LHS Episode #116: O Savannah

serengeti01This week in the heart-pounding, blood-stopping episode of Linux in the Ham Shack, our intrepid hosts discuss a variety of topics from call sign look-up databases to Ubuntu, freeware collaboration suites to mobile computing, and QRP kits to hosted developer platforms. As if that were not enough, there's music, banter, a cameo by Wil Wheaton and a rocking good time. What more could you possible want?

73 de The LHS Guys

Show Notes #082

Introduction:

Announcements:

  • The Black Sparrow Media Mobile App for iPhone/iPad and Android has been updated. You can now listen to all of the old episodes, as well as new ones, via the app. wAVEgUIDES episodes are now included, as well. All streaming content is now available for iPad/iPhone. Please download and enjoy. It's at the Google Play marketplace, as well as via the Black Sparrow Media website, and it's still free!
  • The LHS Hamvention fund drive was a success! LHS will be at Dayton Hamvention 2012, May 18-20, in the North Hall of the Hara Arena in booth 131, the same place as last year.
  • Russ fixed a website bug that may have been causing some visitors to see the Black Sparrow Media site when surfing to LHS. Thanks to John, EI7IG, for pointing it out.
  • Please sign up for the LHS mailing list at https://lists.blacksparrowmedia.net/mailman/listinfo.
  • Please join the LHS subreddit and contribute show topic ideas, news of interest to our listeners, or just about anything else.
  • Please tell your friends about the show.

Topics:

  • Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, in his recent Surfin' column on the ARRL website, recommends open source Apache OpenOffice and the desktop publishing software Scribus. Note, LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice and is also quite functional. Both offer word processing, spreadsheets, database and presentations. Scribus may have a steep learning curve, but it's a very powerful program. Easy tasks are easy to accomplish. Complex projects may take more effort to learn. Also note that many open source programs, like OpenOffice, Libre Office and Scribus, are available for Windows, OS X, as well as Linux.
  • Take a look at the ham radio section at Linux Journal which also has links to their Ham Shack forum.
  • Richard discovered several open source ham radio applications at Sourceforge: ircDDB_gateway, CQiNET, phppredict, contest loggers, fldigi, paclink-unix, OpenMOR, software for SDR radios, Ham Radio Net Logger, and more. So, don't just look in your distributions repositories for applications. You may have to compile the programs from SourceForge yourself, but it may be worth the trouble.
  • Finally, a reminder to visit KE2YK's Random Oscillations website.
  • An overview of ham radio apps for Android phones, available at the Android market, aka Google Play:
    • Morse Code apps:
      • Morse Decoder ($4.99)
      • Morse Code Reader (Free)
      • Morse Trainer Lite (Free)
      • Morse Trainer ($2.99)
      • Morse Code Trainer (Free)
      • Morse Code Keyboard (Free)
      • Morse Code Teacher ($3.99)
    • QSO Logging:
      • Amateur Radio Call Log (Free)
      • HamLog ($0.99)
      • Hamroid Free (Free)
      • Hamroid ($6.53)
    • Miscellaneous:
      • QSY (Free)
      • DroidPSK ($4.99)
      • DXCluster ($2.49)
      • DTMF ($2.49)
      • Echolink (Free)
    • A few more from Bill:
      • APRS Viewer (Free)
      • Ham Radio Tools (Free)
      • Who Is Calling Me? (Free)

Feedback:

  • Ronny, K4RJJ, regrets that he won't be able to act as the LHS ambassador at the Knoxville hamfest. If you'd like to be our representative at the Knoxville, or any other event, please contact us via the Ambassador link on the website.
  • Roy, KK4ATD, reiterates how much fun it is to be an LHS ambassador.
  • Chris, K4FH, says he offers a presentation at club meetings he calls Linux in the Ham Shack. He's hoping Richard or Russ has some material they can share.

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:

  • "Gunpowder Chant" by Diablo Swing Orchestra from the album "The Butcher's Ballroom," courtesy of Jamendo.
  • "L.E.O." by Oleg Serkov from the album "Epoch Symbol," courtesy of Jamendo.

LHS Episode #082: Hamroids

In a world first, or maybe just podcast first, the guys throw caution to the wind and actually product an episode with some real Linux and ham radio content. We know it's shocking, but sometimes--just sometimes--a miracle happens and you get the belly laughs along with something to stimulate your gray matter. We can't promise this will happen in the future, but this time you're safe.

On the Linux side, Richard found an article on the ARRL Web site which leads to a discussion of OpenOffice (Libre Office) and Scribus, two excellent document preparation suites. On the ham radio side, Russ discusses some useful Android applications which might be helpful to those operators who want to use their devices for logging, CW training, PSK31 digital mode communications and more.

Thank you for all the donations to the Hamvention fund. Russ hopes to see as many folks as possible during his time at the show. LHS will be in the North Hall, booth 131.

73 de The LHS Guys

LHS Show Notes #054

Announcements:

  • Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
  • Bill, KA9WKA, joins the podcast this evening.

Topics:

Feedback:

  • Richard, KR4EY, writes that Morse code is not dead! And 30m is his favorite band.
  • Burt, K1OIK, says Richard looks awful cute with that pink bow in his hair. (We're still wondering about that one.)

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.
  • Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Music: