AmateurRadio.com

My article on the Android HT generated some interesting comments and ideas. Thanks so much! One of the main themes in the feedback is to have the radio be “faceless”, with the user interface done on a mobile device (i.e., smartphone or tablet). The mobile device would communicate to the transceiver via Bluetooth (or maybe WiFi). This approach has the advantage of separating the radio hardware (which probably doesn’t need to change very often) from the compute/display hardware (which is on a faster-paced technology path). I went ahead and hacked together a concept photo of such a device (click the photo to enlarge it). This device could interface with any mobile device that has a Bluetooth interface, so it would be independent of OS on the mobile device (yes, you could use your iPhone).

Such an approach opens up a variety of use models. Imagine sticking the transceiver in your backpack and using an app on your smartphone to enjoy QSOs when hiking. Alternatively, the radio could hang on your belt. At home, the radio could be left in some convenient location, connected to an external antenna on the roof and operated from the mobile device. (Low power Bluetooth is said to have a range of about 10 Meters.)  These are just a few thoughts…I am sure you can think of others.

I would expect the original Android HT concept to be easier to use for casual operation, due to the All-In-One Design with dedicated hardware volume control, channel select and PTT switch. I am assuming those functions would be implemented in software in the faceless implementation, which would likely be less convenient. Most mobile devices have their own GPS system included, so that would mean one less thing that has to be in the radio.

The other idea that surfaced in the feedback is using Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology to implement the transceiver. This would provide a higher degree of flexibility in generating and decoding signals, enabling additional areas of innovation. That is a great idea and will require a whole ‘nuther line of thinking.

73, Bob K0NR

I’ve been watching all of the innovative work going on in the smartphone and tablet arena and wondering how we could get more of that going in ham radio. To be sure, there are always radio amateurs developing creative technology. Some examples are adaptations of D-STAR, IRLP, improvements on APRS and sound card modulation modes. However, amateur radio is missing a standardized platform for handheld communications. Such a radio platform could open up lots of software innovation in this space.

What I have in mind is a dualband (2M/70cm) handheld transceiver that is built on top of the Android operating system. (Sorry Apple Fan Boys, iOS is a non-starter based on Apple’s walled garden philosophy.) This radio would have some of the hardware features we now take for granted in smartphones: GPS, WiFi, USB, maybe even a camera. I’d also include APRS hardware built-in, similar to the Yaesu VX-8GR or the Kenwood TH-D72A. I’ve hacked together a concept photo shown on the left of this post (click to enlarge). We would probably want to maintain some of the most important direct hardware controls such as PTT, volume and channel select. The rest of the user interface would be done via a touchscreen display, where the power of the Android OS comes into play.

While this hardware configuration is exciting, the real power comes from having a software developers kit (SDK) with a stable Application Programming Interface (API). This would unleash the creativity of all those software-oriented hams out there and a plethora of apps would emerge. There are plenty of ham radio apps available on the Apple and Android platforms…it’s just they are missing the radio as part of the package. An obvious area for innovation would initially be in APRS or maybe D-STAR. We could actually have the equivalent of SMS text messaging on ham radio, backed up via the WiFi connection. (Yeah, this kind of exists already but it is really cumbersome to use due to the braindead menu-driven user interfaces of current radios.) Just think how easy programming the radio would be with a touchscreen approach.

This is the type of product development that requires significant investment, but the technology is readily available. I suppose a garage shop operation could get this done but one of the big radio manufacturers could easily pull this off. Maybe one of those upstarts from China might want to take this on. Whoever does it, just send me $5 per unit and I’ll be happy .

That’s my best idea for this morning. What do you think?

73, Bob K0NR

Introduction:

• Hacker Public Radio celebrates their 1000th episode!

Announcements:

• The Black Sparrow Media Mobile App for iPhone/iPad and Android has been updated. You can now listen to all of the old episodes, as well as new ones, via the app. wAVEgUIDES episodes are now included, as well. All streaming content is now available for iPad/iPhone. Please download and enjoy. It’s at the Google Play marketplace, as well as via the Black Sparrow Media website, and it’s still free!
• The LHS Hamvention fund drive was a success! LHS will be at Dayton Hamvention 2012, May 18-20, in the North Hall of the Hara Arena in booth 131, the same place as last year.
• Russ fixed a website bug that may have been causing some visitors to see the Black Sparrow Media site when surfing to LHS. Thanks to John, EI7IG, for pointing it out.
• Please sign up for the LHS mailing list at http://lists.blacksparrowmedia.net/mailman/listinfo.
• Please join the LHS subreddit and contribute show topic ideas, news of interest to our listeners, or just about anything else.
• Please tell your friends about the show.

