Kingsqueak.ORG and KC2RGW.COM2012-09-28T15:20:47-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.orgChris Esser Kingsqueakspam@kingsqueak.orgUnderstanding the basics of SSB transmission2012-09-28T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/amateur-radio/technology/2012/09/28/understanding-the-basics-of-ssb-transmission<h3 id='some_ssb_transmitting_fundamentals'>Some SSB transmitting fundamentals</h3>
<p>For whatever reason there is always confusion over SSB operating. I noticed there weren’t very many articles around that did a decent job explaining what LSB and USB transmissions “look like” and too many operators just don’t understand why or how they are interfering with other stations or in the reverse, how to figure out which direction to go in to get away from another encroaching station.</p>
<img class='img' align='right' src='/images/usb.png' />
<p>To start with, let’s understand that your dial frequency is where your transmission pass band begins. So if you tune your radio to 28.400 MHz and you are operating in USB mode, a typical width your transmission will occupy is 3kHz. To the right you will see the tuned dial frequency and the indication of the space on the band that your transmission is occupying.</p>
<p>If anyone is within the space of your pass band, you will interfere with them and vice-versa.</p>
<img class='img' align='right' src='/images/usb-multi.png' />
<p>The next point to understand is why there exist gentleman’s agreements as to which mode, USB or LSB is used for a given frequency range. If you stack transmissions next to each other, which is common when the bands are full of operators, it is necessary to keep 3kHz spacing between each ongoing conversation to ensure reasonable copy. By sticking to a common mode, you can more tightly stack these conversations in the spectrum.</p>
<img class='img' align='right' src='/images/lsb-interfere.png' />
<p>To the right you will see the center frequency of 28.400 and a few others lined up at 3kHz intervals. Each one is in USB mode. The base frequency and the area +3kHz from that point are occupied for each ongoing conversation. If you have an operator come on the band and start to operate using LSB, their conversation will encroach to the ‘left’ going -3kHz. Meaning at 28.400 the conversation in USB actually covers up to 29.403, if it was in LSB it would go down to 28.397.</p>
<p>Normally in all USB operation operators would be at 28.397,28.400, 28.403 and they could all operate freely without interfering with each other. If an operator fires up on 28.400 in LSB, they will be interfering with the operators on 28.397. This makes the use of the band less efficient and more confusing if people mix the modes of operation.</p>
<p>When you are tuning around in SSB, ensure you are in the correct mode for the gentleman’s agreement that applies to the band you are operating on. If you hear any other signals as you are tuning, there are operators occupying that space in the spectrum. Either tune them in and join the conversation, or continue to spin the VFO until you no longer hear any interference. Otherwise you will be interfering with an ongoing QSO, which is plainly, bad operating practice.</p>
<p>Yet one more reminder, there is no such thing as working ‘on frequency’ when in SSB mode. There are no channel assignments, there is only spectrum space. If you are tuned into the zero beat frequency of another operator (if you are, their voice will sound perfectly natural), no matter what your dial is reading, you are both “on frequency”. You can be tuned to 28.3987, as long as you hear no other operators, you are clear to transmit. Any operator joining you should also tune by ear to match you. If you find there are operators at say 28.397, you will notice that you are clear of them in USB mode at 28.400, that is where you should then operate if you don’t want to join them.</p>
<p>This is pretty basic stuff, but a shocking number of amateur operators really have no understanding of these fundamental concepts. I hope this will help explain things clearly for those who are curious.</p>9/11 Looking Back After A Distance2012-09-11T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/dailydrivel/2012/09/11/911-looking-back-after-a-distance<h3 id='11_years_later_it_still_feels_like_yesterday'>11 years later, It still feels like yesterday…</h3>
<a alt='Image of my job site on 9/11' href='/photos/9_11/slide_my_old_site_small.jpg'><img style='width:30%;' class='img' align='right' src='/photos/9_11/slide_my_old_site_small.jpg' /></a>
<p>I woke up this morning to hear the discussions over the local ham radio repeaters about 9/11 and it got me thinking about it again. It’s been eleven years now, and it’s hard to even get my head around the fact it has been this long. It feels like just a blink, even now.</p>
<p>The picture to the right is of my old job site on that day. It’s circled in green. I was exceptionally lucky to have a business meeting in mid-town at 1 Penn Plaza that morning, so I wasn’t actually downtown.</p>
<p>The first plane hit while I was still on a commuter ferry, crossing under the Verrazano bridge. I was knocked out asleep and one of the crew woke me up to point it out as we were approaching the Statue Of Liberty in the harbor. Oddly, it was a crystal clear, blue skies fall day…the same weather still brings back the memories.</p>
<p>I remember thinking, “How on a perfectly clear day like this, could anyone possibly hit a building by accident?” I still had no idea it was a jet liner and had been thinking it was a private prop plane. At the distance it just wasn’t clear how bad the damage was. The other thought that crossed my mind was how glad I was that I wasn’t a fireman having to climb all the way up into that high-rise fire. As a volunteer I never liked dealing with simple house fires and I’m sure that I would never be able to go into a high-rise. Those guys have big brass balls.</p>
<p>I put on the FM Walkman I had with me to see if anyone had any word on what was going on. Oddly, my source of news for that day would be the Howard Stern Show. I can still hear that broadcast in parts if I sit and think back on it. It was pretty much the only live stream, particularly on FM, with any sort of real, on the scene, information. People were almost instantly calling in and reporting from the streets and adjoining office buildings.</p>
<p>The ferry dropped us at the 34th St. East-side dock and I started to walk west towards 1 Penn Plaza for the meeting. As I was walking, the report came over about the second plane and at that point I think everybody just froze a bit. It was now evident this wasn’t any sort of accident.</p>
<p>I wound up sitting in a business meeting on the 46th floor. The room had nearly floor to ceiling glass windows looking directly, unobstructed, downtown. The towers were framed pretty much in the center of my view. The manager was sitting with his back to the glass trying to press on with the meeting, while a site manager and I were just shell shocked watching the towers burn. It was surreal.</p>
<p>We weren’t exactly focused on the meeting, as a matter of fact the meeting pretty well went down the toilet and our manager wasn’t very pleased with us either. It’s funny how different people deal with stress and he was just in complete denial of what was going on directly over his shoulders.</p>
<p>I sat and watched as the first tower fell right before my eyes. It felt like I was watching a movie quite frankly. It was slow motion and left my mind just blank, zapped. Too much to process.</p>
<p>I stood up, the site manager and I looked at each other and I said “Hey, good luck getting home, be safe, I’m out of here.”</p>
<p>I’m extremely lucky to have been where I was that day and to have managed the first boat to slip through the quarantine blockade the government was struggling to put in place to keep people from getting home. They kept ordering all the ferries to pull away from the docks, but eventually the captain refused and made a pick up.</p>
<p>The next boats to finally get home were many hours later after the government realized they couldn’t try and contain the information getting out and that people would take extended measures to get home to their families.</p>
<p>That left a really bad taste in my mouth.</p>
<p>There are a ton more details, I could fill many pages with all the small things that filled out that day and what it was like working downtown in the days and years following, but this is the core that lingers. I’m the lucky guy, I’m here, many others aren’t and in their memories <em>I will never forget.</em></p>Advrider.com An awesome site for reading motorcycle adventures2012-09-03T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/motorcycles/2012/09/03/advridercom---an-awesome-site-for-reading-motorcycle-adventures<h3 id='for_anyone_into_motorcycles_and_tripping_this_site_is_worth_a_look'>For anyone into motorcycles and tripping, this site is worth a look</h3>
<p>An old friend, this forum comes to mind from time to time and I poke my head back in for a look. I really like dual-sport motorcycle riding and currently own a 2008 Husqvarna TE-610. Unfortunately I’m not that great of a rider, and as a result don’t spend nearly enough time riding. I seem to keep a bike as some sort of place marker for my own sanity more than to actually ride one.</p>
<p>I had a decent wreck years ago that I’ve never fully been able to escape while riding. In the traffic congestion of NJ, it tends to make riding less than enjoyable for me. The old wreck still haunts me. I still can’t really face not having a bike around though…as dumb as it is when I realize how infrequently I ride here. Maybe one day I’ll move somewhere out of the insane traffic here and get to fully enjoy the riding.</p>
<p>The forum is <a href='http://advrider.com/forums/'>ADVRider.com</a> and the “Ride Reports and Trip Pics” thread is years and years old and continues with daily activity. I highly recommend it to anyone who is even the least bit curious about dual-sport or other forms of endurance riding. You can find something for anyone with the least bit of interest in motorcycles or even adventure travel there.</p>
<p>At least through the forum I can live vicariously through the accounts of others. I hope someone new finds the link and gets as hooked on the accounts as I have been for so long.</p>byobu, ttytter and other text mode fun2012-08-29T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/linux/technology/2012/08/29/byobu-ttytter-and-other-text-mode-fun<h2 id='sometimes_a_terminal_is_all_you_want'>Sometimes a terminal is all you want…</h2>
<p>Not sure how I missed <a href='https://launchpad.net/byobu'>byobu</a> or <a href='http://www.floodgap.com/software/ttytter/'>ttytter</a> but I’m glad to have stumbled on them while poking about today.</p>
<p>byobu is an enhancement around the ‘screen’ utility that makes managing multiple windows, vertical and horizontal splits and other functions a lot slicker and requiring a lot less of the three finger contortions that only an emacs user would love. Basically, it allows you to take a single terminal, split it vertically or horizontally into grids of terminals and resize or swap between all of the sessions.</p>
<p>As with screen, you can just drop the ssh connection and your sessions stay intact and running for the next login session. You can, for example, leave an IRC client or something like ttytter (text mode Twitter client) running 24/7 on a shell host. When you log in, you simply reattach the sessions and all is where you left it.</p>
<p>With consoles in linux it is very handy as you can manage a lot more work with this added ability.</p>
<p>ttytter as already mentioned is simply a very functional text mode Twitter client that happens to work very nicely. I’ve stacked up weechat-curses and ttytter now in a nice byobu session that I can just let spin while I’m doing other things.</p>
<p>Very nice and worth a look if you like to keep things in terms whenever possible.</p>From Tokyo Ham Fair 2012: Icom IC 71002012-08-26T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/amateur-radio/technology/2012/08/26/from-tokyo-ham-fair---icom-ic-7100-mobile-hfvhfuhf<h3 id='ham_radio_candy_for_big_kids'>Ham Radio Candy for big kids</h3>
<p>A video sneak peek from the Tokyo Ham Fair 2012 at the upcoming Icom IC-7100 mobile HF/VHF/UHF radio. No price information has been revealed though, which means it will likely push the gold standard as most Icom models have been lately.</p>
<p>I miss the 706 as a price point right now as my Yaesu FT-857D has completely lost its display and there is nothing else at a reasonable price left in the market as a replacement for it.</p>
<p>I stumbled on this via the <a href='http://ke9v.net'>KE9V Blog</a> while poking about on Google.</p>
<iframe frameborder='0' width='560' height='315' allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' src='http://www.youtube.com/embed/DeeaMwnCUgo'> </iframe>Blacktip sharks chasing a school of Bunker2012-08-22T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/dailydrivel/2012/08/22/blacktip-sharks-chasing-a-school-of-bunker<h3 id='pretty_cool_blacktip_sharks_feeding_on_a_school_of_bunker_in_nj'>Pretty cool, Blacktip sharks feeding on a school of bunker in NJ</h3>
<p>Island Beach State Park is not far from here and this guy got some really nice footage of some decent sized blacktip sharks feeding on a school of bunker fish.</p>
<iframe frameborder='0' width='560' height='315' allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' src='http://www.youtube.com/embed/iar440qdupU'> </iframe>Adding some new features and functions to the site2012-08-22T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/dailydrivel/2012/08/22/adding-some-new-features-and-functions<h3 id='the_experiment_continues'>The experiment continues</h3>
<p>Just playing around adding various .js widgets to the site.</p>
<p>I’ve added the G+ +1 widget, a link to my G+ profile and an RSS subscribe link to feedburner as well.</p>
<p>It’s been ages since I sat and muddled with all of this, it’s always funny how much you lose if you aren’t doing daily development in web apps. At least I enjoy the fiddling.</p>Another Site Overhaul2012-08-19T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/dailydrivel/technology/2012/08/19/another-site-overhaul<h3 id='i_did_yet_another_site_overhaul'>I did yet another site overhaul</h3>
<p>This time around I’m experimenting with a good old static site layout…again.</p>
<p>The last go was using Wordpress with a giant wad of PHP as well as a MySQL back-end. I realized I was not really leveraging either piece and basically I was using a monster engine to render what could easily be served up as static pages.</p>
<h3 id='what_im_using_now'>What I’m using now</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href='http://jekyllrb.com/'>Jekyll</a> a Ruby framework for static blog generation</li>
<li><a href='http://jekyllbootstrap.com/'>Jekyll Bootstrap</a> An add-on for Jekyll to get started quickly</li>
<li><a href='http://sousmonlit.dyndns.org/~niol/playa/oss/projects/lazygal/'>LazyGal</a> static HTML photo gallery generator</li>
<li><a href='http://aws.amazon.com/s3/'>Amazon S3</a> AWS Simple Storage Service, as basic for page serving as you can get</li>
<li><a href='http://www.disqus.com'>Disqus.com</a> for the comments add-on, it’s bundled with Jekyll Bootstrap</li>
<li>Some information on using S3 for serving static pages <a href='http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2011/02/host-your-static-website-on-amazon-s3.html'>can be found right here</a></li>
</ul>
<p>I’m generating the pages with the Jekyll framework and managing all the site hierarchy via Jekyll, which creates the site template that I then simply sync to AWS S3 from my Ubuntu box using the <a href='http://s3tools.org/s3cmd'>s3cmd</a> utility.</p>
<p>I’ll have to see what the charges look like with S3, but I’m fairly confident it will come in well under the old traditional hosting service I was using.</p>
<p>The whole point was to get used to fiddling with S3 and to lose the overhead and exposure of using a wad of PHP for my site when truly I wasn’t leveraging it much at all.</p>Introducing The New Google Nexus Hard Hat Smart Phone2012-07-26T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/technology/android/2012/07/26/introducing-the-new-google-nexus-hard-hat-smart-phone<p>So I just added a 3500mAh battery to my Nexus S 4G and this occurred to me, an unexploited hole in the Android or smart phone market in general. We are missing the Google Nexus Hard Hat phone.</p>
<p>What I’m talking about is a basic Nexus sized phone with the following features.</p>
<ul>
<li>3500-4000mAh battery for a full work day of heavy use</li>
<li>A heavy case, similar to an Otter Box Defender for heavy field use</li>
<li>A splash resistant case so users who are outdoors don’t have to worry over being soaked in the rain</li>
</ul>
<p>Basically a fully ruggedized Android platform that has current hardware and performance specs and current releases of the OS. The gap this would fill is pretty much anyone working in the construction or field industry that wouldn’t have access to charging as easily and would expose the phone to the elements and abuse.</p>
<p>I believe this would be a popular device for anyone in the public service, construction, road warrior sales fleet, maintenance and on and on. I’d buy one just being a heavy data user and a geek who likes ruggedized devices. A lot of my friends in the trades don’t like the smart phones simply because they break easily and can’t hold up to field abuse.</p>
<p>I realize that Motorola has had a few devices close to this spec, but they have always had the lowest spec performance and of course really old OS releases on them. Making for a miserable experience for the user.</p>
<p>Google, just ship us the whole banana, high cap battery and a ruggedized case, all ready to go so we don’t have to do the shuffle waiting for the third parties. I think it would be a win for sure.</p>Five Months Later and Allstate Still Hasn't Settled the Claim2012-01-03T00:00:00-05:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/dailydrivel/2012/01/03/five-months-later-and-allstate-still-hasnt-settled-the-claim<p><a href='/2011/09/11/dump-allstate-before-it-is-too-late/'>In my previous summary</a> your hero left off by filing a written dispute of the ludicrous claim settlement offered by Allstate. In a nutshell, they didn’t pay for anything at all of significance with regard to the damage inflicted by hurricane Irene.</p>
<p>Well the game is still going here. What they do is continually rotate your claim dispute among agents, who in turn claim to have called the customer, send you a letter saying “we have tried to reach you but you never answer and will cancel your claim” over and over again.</p>
<p>In fact I have called each of them at least three times, leaving detailed voicemail each and every time and I have not spoken to an employee of Allstate since the claims adjuster was on my property in front of me.</p>
<p>This is a carefully orchestrated fraud here. There is simply no way this is accidental. Every one of the myriad of phone numbers they have to reach me have voice mail and call history logging on the accounts. I mean they have just plain <em>never</em> even called, not even once.</p>
<p>All I can tell any of you reading this is to be sure you dump Allstate before you learn your lesson too. My roof (the one they claimed was undamaged) continues to pour in water even in the lightest rain causing sheet rock to fall in through the ceiling. My out of pocket expenses were almost $9k for the repairs to heating equipment and they never came forward to do any mold abatement work either so the long term effects of all of this are still to be determined.</p>
<p>I was offered a few hundred dollars for paint and sheet rock repairs without any remedy for the actual fix for the problems.</p>Open Letter to Online Banking Providers2011-11-04T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/dailydrivel/2011/11/04/open-letter-to-online-banking-providers-its-not-1980-anymoreSo I've been looking into banking alternatives since my current bank is a company that I really don't want to support any longer. This has run me straight into a wall that honestly I was surprised to find was so common.
