H's Blog

Being frustrated by excruciatingly slow speed of Android Studio on Windows 7 on one of several of my beloved ThinkPad X201's, I switched to Ubuntu 18 as a trial. The laptop has 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM. I have had nothing but bad impression and experience of Ubuntu Unity so I was skeptical first. Ubuntu installation was smooth as it should except my SSD not being recognized by BIOS first right after removed the old HD and inserted a used SSD into it to the laptop's HD slot. I had to adjust the location of the SSD to fit into SATA port inside the laptop just right and it took some trial and error but the BIOS finally recognized it and the rest was very easy. After that, as I always do with Linux, I ran updates. I preferred Xubuntu before this, but this time, I really like just plain Ubuntu. Everything seems quick and the UI does not get into my nerve any more, and I rather like it. I installed Chromium browser, Android Studio, SDR# using Mono, gqrx, gnuradio, TeamViewer, Ora...

I have been interested in combining my knowledge of computer network and ham radio. I acquired 2 ICOM ID-1 23cm FM/D-Star transceivers in 2017 from eBay. It was not cheap even for used ones. Back then, Icom ID-1 was the only D-Star DD mode capable transceiver. DD mode allows TCP/IP communication via 1.2GHz radio wave. This year, Icom started selling IC-9700 which is V/UHF FM/D-Star radio in addition to 23cm coverage. According to D-Star repeater lists, only 23cm D-Star repeater in NYC area is K2DIG. I wanted to set up ID-1 to try out DD mode using K2DIG repeater to get a lightening fast (!)128kbps internet. I wanted to know the assigned IP address from D-Star admin server. I contacted NJ2DG which I registered my call sign with. They replied with the required info but they told me that K2DIG has been down for a while and 23cm repeater was down longer than that. I tried to connect to NJ2DG from my apartment but it was unsuccessful. In case anyone in Queens, NY area wanted ...

I have 3 used Dell Venue 11 Pros. 2 with 4GB RAM and 128GB HD. Another with 8GB and 256GB HD. Actually, I have 4th but this one broke after 30 days of purchase from eBay and I could not get my money back. I had nothing but trouble with one of these 3 usable ones. Its BIOS is password protected and its speaker was not working well. Some apps don't install. To remedy this, I tried to run Windows Update but it stops in the middle and does not complete. My last choice was to reinstall Windows 10. But because of BIOS lockup, I could not boot from DVD. I copied Win10 install files to the USB and tried to run setup.exe but it kept failing in the middle. I created Win10 install USB stick from Microsoft and run setup.exe from USB. This time it went through (I kept crossing my fingers during this ordeal) and what a relief after a few reboots when I saw a brand new Windows 10 introduction came up! After hours of installation effort, the tablet is like a brand new computer. Everything...

I was able to transmit video using ADALM PLUTO and DATV Express to a Satellite receiver. ADALM PLUTO is modified to transmit up to 6GHz. The software I used are DATV Express and vMix Basic. They are both free. DATV Express is beta so use at your own risk. The laptop is Acer Aspire Timeline X Core i7 with 8GB RAM. The receiver is a cheap DVB-S2 receiver from China. Nothing fancy. I cannot find any brand name or model number. I will not be able to upgrade to a newer firmware. I bought it for $21 from eBay. The wifi dongle came broken. That does not affect our project. But with wifi dongle, I can watch YouTube from this little box. The replacement is on the way from China. The antenna did not come with it. I borrowed one from USB TV tuner I had. This is the exact model as shown in these videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qknWQi54oCo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m290NR5pEfY&t=1121s Since I've never used satellite receiver before, finding the right settings for...

I was able to fix the video problem. I needed to add -thread_queue_size 1024 after -f alsa :~/gr-dvbt$ ffmpeg -re -thread_queue_size 1024 -i /dev/video0 -vcodec mpeg2video -f alsa -thread_queue_size 1024 -i hw:0,0 -acodec mp2 -s 320x240 -r 60 -b:v 2M -minrate:v 2M -maxrate:v 2M -bufsize:v 14M -ac 2 -b:a 48k -mpegts_transport_stream_id 1025 -mpegts_service_id 1 -mpegts_pmt_start_pid 0x0fff -mpegts_start_pid 0x0121  -muxrate 4524064 -f mpegts -y in.fifo Now the video is very smooth. Also, you can add your call sign.  ffmpeg -re -thread_queue_size 1024 -i /dev/video0 -vcodec mpeg2video -f alsa -thread_queue_size 1024 -i hw:0,0 -acodec mp2 -s 320x240 -r 60 -b:v 2M -minrate:v 2M -maxrate:v 2M -bufsize:v 14M -ac 2 -b:a 48k -mpegts_transport_stream_id 1025 -mpegts_service_id 1 -mpegts_pmt_start_pid 0x0fff -mpegts_start_pid 0x0121  -muxrate 4524064 -f mpegts -vf drawtext=fontfile=/usr/share/ fonts/truetype/freefont/ FreeSerif.ttf:text="CALLSIGN":x= 440:y=420:...

