But, on this long weekend, I’ve finally gotten a break to write a short post. Short, because there really hasn’t been much going on that y’all would really be interested in. But, I do have one new project underway.

Back in the QuickBASIC days, the advanced version of QB was called the Microsoft BASIC Professional Developers System (PDS). I used the PDS to write a pretty decent little program that automated most of the calculations that someone working with electronics would commonly use. I got thinking about that program recently and decided, especially in view of all the new hams that are coming along, that it would be a good idea to update it. And, while I was at it, I decided that it would be a good idea to make it cross platform. A lot of folks, myself included, are using Linux these days, and there are more Mac users than there used to be. That pretty much lets out the old BASIC PDS, because programs written in that language are only usable on the Wintel platform. Plus, I wanted to be able to work in Linux. Time to learn a new language.

After doing a bit of research, and talking with Bill (WA5PB), my local *NIX guru, I decided on Python. It’s an object-oriented language that also works well for functional programming and has more features than I’ll probably ever use. Python is an interpreted language, which means that it’ll run on any platform that has the Python modules installed. Downloads of Python are free for all three major platforms — *NIX, Windows and Mac.

Just as a matter of general interest, it’s not named after the long, sinuous reptile which kills its dinner by squeezing said dinner with multiple coils of its body, but rather after the comedy troupe, Monty Python’s Flying Circus. That makes it even better.

So, I’m learning a new programming language while updating my old program. I currently have nine modules written out of the necessary fifty or so. The first release will be a text-based interface, which is run from the command line. For the second version, I’ll also have to learn the Tk graphical user interface (GUI) programming language, since I intend for the program to have a GUI in V2. It won’t make it work any better, but folks seem to like being able to work with a mouse and have pretty windows to click in.

When the program is completed, it’ll be available right here on Rebel Wolf Online for free download. There’s no ETA for it at the moment, but I’ll be working on it whenever I can find the time. In between all the other projects that I work on when I can find the time. At least I’m busy, Beats the hell out of being bored.

73,
ldb
K5WLF

I’ve managed to stay busy on a couple of projects I’ve been working on. Haven’t made particularly good progress, but I’ve stayed busy. Even got caught up into doing a bit of work-related stuff that popped up during my absence from the office. Wonder what they’d have done if I’d been in Ireland? Maybe it’s a good thing I stayed home this year.

Have had some other good, clean electronics fun, though. The guys on the radio-telescope project dropped by one day with a tech problem and we got that solved. And, today, a fellow ham and good friend came by to run a few parts on my lathe for a new 20-meter beam he’s building. Then we got involved in trying to fix a Kenwood Station Monitor he bought on eBay. He knew it was DOA when he bought it, but we’re having a bit more trouble isolating the problem than we expected. Always good to be humbled a bit by an inanimate device, I guess.

Still got some more work to do for work and still got my projects to finish. Have to be back in the office on 23 Aug, so it’s just the rest of the week to do whatever passes for a relaxing vacation at my house. Just wanted to let y’all know that I was still around and hadn’t gone paws up. I’ll try to be a bit more regular with the posts. Honest.

73,
ldb
K5WLF