AmateurRadio.com

You don’t have to look very hard to find a few threads telling you which piece of radio kit you ‘need’ to take on a SOTA activation. There are fewer that give you a bit of advice about planning your trip. This is one of those, a short look at the tools I use to take to the fells (for the uninitiated a fell is a hill in Cumbria or the Lake District).

The lakes are a great place to SOTA, there are 55 summits to choose from and nearly all of them have well understood routes to the summit. Alfred Wainwrights 7 volume ‘Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells‘ gives you a great reference point for the SOTA’s as well as all the fells (214 in total). But they aren’t ‘proper maps’ they are guides. They do however have a few benefits they describe the routes brilliantly. So what else can you use.

In my mind there is only one map. The ordinance survey map used almost exclusively by everyone. There are a few exceptions to the rule as always but this is all about me right! These are great tools, but dsometimes you don’t need a full map. So another tool that uses just parts of these maps is an online tool called bikehike. It is an amalgamation of several map types one of which is Google maps and another is the OS map. Below is an example of a route I did the other day that took in Dub’s Hut bothy and High Stile.

Pretty handy really. Its a click and click again type mapping tool that gives you elevation data and distance. What it doesn’t tell you is how long it’s going to take. Bring in Naismiths rule. The rule that states ‘Allow one hour for every 3 miles (5 km) forward, plus an additional hour for every 2,000 feet (600 m) of ascent’. This is good to know. So for example this route had around 2850ft of climbing so fire up the calculator (or use an online tool such as Trails NH) and that tells me that it should take around 4hrs 45mins. So in this case how long did it really take? well it wasn’t too far off the mark. The last bit from High Stile to Gatesgarth was a bit of a slow slog because of the state of the path. This brings me onto the last point – Not all path are paths!

Just because its on the map doesn’t mean its on the fell. Even if it is there are endless sheep tracks to confuse you and tiring boulder fields that intersect the paths. If you’re not too fit then stick to the Wainwright guides otherwise feel free to follow the other routes some are very direct and very strenuous as well as good fun but know what you’re getting yourself into.

When I said last point I really meant it. But I can’t talk about getting outdoors without mentioning the GPS, I will breifly. Love them or hate them I always go out with one….my phone (complete with Back Country Navigator). Mainly because it has OS maps but also because it ‘does’ APRS via APRSDroid. A very handy spotting tool. Having said that the Mk 1 eyeball beats them all. If it doesn’t look sensible it probably isn’t.

Enjoy the fells and don’t forget to plan

When I get asked ‘what is ham radio?’ I generally get a bit tongue tied and waffle on a bit. There is nothing harder as a ham than actually defining the hobby. This is really down to how diverse the hobby is. Fundamentally at the core is a like of RF. Other than that it sort of sprays out a heap of sub genre’s that have a variety of different followers. Amateur TV, DX chasing, GHz…. the list goes on and on. Perhaps one day a map will be available that shows the full spectrum and a few of the relationships, but for now here is another one. I’m going to call it ham radio services as a working title, it is defined as the ham who uses his knowledge and equipment to provide a service based on RF. APRS igates are an example of this.

So what else is there? The Raspberry Pi has certainly opened up the opportunity to provide low cost services. I have one the is an APRS igate, one that runs my SatNOGS ground station and that was it until last week when I put an unused older Pi2 to good use as an ADSB receiver using a system called PiAware. Essentially a way of melding together an RPi, rtl-sdr dongle and an ADSB antenna. All so that it can listen out for the aircraft beacons and report positional information to the Flightaware website.

The ‘project’ took no more than a couple of hours, mainly because my Micro-SD card died and I had to scrabble around for another one. It is very simple to do and will put your Raspberry Pi to good use. Steps are summarised as

1. Sign up with the Flight Aware website and read through the docs on the PiAware page
2. Download the image
3. Burn the image to a (non corrupt) micro SD card. Plonk it in the pi
4. Plug in an Rtl-sdr (or you could splash out on a Flight Aware Prostick)
5. Power on
6. Find IP address of RPi on network (look in the router settings)
7. Go to site (mine is 192.168.1.100). You should have a screen that looks a bit like this

1. Claim you receiver (Instructions are on the screen). There will be a link in the place where it says ‘View your site statistics online’
2. Sit back and watch the packets come in. When you’re ready go to the FlightAware website and see how well you are doing.

