Advancing Ham Radio.. different ideas

Raspberry Pi web based rig control?

2013-04-12T13:59:00.000-05:00

A while back my friend and I found hamlib, a development library designed to remotely control nearly any CAT/CIV capable transceiver or receiver. It compiles and works just fine on the Raspberry Pi.

 Before-hand ensure you have these dependencies installed:  
 libltdl-dev or libltdl-devel or libtool-ltdl-devel (use yum/apt-get)  
 wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/hamlib/files/hamlib/1.2.15.3/hamlib-1.2.15.3.tar.gz  
 tar -xvzf hamlib*  
 cd hamlib*  
 ./configure  
 make  
 make install  
 ldconfig

So we have been using SSH and hamlib to control a remote Icom 706. We have been using speak freely to stream the audio.

I have been meaning to try and create a PHP/CGI web based front end for this. Couple that with darkice and icecast for a way to stream audio to that browser.

There is network daemon version of rigctl that works like so:

rigctld -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -m 311 &

Then control can be done via TCP port 4532:


root@darkpi-ice:/# telnet localhost 4532
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
f  <---- I sent this and got back below:
1590000

Basically a way to enable web based control of a radio with CIV.

Another good project would be to layout a small board with jumper selectable COR and PTT transistor configurations than can be interfaced to the Raspberry Pi GPIO. So far I have just been bread-boarding this.

I just haven't had the time to create such art work and submit it to Far Circuits.

Again if anyone wants to beat me to the punch on either of this, please do.

HSMM-Mesh to become Broadband-Hamnet

2013-04-01T21:46:00.001-05:00

From: http://Broadband-hamnet.org

Name will change to Broadband-Hamnet™
Written by Rick Kirchhof, NG5V
Wednesday, 27 March 2013 22:46

A firmware release is scheduled in the 2nd quarter. Some major changes will be included. The list below gives a bit of detail but some changes are already in place. For example Broadband-hamnet.org or Broadbandhamnet.org already bring up this site. HSMM-MESH.org will still work but the site will now answer to both. Other things to expect are:

SSID changes to Broadband-HamnetV1

Upgrade ALL is necessary as SSID and the actual format of data flowing will be changing.

SSID minor level (V1) will roll when succeeding firmware requires another upgrade all.

Interoperability with Ubiquiti hand loaded systems (simple web page config for Ubiquiti comes later)

DNS changes from the Austin.TX.mesh style to local.mesh

More FAQs to be written, better documentation on the way

YouTube videos becoming more popular, see "videos" in left menu or search YouTube.

More mesh elmers have joined, more are needed.

Over 1200 registered users on the forums, rising by nearly 100/month.

Web site hits growing at an increasing pace, Google hits for hsmm mesh search terms growing.

QST article in July with more to follow.

Watch here or in the developers newsgroup for updates.
73,
Rick, NG5V

Here are some excellent starter videos from Kevin, N7RXE:

--

Family Guy - Ham radio

2013-04-01T13:45:00.004-05:00

Last night's episode of Family Guy was a re-run from Season 11, Episode 3 that originally aired 10/21/12, titled "The Old Man and the Big 'C'." It had a quick reference to ham radio.

At a ballgame, Quagmire accidentally loses his toupee going for a fly ball. When he becomes a laughingstock, he decides to ditch the wig. The change in his appearance affects his attitude, changing him into a old man. Quagmire runs a radar gun in-front of Peters house asking hot rodders to slow down. "My ham radio interferes with my radar gun. Talked to some fella in Papua New Guinea last night, you should stop by some time."

More ham radio in popular adult cartoon shows

What no D-Star blogs?

2013-03-12T13:40:00.002-05:00

What you haven’t seen me blog about in a while is D-Star.

I have kind of lost interest.

What got me interested in D-Star was the opens source software projects and node adapters, allowing you to roll your own.

I had always hoped there would be a SIP translation that would take off. Allowing D-Star to inter-operate with ordinary VOIP. A powerful idea for Emergency Communications.

One key component to this would be AMBE transcoding at the repeater using a DV dongle or some sort of public AMBE proxy. This would also allow people to try D-Star using just a computer and microphone or smart phone.

This never really happened. The Trust Server guys kinda put the kibash on that.

I had hope that with IRCDDB that the trust server concept would go away (fully) and the network would become more decentralized from a select few controlling the whole parade.

So I paid attention to Codec2. It was being designed as a drop in replacement for AMBE. (The existing repeater hardware would be able to pass it.)

What I envision(ed) is plugging a micro computer like the Raspberry Pi into the back of the Yeasu in your car. A separate speaker mic hooked to the Pi, which encodes your voice to Codec2, and wraps that in the sound card created GMSK stream that drives the packet/discriminator connection of your existing mobile:

Kristoff ON1ARF, demos the concept:

However at this point, the Codec2 part still isn’t quite a drop in replacement from my understanding. So it’s incompatible with existing repeater infrastructure.

So combine that with the Trust Server regime, and crap repeater hardware, 1980’s retarded data throughput, and D-Star toys attitude by other controlling interests, and I have hit the end of the road with it.

However it has been interesting to learn about and monkey with.

Consider a donation

2013-03-08T09:35:00.000-06:00

Ham radio is made up by a large number of groups. Here are a select few that I have personally made monitary donations to. I encourage you and your local club to consider the contributions these and other groups are making to the hobby, and please consider supporting them.

http://www.tapr.org

All the digital conference proceedings papers and their Packet Status Register newsletter are available on their website. The DCC is an international forum for radio amateurs to meet, publish their work, and present new ideas and techniques. Presenters and attendees will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about recent hardware and software advances, theories, experimental results, and practical applications.

http://www.arvideonews.com/

ARVN - Amateur Radio Video News by Gary, KN4AQ - Documentary and Seminar videos, for and about Amateur Radio (Ham Radio),
on DVD, and now on the web.

http://www.qsl.net
http://mailman.qth.net
http://swap.qth.com

Scott, KA9FOX provides web space and services dedicated to the sole purpose of furthering the abilities and interest of the Amateur Radio Community.

http://archive.org/
Not so-much ham focused, but is a non-profit digital library founded by Brewster Kahle in 1996 that contains a wealth of information available at no cost.

http://www.ampr.org/

Amateur Radio Digital Communications has been around for a long time, providing DNS, 44 net address space, and tunnel IP connections for interconnecting disjoint wireless networks.

