---
title: How to Destroy a Radio Operator
date: 2010-03-10 12:09:35
tags: amateur radio
---

# How to Destroy a Radio Operator

__After priding myself on my ingenuity__ a few weeks ago for documenting my [homemade stealth indoor apartment antenna for 40m and 20m](http://www.swharden.com/blog/2010-02-07-simple-diy-stealth-apartment-antenna-for-20m-and-40m/), it seems that the green movement has contrived a plan to cripple my successes. So far I've made a few dozen contacts in Morse code with my humble little setup (~20 watts of power, direct conversion receiver, indoor homemade antenna). The photo shows some QSL cards I've gotten. Anyhow, my apartment manager decided that my apartment needed to have solar panels added to it. It's too early to tell for sure, but spinning the dial a few times and hearing \*nothing\* makes me think that it dramatically impacted my reception (and likely transmission) in a dramatic way.

<div class="text-center img-border img-medium">

[![](before_thumb.jpg)](before.jpg)
[![](workers_thumb.jpg)](workers.jpg)
[![](after_thumb.jpg)](after.jpg)

</div>

There are the QSL cards I got so far:


<div class="text-center img-border">

[![](cwQsls_thumb.jpg)](cwQsls.jpg)

</div>

I think the AJ4VD station has been effectively shut down!

---
title: Overseas QRP Transmission
date: 2010-03-09 18:01:16
tags: qrss, python, old
---

# Overseas QRP Transmission

__While working on the spectrograph software__ I'm trying to complete this spring break, I happened to capture a cool signal from Italy. IW4DXW was sending some cool signals that I captured around 10.140 MHz. See how his call sign is written "visually" on the spectrogram? I thought I'd post it because it's an encouraging sign that my software is going in the right direction. Also note the numerous QRSS FSK signals around it! So cool.

<div class="text-center img-border img-small">

[![](iw4dxw_thumb.jpg)](iw4dxw.jpg)

</div>

__I sent an email to the operator and he responded __with station information:

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">

Hi Scott! Thank you so much for nice report. This is a short description of my homebrew beacon. The audio source is a normal MP3/WAV player. The file (.WAV) of my hell message (8x8 char) is generated using Chirphel (program by DF6NM) with a fmax~=800Hz and BW=5Hz, and processed with Csound to obtain the phase relation R = L + 90° between channels (hilbert function). A 10.140MHz oven xtal oscillator (adjusted for +880Hz) is a PLL reference used to obtain a x4 frequency. This clock with the 2 audio channels are applied to a “Softrock style” SSB phasing modulator (double H-mixer with 74HC4053 ic).<br><br>

The LSB output signal (10.140,080MHz @ ~ -3dBm) is amplified by a 2N2222 (driver stage) and a 2SC2314 (linear PA stage ~1W P.E.P. max, but 100 – 200 mW of average power). I’m using a 30m dipole (inverted vee @ about 50 feet). 30 meters looks good today! My signal heard in VK2 too…<br><br>

Greetings from north Italy, dear Scott!<br><br>

73<br>
Riccardo, IW4DXW

</blockquote>

__200mW? That's awesome! __Maybe one day I'll build something cool like that! I will now return to the programming project that has been eating-up my spring break.

<div class="text-center img-border">

[![](epicProgramming_thumb.jpg)](epicProgramming.jpg)

</div>

Here's a screenshot of what I'm doing now I'll keep for the future memory of this break. Yes, I'm on a Windows machine. I'm at the W4DFU radio club station (they have nicer computers than I do!)

---
title: Dynamic Logo Generation with Python
date: 2010-03-07 18:47:00
tags: python, old
---

# Dynamic Logo Generation with Python

__I'm working on a software project and I'd love the startup screen to be unique.__ I want the splash image to be generated programmatically. I have to generate it from the script, but how can I reliably print text on an image with fonts vary across operating systems? Keep in mind many OS's don't have "arial.ttf", or no truetype fonts at all!

__First, I created a 2D binary array to represent the alphabet__ using pixel fonts [such as this](http://img.nattawat.org/images/yus3i81of22r503eyjtw.png) as a reference. The word I'm trying to create is "QRSS VD" (the name of my program). I store the data in strings, as seen below. I use 1's to mark pixels, and spaces to mark empty spaces.

```python
data="""
1111 1111 1111 1111   1  1 111
1  1 1  1 1    1      1  1 1  1
1  1 1111 1111 1111   1  1 1  1
1 11 1 1     1    1   1 1  1  1
1111 1 11 1111 1111    1   111
"""
```

__Once I think it looks nice__, I replace the spaces with zeros to make it take up a lot of visual space...

```python
data2="""
1111011110111101111000100101110
1001010010100001000000100101001
1001011110111101111000100101001
1011010100000100001000101001001
1111010110111101111000010001110
"""
```

