Sunday, 21 August 2016
Saturday, 20 August 2016
Trying satellites thanks to Peter 2e0sql and 2e0cqp
UKube-1
145.940 USB
You can hear Peter 2e0sql
Home brew 2/70 antenna built by Peter 2e0cqp
Soldering by m0jfp
Coax for 2 and 70
Sonic Pi: Making music with your raspberry pi and a little help from our friends at Geek Gurl
With thanks to our friends at Geek Gurl for the above video showing you the first steps of using sonic-pi to create music.
Sonic pi is installed by default on raspian and noobs (raspberry pi)
However if you need to install it follow the instruction below:
First, clone the repository from github by using git or download it as a zip file. Open the terminal and enter the following command if git is already installed
$ git clone https://github.com/samaaron/sonic-pi
Otherwise, go to the link and download it as a zip file, which is about 38 MB.
Before compiling, it requires some softwares and libraries to be installed. So, enter the following command in the terminal:
$ sudo apt-get install supercollider ruby libqscintilla2-dev ruby-dev cmake pkg-config
Now, change to the sonic-pi directory, and
$ cd app/server/bin $ ./compile-extensions.rb
Again, change to the sonic-pi directory and
$ cd app/gui/qt/ $ ./rp-build-app
which would generate a sonic-pi binary. Either run that file, or the script in sonic-pi/bin
$ ./sonic-pi
Wednesday, 17 August 2016
If you wanna be Mr Robot then lets do it right...CRC will teach you the basics interactivity
I know we are late to the party on the whole Mr Robot TV series but in all seriousness, I have now read at least 5 articles trying to show you how to create a tunnel from you work / school / evil corp's network but none of them teach you the correct way .
Our proposal is to set up a Raspberry Pi and allow you to set up tunnels and learn how to make this work. We will work interactivity with you and help you each step of the way.
This way you get real world exposure to accessing a pi on the Internet and seeing its true potential.
SSH (Secure Socket Shell) is an encrypted protocol to allow and administrator secure command line access to his Linux / Unix boxes. However you can also create secure tunnels between 2 boxes (servers) and like in the TV series Mr Robot a reverse tunnel or call home feature.
You will need a linux box (like a raspberry pi) at home, in your office or at school / hack space
Register your interest by sending an e-mail to jamesm0jfp@virginmedia.com
Title: Request to join SSH classes
Let us know your name / handle and we will set you up an account on our Pi / Server
We will then send you a list of tasks.
Each task you will be required to give us some data to prove you have completed it.
All users will have different data / tasks may be changed..No cheating (you are welcome to work as a team / group)
You will learn at least the following tasks
1:-Be able to use putty or ssh command line to ssh between computers
2:-Change your password
3:-Create a tunnel from your Linux box to our Linux box
4:-Get our Linux box to call your Linux box and create a reverse tunnel (then log in)
This is what Mr Robot did, and will allow you to gain access to a secure network or get through the office firewall or school proxy server.
5:-ow you got a tunnel what can you do with it...With power come great responsibility !!
6:-Share your experience and new found powers with others.
This is a FREE and fun training course to help ensure you understand what is being done and how to do it right.
You will be amazed at what you can do once you have created a SSH Tunnel....
We look forward to getting your e-mail soon and always feel free to ask questions / we can when free give remote sessions to show how things are done, we can also post some videos as needed.
Have fun
Hal...
Tuesday, 16 August 2016
Our post on ISS SSTV has been shared at Southgate ARC world famous web site *Thanks!*
I just spotted on twitter that Southgate ARC had kindly shared our ISS SSTV success using the Lynx-7 tablet and a Beofeng (duel band!) hand held. Thank very much guys
Monday, 15 August 2016
Setting up raspberry pi 3 and QSSTV latest 9.1
You need an external usb sound card
Click on configuration
Click on sound and copy the above settings
Plug an external microphone into the sound card. Turn up your radio and watch your pictures get decoded.
Next set up alsa mixer and increase the microphone gain!
In a command line window type:
Sudo alsamixer
Press the F6 key to select sound card
Choose the usb sound card using up and down arrow keys and press enter.
Use arrow right key to select Mic, use up arrow to increase to about 52.
Press escape key to return to command line
To install QSSTV type:
sudo apt-get install g++ libfftw3-dev qt5-default libpulse-dev
sudo apt-get install hamlib-dev libasound-dev libv4l-dev
sudo apt-get install libopenjp2-7 libopenjp2-7-dev
Next download and install QSSTV
mkdir downloads
cd downloads
wget http://users.telenet.be/on4qz/qsstv/downloads/qsstv_9.1.8.tar.gz tar -xvzf qsstv_9.1.8.tar.gz cd qsstv_9.1.8 qmake make sudo make install
You can now run the program by typing qsstv at the prompt of a terminal session, or make a short cut on your desktop.qsstv
Click on configuration
Click on sound and copy the above settings
Input and output set to your usb sound card.