I just got my HackRF and was playing with it ever since. One of my interests is Digital Amateur TV. I was searching for solutions to do DATV using HackRF. Finally, I was able to test transmitting video via HackRF. I followed the following 2 sites and modified commands and dvbt-hackrf.py. 1. http://photohamrad.blogspot.com/2015/06/transmitting-video-with-hackrf-blue.html 2. https://irrational.net/2014/03/02/digital-atv/ I only tested on 441MHz. I will need to tweak on ffmpeg switches and python code to make the video smoother. Right now the video only shows the initial image and no movement. avconv may be better but I was not able to install it, so I used ffmpeg. My next challenge is to transmit in DVB-S2 and receive the video with Satellite set-top receiver. So far, I am not able to build dvb-s package. I also ordered Adalm Pluto from Arrow Electronics but they have not shipped it. Environment: Transmitter PC Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Core i5 CPU 4GB RAM Ubuntu Mate 18.04 H...

I was able to install macOS High Sierra on my Lenovo X220 8GB RAM 320GB HD by following this site. http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/ The performance is pretty good. I am writing this blog on the X220 running High Sierra. The only issues I had were: 1. Left mouse button causes double click - by using extra USB mouse, the problem can be avoided, or by turning off touchpad 2. Wifi - wifi card in the laptop does not work. - By using TP-Link TL-WN823N V2 with the macOS 10.12 driver on their support site, the Wifi started working. Wired ethernet port works fine without any modification. https://www.tp-link.com/us/download/TL-WN823N.html#Driver I installed Xcode,  Android Studio, Cubase Element 8, and VMWare Fusion. I needed to enable VT-D in BIOS to be able to run VMs. I installed Linux Mint and Windows 7 successfully. However, I am having a problem that VMs cannot get IPs from my DHCP server. Static IPs work fine. It could be my router at fault. I ordered a newer and faster route...

On 8/7 Monday night, I happened to swipe up ZenWatch display and noticed it said Android Wear Update available. I thought it's just another security update, so I said yes to upgrade. It started updating process but it did not look like ordinary security update. I let it run through the night, and it said Welcome to Wear 2, or something like that, I forgot exactly what it said. It wanted to copy Google profile from my Android phone to the watch so I said ok. It was Tuesday morning and It was taking too long and I had to leave to work I stopped the copying from the phone. I was afraid the watch won't function but it was working fine. After I came home, I copied Google profile to the watch. Impression? I have to use the physical button more than before and it's annoying. The menu structure changed and it's harder to reach to apps. The speed seems to be equal to the previous version. It's supposed to allow you to install apps from the watch but I haven't foun...

I got HRI-200. I set up Wires-X software and I am using FT817 as analog station. It took 3 days to receive Wires-X registration. Whenever somebody talks, FT817 turns itself off. Also, I can't hear anything from receiver. I can hear conversation from HRI200's monitor port (mono only). There is very little amount of information available as to how to build Wires-X  analog node. I am sure many people are using Analog nodes but nobody seems to be sharing the info. I gave up trying to use FT817 and bought FTM100. If it's Yaesu's plot to make people buy FTM100 or FTM400, they seem to have succeeded. Addition to the original post I bought FTM100 and setting digital node with it was very easy.

I passed the General Class Ham Radio license exam today. I mainly studied with this Japanese test prep application called "Extra yosei gips". http://walker.bikkuri.link/jh7bzr Out of 35 questions, there were only 2 that I was not sure of the answers but I knew all other questions and answers. Now I have access to all HF bands that I did not have with Technician class license. I need to add /AG call sign until FCC updates the database. Of course, Extra gives more but General is more than enough for now. People are asking "How long does it take for FCC to update the database after exam?" For me it is exactly 1 week. 

There is no binary available for ADSB# any more but if you have Visual Studio 2015 Community edition and get the source from https://github.com/cgommel/adsbsharp, you can build it. I am no expert on Visual Studio or programming in C#, but the built process went well without any issue. I am now running ADSB# along with ADSBScope to track airplanes. We are having big snow storm right now, but surprisingly, I saw 2 planes departing from LaGuardia.

I got my ham radio Technician class license on Monday 7/25/2016. It took a week after the exam for the FCC to process. Since there is no Morse code requirement, you do not have to be techie since all you need to do is remember questions and answers from question pools available online. Unless you really want to learn about technical details, you do not need to buy a textbook. FCC does not send a copy of license. You need to register on FCC site and you download a copy of your license as a pdf file. I will try to take General test sooner than I thought I would.

I was putting off upgrading my Dell Venue 8 Pro to Windows 10. I decided to try the upgrade and see if Windows 10 is any good on this tablet. 1. Took system backup in case something goes wrong.      Using Dell Backup and Recovery and 8GB USB stick, I did system backup.      It took about 1 hour. 2. Downloaded Windows 10 installer from Microsoft site. 3. Ran the installer - took about several hours      I chose to erase apps and personal files 4. Updated BIOS     Dell driver autodetect insisted on doing Firmware update but it always failed when doing         automatic update. I ran manually and the program complained there is already the same or newer     version of the driver installed. Caution: If you like Dell's default wallpaper on Venue Pro 8, I recommend backing up the wallpaper before upgrading. I forgot to back it up and ended up losing it. No...

