During my ongoing apprenticeship in D-Star, I continue to make mistakes and, mostly learn from them.

My latest: To “simplify” use of the DR feature of Icom ID-51A+, instead of loading all 750 repeaters the machine can hold, I loaded only those from areas where I expected to travel; i.e., Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and the Carolinas. Then, I promptly forgot having done that. Consequently, when I went to New York last weekend, I was dumbstruck that there were “no” D-Star repeaters in all of New York City or its environs. Flabbergasted, I was. When I saw the closest showing on my radio was in Ohio, I recollected what I’d done. So, what to do?

I traveled without my handy-dandy RTS programming cable and also sans computer; bringing only a tablet on this short trip. But, there is a micro SD card in the ID-51 and one in my tablet, so maybe I download the complete North America repeatercropped-id-51a info from http://www.dstarinfo.com to the tablet, format the tablet’s SD card in the radio, put it back in the tablet, copy the list to the card, put card back in radio and Bob’s Your Uncle I’ll be in business. I had several hours to kill and was situated in a warm and pleasant Italian restaurant in Briarcliff Manor at lunchtime with no crowd, so I could immerse myself in pizza, beer and ham radio fiddling with no pressure – perfect!

Well, actually maybe not so perfect; first, getting the SD card out of the tablet was tricky and ultimately required the use of a borrowed lady’s earring post to release the little door (we hams are resourceful!); then, I find out the repeater list will not download to an Android tablet and neither will the needed CS-51 program. But wait, there’s still hope: the repeater list can be downloaded as a csv spreadsheet file so let’s try that. By golly, that appeared to work as a download but alas, not as an upload. Nothing is as simple as it ought to be. Threw my hands up, downed my beer, and called it a day.

Days later, back home with computer I learned that the CS-51 (or the RTS equivalent) is totally necessary, and also that naming a new icf file has to follow the awkward format exactly, i.e., Set20180114_01 and not a more user-friendly “Jan 14 2018 settings,” even though the Nifty! Mini-Manual says you can. I did, however, learn how to program the radio using the SD card and not relying on the RTS cable which could be handy next time I’m in survival mode.

So now I have 750 repeaters loaded from all over the United States and Canada in my radio so I can’t run out unless I travel further abroad, and guess what, my HT is barely heavier than it was before!

Thanks for tuning into another episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode we take an in-depth look at the wonder of hamlib, the software that binds applications to your amateur radio hardware. It's cross platform, small, actively developed and wonderful in general. Hope you enjoy. Please make sure to send us your feedback about the topic, the show or just a quick hello.

73 de The LHS Crew

Is Alexa your ham shack assistant? She has certainly become an indispensable addition to my shack.

Alexa is Amazon’s AI voice assistant. Alexa’s voice emanates from the several Amazon Echo products, like the Echo Dot, Echo Spot, Echo Show, Echo Plus, and Fire TV, among others to be announced.

Here are several Alexa related activated skills and applications that I have found especially useful in my ham shack, and you may find useful and fun to use in your shack, too. Some of these I use several times a day, while others I rarely use, and frankly, some of these applications are a bit of a challenge to get to work the way they should. So, you will discover that you have to ask Alexa just the right way; otherwise, she can get pretty uncooperative and frustrating!

Also, many of these services must be enabled before you can use them; for example, before you can use the Call Sign Skill, you need to say:

Alexa, enable Call Sign

Then, it should work just fine for you.

Now, here is a list of Alexa skills and applications you may find very helpful to use in your ham shack:

Alexa, what Time is it or simply: Alexa time

Alexa, what time is it in Mexico City — or any location of which you want the time

Alexa, what is the weather or simply Alexa weather

Alexa, what is the weather in Brisbane Australia — or any other QTH in which you want the weather

Alexa, what is the temperature or simply Alexa temperature

Alexa, what is the temperature in Key West — or any other QTH you request

Alexa, what is xx Fahrenheit in Celsius
(Note: great when in a QSO with stations using the metric system and you want to give them your temperature in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit)

Alexa, what is the 7 day forecast

Alexa, what is the 7 day forecast for Montpelier Vermont — or any other QTH you request

Alexa, open Weather Sky
(Note: this will give you a very in-depth weather report and forecast for your area, more than just asking for the weather in the previous commands)

Alexa open Weather Sky for Key West, Florida — or for any other QTH for which you want an in-dept weather report and forecast

Alexa, set a 10 minute timer
(Note: this is good for creating a station ID reminder)

Alexa, how many dollars are in 85 pounds
(Note: want to purchase an antenna from the UK where the price is in pounds? Use this quick conversion! This conversion works for many other currencies as well)