__Then I further obscure it__ by replacing linebreaks with a different symbol, such as the number 2, then break the lines so they're not lined up...

```python
b="1111011110111101111000100101110210010100101000010000001001010012"
b+="1001011110111101111000100101001210110101000001000010001010010012"
b+="1111010110111101111000010001110"
```

__The result is a pretty cool way__ to obscure the text. I don't know why you'd want to, but if you want to make sure that no one goes in and changes the letters around (at least without making them think pretty hard about it) you could look at ways to further encrypt this data stream. From here, I create an image using the Python Imaging Library, setting pixel values to 255\*b\[x,y\] (so 0 stays 0 and 1 becomes 255, perfect for an 8-bit image). After enlarging, here's the result:

<div class="text-center img-border">

[![](nearest_thumb.jpg)](nearest.png)

</div>

Now let's make it a little bit less pixelated. It's not a cure-all method, but blurring it up a little with a bilinear filter helps a lot...

<div class="text-center img-border">

[![](bilinear_thumb.jpg)](bilinear.png)

</div>

Then I apply the code below which applies a cool colormap to the pixel values. I'll provide cleaner code for this later (I have a really cool way of generating colormaps and saving them as arrays of RGB tuples). Then I go through and plot some random sin wavs on top of it. Sweet! Here are 6 images generated from the program run 6 times. Notice the randomness of the sine wavs!

<div class="text-center img-border img-micro">

[![](qrss-vd-logo-0_thumb.jpg)](qrss-vd-logo-0.png)
[![](qrss-vd-logo-1_thumb.jpg)](qrss-vd-logo-1.png)
[![](qrss-vd-logo-2_thumb.jpg)](qrss-vd-logo-2.png)
[![](qrss-vd-logo-3_thumb.jpg)](qrss-vd-logo-3.png)
[![](qrss-vd-logo-4_thumb.jpg)](qrss-vd-logo-4.png)
[![](qrss-vd-logo-5_thumb.jpg)](qrss-vd-logo-5.png)

