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Posts tagged with 'hamradio'

Two new Linux/open source amateur radio projects

September 30, 2009

Under hamradio , linux

I just noticed a couple of new Linux amateur radio projects. The first is a D-Star compatible repeater - More info Here and the project page is here . I see no mention of source code or a license for the repeater code, but it is apparently based on Centos. The second project is an APCO-25 decoder, and is clearly available under the GPL.

HF Noise source found!

September 17, 2009

Under hamradio

After months of suffering an intermittent HF noise problem, tonight I noticed it had settled into a cycle of 01:05 minutes off, 00:45 on. Hmmm. Streetlight? A walk around the neighborhood and I found it. Tomorrow, a call to Hsv Utilities.

The Bob Jones project

September 2, 2009

Under hamradio

The Bob Jones project:

I’ve been working on this for about two years now - it’s finally real.

That detailed long range plan? I helped.

Open Source amateur radio apps at the Huntsville Hamfest

August 12, 2009

Under amateur radio , hamradio , planetubuntu , ubuntu

Dave Freese, W1HKJ will be presenting a forum at the Huntsville Hamfest titled “Emergency Communications using HF Digital Modes”. Dave and a core group of contributors have been working for the last few years on a suite of open source applications for amateur radio. The fldigi application is the flagship of these.

Fldigi is a digital modem application which generates and decodes a number of digital modes using the sound hardware in your computer. Amateur radio using digital modes has been growing in popularity, and with good reason. These modes offer a variety of tradeoffs between rf bandwidth, data bitrate, error correction, and noise immunity.

These modes are all sent and received using audio frequencies that fall in the normal voice range used in amateur radio, about 300-3000 Hz. Some modes use very little bandwith, as low as 31Hz, allowing many contacts to take place within a frequency range that would be occupied by one voice contact. These modes are most commonly used with a text interface that resembles internet chat, but are also suitable for inclusion in a higher layer of protocol which allows further error correction, block sending, and retries. When used with a ‘stack’ like this, it is possible to send binary files over amateur radio error-free. This is useful for emergency communications. An example is to be able to send a spreadsheet listing items needed at a shelter, instead of reading and copying every line in the document by voice. The low speeds of these modes limit the usefulness to relatively small files, but a lot of information can be passed in small text files.

Fldigi runs on Linux, Free BSD, Windows XP, W2K, Vista, and OS X. At the hamfest, Dave will be demonstrating using windows and a Linux platform, and I will be helping him demo with my Ubuntu system.

The forum is at the Huntsville Hamfest from 14:00-16:00 on Saturday August 15th, in Salon 10. For more information about these apps, see Dave’s site

Amateur Radio in School

August 11, 2009

Under arrl , bjhs , hamradio

I’m presenting a forum at the Huntsville Hamfest about the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology, and specifically about the amateur radio program under way at Bob Jones High School in Madison, AL. The forum is in Salon 5 at 10:00 Saturday morning

Two years ago, I started talking with teachers at BJHS about an amateur radio program. Over this summer break, eight teachers from the Madison school system attended the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology. We are in the process of forming the amateur radio club at BJHS, and we have a lot of momentum going.

If you are interested in bringing amateur radio to a school near you, I think there are four key things that you need to do. The first is to have a contact within the school who understands the potential of the program and will support it within the school system. The second is to have the support of your local amateur radio club. Third, read the ARRL material about the program and make contact with Mark Spencer at the ARRL. Finally, make contact with individuals who have already championed this program in local schools. I was helped in my efforts by Ed Tyler, KI4GKS, who helped set up a program at Pell City High School.