AmateurRadio.com

Introduction:

• Apologies for being late with this episode.

Announcements:

• LHS had planned on attending the Ohio LinuxFest on September 9-11 in Columbus,OH, and the Huntsville, AL hamfest Aug 21-22, but it’s just too expensive. To address that, LHS has started the LHS Ambassadors program where listeners of the show act as representatives for LHS at events. If you’re interested, please contact us at [email protected]
• When you make a donation to LHS, you can choose to appear on the Sponsors page on the LHS website.
• Linux Format magazine, the producers of the Tux Radar podcast, recently reviewed various Linux-related podcasts, and LHS wasn’t even mentioned! Ouch!
• Richard announces the demise of Resonant Frequency: The Amateur Radio Podcast. Richard is looking for a place to post the articles and other content. The podcast episodes are saved at the Internet Archive, and the videos will remain on YouTube.

Topics:

• WinLink and AX.25
• Richard describes his trials and tribulations getting a WinLink packet gateway working under Ubuntu Linux.
• For the most part, Richard followed the instructions provided by Charles, K4GBB: How to install RMS Gate.
• Richard and Russ describe the steps in the Howto and possible pitfalls. Richard notes that you’ll probably want to run the commands as the root user, either by logging in as root or using sudo.
• (Note, near the end of Section 4 of the Howto, it appears the author left out the “wget” in the command to retrieve the script. On the page it reads:

  Get Script – Bernard has written a little Housekeeping script...

  http://f6bvp.free.fr/logiciels/ax25/rc.init.script && ...

• I think that command should be:

  wget http://f6bvp.free.fr/logiciels/ax25/rc.init.script && ...

  Note that I’ve shortened the lines with ellipses here. -Ed.)

• Other useful links:
  • AX.25 HowTo
  • HowTo:AX.25 – Ubuntu/Debian
  • How to set up an RMS Gate on Linux

Feedback:

• Andy, KB1OIQ, tells us of his Ham Radio Linux CD, based on Ubuntu Linux 10.10, and includes many ham radio programs.
• Rich, KD0BJT, of the LowSWR podcast, is working on a ham radio-related Linux distribution, too.

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:

• “Mendes” by Assembly Line Gods from the album “Control: Volume 1.”
• “Pound of Flesh” by Assembly Line Gods from the album “Control: Volume 1.”

Please note that the music in this episode is neither Creative Commons nor podsafe. To support the artist, please visit Assembly Line Gods on Facebook, iTunes or at http://www.assemblylinegods.com.

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

The North Texas Balloon Project is going to be launching mission number 19 tomorrow, at about 8:30am central time. The balloon will have a few payloads attached with different sensors and a 10 meter beacon aboard. It’s expected to go up to 100,000 feet, which will take approximately 90 minutes and return by parachute in about 50 minutes. A recovery team will track and retrieve the balloon using it’s on board APRS. All the particulars for mission 19 can be found on the group’s website. There is also information on their past flights as well. Below, I found a nice little video for a 2009 flight they did. This kind of thing is still on my bucket list to do. Maybe I should take the time this winter to start planning something out. Do some research and get some stuff together for it. And if I wasn’t already going to be running around Upstate NY all day tomorrow, I would be trying to listen for this on 10 meters and watching on APRS.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, The Rock of Albany’s website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

Rich Gattie, KB2MOB, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New York, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

I usually meet fellow hams on air and then continue our contact via the web. Last night was the other way around and it was a bit embarrassing. I am member of FISTS, the International Morse Preservation Society. I am a bit of a loner, not much into clubs, but do enjoy meeting like-minded folk, so I joined them. FISTS is nice because it encouraged learning Morse code and using it on air. FISTS has some chapters and I joined the East Asia chapter, which is comprised mostly of Japanese members. I offered to help edit and proofread the newsletter and Nao (JO3HPM), the editor-in-chief, took up the offer. For the last couple of months we have had a pleasant exchange via e-mail.

So last night I decided to practise my CW on air and answered a CQ on 30 meters, 10118 kHz to be precise. You may have already guessed it: the CQ came from JO3HPM and 10118 kHz is the FISTS calling frequency in the 30 meter band. Totally oblivious to both facts I started the QSO and only after Nao alerted me who he was it dawned on me whom I was having a QSO with. After my embarrassment faded away we had a very enjoyable 20 minute QSO. I am still a CW beginner and rely on Fldigi as a decoding back-up if my decoding skills fail. But with Nao this was hardly necessary, as he decreased his speed and repeated the more difficult words. That is the spirit and makes being a member of FISTS all the more worth while.

The only other thing……please don’t tell the NCC I had this QSO, because the band allocation for 30 meters here in Taiwan is 10.13 to 10.15 MHz only. Don’t ask me why. 73 de Hans (BX2ABT)

Hans "Fong" van den Boogert, BX2ABT, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Taiwan. Contact him at [email protected].

