Show Notes #082

Posted on by Russ Woodman

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.