AmateurRadio.com

I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I have posted here!  I have lots of interests and tend to bounce around between them.

But for 2016 I want to be more consistently in ham radio.  So I have set a goal…

There are about 45 weeks left in 2016, so my goal is to complete 45 portable activities this year and document them here on my blog!

Also, tomorrow, February 25th, 2016 I will be activating NPOTA TR07,TR11,TR14 (Oregon NHT + Santa Fe NHT + California NHT) from Lone Elm park in Olathe, KS.

I will be operating my KX3 5 watts CW (maybe SSB if time allows) into a vertical. 14.060+/- and 7.030 +/-. I plan to arrive about 19:00 UTC (1:00 pm local) and operate for a couple of hours.

If you hear me please spot me. This will be my first activation, and my CW is a bit rusty, so the sending speed will be slow! Be patient with me!

This park has historical significance because it was used as a major campground along these 3 trails. Originally it was about 80 acres, and so many trees were cut down by the campers it became known as “Lone Elm”.

That’s all for today, I will report back after the NPOTA activation tomorrow!

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at burkejones@gmail.com.

I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I have posted here!  I have lots of interests and tend to bounce around between them.

But for 2016 I want to be more consistently in ham radio.  So I have set a goal…

There are about 45 weeks left in 2016, so my goal is to complete 45 portable activities this year and document them here on my blog!

Also, tomorrow, February 25th, 2016 I will be activating NPOTA TR07,TR11,TR14 (Oregon NHT + Santa Fe NHT + California NHT) from Lone Elm park in Olathe, KS.

I will be operating my KX3 5 watts CW (maybe SSB if time allows) into a vertical. 14.060+/- and 7.030 +/-. I plan to arrive about 19:00 UTC (1:00 pm local) and operate for a couple of hours.

If you hear me please spot me. This will be my first activation, and my CW is a bit rusty, so the sending speed will be slow! Be patient with me!

This park has historical significance because it was used as a major campground along these 3 trails. Originally it was about 80 acres, and so many trees were cut down by the campers it became known as “Lone Elm”.

That’s all for today, I will report back after the NPOTA activation tomorrow!

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at burkejones@gmail.com.

Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at ve7sl@shaw.ca.

A little less than a year ago I summited a mountain, known in SOTA terms as 9431 (it's elevation ASL) with a designator of W5N/PW-019, which put me over 1,000 Activator points and thus qualified me for the Mountain Goat award. This award is one of the most satisfying awards I've achieved in ham radio, including #1 Honor Roll. I did the summit that day with a couple of friends of mine, Fred KT5X (aka WS0TA) and John, K1JD. Both are also mentors to me as I learned the SOTA trade so to speak.

Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at ad5a@gvtc.com.

A little less than a year ago I summited a mountain, known in SOTA terms as 9431 (it's elevation ASL) with a designator of W5N/PW-019, which put me over 1,000 Activator points and thus qualified me for the Mountain Goat award. This award is one of the most satisfying awards I've achieved in ham radio, including #1 Honor Roll. I did the summit that day with a couple of friends of mine, Fred KT5X (aka WS0TA) and John, K1JD. Both are also mentors to me as I learned the SOTA trade so to speak.

Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at ad5a@gvtc.com.

What is APRS Caching?

APRS Caching of socialhams is aiming at giving the well known GeoCaching concept an amateur radio touch. The idea behind APRS Caching is to connect the fascination of GeoCaching with amateur radio. Thus, APRS Caching gives radio amateurs the opportunity to rediscover their fields of interest. The socialhams platform provides the following concept as well as the needed infrastructure. APRS Caching can be regarded as a user-friendly project and is according to the Ham Spirit open to criticism, support and change.

How does APRS Caching work?

Basically the APRS Caching system resembles the main features of GeoCaching. There are so called caches, which have to be searched for by the logger. After having found the cache the logger can make an entry in the logbook. The difference between APRS Caching and GeoCaching is that the logbook entry is carried out by APRS. This makes it possible to verify the logger’s actual presence at the coordinates of the cache.

What cache types are these?

There are single-stage, two-stage and other caches. Single-stage caches provide the ultimate target coordinates where the cache can be logged. Two-stage caches first provide the stage 1 coordinates where you get the target coordinates in some way or other, depending on the cache type. Currently “other caches” are the traditional GeoCaches.

