Tag: equipment

LHS Show Notes #014

Posted on by Richard KB5JBV

Contributors:

  • Tim KI6BGE tells us he is finally up and running with Ubuntu on his laptop
  • Jerry KD0BIK thanks us for mentioning Practical Amateur Radio Podcast
  • Blog post from Tim VK5FNET at the Homebrew Blog Talking about Linux in the Ham Shack and Solder Smoke
  • XE1GXG  in Jalisco Mexico tells us by way of 73's.org that he enjoys the show and there is no swine flu in Jalisco
  • Thanks to the Japanese Blog Atworld.jp/radioshack for the mention
  • A New five star review at Itunes for the show
  • KI6FEN Would like to know why Linux is better than the alternatives because everybody tells him to use something different
  • Myron KC5OHG Downloaded Ubuntu and wants to know how to install it.
  • Alex OZ9AEC with corrections to Episode 12 concerning Grig. An icon for Grig can be found at "/usr/share/pixmaps/grig/ic910.png" ( I am Russ, I am! )
  • Jeff KB5WCK tells us he put a link on his website for us at kb5wck.com and ask what software we use to record the podcast
  • KI4YMD uses xlog for logging and a signallink usb with FLdigi but needs help with SSTV

Announcements:

  • Resonant Frequency is now running on Drupal check it out www.rfpodcast.info Russ even likes it and does a mini review
  • We did not mention South East Linux Fest

Links and Notes:

  • You can get Linux for free
  • Most of the more common software is open source and there is a Linux version
  • You don't have to go to best buy to get Linux. You can download it from Home
  • Windows and Apple application are closed source. In Linux you get the source code and are free to modify it to fit your needs
  • Richard runs a couple of windows machines and has to reboot them very often. He also runs Linux machines he doesn't have to reboot for months
  • The myth of support is that Windows online support is helpful and you can't get support for Linux. The truth is Windows support people are inept and Linux support can be found in community forums, online tutorials, Howto's, and some distro's allow you to sign up for online tech support at a cost that is much lower than the cost of a copy of Windows or OSX. Yes if it is pre-installed you are still paying for the operating system.
  • Issues with QSSTV
  • Problems finding usb0
  • lspci and lsusb commands
  • An alternative to QSSTV for Slow Scan TV
  • The current version of QSSTV seems to be a little deaf
  • Use a piece of software written for Windows
  • Enter WINE
  • Add WINE from the Repo's or from Winehq.org
  • At WINEHQ you can find an application database of programs that are known to run under WINE. If it is not in the database that doesn't mean it doesn't run under WINE.
  • When WINE is installed then download MMSSTV from
  • at the command prompt in a terminal type "wine program-name" Probably mmsstv.exe
  • Don't be afraid of the wine configuration area
  • Change your station information in MMSSTV
  • Set your audio levels
  • You will need a copy of MS paint to install in wine to edit pictures for MMSSTV but we would never tell you to do so 🙂
  • If you choose to use Windows. Please use a legal copy.

Music:

LHS Show Notes #013

Posted on by Richard KB5JBV

Contributors:

  • KE7BAF about WUBI. Checkout WUBI at www.wubi-installer.org
  • Timis Via Twitter told us we are #1
  • Tom the Trucker left a wonderful review over at Itunes for us
  • N8XJA Tony found us through Itunes and is re-inspired by the show to pursue his Linux Dream
  • Rochester NY Amateur Radio Association added us to their website as a valuable Resource. Check it out. https://rochesterhamfest.org/
  • Mentioning the Dane Alex OZ9AEC and his Amateur radio software for Linux some of those are Gpredict Sat Tracker https://gpredict.oz9aec.net and Grig https://groundstation.sourceforge.net/grig
  • A Comment from Petr OK2CQR. Developer of CQRlog which we highlighted on an earlier episode. CQRLog can be found at https://www.cqrlog.com/
  • Myron says The Live show is pretty neat. Don't forget the Live recording session every other week check out the main page for more details. www.lhsinfo.org
  • Bob WD4BOB Has added some info to his page about the show go check out his blog at https://wd4bob.com/wd4bob/home/home.html Thanks Bob
  • KC7DEZ Barry Wants to get on packet and we are researching ways to get that happening. If you are good with packet and Linux get in touch with us.
  • WA3FKG Ken Posted about us in his Blog https://www.wa3fkg.com/
  • Josh Looking looking for basic info on Ham radio.

Notes:

Richard is a tester so this is the way he does it. If you are sure that rig control is going to run the way it supposed to then skip the Grig stuff.

  • Make sure you have hamlibham2 installed. Use Grig from the repositories to help make sure your rig control is working. Use “grig -h” at the command line for help.
  • Russ talks about creating a launcher for Grig in the menu.
  • Get you rig ID number by typing “grig - -list” for a list.
  • Make sure your rig is in VFO mode. Rig control will not work in memory mode. Once you have it working move on over to FLDIGI.
  • You can control a radio with libhamlib2, rig cat, mem map. We assume that you already have FLDigi installed and running. Go to the rig control tab. Under rig control go to the hamlib tab. Check the box that says “Use hamlib”. The next box says “use hamlib PTT” leave this unchecked. I did not try this you can experiment with it later. Find your Radio in the drop down list. Port will be the port your cat cable is on with the same settings you use in Grig. Initialize! There you go explore and have fun.

Links:

Music:

LHS Show Notes #001.5

Posted on by Russ Woodman

I was getting set up to record the second episode of LHS tonight and thought it might be interesting for folks to see what my recording setup is like. Plus it seemed like an interesting picture to take for posterity.

To the left is a Dell Latitude D620 laptop running Windows XP. I'm using it because multiple recording sources in the Linux kernel is a bit problematic right now. We're using Skype to make the voice connection between Richard and myself. Connected externally to the laptop is a Polaroid 21" LCD HDTV which I'm using as a second monitor. Audacity is the software being used for the recording. The TV allows me to keep it visible but out of the way so I can focus on the other two screens.

In the middle is the mixing console, an Alesis Multimix 8 USB. In the foreground is my microphone, a Marshall MXL V63M condenser. It will probably be replaced at some point because the high end and midrange are a little weak and the response is not very good. But for an inexpensive condenser it's not bad.

On the right is the screen for my Dell Poweredge 400SC. It's a server computer that I'm using as a client machine. It's running Debian Sid. For the recording of Episode #002, I was using the free VMware server to have a copy of Puppy Linux (Digipup) and Knoppix (Harv's Hamshack Hack) running simultaneously. Thanks for taking a peek behind the scenes with me. On to recording the podcast.

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