I received the following e-mail from Mrs. Suzie, a third grade teacher, concerning Ham Radio resources:

In my searching for information on ham radios, I found your web page (http://radio.mcdougallshome.net/links/) …there’s some good stuff on there; thanks for making it! In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, our school district has decided to have a basic safety session. (We’re located in Vermont and were hit very hard!) We want to show the kids how radios can help relay important information! Here’s another good resource one of my student’s found that would fit in well with your information: “Ham Radio Information and Resources” – http://www.easyapplianceparts.com/resources/Ham-Radio-Information-And-Resources.aspx Would you mind including it on your website for me? I’d like to show my student his hard work is helping! I think others would benefit from the information, too! Shoot me an email if you get a chance to update

Thanks again!
~Morgan

Check out this good resource.  Also, check out Mrs. Suzie’s web site at http://www.mrssuzies3rdgrade.com/

I have, for a long time, wanted a real weather station at my QTH. For Christmas I received a LaCrosse WS-2315 weather system.  It measures temp, wind, wind direction, wind chill, heat index. barometric pressure, humidity, rainfall, and the dew point.

My computers run the Linux operating system.  Specifically, Ubuntu Linux.  I found some nice weather software called “wview” that is compatible with my weather station.  I put wview on my desktop, configured my weather station, and have it upload the weather data to my web site.  You can see it http://mcdougallshome.net/wx/.  The whole system worked real nice, but my desktop had to be powered on all the time, and for some reason, when one of my kids would get on it, the weather system would crash.

My solution is the “SheevaPlug” plug computer.  The SheevaPlug is slightly larger than a wall type transformer.  In fact, the SheevaPlug plugs into the wall just like a transformer “wall-wart.”  It also has an option for a power cord, which I find more convenient to use.

Here are some specs from this small box:

• 1.2 GHz Arm processor
• 1/2 GB RAM
• 1/2 GB solid state memory
• SD/MMC card slot,
• USB port
• Gigabit eithernet port
• USB port to use your computer as a terminal for the SheevaPlug
• It comes loaded with Ubuntu 9.04 for the Arm Processor

I added an 8GB SD card and upgraded it to Debian Squeeze since Ubuntu does not support the Arm processor anymore.  I then loaded up wview weather software, and my webcam software scripts.  And voila, it works!  It was a fun process and not as clear cut as one would think.  The SheevaPlug is a development kit; and therefore, has no instructions, but there is a lot of information on the Internet.

I made a video (actually three parts) showing an overview of the process that I took to get it all together.  Also, here are some pictures of the setup.

– John – K7JM

Here is a list of web sites shown on my videos:

• http://mcdougallshome.net/wx/
• http://www.wunderground.com/US/MT/59638
• http://www.wviewweather.com/
• http://www.wviewweather.com/release-notes/wview-User-Manual.html#Installation-debian
• http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/2315/
• http://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=La+Crosse+2315&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=lacrosse+ws+2315&hl=en&safe=off&tbs=shop:1&prmd=ivns&ei=8R9MTeKwFoOosAOn_aWTCg&start=0&sa=N&biw=1374&bih=661&fp=de82b25adf0f9dc
• http://www.universal-radio.com/CATALOG/wx/4095.html
• http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X2QRK2
• http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-22-sheevaplug-dev-kit-us.aspx
• http://www.plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/Serial_terminal/Linux/Programs
• http://groups.google.com/group/wview/web/tutorial—wview-on-the-sheeva?pli=1
• http://www.openplug.org/plugwiki/index.php/Main_Page
• http://www.openplug.org/plugwiki/index.php/New_Plugger_How_To
• http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/uboot-upgrade.html
• http://www.plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/SheevaPlug_Installer
• http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/SqueezePlug
• http://squeezeplug.de/
• http://sourceforge.net/projects/esia/

Another Ham discovers Linux’s ham friendliness.  ARRL’s website has another nice story about a Ham using Ubuntu Linux and fldigi to renew his love for Amateur Radio.  Check out the post HERE.  Good going Steve (KØSRE)!  For more of Linux In The Ham Shack, check out “Linux In The Ham Shack” podcast.

- John, K7JM

The ARRL web site had a nice entry about Ubuntu for Ham Radio.  The article could have been four times as long and not cover all the aspects of why Ubuntu Linux is good for Ham Radio.  Also, several of the applications that the author mentioned in the ARRL article that he used with WINE, have alternates available for Linux, including PCB layout software, and Circuit analysis.  Almost ALL FREE.  Besides, Ubuntu’s super easy to install Ham Radio repository of applications, HERE is a page full of stuff, ranging from the latest and greatest to older Linux Ham Radio programs.  Ham Radio is about innovation, and experimentation.  It is sad to see so much of it is built up on a closed, unexperimentalable, unmodifiable, and costly solution like Windows.