</div>

__A different image is generated every time the script runs, __and it requires no external files (bitmaps or fonts) and should work well on all operating systems.

```python
from PIL import Image
from PIL import ImageOps
from PIL import ImageFilter
from random import randint
import scipy


def genLogo():
    colormap = [(0, 0, 129), (0, 0, 134), (0, 0, 139), (0, 0, 143), (0, 0, 148), (0, 0, 152), (0, 0, 157), (0, 0, 161), (0, 0, 166), (0, 0, 170), (0, 0, 175), (0, 0, 180), (0, 0, 184), (0, 0, 189), (0, 0, 193), (0, 0, 198), (0, 0, 202), (0, 0, 207), (0, 0, 211), (0, 0, 216), (0, 0, 220), (0, 0, 225), (0, 0, 230), (0, 0, 234), (0, 0, 239), (0, 0, 243), (0, 0, 248), (0, 0, 252), (0, 0, 255), (0, 0, 255), (0, 0, 255), (0, 0, 255), (0, 2, 255), (0, 7, 255), (0, 11, 255), (0, 14, 255), (0, 18, 255), (0, 23, 255), (0, 27, 255), (0, 31, 255), (0, 34, 255), (0, 39, 255), (0, 43, 255), (0, 47, 255), (0, 51, 255), (0, 54, 255), (0, 59, 255), (0, 63, 255), (0, 67, 255), (0, 71, 255), (0, 75, 255), (0, 79, 255), (0, 83, 255), (0, 87, 255), (0, 91, 255), (0, 95, 255), (0, 99, 255), (0, 103, 255), (0, 107, 255), (0, 111, 255), (0, 115, 255), (0, 119, 255), (0, 123, 255), (0, 127, 255), (0, 131, 255), (0, 135, 255), (0, 139, 255), (0, 143, 255), (0, 147, 255), (0, 151, 255), (0, 155, 255), (0, 159, 255), (0, 163, 255), (0, 167, 255), (0, 171, 255), (0, 175, 255), (0, 179, 255), (0, 183, 255), (0, 187, 255), (0, 191, 255), (0, 195, 255), (0, 199, 255), (0, 203, 255), (0, 207, 255), (0, 211, 255), (0, 215, 255), (0, 219, 254), (0, 223, 251), (0, 227, 248), (2, 231, 245), (5, 235, 241), (7, 239, 238), (11, 243, 235), (14, 247, 232), (18, 251, 228), (21, 255, 225), (23, 255, 222), (27, 255, 219), (31, 255, 215), (34, 255, 212), (37, 255, 208), (40, 255, 205), (44, 255, 203), (47, 255, 199), (50, 255, 195), (54, 255, 192), (57, 255, 189), (60, 255, 186), (63, 255, 183), (66, 255, 179), (70, 255, 176), (73, 255, 173), (76, 255, 170), (79, 255, 166), (83, 255, 163), (86, 255, 160), (89, 255, 157), (92, 255, 154), (95, 255, 150), (99, 255, 147), (102, 255, 144), (105, 255, 141), (108, 255, 137), (112, 255, 134), (115, 255, 131), (118, 255, 128), (121, 255, 125), (124, 255, 121),
                (128, 255, 118), (131, 255, 115), (134, 255, 112), (137, 255, 108), (141, 255, 105), (144, 255, 102), (147, 255, 99), (150, 255, 95), (154, 255, 92), (157, 255, 89), (160, 255, 86), (163, 255, 83), (166, 255, 79), (170, 255, 76), (173, 255, 73), (176, 255, 70), (179, 255, 66), (183, 255, 63), (186, 255, 60), (189, 255, 57), (192, 255, 54), (195, 255, 50), (199, 255, 47), (202, 255, 44), (205, 255, 41), (208, 255, 37), (212, 255, 34), (215, 255, 31), (218, 255, 28), (221, 255, 24), (224, 255, 21), (228, 255, 18), (231, 255, 15), (234, 255, 12), (238, 255, 8), (241, 252, 5), (244, 248, 2), (247, 244, 0), (250, 240, 0), (254, 236, 0), (255, 233, 0), (255, 229, 0), (255, 226, 0), (255, 221, 0), (255, 218, 0), (255, 215, 0), (255, 211, 0), (255, 207, 0), (255, 203, 0), (255, 199, 0), (255, 196, 0), (255, 192, 0), (255, 188, 0), (255, 184, 0), (255, 180, 0), (255, 177, 0), (255, 173, 0), (255, 169, 0), (255, 165, 0), (255, 162, 0), (255, 159, 0), (255, 155, 0), (255, 151, 0), (255, 147, 0), (255, 143, 0), (255, 140, 0), (255, 136, 0), (255, 132, 0), (255, 128, 0), (255, 125, 0), (255, 121, 0), (255, 117, 0), (255, 114, 0), (255, 110, 0), (255, 106, 0), (255, 102, 0), (255, 99, 0), (255, 95, 0), (255, 91, 0), (255, 88, 0), (255, 84, 0), (255, 80, 0), (255, 76, 0), (255, 73, 0), (255, 69, 0), (255, 65, 0), (255, 62, 0), (255, 58, 0), (255, 54, 0), (255, 51, 0), (255, 47, 0), (255, 43, 0), (255, 39, 0), (255, 36, 0), (255, 32, 0), (255, 28, 0), (255, 25, 0), (255, 21, 0), (253, 17, 0), (248, 14, 0), (244, 10, 0), (240, 6, 0), (235, 2, 0), (230, 0, 0), (225, 0, 0), (221, 0, 0), (217, 0, 0), (212, 0, 0), (207, 0, 0), (203, 0, 0), (198, 0, 0), (194, 0, 0), (189, 0, 0), (185, 0, 0), (180, 0, 0), (175, 0, 0), (171, 0, 0), (166, 0, 0), (162, 0, 0), (157, 0, 0), (152, 0, 0), (148, 0, 0), (144, 0, 0), (139, 0, 0), (134, 0, 0), (130, 0, 0), (134, 0, 0), (130, 0, 0)]

    def red(val):
        return colormap[val][0]

    def green(val):
        return colormap[val][1]

    def blue(val):
        return colormap[val][2]

    def colorize(im):
        r = Image.eval(im, red)
        g = Image.eval(im, green)
        b = Image.eval(im, blue)
        im = Image.merge("RGB", (r, g, b))
        return im
    b = "1111011110111101111000100101110210010100101000010000001001010012"
    b += "1001011110111101111000100101001210110101000001000010001010010012"
    b += "1111010110111101111000010001110"
    b = b.split("2")
    im = Image.new("L", (33+15, 7+13))
    data = im.load()
    for y in range(len(b)):
        for x in range(len(b[y])):
            data[x+6, y+6] = int(b[y][x])*255
    scale = 15
    im = im.resize((im.size[0]*scale, im.size[1]*scale))
    data = im.load()

    def drawSin(width, height, vertoffset, horizoffset, thickness, darkness):
        for x in range(im.size[0]):
            y = scipy.sin((x-horizoffset)/float(width))*height+vertoffset
            for i in range(thickness):
                if 0 <= y+i < im.size[1] and 0 <= x < im.size[0]:
                    # print x,im.size[0],y+i,im.size[1]
                    data[x, y+i] = data[x, y+i]+darkness

    for i in range(5):
        print "line", i
        drawSin(randint(5, 75), randint(-100, 200), randint(0, im.size[1]),
                randint(0, im.size[0]), randint(3, 15), 70)
    for i in range(10):
        im = im.filter(ImageFilter.SMOOTH_MORE)
    im = colorize(im)
    return im


im = genLogo()
im.save('logo.png', "PNG")
```

