AmateurRadio.com

Welcome to the first Linux in the Ham Shack for the new year! 2011 is upon us and we wanted to present our listeners with a fantabulous new show. That’s what you’re going to get. We were able to entice the lead developer of FLDIGI, W1HKJ, to come on the program and give us his personal insights into this best-of-class Open Source amateur radio software.

Yes, we know we talk about FLDIGI a lot in our program. We try not to beat it to death. But if you use this program, there is so much information packed into this interview, you’re going to learn at least a dozen things you didn’t know about FLDIGI, even if you use it every day. So sit back, strap in, and join us on this thrill-packed ride into the dark and seedy innards of your favorite digital mode app. We were impressed; you will be too.

73 de The LHS Guys

Charles M0OXO laments the fact that England is 334th in the list of the most wanted 338 DXCC entities, in other words the fifth least wanted. Isn’t it a sad waste of a hobby not to mention the vast sums of money people spend on equipment and antennas if the main interest in making a contact is just to be able to tick off a new country? I guess that’s why I find DXing and DX blogs boring. I’d rather read about what people are building, new things that they are experimenting with or how far (even if it isn’t all that far) someone manages to work with a peanut whistle.

Many who know me in the New England area know I love to go to a park or an open field and play radio.  Often on the Appalachian trail or state or federal park.  Simple to do, tons of fun.  It is also a great opportunity to talk up radio for those that are curious.  When I operate, I often carry some brochures from the ARRL with my contact information so I can help them get in a class, if interested.

Field day, every time.  Go out, throw up your antenna in a tree and play.  It doesn’t get any simpler than that.  I’ve also worked the world on HF, 100 watts this way as well (OK, believe it or not, still no JA, but I’m working on it!!!).

Craig, VK3VCM has put up a great video (in HD too!!!) that goes over just how to set up and operate portable if you haven’t done so.  If you’ve been curious, this is a great introduction to portable HF operating, but also the new Kenwood TS-590.

I put all of my equipment in a go box and I’ll work on getting a post up with that rig setup soon.  I essentially plug in power and antenna and I’m off and running.

If you find any other great videos, post them below.

Big news today for Apple fans.  After years of speculation —  it’s here.  The Verizon iPhone. The cost?  $199 for the 16GB version.  $299 for the 32GB version.  Both require a contract, of course.  No word what the Verizon iPhone plans are going to cost or whether they’ll be different than other smartphone plans.

The new CDMA iPhone will be available to existing Verizon Wireless customers on February 3rd.  Everyone else will have to wait until February 10th.

Will you be switching?  Why or why not?

What are your favorite ham radio apps for iPhone/iPod Touch?

It’s come to our attention several times over the last few months that listeners who use gPodder to download the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast have had a problem with missing episodes. After a very lengthy investigation we have traced the problem to a bug in one of the plugins that we use for our WordPress site. That problem was leading to a <lastBuildDate> tag in our RSS feed that was far into the future. This meant that gPodder wouldn’t update its feed information until that date arrived, causing new episodes not to show up.

We have taken care of the feed building issue, but those who use gPodder must still delete and re-add the Linux in the Ham Shack feed to their podcatcher in order to fix this problem. That will ensure that your version of gPodder has the correct RSS feed build date and you will receive new episodes as they are released.

Thank you for your attention, and if you have any further questions make sure to send them our way!

73 de The LHS Guys

One of the reasons why I have not been an enthusiast of the D-Star system is that it creates a separate class of activity incompatible with existing voice modes just for the dubious benefit (from an amateur point of view) of using digital voice instead of analogue. Using EchoLink, IRLP and APRS we already have a global network that allows one ham to contact another anywhere in the world using ham radio, one that does not require anyone to purchase expensive new equipment from Icom or anyone else. What we have not done is put it together in a way that makes it work seamlessly as a coherent network.

Automatic Voice Relay System (AVRS) is an idea by Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, the inventor of APRS, first published in 2000, to create a system that allows users of EchoLink, IRLP and even D-Star to inter-communicate. APRS provides the location and identification information for the analogue FM EchoLink and IRLP users, something that is already built in to the D-Star system. As is often the case, those who have the great ideas don’t always have the skills needed to bring them to fruition, so AVRS remained little more than an idea for ten years.

Now, apparently, a developer has been found who is able and willing to write the software that will enable AVRS version 2 to come into being. You can read more about AVRS here. For seamless one-button operation you will need one of the new generation of APRS-capable radios (Kenwood TM-D710, TH-D72 or Yaesu FTM-350) that are able to QSY to a frequency contained in an APRS packet. Some will argue that if you are going to buy one of those, why not buy a D-Star radio instead? But AVRS capability, being based on APRS, can easily and inexpensively be added to any analogue FM radio. AVRS will not leave analogue FM users out in the cold because their local repeater converted to D-Star, as has happened in some parts of Britain.

One of the interesting aspects of AVRS version 2 is the development of A-Star repeaters. These are analogue FM repeaters with a D-Star gateway that use the D-Star network to link them together. Callsign and location (if known) information is transmitted as a 0.3sec APRS packet burst at the end of each over. A-Star users will appear to D-Star users just like other D-Star users and can easily intercommunicate. A-Star users can initiate a contact with another A-Star or D-Star user just by sending an APRS message starting with A*. A-Star users don’t even need to be monitoring a repeater in order to be contactable: they will receive the message as an ordinary APRS message and can QSY to the repeater (with one button press if using one of the radios mentioned above) using the information contained in it.

AVRS looks like a great idea with the potential to bring digital and analogue voice users together. It might even erode some of the analogue vs D-Star conflict.

This evening conditions were good and I managed to have a nice QSO with Jaume, EA3NE in Terrassa, near Barcelona, Spain on 80m PSK31 using the Warbler.  That is nice DX for a such a simple rig as the Warbler, although Jaume’s station clearly helped.

From Greely, ON, Canada to Terrassa, Spain

Copy was good as can be seen in the screenshot below.

Screenshot of QSO with EA3NE

The distance comes in at around 6027 km or 3745 miles. Given the Warbler puts out 3W then this QSO exceeds 1000 miles per Watt. Very pleasing!

Distance calculators can be found using Google Maps, Open Street Maps as well as a useful ‘miles per Watt’ calculator at the QRP ARCI website.