I'm looking into credit unions and alternative online banking solutions and have found, at least so far, they all fail to deliver on the following, somewhat basic facilities. Mind you, many that I have looked into are far from small operations.
<h3>Passwords</h3>
I have been just plain stunned at how bad the password policies are, after checking through about six different online banking alternatives. The worst one of all was a 4 digit PIN, numeric only for access to online banking! Most are 8 chars, but alpha-numeric only, no special characters at all...this is just plain INSANE.
Online banking is such a huge target, anyone providing this service should provide for at LEAST 12+ characters, accepting any printing character a keyboard can produce. Please, a 4 digi numeric PIN? This could be cracked in a disturbingly short amount of time with a computer 15 years old.
Two-factor authentication as an option. Really...this is not hard to do. There are completely free HOTP compatible two-factor tokens all over the place. Why oh why haven't banks just freely adopted two-factor token auth by now? I even protect my email access this way, yet my bank account is far more exposed.
<h3>One Time Use Credit Card Numbers</h3>
So, in a single year I was frauded three times due to making purchases through vendors that use the small merchant bank transaction systems. Even though I wasn't charged for the problem by my bank, I had to go through a security audit process to file the claim and then change my CC number across about a dozen or more established accounts that I have...THREE TIMES in a single year.
My current big evil bank has a disposable card system whereby for each online transaction I make, I generate a new CC number specific to that purchase. This has options for the max limit of that number (which I set to the next even $5 amount vs the total) and an expiration date (which I set to 60 days). This means there is a 60 day window for fraud exposure, with a maximum potential yield of the difference between my transaction and the next higher $5 increment.
These one-time CC numbers also mean that I can sign up for nasty services that require annual renewals and do so automatically without my consent and they simply can't get to my account beyond the initial transaction. This allows me to opt-out from companies that will make it nearly impossible to cancel. They simply have no valid information for my account unless I choose to give it to them for the next year of service.
These things are not expensive to implement, nor for a customer to understand, yet here I am, struggling to find anyone who has. If you apply all of the above the potential for fraud is dropped dramatically. I've spent a couple years of active online transactions using the disposable CC numbers without a single fraud issue. This has saved me a lot of hours of aggravation and I can't even imagine the cost overhead to my provider that has been saved.
Get with the program banks!
A linux packet radio personal message inbox2011-10-30T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/amateur-radio/linux/technology/2011/10/30/a-linux-packet-radio-personal-message-inbox<p>So most of the comments are in the code that explain this. In the old full featured TNC’s there used to be host mode mbox functions so that if someone connected to you and you weren’t there, they could leave you a message.</p>
<p>The PMS utility that used to be in axutils for linux packet seems to have disappeared so I put this hacked Perl script together to provide the basic function I wanted.</p>
<p>The script prompts for a callsign or return email address and accepts the message input. The message is dumped to a plain text file and is emailed to my account the way I have it configured. If email is down, I still get copies of the messages stored locally. You could add something to pop up a message dialog as new files appear or play a system sound etc., pretty flexible.</p>
<p>It’s far from a hardened and secure script, but really I don’t think too much could be done with this considering how and where it is used. Just be aware that it wasn’t done with the intention of having it face the internet.</p>
<p><a href='/files/packet_inbox.txt'>Link to the sources</a></p>Linux soundmodem packet unproto mode tips2011-10-29T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/linux/amateur-radio/technology/2011/10/29/linux-soundmodem-packet-unproto-mode-tips<p>So some more obscurity I tinker with is VHF 1200 baud packet radio. AX.25 network over VHF frequencies. One of the issues with linux soundmodem packet is that there is no integrated way to send unproto mode packets. This mode is used commonly for groups to hold nets or group discussions over packet.</p>
<p>The issue is that the linux ax.25 utils are there to accomplish this, but there isn’t a comfortable unified console to do so. Not being an ace programmer, I figured out a workaround to do just this.</p>
<img width='300' class='img' align='right' alt='axlisten and beacon via the screen utility in linux for UI mode packet ops' height='297' title='linux_UI_packet' src='/images/linux_UI_packet-300x297.png' />
<p>Shown at right is a Konsole terminal window with a ‘screen’ session running in split screen mode. On the top session I am using ‘axlisten -cart’ to capture incoming and outbound packets from my soundmodem on port sm0. In the bottom screen is another shell session using a script wrapper I call ‘upcall’ that wraps the ‘beacon’ utility with port and digi path that it prompts the user for at the start of the session.</p>
<p>This gives you a more friendly prompt waiting for input to send in UI mode while you just monitor the top screen for any traffic you can see.</p>
<p>The nuts and bolts are as follows. You will need all the standard configuration for linux packet, the ax25-utils, and the ‘screen’ utility installed. I’m not covering all there is to getting packet up and running, so go do that first.</p>
<p>Start a screen session. Once in screen you are at a shell prompt, you want to create a second ‘window’ with another prompt instance. Do <code>ctrl-a-c</code> to create that session. Next you want to split the screen horizontally. Do <code>ctrl-a-S</code> (note the S and not ‘s’). Now you have a shell in one windows and a blank area below, next do <code>ctrl-a-n</code> or possibly <code>ctrl-a-p</code> to toggle that blank window to the second shell window you created before.</p>
<p>To move between top and bottom, you do <code>ctrl-a-TAB</code></p>
<p>Toggle yourself to the top frame and start axlisten with whatever options you prefer. I like the ncurses color option ‘axlisten -cart’ though due to the ncurses, you can’t scroll back the way it was written. If you forego the -c option for monochrome you will be able to scroll back.</p>
<p>Now do <code>ctrl-a-TAB</code> and you will go to the bottom half.</p>
<p>You need to run ‘upcall’ there. The script follows, it’s rough, but it woiks! Save this as whatever you want to call it, I call it ‘upcall’, then make it executable, chmod +x and run it. I have a ~/scripts dir that I keep in my PATH for things like this.</p>
<div class='highlight'><pre><code class='bash'> <span class='c'>#!/bin/bash</span>
<span class='c'>#</span>
<span class='c'># This is a quickie wrapper around 'beacon' to</span>
<span class='c'># send UI/unproto mode packets in linux for use</span>
<span class='c'># in unproto mode 'nets' or just general CQ type</span>
<span class='c'># chatting on packet radio.</span>
<span class='c'>#</span>
<span class='c'># If you run this with another window (maybe in a</span>
<span class='c'># split 'screen' session) with axlisten, it's a </span>
<span class='c'># reasonably graceful solution.</span>
<span class='c'>#</span>
<span class='c'># I hope someone finds this useful</span>
<span class='c'>#</span>
<span class='c'># 73 de KC2RGW 29 Oct 2011</span>
clear
<span class='nb'>echo</span>
<span class='nb'> echo</span> <span class='s2'>"Unproto mode beaconing"</span>
<span class='nb'>echo</span>
<span class='nb'> echo</span> <span class='s2'>" Fill in the information as requested"</span>
<span class='nb'>echo</span>
<span class='nb'> echo</span> -n <span class='s2'>"What port should I use? > "</span>
<span class='nb'>read </span>PORT
<span class='nb'>echo</span> -n <span class='s2'>"What digi? (blank for none) > "</span>
<span class='nb'>read </span>DIGI
<span class='nb'>echo</span> -n <span class='s2'>"What destination callsign? > "</span>
<span class='nb'>read </span>DEST
<span class='k'>if</span> <span class='o'>[</span> <span class='s2'>"$DIGI"</span><span class='nv'>a</span> <span class='o'>=</span> <span class='s2'>"a"</span> <span class='o'>]</span> ; <span class='k'>then</span>
<span class='k'> </span><span class='nv'>DESTINATION</span><span class='o'>=</span><span class='s2'>"$DEST"</span>
<span class='k'>else</span>
<span class='k'> </span><span class='nv'>DESTINATION</span><span class='o'>=</span><span class='s2'>"$DEST $DIGI"</span>
<span class='k'>fi</span>
<span class='k'> </span>clear
<span class='k'>while</span> <span class='o'>[</span> 0 <span class='o'>]</span> ; <span class='k'>do</span>
<span class='k'> </span><span class='nb'>echo</span>
<span class='nb'> echo</span> <span class='s2'>"RETURN exits"</span>
<span class='nb'>echo</span>
<span class='nb'> </span><span class='k'>if</span> <span class='o'>[</span> <span class='s2'>"$DIGI"</span><span class='nv'>a</span> <span class='o'>=</span> <span class='s2'>"a"</span> <span class='o'>]</span> ; <span class='k'>then</span>
<span class='k'> </span><span class='nb'>echo</span> -n <span class='s2'>"text to "</span><span class='nv'>$DEST</span><span class='s2'>"> "</span>
<span class='k'>else</span>
<span class='k'> </span><span class='nb'>echo</span> -n <span class='s2'>"text to "</span><span class='nv'>$DEST</span><span class='s2'>" via "</span><span class='nv'>$DIGI</span><span class='s2'>"> "</span>
<span class='k'>fi</span>
<span class='k'> </span><span class='nb'>read </span>TEXT
<span class='k'>if</span> <span class='o'>[</span> <span class='s2'>"$TEXT"</span><span class='nv'>a</span> <span class='o'>==</span> a <span class='o'>]</span>; <span class='k'>then </span>
<span class='k'> </span><span class='nb'>break </span>
<span class='nb'> </span><span class='k'>fi</span>
<span class='k'> </span>beacon -d <span class='s2'>"$DESTINATION"</span> -s <span class='s2'>"$PORT"</span> <span class='s2'>"$TEXT"</span>
<span class='k'>done</span>
</code></pre>
</div>
<p>This will prompt you for the name of the ax25 port you want to use, in my case it’s ‘sm0’.</p>
<p>Next it asks for the digi you want to use optionally. If you want you can digi through multiple stations for a wide area rebroadcast of your packets. You can do multiples by simply space separating them. An example locally would be “W2LI-2 W2GSA-2” hit return. If you don’t want a digi, just hit return, leaving this blank.</p>
<p>Last, it asks for the destination call, if you aren’t sure, just put ‘CQ’ which is a pretty standard one. With nets they generally use ARES or RACES etc something to label the packets specific to a group interest.</p>
<p>When you are done with that, it will drop you to a prompt. Anything you enter, followed by a RETURN, will go out. Sending a blank line with RETURN exits out of upcall.</p>
<p>The ‘screen’ utility will stay running in the background if you don’t exit out of both shells. So type ‘exit’ from the upcall shell, then <code>ctrl-a-TAB</code> to go up to the axlisten window and do <code>ctrl-c</code> to stop that and type exit to drop out of screen finally. <code>ctrl-a-d</code> detaches if that doesn’t get it and you can just do <code>pkill screen</code> to kill it off.</p>
<p>If you are using digis with the axlisten command I suggested above, you should see your outgoing packet, and if you can hear the digis properly, and they can hear you, you will see a repeat from both of them.</p>
<p>Remember, unproto mode is broadcast with no confirmation, so if you don’t see them bounce from the digis, you weren’t heard or you were interrupted by other traffic.</p>
<p>I hope this was helpful for someone. Packet radio for me is just this obscure pastime that I seem to dig into a few times a year. I wish more people were still fiddling with it…it’s fun!</p>QS1R SDR Filtering With Fldigi For PSK And Digi Modes2011-10-13T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/amateur-radio/2011/10/13/qs1r-sdr-filtering-with-fldigi<p>Here’s something interesting that I’ve been fiddling with the last several days. Using my QS1R SDR receiver with fldigi for digi modes on the ham bands.</p>
<a href='/images/sdr_filtering_digi_modes.png'><img class='img' alt='QS1R SDRMax filtering digi modes with fldigi' align='right' src='/images/sdr_filtering_digi_modes-245x300.png' title='QS1R SDRMax filtering digi modes with fldigi' /></a>
<p><a href='http://qs1r.wikispaces.com/'>The QS1R</a> is a DDC type SDR (software defined radio) receiver. A very powerful, software based receiver.</p>
<p><a href='http://www.w1hkj.com/download.html'>Fldigi</a> is an open source digital mode software ‘modem’ that is used to receive and also transmit text in many different mode types. Essentially it takes an audio stream passed from a receiver and tunes and demodulates various types of transmission types within that tuned audio pass band.</p>
<p>SDRMax is the software interface to the QS1R receiver. The receiver has nothing but power, audio and USB data connections on an otherwise blank looking project enclosure. SDRMax is the user interface.</p>
<p>The whole system is running native compiled for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS 64 bit.</p>
<p>What is being shown is the following.</p>
<p>The QS1R is connected to the IF-tap output on a <a href='http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/1978.html'>Kenwood TS-2000</a> transceiver. I made my own IF-tap modification following the document that AK2F published. I used a Clifton Labs buffer amp circuit to isolate the IF-tap from any external interference.</p>
<p>I aligned the QS1R with the IF frequency of the radio, which is roughly 10.7 MHz, so the readout you see is the frequency that is actually the IF frequency of the Kenwood. This has to be done carefully against WWV and is a bit tedious initially.</p>
<p>So the Kenwood is just acting as a transmitter, with the QS1R being the receiver (I run AGC off, pre-amp off and RF gain nearly off on the Kenwood as the Clifton amp has plenty of gain already).</p>
<p>The QS1R audio output is piped into fldigi as the capture device for decoding the tuned audio passband. Fldigi processes this and upon transmitting, sends its output to a <a href='http://www.tigertronics.com/'>Tigertronics Signalink USB</a> sound card modem interface and in turn into the Kenwood for transmit.</p>
<p>The whole reason for plumbing all of this is to gain the extreme filtering power of my SDR receiver. Compared to the stock filtering of the Kenwood (which is already pretty decent) it is a night and day improvement.</p>
