I had enjoyed using computer control of the FT-857D, but sacrificed that option in order to plug in the relay control cable for my PA.

I looked at some options that used the microphone jack for CAT control, but these looked cumbersome and unattractive to me.

What I finally realized is that the two pins required for the external amplifier relay, TX and TX GND, are both available when the jack is switched to *EITHER* CAT or LINEAR in the menu options.

Here is a diagram of the jack with both menu settings:

TX GND is *NOT* used in CAT control of the radio – at least it is not used in the USB version of the CAT cable I am using to control my radio from my PC.

So my solution was:

1. Purchase one 8pin mini DIN male to male cable on EBay.
2. Purchase three 8pin mini DIN female panel jacks (I ended up using the version that mount on cable ends and adapting them to a bit of perf board housed in a shielded box).

The mini 8 pin DIN jacks are labeled “Radio” “Amp” and “PC”. Use short, straight through wiring from the “Radio” jack to the PC jack, but do *NOT* wire the “TX GND” pin. Next, from the “Radio” jack to the “Amp” jack wire the “TX GND” pin, and a common ground wire between all three jack’s “GND” pins.

House the above in a shielded box, plug the “Radio” jack into the rig, and the PC and AMP jacks into their respective cables.

It works a treat and I now have both CAT control, and switching of my amplifier – with no danger to the computer from switching voltages.

It is worth noting that if the TX GND were required by the computer, one could use simple power diodes (the rectifier diode assortments from Radio Shack are fine) between the amp and computer pins to protect the PC from the switching voltage coming from the amplifier. One anode goes to the PC and the other anode goes to the amplifier, and the two cathodes connect to the TX GND pin. I use this method to switch an MFJ-1025 or MFJ-1026 noise canceler and my amp at the same time.

Soldering these things can be quite challenging. The pins are extremely small and will not accept even a 24 gauge wire which is too large. I used a small soldering vise with a magnifier (these can be found for low cost at some “dollar stores”, Job Lot, Odd Job, etc…). I used stranded cable, tinned, and then “touch” soldered the ends. Since the jacks are securely fastened, the wiring bears no stress – if these were cable ends a more secure soldering method would be required. Check for continuity and shorts with your multi-meter. You can also check the data signals on your scope if so inclined.

Also note that you may have some 8 pin connectors with cables attached in your junk box. The problem is that many do not have all 8 pins wired. You may also be able to carefully remove the jacket and get to the internal wires of your existing CAT cable, but here you also risk not having all the pins available – as well as damaging the expensive CAT cable. This is why I purchased an 8-pin Mini DIN male to male cable separately.

Here’s a screen shot of Ham Radio Deluxe and the FT-857D courtesy of KC9HZC who has also constructed his own CAT cable – one could construct his cable and build a second mini DIN jack for amp control easily. http://www.kc9hzc.com/index.php?entry=entry071022-222608

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Here’s the new Guanella type balun I wound:

After experimenting with an 80m half wave dipole, I found a shorter 31m length was a better performer on most bands for me with 13 meters of 600 ohm open wire feeders. The dipole is about 13m high. It is similar in length to a G5RV, however the open wire feed has a characteristic impedance of about 600 ohms. The balun sits outside and feeds a tuner in the shack via approximately 8 feet of coax.

I also built a quarter wave vertical for 40m and will be making a relay controlled matching network for 30m soon. There are about 40 radials on the ground presently with more planned.

We purchased some regulation baseballs and a roll of nylon cord (similar to mason’s line). We used some previously purchased 4 ounce fishing weights, packing tape, and taped a weight and length of cord onto each baseball. This was tied to the loop on the end of each insulated wire. The 9 ounce baseball/weight combo was then tossed into the tree line where it is doing an excellent job holding our wire antenna in place…

At 44 years old I’ve jumped back into my radio hobby with gusto: But I now find myself living in northern Manhattan in New York City, with no yard, in a second floor apartment that faces an inner courtyard on one side, and masses of urban infrastructure on the other. I can hit the local repeaters with my HT, and even some not so local ones with a 2meter/70cm quad that I built – but how boring is that? I like HF. I like a challenge and the thrill of overcoming a problem with a workable solution.

I started with an indoor doublet. A doublet is another word for dipole, but usually refers to a dipole that is fed with balanced feed line and tuned to operate on the band desired. I got about 70 feet of 23 gauge magnet wire string in a z-shape from one end of the apartment to the other and fed it with TV twinlead. Needless to say, the results were not stellar… buried inside brick and morter, surrounded by many other structures and in the middle of an RF nightmare – from the plasma TV, to my home computer network, and anything else capable to creating interference. I managed to work one or two stations via ground wave but it was nearly useless.

After looking around various ham radio websites, I discovered the Jackite fiberglass pole, which is 31′ long and can be purchased for under $70 online (try E-Bay). It telescopes down to 4 feet and extends out to something resembling an oversize fishing pole, 31 feet long. I got to thinking – there are trees in back of our apartment building in an alley between our building and a small public green space opposite my fire escape. Our neighborhood is in one of the highest elevations on Manhattan – my QTH is around 200-220 feet above the Hudson River. I realized I could get on my fire escape (another 20 feet up) and push an antenna up into the trees.

I built a fan dipole with legs cut for 40, 20 and 10 meters – planning to use it on 15 meters as well which is the third multiple of 40 meters in wavelength. I fastened the vertex outside my bedroom window and pushed the ends of the 40 meter legs up into the trees (with porcelain dog-bone insulators on the end for weight). It was much harder to get the 20 and 10 meter legs in a good position due to their short size, and the distance away of the trees. None the less, performance increased and I worked a bunch of new stations on 40 and 20 using SSB and PSK31.

