AmateurRadio.com

I’ve owned my Raspberry Pi for a while now.  I purchased it around the time they were first introduced (early 2012).  Not having a lot of knowledge in the Linux OS, the most I ever really did with it was set it up and play around with it.  However, my reason for purchasing the RPI was to some how use it for amateur radio purposes. 

As I have mentioned before on my blog, I also own a D-STAR Digital Access Point Dongle (DVAP).  I purchased it in 2011 and had been using it connected to an older Windows XP machine.  I wrote a “first look” post as well as one where I was experimenting on the DVAP range away from my QTH.   However, in following my own advice given in my podcast, The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast episode 64 about the Microsoft Windows XP End of Life, I decided it was time to explore how the DVAP might be used with the Raspberry Pi.

In most situations, Google truly is your friend.  Just doing a simple Google search for DVAP and Raspberry Pi led me to more information than I had time to read.  However, the very first search result happened to provide all the information I needed to setup my Raspberry Pi to work with my DVAP dongle.  Special thanks to Bill, AB4BJ who had blogged about his experience in setting up his Pi for DVAP purposes. 

If you have a Raspberry Pi, a DVAP Dongle and a D-STAR radio sitting around your ham shack, it’s very easy to set it all up just as I have done.  In the below picture, I have my ICOM ID92-AD, the DVAP Dongle and the Raspberry Pi setup.  Once configured, the Raspberry Pi will function stand-alone (without keyboard, mouse and monitor).  I can access the RPI via VNC from my iPad if needed. 

Raspberry Pi running Debian Linux and the DVAPNODE and IRCDDB software.  DVAP is connected to REF001A in Aurora, Illinois.  Screenshot from iPad VNC session.

For now, my setup will remain in my ham shack.  I know many build this setup for mobile/portable use.  At the present time I do not have wireless capabilities for the RPI.  I also want to see just how stable this setup is before making any additional changes.   I was pleased to wake up this morning and find the RPI was still running and the OS was stable.  Time will tell…

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK

Introduction:

• Join us this episode as our intrepid hosts, Richard and Russ (mad posstcatter!), interview John Hays of NorthWest Digital Radio.

Topics:

• Interview with John Hays (K7VE) from NorthWest Digital Radio.
• John has been a licensed amateur radio operator for 40 years. His wife and all of his children are hams, too!
• A couple years ago John gave a presentation at TAPR, and discussed his wish for a reasonably priced radio for digital communications with just a few connections: antenna, power and Ethernet.
• Bryan Hoyer (now K7UDR) approached John and volunteered to build one. Their collaboration (with Basil Gunn) resulted in NorthWest Digital Radio.
• Their first product will be the UDR56K-4 Universal Digital Radio, planned for availability in early 2013.
• John goes on to discuss the features of their digital radio and some of the design decisions the company made.
• Specifications (subject to change, of course):
  • 25W 70cm Transceiver
  • 4800 to 56Kbps
  • FSK, GMSK, 4FSK
  • Open Source Linux Platform — a full Linux-based web server is built-in. It uses the Debian kernel, running on an ARM processor (faster than a Raspberry Pi).
  • Web Interface over Ethernet
  • 4 USB Host Ports
• Applications:
  • Winlink Email
  • APRS
  • D-RATS
  • D-STAR Digital Data
  • Digital Voice with AMBE Card Option
  • 44 Net (AMPRNet)
• The radio can be completely controlled through the web interface or the command line.
• John talks about other potential applications for their radio platform.
• Keep an eye on the website for more information and to sign up for email announcements.
• You may also be interested in John’s blog.

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.

Here we are at Episode #090, just 10 away from the century mark. Things have been rolling along fairly smoothly, and except for Russ being deathly ill for the last eight days, there’s not even a lot to complain about. In this episode, we have yet another interview. This time it’s with John Hays, K7VE, of Northwest Digital Radio. These guys are producing an entirely new purpose-built radio platform called the UDR56K. This technology promises to be a great advance in the amateur radio arena as well as in the computing arena. It’s a bit of kit that’s going to find a use in almost every radio amateur’s shack. If you want to find out why, please sit down and take a listen to this episode of LHS. We promise you will not be disappointed.

73 de The LHS Guys

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

Introduction:

• Tornado season has begun in Texas! Check out the videos at kcares.info

Announcements:

• The donations for the LHS to Dayton Hamvention fund have stalled. If you’d like to see LHS return to the Hamvention this year, please make a donation in the next week or two. All donations will go toward the cost of the booth in the vendor exhibition hall. If we fail to raise enough to attend, then the funds will go toward the expenses of producing LHS.

