Linux in the Ham Shack

Introduction:

No music this episode.

It’s the night before Halloween and we’re off to another spooky episode of LHS with our hosts starting with a ramble about horror movies. It’s a trick AND a treat!

Announcements:

Topics:

It’s actually a built-in feature of GNOME. Briefly, here are the steps:

As root, create a new directory in /usr/share/backgrounds (any name you want).

In that directory, place your desired background images (or links to them).

There’s already a directory in /usr/share/backgrounds called cosmos which you can use as a guide.

Copy background-1.xml from the cosmos directory into your new directory and edit it to specify your images.

More information can be found in this askubuntu thread. Be sure to read through all the comments.

Richard points us to one of many articles about ham radio operators helping out during and after Hurricane Sandy. Our sympathies to the victims of hurricane.

More about EchoLink and Linux: Richard found the CQiNet project, which includes two applications, Echolinux (an EchoLink client for Linux) and The Bridge, an iLink/EchoLink compatable conference bridge. Of course, there is still the svxlink package, which includes the Qtel Echolink client.

C’mon, people, where are my Raspberry Pi suggestions? Russ is still looking for good uses for his Raspberry Pis. Send your suggestions!

Google Webfonts are open source fonts that can be embedded in Joomla, WordPress and others, embedded in CSS, or with Javascript. Visit Russ’ blog page for an example of Google Webfonts in action.

Feedback:

David, KE0AZ, sent an email about our discussion of antennas in Episode #091. He’s opting for a used 4BTV vertical.

Tim, KI6BGE, in response to Richard’s computer power supply repair in Episode #092, shares his success story involving a printer repair he attempted.

Scott, N8VSI, sent this audio report on his experience as the LHS ambassador at the Ohio Linux Fest. (We talked to Scott in Episode 93.)

Harrison, VE2HKW, made a donation to the Black Sparrow Media app server fund. Thanks, Harrison!

Contact Info:

Contact Richard at [email protected], Russ at [email protected], or both at the same time at [email protected].

Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.

Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.

Sign up for the LHS mailing list.

Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.

LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!

Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Introduction:

Announcements:

Subscribers to LHS now have access to the Etherpad, or via the Etherpad link in the Content area of the LHS website.

Black Sparrow Media now has a Twitter feed at BSM_Network.

Richard rants: Ubuntu has added a nag screen to the download page requesting a donation.

Linux Distributions for Ham Radio:

Has Shackbox died? There does not seem to be much activity since 2009.

Andy’s Ham Radio Linux CD by Andy, KB1OIQ, revisited. Version 11 was released in June, 2012, and is based on Ubuntu 11.10. Several of the tools have been updated to newer versions. Also at https://kb1oiq-andysham.sourceforge.net/

Jeff Hodsdon published a list of influential ham radio operators, and neither Richard nor Russ are on that list! For shame!

Topics:

Feedback:

Contact Info:

Contact Richard at [email protected], Russ at [email protected], or both at the same time at [email protected].

Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.

Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.

Sign up for the LHS mailing list.

Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.

LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!

Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Music:

“El Bubblino” by 20lb Sounds, from the album Bubblino. (That’s Dan Lynch’s band, one of the Linux Outlaws!)

“Kitsch Me If You Can” by MMO, from the album Drunk Dial of the Year, courtesy of Jamendo.

Introduction:

Announcements:

Texoma Hamarama will held October 26-27, 2012 at the Ardmore Convention Center in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Pre-registration ends October 20th.

The Augusta Hamfest will be Saturday, October 13, 2012 in Augusta, GA.

Scott, N8VSI, was the LHS ambassador at the Ohio LinuxFest, September 28-30, 2012. We look forward to hearing a report from Scott in the near future.

Topics:

Richard recounts his experience replacing a computer power supply. Moral? Don’t be afraid to try repairing a computer yourself. Swapping parts is easier than you might think. For power supplies, pay attention to the wattage required. (Ed. Note: When in doubt, it’s best to replace the bad supply with one that has the same or greater wattage rating.)

Departing from our usual topics, Russ and Richard discuss a couple applications for producing slide shows and panoramic photographs:

Imagination is a lightweight and simple DVD slide show maker for Linux and FreeBSD that’s very easy to use, offers a wide variety of transitions, supports background music, and much more. Available in the Debian and Fedora repositories, and probably many others.

Hugin is a program that allows you to assemble a mosaic of photographs into a complete, immersive panorama, stitch together any series of overlapping pictures, and much more. It’s cross-platform and easy to use.

Why Ham Radio? Richard talks about why you might wish to obtain an Amateur Radio License and how you can combine it with Linux, including:

Getting your ham license for our non ham listeners.

There are many modes of communication, including voice, Morse code, and many digital modes.

The ease of getting your license.

Why you should get your license.

How to get your license.

The Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) is a good source of information

Free practice tests are available at qrz.com

A list of certified Volunteer Examiner Coordinators is available at www.ncvec.org.

Test sessions can be found through the ARRL and many local radio clubs.

Russ describes Universal Plug ’n’ Play devices (UPnP). Many new devices offer the ability to play media from UPnP servers. It makes sharing your media very convenient and easy, but can also be a security risk.

