I built an FM radio receiver. As usual, the goal was to “build something useful and learn something new along the way.” What made this project especially exciting was that it involved working with an STM32 microcontroller—something I hadn’t done before, even though I’ve had several dev boards and programmers lying around for years. I also really wanted to use the headphone wire as the antenna, just like in commercial devices.
Our company suddenly changed its vacation policy: unused days from the previous year now had to be taken by the end of January. So I had no choice but to take time off. Naturally, I went to the sea. The North Sea, to be precise. Luckily, it’s only a three-hour drive from where I live. The North Sea in January — it already sounds like a ballad of adventure and wandering.
I built another clock. Not because I don’t already have clocks—I have plenty, including a few homemade ones. But if you start some big, complicated project, there’s a good chance you won’t finish it… even if you’ve got the long New Year holidays ahead.
If you head south from Cologne on Autobahn A1, about 30 to 40 kilometers in, there’s an exit toward the town of Bad Münstereifel. It’s a small, picturesque town tucked between forest-covered hills. A fairly lively river called the Erft flows right through it.
In my DIY projects, I frequently utilize lithium batteries and TP4054 chips to charge them. Charging current for a battery should not exceed 1 °C (capacity multiplied by one hour). At this rate, the battery will charge to full capacity in precisely one hour.
Tired of posting to Instagram or Facebook and having it disappear into the void? Yeah, me too. So I built my own tiny tool to share images the way I want—simple, public, and fully under my control. It’s called Telepico, and it only took a few evenings to set up. Check it out!
Built a budget quadcopter for just 57€ (excluding frame and battery), and yes—it actually flies great. I 3D printed the frame, sourced cheap parts, and ended up with a 77g FPV drone that gets around 14 minutes of flight time. Check out the video and full build details inside!
After a long break, I’m back working on my FIDO2 authenticator! With BLE dropped from Chrome, I’ve shifted gears to USB—and that meant switching from ESP32 to STM32 (and soon RP2040). The latest prototype features a fingerprint scanner, secure element, and a fresh USB PCB. Still lots to build, but it’s moving again!