Alexa, what is xxx divided by yyy
(e.g. what is 468 divided by 3.8 to determine the length of a 75 m dipole)

Alexa, what is the distance between Bowling Green Kentucky and Quito Ecuador — or whatever qth you ask for

Alexa, how do you spell heterodyne — or whatever word you ask for
(Note: even though I am a Ph.D., I am a terrible speller and use this skill frequently)

Alexa, ask call sign who is K8HSY — or whatever call you want to know
(Note: often you have to use phonetics; I suggest using proper phonetics, e.g. kilo 8 Hotel Sierra Yankee)

Alexa, ask QRZ who is W7GPF — or whatever call you want
(Note: often you have to use phonetics; I suggest using proper phonetics, e.g. Whiskey 7 Golf Papa Foxtrot)

Alexa, ask ham look-up who is K8OEY — or whatever call you want
(Note: often you have to use phonetics; I suggest using proper phonetics, e.g. Kilo 8 Oscar Echo Yankee)

Alexa, Propagation report

Alexa, ask our ionosphere what are the current band conditions

Alexa, open space weather

Alexa, what time will the sun sit tomorrow

Note: great for gray line anticipation for DX

Alexa, what time will the sun rise tomorrow

Note: great for gray line anticipation for DX

Alexa, create a reminder to meet Tom for a schedule at 9 am Saturday morning — or any other reminder you need

Alexa, create a reminder to get on the Kentucky Phone Net every day at 5 pm in the afternoon — or any other everyday reminder you might need

Alexa, play the latest Ham Nation podcast — or any number of other ham-related podcasts

Alexa, use APRS and locate kilo 4 uniform lima echo

Note; works only for stations using the APRS system when you ask

Alexa, start extra ham cram

Note: gives you 7 different questions from the extra class pool to answer each time you execute the skill; good for exam prep. See how well you do!

Alexa, Open Amateur Radio test

Note: gives you several questions from the test pool to answer for fun or as a test prep

Alexa, Open Amateur Radio General Class Study

Alexa, Ask Ham Exam for a Question

Alexa, Open Ham Radio Facts

Note: gives you a different ham related fact each time you open it

Alexa, Open Q-code

Note: gives you a different Q-code each time you open it

Undoubtedly, I left a few out. There are new skills and applications becoming available about everyday; so many that it is impossible to keep up. If you know of any I left out that you use in your ham shack, please let me know. I am trying to maintain a reasonably complete file of ham shack useful skills and applications.

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2018 Jan 29 0117 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 22 – 28 January 2018

Solar activity was at very low levels. The largest event of the period was a B9 flare from plage Region 2696 (S13, L=123). No Earth-directed CMEs were observed.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at normal levels on 22-25 Jan and moderate levels from 26-28 Jan. A maximum flux of 348 pfu was observed at 27/2010 UTC.

Geomagnetic field activity was at predominately quiet to unsettled levels with an isolated active interval observed late on 24 Jan. Quiet to unsettled periods were observed on 22 Jan and 24-26 Jan due to a pair of weak negative polarity CH HSS. Quiet levels were observed on 23 Jan and 27- 28 Jan.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 29 January – 24 February 2018

Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels throughout the outlook period.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal to moderate levels throughout the outlook period.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet to unsettled levels on 29-31 Jan, 04-05 Feb, 09-11 Feb, 15-18 Feb and 20-22 Feb, with isolated active periods likely on 10 Feb. This activity is due to influence from recurrent CH HSSs. Mostly quiet conditions are expected for the remainder of the outlook period.

Don’t forget to visit our live space weather and radio propagation web site, at: http://SunSpotWatch.com/

Live Aurora mapping is at http://aurora.sunspotwatch.com/

If you are on Twitter, please follow these two users: 1. https://Twitter.com/NW7US 2. https://Twitter.com/hfradiospacewx

Check out the stunning view of our Sun in action, as seen during the last five years with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXN-MdoGM9g

= = = = =

BOOK SALE: Space Weather and Sun Science – get these from Amazon, and help us stay online!

NOTICE: When you buy this (or any item after starting with this link), you are helping us keep our SunSpotWatch.com and other resources “on the air” (up and running!). In other words, you are helping the entire community. So, check out this book:

Here is the link to Amazon: http://g.nw7us.us/fbssw-aSWSC

We’re on Facebook: http://NW7US.us/swhfr

Oh Boy, what have I gotten myself into

TUBES

Heathkit HP-13a

Heathkit HW-101

Heathkit HW-101

Crystal filter

Welcome to the another edition of The Weekender version of LHS. In this episode, your hosts discuss, Scotch whisky, cheap wine, JT-65, casseroles with pepperoni and awesome, upcoming contests and special event stations and much more. Thank you for listening.

73 de The LHS Crew