Emergency Equipment
The reason for this weblog post is to highlight one need, among many, for communications equipment during emergencies. This equipment should be distributed geographically so that it is available when and where required. One of the unfortunate consequences of climate change is the expected increase in extreme situations.
In addition to climate challenges, Europe is facing political challenges, especially from Russia. In addition, USA is wanting to act independently, without any apparent need for allies. Thus, there seems to be an increasing fear of war, after 80 years of peace in Europe. In addition to conventional weapons wounding or killing people, a nuclear weapon could poison/ pollute water, or otherwise disrupt modern life. Some aspects of this were discussed in a previous weblog post.
One of the main problems has to do with electricity especially for communication. In terms of smartphones that every adult owns, communication masts typically have three hours of battery life. All cellphones are dependent on these masts. Three hours is insufficient for a long-term ongoing emergency. It is also claimed that there is a shortage of these masts, so that smartphone batteries need to be recharged more frequently. Three days = 72 hours is a more appropriate battery duration. This, of course, costs money. However, in an emergency situation, one may have to rely on something other than cell phones or an internet based on fibre-optic cables.
One potential answer is radio. A major part of the training of radio amateurs, is teaching them the fundamentals of electronics so that they are capable of building and repairing their equipment. As society becomes increasingly wealthy, it is often easier to just purchase an off-the-shelf machine. Unfortunately, this may not be a solution in an emergency.
In 2022, two years into the last pandemic, the supply of electronic components had become chaotic. In Norway, the one retail chain that did sell them, had eliminated this entire category from their sales inventory, so that consumers increasingly needed to import components directly. This has some benefits, in that direct import is considerably cheaper. Most of the components appear to be sourced from China. Most seem to be made somewhere in Asia.
The situation is somewhat different in 2026. There are more components available, but the cost has increased. My son bought some RAM in 2025-07 for NOK 2 800. By 2025-12, the price had risen to NOK 8 000. That is a 285% increase. That said, import after a catastrophic event is not a suitable response to a catastrophe. One has to develop a solution, such as an equipment building capability in advance.
Amateur radio is an important part of every country’s preparedness under abnormal conditions. This means there should be a number of radio production facilities due to:
· Lack of production of radios and electronic components in most countries/ areas.
· Uncertain delivery of components from abroad.
· Lack of skilled workers, capable of assembling components into radios.
The solution is to find a suitable location for a radio fabrication laboratory = RadFabLab. Previously, I have written about Industry 4.0, as well workshop activism, not to mention some of the issues involved in setting up a mechatronic workshop. Despite being an obnoxious patriot for my home municipality, I am not sure that Inderøy is the ideal location for such a facility in Norway, despite its central location. In fact, it may be better to have several locations.
For example, Vestland county has the attributes necessary for the establishment of RadFabLab, including a relatively large and enthusiastic mass of radio amateurs. This does not have to be in Bergen, the most populous city/ municipality in the county. It could be located on an offshore island, such as Øygarden, possibly a village like Steinsland. RadFabLab would have to purchase a sufficient number of components from abroad, to build up a warehouse supply. It would also have to purchase basic machinery, including a Waterloo, Ontario, Canada built Voltera V-One for circuit board production and soldering of surface mounted technology (SMT) components.
Once established, it could provide training to people in mechatronics, so that they are able to assemble components for radios and other products that are needed, including antennas. However, in time, it might also want to work with drones and unmanned underwater vehicles. The latter is usually divided into remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), that are tethered to the surface, and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), that operate independently. I mention this because I spent several years attempting to teach people how to build them.
As noted, one cannot rely on the grid for electricity during an emergency. While there are some locations where it is possible to create hydroelectric power, most off-grid locations will have to rely on either wind or solar energy. Some places in the world, will create a cutoff at 60° N or S. In Norway, the cut off should probably be the Arctic circle. Cliff Cottage is located at almost 64° N, below the Arctic circle at about 66° 30′ N. It marks the southern limit of the Midnight Sun (summer solstice, 24-hour daylight) and the Polar Night (winter solstice, 24-hour darkness). It crosses through Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Iceland. There are not many equivalent places in the southern hemisphere that are inhabited.
Once established, a radio production facility could provide training to people in mechatronics, so that they are able to assemble components for radios and other products that are needed, including antennas. However, in time, it might also want to work with drones and unmanned underwater vehicles. The latter is usually divided into remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), that are tethered to the surface, and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), that operate independently. I mention this because I spent several years attempting to teach people how to build them.
