Gilbert from Belgium a.k.a Snoopy

@snoopy

Welcome to the forum Snoopy!

I’m an ‘ol-timer’ like you, starting out in the tube era. We’ve come a long way from those days, huh?  I had the opportunity to visit your beautiful country (in the Brussels area) a few years ago - an Amazing experience!!  I like playing around with Arduino, Raspberry Pi’s, and my favorite microcontroller, the Raspberry Pi Pico. What kind of projects are you involved in with your Arduino?? Again, welcome to the forum.  Lee

@lee-g Hi Lee. My initial entry in the world of microcontrollers was with Atmel's AVR micro's because they have on-board program memory and plenty of dev tools were available. When I discovered Arduino, that was next level. Finally ESP32 came in view. With plenty of program and RAM memory and endless number of libraries, on-board WiFi and Bluetooth I didn't know where to start first.

Meanwhile I developed some ESP32 prototypes for a web server, a fuel tank gauge with BT reporting to my phone (phone app developed using MIT App Inventor), playing a bit with CYD display (have a look at Random Nerd Tutorials) and currently I'm working on a project using FMCW radar human presence detectors. Wonder what happens if E.T. enters the room ... ;-).

@snoopy

Looks like you’re off to a good start with the ESP32’s. I’ve been playing around with Raspberry Pi 4’s and 5’s and my favorite microcontroller board the RPi Pico. I have it monitoring my sprinkler system and the garden, turning the water on when the moisture level drops. Currently, have been playing with GPS modules trying to get position data from the satellites. I have an old car (without GPS), so hope to add that in the car. (I know using a phone is easier, but what fun is that!) I’ve used the MIT app inventor, neat!!  Take care!

@lee-g 

Since you're playing around with GPS, have you been following Paul McWhorter's (TopTechBoy.com) Ultimate GPS Tracker series of YouTube video lessons?

Ultimate GPS Tracker

73,

SteveG/N4TTY, aka CodeCage

@codecage 

Hi Steve,

Yes, I've followed Paul's PicoW series from the beginning and following along with the GPS project. I'm not a fan of cutting and pasting someone else's code, so I have been trying to develop my own program, using Paul's instruction as a basic template. I'll admit it has been a chore (for me) and I'm a little behind (I haven't started on the paging of the display yet). My program "mostly" works, but I'm getting errors when trying to verify a fix. Are you following the series?

Regards, Lee/WB5DTU 

@lee-g 

Been following Paul's videos on the GPS tracker closely, although I haven't watched yesterday's episode yet.  Life seems to have disrupted my schedule.

I tend to agree with you on the copy and paste of someone else's code, but to do your own code from scratch is going to take so much longer as you are really going to have dig deep in to the weeds of the inner workings of the elements in the project.  In this project so far we have the Pico itself, the GPS module, and the 1306 display.  I prefer to take Paul's code, dig deeply into how each line of that code works and develop my own understanding of what is really happening and maybe make my own adjustments/improvements.  Then slowly pick up on the other inner working of each element as needed.

Good luck and give a shout out if you hit a brick wall you can't get over.

SteveG/N4TTY, aka CodeCage

@codecage, @snoopy 

Yeah, life does seem to have a way of getting in front of “other things”, that’s why I’m a little behind on the lessons (my wife is having some medical issues).  Your approach to the project is very similar to what I’m doing. I’m not writing completely from scratch. I spent some time in Australia (while in the USN) and got an Australian Ham License, I already had my US one, so it was fairly easy. DX was pretty good from there!!

Sorry Gilbert, didn't mean to take over your Intro thread.

Thanks and take care. 

Lee  WB5DTU/(ex)VK6SU 

Hi @snoopy, 

  I remember going to the local grocery store with my father and testing vacuum tubes that he pulled out of our flakey TV.  What make bike are you riding?

  My apologies for @lee-g and @codecage highjacking your topic.

Tom/WN6GHK, I too was a ham, some 57 years ago.