This Again?

I have twisted and worked my way around this problem for some time now and this probably isn’t the last time that I will revisit this topic. However, my station is evolving and as a result, I’m going to make some notes here and share what I know so that other folks can make use of it. Honestly? It’s more so that I will remember how I got here when I inevitably screw something up and have to back it out.

Why Are We Doing This Again?

My solution for the home setup, was to run Win11 on a stick PC that I could interface with the IC-7100 for Winlink email and Other Stuff. Now, what is Other Stuff? In ham radio, we have an unhealthy relationship to old and busted Windows-Only software. It’s changing slowly, but there are still weird packages that find their way into my hands that I “need” to use for This or That.

With the shift from the barely usable Win10 to the What Is This Nightmare Of Constant Advertising Win11, MS pushed me too far. Every time I touch what used to be the Start Menu, I get an advertisement or some unwanted tidbit of news with a picture of a politician or other pop culture nuisance. On top of that, they’d now like me to have an “AI” that follows me around and trains itself using my hardware?

We’re done here.

CrossOver

I don’t know how the link came to me, but I found my way to WG1V’s site and encountered a very different approach to solving the Winlink/Vara/All That Stuff conundrum.

https://www.wg1v.org/posts/2023-12-27-Winlink-and-Pat-on-M1-Mac

The author simply runs CrossOver on their Mac and all of the stuff works.

Now, back in the day, as a Frothy Linux Zealot, I was a reluctant user of Wine to address some needs I had in my day job. I wrestled with it and made it work. Over time, running VMs to handle this stuff seemed to become the new hotness and I didn’t even think about CrossOver for the Mac. The trouble with a VM is that it’s still a full install of Windows and still antagonistic to my desired mental state. Would CrossOver really do the trick?

In a word: Yes.

Following the instructions at the above link, I got VARA HF and ARDOP up and running on my Mac which is what I attach to my shiny new IC-7300 in my shack. It worked out of the box with no fiddling. Full disclosure: I hadn’t updated brew in some time so that took a minute, but with that done, everything else fell into place.

What about the Other Stuff? Most of the radio software out there that might be used for programming an HT for example, is built on ancient frameworks that happen to run reliably under CrossOver. I even pulled up some piece of software that I used to program my DMR HT and it worked out of the box. That outcome was unexpected, but most welcome.

Now What?

To send Winlink mail, I kick off rigctrl and pat with its HTTP UI from a command line and launch either ARDOP or VARA from CrossOver and send my Winlink mail. This gets me two big wins: No Windows and No Winlink Express. This is called Winning.

I have been noodling with my Surface Go to make sure that I can use the 7300 under my Ubuntu setup as well. I want my two main computing devices to be fully ready to run any rig I’ve got that can do a digital mode. On Ubuntu, it will be ARDOP and pat as well. For me, that’s a well-oiled setup with the IC-705. I need to take a minute to add the IC-7300 to the configuration. No big deal, just 10 minutes or so when I get it.

The outcome of all of this is that I now have a single shack computing device that is my Mac and I can do all of the things that I do in one place. Simplifying things is good. And I’ve even got this little stick PC that I can throw something on for an internal fileserver or something.

The Future

In an ideal world, someone (maybe me someday?) will get ARDOP running on a Mac. ARDOP is under active development again and these are exciting times for that modem. I can’t wait to see where it goes! But for now, I will leverage it in this new ecosystem with CrossOver. It works and that’s what matters.

Final

It’s probably pretty clear that I’m willing to work with all flavors of software in different evironments. I’m not opposed to paying for useful software, though my first stop will always be Free/Open solutions. The sticking point here is that I don’t have a lot of time to mess around with some of this stuff and this approach gets me from A to B rather quickly. Again, Winning.

Thanks for reading along!

I had a few tasks to carry out for my club, Newport County Radio Club, during Field Day 2024, which was hazy, hot, and humid (sounds familiar).

I was charged with making a satellite contact, something I had not done since 2020.  I spent two weeks before ensuring that I had calibrated all the satellites that were still in the air (and bemoning all the ones that were no longer available – CAS-x, XW-x, etc.).  My station is shown in the photo below (IC-9700, laptop running SATPC32, and a 3×11 Arrow antenna on a photo tripod).