Computer Programming
Many people have invested considerable time learning programming languages, and may want to use them. Forget learning (or even remembering) old languages such as Algol, Basic, Cobol, Fortran or possibly even Pascal. Yes, I am less dogmatic about this last language, if only because it is still one of the most popular languages, ranking 8th on an index developed by TIOBE Software BV, based in Eindhoven, Netherlands. TIOBE stands for The Importance of Being Earnest, the title of an 1895 comedy play by Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), to emphasize the organization’s sincere and professional attitude towards customers, suppliers and colleagues (their words).. The language was originally adopted and modified by Apple Computer as Clascal for the Lisa Workshop development system in 1983. As Lisa gave way to Macintosh, Apple collaborated with Niklaus Wirth (1934 – 2024), the author of Pascal, to develop an officially standardized version of Clascal. This was renamed Object Pascal. Through the mid-1980s, Object Pascal was the main programming language for early versions of the MacApp application framework. The language lost its place as the main development language on the Mac in 1991 with the release of the C++-based MacApp 3.0. Official support ended in 1996.
If one wants to learn an older language, stick to C, originally developed in 1972 and 1973, by Dennis Ritchie (1941 – 2011) at Bell Laboratories. It was originally used to implement operating systems, device drivers and protocol stacks. Its use in application software has been decreasing. Currently, it is the second most popular language, according to the TIOBE index. An object oriented variant, C++, was developed and implemented by Bjarne Stroustrup (1950 – ), a Dane, about 1983 – 1985. It ranks third in popularity on this index.
Younger users may want to use more modern languages, such as Python, a high-level, general-purpose programming language, #1 on the TIOBE list. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability with the use of significant indentation. Python is dynamically type-checked and garbage-collected. It supports multiple programming paradigms, including structured, object-oriented and functional programming. Guido van Rossum (1956 – ), a Dutch programmer, began working on Python in the late 1980s.
Other languages may be useful for other activities apart from building radios. JavaScript, #6 on the TIOBE index, continues to be essential for web development. Web browsers have a dedicated JavaScript engine that executes the client code. These engines are also utilized in some servers and a variety of apps. JavaScript was created by Brendan Eich (1961 – ), an American who worked for Mozilla, in 1995.
An alternative to JavaScript is Lua, #30 on the TIOBE index. Lua was created in 1993 by Roberto Ierusalimschy (1960 – ), Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo (1963 – ), and Waldemar Celes, members of the Computer Graphics Technology Group (Tecgraf) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. From 1977 until 1992, Brazil had a policy of strong trade barriers (called a market reserve) for computer hardware and software, believing that Brazil could and should produce its own hardware and software. In that climate, Tecgraf’s clients could not afford, either politically or financially, to buy customized software from abroad; under the market reserve, clients would have to go through a complex bureaucratic process to prove their needs couldn’t be met by Brazilian companies. Those reasons led Tecgraf to implement the basic tools it needed from scratch. as a language for extending software applications to meet the increasing demand for customization at the time. It provided the basic facilities of most procedural programming languages, but more complicated or domain-specific features were not included; rather, it included mechanisms for extending the language, allowing programmers to implement such features. As Lua was intended to be a general embeddable extension language, the designers of Lua focused on improving its speed, portability, extensibility and ease-of-use in development.
Other important tools here are Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), initially released by the Worldwide WEB consortium (W3C) in 1993. Development is now undertaken by the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) founded by representatives from Apple Inc., the Mozilla Foundation and Opera Software, leading web browser vendors in 2004. Related to it are Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), initially developed in 1996 by the W3C, and currently maintained by them.
For me, other important languages are Prolog, #22 on the TIOBE index, Objective-C, used in my thesis, #27 on the TIOBE index, and Forth, not on the TIOBE index.
Microprocessors
I have studied microprocessors since the mid 1980s. I am thankful that the old systems which needed ultraviolet light to erase content are no longer in mainstream use. Almost 20 years ago, my daughter Shelagh mentioned that she was using Arduino boards as a student at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, in Vancouver. She suggested I might enjoy them, in 2008. I used them for projects in my Technology and Research classes at Leksvik secondary school. This was followed by my use of Raspberry Pi boards. Both of these have weaknesses. Currently, I am awaiting two Teensy 4.1 boards to arrive from California. These new boards are complete USB-based microcontroller development systems, with a small footprint, capable of implementing many types of projects. All programming is done via a USB port. These boards can run most Arduino sketches using the Teensyduino software add-on to the Arduino IDE. They were originally designed and produced by Paul Stoffregen (1970 – , engineer) and Robin Coon (1970 – , accountant) operating as pjrc.com in Sherwood, Oregon. In 2025, SparkFun, of Niwot, Colorado is the sole manufacturing and sales partner of Teensy.
Of specific interest is the Teensy audio library. I hope to construct a DIY = Do It Yourself synthesizer, along with other radio related audio projects, that may involve the BeoCom 2000 telephone in the photograph at the beginning of this post.