Looking west is best as always from my QTH. Where’s the fun in that? I hear you say?

Its good to experiment, after all there is DX to be had, just not in the conventional sense. Lets take a comparison between WSPR and ADSB. A bit off beat but here goes, WSPR will tell you the distance and signal to noise of your station as heard by another, DX, station. You do the transmitting and someone else does the receiving. With the PiAware setup someone else does the transmitting and you do the receiving. Is this not the same thing? A different band ok but actually the same thing.

Beats attempting to get in contact with some short lived station in a rarely activated location by shouting into a microphone for hours on end. Say I. Wouldn’t it be boring if we all liked the same thing.

One final note. There are lots of RTL-SDR dongles to choose from. The cheap £3 ones from eBay work, they are reliable enough and coupled with the (normally) supplied antenna give me a range around 150-200 nautical miles. the Pro Stick mentioned earlier will extend that range by using a broadband low noise amp (LNA). If you live in an urban environment you can use the Pro Stick Plus that comes with a band pass filter or add in your own. you may also need to adjust gain settings and have a play. I am only using a wire antenna, I will find a reasonable supplier for a colinear or similar and report back.

Onwards and upwards

I took the dog for a walk today, as you do on new years day. We went down to the beach and then up the headland. Usually I don’t take a handheld with me but today I did, my Yaesu VX8gr which has been up quite a few fells with me and has always been very dependable. Today however I noticed a fault, even though the GPS was on and there was a valid fix the beacon refused to accept the co-ordinates and told me I was at home (I checked back when I got home).

This is a bit of an annoying habit.

A full reset and reprogram didn’t seem to get it to work so I’ll have to search around for a way to solve this. A quick search didn’t reveal users with similar faults. This could be very annoying if I’m out on a fell and using the APRS to report back to Mrs g7kse where I am!

After a few weeks of testing SatNOGS production Ground Station 33 is up and running. I think there are quite a lot of improvements to be made but essentially the non-rotator set up is looking average at best but reliable enough to be a production ground station. So in honour of the RF sinkhole that sucks up useful signals I call home, it has been named St Bees GS (well the reality of it is that I couldn’t think of a suitable name). So what is next?

First on the list is a new RPi. The current one is working but coughs and splutters a bit with some of the hard work. So I’ll be ordering a new one in due course. Secondly is settling on an antenna system. Currently the turnstile works but I can’t help think that a QFH, or maybe a pair (one for vhf and one for uhf) would be better. The last thing on the list is to resurrect the rotator. After setting fire to a few driver boards in the past I’ve ordered a new board and PSU and we’ll see if we can repeat the v1 success.

Trouble is, domestic duties will be spoiling plans but then again I do like a good game of rugby and a bacon roll in the winter sunshine is a good alternative. L’al fella (for all the Cumbrian folk) has had back to back games for the last 5 weeks and he’s keen to keep up the winning streak. More progress to follow.

Onwards and upwards (literally in this case)

Recently I enjoyed a rare day out at the National Hamfest in far away Lincolnshire. Whilst I was subjected to a culinary travesty with a plate of something advertised as lasagne for an exorbitant price that bore little resemblance to the traditional dish. It was the only low point.

Meeting with a few fellow hams was great (no names mentioned but a couple of the were Lids) there was also really short conversation with Hans Summers, G0UPL who some might know through his kits and bits at QRP Labs. He was being mobbed by ‘gentlemen’ who were hell bent on smashing my knees and shins with their walking aids as a way to push me out of the way. I’ve bought a few bits and pieces from him in the past and really enjoyed building them. Most of which I have done with ease but not really understood exactly what is going on in every case. The most recent I bought a year or so ago at the Norbreck rally. The signal generator / vfo kit.

This time around it was the GPS receiver. I still don’t really know how the circuit works but it is something that I should really get my head around.

How am I going to do that? well one thing would be to ask the original designer. The other way is to increase my knowledge and chances of getting a better understanding of other designs by trying to work out how they work rather than to just build them and rarely use them. I’m doing a bit of both. I had a great chat with Hans but have completely forgotten what we spoke about owing to the beating I was getting. It was general chit chat rather than mind blowing stuff. Luckily there is a group on Groups.io that help to fill in the gaps.