The first available pass was for RS-44, and would be at the point of closest approach right at 1400 EDT.  With only about 8 minutes to make a contact at that point, I was pretty confident, but imagine my disappointment when I could barely hear any singlas on the satellite and couldn’t hear my downlink at all.  After that failed pass, I did some quick checking and discovered that the VHF and UHF coax cables had been attached to the wrong beam.  EEK!

There was a pass of AO-73 about a half hour later, and I had no trouble making 3 SSB contacts on it (I gave up trying CW as there were no responses other than folks going up and down the band to find themselves sending endless dots and dashes).  A couple of hours later there was a pass of AO-7, and I quickly made a SSB contact on that bird, just to pay homage to the little satellite that still does, 50 years later!

Another task was to pass a section manager message from our site at Glen Park (Portsmouth RI) through a VHF link to my home gateway (WB4SON-10 on 145.050 MHz).  Despite the 21 mile path and some terrain between the two locations, it was an easy S9+++ connection with a full speed data link.  This message was also part of the Winlink Thursday drill for the week before and after Field Day.

As I wrapped up the AO-7 contact, I felt a burst of cool air on my back, a 180 degree change of wind direction.  I suspected there was a downdraft nearby, so I quickly took my equipment apart, stuffed it in my car, and headed home.  A few minutes after I left, the skies opened with a deluge of rain.  I felt sorry for my buddies in various tents still at the site.

When I got home, I copied the W1AW CW bulletin.

My final task was to work the CW station for the final 2.5 hours of the contest on Sunday.  This year I decided to run Search/Pounce, and enjoyed contacts on 10, 15 and 20 meters.

As always, lots of fun

I had been having some issues with SATPC32 and my iCOM IC-9700.  Whenever I was running SATPC32 and RS-44 was active, for some reason if I used the rig’s VFO knob to tune around the passband, it would sometimes caused the Doppler adjustments to stop working.  All the other satellites were just fine.

I went back to the recommended settings from the SATPC32 documentation and discovered I was twice their recommended baud rate.  So I lowered things to 57600 baud.  On my first test, that seemed to fix the problem with RS-44.

However, I also use that radio with WinLink and VARA FM.  I knew that I was using CAT for PTT, so I needed to drop the baud rate down on that as well.  Imagine my surprise at finding that 57600 baud didn’t exist as a valid value.

The fix was simple; change from PTT CAT control to COM control.  I used the same COM port as I had used for CAT control (COM4 in my case), and selected the PTT pin as RTS.  That worked just fine.

Release Date: June 8, 2024 Here is a summary of the news trending This Week...

💾

💾

This is a 1-hour version of the weekly podcast for This Week in Amateur Radio....

💾

💾

Here are the responses to the #FediFridayWinlinkNet question from 05/03/2024: What are your #hamradio weekend plans?

• Eight to ten POTA activations on Friday between Cheyenne and Gillette, WY. Sat I will be roving for the 7QP contest covering 7 Wyoming counties.
• HF & 6M digital
• No radio plans, doing chores and getting ready for a trip to see Mom
• Amateur radio satellites as usual.
• Winlink Activities for multiple Nets
• POTA activation if the weather allows
• None, working this weekend
• No plans yet
• messing around with my linbpq setup for #farpn possibly getting on the air Friday evening as my spouse is out of town and I don’t usually get on the air at night when she’s around.
• pota activations if weather allows, pota hunting if stuck inside
• POTA activation
• Deploy darkmode for our radio club website
• Region 7 is hosting the annual 7QP and I am thinking of visiting one of the local club participants.
• Probably some more 20m(day)/40m(night) JS8Call.
• Installing VHF/UHF in the RV
• Prepping for a wires-x talk. Anyone know anything about wires-x or have a presentation I can steal. I’m going from 0 to hero. I hope.
• Not sure I have any!
• Saturday, work on HF vertical. Sunday, Run For The Zoo communications volunteer
• Busy with yard tasks, so probably just some VHF monitoring.
• Get an antenna up on the ship in preparation for a sea voyage
• Attending a swap meet and hoping to get a PK-88 TNC hooked up and working
• Weather permitting, I’m hoping to stop by our first local hamfest of the season Sunday morning
• Prepare 6m antenna and mast for the start of Sporadic E season, and finish my PCB layouts for a K3NG Rotator controller.Currently on 318 Grids for VUCC 50Mhz, would like to get up to 350 this year.
• FT8 DX and local repeater monitoring

Setting up a Microsoft Surface Go for Portable Ham Radio Data Modes.

