Author: Russ Woodman

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.

LHS Episode #082: Hamroids

Posted on by Russ Woodman

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Show Notes #081

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Introduction:

  • Loctite... not just for noisy children any more.

Announcements:

  • The Fourth Annual Southeast Linuxfest is scheduled for June 8-10, 2012 in Charlotte, NC.
  • Please sign up for the LHS mailing list.
  • Please join our new Subreddit and contribute news stories, discussion topics, and any other items that may be of interest to our listeners.
  • Scott, N8VSI, has tentatively agreed to be our ambassador at the Ohio Linux Fest in Columbus, Ohio in September, 2012.
  • It looks like LHS will be at the Dayton Hamvention, May 18-20, 2012 in Dayton, OH. If you'd like to help make that happen, please donate!
  • LHS is syndicated by the Kamiak Butte Amateur Radio Association, KB7ARA. The linked repeater sites cover almost all of Washington State, some of Oregon, and a bit of Canada as well. They are IRLP and Echolink connected.
  • Ronny, K4RJJ, will be our ambassador at the Knoxville Hamfest on June 8th, 2012. Ronny calls in to discuss the upcoming Knoxville Hamfest, and his previous experiences as LHS ambassador.

Feedback:

  • David, KE0AZ, writes to ask if LHS will be at Ham-Com, June 8-9, 2012, in Plano, TX.
  • LinuxCanuck writes to defend Kubuntu against Richard's recent tirades.

Topics:

  • IRSSI Tips and Tricks
    • Irssi is a terminal based IRC client for UNIX systems. It also supports SILC and ICB protocols via plugins. Russ offers some tips on making Irssi a bit friendlier.
    • The functionality and ease of use of Irssi can be extended by installing and using third-party scripts. These scripts are written in Perl and available at scripts.irssi.org.
    • Once you download the script file, which we'll call "dlfile" in the example below, you can install it and have it automatically run with Irssi by performing the following steps: 
      # Create the scripts and autorun directories:
linux> mkdir -p ~/.irssi/scripts/autorun   
# Move the downloaded script file to the scripts directory:
linux> mv  ~/.irssi/scripts
# Change to the autorun directory:
linux> cd ~/.irssi/scripts/autorun
# Create a link to the downloaded script:
linux> ln -s ../ .
    • Some interesting scripts Russ is using:
  • Our hosts discuss the new release of Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) with the MATE and Cinnamon desktops.

More Feedback:

  • Stefano, IZ3NVR and KD2BGM, asks for help finding a good Linux contest logging program that supports SO2R (single operator, two radios) and CW keying. We don't know of any, but perhaps one of our listeners can offer a suggestion.
  • John, KD7AAT, offered a bit of criticism about the political content of episode 79 with Fab.
  • Mike writes to extol the virtues of Linux Mint Debian Edition with the XFCE desktop, and hopes Richard will find it a suitable alternative to Linux Mint or Kubuntu. He also suggests Crunchbang Linux. Richard and Russ respond.

Donations:

  • Don sent a nice donation for the Hamvention fund. Thanks, Don! We also received donations from Bob K., Charles H., Scott P., Craig B., and Harrison K. Thank you, everyone!

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:

  • "Gold and Steel" by Isaac Graham from the album Empty Vessels.
  • "Charly" by Higgins from the album Zs.