Just saw this ad on broadcast TV WPCH 17 ATL, came here to post in amazement ..... It's crazy to me that any ad agency would target their ads like this!

Joe AE5NE

There is no "high-definition" digital radio.

Referring to In-Band-On-Channel digital FM broadcasts in the USA, HD means "Hybrid Digital", and many contend it has less quality than the normal analog program.

And, again, the USA chose a proprietary patent-protected standard while ignoring the already standardized systems present in the rest of the world (just like they did for satellite TV, cable TV, broadcast TV, cellular service.... )

You can certainly do this with a soundcard.

Plug the line-in into a scanner audio jack, install the software, and watch the packets fly.

I presume you are using windows, in which case I have had luck with FlexNet32 and the SoundModem drivers.

For an overview, see http://pages.sbcglobal.net/kb5iwt/flex32/flx_32.htm

You can ignore anything about PTT as you won't be keying a transmitter. No need to build any circuits.

Reply if you need help!

You can install WINE on the mac to run windows program, and share the serial port provided by a USB serial adapter with the program running under WINE.

Theoretically this should allow something like FTBasicMMO to run.

I presume the radio is connected with a serial-to-CAT interface? 

Does the OS in the VM see the USB serial device?

If not, it's a usb problem - fix that first.

Also check radio menu for CAT port in CAT mode, and CAT baudrate.

Have you tried running something like Ham Radio Deluxe in the VM to see if it detects the radio? Normally FTBasicMMO requires the radio to be in a special powerup mode, and as I recall the evaluation version didn't allow communication with the radio (as noted in http://www.g4hfq.co.uk/mmohelp/hs200.htm)

Otherwise, if the VM sees the USB-to-Serial device, and you have the right serial->radio cable, I would expect it to work.

Perhaps you can boot a linux livecd such as the one from http://shackbox.net/  to verify the usb->serial->radio connection without involving the VM.

It's a choice of the website designer and set in the site's CSS.  it can be overridden in your user CSS.

a:link    {
  /* Applies to all unvisited links */
  text-decoration:  none;  /* or  "underline" */
  color:            blue;
  }
a:visited {
  /* Applies to all visited links */
  text-decoration:  none;
  color:            #f0f;
  }
a:hover   {
  /* Applies to links under the pointer */
  text-decoration:  underline;
  background-color: blue;
  color:            #fff;
  }
a:active  {
  /* Applies to activated links */
  text-decoration:  underline;
  background-color: black;
  color: white;
  }

You will love Python's simplicity and power.  It's far more widely used than LibertyBASIC, costs nothing, and best of all it's free to use, copy, examine, modify, improve, and redistribute.  

You can definitely hand-type python at the interactive prompt and have it execute immediately in a command-line window.  I often keep a python window open for short programs.  It sounds like you want a fully-featured interactive shell, which would be the IPython shell

(screenshots http://ipython.scipy.org/screenshots)

It is simple. the syntax makes sense.  Things you expect to work, work.  Common operations are natural.  Powerful structures are present.  It's well-used and mature.  It was the first language that I could type a fairly long program and it worked the first time.


I just wrote a CLI logger that logs to a dabase and prints a report, in about 60 lines of python:  http://pastebin.com/aU5gs0d0

Example of usage is at http://pastebin.com/CTrkfeVW

I highly suggest starting out with a language other than BASIC,

Specifically Python, Ruby, or another modern "dynamic" language.

You will have a hell of a lot easier time using even something as simple as a database, not to mention handling things such as network connections to other entities (if it ever comes to that).

I would love to help you learn Python if you have never encountered it.

Joe

The cell phone system in South Louisiana was slammed for MONTHS after Katrina.  Not hours, not days, not weeks.  The displaced population overloaded the system in Baton Rouge for quite some time.

It was difficult to get calls in or out unless you had a land-line phone.  It eventually worked with multiple tries required.

I want some kind of az-el rotator to point beams at satellites.

I am thinking something based on the cheap jack screw drives used for the common broadcast satellite equatorial mounts.... Basically mount the antennas on a hinge, and mount the jack to an arm that lifts them as the jack extends (or contracts).

Really, the Azimuth part is easy to handle with a common rotator.  The Elevation part is what I am looking for.

I can build and write control hardware/software to accept any format spat out by a sat tracking program, and to convert shaft counts to angles, etc...  so I am not really worried about that part.   I am looking more for physical design ideas.

Or a source for cheap pre-made units.


Thanks for any help!

I found some PDFs with phone schematics here
http://www.electronica.ro/service_manuals/panasonic/cordless_phone/


it looks like some of those panasonic phones use a commodity RF module. Extracting this RF module would yield you a FM transceiver with a digital PLL interface.

such a module: http://projects.uniprecision.com/sc_upload/images/B150_DATASHEET_RAW.pdf?PHPSESSID=8a9afe06d503ee44da49f86d234fbb8b

It is probably do-able.

Standard FM devices, but I notice they are usually pretty wide deviation.  Frequencies are likely synthesized inside of a controller chip that may be difficult to modify, but then again the things are already in the band - but on (for obvious reasons) noisy channels.


Many people have handheld FM voice radios. I think modifications turning the phone handset into a full-duplex data transceiver would be well received. perhaps a PIC with G3RUH or FM-FSK modem and TNC firmware?

Tape elements are normally used because the yagi elements are long, get in the way, and bend too easily.

For 70cm, however, normal rigid elements are short enough that the antenna is able to be handled easily.

Now I just have to figure out how to get HRD to export the logs in a way the ARRL wants.

Ugh.

I was pretty amazed to hear that much activity on 6. I have never heard a peep on 6 before.  I made many contacts in a large arc from south dakota through minnesota and wisconsin across the great lakes and down the east coast to the carolinas...