[digitalradio] April QST page 35 Questions

[Dave Sloan]

Let's see existing tnc. Free software. Once setup and configured almost any
ham can use it. What is the catch? Other than it is slower than the Internet
or Winlink on HF.

TNX & 73,
Dave N0EOP

 

Re: [digitalradio] Group - Ham Software for Linux ???

[Howard Brown]

Hi Walt,

Yes, linuxham is pretty active but seems to be dedicated to supporting the 
W1HKJ software.  Excellent software but the site is not intended to be for all 
Linux ham software discussions.  Jose was talking about the linuxhams  (plural) 
group that has become inactive.  If you are a Linux ham, join linuxhams and we 
will wake it up.

Howard K5HB

- Original Message 
From: Walt DuBose <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 9:47:57 PM
Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Group - Ham Software for Linux ???

I don't know, I'm on the [EMAIL PROTECTED] s.com group and 
there are 10-40 
messages a day and sometimes only 1 or 2.

73,

Walt/K5YFW

Jose Amador wrote:
> I subscribed to linuxhams back around 1996 or so, and was very useful on 
> my start with linux, packet and associated stuff.
> 
> At some point I had to unsubscribe and lost that part of history.
> 
> Eventually, the list moved to Yahoo Groups.Lately there is VERY LITTLE 
> activity on the list. I am a subscriber.
> 
> On the real life, the project leaders also have a life of their own, and 
> they may get tired or monkey-wrenched by higher priority stuff.
> It is a pity at times, but anyway, it happens.
> 
> Maybe linuxhams needs a fresh blood injection.
> 
> 73,
> 
> Jose, CO2JA
> Linux User 91155
> http://counter. li.org
> 
> ---
> 
> Howard Brown escribió:
> 
>> Is there a Yahoo group or other public list where the discussion
>> centers on ham radio software for Linux?
>>
>> On this board, most discussions on Linux lead to how many more users
>> there are for Windows. While this is true, there seems to be a group
>> of us that would prefer to focus on Linux.
>>
>> There is http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/linuxham/
>>  and this is a valuable
>> group but focused mostly on W1HKJ software.
>>
>> There are some groups that have software listings but do not have
>> discussion capability.
>>
>> Does anyone know of a group/list like this? Do we need a new one?
>>
>> Howard K5HB
> 
> 
> 
>  - - --
> 
> Announce your digital presence via our Interactive Sked Page at
> http://www.obriensw eb.com/sked
> 
> Check our other Yahoo Groups
> http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/dxlist/
> http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/contesting
> http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/themixwgro up
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

Re: [digitalradio] Group - Ham Software for Linux ???

[Howard Brown]

Thanks, Jose.

I saw this one earlier but it seemed inactive.  I have signed up and when 
approved, will read as many of the old messages as I can.  Maybe this will be a 
good place to discuss Linux ham software.

Howard K5HB

- Original Message 
From: Jose Amador <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 5:32:34 PM
Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Group - Ham Software for Linux ???


I subscribed to linuxhams back around 1996 or so, and was very useful on 
my start with linux, packet and associated stuff.

At some point I had to unsubscribe and lost that part of history.

Eventually, the list moved to Yahoo Groups.Lately there is VERY LITTLE 
activity on the list. I am a subscriber.

On the real life, the project leaders also have a life of their own, and 
they may get tired or monkey-wrenched by higher priority stuff.
It is a pity at times, but anyway, it happens.

Maybe linuxhams needs a fresh blood injection.

73,

Jose, CO2JA
Linux User 91155
http://counter. li.org

---

Howard Brown escribió:
>
>  Is there a Yahoo group or other public list where the discussion
>  centers on ham radio software for Linux?
>
>  On this board, most discussions on Linux lead to how many more users
>  there are for Windows. While this is true, there seems to be a group
>  of us that would prefer to focus on Linux.
>
>  There is http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/linuxham/
>   and this is a valuable
>  group but focused mostly on W1HKJ software.
>
>  There are some groups that have software listings but do not have
>  discussion capability.
>
>  Does anyone know of a group/list like this? Do we need a new one?
>
>  Howard K5HB

Re: [digitalradio] Group - Ham Software for Linux ???

