Walt Mankowski via plug on 6 Oct 2023 12:49:32 -0700


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Re: [PLUG] PLUG Central - "General Discussion" - radio software

On Fri, Oct 6, 2023, at 2:25 PM, jeffv via plug wrote:


On 10/5/23 21:06, Walt Mankowski via plug wrote:

> on. We also had a fun discussion of amateur radios and how to get
> Linux to talk to them, along with a bunch of other topics.

I'm a shortwave listener, as well as scanner. This area and linux only 
occasionally mix, from what I've seen. Many scanner apps were for Win 
XP, causing people to use an ancient XP box to run them. Then you had to 
add ports for anything above 2 scanners (port cards in pc's).

It is my understanding that all of the radios are proprietary in terms 
of programming, requiring different control software or software that 
already 'knows about' specific scanners (Windows). Last I checked, there 
was a TCL/Tk app to run the Bearcat 780. It was more of a display than 
control software.

“Programming” is kind of a loaded term with radios. When most amateur radio operators talk about “programming” radios, they usually mean adding stations into the memory of their radios. This can be a fairly complex process, especially for repeaters, since you need to encode transmit and receive frequencies as well as PL codes. You can usually do this on your phone, but it can be very tedious, so there is software to make it easier. The most common open source app for programming radios is called CHIRP. While there are a few radios that require proprietary software to program, CHIRP supports the vast majority of radios and runs fine on both Linux and macOS.

Software to use radios can be hit and miss on Linux. There’s a great open source program called “fldigi” for doing all sorts of “digital modes” on your radio. It treats your radio as a modem and can encode/decode text and images depending on the protocol. I can’t really comment on shortwave (or what hams call HF) because I don’t have any radios or antennas that can support it yet. In general there’s a lot more software available for Windows than Linux, but there might well be something that does what you’re interested in.

My SWL box has tubes, so I don't think there's a programming interface. 
The slightly newer one doesn't have it either. I guess you were talking 
about specific ham rig software.

We were mainly talking about a piece of hardware called digirig which makes your radio look like a sound card to your computer, and also has support for push-to-talk (PTT). It connects to the radio via the two-pronged port most HTs seem to have. It supports send, receive, and PTT, but it doesn’t have any ability to change the frequency so it’s probably not what you want to use as a scanner.


Sorry I missed it. Please update me if there's anything new available. Tks.
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___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug