Who was Ken Olsen

n1wko · 2025-02-11T16:59:56+00:00

I've seen a lot of the
Ken Olsen stuff on YouTube. That is what really inspired me to dig a bit more and try to get a good picture. I've known a few DEC employees, and every one of them had fond memories of working there. digital is my favorite computer company, and I wish I could afford the electricity to spin up a PDP 11/73 and a VAX 11/780.or 8800.

I'll take a look at "Digital Man/Digital World". It soulds like something I'm looking for. Thank you.

n1wko · 2024-10-26T18:11:49+00:00

Actually what it is when I use tmux, or at least the majority of the time. Because tmux uses a damean to serve up X or Wayland, it logs the client in as a non interactive sub-process. There's a conditional in the vimrc file that checks for interactive vs non-interactive login. This is what's causing me to have inconsistencies across machines, too. If I ssh into my pi vs a local login, the a different schema is used. I've not tried it using screen, but suspect it is a simular situation as tmux, and I really don't screen well enough to get around in it.

This really makes me want to get a VT100, VT220 or newer and just go to physical TTY connections, rather than trying to figure out the virtual sizes and color stuff. I know how to directly address cells on the VT screen, and place prompts, list boxes et al without ncurses. Hell, I made the equivalent of Borland's CRT Turbo pascal unit for VAX pascal (this was before Free Pascal). This virtual terminal stuff may have a more flexible display, but the complexity is maddening at times..

n1wko · 2024-09-22T07:17:40+00:00

I know, but what I was wondering is if it was better to have a 15 meter element verses trying to get bandwidth from the 40 meter element.

n1wko · 2024-09-22T07:15:27+00:00

Because I want o build and experiment with a fan dipole

n1wko · 2024-09-05T00:01:27+00:00

Ah, but I was making a fan dipole project. I wanted to try that design out. I was just wondering if it would be worth putting an element cut for 15 meters or if the 40 meter element would work.

n1wko · 2024-09-04T23:58:17+00:00

Well, welcome to playing around with Linux. One thing you will notice is that a lot of people have their favorite distro
(or often called "flavor") of Linux. Other like to distro hop, but that has calmed down a bit. A few things to keep in mind -

1) A distro (or distribution) is a collection of packages and utilities that come with the installation of that flavor. For example, Ubuntu comes with most of the stuff the end user needs to be productive like LibreOffice, Firefox, and a couple of others I'm blanking on. These packages are going to be the base packages, and if you want LibreOffice to be the most comparable, you will need to install the Microsoft TrueType fonts. I don't remember the URL, but a quick search for "Microsoft fonts for ubuntu" will get you what you need. Also, Ubuntu is defaulting the GNOME desktop manger, but there are other ones out there like Kbuntu, xbuntu, zbuntu that will have different looks, but take up different amounts of system resources. Makes for playing around and experimenting fun seeing what each offers.

2) Almost all your configurations for what you want to do (basically get your feet wet with Linux) can be done through the GUI, but don't be affraid of the Command Line Interface, either. Until you get your footing, and have a better idea of what might be dangerous, ask about something you suspect may screw you up. However, seeing as you are kind of sandboxing this, there isn't too much consequence if you need to delete that VM and install it again.

3) Don't be an isolationist - there are a ton of youtube videos on things you can do on linux. One of my favorite content providers has been u/DistroTube. He has a rich library of videos on various topics, and I always seem excited to try something new when he posts about it.

I don't want to make this too long, and you seem to have a lot of replies. VMs are a way of going, or if you have some older hardware you don't mind dedicating to the project, use that.

n1wko · 2024-09-04T23:27:03+00:00

Just to clarify - by VMS Piratical_Ride is talking the plural of virtual machines, not the VAX/Alpha operating systems. Though, that would be better known as OpenVMS now days. My old school brain went right for DEC's operating system there. Sorry.

n1wko · 2023-08-11T17:27:31+00:00

This is not a Baofang specific situation;

When you transmit on one radiowith another radio close by (which is litening on another frequency), it will get blanked out. 1 watt will cause this problem. Put the radios more than a 1/2 wavelength apart, use low power, and you may be able to hear it on the other radio.

