Raspberry PI first steps

Some notes from an Email posting - I'll clean up the formatting RSN.   Bill

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There was some questions about where to go next when the PI package arrived.   I worked through that this morning and have successfully pinged wetnet.net which I consider a good start...

Here's what I've done.   This is the Windows process...

* Purchased a package of PI rev B, case, power module and cable - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DG9D6IK
* mkdir /work/pi
* Downloaded the Raspbian Wheezy image from the link at http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads. to /work/pi
* Extracted iso image from .zip file
* Downloaded the SHA-1 calculator tool as described at : http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/verifying_an_image.html
* Opened CMD window; cd /work/pi;  ran calculator on the unpacked image.   Yeah - it matches.
* Downloaded win32diskImage tool from http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/, unpacked to
/work/pi/win32diskimage ;
* Inserted 8 GB Sandisk SD card - Class 6(10 MBs - not great but it's what I had and it was on sale...)
* ran win32diskImage.exe - selected SD card.  Selected .iso image. "WRITE" - it said 'success'..  Yeah!
* Essentially followed quick start instructions from : http://www.raspberrypi.org/quick-start-guide
  - HDMI from PI to TV
  * USB keyboard to PI
  * 8 GB SD card to PI
* Power cable from PI to power module.  Power Module to outlet...
* TV to PI - it's there (YEAH!) and Linux is booting.
* First time there was some setup steps.  Interesting but I'll get that later.
* Switched PC from client on the (NW-MESH) network back to Server - Internet Connection Sharing from the Telephone Internet Dongle..
* Network cable from PI to the WRT54G.  ..wait..  ifconfig shows 172.27.0.x - YEAH!  we're on the net.
* ping wetnet.net - YEAH! it works.
* df -h . ; shows only 1.5 G disk.  Hmm - how to get back to that one time config screen?   Wasn't hard to find: "sudo raspi-config"
  - expanded the file system
  - advanced
    + enabled SSH
    + renamed hostname from 'raspberrypi' to 'pi1'
* rebooted - YEAH - now have the full 8 GB available.

# that's the main setup.   Here's a couple more items to check out the system.

* checked to see how it compared to the pogo series 4 server.   cat /proc/cpuinfo -  700 bogomips,  That's close to the 800 bogo's of the pogo.  Good enough!
* wondered if if did online updating.  Yes - 'sudo apt-get update' worked.   'sudo apt-get upgrade' wanted to bring in 80 MB of upgrades.  It's not a good time on the marginal network so I tested bringing in one of the listed packages with a simple "sudo apt-get install
nfs-common".   I see now that Raspbian is a Debian branch so the apt-get tool chain is to be expected.

DIXPRS Test Drive

I turned on DIXPRS this morning.    The hardest part was getting the KPC3 TNC out of whatever mode UI-VIew had left it in and responding in the basic KISS that DISPRS expected...   Beyond that it was a simple matter of downloading the .zip archive, editing config-kiss.txt and saving it in DOS format as config.txt and then running the executable.

DIXPRS home page:  https://sites.google.com/site/dixprs/

* It defaults to digipeating WIDE2 and WIDE1 - I had to drop that down to just WIDE1 as my goal is a fill in digi -  we have too many HIGH WIDE's the way it is now but that's another post...

* There is no 'viscous' digipeating..

* The digipeated packet callsign substitution doesn't include the used path element.   For example, "WIDE1-1" becomes "WA7NWP-11*", not "WA7NWP-11*,WIDE1*".   This is a good thing.  James will disagree but I still believe even stronger then ever that all those 'used' elements are just massive clutter in the packet histories.

* The database feature is cool.    https://sites.google.com/site/dixprs/monitoring

This is similar to what I'm doing with P9....  That too is another post.

Bottom line - it's a cool project and I'm going to move it to one of the Linux server boxes to keep it running and gathering data.   It's not a fit as my home APRS station/server where I need viscous fill in digipeating (APRSX), smart cross band digipeating and info generation (DIGI_NED) and a shared TCP downlink port (APRSD)...     The adventure continues -- next step is to get APRSX compiling on Cygwin or MinGW so I can run it on the XP netbook.

