Matthew Reeve

I have spent much of today playing around with my home theatre equipment, mainly my new HTPC which is to replace my old Sony PVR. It’s not complete yet: I want to add a blu-ray drive and a DVB-S2 card (to be able to view and record Freesat in HD), but as of today I now have digital audio output so have proper surround sound and so it has reached the stage where the Sony has no benefits.

One thing I am finding is that the interface for MythTV (which it uses) is much better than in my old Sony PVR, … Continue Reading

As many of you will know, I’ve been quite busy over the last few months. Christmas is always busy for me, as with the sheer amount of singing which goes on around then the first day I usually get to rest in December is Christmas Day. I spent the whole of Christmas with a bad cold and so it wasn’t quite as relaxing as I had hoped or needed. January wasn’t that much quieter either – Ex Cathedra’s 40-part concert on Sunday was very hard work and quite stressful, but performing is rewarding and enjoyable and the evening was rounded … Continue Reading

After a bit of work I have decided to revert back to a blog-style site, and to make a resolution to contribute a bit more regularly to it. For a short while, though, I need to migrate two previous sites into it so please bear with me.

One of my long term projects is to build a home cockpit. Initially, it was to build a cockpit for a Piaggio Avanti, and my first module, a throttle unit, was intended to reflect this. The following pictures show the first incarnation of the throttle (one axis only with a potentiometer sellotaped to a crossbeam), some buttons, and the same throttle unit with a second axis (for the props/spoilers). The controls for the throttle and these basic buttons were connected using the OpenCockpits USBaxis module (essentially creates a USB joystick interface)…. Continue Reading

I have just published my latest geocache, Balaam’s Wood. This is a D5 cache set somewhere near Rubery Great Park, and involves the hunter having to decode a short extract of Mendelssohn music to work out the final co-ordinates. I hope you enjoy it!

Over the last week or so I have been trying to improve the FCU and have now added some backlighting and the LCD displays. As you can see, neither is perfect, I need to put more LEDs behind the panel, put in a screen to stop light leaking around the LCDs, and to secure the LCD displays to the PCB. I am still not sure how to strengthen the stripboard as it is too bendy, and I also need to rewire some of the LEDs I have removed which sit between the LCDs. Software-wise I need the displays to start … Continue Reading

On 8th August 2009 I had a trip up to see a couple of sims in the Hull area. These provided me with a fantastic opportunity to see two very well advanced A320 home cockpit constructions. Both are very different, one by Barry Kensett having more of an infrastructure, and one by Darren Sugden being more functional. Both have Opencockpits cards and SIOC (the programming system for them, which reassures my decision to go with these cards.

My first geocache, Broad What?, has been published.

Checked out this morning as due to fly later tonight. Took MRT to Little India, did a walk around there visiting several Tao and Hindu temples although as they were busy didn’t really go in to explore. Visited the Malaysian Heritage Museum then took a bus to Changi village. Had lunch in the Hawker Centre including a Durian milkshake (the closest I got to eating the rather smelly Durian fruit). Went for a walk along the river and watched a few aircraft landing. On way back to the city, got off to visit the Changi Prison Museum and Chapel, before … Continue Reading

Started the day at the Botanical Gardens, then a trip down Orchard Road, where I ate. Then went to Fort Canning Park (did another geocache) and the Funan Digital Life Mall where I didn’t buy a laptop. Visited the Armenian Church, St Andrew’s Cathedral and through the Padang, passed the Cenotaph and War Memorial to Raffles Hotel where I had a Singapore Sling. Then via the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, took the MRT to the Quay where I saw the Merlion, walked to a Hawker Centre for dinner, then back to the Hotel.