Hi I’m Lisa,
I really have no idea what I am doing but in an attempt to be a cool Aunty I have brought my nephew a Raspberry Pi and now I seem to be on a bit of an adventure.
I’m sure I will be asking a lot of dumb questions in here and other places.
Regs…Lisa
I’m an academic at Sydney University. I have taught a “Pervasive Computing” course for many years and for the last couple of years it has been focused on the Internet of Things.
Technologies we use in the course include: arduino, ESP8266, bluetooth (eg BlueBean), grove modules (Seeed Studio), WIO system (also from Seeed), C.H.I.P., RaspberryPi, node-red (highly recommended), IFTTT.
Students are doing projects that are somehow related to health. eg a wearable that measures UV exposure and helps you achieve enough but not too much UV; a system with a sensor in a cushion that will alert you to move more; etc
HI, I’m Richard.
Been a developer for large companies working on their web sites and corporate applications.
Have an interest in electronics and recently found out about this Arduino stuff.
Programming is the easy part. Electronics is the new part for me.
Anyway. I hope to share a project sometime in the near future. Mainly interested in the robotics side of things.
Hi, I’m Jake.
I’m mostly here because I was looking for an Australian hobby electronics supplier to get some decent tools from. I’m looking to make some simple little gadgets but the iron I have is on death’s door and I have next to no other tools.
Hopefully that will be remedied soon and I can get on with creating lots of perfectly unsafe and supremely useless little bits and pieces.
Hi Folks,
I’m here because my cat is a fat lock picker and I’m getting married in two weeks. In that time I need to build and control a cat feeder that he can’t get into so that he can be fed at the right times while my partner and I get married. I thought it would be easy. See my other post for more details.
A bit about me.
I work for an NGO charity in the ACT and I have no (0) prior experience in electronics or coding. I am a hobbyist wood and metal worker with a few projects under my belt and a bit of design and construction experience.
Thanks in advance.
Cup
Sign up and the first post I see is awesome! Please build two 
Hi all,
I am an electrician by trade and I signed up basically to get an answer on whether a project I have in mind is possible. I need to turn a pump <2km away on and off. I think arduino would be the best (simplest) platform for the job but I have no idea. I also have no idea if it is possible to get components capable of delivering a signals across that distance. Area is lightly wooded - no clear line of sight. If anyone has experience in this field I would LOVE to hear from you, as googling seems to be a minefield for this task…
Cheers in advance,
Jackson
G’day @jackson, I’ve a similar project that has been running for a few years, I’ve posted the details in another topic; http://community.littlebirdelectronics.com/t/solar-powered-remote-controlled-dam-pump/601
Hey there @quozl, thanks so much for the reply. That is close enough to what I need to be able to adapt it for the specific application (provided, as you say, I could get the range).
I do a bit of telemetry through work for various pumping applications but I am always just installing equipment that others have engineered for the job so I have no idea on RF frequencies. From what I gather, the lower the frequency the longer the LOS range where-as higher frequencies are better suited to more populated terrain. Is that broad statement on the right track?
Cheers for the help,
Jackson
@jackson, yes, lower frequency generally has longer range for a given power, and also greater opportunity for inbound interference from other transmitters, intentional or not.
On the other hand, you can do 2km easily with 2.4 GHz WiFi if you were willing to put antennas on large enough poles to get the path high enough to remove terrain effects, see Fresnel zone.
This lets you optimise for whatever you like doing most; putting up masts, using special antennas, or selecting well designed radio modules.
Using 2.4 GHz WiFi may also get you a bit more data security. Depends on how important that is to your application. There’s an amazing amount of telemetry about that has no security at all.
There’s a few services available from 2.4 GHz equipment suppliers; check out https://airlink.ubnt.com/ … pan and zoom to your location, put the pins in, choose frequencies, and you’ll be given link quality estimates based on a digital terrain model.
Hello, I’m Thien, i’m a high school student at Marcellin College Randwick (Year 12 as of term 4), I’ve got an idea for my major project which i need help with located here —> http://community.littlebirdelectronics.com/t/bike-signals-year-12-design-and-technology-major-project/607 <— I’m not sure if i can do it but i have alternative options. I chose this idea because i like programming and want to try working with electronics (im not great with both) and it’s the most standout an idea for my major… So yeah that’s me (sorry for bad English)
Thanks for the reply again @quozl.