Topics:

• Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, in his recent Surfin’ column on the ARRL website, recommends open source Apache OpenOffice and the desktop publishing software Scribus. Note, LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice and is also quite functional. Both offer word processing, spreadsheets, database and presentations. Scribus may have a steep learning curve, but it’s a very powerful program. Easy tasks are easy to accomplish. Complex projects may take more effort to learn. Also note that many open source programs, like OpenOffice, Libre Office and Scribus, are available for Windows, OS X, as well as Linux.
• Take a look at the ham radio section at Linux Journal which also has links to their Ham Shack forum.
• Richard discovered several open source ham radio applications at Sourceforge: ircDDB_gateway, CQiNET, phppredict, contest loggers, fldigi, paclink-unix, OpenMOR, software for SDR radios, Ham Radio Net Logger, and more. So, don’t just look in your distributions repositories for applications. You may have to compile the programs from SourceForge yourself, but it may be worth the trouble.
• Finally, a reminder to visit KE2YK’s Random Oscillations website.
• An overview of ham radio apps for Android phones, available at the Android market, aka Google Play:
  • Morse Code apps:
    • Morse Decoder ($4.99)
    • Morse Code Reader (Free)
    • Morse Trainer Lite (Free)
    • Morse Trainer ($2.99)
    • Morse Code Trainer (Free)
    • Morse Code Keyboard (Free)
    • Morse Code Teacher ($3.99)
  • QSO Logging:
    • Amateur Radio Call Log (Free)
    • HamLog ($0.99)
    • Hamroid Free (Free)
    • Hamroid ($6.53)
  • Miscellaneous:
    • QSY (Free)
    • DroidPSK ($4.99)
    • DXCluster ($2.49)
    • DTMF ($2.49)
    • Echolink (Free)
  • A few more from Bill:
    • APRS Viewer (Free)
    • Ham Radio Tools (Free)
    • Who Is Calling Me? (Free)

Feedback:

• Ronny, K4RJJ, regrets that he won’t be able to act as the LHS ambassador at the Knoxville hamfest. If you’d like to be our representative at the Knoxville, or any other event, please contact us via the Ambassador link on the website.
• Roy, KK4ATD, reiterates how much fun it is to be an LHS ambassador.
• Chris, K4FH, says he offers a presentation at club meetings he calls Linux in the Ham Shack. He’s hoping Richard or Russ has some material they can share.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at [email protected], Russ at [email protected], or both at the same time at [email protected].
• 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:

• “Gunpowder Chant” by Diablo Swing Orchestra from the album “The Butcher’s Ballroom,” courtesy of Jamendo.
• “L.E.O.” by Oleg Serkov from the album “Epoch Symbol,” courtesy of Jamendo.

In a world first, or maybe just podcast first, the guys throw caution to the wind and actually product an episode with some real Linux and ham radio content. We know it’s shocking, but sometimes–just sometimes–a miracle happens and you get the belly laughs along with something to stimulate your gray matter. We can’t promise this will happen in the future, but this time you’re safe.

On the Linux side, Richard found an article on the ARRL Web site which leads to a discussion of OpenOffice (Libre Office) and Scribus, two excellent document preparation suites. On the ham radio side, Russ discusses some useful Android applications which might be helpful to those operators who want to use their devices for logging, CW training, PSK31 digital mode communications and more.

Thank you for all the donations to the Hamvention fund. Russ hopes to see as many folks as possible during his time at the show. LHS will be in the North Hall, booth 131.

73 de The LHS Guys

A month or so ago I solicited the advice of my readers on the selection of a device for reading e-publications. I learned that the Kindle – my original choice – would not meet all of my needs, but I received some strong endorsements for the Apple iPad.

As someone who pays full price for SIM-free mobile phones just so as not to be tied to one provider, the idea of a device that only let you use what Apple approves and insists on being tethered to iTunes did not, unfortunately, appeal to me. My online activities are very Google-centric, I’m a fan of open source and I already have an Android smartphone so inevitably my thoughts turned to Android tablets. Someone mentioned that Maplin had some cheap tablet computers in their sale – the Archos Arnova 10 G2. Maplin is rarely the cheapest source of anything even in a sale so I visited a price comparison site and found that Carphone Warehouse had the Arnova for £10 cheaper and with free shipping. I checked some reviews and the majority were very positive, even though many qualified their comments with “for the price.” The tablet was in my hands 24 hours and £139 later.

Archos Arnova 10 G2

As a tablet virgin my impressions probably aren’t worth much but even I can tell that the Archos is not Apple build quality. The plastic case is more reminiscent of something that came out of a Christmas cracker. £11 on eBay got me a leatherette case/stand for the tablet so I don’t see the case anyway. But as many reviewers said, it’s a lot of tablet for the money. I haven’t got around to trying any e-book readers yet but I’ve used it for email and web surfing and I love it already. Battery life is great, the tablet is silent as there is no fan inside and no Intel Pentium giving you a hot lap so it’s a much better laptop device than a laptop.

