Filed under: Software, Odds and ends
5 Mac applications for ham radio fans
Although my work keeps me from spending a lot of time conversing with the world via ham radio (I'm KCØEZH, by the way), it's a fascinating techie hobby. Sure, you can use a wireless phone to call anyone on earth, send 'em SMS/MMS/email messages, tweet, blog, etc..., but there's something rather fun about trying to pluck a faint signal from someone on the other side of planet and coax it into recognizable speech or code.Many hams are hard-core electronics buffs who like to "roll their own," so it's not surprising that a lot of ham radio operators build their own PCs from parts and run Linux or Windows. However, thanks in part to virtual machines and the general growing popularity of Macs (and iPhones) in general, there is getting to be a sizable population of Mac-driving amateur radio fans.
Follow along as I show a random sampling of ham radio apps for the Mac.
MacLogger DX v5.16
In hamspeak, DX is the art of "making two way radio contact with distant stations in amateur radio." MacLogger DX (US$95.00), from Dog Park Software, is a sophisticated application to help Mac-totin' hams not only make those long distance connections on just a handful of watts, but also log the information for the purpose of sending QSL (acknowledgement) cards.
MacLogger DX works with over 90 commercially-available radio transceivers, includes a built-in SQLite database for storing and processing radio contacts, displays 2D and 3D representations of DX clusters by band, and has built-in support for ham call sign databases so you can immediately tell where your contact is broadcasting from.
Elmer
Amateur radio operators must be licensed by their country to operate a station. The examinations cover a plethora of information, including operations, safety, international regulations, and general theory. Elmer is a ham term to refer to the old guy down the block who took you under his tutelage and taught you everything he knew so you could pass the exams.
Elmer (US$24.99) is a Mac application for providing practice examinations from the common pool of test questions provided by the Federal Communications Commission. You can take practice exams for the Technician, General, and Extra licenses as many time as you want before taking the actual exam from a local volunteer examiner.
Elmer also comes in three separate apps for iPhone [iTunes link], each priced at US$2.99. Frankly, I think the iPhone apps are priced just right, since the Mac app can be replicated for free by any number of online test sites. The iPhone apps can go with you anywhere, which is important while studying for the exams -- trust me, you'll want to study in every free minute you have. I currently hold an FCC General class license, so my next move will be to get the Extra license.
ARRL Callsign Search Widget
Remember dashboard widgets? It seems like they've faded away, but some are still popular as you can get access to a lot of information with a single keystroke. The ARRL Callsign Search Widget is freeware, and puts an item on your dashboard for looking up US amateur radio callsigns.
Amateur radio operators must be licensed by their country to operate a station. The examinations cover a plethora of information, including operations, safety, international regulations, and general theory. Elmer is a ham term to refer to the old guy down the block who took you under his tutelage and taught you everything he knew so you could pass the exams.
Elmer (US$24.99) is a Mac application for providing practice examinations from the common pool of test questions provided by the Federal Communications Commission. You can take practice exams for the Technician, General, and Extra licenses as many time as you want before taking the actual exam from a local volunteer examiner.
Elmer also comes in three separate apps for iPhone [iTunes link], each priced at US$2.99. Frankly, I think the iPhone apps are priced just right, since the Mac app can be replicated for free by any number of online test sites. The iPhone apps can go with you anywhere, which is important while studying for the exams -- trust me, you'll want to study in every free minute you have. I currently hold an FCC General class license, so my next move will be to get the Extra license.
ARRL Callsign Search Widget
Remember dashboard widgets? It seems like they've faded away, but some are still popular as you can get access to a lot of information with a single keystroke. The ARRL Callsign Search Widget is freeware, and puts an item on your dashboard for looking up US amateur radio callsigns.
Xastir
Long before all of our smartphones came equipped with GPS and fun location logging applications, there was APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System). This is an amateur radio-based digital communication system for real-time exchange of information over the radio network, created by the legendary Bob Bruninga (WB4APR) over 20 years ago.
