AmateurRadio.com

This came down from the leadership of Northern New Jersey ARES; but it should be of interest to anyone who is involved with Emergency Communications:

FYI…the info below comes from the ARRL’s EmComm and Regulatory offices and needs your thoughtful and timely input…the ARRL states:

“The FCC has released a Public Notice soliciting input for the Congressional directed study of Amateur Radio Emergency Communications and Impediments to the amateur’s ability to provide those communications. This is the ARRL-proposed study which we have been seeking for the last 3 years….”

The links below should help you with filing your comments and reports….thank you all in advance for you help in this and all EmComm related matters

Additional information is also on the ARRL Website:
http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-seeks-public-comments-on-emergency-communications-by-amateur-radio-and-impediments-to-amateur-ra
and
http://www.arrl.org/ccr-study-information

If you have participated in an EmComm event or deployment since January 1, 2000, we ask you to provide specific information on the activation by completing this form by clicking here.
http://www.arrl.org/emergency-communications-response-actions

If you are affected the deed restrictions, HOAs, or CC&Rs, please complete this form by clicking here.
http://www.arrl.org/ccr-regulations

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Congress directed that the FCC provide the report back within 180-days and that clock is already counting. The FCC is only accepting comments for a 45-day period, which will end May 17,2012. In order for the ARRL to collate your information in a common report, we ask that you send in your information no later than WEDNESDAY APRIL 25.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know a lot of you out there are involved in Public Service activities and communications, so please, if you have something to contribute, please do so!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Introduction:

• They barely get the introductions done, and Richard is off on a tangent about the great hobo migration in Texas. All this just  proves Larry Bushey of the Going Linux podcast is right: LHS rambles. More on this in a moment.

Announcements:

• Richard and Russ discuss a disparaging comment Mitt Romney made six years ago about ham radio operators. He’s since reversed his position, at least publicly.
• Larry Bushey says LHS rambles in episode 160 of the Going Linux podcast. You know, Larry, you’re right.

Topics:

• Terminal emulation programs for Linux.
• If you’re interested in running packet radio with your Linux computer, you’ll likely need a terminal emulation program to communicate with your terminal node controller(TNC). There are several Linux tools you can use:
  • setserial is a command-line program designed to set and/or report the configuration information associated with a serial port.
  • microcom is a very basic terminal emulation program. Tip: pressing Control-\ will access the menu.
  • minicom is a menu-driven communications program. It emulates ANSI and VT102 terminals, has a dialing directory and auto zmodem download.
    • At the command line, type “minicom -s” to begin configuration. The first time you run “minicom -s”, you’ll probably want to run it as root so you have write access to the configuration file.
    • The first serial port in Linux is called ttyS0.
    • Most things will work at 9600 baud, 8 data bits, no parity bit, and 1 stop bit.
    • Text based modem control program.
    • Runs in a terminal screen
    • It’s useful for other serial port tasks, too.
    • Ctrl-A followed by W turns on line wrap, so you won’t have long lines truncated.
    • Install on a Debian-based system by using “apt-get install minicom” or use Synaptic.
    • Press Ctrl-A then X to exit.
  • GTK Term is a terminal emulator written with GTK+.
    • Gets added to the launch menu during installation, but with the name “Serial Port Terminal”, not “GTK Term”.
    • Has a nice looking interface.
    • Easy access to the serial port settings.
  • CuteCom is another graphical terminal emulator, with split input and output screens.

Feedback:

• Sean, AC0VD, writes about http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com. Thanks, Sean. That’s pretty much where the whole badger thing on LHS began. Sean also likes the howto article Installing Linux on a Dead Badger.
• Ilan Rabinovich, of the Southern California Linux Expo, SCALE, sent a voice mail asking that we play promotions for the event. Unfortunately, we’re too late with releasing the LHS episodes to promote SCALE in time. We’ll try to do better next year.
• Richard has posted an article Making Yourself Clear on the Radio, and it received a couple of comments:
  • Tim liked the article and agrees that talking slower helps.
  • Lief, KC8RWR, notes that codes and ciphers are only prohibited when intended to hide the meaning of a transmission.
• We received a donation from Walter J. Thank you, Walter!
• John, KF6EFG, asks what was the open source podcast mentioned in a recent episode. We don’t remember, John, but it may have been any of these:
  • ICQ podcast
  • Tux Radar
  • Linux Outlaws
  • The Linux Link Tech Show (TLLTS)
  • Going Linux
  • Mintcast
  • To answer the second part of John’s question, neither Russ nor Richard will be at the Indiana LinuxFest. If you would like to be the LHS ambassador there, please let us know.
• The Dalton Hamfest in Dalton, Georgia, will have an LHS ambassador on duty! Look for the LHS booth on February 25th, 2012.
• If you’d like your podcast included in the Black Sparrow Media empire, send us an email!

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:

• To be added.

ARRL Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada.  Each year over 35,000 amateurs gather with their clubs, friends or simply by themselves to operate.

The information packet for Field Day is now available on the ARRL web site.

- Bob K0NR