[Walt DuBose]

I don't know, I'm on the [EMAIL PROTECTED] group and there are 10-40 
messages a day and sometimes only 1 or 2.

73,

Walt/K5YFW


Jose Amador wrote:
> I subscribed to linuxhams back around 1996 or so, and was very useful on 
> my start with linux, packet and associated stuff.
> 
> At some point I had to unsubscribe and lost that part of history.
> 
> Eventually, the list moved to Yahoo Groups.Lately there is VERY LITTLE 
> activity on the list. I am a subscriber.
> 
> On the real life, the project leaders also have a life of their own, and 
> they may get tired or monkey-wrenched by higher priority stuff.
> It is a pity at times, but anyway, it happens.
> 
> Maybe linuxhams needs a fresh blood injection.
> 
> 73,
> 
> Jose, CO2JA
> Linux User 91155
> http://counter.li.org
> 
> ---
> 
> Howard Brown escribió:
> 
>> Is there a Yahoo group or other public list where the discussion
>> centers on ham radio software for Linux?
>>
>> On this board, most discussions on Linux lead to how many more users
>> there are for Windows. While this is true, there seems to be a group
>> of us that would prefer to focus on Linux.
>>
>> There is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxham/
>>  and this is a valuable
>> group but focused mostly on W1HKJ software.
>>
>> There are some groups that have software listings but do not have
>> discussion capability.
>>
>> Does anyone know of a group/list like this? Do we need a new one?
>>
>> Howard K5HB
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Announce your digital presence via our Interactive Sked Page at
> http://www.obriensweb.com/sked
> 
> Check our other Yahoo Groups
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxlist/
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/contesting
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themixwgroup
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

Re: [digitalradio] Re: RFI-Free PCs?

[Tony]

Spurious emissions: 

Electronic equipment from computers to intentional transmitters can produce 
unwanted radio signals and are subject to FCC regulation. For digital devices 
including computers and peripherals, FCC Class B is the more stringent 
standard, applying to equipment marketed for use in the home, even if it could 
be used elsewhere. Home users are likely to be annoyed by interference to TV 
and radio reception. Class A is a looser standard for equipment intended only 
for business, industrial and commercial settings.



- Original Message - 
From: "Russell Hltn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:50 PM
Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Re: RFI-Free PCs?


>I remember it as just the opposite.  The idea was to protect broadcast
> radio and television.  Class B was for use in the home where it might
> interfere with a neighbour.  Class A was for commercial use as it was
> expected to be further away from any homes.
> 
> If a business interferes with itself, it has the means to correct it.
> Neighbours don't have that kind of technical knowledge or resources.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 11:48 AM, W5XR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> The Class B cert. for industrial environments is because it is expected that
>> there may be many devices concentrated in a small area and they want to
>> reduce the radiation from that concentrated area.
>> Bob
>

Re: [digitalradio] Re: RFI-Free PCs?

[Russell Hltn]

I remember it as just the opposite.  The idea was to protect broadcast
radio and television.  Class B was for use in the home where it might
interfere with a neighbour.  Class A was for commercial use as it was
expected to be further away from any homes.

If a business interferes with itself, it has the means to correct it.
Neighbours don't have that kind of technical knowledge or resources.


On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 11:48 AM, W5XR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The Class B cert. for industrial environments is because it is expected that
> there may be many devices concentrated in a small area and they want to
> reduce the radiation from that concentrated area.
> Bob

Re: [digitalradio] Group - Ham Software for Linux ???

[Jose Amador]

I subscribed to linuxhams back around 1996 or so, and was very useful on 
my start with linux, packet and associated stuff.

