Linux in the Ham Shack

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Linux in the Ham Shack episodes

June 27, 2012 LHS Episode #085: David Rowe on Codec2
Please join us for a special episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. In Episode #085, the hosts interview a vibrant and brilliant engineer from Adelaide, South Australia, named David Rowe. He is the mastermind behind the codec2 open voice codec among several other worthy and equally brilliant open source projects. He dabbles in VoIP, [...]
55 min
June 12, 2012LHS Episode #084: GNU Radio
Introduction:
No music this time; just one hour jam-packed with LHS goodness!
Announcements:
Remember to sign up for the following LHS services:
The LHS SubReddit
The LHS Mailing List
The LHS Mobile app. Follow our updates via the mobile applications available for iPod, iPhone, iPad and Android devices.
Be an LHS Ambassador! Please join our Ambassador program. The event calendar has expanded quite a bit and we need your help. These events are now world-wide, so we could use some help outside the US as well as all over the country from California to Maine.
YFKtest: Yes, there really does seem to be a problem. It’s been confirmed by John, EI7IG, that the program does not log contacts for the ARRL Field Day contest. Other contests work fine. Russ plans on emailing the developer, DJ1YFK, with these observations.
From the “Yes, It’s an Antenna” File: Multi-band HF dipole made from horse fencing.
Pulling a Lunduke: Holding Source Code Hostage. Our hosts discuss this blog post by Tom Nardi about Bryan Lunduke’s recent move to open source his software. Bryan is one of the hosts of The Linux Action Show.
Topics:
Software Defined Radio (SDR)
A common topic Russ encountered at Dayton was about the available Linux options for software defined radios.
GNU Radio Project
Version 3.6.0 released in early May, 2012.
Version 3.2.2 is in the Debian Sid repository.
The latest version can be retrieved with git. (Install git with the command “apt-get install git”.) To download the software, issue the command “git clone git://gnuradio.org/gnuradio”.
Build instructions are available for most of the major Linux distributions.
SDR Hardware
Ettus USRP series works with the GNU Radio Project software. There are various models ranging in price from $700 to $2000, depending on the frequency range and options. Various modules allow receive and/or transmit on bands from 30kHz to 5.9GHz. Unfortunately, power output appears to be just 50-200mW, depending on the bands provided by the transmitter daughter board chosen.
Funcube Dongle costs £128 (~$200) and is a receiver only. The Funcube Dongle is a “radio receiver designed to allow anyone to try their hand at reception of satellites like FUNcube”. It covers 51.5MHz - 1.7GHz, less the region from 1.1GHz to 1.2GHz.
Perseus SDR costs $1000 and is also receive-only. It receives 10kHz to 40MHz.
SoftRock SDR is a kit available in various models from $20 to $90. Most are receive-only, but the Ensemble is a 1W HF transceiver. Some models are unavailable at the moment. The SoftRock RXTX Ensemble Transceiver Kit will allow you to build a 1W transceiver for one of the following bands or band groups: 160m, 80m/40m, 30m/20m/17m, or 15m/12m/10m.
RTL-SDR Devices range in price from $20 to $200 and are receive-only. More on the RTL-SDR project in an upcoming episode.
Feedback:
Stewart, VA3PID, wrote to say that Russ was the first person, possibly ever, to correctly place his Scottish accent at Hamvention. He also remarked (in reference to a discussion in episode 71) that Chirp has come a long way; it can now program his Yaesu FT-857D!
Jonas recently re-discovered LHS and expressed his appreciation for the show. Thanks, Jonas!
Stefano, IZ3NVR/KD2BGM, asks for more help getting so2sdr built on his Linux machine. Russ suggests installing the compiler with “apt-get install g++ build-essential”, installing Qt and several other packages as described in Episode 83, then try building the so2sdr program again.
Lastly, David Dominicki left a mostly unintelligible comment in response to Episode 78. Um, thanks… we think.
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:
None.
1 hr 4 min
June 12, 2012 LHS Episode #084: GNU Radio
The 84th installment of your most favoritest podcast is now in the wild. As you may have noticed, we make a lot of assumptions about our listeners on this show; for example: You all love us. We have a good show in store for you today, including antennas made from electric fencing, a question about [...]