These are just some of of the fine people/organizations providing some really great services and information to the hobby at no charge. Consider taking a moment at your next local club meeting to make a motion to send a donation (big or small) to help support these people who support our hobby.

If you know of other similar organizations, please spread the word.

Narrowbanding?

2013-02-27T00:23:00.003-06:00

I posted a link to the Advanced Repeater Systems Webpage, titled No Ham Narrowband FM on twitter. Subtitled: "If you're not upgrading to digital, don't downgrade to Narrowband FM!"

For the most part I agree with it. Mostly I liked the technical analysis of the issue.

I received a tweet back, asking if I was for or against narrowbanding on Ham bands. He seemed to think I
would be for it, being more of a tech guy.

I responded I think we need to go wider.

Several years back, I explained why I feel this on my VOIP/DV page.

Hams are not bound by these narrowband rules, refarming nor will there ever likely even ever be a rebanding. We have oodles of spectrum available to us, most of it un-used.

What is actually disappointing about D-Star is that it's only a 4800 baud total data stream equivalent signal. 2400 bps is reserved for actual digital voice, 1200 bps is reserved for FEC (forward error correction) on the digital voice. (This is for callsign and short message data.) 1200 baud is reserved for serial data low speed digital data . (This is for APRS, and text messages/text query's.) The sad part is 1200 baud data is what we were doing in the 1980's.

So if 4800 baud can fit into a 6kHz bandwidth, we could have had a 12800 (12.8k) baud total data stream equivalent signal fit into our existing 16 kHz bandwidth plans. This could have left us with 9.2k left for data. Or at the very least more could have been given for the digital voice codec, so that we could use other license free-codecs that sound more natural.

Less far back, I blogged about the problems with frequency coordination.

What bothers me is that most of the VHF-UHF bands are inundated with mostly inactive repeaters.

The problem is frequency coordinators have broken the bands into channels most fairly narrow in width, with conventional input and outputs. I think this image/model discourages potential other use, that may not fit the convention.

And my last blog was about a potential rules re-write to encourage some new developments in the hobby.

Ham radio has always used hand-me-down gear from the commercial world. And I would be absolutely irate if some coordination body told me as an existing repeater owner that I had to narrow band.

I think a some guidelines would be;

-If you are putting a new analog repeater on the air, if it's narrow band capable, it should be. To start a 5-year phase-in plan for 6.25kHz channel centers and mandatory 2.5 kHz narrowband FM deviation on analog.

-The number of wide band and narrow band analog channels needs to be rationed. I'd like to see some effort to slowly over time (via attrition) clear out and reserve some wider channels on the VHF and UHF bands for new techniques.

-I think when it comes to coordination requests, newer modes should be given priority. If there are 10 analog repeaters in a given area, and someone proposes to put up a P25 system, but there are no channels available... back to rationing space for older modes.

Of all the VHF/UHF digital radio modes I have played with. I like TETRA the most, as it's the most versatile. The biggest problem is price.

It supports 4 TDMA channels in a 25 kHz bandwidth channel. Mototrbo/DMR does 2 TDMA channels in a 12.5 kHz bandwidth channel.

The main reason I like it is because it doesn't sound digital. It sound like a telephone grade voice path. This is because the radios also function like mobile phones. There is Asterisk SIP tie in support.

And for IP packet data services, DMR offers a throughput of 2.0 kb/s per timeslot, whereas TETRA offers 3.5 kb/s per timeslot. So if you code an application for DMR that uses both slots, the max is 4 kb/s. With TETRA 4 timeslots can be combined into a single data channel to achieve higher rates.

And if you are not in range of the repeater system, DMO mode allows you to repeat though a sequence of one or more TETRA terminals as relays to reach your destination. (Think same-band crossband using alternate time slots)

So in summary, narrow banding just so we can have more of the same (under used analog repeaters) is just plumb stupid in my opinion.

Here are some relation observations that I made early in 2011:

During an interview, the Beaver Valley ARA revealed that ARRL President, Kay Craigie, N3KN got licensed in 1983 because she was jealous of all the fun her husband was having with ham radio. She was a computer hobbyist at the time and became a ham just when computers were starting to be integrated with amateur radio.

So it would seem natural to assume her stance on the future of digital communications is strong.

Brennan Price, N4QX is the new Technical Relations Manager filling the vacancy created by the retirement of Paul Rinaldo, W4RI/ N2IRZ

It was Paul, W4RI's recommendation (back in 2001), to the Board that the HSMM Working Group be founded and he has written many-many articles over the years on packet radio and other digital aspects.

I don't know much about Brennan, N4QX, other that his stated goal is to "defend Amateur Radio spectrum. So it would seem that encouraging new uses and techniques would be logical.

I fell strongly about the ARRL Technology Task Force. I hope he can fill the shoes as well as Paul did.

So far I haven't really seen anything happen at the league level that affirms my above assumptions of these two. I kind of expected these jokers to file comments to the FCC along the lines of what Bruce Perens did in terms of getting some rules relaxed to help move things forward.

Bruce Perens pushes for a major rules re-write.

2013-02-05T12:33:00.001-06:00

Bruce Perens, K7BP a well know open source advocate and proponent of Codec2 filed FCC comments to the on-going petition for rules chance to allow TDMA used by MotoTrbo.

Some back ground:

The KA9FLX repeater in Chicago, IL was the first Mototrbo Amateur Radio Repeater. It was put on the air in 2008.

In March 2011, some overly concerned fellow Amateurs brought a emission rule technicality to the forefront. Apparently the classified emission type doesn’t match those specifically allowed for ham radio.