<p>The two images (click to enlarge) were snapped at nearly the same time. The top image shows typical mid-day 10m activity (10m has been very open lately). All the vertical lines you see in both fldigi on the left and SDRMax in turquoise to the right are individual PSK-31 signals. If you click one in fldigi, it will begin to decode the text being sent.</p>
<p>The issue is, they are all so close together that with unfiltered rigs or rigs with lousy filtering, you can lose the contact when a nearby strong signal pops up.</p>
<p>The bottom image is showing the effect of the filtering capability of my QS1R receiver. All you can see is a single signal, all the adjacent signals are just blacked out. This is a remarkable feat and will be immediately evident to any regular digi mode operator.</p>
<p>The filtering can be moved anywhere along the waterfall and can be adjusted in 1Hz steps on either side of the desired signal. The filter edges can be clicked and dragged with the mouse or can be adjusted with the mouse scroll wheel in variable step sizes. The image actually shows the filter about twice the width it needs to be but I wanted to illustrate how sharp the filter edges are in contrast with the background waterfall.</p>
<p>Since I have disabled AGC and any pre-amp in the rig, I’m using the AGC built into SDRMax. The old issue of AGC swamping from nearby strong signals is all but eliminated by the design of the SDR software.</p>
<p>As you can tell, I’m very pleased with the results and highly recommend fiddling with SDR in its many forms to any amateur-radio op.</p>Dump Allstate - Before it is too late2011-09-11T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2011/09/11/dump-allstate-before-it-is-too-late<p>Some lessons learned from Allstate Insurance, just a warning to any friends who have a policy with them for homeowners.</p>
<p>They have declined to cover what is close to a $10k bill to replace a water heater and furnace that were damaged by water when my sump pump wasn’t running due to the power outage we had. The water killed the electronics in both and I was ordered by the gas company to never use them again…after having had the fire department here for a gas leak and CO alarm when I re-lit the pilot.</p>
<p>Mind you, nothing unusual was going on, just normal water accumulation and once power restored after four days, the pump pumped out 8” of water in the basement in only 30 minutes. This wasn’t flooding or runoff, this was just normal accumulation that happens any time it rains here.</p>
<p>It turns out that they have a hidden loophole they don’t inform their customers about. For a pittance of $20-$50 annually they would have covered up to $10k in damage from the sump issue. Trouble is, they don’t tell anyone about this. So for not paying $140 in total policy increases they are trying to make me eat $10k in repairs.</p>
<p>With a roof leak that was caused by the storm, they finally arrived today to do an evaluation and ruled that there was no damage. I have a ceiling that is constantly leaking now and all they are paying for is paint and sheetrock. If I just replace that, it will just leak right through in a week or so anyway. Of course, having to eat the furnace repair, leaves me with pretty much nothing to fix the roof. Fun.</p>
<p>They are completely useless and I recommend highly that if you have a homeowner’s policy with Allstate that you dump them for anyone else as soon as possible, before you too find out how little they will do for you.</p>
<p>** UPDATE</p>
<p>16 SEP 2011</p>
<p>Allstate finally pays out… a whopping $751. They still deny the claim on the $8500 repairs for the furnace and water heater entirely. This check is for the roof damage that caused a permanent leak, where a ceiling is falling inside.</p>
<p>$751 isn’t even enough to pay for the materials to do this repair myself, it would be a few grand easily to have this properly repaired.</p>
<p>I have filed for a review, but it looks like I would have to sue them to get them to make good at this point. We’ll see.</p>Some thoughts on Google+ and social media in general2011-07-16T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/technology/2011/07/16/some-thoughts-on-google-and-social-media-in-general<h3 id='what_is_it'>What is it?</h3>
<p><a href='http://plus.google.com'>Google+</a> if you aren’t already aware is Google’s latest social networking and app consolidation effort. I’ve been on it now for a couple weeks I think.</p>
<h2 id='why_bother'>Why bother?</h2>
<p>Well, simply put, I do not like or trust Facebook at this point. FB has an established track record of trying to mislead or trick its users into exposing posts and other content they have entered into their service.</p>
<p>It would be one thing if a user of a given product didn’t configure the product properly and exposed their content. However, in the case of FB, even if the user takes care to arrange all of their account privacy settings, the company has changed the function of the privacy settings several times resulting in exposed content if the user hadn’t noticed the changes and made the corrections. FB never discloses the ‘risks’ of their changes which leads me to quickly conclude they intend on the results.</p>
<p>This is unacceptable. A user shouldn’t have to be constantly vigilant to maintain the expected level of ‘privacy’ of their content as a development staff of hundreds makes random changes to a code base.</p>
<p>The FB motive in this appears to be to expose user data to the internet at large. This is very different from what I’ve so far seen from Google.</p>
<h3 id='why_not_diaspora'>Why not Diaspora?</h3>
<p>Well, I’m still in the <a href='http://www.joindiaspora.com'>Diaspora</a> <em>camp</em> so to speak. The project is making some decent progress lately to clean things up and add new features. It however isn’t <em>done</em> yet and has a fair amount of time left to go before it is a more fleshed out platform.</p>
<p>One of the big wins with Diaspora, at least at this point is that the privacy settings of the <em>aspects</em> feature are tighter for sure than the Google+ circles implementation.</p>
<h3 id='google_likes_and_features'>Google+ likes and features.</h3>
<p>Circles - Circles are a list of <em>friends</em>. In G+ a user can have many circles to divide friends into different categories. People can be in multiple circles as well.</p>
<p>The function of circles is to allow a user to post content and share content to a defined audience. This is important and significant because it would allow one to post content to a circle called <em>friends</em> that may not be appropriate for a group called <em>coworkers</em> or <em>grandparents</em>.</p>
<p>This is possible to do in FB, but they have intentionally made it convoluted and difficult to maintain the lists and categorize your posting targets to match. G+ has the fundamental principle of separation of your audiences built right into the interface.</p>
<p>Also with circles you can read the categorized posts of a particular group of friends filtered out of the general stream of all posts. This is useful when a user has broad circles of people they follow. This makes it easy to quickly view posts only from <em>family</em> as a good example, in case you miss them in the torrent of other information.</p>
<p>The mobile app for Android is really pretty well done too. With mobile app integration I get updates about postings as they occur <em>though this is a bit buggy still</em>. This gives me a more Twitter like experience but without the insane character limitations of using Twitter. As you can tell from this posting, I’m not a fan of brevity when I have something to say. I find it crippling to try and express anything of consequence in the Twitter constraints.</p>
<p>These are the primary reasons I like Google+ , particularly when contrasted with Facebook.</p>
<h3 id='some_bugs_and_issues'>Some bugs and issues</h3>
<p>As alluded to earlier, there are some snags with circles as they are currently implemented. Right now, one cannot have a circle of circles and this is nagging once you have, say over 100 users. I have multiple categories of ‘friends’ that I’d like to post to for common contexts and with the current implementation it requires me to select a good handful of circles to do so.</p>
<p><strong>Privacy controls in circle postings are not fully rational</strong></p>
<p>Right now if you post to a particular circle or even a specific person, the content is fairly easy to rebroadcast by the other party. The main issue about this isn’t that the receiver couldn’t just cut/paste and repost, it’s that they could unintentionally reshare to an unintended audience.</p>
<p>It’s not a risk of intended malice as that is always possible, it’s more of an unintended risk of exposure of content. The receiving users may not realize the reason a sender intended on limiting the audience. Right now when posting I can restrict to a person or circle, then after the post is posted, I can return to it and disable re-sharing. However, this means the post was already unleashed first and exposed before I restricted it further.</p>
<p>Once a post is <em>loose</em> it can’t be undone. So if I post something, let’s say a link that wasn’t what I really thought it was originally…an article headline that was catchy but turned out to be off topic or spam etc. after I finally read it. If I delete the original post, if anyone had re-shared this, it would remain shared and attributed to my account.</p>
<p>This same issue applies with making a post and then going back and preventing re-sharing. If the post was already shared, I cannot undo it at that point, no matter what the settings are set to. I believe the poster should <em>own</em> their posting content so at any time, if they choose to revoke the posting, it should be revoked globally.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this is a bug or if there was intent here. I’m leaning towards bug as the logic involved in use cases gets to be rather vast with such a large application. I’ve submitted feedback on many aspects of these issues so we’ll see what happens as releases begin to emerge.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the restriction on re-sharing should be implied and the default when the scope of a posting is limited to circles or people vs. a <em>public</em> tagged posting. Otherwise, what would be the point of filtering on your targets?</p>
<p>I’ve put a fair amount of thought into privacy with regard to posting on any social media format and it’s been a bit vexing at times for sure.</p>
<p>A lot of the risk can be readily avoided by using common sense and applying one’s brain as a pre-filter. However and I believe increasingly, consumers of social media are not in that mindset and expect the services themselves to be a good part of that filter. When considering the damage that could result it poses interesting questions for sure.</p>
<p>Some quickie examples where my own filter would save me, but for others, maybe not.</p>
<p>You hate your job, and you find a new one. You select your circle of friends, some of whom are co-workers, many are not. You post your announcement <em>I’m finalizing a deal right now for a new gig and I’m very happy.</em> One of your co-workers in your friends list re-shares your posting… with it now going to other co-workers that you are quite a bit less friendly with. This could happen completely innocently with your co-worker friend not even realizing the issue. This isn’t going to end well :-).</p>
<p>You have been out at the bar and come home half in the bag and decide to rage on about something in a way you generally would never do. Done, posted. What you posted pissed off a pile of people and upset others. You cannot revoke this post the way the system is configured now. Not only that, but as you add new people to the circles you posted this to, they will see the full history of postings you have made. You are now stuck living with the real-life hangover of your mistake.</p>
<p>As mentioned earlier, doing things like this are something I’ve pre-programmed myself to avoid, but I’m not so sure the newer generations or less technically savvy consumers of social media have trained themselves the same way.</p>
<p>Just look at the scandals of immensely public figures and their Twitter postings as obvious examples. People who totally SHOULD know better, still falling victim to their own words. The general public is far less clued.</p>
<p>All this considered, do take a look at Google+ and Diaspora, if for no better reason than to add competition to the pool.</p>What is Diaspora? - A basic explanation2011-05-27T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2011/05/27/what-is-diaspora-a-basic-explanation<p>So I’ve been spamming friends far and wide to get people turned on to Diaspora so I figured I would whip up a bit of a quick intro to what it is and why I’m happy about it.</p>
<p>To start off, I’m not a developer on this project and I only know the bits I know from reading up and poking around at it. I’ll likely have points missing and misuse terms here, but it should give you the basic idea.</p>
<p>The simplest explanation is that Diaspora is a social network. One that is based on free and open source software and that is released for anyone’s use. The huge point of the project is that the data is controlled by the user. This is not a corporate interest owning your data to sell to marketing operations.</p>
<p>The state of the project right now is very alpha. There are missing features, bugs, everything that goes with a new project effort. Then again, we aren’t all making money from our social network time either, are we? So just jump in and get fiddling. The more users the faster the project can make progress with spotting issues and evaluating the code under load.</p>
<p>What makes Diaspora unique is that it is a distributed model. When you create an account on a <em>pod</em> your account info and data live on that pod server. All the pods are seeded together. So if you sign up on <a href='http://diasp.org'>Diasp.ORG</a> or <a href='http://joindiaspora.com'>Joindiaspora.com</a> anyone on another connected Diaspora pod will be able to find you and you will be able to share and see each other’s data.</p>
<p>What is really neat is if you are so technically inclined, you can stand up your own pod. If you are extremely paranoid about your data, this is the way to go as you control your own completely.</p>
<p>With the general public pod concept, you can back up your own content by clicking a link under <em>account</em> and downloading your XML data and Photos. Eventually you will be able to take your XML and Photos download/backup and restore it on another pod should you choose to move. Right now the feature isn’t released yet and is under active development.</p>
