Shack at 02/05/14
Monday, 11 June 2012
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Friday, 8 June 2012
I'm still being redirected to an advertisment site when trying to connect to CqChat, so I'm not bothering to try anymore.
Very few pics coming through on 11 lately. When they do they are very weak, however, here's one I've just received that's decent quality (From France)
20 metres is not much better, with most half decent pics arriving during the evening. Conditions are well down lately.
Very few pics coming through on 11 lately. When they do they are very weak, however, here's one I've just received that's decent quality (From France)
20 metres is not much better, with most half decent pics arriving during the evening. Conditions are well down lately.
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Friday, 1 June 2012
Monday, 28 May 2012
How's that for a half an hour's worth of wspr (only showing my own spots). Certainly more popular than Opera or Ros.
Here's a screen shot of all stations active at the moment. Busy busy!
I really don'y know why I keep bothering, but every time I see a new Linux distro on offer I can't resist trying it.(Ultimate Edition 3.2 based on Ubunto 11.10) As usual though, I didn't get very far. This time I replaced the gaming keyboard (A known problem in the past) with a standard one. However, didn't do me much good as the Monitor went blank and didn't fire up again during install. Blast!, another 6 quid down the drain. Won't be any good on the notebook as there are cool desk top options that will require a decent graphics card, which the notebook doesn't have.
Picked up a handy little tool from Maplin today though. Got loads of watches in the drawer, that I have not bothered to get replacement batteries for when they expired. Usually find a new watch that turns me on my that time Hi!. Anyway, spotting this tool gave me the idea of replacing said batteries myself. Murphies law says I only have one suitable watch, ie back twist screws off, which turns out handy as it's the only other watch I really still fancy wearing. The rest either need jewelers screw drivers or forcing the back off. I tried that once, but couldn't get the damn thing to snap back on again.
Next time I'm in town I'll pick up a CR 2016 3v. No doubt an extortionate price, as batteries are these days *sigh* but at least I'll save on labour cost Hi!.
Here's a screen shot of all stations active at the moment. Busy busy!
I really don'y know why I keep bothering, but every time I see a new Linux distro on offer I can't resist trying it.(Ultimate Edition 3.2 based on Ubunto 11.10) As usual though, I didn't get very far. This time I replaced the gaming keyboard (A known problem in the past) with a standard one. However, didn't do me much good as the Monitor went blank and didn't fire up again during install. Blast!, another 6 quid down the drain. Won't be any good on the notebook as there are cool desk top options that will require a decent graphics card, which the notebook doesn't have.
Picked up a handy little tool from Maplin today though. Got loads of watches in the drawer, that I have not bothered to get replacement batteries for when they expired. Usually find a new watch that turns me on my that time Hi!. Anyway, spotting this tool gave me the idea of replacing said batteries myself. Murphies law says I only have one suitable watch, ie back twist screws off, which turns out handy as it's the only other watch I really still fancy wearing. The rest either need jewelers screw drivers or forcing the back off. I tried that once, but couldn't get the damn thing to snap back on again.
Next time I'm in town I'll pick up a CR 2016 3v. No doubt an extortionate price, as batteries are these days *sigh* but at least I'll save on labour cost Hi!.
Thursday, 24 May 2012
After all these years of receiving sstv pics, I finally decided to take the plunge and transmit a pic myself.
EA7OU called from Spain earlier so I answered him. The result is shown below, and I'm chuffed to see my power out of 20 watts doing so well. I could go higher I guess, but I'd like to keep on the good side of my output trannies Hi!.. Many moons ago my IC-718 went critical on high power, so being a poor pensioner now (spare a copper guv!) I'm not taking any chances Hi!
Don't know why my budgie's head is missing in the returned shot. It was ok when I sent it ??
EA7OU called from Spain earlier so I answered him. The result is shown below, and I'm chuffed to see my power out of 20 watts doing so well. I could go higher I guess, but I'd like to keep on the good side of my output trannies Hi!.. Many moons ago my IC-718 went critical on high power, so being a poor pensioner now (spare a copper guv!) I'm not taking any chances Hi!
Don't know why my budgie's head is missing in the returned shot. It was ok when I sent it ??
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Murphies law again, just when I seem to get everything sorted something starts acting up again.
This time it's the upload widget for sstv pics. keeps freezing. Had the problem before and had to download a fresh copy. I'd like to use the sstv prog which is part of the Ham Radio Deluxe suite, but apart from false triggering I notice the last downloaded copy misses incoming pics that mmsstv has no problem with.
