Tag Archives: D-STAR

Amateur Radio, ARRL Ohio Section, Ohio Section Journal

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – September 2015 edition

One of the responsibilities of the Technical Coordinator in the Ohio Section is to submit something for the Section Journal.  The Section Journal covers Amateur Radio related things happening in and around the ARRL Ohio Section.  It is published by the Section Manager Scott – N8SY and articles are submitted by cabinet members.

Once my article is published in the Journal, I will also make it available on my site with a link to the published edition.

You can receive the Journal and other Ohio Section news by joining the mailing list Scott has setup.  You do not need to be a member of the ARRL, Ohio Section, or even a ham to join the mailing list.  Please sign up!

If you are an ARRL member and reside in the Ohio Section, update your mailing preferences to receive Ohio Section news in your inbox.  Those residing outside the section will need to use the mailing list link above.
Updating your ARRL profile will deliver news from the section where you reside (if the leadership chooses to use this method).
Go to www.arrl.org and logon.
Click Edit your Profile.
You will be taken to the Edit Your Profile page. On the first tab Edit Info, verify your Email address is correct.
Click the Edit Email Subscriptions tab.
Check the News and information from your Division Director and Section Manager box.
Click Save.

Now without further ado…

Read the full edition at: http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/2015/09/september-edition-of-ohio-section.html

THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
Jeff Kopcak – TC
k8jtk@arrl.net

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang.

Normally in this space you would find a well put together article written by Jim W8ERW. If you didn’t catch last month’s Ohio Section Journal, Jim is moving on to bigger and better things. That would be Texas. Jim is one of Fort Worth’s newest residents! The fine folks in the North Texas Section have a great guy coming their way. He’s probably enjoying the warm weather down there right now. Congratulations Jim! So ‘why are we seeing this other guy writing in Jim’s place’ you’re probably asking yourself? I don’t know either.

Seriously though, I have to give a lot of credit to my predecessor, Jim – W8ERW and to our Section Manager, Scott – N8SY. These guys are excellent at answering all my questions from my time as a Technical Specialist and transitioning me into the Technical Coordinator position. Thank you.

I look forward to serving the Ohio Section and seeing what you guys have in store. I’ve already received a number of questions on computers, digital modes, and D-STAR. Happy to answer them. My bio is posted on the Ohio Section website if you missed it.

raspberry-pi-intro-640x420Last month, I gave a presentation on the Raspberry Pi computer at the LEARA meeting in Cleveland. This presentation was an introductory look at the device. It included history, hardware specs, setting up the Pi, and ham radio projects. There was a larger than usual turnout for the meeting and even a few non-hams in attendance. The presentation is available on my website if you would like to take a look. I gave a shortened version at the QCWA Chapter 1 meeting in July. If you missed either meeting, fear not! I am scheduled to be at the GARA (Geauga Co.) club meeting on September 28th as they celebrate 38 years! See you there.
Couple events to note… the Cleveland Hamfest is coming up on September 27th. This is in my backyard so I will be in attendance and hope to meet all of you. You can join the Hamfest Association of Cleveland and help out next year via their website hac.org.

The TAPR Digital Communication Conference is coming up October 9th – 11th near Chicago. Want to go to one of these at some point because it looks like another excellent lineup of forums. Topics include: Digital Voice and Network systems, DATV, Arduino CAT controller for the HPSDR, an Amateur Radio Digital Open Protocol, remote operation of your radio, 3D modeling in Ham Radio, and introductory sessions on a number of topics. ARRL’s own Ward Silver – N0AX is the banquet speaker. Head over to www.tapr.org/dcc.html for the complete schedule and to register.

Thanks to everyone who wrote and congratulated me on my appointment. It really means a lot!
Thank you for reading..

73, K8JTK

Amateur Radio, Dongle Bits articles

Dongle Bits: Projects

This article appeared in the The Lake Erie Amateur Radio Association newsletter The Spirit of ’76 and ’88 June 2014 edition and The Wood County Amateur Radio Club newsletter CQ Chatter July 2014 edition.

Read the rest of the series in the Dongle Bits articles category.

We’re going to take a look at projects others have done with micro-computers and controllers. Many of these will be Amateur Radio related but I will highlight some getting started projects that show setup or basic programming. Since many Hams are into computers and programming, I will highlight some networking and server related uses. Finally, some of the more some crazy and unique setups I’ve come across.

First thing to note: if you receive this newsletter in printed form, you’ll want to go to the club’s website or get it in electronic form to view these links. Links will be to videos or instructions posted online. Any YouTube videos will start at the beginning of the segment.

Getting started tutorials

Ham Radio

I was informed the University of Akron Amateur Radio Club (W8UPD) was planning on using the Raspberry Pi for their second High Altitude Balloon launch on April 8, 2014. Though no reason was given, it was scrapped for the Beaglebone Black board. They configured it to send back Slow-scan TV images overlaid with telemetry information. Unfortunately, the launch was a failure due to high winds and “poorly placed trees.” Upon launch, the payload got snagged and caught in a tree.