Over the past week I have been doing some radio soul searching..... it all started with some operating time on my Elecraft K3. For some reason I turned to my left and there also on my desk was my Elecraft K2 with literally "0" operating time. At the begining of the summer I wanted to get the K2 portable and use it along with my KX1 on outings. I have the 100 watt module installed in the K2 and that would have to be removed and remote mounted for home use. So I went ahead and ordered the enclosure from Electraft to do this. I had planned this project to begin in the fall along with some other radio projects. Then it hit me "if I have the K2 why am I purchasing another portable rig ....the KX3" I shook my head wondering if Julie had slipped something in my tea!!!! So began the soul searching........the gears started to turn...what was the radio smarts thing to do....

1. KNB2 noise blanker
2. KDSP2 DSP module
3. KIO2 serial interface
4. KAT100 auto turner (to be built and for home use)
5. KPA100 watts module (for home use)

For this rig to go portable I need....

1. KAT2 internal 20 auto tuner
2. KBT2 internal gel cell battery

1. The KX3.....................................800.00 
2. Battery..........................................80.00  
3. Paddle..........................................90.00
4. Mounting bracket..........................30.00
5. Filter..............................................60.00
6. Mike..............................................60.00  

                     Sub total................1289.00                                                                                           
                     Shipping....................50.00 (approx)
                     Total cost...............1339.00

So again I asked my self "Do I need the KX3 or do I just WANT it!"

Don't get me wrong the KX3 is a GREAT radio and has many many things the K2 does not and will not ever have. I do have the cash on hand to purchase the KX3 it was all earned selling equipment around the shack. But after looking over what I already have....a fantastic fully loaded Elecraft K3 for home use. An equally fantastic portable rig being the K2 I am afraid I have to bow out of the KX3 race for now. I can't say the KX3 may never darken the shack but at this time my radio smarts tell me...."not now"
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

It was balloon foxhunt day today. A yearly event I always try to participate in you can find some more information on http://www.ballonvossenjacht.nl. I always try to improve my station to connect via the balloon transponder. And as always try to get my call into the logbook on 80m. Well, the propagation was very low today on 80m I could hardly copy PI4VRZ/A who was this time on USB instead of the normal LSB. But I finally managed to get my call into the log. I wanted to improve a little since last year so I removed the rotor from below my vertical and placed it on a tripod with on top horizontally my dual band Maspro beam with about 5 degrees elevation. Overall I noriced about 3dB improvement in favor of the Maspro beam. Not bad considering it was on about 4 Mtr above ground behind the house and the vertical nearly 6 Mtr above ground with free sight to the south. Last year I recorded a QSO between PD5DP and G4RUL, this year I succeed to make a QSO via the transponder with G4RUL. So I made a improvement for shure. I did use both radios to see the difference between the two antennas instantly. I noticed that all radio equipment was covered by a pile of dust an the Icom gets very old it switched off twice without touching anything and FM output was only there after 30 minutes. But who cares, I’ve been radio active again.

You can find a small video here

Bas, PE4BAS, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Groningen, Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

Several amateur radio bloggers have already blogged about this news and the forum thread over at QRZ as all but gone viral.  I realize I’m late to the party, but until today, until this very hour I was of two minds if I would blog about this news.  I’m really not the type of person (and blogger) who wants to report the news.  I say this because 1. it’s already been reported and B. I’m really not sure I want my blog to be about that. 

I made this decision regarding my amateur radio podcast as well.  Meaning, I didn’t want to report the news.  In the example of the podcast, there are already very good amateur radio news based podcasts available.  The goal for my podcast was simple.  I wanted the content and the knowledge shared to be relevant not only at the time of release, but also very much so a year from now, two years from now and beyond.  I’m very much humbled when I receive an email from a new listener who informs me  they have just discovered my podcast and they are in the process of listening to all the previous episodes.  By the way, the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast is up to episode 46 and is in its fourth season. 

Regarding blogging, I just simply don’t have the time to stay current on all the amateur radio news.  Also, like with podcasting….there’s already a lot of “current news” type of blogs out there.  Since I try to mix in both my own personal amateur radio activities along with educational content, I would like to keep my blog posts as valuable a year or two from now as they might be to someone today.

I discovered Ham Radio Deluxe back in the late summer, early fall timeframe of 2007.  I had just earned my ticket and a colleague of mine had been using it for a few months and said you gotta get this software.  It does all this really cool rig control and has digital mode software for PSK and RTTY built in.  He told me about the logbook features and then said….it’s Free!  I hadn’t been a ham very long, but it didn’t take a lot of time to learn the value of it’s Free!

I downloaded and installed the software and got my Yaesu FT-897D connected without any issues.  It was this software which I used to log my very first ham radio contact into as well as what I used for those incredible digital modes like PSK-31.  I seem to remember many software updates were made available and each time things always seemed to get better and better.

The upgrade to version 5 (the current version) came with much improved functionality around the logbook and a few other bells and whistles that I currently don’t use.  Starting sometime in 2008, I would make the occasional donation to the developer of HRD.  While I don’t have the exact dollar amount etched into my memory, I would say between 2008 and present time I’ve done my share to help support the software. 