For the FediFridayWinlinkNet on 04/12/2024, the prompt of the week was to describe your most memorable QSO. Here are some of the responses.

• QRP CW contact with Australia via long path.
• always the QSOs with folks who had an interesting background that got them into radio or radio getting them to their careers – I recall one with someone who had gotten a sample of mylar material from the Echo 1 project (https://space.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/QuickLooks/echoQL.html) as a teen, due to an acquaintance of the family working on it.
• D-STAR QSO with a ham with the same surname in western England. Talked for 2 hours about everything.
• I’m only a month old, but my most interesting QSO was my first HF QSO. It was coast to coast via 10m SSB with K6AA at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. I was so surprised I was able to reach that far on my handmade EFHW.
• Sitting down at an EME station of a local ham probably 35 years ago on 70cm and hearing my own echos off the moon.
• This past weekend I made my first QSO’s using a (tr)uSDX QRP Transceiver. I’m sure I have made more interesting contacts but this was memorable due to some rather unique operating challenges.
• Was driving on I-140 and saw what looked like a 2×3 call(non amatuer plate) as I drove by flashed “5” “2” with my fingers and he saw my plate and we had a short QSO.
• With an astranout in space.
• They are all interesting, fascinated by talking on the airwaves.
• Most interesting QSO was psk31 with a station in Italy when I was in Ecuador operating as HC1/VE7WYC, using a homemade mag loop that was sitting horizontally on the roof.
• The day I constructed my doublet I made a QSO with TX5S on 12m during their DXpedition to Clipperton Island. It only took two calls on 12m to get thru.
• Maybe my first real QSO which happened to be with the Queen Mary special event station.
• First PSK31 – had a nice first contact and good conversation.
• Working a VK station from a ship in the North Atlantic on 6M SSB using only a 1/4 wave whip magnetically stuck to the side of the ship.
• QSO’s with fellow Mastodonians!
• Not sure if it was my most interesting, but for a couple days in a row I was finding a merchant marine ship off the west coast of Africa. The station on board had a Taiwanese callsign. I got him in the log I think 3 times before I lost him. Exchanged a couple QSL cards too.

What Are We Doing?

This blog exists for me to catalog sucesses and failures. The other thing it does is provide me with a place to put things so that I can get to them no matter where I am assuming – an internet connection. The topic for today is a refresher on my setup for my portable digital operations.

The Gear and Software

This discussion centers around the use of the IC-705 and the Microsoft Surface GO 2. I have no reason to believe that changing the computer will make any difference as I have gotten this working on other laptops, but the operating system will require some attention.

I’m running Ubuntu as my Linux distro on this device. There is pre-reading required to make this all work and we’ll get to that in a second.

Software includes the following from the Ubuntu repository:

• wfview
• fldigi
• WSJT-X
• Pat

I am currently using the fork of ardop known as – ardopcf from pflarue on GitHub. New and exciting things are happening here in the world of ardop.

The Pre-Work – wfview

There is a great set of instructions on how to get ALSA loopback devices set up appropriately for wfview in their well-written user manual. Start here:

Audio Configuration

With all of that done and in place, there are a few things to look at in wfview for rig control to make life a little easier. At the bottom of this page of the wfview manual there is some good information on setting up wfview to do what flrig would do. That’s what I do. Why? Because it’s working and keeps things simple. The important thing, in my experience, is to set the port number to something other than 4532 which is the flrig default. I set it to 4533 because that’s a safe port number.

