10 January 2022 – How to get started in software construction and where it can lead you, by Heather Lomond, M0HMO

| January 10, 2022

Heather’s presentation

All you need to get started in software construction is a personal computer—Windows, Linux, Mac, they’ll all do—some spare time and, if you want to make a ‘thing’, then some loose change.

There are three easy and virtually free routes into writing your own programs: develop applications that run on your PC using the free Qt environment; write programs to run on one of the Arduino boards—£3 from China plus a USB cable—using the free Arduino application; or go for the middle ground with a Raspberry PI—around £40—and a Wi-Fi connection.

Heather takes you through the setup for each of these and shows you just how easy it is to go from flashing an LED, through developing an ATV receiver, to producing a fully-featured Windows PC application such as her Mapper entry in the RSGB Construction Competition.

About Heather

“Ever since making my first computer in 1982 I have enjoyed playing with computers and electronics. I spent most of my career travelling around the world fixing customers’ problems with their software or hardware projects before retiring in 2016 so that I could stay at home and fix problems with my own software and hardware projects. I discovered amateur radio in 2012 but virtually never get on air as I am always too busy making things so that I can get on air.

“I am interested in everything from quantum computer program design to PIC programming, vintage cars, anything to do with space or astronomy and every aspect of radio from DC to Light especially if it has an SDR in it.”

Find out more

Category: Tonight @ 8 - archive main list by year