73 de The LHS Guys

Announcements:

• The free Black Sparrow Media Android app is available now. An iPhone app is in the works. Visit http://blacksparrowmedia.net/ or the Android Market to get your copy.
• Ronny, K4RJJ, has offered to be an LHS ambassador at the Dalton Hamfest, February 25, 2012, in Dalton, GA.
• The Southern California Linux Expo, SCaLE 10x will be (was!) January 20-22, 2012, in Los Angeles, CA. If you will attend and would like to be an ambassador for LHS, please let us know.
• Northeast Linux Fest will be March 17, 2012, in Worcester, MA. Again, if you’d like to be an LHS ambassador for that event, please contact us.

Topics:

• IPv6 – The End is Near (of IPv4)
  • Internet Protocol version 6.
  • If you can, start setting up your devices for IPv6 on your devices that support it. All of the current IPv4 address space has been allocated to the Regional Internet registrars (RIRs). IPv6 is the next version of Internet Protocol with a greatly expanded address space.
  • IPv6 is now the default IP stack for Linux. Unfortunately, many Internet service providers (ISPs) are not yet ready for IPv6.
  • There are IPv6 tunneling services that will forward your IPv6 traffic to IPv4 services:
    • SixXS
    • Freenet6
    • Hurricane Electric
  • If possible, give IPv6 a try. It’s inevitable, so if it works for you, you’ll be that much further along.
• HSMM – High Speed Multimedia, also known as “hinternet” (ham + internet)
  • The advantage is that we can use the normal “Internet” tools and off-the-shelf wifi hardware to provide emergency communications services.
  • One caveat: avoid using channel 1 as it uses the same frequency as AMSAT OSCAR 40 (Note: AO-40 became non-operational in 2004.)
  • Compared with other digital communications equipment, HSMM offers a lot of capability for little investment. The Linksys WRT54GL router is often used with alternate firmware from dd-wrt or OpenWrt.
  • Resources:
    • What is HSMM Microwave Radio?
    • N5OOM’s HSMM Projects
    • Rootenna Project
    • HSMM MESH

Feedback:

• Andrew, AC8JO, updated his blog to acknowledge that the LHS website has been updated and new episodes have been released. Thanks, Andrew!
• Bert, K1OIK, has been a frequent commenter on the website. Unfortunately, the comments aren’t appropriate and he becomes the latest victim of the Ban Hammer.
• To Gary, KN4AQ: contact us via email if you’d like us promote your endeavors.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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:

• To be added.

• Happy New Year! Sorry for the delay in releasing the last several episodes.

Announcements:

• Would you be interested in the return of Resonant Frequency, the Amateur Radio Podcast, if it cost a dollar an episode? Send your thoughts to Richard via email at kb5jbv@gmail.com.
• Black Sparrow Media now provides an aggregate RSS feed of Linux in the Ham Shack, QSK Netcast, and Resonant Frequency. One feed, three shows! Quite a bargain.
• There is now a (free) Black Sparrow Media mobile app for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android! See blacksparrowmedia.net for details, and send us your feedback.
• Andrew, AC8JO, has a blog that discusses Linux, amateur radio, and other topics. Naturally, he mentions our podcast. Thanks, Andrew!
• Leif, KC8RWR, responded to our comments in episode 67 that Apple created CUPS. According to Wikipedia, CUPS, the Common UNIX Printing System, was developed by a Michael Sweet beginning in 1997, and was later adopted by Apple for OS X. In 2007, Apple hired Michael Sweet and purchased his source code. The Apple website provides a somewhat different version.
  • Apple’s Version
  • Wikipedia Article

  Thanks for the information, Leif. Our advice is to pick the story you like and stick with it!

Topics:

• Channel Bonding for Linux
  • Channel bonding combines two or more network interfaces on a host computer for redundancy or greater bandwidth.
  • By bonding two or more Ethernet links to your computer, you get several benefits, including redundancy, so if one network port fails, the other still works, and greater bandwidth when both (or more) links are running.
  • Based on the Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), though called different things depending on vendor, such as EtherChannel or PortChannel.
  • It’s relatively easy to set up. Briefly:
    • You’ll need an Ethernet port for each link, set up and configured in the normal manner. These ports will likely be called eth0, eth1, etc.
    • Install the ifenslave package, which allows you to create a “bond” interface, say bond0.
    • Create modules.conf file to alias the various ethx devices as bonding interfaces.
    • Modify your /etc/sysconfig or /etc/network/interfaces file (depending on your version of Linux) to include an entry that references the bond0 interface.
    • ifup the bond0 interface, and all the component interfaces should come up.
    • Other configuration settings will set up the failover time.
  • Resources:
    • http://www.linux-corner.info/bonding.html for Red Hat-based systems.
    • http://wiki.debian.org/Bonding for Debian-based systems.
    • Ethernet bonding on linux (Debian based)
    • Ethernet Bonding Configuration in Debian
    • Bonding
  • Our hosts then discuss the utility of load balancing between multiple network interfaces.
• More about the apt-cache utility
  • Russ provides more information about the apt-cache utility for Debian-based systems, previously discussed in Episode 69.
  • The basic syntax of the utility is apt-cache [command] [package(s)]. There are many commands you can use, including:
    • policy [package] shows which repository provided, or would provide, a specified package.
    • depends [package] shows all packages in the repositories that depend on the named package, and which other packages would be installed or suggested.
    • showpkg [package] shows reversed dependencies; that is, which packages depend on the named package, and the MD5 checksum of the package.
    • stats  shows some aggregate sums about all the packages in the repositories included on your system. For example, on Russ’ system:

          Total package names: 42814 (856 k)
          Total package structures: 42814 (2,398 k)
          Normal packages: 32874
          Pure virtual packages: 374
          Single virtual packages: 3670
          Mixed virtual packages: 465
          Missing: 5431
          Total distinct versions: 33706 (2,427 k)
          Total distinct descriptions: 33706 (809 k)
          Total dependencies: 200360 (5,610 k)
          Total ver/file relations: 35248 (846 k)
          Total Desc/File relations: 33706 (809 k)
          Total Provides mappings: 6402 (128 k)
          Total globbed strings: 197 (2,192 )
          Total dependency version space: 789 k
          Total slack space: 65.4 k
          Total space accounted for: 11.5 M

    • unmet shows packages in the repositories with unmet dependencies in the tree, that is, if you attempted to install, would fail.
    • show [package] shows meta information about the package. For example, “apt-cache show adduser” returns:

