that apply to other network users. This was helpful when I was doing some subcontracting and the corporate network had blocks in place so I could not access my google drive to download the documents I needed.

Access content for fixed geographic audiences

Again, this comes down to choosing a VPN provider wisely. I use one who provides several “end points”. These are the places where your connection enters the public internet. A good example of where I use this is buying items form American websites. Some online stores that I visit are “locked” to non US buyers. Now, I am lucky enough to have relatives in the US who are happy to ship to me so I set my VPN to a US based end point, shop online and have it delivered to their address. Simple.

As I said, it is very important to choose a good VPN supplier. If you want to know where to start that I can suggest iVPN and a great provider. Check out their website at ivpn.net. (For the sake of transparency, that link contains my affiliate ID so if you do choose to use them, I get a little “thank you” which helps keep this site running!).

Made following the excellent instructions over at http://www.k4eaa.com/dummy.html, the basic dummy load is easy to build, cheep and effective. Every shack should have one. I used a 1 Litre paint tin and filled it with liquid paraffin to keep things cool.

Kaz, my wife, decided to name it “Tiny Timpah”!

Here are some pics:

Easy. So if you don’t have a dummy load get on over to http://www.k4eaa.com/ and start building.

I have limited space at home and wanted to enjoy a bit of portable operating but didn’t want to spend out on extra equipment for portable use and didn’t want to keep unplugging the HF radio and associated bits. The solution was to build a “go box” or “jump kit” that contained all of the equipment needed for home operation and could also be packed up quickly and used for portable operation.

Now, this thing is not lightweight so when I say portable, I don’t mean climb up a mountain portable, I mean put in the back of the car portable. That’s fine with me as I only go portable so that I can get away from the noise at home and get the chance to put up some good sized antennas.

The case is a 6u rack flight case made by SKB. It’s roto molded plastic so it’s tough as old boots, has a rubber gasket around the case lids to keep water and dust out and a good solid pair of wheels with a retracting handle so its easy to move. I can lift it OK but I won’t say that the finished item is light! Next time I take it out I will get it on the scales.

Here is what the box contains:

PS30SW II PSU
A nice small switched mode PSU complete wth a noise offset function. Good for 30A and mounted at the front so I can have easy access to the 12v accessory terminals if needed.

2 x 7Ah 12v SLAB
Mounted in the back with room for at least 6 more if needed. I have used the box for 4 hours on HF @ 30W and VHF @ 50W with no problem using just the existing 2 batteries.

KI0BK Low Loss Power Gate
A great little power gate. This Keeps the SLAB’s charged using the output from the PSU and provides seamless power switchover if the PSU fails. Perfect for keeping the SLAB’s topped up whilst at home and ready for portable deployment without a separate charger.

G.T.Power Watt meter and power analyser display
A very handy display originally made for RC model enthusiasts. It displays current consumption(A), current load (W), power voltage (V), total consumption since turning on (Ah and Wh) and a whold load of other power related info.

Kenwood TM-V71 VHF/UHF Dual band transceiver
For local VHF and UHF comms. This model also has the cross band repeat function available.

AVAIR VHF/UHF SWR bridge
A simple cross needle VHF/UHF SWR bridge for checking antenna match.

Yaesu FT-857 HF/VHF/UHF transceiver
My main HF radio with the UK 5Mhz band enabled and wideband receive. Also equipped with the optional collins SSB and CW filters, temperature controlled crystal oscillator and MH-59 microphone for direct frequency entry.

LDG Z11Pro II ATU
A small and simple ATU for HF. I prefer to work with resonant antennas when portable but use the ATU at home and you never know when it may come in helpful when portable.

AVAIR HF SWR bridge
A simple cross needle HF SWR bridge for checking antenna match.

G4ZLP DigiMaster MMiniPro
Data interface for the FT-857. I do a fair bit of data modes at home including PSK and some SSTV so built this into the box. It’s easy to use and just need a USB and sound card connection.

64GB USB memory stick
This stick contains a live linux distribution and lots of HAM software. I can grab any computer or laptop, boot from the memory stick and have access to 100′s of data modes. It also holds a copy of my licence, conditions, band plans, logbook and other useful radio related documents.

2 x Front facing external speakers
One connected to the FT-857 and the other connected to the TM-V71

Heil Sound Pro set 6 headset
Unplugged and ready for use with the FT-857. I like using the headset when portable as it blocks out a lot of background noise and QRM from bystanders.

The only external connections to the box are mains power, Data (if I want to use data modes), 1 x HF antenna and 2 x VHF/UHF antenna. It takes about 1 minute for me to unplug them, put the front and back covers and lift it off the desk ready to go.

All of the equipment is mounted onto 1U 19″ rack shelves. They are 1/2 depth shelves so 3 fit from the front and 3 fit from the back. This makes it easier to remove and adjust individual sections of the box.

Test fitting the radios and power meter.

A front view of the completed “shack in a box”.

So there you have it. If you ever work me /P then I will probably be using this box of fun!

I’ve now moved home and given up working for a living. Well, I’ve given up working for someone else and am now self employed. I now help run the family business, a small guest house by the sea, and have taken over from my parents who wish to slow down and relax a little.

Unfortunately the chickens have gone due to lack of garden space but they went to a good home (my old neighbour).

Those who are observant will also notice that the domain name has changed. Please update your bookmark if you have one.

Stay tuned for more strange projects, radio stuff and general deranged musings…

I’m currently in the middle of moving house and becoming self employed so things have been a bit hectic to say the least.

Normal service will be resumed soon.

I will be sorting out chicken cam over the next few days ready for the new arrivals so pop over and take a look.

You will need:

• Bubble wrap
• Spary bottle with water
• Box cutter knife

Clean the inside of the window and spray with water.

Place the bubble wrap on the wet window with the bubble side towards the outside. The bubble wrap will stick to the window.

Use the box cutter to cut the bubble wrap to fit.

It works surprisingly well and lets plenty of light through.

It was very simple to build using only an Arduino Uno, a Venus GPS receiver a Radiometrix HX1 module (on 144.800Mhz) and an SMA PCB socket.

The completed board looks like this…

After playing around all day with the APRS message format, I managed to get it working and updating to aprs.fi via my own igate.

Next up will be a test with it installed in the car.