At the time of the petition, there are more that a dozen Mototro repeaters in service on amateur frequencies. Since then, over 90 repeaters have been reported as up and running.

The processing time of requested FCC rule changes for all services is enormous. For example, the request to Eliminate the Spread Spectrum Automatic power control Requirement took 4 years to be approved.

For the past several years, all the ARRL initiated petitions for FCC rule changes have been very narrow requests.

In Bruce’s comments he points out that the regulatory framework continued by this NPRM would not handle software-defined radio well.

The point is that development is already rapid, and will only increase. The current regulatory framework will not keep up with this development.

This contrasts starkly with Amateur Radio's mission to advance the state of the art.

The present system that FCC must approve each significantly different modulation type to reach Amateur Radio only causes Amateur Radio to fall further and further behind in terms of developments.

Continuation of this piecemeal process of authorization would place severe regulatory hurdles and hinders the capability of Radio Amateurs to experiment and innovate.

I wrote Bruce to thank him for his comments. A major rule revision like he is proposing is long over due in my opinion.

Why the ARRL hasn’t gotten behind a major rule re-write like he is proposing is beyond me.

Apparently, their ideology on getting more amateur activity has focused on consolidating the license classes, instead of helping enable new technologies that might help foster more interest in the hobby.

Raspberry Pi and Sound Input

2013-01-14T01:32:00.001-06:00

If you are a Ham Radio Operator you've probably been looking at the Raspberry Pi with a lot of possibilities.

One of it's downfalls if the lack of an on-board input. But once you add a USB sound fob, Echolink, remote rig applications, IRLP, and decoding various digital modes like PSK, and so on, are all a reality.

Finding a USB sound device and setting it up can be aggravating.

I recommend the SYBA SD-CM-UAUD USB CM119 audio adapter.

If lsusb doesn't report it as below, you have the wrong one:

root@pi:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0d8c:000e C-Media Electronics, Inc. Audio Adapter (Planet UP-100, Genius G-Talk)

Next you need to make the usb sound card (0) the default audio device
Check yours like so: cat /proc/asound/modules
0 snd_bcm2835
1 snd_usb_audio

Edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf comment out "options snd-usb-audio index=-2"
You want ""options snd-usb-audio index=0"

After a reboot it should always appear in this order:
0 snd_usb_audio
1 snd_bcm2835

Take this one step further and comment out the kernel module for the onboard sound and add the usb

cat /etc/modules should look like:
#snd-bcm2835
snd-usb-audio
While, I did not find the following necessary in my case, I have read to get better latencies out of USB audio devices, it is suggested to also add:

options snd-usb-audio nrpacks=1

Setup /etc/asound.conf to this:

 pcm.dmixer {  
   type dmix  
   ipc_key 1024  
   slave {  
     pcm "hw:0,0"  
     period_time 0  
     period_size 1024  
     buffer_size 8192  
   rate 48000  
   }  
   bindings {  
     0 0  
     1 1  
   }  
 }  
 pcm.asymed {  
     type asym  
     playback.pcm "dmixer"  
     capture.pcm "hw:0,0"  
 }  
 pcm.dsp0 {  
   type plug  
   slave.pcm "asymed"  
 }  
 pcm.!default {  
     type plug  
     slave.pcm "asymed"  
 }  
 pcm.default {  
   type plug  
   slave.pcm "asymed"  
 }  
 ctl.mixer0 {  
   type hw  
   card 0  
 }

Since there are some USB issues, I suggest setting the device to boot the USB hub in USB 1.0 mode, this should fix choppy audio. (I did not find this necessary in my case, but it's not a bad idea)
Add "dwc_otg.speed=1" to /boot/cmdline.txt.

Pulseaudio might be part of your raspberry wheezy default image. Personally I am not a fan of it, and have read it wasn't working well on the Pi. I am not sure if that still holds true. I just removed it:
apt-get purge pulseaudio
I recommend replacing it with Alsa. It has been around a bit longer:
apt-get install sox alsa-oss alsa-utils

Also, I suggest updating the firmware on your Pi.
https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update/

This should be a good starting point for most. Hopefully in the future, newer Raspberry wheezy images can make this a bit easier, and more kernel support for other USB sound FOBs.

For my fellow hams you may want to check out these places to congregate:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Raspberry_Pi_4-Ham_RADIO/

http://amateurradiopi.com/forum/

And for those of you still interested in D-Star:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RaspberryPi-DVAP/

I have been running my Pi using a 5 volt, 1 amp supply via the micro USB power port. I do not use a USB hub. My model B rev 2 has been running reliably for a few weeks now.

Just as a note. If you are making connections to the GPIO for keying a radio or whatever, check your local Radio Shack for "Schmartboard Jumpers ." These are a new thing they are carrying, and are handy.

Raspberry Pi Autofox?

2013-01-06T20:17:00.000-06:00

I stumbled into a wiki on Turning the Raspberry Pi Into an FM Transmitter.

The code uses the hardware on the raspberry pi that is actually meant to generate spread-spectrum clock signals on the GPIO pins to output FM Radio energy. Just add a quarter wave length of wire to GPIO 4 to act as an antenna.

root@raspberrypi:~# ./pifm
Usage: program wavfile.wav [freq] [sample rate]

Looking at the source, it seems simple enough to narrow it a bit:
In pifm.c look for:

float dval = sample*15.0; // actual transmitted sample. 15 is bandwith (about 75 kHz)

Obviously this isn't a clean transmitter implementation, so don't expect much more than an autofox.

For a low power foxhunt it might amusing to wire a motion sensor to the other GPIO to adjust your transmit and announce timing cycle, when folks are getting close.

{Update 3/13}
Apparently some people think like me:
https://github.com/DanAnkers/WsprryPi

https://github.com/threeme3/WsprryPi

Plenty of folks using the basis of this for Weak Signal Propagation Reporting

Sending a text via ham repeater

2012-12-01T16:20:00.000-06:00

Back in February I blogged about Voice Recognition for FM Repeaters. This to my surprise made the July QST magazine.