         Package: adduser
            Version: 3.113
            Installed-Size: 1100
            Maintainer: Debian Adduser Developers
            Architecture: all
            Replaces: manpages-it (<< 0.3.4-2), manpages-pl (= 5.6.0)
            Suggests: liblocale-gettext-perl, perl-modules
            Description: add and remove users and groups
            This package includes the 'adduser' and 'deluser' commands for creating
            and removing users.
            - 'adduser' creates new users and groups and adds existing users to
              existing groups;
            - 'deluser' removes users and groups and removes users from a given
              group.
            Adding users with 'adduser' is much easier than adding them manually.
            Adduser will choose appropriate UID and GID values, create a home
            directory, copy skeletal user configuration, and automate setting
            initial values for the user's password, real name and so on.
            Deluser can back up and remove users' home directories
            and mail spool or all the files they own on the system.
            A custom script can be executed after each of the commands.
            Development mailing list:
      
      http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/adduser-devel/
      
            Homepage: http://alioth.debian.org/projects/adduser/
            Tag: admin::user-management, implemented-in::perl, interface::
            Section: admin
            Priority: important
            Filename: pool/main/a/adduser/adduser_3.113_all.deb
            Size: 217556
            MD5sum: 74c114db96f321f4d097b04ae305600a
            SHA1: 567b8e42dc9b4777ab694f15ca71b7fa159749ef
            SHA256: 3bfea7f2ffcb363e2cc2b701a6e6d2079f7554b4d76194a118916afd2400f5c4

  • Tim Allen’s character in his latest TV show, “Last Man Standing” is a Ham Radio Operator, KA0XTT.

Feedback:

• Kevin, KC9VAN, writes that he’s enjoying the show and just recently received his ham radio license. He also notes that he’s had the most luck with Hewlett-Packard printers under Linux. Thanks, Kevin. Russ has had good luck with Dell printers and generic PCL drivers.
• Leif, KC8RWR, posted several comments about episode 67. He suggests avoiding “all-in-one” printers, and instead, using separate printers and scanners. (I agree! -Ed.) Often, used scanners can be had for very little money. Leif also suggests buying printers with separate cartridges for each color. That way, you’re not throwing away all the colors when just one is empty. He seconds Russ’ suggestion to use a laser printer over inkjet, as the cost per page is less.
• Russ likes the Epson Artisan 835, especially for printing on CDs and DVDs, and it works well with Linux.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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:

• To be added.

Richard discusses a wireless technology called HSMM or High-Speed Multimedia. This is a networking technique that blurs the line between FCC Part 15 and FCC Part 97, but gives ham radio operators some new and exciting things to try with their off the shelf wireless gear. HSMM has some nice features and will definitely earn you your Boy Scout Geek Cred Badge if you decide to dive in.

Thanks as always to our listeners, present and future. Comments and questions, make sure to send them our way. Donations are also appreciated. If you want to promote yourself, your ideas or your projects, leave us an intro to the show at 1-909-LHS-SHOW. Stay geeky!

73 de The LHS Guys

Speak slowly and clearly

When we say speak slowly and clearly what we mean is sometimes at normal conversational speed  words run together when you are talking on the radio. Most radio equipment doesn’t reproduce all the audio frequencies of human speech or hearing. This can make it difficult to understand what someone is saying on the air. When you have some hearing loss it is even worse. I have some low end hearing loss so most of the time I have to add a speaker to my rig that produces more low frequencies to make the speech ineligible to me in noisy environments.

Annunciate. Some people don’t consider that when they speak they are trying to convey information. I know several people that just engage there mouth and let the words fall out without giving a second thought as to if the person on the other end of the conversation is having to decipher the noises emanating from their mouth. It is sometimes difficult to understand a conversation when you are in the same room with someone if the are slurring and mumbling their words. It is even more difficult when you are on a noisy frequency or using a narrow band width mode like SSB, or D*STAR. When you add the stress of a net situation people tend to speak faster than they normally would. They also tend not to speak clearly. This makes the problem even worse.

Use Standard ITU Phonetics

Another consideration is the use of phonetics. In most cases phonetics can greatly increase your ability to understand and be understood when conditions a frequency are not optimal. Ham radio operators are as a rule a playful bunch so we do things to make talking on the radio more fun like making up funny phonetics for our call sign. Unfortunately during emergency and disaster communications play time falls by the wayside and these home brew phonetics become more of a problem than an asset. Most of the time these home brew phonetics in no way resemble any of the standardized phonetic systems. When These operators find themselves in a situation where they need to be understood their home brew phonetics really don’t help. That is why the ITU Phonetic alphabet is the agreed upon standard for amateur radio emcomm communications. Every radio operator should be able to at least spell their call sign with these phonetics. Memorization of these phonetics is not difficult. Some operators can jump to phonetics without even thinking about it. Since so many letters in the English language like E,B,V,C and others sound so much alike it is very important to know the standard ITU phonetic alphabet.

Do not yell, Don’t whisper

Yelling at a microphone is a problem that has propagated down through the hobby. Many of us have come into the hobby by way of the citizens band service. Operating AM on cheaply made and badly maintained equipment in that service. Many others use sideband radios on a regular bases. On AM and Sideband speaking louder into the microphone can give you a small increase in the output power of your radio. Since we are using primarily FM radio equipment this is not the case. Without going off into an explanation of how FM works lets just say that yelling at your microphone causes distortion making it difficult to understand the information you are trying to convey. Since the equipment that we use on VHF and UHF is Frequency Modulated the Amplitude of your voice can cause more problems than you would think.

Whispering into the microphone also has problems. There are some operators out there that speak very quietly into there microphone. This results in a full quieting signal and barely understandable audio. Some times the microphone gain or deviation on your radio may not be adjusted properly. if you do not speak up while transmitting this can make the problem worse. In the case of a Net Control located in a noisy environment it makes your transmissions unusable. It also waste valuable time while the Net Control attempts to take your traffic. We don’t always have the luxury of calling a net from the comfort of our home.

Don’t eat the microphone.

Eating the microphone or holding it to close to your mouth is another bad habit that has trickled down through the hobby from the days of carbon microphones and the poor quality microphones of the past. Today the microphone supplied with a standard piece of amateur radio equipment is very good. Eating the microphone presents its own set of problems. Holding the microphone to close to your mouth can overdrive the diaphragm in the microphone and audio stage of the radio causing distortion which most often results in muffled audio. You may also experience Flat Topping of your audio signal that is very similar to clipping in other audio equipment. Over deviation of your signal is also a problem you may experience. Over deviation is a problem because most repeaters are equipped with a band pass filter to eliminate unwanted noise on nearby frequencies. This means that in some cases you could be sitting under the repeater running a hundred watts and not be able to key the machine because your signal exceeds the width of the passband. Another problem that may occur from eating the microphone is known as P-pops or Clicks. These are most common when the microphone is held directly in front of the mouth. These are not only annoying but can also make it difficult for net control to understand the information you are trying to convey. It is always best to hold the microphone off to one side of the mouth. I also like to use what I call the “Thumb Rule”. If I am holding the microphone to transmit I should be able to extend my thumb and lightly touch my chin or lower jaw. This seems to be just about the right distance and works well with most radios including hand held transceivers.

