What Amateur Radio Apps do YOU use?

Started by White Tiger, October 02, 2012, 10:01:36 PM

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White Tiger

Here are the iPhone apps I've found:

Ham I Am - Included in this app you get: Phonetic Alphabet, Q-Signals, Ham Jargon, Morse Code, Best Practices, AARL Stuff, and Electrical info (Electrical Units, Power Thresholds & Formulas)

Morse2Text - A CW practice program. You can set the rate for the wpm you want to type at and tap away...or you can type a message using the keyboard and have the app convert it into what your message is supposed to sound like.

Antenna - this is actually the USMC Antenna Manual!? Not sure why it isn't listed that way...but it has EVERYTHING the Marine Corps has to teach on antennas! I'd list all the sub-headers but it would fill the page - lets just say that if you need to know something about antenna's, if you ever wondered what the best antenna would be, regardless of whether it's for HF/UHF/VHF/Satellite...expedients, farms...whatever - it's here!

HamAntCal - simple antenna calculator program. Enter the type of antenna you're using, then enter the frequency you want to work, and it will calculate the length of legs, etc.,

Call Sign - this uses the USL database to locate the location of any Ham call sign you enter.

SSTV - (Slow Scan TeleVision) take any transmitted signal - hold the phone up to the speaker - and it will display the image being transmitted!

Ham - has a PSK reporter function, a link to QRZ, and a Solar Terrestrial Data info center (i.e., Solar Flux Number, A Index, K Index, X-Ray, Sun Spot count...

WaveGuide - HF Propagation conditions - supports DX Watch & Reverse Beacon Network.

And because I am studying for the exam this Saturday - I have the AARL Practice Exam Prep apps for the Tech, General, and Extra classes.

So, what do you have, and why?
If you're looking for me, you're probably looking in the wrong place.

gil

Ham Morse on iPod, Fldigi on the Mac. Aether for logging.
See my post in "Antennas" about magnetic loops for software..
Spectrogram to align my K1, K2, and other kits.

I wouldn't touch Windows with a ten foot pole..

Gil.

raybiker73

iOS apps:

Amateur Radio Exam Prep: Extra (and General and Technician) - I used these to prep for the Tech and General exams, and am currently prepping for the Extra exam.

Ham Morse - this is absolutely the best app around for learning CW

Ham Radio Reference - it's nothing you can't find in books or online, but it's convenient to have it all in one easily-accessible place.

Morse Pad and Morse Decoder - these are cheap and actually work pretty well

I also have the repeater search directory at http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/ saved to my iPhone home screen, as it's very convenient when traveling.

OS X apps:

MacLoggerDX - the absolute best all-around ham radio app for the Mac.
          http://www.dogparksoftware.com/MacLoggerDX.html

MultiMode - all-in-one program for digital modes on OS X
          http://tinyurl.com/multimodemac

FLDigi - digital modem application (just got this and haven't played with it much yet).
          http://www.w1hkj.com/Fldigi.html

I like to maintain a Windows-free lifestyle. Ham Radio Deluxe is of course the most popular and well-known ham radio app, but it's a Windows app. It will work on the Mac in a VM using Shackbox, though, so I might try that sometime:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoFDYAeoBMk

White Tiger

#3
Thanks RayBiker73 - Gil & I recently discussed Ham Morse - but I had forgotten to download it...so thanks for reminding me!

Gil, what open source/Linux type "ham" related stuff do you run (if any)?
If you're looking for me, you're probably looking in the wrong place.

gil

QuoteGil, what open source/Linux type "ham" related stuff do you run (if any)?

Hi Tim, I have Fldigi on my laptop. I am sure there are more, I just haven't looked much, since I have been using my Mac mostly these last few months...

Gil.

piggybankcowboy

#5
Here's an interesting one that I was going to post about in the apps thread that I started, once I have a chance to test it.