I just might call it a day with my online sstv page. Concentrating more on 'Broadcast' listening/logging lately anyway. Running RX-SSTV in the background, (Both computers) along with 'Gadwin Printscreen', a screenshot grabber, which allows me to send the latest pics from either 27 or 14 Mhz to cqChat, along with any other reports anyway.
I awoke at 03:00 this morning, so fired up the Roberts that I keep by the bed. Logged a new station for me called Laser Hot Hits (4014 Khz). The Kinks, among others, kept me entertained until I nodded off again.
The notebook is still running the PCR-1000, via Ham Radio Deluxe. However, as the sound is directly from the rig to a pair of amplified speakers, and not to the notebook sound card, it leaves the latter open to connection with the Satellit 750. Thus feeding any possible 27 Mhz sstv to a minimised RX-SSTV.
This time it's the upload widget for sstv pics. keeps freezing. Had the problem before and had to download a fresh copy. I'd like to use the sstv prog which is part of the Ham Radio Deluxe suite, but apart from false triggering I notice the last downloaded copy misses incoming pics that mmsstv has no problem with.
I just might call it a day with my online sstv page. Concentrating more on 'Broadcast' listening/logging lately anyway. Running RX-SSTV in the background, (Both computers) along with 'Gadwin Printscreen', a screenshot grabber, which allows me to send the latest pics from either 27 or 14 Mhz to cqChat, along with any other reports anyway.
I awoke at 03:00 this morning, so fired up the Roberts that I keep by the bed. Logged a new station for me called Laser Hot Hits (4014 Khz). The Kinks, among others, kept me entertained until I nodded off again.
The notebook is still running the PCR-1000, via Ham Radio Deluxe. However, as the sound is directly from the rig to a pair of amplified speakers, and not to the notebook sound card, it leaves the latter open to connection with the Satellit 750. Thus feeding any possible 27 Mhz sstv to a minimised RX-SSTV.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
G'Day! Mmmmm, a bit chilly this morning.
Just had a quick look at opera, but doesn't seem to be too many into it at the moment. Wonder if the initial interest has started to wain a bit. Look at the difference in usage compared with WSPR for instance. Here are a couple of screen shots, and look where my signal is reaching over the last quarter hour on WSPR. I was only received by one station on Opera, and that was in Europe.
Just had a quick look at opera, but doesn't seem to be too many into it at the moment. Wonder if the initial interest has started to wain a bit. Look at the difference in usage compared with WSPR for instance. Here are a couple of screen shots, and look where my signal is reaching over the last quarter hour on WSPR. I was only received by one station on Opera, and that was in Europe.
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Finally collected my Sony 32 inch tele from Dover yesterday (An inehritance from my Mother who passed away a year ago now) Unfortunately I've had to wait all this time due to the police retaining it as evidence against the toe rag who had burgled my mum's house whilst she was dying in hospital. Cleaned off all the residue finger print powder and set it up. The remote was never recovered, so I used the onboard controls. Works a treat, and replaces my 21 inch Tesco job. I'm sorting out a new universal remote today....I hope!.
The old tele is now connected to this computer, which replaces the 14 inch monitor. Stone me! what a difference. Given the computer a whole new lease of life. Screen is obvilously back lit now and really has brought the pc progs to life. SBS1 looks brilliant now, MMSSTV too. Of course I'm only viewing form a couple of feet, so the screen looks huge.
Overall, really chuffed with both new arrangements. Just need the new remote, which I'll sort today.
The old tele is now connected to this computer, which replaces the 14 inch monitor. Stone me! what a difference. Given the computer a whole new lease of life. Screen is obvilously back lit now and really has brought the pc progs to life. SBS1 looks brilliant now, MMSSTV too. Of course I'm only viewing form a couple of feet, so the screen looks huge.
Overall, really chuffed with both new arrangements. Just need the new remote, which I'll sort today.
Thursday, 3 May 2012
I'm not sure whether I'll link to the weather page yet. I'll wait a few days until the data sorts itself out prediction wise, then figure where to link from. Unfortunately I'm not able to edit my main page, that's kind of marooned out there. The weather page was made with a different editor and placed on an alternative server, effectively meaning I can edit it down the normal ftp route. The weather link would have to be from either this Blog or the last 24 sstv pics page.
I had a play with the weather software provided with the Oregon kit, but soon found it was only a live version. This meant I could not collect data and view graphs/records etc unless I paid for an upgrade. I'm not about to do that due to my aversion to passing bank account detils over the web, so today I downloaded a fresh version of 'Cumulus'.