Lastly a word on hand held transceivers. Most HT’s come from the factory with the microphone gain turned up higher that mobile radios. So the built in microphones are “Hotter” than one might expect. They are designed to be held a foot to eighteen inches away from your mouth. Eating the microphone on these will cause many of the problems listed above to be much worse. External microphones will depend on the design of the microphone.

Q signals, codes and jargon

Since from time to time we will be transmitting information for use by non-hams such as our served agencies we need to keep Q-Signals, Codes, and Jargon to a minimum. Our served agencies have there own language or jargon and in most cases it doesn’t even remotely resemble the jargon that we use as amateur radio operators. The National Weather Service has its own language for describing weather and that is the only possible jargon that we may need to use. That information will be covered at Skywarn School where it will be covered by the folks that know what they are talking about.

Codes and Ciphers are prohibited by part 97 so they are not appropriate for any reason.

Q-Signals are a problem in amateur radio today because everybody wants to sound like a professional radio operator and they think that Q-Signals help achieve that goal. Q-Signals were designed to make cw operation easier and have no place on a phone (Voice) frequency especially during an emcomm net where the transmission and reception of clear and concise information is critical. Lastly, There is a place for Over, Out and Roger in emcomm communications. Most amateur radio operators tend not to use them correctly. My personal opinion is that if you want to acknowledge a transmission the word “Received” works just fine.

These are just a few of the things that can help all of us improve our communications skills. Clarity in communications is always important. It is even more important when we start to deal with Emergency and Disaster communications. Remember we are not transmitting for ourselves. We are transmitting for everybody.

• The Black Sparrow Media web site has been updated. If you use the aggregate feed from there, you’ll receive Linux in the Ham Shack, QSK Netcast, and Resonant Frequency (or Richard’s Radio Adventures) podcasts.

Topics:

• D-RATS
  • Bruce, VE2GZI, asks for help installing D-RATS on his Linux Mint computer. He tried adding the repository per the instructions on the D-RATS website, but received errors.
  • Richard has several suggestions: Make sure the whole line “deb http://d-rats.com/apt karmic release” gets entered into your sources.list file and that you are using the right repo for your distribution. Linux Mint normally falls a version behind Ubuntu. You might also try the tar file labeled “source” from the website, and use the archive manager to install it. Since D-RATS is written completely in Python, and Dan normally tries to stay with the most current version, check to see if you have the most recent version of Python installed. Finally, you could subscribe to the D-RATS mailing list from the website for more help.
  • Russ adds: If you wish to add the repository via the command line, there are a couple of ways to do it: (a) Edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and add the “deb http://d-rats.com/apt karmic release” line, OR (b) Create a file in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d directory called, say, d-rats-repo.list, and add the “deb http://d-rats.com/apt karmic release” line to it. However, back in April, 2011, Steve Conklin, AI4QR, said his packaging of D-RATS had been accepted into both Debian Testing and Unstable branches. So, if you’re running Debian or Linux Mint Debian Edition, it’s already in the repository. Just issue the command “apt-get install d-rats”. For Ubuntu, there’s a PPA at https://launchpad.net/~sconklin/+archive/hampackages. That should work with Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx), 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat), and 11.04 (Natty Narwhal). (It may not work with Ubuntu 11.10, Oneric Ocelot, but then again, it might).
  • Ed. Note: After this episode was recorded, the D-RATS website was updated to say:Ubuntu users should use the ubuntu-hams PPA in order to get packages for D-RATS. To install the PPA, go to a terminal and type:

    sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-hams-updates/ppa
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install d-rats

    The package manager will do the rest!

• Chirp
  • Chirp was written by Dan Smith, KK7DS, who is also the author of D-RATS.
  • From the Chirp wiki: CHIRP is a FREE cross-platform, cross-radio programming tool. It works on Windows and Linux (and Mac OSX, with a little work). It supports a growing list of radios across several manufacturers and allows transferring of memory contents between them.
  • Chirp currently supports 41 different model radios from Alinco, Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom, and others.
  • Richard tested it with his Icom IC-91 and IC-2200.
  • Chirp has a bare-bones interface, using a basic spreadsheet style, and is primarily for entering memory channel information. It will allow entry of call signs for D-STAR operation.
  • There are packages for Fedora and Ubuntu, and a source package for all other distributions of Linux. Chirp is written in Python, so be sure to have the latest version of Python installed.
  • There is also a self-extracting .exe file for Windows, and an app package for Mac OS-X. You must install the Python runtime package, available on the Chirp website, for the Mac version.
  • There is a Chirp mailing list, among others, at http://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/.
  • Russ and Richard then discuss the cost of various D-STAR radios.
• Linux Tip: apt-cache policy
  • Russ offers a tip on how to determine which Debian repository is providing a given package.
  • Use the command apt-cache policy <package name>
  • For example: apt-cache policy libpulse0
  • The results of that command will show you which version is installed, if any, which version would be installed, and all other versions available.

Feedback:

• Dan, K4FD, thanks us for the podcast. It has inspired him to return to the hobby after a 10 year hiatus. Thanks, Dan, and welcome back to the hobby!
• We received a donation from Jim G. Thank you, Jim!

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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:

• To be added.

73 de The LHS Guys

• The 2nd Annual Northeast GNU/Linuxfest will be held March 17, 2012 in Worcester, MA.

Introduction:

• Welcome to another installment of Linux in the Ham Shack.
• After the holidays, consider attending a Skywarn training class so you’ll be prepared for the next storm season.

Topics:

• Contesting software for Linux
  • Ian, KM4IK, wrote that he’s now using Ubuntu 11.04 in his ham shack, but wants suggestions for a native Linux contest logging program. Good question, Ian, and we have a few suggestions. However, as neither Russ nor Richard are contesters, these may or may not be suitable for you.
  • JL Logger is a Java application that supports all of the major contests.
  • YFKlog and YFKtest are curses-based programs that run in a terminal session. YFKtest uses the hamlib libraries for rig control.
  • TLF also runs in a terminal session and uses hamlib for rig control.
  • KB is still in development. It runs in the Gnome window manager. Radio control for the Yaesu FT-1000 only.
  • Fldigi has a built-in logger, and will also work with CQRLog.
  • N1MM Logger has been reported to work under Wine. Others have had problems.
  • Russ tried installing N1MM under Wine, and while the installer ran fine, N1MM didn’t run properly when launched. Apparently, you must have the ALSA libraries installed. Note that the N1MM website warns that you should perform the Full Install, then install the latest update. Do not run the Full Install without first installing the update. Russ also tried the JL Logger, but it crashed. After realizing that it requires that the Java Development Kit, he installed that, but it still crashed. Look for an update in a future episode.
• VLC media player
  • Richard was having an issue with the VLC plugin for Firefox 7.0.1; the LHS music stream would play one song then stop. The VLC Media Player should work.
  • Our hosts briefly digress into a discussion of the DEFCON system; DEFCON 1 is the most serious, while 5 is the least. Hollywood often gets it wrong.