1 hr 4 min
May 31, 2012LHS Episode #083: Smokey & The First Lady
Introduction:
Back from Dayton and ready to go.
Topics:
Dayton Hamvention 2012
LHS had the same booth as last year at North Hall #131. Estimated attendance was 25,000 individuals. Russ recounts the experience. Thanks to Matt, KC8BEW, who stopped by and helped out at the booth. The LowSWR podcasters stopped by, too.
FCC Dismisses Texas Ham’s Fourth Petition, Calls it “Repetitive”
Our hosts discuss.
Contest logging for Linux.
Several people at Hamvention asked about contest logging software for Linux, but Russ was at a loss for a recommendation. Upon his return, he discovered…
SO2SDR Contest Logging Software
Stefano, IZ3NVR/KD2BGM was trying to get so2sdr to work under Linux Mint and while it would compile, it did not run, so Russ set about trying to get it going.
It’s not packaged for Debian or Fedora, so it must be built from source, available at the link above.
The program is written in Qt, so it can be run on devices which support that environment, including Linux and Windows. Of course, Qt must be installed in order to compile so2sdr.
Russ also had to install the following packages on his Linux Mint machine: portaudio19-dev (NOT libportaudio-dev; apparently, libportaudio-dev is too old), fftw3 and fftw3-dev
The compilation procedure consists of:
qmake
make
sudo make install
so2sdr compiled and ran fine. It did complain that it wanted a parallel port for switching between radios, but you can ignore that if you don’t need to do that.
Russ gives an overview of the features and capabilities.
There are a few drawbacks:
An apparent lack of SSB support? It seems to be CW-only.
Frequency input checking is broken.
Keystrokes are not intuitive, but are well-documented.
However, the built-in help file is quite useful.
Feedback:
E-mail from Larry, KG4Q, extolling fldigi and JT65-HF. He wishes there was a version of JT65-HF for Linux. Well, Larry, there is! You can download the source here. Also, WSJT does JT65, too.
Chris, K4FH, caught up with Russ at Hamvention and talked about his Linux in the Ham Shack presentation. He managed to put together a fine bunch of slides completely without our help. Sorry, Chris!
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:
“Down Today” by Jonathan Coulton from the album “Artificial Heart”.
“Sucker Punch” by Jonathan Coulton from the album “Artificial Heart”.
1 hr 16 min
May 31, 2012 LHS Episode #083: Smokey & The First Lady
Welcome to the 83rdest episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. Freshly back from the Dayton Hamvention, Russ jumps in by telling everyone his experience at the show this year. The short version: It was great! From there, things move on to a question of FCC rules, at least in the mind of one ham. [...]
1 hr 16 min
May 15, 2012LHS Episode #082: Hamroids
Introduction:
Hacker Public Radio celebrates their 1000th episode!
Announcements:
The Black Sparrow Media Mobile App for iPhone/iPad and Android has been updated. You can now listen to all of the old episodes, as well as new ones, via the app. wAVEgUIDES episodes are now included, as well. All streaming content is now available for iPad/iPhone. Please download and enjoy. It’s at the Google Play marketplace, as well as via the Black Sparrow Media website, and it’s still free!
The LHS Hamvention fund drive was a success! LHS will be at Dayton Hamvention 2012, May 18-20, in the North Hall of the Hara Arena in booth 131, the same place as last year.
Russ fixed a website bug that may have been causing some visitors to see the Black Sparrow Media site when surfing to LHS. Thanks to John, EI7IG, for pointing it out.
Please sign up for the LHS mailing list at https://lists.blacksparrowmedia.net/mailman/listinfo.
Please join the LHS subreddit and contribute show topic ideas, news of interest to our listeners, or just about anything else.
Please tell your friends about the show.
Topics:
Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, in his recent Surfin’ column on the ARRL website, recommends open source Apache OpenOffice and the desktop publishing software Scribus. Note, LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice and is also quite functional. Both offer word processing, spreadsheets, database and presentations. Scribus may have a steep learning curve, but it’s a very powerful program. Easy tasks are easy to accomplish. Complex projects may take more effort to learn. Also note that many open source programs, like OpenOffice, Libre Office and Scribus, are available for Windows, OS X, as well as Linux.