73,
John – K7JM

I’ve been hacked! My web sites have been hacked.  Fortunately, the hack was so bad that it just broke the web site and I noticed it right away.  It looks as if they came in through my hosting company some how, but I have not received any notice that a server at the hosting company has been compromised.  I deleted the web site and restored it all from a reliable backup.  It was a learning experience; and I am glad that I am fanatical about backups!

73,
John – K7JM

The corner of my web page with a link to view my Ham Radio log file.

Being a Ham Radio operator, I’ve wanted, for some time, to display my log file on my web site. I’ve been researching it for some time, and mostly ran into methods that require java or php, or some sort of web scripting. This is beyond me and I wanted something simpler; and this is what I have come up with.

My computers run on the Ubuntu Linux Operating System.  I came across a small command line utility program called txt2html.  The name pretty much explains what it does.  It has many features that include many formatting options; one being, that I can pre-append a file to the front of another file.  I tested this feature to apply a preformatted html heading to my log page.  I made a simple sample of a text log page listing contacts, and ran it through txt2html and it attached my header to the log page and spit it all out as an html file ready to display on my web page.

My sample log page was called log.txt and looks like this:

call            QTH
k7jm            Helena, MT
wa7vxm          Butte, MT

My sample heading was called ‘log_file_heading.html’ and looks like this:

K7JM’s Log File

I put it all through txt2html with a command like this:

txt2html --append_head ./log_file_heading.html ./log.txt >./log.html

And the output file ‘log.html’ looks like this and is ready to display on your web page:

call            QTH
k7jm            Helena, MT
wa7vxm          Butte, MT

I wanted to automate a way to put this file on my web site without getting too complicated.  The simple ftp command would work, but it takes a bit to automate it. After a bit of research, I came across ‘kermit‘.  ‘kermit’ is a simple program that takes data from a file and performs the commands listed in the file.  Perfect.  I put the following commands in a file called ‘log.kermit’:

ftp open ftp.myhostsite.net /user:myusername /password:mypassword
put ./log.html /www/whereyou/wantit/log.html
exit

I then called kermit like this:

kermit ./log.kermit

and it is done.

To make things a bit cleaner and more automatic, I created a script file called ‘log_doit.sh’ that looks something like this:

txt2html –append_head /home/john/Desktop/log_file_heading.html /home/john/Desktop/cqrlog.html >/home/john/Desktop/log.html
kermit /home/john/Desktop/log.kermit
exit

Now, to do the whole process, I just had to update my log file, save it, and run the script ‘log_doit.sh’ and it would be on my web site.

A New Way – With cqrlog

After I put all this together, I remembered hearing about a Linux logging program called cqrlog, on the ‘Linux In The Ham Shack‘ (link updated 9/2010) podcast.  If you are a Ham Radio Operator or use Linux, I strongly suggest you give this great podcast a listen.  It is always entertaining, and they have covered some very useful stuff for the Ham that is running a Linux operating system.

Anyway, I downloaded and installed ‘cqrlog’ and started playing with it.  I was specifically looking for a way to export the log file so I could run it through ‘txt2html’.  Lo and behold, ‘cqrlog’ does one step better; it exports the log right into the ‘html’ format.  Wow! Perfect!.

I learned a lot by using txt2html, but now I can skip that step completely and just export the log file in html format and run a simpler script that runs ‘kermit’ to upload the file to my web site.  Click HERE to see the actual page on my web site.  As of when this was written, the file is a test one that was created by playing with ‘cqrlog’.  It will change once I start using ‘cqrlog’ for real.

John – K7JM

call            QTH
k7jm            Helena, MT
wa7vxm          Butte, MT

I love CW (That is: Morse Code).  On the Ham Radio bands, I operate almost exclusively CW.  It is fun and rewarding.  It is a challenge.  It is an easy way to get those DX contacts in the middle of the lowest part of the sun spot cycle.

There seems to be a resergence of interest in CW.  Eliminating CW as a requirement to get a Ham Radio license hasn’t done much to bolster our numbers.  CW is not the reason that our hobby has declining numbers.

Enter LCWO.net .  LCWO.net  is a web site I just discovered that will help you learn, or improve your CW skills.  LCWO stands for “Learn CW Online”.   I fiddled around  a bit on the site and found it very interesting; and it will even track your progress.  Give LCWO.net a try, it just might be the ticket to help you learn, or improve your CW.

CW is FUN!

John – K7JM