Feedback:

• Burt, K1OIK: please contact us about recent emails we’ve received from you. It may be that your email account may have been compromised.
• Leif, KC8RWR, wrote us regarding the discussion of EchoLink clients in episode 66. He tried QTEL and it worked fine. Thanks, Leif. (Also look at SvxLink.)
• Tom, KA2D, who is on the committee for Ham Radio University in New York, asks if there are any LHS Ambassadors in the Long Island, NY area. No, Tom, so you’re it!
• Andy, KC2ZWR, of the Suffolk County Radio Club, will also be at Ham Radio University on January 8, 2012, and offers his services as ambassador for that event.
• Tony, K7ISS, wrote to say he was happy that Richard had a good time at the Texoma Hamarama. Richard blogged about his visit to the event.
• Mike S., sent a VERY generous donation to the podcast. Thank you, Mike!
• The second annual Indiana Linuxfest will be April 13-15, 2012 at the Wyndham Indianapolis West Hotel. Russ is planning to be there, and so should you.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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:

• To be added.

73 de The LHS Guys

• Welcome back to another episode of LHS.

Topics:

• Texoma Hamarama
  Richard attended Texoma Hamarama at the Ardmore Convention Center in Ardmore, OK. He had a great time and describes his adventures. He took a few pictures and wrote a blog entry for the web site.
• HamQTH
  HamQTH is a callsign lookup service that is free and does not require a subscription. Russ gives his review. By registering, you can edit some of your information or use the search results in your logging program. Thanks to Ted, WA0EIR, for telling us about it.
• Adventures in Printing
  • Richard recently installed Linux Mint on his wife’s machine as she was becoming increasingly frustrated with the speed of Windows. He did run into an issue with getting her Lexmark all-in-one printer working, which leads him to a discussion of printing in Linux.
  • CUPS, Common Unix Printing System, originally developed by Apple for OS X, has become the standard printing system for Linux. You can administer CUPS by pointing your web browser to http://localhost:631
  • Most distributions install the Foomatic driver database. Another source of drivers is Gutenprint.
  • If your printer is not listed specifically, you may have success using a generic PCL5, PCL6 or Postscript driver.
  • Also check the Linux Foundation OpenPrinting project to see how well a given printer is supported in Linux. It’s a good idea to visit this site before you buy the printer.
  • Most network printers will be recognized and configured automatically by CUPS.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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:

• To be added.

73 de The LHS Guys

73 de K5TUX

Well let me see if I can come up with enough words to get all the pictures on this post.

Well October is here and along with the State Fair of Texas in Dallas it is also time for the Texhoma Hamarama in Ardmore Oklahoma. For many years a friend of mine and organizer of this event Henry Allen W5TYD has been trying to get me to make the track to Ardmore and check it out.

So I gathered myself up at 4:30 in the morning put a spark to the B.S.S. Improbable and made my way toward the Indian territories. I had really forgotten that the middle of the night was the only time that it is not a total pain to drive through Dallas. A little over two hours later I found myself in Ardmore. As described the hamfest was very easy to find. The shiny almost new convention center was right off I-35 at exit 33. I exited made a right turn then made another right turn and I was there ( I could never be a Nascar driver ).

The parking lot at the Ardmore Convention Center was more than ample and I was able to find a parking space very close to the front door. Not like Ham Com here locally where you have to park on the other side of town and ride a shuttle bus. Due to a mistake on the website I found myself there an hour before they opened the doors. So I spent some time talking to other Hams that had made the same mistake.

After paying a very resonable $8.00 to get in I roamed around looking at all the wonderful items to be had. At the end of the first row I went down I ran into Jimmy (Pinky) Pinston N5WYT from the Texas Baptist Men who was debating on buying some hardline for the freshly installed commercial repeater at the Baptist Mens building in Dallas. We talked about a few things like ARES in Van Zandt county where he lives and the fact that his license expired at midnight that night. Shame on you Pinky.

Went and sat in on the OK section ARES presentation. Then went and sat in on Andy WY5V’s amateur radio in the park presentation. Andy is king of amateur radio these days. King of ARES in Dallas. Big Chief at the VHF-FM society everything. Spent some time visiting with folks that I have known for years David Kaun N5DBK, Tim KD6FWD, and my little buddy Paul KD5TKO.

I really didn’t come home with anything except some good memories but we had a great time in Ardmore and I expect to go back many times in the future. Russ was not in attendance but you all know how he is.

73 everybody

• Who has a drawl?

Announcements:

• Richard has been reading about Ubuntu 11.10, “Oneiric Ocelot”, due to be released on October 13th. Our hosts hope to have some sort of review in the near future. Richard is also considering trying KDE. (The version of Ubuntu with KDE as default is Kubuntu.)
• Look for another episode of Richard’s Radio Adventures in the near future. It’s recorded mobile, and Richard wonders how to reduce the road noise with Audacity. Russ offers some advice on training the noise removal plug-in for Audacity.
• Richard did not make it to the Belton hamfest this year, but maybe next spring. He’s looking forward to attending the Texoma Hamarama, October 21 – 22, 2011 at the Ardmore Convention Center, 2401 North Rockford Road, Ardmore, OK.
• Richard is recruiting hams for the Kaufman County (TX) ARES group. Please visit the KCARES website for more information.
• Richard re-tells the infamous badger story. Speaking of badgers, you can find the Kiss My Badger tee-shirt, and a lot of other good stuff, at the LHS store.

