AmateurRadio.com

With the impending end-of-life of Windows XP a few weeks ago, I found myself with a bit of a predicament:  My shack PC is a dual-core 64-bit system (3.0-GHz Pentium-D) so it’s not really a slouch performer.  But, it had only 1 GB of RAM, which was fine for XP.  I could upgrade my RAM and upgrade Windows, or I could upgrade the RAM and dispense with Windows altogether.

I opted to drop Windows.

My almost-3-year-old son helped me install 4 GB of RAM last weekend.  (Actually, he spent more time asking about the capacitors on the motherboard. Kids these days.)

I’m a long-time GNU/Linux user (just over 15 years, actually) and fan.  However, as I wrote once in the past, I’m also fan of getting things done.  So, I kept using Windows 95 / MS-DOS for many years on my hamshack computer, with a brief several-year foray into using Windows XP when I moved to TR4W logging software.  Linux finally became ready for prime time in my hamshack when Kevin, W9CF, ported TR-Log over a couple of years ago.  After ensuring it wasn’t a fad, I was ready to jump.  Over the past week or so, I’ve been tailoring the setup of everything to bring back the functionality I had previously.

So, what broke?

• I have an nVidia graphics card for my second monitor. Failure. Not sure how much I care. Maybe I’ll look for an old ATI card or something else with drivers?  Anybody have a plain PCI video card with VGA or HDMI kicking around?
• Windows-specific software that I’ll probably just quit using:  AVR Studio and SH5. Didn’t really use these much anyway.
• Now, for the truly bizarre:  My Elecraft K2/100 throws an ERR 080 on power-up if I disrupt communication between it and TR-Linux (does not matter if the K2 goes off first or TRLinux quits first).  I have to disconnect the RS-232 cable at the back of the K2 for a while and then it comes back OK.
• ARRL’s Trusted QSL software version 2.0.1 didn’t compile immediately without dependency problems. Further study indicated.

And, what works?

• TRLinux talks to both the K3/100 and the K2/100, as well as the YCCC SO2R+ controller.
• Made some QSOs and uploaded the signed log to LoTW.
• Pretty much everything else…

Dayton or not? Hamvention vs. Hamcation

I have been to Dayton http://hamvention.org/ many times and due to the fact that I live in Florida now I end up going to Orlando HamCation http://hamcation.com/ just become of the convince for me. I was just listening to a few people driving home on Dstar and started to think about why I didn’t go.

Dayton was also great because there was a new announcement of radio, great meetups with friends I have not seen in a while and I keep wondering why, is it cost. Is it just because I get the same deals in Orlando or is it because it lost its appeal?

The rest of my question:

http://nicktoday.com/dayton-hamvention-vs-hamcation/

Today was magic! Everything has turned green in the last couple of days. Judy and I rode our bikes in Old Hill Village this afternoon. I brought the KX3 and worked Slovenia, Lithuania, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts, Indiana and South Dakota.

We started out at Shop Road and headed south. We could tell the Pemigewasset River was high. But we were surprised when we found the road was flooded about a mile into the trip.

We turned around and rode back to the camper. Then we headed south by car several miles and came into the flood control area from the other end. It was gorgeous. After riding for ten minutes or so, we came to a beautiful little cove.

Soon the old road leveled out through a large field not far from the river. But we were on high ground and didn’t see any more water on the road.

We stopped in front of an old butternut tree a mile or so farther on. I’ve operated here before.

You can see Judy in the background. She brought her knitting and is working on some booties for a friend’s new baby. I tossed my line over the tallest branch and set up a vertical wire. I ran the KX3 at 5 watts and started out on 17 meters. Right away I worked W1AW/0 in South Dakota. I jumped between 17, 15 and 12 meters to work six stations in about 20 minutes.
Here’s my log:

18 May-14 2026 18.085 W1AW/0 CW 599 599 SD
18 May-14 2030 24.892 HI3LFE CW 599 599 Dominican Rep
18 May-14 2034 21.035 LY10W CW 599 599 Lithuania
18 May-14 2037 18.068 S51TA CW 559 599 Slovenia
18 May-14 2043 18.076 W9FAM CW 599 599 IN
18 May-14 2044 18.077 V44KAI CW 599 599 St. Kitts

From this spot I look east across the Pemi to Sanbornton. It’s beautiful.

I packed up the gear for the ride south to the camper. Judy took a quick snapshot of me and the bike.

Series Seven Episode Ten of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast has been released. The latest news, Martin (M1MRB) and Colin (M6BOY) discuss AllStarNet Infrastructure and Martin (M1MRB) dicusses Mobile Hands Free.

• Radio Hams keep 'Queen Mary' wireless on the Air
• Ofcom RF spectrum map
• Taking Amateur Radio to near the world's roof top
• AMSAT-India VO-52 completes 9 years in orbit
• Ten-Tec Merges with RF Concepts/Alpha Amplifiers
• New technique to manufacture super-capacitors cheaply
• New 472-479khz spectrum allocation for Amateur Radio in Canada
• How to reinstate a lapsed UK Amateur Radio licence

This electronic keyer is the only one I had in years. The ETM-2b is ready for the ham radio museum and is 38 years old and still doing its job very well. I made a lot of qso’s over the years with this keyer. I can’t say good bye to this keyer. It will be companion until the end.

In the late afternoon I started WSPR on 6 meter. I was spotted by PA3MET 13 times. You can see the doppler effect or air plane reflection because between our QTH's is Amsterdam airport Schiphol with a lot of air traffic.

No radio today because it's my birthday and a lot of family and friends are coming to visit me.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve managed to steal away to the machine shop and continue to work on mounting the Schurr Einbau mechanism. I found a piece of polycarbonate in my scrap bin to make the interface between the Einbau and the base. It turned out that the mounting holes are tapped M3-0.5 so I had to make trip to Ace. While I was there, I picked up some brass screws also. Total cost of the project is 52.99 USD. I bored the holes in the base today with the milling machine and tapped them when I got home. Couldn’t resist putting it all together even though I haven’t finished polishing the base or the polycarbonate plate…