Xastir is an open source project (available for Mac, Linux, and Windows) that links your Mac to a radio and then translates the APRS packets into location and message information that can be displayed on maps. Think of it as an open-source amateur radio version of Loopt [iTunes Link], and you've got the idea.
Morse Mania
For many people, ham radio brings up the mental image of somebody hunched over a telegraph key, sending out the dits and dahs of Morse Code to the world. Knowledge of Morse Code is no longer required to be a radio amateur, but CW (as it is known) is still the best way to communicate over tenuous radio links and could be extremely important in emergency situations where other radio modes won't work.
Black Cat Systems, the same folks who came out with Elmer, also have created Morse Mania [US$19.99], a Morse Code tutor for the Mac. Not only does it run on all versions of Mac OS X, but it will actually run on OS 9! The application can be used to learn individual letters, groups of letters, and to simulate full conversations with other hams.
There are several online Java applets that are available for free and actually seem to be somewhat more useful, so you may want to search resources such as the American Radio Relay League's website for more information. iPhone owners who are interested in learning Morse can browse the App Store for a number of Morse Code tutors, including a couple of freebies.
If you're a ham and would like to pass along your tips for your favorite Mac or iPhone applications, please leave a note in the comments.
Long before all of our smartphones came equipped with GPS and fun location logging applications, there was APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System). This is an amateur radio-based digital communication system for real-time exchange of information over the radio network, created by the legendary Bob Bruninga (WB4APR) over 20 years ago.
Xastir is an open source project (available for Mac, Linux, and Windows) that links your Mac to a radio and then translates the APRS packets into location and message information that can be displayed on maps. Think of it as an open-source amateur radio version of Loopt [iTunes Link], and you've got the idea.
Morse Mania
For many people, ham radio brings up the mental image of somebody hunched over a telegraph key, sending out the dits and dahs of Morse Code to the world. Knowledge of Morse Code is no longer required to be a radio amateur, but CW (as it is known) is still the best way to communicate over tenuous radio links and could be extremely important in emergency situations where other radio modes won't work.
Black Cat Systems, the same folks who came out with Elmer, also have created Morse Mania [US$19.99], a Morse Code tutor for the Mac. Not only does it run on all versions of Mac OS X, but it will actually run on OS 9! The application can be used to learn individual letters, groups of letters, and to simulate full conversations with other hams.
There are several online Java applets that are available for free and actually seem to be somewhat more useful, so you may want to search resources such as the American Radio Relay League's website for more information. iPhone owners who are interested in learning Morse can browse the App Store for a number of Morse Code tutors, including a couple of freebies.
If you're a ham and would like to pass along your tips for your favorite Mac or iPhone applications, please leave a note in the comments.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Scott Earle said 8:21AM on 10-14-2009
Now you have got me all nostalgic for my radio days. If only the country where I now live would allow me to operate, I would still be on the air using CW to communicate with all that lovely DX.
It's nice to see people still create new programs for stuff like logging - back in the day the only options were DOS-based or clunky Windows (16- or 32-bit) programs.
Maybe one day I will be able to get back on the air, and if so I will certainly get some of this great software for the Mac :)
Scott, ex-G0SWG and AA2WX, now living in HS-land
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cwliner said 7:10PM on 10-14-2009
You forgot MultiMode (from BlackCat Systems)! I am using PSK31 most of the time these days, and having a blast.
KI4UKA
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devore said 9:04AM on 10-14-2009
One app that i played around with for a little while and wasn't smart enough to figure out was iBCNU, an aprs iPhone app. There are also several call lookup and logging apps for the iPhone that prove very useful while operating mobile.
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Don said 9:12AM on 10-14-2009
I have enjoyed using EchoMac. Sometimes I forget I have it on and suddenly I hear my call sign coming paging me back to reality.
