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An action-packed episode awaits your eager ears. In Episode #119 of Linux in the Ham Shack, your intrepid hosts discuss the new Cinnamon desktop, Amazon's desire to make deliveries by unmanned drones, WEFAX and slow-scan television. On top of that, there is information on the best light weight desktop environments for your computer, and the announcement of a new contest where you can win a Raspberry Pi. Check out the Contest page for more details. Thanks as always for being a loyal listener, and have a very merry holiday season!

73 de The LHS Guys

I’ve owned my Raspberry Pi for a while now.  I purchased it around the time they were first introduced (early 2012).  Not having a lot of knowledge in the Linux OS, the most I ever really did with it was set it up and play around with it.  However, my reason for purchasing the RPI was to some how use it for amateur radio purposes. 

As I have mentioned before on my blog, I also own a D-STAR Digital Access Point Dongle (DVAP).  I purchased it in 2011 and had been using it connected to an older Windows XP machine.  I wrote a “first look” post as well as one where I was experimenting on the DVAP range away from my QTH.   However, in following my own advice given in my podcast, The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast episode 64 about the Microsoft Windows XP End of Life, I decided it was time to explore how the DVAP might be used with the Raspberry Pi.

In most situations, Google truly is your friend.  Just doing a simple Google search for DVAP and Raspberry Pi led me to more information than I had time to read.  However, the very first search result happened to provide all the information I needed to setup my Raspberry Pi to work with my DVAP dongle.  Special thanks to Bill, AB4BJ who had blogged about his experience in setting up his Pi for DVAP purposes. 

If you have a Raspberry Pi, a DVAP Dongle and a D-STAR radio sitting around your ham shack, it’s very easy to set it all up just as I have done.  In the below picture, I have my ICOM ID92-AD, the DVAP Dongle and the Raspberry Pi setup.  Once configured, the Raspberry Pi will function stand-alone (without keyboard, mouse and monitor).  I can access the RPI via VNC from my iPad if needed. 

Raspberry Pi running Debian Linux and the DVAPNODE and IRCDDB software.  DVAP is connected to REF001A in Aurora, Illinois.  Screenshot from iPad VNC session.

For now, my setup will remain in my ham shack.  I know many build this setup for mobile/portable use.  At the present time I do not have wireless capabilities for the RPI.  I also want to see just how stable this setup is before making any additional changes.   I was pleased to wake up this morning and find the RPI was still running and the OS was stable.  Time will tell…

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK

Yes, that is a Raspberry Pi on the bottom of my rubbish bin. I’m not saying the RasPi is rubbish, but I am not weeping about its loss, either.

As with many new things there is a hype and with the RasPi there was no exception: “What a bargain to get so much computer for such a low price.” Well, you pay for what you get, so when I got mine last year September I soon found out I also got a lot of problems to solve. More than I was willing to. The USB/network problem has been mentioned a lot on various sites. Stable power would solve that, so I build a very stable solid state PSU with 78S05 regulators and 6800uF capacitors. Even after that you just had to look at the USB ports and the network would come crashing down. Since I was running the RasPi headless this meant rebooting over and over again.

So my plan to build a solar powered weather and APRS digipeater were soon abandoned and with only a single USB 1-Wire dongle attached it just collected weather data. Uptimes were great, the longest one being over 100 days – until I accidentally switched the power off.

Then we had this, on July 14….

I shot the video just after fixing a drainage problem: the water was almost entering the shack. At 14 seconds you can see the first flash of thunder (the EMP hit the camera). It was a forebode of what was to come: a hit right behind where we live. The result: all the garage door openers and video doorbells were broken within a 50 meter range. Two of our routers were out and……the weather station. Network cables make great antennas, so the 1-Wire dongle didn’t respond to incoming signals after the hit any more. The RasPi was also dead, but later that night I put 5 Volts on the GPIO pins and it came back alive, albeit running very hot. I had a spare 1-Wire dongle, so the weather station was up and running again – for the moment.

But not a month later the expected happened: slowly the colourful LEDs on the RasPi main board dimmed until there was no life in them left. It must be a problem with the on-board voltage regulator, but they are glued to the board (yes, I tried removing one), so the rubbish bin it is.

