Attempted installs for Slackware, Gentoo and OpenSuse versions of Linux, the Gentoo I couldnt get past the basic search & load drivers, the Slackware installed ok, but failed when booting. The OpenSuse works well, a very nice gui based installer and equally good looking gui when running.
I installed the KDE 4.3 desktop with my OpenSuse. There was the option to install either Gnome or KDE. Nil amateur packages on OpenSuse, but still a good easy to install and use package, for those new to Linux and just wish to experiment.
Next, I wish to give Fedora 12 a test run, maybe Debian 5.04 too. I have been holding off upgrading my two Ubuntu boxes from 9.10 to 10.4, as I deciding whether to reallocate one of these boxes to another project.
In summary, for amateur radio related activities, still best to use either Debian/Ubuntu or Fedora bundles. For a ham that is new to Linux, probably Ubuntu is best choice, as it is just so easy to install and use.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Echolink Node 1494
the APRS connection is working with the node now, using UI-View32 as the APRS interface.
Also still trying to get reliable DTMF decoding by my current node, I tried different radios, so finally I tried a notebook computer, now it decodes DTMF commands (via thew radio port) just fine, so this confirms the audio from the radio is fine.
The notebook is an old Compaq P3-500 with ESS Maestro audio interface, so this certainly works
better than the audio interface in the Compaq Deskpro P3-1GHZ
currently, its still work in progress.
Also still trying to get reliable DTMF decoding by my current node, I tried different radios, so finally I tried a notebook computer, now it decodes DTMF commands (via thew radio port) just fine, so this confirms the audio from the radio is fine.
The notebook is an old Compaq P3-500 with ESS Maestro audio interface, so this certainly works
better than the audio interface in the Compaq Deskpro P3-1GHZ
currently, its still work in progress.
Monday, April 19, 2010
91.5 Hz CTCSS standard
well, so much for the new 91.5 Hz CTCSS standard adopted by the WIA,
after recently hearing a local 70cm rptr being keyed up by a LIPD.
The funny thing is that particular rptr switched to 91.5 Hz decoding to avoid LIPDs.
What we need to do is find another CTCSS pair to use and make that the next "new" standard.
I still can't fathom why we (in VK2) are moving from the standard of 123 Hz to a new standard of 91.5 Hz, when places like VK7 use a different standard and also in VK5 they use a different
standard again.
What do we have in Sydney now? half the rptrs use 91.5 Hz and the other half still using 123 Hz,
what do we get from this ? a whole heap of unused 70cm rptrs.
after recently hearing a local 70cm rptr being keyed up by a LIPD.
The funny thing is that particular rptr switched to 91.5 Hz decoding to avoid LIPDs.
What we need to do is find another CTCSS pair to use and make that the next "new" standard.
I still can't fathom why we (in VK2) are moving from the standard of 123 Hz to a new standard of 91.5 Hz, when places like VK7 use a different standard and also in VK5 they use a different
standard again.
What do we have in Sydney now? half the rptrs use 91.5 Hz and the other half still using 123 Hz,
what do we get from this ? a whole heap of unused 70cm rptrs.
23cm operating
Scanning across 23cm, found a couple people chatting on 1294.000 FM simplex freq, a VK3HDX/p2 in Neutral Bay and Vk2HGX at Hurstville, what a surprise, some more people on 23cm FM, made contact with VK3HDX/p2 good Q5 signal both ways. Not bad for an antenna sitting on my downstairs window sill.
I think I heard them or someone else on the Dural rptr 1273.500 yesterday.
I must build a phased stack of Double-Quads as an array, much better proposition to a stack of yagis on 23cm.
I think I heard them or someone else on the Dural rptr 1273.500 yesterday.
I must build a phased stack of Double-Quads as an array, much better proposition to a stack of yagis on 23cm.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
John Moyle Field Day 2010
had a listen last weekend (19th & 20th March) heard a few people active, on 439.000 FM and 146.500 FM , but didn't hear anyone on 1294.000 MHz FM, even though I gave a few calls. Nothing heard on 52.525 FM that I noticed either.
