Courage Center Handiham System

November QST! As usual, I head for the Eclectic Technology column written by Steve Ford, WB8IMY, first thing when my copy of QST arrives. I am always guaranteed to learn something new every time.

At the end of the column, Steve mentions Windows 7 and how he plans to test it with ham radio applications. I've been beta testing the new OS for several months now, and I've found that it plays well with EchoLink and HRD. I'm running an EchoLink proxy on my W7 test box, and it has proven very solid. I do have to admit that there's a lot of testing left to do, especially with HRD, since I don't normally use it for much more than rig control and logging.

Audacity works well in W7, and is a useful audio recording accessory for the ham shack.

A wrinkle in W7 is the feature that allows you to run a "VM", or virtual machine - the ever-popular XP OS - either within a window or full screen, in which case it is pretty hard to tell you are not in front of an XP box. Microsoft makes XP available to W7 users (registered) as a download, so there is no need to try installing from an old CD. One nut I have yet to crack is related to the audio handling within the VM. Although I can stream audio or play audio from the XP VM, I cannot get audio IN, a deal-killer for some ham radio apps.

Additionally, the hardware you are using must support virtualization in BIOS, and the BIOS must be set to allow it. (The usual default is "off".)

Pretty soon winter will set in here on the frozen tundra, a perfect time to sit in front of the monitor and see what else old Elmer can figure out.

Thanks again to WB8IMY for another great column!

-Elmer