Amateur radio
Amateur radio, known colloquially as ham radio, is the recreational use of radio as a social medium over frequencies specifically licensed for amateur (ham) use. The hobby embraces many technical aspects from unpowered crystal radio kits to digital and satellite communication.
The influence of ham radio on the information age is hard to overstate: early computer clubs, with home built kit computers were often appendages of a larger ham radio club in the 1970's. Later, home-based satellite television emerged from the tinkering of ham radio operators in the 1980's. Packet radio, pioneered among hams in the late 1970's and early 1980's directly lead to modern wireless networking and the digital mobile phone networks of the modern age. From the 1990's through to the present advances in voice and data compression have been made by radio amateurs further developing digital communication modes.
Ham Radio Software on Gentoo
Ham radio software runs the gamut from tools for programming radios, to contact logging software, to trainers for learning Morse Code, to tools for facilitating satellite communication and more!
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| adifmerg | media-radio/adifmerg | A small conversion and check utility for ADIF files. |
| ax25-apps | media-radio/ax25-apps | Basic AX.25 (Amateur Radio) user tools, additional daemons. |
| ax25-tools | media-radio/ax25-tools | Basic AX.25 (Amateur Radio) administrative tools and daemons. |
| chirp | media-radio/chirp | A free, open-source tool for programming your radio. |
| cqrlog | media-radio/cqrlog | CQRLOG is an advanced ham radio logger based on MySQL database. |
| cwdaemon | media-radio/cwdaemon | A morse daemon for the parallel or serial port. |
| direwolf | media-radio/direwolf | Decoded Information from Radio Emissions for Windows Or Linux Fans. |
| dxcc | media-radio/dxcc | A ham radio callsign DXCC lookup utility. |
| flamp | media-radio/flamp | Fldigi helper for transferring files. |
| fldigi | media-radio/fldigi | Sound card based multimode software modem for Amateur Radio use. |
| flmsg | media-radio/flmsg | Fldigi helper for creating radiograms. |
| flrig | media-radio/flrig | Transceiver control program for Amateur Radio use. |
| fsync-mdc1200-decode | media-radio/fsync-mdc1200-decode | Linux Fleetsync / MDC1200 decoder. |
| gpredict | media-radio/gpredict | Real-time satellite tracking and orbit prediction application. |
| grig | media-radio/grig | A tool for controlling amateur radios. |
| ibp | media-radio/ibp | Shows currently transmitting beacons of the International Beacon Project (IBP). |
| js8call | media-radio/js8call | Weak signal ham radio communication. |
| kochmorse | media-radio/kochmorse | Morse-code tutor using the Koch method. |
| qrq | media-radio/qrq | Yet another CW trainer for Linux/Unix. |
| qsstv | media-radio/qsstv | Amateur radio SSTV software. |
| svxlink | media-radio/svxlink | Multi Purpose Voice Services System, including Qtel for EchoLink. |
| tlf | media-radio/tlf | Console-mode amateur radio contest logger. |
| tqsl | media-radio/tqsl | ARRL Logbook of the World. |
| tucnak | media-radio/tucnak | Amateur Radio VHF Contest Logbook. |
| unixcw | media-radio/unixcw | Collection of programs that fit together to form a Morse code tutor program. |
| wsjtx | media-radio/wsjtx | Weak signal ham radio communication. |
| xastir | media-radio/xastir | X Amateur Station Tracking and Information Reporting. |
| xdx | media-radio/xdx | a GTK+ TCP/IP DX-cluster and ON4KST chat client. |
| xlog | media-radio/xlog | An amateur radio logging program. |
| xwxapt | media-radio/xwxapt | GTK+ linux weather satellite APT image decoder software. |
External resources
- American Radio Relay League: National Association for Amateur Radio.
- National Traffic System 2.0: The ARRL's NTS modernization effort.
- Radio Relay International: a similar effort to modernize NTS traffic handling.
- OpenHam.Wiki: an open repository of all things amateur radio.
- Signal Identification Wiki: a repository of information to aid in signal identification.
- Winlink: worldwide email over ham radio frequencies.