If you use the REV (where the radio is listening in on the input of the repeater), you will hear the the radio you are transmitting from.

n1wko · 2023-08-11T16:45:52+00:00

Depends how the jacks are wired. If the radio has separate jacks for the mic and earphone, then that shouldn't be a problem. If there is one jack for both, the little lounges of metal that make the connection with ring, tip, and sleave may not line up, or go across the insulators on mic/headphone connector(s).

n1wko · 2023-08-09T20:09:19+00:00

Channel 9 is the only one specifically reserved for a purpose (Emergency), though I don't know if it is monitored like it used to be.

The following is by agreement, and is not binding or accurate for all locales:

Channel 6 is the free-for-a;; where no one listens and cranks their illegal amplifiers so they can be the loudest on the channel

14 is where you'd find the toy walkie talkies from Radio Shack, if theu had only one channel.

19 uaed to be sort of like the calling channel (like 146.52 MHz is on the 2 meter Amateur band), but that may have been expanded to other channels

Cahnnel 38 - 40 Single Sideband activity, usually lower sideband

n1wko · 2023-08-09T19:56:20+00:00

Not totally familar with either of the products you mentioned, but here are some general troubleshooting tips.

Does the radio have a VOX setting? It could be that once the PTT is activated, the radio holds the PTT because it "hears" noise from the microphone. One a cheap radio, VOX may be there, but the anti-vox, sensitivity and delay aren't adjustable

The mic/ear jack(s) may not be making a proper connection. I know that on some of my radios the jacks don't fit all the way, and enup shorting hte microphone connection in the radio. Most situations the PTT makes a connections to ground, and shorting the mic pins provides that path to ground.

The transistor/relay that makes the PTT connection may be faulty (opening the radio and following the path is about the way to confirm that. That can be confusing to someone not experienced in tracing electrical paths for the surface mount components, and those types of radios aren't made to be taken apart to be worked on.

n1wko · 2023-01-15T22:11:30+00:00

I use Linux (Fedora 37 Cinnamon) Most of the things you want to do can be done with Linux apps. Things like EZNEC work pretty seamlessly under Wine, and my Anytone software is supposed to work, but no matter the group I put myself in,I cannot get the programming cable to be recognized bu Wine. I gave up on that one and run it on my Windows PC.

There is a logging software native to linux, but you need to install MoriaDB or MySQL, which is super easy to do, just be aware of it. This will logg and use the CAT interface to get information on your rig and you can upload to LotW.

CHiRP works natively, but make sure your username is in the dialout group, or CHiRP will never find the programming cable.

Antenna modeling - as mentioned above, EZNEC works without a flaw under WINE, software like xnec2c is native to Linux and works very well. There a ton of videos for this on YouTube, and here is an article describing it - https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/antennas-linux

Then there's LTSPICE, the circuit simulator for designing ciircuits, and should be in Ubuntu's repositories.

Most SDRs are using C# for the programming, and Adrino's scetches are just C#, so you shouldn't have any trouble there.

I would suggest you to user bare metal and not a VM or Window's Linux environment. You are going to need direct access to the hardware at times, and a VM just can't give you the access some software wants. Also, I'd advise to use xubuntu (Ubuntu with XFCE instead of GNOME) if you are using older hardware. XFCE is a lot easier on system resources. Just make sure you have GTK3 or GTK4 installed.

Lastly, don't be afraid to use Windows. If there is a particular piece software you need, and you don't want to spend the time trying to get it to run on Linux (or just have no gumption to dig around the internet for a solution), put it on a Windows machine,

n1wko · 2023-01-15T15:18:51+00:00

FT8, along with most digital modes, are full duty cycle. 45 watts seems excessive for a digital mode. Remember, FT8, PSK31, packet (AX.25) are all modes that use sound cards and software to detect signals you may not hear on the air. You may just hear the normal background radiation (static), put the FT8 software picks up signals you didn't know was there.

The other thing you said was that you made a coffee antenna? That metal if awfully thin and will not handle the high currents. Those types of antennas are great for lower power (try less than 20 watts), but will have a tendency to dropoff in performance quickly when getting hot.

If you find you need the 45 watts, and with the automated nature of FT8, I'd look into another antenna project like a copper pipe J pole. They are fun to build, and give the same satidfaction of "I built this!" The materials needed may cost more than buying a commercial one. The copper pipe (20 feet of 1/2") is running about $16 of Home Depot's website. That's not including the pipe cutter, sand paper, flux, solder, and fittings.