Friday, March 12, 2010
mobile activity
I switched cars in January, still haven't moved gear to new car,
therefore not mobile, meaning either voice of APRS
Maybe back on air soon.
therefore not mobile, meaning either voice of APRS
Maybe back on air soon.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
VHF & above + Field Day contests
Here are some links to upcoming contests for 2010:
WIA VHF/UHF Field Day (Jan 16/17)
Ross Hull VHF-UHF Contest (entire month of January)
John Moyle Memorial Field Day (March 20/21)http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/johnmoyle/
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
23cm operating
As of 20th December, I now have 23cm FM gear, an FT-223R with 10w and a Double-Quad antenna, did some testing against VK2RWI Dural beacon (1296.420) and repeater (1273.500 o/p and 1293.500 i/p) after wasting a couple days trying & monitoring the rptr on the wrong freq.[note: this rptr has been listed incorrectly in past callbooks as 1273.750]
The Double-Quad antenna works well, you can really tell the difference of both the beacon and rptr signal and their respective polarisations when switching between horizontal and vertical for each device.
Playing with the 23cm is interesting, totally different to 2m & 70cm, I found trying the antenna in different places around the house that the best signal from the beacon & rptr was by aiming at the city, which is at a beam heading of 180 deg, whereas the Dural site it is a beam heading of around 280 deg, which appears to indicate that a large lump of steel, glass & concrete is providing a better path than aiming through trees and over a ridge.
Made my first 23cm contact with Keith VK2ZZO on Sunday 27th Dec at 12.20pm local EDST to Lane Cove direct & via the Dural rptr. I heard a few people call back on the WIA broadcast.
Dave VK2JDS reported he could hear the Dural beacon (1296.420) from out near Hill End (QF46), but the rptr was way down, but still interesting, as he couldn't hear the 2m or 70cm from Dural rptrs, which is about 180kms, but over the Great Dividing Range.
Dave VK2JDS (QF46pv) worked Bob VK2MRP/p operating at Mt Ginini (sth of ACT) using the same radio and antenna with 1w on FM.
In summary, I am monitoring either 1294.000 FM simplex call freq or 1273.500 VK2RWI Dural rptr. Hope to try some coastal ducting soon.
The Double-Quad antenna works well, you can really tell the difference of both the beacon and rptr signal and their respective polarisations when switching between horizontal and vertical for each device.
Playing with the 23cm is interesting, totally different to 2m & 70cm, I found trying the antenna in different places around the house that the best signal from the beacon & rptr was by aiming at the city, which is at a beam heading of 180 deg, whereas the Dural site it is a beam heading of around 280 deg, which appears to indicate that a large lump of steel, glass & concrete is providing a better path than aiming through trees and over a ridge.
Made my first 23cm contact with Keith VK2ZZO on Sunday 27th Dec at 12.20pm local EDST to Lane Cove direct & via the Dural rptr. I heard a few people call back on the WIA broadcast.
Dave VK2JDS reported he could hear the Dural beacon (1296.420) from out near Hill End (QF46), but the rptr was way down, but still interesting, as he couldn't hear the 2m or 70cm from Dural rptrs, which is about 180kms, but over the Great Dividing Range.
Dave VK2JDS (QF46pv) worked Bob VK2MRP/p operating at Mt Ginini (sth of ACT) using the same radio and antenna with 1w on FM.
In summary, I am monitoring either 1294.000 FM simplex call freq or 1273.500 VK2RWI Dural rptr. Hope to try some coastal ducting soon.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
EchoLink node 1494
The Ubuntu 9.04/LXDE/WineHQ build for my Echolink just was not cutting it,
the audio channel is still flakey, sometimes TX & RX audio is fine, sometime just one path is ok, sometimes no audio at all, so I have switched to a Win XP Pro machine yesterday to run the Echolink node and had it running in just a few minutes, but spent an hour just fine tuning the DTMF decoding. Maybe this relates to the audio interface of the PC and its driver.
As of last night it is back on air. I will see how it performs, as the last time I ran it on MS Windows, I kept finding it crashed & corrupted and having to reinstall the Echolink program several times over a 12 month period.
