In the latest episode of Linux in the Ham Shack, Bill plays dead for Halloween. In his absence, Russ and Cheryl discuss long-distance 2-meter communication, vanity call sign rules, Windows 10 embedding Linux, Wal-mart, Arch Linux, Norse gods, fake Mexican food and a whole lot more. Thank you for tuning in. We appreciate you!

73 de The LHS Crew

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].

Does the world need more Arduino clocks? Maybe not.

But I needed another Arduino project as I had made a K3NG morse keyer. I love this keyer because it is unique in supporting a display where you can see what you send. But I wasn’t using the morse keyer all the time, so I wanted the hardware to serve two purposes. That’s the excuse for also making a clock.

Its main features are:

• Controlled by a GPS module outputting data over an RS232 serial interface, and handled with the TinyGPS++ library
• Shows raw GPS data such as UTC time and date, position, altitude, and number of satellitess
• Shows derived GPS data such as 6-digit locator
• Finds local time and handles daylight saving automatically using the Timezone library
• Finds local sunset and sunrise, either actual value, or civil, nautical, or astronomical. The library is Sunrise.
• The clock also gives local solar height based on the Sunpos library from the K3NG rotator controller. 
• Finally, the clock also provides the lunar phase based on ideas found here and using a reference new moon on 11 November 2015, 11:47 (UNIX time 1447264020)

Local time, solar and lunar state Line 1: Local day, date, time Line 2: Sunrise, maximum solar elevation (actual solar angle during the day), sunset Line 3: Civil dawn, local time at maximum solar elevation, civil dusk Line 4: Lunar phase, arrow showing that it is rising, days since new moon

UTC and position display Line 1: UTC time, locator Line 3: latitude, longitude Line 4: Altitude, number of GPS satellites

Dual time display with local time, UTC time, and locator

The post “Yet another Arduino clock” first appeared on the LA3ZA Radio & Electronics Blog.

Sverre Holm, LA3ZA, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Norway. Contact him at [email protected].

Does the world need more Arduino clocks? Maybe not. But I needed another Arduino project as I had made a K3NG morse keyer. I love this keyer because it is unique in supporting a display where you can see what you send.

But I wasn’t using the morse keyer all the time, so I wanted the hardware to serve two purposes. That’s the excuse for also making a clock. Its main features are:

• Controlled by a GPS module outputting data over an RS232 serial interface, and handled with the TinyGPS++ library
• Shows raw GPS data such as UTC time and date, position, altitude, and number of satellitess
• Shows derived GPS data such as 6-digit locator
• Finds local time and handles daylight saving automatically using the Timezone library
• Finds local sunset and sunrise, either actual value, or civil, nautical, or astronomical. The library is Sunrise.
• The clock also gives local solar height based on the Sunpos library from the K3NG rotator controller. 
• Finally, the clock also provides the lunar phase based on ideas found here and using a reference new moon on 11 November 2015, 11:47 (UNIX time 1447264020)

Local time, solar and lunar state Line 1: Local day, date, time Line 2: Sunrise, maximum solar elevation (actual solar angle during the day), sunset Line 3: Civil dawn, local time at maximum solar elevation, civil dusk Line 4: Lunar phase, arrow showing that it is rising, days since new moon

UTC and position display Line 1: UTC time, locator Line 3: latitude, longitude Line 4: Altitude, number of GPS satellites

Dual time display with local time, UTC time, and locator

The post “Yet another Arduino clock” first appeared on the LA3ZA Radio & Electronics Blog.

Sverre Holm, LA3ZA, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Norway. Contact him at [email protected].

There's more to using Morse Code than Learning Morse Code

Head Copying

How to practice for a ragchew

THIS IS COMMUNICATION with Morse Code and it is different than anything else we are familiar with so treat it as learning a new skill.

Next steps

After you've practiced with machine sent top 100 or top 500 words you'll still need time copying actual QSOs because more often than not, most operators you will communicate with have lousy spacing and run their words together or use so many abbreviations that you'll have to learn to hear the abbreviations as new words.  When I work an operator who runs things together I'll first try to really exaggerate my word spacing during my exchange to give them a hint and if that doesn't work I ask them put more space between their words.  Some will comply, but some folks just don't seem to know how to leave space so I'll catch what I can, politely respond to what I could understand and then move on.

So if you're getting discouraged when you reach a wall of comprehension, try the steps above and with time I think you'll find your comprehension during a ragchew improving and it will take you to a new place in the hobby.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations... and put extra space between your words!

73
Richard AA4OO

Update 11/7/2016:

KA8BMA pointed me to a nice reference created by W0XI for the top 100 "Ham Words" used in QSOs... check it out most common ham words
Richard Carpenter, AA4OO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from North Carolina, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

We have an autumn feast of amateur radio content in this ‘13 – lucky for some’ episode of TX Factor!

Bob gets to weigh up the latest offering of digital transceivers with Gary from ML&S.

We chat about the weather with two experts who always look on the bright side. Jim Bacon and Steve Nichols explain how we can work with the prevailing conditions to maximise our chances of good DX.

And Bob realises a boyhood dream by reliving the heady days of offshore radio on the UK’s high seas.

The Show is available to watch now at www.txfactor.co.uk

We hope you enjoy this nostalgic show.

Nick Bennett 2EØFGQ co-hosts TX Factor with Bob McCreadie GØFGX and Mike Marsh G1IAR. Contact the team at [email protected]

The University of Victoria online SDR from SDR.hu

A posting today on Yahoos' ndblist Group by Geir, LA6LU, pointed to a list of online SDR receivers at various locations around the globe. I have seen similar lists like this in the past, only to be disappointed when finding many of the receivers impossible to get operating or arriving at a dead link. This list appears to be up-to-date as a quick check of four random receivers saw all four come to life quickly!

The site is run by Andras Retzler, the author of the OpenWebRX software that enables these SDR's to be made seamlessly available online through your web browser. Since all of the sites use the same software, all receivers appear the same, thus providing a very short operational learning curve. At the time of this posting, there were 76 online SDRs, a number that fluctuates slightly throughout the day. Conveniently, the site also indicates how many users are currently using any individual receiver.

I can think of several very handy uses of such a resource, from checking your own on-air signal to confirming, in real time, a suspected DX catch that you might be hearing from your own location. You may even be interested in putting your own SDR online for others to share. It really is a very useful resource and while there, check out the rest of Andras's interesting site.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].