Personal Blog

Almost two weeks ago, I tried to connect one of my external USB hard drive to my desktop, but without any success. The files I wanted most were already backed up to a different disk, so I was not expecting a bit loss. However, I had a set of benchmarks that could be useful in the future. Ok I said, it is not a high priority, but how can I recover my data? Here is a number of steps I followed trying to recover the disk: 1. The disk is a WD passport USB drive. I noticed when I was moving the USB cable, the driver will disconnect from the PC. So the first obvious step was to try a new USB cable , but no luck. There was a small improvement in the transfer speed, but nothing serious (more on that later). 2. So the second thought was to open the case and connect directly the disk to the desktop PC. Unfortunately, the disk has embedded the USB controller and it cannot be attached directly to the PC with  SATA cable. WD Passport disk controller with ...

I recently bought a new RTL dongle that supports Direct Sampling that allows frequencies less than 40Mhz. In particular, the model I ordered was the RTL-SDR BLOG V.3. DONGLE that was really cheap compared with other solution. It still can't reach the quality of the other more expensive receivers, but it still a step up. The Dongle comes with a long external antenna. The RTL dongle. So, the question now is how better is from my old SDR. I did a check with the RTL power tool to see what is the difference. My old SDR Dongle (Fitipower FC0013) has coverage from 22 to 1100 MHz. The new Dongle RTL Blog V3 a has Rafael Micro R820T has coverage from 24 - 1766 MHz, but it also contains Direct Sampling that allows for High Frequencies. A word of warning here, the reception using Direct Sampling is very bad, especially if you connect the antenna without a filter band or/and preamplifier. I did experiments using the rtl_power, and the results showed much more gain for the ne...

Zygi is a small village on the south coast of Cyprus, between Limassol and Larnaca. It is famous for its fish taverns. Some days ago, the weather was perfect for a trip to Zygi. Everything was perfect, not so hot not so cold, and a wonderful view of the sea. Prices were also normal nothing out of this world. I would surely suggest visiting the village if you are in Cyprus and want to eat fish at a good price. Here are some photos: Zygi Village in Cyprus. View of the beach.  Zygi Village in Cyprus. View from the restaurant. Zygi Village in Cyprus. View of the beach.  View of the beach in Zygi village in Cyprus. Not everything was perfect in the view.... 

Nafpaktos or Naupactus (Ναύπακτος in Greek) is a small town in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, Greece. It has around 31000 residents and it is very popular during the summer due to the beaches around. Last month i visited the town for a wedding. I enjoyed the sun and the sea of the area. The water is not so hot as in Cyprus or Rhodes. Even the nights the temperature was perfect and it was easy to sleep. Comming from a steady 32-34*C from Nicosia during the night, the change was perfect! We didn't have time to visit the fortress (there is a nice view of the port and the town), but we managed to walk a bit on the beach and enjoy the sea. Here you can find some photos taken from Nafpaktos. The entrance of the port with teenagers falling from the stone wall, in Nafpaktos, Greece. The stone wall of the port and the fortress on the hill behind in Nafpaktos, Greece. The stone wall of the port with the cannons in Nafpaktos, Greece. At the entry of the port in Naf...

Proteas is a solar facility locate in Pentakomo , in the southern part of the island of Cyprus. The facility launched on 3rd October 2015 and it is currently used for scientific purposes. Some days ago we were lucky to attend a tour from the Cyprus institute researchers on the facility and have a close look at the installation. I include some photos from our visit. The facility is actually a Concentrated Solar Power and thermal De-Salination of Sea Water. Mirrors reflect the solar rays to a specific point in the tower. It is designed to use molten salt, although it is still not operational. You can find more information regarding The Cyprus Institute and Proteras  here .  Reflecting mirrors at the Proteras solar facility in Cyprus. Solar tower of the Proteras solar facility in Cyprus. The white block at the top is used for calibrating and measurements, as it contains multiple temperature sensors. Due to a small accident last week, more than one ...