Where have I been?

Hi, I have been asked (regularly) where I have been and what I am up to. I am still here, just enjoying the sunshine and garden while it lasts, I have to move away from code work from time-to-time, otherwise I face burnout and lose desire to figure things out. I am sure once the storms begin I will be back behind a desk working on projects again. 

I have a couple of things I have been doing DIY-style so I hope to do a write-up soon.
Here are a couple of things I have been making:

DIY Guitar amp
I decided I wanted a guitar amplifier for my electro-acoustic guitar (A takamine I have had for 15 years), I could not afford to buy such acoustic amps like the Roland AC-33 or the AER ALpha, however I thought I could probably make my own equivalent using cheap parts. The Roland and AER seem to be very popular 'busking' amps right now, but the price is crazy. 
The amp I wanted had to be battery powered (easy to do), lightweight, and above all sounding good. I found some old Bose speakers which I really liked the sound of, I already knew about the quality they produce. I think I got them for $10 with a bass box included.
I wired using a 12v Ubec & 3s lipo battery

(pre-drilled)

Then it was just an issue of having to cut holes in my box, handle, input jack, small amount of soldering for the audio connections to the jack, and I used an old Jute shopping/grocery bag for speaker grille cloth (I looked up Gibson and Fender grille cloth and my god! it is like $40 for a small 30cm square) 

I am very happy with the sound. There is no distortion at volume, and the clarity is excellent. The battery lasts forever, well beyond the time it takes for my fingers to really feel the strings. Now, I just have to find a quiet place to practice.

Digital FPV System

One of the things that I have been really hoping to see developed by some in the DIY community has been HD digital fpv. For many years most RC pilots have used analogue/composite video systems which are limited in resolution. However, since DJI released Lightbridge things are slowly starting to change, and other digital systems are starting to appear. The price is astronomical, however. And I am unwilling to buy a $1500 dollar product just for video.

As I have not been completely satisfied with the DIY projects that deal with digital fpv, I figured I might aswell dip my toes into understanding the technology myself and see if I can jumpstart a number of developers to become involved. It's is progressing. Learning as I go along; and others help with input and comments and tests of their own. So perhaps it will workout. Who knows? Here is an overview of what's happening:

 What will we end up with? Hopefully video plus telemetry on both a phone/tablet, and also FPV video goggles. I must admit this is a big project to try to undertake, and the vultures will circle and swoop at the nearest opportunity, but I am so far enjoying the learning. So far we have UDP video and telemetry from the drone using UDP which is not the most reliable protocol for fpv. UDT would be more desirable but no-one knows much about it, especially me, yet.

So, there you go. Those are the things I have been doing in between painting a house. Variety keeps the mind going.