scope in a box - bias tee

[Conrad Cardano]

Hi

I'm having fun, but received an error when trying to start the bias tee.

when I try "rtl_biast -d 0 -b 1" or "rtl_biast -d RTL2832U -b 1"

I get "usb_open error 12"

Any advice?

Conrad

[Conrad Cardano]

forget it.  I got it working.  I used the wrong version.

[Captain Anne Flint]

Hi Conrad, 

In the spirit of the scientific method, I would include this in your experiment notes, such as: what led you astray? how did you find it? fix it? how would you prevent this, or prevent it again? Not just because it’s good standard practice, but because it can be mentally illuminating in the indeterminate future. You won’t remember what happened in three years, unless you have an eidetic memory. 

My 2 cents worth, 

Wende 

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[Stephen Arbogast]

I use  Xournal++  for taking notes with  Walcom  tablet. Any  suggestions for  a  better  approach?

Example....

[Stephen Arbogast]

[Captain Anne Flint]

Hi Stephen, 

I think a person should use whatever system they like best, in the hope that it will make them more likely to use it. A lot of people just don’t like doing it. For example, I once worked with a software group that had a system that checked out software modules to individual programmers, and provided a summary section so that a programmer could describe briefly what they had done. Of course a few people just refused to do it, group meetings devolved into explanations of what had been done (along with complaints about the length of meetings), so IMHO the most sophisticated and expensive documentation system might not overcome human nature. 

The point I was trying to make earlier (with Conrad) was about documenting when things go wrong. I used to work in a highly competitive environment, where a person would never admit mistakes and/or having less technical expertise than their coworkers, so now I try to encourage the more logical path. I believe it fosters creativity. 

Right now I am using .odt word processor, with hand-written notes scanned as pdfs. which is probably not ideal. Some schools of thought prefer hand-written docs as being more authentic for some legal purposes (like, “See I invented that first!”), with corrections following a consistent pattern. I always have to remind myself to record the date. The great unanswered questions: what do you do when the power goes out for two weeks? or what about the next big honking Carrington event? EMP? Keep hard copies? I should but I don’t. 

Wende 

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<wave_equation.pdf>

[Stephen Arbogast]

Captain  Anne ,  I  work in  a Linux   Ubuntu   environment. I am   very careful    about  my work .  I  back up my  work to  a cloud  service   every  24 hours    and   clone my  Ubuntu  drive   once  per week.    I   totally   agree with   you  about   a person should   use  what  ever software works for  them.     but it must    be reproducible   by others    to be   of  value    to  science....    I love   collecting  data   but  is my  data useful...   I have mentioned this   before  ....   while  we   are  collecting   data is it useful?   I like   collecting   data in a format  that is useful for   post processing   so that   we  might learn   something from it.

[Captain Anne Flint]

Stephen, 

I know that people in SARA favor using FITS for radio astronomy data; if you can attend the Zoom meeting on Sunday afternoon, you can ask about it. I’m assuming you are talking about RA data? 

Wende 

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[Stephen Arbogast]

Captain Anne,

Thank you for the suggestion  of FITS.  I am playing  with it now.... very cool....

[Captain Anne Flint]

Stephen, You’re very welcome. Wende 

On Dec 20, 2025, at 3:46 PM, 'Stephen Arbogast' via Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers <sara...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Captain Anne,

Thank you for the suggestion  of FITS.  I am playing  with it now.... very cool....

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<Screenshot from 2025-12-20 14-44-57.png>

[Stephen Arbogast]

If any one  is interested  here is the website.... https://noirlab.edu/public/products/fitsliberator/

Download  the User's Guide  here..   https://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/techdocs/pdf/techdoc113.pdf

[Stephen Arbogast]

Wende,

I  agree   with   you..    I  have "served time" in   professional  software  development  both as a  grunt   and as a manger   I hated both  roles..  I am  retired now   and so  follow  my   love  of    Physics   and Radio Astronomy.....

Stephen

[Stephen Arbogast]

I actually  broke up  a fist  fight between   two   C++   programmers    back in  the  1980's .. something about  how to  write the better code.

[Stephen Arbogast]

Today  software  developers  are  slaves to  Atlassian....   this  is  sad  https://www.atlassian.com/

[Stephen Arbogast]

Wende ,

I have  been  on both  sides  of  this  issue.....  I  totally  agree with   you ...  I never wanted  to  be a software  manager..   I am an introvert.... I love  Science....   I  think   we  should   continue  to  fight for  Science................