Short Take — Stuff From eBay!

I have some small, enjoyable projects coming up with materials sourced on eBay

All-band radio receiver

I have always been drawn to small devices over large ones. I know that is a true statement but my actual behavior calls the veracity of it into question (my trusty Kenwood TS-520S and a Zenith Trans-Oceanic Wave Magnet receiver are looking at me right now, and I’m considering buying a Heathkit Mohican receiver in really nice condition).

Mine looks a lot like this but in saddle brown leather. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Oceanic#

But back to small devices.

Remember those transistor radios that went on sale oh, about 60 years ago? As a teenager in the early 1970s, I always had one with me. Those were magic days of protests and moon landings, of political upheaval and flower power. Rock and pop music were all over the airwaves and my pocket radio was a welcome shelter from the storm.

When I saw a radio labeled as an ATS100 150K-30MHZ 64M-108MHZ FM RDS AM LW MW SSB SW DSP All band Radio Receiver on eBay, it took me all of 30 seconds to hit the Buy It Now button. I think this unit will provide a lot of enjoyment as I tune to several amateur radio bands and recall my pocket radios from my youth. Delivery is imminent so I’ll report on it in a few weeks.

Garmin nüvi^® 350 Travel Navigator

I also ordered a new-in-box Garmin nüvi^® 350 GPS unit from an eBay seller. I hope to make it into a small map display for APRS in my vehicle. The idea comes from K9ROD.

Programmable POCSAG Pager

In the realm of what-possible-use-could-it-provide, I ordered a POCSAG-compatible pager (POCSAG stands for Post Office Code Standardisation Advisory Group). Remember those? Way back when, your doctor undoubtedly had one on a belt or in a pocket. I want to join the DAPNET network and be notified of certain events in my home computer network. I’ve got an MMDVM hotspot running Pi-Star and the POCSAG protocol is supported, so my fingers are crossed I can make something work.

Temperature Monitor with LoRa Radio

Lastly, I am beginning to investigate something to help me monitor the temperature and humidity inside my sailboat (located in Olympia, Washington) and my travel travel (stored in Kalama, Washington). LoRa seems like a viable option. For example, this sensor seems like just the ticket: https://www.renkeer.com/product/lora-temperature-sensor/

I do have a few LoRa devices running Meshtastic but I know I have a lot to learn before I can be effective in experimenting with this tech.

Deep enough!