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A 2020 update
Β Yes, I know. It's been a while since I posted, just under a year. Unfortunately, as we all know, 2020 is not a normal year.Β
Aside from attending the amateur radio training session for the 2020 Boston Marathon, the Marathon was delayed until September and ultimately cancelled and replaced with a virtual event. The same goes for the 2020 Head of the Charles Regatta.Β
I was planning on going to my first Hamvention, but that too was cancelled. As was the May and October editions of NEAR-Fest. My last hope for some ham action was the NortheastΒ HamXposition, but alas, it was also cancelled. As have all the monthly MIT Fleas for the year.
It's not all bad though, we've still had NSRA meetings via Zoom and continued them into summer, which usually is a break period for the club. Also, there have been virtual ham expos and fests online, such as the QSO Today Ham Expo and the HamXposition is going virtual too.
I just recently got back from a 3 month work deployment on Nantucket, I didn't really use their repeater much to do be being busy with work and mic shyness, but it was good nonetheless, and I did do alot of shortwave listening while I was there. I did manage to check in the NSRA's Sunday Night Net via Echolink a lot.
Now that I got back home, I turned my virtual scanner back on, which I've migrated to a Raspberry Pi 4 because of Wi-Fi issues with the Lenovo ThinkCentre.Β
But that's been my year in ham and radio in general in a nutshell.
My own virtual scanner
All thanks toΒ Luke Berndt's Trunk Recorder project.
Trunk Recorder
Trunk Recorder is open source software written by Luke, that using various SDRs such as the HackRF, RTL-SDR-based USB dongles and Ettus USRPs among others, allows the capture and recording of Project 25 (P25) and Motorola SmartNet trunked radio systems plus conventional systems that are P25 or analog too.It runs on Linux, macOS and even on a Raspberry Pi (although it's recommended to be a Pi 3 because the rest probably won't be able to keep up). You can either build it yourself from the source code or use Docker like I did to get it up and running.
After configuring a JSON file that sets all the parameters for the instance you plan on running, a CSV file that defines the talkgroups you want to record, you should be good to go.
OpenMHz
Luke also runs OpenMHz, a website that hosts the recordings you make if you so desire. It's not like Broadcastify where it's a continuous stream, it's more of an on-demand style although it autoplays the next recording when it comes online, making it almost stream-like. There is a script that can be executed also using Liquidsoap to allow you to stream to Broadcastify and other providers.My setup
How I got the bug
Besides listening to regular AM/FM radio, what got me down this road first started with listening to shortwave radio back in 2009 when I was 19. I started with a Grundig GM300PE Mini World that I bought at local Radio Shack because it was all I could afford. I also bought a copy of the Passport to World Band Radio for that year, which turned out to be last. Even though the book was discontinued, my passion for radio hadn't and I kept listening.
By 2015, I was studying for a Technician license using the ARRL Technician study guide. But, despite my efforts and using the ARRL test prep site I felt I wasn't getting it.
I lapsed for a year in 2016 and in mid-2017 after buying my first digital scanner and first scanner in years, the bug bit again and I buckled down this time.Β Working for TSA for almost 9 years at this point was another one of my reasons for getting my amateur radio license as we use MARS for EMCOMM purposes at work.
I bought KB6NU's No Nonsense study guides, practiced using HamStudy.org and felt ready!
I took my Technician test on July 22, 2017 through the North Shore Radio Association which I passed and received my first callsign, KC1HXT, on August 02, 2017. Then I was issued W1PAC on August 22, 2017 as my vanity.
And that's my story so far.