Should you keep a separate computers for ham vs home use?

When someone we know socially described their being phished and the repairs also put their hamshack off line, and then when a ham I know only from online communications said he baulked when tech support for a ham logging issue wanted to use a remote desktop/access product to “fix” his machine as he was worried that they could see his banking, I quickly surmised that both had been using their main home computer for hamshack duty.

Thinking this may not be very wise, and that having separate general home PCs and hamshack PCs would be preferable.

The comingling of the two use-cases exposes both to the risks that otherwise would have been kept separate.

The hamshack computer typically will be used to run a lot of software/apps developed by very small teams that depend on external reviews for some (maybe all) of their security. It is more likely that IoT (Internet of Things), direct connections via various ports and of course potential over the air exposure would be higher in the hamshack.

Your main home PC is your workhorse that does emails. correspondence, and banking/financials, and then likely serves music, printers and other resources.

More likely that Dual-Factor Authentication and maybe even a dongle/fob could be involved in some of the software on that main home PC. Much of the software receives higher levels of review for security issues.

Of course there is a good amount of overlap between the hamshack and main home PCs and security. I am thinking of the differential as a weighted preponderance rather than absolutes.

Keep the two segregated on differing systems increases your robustness from the software/connectivity end, while complicating the hardware side with a second machine.

As hardware has become so reliable, the added potential for hardware loss is massively out-shadowed by the decrease in vulnerabilities from keep things separate.

I break mine down further with my media server being also separate, as are my BBS and my general browsing machines. YMMV

73

Steve
K9ZW

George W9EVT SK – Celebration of Life 22 July 2023

George’s family sent this my way to share:

There will be more details to follow, as this is a “save the date” notification at this stage.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Have you used an LLC or an Incorporated Company as part of your Ham Hobby?

If you have used an LLC (Limited Liability Company) or an Incorporated Company as part of your Ham operations (or for anything else in your life) it seems pretty soon you have register with an unfamiliar part of the government or face a serious fine.

Like a $10,000 fine for not providing information at the Federal level to an obscure part of the government (FinCEN) you’ve never before heard about?

Like really??

I will likely have to file one for “Wisconsin Family Business Forum, LLC,” an educational LLC, as I acquired a substantive mass of Family Business education resources.  The LLC was created to be a “container” that hopefully I can transfer onwards intact.  It is a non-reporting-entity, meaning if it had any revenue that would be reported as my personal revenue.  Yet the way the rules look that LLC will need to file Federal reports or be subject to a $10k fine.  What a time waster.

If your ham club incorporated or uses an LLC, looks likely they will also need to do these reports.

There are 26 classes of exemptions, but realistically the cost of confirming you are exempt might be higher than your group wants to spend.  Plus the risks of being slammed with a $10,000 fine if your group is wrong deciding on its own that they are exempt, suggests flying by the seat of your pants is pretty risky.

The (ham) cheap and low risk strategy is to file the information with FinCEN regardless of potential exemptions.

Of course the fines are ready, they are putting out the announcements, but the reporting mechanisms including where to file on what form isn’t ready.

Links:

https://www.claconnect.com/en/resources/articles/2022/new-boi-requirements-will-affect-most-us-businesses-are-you-ready

https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-issues-initial-beneficial-ownership-information-reporting-guidance

https://www.fincen.gov/boi

The short of all this is “FinCEN BOI.” The game starts January 1st 2024.

73

Steve
K9ZW

When the Cloud-Service fails, will your Hamshack fail?

It isn’t only Amateur Radio that has become entangled with Cloud Services. Almost every aspect from smart IoT appliances, door bells, security, computer backups and about every share-between-device storage system, have become Cloud dependent.

Western Digital mega-Cloud systems have been down for over a week.

Screen Shot 10th April 2023, day nine of the outage

You can read all about it at:

https://www.techradar.com/news/western-digital-finally-has-a-fix-for-its-major-security-worry

The direct link to the Western Digital page (which eventually and hopefully, will show their Cloud restored) is at:

https://status.mycloud.com/os4

Until the very limited workaround allowed some convoluted access to data, the data on these Cloud systems in respect to the end users simply disappeared on April 2nd without recourse.

Historically it would take a disaster at your station to shut things down, potentially with loss of your logs, and possibly put you off the air until your non-computerized connected gear was broken out (if you have some).

Becoming overly Cloud dependent (I would like to offer the term “Cloud-Bound” aka “Cloudbound” as a descriptive for the dependency) means the disaster could be located at the Cloud or somewhere in the transport (internet) between your equipment and the Cloud.

Unless your hamshack can operate completely independent of 3rd-party internet services, you may be at risk of having your operations curtailed when these services go down.

Something to think about, hmmmm…..

73

Steve
K9ZW

Gaming over Packet Radio

Oh my – how this brings back slow-speed connectivity memories. In this case the use of packet radio adds an amateur radio aspect while imposing a baud limit – at 2m packet usually 1200 baud (though higher baud rates as possible on 2m.)

The Youtube got a mention at Hack-a-Day:

https://hackaday.com/2023/03/27/long-distance-gaming-over-packet-radio/

A neat demonstration and should give you an idea of what interactive speeds could be available via packet.

73

Steve
K9ZW

New Ham Shack Buddy

Our household gained a pet, a lovely Wheaton Terrier who is good hanging out in the Ham Shack workshop when I am working the radios or doing projects.

 

Scout, our new Ham Shack buddy!

Backstory is this dog was one of a several dogs friends own, and the natural traits of a large terrier got in the way of “doggie harmony” in respect to their little dogs.