Author Archive
May 18th, 2012 | 
Author: 
‘Twas the night before Dayton…
Well, in just a few hours we’ll mark the “official” start of the festivities at Hamvention 2012 in Dayton, Ohio. To celebrate, I thought I’d call on our readers to share some special memories of past Hamventions.
So let’s hear them! Tell us about a great (or not-so-great) deal you got. The friends you’ve made. The food you’ve eaten (and the Bratwurst you wish you hadn’t). The portable toilets. And possibly all of those — in that order.
Who wants to start?
May, 2012 QSL Card Giveaway Winner
And the winner of 500 free full-color QSL cards is…
Jyoti VU3BGI
West Bengal, India
Congratulations to Jyoti and thank you to everyone who entered. Keep a lookout for more great giveaways! As always, thank you to KB3IFH QSL Cards for generously sponsoring this contest. Don’t forget to check out Randy’s website (or visit him at Dayton North Hall #202) the next time you need new QSL cards!
73 Matt W1MST
Win 500 Free Full Color QSL Cards
AmateurRadio.com is offering a free prize drawing!
With the help of our generous sponsor, KB3IFH QSL Cards, we’re holding a drawing for 500 free full-color photo QSL cards.
This is a US$75 value and open to all licensed hams worldwide.
The Rigger Giveaway: And the winner is…
Congratulations to Brian Tanner, AG6GX!
He’s the winner of The Rigger giveaway.
Thank you you Gary, N5BI, for sponsoring the giveaway
(and for joining us as a sponsor of AmateurRadio.com).
Even if you didn’t win, consider picking one up. They’re pretty cool!
Here’s the website: www.therigger.net
Win a Rigger HT Stand
AmateurRadio.com is offering a free prize drawing!
With the help of our very generous sponsor,
Gary, N5BI in Macon, Georgia,
we’re giving away
The Rigger
All licensed hams in the U.S. are eligible to enter
Shipping to the US is included.
USB cable driver CD triggers malware alert; probably false positive
Could files on the driver CD included with some USB radio programming cables be triggering a malware alert?
It’s a possibility in one case, according to James, K7NEO. He apparently stumbled upon the warning yesterday after running a check on the driver CD he had received with his USB programming cable.
“I was excited to get my radio, but I erred on the side of caution and scanned the CD that came with it,” wrote James. “I can’t say it’s 409shop’s fault as I have no clue who did what — just giving everyone a heads-up.”
After receiving a warning from his desktop virus scanner indicating that the files could contain malware called “Trojan.ADH.2,” James ran the files through VirusTotal, a service that checks many different anti-virus programs simultaneously. Of the 40 services tested, he said that 23 indicated that the file was possibly suspect. We analyzed the same USB driver software available as an online download from both 409shop and a US distributor and neither showed as infected (VirusTotal showed 0 positive of 19 tested). It is also very possible, however, that this alert is a false positive and is being triggered erroneously.
Even if it’s not a false positive, Trojan.ADH.2 is a low-level threat and easy to remove if it were to infect your computer, according to Symantec’s website. The episode, however, has made James think twice about installing drivers, even from supposedly trusted sources.
“What really hit home for me was the common sense of never blindly trusting a source of data or files. You should always scan for threats,” he said.
In some cases it may be better to download drivers from the seller’s or manufacturer’s website directly versus using accompanying CDs. Not only are these often the latest and most up-to-date versions, they can also be more easily scanned through an online service (like VirusTotal) before downloading.
Editor’s Update: Jim, KC9HI purchased a programming cable from 409shop which came with a driver CD. He scanned the CD and found no viruses or malware. Not sure what to make of this other than to assume that the original case was some kind of false positive.
Heard back from Carol at 409shop. She didn’t indicate whether or not they had received other reports, but did offer up their website driver download page as an alternative:
