LHS Episode #032: Screen-Doored Submarines
Well, January has pretty much come and gone. I sure hope the rest of the year sticks around a bit longer. Now that it's 2010, though, Linux in the HAM Shack has a lot of things planned for the future: contests, interviews with fascinating and influential people, trips to live events throughout the year and, as always, scintillating content about Linux and ham shacks. As of Episode #029, we have achieved more than 50,000 downloads. Episode #029 also turned out to be one of our most popular. When Richard and I started this endeavor back in October 2008 we didn't really know what to expect out of the podcast, but I think it's safe to say that whatever expectations we may have had, we're certainly reaching or exceeding them. I only hope that we only have more room to go up from here. Thank you to everyone who listens to, participates in, or otherwise helps out with the podcast--especially Bill, KA9WKA, our beloved Show Notes compiler, and everyone who has made a donation to the program. We are only about $100 in donations away from our booth at the 2010 Dayton Hamvention and we hope that we'll be able to set up there and say hello to all of our fans, old, new and undiscovered, when it finally rolls around. But for now, we wish you a speedy download and an enjoyable listen.
Contributors:
Shawn Powers of Linux Journal, and a recent guest on LHS, had a house fire. If you can, please help him out.
Google alert says LHS was mentioned in the Niagara Peninsula Amateur Radio Club (NPARC) forums, but it seems to have disappeared.
There’s been a problem with Russ’ email, k5tux@blacksparrowmedia.com, so please also copy Richard, kb5jbv@blacksparrowmedia.com, on any email until the problem is resolved.
Michael, DL4MGM, advises WSPR users to make sure their transmitters are on frequency, so as to avoid encroaching on the visual QRSS, particularly on 30m. He also suggests using “sudo su” to get a root shell session.
Ted, WA0EIR, writes to express his appreciation for Episode 029, and the plug for his website.
Google Alert tells us that a French website, al-aide.com, reprinted the post about Episode 029.
Announcements:
Texas Linux Fest will be held in Austin, TX on April 10, 2010, at the Monarch Event Center. You might even find a Linux in the Ham Shack host there! Tracy, one of the organizers of the event, is also starting another Linux-related podcast. Keep an eye on his website for the first episode.
We’re nearing our goal of raising $750 for the LHS expedition to the Dayton Hamvention in 2010. Please click on the Donate button and make a donation, as every little bit helps. Thank you!
Links and Notes:
There has been a lot of ham radio involvement in the relief efforts in Haiti, through such groups as the Texas Baptist Men and SATERN. Russ points us to this YouTube video containing a contact with HH2JR, demonstrating the effectiveness of ham radio in emergency communications.
Richard talks about using Linux scripts to automate D-RATS transmissions (auto-QSTs). This script downloads weather information and formats it for sending through D-RATS. #!/bin/bash
Change directory
cd /home/richard/drats/current_conditions
Remove the old downloaded weather file
rm KHQZ.TXT
Download the current weather file from NOAA
wget -q ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/decoded/KHQZ.TXT
Remove the old formatted file
rm current.txt
Strip last line of text of the NOAA file, using sed
This sed command strips out everything between “Mesquite” and “Pressure”
sed ‘/Mesquite,/,/Pressure / !d’ KHQZ.TXT > khqz1.txt
Add a blank line to the new file
echo -e " " » current.txt
Copy Mesquite Weather conditions to new file
cat khqz1.txt » current.txt
Done!
A cron job then periodically sends out the contents of current.txt
For more information on using the BASH shell and scripting, see:
Learning the BASH Shell from O’Reilly Media. (Shameless plug: You can buy the O’Reilly book through the blacksparrowmedia Amazon store)
Russ discusses the Linux “screen” command.
bash (Bourne Again Shell) is one command shell program. There’s also csh, tcsh, korn, and others.
psk31lx is a PSK31 program for a terminal session.
If you have a Linux distribution with the Amateur Radio repository, such as Debian, Ubuntu, or Linux Mint, psk31lx should be available there. You can then install it with the Synaptic package manager, or with the command apt-get install psk31lx
More about screen:
How do I Use Multiple Screens on One Terminal over ssh session?
Visit us on the IRC channel #lhspodcast at irc.freenode.net or call the voice message line at 888-455-0305, or +1 417 429 4069.
Music:
“Flash in a Bottle” by Dead Heart Bloom from the album “In Chains.”
“Things Happen Fast” by Fuzzy Logic.