Amateur Radio/Scanner & Linux blog

Carrying my manuals with me

2011-08-07T19:04:00.004-04:00

I recently bought a Kindle K3 from Amazon after debating with myself for a long time about spending the money on one. The tipping point came when I ordered my last two hard cover books from Amazon and the day they arrived I found two additional ones that I wanted. The book shelves in my living room are bulging at the seams and I was going to have to start thinking about occupying another wall. This pleased my wife about as much as my wanting to put a 50' flag pole in the front yard to string antennas from.

So I looked at the Kindle which has a six inch diagonal screen, is not as thick as a number 2 pencil and will hold over 3000 books. Now I won't go into a complete review of the Kindle here but I will say that so far I love it. I wasn't sure I would like reading on the device especially since I like the feel of a new book in my hands. Again, that is another story.

After I had my Kindle set up and had purchased a few books from the Kindle store I started exploring other aspects of this little gem. The first thing to catch my eye was that it would display documents in PDF format. In addition you are given an email address when you purchase your Kindle to which you can email files that they will then transfer to your device via WiFi or what they call "Whisper Net" which is just a 3G connection by way of the cellular network. I haven't tried it yet but you can also link with USB to Kindle and load PDF files that way.

Needless to say all of my ham gear manuals from Icom and Yaesu are available in PDF format. There is a trend now days to supply manuals only in digital form leaving it to the end user to decide if he or she needs a "dead tree" version. So now when I'm mobile if I want to look up some obscure function on my FT-7800-R dual band mobile I just need to take out my Kindle and RTFM. Yet another small way that computers are wedging their way into the shack.

2011-07-31T12:17:00.002-04:00

Here is a small low power consumption computer that I ran across that looks like it would make a great Linux system for the shack. For that matter it would be nice for anywhere that you want a computer on that runs 24/7 and don't want to take up a lot of space. It is a little pricey when compared to some of the bare bones boxes that you can get from Tiger Direct or Newegg in conventional PC form factor. I see a trend in laptop computers where first RS-232 ports disappeared from them and now it looks like optical drives will be the next item to fall from the hardware platform in an every increasing drive to minimal size and weight. That trend is also evident in these types of systems also.

You can get a system with a faster processor and a built in optical drive for equal or slightly less money although it does come in "kit" form any you have to mount the components. It is just a screw driver job that requires a little time.

At one time I would have given a lot for a fan less system like this being overly sensitive to the noise from working in server rooms for extended periods. The technology has improved in power supplies and have become tolerable for me though.

So if you have been looking for a dedicated computer for the shack or if you would like a small form factor system to use in your office, den or living room this could be the ticket. Check out evo technologies and their products.

North Hills Amateur Radio Club to have new meeting place

2011-07-17T23:52:00.003-04:00

I received this email from the North Hills Amateur Radio Club and wish to make the information available to as wide an audience as possible. The NHARC has a very active membership and a long history of service to the community and the amateur radio hobby. Everyone is welcome to attend meetings and you are encouraged to bring a friend. If you have an interest in radio and electronics you will find a friendly group of kindred spirits there.

Dear North Hills Club Members,

A year ago all of you came to a meeting where I announced the Club would be moving. While this Christ Lutheran Church is better than the Northland Library, it was still not good for our growth.

At this time, I announce to the members of North Hills ARC we have found a permanent home. One where we can hold all Club events including Jota, Elmer nights and Club meetings. Most of all, the management of the new location is receptive to helping us grow in the future by providing us the possibility of a radio room. We will also be permitted to hold the hamfest there.

The reason for the change is cost, convenience and growth. We will meet for our first meeting at Parkwood Church on Mount Royal Blvd August 10th at 7pm. At that time, we will talk about the possibilities we have for making North Hills Radio Club better than we already have done.

On behalf of the Board I thank you for your continued support with North Hills and look for many great Club events at Parkwood.