At some point I had to unsubscribe and lost that part of history.

Eventually, the list moved to Yahoo Groups.Lately there is VERY LITTLE 
activity on the list. I am a subscriber.

On the real life, the project leaders also have a life of their own, and 
they may get tired or monkey-wrenched by higher priority stuff.
It is a pity at times, but anyway, it happens.

Maybe linuxhams needs a fresh blood injection.

73,

Jose, CO2JA
Linux User 91155
http://counter.li.org

---

Howard Brown escribió:
>
>  Is there a Yahoo group or other public list where the discussion
>  centers on ham radio software for Linux?
>
>  On this board, most discussions on Linux lead to how many more users
>  there are for Windows. While this is true, there seems to be a group
>  of us that would prefer to focus on Linux.
>
>  There is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxham/
>   and this is a valuable
>  group but focused mostly on W1HKJ software.
>
>  There are some groups that have software listings but do not have
>  discussion capability.
>
>  Does anyone know of a group/list like this? Do we need a new one?
>
>  Howard K5HB

[digitalradio] Group - Ham Software for Linux ???

[Howard Brown]

Is there a Yahoo group or other public list where the discussion
centers on ham radio software for Linux?

On this board, most discussions on Linux lead to how many more users
there are for Windows.  While this is true, there seems to be a group
of us that would prefer to focus on Linux.

There is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxham/ and  this is a
valuable group but focused mostly on W1HKJ software. 

There are some groups that have software listings but do not have
discussion capability.

Does anyone know of a group/list like this?  Do we need a new one?

Howard K5HB

[digitalradio] New CubeSat to feature D-STAR

[Mark Thompson]

- Forwarded Message 
From: Trevor [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 2:20:47 PM
Subject: New CubeSat to feature D-STAR

New CubeSat to feature D-STAR 

A new Amateur Radio CubeSat OUFTI-1, built by students at the University of
Liege in Belgium is proposing to using the Amateur Radio D-STAR
digital-communication protocol. 

The objective of the nanosatellite project is to provide hands-on experience to
students in the design, construction, and control of complete satellite systems
that will ultimately serve as the basis for a variety of space experiments. The
first satellite in the series is called OUFTI-1: it is a CubeSat, which is a
cube with a size of 10x10x10 cm and a weight of at most one kilogram.

The key, innovative feature of OUFTI-1 is the use of the D-STAR amateur-radio
digital-communication protocol. This means of radio-communication will be used
for control and telemetry, and will of course be made available to ham-radio
operators worldwide. In the future, it will also be used to control space
experiments. 

OUFTI-1 website 
http://www.leodium.ulg.ac.be/cmsms/ 


73 Trevor M5AKA
---
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[digitalradio] Re: RFI-Free PCs?

[jhaynesatalumni]

You mentioned Class B for industrial applications.  Is
the intent of Class B to hold down the amount of RFI
coming out of the computer and bothering other things?
Or is it more to prevent strong RFI in the environment
from screwing up the computer?

I guess for ham radio we are concerned with both - I get
noise in the receiver generated by the computer (and all
the other assorted electronics lying around) and also
have had RF get into the computer and mess up the keyboard.

[digitalradio] Re: Vista

[jhaynesatalumni]

We conspiracy theorists can always believe that Microsoft
deliberately made Vista so bad so that there will be lots
of buyers for the next version of Windows.  Gotta keep the
revenue stream flowing.

Re: [digitalradio] RFI-Free PCs?

[Tony]

All,

Thanks for the replies regarding PC RFI. Dell states that most of their 
computer systems are FCC Class-B certified. Class-B being the more 
stringent standard over Class-A.

The bottom line is that there are no guarantees a Class-B device will 
not cause interference. From what I gather, the difference between the 
two FCC class ratings is about 10db.

Seems that whether you build your PC from scratch or buy it ready-made, 
it's best to check the ratings. I intend to call Dell to find out more 
before I purchase one of their products.