I heard from John – N8MDP who setup his Raspberry Pi as a D-STAR hotspot as well. His setup works with the “X-Reflector” system. There are multiple D-STAR reflector systems that co-exist together on the network. His instructions are detailed and the setup is different than mine because different software is needed to access these alternative reflector systems. John installed a webserver on his Pi to control it from the Internet.

Raspberry Pi

Arduino

Networking and server

One of the first projects I saw was how to use the Raspberry Pi as a Home theater PC. This allows you to watch videos, listen to audio, or display photos accessible via the network on a TV.

A Pi can be turned into a home or portable access device used in conferences, competitions, demonstrations, or school project. Some examples are a router, network attached storage (NAS) device, web server, or secure virtual private network (VPN) server. The VPN server uses OpenVPN, an excellent encryption package that offers trust no one (TNO) encryption since you generate the encryption keys.

A useful project is the Raspberry Pi IP address IDer which speaks the IP address if you are operating headless and need to connect to it.

Cool and unique

Want to relive the 8-bit gaming days of the Commodore 64? There is a project called Commodore Pi to create a native Commodore 64 emulator and operating system for the Raspberry Pi.

Build a coffee table gaming rig.

Turn a Raspberry Pi into an FM transmitter.

If you like cheap phones, for $160 you can create your own Raspberry Pi smartphone.

Want to give your dog a treat via email? The Judd Treat Machine will do just that! Send an email to the dog’s email address, it dispenses the treat, snaps a picture, and replies with the picture attached.

The University of Southampton in England created the Raspberry Pi Supercomputer using 64 Raspberry Pi computers. They use a “message passing” system to distribute processing across all 64 devices. His son also helped out by building the rack to hold them out of… Legos!

Raspberry Pi and Lego Supercomputer

Other places for projects and news

Raspberry Pi forums.
Arduino forums.
Slashdot: (Pi) (Arduino).
Lifehacker: (Pi) (Arduino).
Reddit: (Pi) (Arduino).
Podcasts.
Search the Internet!

Next time, we’re going to move on to another type of dongle: the $20 software-defined radio.

Amateur Radio, Dongle Bits articles

Dongle Bits: DVAP Pi Hotspot

This article appeared in the The Lake Erie Amateur Radio Association newsletter The Spirit of ’76 and ’88 April 2014 edition and The Wood County Amateur Radio Club newsletter CQ Chatter May 2014 edition.

Read the rest of the series in the Dongle Bits articles category.

One of the questions I was asked about the Raspberry PI was “why would I want to get one of these?” I can say with absolute certainty: the answer isn’t going to be the same for everyone.  My recommendation is to find a project that really gets you excited!  Go out and do it.  Then do it better.  Make it a learning tool as it was intended.  The hardware, operating system, and many projects are published under the Open Source model.  The concept of Open Source is something that can be freely used, changed, and shared.  This means YOU can download a project and “hack” it yourself.  From there, explore other projects or prototype one of your own!

In my previous article, I mentioned two ways to find projects.  For an initial project, I suggest finding something that has a good amount of detail in the instructions.  This way you won’t be frustrated if they are vague or unclear.  Projects with videos and screen-shots are always helpful for me to visualize what is taking place and I’m able to check my settings with theirs.  On the other hand, if the project doesn’t work, it’s a great opportunity to sharpen troubleshooting skills.

After finding out about the Raspberry Pi and seeing projects appearing in blogs and podcasts, the project that got me excited was the “DVAP Pi Hotspot.”  If you’re on D-STAR, you probably know about a couple dongles that make D-STAR available to you if there is not a repeater nearby.  These dongles traditionally need a PC computer, USB connection, and Internet connection to access the D-STAR network.

The blue box is called the “DV Dongle.”  It is D-STAR in a box.  It uses your computer speakers and microphone for sending and receiving Digital Voice (DV).  This dongle does the encoding and decoding internally.  I don’t know of any Raspberry Pi projects using the DV Dongle yet.  The second is the red box called the “DV Access Point Dongle” or DVAP.  This device has a low power, 10 mW 2m or 440 transceiver that works with a D-STAR radio.  It passes the bits from the Internet & D-STAR network over the air to your D-STAR radio and vice versa.  The radio does the encoding and decoding.  These devices are great for traveling as they can be hooked to a laptop and used in a hotel room to link back to your home repeater or favorite reflector.

I had been hearing about this DVAP Pi Hotspot on D-STAR nets.  Two advantages were the unit was self-contained, making it no longer necessary to keep a desktop computer running with the DVAP connected.  Since the Raspberry Pi draws far less power than a desktop, some were leaving their DVAP Pi running all the time.  The second advantage was it could be easily converted into a mobile setup.

I follow the guys over at AmateurLogic.TV.  They’re the longest running podcast dedicated to Amateur Radio and technology.  In episode 57, Tommy, N5ZNO, did a segment on how he setup his DVAP Pi.  The project seemed easy enough and the setup was just like how I wanted mine to operate: “headless” where the app starts automatically so a video monitor is not required, has SSH (Linux Secure SHell) enabled, and connects to a mobile hotspot.  Soon after seeing the segment, I ordered my Raspberry Pi.

