Portable Ham Radio Insights—Deploying Your Wire Antennas
Hi everyone! Over the last few months I’ve covered several types of wire antennas: This time let’s focus on how to actually get them into the air when you’re operating […] The post Portable Ham…
Stepping Away from Streaming with the Snowsky Echo Digital Audio Player
I’ve already spent some time stepping away from streaming with another digital audio player, but the Snowsky Echo sits in a slightly different space. Where something like the Innioasis Y1…
AI stole my hobby
I've been playing on computers since I was four or so, and building them since around twelve or so. PC building has always been one of my favourite hobbies: something about the need to deeply…
Getting peak TOPS on a Ryzen AI 7 350 NPU
I have a Framework Laptop 13 that has a Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU that includes an NPU. I have started playing with this NPU to understand how to develop software for it. While NPUs are mainly intended as…
Simulating a USB MIDI device with an ESP32 using Rust
Imagine plugging an ESP32 into your computer’s USB port - and suddenly, your OS detects a brand-new MIDI device. You connect your phone to the WiFi network the ESP32 is hosting, open your…
Akasa ITX cases round-up
Euler CMX (supports Mini-ITX motherboards) Euler TX3 (supports Thin Mini-ITX motherboards) Euler CTX (supports Thin Mini-ITX motherboards, ultra-compact case) Galileo TU1 Plus (supports Thin Mini-ITX…
Low voltage tube amp part 2
It’s been a while, but let’s finish that tube amp project and see why you should likely not build one yourself! But before we get into the details, a quick recap of the first part.The…
RAW Relic 80 by Angry Miao
At $699, the Angry Miao Relic 80 'Raw' edition is far from value-oriented—but it is undeniably striking. Leaning heavily into an off-white, hypebeast aesthetic, the board features a beautifully…
Audio Advice Expands to Las Vegas: Chris Oram Named General Manager of New Las Vegas Location
Las Vegas, NV–May 5, 2026: Audio Advice expands into the western U.S. with the opening of a new super-showroom in Las Vegas. Former Eagle Sentry executive and industry veteran Chris Oram has been…
New edition of my No Nonsense Technician Class License Study Guide now ready for review
The 2026 edition of my No Nonsense Technician Class License Study Guide is now available for review. I would love for you to download it, read through it, and comment on it, either here in this post…
Time is Running Out to Apply for a Chance to Contact a Ham in Space in 2027
Act today. There are only a couple of weeks left to submit your group’s application to talk with a crewmember on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2027 *** Space—the […] The post Time is…
UBS-C Non-Power Delivery
In our quest to minimize our electronic support travel kit, we hit a snag with non-PD devices.
They had one of these in a studio I used to rehearse at in my first band in like 1998
vizreef:Dynacord PS 800 // 8 channel power mixer (Germany, 1990s) They had one of these in a studio I used to rehearse at in my first band in like 1998
USB Micro-B Connector: FAIL
Not what you want on the business end of a 2.5 A wall wart
qPocketPCR Release
We are excited to announce the release of The qPocketPCR; an ultra-compact, open-source Real-Time PCR thermal cycler designed for portability, accessibility, and versatility. About the size of a…
re:a computer that’s just a keyboard
This is amazing!! And thanks for the super detailed steps. Could this be my first « DIY » project?
#723 – BeagleBoard’s Back with Jason Kridner
Jason Kridner returns to The Amp Hour after his first appearance 15 years ago to talk about the BeagleBadge and Zepto boards that showcase new capabilities in the Linux and Zephyr space. The…
Bye bye eurorack
The Flourish is our swang song in eurorack. The best after a decade in the business. This month we are making 20 Flourishes, 9 Geometric Anomalies, 20 NextTuesday expanders and 20 Switches. We still…
TP-7 CLI
TP-7 CLI is a Rust command-line tool for humans and agents to manage files on a Teenage Engineering TP-7 field recorder from macOS. It can browse the recorder, download recordings from the device,…
Don't forget about the Option Bytes
What's the reason for a watchdog taking 23 times as long to reset the device? It turns out the Flash Option Bytes are. And a mass erase doesn't reset those.
The $25 MacBook Pro
Buying a second-hand 2020 MacBook Pro for twenty-five dollars and fixing it so that the laptop's non-functional screen and Touch Bar function. Diagnosing and troubleshooting the issues causing the…
Affordances of a screenless writing interface
This post was written first with my screenless writing interface, and then edited in Ghost, which I use to publish blog posts to this website. The extent of my edits were fixing typos and reworking…
Modified plotter controller card
CORRECTED FOR BAD FOOTPRINT FOR THE FPGA DAUGHTER CARD As previously discussed, the position of pins segments J3 and J4 were swapped on the footprint, leading to several problems. Most serious was…
MeLE Cyber X1 promo video
The forbidden LEGO is available with 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB of RAM.
Giving My Raspberry Pi a Second Life as a 24x7 AI Agent
I have a Raspberry Pi that's been sitting in a drawer for years. Pulled it out recently, popped in a fresh SD card with the latest Raspberry OS, and decided to actually do something useful with it.
