LHS Episode #051: Careless WSPR

A short while ago, Canonical released the latest version of Ubuntu:  the fabled Maverick Meerkat, 10.10. This is the latest in Ubuntu's normal release cycle and is not LTS. I had occasion to upgrade a couple of my personal computers running Ubuntu to the wily Meerkat. Find out what's new in 10.10, and what's old, in the first segment of LHS #049.

After that, Richard and I tackle the WSPR protocol for ham radio again. When it was discussed the first time around, neither of us had much of an idea what it was or how it worked. Armed with a broader understanding and a lot more experience, we talk about what works and what doesn't work with WSPR, how to get it up and running on your system and what we like and don't like about it.

Following that it's on to witty banter, a passel of badgers, some hijinks, censorship, feedback and more entertainment than you can shake a wet hedgehog at. Thanks for tuning in. We love you all.

73 de The LHS Guys

LHS Episode #050: Ham Radio is Dead

As I was roaming around the Intertubes, I came across an article at AmateurRadio.com written by Jeff, KE9V. I had been an avid listener of Jeff's "Cornbread Road" podcast while he was publishing it as a podcast. The format was different enough to keep me interested. When it went away, I was highly disappointed.

As it turns out, his recent article disappointed me quite a bit as well. I don't want to give much away, but suffice it to say the outlook Jeff paints is fairly bleak. At the same time, some of the points are valid and overall the essay was fairly thought provoking. Because of that, Richard, Bill (KA9WKA) and myself decided to discuss Jeff's recent article. We also have our usual assortment of announcements, banter, gripes and response to feedback. So settle in for an interesting episode. We all had a good time. We hope you do, too.

73 de The LHS Guys (and Bill)

LHS Episode #049: CQRlog Revisited

Hello, everyone! Due to Cheryl having some hand surgery and my being a telecommuter for the last month or so, I haven't been able to keep up with the podcast release cycle.  We've been recording episodes like we're supposed to. It's just been impossible to get them released on time. That means that #047 and #048 are going to be released in rapid succession so you'll get twice the LHS yummy goodness.

This time around, Richard has been looking a little deeper into CQRlog, a great logging program for Linux created by OK2CQR.  We talked about this program in a past episode and we've mentioned it a few more times in passing. This time we're getting down deep into the features and all of the integrations CQRlog has with other ham radio applications. We also address our usual announcements, feedback, other technical topics and throw in a bunch of witty banter just to keep things interesting. Thanks, all, for staying with us while we try and get back to a regular podcasting cycle. Keep listening and keep spreading the word.

73 de The LHS Guys

Live Video Discontinued

Hi, everyone. Just a quick update to let everyone know that we will no longer be broadcasting the live episodes via Ustream.TV. On the whole, the video is not terribly interesting and it causes problems when either Richard or I have to broadcast in low-bandwidth situations. In place of the video stream, we will have a live audio stream. In order to access the live audio stream, you will need to point your streaming media player (e.g. Rhythmbox, VLC, iTunes, etc.) at https://stream.lhspodcast.info:8008/lhslive. This link can also be found in the right column of the Web site under the Streaming Audio header.

We will still maintain a live chat room as well. In order to access it, you will need to use an IRC client (e.g. irssi, X-Chat, Colloquy, etc.) and connect to irc.freenode.net on port 6667 (the default). Once there, connect to the channel #lhspodcast. Note that this channel is active all the time and there are several LHS listeners who are always handy to ask questions of or to simply chat with. The live audio stream will start working approximately 30 minutes before each live broadcast. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to send them our way.

73 de The LHS Guys