I also want to try installing the Echolink Proxy as I eventually want to run a second Echolink node, probably on 70cm. I also want to interface my Echolink with UIview32 for APRS, currently running APRS with Xastir on Linux at home.
the audio channel is still flakey, sometimes TX & RX audio is fine, sometime just one path is ok, sometimes no audio at all, so I have switched to a Win XP Pro machine yesterday to run the Echolink node and had it running in just a few minutes, but spent an hour just fine tuning the DTMF decoding. Maybe this relates to the audio interface of the PC and its driver.
As of last night it is back on air. I will see how it performs, as the last time I ran it on MS Windows, I kept finding it crashed & corrupted and having to reinstall the Echolink program several times over a 12 month period.
I also want to try installing the Echolink Proxy as I eventually want to run a second Echolink node, probably on 70cm. I also want to interface my Echolink with UIview32 for APRS, currently running APRS with Xastir on Linux at home.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Alinco DR-590 2/70 mobile
I finally sorted my problems with my Alinco DR590,
fixed the UHF PA, the radios that were imported into Australia are T model for 440-450 and the 70cm PA is guaranteed to cook itself, hence you could never get more than 30w at 433-434 Mhz, now I put the correct E model components into UHF the PA it can do 42w at 13.8v, (the actual RF block is rated at 45w at 15.2v) but I wound it back to 30w and she runs cool now on high pwr, the way it should be. The basic change is a couple of caps and an inductor, L4 goes from 1.25T on 3mm diam, to 1.25T on 4.0mm diam. It makes a big difference for such a small change.
Then I fixed the freq stability, it kept wandering off freq, it drifted about 4kHz from cold to warmed up, if give it a quick squirt of freezer spray, the TX freq would wander 10 kHz, found the soldering in the osc cct on the VHF main board was looking dry, so retouched the solder joints for all the components associated with the Xtal and it is now stable again.
Only one issue is the mic for the Alinco is crap, so I working on a better mic with DTMF, in fact, I am updating an old Philips FM-900 DTMF mic, a solid mic, with a much better DTMF operation, just replacing the old carbon mic insert with an electret plus resistor divider to supply the DC volts. The reason for this is the Alinco mic was so sensitive it picked up the echo inside the plastic casing, which overides the actual speech audio, plus the DTMF operation is garbled, as the DTMF tones are partially clobbered by the induced sound of pressing the DTMF buttons, so the DTMF tones were not clean.
Anyway, it is back in the car as of yesterday and I can get on 2m & 70cm mobile again. This compliments my mobile operation on 6m FM using the AWA RT85.
fixed the UHF PA, the radios that were imported into Australia are T model for 440-450 and the 70cm PA is guaranteed to cook itself, hence you could never get more than 30w at 433-434 Mhz, now I put the correct E model components into UHF the PA it can do 42w at 13.8v, (the actual RF block is rated at 45w at 15.2v) but I wound it back to 30w and she runs cool now on high pwr, the way it should be. The basic change is a couple of caps and an inductor, L4 goes from 1.25T on 3mm diam, to 1.25T on 4.0mm diam. It makes a big difference for such a small change.
Then I fixed the freq stability, it kept wandering off freq, it drifted about 4kHz from cold to warmed up, if give it a quick squirt of freezer spray, the TX freq would wander 10 kHz, found the soldering in the osc cct on the VHF main board was looking dry, so retouched the solder joints for all the components associated with the Xtal and it is now stable again.
Only one issue is the mic for the Alinco is crap, so I working on a better mic with DTMF, in fact, I am updating an old Philips FM-900 DTMF mic, a solid mic, with a much better DTMF operation, just replacing the old carbon mic insert with an electret plus resistor divider to supply the DC volts. The reason for this is the Alinco mic was so sensitive it picked up the echo inside the plastic casing, which overides the actual speech audio, plus the DTMF operation is garbled, as the DTMF tones are partially clobbered by the induced sound of pressing the DTMF buttons, so the DTMF tones were not clean.
Anyway, it is back in the car as of yesterday and I can get on 2m & 70cm mobile again. This compliments my mobile operation on 6m FM using the AWA RT85.
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