Table of Contents
05 : Blog
0 Post(s) for July 2025
Tue 03/06/25 : Tnc-pi Died
And then the TNC died!
So that's the end of APRS (for now). I could try using a sound-card based TNC (i.e. Direwolf) but I decided not to. I've decided instead to use the 2m FM radio for Allstar (or SVXlink) instead.
I messed about with an old Allstar image already installed in my Allstar node that I found in the shed. Then I flashed another SDcard with an image with an install of SVXLink and experimented with this…
Then back to Allstar.
I think (for now) I'll stick with Allstar. And perhaps do some experiments with bridging between analogue Allstar and DMR (and might look into YSF bridging too).
I started this with a dive into DMR bridging with DVSwitch - and started to document it here : gm4slv_allstar_2025
Sat 31/05/25 : APRS I-Gate Died
I've had a 2m APRS I-Gate for several years now, running on an old Raspberry Pi with a piggy backed TNC-Pi. It just plodded on, with the same SD card for year after year. Yesterday I noticed it wasn't working. I couldn't SSH to it, or ping it. Rebooting it was to no avail. I guess the SD card had finally given up the ghost.
I thought I'd got a image file stored somewhere, so it would be a simple matter of flashing a new image to an SD card and away we go. I looked everywhere and all I could find was an image called igate.img on my NAS box. Was this the one?
I flashed it to a working card and booted it, but no, it wasn't the same as the old APRS install. It was an image for a small portable igate I'd built a few years ago, not using the TNC-Pi, but using direwolf as the TNC. So I had to get on and set this one up to use the TNC-Pi connected to the gpio.
It's been a few years since I first set it up, but fortunately I had a documented account of the main aspects here VHF APRS iGate which gave me enough information to get it working - and I found on the web an old document showing the steps needed to allow the TNC to be accessible via the serial port https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1266633/Coastal-Tnc-Pi.html and here's the manual in pdf form tncpi.pdf
Eventually everything worked. I'd used dixprs as the i-gate software (and occasionally aprx) but I remember the steps to install dixprs were quite convoluted - and in the intervening years the site where the necessary information was held has now gone. https://sites.google.com/site/dixprs/ so I decided I'd just let it go, and switch to aprx permanently.
(I found that the Wayback Machine has some snapshots of the dixprs google site for instance : https://web.archive.org/web/20201009100911/https://sites.google.com/site/dixprs/installa but it looks too much hassle now, since aprx is working well.)
The igate is working, and this time I'll remember to take, and store, an image of the SD card so it's easier to replace it in future.
Sat 31/05/25 : Back On CW
I had intended 2025 to be the year of SSB
I even bought a new radio to start the ball rolling an FT-891 but despite always being fascinated by receiving SSB on HF (not necessarily amateur radio SSB, especially nowadays) I couldn't really get into having many SSB QSOs.
Today I got the keys and bugs back out of storage and tidied up my desk. I removed the IC-7200 (it'll find a new use sometime later), and set up the FT-891 for CW operation. It felt better to be a CW operator again & having my bugs and my old straight keys sitting there just asking for me to start calling CQ.
So I called CQ at around 7:30 AM (BST) on 60m (5260.0kHz) and was answered by Rupert G4XRV - another bug enthusiast - and despite the poor conditions with deep QSB we managed a 1/2 hour chat. I switched to a straight key, to allow me to slow down more due to the conditions.
Now I want to get back to having more CW contacts, and get my bug fist working again.
Thu 27/03/25 : A 60m SSB QSO
I'm making an effort to pick up the mic and have SSB contacts and I've had my first one of the year on 60m.
Listening on 5320kHz I heard a weakish CQ call from M0JMV and replied a few times, but no joy… then I was called by G4MQL, with a 59 signal report (both ways).
It still feels a little alien speaking rather than typing or sending dots and dashes but it somehow transports me back to when I first got interested in radio back in the 1980s and got my callsign. Why have I largely ignored 'phone modes in the last 20 years?
I will have more SSB contacts. I have even put my morse keys and bugs away for a while and am waiting for delivery of a new HF radio, FT-891, bought with the express intention to use it purely for SSB.
I've been using the 60m band since we first got access via a Notice of Variation, but 90% of this has been in digimodes (mostly Olivia) with some CW and a little SSB.
But…. I'm also interested in the use of 60m for “normal” phone QSOs - I listen a LOT to 60m SSB operation, be it amateur or commercial/aeronuatical (and in the past to the Cadets, where have they all gone??) I now want to get more involved in things instead of listening/watching from the sidelines.
Onwards and upwards.
Sun 09/03/25 : A New Blogging platform?
I've recently (yesterday, Saturday 8th March) set up a blogging platform on my Virtual Private Server.