August Mumbles
Well, July '26 was a blur! Needless to say, no free time means no blog posts. That being said, I did a thing and enrolled in grad school! ...so... I may or may not keep up with this website in the near future.
In case I do end up getting sucked into the world of academic hurt, here are a few other updates in no particular order:
TelemTrack, my ongoing high altitude weather balloon tracker project, is up to version 5 and looking rather nice! This time it features an LTC3539 boost converter allowing multi-day operation from a single lithium AAA cell. The heart of that kind of power saving performance is managing all the peripheral circuits with P-channel FETs. This allows for sleep modes down into the single micro-amps. The transmitter is once again the Silicon Labs Si4x6x, a fan favorite. The GNSS receiver is something I'm still working out, but the ublox MAX series is likely making a comeback. I used the ZOE LGA IC last time and it worked alright, but the small size came at a performance tradeoff I wasn't thrilled with. I think the newer MIA-M10 may be an appropriate alternative, but as I said... work in progress. As far as I can tell, the MIA-M10 is unobtanium right now, and the MAX-M10S is simply the UBX-M10 used in the entire M10 series just integrated with some extra bells and whistles. I wish I could save a little weight by avoiding the module construction, but perhaps I'm splitting hairs after a certain point. The focus has been on the power supply, since this was an area of very poor efficiency in version 4. The TPS63031 buck-boost IC used in V4 seems to be a good high-current option for single cell LiPo batteries, but not necessarily a good low-quiescent current option for low duty-cycle circuits like a balloon tracker.
I'm thinking about breaking my November camping streak in favor of a little train trip! It's been far too long since I last got out of dodge aboard an Amtrak car. With the time I've got available, I think either Chicago or Albuquerque are my best options. Chicago is almost certainly a more favorable destination for my warm-blooded, northern sensibilities. What do I intend to do in Chicago for a few days? That remains to be seen. ...and who knows, I might end up camping anyway. It's a fun idea to toy with, though!
I recently had an opportunity to pick up a fancy new camera lens at a steep discount. The TTArtisan 35mm f/0.95 for Sony APS-C. Yes, you read that correctly, f/ ZERO POINT NINE FIVE. Holy smokes, that's an aperture. Now it hasn't arrived in the mail yet, but needless to say even if it performs quite poorly (which I imagine wide open it likely will) I picked it up at a price that I still couldn't refuse. Time will tell, but if it renders any decent results I might post some photos!
All for now. Much to think about, not much to say.
2026-08-10