Serval Mesh: http://www.servalproject.org/

Link to the app on the Play Market: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.servalproject&hl=en

I grabbed it awhile ago, but it was REALLY under-developed at the time, and me and a friend could not get it to work while standing 100 feet apart. That was about 8 or 9 months ago, so I'm not sure how much progress has been made, but I can try to test it out again this weekend and report back to you guys.

As far as I know, it's Android only right now, but I could be totally wrong on that. Not seeing anything come up in a quick search, though.

Edit to add: by the way, back when I first tested it, first thing I noticed was that it absolutely murders your battery. That was on an HTC Thunderbolt and a Droid Eris at the time.

White Tiger

#6
PBC - Serval certainly seems interesting - but without the infrastructure of microwave antenna systems - would our phone range would be limited by power, resonance, and bandwidth?

It sounds like a very interesting idea - and I like the idea of using a distributed network (or at least as much as a non-information technology guy who learned about the topic via Michael Crichton) to leap-frog from phone to phone - but the way I read the current state from the website: it would turn your phone into a low-power, tight bandwidth, kind of walkie talkie....?

I have to admit though if you could find a way to leap from cell to cell - everything you would need to have would be in place. But the leap-frogging seems like it would slow the whole process down - just to call across town - it would seem that calling across country or to another country would be impossible...right?

Cool idea judges the app, but do we have the technology to make that work?
If you're looking for me, you're probably looking in the wrong place.

Gambrinus

Good thread!

I use RepeaterBook.  Nice little app to show you the repeaters with pl codes in the area you?re in.

Mitch

I've checked out a bunch of different apps. The two I use the most are Ham Radio Deluxe (digimodes and control) and CHIRP (for channel programming).

What I use even more than those are utilities to store and view .pdf files on my Android phone. I use Adeo File Manager to surf files on my phone.

It is so handy to have a HAM library on my belt. CFR 47, ARRL bandplans, manuals, Q-codes, personal notes, channel frequencies (in case I accidentally mess up my radio), buddipole/stick cheat sheets, antenna equations, WINLINK instructions, the list is endless!

Jonas Parker


piggybankcowboy

Quote from: White Tiger on October 04, 2012, 01:51:03 AM
PBC - Serval certainly seems interesting - but without the infrastructure of microwave antenna systems - would our phone range would be limited by power, resonance, and bandwidth?...

...it would seem that calling across country or to another country would be impossible...right?


As I understand the inner workings of the app, yes, you'd be limited by the phone's power, etc.  I don't have it installed right now (new phone) but on the old phone, we were testing it between two identical models (HTC Thunderbolt's) and could not get the darned thing to work. However, I did see some folks on Reddit who had it working okay, so I suspect it had something to do with the phone models we were using (after all, third party apps are never guaranteed to work on all models).

Last I checked, these guys are developing this for the purposes of emergencies in the Australian Outback, so there might be something to be said their about the ambition of the distances they think these phones are capable of. Unfortunately, I know very little about the actual hardware of modern smart phone. I'm really more of a software guy when it comes to tech in general.

White Tiger

Quote from: Mitch on October 04, 2012, 10:19:43 AM
I've checked out a bunch of different apps. The two I use the most are Ham Radio Deluxe (digimodes and control) and CHIRP (for channel programming).

What I use even more than those are utilities to store and view .pdf files on my Android phone. I use Adeo File Manager to surf files on my phone.

It is so handy to have a HAM library on my belt. CFR 47, ARRL bandplans, manuals, Q-codes, personal notes, channel frequencies (in case I accidentally mess up my radio), buddipole/stick cheat sheets, antenna equations, WINLINK instructions, the list is endless!

Mitch - excellent apps! Thanks for the insight!

I saw an app that will convert the iPhone into an oscillator...anyone ever used it?

Also, I wonder if you could design an app for a field analyzer, utilizing the wifi reader of your iPone/Android phone?
If you're looking for me, you're probably looking in the wrong place.