KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

///////////////////////////////////////////
How well do you know your radio?

Posted: 23 Oct 2020 08:53 AM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email

My Flex 6400: a box full of mysteries and untapped potential.

On reddit, /u/Food_B posted:

Do you know your radio ?

This is just another question because Im curious. Your favorite radio(s),
Im curious, do you actually know them backwards and forwards, all the
mysterious settings, all the features? Or, is it still unexplored, are
there still settings deep in the manuals that you dont understand yet,
things that it does that you havent tried yet? How well do you know your
radio, is it like a well worn pair of shoes, or more of a box of mysteries
and new surprises?

The responses ranged from I always read the manuals thoroughly and need to
know what my gear is capable of to I know my radio fairly well, but there
are things that I havent used yet due to other station limitations or needs.

My take on this is more along the lines of this commenter: Id say I know my
[radio] pretty well at this point, although every once in a while Ill find
something new and interesting. I liken this experience to using a
complicated piece of software, like Microsoft Word (I actually use Libre
Office) or Excel. I usually just jump in and start using it, and only when
I want it to do something that I havent done before, do I dig out the docs
and try to figure out how to do it. Recently, for example, I wanted to
decode some RTTY during a contest, so I found a few forum posts on how to
set up fldigi with the Flex 6400 and learned how to do it.

There was some talk about the usefulness (or uselessness) of manuals. I
think that most manuals are pretty good at describing how the various
features work. What theyre lacking, however, are case studies for when and
how to use the features. For example, the Flex 6400 manual describes what
feature to use to pipe audio to a third-party application, such as fldigi,
but it doesnt really give you the compete picture on how to do it. YouTube
videos and blog posts fill in that gap.

Finally, there was this comment:

Theres the old joke:
Q-code:Â*QNB?Â*How many buttons does your radio have?
QNB 83/16.Â*My radio has 83 buttons and I know what 16 of them do.


I love it.

The post How well do you know your radio? appeared first on KB6NUs Ham
Radio Blog.


///////////////////////////////////////////
Amateur radio videos: Getting started with satellites

Posted: 22 Oct 2020 06:48 AM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


If you read my blog, youll know that Ive just started working—or at least
trying to work—the satellites. Here are a selection of videos on getting
started.

This video features Sean Kutzko, KX9X, formerly of the ARRL. Its a great
overview and introduction.N5HYP gave this talk as part of the QSO Today
Virtual Ham Expo.Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK / VA7EWK, gave this presentation,
which is part of the IARU Region 2 webinar series.

The post Amateur radio videos: Getting started with satellites appeared
first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.


///////////////////////////////////////////
A new Arduino development system

Posted: 21 Oct 2020 06:10 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


After I replaced the cheap laptop I was using for logging and other shack
type stuff with a refurb HP Elite desktop computer, I began using the
laptop as an Arduino development system. Of course, the features that made
it a pain to use for logging and running other ham apps, mostly being
incredibly slow, made it kind of a pain for using to program Arduinos.

Well, a couple of months ago, I broke down and bought a Raspberry Pi 4 to
use in the shack. I bought a starter kit that included a power supply, a
case (with a fan), heatsinks that attach to the chips on the board, and an
SD card. It was all pretty much plug and play.

The only real application that I had in mind for it at the time was to run
HamClock, but I figured Id find some other use for it eventually. Well,
eventually was Monday. I replaced the cheap laptop Arduino development with
the RaspberryÂ* Pi 4.



This system is great. Its small—only 2.5-in. wide by 3.5-in. deep— and fits
very nicely on my relatively small workbench. Its much faster than the
laptop.

Today, I added the small keyboard shown in the photo. When I took it out of
the box, I thought to myself, Man, this is too small. Its only six inches
wide, but it works pretty well, and since it has a touchpad, it replaces
the mouse as well. Im not sure that Id want to do a lot of typing on it,
but to make small program changes, its fine.

Im hoping that now that I have a better development system, Ill actually do
more development. Well see how that goes.

The post A new Arduino development system appeared first on KB6NUs Ham
Radio Blog.