Blog Archives
So I spent my disposable part of the day building an RF Sampler and looking at the oscilloscope. At first I kinda got worried. I saw the image below.
So then I realized that at 20mV per division (you can’t see the pointer in the image, but it IS on 20 mV), that’s not so terrible. Especially when I look at the video below:
This was on 1V per division. So that looks okay I guess. Initially I was concerned about the distortion I was hearing on my wideband HT, but since my HT was on AM (no SSB modes available), it is probably okay.
So I’m on to looking at the antenna and feedline. Next up to build: a field strength meter.
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Last March, I purchased an Icom IC-706mk2g. Since I didn’t have a power supply (and modifying my old Ten-Tec power supply is a project that is taking too long), it sat. For too long for my liking. So I put it in my truck, temporarily, to make sure it works. I had some good comments about the sound quality.
During my afternoon drive, however, I hit a few particularly nasty bumps in the road and the rig, which I had sitting on the transmission hump, slid to the side, pulling on the power and antenna connectors. After that, the comments about the sound quality dwindled to it “sounding staticy, like you’re off frequency”. I took the covers off, did some quick visual checks and didn’t see anything amiss, so I kinda passed it off.
Fast forward a few very busy months with the HF rig off, and to this past week where the 13 Colonies were on the air. Try as I might, I had a lot of trouble getting any of them. In fact, there were times I stuck it out through a pileup (trying every time they said “QRZed?”) to when they were asking “QRZed” twice and even calling CQ. I was calling out, but they weren’t hearing me.
After being heartwarmed by hearing one of the stations clear a frequency to allow a mobile station through, I thought I’d operate mobile. So I attached an antenna mount and a 20m mobile antenna to my truck. The next morning wasn’t particularly good on 20. In the afternoon, I tried hitting up the local repeater first (it had been dead in the morning, and I do like talking with my repeater friends). However, I couldn’t get through. So I tried again in a few miles. And again, a few miles after that. Finally, I could get through when I was pretty close to home. The return ID was staticy, too.
So anyway, I’m concerned for my HF rig.
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I was one of the first among the ham community to get a Raspberry Pi. Since getting it, I’ve felt somewhat lame because it took me a few days before plugging it into my TV and making sure it works. When I did that, I only ssh-ed into it for a few minutes.
I spent the next few weeks trying to figure out what to do. After all, the possibilities are endless. After much thought, I decided the best thing would be some sort of box that would connect to a TV and show something radio related. I thought about it and decided that the screen format of Sports Center (on ESPN) would likely be the way to go. Since it is sports and they try to cover a lot, they have a vertical scrolling bar on the left side that shows what they are talking about next (so you know if you want to stay watching or go to the loo or get another beer). I think that the vertical scroller is something to adapt to this, although it may not be as live as SC, it will give an indication of what’s coming up next.
So for things on that bar, I can think of a few things:
- DX Spots
- Solar Weather
- Contest Calendar or contest stats (when in a contest)
- Log stats (recent QSO locations)
- APRS-IS
- Nearby satellites
Recent Headlines (perhaps from ARRL) (perhaps as a crawler at the bottom of the screen? Perhaps also including other news sources like SARC?)
So I’m looking for both ideas and volunteers. This project will be open-source and emphasis will be on making it skinnable, extendable, and something useful to the ham community. If you have an idea or can volunteer, feel free to leave it in the comments below or email me at callsign at callsign.us.
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On June 14, 2012, I presented to the Milford ARC group, and for the first time (in three), it was not a technical presentation. Since the business meeting agenda was full talking about the Milford Hamfest (which was June 16) and Field Day, my presentation was quick and to-the-point. Below is the presentation.
During and after the presentation, we had a lot of joking because we don’t have a lot of opportunities to activate some of these here. So there were jokes about White Castles OTA or Waffle Houses OTA. So, knowing that there are programs out there that I didn’t include in my presentation (like Interstate Rest Stops OTA), I googled for “Waffle Houses On The Air Ham Radio’. Surprisingly, the second and third result was fellow hamtwit NR4CB’s Bionic-Nerd Road Trip Blog.
