{"id":123,"date":"2017-11-01T23:04:09","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T06:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/?p=123"},"modified":"2017-12-10T11:20:36","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T19:20:36","slug":"being-a-ham-means-figuring-things-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2017\/11\/being-a-ham-means-figuring-things-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Being a Ham Means Figuring Things Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

A setback day today, as I finally received a USB audio cable for my attempts to use fldigi<\/a> with my mac laptop (one of the few SDR programs that works on macOS). I was so looking forward to CQ’ing on my available bands with CW in an automated sense, but no luck.<\/p>\n

The USB audio cable I ordered (manufactured in Greece, no less), doesn’t seem to work. It is quite frustrating to wait forever for the requisite parts only for me to once again face the world of failure and non-support on Apple Mac computers.<\/p>\n

The ham software world is very driven by Windows software, something hams really need to change. For the most part, most hams I talk to are using old versions of Windows, and rarely know much about computers– a direct opposite of my life. Had I the desktop software skills, I would totally try to port many of these apps available to the Mac realm.<\/p>\n

So today has been a setback on several ham fronts: CW was a hard study today, I found the bands empty when searching, and now my foray into digital modes has been halted by technology.<\/p>\n

But, I am not despairing (too much). Part of being a ham is persistence in the face of a problem. Trying different ways and different configurations until you get the setup right and are able to talk to others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A setback day today, as I finally received a USB audio cable for my attempts to use fldigi with my mac laptop (one of the few SDR programs that works on macOS). I was so looking forward to CQ’ing on my available bands with CW in an automated sense, but no luck. The USB audio cable I ordered (manufactured in Greece, no less), doesn’t seem to work. It is quite frustrating to wait forever for the requisite parts only for me to once again face the world of failure and non-support on Apple Mac computers. The ham software world is very driven by Windows software, something hams really need to… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[29,15,23,19],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cw","category-digital","tag-cw","tag-digital","tag-hf","tag-learning"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9naFX-1Z","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":500,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2018\/05\/cw-and-ft8-and-psk-oh-my\/","url_meta":{"origin":123,"position":0},"title":"CW and FT8 and PSK, oh my!","author":"AD6DM","date":"May 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In the past month, I've finally unblocked my antenna issues and made great strides in the digital realm of ham radio. Using the PreciseRF HG-1 magnetic loop antenna along with my RigExpert AA-600 to get the lowest possible SWR, I have found that I can get out to virtually all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reverse Beacon Network for AD6DM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-22-at-11.30.24-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-22-at-11.30.24-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-22-at-11.30.24-PM.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2017\/10\/ham-code-guide\/","url_meta":{"origin":123,"position":1},"title":"Ham Code Guide","author":"kf6ujs","date":"October 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Spurred by the previous post, I'm using the Koch method for learning Morse code (CW). I'm attaching here a document I made back when I first became a ham in 1999 that is a quick reference for prosigns and Q-Codes. Morse is also there, but I do not recommend CW\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CW"","block_context":{"text":"CW","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/cw\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":715,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2019\/01\/build-your-own-dmr-dstar-fusion-hotspot-for-cheap\/","url_meta":{"origin":123,"position":2},"title":"Build Your Own DMR\/DStar\/Fusion Hotspot for CHEAP","author":"AD6DM","date":"January 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In an effort to get more people on digital ham radio easily, I posted a video about how to put together your own multi-mode digital voice hotspot device very inexpensively, and with little effort. I have put together several of these and the work pretty well. Kind of like an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digital"","block_context":{"text":"Digital","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/digital\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1219,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2021\/10\/ad6dm-10-vhf-winlink-rms-gateway-is-on-the-air\/","url_meta":{"origin":123,"position":3},"title":"AD6DM-10 VHF Winlink RMS Gateway is on the Air","author":"AD6DM","date":"October 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Winlink RMS Gateway AD6DM-10 is up, and serving the ham community. After collecting parts of this system for a few weeks, it is operational on 145.630 MHz in CM98hj. It is comprised of: An Alinco DR-135T VHF 2 meter transceiver set to 20 watts power An Arrow OSJ J-Pole up\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2021\/10\/ad6dm-10-vhf-winlink-rms-gateway-is-on-the-air\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"A non-branded mini-PC windows computer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/IMG_2151-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":684,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2018\/12\/projects-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":123,"position":4},"title":"Projects 2018","author":"AD6DM","date":"December 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This past year was an eventful ham radio one. As I begin to look ahead to goals and daydreams of 2019, it's always good to not expect the past to be the norm, but to take a moment and appreciate all the stuff that's happened good and bad. Thinking back,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Elmer"","block_context":{"text":"Elmer","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/elmer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Southwest_050216.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Southwest_050216.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Southwest_050216.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1014,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2020\/08\/podcast-is-live\/","url_meta":{"origin":123,"position":5},"title":"Podcast is Live","author":"AD6DM","date":"August 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a weird journey toward making a podcast. I never really thought about doing one, after all, what would I talk about? I had a hard enough time making videos I was genuinely interested in. But I did have a problem: My PC Speakers were picking up errant noise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/podcast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"R\u00d8DECaster Pro","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_7795-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}