Here is what my wfview External Control tab looks like:

It should be noted that I’m using the Virtual Serial Port. This is a mapping to /dev/pty/NUMBER and it takes care of itself once set up.

fldigi

With wfview up and running, setting up fldigi is relatively simple. The following configurations for audio and rig control are currently working.

The rig control settings are set on the HamLib segment of the Rig Control section in the configuration dialogue.

Use hamlib is selected.
Rig is set to Hamlib NET rigctl (stable)
Device is set to 127.0.0.1:4553 (as found in wfview)
Baud rate is set to 115200

All other settings are defaults.

With this complete, save and initialize the connection and then go to the main fldigi window to tune or send a station ID. Rig control and audio should function as expected.

WSJT-X

WSJT-X is the odd duck. My dad and I have the rig control configured differently, but it still works for both of us. What does that mean? There might be more than one successful configuration so maybe find what works and don’t touch it after that. What I use is listed here.

The Radio settings tab is configured as follows.

Rig: Icom IC-705
Serial Port: /home/jcw/rig-pty-1
Baud Rate: 115200
PTT Method: CAT
Data Bits: Default
Stop Bits: Default
Handshake: Default
Mode: Data/Pkt
Split Operation: None

The Audio setup matches the devices that are set in wfview but in reverse.

Note: I find the labeling in wfview to be counterintuitive. It’s probably just my broken brain, but I have to remind myself to flip things around and think about it as source/destination pairs. It’s probably just me.

The Audio tab is configured as follows.

Input: plughw:CARD=Loopback,DEV=1
Output: plughw:CARD=Loopback_1,DEV=1

With this configuration in place, one can test the rig control on the Radio tab or by going to the main window and changing frequencies. Running a tuning cycle briefly will test audio output.

ARDOP – ardopcf

ardopcf is available on GitHub as a binary. Simply download it and put it in /usr/local/bin, run a quick chmod+x on it, and it should be good to go. That’s all that it required of me.

With ardopcf in place, lauching ardop is fairly simple. I put it in a little script so that I don’t have to type out the arguments each time. I named the script “startardop.sh” and dumped it in my home directory. Creative, huh? Here’s what it looks like:

ardopcf 8515 plughw:CARD=Loopback,DEV=1 plughw:CARD=Loopback_1,DEV=1

When you start ardopcf, you should start to see pairs of numbers in the terminal showing you audio input levels. If you’re getting a lot of 0,0 then you might have a problem or wfview might not be running. Maybe your rig is off? Check your signal chain. If, on the other hand, you’re seeing numbers pop up every 4 seconds or so, then you’re in good shape.

Pat

Pat requires some homework and I’m just going to dump some output here. There are instructions for configuration here: https://github.com/la5nta/pat/wiki/The-command-line-interface

The crux of the matter is configuring ~/.config/pat/config.json. Your mileage is going to vary here, but my config looks like this:

{
"mycall": "KC8JC",
"secure_login_password": "NOTPUTTINGTHATONTHEBLOG-HAHAHA!",
"auxiliary_addresses": [],
"locator": "EN91hd",
"service_codes": [
"PUBLIC"
],
"http_addr": "localhost:8080",
"motd": [
"Open source Winlink client - getpat.io"
],
"connect_aliases": {
"telnet": "telnet://{mycall}:CMSTelnet@cms.winlink.org:8772/wl2k"
},
"listen": [],
"hamlib_rigs": {
"my_ic705": {"address": "localhost:4533", "network": "tcp"}
},
"ax25": {
"port": "wl2k",
"beacon": {
"every": 3600,
"message": "Winlink P2P",
"destination": "IDENT"
},
"rig": "my_ic705",
"ptt_ctrl": true,
"beacon_interval": 0,
"cwid_enabled": true
},
"serial-tnc": {
"path": "/dev/ttyUSB0",
"serial_baud": 9600,
"hbaud": 1200,
"type": "Kenwood"
},
"ardop": {
"addr": "localhost:8515",
"arq_bandwidth": {
"Forced": false,
"Max": 2000
},
"rig": "my_ic705",
"ptt_ctrl": true,
"beacon_interval": 0,
"cwid_enabled": true
},
"pactor": {
"path": "/dev/ttyUSB0",
"baudrate": 57600,
"rig": "",
"custom_init_script": ""
},
"telnet": {
"listen_addr": ":8774",
"password": ""
},
"varahf": {
"host": "localhost",
"cmdPort": 8300,
"dataPort": 8301,
"bandwidth": 2300,
"rig": "",
"ptt_ctrl": false
},
"varafm": {
"host": "localhost",
"cmdPort": 8300,
"dataPort": 8301,
"bandwidth": 0,
"rig": "",
"ptt_ctrl": false
},
"gpsd": {
"enable_http": false,
"allow_forms": false,
"use_server_time": false,
"addr": "localhost:2947"
},
"schedule": {},
"version_reporting_disabled": false
}

