Remote control of Ham Radio via iPhone

One of the easiest ways to remote control a ham radio and perform remote operation is to use a screen sharing program to remotely control the radio and work digial modes.

While remote operation of other modes such as SSB and CW are a little more involved, it is quite simple to work PSK31, RTTY or any other digial mode remotely just by using desktop sharing.

There are several different apps to use on the iPhone to accomplish this, depending on if you are using VNC(Linux, Mac, Windows), RDP(Windows only) for your shack computer.

I wanted to get my feet wet and I found myself working PSK31 on the radio out in the shack, while walking around the house very quickly after setting things up. 

The iPhone program I used is called "Jaaudo RDP", but there are many others out there for the iPhone that you can use to do remote desktop control using VNC or RDP protocols.  The advantage of using RDP is that it requires nothing to install on the Windows desktop, since its already built in.

Here is a video I made showing just how easy it is to work PSK31 remotely with Ham Radio Deluxe 5 running on a windows laptop back at the shack.

Welcome

Ok, I am finally breaking down and creating a blog.  Why?  Well, honestly I never thought I would ever want to do this before.  But, my recent experiences in exploring my new hobby of Ham Radio have really proven that the sharing of information and knowledge to and from others was invaluable.  There just are not all that many 'official' sources for Ham Radio information and any time you share some information you really could be helping out the wonderful hobby of Ham Radio.  Most Ham Radio knowledge is self learned through experimentation and experience or  simply handed down from one ham to another.

I have learned so much during the first few years I have been a Ham(late 2008), that I thought I might actually have figured some things out worth sharing.  Lots of stuff in the hobby have to be learned through trial, and experimentation, and there are so many different things to get involved with in the Ham Radio hobby from working with Satellites, Digital Modes, QRP, Amps, Homebrew Gear, Kit Building, Antenna Design, Propagation, Public Service, Emergency Communications, Solar Power, and whatever else you can think of that people are into connected to Ham Radio, that not everyone can know everything about everything.

I am a heavy into HF Digital Mode Communications, learning CW, SDR, Contesting, DXing, and interested in Solar Power and QRP so those will naturally be topics of interest.  I am also a professional Unix geek so some Ham Radio related computer stuff will probably make some appearances as well.