So what you are saying is that (in general) lower frequencies have greater LOS range, but are more susceptible to interference?
I live on top of a hill and have a 6m mast on top with my Yagi, terrestrial TV antennas and UHF antenna for the 2-way. Th pump I want to control also has an 8m power pole beside it which I can mount an antenna on.
What I was thinking of using was a couple of chinese LORA shields and then a Yun shield for IOT connection. I thought that the 868MHz would do the range and punch through any obstructions.
I know nothing about licence restrictions other than they exist for some frequecies… Not sure if this is in a restricted band or not.
Those wireless back haul antennas look interesting, and I have had a bit to do with similar versions, but I bet they are out of the price range I was thinking 
I have a few 868MHz directional antennas in the workshop so would be good if you think those LORA I also have plenty of cable and SMA crimps in stock.
Keen to hear what you think.
Cheers,
Jackson
@jackson, yes, in general. However, in specifics it is because lower frequency signals can be refracted around obstacles or terrain, higher frequency signals behave more like light, and higher frequencies can be used with wider bandwidth which can be used to compensate for interference. Especially low frequencies can be reflected off atmosphere, and so gain an even greater perception of range.
Your position and path sounds fine. If you can talk with half-watt UHF two-ways radios over that distance, with perfectly crisp audio, then I’d say you may have few problems.
For restrictions see ACMA page LIPD Class License. Note any nearby exclusion zones used by space probe or research facilities. They hunt you down, in a nice way.
Those Chinese LoRa shields cannot be used in Australia using the LIPD Class License, sorry. They are probably not intended for this country. To use them you would have to seek a specific commercial license. Pick another frequency. The band between 918-926 MHz is covered by LIPD, as are some of the other bands. Several products at Little Bird Electronics are in the LIPD bands, search for LoRa.
Let me introduce myself again. Embedded.fm 172: Tell Forth You Me Please (1.25 hours, 53 MB) is an interview of me talking about embedded systems and the Forth programming language. I’ve used Forth on several Little Bird products; the Teensy 3.1 modules, the Raspberry Pi 3, and the ESP-01 and ESP-12 modules of the ESP8266 wireless system-on-a-chip, including the Adafruit Huzzah and the Sparkfun Thing. Enjoy!
Hi my name is Steve, I’m an old bloke, just getting back to younger day’s hobby, electronics and communications.
It takes me ages to learn new stuff now, but persistence is a virtue.
I’m into Raspberry Pi, Arduino, just learning Arduino. My office LOL
Hi. I generally go by the name Marcwolf.
I am part of the ‘Furry’ community and my primary interest here is designing things to make costumes more expressive. I’ve been doing this for a while now but LittleBirdElectronics is one of my main suppliers of parts.
Things I am known for - Google “Adafruit Animatronic Eyes” - yes I am the same Marcwolf 
Hoping to put up some of my creations here to inspire others to either use them… and/or do better. After all - I would not be where I am now without learning from others.
Take Care
Marc
Welcome Marcwolf. I’ve heard about furry, but haven’t got into it. I’ve often been asked or invited; I chose my nickname Quozl in the 1990s before the furry community got large enough to be noticed. Costumes can be an interesting challenge; flexibility, wearability, portable power, and a huge range of materials involved. Those eyes look suitably creepy, well done.
Hi Im Paul from WA, currently work as Project engineer in Telecom firm. Im interested in electronic and hopefully have my own creation someday in the future. MY HD background is Electrical Power Engineering
Hi - My name is Glenn, and I have dabbled in electronics a little bit in the past. I am a professional Mechanical Engineer, but we live on a small farm. I am particularly interested in setting up a SCADA system for stock and domestic water, but need small solar powered modules at significant distances from each other. LoRa seems to be the way to go, and I am just starting to try to get a system together using Adafruit Feather units with integral LoRa modules.
I would be very interested in talking to anyone else here in Australia who has set up such a system, to monitor tank levels, and control the operation of pumps.
@GlennF, I’ve done similar, see solar powered remote controlled dam pump. Yes, the LoRa modules would be the way to go now. They weren’t around when I did mine, and now I feel like ripping it all out and starting again. 