One problem was that there was no Gmail app as I use on my smartphone. The Arnova doesn’t come with the standard Android Market so the choice of apps is rather limited. I found some instructions for installing Android Market on the Arnova but as usual whenever I attempt something technical with computers I got error messages that aren’t mentioned in the description. After trying a few things at random and on the point of giving up I noticed that Gmail had been installed and I had the full Market, except that it has been renamed Google Play. That probably confused me into thinking it was something to do with games, which I have no interest in.

The one thing I haven’t managed to do yet is find an app for my blogging activities. On the PC I use Blogger Dashboard in a browser (Firefox, of course) but on Android Dashboard is no good for keeping up with the blogs I follow because the list of posts is in an iframe and the Android browser doesn’t support scrolling in an iframe. Nor does the Dolphin browser, which I was led to believe would be the solution. I’ll probably have to use gReader, as I do on the smartphone, but I’d hoped the tablet would let me use something a bit more sophisticated.

We watched a TV show on the Arnova using the BBC iPlayer and I was impressed by the quality. Until then I could never understand why anyone would want to watch TV on a computer but in fact the angular size of the Arnova screen in my lap is larger than that of the TV when I’m sitting in my armchair, so it’s actually better. As you may gather, I’m pleased with my new gadget!

Cloud RF is something that I stumbled over and to be honest I’m not sure where so if I’m telling you something you already know then I’m sorry, its a function of me not concentrating.

Anyway the blurb from the Google marketplace / Google play site indicates that the app is for all sorts of RF planning and I quote ‘DAB, DVB, GSM 2G/3G/4G/LTE, Marine VHF, PMR, TETRA, PTT, WiFi, WiMax
Groups: Emergency services (Ambulance, Coastguard, Fire, Forestry, Police), Amateur/Ham enthusiasts, Armed Forces/Military, Construction industry, Event organisers, Government, Maritime/Private Security, WISPs.’

For me its a way of simply checking the coverage I’m expecting. there are 2 applications for your Android phone and a web based offering to boot. The programme is squarely aimed at the corporate market and the trial offshoot for hams is either a 12km limited plot for free or for a fiver you get 100km of signal plotting. I guess you could reduce power to minimal levels and attempt to extrapolate but it doesn’t seem worth it if you’re into planning for a RAYNET or emergency communications type situation.

Still for the casual user there is at least something to wet your appetite and the operation couldn’t be simpler on your phone. Use the GPS or map to locate where you are / want to be. Entering in the frequency and power as well as height above ground for the rudimentary settings and press the button to calculate your plot. Other aspects can be changed such as type of ground and the usual modelling parameters that you’d expect from a simplified model that bears a similarity to Radio Mobile that Julian, G4ILO posted a while ago. I’m only guessing but I’d image its a similar if not the same engine that delivers the plots (Irregular Terrain Model).

Have a play with the trial version and see if that takes you fancy and if you dip into the paid for version then let me know what you think.

I’ve long been a user of smartphone’s and always felt that in the past they were able to offer a lot in terms of being able to make and receive calls then the applications or apps that run on them we additional bonuses. Nowadays the primary selling point of a smartphone is not to do the basics like calls and text (SMS) messaging are the apps. My HTC desire S is like many other that run the Android OS in that it has access to the Android Market and its ever growing list of extras. A little run down on the ham radio one I have is as below. There’s no great explanation as to their functionality as its all on the Android Marketplace

APRSdroid – APRS on your phone. Well worth the money especially now that it supports messaging.

Echolink – Ro real need to introduce this application. Just does what you need to make use of the Echolink network

Electrodroid – A collection of electrical references

Hamsatdroid – Satellite prediction for your phone. Very effective with a simple interface.

Morse code reader – Like all readers its not as good as your ear and as such is limited but a simple application

Morse CT – The trainer that if it was a person would have given up on me learning the code a long time ago. A very patient trainer.

Repeater – Repeaters in you local area. Shows you the distance to your nearest repeater.

Satellite AR – A mixture of Google sky maps and hamsatdroid with a nice ‘point at the sky and see where the satellite is in real time’ interface. Does more than amateur radio satellites.

This is by no means an exhaustive list but these are the ones that have been installed and used. I’ve tinkered with the idea of a log book for when I’m portable but nothing so far has stood up to the old pencil and paper. If a developer makes one that can pick out call signs then that would be smart but I can imagine that’s not going to happen in the near future.

I know there are apps for digimodes like PSK-31 but nothing for things like WSPR or any of the exotic ones. As the next generation of phones come out and these become functional but obsolete the ability to repurpose them must be on someone else’s mind and not just mine.