Feedback:

Pete, VE2XPL, sends a long email in response to episode 88, and covers such things as the Toonie, Alexandre Graham Bell, Brad Sucks, the wAVEgUIDES PodCast, SouthCARS, email addresses for LHS, and the MintCast.

Ted, WA0EIR, asked if there is a problem with the LHS mailing list as his attempts to post a message there “bounced”. Yes, the mailing lists have been broken, but they’re fixed now.

Larry Bushey of the Going Linux podcast says thanks for the great show, and admits they stole the LHS “badger” sound effect for use on their show. Episode 185 contains an example of their use of the Badger.

LHS was mentioned in a comment to a post at hak5.org.

Contact Info:

Contact Richard at [email protected], Russ at [email protected], or both at the same time at [email protected].

Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.

Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.

Sign up for the LHS mailing list.

Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.

LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!

Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Music:

“You Are You” by Fall Walk Run from the album Throwing It All Away, courtesy of Jamendo.

“Flash Back” by MattMigma from the album Phoenix, courtesy of Jamendo.

Introduction:

Announcements:

Paid subscribers to LHS may have noticed the web site certificate had expired. That problem is fixed.

Welcome new subscribers Michael S., Michael C., and Bill A. Thank you!

Sign-up for the LHS mailing list.

Our LHS Ambassador to Ohio LinuxFest will be Scott, N8VSI. Thanks, Scott, and we look forward to hearing all about it.

Please donate to the podcast and click on the affiliate links on the website.

Topics:

HF Antennas, Horizontal vs. Vertical

Tonight, our hosts discuss the pros and cons of horizontally and vertically polarized HF antennas.

One thought is that once the RF radiation hits the various layers in the ionosphere, the polarization doesn’t really matter much as it gets reflected to and fro.

Richard offers the practical reason for preferring horizontal antennas for HF: it’s easier to build and erect the long antennas necessary for these frequencies. However, for chasing DX, those long-distance contacts, many hams prefer vertical antennas as they tend to have lower angles of radiation.

Also mentioned: GAP antennas and the G5RV antenna.

Wire horizontal dipoles are inexpensive and easy to construct. Verticals are a good choice when space is limited and can have a lower take-off angle, providing a good ground radial system is installed beneath them.

Horizontal antennas can be more directional. A dipole wire running north and south will have a better propagation east and west. A vertical is omnidirectional, radiating equally in all directions. To complicate matters, a horizontal antenna lower to the ground will radiate at higher angles than the same antenna that is higher. This can be useful for communicating with stations that are close to you.

A new section of the podcast: Russ’ Rant!

Russ has a Yaesu FT-7900R, a dual-band UHV/VHF mobile radio. It has a removable front panel, allowing the main part of the radio to be hidden and the display can be easily mounted on the dash. However, the speaker is on the body of the radio, so you can’t hear it if it’s hidden under the seat or in the trunk! Russ thinks the head unit should also contain a speaker, perhaps a very small one like in an mp3 player. Or put the speaker in the microphone.

Returning to antennas, Richard recommends that KD8SZG (in the chat room), should try building his own wire antennas for HF. Any of the antenna books written by Doug DeMaw, W1FB, are good resources. His Antenna Notebook is one. (I also like the various ARRL antenna books, like the Simple and Fun Antennas for Hams. -Ed.)

Contact Info:

Contact Richard at [email protected], Russ at [email protected], or both at the same time at [email protected].

Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.

Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.

Sign up for the LHS mailing list.

Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.

LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!

Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Music:

“A Little Time” by Not From Georgia, from their album Love & Umbrella, courtesy of Jamendo.

“Metal Heart” by Zamza, from their album Songs for Jukebox, courtesy of Jamendo.

Introduction:

Topics:

Interview with John Hays (K7VE) from NorthWest Digital Radio.

John has been a licensed amateur radio operator for 40 years. His wife and all of his children are hams, too!

A couple years ago John gave a presentation at TAPR, and discussed his wish for a reasonably priced radio for digital communications with just a few connections: antenna, power and Ethernet.

Bryan Hoyer (now K7UDR) approached John and volunteered to build one. Their collaboration (with Basil Gunn) resulted in NorthWest Digital Radio.

Their first product will be the UDR56K-4 Universal Digital Radio, planned for availability in early 2013.

John goes on to discuss the features of their digital radio and some of the design decisions the company made.

Specifications (subject to change, of course):

25W 70cm Transceiver

4800 to 56Kbps

FSK, GMSK, 4FSK

Open Source Linux Platform – a full Linux-based web server is built-in. It uses the Debian kernel, running on an ARM processor (faster than a Raspberry Pi).

Web Interface over Ethernet

4 USB Host Ports

Applications:

Winlink Email

APRS

D-RATS

D-STAR Digital Data

Digital Voice with AMBE Card Option

44 Net (AMPRNet)

The radio can be completely controlled through the web interface or the command line.

John talks about other potential applications for their radio platform.

Keep an eye on the website for more information and to sign up for email announcements.

You may also be interested in John’s blog.

Contact Info:

Contact Richard at [email protected], Russ at [email protected], or both at the same time at [email protected].

Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.

Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.

Sign up for the LHS mailing list.

Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.

LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!

Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.