About VKLink
VKLink started 15 years or so as a project between Amateur radio operators around Victoria and Tasmania. The whole aim was to Link VK (VK is the radio callsign prefix for Australia). The aim of the project was to join physical analogue equipment together from all over australia via the internet. The project was a success, with 100 or so nodes on it in its peak. Since then full digital technology has overtaken it. There is still about 40 nodes left joining legacy equipment together in WA, NSW, VIC and TAS. If any of that interest you, have a look at vklink.com.au
Yes thought has gone into looking at the legalities of making a similar system for UHF CB so that farms seperated by vast distances can have communication via UHF CB.
Matt, the brain behind the idea, has created this out of frustration, using all aspects of his 27 years experience in various industries. A brief history is:
- 27 Years in the Radio Communications industry.
- 25 Years as an Auto Electrician.
- 15 Years Specialising in Agriculture Auto Electrics.
- 15 Years programming various computer languages (C#, php, html, assembler, to name a few); and
- The last 2 1/2 years Specialising in Agriculture GPS systems.
He has seen the correction streams that are currently used fill receivers and screens up with rubbish, which then causes them to drop corrections all together (a certain last years model header is renowned for it) and scream at you to grab hold of the wheel.
The software has taken various open-source projects from around the world, and had the Matt twist applied to it. Some of it has been re-written from ground up to suit the purpose. This has not been a small project by any stretch of the imagination.
The biggest problem Matt has seen is that those that are great at writing software, have never seen it in the real world, and those that have been in the real world cannot write software. Fortunately he can do both
Aside from the VKLink project mentioned above, Matt has also designed the hardware and software on various systems. These include:
- A water truck controller, where signals are taken from, and injected into the trucks CAN bus, to allow PTO and water cart functions to operate as part of the truck, not an afterthought. This was done for saftey.
- Various voltage monitoring devices that report their findings to the internet via radio, (whereby any changing voltage can be monitored - elec fences, gate switches, tank levels etc).
- Relay and input control systems that generate a web page type interface locally so it can be switched/monitored by a mobile phone on the same network.
- The list does go on.
So if anyone is qualified enough to pull such a system, its Matt.