AmateurRadio.com

Introduction:

• Only 317 days until the end of the world as we know it!

Announcements:

• The Black Sparrow Media application for iPad, iPhone and iPod has been submitted to the iTunes store. It is just awaiting validation from Apple, which may take up to two weeks. We’ll let everyone know when it’s available.
• Special Event Station W0S (Whiskey Zero Sierra) will be operating from the Titanic Branson Museum from April 13-15, 2012, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. Russ, K5TUX, will be operating the station at some point.

Feedback:

• Scott, AD7MI, asks for help linking APRS and his his Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station with Xastir. Our hosts suggest trying one or both of these:
  • Meteo – Davis weather station platform software for Linux. You can subscribe to the Meteo mailing list by sending a subscription request to [email protected]. It has been several years since Meteo was updated, and is still not at version 1.0. You must download the .tar file from the web site as it does not appear in the distribution repositories.
  • wview- Cross-platform weather station software. It does need an internet connection if you are going to contribute information to various weather sites, such as:
    • Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP)
    • Weather Underground
    • Weather For You
    • awekas

    This program is under active development. Even if it requires a work-around to perform as you wish, it may be worth the trouble. If you’ve ever configured a Linksys router, the web interface of wview looks a lot like that. wview has a support site via Google Groups at http://groups.google.com/group/wview.

Let us know how you get on, Scott!

We received a donation from Bill H. Thanks, Big Poppa!

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at [email protected], Russ at [email protected], or both at the same time at [email protected].
• Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.
• Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.
• Sign up for the LHS mailing list.
• Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.
• LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!
• Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Music:

• To be added.

After our quick renumbering, we come now to Episode #076. It didn’t start out as an all-feedback episode, but that’s how it wound up. The best part is, we had such good feedback from our listeners it made an entire show. As it also happens, most of our discussion revolves around digital mode communication for amateur radio using Linux. We touch on D-Star, Echolink, IRLP, Allstar Link and more. If you’re interested in using computers to connect to your radios and talk around the world using a multitude of digital technologies, including VoIP, this is the episode for you.

Please keep those donations coming in for our Hamvention Fund, if you’re able. We want to be a part of Hamvention and we hope you will be, too. Thank you for all you do.

In 2012 Yaesu will introduce a range of digital voice radios to the amateur market. They have published a Digital Communications Guide for Amateur Radio Operators that describes their new system and answers some questions about it. Yaesu’s offering seems to be compatible with Motorola’s professional  digital mobile radio system, which offers hams the possibility of a second source of compatible equipment on the surplus market – not that used professional Motorola radios have ever been cheap. But the Yaesu system will not be compatible with D-Star. No surprise there, then.

I have always believed it was a foolish move for ham radio organizations like our RSGB to allow themselves to be bamboozled by Icom into permitting the creation of a digital network that gave one supplier a monopoly. Repeater groups and their members who have made substantial investments in D-Star technology are not going to want to switch to a different digital mode that makes existing hardware obsolete. On the other hand, D-Star itself is becoming an outmoded technology in digital terms. Hams who have been sitting on the fence looking for an up to date alternative that doesn’t involve buying Icom are not going to plump for one system or the other while the future looks like being fragmented into rival factions. It will be like the video war between VHS and Betamax.

I think Yaesu’s announcement will kill the already lame duck of D-Star and ensure that analogue FM remains the dominant mode on the amateur VHF bands and up for years to come.

This just in from the Things That Make You Go Hmmm Department: the amateur radio portion of Yaesu splits from Mother Motorola while the land mobile portion stays. This is right on top of an announcement that Yaesu will pursue a digital amateur radio offering based on land mobile technology (i.e., definitely not D-STAR).

The K0KDS blog has a post about the split, so go there for the full story. The ARRL has this news item about the organizational change. Here’s the paper that Yaesu published about their move into digital technology for amateur radio.

73, Bob K0NR

Over the last few days I have been running my EchoLink node #3098 connected into the IRELAND conference server. As I’ve been feeling a bit tired and lethargic recently it has been a way to pass the time listening to QSOs and making the occasional contact.