The Serial TTL connector we deserve
Goodbye dangling Dupont pins, hello Julet E-Bike connector. I have them now everywhere, from my router to my servers.
Converting old London Underground train door buttons into light switches
Specifically, a Hue light switch, using an old door opening button from a Jubilee line train. I lived in London for a few years awhile back, and the District line also had door buttons you’d…
TRACK TEST PREP
First track test on the calendar. Last week was the sprint to close the gap. Three big ones got done — and one of them was an actual drag-out fight with the drive inverter. o o o RADIATOR MISTING…
Sakura Keyboard Refresh 2026
Got a bit bored and pulled my Bakeneko 65 keyboard out of storage with the idea rotating it in with my Mode 65 — except I found my RSI flaring up again after typing on it for a day. I guess I really…
A computer that's just a keyboard, no screen
Oh you mean like with audio output instead Nope. No output at all. Just input. With the keyboard. Why Short answer: why not? Long answer: James floated this idea at IWC/BTconf of a PC that's just a…
Review: Yamaha Seqtrak
Yamaha Seqtrak went on sale last month — at the fantastically low price of $250 USD. OK, that got me. 🙂 By now, there are a mess o’ Seqtrak videos on-line. You’ve probably watched…
New batch of triple output PSU, for not only the PROPHET-VS!
A few years ago, I developed a regulated power supply with three outputs: +5V, +12V, and -12V, primarily intended to replace the one found in the Prophet VS. The characteristic of this power supply…
C13 to NEMA 5-15P Type Power Cords
Notes for reference regarding C13 connectors to NEMA 5-15P inlet on power cords.
KXUSBC2 installed into KX2
(Also shown: Iniu 20AH power bank, KWS-1902C USB-C power meter) I received my KXUSBC2 in the mail today and wasted no time installing it into my KX2.No soldering or de-soldering was…
Guest Post: Listening to the Jet Stream – 100 Days of Wind Sensing with Stock RTL-SDR Hardware
The following is a guest post submitted by Matt Larson. The post explains how Matt Larson set up an automated atmospheric wind-sensing station using only locally obtained ADS-B data from an RTL-SDR.…
A Navtex Receiver for the Raspberry Pi
A receiver for Navtex maritime navigational and meteo warnings.
Playing multiple parts on a MIDI keyboard
There are a couple ways for a solo performer to play multiple electronic instruments at one time. The most straightforward way might be using two (or more) keyboards, either playing one with each…
RTX 5090 + M4 MacBook Air: Can it Game?
What if you could strap a full desktop GPU to your MacBook Air? Turns out, you can. Just a quick FTC required note: When you buy through my links, I may earn a commission. Never tell me the odds As…
47 to 14 in 1.7 Seconds
These mortality realization fits of mania are manifesting some fantastic toys. Wheels, there are two. And now, there are two accompanying cockpits. Sure, I could've sprung for better everything, but…
The end of free hardware
Dennard scaling broke twenty years ago. The transistor density curve still has runway. The bill nobody warned us about is the complexity tax, and it is coming due.
Upgrading cheap LED Juggling Balls
Many years ago I bought 10 LED juggling balls from Oddballs in the UK. At the time, the special they had on was pretty good for bulk orders, but even today the balls are pretty cheap, if a bit basic…
Line Follower Robot Using Arduino
Learn how an Arduino-based line follower robot works and how to build one.
SyncMaster of the Universe
When I was visiting my buddy, he pointed out that he had a 24” LCD monitor in the garage that he was throwing out. Sometimes it wouldn’t turn on, he explained. I don’t remember what he said after…
Framework 13 Update – A small fan issue!
Shortly after having received my laptop, an annoying issue with its fan came up. This blog post describes how support handled this case.
Embedded Controllers Are Critical to 21st Century Devices – Part 1
It is always enjoyable to work with new writers here at the 21st Century Tech Blog. Harper Lane recently came on the scene, and she is becoming quite a presence with this, her third submission.…
Building the TD4 4-Bit CPU
The TD4 is a famous 4-bit CPU featured in the book How to Build a CPU by Kaoru Tonami . The book focuses on constructing a functional processor entirely from basic 74-series TTL logic ICs. While the…
I Bought a Denon for My Wedding. Twelve Years Later, I Vibe-Coded Its Radio Back to Life.
Twelve years ago today, I bought my first audio amplifier. The email is still in my Amazon archive. May 4, 2014. Order #202-6562632-2973945. Denon AVR-X3000. £429, one-day delivery to a small flat in…
Stop Losing Trades to Your Keyboard — Here is What Traders Are Using Instead
There is a tool that serious traders have been waiting for and it is finally here. TRIGGR is a physical trading controller designed for one purpose — to make sure you never miss a trade because your…
Motorola Dynatac Max
A Motorola DynaTAC-themed Soundboard-Bluetooth Speaker made from scratch, powered by PICO W.
My Minimalist Writing Setup
Often, my ideas come at random times and places and I need to jot them down before I forget them. I began looking for a quick solution to get my thoughts down, but I can’t use my phone’s on-screen…