I took this a bit further. Now you can speak a spoken message over the repeater, and it will be converted to text and sent to the corresponding number that you entered on your DTMF microphone.

I made a very cheesy video, as video often explains it easier. (I beeped out part of my number for some privacy, and you can hear my cellphone talking to the cell tower overloading my cheap microphone)

I am not going to give full details on how to do this here, as the point of this blog posting is:
1.) To show you that you can still implement cool stuff with ham radio..
2.) To encourage you think out side the box and mess with things till you stumble into a quick project such as this.

But to point you in the right direction, I will tell you that I created this using a combination of existing things that I have played with prior:

The repeater already has an IRLP board/connection. This decodes the DTMF and invokes commands on the Linux computer that it is connected to.

Spoken message is converted using the Google Chrome speech input API that I explained in my prior post.

To actually send the text, I am using my Asterisk PBX coupled with a free Google Voice number capable of sending/receiving voice calls and text messages. But you could just use a email / SMS gateway.

Special thanks to QST editor Steve Ford, WB8IMY for picking up my prior blog and putting it in print.

Revisits

2012-11-20T13:47:00.001-06:00

I haven't blogged in a while.

I have been messing with the low cost Raspberry Pi computer for some off-network ham VOIP linking.

(The left-most (white FOB) is a CM-108 chipset; the Virtual 7.1 ch sound one is a CM-119, the LogiLink UA0053, and an unknown one.)

Adding a USB sound device is easy (as it doesn't have an on-board audio input), configuring the mixer and getting the sample rate stuff right so it works and sounds decent has been aggravating thus far.

I don't understand why it has to have custom configuration's defined/setup in .asoundrc, for various sample rates. I am used to command line tools like play and record and sox just working with whatever I am trying to play.

If you are in the same boat as me, these threads seems to offer some clues:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=10848

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=20866

For us hams you may want to check out these places to congregate:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Raspberry_Pi_4-Ham_RADIO/

http://amateurradiopi.com/forum/

And if someone comes up with a nice step by step how-to on the audio thing to share, please let me know!

This radioreference post seems pretty detailed. Here the thread author is adding a USB sound device to provide an input for use with DSD. However I wasn't successful with this either.

In the advent of cheap RF hardware, I have also been messing with GNU radio. Alas, seems I don't really have a fast enough computer to run it well. I was hoping a 3 GHz, P4 with be enough.

Never-the-less, while I seem to lack new topics, there are some older ones that perhaps someone in your local club can contribute to:

NWR SAME software decoder - Looks like someone has added EAS / SAME support to multimon

HSMM BDA -

P25 Software Repeater -

Misc:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1982149 - App to enable all wireless channels on Android. This might be useful for amateur networks.

And lastly, am I the only one that is disgusted with the series of QST articles on the variations of PL-259 installations?

Other data devices

2012-09-18T20:40:00.004-05:00

A few months ago I blogged about an interesting new radio prototype that was presented at Dayton, The Universal Digital Radio (aka UDR56K).

There was a recent Linux in the Ham Shack Podcast. In Episode #090 they interview John Hays, K7VE, of Northwest Digital Radio.

Here is a direct link to a MP3 of the podcast.

In the podcast; John gives us a better idea of what the radio is, and can be developed into.

A recent engineering update has been posted on the NW Digital Radio website, tells us that we can expect to get our hands on this one early next year if all goes according to plan.

As is, this radio seems to be in direct competition with the Icom ID-1. The ID-1 is over $1000 in price, and while this radio is a bit slower to move the bits, it's less harsh on the pocket book.

If you are looking for something faster than conventional data radios, yet more affordable than either the Icom ID-1 or UDR56K, then look at the Hope RF RFM12BP.

This is a half-watt, transceiver that covers 430.24 to 439.75 MHz, and supports data rates of 0.6 to 115.2 kbps. Priced less than $20.

Scott at Argent Data Systems says:

Programming them isn't the most friendly thing - There's no nonvolatile memory to store the configuration. We've got prototypes of an OpenTracker USB board with the RFM12BP - if you're looking for something easy to configure, that might be a possibility when we've got it ready.

John, G8BPQ has been playing with these modules and notes:

I looked at the higher powered (500 mw) RMF12BP, and ordered a couple for
experiments. But when I looked into the module in more detail I found it was
not compatible with the RFM22B, and is less flexible and more difficult to
program. I've since found the RFM23BP, which is a 1 watt unit that is
compatible with the RFM22B, so I've ordered a couple of them for testing,
and designed a board that will take either the 22B or the 23BP. Although it
is primarily intended for use with the Raspberry PI, it will also have an async port,
so it can be used as a standalone KISS TNC/Radio.

HSMM-MESH™ firmware ports

2012-08-24T23:54:00.008-05:00

As announced by the QEX Magazine editor back in 2010, there are some groups of amateurs in Texas working together to implement a mesh network of HSMM nodes.

Think of this as similar to the D-Star network, but operating at a much higher data rate. The groups in Austin include ARES, Roadrunner Microwave Group, Texas Emergency Management, and Red Cross. There is also a fair amount of work being done in Dallas and Plano. Glenn Currie, KD5MFW, gave a presentation to a standing room only group at the Austin Summerfest this past Saturday, so interest is growing significantly.

The group doing the heavy lifting of developing software and hardware has been very busy over the past couple years. And there has been a large following.

http://hsmm-mesh.org/

Their custom ham radio HSMM-MESH™ firmware has been limited thus far to the Linksys WRT54G series of hardware.

There have been many requests to expand support for Ubiquiti devices and other hardware platforms. The WRT54G series isn't really in production anymore. But one can usually find them at thrift stores relatively cheap.

The Ubiquiti Bullet, Nanostation and other devices are readily available for about $75 each. Ubiquiti products use the Atheros chipset, where as Linksys WRTs, use Broadcom. Custom ham only channels and channel widths are possible with the Atheros chipset, but not currently available for Broadcom.

