Join us at C&J BBQ on the bend in Texas Avenue, Bryan, TX at 11:30. Go through the line and purchase some food and join us in their meeting room. We’ll have time to eat, fellowship and a brief business meeting. We’ll also make some time to talk a bit about the year to come.

4244 Boonville RD, Bryan, TX

https://goo.gl/maps/Qd43EjjZCk4CTF8j7

• Pi-Hole: A small computer to block web advertisements on your home network.
• APRS I-Gate: Program your Raspberry Pi to transfer APRS packets from your to/from your radio and the Internet.
• GQRX: A small computer host for your USB software-defined receiver.
• Requirements
  • Pi
    • Pi-ZEROW: A single-core machine for simple things like Pi-Hole. Often available for $5 on sale.
    • PI-3B+ A multi-core, fully-featured Pi, usually $35.
    • PI-4 This is the latest realease. Not all features are complete and it might require cooling to be reliable.
    • MicroSD card (32GB)
    • Power supply. Don’t cheap-out here and try to use your old cellphone charger. Get a higher-current model that has the correct connector for your Pi.
  • Operating system
    • Start at http://www.raspberrypi.org and look in the downloads section.
    • Raspbian is good. NOOBS is simpler but doesn’t expose all the features. Others exist, for example, Buster.
    • You’ll need a software tool to put the operating system on your SD memory card. If you are running Windows, Win32diskimager is a popular application.
• Pi-Hole: Utilizes a Rapberry Pi to pull advertising out of your web browsing! Read the documentation here
  • Get the software from github, here.
  • Paul recommends using these commands on your Raspberry Pi to install:
    • git clone –depth 1 https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole.git Pi-hole
    • cd “P1-hole/automated install/”
    • sudo bash basic-install.sh
• APRS IGATE
  • Another good use for the Raspberry PiZero-W
  • Prebuilt images can be found here.
  • Paul has additional experience with this if you have questions.
• GQRX
  • You probably need to be running this on a Raspberry Pi 4 because it is processor intensive.
  • The software is actually available through the normal raspbian installer. Click on Preferences–>Add/Remove software and search for GQRX.
  • Paul recommends the Nooelec tuners, such as the NESDR SMArt4 v4 because of their shielded aluminum cases and temperature-stabilized oscillators. Look around the site and check their specifications for a tuning range, etc. that meets your needs.
• Questions? paul@conspiracy.net
• Thanks again to Paul Bilke for giving us some ideas.

If you can make it to our dinner social this week, we’d love to see you there.

Time:  18:30  This Thursday 26 September.

Place:  J. Cody’s Steaks & Barbeque

Where to buy amateur radio equipment and supplies?

Ham Radio Outlet One of their 13 stores is in Plano, TX

Universal Radio

GigaParts

Main Trading Company

Texas Towers They also have a location in Plano, TX

The Wireman

RadioShack

ISP Supplies (Not amateur radio but, they have a lot of tower, mast and antenna hardware. And, a location in College Station!

Amateur Radio Supplies

Ham City

DX Engineering

R&L Electronics

Grapevine Amateur Radio

Pacific Antenna

QRP Labs

Antique Electronic Supply

Surplus Sales of Nebraska

Electronic Parts Outlet

KF7P Metalwerks

• Coupled Resonator antenna:  QST, June, 2017
• Coaxial trap dipole antenna:  http://degood.org/coaxtrap/
• Buddipole Antennas:  http://www.buddipole.com/
• Open-Stub J-pole: http://www.arrowantennas.com/osj/j-pole.html
• Pipetenna:  https://shop.heathkit.com/shop/product/vhf-uhf-stealth-antenna-kit-amateur-radio-2m-440-an-p2l-pipetennatm-10?category=30
• Tree Antenna, QST, November, 1995
• Flagpole antenna:  https://zerofive-antennas.com/productdisplay/30-foot-10-80-meter-high-performance-commercial-duty-flagpole-antenna
• N6CC stealth antennas:  http://www.n6cc.com/tactical-antenna-systems#
• Slot antenna:  http://w6nbc.com/articles/2016-03QSTdishslot.pdf
• MFJ Magnetic Loop
• HF Antennas by Dave Land, KD5FX:  http://www.bvarc.org/pdf/HF_Antennas_by_KD5FX.pdf

For those of you who are interested in DMR amateur radio, here’s the latest edition of the Amateur Radio Guide to Digital Mobile Radio.

• Field Day is this Weekend!
  • You won’t want to miss the fun:
  • If you’d like to help with Field Day setup this Saturday, start time is at 08:00 CDT at Brian Bachmann Park.
  • Radio operations start at 13:00 CDT.
  • You can let us know when you can be there to make contacts for the event using one of several stations.  This poll uses an online polling service called Doodle.  Just click on this link https://doodle.com/poll/fzxp9mgq7af6ap7y and enter your name or call sign in the “Enter your name” field.  After that, choose the times you will be there to help operate our radio positions.
  • VE Testing at 15:00 CDT.
  • Dinner at 18:00 CDT
    • Smoked brisket and beans
    • Side dishes and desserts, pot luck; bring something to share!
    • Tickets are $10 and available at the door.
  • Prize drawings after dinner.
  • We always need plenty of help disassembling and stowing Field Day equipment.  Stop by Brian Bachmann Park at 13:00 this Sunday and lend a hand.  The more the better.