Added bonus is that I now have a much cleaner spectrum, too! There have been projects to get the RasPi transmitting using the GPIO pins on the FM band, WSPR and what not. I found out that the RasPi was acting as a little spread spectrum transmitter, putting out carriers every 30 kHz on HF and 6 meters via the network cable. Unplug the network and it’s gone, plug it in and you broadcast 24 hours a day on multiple frequencies.

I already had a Atom board prepared and with some extra time spent the weather station was back up in a jiffy. My little PicoLCD screen also worked with the new set up, while with the RasPi it would just stall. Therefore, you can surf to pa2bx.nl, again, for the latest weather in Longtan, Taiwan.

So, the Pi is dead, long life the Atom!

That’s right, we’ve got yet another interview in this show. Is anyone screaming “UNCLE!” yet? George from Sierra Radio Systems and Nick from Pignology are our guests tonight, talking about several of their ham radio related products. They have a product launch they’re doing at the Dayton Hamvention this year and wanted to let everyone know what they have in store so it’s out there before the chaos in Ohio. Don’t despair, howver. This is not a sales pitch. Instead, our fine feathered guests get down into the nitty gritty of their product, explaining what it does, how it does it, what hardware it uses and what software as well. You’ll be happy to know it’s all Free Software based and an incredible find for anyone looking for comprehensive remote station control. George and Nick also happen to be responsible for a significant chunk of the donation money LHS needed to be a part of Dayton this year so we are eternally grateful to them for that. The best part of all this: That’s only HALF of the show. This one’s so packed full of information it might just explode.

73 de The LHS Guys

Episode #102 Audio (Listen Now):

Introduction:

• Rob from the MintCast podcast is on the show tonight filling in for the nomadic and enigmatic Richard.

Announcements:

• The 2013 Dayton Hamvention is coming up May 17-19 in Dayton, Ohio. We are still in need of donations. Please keep ‘em coming.
• The Wouff Hong Podcast, member of the Black Sparrow Media Network, have released their first episode. If you don’t subscribe to the BSM aggregate feed, you can find them at the link above. Good episode, and they mention LHS.
• Rob and Russ use BeyondPod on Android as a podcast manager.
• Roy, KK4ATD, will be in Atlanta at RARSfest as an ambassador for LHS. If you’re anywhere near Raleigh, NC on Saturday, March 30, 2013, stop by and say hello. [LHS will NOT be present at RARSfest this year. Sorry for any confusion. -Ed]
• The sponsored ads in the right column of the LHS web site actually make us a not insignificant amount of money when you click on them. If you want to help us out without donating your own money, please click on an ad when you visit our site. We get money in our donation box, and you don’t lighten your own pockets. Thank you!

Topics:

• Visit KE8P’s blog. One of the articles documents using a Raspberry Pi as a temperature monitor.
• KK4ATD has developed Hamux, a 64-bit, CentOS-based Linux distribution with ham radio applications. This is a “live” CD image, so you can boot it from CD and try it before installing. At 698MB, it just barely fits on a CD.
• Our hosts embark on a brief digression about Douglas Adams.
• Slow Scan TV (SSTV)SSTV is a method of sending still images using radio frequencies on the HF bands. FSTV (fast-scan TV), which is typically done on VHF and UHF frequencies at distances up to a couple hundred miles, is similar to broadcast TV.In order to operate SSTV, you’ll need a radio (and a license to transmit), a computer, a sound card interface to connect them to each other, and software. For Linux, we have QSSTV. The current version is 7.1.7, released on January 4, 2012. It is compatible with the Ham Radio Control Libraries (hamlib) for controlling the radio.Russ gives a brief overview of the various configuration options and interface of QSSTV.
• Rob is not a ham, but has considered obtaining his license. Unfortunately, he lives in an area with deed restrictions that prohibit outside antennas. What are his options? There are several resources on the web for ham operation with antenna restrictions. Some of these are:
  • http://www.stealthamateur.com/
  • http://www.g4ilo.com/stealth.html
  • http://www.iw5edi.com/ham-radio/?attic-antennas,131

  Though in Rob’s case, with aluminum foil-lined roof tiles, attic antennas are not likely to work very well.

  Other possibilities: using EchoLink, IRLP, operating mobile or portable. Perhaps tossing up a temporary wire antenna in the back yard, operate, then take it down.

  Rob and Russ discuss the various options, potential for TVI, and VEC testing opportunities.

