Engineer · homesteader · ham radio
Steve Spence
I build practical systems: test benches, phone systems, inventory tools, off-grid power, and lately self-hosted AI software. I run Advanced Research Systems, which develops modular, deployable infrastructure.
Amateur radio: KK4HFJ
About
I served in the U.S. Navy in the early 1980s, working from fault-isolation and maintenance technical manuals. That habit of keeping the right document at hand has followed me ever since.
Since then I have been Director of IT for Burberry in New York and an R&D engineer at Sid Harvey Industries, where I built automated test benches for motors, pumps and hydronic controls, the plant's VoIP phone system, and the web-based inventory and labelling system it still runs on.
At home I live off-grid: solar and wind power, organic gardening and a self-sufficient homestead. I am a certified small engine mechanic, and I write code in PHP, Python and Arduino C.
- CompanyAdvanced Research Systems
- BackgroundU.S. Navy veteran · IT director · R&D engineer
- Builds withPHP, Python, Arduino C, ESP32, n8n, Postgres
- Off-gridSolar, wind, organic gardening, small engines
- RadioKK4HFJ
Projects
Document Control
A private library for manuals, procedures and records. Keeps every version, searches everything, and answers questions with the page they came from. In private beta.
See Document Control →The Watering Hole
My return to bulletin boards, after running one on a Commodore 64 in the 1980s: message forums, live chat, file libraries and door games, by telnet, SSH or web browser. In private beta, by invitation.
Call The Watering Hole →Advanced Research Systems
Modular, deployable infrastructure: water, power and shelter systems designed to ship in containers and run anywhere.
The homestead
Off-grid power, organic gardening and food self-sufficiency, with ESP32 sensors and self-hosted automation tying it together.
Free downloads
Resilience Gardens
A permaculture guide to home food growing: no-dig soil building, garden plans, water, pests, storage and safe preserving. Free PDF.
Get the guide →Sunlight to Socket
A beginner's guide to off-grid solar: load audits, battery and panel sizing, controllers, inverters, safe wiring and example systems. Free PDF.
Get the guide →Keep It Running
Small engine maintenance and tune-up: fuel, oil, plugs, carburetors, valves, troubleshooting and storage. Free PDF.
Get the guide →AI PCB Pipeline
Hand this file to your AI agent to set up KiCad, a KiCad MCP server, Freerouting and live JLC parts data, with every gotcha from my video "AI designed this, then got blocked". Free Markdown file.
Download the file → Watch the video →