I completed the project and got it up and running in short order.  IMG_0003 Wow!  I was so amazed I got to experiment with this small, but powerful computer and have a portable D-STAR hotspot I can take with me anywhere.  Using a cell phone for the Internet connection, I am limited to the coverage area of my cell phone provider, big red.  Their coverage is very good and I don’t have many disconnects.  I use a portable charging station (fancy word for “battery pack”) as the power source.  The pack has 2 USB ports so I can run the Raspberry Pi and charge my cell phone at the same time.  I’ve also used my 1A micro-USB car charger to power the Raspberry Pi.  If the setup is on a home network, there is no need to worry about cell coverage or a portable power source.

I’ll leave the video tutorial to Tommy.  I did a detailed post on my site that shows, step-by-step, how I set mine up.  It’s a little more advanced than Tommy’s setup but it fixed an issue I was having.

When I booted the Raspberry Pi and tried to link the DVAP to a gateway, I frequently got a “gateway unknown” error message.  This error means the remote D-STAR system doesn’t exist or is offline.  However, neither was the case.  The problem was the DVAP software was not able to authenticate my callsign with the D-STAR authentication servers.  This happened because the WiFi interface wasn’t fully operational before the DVAP software tried to log me in.  I was running into this error enough for it to be frustrating.  Usually a reboot would work, however a few times I had to reboot 3 or 4 times.  I fixed the issue with a Linux shell script (like a DOS batch file) to make sure the Internet was accessible before the DVAP software is started.  Volá, fixed my problem! 🙂

Additionally, I added to the setup by installing VNC.  VNC (Virtual Network Computing) is a way to view and control the graphical desktop of the Raspberry Pi (or any computer) over a network connection.  Since there are SSH and VNC applications for smartphones, I am able to fully control the Raspberry Pi from my phone with it connected to the WiFi hotspot application.

IMG_7746That’s the first project I did with my Raspberry Pi.  I’ve done a couple other projects and see some other ones I would like to try out.  Right now, I mostly use my Raspberry Pi as a DVAP hotspot.

Next time, we’ll take a look at how other hams are using microcomputers in their projects.  If you have any projects using the Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Galileo, BeagleBoard/Bone, or any others, let me know.

Amateur Radio, Tutorials

DVAP Pi Hotspot

DVAPDongleOne of my interests is digital modes, so I’m a D-STAR fan.  My first project with the Raspberry Pi would be the DVAP Pi Hotspot.  The DVAP normally connects to a computer and has a low power, 10 mW 2m or 440 transceiver that works with a D-STAR radio.  It passes the bits from the Internet & D-STAR network over the air to your D-STAR radio and vice versa.  The radio does the encoding and decoding.

Thanks goes out to the guys over at AmateurLogic.TV.  Tommy, N5ZNO, did a DVAP Pi segment in episode 57 that I used to build mine.

Requirements

Much like Tommy, my DVAP Pi had to be portable (battery operated), headless (no monitor, autostart), use a cellphone WiFi hotspot, and administered through SSH and VNC if needed.  On Windows, I use PuTTY and TightVNC.  On Android, I use JuiceSSH and PocketCloud.

Assumptions

With this tutorial, I’m assuming anyone setting this up is already familiar with D-STAR, registered on the D-STAR network, and familiar with using the DVAP on a PC.

This guide is step-by-step in nature, meant for beginners, with brief explanations of the steps.  It will help to have an understanding of Linux commands and scripting.  Capitalization is important in Linux!

DPRS problem

I was hoping to use the DVAP Pi as a portable DPRS (D-STAR APRS) iGate to report location data to the APRS network.  It currently does not.  It only reports D-PRS data to the gateway system you’re connected to.  No further.  It will show up on the gateway’s DPlus Dashboard but the DVAP Tool nor the gateway/reflector/repeater will not pass location data to the APRS network.

If you come over the RF side of a repeater with a GPS enabled radio, it will pass the location data to the APRS network.  The repeater will not pass location data to the APRS network when transmitting through a DVAP linked to the system.

This is true when the DVAP is connected to a PC or the Pi.

Program versions

I used a Windows 7 64 bit PC. Applications and versions used in this writeup:

  • Wheezy Raspbian 2014-01-07
  • Win32 Disk Imager 0.9
  • PuTTY  0.63
  • TightVNC 2.7.10 64 bit
  • DVAPTool 1.04
  • Mobile Hotspot ? (added after publishing)
  • JuiceSSH ? (added after publishing)
  • PocketCloud ? (added after publishing)

Parts list

Listed below are all the parts needed to get this project working.  It is noted when items can be left out or substituted.

That’s all the parts needed for this project.  Check out the AdaFruit Raspberry Pi page for other hardware that might be useful, like the USB to PS/2 adapter for example.  Many of these parts are included in the Raspberry Pi Starter Pack.

Downloads

01_raspberry_pi_downloads

Go to http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads and find the “Raw Images” section.

Download the Win32DiskImager and Raspbian image (800 MB).  Save them in your Downloads folder.

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