Thanks again,

Tony -K2MO 

Re: [digitalradio] Mac OS X / MT-63

[chas]

Stelios Bounanos wrote:
> 
>> wow!  so, what is the Mac OS-X version called ???
>> STILL looking for MT-63 for the Mac.
> 
> Thanks to a kind ham who gave us remote access to his OS X machine, we
> have been able to get fldigi 2.10 to build and run on the Mac. This
> version also supports MT-63.
> 
> Unfortunately, we do not have OS X binaries. But if you are able to
> install packages for the FLTK, PortAudio and samplerate libraries, it
> should be easy to compile fldigi yourself.  There are instructions in
> the INSTALL file inside the source tarball, which can be found here:
> 
> http://www.w1hkj.com/Fldigi.html
> 
> It should be far easier to add OS X support to flarq, if there is demand
> for this...
> 
> 
>> chas
>> K5DAM
> 
> 73,
> Stelios, M0GLD
> 
> 

I hope that you are able to get a turnkey build for the OS-X created. 
there are a LOT of Mac Hams out there judging by the two or three 
elists for same.  I am sure that most of them would love to get rid of 
there klutz together setups so as to allow running MixW on a Virtual 
folder for Windows whatever.  OR having to go find an affordable 
Windows laptop which is new enough as to have USB 2.0, large ram, and 
moderately fast cpu so as to install MixW.

However, I personally do not even understand your instructions as I 
would have to spend a couple of weeks loooking up the jargon or slang 
you used to tell me how to do this.

Anyway, just wanted to assure you, if you ever get a Leopard version 
together, to let the MacHam elists know about it.

thanks
73 de
chas k5dam

Re: [digitalradio] Re: Vista

[Rick]

Let's discuss some of the FUD mentioned below.

1. If you can do "everything" in Linux then you are the exception to 
most of us. My personal experience is that I have to forgo too many 
amateur radio programs to move away from the MS Windows OS's. Obvious 
examples being Ham Radio Deluxe/Digital Master 780, Multipsk, and the 
DXLab suite of programs. Also, for those experimenting with new digital 
(and other ham programs) e.g., RFSM, Outpost, Q-Forms, etc., there are 
no Linux equivalent at this time. And speaking from my experiences with 
virtualization, I question whether many will even attempt this approach! 
WINE may be a possible solution, but consider that they have been 
working on this for 15 years and still do not have version 1.0 quite 
there yet?

2. Most of us just want to load the software and have it work. Windows 
does this extremely well. Linux is far more difficult due to the many 
steps required unless you are installing from a repository and that 
often means older software versions. And you still may be required to 
manually install other dependencies. In fact, it is this serious 
shortcoming of Linux that will make it a non-starter for most potential 
users. It may be addressed some time in the future, but not the way it 
currently is designed.

3. Vista works OK with newer and more powerful computers with adequate 
RAM and video, but I can not think of any reason anyone would want to 
upgrade their current XP machine to Vista, especially with older 
hardware that may not meet the requirements. While I currently have 
both  XP and Vista machines side by side with a KVM switch, I generally 
run my ham programs on XP since I don't have to worry about any upgrade 
issues for now. In a few years, maybe there will be difficulties and we 
will have a similar situation just as we now have with running Win XP 
programs on Win 98 or older OS's.   Microsoft has been telling 
programmers for years that they were making certain programming changes 
and that some code had to be written in a different way.This is not a 
negative thing as some might suggest, but often done to improve security.
 
4. Where did this claim come from that Vista can not do duplex sound? 
When the original ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) bus was first 
developed, it is true that the early soundcards were only half duplex. 
Over the years the technology improved so that PCI cards were full 
duplex. What information does anyone have that factually states that 
Vista can no longer do full duplex?