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voodoogmr said 10:11AM on 10-14-2009
I wish Ham Radio Deluxe/DM780 would be ported to OS X. That has been my favorite all-in-one radio app. And, it's free. Too bad I have to launch Windows to use it, though it does seem to work well in Parallels.
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Jerry said 10:32AM on 10-14-2009
Aether is another good logging program.
cab-converter is a good free program to convert log formats
from ADIF format to Cabrillo format as many contests require.
Cocoa Modem is a great program to work digital modes
DX Toolbox is a great program to use to find out more about propagation conditions.
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hindlist said 11:42AM on 10-14-2009
I am remembering my radio days
http://www.hindlist.com
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lee said 11:14AM on 10-14-2009
I wish more hams would discover the value of of the Mac. I hear so many guys on the air talking about problems with their PC's.
The future of ham radio is Software Defined Radio's (SDR) and if the open source Flex-Radio software were ported to the Mac I think we would see a lot of hams move to the mac.
I also agree I would love to see HRD and DM780 on the mac.
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W6JHB said 11:22AM on 10-14-2009
Having only been a Mac user for slightly over a year, my Mac/ham software is pretty sparse. But, I do use Cocoa Modem and MacLoggerDX - they play very well together on my MacBook Air.
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WW2DX said 11:47AM on 10-14-2009
For other great Ham Radio software on the Mac check out:
http://www.machamradio.com
73!
Lee
WW2DX
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KC9L said 1:23PM on 10-14-2009
Wow, I wrote that widget back when 10.4 came out! Glad to see people still using it!
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sunsetstare said 1:09PM on 10-14-2009
You’re missing a link for the ARRL Callsign Search Widget.
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NP3N said 3:34PM on 10-14-2009
Hope more ham radio software available on Mac in the future.
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Dan KB6NU said 6:30PM on 10-14-2009
The logging program that I use on my iBook G4 in the shack is RUMLog (http://www.dl2rum.de/rumsoft/RUMLog.html). Written by DL2RUM, it's free and works great.
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Jason 9V1AM said 8:56PM on 10-14-2009
Very pleseantly surprised to see some Radio related software for the Mac getting some airtime, like a few others above I rely a lot on MacLogger DX and CocoaModem for getting about.
All of the software developed by Don at www.dogparksoftware.com is great and worth a look if you are not familiar with it.
Anyone for a sked with AS-019 :)?
9V1AM / G7BSK
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Aaron said 12:35AM on 10-15-2009
Ahh, its been to long since I've been on the air. I've been KD5KWN for nine years, and YS1AE for 8.5 years. It was great being DX...
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thinkoutloud77 said 12:30AM on 10-15-2009
You just made my day. It seems to me that everyone in the digital age forgets about Ham radio. Especially the new teen generation. Another great addition is EchoMac and MacDoppler for the good old satellite tracking.
Oh, and by the way, I'm KI6FBU and proud to be one of the few and fleeting teenage Hams.
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Adam said 12:47AM on 10-15-2009
Cool. I will have to check some of the programs out.
Now... What I wish we had was a repeater directory app for the iPhone that could use the GPS to detect where you are and spit out a list of repeaters with PL, open/closed, call sign, owners, Skywarn, etc. information. That would be wicked cool, IMHO. Especially since I wouldn't have to carry a paper directory in my car then :)
Now, yes, there's always the web browser on the iPhone....but...well....a lot of Wisconsin is EDGE only, so going online outside of Madison and Milwaukee is painfully slow.
73!
-Adam
KC9JHY
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Robert said 9:24PM on 12-29-2009
Adam, check out my app, Freq Finder. It does just what you are wanting. More information is on the app store or http://www.freqfinder.com
Buddy Brannan said 12:53PM on 10-15-2009
What I really want is morse input for the iPhone. Replace the virtual keyboard with dit and dah buttons and a sidetone. Thought I found such a beast, but alas, not. Someone? Anyone?
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