Wow. That’s a lot of stuff. That is the configuration that is currently working for me for sending Winlink email using ARDOP or telnet.

What a lot of people seem to miss is that Pat has a web gui that will run on localhost:8080. It makes using Pat a lot easier and gives a fresh, modern GUI to Winlink email. And yes, it handles forms and everything. It’s pretty darned cool!

To get that up and running, I use yet another creatively named script: startpat.sh. The contents of that are:

pat-winlink --listen "ardop,ax25,telnet" http

What does that do? It starts up Pat listening for connections on ardop, ax25, or telnet. I didn’t detail ax25 here because, well, I’m not done playing with that just yet. And telnet should always be there so that you can use Pat if you have a good internet connection and NEED to check your Winlink email. The http argument starts the application listening on 8080 for the web UI. With Pat running, all you have to do is go to https://localhost:8080/ui and you’ll see the web UI. You’re now free to explore Pat and send/receive Winlink email.

Final

This is the setup that is currently working for me. I will update this as I add other modes, etc.

I’m re-posting this from the 22 December 2023 FediFridayWinlinkNet so we can refer to it later and reflect on our stated goals.

What are your ham radio goals for 2024?

• Figure out how to make a Greencube satellite contact
• bring Morse skills up to 20 wpm, construct new/improved ham desk.
• Upgrade my gear, and in particular get an HF rig
• Complete my 488 AMSAT Gridmaster Award.
• Build a Raspberry Pi based WSPR transmitter for the 30M band.
• Getting faster at CW
• Set up some exteral antennas instead of the current loft ones
• CW ragchew QSOs, building a packet station, More POTA
• Restart my CW learning. Get at least one CW QSO and one CW POTA QSO.
• Set up a semi-permanent packet station for HF and VHF; operate out of my shack more
• just more QSOs than last year
• Get back on HF so I can do WinLink over the air and not on TelNet. Plus do HF APRS.
• My goal this next year is to have more field activations.
• Build Morse speed to 20wpm; build new operating position
• More POTA, get into radio orienteering
• Too many to count. SSTV, VARA on RPi, setup packet node, radio go-bag,…
• get a better power supply and optimize my shack
• Sell unused hamradio gear. Become proficient in CW. Operate more outdoors.
• 100 CW contacts per month
• Clean up my shack, Send out all the QSL-cards.
• Increase DXCC counttries to 250 confirmed and continue to improve operating skills and station in RTTY contests.
• My ham radio goals for 2024 are to use Olivia a LOT more and to become a regular user of SSTV

I wish I had a Winlink stack that’s free and open-source
(sung to the tune of Wishlist by Pearl Jam)

I use Winlink quite a bit, which is probably widely known since I run the #FediFridayWinlinkNet. The system is very reliable and robust with so many access points and modes. But like many Winlink users, I am not fully “bought in” to everything about it. By that I mean that there are a lot of changes that I would like to see. Here is a running list of my thoughts as well as some input from others (which I will try to update):

• Make RMS Express (and all Winlink clients), and all modems/protocols (e.g., VARA) free and open-source. It would be great if creative hams could fork, adapt, and improve all elements of the software stack. (Also on the wishlist of W1CDN, AI6YR, KC1PYT, K0STK, …)
• Do not require (even softly, as a nag) registration for RMS Express.
  • Note that I would be happy to support ARSFi if it was clear what they did, and if others could get involved and share their thoughts. But none of that seems clear from their website. And the only way to contact them is through snail mail?
• Develop modem software compatible with HF tri-mode servers that works on mobile devices (especially Android). It would be awesome to harness the power of modern phones and tablets to run a full Winlink stack (including clients such as WoAD, which should also be free) on a mobile device.