Set the sound to alsa.
Space station is 145.800 fm
However 14.230 upper side band is more regular broadcast.
You can also hold the microphone near a sstv recording or YouTube video.
Have fun let me know how you get on!
Setting up raspberry pi 3 and QSSTV latest 9.1
You need an external usb sound card
Click on configuration
Click on sound and copy the above settings
Plug an external microphone into the sound card. Turn up your radio and watch your pictures get decoded.
Next set up alsa mixer and increase the microphone gain!
In a command line window type:
Sudo alsamixer
Press the F6 key to select sound card
Choose the usb sound card using up and down arrow keys and press enter.
Use arrow right key to select Mic, use up arrow to increase to about 52.
Press escape key to return to command line
To install QSSTV type:
sudo apt-get install g++ libfftw3-dev qt5-default libpulse-dev
sudo apt-get install hamlib-dev libasound-dev libv4l-dev
sudo apt-get install libopenjp2-7 libopenjp2-7-dev
Next download and install QSSTV
mkdir downloads
cd downloads
wget http://users.telenet.be/on4qz/qsstv/downloads/qsstv_9.1.8.tar.gz tar -xvzf qsstv_9.1.8.tar.gz cd qsstv_9.1.8 qmake make sudo make install
You can now run the program by typing qsstv at the prompt of a terminal session, or make a short cut on your desktop.qsstv
Click on configuration
Click on sound and copy the above settings
Input and output set to your usb sound card.
Set the sound to alsa.
Space station is 145.800 fm
However 14.230 upper side band is more regular broadcast.
You can also hold the microphone near a sstv recording or YouTube video.
Have fun let me know how you get on!
Awesome raspberry pi and QSSTV
QSSTV running on a raspberry pi 3 decoding sstv from the international space station today!
Sunday, 14 August 2016
Saturday, 13 August 2016
VP2ETE DX contact Saturday night
Saturday night using 100 Watts and an atas mobile auto-tuning antenna we worked :
SSTV mode PD120 transmissions on 145.800 MHz FM Aug 15-16
What is SSTV:
This is a way of transmitting pictures over the air, the picture is encoded into sound and sent via a transmitter. The picture is divided into lines and each line is sent one by one. You will see the picture build up infront of you.
The sound is received by another radio and a computer can decode the sound into the picture.
SSTV from the International space station is transmitted on 145.800 FM and is analogue.
This is good because if you get any interference you just miss a line or 2 of the picture (scratchy) not the whole thing.
The Event
Apparently the crew have been requested to reconfigure the equipment to PD120 according to Amsat UK site. The MAI-75 Experiment will transmit SSTV images using PD120 mode on 145.800 MHz FM over the course of a few orbits as the space station passes over Moscow. Operators in Europe and South America will have the best chances to receive images. Operators along the US East Coast may have one chance on August 16.
What can you do to take part?
Firstly how do you know where the space station is and when it will be near you?
Take a look at the NASA site: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/ and enter your details.
You will get a list of approximate time the ISS will be in your location.
If you have a 144 scanner or radio tune into 145.800 open your squelch and listen for the fax like sounds.
A simple $40 beofeng Chinese radio is enough to get the signal.
Use your phone to record the signal.
Go outside, take your kids outside you don't need to be high up, just clear view of the sky...
Take pictures of your attempts and share them back to us..
Go outside, take your kids outside you don't need to be high up, just clear view of the sky...
Take pictures of your attempts and share them back to us..
If you don't have a radio you can use a web based radio (SDR) to pick up the signal: http://websdr.org.
For UK reception we tend to use: http://websdr.suws.org.uk/ select 146, tune to 145.800 FM
Use the record facility and download the file to your desktop.
Now my biggest suggestion here is to record the sound and decode it later on, trying to get the computer ready can be a pain on your first attempt.
You can of course use a more specialist cable connected between your radio and computer, but this article is aimed to help give everyone a chance in the simplest way possible.
If you are lucky enough to record a signal (please do share with us!) now you will need to decode it into a picture.
Android hone or tablet you can use: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xdsopl.robot36
iOS SSTV App https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sstv/id387910013
For your PC / windows you can use:Free MMSSTV Slow Scan TV software http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php
On the raspberry pi (1,2 and 3) you can install QSSTV: http://users.telenet.be/on4qz/qsstv/manual/installation.html
More on this later....
Once your decoding software is installed you just need to feed in your recorded SSTV sounds and within a few minutes you should have some pictures.
Here are a few images we got in the last year on these special events.
**Please do ask us question or for help... we are here for you!!**