73
Bill - WA7NWP

Setting up a JNOS Packet Server

Once again I'm working on a JNOS packet server.   Yes - it's a BBS but it's so much more.   I'll keep notes in this living blog page to save all those little things that I have to learn and relearn when doing this.

Keep an eye on this - it's a work in progress.   Much can be done to make this easier to set up.  Hmmm - is it time for a jnosconfig.py script?   I'm using .py scripts like that for everything else.

* make sure the linux box has the required software development tools
  * sudo apt-get install devel-tools  ncurses5
 * go to maik/JNOS2 site and use git to fetch the current source
 * edit the config file as needed.  I changed:   xxxxx
  * recompile

* Create the files JNOS needs.  I'm still working on the scheme of putting all the configuration files in $JNOS/etc
* Create etc/Domain.txt
* etc/hosts

* AX1 is the only current TNC port

Hook up the TNC and Radio.   New, to me, IC229 from the Country Store at SeaPac 2012.  Today I interfaced it to the KAM TNC via the MFJ Mic/Packet switch box.
* JNOS: param 255 - takes the KAM out of KISS mode
* KAM:  interface kiss : reset - puts the KAM back into KISS mode
* JNOS:  tip ax1 - gives a simple terminal interface to the TNC.  Great for debugging and putting it into kiss mode.
* Simple beacon commands:
  * ax25 bctext "It's good to be back on the air with JNOS"
  * ax25 bcinterval 1800   # one beacon every 30 minutes
  * ax25 route add ID ax1 K7IK  # for the ID packets from the beacon to use the K7IK digipeater

To Do.
Make JNOS put the TNC into Kiss mode itself...
Make JNOS beacon with APRS style beacons.
Verify that the BBS allow logins and guest logins
Set the IP address on the AX1 port to a valid number in the 145.63 LAN
Get AXIP working to the BPQ32 BBS - that will allow BPQ to use the 145.63 port while JNOS can then access all the other ports on the PBQ32 switch.

VOAProp - updated solar data

The source for the solor data has changed.    See the full story at:

  http://blog.g4ilo.com/2011/12/voaprop-and-wwv.html

The summary and magic URL is:

What you need to do is: 

• In VOAProp, click the Solar Data button to open the window that displays the WWV file.
• In the Data URL field, enter the address of the replacement file which is:  http://ok1dub.cz/wwv/wwv.txt .

Digital Operations on Field Day

APRS -


Every FD site will usually have APRS on line.  Remember, you can contact any other FD site in the world on your APRS channel. (144.39 in North America).

Just send them an APRS text message.

Of course, this assumes you know their callsign.  To facilitate learning who else is on the air, send a CQ FD message to the APRS CQSERVER and your CQ will go to every other CQ FD site on the planet.  This has nothing to do with FD rules and points.  It is just a way to have fun and be able to contact any FD site without knowing apriori their calling freq.

Just send an APRS message to CQSRVR and make the first two words of the message be CQ FD .... for example, "CQ FD from Bob in Annapolis, MD".  These do not count for points, but are a great way to have ham radio fun with other sites.

This will log you onto the CQ FD message group and from then on, you will get ALL OTHER such messages from all other such stations.  When you DO see an incoming CQ FD message, now then you know their callsign and can MESSAGE THEM DIRECTLY from then on.

To keep the load down, you can only send one CQ FD message once every 30 minutes, but you will remain logged on for up to 12 hours.  After no activity, you will be dropped.

Oh, for more info about APRS and Field Day, see http://aprs.org/cqsrvr.html

Bob, WB4APR


JT65-HF -


While this will require manually entering callsigns, it should work -- really same format as a RTTY contest qso. All free-text except the initial search/pounce call.  Note that don't need 2-way grid exchange, or RRR or 73's ...  the FD info is the non-callsign info being exchanged ... and going to next step implicitly R's the previous.

CQ FD KJ4IZW
  KJ4IZW KB3EAW EM00  (structured)
KB3EAW 3A WNY
  KJ4IZW 1H EPA
TU KJ4IZW FD
  KJ4IZW W1LIC FM00   # flows to next caller
...