Nord Modular Wizoo Book CD contents are available at http://electro-music.com/nm_classic/011_1_patches/George_Peter_Tutor/

It may be an usual industry practice but I had a strange experience. I bought a navy blazer on 6/22 at Jos. A Bank. It was $450 and it was a little expensive but I needed a jacket so I bought it without hesitation. But my wife told me it is too expensive and she convinced me to return it. They have 90 day return policy. I did not wear it because I did not want them to complain when I go to return. I went to Jos. A Bank on 6/29 and asked for refund. A guy was processing the return but he told me it's on sale and asked me if I would keep it if it were $135. I said if it is $135, I would keep it and I decided to keep it. If I did not go to return, I would have paid $450 full price. Why did not offer me the discount when I first went there? Just going back and trying to return made them discount more than half the price? It's a mystery. Or it happens all the time... A quick visit to their web site reveals that they are having 70% off online. That's exactly the price I ...

That's it! It's over. I deleted Late Show from my DVR timer. Never thought this time would come. For some people this might have been the day Johnny Carson left the Tonight Show but for me it's Dave. Well we knew it will be someday, but did not know this day comes this soon. Dave changed my life, even though he does not know it. Or does he know me? No. He did not change my life the way he did to Ray Romano or Norm MacDonald or many comedians or new music bands. I did not get rich thanks to Dave. I am not rich. He changed the way I see comedies. American comedies. The way Dave sees humor in real life. Not like recent dumb jokes these young people think funny. Intelligent humor. Something you have to think. I remember I was in his audience 4 times during 90's. Never saw his morning show (saw it only on YouTube). I watched Norm MacDonald's emotional last appearance on the show several times. That was exactly my sentiment. I didn't cry but I almost did. Many...

I went to see a Broadway show called "It's Only A Play" starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, F Murray Abraham (Antonio Salieri in Amadeus), and Stockard Channing. I am glad I saw these famous actors but I did not like the play. I am surprised how bad Matthew Broderick was. He was stiff and had no emotion or body movement. Maybe he got too fat to move. I thought it was director's intention and as the story moves on he would become more lively but that never happened. I liked him in "Ferris Beuller's Day Off" and "WarGames." How can you keep doing this stiff acting even after all reviews pointed out how bad his acting is? Obviously, he does not read reviews unlike the characters in the show. Nathan Lane was superb even with this dreadful scripts. I laughed some jokes. The guy sitting next to me left the theater after the first act. And he was with his wife, and his wife stayed till the end. The only real treasure is the newcomer, Micah S...

I have been a big fan of 2 Jazz piano legends, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. They performed together at Carnegie Hall last night. It was a great concert. They looked great. The seat was not great. They played about 7 songs. Don't remember exactly. They played Cantaloupe Island, Maiden Voyage and others. In the second song, they started off with synthesizers playing mainly sound effects and avant-garde type song which led to piano duet. Chick played Motif XF and Herbie's maybe Kronos? They played Spain for an encore. Audience played a part of chorus, and humming as usual. I could manage to take pics before the performance from my seat. The theater staff was very serious about stopping anyone taking pictures the entire time. On YouTube, there are two videos showing their performance in San Diego. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUj06Zw8sKM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_awCgtaLiew

A new version of Openstack RDO named Juno is supposed to be out today but I see no big announcement. I googled and found this article dated 10/5 about installing Juno.   http://cloudssky.com/en/blog/ RDO-OpenStack- Juno -ML2-VXLAN- 2-Node-Deployment-On-CentOS-7- With-Packstack/ It's recent enough, so I decided to try installing just following it. I used CentOS 7 as the article suggested. I created a VM under VMWare Workstation 10 and gave it 12GB RAM and 100GB HD. I ran the following: $ yum -y update $ yum install https://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/openstack/openstack-juno/rdo-release-juno-1.noarch.rpm $  vi /etc/sysconfig/selinux changed SELINUX=enforcing to SELINUX=permissive and installed packstack: $ yum install -y openstack-packstack followed by the following command to install the RDO AIO dist: $ packstack --allinone I have had nothing but errors installing Icehouse recently, so I was not sure if it would successfully install. After a...

I bought an HP ProBook 4430s from e-bay just to build a Hackintosh laptop. This laptop is known as one of the best Hackintosh-able laptops with very little modification to the hardware, according to the list here: http://www.macbreaker.com/2012/09/best-hackintosh-laptops-2012-mountain-lion.html I followed this page, which is the best site for any Hackintosh info: http://www.tonymacx86.com/hp-probook/77057-guide-installing-mountain-lion-hp-probook.html Getting the Mountain Lion Installation app was easy (from torrent). However, the OS is cheap so if you want to try, please buy it from App Store. Building a boot USB stick was not so easy. I have a White Macbook with Mac OS X Leopard. I tried to run Unibeast on it but the app fails every time it tried to write to the USB drive. Tried 3 times and always the same result. I almost gave up on it and I thought all I have is a useless 14 inch laptop. Then it occurred to me how about using the Mountain Lion VM I created on Shuttle DS61. ...