Hello and welcome to installment 558 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts dig down to the bottom of their computing tool bag and pull out some odd but eminently useful Linux and open source applications. We hope you enjoy this episode and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

 

 This weekend was the WAG (Worked All Germany) contest which I entered CW low power and unassisted. About 10 minutes into the contest things started to unravel, I was on 10m calling CQ TEST when my contest software (N1MM+) had the contact log window turn black. It came back to normal within an instant but that is never a good sign. Next, I pressed my F1 key to send CQ TEST again and it did not respond, I pressed it again and nothing. Then all of a sudden the rig keyed and the macro started to send...twice. Then the issues got worse as when I had a station come back to me and I responded with my exchange the macro would not send right away. It was very confusing to the answering station and as he sent his call again, it was then my exchange macro decided to send. 

It was time to shut down and get things sorted out. I  have had this issue in the past and thought I figured it out. In the past, my wired Lanovo mechanical keyboard was picking up RFI and causing me problems. I was looking for a fast fix and added some mix  31 toroids to where the cable enters the keyboard. I now have toroids at either end of the keyboard cable. 

I then fired up the contest software and called CQ TEST again on 10m. For over an hour, I  had no issues and hoped I had fixed the issue. This was the first time this issue had ever shown up on 10m in the past it has always been just  20m but of course now that I am contesting "MR RFI" changes things up.  Heading up to 20m and again while calling CQ TEST I had the N1MM+ contest log window go black again. It was time once again to shut things down as I couldn't contest in this situation. 

As I sat there and went over things I knew in the past I had had issues with my wired mouse, I went wireless and the problem was solved. Maybe it was time to go with a wireless keyboard? I have a Logitech K830 hanging around and thought I would put that into service and see what happens. Of course, the keyboard's rechargeable battery was dead and needed about an hour of charge time before I could use it. That gave me time to label the keyboard and look up the instructions on how to pair it. 

Logi wireless keyboard.

I was up and running again with the wireless keyboard and things were working just fine! This is a much smaller keyboard and I found myself hitting macro F keys when I was supposed to be hitting numbers. This also is not a mechanical key-type keyboard. I tend to be heavy-handed while my hands are resting on the keyboard waiting for the  CQ TEST macro to finish. The keyboard was so sensitive by mistake that I would type letters into N1MM+ call box. When this happened my CQ macro stopped (as it should) I had to lighten up my heavy hands while I was using this keyboard. 

While waiting for the keyboard to charge I made my way to Amazon and ordered a full-size mechanical keyboard. I was sure this was the solution to the issue and so far I was right. It was getting more toward evening and 40m looked like it was hopping. When I pressed my F1 CQ key my N1MM+ , Win4icom  radio control software and the web page I had open all disappeared! With everything restarted I tried again with the same results, it was time to pull the plug and think about things over the evening. The wireless keyboard was not the answer. It was time to get back onto Amazon and cancel the keyboard order.

Winkeyer with ground lead to main ground bus

As the wheels in my head started to turn when using the wired keyboard the only program that was ever affected was N1MM+  and not Win4icom radio control software or the webpages I had open, it was always just N1MM+. When I started to use  Win4icom radio control software along with N1MM+ I needed to purchase a  Winkeyer USB unit for the CW macros in N1MM+ to work properly. The  Winkeyer is directly involved with the sending of code and it's part of the chain I have not paid any attention to. All outgoing cables had  31mix toroids on them BUT I realized the unit was not connected to the station ground. On Sunday morning I opened the Winkeyer and connected a station ground wire to one of the PC board mounting screws. 

I  began contesting and all was good on all bands, my fingers are crossed  BUT I have had this false hope in the past. Today (Monday) I have my weekly Medium Speed Contest (MST) in the morning and afternoon. It will be a good test to see if the issue has been fixed.
Also, I posted my issue on the Groups.io N1MM+ site and had some excellent feedback.  One common thread was the USB outer metal shell on the PC. I was told most of the time they are floating and not grounded and this can cause issues. I have a lot of USB cables connected to my PC for radio-related things. I was given a very good idea on how to ground them but more on that in another post. 

UPDATE: This morning and this afternoon I took part in the MST contest and called CQ on all bands without any issues. Maybe I have the RFI issue solved. BUT in the past I have done the happy dance to only be greeted with RFI....so we are keeping this celebration very low key. 