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I was going to post this to twitter, but it’ll be longer than 140 characters, so I thought I’d put it here.
With Yaesu having began to advertise their C4FM and hopefully demoing it at Dayton in 5 weeks (from this post), and Icom having now 21,900 “registered users” worldwide (note that registered users ≠actual users, as I’ve heard via a twitter/D-Star user that people can register without actually owning any D-Star equipment).
Kenwood, based on their recent QST ads, appear to be ready to unleash another HF rig on us. No telling what their plans are, but they could single-handedly destroy D-Star or C4FM by going with the competing technology. They could also exacerbate the status quo by bringing out their own digital voice/data technology.
Of course, Kenwood probably doesn’t want to get in between Icom and Yaesu by siding with one of them. And I’m not sure if Kenwood wants to add another proprietary-feeling digital mode. They may just be waiting this one out for a winner.
Or maybe we’ll get lucky and Kenwood will figure out a way to build radios with FM, D-Star, and C4FM. 🙂
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Now that I’m done cussin’ at the software (which was doing what it was supposed to, I just didn’t realize that), I have some time to reflect.
First off, 15 and 20 meters were awesome. 10 meters stunk for me – lots of calling from CA, but nobody was hearing my 25 watts from Ohio. 40 meters looked good as well. More on that in a second.
I netted 960 points in 40 QSOs. Two new DX – Cuba and the UK. One #WATwitter – @VA5LF.
I started on 20 and got several. Went to 10 (I think I got one Q there), went to 15 and tore it up. Back to 20, found a few new. Jumped to 40. On my 3rd QSO on 40 my rig quit. Just quit. I thought it had folded back (like it had high SWR). So I turned the rig off and back on. The rig lit up for a split second before dying again. Tried it again, same result. Again. Again. Put my hand on the heat sink on the back. I did NOT yell “ouch!” (or anything of the sort). It was warm, but not hot. Did the same to the power supply, and the same result. I unplugged everything and took the rig over to the bench and removed the covers. Nothing looked burned or bad, but I couldn’t see in the finals. Figuring that’s where the problem would be, I uncovered the finals. Nothing.
So I replaced the bottom cover and moved the rig aside and got the power supply. I tried to pull a pass transistor off the back, but after trying to pry it off with a knife I realized it was soldered on. So I replaced the screws on the pass transistor and plugged it back in to try and put a load on it. After plugging it in at the bench and turning it on, the transistor that I was trying to pry popped from the location I tried to pry it from.
So at least I know I have a bad pass transistor. Maybe two. The rig condition is unknown. I’m going to get a battery and hook the rig to it and see if the rig runs. I honestly don’t want to hook my Astron PS to it, as I don’t want it to blow if there is something wrong with the rig.
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I recently co-instructed a technician class (one of four or five sessions) and this is a few resources for the students as well as any new ham. I am going to try to keep this up-to-date.
First off, I think all new hams should read this article by Chris Seright KE5ZRT. He does a great job of what you should do now that you have a license.
Second off, the stuff below is a laundry-list of clubs, emergency groups, nets, and other items of interest to new hams. It is specific to Clermont County and the Cincinnati region. This is not all-inclusive!
Local Cincinnati Clubs
Milford Amateur Radio Club (we’re teaching this, so they get the plug!) (Facebook) (Twitter)
Other Cincinnati Clubs (Courtesy of WARN)
Local Cincinnati Emergency Groups
Clermont Amateur Radio Emergency Service
Weather Amateur Radio Network (Twitter) (Facebook)
Traffic Networks
Other Local Nets
Milford Amateur Radio Club Weekly Net – 9:00PM Local Sunday 147.345
OH-KY-IN Tech Talk Net – 9:00 PM Local Wednesdays 146.67
Ham Twit Net (Ham Radio Operators on Twitter) – Echolink W5RAW-R #387265 0100 UTC Thursdays
(in Cincinnati, winter 8:00 PM, summer 9:00 PM)
Maps and Band Plans
ARRL Band Plan (the legal band plan)
ARRL Band Plans (the Gentlemen’s Agreements)
Grid Square Map – Google Maps – PDF – printed copies available at most ham radio retailers
CQ Zone Map – ITU Zone Map – better printed copies available for free at most ham radio retailers
Podcasts
The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast – great operating resources, the author talks about different ways to have fun with radio
Amateur Radio Newsline – Amateur Radio News
Ham Nation – weekly feature show on the TWIT network featuring Bob Heil and Gordon West
Linux in the Hamshack Podcast – for those interested in Linux
Major National Clubs
Other Web Resources
QRZ – call lookup for QSL info, bios, etc. Also forums, other related.