Fortunately Brian, KY9K of Yelm, Washington has come up with some development grade HSMM-MESH firmware that will support other devices:

HSMM-Mesh: Development Firmware with OLSRd v0.6.3
Mon Jul 30
All,

I've uploaded my development HSMM-Mesh firmware to my server:

This is identical to the official HSMM-Mesh v0.4.3 release with two exceptions:

1) Integrates OLSRd v0.6.3 - fixes byte ordering in the secure module.

2) Domain changed from "austin.tx.us.mesh" to just "us.mesh".

Since the new version of OLSRd fixes a byte-ordering bug that affects the WRT54G/GS units, this version will not interoperate with the official HSMM-Mesh release. The changes are all hidden under the hood and don't change the user operation.

The huge upside is that this version will talk to hardware from other vendors. I've got it talking to a Ubiquiti Bullet an a pair of D-Link DIR-825s on the bench right now.

If you've got time and some curiosity to spare, give it a whirl. Works great for every test I've done, but I'd like to get some extra eyeballs on it.

73-KY9K/Brian
http://ranger.ky9k.org:8080/hsmm-mesh-development/v043-063a/

I fully expect this will become the default firmware image hams will gravitate to as they upgrade existing nodes.

In a related note. The Network World website has a recent entry titled "Home Wi-Fi routers could operate as emergency network, say scientists."

Monitor Curiosity with Cheap SDR ?

2012-08-06T19:12:00.004-05:00

Perhaps you have read about hams using cheap USB TV tuner dongles as a basis for software defined radio.

It’s a very neat project that opens the door to a whole bunch of radio experimentation.

Here is a hack-a-day blog that provides a pretty good getting started guide. It includes the ins and outs of setting up the GNU radio software.

Once you have that going, give it a test drive:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
>From: Trevor .
Date: Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 4:47 PM
Subject: [FUNcube] 437 MHz - Curiosity - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Frequencies
To: FUNcube Group

My thanks to someone who emailed me earlier this evening.

Curiosity transmits around 401 MHz but the transponder on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has a CCSDS Forward Frequency in the 437 MHz Amateur-Satellite Service band.

We well know that 435-438 MHz is shared with the Military but 432-438 MHz is of course a Space SAR Band and I understand General Space usage extends beyond that.

This paper describes the operation of the MRO (see page 34 onwards)
http://descanso.jpl.nasa.gov/DPSummary/MRO_092106.pdf

73 Trevor M5AKA

IPv6 & Ham Radio

2012-07-27T05:19:00.003-05:00

Back in 1998, Naoto Shimazaki, 7L4FEP described an idea for use of IPv6 over the amateur radio in a document he presented to a TAPR Digital Communication Conference.

"IPv6 has huge address space and it supports real-time traffic. IPv6 realize new applications. For example, managing IPv4 address is not easy. It is possible to encode our "call sign" into IPv6 address. It enables us to managing IP address much easier."

You can read the whole thing here.

A few members from the Mesa Amateur Radio Club of Arizona took this to code.

"Club Members Jacques N1ZZH and Vinnie N1LQJ have developed a method of embedding a 2x5 (7 Character) callsign plus up to 185 nodes, plus 1 universal bit and three reserved bits in the 2nd octet, and a 16 bit amateur radio identifer at bit 24 of an IPv6 /64 Subnet address."

They announced;

"Tools for encoding and decoding amateur radio callsigns, up to 2x4 & 185 nodes, from IPv6 /64 subnets with Universal bit support and Amateur Radio Flag at the 24bit. Experimental RFC to IETF is being submitted for this proposed amateur standard."

http://sourceforge.net/projects/hamv6/

Frequency Coordination

2012-06-28T21:28:00.006-05:00

This the only place in Part 97 that discusses the duties and authority of a frequency coordinator.

§ 97.3 Definitions.
(a) The definitions of terms used in part 97 are:
(22) Frequency coordinator. An entity, recognized in a local or regional area by amateur operators whose stations are eligible to be
auxiliary or repeater stations, that recommends transmit/receive channels and associated operating and technical parameters for such
stations in order to avoid or minimize potential interference.
Please note that it doesn't say it requires any recommendation of the FCC, the ARRL, existing frequency coordinators, etc.

And it doesn't say that there can't be more than one frequency coordinator in a local or regional area.

Here is something interesting I ran across in some recent ARRL Executive Meeting Minutes:

4.1. Mr. Imlay reviewed material he had circulated to the committee prior to the meeting with regard to a repeater coordinator dispute in Wyoming. He explained that while the longstanding policy of both the ARRL and the National Frequency Coordinators’ Council (NFCC) is that there should be only one recognized frequency coordinator for a band in a given geographic area, FCC rules and policies do not rule out the possibility of there being more than one. In Wyoming there are two coordination entities, each of which can claim recognition by amateur operators in the state. While the ARRL is not directly involved in frequency coordination, there is a Memorandum of Understanding between the ARRL and the NFCC and ARRL policy is to accept only information supplied by NFCC-certified coordinators for publication in the Repeater Directory. NFCC has experienced a period of inactivity, which has caused the current accuracy of its list of certified coordinators to be called into question. However, new NFCC officers have just been elected.

What bothers me is that most of the VHF-UHF bands are inundated with mostly inactive repeaters.

Where in Part 97 does it say that a frequency coordinator should be in charge of parceling out exclusive (both geographic and frequency) usage of 144 - 148 MHz (etc)?

It doesn't make any sense at all to be attempting to more finely regulate that all of the potential "repeater channels" on 2m, 70cm, for all of an area, are not actively in use.

Frequency coordination made sense 20 years ago when there was intense demand for repeaters and there weren't easy ways to do coordination without a slow, manual, group effort.

Now there's little, and falling usage of voice repeaters, and coordination can easily be accomplished with a wiki page listing who is responsible for a particular system that's operating on a particular frequency at a particular location.

I and others had the unfortunate experience of the coordination body complaining that some aspect of the repeater isn't up to their standards. Perhaps it was a short distance move, or some other minimal system change. The communication had no merit as there was no official other station complaint. They just want to be the repeater police, and justify their existence.