5. WinXP software does not require major rewrites to run on Vista. There 
can be some issues with sound, since that has been changed. But 
certainly less issues than the on-going sound problems with sound 
programming in Linux! The one annoyance is that they did not include the 
software to read the older kind of help files. You can download the 
necessary support file, but that should have been left in. But there is 
also a backward compatible mode to help run some legacy software. I have 
not had to do this and I run mostly the same freeware and open source 
software on my two XP machines and my one Vista machine.

6. Bottom line is that if you have an existing XP machine, you will want 
to keep using it with XP. If you have Win 98 or older, you will not be 
able to run all the software available now since it is not adequate. And 
if you buy a new computer, other than Mac, from most sources, Vista will 
be on that machine. Before you spend money to buy a new XP license or 
install a Linux variant I would ask you to take a look at the quality of 
the screen, particularly the font rendering. It is better than XP and 
much better than Linux. Some may not care that much about this issue if 
they use the computer for casual use, but for heavy computer use, it may 
be quite welcome.

73,

Rick, KV9U


nathan wrote:
> Hi
>  Talk about hitting the nail on the head about Vista. If I purchase a PC 
> with Vista on it.
> It will be removed as soon as I arrive home. I have ran a dual boot pc 
> windows Ubuntu for about 3 years .
> I can now do everything I need in Linux. and in the past few years it 
> has really improved.
> Getting ready to purchase a laptop and I will load Linux for pskmail and 
> psk31 etc.
> 73's
> Nathan
> KD5BLZ
>   
>> 
>> Folks need to know, there are some pretty severe design decisions which
>> impact usability of Vista for ham radio usage. This has nothing to do
>> with driver availability, old code, etc.
>>
>> One prime example involves MS design decisions capitulating to big
>> media. As I understand the problem, soundcards can no longer be opened
>> for read and write simultaneously. A form of full duplex operation so to
>> speak. This is due to the chance that a pirate could playback protected
>> media and also record it via analog loopback to an MP3. Now every
>> previous version of windows, macs, linux, etc all allowed that.
>>
>> And it turns out that most soundcard based ham programs require that
>>

[digitalradio] Mac OS X / MT-63 (was: Re: April QST page 35)

[Stelios Bounanos]

> On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:25:13 -0500, chas 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> was rumoured to have said:

> wow!  so, what is the Mac OS-X version called ???
> STILL looking for MT-63 for the Mac.

Thanks to a kind ham who gave us remote access to his OS X machine, we
have been able to get fldigi 2.10 to build and run on the Mac. This
version also supports MT-63.

Unfortunately, we do not have OS X binaries. But if you are able to
install packages for the FLTK, PortAudio and samplerate libraries, it
should be easy to compile fldigi yourself.  There are instructions in
the INSTALL file inside the source tarball, which can be found here:

http://www.w1hkj.com/Fldigi.html

It should be far easier to add OS X support to flarq, if there is demand
for this...


> chas
> K5DAM

73,
Stelios, M0GLD

[digitalradio] Re:Vista

[Traveler]

I just am just voicing my opinion on what I have read.
If you want to run Vista go ahead and run it. But if
Vista is so much of an upgrade from XP why did MS
allow vendors to go back and offer XP as an option, or
why are the vendors themselves offering XP along with
Vista. 
I have a good friend who runs a computer business and
he does not recommend Vista, but will install it if
the customer wants it.

I still standby my view, that Vista has too many bugs
in it still for me to change to it from XP

Kurt
K8YZK


  

Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page. 
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Re: [digitalradio] Re: Vista

[nathan]

