Zero Retries 0022
2021-12-07 Interview on FLOSS Weekly on Wednesday 2021-12-08 @ 09:30 Pacific
Advanced Amateur Radio - Data Communications; Space; Microwave… the fun stuff! The Universal Purpose of Ham Radio is to have fun messing around with radios - Bob Witte K0NR. Ultimately, amateur radio must prove that it is useful for society - Dr. Karl Meinzer DJ4ZC. We are confronted by insurmountable opportunities! - Pogo. Nothing great has ever been accomplished without irrational exuberance - Tom Evslin. Irrational exuberance is pretty much the business model of Zero Retries Newsletter - Steve Stroh N8GNJ.
Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor
Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor
In this issue:
Appearance on FLOSS Weekly Podcast on the TWiT.tv Network
Linux (Journal) and Hams
Join the Fun on Amateur Radio
Closing the Channel
***** Special Issue *****
Appearance on FLOSS Weekly Podcast on the TWiT.tv Network
Zero Retries 0023 will appear on Friday 2021-12-10 at 15:30 Pacific, as usual, including a wrapup of my FLOSS Weekly appearance.
I’m the guest on this week’s FLOSS Weekly podcast on the TWiT.tv Network. I’ll be appearing via Zoom. FLOSS Weekly streams live every Wednesday at 09:30 Pacific.
“TWiT” is “This Week in Tech” named for the show (still going…) by technology journalist Leo Laporte (who is also W6TWT) that launched the TWiT.tv empire. “FLOSS” is Free Libre Open Source Software.
I’ll be talking with host Doc Searls and co-host Jonathan Bennett KG5IAR about Amateur Radio in the 2020s and beyond. My intended theme for the discussion is generally what you’ve been reading about in the 22 previous issues of Zero Retries, especially the themes laid out in Zero Retries 0000; thus you Zero Retries readers have quite the head start over Doc and KG5IAR. Of course, they’re the host and co-host, so the discussion will follow their lead. Given the theme of the show, we’ll likely spend a lot of time discussing various open source projects in Amateur Radio.
I’ve known of Doc Searls for a very long time since reading his writing in Linux Journal (I have hardcopies of the first several years). Doc and I are members of a “community of thought” that stretches back two decades now, where I periodically mention the things I find interesting in Amateur Radio. So far, no conversions, but I’m patient :-) Doc has a tech background from being a very hands-on radio broadcaster, and is a lapsed Novice Amateur Radio Operator, long enough ago that he’s not in the FCC online database.
FLOSS Weekly (and all the other TWiT.tv shows) are streamed live as they’re being recorded - https://twit.tv/live. As with all podcasts, after editing and post-production, the interview will be available for later playback via your favorite podcast app, or on the FLOSS Weekly page.
Related - there’s also the late, great TWiT.tv show specifically about Amateur Radio called Ham Nation which ended on 2020-12-23 after 485 weekly episodes.
Linux (Journal) and Hams
Speaking of Linux Journal, as I was looking up some background info for tomorrow’s discussion, this interesting article from Linux Journal Issue 1 surfaced:
LJ 1: Linux and Hams
Miscellaneous
by Phil Hughes on March 1, 1994
If you are a ham, let me know and maybe include a short blurb about how/why you got involved in Linux. I think it could be interesting. I will post a summary and might even include the info in an upcoming issue of Linux Journal.
Rather than try to draw any conclusions I have decided to just post what people said. I think hams will find it interesting. Note that in the ham tradition I edited the signatures so they consist of the person's first name and ham call unless they didn't give me a call. Then I include the full name.
Assuming there are no objections (and enough space) I plan to reprint this in the March issue of Linux Journal. I think it helps tie Linux into another community. One who has traditionally been on the leading edge of both technology and spending as little money as possible. :-)
Any hams out there doing “ham stuff” with Linux and want to write an article about it for Linux Journal?
Apparently WA6SWR posted this on a mailing list that predated Linux Journal, and he received lots of interesting replies - see the link above.
Finally, my turn. I have been a ham for over 30 years and have always been on the experimenter end. Even build a remote base station when I was still in high school. I see Linux as another chance to experiment and hope to get Linux and ham packet plugged in together.-Phil WA6SWR
WA6SWR was the founder of Linux Journal. In the Seattle area, Linux Journal was especially beloved as it was founded there.
Fast forward sixteen years after Linux Journal’s debut, my friend Curt Mills WE7U, Laura Shaffer Mills (WE7U’s sister), and I took Phil up on his offer of “… write an article about it for Linux Journal” - Xastir - Open-Source Client for the Automatic Packet Reporting System.
Join the Fun on Amateur Radio
If you’re not yet licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator, and would like to join the fun by literally having a license to experiment with radio technology, here are some pointers:
Ham Radio for Dummies by Ward Silver N0AX is now in its 4th edition. N0AX is a gifted writer, and HRFD is a great overview of Amateur Radio.