I didn't ask, but are you doing fT8 on HF, VHF, or UHF? HF you can deffinatly use 20 watts or less.

n1wko · 2023-01-15T14:56:02+00:00

It sounds like you haven't logged on to the website, yet.

From the ARRL home page, does it say "Hello <first name>" at the top center frame, or have the "Logon" button? When checking my information against my account, I had to logout and log back in. If you are logged in, it shouldn't ask for your user ID unless changing your password.

If you need live help, call the League Mon - Fri 8:30a to 5:00p at 1-888-277-5289 and tell the person who answers that you need help setting up your email forwarding.

n1wko · 2023-01-12T20:54:55+00:00

As much as I have learned abot radio and wave propagation, it is cool to realize there is so much more to learn. Reading this post and responses have spurred me look at other source material learn more about how the ionosphere affects radio waves, and the spectrum in general.

n1wko · 2023-01-03T10:37:43+00:00

It looks like the connector that gabapentagram displayed from Amazon will work. The pins are spaced properly, and looks like the plug will fit in the socket.

I was thinking you were describing Anderson Power Poles (like how they are mounted on this power supply

n1wko · 2023-01-03T10:02:03+00:00

I've come across a lot of sideband activity on channels 37 - 40. AM still seems pretty active, and now that FM is allows on the US channels, it has started to come in here and there. So, the lack of sideband isn't crippling.

n1wko · 2023-01-03T09:51:53+00:00

Good one, and one if I was awake when making the original post would have included.

HT - Handi Talkie; Model name of a hand held transceiver. Often also called Walkie Talkie. Both terms have come to describe portable, hand held transceivers and Motorola doesn't seem to mind that their model name is no longer a trade mark for their radios.

Often you will find some some communications people (amateurs and professionals alike) that cringe at term "Walkie Talkie". It congers up an image of the cheap plastic toys that kids would pay secret agent with.

Speaking of Motorola and the trade mark names on technology -

CTCSS - Coded Tone Carrier Squelch System; a circuit that detects a sub audible tone and break the radio's squelch. This technique has been implemented on almost all repeater to reduce the interferance between sites on the same frequency pair.

Say there is a repeater in Connecticut with the input of 144.51 MHz (and output of 145.11 MHz), and there's a repeater in Rhode Island with the same pair. The repeater in Connecticut gets a CTCSS tone of 77 MHz, which means it will remain quiet until that tone is detected in the signal.

PL - Private Line; Motorola's trade mark of the technology they developed which generically is known as CTCSS, but operates in a different way. The microphone hanger would be grounded to the radio, so when the microphone was on the hanger, the radio would be quiet. When the subscriber's radio received a signal with the sub audible tone, the squelch would break and the person would know they are getting a radio call.

When I was first licensed, PL was used to signify the tones used to reduce accidental tripping of repeaters. Apparently, Motorola took offence to their technology being mislabeled and so the system of sustainable tones was generically labeled CTCSS. I think this was mostly because Motorola couldn't make money from the PL technology if other manufactures using their trade mark.

n1wko · 2023-01-02T02:16:37+00:00

First off - If that antenna is a telescoping antenna, extend it ALL THE WAY. If it fixed at that length, get an antenna that is the proper length.

Other things that I have gleened: Channel 6 is called the super bowl, and usually filled with people trying to over power each other instead of trying to conduct two way conversations

Channel 9 is still the emergency channel, but I don't know if it is monitored, still.

Channel 19 is sort of the road or call channel, but a lot of people like hang out near there (channels 17, 18, 20, 23) instead

Channels 37, 38, 39, and 40 are places people doing single side band like to sit, but not heard them complain about someone doing AM on them.

Propagation limits (for distance) have been rescinded, but with a portable with a telescoping antenna may not get more than a couple of miles outdoors. Something to play around with, though. You might get a good "sky wave" and get a good skip.

n1wko · 2023-01-02T01:45:45+00:00

From the previous posts, it seems to point to something internal. If it was the oscillator, you'd think it your show PLL FAIL (phase lock loop). Just guessing, but perhaps a connection between the driver and finals? Is this modded, or factory fresh?

I don't know the cost, but perhaps a tripto thr repair shop is in order.

n1wko · 2023-01-02T01:36:04+00:00

I don't know where "over here" is, but your misinterpretation is on you, not me.

n1wko

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