GPS fun, New Windows 11 machine, HTCommander, Winter s#cks and Code Copy Speed

GPS Fun:

One of the things that HTCommander doesn't do is provide my VR-N7500 with a GPS position. It needs a position in order to start beaconing. The radio does not have a built in GPS chip, so it has to be provided by some other means. I am hoping this feature could be provided by the HTCommander app.

So I decided to see what it would take to get GPS on my computer. I found this GPS dongle on Amazon. I plugged it in and said "Now what?" I expected something to happen, but nothing. So I went spelunking on Google and found this program: VisualGPSView. It is freeware and is very useful for understanding GPS. For less than $20 it is a great learning aid.

It turns out the GPS dongle provides GPS data in a  NMEA 0183  ASCII serial format. If you want to get a copy of this standard it will cost you a minimum of  $1,500 but no need, there is plenty of free info on this standard available. The link above is a Wikipedia page that tells you all you need to know.

GPS Dongle blinks green when it transfer GPS position to the computer.

Below are screen shot from the VisualGPSView.

Front panel status

 

Scatter plot

Position plot

NMEA Data

I was surprised as to how many GPS satellites there are in orbit. I guess it would not be too hard to integrate this dongle into an app.

New Windows 11 Machine:

Well, my "old" Alienware R6 was crashing more frequently and since it can't be upgraded to Windows 11, I decide to bite the bullet and buy a new computer. 

I am not a big fan of Windows 11 and I feel like BIG BROTHER is getting too much involved with my computer and what I am doing with it. If only more people wrote more programs for Linux I would ditch Windows.

So far almost every program I use runs Windows 11. The only app that didn't run was JTAlertV2. I had to disable the Smart APP Control.

HTCommander:

I have been doing more testing on this APP. Unfortunately version 0.44 does not run on my Window 11 machine, so I have keep my Windows 10 machine running 0.44 to allow me to do some A/B comparison.

One feature that I have been exploring is the speech to text.  It is interesting(funny) as to how it translate some words. Such as icicles to icecoats. I suppose it has it uses.

Winter s#cks:

I have lived in New England area almost all my life. The only exception is my years in the service. This winter has been especially bad. Both December and January were colder then normal. There has been a lot of snow to go along with it. A lot or 3 to 5 inch storms, a two footer, today was a very wet 5 inch storm and Sunday into Monday a major Nor'easter of 12 to 18 inches. I hope we don't lose power on Monday. One bonus, The town took down FIVE diseased Ash trees in front of my house this year, so I don't have to worry about a tree coming down on the wires or my house.

That is my OCF dipole covered in wet snow.

Code Copy Speed:

I have been working on my copy speed using the Word List Trainer. It is coming along but man, do I hate doing it. But taking a line from the movie "The Outlaw Josey Wales" : "I will Endeavor to persevere."

I guess this is enough for now.

73!!