I’ll be honest and state for the record, that I’ve only tried and/or researched a few other types of rig control software.  I do use other logging software titles for specific contests and then import the contacts afterwards into my HRD logbook.  But when I’ve looked into other full-function types of products they either didn’t do everything I was accustomed to from HRD or were priced a little higher than I wanted to spend.  It’s not that I’m against paying for software, but when I did a “nuts to bolts” comparison…I simply couldn’t justify replacing Ham Radio Deluxe. 

I learned of the news about HRD from the QRZ forums on 12 September.  I’ve been visiting QRZ a lot in recent weeks checking on my extra upgrade.  I use the FCC link in my QRZ callsign record to quickly view the ULS record.  Yes, it still hasn’t been approved.  Anyway, while visiting QRZ I will read some of the news items on the main page.  I dare not go any deeper into the depths of the QRZ forums for risk of being pulled into the dark side.  Ha ha  But for the most part the news items are safe as long as you view them while the news is fresh.  Otherwise, you might read a lot of negativity as our fellow hams begin to comment on what ever the news item is about.

Basically what caught my eye in that article was the subject line which stated “Development to continue on HRD”.  Initial thoughts were “that’s cool” as I hadn’t seen an update since early 2011 timeframe.  I drilled into the thread to learn while development would continue on HRD, it would be done by different individuals and that Simon had sold the rights to HRD to those individuals.  At this time the thread only had about 3 pages of comments.  Today I believe there are over 10 pages.

What we know at the present time is more of less what is covered in the first few pages of the thread.  Ham Radio Deluxe was sold and it will continue to be developed and supported.  The rest really is speculation and the only thing I’ll say is I’m under the impression (since a financial transaction of an undetermined amount took place) Ham Radio Deluxe will shift from a donationware model to a payware model.  But this really is only my impression.

As I said, there’s a lot of emotion taking place in the QRZ thread and I’m only to assume that this emotion is being played out in other ham radio forums.  Like many, I’m somewhat sad to see this happening….but I also enter it with a degree of optimism.  First the sad feeling.  I’m sad from the standpoint that something I always appreciated viewing on the HRD website was the following statement “Keep Amateur Radio Free”.  This spirit is what makes the hobby so special.  The free-flow of knowledge shared from one to another is exactly the character of amateur radio.  While we can’t expect everything in amateur radio to be free, when someone has a talent and develops something like HRD, it truly is a gift to the hobby.  This is exactly the same and shares the same value (in my opinion) as someone who shares their knowledge with others in the form of Elmering or someone who donates their time to become a VE. 

My optimism?  Well, since HRD is already a product which I know and use, I’m optimistic the continued development will not only match, but surpass the standard of quality we have come to know of Ham Radio Deluxe.  While it might be hard to imagine HRD getting any better than it is now, I’m sure there are many enhancements that could be made to an already great product to truly make it better.

Donationware versus payware?  As I have stated, I donated what I believed was a fair amount over the course of the last 3-4 years.  How much I donated is between me and my conscience, and of course what I perceive is both the value of the product and all the enhancements made since I’ve been using it.  While I believe I’ve contributed enough to cover what currently is HRD, I’ll certainly evaluate any future enhancements the new owners make and balance that to what HRD is as of today.  I may feel any new enhancements made is something I can or can’t live without. 

While it has been discussed once or twice (and with a lot of passion) in those ten pages over at QRZ, I doubt the new owners will issue any sort of cease and desist order to either pay for the new HRD or stop using the old.  While I work in the software and hard industry, I’m not an attorney, I don’t play one on TV and I also didn’t sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night, So I can’t and won’t pretend to know what I’m talking about.  But I certainly can’t see where the new owners will have any ground to stand on in attempting that maneuver when HRD has been and was certainly always intended to be free as the current version stands today.

I would just like to close by saying a sincere THANK YOU to Simon Brown and all the many individuals who donated their time and efforts and made available a wonderful product.  If you haven’t tried Ham Radio Deluxe, I certainly recommend it.  For now, the HRD website is operational and the current version 5 is available for download.   Also, at present time the link still takes you to Simon’s website where the download is 100% free.  As you might expect in a few days, a few weeks, next month…certainly sometime in the near future the URL may redirect to another website where you’ll find HRD is now payware. 

Until next time,

73 de KD0BIK

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].

I tried to visit the Bob Heil’s Ham Nation show homepage on the TWiT.tv site today and received this error:

Hopefully they’ll be able to get this resolved soon.  Ham Nation is a great show and provides needed exposure to ham radio to quite a large tech audience.

UPDATE:

From Graham Cluley at Sophos:

The website run by internet celebrity Leo Laporte, TWiT.tv, has been hit by a malware infection intended to infect visiting computers.

Hackers have managed to inject a line of malicious code, in the form of an iFrame, at the very top of the TWiT website pointing to a webpage with a .cz.cc domain name.

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].