Ben Sutton

Inspired by a conversation I overheard at work, I have recently been playing with Voice over IP telephony. VoIP is about to explode over here in the UK. By assigning an IP address to a phone, calls can be routed through computers using PBX software such as the excellent Asterisk. Once a call is handled by a computer pretty much anything can be done with it. One good example is VoIP User. They offer outbound calls to landlines around the world allowing its users to experiment with VoIP. It is completely funded by incoming calls made to the service. There are currently some restrictions such as 10 minute call limits to prevent abuse.

The big bonus of VoIP and the SIP/IAX protocols is that calls can be made directly between phones for free. Once it hits a critical mass of users, the current service providers are going to have to find something other than expensive call rates to offer their subscribers.

On Wednesday I went on my first amateur radio ‘fox hunt’, organised by the Dover Radio Club. The idea is that the fox hides at a location and broadcasts a radio signal at frequent intervals. Then people taking part attempt to trace the direction of the signal using various methods such as high gain antennas. It was quite frantic dashing to various vantage points between each broadcast. Our team were doing quite well until I lost the map. Still, we managed to get within a few hundred metres of the fox, just didn’t check the particular road they were hidden. Next time …..

Welcome to my shiney new blog. Not quite sure what I’m going to use this for yet – most probably to talk about the various hobbies and gadgets I spend my time toying with. We’ll see.

Topics will probably include:

- My first steps into compiling and playing with the GNOME desktop.
- Bits and bobs about HAM radio as I learn
- Reviews of the various junk I buy
- Random rants

The first thing I am going to do is take some photos of local sites to replace those snaps at the top … stay tuned!