And below are some thoughts from other operators.

KC0BLK:

• Have officially supported clients for Mac and Linux
• Modernize the client interface
• Custom domain support
• Better client tuning support when using auto connect

…and we’ve got a least 3 votes for changing the name to anything but “Win…” lol

Do you have other ideas or things to add to the Winlink Wishlist? Please leave a comment and I’ll add them to our running list.

I run a WinLink VHF Gateway using VARA FM (WB4SON-10 on 145.050).  It is incredibly stable, except when Windows forces an update (even though I have Auto Updates disabled, apparently some updates are so critical they overrides that setting).  Sometimes that will take down the gateway until I complete the update.  The last time that happened, I took an opportunity to update VARA FM as well, and that resulted in a system that would no longer connect.  It turns out the latest version of VARA FM (4.3.5) decided to uncheck the TCP settings box.  That was pretty obvious, and within a couple of minutes the gateway was back up and running.

I hadn’t run my WinLink HF setup since January, and figured I would make sure everything was updated as well, bringing VARA HF up to version 4.8.5.  Sure enough, there was a problem with this update as well – my rig was no longer going into transmit, and both the input and output soundcard settings had changed.  The soundcard was easy to fix, but the lack of transmit wasn’t so obvious (I had set it up years ago and it just worked every time).  It turned out that I had to add a value to the PTT Port (Optional) Selection, which I did.  That restored everything to proper operation.

Bottom line, a simple software update can sure mess stuff up.  Always test after updating!

I started checking in to the [Winlink Wednesday Net](https://winlinkwednesday.net) hosted by David KN4LQN in January of 2022. I wanted to be sure that my station could send Winlink emails at all times. A net like this creates a sense of accountability. Knowing that there is a weekly event that changes its format a bit each time is good for keeping skills sharp.

As of 17-Jan-2024 I have 100 check-ins. A very nice milestone that comes with a certificate! I’m not much of a paper chaser, but something like this is really cool.

I owe this blog a rundown of my current setups for sending email as I have different approaches for my home station and my portable station. Things have changed over time and I now have a home setup for Windows and a home setup for Linux. Both use the IC-7100 and my attic dipole. In the field, it’s Linux on my tablet and my IC-705 with whatever weird antenna I’m using that day.

More on all of that soon enough.

But for now? I’ll enjoy my certificate.

The Off-Grid Ham Shack series discusses creating a self-sufficient ham radio station or 'Ham Shack' capable of operating on solar power during any grid down scenario, emphasizing the importance of an energy strategy for off-grid communications. This system includes solar panels, a charge controller, battery, and power distribution system. Key elements are the use of photovoltaic (PV) panels to harness solar energy, a solar charge controller to regulate energy flow and prevent battery overcharging or damage, and a battery to store energy for later. As well, power distribution ensures the allocation of power to multiple devices simultaneously. A grid-down energy strategy is crucial to any communication-related emergency, be it CB, FRS, GMRS, MURS or PMR radio, UHF CB, DMR, DStar, Meshtastic or LoRa communications.

Want to access and share the internal GPS on the Surface Go LTE with other apps. Well, here you go. Hello Operators.Microsoft has done an [...]

Months of research prove the notion compressed data over ARQ modem techniques is anything, but effective encryption.

The post “Effective encryption” effectively debunked appeared first on Ham Radio . Magnum Experimentum.

Near the end of May 2023, Julian OH8STN will be joined above the Arctic Circle by Ed WQ2U, and Oliver DL4KA for an off-grid data [...]

When discussing efficient low power communications, it is impossible to deny the effectiveness of narrow bandwidth data, even at low power levels. But wait, there’s [...]