Tech Minds YouTube review questions #3
Questions from the Tech Minds YouTube review:
Can you change the location on the map to an approximate location?
Yes. On the admin page, "webpage" tab, look at the location field. You can enter any lat/lon into that field you like. If the GPS is running you can also use the two buttons "set from GPS:" lo res or hi res to copy a low or high resolution GPS location into the field. Use the check map button to show the exact location on Google maps for verification. There is also an option for continuously updating the location from GPS. This is mostly for the case of a Kiwi-in-motion (e.g. on a boat). Similarly for the grid square field to the left of the location field.
Question, How is the software installed on this board? Using an SD? Reason to ask is that after a couple of years there could be an issue with the SD.
Excellent question as SD card "wear" from repeated writes is a serious issue. The BeagleBone Green single-board computer used by the Kiwi has eMMC (Embedded MultiMediaCard) memory on-board for file storage. eMMC has much greater write endurance than typical SD cards. In the many, many thousands of units sold over the last 10 years eMMC wear hasn't been an issue.
The SD card slot is only used if the eMMC needs to be "re-flashed" from an SD card due to corruption. Or when a backup of the eMMC to SD card is made. The Kiwi comes with software pre-installed on the eMMC. There is also an automatic update feature that checks kiwisdr.com once per night for software updates (it can be disabled if you'd rather only do manual updates).
I'm wondering, how well would this work with a short mobile antenna? Quite interested in having a setup I could take with me.
Lots of people use electrically short antennas including active probes and magnetic loops with the Kiwi. But antenna and ground experimentation is a must with any Kiwi setup given the level of incidental noise from all our modern day gadgets. And this is going to be even more true when a modest antenna is used. The Kiwi forum here is full of antenna and interference discussions.
