Here are three interesting things I found on mastodon last night. If you’re a mastodon user, you can follow me at @kb6nu@mastodon.radio. If you primarily post about #hamradio, I’ll follow you back.

Electronics at Work: 1943

In 1943, electronics was all about vacuum tubes. This video is a good introduction to how vacuum tubes work and how they were used in industry.

Open Source in Amateur Radio Wiki

The Open Source in Amateur Radio Wiki provides information about open-source software and hardware as well as free home-brew projects for radio enthusiasts and promote the use of open source software and hardware in amateur radio. The wiki’s founder, Michael, DK1MI, writes, “This wiki cannot be filled and maintained by one person alone, which is why I call on people to register on the wiki in order to correct errors, add information, translate articles and/or create new content.” Check out the how to contribute page for more information.

Amateur Radio Community Operating System (arcOS)

arcOS is a bootable Linux system on a USB drive. arcOS is founded on the belief that digital communications within communities of operators can be accessible and easy to use for ALL, regardless of license class or experience.

The author of arcOS is KG4VDK. He writes, “By minimizing the number of included applications and complexity, arcOS strives to avoid overwhelming new or inexperienced users, while offering ambitious users the ability to configure additional features and functionality.”

I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks like something to investigate.