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, we join Martin Martin Butler M1MRB, Chris Howard (M0TCH), Martin Rothwell (M0SGL), Frank Howell (K4FMH) and  Bill Barnes (WC3B) to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and the episode's feature is UK Ham Fest 2024 Part 2.

We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• An Incredible Amateur Radio Rescue Story
• WRTC and WRL Announce Partnership to Launch New Live Ham Radio Competition Technology
• Balloon to Take Ham Payloads Aloft in South Africa
• Hams Respond to 2nd Hurricane in Southern US
• Jamboree On The Air EME Event
• Volunteer as an RSGB Youth Champion
• New ARDC Director of Technology

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 198 is now available for download.

Adding a Buck-Boost Converter to the PC Power Supply. Tommy’s GMRS Update. Hurricane Francine, Moving, RMS Gateway. AmateurLogic’s 19th Anniversary contest award.

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YouTube

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

Here comes Starlink!

I’ve been reading a number of reports from the areas affected by the two major hurricanes (Helene and Milton). The North Carolina experience is particularly interesting because people have experienced the loss of communication and electrical service for several weeks. I can imagine this same thing happening in other parts of the country, including my area.

There are two important technology disruptions showing up in North Carolina: satellite-based internet (Starlink) and mobile-phone-to-satellite (SMS) text messaging. Starlink is having a significant impact during this incident, while mobile phone satellite messaging is still emerging. Steve N8GNJ has some worthy thoughts on these topics in Zero Retires 173. Although I have served in many ARES/RACES deployments over the years, I don’t consider myself an expert in this area. I’d appreciate comments from Emcomm folks who have spent more time thinking about this.

Types of Emergency Communication

Most relevant emergency comms lump into 1) short-range comms (< 5 miles) between family, friends, and neighbors. 2) medium-range comms (50 miles) to obtain information and resources. 3) long-range comms (beyond 50 miles) to connect with distant family, friends, and resources.

1. Short-Range Comms: This is the type of communication that is well served by mobile phones, except when the mobile networks are down. This is happening a lot in North Carolina. Lightly licensed VHF/UHF radios such as FRS and GMRS can be used to replace your mobile phone. Think: wanting to call your neighbor 3 miles away to see if they are OK or can provide something you need. (I have a few FRS/GMRS radios in my stash to share with neighbors. See TIDRadio TD-H3) VHF/UHF ham radio is, of course, even better for this, except the parties involved need to be licensed. (OK, you can operate unlicensed in a true emergency, but that has other issues. See The Talisman Radio.)
2. Medium-Range Comms: This is a great fit for VHF/UHF ham radio using repeaters or highly-capable base stations. GMRS repeaters can also serve this need. These communications will typically be about situational awareness and resource availability in the surrounding area. For example, someone on the local ham repeater may know whether the highway is open to the place you want to drive.
3. Long-Range Comms: Historically, this has been done by HF ham radio and a lot of emergency traffic is still handled this way. The shift that is happening is that setting up a Starlink earth station feeding a local WiFi network can help a lot of people in a very effective manner.  Compare passing a formal piece of health-and-welfare traffic via ham radio to letting a non-licensed person simply get Wi-Fi access to their email or text messaging app. Hams are doing this, but many unlicensed techie folks have set up these systems and freely shared them with the public.

Mobile Satellite Messaging

Various providers now offer a basic text messaging capability using smartphones talking to satellites. Today, this capability is often limited to emergencies (“SOS”), and it is relatively slow. With time, this capability will certainly improve and basic satellite texting will be ubiquitous on smartphones. This will be great for checking in with distant friends and families, but it may not be that useful for Short Range and Medium Range comms. Someday, it might include voice comms, but in the near term, it is probably just text-based.

Evan K2EJT provides some useful tips based on his experience here in this video. However, he doesn’t address the Starlink capability.

Summary

While much of the public appreciates the usefulness of ham radio during emergencies, I am already hearing questions like “Doesn’t Starlink cover this need?” My view is that Starlink (and similar commercial sats) is very useful and will play an important emcomm role, but it does not cover all of the communication needs during incidents such as hurricanes, blizzards, wildfires, earthquakes, etc. Emcomm folks (ARES and RACES) will need to adapt their approach to take this into account.

Those are my thoughts. What do you think?

73 Bob K0NR

The post The Future of Emcomm appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].