eHam.net – Forums, news articles
Local Ham Radio Retailers
R&L Electronics – Hamilton
Universal Radio – Reynoldsburg (near Columbus)
AES – Cleveland
DX Engineering – Akron
Note: there are several others that ship and take ordering over the Internet – Google is your friend here, as is QST or CQ magazine.
Today is going to be my first RTTY contest. I’ve never done RTTY before last night. Fortunately, one of our Milford Amateur Radio Club members, Bill WS6K helped me (and others) out by creating macros and doing some how-tos. We talked through the setup on the club 2m repeater, and he even kept with me after my HT died, and my second HT had a dead battery, so I hooked my second HT to my little Astron power supply which caused a lot of hum on my signal.
So we got things working and tested. Hope to put a lot of people in the log today.
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On February 9, 2012 I gave a presentation about Weak Signal Digital Modes like JT-65, WSPR, and QRSS. The presentation can be seen on Slideshare.
Links and Resources
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It seems like I had time at one point in my life. Unfortunately, that was then, this is now.
I just pulled up NetNewsWire. It has been a while, probably 3 years. Over 300 news items. NetNewsWire is a great program for RSS feeds on OS X. Maybe other platforms, I don’t know.
I used to follow a lot of photography, blogging, NASCAR, and other news feeds. While I’m still interested in those things, I don’t do a whole lot of photography (it’s a hobby that I’ve not had a lot of time for), and I haven’t been following NASCAR nearly as much. The blogging stuff started seeming more about blogs to make money. I’m not making money on this blog, nor my other (siliconcreek.net). This one is all hobby, and siliconcreek is part work (it has probably served me well as a marketing tool).
Part of what made NNW so hard to keep up with is many of the people/organizations I was following post for money, and others were news. They post daily (or so). It can get annoying when someone stretches for content. Maybe daily postings work well to make money on AdWords or get you great ranks in search engines, but I can tell when an author stretches for words. The interest fell. I stopped using NNW and removed it from the dock on my MacBook Pro.
I can also find some really interesting stuff that seems refined. In fact, this morning I started my computer day reading about a flood in 1941. It was a long post, but it was so interesting I couldn’t pull my eyes from it! The author of that blog doesn’t appear to post on a schedule – he did 7 posts in November, 37 in December, and 17 so far in January. I looked at another blog, two posts, it just started, but it looks interesting. I looked at another one, the last 5 posts go back to August – many contest and EME results. The posts aren’t long, but it is good to see others on the air, even if it is modes I don’t operate (I currently operate SSB and FM only, but that’s going to change… someday!). I saw another that included several steps of building a kit radio – very interesting, but like the rest, posts aren’t to a schedule.
And there is NO PART OF ME that wants to try to get these guys to get on a schedule. Forget that! I don’t post on a schedule, why should they? And they, like me, don’t always get their posts to twitter. And twitter, well, I have hundreds of tweets in my timeline. I can’t keep up. I’ve adopted a “dip in and out of the stream” attitude (thanks Connie for the idea!). I will on occasion look back, but generally what happens when I’m not watching gets ignored.
So I decided last week to clear NNW and start finding these guys’ blogs and put their blog RSS feed into NNW.
The clearing part feels good, man!
So I’m going to start reading the infrequent posts of some of the friends I’ve made on twitter and Google+. I will eventually add that as a blogroll here. Baby steps.
Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to start adding things to NNW.
EDIT: it appears I’ve selected a theme that doesn’t make it easy to find the RSS feed. It is http://www.ac8jo.us/feed . I will be fixing that sometime soon! 🙂
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