A practical account of sitting the UK Amateur Radio Foundation licence exam, including preparation, exam format, and next steps into the hobby.
Welcome to JKTDEV.CO.UK — my personal engineering notebook, where I document projects, experiments, build logs, lessons learned, and the occasional technical rabbit hole along the way.
I’ve worked in and around software development for over 20 years, across everything from large-scale enterprise systems to embedded software, automation, hardware-adjacent projects, and practical prototyping. More recently, my focus has shifted further into electronics, PCB design, embedded systems, radio, test equipment, manufacturing, and small hardware building blocks.
At heart, I’m a tinkerer and builder. I enjoy projects that force me to learn something new — whether that means writing code, debugging hardware, designing a PCB, testing a tool, bringing up a board, or working out why something that looked simple on paper is misbehaving on the bench.
This site is where I capture that process — warts and all.
Some articles are polished write-ups. Others are closer to field notes from whatever I am working on at the time. That might include designing a circuit, ordering PCBs, testing a regulator under load, debugging an embedded board, experimenting with radio, trying out tools, or documenting the decisions behind a prototype.
A lot of the content now revolves around electronics, embedded systems, PCB design, practical prototyping and the process of turning ideas into working hardware. Software development, automation, AI, amateur radio and the occasional unrelated technical experiment still make appearances along the way.
Much of the engineering work documented here also feeds into Protoworks, my product design and prototyping business in Northern Ireland, including its Building Block Boards, UCMOD modules, tools and other products. I also run Ards Tech Fix, providing practical software troubleshooting and workflow automation for local businesses across the Ards Peninsula. JKTDEV remains my personal engineering notebook — a place for documenting the work, learning, mistakes and thinking behind those builds, as well as projects that have nothing to do with either business.
Recent articles are listed below.
Putting It All Together: BME280 Integration and Debugging
Integrating the BME280 sensor into a weather station project, debugging a BMP280 mix-up, and verifying sensor identity via I2C device ID.
Testing the Weather Station Devices
Testing the weather station PCB by verifying the OLED display, UART connection, and sensor modules, while uncovering an unexpected BMP280 sensor mix-up.
Using AI, Part 2
A practical look at using AI as a copy editor to improve clarity, readability, and workflow efficiency—without giving up control or relying on AI to do the thinking.
Finishing the Weather Station Prototype PCB
Finishing the weather station prototype PCB, testing the assembled board, discovering an OLED pinout mismatch, and investigating reverse voltage through the LDO regulator.
Assembling the Weather Station
Assembling and testing a custom weather station PCB, including SMD reflow using a hotplate, lessons learned, and early-stage debugging.
Revisiting the ATtiny1614
A practical look at using the ATtiny1614 as a low-cost co-processor in embedded systems, and where it fits alongside newer alternatives.
Using Hotplates for SMD Soldering
Testing cheap hotplates for SMD soldering and experimenting with Sn42Bi58 low-temperature solder paste.
Designing a Simple Compiler for a Digital Sequencer
A practical walkthrough of building a simple compiler for a custom Digital Sequencer DSL, covering lexical analysis, syntax parsing, semantic validation, and bytecode generation for embedded systems.
Digital Sequencer DSL – Instruction Set (Part 1)
Defining the core instruction set for a digital sequencer DSL, including SET command behaviour, execution model considerations, and mapping to a compiled bytecode representation.
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