ShackCam tests, one week on

The shackcam has been running for one week and I am pleased to report that on it's current hardware (after some bodging by me to the Dazzle hardware) that is is working just fine, the website itself has been updated to include my Amateur callsign as the primary callsign, with my CT callsign being secondary as it is not really an official callsign and I've not done a lot of CB or 446 work in a while and the bulk of my transmissions have been on 2-meters since my license came through.

I plan to move all my radio operations (except /m and /p of course) back to the shack in the coming weeks, my handhelds are being charged elsewhere and Echolink is currently running on my laptop though I plan to keep it on there for the foreseeable future, but it's on my phone as well

With the shackcam working as it should be I am happy, the shack computer will be shut down at some stage to allow the monitor to be wall mounted to free up the desk space it currently occupies for such items such as radio chargers, so expect to see changes soon

73 de M6RSQ/26CT730 on CB/PMR446

First post from rebuilt shack computer

I have taken the time to install Windows Live Writer on the shack computer now it is running fine, this will allow me to post to the blog without having to actually log in to Blogger, however I may still do that when I am not at this computer, for example I am at my laptop.

All appears to be working well, as noted in my earlier post. the ShackCam is also under test again to ensure that it works fine with this computer so it will be running overnight for a little while, so you may see the shack but not me in it, though I am at time of posting given the title of this post

So, perhaps now I will be in the shack a bit more, I left the Internet chat rooms that were causing me some serious issues with my health, the time may as well be put to better use.

 

73 de 26CT730

Shack computer update

The shack computer's replacement internal components should be arriving at some stage tomorrow, which I rescheduled, however I could have kept it today had I known I'd be stuck in the house today due to ill health.

Sadly however the conversion board for the hard disk has not surfaced, in fact it has not been marked as dispatched, so what I will have to end up doing is using a spare drive I have lying around that is unreliable until the part I need arrives, it does have a suitable version of Windows 7 on it but as the drive is starting to fail (though it does appear to boot) I have little faith in it working properly, it will be fine a stop-gap until the adaptor for the more reliable drive already in the system arrives

Edit: 9:20pm: Maplin have just marked the adaptor to convert the existing Western Digital WD800BB hard disk to work with the SATA ports on the new motherboard as despatched, it will be arriving via normal post and should be small enough to fit through my letterbox so I do not need to be home, if it arrives tomorrow (unlikely but it is possible they sent it but did not mark it as despatched until later) then I will be good, however I suspect it will not arrive here until Thursday or Friday, the computer rebuild will continue as planned regardless of the arrival of the part, the other hard drive being used as a stop-gap.

Judging by the state of my health, I may not be making it out tomorrow either unless I absolutely have to, but with the parts arriving then I won't go mad and will have a better computer in the shack and be able to spend my time there, though I may be fit to leave the house, I also hope that I am not waiting around for the delivery because that is something I seriously dislike.

What will happen is something like as follows

• Prior to the parts arriving the PMR446 gateway will be shut down and removed, it is on top of the shack computer and it's previous case, the radio will remain in situ, the empty case will also be removed and the shack computer will be unplugged and disassembled.
• The entire existing innards of the shack computer except the power supply, DVD drive, and hard drive will be removed from the computer and an assessment of the inside of the case made, original RAM from the shack computer will be removed from the original motherboard and set aside for the PMR446 gateway computer as it would act as a suitable replacement, the CMI8738 sound card from the shack computer will be retained
• The shack computer will then be rebuilt, put into place before the other systems, and configured headless, due to a lack of optical drive (it's incompatible with the new board without the same £12 adaptor the hard drive is due) the drivers will be moved to a flash drive and installed from it.
• Once configured the empty case will be placed on top of it, following this the RAM from the old board will be installed in the PMR446 gateway computer, hopefully improving performance.

And that should be it, I will, of course, have to remove everything again when the adaptor arrives, my SDR will then perform as it should do, the FRN will work nicely, so will Zello, the ShackCam feed, and whatever else I may need, I'll obviously have to clear everything else off the temporary hard disk first before connecting the network as it's horrifically out of date not being in a live system for some time,

Next to come will be the President Grant 2 all being well (as well as all the things I need for my DXpedition to Tan Hill).

73 de 26CT730