Hi
 Talk about hitting the nail on the head about Vista. If I purchase a PC 
with Vista on it.
It will be removed as soon as I arrive home. I have ran a dual boot pc 
windows Ubuntu for about 3 years .
I can now do everything I need in Linux. and in the past few years it 
has really improved.
Getting ready to purchase a laptop and I will load Linux for pskmail and 
psk31 etc.
73's
Nathan
KD5BLZ
>
>
> >
> Folks need to know, there are some pretty severe design decisions which
> impact usability of Vista for ham radio usage. This has nothing to do
> with driver availability, old code, etc.
>
> One prime example involves MS design decisions capitulating to big
> media. As I understand the problem, soundcards can no longer be opened
> for read and write simultaneously. A form of full duplex operation so to
> speak. This is due to the chance that a pirate could playback protected
> media and also record it via analog loopback to an MP3. Now every
> previous version of windows, macs, linux, etc all allowed that.
>
> And it turns out that most soundcard based ham programs require that
> capability, as you need to have both open even if not running full duplex.
>
> So many just simply do not work without major rewrites. I'm sure Dave,
> Simon, Patrick, and the other developers are aware of this, and some may
> even have already addressed.
>
> But the issue is that it's a conscious design choice which broke many
> sound applications from speakerphone type operation to ham radio apps.
>
> And for what? If you were going to do an audio loopback and pirate, you
> could do it with two Vista machines. Or just about any other single
> computer. Or an Ipod. Or phone, etc. Or just rip the CD, which is what
> real pirates do.
>
> So they seriously broke something without offering any serious
> protection, much less an advantage to the user.
>
> Or how bout the same anti-piracy vista issue that had 100Mbit lan
> performance drop to a crawl if an mp3 is played, due to the new
> anti-piracy DRM hooks.
>
> There is a whole laundry list of compromised design decisions in Vista
> all to appease Big media.
>
> For corporate users, it's worse. I work for the largest computer
> supplier in the world. We sell vista to consumers, not by choice, but
> because MS required us to. It was a fight to be able to still sell XP
> only recently won. So here's the kicker. hundreds of thousands of
> company computers in operation. Due to a combination of functionality,
> unaddressed defects, and (yet even more) bad MS design choices, the IT
> department has elected to push off moving to Vista indefinitely. To the
> point that if possible they may wait for a successor. So Vista has the
> real possibility of being the next Windows ME dead end.
>
> The IT decision centers around the expense of moving to new
> infrastructure due to MS design changes with no functionality increase,
> and in many aspects, some decreases. The only one who benefits from the
> change is MS.
>
> But then, guess what. Large corporate users don't get locked out of XP
> if it does not pass validation due to a replaced hard drive, etc. So
> there was already a precedent where consumers have to accept MS
> constraints which would never fly with corporate users.
>
> At any rate, Vista issues are more than anti-MS linux zealots slinging
> mud. There are real issues that are going to be very difficult for
> developers to resolve. MS's answer is "sorry, just deal with it".
>
> Me, I use XP on the work laptop, and will indefinitely. Most of the
> house PC's are (licensed) W2K, running just fine. If they are forced
> into retirement due to non-support, they will move to Ubuntu. Main
> email/web/ebay/programming/drawing house pc is Ubuntu. My family uses
> it, and does not know it's not windows. It's that close. But it runs for
> weeks rather than days without reboot. MS Office runs transparently
> under WINE, as do many of my ham programs. I recently moved an older
> laptop from XP to Ubuntu, and was stunned at how smoothly it operates.
>
> Meanwhile, my old scanners and printers are 100% supported plug and play
> under Ubuntu, yet drivers are not available for Vista. (and even XP on
> my flatbed scanner and graphics tablet)
>
> I'm not a Linux zealot, and will readily admit it was not ready for
> desktop usage in the past. I'd use XP across the board if I did not have
> to be concerned it may stop working when MS discontinues support for it.
> But I'm slowly being forced to alternatives by stuff like the Vista
> design choices, the bizarre "Genuine Windows" phone home validation
> schemes, etc.
>
> My dad is using Vista, and it works for him. Huge learning curve, but
> he's happy. I'm sure others will post that logger32 works fine for them,
> etc. But there are some fairly well respected ham programs which do not,
> and it's not the developer's or user's fault! :-)
>
> Have fun,
>
> Alan
> km4ba
>
>