I think that for the most part, a frequency coordination body has little service to ham radio these days. It seems most just likes making paper work for themselves.

I think their continued existence actually, actively Harms Amateur Radio by propagating a mistaken impression that repeaters on the air should be "rationed". Yet in reality, their job is to accommodate.

When the repeaters are idle the majority of the time, the chance of interference is low, which begs the question why bother with it at all?

Since a receive tone is a requirement of coordination, you really seldom notice if you are prone to interference which may be affecting your fringe areas.

It should be easy for an individual, club, or group to put up more equipment to make better use of Amateur Radio spectrum. Instead, the coordination policies and procedures make it difficult to do so, and people walk away discouraged and disgusted from even trying to put up interesting systems on the air.

The problem is frequency coordinators have broken the bands into channels most fairly narrow in width, with conventional input and outputs. I think this image/model discourages potential other use, that may not fit the convention.

Take a look at CDMA Spread Spectrum, in the implementation of Cellular Telephony. We had tons of buzz about this in 80's-90's but it never went anywhere in ham radio. How could it? It's totally incompatible with the way we slice up the bands.

And even with conventional channels plans, there is room for determent. Shouldn't we try to accommodate a multitude of different experiences?

Lets say there are 5 available pairs in a given area. Three are already filled by conventional analog repeaters. There are two requests for pairs for D-Star. One request for a P25 (APCO 25) mixed-mode repeater, and one for DMR. How does or should these be doled out? Does the policy say the first requested, is the first filled? Does this help the hobby move forward, and provide opportunities to area hams for multiple mode exposures/experiences?

I think anyone who wants to put a system on the air - packet, D-Star, WiFi, P25, whatever, should simply monitor the band in question, find the quietest spot in the "repeater section" of the band in the geographic area you plan to construct the system, and put it on the air. Likely you won't interfere with anything. On the off chance that you interfere with a system that's actually used for more than ID'ing itself, then relocate. You'll find a place in short order.

In the past there have been FCC reports on interference situations. They looked at the total history of both sides and at technical levels. The FCC takes all of this on a case-by-case basis. They do not automatically side with a coordination body. They take the total situation into account.

http://www.thenfcc.org/ billcross1.pdf
ftp://ftp.tapr.org/fccreg/fccreg.9911

What you can take away from this is that the FCC regards repeater coordination as a volunteer thing taken on by the amateur community. They don't appoint them, and regard repeater coordination as a self-enforcement or self-regulation issue. That talk by Bill Cross is a reaffirmation of policies they developed nearly 10 years ago. It also states that the FCC does not officially recognize any coordinating body.

When the repeaters are idle the majority of the time, the chance of interference is low, which begs the question why bother with it at all? Most of who participate really only primarily concern themselves with being listed. A way to advertise their systems.

Frequency coordination needs sweeping changes and to move forward. One of the purposes of a frequency coordinator is to recommend standard operating procedures.

The ARRL recently revised their outdated microwave bandplans. Now it's time for regional coordination bodies to adopt these, and put some thought into their coordination policies not only for microwave, but VHF and UHF as well.

(It's no wonder the NFCC has been dangling by a thread for years.)

It has been suggested: To start a 5-year phase-in plan for 6.25kHz channel centers and mandatory 2.5 kHz narrowband FM deviation on analog.

DMR / MotoTRBO

2012-06-12T20:08:00.005-05:00

Bob Witte, K0NR wrote an interesting column for CQ-VHF's Spring 2012 magazine issue.

It's titled "TRBO Hits the Amateur Bands."

Its about Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) sometimes called MOTOTRBO.

He points out that its a new digital standard that is gaining traction on the VHF and UHF amateur radio bands. He reports there are over 90 DMR repeaters up and running in the U.S with more planned.

DMR originated as a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard.

The DMR Association is the industry body promoting adoption of the standard and includes these companies as members: Harris, Hytcra, Icom, JVC, Kenwood, Motorola, Tait Communications, Vertex Standard, and Zetron.

DMR takes a novel approach to spectral efficiency. The bandwidth of the radio signal is nominally 12.5 kHz with two signals sharing the channel via Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). Simply put, two mobiles working through a DMR repeater share the channel by cycling their transmitters on and off in a synchronized manner. This is similar to how some cellular-phone systems handle multiple phones operating on the same channel. The cellular-phone base station controls the synchronization of the various phones so they do not interfere with each other. Similarly, with DMR the repeater has to synchronize the two mobiles using the same 12.5-kHz wide channel.

"A DMR installation looks a lot like a normal repeater system but with the benefit of two channels built in."

For those totally unfamiliar with TDMA, I recommending checking out my older blog titled "Understanding Digital," where I reference some Hak5 videos on Pulse Code Modulation. And the following week, Time Division Multiplexing (TDMA).

These sort videos give a good tutorial on how this works.

But if you really need the nitty-gritty, the TDMA time slots are 30 msec in duration.
In the 30 msec slot, the transmitter is required to ramp up to full power in 1.5 msec, send data for 27 msec, then power down in 1.5 msec.

For further good reading and information, I suggest reading K0NR's article. I believe this is the first printed ham article on DMR.

Yeasu Digital?

2012-05-20T21:33:00.017-05:00

Back in September 2011 at the Tokyo Ham Fair Yaesu presented a new line of digital ham radios. Then a short time later in late 2011, a new page on the Yeasu website titled "The Dawn of Digital Communications in the Amateur Radio World" appeared.

So here it is, a FT-1DR:

Their PDF talked a lot about C4FM. So many hoped they'd use IMBE and let it work with P25 gear.

They also talked about DMR (compatible with MotoTRBO), and we know the Vertex Standard branch does have DMR radios like the VXD-720 DMR HT.

However, there are 3 tiers in the DMR standard (described in ETSI technical standard TS102 361):

DMR Tier I products are for license-free use in the 446MHz band.