Feedback:

• Danny inquires about an easy-to-use distribution for a senior and computer novice, perhaps Linux Mint. Our hosts suggest Linux Mint and PCLinuxOS. Note that the Mint live CD does not include the codecs, but the DVD does. If you install from the CD, you can install the codecs later.
• Danny also asks if there is a way to ask the Mumble developers to support screen-reading software. Since Mumble isn’t a GTK-based application, it’s probably not well supported under Orca. You may wish to raise your concerns on the Mumble forum, or on IRC at irc.freenode.net, #mumble, or click the Live Chat Now button on the www.mumble.com website.
• Burt, K1OIK, left a comment regarding Episode 61 entitled “South of the Border”: “I’d like to go south of your borders!” We’re a little worried about you, Burt.
• Michael, KD8GIJ, asks for instructions on removing a dual-boot installation of Linux Mint if he decides he doesn’t like it. You can, of course, just wipe the whole drive and reinstall Windows. You may be able to boot the Windows install media and let it “repair” your installation. However, you don’t really need to remove grub; just make Windows the default and remove Linux from the grub menu. If that’s not acceptable, you’ll likely have to wipe and reinstall Windows to return it to the pre-Linux state.Other suggestions include:
  • install Mint as a virtual machine with Virtual Box.
  • use the Windows Ubuntu Installer (wubi) which will also allow you to uninstall Linux after testing.
  • install Linux to a flash drive and boot and run from that to try it out
  • make an image of the Windows drive before installing Linux, perhaps with PartImage or Clonezilla, and you’ll have an easy means of returning to the pre-Linux-install state.
• John “The Nice Guy” Spriggs, G7VRI, asks about a live Linux distribution reviewed in Episode 62 that contained software to run EchoLink. (I think he’s referring to Andy’s Ham Radio Linux CD). svxlink is the Linux-native EchoLink client, but it is CLI-driven. The Windows client does run well under Wine. You may want to look at qtel, another Echolink client. It’s an older application. In fact, svxlink is based on Qtel.
• John also wonders if the music played on the show is Creative Commons licensed. While most of the music is Creative Commons or podsafe, the music in Episode 62 is not CC or podsafe, but Russ did have permission from the artists to play them.
• John pointed out that the description tags in the podcast audio files were empty. Thanks, John, and rest assured that Russ will be adding descriptions as time permits.
• By the way John, please contact Richard at the email address below as you may be able to help him with some music for another project.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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:

• “Out of Sight” by White Light Riot from the album “Atomism,” courtesy of Jamendo.
• “Saving Lucidity” by The Way I Am, courtesy of Jamendo.

• It’s a ramblin’ show tonight.

Announcements:

• Texoma Hamarama 2011 will be October 21-22, 2011 at the Ardmore Convention Center, 2401 North Rockford Road, Ardmore, OK. Richard hopes to be there.
• If you attended the Huntsville, AL hamfest in August, let us know if you think it would be a good venue for LHS.
• Thanks, as always, to Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Topics:

• Russ talks about the antenna feedline window passthrough panel he bought at Dayton. He’s also hoping to get a radio in his truck. Richard describes the window passthrough methods he’s used in the past, with foam pipe insulation or air conditioning insulation foam.
• Richard talks about the lack of ham radio activity in his area (Kaufman County, TX): no club, no RACES group, no ARES, etc. He called his ARRL SEC (Section Emergency Coordinator), Walt, KG5SOO, and learned that the local groups weren’t happy with the current ARES manager. The SEC says paperwork is being processed and the new emergency coordinator of Kaufman County, TX is Richard, KB5JBV! Currently, there are just two ARES members, Richard and the Emergency Manager, so if you’re in Kaufman County, TX, get in touch with Richard! (Congratulations, Richard!)
• There’s a new podcast out there: Richard’s Radio Adventures. Look for it on the Resonant Frequency feed.
• In Linux-related news, Russ lets us know that kernel.org was hacked a few weeks ago. Because the code was in an encrypted git repository, it was safe, but they moved it to github, anyway.
• Russ also says there was a brief period that GNU Emacs was packaged and distributed with a binary blob in it, which violates the GPL. It’s since been fixed.
• A security hole in SSL/TLS has been reported.
• Simon, HB9DRV, has sold the rights to his Ham Radio Deluxe software. Our hosts discuss the possible ramifications.
• Richard wanders into a discussion of Arch Linux. It seems there was an issue with Arch not being free (as in speech). However, Parabola GNU/Linux is Arch, but free of all the entanglements.
• If anyone out there is an Emergency Coordinator or Assistant Emergency Coordinator, send an email to Richard about how your EC is going. Richard is looking for advice on how to best set up the ARES EC organization in his county.
• Russ admits that his other podcast, QSK Netcast, has stalled, mostly due to a lack of his available time.
• Since some parts of the LHS website are now subscription only, Russ began researching SSL certificates. He found a couple of places that issue inexpensive or free browser-compatible certificates: CheapSSLs , under $10 per year, and StartSSL will issue personal certificates for free.
• Russ and Richard discuss their love for the Sansa Clips. Russ likes DoggCatcher for listening to podcasts on his Android phone.
• Richard talks about his secret antenna project. He’s now in an area with Codes, Covenents and Restrictions (CCRs) which preclude outside antennas. Years ago, he bought an Arrow dual-band J-pole antenna, and used it for packet and other stuff. Using some military surplus olive-drab fiberglass tent poles, he strapped the J-pole to the top of the tent poles and the poles to the top of an 8′ fence. He assures the neighbors that it’s just a flower pot hanger.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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.

73 de The LHS Guys

• Richard is still in the process of moving, but did get his WinLink rms gateway running as described in a previous episode.

Announcements:

• Jay Forrest has lauched The Linux News Podcast. The podcast will focus on topics such as software freedom, Linux development, Open Source software, Android and mobile devises, security issues, and Linux distribution releases. Our hosts offer their opinions.
• Ohio LinuxFest will be held in Columbus, Ohio on September 9-11, 2011. (Note: Russ will not be there, but maybe YOU can represent LHS. Visit the web site and look at the Ambassadors page to learn how.)
• Texoma Hamarama will be October 21-22, 2011 in Ardmore, OK. Richard might be there, so if you’re in the area, look for him!

Topics:

• Our hosts discuss the ARRL statement regarding HR 607, “Broadband for First Responders Act of 2011″. This bill provides for the re-allocation of the 420-440 MHz band, calling it part of the “Public Safety” spectrum. This is not the case, and we should contact our representatives and voice our opposition to this bill. The ARRL offers sample letters you can send to your representatives.
• Richard and Russ talk about various amateur radio programsfor Linux offered by Ted, WA0EIR.Russ built them all from the available source code on his Linux Mint Debian Edition 10 computer. In order to do so, he installed a number of development libraries:
  • libmotif-dev
  • libxmu-dev
  • libxpm-dev
  • libxbae-dev

  These are header files necessary for the compiler to properly build the programs.

• Each program requires the following commands to compile and install. Change to the directory containing the program and type:

    ./configure
    ./make
    ./make-install

  (You may wish to be root to perform the make-install command.)

• TWLOG – A basic QSO logging program. Useful for day-to-day logging, but not recommended for contest logs. It will export to ADIF. It requires the Xbae Matrix Widget.
• TWPSK – A simple bpsk/qpsk program. Co-written with Hansi, DL9RDZ
• TWCW – A Morse Code trainer that also allows keyboard CW operation.
• TWCLOCK – A world clock application that will also automatically send a CW identifier every 10 minutes.
• Check the /etc/X11/app-defaults directory for the “X resource” files to change the configuration options for these programs. For example, in that directory is a file called twclock that contains the callsign transmitted by TWClock.
• PSK31LX – A curses-based PSK31 program, so it runs in a terminal window or directly in a terminal session. For help, a man page is included. (Type “man psk31lx”.) It makes use of the arrow, control, and function keys. You can choose the audio and serial devices with command line parameters at start. Configuration parameters are stored in your home directory in the file .psk31lx.ini.

