Firstly, if you’re a repeat visitor and noticed that the look of my blog has completely changed, I have a little background on the reasons behind the change in my post welcoming everyone to my new blog. Go ahead and check that out if you’re curious about the changes.
Now that you’ve checked that out, or skipped ahead because you just don’t care (don’t worry, my feelings won’t be hurt!) we can move on to our regularly scheduled business:
Ham radio has a history of sharing. We encourage mentors (notice that I didn’t use the E#$%r word…) to teach folx that are new to the hobby. We show up at each other’s houses to help put up and take down equipment. We do field day events with the hopes that the general public will wander by so that we can share what we are doing. In the more modern world, we also share software - we contribute and help each other with projects like hamlib and cloudlog. Its an awesome community to be part of.
Being a ham, I’m also very much into this spirit of sharing. My first 6 or so years as a ham was mostly as a benefactor of this kindness, but it dawned on me recently that I’m reaching a point where I’ve gained enough knowledge, that I might be able to help others too! I by no means claim that I know everything, but since we all learn from each other, I’m sure there are things that I’ve done with my shack build that could benefit others, and I’m sure there are ideas that others would toss my way if there was a way that they could know what kinds of things I’m working on.
With that being stated:
Welcome to OpenShack
My single biggest project in ham radio has been, and continues to be, the build of my dedicated hamshack. It’s a dream many of us have, and I am fortunate enough to have a space to do it. Thanks to a combination of steady employment and frugality, I’ve been able to slowly make it happen. I’ve shared quite a lot about about it on social media but I decided that it was time start pulling together all my design notes, documentation, etc. into a single place so that it was easier to share.
It seemed to me like their ought to be some platform where people could share design stuff, let others contribute, while also serving as just a good repository (see what I did there…) of all the documentation about my shack that I really should put together…
Enter GitHub
That’s right - I started setting up some GitHub repositories to start sharing all the info on my shack and shack projects! There is absolutely still a lot to do just to get the current state of things documented, but doing it in GitHub at least lets everyone see it as I work, and gives everyone the opportunity to provide feedback, or even contribute ideas as they see fit.
So with that, check me out on GitHub at github.com/n3vem where you’ll find 5 repositories, all in various states of “completeness”:
- OpenShack
- This is the “general” repository where I’ll be tracking all my todo’s using the “issues” section, and will be maintaining things that pretty much just documentation for the shack.
- OpenShack-Hardware
- This is where I’ll be maintaining information on any DIY hardward I build related to the shack. There’s not much there as of the date of this post, but it’s where I’ll add things like the schematics and design info for my little audio interfaces I’ve built, and any other DIY hardware-centric projects info.
- OpenShack-AutomationWeb
- This is where I’ll be maintaining code related to the automation of parts of the hamshack that I’ve recently embarked on.
- OpenShack-ShackBox
- This repository is for anything I dabble in that would end up living on the “main” rig in the shack (The one used for logging etc.)
- OpenShack-N3VEM-blog
- This blog! Wait what? The blog is on GitHub? That’s right! I moved the blog to a new server, and switched over to using a static site generator called Jekyll. By connecting it to a repository, anyone can make suggestions for changes, write guest posts, etc. via standard git processes. Head over there if you’re curious how that works!
Hopefully something I’m working on helps you, gives you ideas, or just inspires you to find a way to share your shack projects!
I also hope you visit me on GitHub to poke around at my work and offer any ideas you have. After all…
