steevc 3Speak Podcast

I recorded this on my phone as I was short of time. I started a pub jam session many years ago and I am heading there this evening.

Do you have even BTS like this where you are?

As I mentioned yesterday I am up for trying different ways to record podcast episodes. So instead of using Audacity I recorded this directly on the 3speak site. I saw this post https://peakd.com/hive-181335/@tibfox/3speaktv-podcast-1-3speak-audio-mw97ztvo by @tibfox about some new features such as the audio editor. That offers various functions including multiple tracks so you could have music playing under the talking. They have a library of music to use or you can import your own. I did not use that, but I did use the 'normalize' to fix the levels and 'cut silences' to remove some of my pauses. The result seems good.

I have had some comments on these Hive posts, but I am not sure if those people had a listen, so be sure to mention things I said and give your opinions.

I have been recording these episodes on my webcam microphone so I thought I would try something better today. I plugged in the Zoom H4 https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/zoom-h4 handheld recorder that I have had for many years. It has served me well as a portable recorder and an audio interface at times. I mention some other options I have and I may use those on other episodes.

We are over a week into NapPodPoMo and I am trying to mix up the topics. I may need to repeat some eventually. I am keeping a list of what I have talked about.

It is pretty easy to do this. I just fire up Audacity and record through my webcam microphone. You can do it on a phone too. I upload to 3speak where I have created a dedicated playlist that people can subscribe to in their podcast apps. It is also included in the mega feed /hive-128305/@epodcaster/napodpomo-2026-mega-feed compiled by epodcaster. I am checking out some of the episodes produced by others. It is not just those on Hive. You can follow feeds in 3speak too.

Have a great week!

I was going to combine this podcast with the latest Britlist https://peakd.com/hive-133987/@steevc/the-brit-list-november-2026, but 3speak was limiting how much text I could include so I will do this separately and decline rewards.

I have been doing these monthly posts for almost six years, but I have refined the process to make it easy for me. We have access to all the Hive data so you can analyse it in any ways you like. I guess some people would use AI for that these days so you could produce something prettier, but I am old school when it comes to coding.

# The News

The prices have diverged a bit again for $HIVE and the other site. So it goes and all we can do is to keep adding value here.

I am doing this post as part of my #NaPodPoMo podcast challenge in November so you will find a little bit of audio included. I am putting that on 3speak that makes it very easy now. The team have been adding features and just this week added a playlist that you can embed anywhere. We shall see if that works here.

# Friday Follows

* I am doing this podcast challenge thanks to @epodcaster who has been running it for many years. Others on Hive doing it include @shainemata, @ekads and @nicklewis.
* @ugochill just released a new EP /risingstar/@ugochill/latest-ugochill-release-ep-its-electric-outnow of instrumental rock music.
* @mantequilla-soft is the development hub for @threespeak, but follow @meno and @tibfox for more news.

# The End

I will keep it fairly short today as I have the extra work of doing all these podcasts. In some cases I may need to do an extra post some days for that, but then I will give up some or all of the rewards.

Hive five!

The man behind:
@tenkminnows: Helping good Hivers level up
@proofofbrian: A bot that checks for tag typos
#BritList: A monthly list of Hivers in the UK

Happy Guy Fawkes Night https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night! This is when Brits traditionally let off fireworks to terrify all the animals and mark the anniversary of a plot to blow up parliament.

What is your main event for fireworks?

The photo is actually from last New Year when we were out in a boat on Venice lagoon.

Today I talk about the MIDI protocol that lets you link musical instruments. I have looked into it before, but have some more gear now and am experimenting.

Many years ago I walked into an electricals shop where a guy was demonstrating this technology when it was still new. He gave me his book that I just managed to find. I think he ran some magazines about this stuff.

I am in the stage of 'lots of gear, but no idea', but we have access to plenty of information online these days. My friend @nicklewis has been giving me some tips. I may end up buying more gear, but will learn the principles first.

The software I am running on my Raspberry Pi is RaspiMIDIHub https://raspimidihub.com/ and it is very good.

Rock on!

On this third day of the podcast challenge I talk about the musician Steven Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Wilson who I have been into for a few years now. He has a big following, but is mostly under the radar. I saw him perform just last week at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

His music may be referred to as prog, but he loves pop too.

I only recorded a brief bit of the show, but I include it to give you a flavour. Look him up on Youtube, Spotify etc. Not to be confused with the US musician Stephen Wilson Jr.

Here is my monthly report on how our solar panel system did in September 2026. We have:
* 20x400W panels = 8kW, facing west
* 5kW GivEnergy https://givenergy.co.uk/ inverter
* 9.5kWh GivEnergy battery

The house is in the UK at about 52° north. The system was installed in February 2024 by Octopus https://share.octopus.energy/tan-grove-963 who also supply our power and gas.

This is the year so far, all in kWh:

|Month|Generated|Used|Exported|Imported|Cost import|Paid export|Axle|
|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|
|January /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-report-january-2026|110|518|106|522|£88.53|£14.91|£0|
|February /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-report-february-2026|237|592|226|580|£79.08|£33.97|£0|
|March /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-report-march-2026|590|484|599|507|£74.47|£68.30|£0|
|April /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-report-april-2026|937|283|927|326|£37.71|£112.71|£0|
|May /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-report-may-2026|1001|315|950|312|£45.14|£113.99|£0|
|June /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-report-june-2026|1009|465|954|405|£60.83|£112.05|£12.02
|July /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-report-july-2026|1213|408|1209|414|£57.47|£140.16|£10.00
|August /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-report-august-2026|918|549|818|452|£75.09|£95.88|£14.14
|September /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-report-september-2026|631|552|603|522|£77.42|£71.58|£14.79
|October /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-report-october-2026|396|548|383|536|£76.91|£45.66|£15.22
|**Totals**|7042|4714|6775|4576|£672.65|£809.21|£66.17

2025 figures here /hive-127466/@steevc/solar-power-report-december-2025-and-the-year.

Axle https://vpp.axle.energy/landing?ref=R-TMYATWKU is a 'virtual power station' who pay me £1/kWh a few times a month when they help to boost the grid.

We seemed to get more sun compared with October last year, but you can see it trailed off. The weather has been quite mixed.

I am including this post in the #NaPodPoMo podcasting challenge, so the audio is about my system in general.

Shine on!