Feedback:

• Don, WS4E, asks for Internet resources for handicapped amateur radio operators. He’s familiar with the Handiham  organization, but wonders if there are others.There are many newsgroups and mailing lists dedicated to hams with disabilities. A Google search should return several. The Canadian National Amateur Radio Society site Amateur Radio for the Disabled, has several useful links. Richard mentions Lighthouse for the Blind. The ARRL has a page listing several articles. There’s also a Facebook group, Blind Amateur Radio Operators.
• Petr, OK2CQR, the author of CQRLOG, responds to Torsten’s (K5TOR) problems installing CQRLOG on a 64-bit machine: CQRLOG already has native 64-bit version. There is no need to install the 32-bit version. You can use the ppa at launchpad.net with packages for Lucid, Maverick, Natty and Oneirc. Version 1.2.1 will be part of the Oneiric release as well. More information is here.
• Donation from Paul G. Thank you! If you’d like to donate, please visit the website and click on the Donate link.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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:

• “Rise” by Rob Warren from the album “Rise,” courtesy of Jamendo.
• “Mechanical Butterfly” by Mechanical Butterfly from the album “Mechanical Butterfly,” courtesy of Jamendo.

• Welcome to another episode of Linux in the Ham Shack.
• Richard has moved to another QTH, and that’s provided some challenges.

Announcements:

• The LHS Ambassador Program needs your help. Russ explains what the LHS Ambassador program is all about and how you can get involved. If you’re interested, please contact us at ambassadors@lhspodcast.info
• Richard gives an update on the archiving of Resonant Frequency, The Amateur Radio Podcast.
• Richard complains about the Internet service at his new location, and Russ offers a tip about using wget -c for downloading large files.

Topics:

• Richard updates us on his AX25 project and moving to a new location.
• The Linux kernel goes 3.0: So what? Russ talks about the new Linux kernel, v. 3.0, recently released, and what you can expect.
• Your first license: What should you expect? Richard describes the process for getting your first amateur radio license. At one time, proficiency with Morse code was a requirement, but no longer. Richard used the Gordon West training materials to prepare. Having a local radio club or another ham can be a great help. There are two volunteer examiner groups: ARRL and W5YI. Both offer training materials for their examinations. When you go to a testing session, be sure to bring the required materials. After you pass the test, check the FCC website for your callsign. It often shows up just a few days after taking the test. Most importantly, after you get your callsign, get on the air!
• Revisiting OpenHatch (see episode 059). Russ discusses the OpenHatch project and how you can contribute to the open source community. There is a simple sign-up process to join OpenHatch. You can use OpenID or several other authentication services. OpenID can be used with several web applications. Once you join, you can specify the various skills you have, and the type of assistance you’d like to provide, such as development, bug fixing, documentation, etc. You can also start a new project or link your own project to OpenHatch. You’ll find development, testing and documentation opportunities.
• Russ gives an update on getting SvxLink to work. He had the build of version 11.05 blow up with an error about missing include files. He Googled the error message and found the answer. So he now has a working EchoLink server using SvxLink on 146.225 MHz. So, while it may be a bit challenging to build, it can work and provides a native Linux EchoLink program. (Thanks to Rick, K9AO, who sent an email that gave Russ the push to finish his SvxLink project.)

Feedback:

• We received a donation from Oscar, N6PAZ. Thank you! If you’d like to donate to the podcast, please click the Donate button on the website. Oscar also visited the LHS booth at Dayton, and left a comment on website expressing his appreciation for the LHS website.
• F8ARR conducted a poll on his website asking what operating system his visitors used in their ham shacks. He found 23% were using Linux! He also linked back to the LHS site. Thanks!
• David, N1EA, tells us that the new website for Vinux is vinuxproject.org. Vinux is a remastered version of Ubuntu, optimized for visually impaired users. It includes several ham radio applications, including TLF (The Left Foot), a console-mode logging and contest program.
• AmiZed (KB2MOB) wrote a very nice review of LHS. Thank you for the kind words!

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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

• “Complicated Man” by Lejo Harmeson & Essence from the album “Complicated Man,” courtesy of Jamendo.
• “Don’t Be Harshin’ My Mellow” by Lejo Harmeson & Essence from the album “Complicated Man,” courtesy of Jamendo.

73 de The LHS Guys

73 de The LHS Guys

• 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 ambassadors@lhspodcast.info
• 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 kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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.

73 de The LHS Guys

73 de The LHS Guys

• Ohio LinuxFest will be held September 9-11, 2011 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, OH.
• Linux in the Ham Shack promo from the Low SWR guys. Thanks!

Announcements:

• Our best wishes for a speedy recovery to MadamMoo!
• Our regular hosts are joined by Torsten, XE2/K5TOR.

Topics:

• Firefox 4 has been out a while, and version 5 beta is available at the time of recording. Our hosts discuss. The first thing Russ noted, was the increase in speed! Look for versions 6 and 7 before the end of the year. (As I write this, version 6 has been released. -Ed.)
• Kudos to The Linux Link Tech Show (TLLTS) and their interest in amateur radio. One of the hosts, Joel, aka “gorkon”, W3RAZ, has recorded a couple podcasts for Hacker Public Radio: Episode #738 is an introduction to amateur radio, and Episode #756 explains the basics of radio. Another TLLTS host, Allan, is N3MAW.
• Leo LaPorte of This Week in Tech has started a podcast about amateur radio. (It’s Ham Nation with Bob Heil, K9EID, and Gordon West, WB6NOA, under the TWiT banner and with Leo’s support and occasional participation. By the time you read this, Leo has his license and is now W6TWT. -Ed.)
• Russ describes the Linux from Scratch project that provides instructions for building your own custom Linux system, entirely from source code. Russ plans on providing more details of his experience with Linux from Scratch on a future episode of the QSK Netcast.
• Our hosts tried Ubuntu 11.04, Natty Narwhal, and discuss it, good and bad.
• Russ also tried Fedora 15, and liked the default desktop environment.
• Richard likes PCLinuxOS, and SUSE Linux.
• Linux Mint gets a mention, too.
• In future LHS episodes, look for information about svxlink, an EchoLink client for Linux, and codec2, an Open Source and patent-free audio codec.
• Torsten has had problems installing CQRLog on a 64-bit machine. Russ recommends installing the ia32-libs package to provide the needed 32-bit libraries. In Debian-based distributions, you can install that package with the command “apt-get install ia32-libs”. More information about running 32-bit programs on a 64-bit machine with Debian-based Linux is here.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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:

• “Vacancy” by Assembly Line Gods, from their album Control (Volume 1).