<p>If the pod you are registered to explodes in flames, you will lose the data there. So just be aware of that. This isn’t the <em>one place</em> you should rely on to store your data. Most of the public pods are pretty reliable, but it’s not where I’d store the single copy of a photo if it meant anything to me. Frankly, one shouldn’t rely on any provided service this strongly.</p>
<p>Right now the features are very basic, but honestly cover most of any need for the way I have my own Facebook account configured. There are status updates, direct messages, and a photo clip sharing app for sharing internet images. Mobile browser support from Android is working pretty nicely for me as well.</p>
<p>Linking Facebook and Twitter accounts is supported and working as well. So I can cross-post from Diaspora to Facebook and Twitter in a single post.</p>
<p>Another nice feature is that you arrange your <em>contacts</em> into <em>aspects</em>. Basically groups of contacts where each contact can be a member of multiple aspects if you so choose. The purpose for this is so that you can have a <em>work</em> aspect and then choose based on the content of your posting if people within that aspect can see it or not. Basically, you can have multiple personalities. <em>Just use care when you make a post to choose the aspects carefully</em> ;-).</p>
<p>One example that I have are aspects for <em>friends</em> and for <em>techies</em>. Fundamentally they are all the same group as far as whether I would care what they can see, but the friends group in theory won’t see my weedy ham radio or other nerdy postings if I don’t consider them in the techies class. Truthfully most of my friends are at least as obsessed with nerddom as I am, or at least used to hearing me go on about odd things.</p>
<p>When posting there is a radio-button style selection for <em>the world</em> as well. Basically this is the within-Diaspora equivalent of a tweet. It would be visible to anyone logging into Diaspora (possibly to search engines, though I’m not totally sure there).</p>
<p>Also supported in Diaspora postings are some basic markup for bold print, italics, html links, and hover tag attributes. Another neat feature familiar from twitter is the use of hash-tags. If you post #information using a hash-tag, if the posting is world readable, people can search on #information and see your posting since you made a hash-tag reference to the keyword within the post. Basically just pick keywords that are topical to your posting to highlight if you wish them to be indexed this way.</p>
<p>I think I covered at least the basics of what is going on here. Now for some info links to get you going.</p>
<p><a href='http://podupti.me'>A Listing of Diaspora pods and their uptime</a> - This will give you an idea of what pods are out there, though not all will be public and open to new signup.</p>
<p><a href='http://www.diasp.org'>Diasp.ORG</a> - The pod that I’m personally using at the time of this writing and is currently open for joining.</p>
<p><a href='http://www.joindiaspora.com'>JoinDiaspora</a> - The project’s home pod and allowing accounts on an invite basis</p>
<p><a href='irc://irc.freenode.net/#diasporg'>#DiaspOrg</a> - DiaspOrg IRC channel for diasp.org pod specific information on the Freenode network</p>
<p><a href='irc://irc.freenode.net/#disapora'>#Diaspora</a> - Diaspora project IRC channel for general Diaspora info and really for developers or pod hosts.</p>
<p>With diasp.org right now, there can be some bugs in the sign-up process when you go to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts. If you get the error page, just exit out and log in from the main page, your account should be created and working anyway.</p>
<p>Be patient, spread the word and have fun with it!</p>The Egg A Plumbers PTT Switch2011-04-23T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/amateur-radio/projects/2011/04/23/the-egg-a-plumbers-ptt-switch-project<p>So I got bored again and threw together another small project from assorted parts from my junk bin and Home Depot. This is a simple PTT switch for keying my amateur-radio gear.</p>
<img class='img' alt='The Egg - A PTT switch made from odd parts' align='right' src='/images/the_egg.jpg' title='the_egg' />
<p>So The Egg as it were, is a DPDT switch with a double cable coming out the back of it terminating in a pair of RCA plugs. I use it to key a Dow-Key relay and the PTT of my rig which is on a multi-radio switchbox.</p>
<p>This replaces or more accurately is an alternate to my foot switch. I find it more convenient to use the handheld switch while standing up and operating vs trying to toe a foot switch. Having a few momentary switches rigged can come in handy for a few things when playing with radio.</p>
<p>The parts list is simple</p>
<ul>
<li>2 x 1” PVC pipe caps</li>
<li>1 x 1” PVC pipe nipple cut to about 1.5”</li>
<li>1 x DPDT momentary switch (you want normally open for this)</li>
<li>1 x stereo paired RCA plug cable (I bought one from RadioShack just to have a relatively soft and flexible cable)</li>
</ul>
<p>I simply drilled out one cap to fit the switch diameter, cut a nipple to mate/join the two pipe caps, and for the bottom cap, I just used the Dremel tool to cut an opening for the RCA cable.</p>
<p>Tips…don’t forget to thread the cable through the parts before you solder on the switch contacts. Don’t forget to tie a couple wire ties on the cable inside the housing to prevent the cable from pulling against the switch contacts inside.</p>Happy Easter2011-04-22T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2011/04/22/happy-easter<p>For all my Christian friends, have a Happy Easter this weekend.</p>
<p>For all the rest of my friends, remember on this Easter weekend the first two rules.</p>
<ul>
<li>Cardio</li>
<li>Double-tap</li>
</ul>
<p>Keep an eye on the ground and local caves. Though unlikely, being prepared is always o.k.</p>Behringer DEQ2496 a pile of lemons2011-03-26T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2011/03/26/behringer-deq2496-a-pile-of-lemons<p>It would seem that this is my year for buying broken items. A bit about the Behringer DEQ2496 and the two failed units I wound up with.</p>
<p>So the processor itself is a fantastic design on paper. This is a multi effects processor for doing signal processing of audio. Among many features it has, the unit has fantastic EQ options with a graphic style display or a parametric style display. The main reason I wanted the unit was for its ability to store EQ profiles in memory. This way I could have many different style EQ profiles and just recall them for use at a touch of a button. The unit also has downward expanders and compressors built in as well, both of which work very nicely too.</p>
<p>I purchased the units from GuitarCenter.com who were absolutely fantastic about handling the customer service issues I had. I’d buy from them again for sure. Fast and easy response, pre-paid shipping labels sent through email, they just couldn’t have handled it any better.</p>
<p>The first unit I got off the ground, patched in and programmed in about 20 minutes or so. As soon as I hit save on the first pre-set, the unit bricked. The firmware was faulty or the CPU I suspect as the unit was boot looping over and over. Multiple power disconnects and a few technical taps, the unit wouldn’t come back. So I exchanged it.</p>
<p>After waiting out a backorder on the unit, I finally got unit number 2. Got this one dialed in with multiple profiles, got all the features sorted out and it was smooth sailing. Then two days later, the display died on this one. The unit was functioning fully, but had no display. With the completely menu driven interface it has, this means it’s pretty much DOA.</p>
<p>As I said, the features are simply perfect for my use in ham radio. I had audio profiles configured so they were nearly indistinguishable from radio to radio. This is quite a feat considering the vast variations in audio front-ends from radio to radio. This is a very irritating issue to solve for those of us with multiple radios with a shared microphone between them. The downward expander is very effective and has great ranges of adjustments available. The compressor even works well and generally digital compressors are very finicky to deal with.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the quality control from Behringer seems to be nonexistent at this point. I did live sound and toured using Behringer equipment for a number of years. This gear took loads of abuse getting tossed around in road racks etc and never gave me a bit of trouble. It would appear in the last 10yrs or so, that Behringer has drastically dropped off in their overall quality.</p>
<p>The truly annoying part of this is that the DEQ2496 is the only product on the market that will store EQ profiles the way it does. The only other product I have found is in the $4k price range which is just ludicrous for my use.</p>
<p>Oh well, back to the drawing board.</p>TigerDirect Simply Doesn't Know Their Products2011-03-09T00:00:00-05:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2011/03/09/tigerdirect-simply-doesnt-know-their-products<p>So in my <a href='/2011/03/04/beware-tigerdirect-and-biostar-selling-defective-product-bundles/'>ongoing saga</a> dealing with an incompatible Biostar A770E3 mainboard and AMD socket AM3 CPU bundle that TigerDirect sold me</a>; it now appears that TigerDirect simply has no technical staff that really understand their product lines.</p>
<p>So after posting rants here and on Twitter, TigerDirect actually responded and escalated my issue. The problem is, even in their best intentions, they still do not understand the issue at hand.</p>
<p>The short form is</p>
<p>The Biostar A770E3 claims socket AM3 support, and the bundle shipped with a Phenom II X6 1100T.</p>
<p>The motherboard ships with a BIOS too old to recognize the AM3 Phenom, so it needs a BIOS update.</p>
<p>However, in order to even do the BIOS update, Biostar requires booting on an old Sempron/socket AM2 CPU. It’s right there in their own manual. There is no other way to do the update. So if the customer doesn’t have an AM2 CPU kicking around, they cannot make this work. I know, it’s crazy.</p>
<p>So trying to get TigerDirect to understand this has been impossible.</p>
<p>The latest contact from them suggested they will happily trade my AM3 for an AM2 so my motherboard will work properly. I mean really…the <em>entire</em>point_ of this new system is the CPU it all revolves around.</p>
<p>TigerDirect, do you really have nobody left on staff that understands your products at a technical level?</p>
<p>This has been going on for days now, plenty of time to have escalated this to at least <em>someone</em> who might understand. I spoon fed the suggestion of how to escalate this on my very first phone call. I specifically recommended they escalate this to an actual product specialist; not so much for my own benefit, but so that they wouldn’t continue to misrepresent this product combination to future buyers. Still not getting it though. Sadly, this is what I suspected.</p>
<p>So it seems that TigerDirect are trying their best to resolve my issue, heh, but ‘best’ is certainly a relative term in this context.</p>
<p>I should have my new Gigabyte mainboard from Newegg tomorrow, so as this simmers down, I’m just learning from my mistake and learn from it I shall.</p>Beware TigerDirect and Biostar selling defective product bundles2011-03-04T00:00:00-05:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2011/03/04/beware-tigerdirect-and-biostar-selling-defective-product-bundles<p>Tiger Direct and Biostar have colluded to sell a defective product bundle designed to force a customer into hidden added hardware costs in order to effect the basic function of the bundle as sold.</p>
<p>The issue is the Biostar mainboard model A770E3. Both Biostar and TigerDirect are advertising this mainboard as being compatible with the AMD AM3 series processors. In my case specifically, TigerDirect was selling a pre-configured bundle with the Biostar A770E3 mainboard and an AMD Phenom II X6 1100T processor. The bundle of course implies to the consumer there will be full compatiblity.</p>
<p>Upon building my system I discovered the BIOS revision that Biostar is shipping for this specific combo is too old to recognize the AMD chipset. This is not very uncommon and the fix is very simple; flash update the BIOS.</p>
<p>Here is where their duplicity kicks in with their advertising. In order to flash update the BIOS on the Biostar A770E3 they require that you already own an AMD AM2 series CPU in order to boot the mainboard far enough to flash update the BIOS. It is not otherwise possible to to the BIOS update and with the AM3, the system will not recognize the CPU enough to boot at all.</p>
<p>This was disclosed neither by TigerDirect nor by Biostar. The consumer will only realize this issue when it is too late. When the consumer reaches page 6 in the mainboard manual, there is a small print note explaining the pre-requisite to own an AM2 socket CPU in order to do basic BIOS updates.</p>
<p>All of this wouldn’t be so bad if TigerDirect or Biostar would actually send the purchaser an AM2 with the product or disclose that it will require purchasing two CPUs to function. However TigerDirect takes absolutely no responsibility for this deception. They expect the consumer to either return everything they have built (which would cost easily $60+ in shipping) or to buy a new AMD AM2 CPU simply so they can do the required BIOS update to use the CPU they have already purchased.</p>
<p>This is direct fraud. Biostar and TigerDirect know full well a consumer will be left in a lurch and have no choice but to have to pay for a CPU that they won’t even use.</p>
<p>It makes me wonder if AMD is maybe working a deal with TigerDirect or Biostar to get rid of old stocks of AM2 processors.</p>
<p>So buyer beware, don’t buy the Biostar mainboard A770E3 from TigerDirect or any other vendor and beware the ‘bundles’ that TigerDirect are fraudulently misrepresenting as compatible; shipping this motherboard with the current AM3 Phenom processors.</p>
<p>I have certainly learned my lesson not to do further business with TigerDirect or with Biostar. I’ve always used Newegg and other vendors and never purchased a Biostar product until this unfortunate incident. This has been a shameful level of deception on behalf of both TigerDirect and Biostar.</p>
<p>*** Update on the status of this running comedy</p>
<p>TigerDirect approached me via Twitter to send them my order # and contact information, so I did, including my phone number to make it easier to reach me.</p>
<p>They ignored my email and my contact info and as of yet have still not contacted me with any suggested resolution to the issue.</p>
<p>Their inquiry was March 7th, which is when I sent my email. As of 5pm on the 8th, still not a peep from them.</p>
