Favorite Pi(e)

When Nancy and I go out to a new restaurant, we always ask if they have my personal favorite, Key Lime pie. But since last week, I may have to change my thinking and cautiously consider Raspberry...

First, it was the Raspberry Pi zero for my ZUMspot. I was so amazed with it's simplicity and usefulness, I had to get a Raspberry Pi 3 B+. It was like a whole new Raspberry world opened before me. And all I could think about before was Key Lime pie. Ha! And now comes the Raspberry Pi 4, the newest Pi on the pi rack, my favorite Pi so far.

The new and amazing Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB) running Raspbian is my shack's main desktop computer.  CQRLOG software is now my go-to radio log, the FreeDV software is set up for digital HF, and Gpredict for satellite tracking. The Raspbian/Debian repositories have a Ham Radio package that includes a host of programs for amateur radio Linux users. Did I mention all of this open source software is free? Yup. Free.

Space TV

Of all the out-of-the-box things I can think of, this was not one of them - sending pictures via amateur radio from space to earth, especially when they originate from the International Space Station orbiting the earth at 19,000 mph!

Here are the results of my very first attempt with SSTV on August 3, 2019.

And the confirmation from ARISS.

How cool is that!

Are you experimenting with amateur radio? If not, why not.

DX vs. MMDVM

For a while now, its been a little tough to get regular DX the old-fashioned way. Aside from that, FT8 works fairly well on 20m, but that's not for everyone, and it pretty robotic and impersonal. There isn't enough people on HF DV like the FreeDV 1600 and 700D modes, so it's less than a thrill right now.

That being said, there is hope. There has been a tremendous increase of activity on the MMDVM front. With new gadgets hitting the market as fast as baby rabbits, even the Tech hams can now talk around the world, and on an HT to boot! Yeah, it's not like the traditional and personally rewarding "contacts" like we are used to, flexing our RF muscles in cunning and calculated ways, but the end result is the same. Hams talking to hams around the world, and how cool is that!

So my FT-991A isn't used quite as much right now for DX, but the FTM-400XDR and FT-70D are barking up a storm from my ZUMspot and a few connected Yaesu WIRES-X repeaters in the area. My favorites right now are America Link and MNWis. Ride the wave, baby! But if the internet goes down, make sure you are squared away in your own shack. Independence is highly rewarding!