Guide

If you’re new to the radio hobby and are looking to pick a place to log your contacts, there are a ton of options available. Since I started in 2022 I’ve been using a combination, like many QRZ has been my “source of truth” then I used applications like N1MM+ for participating in contests, Ham2K PoLo for portable operation, I’ve also dabbled with Log4OM and Station Master Cloud also. I’ve become increasingly disappointed with QRZ, first of all their API is behind a paywall....

Quite often people will ask me “What is the first thing you do when setting up a new computer?” so I’ve decided to write a blog post for this as I frequently forget to mention things - this way nothing is forgotten and it’ll actually serve as a checklist for me in the future! The post reads “New Mac” but it really applies to a fresh install of macOS. The same can be applied to used equipment that has been factory reset....

In this post I’ll step through how to swap out the dated Ford Sync 2 for the much improved Sync 3 infotainment system on my MK3.5 Ford Focus in the UK! At the end of last year I picked up my 2015 Ford Focus ST-3. The infotainment system on it looked great on paper! It came with a 8″ Touch Screen Display, Satellite Navigation, Bluetooth Calls/Audio, Reverse Camera and a USB Audio Interface....

I’m writing this quick post following a request from users on Facebook and Reddit. I’m not the first to conduct this modification and take no credit, but hope publishing this information will be of use to others. If you have a Volkwagen Golf MK6 with the dual zone digital climate control as seen below in my “Before” photo, it is possible to swap this out for the Passat B7 unit which features digital screens....

Overview So earlier on this week I took delivery of a new Alienware M15 R5 laptop, it’s the first Alienware laptop with an AMD Ryzen processor and this peaked my interest. Like most gaming laptops, it comes with two PCIe M.2 slots for adding additional storage. Upon delivery I opened the laptop and was surprised to see that whilst there was a vacant M.2 slot for the additional storage the laptop didn’t provide a standoff to screw it into....

Recently moved to a new street and can’t update the address of your driving license online with the DVLA? It isn’t obvious but there is a workaround. Below is an example of what you may see when changing your address. If like me you clicked “Other ways to enter your address” and got nowhere? You don’t need to do this. Simply remove the house name or number and enter a valid postcode, any postcode at all....

This guide walks through the process of fitting a VW RCD330 Plus to the Seat Leon MK2. The reason I picked this radio is that it’s a direct (Almost – keep reading) fit to the MK2 Leon. It uses the existing wiring, illumination matches the original in the car and the steering wheel controls will work too. Note that this applies to my 2012 Facelift Leon 1P, I believe the pre-facelift models (2005 – 2009) may be a little different....

Introduction First point to note, this post is aimed at F20/F21 owners as that is what I have completed the procedure in – this is also possible on the F22 (2-Series) and F30 (3-Series). My understanding is this, when ordering the EBT package with your car (Approx £400) it’s fitted with a Combox which provides the functionality along with enabling the feature in the iDrive. Good news if you have BMW Professional Navigation or a 2014 (See note) model – your car will have a Combox and armed with the tools below (Less than £10) you can enable EBT....

A number of years ago I uploaded a short video on YouTube that shares a VBA script that can quickly convert accented characters within Excel cells into “normal” characters. I used this for a data migration project, maybe you’ll benefit from it also? Within your Excel document hold Alt and press F11. Select Insert > Module. Copy and paste in the code below. Function StripAccent(thestring As String) Dim A As String * 1 Dim B As String * 1 Dim i As Integer Const AccChars= "ŠŽšžŸÀÁÂÃÄÅÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÐÑÒÓÔÕÖÙÚÛÜÝàáâãäåçèéêëìíîïðñòóôõöùúûüýÿ" Const RegChars= "SZszYAAAAAACEEEEIIIIDNOOOOOUUUUYaaaaaaceeeeiiiidnooooouuuuyy" For i = 1 To Len(AccChars) A = Mid(AccChars, i, 1) B = Mid(RegChars, i, 1) thestring = Replace(thestring, A, B) Next StripAccent = thestring End Function Close the VBA window....