The plan is to combine the 2 to make a natty clock/sig gen. The plan is currently working. Here is the evidence.

So what I hear you cry. You can follow some instructions. True. But I also flashed the Atmega with an upgraded .hex file using Xloader (a nice utility I found). Not done that before. This brings the score to learning stuff to 2. Eh? what else did I learn? Well I read all the docs and found out that you can combine inputs on an AND gate and do some level conversion. Just don’t test me on it! Perhaps not leaps in terms of learning but now I am slightly more competent.

Onward and upward people. Onward and upward.

Over the last few weeks our domestic life has been a bit different to what it used to be. A change in how we work as a family has happened and it meant a hold on radio, or rather a less than active summer is the result.

I have one the other hand spent more time away from work than normal which meant that I didn’t have to chance the normally predictable weather in Cumbria at just the weekend if I was going /p. I am fortunate to live within 30 minutes of both the Ennerdale and Wasdale valley’s. If you know where they are you might also know that the meet between Pillar and Great Gable with Ennerdale being further inland to Wasdales long views out to sea. I’ve been to Ennerdale quite a bit so Wasdale it was for this couple of trips.

Operating in the he lakes gives up a few challenges. The harshest being the number of people that visit the 8+ point summits. One solution is to stay off the beaten track, the other is to go early. Combine the 2 on a sunny day and you’ve got English summer nirvana.

First up, Pillar and Kirk Fell – Wasdale head pub to Pillar via Mosedale and a short trot along to Kirk fell then down the front face of Kirk Fell. To get this view climb straight up the Mosedale scree slope (beware it is hard work). The view is worth it. Looking towards Scafell you can almost see the small tent I passed on the way up. Needless to say some geology buff will tell you different but it looks to me like a glacier made this shape.

The next shot is from Kirk Fell. Showing the sea off in the distance and Burnmoor tarn on the left, Wastwater (the chilly-est lake ever) with Illgill head in between the two. Kirk fell is a good summit to SOTA, its very accessible but if you go up the front be prepared for some heavy going.

Great Gable was attacked another day and the weather came in so it was a short activation. Another popular summit and at 8 points it is worth it. I like the route up to Styhead tarn the turn left. You get a good view of the unspoiled wilderness that is the route to Scafell Pike from Borrowdale. I’m sure the path would accept either 10 people abreast or a land rover. Its like a motorway.

The last trip was another early morning ascent, this time Scafell Pike. The quick route from Wasdale head car park during the summer is punctuated by knackered looking ‘3 peakers’. Some who look like they haven’t spent a lot of time preparing for what they were doing. Or, over-preparing in the pub. This was the first time I’ve been up and down without being in the cloud. This is not a quiet summit, even at 7:30am.

Whilst the blog may have been quiet over the summer I did manage to get 8 points for Pillar, 8 for Kirk Fell, 8 for Great Gable and 10 for Scafell Pike. If I carry this on for the next 25 years I could be part way to being a mountain goat.

Around this time of year the kids finish school for the summer holidays and Mrs g7kse takes them for a week away with her before I get some time off myself. It’s a short break but the house is across the road from the beach and the kids love it. As does Angus (the dog). I then have a week at home / work where the place is a bit quiet. So time to catch up on a few loose ends and perhaps an evening mountain biking before I join them at the weekend.

This time I’m planning on building up the iCW keyer that I have. Well I say have, it’s a blank PCB that Chuck W5UXH was kind enough to give me earlier in the year. I can’t currently use iCW very effectively and my CW is suffering so this is somewhat needed. Now.

The keyer board is the full monty. It has all the bells and whistles and uses a new, to me, fubarino microcontroller. Slightly larger than an Arduino micro and with the provision for an SD card it offers the ability to store ebooks that will form the ability to play dit’s and dah’s as a stand-alone unit. The PCB is slightly larger than I’m used to but is well produced and uses professional parts all available from Mouser. It should take a few hours to build and test, perhaps an uninterrupted evenings work but we’ll see how well that goes and review the time at the end.

In summary….I need to turn this stuff into something useful. Wish me luck!