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Ham Radio apps for your Android

Moleculo

Ham Radio Nerd
Apr 14, 2002
9,194
1,674
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I recently obtained a new Samsung Android phone from work, so of course I had to see what Ham Radio related applications might be available. I found two very useful applications, and the best part is that they're FREE.

The first application I found is called "Callsign DB". As the name indicates, it's just a basic callsign lookup. Here is a print screen of the icon and also of the main lookup screen:

moleculo-albums-android-software-picture1745-callsign-lookup-icon.png


moleculo-albums-android-software-picture1744-callsign-lookup-main-screen.png


As you can see from the main screen, you can press the Address link, which will show you the location on Google Maps. The FCC.gov and QRZ.com links give you the callsign page from each of those sites, as well. This application requires internet connectivity to do look-ups, so it won't be the tool to use when you're operating in the sticks. However, if you're mobile and around civilization, it should work quite well for you.

The other interesting application that is available is called "HamSatDroid". It is a satellite pass predictor and locator application. Here is the icon:

moleculo-albums-android-software-picture1747-hamsatdroid-icon.png


Here is a shot of the main screen that you will use most often:

moleculo-albums-android-software-picture1746-hamsatdroid-main-screen.png


You simply select the satellite you want, the time frame, and hit "Calculate Pass". Before you do that however, you need to tell the application where you are located. You do that by hitting the Menu button on the Android, which shows this screen:

moleculo-albums-android-software-picture1748-hamsatdroid-options.png


I chose to set my home location based on the GPS, like this:

moleculo-albums-android-software-picture1749-hamsatdroid-home-location-options.png


The application also allows you to update the Keplerian elements with the "Update Keps" function:

moleculo-albums-android-software-picture1750-hamsatdroid-update-keps.png


And lastly, no satellite tracking application is complete without a world map showing you where the satellite currently is and where it is going:

moleculo-albums-android-software-picture1751-hamsatdroid-map.png


HamSatDroid works without an internet connection, so you can even use it while the phone is in "airplane mode".

These are both nice little pieces of software, especially when you consider that you can take them with you and use them wherever you are. Hopefully we'll see more applications like these soon!
 

I have the HTC Droid Eris, awesome phone. Its cool to see a couple ham apps on there. Hopefully more will come along.
 
I just got a Samsung Moment for Sprint.

I rooted the phone, put Zeffie's version of 05 and CL14 base bin with the ZE12.1 kernel on mine, a day after I got it.

The battery life is now a full 'day'. I'm getting 8:30am through midnight on a charge now, two push mail accounts and two polled IMAP accounts with twitter and facebook too.

It's a bit nutty to weed through all the instructions and you will wipe your phone for sure the first time you do it...the backup utilities in the flashed kernels work perfectly once you get their baseline installed though.

Loving this phone...another world from my Blackberry.

Here's a link to all the info I was babbling about.

Tips and Guides

If you try any of it...read read read. The info is there and if you skip the details, you can brick the phone.
 
My wife and I picked up our new Motorola Droid phones yesterday. So far we both love them.

I've been messing around with the market and checking out all of the free apps... Found a sine wave generator and all kinds of other neat things.
 
Found a sine wave generator and all kinds of other neat things

Oh yeah? What's the name of the app.

I don't get very good battery life on my Moment...my biggest complaint. I'm going to try the suggestions above.
 
Oh yeah? What's the name of the app.

I don't get very good battery life on my Moment...my biggest complaint. I'm going to try the suggestions above.

The one I found is called "Signal Generator"

There is also

SMS2CW that will convert incoming text messages into audible morse code.
 
Oh yeah? What's the name of the app.

I don't get very good battery life on my Moment...my biggest compl
aint. I'm going to try the suggestions above.

New info on updating...important
The Midnight Channel - Index and The Midnight Channel Wiki

Updates now use the Samsung update utility. Much less convoluted.

I'm running ZE13.3 right now with good results.

The kernel updates thread on the forum has all the details.
 
I wrote a little Android App to help you find IRLP nodes. It is free and has no adds. You can find it on the Android Market under "IRLP Finder".

I put up some screenshots here:
IRLP Finder | Hamdroid

Give it a try and let me know what you think!
 
Just changed over from a Blackberry to the Droid X by Motorola. Its kind of large but the screen is awesome. Of course I have loaded all the Ham Radio stuff ..

All I can say is Wow, this is what the Blackberry should have been !!!
 
Android operating system is intended for more than just cell phone.
It is freely available open-source OS.

Some day your next hand-held radio could have touchscreen with android OS.
All the source code is there ready to use, along with the example hardware for non cellphone devices.
Only thing a radio manufacture needs to do is design it into a handheld with touchscreen instead of the traditional keypad. Seems like it would make sense with the move towards APRS.
 
Great app, just bought it a few days ago.there was something else i thought is was missing.. but for the life of i cant think of what is right now.... but great app..
 

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