I decided that the best idea would be to get a simple doublet up in the tree line that sits at around 50 feet above the ground. It would be far easier to manage two legs than six. I could tune it with high efficiency on all bands if I fed it with balanced line. The only drawback was managing the balanced line into my apartment on the second floor – and figuring out how to pull this off since the roof is off limits to tenants – and I doubt my ability to convince the superintendent that my radio obsession is important enough for him to let me up there to do my thing.

I managed to get my antenna in place – although the exact method will have to remain up to your imagination. It is in a V configuration that has a vertex at nearly 70 feet and droops down to about 40 feet. All in all the 102′ doublet is between 40 and 70 feet off the ground. Its not a perfect installation, but I kept it clear of most metal, power, networking, and phone cables. It makes the occasional brush, but avoids extended runs parallel to any one line. One could make a similar doublet with plain zip cord as a feedline. Old timers used to do this frequently. There’s always a solution: its a matter of making the most of (or minimizing) compromises.

The real test was getting it on the air – and it was like having a new radio. The noise level was down. Signals could be heard, and I was immediately able to work stations from Mexico to Wisconsin and South Carolina to Kentucky with S9 signal reports. After weeks of no responses to ‘CQ’, suddenly people were responding!

Success! and if the forces of nature and neighbors allow me to keep my antennas in the trees for awhile I’ll be most happy.

Here, the Daily Show discusses Apple and the recent Applegate incident with the missing prototype iPhone…

We use Google Voice for our voicemail. It is really convenient. The transcription feature is kind of cool because you don’t have to check your voicemail, it will email a transcription to your email inbox or text it to your phone. All for free.

We’ve been having a recent problem with rodents in our apartment. Rats actually. Juvenile New York City brown rats coming in through a hole under our sink. We tried a humane trap and planned to let them free outside somewhere with grass away from buildings. Alas, they did not go near the humane trap and we were forced into using the classic spring loaded snap traps and caught three little rat-lings in as many days.

At this point we’re kind of horrified. There is nothing quit like catching a baby rat on top of your stove in the middle of the night to creep you out. We realized it was time to call the Super. Our Super’s name is Sam and I’ve known him for over 20 years now! My wife, who is also on our co-op building’s board left Sam a message that we needed some action ASAP.

Sam returned the call and left a message on Google Voice explaining we needed to put our names on the list for the exterminator Urban Pest Control, I present the Google transcript here:

Hi Kristin, This is Sam. I’m trying to get a chance to get back to you with about 2 miles but you gotta the gym and urban design of the Spirit of God. Well give me a call when you get a chance so we, the last day. Thanks.

Repent children, The END is nigh!

I thought it would be a fun project to make my own speaking clock for Linux. Here is a very simple project that will get you started with some basic shell scripting and using the crontab.

My first version of the clock used espeak – which is a synthesized voice. It isn’t very appealing. For my second version I went to the AT&T Labs site and used their form to create .wav files of human speech for the numbers one through twelve. I created a .wav for “AM” and another for “PM”. Then I created a .wav that says, “Hello, the time is now: ”

I used the command line application aplay, and output from the date function. It is very simple.

Since I’m kind of lazy, I didn’t bother creating all the minutes. I only want my announcements on the hour and half hour anyway.

I call the script from two crontab jobs, one that runs on the hour and one that runs on the half hour.

You can download my scripts and audio here – check it out and then make your own, but don’t forget to share your success and send me your result!

The basic steps are as follows:

1. Create .wav files of the spoken numbers 1 through 12, the number 30, “AM”, “PM” and “The time is: ”

2. Create a script to run on the hour similar to this example (change the paths to where you saved your files):

#!/bin/bash

aplay -q /home/charleys/time_voice/hellothetimeisnow.wav

HOUR=$(date +%-l)

AMPM=$(date +%p)

EXT=”.wav”

aplay -q  “/home/charleys/time_voice/$HOUR$EXT”

aplay -q “/home/charleys/time_voice/$AMPM$EXT”

#end script

3. Save as hour.sh Make the script executable

chmod +x hour.sh

4. Create a schedule to run the script using crontab

crontab -e

0 * * * * /home/charleys/time_voice/hour_human.sh

5. Repeat the steps above, except you are going to add the “30″ .wav file, like this:

aplay -q  "/home/charleys/time_voice/$HOUR$EXT"
aplay -q "/home/charleys/time_voice/30.wav"
aplay -q "/home/charleys/time_voice/$AMPM$EXT"

NOTE: You MUST use upper case PM and AM for your file name. You MUST use 1.wav, 2.wav, etc for your file names. This is because the file is chosen based on the ouput from the date command. date +%-l outputs only the numbers 1-12 for the hour. Likewise, date +%p outputs either AM or PM. The – just removes the space from in front of the digits 1-9. Aplay only works with ALSA audio I’m told, however there are many other choices in command line audio players you can try.

Enjoy!

It is very easy to install using Synaptic/Apt and is available in the Ubuntu Universe Repository. There are two front ends available using GTK, and QT. The only issue I had to troubleshoot was that the recorded audio was out of sync and choppy. It was very easy to fix by changing the DEFAULT sound option to plughw:0,0.

The software is capable of using a variety of audio sources including Jack audio server. The capture provided an excellent quality file in .ogv format.

If you are sharing the video capture with Windows users, you will need to convert it to a Windows-friendly format for them. I used mencoder - 

mencoder -idx mycapture.ogv -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -o mycapture.avi

For a helpful page on installing additional repositories and software in Ubuntu, see here Enabling Extra Repositories. You should also see the following link:  Medibuntu  – to install the W32 Codecs.

This is only required if you need to convert the output into a Windows format like .avi. In order to play the converted avi video in Windows,  I still needed to install this free codec: FFDShow MPEG-4.