Under Tier I, ETSI has also defined two Tier-1 protocols:

DMR Tier-1 protocol utilizes 12.5kHz FDMA <----
dPMR protocol utilizes 6.25kHz FDMA

Both protocols provide for consumer applications and low-power commercial applications, using a maximum of 0.5 watt RF power. With a limited number of channels and no use of repeaters, no use of telephone interconnects, and fixed/integrated antennas, Tier-1 DMR/dPMR devices are best suited for personal use, recreation, small retail and other settings that don’t require wide area coverage and advanced features.

DMR Tier II covers hand portables, mobiles and base stations operating in the VHF and UHF allocations for PMR.

The ETSI DMR Tier-2 standard is targeted to those users who need spectral efficiency, advanced voice features and integrated IP data services in licensed bands for high-power communications. ETSI DMR Tier-2 calls for two slot TDMA in 12.5 kHz channels.

DMR Tier III products will support trunking operation.

Most savvy hams are familiar with Tier-2. This is what the above mentioned Vertex/Standard VXD-720 uses, as well as MotoTRBO.

According to a Yeasu FT1D sales flier picked up at Dayton :

C4FM 12.5 KHz FDMA.

Peak data transfer rate 9.6 kbps.

It can send a 320x240 pixel picture using a camera speaker mic. (as eluded to on the universal radio page)

It takes 20 seconds to send the picture over the air at 320x240, and 4 seconds at 160x120.

Because of display limitations, it can only save it in JPEG format to the Micro SD card slot on the camera. It can't display it on the radio itself.

What is interesting is the radio has a USB connector. This is for accessing the camera speaker mic as a webcam, and for firmware updates.

So in effect it's not really compatible with anything other than the cheesy radios designed for the license free PMR 446 band in Europe. But never fear, keep your anticipating eyes open for the Yaesu radio that will be compatible with Tier-2 DMR:

---From Page 14 of the Yeasu PDF---

At this point in time, Vertex Standard believes the C4FM (4-level FSK) FDMA or TDMA are the most suitable selections for Amateur radio applications. In early 2012, we will release a C4FM (4-level FSK) FDMA Handy-Talky and a Mobile transceiver into the Amateur radio market.

After our initial introduction, we plan to introduce a C4FM (4-level FSK) TDMA (2 slots) or TDMA Handy and Mobile transceiver into the Amateur market.

UDR56K-4 Universal Digital Radio

2012-05-18T12:02:00.001-05:00

http://nwdigitalradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/UDR56k-4.pdf

Quote:

UDR56K-4 New Product Release
Posted on May 18, 2012

For Immediate Release

NorthWest Digital Radio Announces New Universal Digital Radio at Hamvention® 2012

Dayton, OH – NW Digital Radio introduced the UDR56K-4 Universal Digital Radio at the annual gathering of Amateur (Ham) Radio enthusiasts. The radio, which has been designed to support digital data and digital voice needs of both amateur radio emergency service teams and digital radio experimenters The radio will support data rates from 4800-56K+ bps with selectable modulation methods including GMSK, FSK, and 4FSK. The UDR56K will operate in the 70cm band (420-450 mHz.) at up to 25 watts.

Bryan Hoyer (KG6GEU), President of NW Digital Radio said, “The UDR56K is a radical departure from legacy commercial radio offerings and brings a new, open platform, to the Amateur Radio community by providing a stable, integrated, software managed radio for digital communications combined with a tightly integrated Linux based computing platform in a compact package.”

The radio, which measures 4×6 inches and is topped with an eye-catching red colored heat sink, has none of the usual switched, knobs, dials, buttons, or switches. It has one Ethernet jack, four host USB ports, power, and antenna connections. All radio functions are controlled by software, using either a web browser interface or custom application.

NW Digital Radio has already integrated the Radio Messaging System (RMS) and D-STARi gateway and controller software. They are also in talks with noted software developers to provide additional digital radio protocols and applications on the UDR56K platform. Common Linux applications are easily installed using package management tools or may be compiled for the radio. Some applications of interest to the amateur radio community have already been tested, such as AX.25 networking, gpsd, Xwindows, bluetooth integration, wireless 3G/4G broadband, USB sound, and others.

“As we have talked to amateur radio operators, who are interested in digital communication for emergency communication or the development of new protocols, vocoders, and networks, there has been universal excitement fot the UDR56K,” according to John Hays (K7VE), Director of Marketing. Mr. Hays further noted that “Many have said, ‘can we pay now, to be at the front of the line?’”

Mr. Hoyer added, “We think we have a winner in this design, and anticipate a series of new products from our company. We want to build on the resurgence of ‘do it yourself’ activity. We will put the Amateur back in Amateur Radio!”

This device is not offered for sale, pending certification and approval by the FCC.

The UDR56K-4 has an anticipated release in the 4th Quarter of this year, with a target MSRP of $395.

For more information contact:

Bryan Hoyer, CEO
kg6geu@NWDigital Radio.com

John Hays, Director of Marketing
k7ve@NWDigitalRadio.com

NW Digital Radio Corporation is incorporated in the State of Washington.
Friday Harbor, WA

D-STAR is a protocol of the JARL and is also a trademark of Icom Corporation.

I am glad to see things like this.

Pitty they are limiting themselves with the current FCC data constraints. I wonder if the speed would be upgradable if those change or for foreign markets.

More Band Plans and Comments

2012-05-15T23:18:00.004-05:00

The ARRL just released a draft of their proposed 13cm (2.3/2.4 GHz) band plan.

They have been soliciting planned and projected uses of the amateur bands between 902 MHz and 3.5 GHz.

I applaud the effort, as this is long over-due.

You only have a few days left to comment on FCC proceeding number 12-91.

The FCC is asking for input on a number of items, including regulations governing data transmission that inhibit public service/emergency communications by Amateur Radio:

"Commission Seeks Comment on Emergency Communications by Amateur Radio and Impediments to Amateur Radio Communications" Dated April 12, 2012:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/index.do?document=313370

Submit comments here by May 18th:
http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/display?z=bmjqh

To look at what others have submitted, search for proceeding number 12-91 http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment_search/input.action?z=a5tml

If you don't plan to comment, then I at least encourage you to read what others have commented. Pay special attention to anything submitted from anyone in a leadership role (division director, frequency coordinators, club presidents, etc). These folks are supposed to be speaking on behalf of the amateur community.