The music in Episode #061 is provided with kind permission by Assembly Line Gods from their recent EP release, Control (Volume 1). The track is called “Vacancy.” Follow ALG on Twitter and Facebook and buy their new tracks at iTunes. Thanks, guys!

• Introductions, chit chat, a bit about the Dayton Hamvention, Texas Linuxfest, and the Belton hamfest.
• LHS will be at several events this summer:
  • SouthEast LinuxFest (SELF), June 10-12 in Spartanburg, SC. (Yes, I know, by the time you hear this episode, it’s come and gone.)
  • Huntsville Hamfest August 20-21 in Huntsville, AL.
  • Ohio Linuxfest September 9-11 in Columbus, OH.
  • Stop by and say hello to Russ and Cheryl!
• Richard may be attending the Texoma Hamarama October 21-22 in Ardmore, OK.
• Russ tells us about the sewer failure at Dayton. Only two restrooms in Hara were working Saturday afternoon. Apparently it was fixed by Saturday evening.

Topic: PulseAudio

• Richard’s son is trying to start his own computer repair business and recently he received a call from Misha who wanted him to fix a sound issue on her Sony Vaio, which dual-boots Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.04. Sound worked fine in Windows, but not in Ubuntu, and she preferred using Ubuntu. After working with the machine for a while, he figured out that PulseAudio was the problem, and replacing it with ALSA fixed it.
• While researching the problem, Richard discovered PulseAudio problems exist on more than just the Sony Vaio. He also found PulseAudio problems with Ubuntu, Fedora, Open Suse 11 or higher, Arch Linux, Zen, and Sabayon, and with both Gnome and KDE desktops.
• Two sites in particular were helpful:
  • [SOLVED] sony vaio sound problem
  • Fix Ubuntu Audio Problem in Sony Vaio
• Russ and Richard discuss Linux audio problems, and the current state of PulseAudio, particularly with WINE. Russ notes that he’s had no sound problems under Linux Mint.
• Russ describes various ways to troubleshoot PulseAudio issues on Linux.
• In Gnome, right-click on the speaker icon and select sound preferences. From here you can examine the hardware, choose a sound profile, configure your inputs and outputs, and see which applications are using PulseAudio.
• There are a variety of utilities useful for debugging PulseAudio problems:
  • paman (PulseAudio Manager Utility). Install it with the command “apt-get install paman”. It tells you a lot of information about PulseAudio, including “sinks” and “sources”. You can also use it to set volume levels with greater control than with the desktop audio manager.
  • paprefs (PulseAudio Preferences Panel) Install it with the command “apt-get install paprefs”. Allows you to perform advanced functions such as connecting PulseAudio servers together, send sound from one server to another, create virtual sound devices, etc.
  • pavucontrol (PulseAudio Volume Control) Install it with the command “apt-get install pavucontrol”. Allows you to see every application that accesses PulseAudio, set volume levels per channel, and other configuration settings.
  • pavumeter (PulseAudio VU Meter) Install it with the command “apt-get install pavumeter”. Creates a VU Meter window that displays your audio levels.
  • padsp, pamon Install with the command “apt-get install pulseaudio-utils”. pamon will allow you to capture the bytes of audio data. padsp allows you to pipe the audio from an application that does not normally support PulseAudio, into PulseAudio.
  • Remember, you can use the “man” command for help on any of these commands. For example, in a terminal type “man padsp” for help on the padsp utility.
• Check out Ted’s sound card programs for ham radio. They are all now PulseAudio compatible.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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 417-200-4811, 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 SHOP! 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.

I (Russ) will admit to shirking my duties to some degree. Many things are going on in my life right now and I just didn’t want to deal with editing or recording of late. Richard has also had his share of life problems and we’ve both been out of pocket a few times between Episode #059 and now. I suspect our absence is coming to an end and regular production of LHS will soon resume.

Thanks to everyone for hanging in there with us. We now return you to your irregularly scheduled podcast.

73 de The LHS Guys

73 de The LHS Guys

• The 3rd annual Southeast Linuxfest is scheduled for June 10-12, 2011 in Spartanburg, SC.

Announcements:

• LHS will be at the Dayton Hamvention, May 20-22, 2011, booth 131 in the North Hall. Russ and Cheryl will be there. Stop and say hello.
• LHS will also be at the Southeast Linuxfest, June 10-12, 2011, in Spartanburg, SC. Russ will be giving a talk on Saturday, and Russ and Cheryl will be at the LHS booth.

Feedback

• Dan writes in about a Linux discussion he had at his radio club on March 8, and he mentioned LHS. Dan is also recording his own podcast, “Every Day Linux Use”. Good luck with that, Dan, and let us know where to find the podcast when it’s released.
• B.B., KC5PIY, writes about an article in the February 2011 issue of Linux Magazine discussing the OpenHatch project. B.B. shares his thoughts about how OpenHatch may apply to the podcast and amateur radio. Russ and Richard respond. Unfortunately, when this was recorded, the OpenHatch website was down. (From the OpenHatch website: “OpenHatch is an open source community aiming to help newcomers find their way into free software projects.”)
• Rick, K9AO, sent some detailed instructions for building SVXlink, an open source Echolink client, under Linux, and we’re including it in it’s entirety here. As you may recall from episode 56, Russ had problems with compiling the program.

  Hi Russ,
   

  I thought I’d send along the method that I have used to successfully build SVXlink under Mandriva 2010.2 and Ubuntu 10.10. I built the source on Ubuntu 10.10 late last year, so don’t have access to that machine at the moment. I built SVXlink from the latest SVN checkout on this Mandriva box, but this method also works fine for the release tarball.

  I don’t know if you generally use SVN projects, but I’m thinking that you likely do if you are as interested in helping to shape the development of actively developed projects.

  I create a directory called SVN in my home directory, and then do the SVN checkouts from there. Using the SVN checkout command below will create a subdirectory in the folder that you run it in, and then you can do the install from there. You likely are already familiar with this.

  Here are the specifics:

  ——————–
  Get the source:
  svn co https://svxlink.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/svxlink svxlink
  cd to the below directory:
  Build the source branch in /svxlink/trunk/src
  From there:
  make realclean
  make
  su to root
  make install
  ——————–

  If there are any missing deps, these will show up as the compile progresses. As you already know I am sure, you need the devel packages to match the deps to build from source.

  You will see errors, or what looks like errors as the build progresses after a realclean command. But if all of the needed libs and devels are there, the build process will create the necessary configs and then build the app. If you are concerned that the app might not have built correctly, doing another make will have the terminal scroll through the build process rapidly and then complete. If you get that far, do the root install. Then qtel from the terminal will bring up the client.

