LHS Episode #098: Feudal Exercise

rackSometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't. Luckily, Richard's miraculous recovery from the Creeping Death outweighed Russ's totally miserable Ides of January, resulting in a listenable episode with a bunch of content--mostly thanks to elcaset, a listener of the show, via IRC. There's also a bit about svxlink using a Raspberry Pi (yes, it is possible and completely functional) and lots of information about upcoming events. We'd like to thank everyone you who submitted feedback, including The Radio Gangsta, who we also hope will get some much-needed psychological attention soon.

If you think about it, make sure to download the Black Sparrow Media app for your iPhone, iPad or Android device. And please tell your friends about the show. Have them sign up for the mailing list, episodes via RSS, the Google+ community and all the other ways they can keep up with what's going on in LHS Land.

73 de The LHS Guys

Show Notes #083

Introduction:

  • Back from Dayton and ready to go.

Topics:

  • Dayton Hamvention 2012
    • LHS had the same booth as last year at North Hall #131. Estimated attendance was 25,000 individuals. Russ recounts the experience. Thanks to Matt, KC8BEW, who stopped by and helped out at the booth. The LowSWR podcasters stopped by, too.
  • FCC Dismisses Texas Ham’s Fourth Petition, Calls it "Repetitive"
    • Our hosts discuss.
  • Contest logging for Linux.
    • Several people at Hamvention asked about contest logging software for Linux, but Russ was at a loss for a recommendation. Upon his return, he discovered...
    • SO2SDR Contest Logging Software
    • Stefano, IZ3NVR/KD2BGM was trying to get so2sdr to work under Linux Mint and while it would compile, it did not run, so Russ set about trying to get it going.
    • It's not packaged for Debian or Fedora, so it must be built from source, available at the link above.
    • The program is written in Qt, so it can be run on devices which support that environment, including Linux and Windows. Of course, Qt must be installed in order to compile so2sdr.
    • Russ also had to install the following packages on his Linux Mint machine: portaudio19-dev (NOT libportaudio-dev; apparently, libportaudio-dev is too old), fftw3 and fftw3-dev
    • The compilation procedure consists of:
                    qmake
                    make
                    sudo make install
    • so2sdr compiled and ran fine. It did complain that it wanted a parallel port for switching between radios, but you can ignore that if you don't need to do that.
    • Russ gives an overview of the features and capabilities.
    • There are a few drawbacks:
      • An apparent lack of SSB support? It seems to be CW-only.
      • Frequency input checking is broken.
      • Keystrokes are not intuitive, but are well-documented.
    • However, the built-in help file is quite useful.

Feedback:

  • E-mail from Larry, KG4Q, extolling fldigi and JT65-HF. He wishes there was a version of JT65-HF for Linux. Well, Larry, there is! You can download the source here. Also, WSJT does JT65, too.
  • Chris, K4FH, caught up with Russ at Hamvention and talked about his Linux in the Ham Shack presentation. He managed to put together a fine bunch of slides completely without our help. Sorry, Chris!

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:

LHS Episode #083: Smokey & The First Lady

Welcome to the 83rdest episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. Freshly back from the Dayton Hamvention, Russ jumps in by telling everyone his experience at the show this year. The short version: It was great! From there, things move on to a question of FCC rules, at least in the mind of one ham.

One of the topics that kept repeating at Hamvention was: What is a good contest logger for Linux? Up until recently, it was hard to think of one. The ncurses-based application yfktest is out there, but thanks to IZ3NVR, our hosts discuss a new option. Tune in to find out what. There's also some feedback, occasional rambling and hardcore lunacy. Everything you've come to expect from an episode of LHS.

73 de The LHS Guys

LHS Episode #081: Chicken Licker Bumpy Bumpy

Welcome to the latest installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. It's almost time for Hamvention 2012! We hope that we'll be able to see our listeners and friends at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio from May 18th through the 20th. With your donations, the thermometer at left has almost exploded. If you can spare a dollar or two, we'll be at our goal in no time.

In this episode, our trusty [sic] hosts talk with an Ambassdor. Richard's interview with Ronny is so good it would make Anderson Cooper--well, throw up probably. They also discuss Linux topics like Mint-based distributions and irssi, an IRC chat client, as well as ham radio topics from HSMM to Winlink to contest loggers. The guys respond to a bunch of listener feedback and talk about some new features of the show.

A quick heads up: The interview audio is a little rough with some weird background anomaly. It won't drive you mad, just make you wonder what was going on on Ronny's side of the line. We suspect dinner and a seance.

73 de The LHS Guys