Author: Russ Woodman

LHS Show Notes #027

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Contributors:

  • Russ visited a Ham Radio Outlet in Virginia and bought a new Yaesu FT-7900R for his truck.
  • Richard bought a Kenwood TS-50, some wire and antennas at the Belton hamfest, but hasn't installed them yet.
  • John, EI7IG, says you don't need AX.25 support in the kernel to run XASTIR, since you're running the TNC in KISS mode. He also says that APRS is useful for emcomm events, disseminating local weather information, and passing short text messages.
  • Tim, KI6BGE, recommends Resonant Frequency, Linux in the Ham Shack, and SolderSmoke in his October 29 blog entry.

Announcements:

  • We received a donation from Paul during the last episode, and now Alex made a sizable donation. Thanks, Alex!

Links and Notes:

Music:

  • "Company of Fools" by Great Big Sea from the album "Fortune's Favour"

LHS Show Notes #026

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Contributors:

  • Kent, VE4KEH, writes in the forums that the Debian Testing updates have caused him some problems. Richard suggests not using the Testing distribution, while Russ disagrees.
  • Do any of the ham radio digital protocols support full TCP/IP? Can we load a web site via packet radio?
  • Commentsabout Episode #025:
    • Alex, OZ9AEC, says that he'd rather attend an Ubuntu launch party every six months, rather than a Windows party every six years. 🙂 He provided a link to an Ubuntu 9.10 Release Party Map.
    • Jim, N3JIM, defends APRS (Automatic PACKET reporting System), saying it's more than just vehicle tracking.
      www.aprs.org says it's "automatic packet reporting system"
      www.aprs.net says it's "automatic position reporting system"
      Our hosts discuss the apparent usefulness, or lack thereof, of APRS.
  • Richard rants about receiving spam, this time from Twitter.

Announcements:

  • Please donate to the fund to send Linux in the Ham Shack to the Dayton Hamvention in 2010!

Links and Notes:

  • Joe, NE3R, provides this audio segment about minicom, a Linux terminal application for connection to serial port devices. Check out Joe's blog.
  • Audio from Russ at Ohio Linux Fest:
    • Talking to Jim, KB3ORA.
    • Handing out DVDs of the first 22 episodes.
    • Matt, KC8BEW, provided some ham radio gear to use at the booth. Thanks, Matt.
    • Russ visits with Beth Lynn Eicher and Rob Ball, both of OLF, and Doug Vann of Duo Consulting talks to Russ about Drupal.
  • Richard talks about his visit to the Belton HamEXPOin Belton, TX.
  • Donate to the fund to bring Richard and Russ to Dayton Hamvention 2010.
  • Look for new topics in future shows, such as reviews of other Linux distributions such as ARCH Linux, Slackware 13, and OpenSUSE 11.1.
  • Russ talks about getting his amateur radio station back on the air. He put up a new antenna, an AlphaDelta DX-CC trap dipole for 80-10m. He also acquired a Rascal GLX sound card interface, installed fldigi, and made his first digital mode contact with PSK31 on 20m! Yay, Russ!
  • Russ has also discovered IRLP.
  • Paul, from TeenRadioJourney.com, made a donation to the Dayton fund. Thanks, Paul.
  • We're looking for a new logo for Linux in the Ham Shack. Any and all submissions will be considered.

Music:

LHS Episode #028: The Art of Listening

Posted on by Russ Woodman

rx320d_rearIt's the holiday season, and our gift to our listeners is a brand new podcast. During my time at Ohio Linux Fest back in September, several of the participants who visited the Linux in the HAM Shack booth provided topic ideas for the program. I recently dug those topics up and Richard and I will be tackling them over the next few episodes. In Episode #026, the topic we decide to visit is shortwave listening, including hardware and Open Source software for that very purpose. SWL is a way for non-hams to approach the hobby without encountering mic fright, and a way for existing hams and non-hams alike to explore the world of radio frequency communication, whether it be foreign broadcasts, pirate radio, amateur radio or time beacons. With several manufacturers of equipment still in business, SWL is by no means a lost art, and may be an interesting extension to the amateur radio hobby for those who don't currently participate in it.

Several thank yous go out to those who donated to the Dayton Hamvention 2010 fund. With my upcoming matching contributions we'll be about halfway to our goal. Please keep those donations coming, even after we've met our goal, so we can continue to improve our equipment, our hosting and our program. As always, thank you for downloading Linux in the HAM Shack. Please send us your feedback and questions, and please tell everyone you know about us--through word of mouth, blogging, social networking, whatever it takes. Our listenership continues to grow, and we hope that trend continues for years to come.

73 de Russ, K5TUX

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