---
title: Spring Break Software Project
date: 2010-03-06 23:49:08
tags: qrss
---

# Spring Break Software Project

__Wow, I can't believe I took-on such a massive challenge this week!__ Ironically I've worked harder and learned more in the last 4 days than I have over the last 9 months of dental school. This is an incredible feeling of accomplishment. My program, coded from scratch, polls the sound card continuously and makes extremely large spectrographs. It's not finished, but it's working. I'm impressed!

<div class="text-center img-border img-small">

[![](gotit_thumb.jpg)](gotit.jpg)

</div>

__The image above is the actual-size display of the image below.__ The image below was actually cropped to less than 3,000 pixels high, whereas the original is over 8,000 pixels high!

<div class="text-center img-border">

[![](qrss_big_thumb.jpg)](qrss_big.jpg)

</div>

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">

**Note from Future Scott (ten years later, August 2019):**

I remember this day! It was the first time I completed a big software project, and it was a great feeling. It motivated me to continue working on software for years to come. I also got a kick out of this quote from early-dental-student Scott: _"I've worked harder and learned more in the last 4 days than I have over the last 9 months of dental school."_

</blockquote>

---
title: Smoothly Scroll an Image Across a Window with Tkinter vs. PyGame
date: 2010-03-05 08:49:00
tags: python, old
---

# Smoothly Scroll an Image Across a Window with Tkinter vs. PyGame

<div class="text-center img-border">

[![](tk-scrolling_thumb.jpg)](tk-scrolling.png)

</div>

__The goal is simple: have a very large image (larger than the window) automatically scroll across a Python-generated GUI window.__ I already have the code created to generate spectrograph images in real time, now I just need a way to have them displayed in real time. At first I tried moving the coordinates of my images and even generating new images with create\_image(), but everything I did resulted in a tacky "flickering" effect (not to mention it was slow). Thankfully I found that `` self.canv.move(self.imgtag,-1,0) `` can move a specific item (self.imgtag) by a specified amount and it does it smoothly (without flickering). Here's some sample code. Make sure "snip.bmp" is a big image in the same folder as this script

```python
from Tkinter import *
import Image
import ImageTk


class scrollingImage(Frame):

    def go(self):
        self.canv.move(self.imgtag, -1, 0)
        self.canv.update()
        self.after(100, self.go)

    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        Frame.__init__(self, parent)
        self.master.title("Spectrogram Viewer")
        self.pack(expand=YES, fill=BOTH)
        self.canv = Canvas(self, relief=SUNKEN)
        self.canv.config(width=200, height=200)
        self.canv.config(highlightthickness=0)

        sbarV = Scrollbar(self, orient=VERTICAL)
        sbarH = Scrollbar(self, orient=HORIZONTAL)

        sbarV.config(command=self.canv.yview)
        sbarH.config(command=self.canv.xview)

        self.canv.config(yscrollcommand=sbarV.set)
        self.canv.config(xscrollcommand=sbarH.set)

        sbarV.pack(side=RIGHT, fill=Y)
        sbarH.pack(side=BOTTOM, fill=X)

        self.canv.pack(side=LEFT, expand=YES, fill=BOTH)
        self.im = Image.open("./snip.bmp")
        width, height = self.im.size
        # self.canv.config(scrollregion=(0,0,width,height))
        self.canv.config(scrollregion=(0, 0, 300, 300))
        self.im2 = ImageTk.PhotoImage(self.im)
        x, y = 0, 0
        self.imgtag = self.canv.create_image(x, y,
                                             anchor="nw", image=self.im2)
        self.go()

scrollingImage().mainloop()
```

__Alternatively, I found a way to accomplish a similar thing with PyGame.__ I've decided not to use PyGame for my software package however, because it's too specific and can't be run well alongside Tk windows, and it would be insanely hard to add scrollbars to the window. However it's extremely effective at scrolling images smoothly. Anyhow, here's the code:

```python
import pygame
from PIL import Image

im = Image.open("1hr_original.jpg")
graphic = pygame.image.fromstring(im.tostring(), im.size, im.mode)
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((400, 300))
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
running = 1
x, y = 0, 0
while running:
    clock.tick(30)
    for event in pygame.event.get():  # get user input
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:  # if user clicks the close X
            running = 0  # make running 0 to break out of loop
    screen.blit(graphic, (x, y))
    pygame.display.flip()  # Update screen
    x -= 1
```