Take a look at the ham radio section at Linux Journal which also has links to their Ham Shack forum.
Richard discovered several open source ham radio applications at Sourceforge: ircDDB_gateway, CQiNET, phppredict, contest loggers, fldigi, paclink-unix, OpenMOR, software for SDR radios, Ham Radio Net Logger, and more. So, don’t just look in your distributions repositories for applications. You may have to compile the programs from SourceForge yourself, but it may be worth the trouble.
Finally, a reminder to visit KE2YK’s Random Oscillations website.
An overview of ham radio apps for Android phones, available at the Android market, aka Google Play:
Morse Code apps:
Morse Decoder ($4.99)
Morse Code Reader (Free)
Morse Trainer Lite (Free)
Morse Trainer ($2.99)
Morse Code Trainer (Free)
Morse Code Keyboard (Free)
Morse Code Teacher ($3.99)
QSO Logging:
Amateur Radio Call Log (Free)
HamLog ($0.99)
Hamroid Free (Free)
Hamroid ($6.53)
Miscellaneous:
QSY (Free)
DroidPSK ($4.99)
DXCluster ($2.49)
DTMF ($2.49)
Echolink (Free)
A few more from Bill:
APRS Viewer (Free)
Ham Radio Tools (Free)
Who Is Calling Me? (Free)
Feedback:
Ronny, K4RJJ, regrets that he won’t be able to act as the LHS ambassador at the Knoxville hamfest. If you’d like to be our representative at the Knoxville, or any other event, please contact us via the Ambassador link on the website.
Roy, KK4ATD, reiterates how much fun it is to be an LHS ambassador.
Chris, K4FH, says he offers a presentation at club meetings he calls Linux in the Ham Shack. He’s hoping Richard or Russ has some material they can share.
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:
“Gunpowder Chant” by Diablo Swing Orchestra from the album “The Butcher’s Ballroom,” courtesy of Jamendo.
“L.E.O.” by Oleg Serkov from the album “Epoch Symbol,” courtesy of Jamendo.
1 hr 12 min
May 15, 2012 LHS Episode #082: Hamroids
In a world first, or maybe just podcast first, the guys throw caution to the wind and actually product an episode with some real Linux and ham radio content. We know it's shocking, but sometimes--just sometimes--a miracle happens and you get the belly laughs along with something to stimulate your gray matter. We can't promise [...]
1 hr 12 min
May 03, 2012LHS Episode #081: Chicken Licker Bumpy Bumpy
Introduction:
Loctite… not just for noisy children any more.
Announcements:
The Fourth Annual Southeast Linuxfest is scheduled for June 8-10, 2012 in Charlotte, NC.
Please sign up for the LHS mailing list.
Please join our new Subreddit and contribute news stories, discussion topics, and any other items that may be of interest to our listeners.
Scott, N8VSI, has tentatively agreed to be our ambassador at the Ohio Linux Fest in Columbus, Ohio in September, 2012.
It looks like LHS will be at the Dayton Hamvention, May 18-20, 2012 in Dayton, OH. If you’d like to help make that happen, please donate!
LHS is syndicated by the Kamiak Butte Amateur Radio Association, KB7ARA. The linked repeater sites cover almost all of Washington State, some of Oregon, and a bit of Canada as well. They are IRLP and Echolink connected.
Ronny, K4RJJ, will be our ambassador at the Knoxville Hamfest on June 8th, 2012. Ronny calls in to discuss the upcoming Knoxville Hamfest, and his previous experiences as LHS ambassador.
Feedback:
David, KE0AZ, writes to ask if LHS will be at Ham-Com, June 8-9, 2012, in Plano, TX.
LinuxCanuck writes to defend Kubuntu against Richard’s recent tirades.
Topics:
IRSSI Tips and Tricks
Irssi is a terminal based IRC client for UNIX systems. It also supports SILC and ICB protocols via plugins. Russ offers some tips on making Irssi a bit friendlier.
The functionality and ease of use of Irssi can be extended by installing and using third-party scripts. These scripts are written in Perl and available at scripts.irssi.org.