Also, doesn't require any custom initial reply to the CQ ... and hopefully they mimic the FD report format ...

I'll be operating as K4NAB club call, running the digital station .. PSK31 & RTTY, but would like to proof-of-concept JT65 too.

--david
KJ4IZW

On The Air with HF Soundcard Digital

Update 6/12/12 - After running WSPR for a couple days I'm moving on to packet and APRS-Messenger.  The UZ7HO soundcard modem is receiving well and it looks like transmitting is working.   I have to tweak the configuration of the BPQ32 switch to use a realistic delay between connect attempts.   Then I can try a VIA connection to see if the nodes I'm hearing are hearing me.   Updating BPQ32 to the latest version will give me APRS and Unconnected Packets.   That will come after getting APRS-Messenger running and testing it out for a few days on the 30 meter APRS frequency.

Note to self - I still have to figure out why my WSPR display is showing from 0 to 200 Hz instead of 100 Hz to 300 Hz.  It appears I'm missing all the stations in that upper half of the band segment.

Cool discovery - the 2.0 WSPR User Guide document has some screen shots of the program being used.  Timing was good and I was on the air at the right time to show up on Joe's screen for the Additional Details section.

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It's so cool to FINALLY have a a solid HF to Computer Soundcard interface working...

Last weekend, at SeaPac, I picked up a West Mountain Rigblaster Advantage from their booth manned by Sholto.    Soundcard, PTT, Computer Rig control and more - all running in one little box with one USB cable to the computer..   Nifty...

After a bit of cable juggling and installing drivers (after all this is LinuxXXXXVista...)  I put it on the WSPR channel on 20 meters and gave it a "Transmit Now" kick.   2 minutes and some seconds later I went to the WSPRnet database and did a query on who have heard me.   I thought there might be one or two...


     Timestamp         Call                 MHz              SNR Drift Grid         Pwr Reporter RGrid km az
 2012-06-10 17:44 WA7NWP 14.097033 -12 0 CN87wq 10 K7UEB/20 DN06tb 337 121
 2012-06-10 17:44 WA7NWP 14.097052 -19 0 CN87wq 10 KK7KZ DN30xm 1131 131
 2012-06-10 17:44 WA7NWP 14.097027 -25 0 CN87wq 10 W7QL DN40bo 1134 130
 2012-06-10 17:44 WA7NWP 14.097043 -19 1 CN87wq 10 W7YLQ CN85mq 231 196
 2012-06-10 17:44 WA7NWP 14.097027 -8 0 CN87wq 10 KL1X BP51ip 2306 322
 2012-06-10 17:44 WA7NWP 14.097027 -20 0 CN87wq 10 K4COD EM73sc 3532 103


I'll have a bit more cable juggling - mostly extracting - and then it's down to just seeing what can be done and using the incredible software that's available.

73
Bill

SDR really?

Ok - after the SeaPac/TAPR SDR seminar at Seaside last weekend, and now that I have a borrowed SDR receiver - it's time to pay a bit more attention to SDR (Software Defined Radio).   I've brought the HPSDR maillist up from the backlog and will be cleaning up the history...

My current hardware is the Funcube Dongle Pro.   Once it's running I'll have more incentive to get the SoftRock transceiver built and running.

I'll start with the FDP on the home station PC.   Next step is to plug it in and let it do the driver install magic.

Then I have to find software:

• studio1 - http://www.woodboxradio.com/studio1.html   replaces  WRplus
• cuSDR -  https://plus.google.com/107168125384405552048/posts

Once there's some sort of software running, what to I use it for?  I have 80 KHz of reception between 60 MHz and 1.7 GHz.  I'll know more once I get 

• Broadcast FM
• All the legacy packet channels - 145.01 to 145.09
• Will it stretch down to 6 meters at 50 MHz?   I've seen one note that says it will.
• APRS at 1200 (144.39) and 9600 (144.35) at the same time...

I'll update this post as I make some progress and learn more.