Don't forget to thank them if they have done their part, or remind them if they haven't. Remember, things work better with input.

5 MHz bandwith support for OpenWRT

2012-05-08T00:29:00.005-05:00

A number of you are experimenting with 802.11 OFDM on 70 cm with the Doodle Labs DL-435-30 and/or Xagyl XC420M.

I've been asking around on this, and here is what I've been told:

1) Check out the openwrt code and set up the build environment:

http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/buildroot.exigence

Use this SVN repository: svn://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/tags/backfire_10.03.1

2) Build the openwrt code and make an image:

http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/build

3) Install the image:

http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/generic.sysupgrade

Patch reset.c as follows, either using this patch or by editing it directly:

https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=27630

4) Rebuild the openwrt code and make another image.

5) Install the image on two APs and it should work!

HSMM CQ?

2012-04-26T23:26:00.005-05:00

Someone asked me:
>How would one use this to call CQ ?

The simple answer is the same way you do/did with packet radio or any other digital mode.

Personally I haven't called CQ above 50 Mhz in years... but if you must...

Review how to embed messages in ping packets, and send a broadcast ping:
http://www.qsl.net/kb9mwr/projects/wireless/pingid.html

 #!/bin/bash  
 MSG="CQ DE KB9MWR"  
 PATTERN=`echo -n "$MSG" |xxd -p`  
 /bin/ping -c 1 -p $PATTERN 44.92.255.255

 eth1: len 60 4b:42:39:4d:57:52->6b:62:39:6d:77:72 type = IP  
 IP: len 42 44.92.20.35->44.92.255.255 ihl 20 ttl 64 prot ICMP  
 ICMP: type echo request id 54377 seq 0  
 Öùù CQ DE KB9MWR

Or perhaps you are seeking a voice QSO? Again, it seems much easier to plug in a pair of cheap Grandstream IP phones and dial the other end by IP address.

But if you must... review the CM-108 USB sound FOB.

The CM-108 FOB as detailed in the PDF is perfect for interfacing to FM rigs for repeater/simplex links.

Here I just wired an old microphone to a USB sound card.

The Ubiquiti Routerstation Pro has a USB port.

To get that USB sound to work review this:
http://sokrates.mimuw.edu.pl/~sebek/openwrt/

Then install and use something simple like Speakfreely.

Or how about an IRC or Jabber server?

The correct answer is how do you want to call CQ?

Perhaps you are contemplating a pair of 70cm Doodle Labs DL-435 cards? May I suggest you do your CQ as amateur digital video with Laptops running NetMeeting. (or the Linux equivalent for those in-the-know)

Antiquated Bandwidth rules do not apply when there is a video component.

Customized D-Star Repeater

2012-04-08T15:03:00.008-05:00

I have provided three simple bash example scripts. One says the time, another reports the weather conditions. And yet another will read back who was recently on your d-star repeater.

(I have since improved some of the quirky word concatenation from what is shown in the video.)

Special thanks to Kristoff, ON1ARF for his ambestream voice announcement toolkit.

Also to Scott, KI4LKF for his g2_link program.

To install this, first install ON1ARF's D-Star voice announcement toolkit, and download my premade AMBE library of files. (this also includes the three mentioned scripts)

http://kb9mwr.blogspot.com/2011/11/library-of-ambe-files.html

To process DTMF; I suggest installing KI4LKF's g2_link program. (Alternatively ON1ARF's dtmf-rcq or a number of different DTMF decoding add-on options) Scott's g2_link will also give you the ability to connect to XFR and DCS D-Star reflectors. His g2_link program contains an easy to understand and modify to your liking g2_link_dtmf.sh shell script.

http://kb9mwr.blogspot.com/2009/09/decoding-d-star-ambe-dtmf.html

Bandplans and Comments

2012-04-03T23:55:00.006-05:00

Last month the ARRL released a draft of their proposed 9cm (3.5 GHz) band plan.

And just yesterday, 33cm (900 MHz).

They have been soliciting planned and projected uses of the amateur bands between 902 MHz and 3.5 GHz.

I was happy to see there are four 20 MHz wide slices for OFDM for 9cm.

When it comes to life above 900 MHz, the most prevalent thing out there that can easily be adapted to ham radio use is 802.11 network gear.

Ubiquiti, Xagyl, and Doodle Labs all have gear for 900 MHz (33 cm), as well as the standard 2.4 (12 cm) and (5 cm) 5.7 GHz bands. Ubiquiti has 3.5 GHz (9 cm) covered.

So its natural to form a band plan around what can be adapted for ham radio use.

From the ARRL board meeting notes:

4.1.4. At Minute 51 of its January 2012 meeting the ARRL Board assigned to the Executive Committee responsibility for periodic review of the National Broadband Plan Committee Report and managing the implementation of its recommended strategies. Steps being taken to encourage innovative and productive uses of the amateur bands between 222 MHz and 3.5 GHz include the updating of band plans for the four bands between 902 MHz and 3.5 GHz. The committee discussed challenges brought about by increased occupancy of the 1240-1300 MHz band by primary services, and promising developments that may lead to increased amateur broadband activity in the 3.3-3.5 GHz band.

The FCC is asking for input on a number of items, including regulations governing data transmission that inhibit public service/emergency communications by Amateur Radio:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/index.do?document=313370

Asterisk Radio Interoperability

2012-03-15T00:43:00.003-05:00

Micheal VK3ZEA shows some interoperability.

Asterisk is a powerful open source VOIP telephony platform. There happen to be a few hams heavily rooted in the project. So naturally there is a module called app_rpt for integration of 2-way radio systems.

For more info see:
http://www.qsl.net/kb9mwr/projects/voip/plan.html

What Micheal is showing, involves some rather complex configuration. But much of the open source software that powers what he is showing has come along way. So I expect even further down the road, this will be child's play.