Topics:

• Richard’s Linux Adventures
  • Thank You Kubuntu, for once again obliterating Richard’s boot sectors.
  • Russ suggests using dd to perform what is essentially a low-level format of the drive. For example,

    dd bs=1m if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda

    NOTE: This will totally erase your hard drive! Use caution!

  • Matthew, KC8BEW, in the chat room, suggests using Spinrite to repair a hard drive.
  • Richard declares that Debian is the Jesus Christ of Linux distributions, as it raised his hard drive from the dead, at least temporarily. It was the only distro he found that managed to install grub on the drive.
  • Richard also declares that Linux Mint sucks… at least for him. Audacity caused 100% CPU usage, spell check didn’t work, and it crashes.
  • Also discussed: CentOS, Scientific Linux, Fedora, PCLinuxOS, Xubuntu, lubuntu.
• Richard is writing an ebook on the National Traffic System.
• Russ again suggests Richard try Debian, but Richard says it won’t let him install Firefox. Maybe there’s a hardware issue? (Perhaps memtest might find a memory error? -Ed.)

Donations:

• We received several donations from visitors to the Dalton Hamfest and the KARC Hamfest. Thank you to our ambassador Ronny (K4RJJ) and to everyone who stopped by our booth at those events.
• Russ hoped to interview Roy, KK4ATD, our ambassador to the RARSfest last week. Apparently, the LHS booth was a great success.
• If you’d like to be an ambassador for LHS at an event, email us at [email protected] and visit the Ambassadors link on the web site.

Feedback:

• Fab, co-host of Linux Outlaws, left a couple comments on the website expressing his gratitude for being on the show.
• Bob (W9YA) offers Russ some suggestions for entering the contact exchange information in YFKtest.
• LinuxCanuck left a comment saying he enjoyed the episode with Fab, asks for help getting the feed links on the web site to work, and offers some thoughts about Kubuntu.
• Roy, KK4ATD, the LHS ambassador to RARSFest, calls in to the show and describes the event. He’s also building a repository of ham radio packages for CentOS, called Hamux.

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.

Ever had something you wanted to get off your chest? Richard did on this episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. Somewhere along the line, Russ got sucked in as well and suddenly it was all about stuff the hosts didn’t like. There’s plenty of comic relief in the middle, though, and there is a happy ending when one of the show’s ambassadors calls in to talk about his adventure at a recent hamfest. All in all, a fun ride down Birch Street–uh, you know what we mean.

73 de The LHS Guys

Introduction:

• An absolutely FABulous episode, in which we interview Fab Scherschel from the Linux Outlaws podcast. Fab’s de-facto father-in-law is DC5JM!

Announcements:

• Ronny, K4RJJ, attended the KARC Hamfest over the weekend as the LHS Ambassador. Details, photos and video will be on the web site very soon. Thanks, again, Ronny!
• Roy, KK4ATD, will be our ambassador at the RARSfest in Raleigh, NC on April 7th. Thanks, Roy!
• The LHS Web site now has a ‘Chat’ link which gives you the ability to join the #lhspodcast IRC channel without having a client, straight from the LHS web site.
• LHS hopes to attend the 2012 Dayton Hamvention. Please donate to the cause to help make that happen!
• A recent iOS update broke the Black Sparrow Media app for iPhones, but that will get fixed, soon. Look for new podcasts in the future. Visit blacksparrowmedia.net/join if you’d like to add your podcast to the Black Sparrow Media network.

Interview:

• Russ and Richard interview Fabian “Fab” Scherschel, co-host of the Linux Outlaws podcast.
• Fab transitioned from Windows to Ubuntu in 2007. The biggest issue was games, but he bought a PlayStation 3 to satisfy that requirement. Minecraft runs well on Linux.
• Fab’s primary motivation for Linux Outlaws was to practice his English.
• Our hosts then discuss Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Canonical and Debian.
• We then talk about software patents from a UK and German perspective.
• Fab is switching his servers from CentOS to Debian, primarily because there is no upgrade from one major release of CentOS to another. He also likes to try different distributions so as to maintain impartiality.
• Fab asks how Linux in the Ham Shack began.
• You can contact Fab via Google Plus.

Feedback:

• LinuxCanuck asks for help accessing links and RSS feeds from the website. Everything seems to be working on this end.
• Phil, AK4RQ, recommends the book ‘The C Programming Language’ by Kernighan and Ritchie, originally published by Prentice Hall in 1978. Thanks, Phil.

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:

• “Vertigo” by Obsidian Shell from their album Evershade, courtesy of Jamendo.
• “Faces Nameless” by Reform the Resistance from their album And It Begins… courtesy of Jamendo.