I suspect that these will be the last board type that I will use, until something based on a RISC-V (Reduced Instruction Set Computer – generation 5). RISC-V was first developed in 2010 at the University of California, Berkeley, as the fifth generation of RISC processors created at the university since 1981. In 2015, development and maintenance of the standard was transferred to RISC-V International, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland with more than 4 500 members as of 2025.
At some time, I hope to migrate to RISC-V boards. RISC-V was developed in 2010 at the University of California, Berkeley as the fifth generation of RISC = Reduced instruction set computers, processors created at the university since 1981. In 2015, development and maintenance of the standard was transferred to RISC-V International, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland with more than 4 500 members as of 2025. The reason for the move was concerns over U.S. trade regulations.
Programmable Logic Devices
A programmable logic device (PLD) is an electronic component used to build reconfigurable digital circuits. Unlike circuits made using discrete components with fixed functions, the function of a PLD is undefined at the time of manufacture. Before the PLD can be used in a circuit it must be programmed to implement the desired functions. This simplifies design processes and may even offer superior performance. Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), allow flexibility in digital circuit design.
There are several books that cover FPGA programming. The one I use is by Frank Bruno and Guy Eschemann, The FPGA Programming Handbook: An Essential Guide to FPGA Design for Transforming Your Ideas into Hardware Using SystemVerilog and VHDL, 2nd Edition (2024). This approach uses a hardware description language rather than writing traditional software programs.
SystemVerilog is a language with syntax similar to the C programming language. It is case-sensitive and has a basic preprocessor, admittedly less sophisticated than that of ANSI C/C++). Its control flow keywords (if/else, for, while, case, etc.) are equivalent, and its operator precedence is compatible with C. Syntactic differences include: required bit-widths for variable declarations, demarcation of procedural blocks (Verilog uses begin/end instead of curly braces {}), and many other minor differences. Verilog requires that variables be given a definite size.
A word of warning. Do not leave system programming to Artificial Intelligence (AI) bots. Sometimes, what they develop may work, but often one will get undesirable results, that may only become evident in an emergency situation. Here is an example of a problem that was reported about one week before the publication of this post.
An AI coding agent Cursor, powered by Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 model, deleted PocketOS’s entire production database and backups with a single call to its cloud provider, Railway, on 24-04-2026. PocketOS makes software for car rental companies, handling tasks such as reservations, payments, customer records and vehicle tracking. After the deletion, customers lost reservations and new signups, and some could not find records for people arriving to pick up their rental cars. A spokesperson for PocketOs explained that Cursor found an API token (a digital key) in an unrelated file which it then used to run the destructive command. Railway’s setup allowed the deletion without confirmation, and because the backups were stored close enough to the main database, they were also erased. Fortunately, Railway resolved the issue and restored the data, because it maintains both user backups as well as disaster backups. Earlier there have been reports of Cursor ignoring user rules, changing files it was not supposed to touch and taking actions beyond the task it had been given. After the database vanished, Cursor was asked to explain what happened. It reportedly admitted that it had guessed, acted without permission and failed to understand the command before running it. The AI agent wrote: “I violated every principle I was given. I guessed instead of verifying. I ran a destructive action without being asked. I didn’t understand what I was doing before doing it.”
RadFabLab should be able to provide a physical space for activities, with level-differentiated equipment. It should cater to all/ both genders, and all ages from junior high school and up. It should be a place where ideas, knowledge and opinions are shared in a friendly and cooperative atmosphere. It should provide basic training as well as certification involving the use of specific tools and competencies. In addition, after training is complete, there should be opportunities for independent work.
Personally, I have one FPGA device, from Red Pitaya. My intention is to convert it into a radio that can be used on amateur radio bands. A BeoCom 2000 telefone will act as a radio interface. It will be located on my desk, with a cable leading to the server rack on the floor below. I intend to colocate most components of the radio on this server rack. From there a coaxial cable will lead out to our flagpole, which is designed to serve as a radio antenna.
Notes:
Part of my preparation for teaching Technology and Research Methods, involved studying applied physics at Andøya Space, under its previous names Andøya Space Centre and Andøya Rocket Range. Because of its remote location on an island in Northern Norway, all students had to fly in using the island’s military airport. At the space centre, comfortable accommodation was provided for all students attending, along with catered meals, and social activities in the evening. Total cost for me = NOK 0, while my employer paid my expenses, and allowed me time off work.
I am a member of the Norwegian Radio Relay League with call sign LB2XJ. My son, Alasdair, is also a radio amateur with call sign LB2HI.
Publication of this weblog post had been postponed. It was originally scheduled to be published on 2023-04-22 at 12:00. Yes, editing and procrastination take time!
