Linux in the Ham Shack

Introduction:

The 10th Annual Ohio LinuxFest will be held September 28-30, 2012, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

Another riveting episode even though Richard has been attempting unassisted human flight. (We’re all worried about the consequences should he succeed.)

Our special guest tonight is Rob Hawkins from the mintCast.

Announcements:

If you’re a subscriber to LHS, you can access the Etherpad, download episodes without music, and you’ll soon have the option of episodes in .flac format.

Remember the Black Sparrow Media app for iPhones, iPads and Android devices. It’s free! With it, you can listen to all of the podcasts in the Black Sparrow Media group.

Please consider donating to the podcast! Click the Donate link.

Check out the KF8GR Linux Ham Home Page. Even though it hasn’t been updated in several years, much of the information is still relevant.

Richards suggests a Linux/Amateur Radio “best on the web” award. Your web site should have at least one page devoted to Linux or Linux and Ham Radio. Send your nominations to [email protected]. If accepted, the LHS hosts will provide an award graphic for your website, and a link to your site from LHS.

Richard also found this TechNewsWorld article “Why Ham Radio Is Still Handy”.

Topics:

Interview with Rob Hawkins of the mintCast podcast.

Rob describes his move from Ontario, Canada to Houston, TX, and drops this bombshell: “Texas is nothing like Ontario!” Rob is an engineer by training. His first computer encounter was an IBM 370 mainframe and Fortran at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. His first personal computer was a Radio Shack Color Computer and his first Linux exposure was with Slackware and several dozen floppy disks. He’s been using Linux Mint since version 8.

Rob goes on to describe how he came to the mintCast.

Our hosts and Rob then move on to various technology topics:

The current state of Linux Mint.

UEFI - Unified Extensible Firmware Interface.

Software patents.

Windows 8 and possible opportunities for Linux.

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:

“The Napalm Theory” by Ophyra, from the album Post Mortem, courtesy of Jamendo.

“Velvet Embracer” by Diablo Swing Orchestra, from the album The Butcher’s Ballroom, courtesy of Jamendo.

Introduction:

Announcements:

Pimpin’ the band: Thanks, as always, to Gamma Leonis for the theme music for the show.

We recently learned of Tom, KB4HQA’s, unfortunate car accident after leaving the Dayton Hamvention this past May. We wish him a speedy recovery and return to podcasting.

Richard is a fan of America’s Test Kitchen.

Topics:

Pimpin’ the network: If you have a podcast and want to reach LHS listeners, please visit Black Sparrow Media and contact us to become a member! The Waveguides Podcast did and so can you.

Who is your hero in amateur radio, living or dead? Let us know! Richard is gathering information for his super-secret project.

Storm watchin and workin on radios. While a storm raged in Texas, Richard received an email about an IC-735 that would not power on reliably. Richard’s trouble-shooting philosophy: start with the things that are cheap to replace.

Richard is hoping to pursue a high-speed multimedia (HSMM) and mesh radio project using DD-WRT or OpenWrt for use in emergency communications. Used routers, such as the Linksys WRT54GL, are ideal and can be found for little money.

Feedback:

Leif, KC8RWR, wrote to clarify a comment to episode 86, explaining that he’d like to try using an NE602 frequency converter to an RTLSDR radio to receive ham bands.

Brian, G3XGY, heard Russ on the Mintcast and is looking forward to listening to episodes of LHS! Welcome, Brian.

Leif, KC8RWR, offers a suggestion for Grant, who was having difficulty with the LHS live Linux CD handed out at Dayton. He thinks it may have been due to Linux not recognizing Grant’s video card. Thanks, Leif.

Harrison, VE2HKW, a sometime participant in MintCast, expresses his appreciation for episode 85, our interview with David Rowe and discussion of Codec2. Thanks, Harrison. Speaking of Codec2, Russ reports that David Rowe has won the 2012 ARRL Technical Innovation Award for his work on Codec2. Congratulations, David!

Harrison, VE2HKW, wrote to ask for help with his Icom IC-735 (as mentioned above).

Claudio of the LinuxBasement podcast thanks us for the mention in episode 87.

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:

“The Television Song” by Bryan Dunn, from the album Vicious Waltz, courtesy of Jamendo.

“Total Breakdown” by Brad Sucks, from the album Out of It, courtesy of Jamendo.

Introduction:

Promo: Ohio LinuxFest 2012 will be held September 28-30, 2012, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

LHS community sends their good wishes to the victims and their families in Aurora, CO.

Our hosts recommend Etherpad for collaborative document editing.

Announcements:

Ham Holiday Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, July 27-28, 2012, Biltmore Hotel.

Texas Linux Fest, San Antonio, Texas, August 3-4, 2012, Norris Conference Center.

Texoma Hamarama Ardmore, Oklahoma, October 26-27, 2012, Exit 33 - I-35: Ardmore Convention Center.

Watch the Events Schedule on the LHS website for more events!

Click the Amabassadors link on the website and volunteer to be an LHS Amabassador at a Linux or ham-related event.

20th annual Gainesville Hamfest Gainesville, Texas, Saturday, August 25, 2012, Civic Center.

Joplin Hamfest, Joplin, Missouri, August 24-25, 2012, Holiday Inn Convention Center. Look for Russ and Cheryl!

Russ is anxiously waiting for delivery of two (okay, three) Raspberry Pi computers. Call the LHS voice line 909-547-7469, or send an email to [email protected], and tell Russ what to do with his Rasperry Pis. Wait, that doesn’t sound quite right, but you get the drift.

Feedback:

Bruce, VE2GZI, writes to express his appreciation for the episode about GNU-Radio (Episode 84). It inspired him to try getting it to work under Linux Mint 11, but it’s been a struggle, and he asks for help. Russ managed to compile it on Linux Mint Debian Edition. Jlindsay in the chat room said he ignored the build script, and just did a cmake and make. Also make sure you have the proper version of portaudio installed. Bruce also tells us he’s waiting for his Hong Kong Dongle. ’nuff said.

Scott, N9LJX, says he’s always had trouble with rig control, via Hamlib, and his FT-900, and wonders if that’s been improved. He’s happy to hear that yfktest works with Winkey USB. Russ looked at the Hamlib website about Yaesu radios, and saw the status listed as “.1 untested”, which indicates poor, if any, support for that radio. Richard suggests avoiding the USB or USB-to-serial adapter. Instead, buy an inexpensive serial port card for the computer and connect the radio to a real serial port.

Someone in the chat room asked about a good personal cloud storage solution. Russ likes ownCloud. and has described it in episode 9 of his QSK Netcast.

Jeremy, KB7QOA, sends a long email thanking us for the show, discussing his gradual move toward Linux, and wonders if he could have a version of the podcast without the music. Well, Jeremy, if you’re willing to subscribe to the show, you’ll soon have the option of a music-free feed.

Grant, AA9LC, has embarked on a project to establish a Linux computer in his hamshack. He met Russ at the recent Dayton Hamvention, and has been trying to boot the LHS disc he received there, but it wants a username and password. He’s also tried Linux Mint 11 and is “mostly impressed.” As the disc contains nothing more than Linux Mint Debian Edition, Russ suggests the username may be one of “root”, “mint”, or “linuxmint”, and no password. However, it should boot directly into a “live” mode desktop without ever asking for a username or password. If that doesn’t help, Grant, let us know and provide a few more details about when you’re asked for the username and password. Russ and Richard also provide some hints about managing sound card audio.

Look for Russ on Episode 124 of the Mintcast.

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:

“I’m Doin’ Fine” by Lorenzo’s Music from the album Solamente Tres Palabras, courtesy of Jamendo.

“We All Fall Down” by Lorenzo’s Music from the album Just Had to Let You Know, courtesy of Jamendo.

Introduction:

Topic:

Interview with Bob Finch, W9YA, principal maintainer of yfktest.

Bob got involved with the yfktest project because he was looking for a logging program like the old DOS program, WR9R.

His ideal logger did not use graphics, did not require a mouse, and was very easy to learn. yfktest was close, but had a few problems, so Bob began submitting fixes and improvements.

Over the past year, Bob began submitting code changes and eventually became the principle maintainer of the program, and has made over 150 patches in that time.

Russ described his problem with the program for Field Day logging. Bob explains that the issue was due to the error checking, and had Russ not tried to enter the signal report into the Class field, it would have worked fine. Russ suggests having a line of text above the fields that provides hints as to what each field should contain. Bob added that to his To-Do list.

yfktest is written in Perl, so no compilation is necessary to install.

Bob is working on a version that is completely contained on a USB stick that would be operating system agnostic.

Rudimentary networking features are in the code now, but disabled. So, it’s possible that networking might be a future enhancement.

Get your copy of the latest version of yfktest by following the instructions in the README.NOW link at bfinch.net.

Bob then describes another of his interests, rocketry, and is involved in the open source/open hardware rocketry project Altus Metrum.

Feedback:

Rich, KD0BJT, of the Low SWR podcast writes to tell us of a Field Day logging program called fdlog. It’s written in Python and has networking capabilities for multiple stations. Rich also mentions the Java-based logging program JL. Thanks, Rich. fdlog is a graphical Field Day logging program written in Tcl/Tk, but hasn’t been updated in about a year.

Leif, KC8RWR, sends us a link to a series of Youtube video tutorials for GNU Radio, the open source software project for RTL Software Defined Radios. He wonders if he could use an NE602 at the front end of the radio for HF, and use a Raspberry Pi to run GNU Radio. Our hosts discuss this and the Signetics NE602, a balanced mixer and oscillator on a chip.

Dave, M0DCM, has been catching up on LHS episodes while convalescing. He describes his system for listening, and some experiences with the Ettus SDR, Funcube Dongle, and digital modes with his new Yaesu FT-817ND.

David, KE0AZ, tells us that the power output of the Ettus transmitter daughterboards is anywhere from 50 to 200 mW.

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:

Introduction:

“You know it’s summer in Texas, because all the truck tires shed their winter coats.”

This episode, an interview with David Rowe, VK5DGR.

Topics:

Our hosts conduct a lively conversation with David Rowe, VK5DGR, from Adelaide, South Australia.

David is the author of Codec 2,, an open source speech codec designed for communications quality speech.

You can find more information about David and his project on his blog.

Powerpoint presentations and Youtube videos of how Codec 2 works are available on his Codec 2 blog page.

You can see David’s presentation of Codec2 at linux.conf.au here.

David then describes the Mesh Potato project, an open hardware product designed specifically to build telephone networks without infrastructure like cell phone towers or land lines.

The Mesh Potato is available for purchase.

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:

http://media.blubrry.com/lhspodcast_mp3/mirror.linux.org.au/linux.conf.au/2012/Codec_2_Open_Source_Speech_Coding_at_2400_bits_and_Below.ogv

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