Notes from the network rack and radio bench

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:00:00 -0700

Hello, world. Welcome to plaing.ca.

I’m Patrick Laing, a network architect in Port Alberni, BC, and an amateur radio operator under the callsign VA7EET. My work is in telecommunications and service provider networking. Outside work, I tend to end up with a radio experiment, some software to write, or another reason to rearrange the home lab.

My interests often meet at the same question: how much useful information can you get through a constrained system? That might mean limited bandwidth, a noisy radio channel, or a finite amount of computing power. Neural video compression, experimental modems, and automated Morse code decoding are some of the ways I’ve been exploring that question.

About Patrick Laing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

plaing.ca is my personal website and a place to document the things I build, investigate, and learn.

I’m Patrick Laing, a network architect and incurable tinkerer based in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Professionally, I work in telecommunications and service provider networking, designing and operating the infrastructure that keeps people connected. My work spans core routing, network architecture, and troubleshooting the problems that survive everyone else’s troubleshooting.

Outside work, I spend a lot of time exploring the overlap between software, machine learning, and communications. My projects include neural video compression, experimental radio modems, automated Morse code decoding, and a home lab that tends to generate as many projects as it supports. I’m particularly interested in getting useful results under awkward constraints: limited bandwidth, noisy signals, and finite computing power.