Introduction:

• Welcome to another edition of the Super Happy Crappy Hour!

Announcements:

• The Black Sparrow Media mobile app is again hosted thanks to listener donations. Visit the BSM website to download the app and enjoy all of the BSM affiliated shows.
• CafeNinja and the Tin Foil Hat Show have joined the Black Sparrow Media network.
• If you’d like to participate in the chat room, point your IRC client at the irc.freenode.net server, and join the #lhspodcast channel.
• You can listen to the live show by pointing your media player (VLC, Totem, or whatever) to http://stream.blacksparrow.net:8008/lhslive.
• Our live recording night will be moving to Wednesday evenings (CST) beginning with Episode 97, scheduled for December 12th, 2012.
• Welcome Gnorman to the LHS staff.

Topics:

• TLF Contest Logger.
  • We’ve mentioned TLF in episodes 12, 65 and 70.
  • TLF is a console-mode general purpose CW and voice keyer, logging and contest program for Linux.
  • Our hosts compare this to YFKTest.
  • If you have used TLF, send us your experience with the program.
• Our hosts then embark on several digressions about Gnorman, Lua, and other podcasters.

Feedback:

• Torsten, DL1THM, sends an email describing his use of a Raspberry Pi as an APRS digi using aprx software and as a D-Star repeater using a DV-RPTR board. Thanks, Torsten.
• Greg responded to episode 94 about uses for the Raspberry Pi, including a media PC with Raspbmc and perhaps as a weather station. Thanks, Greg.
• Russ and Richard also talk about D-Star stuff, and D-RATS. (D-RATS has been mentioned in LHS episodes 17, 32, 56, 71 and 90.)
• Comment from the Web site from Leif, KC8RWR, in response to episode 91 where Russ rants about the lack of speakers in the head units of mobile radios. Thanks, Leif.
• Fred, DH5FS, sent a suggestion to consider TLF as a Linux contest logger. Thanks, Fred. Your email inspired tonight’s topic.
• Bill, KJ4KNI, on Facebook expressed his appreciation for help getting Linux Mint 13 with the MATE desktop running on his main computer. He also provides several reasons a ham might wish to use RG6 (75 ohm coax) in radio applications. Thanks, Bill.

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:

• “Crooked Smile Girl” by Heather Pierson, from her album Make It Mine.
• “Agnostic” by Daniel Bautista from the album 15, courtesy of Jamendo.

Introduction:

• Join us this episode as our intrepid hosts, Richard and Russ (mad posstcatter!), interview John Hays of NorthWest Digital Radio.

Topics:

• Interview with John Hays (K7VE) from NorthWest Digital Radio.
• John has been a licensed amateur radio operator for 40 years. His wife and all of his children are hams, too!
• A couple years ago John gave a presentation at TAPR, and discussed his wish for a reasonably priced radio for digital communications with just a few connections: antenna, power and Ethernet.
• Bryan Hoyer (now K7UDR) approached John and volunteered to build one. Their collaboration (with Basil Gunn) resulted in NorthWest Digital Radio.
• Their first product will be the UDR56K-4 Universal Digital Radio, planned for availability in early 2013.
• John goes on to discuss the features of their digital radio and some of the design decisions the company made.
• Specifications (subject to change, of course):
  • 25W 70cm Transceiver
  • 4800 to 56Kbps
  • FSK, GMSK, 4FSK
  • Open Source Linux Platform — a full Linux-based web server is built-in. It uses the Debian kernel, running on an ARM processor (faster than a Raspberry Pi).
  • Web Interface over Ethernet
  • 4 USB Host Ports
• Applications:
  • Winlink Email
  • APRS
  • D-RATS
  • D-STAR Digital Data
  • Digital Voice with AMBE Card Option
  • 44 Net (AMPRNet)
• The radio can be completely controlled through the web interface or the command line.
• John talks about other potential applications for their radio platform.
• Keep an eye on the website for more information and to sign up for email announcements.
• You may also be interested in John’s blog.

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.

Announcements:

• 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.