<p>*** Update at 5pm on the 8th after another twitter posting I got a reply saying my issue was being handled, but it is still in pending status.</p>OHJRPFNWM - What they don't want you to know.2011-01-22T00:00:00-05:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2011/01/22/ohjrpfnwm-what-they-dont-want-you-to-know<span style='color: #c0c0c0;'><a href='/images/obama_satellite.jpg'><img width='254' class='alignright size-full wp-image-413' alt='spy satellite' height='151' title='obama_satellite' src='/images/obama_satellite.jpg' /></a>Warning: I bring this information to you with the understanding that my audience is selective in their judgement. My friends, you need to use caution when disclosing this investigation to your peers. Realize that most of the sheep in our flock will not be able to comfortably digest this data. Realize that conclusions drawn from facing the truth will often cause unrest in the herd. When the herd is unsettled, the wolves will move in. Be well my friends, we can still have brighter days ahead as the knowledge we possess is our power and the key to our resolve.</span>
<h2 id='ohjrpfnwm__what_it_is'>OHJRPFNWM - What it is</h2>
<p>We are here today to discuss a recently leaked deep research program designed to manipulate the patriotic citizens of the United States. Of course, this is none other than the <strong>O</strong>bama <strong>H</strong>AARP <strong>J</strong>oint <strong>R</strong>esearch <strong>P</strong>roject <strong>F</strong>or <strong>N</strong>ew Jersey <strong>W</strong>eather <strong>M</strong>anipulation.</p>
<p>I think we might have all noticed the unusual incidence of snow and freezing temperatures this year. This may have passed as a normal winter cycle had it not been for the outright courage of our informant. What we are about to show you is that this is no normal winter cycle here. We are in the midst of a horrific experiment designed to crush the spirit and the resolve of the patriots living in our once Garden State. The Garden State, that today is a barren and icy wasteland.</p>
<p>Our source of this leak would normally be impossible to disclose, however, he has been so deeply embedded in dark research projects, he actually doesn’t exist. Our informer is a 30 yr veteran of the U.S. Air Force recently retired. There is no record of his enlistment or any service record of any kind. All of his credentials have been scrubbed and redacted from the public record. His pension checks are actually issued via Social Security as a disability pension. Oddly no records of the ruling for this particular account number exist in the federal archives…at least those publicly disclosed.</p>
<h2 id='what_we_are_facing__the_straight_facts'>What We Are Facing - The straight facts</h2>
<p>In the simplest terms possible, we have determined through the information available to us that our own government is manipulating the weather itself to cause hardship, doubt, and to fundamentally attempt to crush the resolve of the people it is supposed to represent. We have been sentenced to frozen isolation without trial, without representation and at our own expense via the funding machine that feeds on the very taxes that we all pay.</p>
<h2 id='how_they_are_doing_this__how_they_are_doing_this'>How They Are Doing This - How they are doing this</h2>
<a href='/images/obama_haarp.jpg'><img width='300' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-415' alt='HAARP Array Hidden Deep in the Arctic ' height='213' title='obama_haarp' src='/images/obama_haarp-300x213.jpg' /></a>
<p>What you are about to see here may be considered disturbing to many people. The story begins in the deep frozen north. Hidden carefully among the snow lies the engine of our isolation. Of course we are talking about HAARP. This friends is the super powered engine of our frozen destruction.</p>
<p>The HAARP project was designed to manipulate many things never before thought to be under the control of the powers that rule us. The cover story is that it is simply a radio frequency driven experimental facility for research. The truth is slowly coming out. Things like thought patterns, emotions, the calories in diet soda, these are all targets of this insidious program. Now for the first time ever we have been informed that the icy death we are facing is a direct result of weather manipulation by The HAARP.</p>
<p>Notice the date stamp on this photo. Notice the font. All of the images disclosed in this leak by strange coincidence show a concurrency here that paints the whole picture. Coincidence? You decide. None of these images have been altered in any way from the way they were disclosed by our official source.</p>
<h2 id='the_first_strike__testing_the_resolve_of_the_opposition'>The First Strike - Testing the resolve of the opposition</h2>
<a href='/images/obama_nj_snow.jpeg'><img class='img' alt='The epicenter of the weather control conspiracy, this map tells the tale.' align='right' title='obama_nj_snow' src='/images/obama_nj_snow.jpeg' /></a>
<p>On the 7th of January 2011 began a disturbing weather trend that the public would have never normally expected. Notice this weather map. What do they mean by “Classified Weather Data”? Why was this seemingly innocent map marked in this way? Also, it may not be particularly obvious at a glance, but why are there bulls-eyes across only the Garden State? Notice that during this snow event it is precisely contained within the borders of our great state. No other adjoining regions are affected at all. When do you recall a storm that precisely observes the borders of a state? Again, these images have not had any additional manipulation performed, they are all exactly the way they were contained in the document store that was turned over to us.</p>
<p>This may seem like an innocent storm but why were we not alerted to the peculiar properties of this event? Where were the people we rely upon to deliver the data we would need to see through to the real cause?</p>
<h2 id='relocated__if_they_arent_here_they_cant_participate'>Relocated - If they aren’t here, they can’t participate.</h2>
<a href='/images/obama_roker.jpg'><img width='300' class='img' align='right' alt='Al Roker diversion' height='200' title='obama_roker' src='/images/obama_roker-300x200.jpg' /></a>
<p>That’s right, that is Al Roker. The agent of truth that we have relied upon for nearly a century for our weather data. Where was Al during this peculiar event? Surely he would have pointed out to the public the anomaly that was occurring. Notice again the date stamp here from the file photo. When we contacted the network to find out where the request came from to re-assign Al to this appearance rather than cover the weather disaster unfolding in NJ at the time, the network declined to comment. Did they not know or did they simply not want the public to know? You decide friends.</p>
<h2 id='where_was_the_president__absentee_commander_in_chief'>Where Was The President? - Absentee commander in chief</h2>
<a href='/images/obama-laughing1.jpg'><img width='220' class='img' align='right' alt='Obama laughs at the snowy hell he has unleashed' title='obama-laughing1' src='/images/obama-laughing1-270x300.jpg' /></a>
<p>Surely if Al Roker was unavailable, the commander in chief would have stepped up immediately to alert the public to such an unusual weather emergency. Right? Friends, again, this image was snapped concurrently to the HAARP activation photographed above, the weather image and Al Roker’s seemingly coincidental pressing appearance.</p>
<p>Our leader, the man we trust in times of national emergencies was in the clear friends. Notice the clear skies around the president. Those of us trapped in the terror tundra can only reach deep within the strength of our families to imagine a day when the air around us wasn’t shedding a frozen death.</p>
<h2 id='how_do_you_know__well'>How Do You Know - Well?</h2>
<p>All of this could easily be dismissed as a conspiracy, the rantings of a lunatic or something to do on a truly boring Saturday afternoon, if it weren’t for our scientific evidence.</p>
<a href='/images/obama_chromatography.jpg'><img width='300' class='img' align='left' alt='gas chromatography output' height='254' title='obama_chromatography' src='/images/obama_chromatography-300x254.jpg' /></a>
<p>You may have noticed that this didn’t appear to be any ordinary snow. It has a texture of a burning icy hell that the snow we are used to experiencing in January would not normally have. We decided to send off a sample for analysis to a lab that is completely unaffiliated with our shadow government. The results have been stunning. At the left you see the results of the gas chromatography that were obtained by our lab. We were asked not to disclose the identify of the lab as they were actually frightened with the outcome.</p>
<p>This was not snow as we know it. This was a synthesized cloud of a polymer not previously witnessed by our scientific panel. Contained within the molecules of this polymer were RFID chips.</p>
<p>We had to reach out to contacts inside the former Soviet Republic to find a source to analyze these nano chips. The function? These nano chips can be excited by particular wavelength RF emissions to serve as remote listening devices. Where have we seen this mentioned before…that’s right, HAARP.</p>
<p>It is our conclusion that deep within the Obama administration there is a YouTube-like facility that captures the output of these nano chips to monitor the struggle and the strife we all endure as we have to remove this icy hell from our driveways and vehicles. Washington, the shadow government, are sitting and using our suffering for their own lulz.</p>
<p>We are left, fending for ourselves in this icy hell as they laugh comfortably warm in their command bunkers.</p>
<p>This report is confirmed with the MSNBC Keith Olbermann staff for disclosure on Monday January 24 2011. You will know then, when this story breaks if there are darker influences involved.</p>
<p>You decide friends. Are these the men we want to trust? Are these the people who represent our interests? It is not for me to decide, it is for you and only you. Be well friends and remember…information, it is our only power and they cannot take that from us.</p>PayPal Lifetime Spending Limit - "Verified" has huge fraud potential.2010-06-14T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2010/06/14/paypal-lifetime-spending-limit-fffffffuuuuuuuu<p>So today I tried to pay for goods using PayPal as I’ve done since 2001. My transaction was refused. It turns out there is a cumulative lifetime limit of $10k for using PayPal via a credit card. Who knew?</p>
<p>I use PayPal so that there is a proxy between my information and various vendors on line. The entire point is to have the CC vendor AND PayPal as levers should any issues arise.</p>
<p>PayPal wants me to submit my ACH routing information for my checking or savings account in order to become ‘verified’ and in turn, lift this arbitrary lifetime limit. Let me explain why I’m even writing this. There is NO way I’m submitting my ACH account information to an online vendor or anyone at all…period.</p>
<p>Years ago, I got into a dispute with a very disreputable RIM Blackberry CDPD based web access company. Basically a pager company that had web browsing on the original 957 Blackberry. I disputed the service with them, it was lousy and they basically told me to go scratch. I cancelled my account with them.</p>
<p>One mistake; I had set up a monthly auto debit from my checking account to make the bill pay easier. This company proceeded to file withdrawals from my account $40 at a time, attempting to basically run my account up to about $550 for the cost of the Blackberry. I’d told them I’d send it back, but they didn’t want it back. I never authorized them to charge me for it, but they went ahead pillaging my account anyway.</p>
<p>I only realized it happened (pre-internet banking) because they overdrafted my account and the bank put me into collections over a $150 or so overdraft…never even called me to ask about it. Once I caught up to the whole mess, the bank refused to do anything at all to get my money back and I wound up having to pay them all sorts of penalties on top of losing the money itself.</p>
<p>This made me wonder about the ACH system and I did some research into it. Years later I met a US Treasury agent and he explained the entire thing to me.</p>
<p>The ACH system (on the bottom of a check, the account number and routing number) that places like Telecheck or now, many online vendors use to debit your account (i.e. to PULL funds FROM your account vs you PUSHING funds TO them) is a very murky system. There is no authentication on this system. All someone has to do is actually posess your account number and the routing number and they can make a withdrawal. They don’t even need to know your name or any other bits of identity, they simply just need your two numbers. Posession of these numbers implies consent for account access. This is <em>incredible</em> and most people are not aware of this.</p>
<p>There is a tiny bit of protection on this system. Cases/complaints are handled by the Secret Service. However there is a tiny catch. The minimum dollar amount (I may be off a bit, but it’s still a ludicrously high number) for them to even take a complaint is $300,000.00. Can you guess what the number one most common dollar amount is for fraud on this system? Yup, $299,999.99.</p>
<p>This means that if you have $100k in your savings account, it’s completely fair game for anyone who gains access to your account. Nobody will even attempt to track this fraud down and the bank will not make good on fraud via the fed wire system.</p>
<p>The moral of this story is simply</p>
<p>DO NOT EVER GIVE YOUR ACH ROUTING INFO to anyone, EVER.</p>
<p>If you want to configure bill pay etc, only configure it when you PUSH funds TO the vendor. Never allow an automated debit of any sort really as you are consenting to that party to have access to your account. At least with a normal credit card, you have some recourse if you have fraud along these lines. With your checking and savings account via the Fed wire system, you have NONE.</p>
<code />
<p>This will be my last PayPal transaction after 9 years of using them without any issues at all. What a pain in the ass this will be.</p>Official Sprint Android 2.1 for Samsung Moment is Out2010-05-14T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2010/05/14/official-sprint-android-2-1-for-samsung-moment-is-outUse this link at SDX, will save you time later for making 2.1 feel like home.
<a href="http://forum.sdx-developers.com/android-2-1-development/android-de03-2-1-with-joeykrim-recovery-2-1-3/">SDX-Developers Official Android DE03 (2.1)</a>
I've got it all installed with all my own tweaks, so far so good. Will know in a day or so how it all shakes out compared to the leaked pre-release versions.
** So far, I'm seeing better wi-fi lock and faster GPS lock, noticeable so far.
Fix for the Moment waking in its case2010-04-23T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2010/04/23/fix-for-the-moment-waking-in-its-case<p>I’ve had a minor annoyance since I first got my Samsung Moment. The buttons on the body ‘wake’ the phone if carried in my pocket or in a sleeve case and this kills the battery. Batt life can be just a few hours as a result.</p>
<p>I’ve been poking around at various hacks people have done and came accross a key layout hack. I modified the button assignments so that nothing will wake the phone aside from sliding it open.</p>
<p>Easy fix and makes the phone more complete for me. This is the advantage of having platforms open if not at least “opened” where people can tinker and exchange ideas.</p>
<p><a href='http://www.sdx-developers.com'>Thanks SDX</a> …again</p>
<p><a href='http://www.sdx-developers.com/android-2-1-development/stopping-wake-while-the-phone-is-in-a-case-or-in-your-pocket/'>SDX post I made as a HOWTO</a></p>
<p>Here’s the gory details in a diff output for anyone running 2.1 on their Moment. The principle will be the same but the name of the key layout file will vary with your version. Your phone will have to be rooted and you will need to understand editing and moving files on and off your phone. <em>Do</em>A_Backup_ of the original file so you can undo the change if you want to.</p>
<p>The file is in /system/usr/keylayout/ The diff is showing you from which lines I removed the WAKE_DROPPED statements to disable waking the phone with those buttons.</p>
<div class='highlight'><pre><code class='bash'> diff s3c-keypad-rev0040.kl s3c-keypad-rev0040.kl.orig
19c19
< key 17 VOLUME_UP
---
> key 17 VOLUME_UP WAKE_DROPPED
28c28
< key 25 VOLUME_DOWN
---
> key 25 VOLUME_DOWN WAKE_DROPPED
89,90c89,90
< key 248 CALL
< key 249 ENDCALL
---
> key 248 CALL WAKE_DROPPED
> key 249 ENDCALL WAKE_DROPPED
</code></pre>
</div>The Overdrive CDL-56k2010-04-21T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2010/04/21/overdrive-cdl-56k-dynamic-noise-cancelling-microphone<p>So, this looks a lot like a CB microphone doesn’t it? Well, it is. Sometimes you find some equipment that serves multi-use environments nicely and this is one example. <img class='img' align='right' alt='Overdrive CDL 56k Dynamic Noise Cancelling Hand Microphone' src='/images/CDL56k-300x225.jpg' title='CDL56k' /></p>
<p>This is a roughly $20 (less than half the price) Chinese knockoff of the Turner Road King 56, called the Overdrive CDL-56k. It is a dynamic noise-cancelling element hand mic. I stress noise-cancelling as this thing is very effective to knock out background noise.</p>
<p>I’ve been using an Astatic 636L in my Jeep Wrangler in the nicer weather as I drive around with the windows down and music blasting and don’t want all that racket to get into my signal on the ham bands. It also works well, but has a very restricted audio passband so it makes the transmit audio sound very tinny.</p>
<p>I found some mentions about this Overdrive mic saying that it had a more natural sounding audio response and decided to get a pair of them to play around with and find out.</p>
<p>The results have been excellent, both on FM repeaters and simplex and for SSB use as well. I’m using them on an FT-857D in my mobile and on a Kenwood TS-2000 at home when I feel like using a hand mic.</p>
<p>I highly recommend this mic if you have a need or want for noise-cancellation. For what it does, the audio response is very good. This type of mic will require you to speak right into the mic element or your voice will just disappear. That rubber ridge on the face should be touching your upper lip while talking. If you talk farther back from the mic, this is not the mic for you, nor will you get effective noise cancellation from it.</p>
<p>The mic has plenty of drive to work with either one of my rigs. I’m not sure if it would work with a ‘normal’ amateur 2m/440 rig directly without an added pre-amp though, but I haven’t tried it. It would surprise me if it had enough drive for those typically 2kOhm inputs though.</p>
<p>Driving down the road at 60mph, windows down and music deafeningly loud, people barely even notice it at all while I’m talking…mission accomplished.</p>
<p>I picked mine up from <a href='http://www.www.premiere-electronics.net/store/rk56v.html'>Premiere Electronics</a> and have done business with them in the past for parts and microphones. They are fairly widely available from other sources too.</p>Android 2.1 on my Samsung Moment2010-04-10T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2010/04/10/android-2-1-on-my-samsung-moment<p>A LOT has changed with the hacking of the Samsung Moment since I last posted any updates.</p>
<p><a href='http://www.sdx-developers.com'>SDX Developers</a> is the site for keeping up with the pace of things. Don’t take anything I note here to be current, things change sometimes more than once a day so I may mention something that turns out to be not such a great idea for your phone. If you are interested in playing with all of the mods, start your reading there.</p>
<p>I just finished installing what seems to be the leaked Android 2.1 beta release for the Moment. It ships currently with 1.5 on the phone, so hopefully this adds yet some more stability to the phone and some new and interesting features.</p>
<p>Right now I’m just running the more or less ‘stock’ image without any fancy ROM mods to it, to get the hang of anything that is different.</p>
<p>Immediately the thing I notice is that the built in gmail now supports multiple gmail accounts and also Google apps accounts….this in itself is worth doing for me. I can now have all my G* accounts aggregated in a common interface. If only gmail itself had account aggregation for the web interface…..</p>
<p>Some nice cosmetic updates for the calendar widget and a few other things are immediately obvious too. They aren’t as hideous as they were with 1.5.</p>
<p>I’ve only had it installed for an hour or so at this point, but no immediate instability issues are obvious. There is an organized bugs report on the SDX site, so definitely have a good look at that. Evidently one of the worst is that streaming of media seems to be broken for people. I really only SMS/email/phone for 99% of my use with Twitter/FB and web browsing, and all of that is working for me so far.</p>
<p>I still haven’t found a particularly great case solution for the phone. Aside from belt cases, which I personally hate, slip cases seem to mash down on the buttons and kill the battery dead in 3hrs of being in my pants pocket. I’m still using a microfiber sunglasses soft pouch to carry it around in. It’s really not that bad as the cloth is handy for cleaning the screen, though it looks a bit goofy to pull the phone out of a baggie all the time.</p>
<p>So onward SDX goes with 2.1. It will be very interesting to see what they can do with the performance of the phone once Samsung releases the sources to the kernel so they can get fiddling with compiler optimizations. So far, if anything, the phone might even be a bit more responsive with the version I’m running compared to the 1.5 hacked release I had on previously. So things are good.</p>
<p>Android at this point is pretty solid and a lot more addicting than I’d imagined it would be. As it gets cooked a bit more, it should be really something. For now though, it’s still a bit of a ‘hobby’ to fiddle with. For a business type user, I’d still say stick to your Blackberry if you really need it to ‘just work’ without any other level of understanding.</p>Make old DOS apps run on new hardware with DOSbox!2010-03-19T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2010/03/19/make-old-dos-apps-run-on-new-hardware-with-dosbox<p>What is dosbox? <a href='http://www.dosbox.com/'>DOSbox home page</a></p>
<p>It is a free/open-source DOS emulator that runs on many operating systems.</p>
<p>It runs DOS inside a virtual machine in a much more true native mode than running a DOS command window inside Windows XP.</p>
<p>What does this do? It allows for old original DOS software including radio programming interfaces to run on current computer operating systems or hardware.</p>
<p>The issue it fixes is that many old DOS applications relied on the speed of the machine running it for handling timing and interrupts. On current hardware, this means the old software runs too fast and is unreliable.</p>
<p>Also, old DOS software wasn’t aware of things like USB to serial adapters and other new hardware.</p>
<p>This software allows you to create virtual bridges between a new serial port USB device and old ‘com1’ only DOS software.</p>
<p>What have I tested it with so far?</p>
<p>I’ve used the CE14 software for Vertex LMR radios inside DOSbox and it make it work perfectly. Whereas with Windows XP on a 1+GHz laptop, it would run, but not function properly.</p>
<p>You can tell you have a problem this may fix, when the software runs, but you don’t get actual read/write performance to the device you are programming. This can cause a lot of errors with the hardware and possibly even brick the firmware if you aren’t careful.</p>
<p>So, <a href='http://www.dosbox.com/'>go get it...</a></p>
<p>Go to http://www.dosbox.com/ and download whatever version you need for the platform you are running it on. Follow the basic download and install instructions.</p>
<p>After install…now what?</p>
<p>So you have it up and running now. These are the steps using a USB serial adapter and programming software.</p>
<p>First, you need to map your com port, using Windows XP as an example. The USB adapter is com4 , you can find this in Windows device mgr, right click on My Computer and select ‘manage’ and then ‘device manager’ and inside there, LPT and com ports. You will see your USB device in there if the driver is properly installed and the com port number it has.</p>
<p>So to set/map the com4 in Windows XP to com1 inside of dosbox while it is running do the following</p>
<code>Z:\>serial1=directserial realport:com4</code>
<p>This will make com1 inside dosbox map to com4 in Windows XP directly.</p>
<p>Next you have to ‘mount’ your path to your programming software. To make this very easy, I just copied my folders for CE14 into the root of C:\ as in C:\CE14\ that is where CE14.EXE lives.</p>
<p>The command to mount inside dosbox is</p>
<code>Z:\>mount c c:\ce14\</code>
<p>This is specific for me as c:\ce14\ is where my software is, replace this with whatever you have, wherever you put it.</p>
<p>Now to get to that location you just do</p>
<code>Z:\>c:</code>
<p>Now you see C:> as the prompt</p>
<code>C:\>dir</code>
<p>Will show you what is in there. In my case I see all the CE14.* files so I do</p>
<code>C:\>CE14.exe</code>
<p>Now the software runs.</p>
<p>The only thing left to know, is you need to go into whatever app you are using and tell it that the serial port to use is ‘com1’ as that is what we mapped earlier.</p>
<p>DOSbox allows you to map serial1 serial2 serial3 serial4 to four external serial devices, they are treated as com1 com2 com3 and com4 respectively.</p>
<p>You can also map multiple paths to multiple ‘local’ DOSbox ‘drives’</p>
<code>mount c c:\path1\</code><code>mount d c:\path2\ </code>
<p>At the prompt to switch around you would just enter c: or d: and you’ll toggle between the paths. Just typing ‘mount’ will list what you have configured.</p>
<p>There are a bunch of neat features to control slow down and speed up within DOSbox so definitely check out the documentation links on their site and also try the <code>Z:\>info</code> command as it has a bunch of on line help within the application itself.</p>
<p>The immediate applications for this are with old DOS based radio programming software for LMR radios, but I can imagine that many crusty DOS based packet radio apps and other things will run a lot better in it too. I’m not much of a gamer, but it’s evidently quite effective for that as well.</p>
<p>I think this should cover it.</p>
<p>73 de KC2RGW</p>Slide Keyboard for Android2010-03-08T00:00:00-05:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/android/2010/03/08/slide-keyboard-for-android<img width='220' class='img' align='right' src='/images/slidekeyboard_vertical_azerty_three_row.png' />
<p>Only new to me, but this thing really impressed me. This is <a href='http://www.asigbe.com/slidekeyboard.html'> Slide Keyboard</a> an alternate keyboard for Android phones. I was going to do an alternate layout for <a href='http://code.google.com/p/softkeyboard/wiki/HowToGetIt'>AnySoft Keyboard</a> (which is also a great alternate, better than stock) but stumbled on this. Perfect</p>
<p>You tap any given key to select the center character and to select the alternate quadrant characters, you just swipe in that direction. It’s perfect for vertical mode one hand typing.</p>Got a Samsung Moment - Having Fun2010-02-28T00:00:00-05:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2010/02/28/got-a-samsung-moment-having-fun<img class='img' alt='Samsung Moment Smart Phone' align='right' src='/images/samsung-moment-1-195x300.png' title='samsung-moment' />
<p>So I put this off for a while and I’m a bit late to the game for getting an <a href='http://www.android.com/'>Android</a> based smart phone. I decided on the <a href='http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/mobile/mobile-phones/sprint-phones/SPH-M900ZKASPR/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&returnurl='>Samsung Moment</a> for a few reasons.</p>
<p>I’m a Sprint customer so for an Android phone I was limited to two choices at this time, an HTC Hero or the Samsung Moment. The Hero is a bit slower, but generally has a reputation for having a slicker default theme/skin to the OS. The Moment is faster as it is a newer generation of CPU and runs at 800MHz and has a generic 1.5 release of Android on it as stock.</p>
<p>The biggest deciding factor for me was that the Moment has a slide out keyboard. As I do a ton of texting and email, sometimes more than a page of text at a time, a ‘real’ keyboard was important for me.</p>
<p>The fact it has a more generic Android release was also a prime motivator as the phone manufacturers love to promise timely updates as the OS is updated, but seldom deliver. I figured sticking to a platform that supports the generic load would make installing hacked releases a lot easier in the long run.</p>
<p>For the highlights as I usually do, I plowed into any available material I could find on the Moment and Android in general. I already knew there was quite a lot of hacking on the kernel and OS in general going on so I dug in to figure all of that out.</p>
<p>So far, I’ve modified the kernel and base OS in a few ways and have come up to the following configuration.</p>
<p>Stock Sprint CL14 release of the firmware which contains numerous patches and bug fixes. Modified <a href='http://midnightchannel.net/'>Zeffie</a> <a href='http://wiki.midnightchannel.net/index.php?title=Zefie%27s_Kernels'>Kernel ZE13.2</a> and I’ve installed SetCPU from the marketplace to overclock the phone.</p>
<p>The performance with this latest update is indeed noticeably faster. I have the profiles configured to throttle on-demand with max speed while plugged in at 1600MHz and 1066 for when the charge is over 40%. I also set the throttling to 800MHz if the battery temp gets high and lowered it quite a lot while the phone is ‘sleeping’.</p>
<p>Only time will tell how the stability is and battery life is overall with the ramped up specs, but initial impression is that it’s stable. I’ll know more about battery life in a day or two.</p>
<p>I came from being a pretty dedicated Blackberry user and had already made the mistake of trying the failure of the Samsung Instinct, which had a completely miserable OS with a lot of bugs and an unusable user interface with horrific lag to touch screen input. Luckily Sprint got me back on a Blackberry Curve with less drama than it usually takes to get customer service from them ;-).</p>
<p>Initial impressions of the Android system are rather incredible. I’m a very heavy SMS and email user and this phone is really great for this. Gmail ‘native’ is supported in a push form for a single Gmail account and this syncs not just the mail but all my contacts from Gmail as well as my Google calendar bi-directionally. Perfect. I’d run Google Sync on the Blackberry so wiping it and firing up the Moment just brought all my contacts back automagically.</p>
<p>For corporate mail, Sprint includes <a href='http://www.moxier.com/mail/'>Moxier Mail</a> to interface with exchange. This also worked perfectly and is in push mode with the corporate Exchange server. I get my contacts/mail/calendar all through this app.</p>
<p>For my remaining other gmail and assorted email accounts, there is a POP and IMAP capable app also installed and I have that set to poll via IMAP for my other accounts. This too is working very well.</p>
<p>For SMS, the stock client is fine, but I stumbled upon <a href='http://www.handcent.com/'>Handcent SMS</a> which delivers a whole pile of enhancements vs the stock Android client. You can customize all manner of notifications and interface colors and layouts. Highly recommended.</p>
<p>All the apps can be installed simply by using the <a href='http://www.android.com/market/'>Android Marketplace</a> which can be searched/surfed via the phone, or you can alternately use <a href='http://www.androlib.com'>Androlib</a> to do some searching from your desktop.</p>
<p>A LOT of really decent free apps are out there…which is great. The Blackberry store was pretty awful. Almost nothing free was decent for the Blackberry.</p>
<p>Other apps that I’ve installed. <ul>
<li>Where - Uses GPS to locate local stores/shops/movies etc and has other location based features</li>
<li>Mechanic - A file browser, app killer and backup utility</li>
<li>Crickets - Makes cricket sounds :-)</li>
<li>Google Shopper - Can read bar codes and book/album covers</li>
<li>WiFi Buddy - Scans and manages wi-fi connections</li>
<li><a href='http://seesmic.com/'>Seesmic</a> - A _great_ twitter client</li>
<li>S2 Calendar Widget - Option to the built in calendar widget</li>
<li>Assorted other widget toggles - single button widgets to turn on off silent mode/GPS/Wi-Fi etc.</li>
</ul></p>
<p>The list of apps to try is just about endless.</p>
<p>I would tell you NOT to get into hacking your Android phone unless you are willing to deal with the consequences. As I was writing this, my phone locked up, likely due to the CPU clock settings I’m still fiddling with. To me, this is part of the fun. If you are an appliance type user, don’t even bother doing this. You can lose your data, and possibly do permanent damage to your phone….so if you do this…don’t come crying to me.</p>
<p>That’s enough rambling for now.</p>BHI ANEM DSP Noise Eliminator2010-02-13T00:00:00-05:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2010/02/13/bhi-anem-dsp-noise-eliminator<img class='img' alt='BHI ANEM DSP Noise Eliminator' align='right' src='/images/ANEM_MKII--300x254.jpg' title='ANEM_MKII' />
<p>So, I’ve had this device for about two years now and have mentioned it to several people on the air, describing just how effective it is.</p>
<p>What is it? This is an active DSP audio noise eliminator filter manufactured by <a href='http://bhi-ltd.com/index.php/products/noise-cancellation-products.html'>BHI Ltd.</a>. As simply as possible, it wipes out background hash band noise. It isn’t a pulse noise eliminator like a noise blanker, though it will drastically soften the edge of pulse noise as well.</p>
<p>This is an AF (audio frequency stage) DSP unit. It plugs into the audio output of <em>anything</em> you want to feed through it and you in turn loop it’s output into the speaker or other destination audio feed of your choosing.</p>
<p>The unit has either 4 or 8 steps of increasing DSP elimination effects. In stronger conditions you can back it off easily so it isn’t as heavy handed on processing the signals, or in lousy conditions with weaker signals, you can really clamp it down for the maximum effect.</p>
<p>The best way to show you what this does is simply an mp3 file I created to demonstrate its effectiveness.</p>
<p><a href='/files/BHI_ANEM_40m_SSB.mp3'>Here is a 40m SSB clip</a> with the filter being toggled in and out</p>
<p>The clip was made with some high noise levels and relatively low signal levels at or below the noise peaks, using my vertical on 40m SSB.</p>
<p>The DSP setting was on maximum 8/8 so there is some minimal artifact on the audio signal and a very slight audio level drop. Keep in mind the completely annoying original signal. With the DSP engaged it would be easily possible to maintain a pleasant extended contact with any of the stations in the recording, vs only wanting a brief ‘in and out’ style contact before getting sick and tired of the noise level. A slight bit of the ‘under water’ artifact is much more tolerable.</p>
<p>These units are available in a few configurations from <a href='http://bhi-ltd.com/index.php/products/noise-cancellation-products.html'>BHI Ltd.</a>. They come in built-in modules designed to be hard wired into the audio circuit of a radio or to be built-in to the internal of a speaker cabinet. They also come in self contained powered speakers with the module included internally. Lastly and my personal favorite are the ‘universal’ inline modules. These allow you to use whatever source or speaker you choose by simply plugging in different inputs and outputs to the unit. It’s the most flexible option.</p>
<p>These modules aren’t cheap, but they are worth every cent if you like to spend a lot of time listening.</p>
<p><a href='http://www.w4rt.com/BHI/DSP-ANES.htm'>W4RT.com</a> is one source in the US for this product.</p>FETs blow up and other things I've learned2010-01-28T00:00:00-05:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2010/01/28/fets-blow-up-and-other-things-ive-learned<a href='http://www.kingsqueak.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/xastir.png'><img width='320' class='img' alt='Xastir APRS on Ubuntu' height='210' align='right' src='http://www.kingsqueak.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/xastir.png' title='xastir' /></a>
<p>Well my IF tap worked great for a few hours and after I shut down my rig….signals were not right. I learned what seems to be a fundamental lesson about JFETs…they don’t like static much. I’m 99% sure that I zapped the JFETs in the buffer amp I installed after doing some reading on how static sensitive they are. At least my rig is just fine otherwise.</p>
<p>So I got an alternative design buffer amp that’s sitting here waiting for me to pop the hood again and install it. This one doesn’t use JFETs, so my gorilla paws without a static mat won’t be as likely to cook it.</p>
<p>In other news, I’ve rewired myself again for packet radio and <a href='http://aprs.org/'>APRS</a> operations. Using <a href='http://xastir.org/'>Xastir</a> on Ubuntu linux, I’ve had APRS up and running a few days consecutively here and there. Pretty neat stuff and can be <em>very</em> handy for any mass deployment events.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, APRS takes GPS coordinates or other information and sends it out as a beacon via radio. So if I’m running the mapping and client software and you are in the field with a handheld running APRS, I can see your position as it is beaconed every few minutes overlaid on a map.</p>
<p>If you are providing event support over an entire marathon course as an example, as the control operator or other field station, at a glance you would be able to see the location of all your operators. This becomes important when you get a call that a runner or rider has been injured and needs first-aid. The closest support vehicle can be instantly located. Not only that, but you can follow that vehicle on the map and know when it arrives at the hospital or control point.</p>
<p>You can beacon most any data up to a limit of 40 characters per beacon. Commonly people beacon their position and then a frequency they are listening to. This way when you see them up close, if you see them you know how to reach them. It can be fun while traveling around just to make contacts as you ‘run into’ them.</p>
<p>Generally this is all done on the 2m ham band for local coverage. But even with that system, there are facilities to repeat or ‘digipeat’ the traffic a station hears. So if I beacon, a station within range will hear it, and then transmit again. Yet another station further out will pick that up and repeat it again, and so on. Add that it is also possible to send the data out to the internet from home stations and you can reach pretty much anyone on the network, world wide.</p>
<p>There are even low frequency links that will broadcast the traffic hundreds or thousands of miles in a single hop. This can all be incredibly useful in the even of a major disaster that knocks out telecommunications services. Hams have the ability to set up field stations with these capabilities in a matter of hours. It’s something not often remembered about this ‘hobby’ as witnessed here <a href='http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/22/11303/?nc=1'> ARRL article about the Haiti earthquake</a></p>IF Tap on my TS-2000 and other projects2010-01-23T00:00:00-05:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2010/01/23/if-tap-on-my-ts-2000-and-other-projects<p>I’ve been up to a bunch of fiddling lately and haven’t bothered to do an update here so for posterity’s sake…this is what I’ve been doing.</p>
<p>I’ve always been curious about repeater operations and recently got the opportunity to play with a 440 repeater a friend bought. Boy has this been an eye opener.</p>
<p>We started out with it on a 40’ home Rohn 25 tower and just wanted a low profile machine to cover the local township. Well, we couldn’t use it at a distance of just a few miles. So we found another tower location at 100’ and figured….”now we’ll be in business”. The 100’ spot at 20W output got us maybe 7 miles. Fast forward and we found some people who had a 275’ location and a decent amp and pre-amp as well. Now we’re cooking.</p>
<p>There is a lot of work behind having well balanced link system audio with repeater systems. A lot more than I realized. We’re in good shape now and it’s been an interesting learning experience for sure. The machine is now linked into five others and it’s a lot of fun having a nice wide coverage area.</p>
<p>So on to the IF tap on the TS-2000. What is it? Well, an IF tap brings out the intermediate frequency at the mixer level of a receiver so you can use it for external processing. In my case specifically it’s the 10.7MHz 2nd IF that I’m feeding into my QS1R SDR receiver.</p>
<p>This lets me tune using the Kenwood TS-2000 and use all the filtering benefits and spectrum display of my SDR. This also gives me 2m and 440 coverage via the SDR which I didn’t have before doing this mod. The SDR does 500Hz to 52MHz or so natively.</p>
<p>I used a kit that Andy made up <a href='http://www.wa5up.com/'>WA5UP</a> that makes it nice and easy. It’s a JFET buffer. The purpose of the add-on board is not only to tap in to bring the IF out, but to prevent any oscillated interference from my receiver from getting back into the HF rig.</p>
<p>The concept for this is hardly my own and I used the document that K4DSP produced that I have kicking around <a href='http://kingsqueak.org/stuff/softrock_IF_tap.pdf'>over here</a>. Thanks to both of those guys for making this simple for me.</p>
<p>The whole thing worked out fairly smoothly. I had to bypass the output attenuation in the kit to get a strong enough signal for my receiver, but once I got that figured, things were working well. The TS-2000 shows me about 7kHz of spectrum above where I’m tuned on SSB and about 16kHz below where I’m tuned. This is far narrower than the QS1R generally shows me, but I can now see 2m and 440 on my panadapter and use all the SDR filtering for receive that I have available.</p>
<p>Basically this gives me yet another option as to how to use my SDR rig in the shack.</p>
<p>All in fun and I managed not to burn anything up with all the fiddling too.</p>Uniden BCD396XT: My first new scanner in 15yrs or more2009-09-28T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/09/28/uniden-bdc396xt-my-first-new-scanner-in-15yrs-or-more<img width='189' class='img' alt='396XT Uniden Scanner' height='300' align='right' src='http://www.kingsqueak.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/396XT-189x300.jpg' title='396XT Uniden Scanner' />
<p>I’ve always liked scanning receivers, radio of any type really but scanners are an addiction. For some reason I’d taken a break from running scanners for a number of years and recently I dusted off some of my old reliables and remembered how much I enjoyed general public service monitoring.</p>
<p>I decided to take the plunge and get the latest and greatest digital and trunking capable model to augment the old reliable Radio Shack Pro-2006 that is still humming along. This gives me the capability to monitor the newest radio systems as they come on line in the area.</p>
<p>Currently in my part of NJ there are not that many digital systems, but across the country they are coming on line very rapidly, so if I was doing any traveling this new portable would come in quite handy.</p>
<p>I’ve only had this for a few days now and it’s taken a few days just to get a basic handle on all of the features. This thing has any feature I could have imagined missing on the old banks based scanners I’ve owned before. For anyone considering either the Uniden 396/996 or GRE PSR500/600 series, you simply <em>must</em> anticipate using software to manage the memory systems and also anticipate using an online database for frequencies if you truly want any ease of use.</p>
<p>So what are some of the advancements vs my scanners of olde?</p>
<p>Sheer capacity. My Pro-2006 was considered a very high capacity scanner when I purchased it with ten banks (selectable groupings) of 40 channels for a total of 400. I used to think I would never be able to fill that up. The 396XT has a capacity of 25000 Channels! Suffice it to say I think I could program most of the entire East coast with the capacity this thing has. With programming software linked to the on line frequency databases, you can put an awful lot into the unit in a very short time.</p>
<p>Memory management. In the old days you had the bank system. Ten banks of 40 channels as an example. You use the banks to turn scanning categories on and off. Putting police or the local town in bank 1 and adding neighbouring towns or other categories in the other banks. This is a fairly simple system, though if you only have ten channels in bank 1 that you want, you wind up leaving 30 unused memories blank. This is very wasteful. Also the old scanners only showed you the frequency information on the display. This made it hard to know who was talking as you had to memorize them.</p>
<p>The new world has gone to an object oriented approach that takes a bit of fiddling to get one’s head around. There is a hierarchy of categories. System/Site, this is the top of the chain, generally a regional name, though you can make it a top level category of frequencies as well. Next up is the Group, a sub category, a township name as an example or “fire analog” or “fire digital” if you wanted to group in that way. Then finally inside the groups are the frequency entries.</p>
<p>There is then a ‘cross index’ of sorts. So you have your System->Group->Channel hierarchy, you can then tag those with ‘quick keys’ or index numbers that serve to enable or disable them on the fly. This allows you to do a quick select of a global category for monitoring. In trunked system mode you have System->Site ->System Frequencies->Channel Groups->Channels.</p>
<p>An example that I’m using</p>
<p>For daily scanning I have two main System categories, “Home” and “Locals”. Home consists of my immediate town and the singular bordering townships. The groups underneath “Home” are named for the neighboring townships or miscellaneous categories of other immediate resources like “ham repeaters” Locals are the next ring of neighboring towns, two or three towns ‘out’ from where I live. Places I can clearly hear on the portable and may be of interest. The groups inside Locals are also townships or general categories.</p>
