Warm Paws for Coders

Simon Brown • December 28, 2024

Heated Mouse Mat

If, like me you have cold hands then a heated mouse mat is essential. Before I bought this I had two options - either wear thin arthritis gloves or heat the room to a silly temperature.


Anyway, this popped up on Facebook with an Amazon link, so I bought one. This now makes coding even more of a pleasure as not only are my hands warm, the heat also rises onto my face and head so it's bye-bye cold.


It's not a substitute for a two week holiday in the Caribbean, but possibly the next best thing.


Here's a Amazon Link, if it fails, just search for Heated Mouse Mat.


Why didn't I think of this a few years ago?

By Simon Brown May 23, 2026
Version 1.6.2 This release fixes two bugs in the new DX Spot feature. The spot age logic incorrectly affected spot display. When the map was zoomed, station markers off the map would be displayed at the top left (0, 0).  Downloads are on the World Map page . Version 1.6.1 This release fixes two fatal bugs in the new DX Spot feature. When the graphics engine is restarted, resources are correctly released. Fixed a resource leak when processing the MoseMove logic. Downloads are on the World Map page . Version 1.6 This release adds the display of DX Spots. Display spots are submitted to PSK Reporter which in turn are relayed by a MQTT Broker running on a high performance Akamia node. Spot Format Each spot consists of these fields: Sequence Frequency Band Mode Signal level Time stamp Sending station call, square, country Receiving station call, square, country Note: The country is the ADIF country. Spots are displayed as they arrive, currently no on-demand database. Bandwidth To reduce bandwidth from the broker, filtering is required for 80m up to and including 15m. Filtering requires at least one field below to be set in a definition: Receiver callsign, square or country. Sender callsign, square or country. Without filtering the bandwith from the broker could be excessive. For LF and VHF+ no filtering is required due to the lower number of spots sent on these bands. In a later version the bandwidth restriction may be reduced.
By Simon Brown May 21, 2026
Version 1.6.1 This release fixes two fatal bugs in the new DX Spot feature. When the graphics engine is restarted, resources are correctly released. Fixed a resource leak when processing the MoseMove logic.  Downloads are on the World Map page . Version 1.6 This release adds the display of DX Spots. Display spots are submitted to PSK Reporter which in turn are relayed by a MQTT Broker running on a high performance Akamia node. Spot Format Each spot consists of these fields: Sequence Frequency Band Mode Signal level Time stamp Sending station call, square, country Receiving station call, square, country Note: The country is the ADIF country. Spots are displayed as they arrive, currently no on-demand database. Bandwidth To reduce bandwidth from the broker, filtering is required for 80m up to and including 15m. Filtering requires at least one field below to be set in a definition: Receiver callsign, square or country. Sender callsign, square or country. Without filtering the bandwith from the broker could be excessive. For LF and VHF+ no filtering is required due to the lower number of spots sent on these bands. In a later version the bandwidth restriction may be reduced.
By Simon Brown May 20, 2026
Version 1.6 This release adds the display of DX Spots. Display spots are submitted to PSK Reporter which in turn are relayed by a MQTT Broker running on a high performance Akamia node. Spot Format Each spot consists of these fields: Sequence Frequency Band Mode Signal level Time stamp Sending station call, square, country Receiving station call, square, country Note: The country is the ADIF country. Spots are displayed as they arrive, currently no on-demand database. Bandwidth To reduce bandwidth from the broker, filtering is required for 80m up to and including 15m. Filtering requires at least one field below to be set in a definition: Receiver callsign, square or country. Sender callsign, square or country. Without filtering the bandwith from the broker could be excessive. For LF and VHF+ no filtering is required due to the lower number of spots sent on these bands. In a later version the bandwidth restriction may be reduced.
By Simon Brown May 19, 2026
SDR Television v1.1 May 18th, 2026: This is the official v1.1 release , code exactly the same as 1.0.16 which has survived testing for a few weeks. Lots of improvements since the last official kit. As with any software project, there's always room for improvements and new features, but for now here's a stable solution which works well with the QO-100 satellite. Many thanks to Sigi and the DATV test team. Downloads are at the bottom of this page.
By Simon Brown April 12, 2026
SDR Television v1.0.14 April 12th, 2026: A new kit, lots of improvements since the last official kit. As with any software project, there's always room for improvements and new features, but for now here's a stable solution which works well with the QO-100 satellite. Many thanks to Sigi and the DATV test team. Downloads are at the bottom of this page.
By Simon Brown March 13, 2026
SDR Television v1.0.9 March 13th, 2026: A new kit, lots of receive improvements since the last official kit. As with any software project, there's always room for improvements and new features, but for now here's a stable solution which works well with the QO-100 satellite. Many thanks to the DATV test team. Downloads are at the bottom of this page.
By Simon Brown March 11, 2026
First Impressions
By Simon Brown February 13, 2026
SDR Television v1.0.6 February 13th, 2026: A new kit, lots of receive improvements since the last official kit. As with any software project, there's always room for improvements and new features, but for now here's a stable solution which works well with the QO-100 satellite. Downloads are at the bottom of this page.
By Simon Brown February 13, 2026
February 10th, 2026 Pluto Correct the FIR filter definitions, this has improved reception.