  There are a number of branches of the source code for SVXlink in development. I recommend the above main trunk first.

  There haven’t been any changes in the Qtel client for a while, so if all you are after is the client part of SVXlink there is no advantage to using cutting-edge SVN. There has been quite a bit of development going on in the server part, so experimenting with the SVN and joining the SVXlink devel list might be a good idea.

  Hope that helps, and keep up the good work.

  Rick, K9AO

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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 417-200-4811, 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 SHOP! 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:

• To be added.

• The 3rd annual Southeast Linuxfest is scheduled for June 10-12, 2011 in Spartanburg, SC.

Topic 1: JT65

• Richard enjoys the digital modes. Recently, he came across a signal he could not immediately identify, and found it was JT65.
• JT65 is one of the suite of programs in the WSJT package written by Joe, K1JT, and was originally developed for weak signal Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) contacts.
• It’s easier to install than WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter); simply download, extract, and go.
• Because the software is designed to achieve a weak signal contact, information is sent repeatedly. If everything is working well, a simple contact will take about 7 minutes.
• Like WSPR, stations transmit on a two-minute interval, so the computer clock must be accurate.
• One station will “transmit on the ones” meaning he is transmitting on the odd number minutes. Each transmission is usually about 50 seconds. Then, the other station sends on the even minutes.
• Typical contacts are callsign, signal report, and location.
• Signals sound a bit like weather fax, usually a bit above the PSK area on 20m.
• Richard was able to make 10 contacts in 15 minutes with 5 watts into his G5RV at 30 feet, on the 10m band, no less. He then made 5 contacts in 30 minutes on 15m, one of which was to South America.
• WSJT and WSPR are both developed by Joe, K1JT, a physicist and amateur radio operator.
• WSJT and WSPR can be found at http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/index.html.
• One of the best websites Richard found for learning to use JT65 on HF is “The Complete Bozo’s Guide to HF JT65A by Andy, K3UK”. It hasn’t been updated in a while, but is still a good resource.
• The manual included with the program is very good, too.
• Richard recommends using the second set of messages provided in the program, rather than the default set, as the default does not include a signal report.
• Richard has prepared an “Intro to JT65″ video, available at the RF Podcast website.

Topic 2: Codec2

• Bruce, VE9QRP, back in January, suggested we talk about Codec2.
• From the Codec2 website:
  “Codec2 is an Open Source and patent-free audio codec, currently in alpha testing. It provides good voice rendition at 2550 bits per second, and we expect that its bandwidth will be reduced with continuing development. Its voice quality and latency are an improvement over Speex, when Speex is run at a similarly low bandwidth rate. The original motivation for its development was to provide a completely open codec to replace AMBE+, MELP, and other proprietary codecs for use in Amateur (“Ham”) Radio communications. However, the codec is potentially useful for commercial two-way radio, telephony, and other applications.”
• Russ plays some audio samples, and our hosts discuss how this might be used in ham radio applications.
• The resulting file is in a .wav container and thus can be played by any program that plays .wav files. While the result is adequate for voice, it’s not suitable for music.
• More links:
  • History of the project
  • More background and some how-to information from the author.
  • A PowerPoint presentation by the author.

Feedback:

• We received donations from Dan W., Matt M., Andrew H., and Paul G. Thank you!
• LHS will be at the Dayton Hamvention, in the North Hall, booth 131. We hope to see you there!
• Jim, N2ENN, linked to us on his blog site. Thanks, Jim.
• The Panhandle ARES group linked to LHS on their website. Thanks, guys.
• regexorcist of The Daemon and Penguin Oggcast linked to LHS. Thank you.
• Gary, KE2YK, has syndicated the LHS RSS feed on his eHamStore.net site. Thanks, Gary.
• Burt, K1OIK, thought the clip art of the foo dog (episode 55) looked like Russ.
• B.B., sent a long email, which we’ll discuss in an upcoming episode.
• Danny asked about the podcast that Gene has about Apple. That’s the Tech Night Owl Live program with Gene Steinberg.
• Dave, KI6ZHD, just found the LHS podcast website. Dave has written some documentation for various Linux topics and is a recent ham. His distro of choice is CentOS. He has been documenting his adventures at his blog and thought our listeners might be interested. He asked if we talked about TrustedQSL on Linux, and we did in episodes 43 and 46.
• Leif, KC8RWR, commented about dual-booting a computer with Windows if Linux has already been installed. He suggests using gparted to shrink the Linux partition, creating a Windows partition in the free space, and then installing Windows. Of course, it’s best to just use a spare computer or another hard drive. (We talked about all this in episode 56.)
• Richard points out that version 1.0 of CQRLog has been released.
• Jim, N2ENN, just installed straight Debian and offers a few hints:
  • Extra repositories: In the system/administration tab, there’s a package called software sources. Check them all and click close.
  • Flash vs gnash: don’t worry about gnash. Once the nonfree repositories are selected, open the Synaptic package manager and install flashplugin-nonfree, or from a terminal, type “apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree”.
  • Regarding codecs: all the codecs are already installed, or should be. If not, again in Synaptic, tick good, bad and ugly plugin modules, along with the base plugin.
• Russ received this from a radio club: Steve, N1NXU, wrote that he had a Tripp-Lite power supply that needed repair and he asked them for a schematic. They declined to provide one, so he recommends Astron power supplies, as schematics are included. These are available a most of the ham radio stores.
• John, KF6EFG, attended Indiana LinuxFest and asked Russ for a copy of his presentation from that event. Look for that information on the LHS website in the near future.

Announcements:

• Some listeners have requested a calendar of upcoming LHS events. So, if you have a calendar program that uses ICS calendar feeds, go to the LHS site and on the right side, look for the ‘Follow Us’ heading. Click at the third icon that looks like a calendar. Or, to see the information in your browser, click this https://zmx.bcef.info/service/user/info@bcef.info/LHS-Podcast.html.
• Again, LHS will be at the Dayton Hamvention on May 20-22. We’ll be giving away a computer, so drop by the booth and say hello. Please donate at the website to help defray the costs. Thanks.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
• 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 417-200-4811, 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 SHOP! 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:

• To be added.

In this episode, your fearless hosts tackle some of the hard questions concerning Open Source, namely: 1) Can anyone in free software agree on a set of standards for documentation and development in order to help newer users join the community, and 2) If it is possible, would anyone want to do it? When we’re all done philosophizing, send us your thoughts. We want to know what YOU think.

In this episode of our show, we catch up on almost all of our (very old) feedback and even manage to discuss a couple of items which may interest ham radio and Linux enthusiasts alike: JT65, a weak-signal digital mode, and codec2, a new audio codec designed for low bandwidth, telephone quality, error correction and to be free of patents or encumbrances of any kind. Enjoy.