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 Previous: Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act Reintroduced in US House |  Next: Concert Pianist-Ham's 700-Mile Run to Benefit Cancer Research |
By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor
February 14, 2003
This week, let's explore what is new in the ham radio world
of
Mac OS X is unlike any previous version of the Macintosh operating system. It is so different that software written for previous versions will not run on Mac OS X (by the way, the X in Mac OS X is a Roman numeral 10, not the letter X). Sure, there's the Classic mode in which Mac OS X loads Mac OS version 9.x when it detects that you are trying to run old software, but that is like buying a horse that you can't ride because your saddle only fits your old pony, so you end up riding your pony.
 NI5V's Hams and X Web page is a cornucopia of the latest Macintosh OS X ham radio applications. |
Lots of folks who write Mac software have rewritten their old software so that it will run on Mac OS X. And other folks have written brand new software to take advantage of Mac OS X and its Open Source, UNIX-based foundation. And some of the rewritten and brand new software are Amateur Radio applications.
The trouble is finding new Mac ham apps in this DOS/Windows-centric ham world. To solve this dilemma, Steve Muncy, NI5V, has built the Hams and X Web page that he has dedicated solely to Amateur Radio software that runs under Mac OS X (not Classic), X Windows (Darwin, X11), or Java and is in a usable state (not preliminary alpha or beta software). The Web site is new, but already it is filling up with links to a variety of applications that fall into the following categories: antennas and transmission lines, APRS /data communications/TNC, DX/DX clusters, EME/satellites, licensing/tutoring, logging, and utilities. Some of the highlights include a freeware PSK-31 program, a logging program that also combs the Internet for DX hot spots and a control program for the Elecraft K2.
Now, I am an admitted Mac ham radio aficionado of long standing and there were a lot of applications on Steve's Web page that were new to me and that I will be obtaining as fast as my mouse can click on the download button. So, if you are a ham with a Mac, be sure to check out this Web page.
Until next time, keep on surfin'.
Editor's note:
Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, resides in downtown Wolcott, Connecticut, and is a member
of the QQCC (QST quarter century club), i.e., he has been a QST writer for 25
years. Since getting his ticket in 1969, Stan has sampled nearly every entrée
in the Amateur Radio menu (including a stint as Connecticut Section Manager),
but he keeps coming back to his favorite preoccupations: VHF and packet radio.
As a result, he runs a 2-meter APRS digipeater and weather station (WA1LOU-15)
from his mountaintop location in central Connecticut. Stan has been a long time
advocate of using computers with Amateur Radio and wrote programs to dupe
contests and calculate antenna bearings way back in 1978. Today, he is on the
board of directors of the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR) and uses his Mac
to surf the Internet searching for that perfect ham radio web page. To contact
Stan, send e-mail to wa1lou@arrl.net.
| Previous: Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act Reintroduced in US House | Next: Concert Pianist-Ham's 700-Mile Run to Benefit Cancer Research |