I now have that program running on the notebook, and have also managed to upload data to my old weather page. It will take a few days to settle down, as the pressure data hasn't had time to reach prediction capability.
The note book is a bit of a pain, as the full software screen will not fit. I have to either reach a balance or chop a bit off the bottom due to scrolling.. Here are a couple of screen shots anyway. (My choice of colouring)
I now have that program running on the notebook, and have also managed to upload data to my old weather page. It will take a few days to settle down, as the pressure data hasn't had time to reach prediction capability.
The note book is a bit of a pain, as the full software screen will not fit. I have to either reach a balance or chop a bit off the bottom due to scrolling.. Here are a couple of screen shots anyway. (My choice of colouring)
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Due to my weather centre (Maplin job) going completely strupid recently, I decided to bin it. Today I treated myself to a new centre. This one is called the Oregon WMR88 from 'Nauticalia'.
I've set the thing up now, and all seems to be working ok. Here is a screen shot of the software, which being basically a free version, does not have any online features. If I go down that route again I'll do it via 'Cumulus' software, as used successfully with the last station.
I've set the thing up now, and all seems to be working ok. Here is a screen shot of the software, which being basically a free version, does not have any online features. If I go down that route again I'll do it via 'Cumulus' software, as used successfully with the last station.
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Prop not good of late. Very few decent sstv pics, and 27.555 is largely quiet. Couple of UK stations calling out each evening, but no takers from Europe. Feint voices, but that's all at the moment.
Just tried installing a new idea in operating systems on both my machines. It's free, and runs beside Windows so can be chosen at start up. It's called Jolicloud, which is operated via the browser. An online operating system.
My desk top is a pain as usual. This time the keyboard I'm using is not recognised and I can't choose the operating system on start up. If I change to an old keyboard, I have no problem. The 'Cyborg' is not liked by Joli or Linux it seems. Joli is the default system by the way, so will boot up to that if not bi passed as it were. There is no problem with the notebook, however, and I'm still evaluating Joli there.
Just tried installing a new idea in operating systems on both my machines. It's free, and runs beside Windows so can be chosen at start up. It's called Jolicloud, which is operated via the browser. An online operating system.
My desk top is a pain as usual. This time the keyboard I'm using is not recognised and I can't choose the operating system on start up. If I change to an old keyboard, I have no problem. The 'Cyborg' is not liked by Joli or Linux it seems. Joli is the default system by the way, so will boot up to that if not bi passed as it were. There is no problem with the notebook, however, and I'm still evaluating Joli there.
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Train Simulator 12 (Railworks) is running on 'Steam' now, excuse the pun. Seems I didn't have the right version of .net installed. Ship Sim still refuses to run though *sigh*
27.555 now has a chuffing sound on it. Surrounding frequencies are ok, so Murphies law says the frequency I want to sit on is affected. I have found the cause to be my monitor, ie the waterfall running on either MMSSTV or Opera. The only way around this annoying interference is to minimise said programs whilst listening to the Satellit 750. No big deal I guess, as I can periodically check for received sstv pics or stations logged on Opera. These things are sent to try us, as the saying goes.
27.555 now has a chuffing sound on it. Surrounding frequencies are ok, so Murphies law says the frequency I want to sit on is affected. I have found the cause to be my monitor, ie the waterfall running on either MMSSTV or Opera. The only way around this annoying interference is to minimise said programs whilst listening to the Satellit 750. No big deal I guess, as I can periodically check for received sstv pics or stations logged on Opera. These things are sent to try us, as the saying goes.
Well that idea didn't last long *sigh*. When I tried to fire up Linux on it's own hard drive, the monitor wouldn't wear it. Amazing! the day before it was quite happy using the onboard graphics.
I did have an idea of checking NVidea for some Linux compatible drivers for the G-Force GT250 that I use for Windows, but it seems that idea is out the window as I can't fire up the browser to get them. I 'spose I could download them on the other 'puter and transfer them, but if I can't get the Linux running anyway I wont be able to transfer them anyway, will I!
Another pain I notice this morning, is that I can not edit my QSL.net site at all now I have lost my own copy during re-intallation of Windows. Normally I would edit the site on my drive and upload, thus overwriting the online version. (I thought I Had a full back up on a seperate drive, but this was not the latest effort I now discover). I was not initially worried as I thought I could use my ftp prog to get to the files on the host and download them back to my docs, thence to the Web Editor prog ready for editing etc.