My favorite YouTube channel for a good overview of Amateur Radio, the one I recommend is AmateurLogic.TV. These folks just seem to have so much fun!
Dan Romanchik KB6NU offers free PDF versions of his great No-Nonsense Study Guides.
HamExam.org Amateur Radio Practice Exams offers good Flash Card and Practice Exams.
When you’re ready to take an Amateur Radio examination (Tech, General, or Extra), W1MX - The MIT Amateur Radio Society offers remote exams, free for students and youngsters. There are apparently many other remote exam options.
And, bonus - with an Amateur Radio license, you’ll be more attractive on dates 😀
Closing the Channel
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Please tell your friends and co-conspirators about Zero Retries - just click:
Offering feedback or comments for Zero Retries is equally easy - and yes, you guessed it… just click:
Email issues of Zero Retries are “instrumented” by Substack to gather basic statistics about opens, clicking links, etc. I don’t use such information in any way other than (in the absence of much feedback) getting some satisfaction that the data shows that people actually do read Zero Retries.
All previous issues of Zero Retries are available without restriction (no paywalls). For some background on Zero Retries, Issue 0000 was The Introduction Issue.
More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:
SuperPacket blog - Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications - beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog - Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs in Bellingham, Washington, USA
Thanks for reading!
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Bellingham, Washington, USA
2021-12-07
If you’d like to reuse an article in this issue, for example for club or other newsletters, just ask. Please provide credit for the content to me and any other authors.
Portions Copyright © 2021 by Steven K. Stroh.
Blanket permission granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).
Below is a much more complete “footer” that has evolved over 30+ issues of ZR.
Join the Fun on Amateur Radio
If you’re not yet licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator, and would like to join the fun by literally having a license to experiment with radio technology, here are some pointers:
Ham Radio for Dummies by Ward Silver N0AX is a great overview of Amateur Radio. N0AX is a gifted writer and HRFD is now in its 4th edition.
My two favorite YouTube channels for a good overview of Amateur Radio are AmateurLogic.TV. and Ham Nation (part of Ham Radio Crash Course). These folks just seem to have so much fun!
Radio Amateur Training Planning and Activities Committee (RATPAC) offers weekly presentations on general Amateur Radio topics (Wednesdays) and emergency communications in Amateur Radio (Thursdays).
Dan Romanchik KB6NU offers a free No-Nonsense Study Guide for the Technician test (PDF).
HamExam.org Amateur Radio Practice Exams offers good Flash Card and Practice Exams.
When you’re ready to take an Amateur Radio examination (Tech, General, or Extra), W1MX - The MIT Amateur Radio Society offers remote exams, free for students and youngsters. There are apparently many other remote exam options.
Bonus - with an Amateur Radio license, you’ll be more attractive on dates 😀
Closing the Channel
In its mission to grow Amateur Radio and make it more relevant to society in the 2020s and beyond, Zero Retries is published via email and web, and is available to anyone at no cost. Zero Retries is proud not to participate in the Amateur Radio Publishing Industrial Complex!
My ongoing Thanks to Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything and Bill Vodall W7NWP as Zero Retries Instigator in Chief.
My ongoing Thanks to pseudostaffers Dan Romanchik KB6NU and Jeff Davis KE9V for continuing to spot, and write about “Zero Retries Interesting” type items, on their respective blogs, from Amateur Radio and beyond, that I don’t spot on my own.
Southgate Amateur Radio News consistently surfaces “Zero Retries Interesting” stories.
The Substack email publishing platform makes Zero Retries possible. I recommend it for publishing newsletters.
If you see something interesting mentioned in Zero Retries and would like to search all the Zero Retries “Back Issues”, that’s now easy - just click:
If you’re reading this issue on the web and you’d like to see Zero Retries in your email Inbox every Friday afternoon, just click:
If you’re a fellow smart person that uses RSS, there is an RSS feed for Zero Retries.
Zero Retries is on Twitter @ZeroRetries - just click:
Please tell your friends and co-conspirators about Zero Retries - just click:
Offering feedback or comments for Zero Retries is equally easy; yes, you guessed it… just click:
Email issues of Zero Retries are “instrumented” by Substack to gather basic statistics about opens, clicking links, etc. I don’t use such information in any way other than seeing that most subscribers actually do read Zero Retries.
All previous issues of Zero Retries are available without restriction (no paywalls). For some background, Zero Retries 0000 was the Introduction Issue. Zero Retries 0026and Zero Retries 0027 were a 2021 Year End Review of Zero Retries.
More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:
SuperPacket blog - Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications - beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog - Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs - Bellingham, Washington, USA
Thanks for reading!
Steve Stroh N8GNJ (He / Him)
These bits were handcrafted in beautiful Bellingham, Washington, USA
If you’d like to reuse an article in this issue, for example for club or other newsletters, just ask. Please provide credit for the content to me and any other authors.
All excerpts from other authors are intended to be fair use.
Portions Copyright © 2021-2022 by Steven K. Stroh.
Blanket permission granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).