Apart from IRELAND there seems to be nowhere else on the EchoLink network where there is enough activity that you can guarantee something to listen to or that someone will reply if you call CQ. I know this is like talking of selling your soul to the Devil but would D-Star, which I have never experienced but which I gather has something called “reflectors”, be any better from the point of view of making contacts with hams around the globe using a handheld?

OVMRC and CUARC Field Day Site 2011, the Canada Science and Technology Museum

My last post was way back in June, when I was on business in St John’s Newfoundland. I had not planned for there to be an interruption in the postings but it just seemed to turn out that way. No single reason for the lack of output, things were busy with family, jobs around the home, work (I have taken on a new role) and radio with the Carleton University Amateur Radio Club (CUARC). Once I had stopped posting for a while it was too easy to not post. There may have been some writer’s block too. One reader advised me to write again when I was feeling the mood return, but emphasized not to change the format. So now it is time to pick up the blogging again.

I may post more on these items, but here is a brief run down of recent amateur radio and electronics related activities over the hiatus.

• End of June there was Field Day and again CUARC participated with the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club after being kindly invited to join them  (see photo above).  We operated mostly as a GOTA station (I was a GOTA captain and rules were followed) but when one transmitter turned in for the night we became the 80m station. We used a homebrew full wave 80m horizontal loop and a homebrew ¼ wave vertical with three elevated radials for 15m.  Both antennas performed well.
• Somewhere in the recent past this blog went over 100,000 views.  Top post in recent months has been details on the Z-Match tuner.  Thanks to all of you for reading the blog!
• CUARC is constructing a 30m QRSS receiver and the oscillator, mixer, diplexer stages have been built and constructed individually.  A low noise audio stage is to be built next.
• At work I have been  building small SMD microcontroller boards with on board RF capabilities.  The boards which we modified from some open hardware have been reduced down to about 4.5cm by 2 cm.  My SMD soldering has been getting better, especially using a professional rework station.
• I have been programming the new ID-880H dualbander that I bought in Spring.
• The Saturday morning Ottawa Amateur Radio Digital Group D-STAR net continues every Saturday at 8:30am local time here in Ottawa (8:30EST or EDT) and we link through to reflector REF016B.  Either Andrew, M0GRU, or myself run the net. Join us if you can.

Next post will be the pictures form a foggy Signal Hill that I promised in the previous post.

As I recently blogged, I purchased the DV Access Point Dongle a few weeks ago.  It really came down to trying to do something to enhance my interest in D-STAR or sell my ICOM IC-92AD.  I was first introduced to D-STAR back in early 2008 and purchased the IC-92AD in the fall of 2008.  I spent the first several months having QSO’s on the local repeaters with the growing number of D-STAR users in the Rocky Mountain region.  But I’ll admit I did get a little bored with just speaking with the same group of guys.  I mean no disrespect, but I never really got into the local VHF/UHF repeater scene.  I think I would have more interest in local repeater operation if I had a longer commute.  But with less than 5 minutes in the car, there’s just no time to try. 

Anyway, a few months ago I grabbed the D-STAR radio and re-educated myself on how to use it and connected to the local Denver repeater and connected to the REF005 London repeater. I really enjoyed just listening with that reflector dialed up in the background.  Not wanting to tie up the local repeater just for my enjoyment, I began looking into the DV Dongle and the DV Access Point Dongle.  I was first leaning towards the DV Dongle as I figured I would do more listening that actual talking and it could just play in the background.  I could use my IC-92AD when I wanted to QSO.  But as I began comparing the two dongles (no dongle is created equal) I began leaning more towards the DV Access Point Dongle with the ability to still use my radio. 

It didn’t take long before I had a short list of ideas on how the DVAP would come in handy around the house and in the office.  In the office I work in a lab which is a RF black hole.  Nothing comes in and nothing gets out.  I could take the DVAP and my IC-92AD to the office and either just listen or perhaps even strike up some QSO’s during lunch.