This I can do with my 'Virgin' hosted pages, as they are uploaded with the built in ftp facility of 'Namo WebEditor'. Unfortunately I haven't figured how to this to the files made with 'WebSite X5' (hosted by qsl.net) in a way that I can re-import them to said Web Editor program for editing. Naturally I have noticed a glairing spolling mistake on line Hi, which I can not now correct. Yes, that's the one. Excactly instead of exactly on the Analogue SSTV page. Then again maybe you didn't notice after all. Damn!, I should have kept my big mouth shut.
I Have reinstated my Sirio 27 mhz half wave by the way. This is vertically polarized, and I'm using it for monitoring another interesting aspect of shortwave listening. ie the 'Freeband' fraternity. 27.555 +/- ssb. I wouldn't dream of transmitting my self on that frequency, but due to this mode/frequency's popularity world wide, I find monitoring this area more productive and interesting than some other areas that induce total boredom with their innactivity.
The Sattelit 750 is the ideal companion to the Sirio, so sstv and other data modes are catered for with the FT-897 and Pro Whip, using the desk top pc. The notebook is driving the PCR-1000 with HRD, which is used for shortwave broadcast listening.
D-Star is still brown bread, but I'll leave the 2 metre vertical up for now. General 2 metre listening is via the UBC800XLT and Discone.
That's about it for now. 'Steam' won't let me play Ship or Train sims now by the way. This is a stupid idea, using Steam, as I have the discs and games installed but can't play them *groan* 73 for now.
I did have an idea of checking NVidea for some Linux compatible drivers for the G-Force GT250 that I use for Windows, but it seems that idea is out the window as I can't fire up the browser to get them. I 'spose I could download them on the other 'puter and transfer them, but if I can't get the Linux running anyway I wont be able to transfer them anyway, will I!
Another pain I notice this morning, is that I can not edit my QSL.net site at all now I have lost my own copy during re-intallation of Windows. Normally I would edit the site on my drive and upload, thus overwriting the online version. (I thought I Had a full back up on a seperate drive, but this was not the latest effort I now discover). I was not initially worried as I thought I could use my ftp prog to get to the files on the host and download them back to my docs, thence to the Web Editor prog ready for editing etc.
This I can do with my 'Virgin' hosted pages, as they are uploaded with the built in ftp facility of 'Namo WebEditor'. Unfortunately I haven't figured how to this to the files made with 'WebSite X5' (hosted by qsl.net) in a way that I can re-import them to said Web Editor program for editing. Naturally I have noticed a glairing spolling mistake on line Hi, which I can not now correct. Yes, that's the one. Excactly instead of exactly on the Analogue SSTV page. Then again maybe you didn't notice after all. Damn!, I should have kept my big mouth shut.
I Have reinstated my Sirio 27 mhz half wave by the way. This is vertically polarized, and I'm using it for monitoring another interesting aspect of shortwave listening. ie the 'Freeband' fraternity. 27.555 +/- ssb. I wouldn't dream of transmitting my self on that frequency, but due to this mode/frequency's popularity world wide, I find monitoring this area more productive and interesting than some other areas that induce total boredom with their innactivity.
The Sattelit 750 is the ideal companion to the Sirio, so sstv and other data modes are catered for with the FT-897 and Pro Whip, using the desk top pc. The notebook is driving the PCR-1000 with HRD, which is used for shortwave broadcast listening.
D-Star is still brown bread, but I'll leave the 2 metre vertical up for now. General 2 metre listening is via the UBC800XLT and Discone.
That's about it for now. 'Steam' won't let me play Ship or Train sims now by the way. This is a stupid idea, using Steam, as I have the discs and games installed but can't play them *groan* 73 for now.
Monday, 9 April 2012
Well that was an interesting couple of days. Why I still insist on getting headaches playing with Linux I don't know. Guess I'm just stubborn Hi!.
Anyway, I decided in a reckless moment to have another go. This time I wanted to load a distro which allowed dual booting, which meant side by side install with Windows of course. Simple!. Erm.....The initial distro, I forget which one now, wouldn't shrink the Windows portion enough to allow a fit. Tried various way to resize/aportion the drive etc. All takes time of course, but eventually I got Mint to intall anyway.
To cut a very long story short I managed to get one distro ie Mint to actually fire up with no problem. This when I eventually figured that maybe the screen was not doing the business due to drivers not being supplied by Mint or Ubuntu, or anyone else for that matter, to kick start my video card (G-Force GT-250) and connected the monitor direct to the mother board instead.
The Mint disc I had available was version 8 and would not update, so I had to download Mint 12 and burn the iso to a boot disc. This took a while of course.
Now you would think that I was now in business. Not so, however, as when I booted up the keyboard would briefly light up, then die, before I could scroll to Windows. In other words I was stuck with Linux only. Oh flip! I said, wondering where I'd stashed my hammer.
