Easily verifying certificate chains

Here is a quick script to verify that the certificate chain is valid and will work. % cat verify-cert-key.sh #!/usr/bin/env bash certFile="${1}" keyFile="${2}" caFile="${3}" certPubKey="$(openssl x509 -noout -pubkey -in "${certFile}")" keyPubKey="$(openssl pkey -pubout -in "${keyFile}")" if [[ "${certPubKey}" == "${keyPubKey}" ]] then echo "PASS: key and cert match" else echo "FAIL: key and cert DO NOT match" fi openssl verify -CAfile "${3}" "${1}"

April 14, 2025 · 1 min · 63 words · Dhiru Kholia

Reimagining the 'Tangara' music player - Part 2

Tangara is a pretty awesome project! It recently inspired us to build a similar FOSS DAP product but at a much lower cost of <= 40 USD. Our initial tech stack: RP2350-Zero, PCM5102A 32-bit 384kHz DAC, Burr-Brown OPA1662 (specified for 3.3v) as the unity gain buffer and headphone driver, no explicit DC-DC converters anywhere, microSD card, everything will be a module if possible We quickly got this prototype working on a breadboard and discovered some limitations: ...

April 11, 2025 · 5 min · 969 words · Dhiru Kholia

Ideas for a 6m WSPR beacon

I am posting an early design sketch of a 6m WSPR beacon. Key Points 25 MHz HCI 0.5ppm TCXO powering the Si5351 module instead of the 26 MHz TCXO. If this fails, we can use a 10 MHz OCXO instead (a bit out of spec but works fine). Tokmas CID10N65F GaN FET should work @ 50 MHz TI UCC27614 or Onsemi NCP81074 gate driver Status Results: To be built and tested soon! ...

April 10, 2025 · 2 min · 249 words · Dhiru Kholia

My WSPR beacon results - April 2025

This ~1W to ~5W WSPR beacon runs continuously on the 10m band. It handles extreme environmental temperatures pretty well (it is 42°C plus here). Our article on this beacon's design and operation will appear in the May/June 2025 issue of the QEX magazine soon. References WSPR TX by G0UPL QEX May-June 2025 TOC ...

April 10, 2025 · 1 min · 57 words · Dhiru Kholia

New RF parts and new promises

Ismo (OH2FTG) recently introduced me to a bunch of Tokmas RF parts. Out of these, the Tokmas CID10N65F GaN FET stood out. It seems to have a lot of potential (for HF + 6m) at a very low price point. This RF MOSFET part can be purchased from LCSC. It seems Tokmas CID10N65F has the potential to completely replace the RD16HHF1 part from Mitsubishi Electric! Datasheet Datasheet excerpt: ...

March 20, 2025 · 2 min · 243 words · Dhiru Kholia

1W WSPR beacon @ 5V (2025)

I have designed, built and tested an all-HF WSPR beacon which produces 1W @ 5V and is rugged and cost-effective. Results Power consumption: Around 420mA @ 5V. Cost Cost: Around 500 INR. Time to build Time to build: Less than 30 minutes. Files The files for this project are published here for personal (non-commercial) usage. For a 5W (QRO) WSPR beacon, please hold on for our upcoming QEX magazine article ;) ...

March 14, 2025 · 1 min · 132 words · Dhiru Kholia

Testing small power supplies

I found this 60W Electronic Load to be quite useful for testing small power adapters and supplies. While it is possible to homebrew an adjustable electronic load we recommend getting this electronic load module or a better-but-costlier one like the UNI-T UTL8212+ electronic load. Observations You can stress-test power supplies using this electronic load quite easily and conveniently. It turns out that the Orange branded 12V 2A or 3A adapters from Robu are of really poor quality. The output voltage drops to less than 2V when the load current is increased to around 1A. This is NOT the first time that the Orange branded stuff has turned out to be of poor quality. In the end, you get what you pay for. ...

February 18, 2025 · 2 min · 243 words · Dhiru Kholia

Reimagining the 'Tangara' music player

Tangara is a pretty awesome project - no doubts about it. I found this review of Tangara's design pretty interesting and educational. It has inspired us to build a similar FOSS DAP product but at a much lower cost of 40 USD (that being the launch price of Sansa Clip in year 2007). The idea is to deliver '90% of the value' of Tangara in a slightly smaller (but fatter) and more cost-effective package. ...

February 15, 2025 · 3 min · 570 words · Dhiru Kholia

100mW WSPR beacon (2025)

I have built probably the easiest, reasonably rugged and most cost-effective 100mW WSPR (or FT8) beacon. The Build Here is my quick and dirty build with whatever I had lying around: We have replaced the traditional expensive Mini-Circuits transformer with a cost-effective Bourns coupled inductor. Analysis Power consumption: Before RF generation starts ➔ 20mA @ 5v. After RF generation starts ➔ 52mA @ 5v. So the power input consumed in the RF generation process is more than 150mW it seems (which is good). ...

February 14, 2025 · 1 min · 174 words · Dhiru Kholia

Easy WSPR Encoder

The Easy WSPR Encoder can be accessed here. Update: You may find this software more useful.

February 14, 2025 · 1 min · 16 words · Dhiru Kholia