If you’re not familiar with the DV Access Point D-STAR Dongle, it is a simple looking little device that connects to your PC via USB and allows you from your D-STAR radio to connect into the D-STAR network via the Internet.    The DVAP has a small antenna and transmits at a mere 10mw.  But the nagging question was just how far will 10mw travel?

I had read many blog postings from other hams who were enjoying the world of D-STAR from their DV Access Point.  They were finding out they could successfully operate from other rooms, the back deck, the back yard and even to the henhouse as in the case of my friend, Tim Kirby G4VXE in the United Kingdom.

Now before I go any further, allow me to type out some fine print.  The DV Access Point Dongle is truly designed to provide a licensed ham the ability to connect to the D-STAR network from inside and around their home or location.  It is not intended to be used as a neighborhood D-STAR repeater and send RF signals across the neighborhood or across town. 

Having said all of the above, I still wanted to know the range.  My ham shack is in my basement.  With the DVAP setup and using the little stubby stock antenna, I tested by walking all around my basement, then going upstairs to the ground level, then upstairs to the second floor and then finally on my back deck and courtyard.  No issues.

Like many, the experimentation aspect of the hobby is something I enjoy.  I don’t have a lot of time to build radios and living in such an antenna restricted neighborhood, I don’t have a lot of need to build and experiment with antenna design.  So my eagerness to know just how far I could move away from my QTH really excited me.  I know I’m a nerd…but if you’re reading this so are you.

So I decided to connect the DV Access Point Dongle up to my Diamond X-30A external VHF/UHF antenna.  This antenna is attached to the side of my house where a Directv satellite dish once was mounted.  The antenna works great for working the front range repeaters (including the D-STAR repeaters) and I’ve also managed to hear ARISSat-1 via this stationary antenna.  As a point of reference, the antenna is approx. 16 feet off the ground and it does not stick up above the roofline.  It is totally hidden from view of neighbors and as such it not as efficient as it could/should be.

With no other modifications to the DVAP, I connected it to the external antenna and hopped in the car to go to the grocery store.  From my QTH to the grocery store parking lot (based on Google Earth measurements) as the crow flies or the RF travels, it is .75 miles, 1.20 kilometers, 3,941 feet, 1201 meters…I think you get the idea.  I honestly figured I wouldn’t make it out of my neighborhood.  As I reached the end of my street I was able to do a successful echo test.  I continued up the road and to the exit of my neighborhood.  Another echo test proved successful.  I then proceeded down the street towards the grocery store and with IC-92AD in hand and in the car I did another successful  echo test.  I reached the grocery store parking lot, stepped outside and conducted the final echo test….yep successful.  I was .75 miles from my QTH and had solid copy on the echo test to the DVAP dongle.

Again…let me add the fine print.  The DV Access Point Dongle is intended to provide the licensed amateur radio operator access to the D-STAR network in and around their house/yard.  It is not intended to provide connectivity at 3/4 of a mile away. 

I was short on time this particular day and plan to conduct further testing to determine the limit.  The neighborhood I live in is relatively old with tall, mature trees.  Another test in the dead of winter might also prove to provide additional range since less foliage on trees will get in the way.  A final testing to just fulfill my interests will be as far as I take the range experiment.  I’m not interested in trying to amplify the 10mw signal as I believe that is taking the DVAP in a direction not intended by its developer.  However, the next time I go to the community pool which is located just about 100 yards from my QTH, I believe the IC-92AD might just come along.

Look for an updated blog post on the additional range testing to see if I can go a full mile.  I’ve read reports from hams in the NY area who have been successful at one mile in all directions (N, E, S, W).  I may just wait until winter to try this as I stated above. Finally, I do want to do a little testing to see just how this setup could perform in a portable setup using an AT&T 3G data card.  I’ve certainly read blog posts from other hams stating they have had no issues with a configuration like this.  Again, it’s more to fulfill my experimental interests. 

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK