Dilshan R Jayakody’s Web Log

Simtelic Music Module is a user-programmable module that uses RTTTL data to store and play melodies. EL0003 - Programmable music module. RTTTL , which stands for Ring Tone Text Transfer Language , was created to provide a simple, text-based format for sharing ringtones on early mobile phones. Developed by Nokia , it quickly became popular due to its compact size and compatibility with text messaging services. This format allowed users to easily exchange custom melodies without needing specialized software or data connections. RTTTL is a human-readable data format where each ringtone is represented as a sequence of notes, durations, and optional settings. According to Simtelic naming conventions, this module is identified as EL0003 and is available for purchase online. Top view of the EL0003 module. This module is built around a 32-bit MCU, a 2Kbit EEPROM, and a CH340 USB bus conversion chip. It is compatible with the latest Windows and Linux-based PCs. The module is user-fr...

RDS ( Radio Data System ) is a communication protocol standard used for embedding small amounts of digital information in traditional FM radio broadcasts. It enables radio stations to transmit data such as station identification, program information, and traffic updates.  To capture and decode RDS data, one method involves using a Software Defined Radio (SDR) along with GNU Radio and RFtap . GNU Radio provides a framework for creating software radios, while RFtap acts as a bridge between GNU Radio and conventional network monitoring and packet analysis tools like Wireshark . Decoding RDS data using Wireshark. Unfortunately, as of the time of writing, RFtap is no longer being maintained and does not work with the latest version of GNU Radio (version 3.10.10). This post offers guidelines for rebuild and using RFtap with the new GNU Radio release. This post assumes that the reader has access to DVB-T dongles based on the Realtek RTL2832U and a PC running Ubuntu or Debian Linux. For ...

This is TCS230 based Bluetooth color picker prototype which we build to test the concept. In here the idea is to extract color from any physical object and transfer it to PC / mobile. To test this concept, we use low-cost TCS230 color sensor. A prototype version of color picker on a tiny breadboard. TCS230 is programmable color light-to-frequency convert IC. This chip produces square wave output with frequency directly proportional to the light intensity. To drive this sensor and capture its output we used PIC16F628A microcontroller. The processed output is then transferred to the host using the HC-05 Bluetooth SPP ( Serial Port Protocol ) module. In PC we wrote small Python script to display captured value and color in a Window. In this design, we drive the TCS230 sensor with 20% frequency scaling. The entire circuit is built using commonly available modules and components. For the color sensor, we use the 8-pin TCS230 sensor module which is commonly found in eBay and other...

Audio output transformers are heavily used in a vacuum tube and some (older) transistor base audio power amplifiers, but these days output transformer are quite hard to find and expensive item. For homebrew projects, the best option is to construct those transformers by ourselves and this script helps to calculate winding parameters for those transformers. This " AF output transformer calculator " script is written using Python and it works with most of the commonly available Python interpreters . The script is available to download at google drive under the terms of GNU General Public License version 3.0 . Homebrewed 25k: 4 output transformer Once supplied the input parameters this script provides a winding ratio, the number of turns required for primary and secondary winding and required copper wire gauges for both primary and secondary windings, etc. We construct several AF output transformers based on results of this script, which including transformers for M...

This a quick post regarding homemade 300V - 2.3A isolation transformer. This transformer is a part of my ongoing 300V AC/DC variable power supply project and it’s boxed as a separate unit because of its heavy weight and size. 700VA isolation transformer with enclosure All the parameters of this transformer are calculated using small Python script which I was written sometimes ago. This script support for step-up, step-down or 1:1 power transformer windings and it can execute on any platform where Python 2.7 (or newer version) is supported. In isolation transformers separation between primary and secondary windings is an important factor. In this transformer I use multiple layers of 3M Scotch Electrical Insulation tape as primary and secondary winding separator. Standard 50mm PVC electrical insulation tape is used to cover secondary winding of this transformer. Improper connections or construction of this transformer may leads to fire or lethal electrical shock. Because of...

nanoide is an effort to build scriptable build tool with source code editor. Initially I developed this tool to test some of my ongoing compiler projects and later I extend it with source code editors and with simple UI. nanoide build 138 with sample build script nanoide build system is based on FreePascal style scripting system and it comes with more than 50 inbuilt support functions . With help of nanoide, users can create complex conditional build flows and it helps to automate system testing processes also. Current version (build 145) of nanoide editor support C/C++, Java, Pascal/Delphi/Lazarus, Python, HTML, XML, CSS, Perl, Basic/Visual Basic, SQL, Tex, DOS batch scripts and UNIX\Linux shell scripting. nanoide is developed using Lazarus and it can be compiled and execute on Windows, Linux and Mac OS platforms. Virtually nanoide is compatible with any command line-driven compiler and it is tested with TinyC Compiler , Lua , Python , FPC and with PHP .  ...