Once you download the script file, which we’ll call “dlfile” in the example below, you can install it and have it automatically run with Irssi by performing the following steps:
Create the scripts and autorun directories:
linux> mkdir -p ~/.irssi/scripts/autorun
Move the downloaded script file to the scripts directory:
linux> mv ~/.irssi/scripts
Change to the autorun directory:
linux> cd ~/.irssi/scripts/autorun
Create a link to the downloaded script:
linux> ln -s ../ .
Some interesting scripts Russ is using:
nicklist-away.pl - provides a nick list and shows away status.
screen_away.pl - sets the away status when screen detaches.
nickcolor.pl - assigns a different color to each nick.
Our hosts discuss the new release of Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) with the MATE and Cinnamon desktops.
More Feedback:
Stefano, IZ3NVR and KD2BGM, asks for help finding a good Linux contest logging program that supports SO2R (single operator, two radios) and CW keying. We don’t know of any, but perhaps one of our listeners can offer a suggestion.
John, KD7AAT, offered a bit of criticism about the political content of episode 79 with Fab.
Mike writes to extol the virtues of Linux Mint Debian Edition with the XFCE desktop, and hopes Richard will find it a suitable alternative to Linux Mint or Kubuntu. He also suggests Crunchbang Linux. Richard and Russ respond.
Donations:
Don sent a nice donation for the Hamvention fund. Thanks, Don! We also received donations from Bob K., Charles H., Scott P., Craig B., and Harrison K. Thank you, everyone!
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:
“Gold and Steel” by Isaac Graham from the album Empty Vessels.
“Charly” by Higgins from the album Zs.
1 hr 39 min
May 03, 2012 LHS Episode #081: Chicken Licker Bumpy Bumpy
Welcome to the latest installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. It's almost time for Hamvention 2012! We hope that we'll be able to see our listeners and friends at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio from May 18th through the 20th. With your donations, the thermometer at left has almost exploded. If you can [...]
1 hr 39 min
April 19, 2012LHS Episode #080: Fitch Best
Introduction:
Tornado season has begun in Texas! Check out the videos at kcares.info
Announcements:
The donations for the LHS to Dayton Hamvention fund have stalled. If you’d like to see LHS return to the Hamvention this year, please make a donation in the next week or two. All donations will go toward the cost of the booth in the vendor exhibition hall. If we fail to raise enough to attend, then the funds will go toward the expenses of producing LHS.
Topics:
Richard’s Linux Adventures
Thank You Kubuntu, for once again obliterating Richard’s boot sectors.
Russ suggests using dd to perform what is essentially a low-level format of the drive. For example,
dd bs=1m if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
NOTE: This will totally erase your hard drive! Use caution!
Matthew, KC8BEW, in the chat room, suggests using Spinrite to repair a hard drive.
Richard declares that Debian is the Jesus Christ of Linux distributions, as it raised his hard drive from the dead, at least temporarily. It was the only distro he found that managed to install grub on the drive.
Richard also declares that Linux Mint sucks… at least for him. Audacity caused 100% CPU usage, spell check didn’t work, and it crashes.
Also discussed: CentOS, Scientific Linux, Fedora, PCLinuxOS, Xubuntu, lubuntu.
Richard is writing an ebook on the National Traffic System.
Russ again suggests Richard try Debian, but Richard says it won’t let him install Firefox. Maybe there’s a hardware issue? (Perhaps memtest might find a memory error? -Ed.)
Donations:
We received several donations from visitors to the Dalton Hamfest and the KARC Hamfest. Thank you to our ambassador Ronny (K4RJJ) and to everyone who stopped by our booth at those events.
Russ hoped to interview Roy, KK4ATD, our ambassador to the RARSfest last week. Apparently, the LHS booth was a great success.
If you’d like to be an ambassador for LHS at an event, email us at [email protected] and visit the Ambassadors link on the web site.
Feedback:
Fab, co-host of Linux Outlaws, left a couple comments on the website expressing his gratitude for being on the show.
Bob (W9YA) offers Russ some suggestions for entering the contact exchange information in YFKtest.
LinuxCanuck left a comment saying he enjoyed the episode with Fab, asks for help getting the feed links on the web site to work, and offers some thoughts about Kubuntu.
Roy, KK4ATD, the LHS ambassador to RARSFest, calls in to the show and describes the event. He’s also building a repository of ham radio packages for CentOS, called Hamux.
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.
1 hr 21 min