Below is a small excerpt of cache types:

Single-stage caches

APRS – An APRS cache has to be an APRS station that sends its position to the APRS net in regular intervals. APRS stations can be iGate, mobiles, portables, weather stations etc.

Two-stage caches

Audio – The idea behind this kind of cache is to hide an audio recorder module, that plays an audio signal by pushing a button or any other kind of activation. The goal is to use a digital mode such as CW, PSK31 etc as audio signal. There are no limits to your imagination.

How can I join?

In order to be able to join APRS Caching as owner or logger, you first need to register on the platform socialhams. Registration on socialhams is free, requires a valid ham radio callsign, though. As a logger you can start immediately after registration. If you wish to contribute your own cache, this has to be done using the APRS Caching feature. As a logger you need to be able to send out your current geographical location using APRS. It doesn’t matter whether this is done via radio transmission or a feed-in in the APRS-IS. This means you can use your ham radio equipment or a mobile phone with a suitable APRS App for this.

Radio hams become living caches

Everybody who is familiar with GeoCaching knows that GeoCaches hold a static geographical position. The reason for this is based on several details. On the one hand, GeoCaches are meant to show loggers interesting locations and long forgotten places. On the other hand, GeoCaches cannot update their location in real-time. This is where socialhams APRS Caching comes in and allows on update of the geographical position of an APRS cache thanks to the global APRS network that can be reached via radio from nearly everywhere. This enables radio hams whether portable or mobile to function as living cache.

The average GeoCache experienced radio amateur should not experience any difficulties with the APRS Caching System. Inexperienced radio amateurs will find detailed descriptions and assistance on various GeoCaching sites relating to this topic. Once you are familiar with the basic GeoCaching concept, the APRS Caching will represent an exciting extension for you. It will certainly bring about unexpected challenges but most of all a lot of fun for radio enthusiasts.

Join the community now on https://www.socialhams.net to experience this novelty. If you have any questions concerning APRS Caching or socialhams in general, feel free to contact me at oe8apr@socialhams.net.

Andreas Pachler, OE8APR, is a special contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Carinthia, Austria. He is the creator of socialhams, a social network for ham radio operators. Contact him at oe8apr@socialhams.net.

This past Saturday, I served as a Volunteer Examiner at the finish line of a "Ham Cram". The Middlesex County Office of Emergency Management offered the day long session in order to allow CERT members from various municipalities throughout the county the chance to earn their Technician licenses. There were twelve participants, and at the end of the day, half of them had earned their licenses.

All of these people were all enthusiastic and determined to become Amateur Radio operators. So what went wrong? Why wasn't there a higher success rate? What went wrong was a lack of lead time and mis-communication.  Some had learned of the Ham Cram session only three days beforehand. The information about the session was directed to the participants through their local municipal OEM directors. Middlesex County OEM did their due diligence by sending out the information in plenty of time, but we all know that information that goes through the chain-of-command can travel particularly slowly, especially if the "powers that be" aren't all that familiar with the information they are passing on. Not realizing that this information was time sensitive proved to be a major handicap.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, or the concept, a Ham Cram is defined as a six or more hour long session where prospective Hams are crammed with the info they need to earn their license.  Think of the all-nighters you may have endured before a particularly tough exam in college. The concept is the same.

The problem with the Ham Cram concept is that many people think they can walk into one as a blank page, and will then walk away as a book filled with all the knowledge they need to pass the license exam.

For the Ham Cram concept to work (and it works remarkably well if implemented correctly), the students need to get their hands on a license manual and read and study for six to eight weeks prior to the Cram session. The Ham Cram session educator needs something to work with. It's highly improbable that someone can walk "cold" off the street and earn their ticket after only six hours of cursory study - unless of course, you have a photographic memory.

Again, going back to the "all-nighter" session in college.  That exam prep marathon came after an entire semester of classes.  You were, in essence,  reviewing what you had hopefully learned throughout the proceeding months. We all know that if you waited until that evening to crack open a book, then you were toast.

Or if you want to think of it another way, the Ham Cram instructor is like a diamond cutter. With a raw diamond he can produce a work of art. Give him a piece of coal and he'll be out of his element. So if you know of a prospective Ham and he or she is talking about participating in a Ham Cram, then the sagest advice you can impart upon them is that they should begin the studying process WAY in advance (weeks/months).  Then they'll arrive at the Ham Cram as a rough diamond ready to be polished into a prized jewel.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at w2lj@arrl.net.