I now abandoned the idea of dual booting of course, and now installed Linux to the entire drive to hopefully get to a position where I could re-install Windows from the dvd drive eventually, which I had successfully done after trying Ubuntu 9 and 10 a while back.
I had tried various distro discs prior to full disc install of Mint hoping to get to a stage in the install procedue that would give me an out, as it were, so I could get back to Windows. Unfortunately I had to admit defeat and decided to re-install Windows over the entire disc eventually. Simple!. Erm....
I tried to boot my Windows disc from the dvd drive, but to no avail. Even with the hard drive disabled in the bios, the damn thing would still insist on booting Linux. Totally illogical, but then computers are, aren't they?.
In the end I decided that I was basically 'stitched' with this hard drive, Windows wise, so then had one of my genius moments Hi!. Digging out my old hard drive from a defunct computer and praying it was compatible, which it was, I fitted it in place of the existing Linux job. I was now back in Windows business.
Now I have seperate drives for Windows and Linux which means I can now mess about with the Linux job to my hearts content knowing it doesn't matter if I screw up again *sigh* Of course this means taking the side casing off and transferring a couple of leads each time, but that's no big deal.
If only I had thought of that before I started playing with my existing drive, I could have saved all the hassle entailed with losing everything and having to eventually reintall all my currently used software.
All this took about twelve hours yesterday, which included getting loads of software installed on the Windows drive. Naturally murphies law says some things that did work before, now do not. Ship simulator and Propnet, to name a couple tried so far.
Oh well, at least MMSSTV and Opera are up and running again. Both web editors are also running. Flight Sim 2004 is a go, but I wouldn't be surprised, when I try other sims, not to have problems relating to activation codes used on another drive for instance.
Tea up!
Anyway, I decided in a reckless moment to have another go. This time I wanted to load a distro which allowed dual booting, which meant side by side install with Windows of course. Simple!. Erm.....The initial distro, I forget which one now, wouldn't shrink the Windows portion enough to allow a fit. Tried various way to resize/aportion the drive etc. All takes time of course, but eventually I got Mint to intall anyway.
To cut a very long story short I managed to get one distro ie Mint to actually fire up with no problem. This when I eventually figured that maybe the screen was not doing the business due to drivers not being supplied by Mint or Ubuntu, or anyone else for that matter, to kick start my video card (G-Force GT-250) and connected the monitor direct to the mother board instead.
The Mint disc I had available was version 8 and would not update, so I had to download Mint 12 and burn the iso to a boot disc. This took a while of course.
Now you would think that I was now in business. Not so, however, as when I booted up the keyboard would briefly light up, then die, before I could scroll to Windows. In other words I was stuck with Linux only. Oh flip! I said, wondering where I'd stashed my hammer.
I now abandoned the idea of dual booting of course, and now installed Linux to the entire drive to hopefully get to a position where I could re-install Windows from the dvd drive eventually, which I had successfully done after trying Ubuntu 9 and 10 a while back.
I had tried various distro discs prior to full disc install of Mint hoping to get to a stage in the install procedue that would give me an out, as it were, so I could get back to Windows. Unfortunately I had to admit defeat and decided to re-install Windows over the entire disc eventually. Simple!. Erm....
I tried to boot my Windows disc from the dvd drive, but to no avail. Even with the hard drive disabled in the bios, the damn thing would still insist on booting Linux. Totally illogical, but then computers are, aren't they?.
In the end I decided that I was basically 'stitched' with this hard drive, Windows wise, so then had one of my genius moments Hi!. Digging out my old hard drive from a defunct computer and praying it was compatible, which it was, I fitted it in place of the existing Linux job. I was now back in Windows business.
Now I have seperate drives for Windows and Linux which means I can now mess about with the Linux job to my hearts content knowing it doesn't matter if I screw up again *sigh* Of course this means taking the side casing off and transferring a couple of leads each time, but that's no big deal.
If only I had thought of that before I started playing with my existing drive, I could have saved all the hassle entailed with losing everything and having to eventually reintall all my currently used software.
All this took about twelve hours yesterday, which included getting loads of software installed on the Windows drive. Naturally murphies law says some things that did work before, now do not. Ship simulator and Propnet, to name a couple tried so far.
Oh well, at least MMSSTV and Opera are up and running again. Both web editors are also running. Flight Sim 2004 is a go, but I wouldn't be surprised, when I try other sims, not to have problems relating to activation codes used on another drive for instance.
Tea up!
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