Simon VK4BTZ

@vk4btz@mastodon.radio
43 Followers
27 Following
32 Posts
G’day! I am Simon, a German fellow living Down Under.
I got into ham radio in 2023 and hold an Advanced certificate in Australia.
My day job is in Software Engineering so I am very much interested in the software side of the hobby but I also enjoy tinkering with electronics and building things.
Looking forward to meeting lots of like-minded people!
LocatorQG62mo (Brisbane, Australia)
Websitehttps://simonboots.com
Low pass filters wound and soldered. Getting there… #QMX #kitbuild #hamradio

In The Three-Body Problem, the alien planet Trisolaris orbits three stars in a chaotic pattern so the planet burns or freezes every few hundred thousands years and civilization has to die and rebuild

This site is a simulation of life on the planet

https://labs.sense-studios.com/threebody/

The Threebody world

My background is in #AI and ML, even though I’m not working on it directly now.

One of the reasons is that I’m utterly disgusted by the kind of people who have taken over this field.

These are the same kind of sociopath cynical anarcho-capitalist cryptobros who screwed up the few good ideas about Blockchain and transformed it into just another speculative financial instrument.

And you know why I hate them from the bottom of my heart, why I believe that they have negative added value for society?

Because the previous generations of computer engineers, those who gave us the digital computer, modern operating systems and the Internet, would NEVER get a boner thinking of how many jobs they would have replaced. They didn’t repeat all the times “this will make all typewriter and office clerks redundant so I can keep all the money for myself, it’s so beautiful!”

No, their focus was just on building things that improved society, with humility.

Not on creating chatbots that consumed as much energy as a country, and dreaming about how long it’d take them to kick people out of jobs and screw their lives.

And they don’t even bother to think how to prepare anybody for the transition, or how to build a sustainable post-employment world.

No, the only mission of these filthy motherfuckers is to make them and their shareholders disgustingly rich. Millions losing their jobs in the process is just a small collateral effect in the way of their wealth.

These are parasites screwing up one great idea after another just because they need a next-big-thing wagon to jump on and get rich. They are literally reversed Midas who turn whatever they touch into shit.

This kind of people would belong to a psychiatric facility in a functioning society, but unfortunately in today’s ultracapitalist world they are seen as technological gods - and even inspire new generations of tech enthusiasts to be jerks.

https://gizmodo.com/ai-will-replace-recruiters-and-assistants-in-six-months-says-ceo-behind-chatgpt-rival-2000631871

AI Will Replace Recruiters and Assistants in Six Months, Says CEO Behind ChatGPT Rival

Perplexity's CEO lays out a near-future where entire white-collar roles are automated by a new generation of AI browsers, transforming a week's worth of work into a single prompt.

Gizmodo

#hamradio #radioamateur
Beta firmware for #QMX transceivers. It should now better works in SSB. Very interesting video :

https://youtu.be/bsDBcFXgHbY

FDIM 2025 - Bringing SSB to the QMX

YouTube
It was the perfect day to give my new FT-891 go box a spin. I drove into D’Aguilar National Park just 45 minutes away from home only to find the road to my carefully selected spot closed due to storm damage. 😫 Luckily, there are plenty of picnic areas in the park and Bellbird Grove has lots of trees and tables. I activated the park (AU-1411) on 20m with 40 watts and an EFHW antenna. I even got a surprise QSO all the way over to Texas!
#hamradio #pota
#hamradio #pota Take a look at this great ZL POTA activation by Nick - ZL2NEB…. He has a whole series of interesting videos posted. https://youtu.be/ml25xli-eMo?si=YmxNyWLu9BOhvG1z
Off the beaten path - When a small town activation unravels

YouTube
Pro tip for hams on macOS/iOS: The Clock widget has a UTC "timezone” that comes in very handy. #hamradio
I just backed https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evoinmotion/analog-circuit-ii-signals-systems-and-filters. Seems like a great hands-on way to refresh some of the things I learned decades ago.
Satellite internet is not always the best technology for mobile information reception. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology still transmits weather maps via HF (shortwave) radiofax for ships at sea- or people in remote central Australia. You can receive these with a shortwave radio and free apps like FLdigi. If you're using a modern #hamradio rig like Icom IC-7300, you can control the radio from your PC with the companion app FLrig.
We snuck in another successful #pota activation today at AU-1098 before cyclone Alfred ruins the weather next week. Thanks for all the contacts!
#hamradio