Feedback:

• David, KE0AZ, writes to say he’s sorry to see Richard to go, but will continue to listen.
• Frank, K4FMH, would like to see more technical content in future episodes.
• W. Lynn writes to say that the Belton HamExpo will be April 20, 2013 in Belton, TX.
• Gary, KE2YK, will miss Richard, too. He also appreciates the mention of Linux Mint 14 as it reminded him to give it a try.
• Pete, VE2XPL and the host of the wAVEgUIDES podcast, sends his congratulations on 100 episodes and best wishes for Richard.
• Gary, KE2YK, also sent comments about episode 101, including a link to his review of the Raspberry Pi.
• Brian, WB4ES, sends his thanks for Richard’s introduction to JT-75 screencast. (Available to subscribers.)
• There are more comments on LHS Facebook Page.

Contact Info:

• Contact Russ at [email protected] or [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.
• 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:

• “Insanity” by Mad Mav from the album Black Sheep, courtesy of Jamendo.
• “Strike the End” by Convergence from the album Points of View, courtesy of Jamendo.

I had a recent email from John, WB2OSZ regarding using the raspberry pi for APRS and he has developed an application that looks like a very slim APRS beacon and digipeater for aprs called Dire Wolf . I have yet to investigate it further but for all those with an interest head over to Johns website and take a look. Here is the address.

From what i can see the application acts as a soundcard modem and tnc for programs like Xastir and APRSIS32. I think this needs some further investigation

Introduction:

• A Futile Exercise in Focus, or perhaps a feudal exercise. Stay tuned and find out.

Announcements:

• Listen to us live Tuesday evenings (in the USA), or subscribe and receive access to the unedited recording and other things. Visit the website for details.
• We’re in dangerous proximity to episode 100, so send in comments, suggestions, voice mail, Facebook, Google+, or carrier pigeons.
• All you podcasters out there, join the Black Sparrow Media network.
• The 2013 Dayton Hamvention will be May 17-19, 2013. Russ is hoping to have the LHS booth again, but we need your help. Please donate if you can. Every little bit helps.
• Kevin O’Brien, Publicity Director for the Ohio LinuxFest, tells us that they have set up a brief survey to gather ideas for the 2013 Ohio LinuxFest. Visit http://ohiolinux.org/ to find the survey.
• Northeast Linux Fest will be March 16th and 17th, 2013, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Topics:

• Russ’ Raspberry Pi adventures continue. His Echolink node 54711 is now up and running on a Raspbian-based Raspberry Pi with svxlink and Qtel. Russ had to insert “dwc_otg.fiq_fix_enable=0″ into the /boot/cmdline.txt file in order to fix a problem with the onboard Ethernet card locking up. Since then, all has been well.
• Amateur Radio Pi is a forum with the tagline: The interactions between amateur radio and the Raspberry Pi.
• The Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio (SPAR) will conduct a Winter Field Day, beginning 1700Z on January 26, 2013 and ending at 1700Z January 27th.
• HamSphere is a software Amateur Radio simulator that allows licensed radio amateurs and unlicensed enthusiasts to communicate with one another using a virtual transciever over the Internet. It was designed by Kelly Lindman, a radio amateur with callsign 5B4AIT. The software runs under Windows, Mac or Linux. There’s also a Wikipedia page for more information.
• RepeaterBook is an Android application for locating amateur radio repeaters. There are lots of options, including repeater types and modes (D-Star, etc). It also supports the BlueCAT Yaesu FT-857/FT-817 interface that allows you to tap a repeater entry in RepeaterBook on the phone and it will set your radio frequency.

Feedback:

• Comment via the Web site from Leif, KC8RWR, with another attempt at explaining hard and soft links, which we were discussing in episode 95. Thanks, Leif.
• Leif also commented about difficulties hearing a mobile radio without a speaker in the head unit.
• A very strange voice mail from the Radio Gangsta, aka Rich, KD0RG, from the LowSWR podcast.
• E-mail from gasgasmike, asks if it would be possible to use short wave radio to provide wireless Internet service. Our hosts discuss the practical difficulties with such a scheme. (Note: the use of the amateur portions of the radio spectrum for commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the FCC.)
• Jeff, KC2QZO, sends his appreciation of our discussion of Codec2 in episode 85.
• Russ mentions that there is another low-bitrate codec is being developed: The Opus Interactive Audio Codec.

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 this episode.