<p>Now, Home and Locals have a quick key of 0 and 9. So while scanning I simply enable those two quick keys and those two systems are in turn actively monitored. Inside the Systems, I have the groups. Each of those group assignments have their own ‘quick keys’, the purpose of this is that I can enable Home and then enable and disable the groups inside Home itself. Example, enabling Home and the group quick key for my township only if I don’t want to hear the immediate neighbors for some reason.</p>
<p>O.k. so you have that control…what if you have say a public works frequency in the local town grouping but you don’t normally want to hear that? You simply use the old style lock out function. This just blanks the channel while scanning…skips right past it. You can manually queue it up if you like or unlock it if you want to hear it for a specific reason. Alternately you can make groups like mayberry-PD mayberry-FD mayberry-MISC and assign each of those a GQK (group quick key) so you can simply enable or disable them with the group quick key.</p>
<p>This is a bit complex, but it is extremely powerful and leads to fantastic flexibility if the user just takes some time to adjust to it and figure out how they want their own categories laid out. After four days or so now, I’m still in the process of optimizing the layouts for my general preferences.</p>
<p>As mentioned earlier, software is absolutely <em>key</em> for managing all of these categories. I am using <a href='http://scannow.org/'>Freescan</a>, a free application that is under rapid and current development and supports all the features of the very new XT model that I own.</p>
<p>One of the huge functions that Freescan provides is the ability to import files locally, save your configuration locally and the big one…use an internet connection to an online database and load frequency plans that way. I highly recommend <a href='http://www.radioreference.com/'>Radioreference.com</a> they have free access as well as a subscription that permits online loading directly from their database. The site is also a fantastic source of information on most models of scanners and information on the monitoring hobby in general.</p>
<p>Enough rambling, I tried to keep this as much to the point as possible, but it’s a ton of information to cover. Suffice it to say, if you are looking for something to entertain you for days at a time, the newest scanning receivers from Uniden and GRE are simply incredible.</p>
<p>A few links on the topic:</p>
<p>Some Vendors: <a href='http://www.scannerworld.com'> Scannerworld.com</a> A vendor that provided quick service that I recommend. <a href='http://www.universal-radio.com'> Universal Radio </a> Another vendor that I use as well, also recommended and have a great site for pictures of the products. <a href='http://www.uniden.com'>Uniden/Bearcat Main Product Site</a> <a href='http://www.greamerica.com'>GRE America Main Site</a></p>
<p>General Information Resources: <a href='http://radioreference.com'>Radioreference</a> A site with a frequency database, live audio feeds of scanners, a wiki and active forums…highly recommended! <a href='http://info.uniden.com/twiki/bin/view/UnidenMan4/WebHome'>Uniden Product Wiki Reference</a> The home of a lot of their on line info on scanner operation. <a href='http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/25'>Eham.net Scanner Reviews</a> Take with a grain of salt ;-) For publications, there are <a href='http://www.popular-communications.com'> Popular Communications </a> and <a href='http://www.monitoringtimes.com'>Monitoring Times</a> both have been around for quite a while.</p>Pro-2006 EL display backlight replacement2009-09-28T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/amateur-radio/technology/2009/09/28/pro-2006-el-display-backlight-replacement<img width='300' class='img' alt='pro-2006' height='225' align='right' src='http://www.kingsqueak.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/pro-2006-300x225.jpg' title='pro-2006' />
<p>It’s indeed been a scanner day here at the shack. After having it annoy the hell out of me for several years, I finally got around to replacing the EL (electroluminescent) back light for the display on my old Radio Shack Pro-2006 scanner.</p>
<p>Found the tips on how to do it at <a href='http://www.radioreference.com/'>Radio Reference</a> thanks to one of their forum users. The part was all of $3.50 from <a href='http://www.allelectronics.com'>All Electronics</a> one of my favorite quick grab parts-bin sites.</p>
<p>Now it’s as bright, if not a bit better than it was new, 15+years ago.</p>
<p>The surgery to do it was a bit deeper than I’d expected with a few annoying ribbon connectors to un-wedge and the usual myriad of small retaining screws, but once the adhesive blob was cut and the two leads desoldered, it was a piece of cake getting the new EL panel in there. Worth doing.</p>SDRMAX 3.0 and other ham tinkering2009-07-05T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/07/05/sdrmax-3-0-and-other-ham-tinkering<p>I haven’t really updated much lately, just been busy playing with this or that.</p>
<p>Just got one of the <a href='http://www.zerofive-antennas.com/'>Zero Five</a> 10m 5/8 verticals in the mail. Man, this thing is built like a rock. It’s actually a bit too solid as the quickie makeshift mast I was going to throw it up on will now have to be something a bit more substantial.</p>
<p>The base diameter tubing is roughly 1-9/16” O.D. and the thinnest is about 5/8” at the top. Very heavy quality aluminum and well put together construction quality for it’s tuning ring matching system. I went with this one in the hopes of having a very solid build quality and so far so good. Can’t wait to get it in the air, but I have to get myself a TV tripod to mount it on.</p>
<p>I’ve been tinkering around with the <a href='http://qs1r.wikispaces.com/'>QS1R SDR</a> GUI interface SDRMAX 3.0 again lately. I committed a bunch of changes to the project trunk for button layout changes, added filter options and also darkened the overall color scheme for some better contrast. I’m still amazed at all the work that the original author Cathy Moss put into this software.</p>
<p>I’m still barely just a hack with Qt and C++ so I’ve basically just been reverse engineering what she did and just poking about with superficial changes that I can follow and get to build properly.</p>
<p>The good news is that Qt 4.5.2 just got released and has fixed all the OpenGL font rendering issues that the Qt project claimed weren’t broken with 4.5.1. Nice to know that at least when they won’t admit any issues, they at least fix them. Now our project doesn’t have to keep tarring up 4.5.0 to give to people who needed a clean build source until they fixed it.</p>
<p>A screenshot of the enhanced contrast and my own hacked in color scheme for the panadapter and waterfall in SDRMAX 3.0.</p>
<a href='http://kc2rgw.com/stuff/sdrmax3_darker.png'><img width='300' class='size-medium wp-image-192' alt='changes to SDRMAX 3.0 interface' height='149' src='http://www.kingsqueak.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sdrmax3_darker-300x149.png' title='sdrmax3_darker' /></a>Striving for Mediocrity - We all lose2009-05-18T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/18/striving-for-mediocrity-we-all-lose<p>So I’m sitting at lunch, and on the table is a flyer for a benefit 5k run. Nothing too unusual and I make my usual crack about doing the run while smoking…until I read what the charity was for.</p>
<p>It was a charity that promotes “pro-social behavior in our children”. I went on to read that the primary mission for this group is to essentially squash any creative spirit in children and teach them how to conform to what their group sees as ‘acceptable behavior’. A truly disgusting premise.</p>
<p>What is going through people’s minds with this concept? We, on a grand scale are designing educational systems and media agendas to teach children to essentially keep their heads down and not to stand out from the herd.</p>
<p>This began years ago with the pro-socialist political agenda I had to suffer through as early as the 80’s in public schools. Things like “US History” were used to disguise various Marxist and Socialist agendas with revisionist concepts of the actual historical facts. It has now metamorphosed into this anti-creativity agenda designed to pretty much break the spirit of any creative personalities or squash any self image for those who are natural achievers or free thinkers.</p>
<p>Things have degenerated to the point where score keeping in any sort of intramural events is prohibited because the psyche of the losing team might be harmed by the thought that they have failed. If students aren’t all wearing the same uniform or listening to the same music, they are now profiled as though they are terrorists. We are churning out a raft of non-thinkers, afraid to express themselves for fear they may stand out from the herd and be ridiculed.</p>
<p>Those who ‘succeed’ in the new plan, will be zeros when it comes to any contribution to our society. We are raising a destiny of failure and self-loathing mediocrity with these methods. People will be living lives, hating themselves because they are not mediocre enough to fit in, rather than realizing that they are the ones the herd should be following.</p>
<p>We are stifling innovation with this system and the way our current domestic economy is heading, the only thing we have left to bank on is the very innovative spirit that we are programming out of people.</p>
<p>A little light reading…</p>Dayton OH - Hamvention ... It's ham radio Mecca2009-05-18T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/18/dayton-oh-hamvention-its-ham-radio-mecca<a href="http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/05/16/10823/">ARRLWeb: ARRL NEWS: DREAMing Big at Dayton</a>.
The Hamvention, where all the major vendors for ham radio make their annual product release showcases and announcements. It's the CES for ham radio.
Didn't make it again this year, but one of these years I'll get out there.
What is the Marconi Net 3.872MHz ?2009-05-15T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/15/what-is-the-marconi-net-3872mhz<p>In amateur-radio there are many modes of operation. Modes where you use your voice, modes where you work behind a keyboard, modes where you drive a code key. There are options for anyone.</p>
<p>I work many of them but my favorite mode is simply ‘phone’, using my voice to speak to others. Meeting the different personalities and hearing the different voices is the primary reason I enjoy this hobby.</p>
<p>The Marconi Net is a structured round-table discussion with a central moderator or “net control station” (generally Fred, KB2IXT). The net runs most evenings at 9pm on 3.872MHz. The way it works is simply the net control asks for check-ins and people from around the region give their call signs and get added to the role call. The net control station simply calls the role and each person gets their turn to toss their own comments into the ring.</p>
<p>What makes this net interesting is the coverage of many topics, from current events to hobby related technical topics. Almost anything goes. One meets people from many backgrounds so the topics can vary wildly from night to night. The participants almost always take the discussions to a more elevated level than the general “sitting around the pub” level of conversations that are much more prevalent on the bands.</p>
<p>I encourage anyone in the hobby in the north east region to stop by and see if it is something that would appeal to you. All are welcome.</p>TwitterPoster - Spam Scam Got Me2009-05-15T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/15/twitterposter-spam-scam-got-meHeh, well not so funny having to fix it, but sorry for the spam I pushed out there briefly. A plugin for Wordpress called Twitter Poster masks spamming with all sorts of nonsensical 'opt out' check boxes that don't work and hidden code in base64 format.
Amazing how unethical people can be.
So avoid using Twitter Poster with Wordpress.
TGIF Yahoooooooo! - Made it on two feet to another weekend2009-05-15T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/15/tgif-yahoooooooo-made-it-on-two-feet-to-another-weekendFridays are always good. Hopefully the weather isn't too awful this weekend.
I'll be poking about on Saturday doing the charity thing and volunteering some time for event support for<a href="http://bikenjm.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=BIKE_NJM_homepage">The MS170 charity bike ride</a>. I mostly sit around and smoke as it's exhausting watching so many people exercise at once.
SDR Software Defined Radio what it means to me.2009-05-15T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/15/sdr-software-defined-radio-what-it-means-to-me<p><a href='/pages/2009-05-14-sdr-software-defined-radio.html'>SDR Software Defined Radio - KINGSQUEAK.ORG</a></p>
<p>I’ve started fleshing out a bit about SDR and how I’m involved in it and what it actually means and does. If you are a radio nerd like me, a ham or an SWLer, I encourage you to look into SDR. It is amazing stuff.</p>It must be inside out Friday...again2009-05-15T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/15/it-must-be-inside-out-fridayagainExcellent start to the Friday.
Projects with seemingly little organization. Equipment that magically appears without any back story on it.
Tracked back and I find it is process FAIL.
It must be an inside out Friday....again.
Hooray weekend.
Twitter post test2009-05-14T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/14/twitter-post-testPlaying with Wordpress plugins...is this thing on?
How and why I got started as a ham2009-05-14T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/amateur-radio/2009/05/14/how-and-why-i-got-started-as-a-ham<p>I did a bit of a bio on the how and why I got started with amateur-radio. It’s the tale of ultimate nerddom.</p>
<p><a href='/pages/2009-05-14-amateur-radio.html'>KC2RGW How it all started</a></p>Looking good so far2009-05-13T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/13/looking-good-so-farWell in just a few hours worth of work, it's been pretty simple to get this all laid out and get my head wrapped around the basic functions of this thing. I have to say that Wordpress is actually a pretty sweet package of code from what I have seen on the surface at least.
Thanks to the Pixeled theme for giving me a good quick jumping off point for mucking with my layout too. Made it much faster for me to get something together.
Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do with the old site content and how I'm going to arrange all of it. I also want to figure out how to tweet out updates as I add more posts to the site to ensure the spread of boredom to a worldwide audience.
Cheerios - A Drug?2009-05-13T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/13/cheerios-a-drugYes it must be true because they are saying it is so, General Mills is drugging us with their latest creation, Cheerios.
<a href="http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s7188c.htm">FDA says Cheerios is a drug.</a>
Some lawyer I bet retired off of this one....our country sucks more and more often lately
Okeedokey a whole new layout2009-05-12T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/12/test-postO.k. so it looks like I'm on my way with this Wordpress layout. Getting the theme settled in a bit, thanks to the Pixeled theme that I've used as a springboard.
I've got to get my old information merged over and figure out a new layout method for mixing my sort of static drivel with this more dynamic blog format.
Playing with Wordpress2009-05-12T00:00:00-04:00http://www.kingsqueak.org/2009/05/12/playing-with-wordpressFinally decided to change the old site around and I'm fiddling about with Wordpress.
This will be a mess for a while for sure......