Parkwood United Presbyterian Church
4289 Mt. Royal Blvd.
Allison Park PA 15101

Jim Heiles KB3IYS
President
North Hills ARC

Ham Radio's Cutting Edge Technology

2011-03-28T21:17:00.003-04:00

Here is a link to a site that I picked up from twitter. While it is just a "tease" of the whole story if you know anything at all about amateur radio it is interesting none the less. Enjoy.

Hearing weak signals with amateur radio.

Breeze Shooters 10 meter PSK31 contest

2011-01-22T12:21:00.002-05:00

From the Skyview Radio Society's mailing list:

Breeze Shooters Annual PSK 31 GroundWave Contest is tonite.

Time: 7pm till Midnight
Place: 10 meter band

Quote: From a famous Statesman - "one if by home, two if by club"

Either way, the fun starts at 7pm. Be sure to fill in "club affiliation" as "SkyView" (if current member)

Check the Breeze Shooter's web site for more information.

A very Happy New Year to all of my ham radio, scanner and Linux friends out there

2010-12-31T23:33:00.004-05:00

I want to take this opportunity to wish all of my amateur radio friends and fellow Linux users out there in cyberspace a very Happy New Year. I hope that 2011 brings you higher antennas, more DX and many new friends on the bands in the coming year.

I wish my fellow scanner listeners a Happy New Year and hope that Santa was good to you with new toys for Christmas and that you experience a lot of good monitoring in 2011.

If you are a Linux users, or would like to be, pay attention to the local repeaters for the possibility of a new net in the new year that will encompass some computer aspects and some interesting Linux information. Watch the blog for more information as things develop.

I hope that God has blessed you and your family and friends in 2010 and that he will continue to do so in 2011. Keep the real meaning of Christmas in your hearts and minds all though the coming year. It will improve your life beyond belief.

Ham Classes to be held at the Salvation Army

2010-12-15T14:17:00.001-05:00

Classes will commence at the Salvation Army, Parish Street, Greentree, PA on 1/12/11, Wednesday and 1/13/11, Thursday. Class time is 7:00 to 9:00 P.M.

The VE Test Sessions will be 2/16 and 2/17/11.

To register for the classes, please contact Joe, KA3TDQ at 412-496-5441 or email KA3TDQ@VERIZON.NET or Jerry, K3FKI at 412-795-4595 or email K3FKI@VERIZON.NET.

Santa came early this year

2010-11-24T16:51:00.002-05:00

Well the North Hills Amateur Radio Clubs' flag ship repeater on 147.090 has been returned to service much sooner than expected.

The repeater is located above Pittsburgh's North Side on the WPXI channel 11 television tower and covers the city and surrounding Allegheny County area. The machine is the official ARES repeater for the county. It transmits a continuous CTCSS tone of 88.5 and if need be can be switched to 88.5 on the receiver. Normally though the machine runs with carrier squelch on the input.

If you are in the Pittsburgh area please feel free to use the machine and say hello to the hams in the area.

NHARC's 147.09 repeater off the air

2010-11-23T18:13:00.005-05:00

The North Hills Amateur Radio Club's 147.090 repeater is out of service for repairs. If you are in the Pittsburgh area please use the sister repeater on 146.880. It is hopped that the 09 machine will be back on the air within a week. All of the North Hills Club repeaters have exceptional "uptime" service records so this is an unusual situation partially because of the holiday this week. I will post when the machine is back on line. The weekly club net normally held on 147.09 at 08:30 PM local time will be moved to the 88 machine this evening.

First Responders to End Radio Market Monopolies

2010-05-15T12:11:00.002-04:00

The 88 cities of Los Angeles County have banded together to end a long-standing business model that forces them to upgrade first responder radio systems at the whim of vendors.

The practice of selling closed-architecture systems has favored a small group of public safety radio manufacturers for decades, said former city of Los Angeles assistant police chief Michael Bostic, who now works for Raytheon as its director of public safety solutions.

A joint powers agreement signed by the cities will create the Los Angeles Regional Interoperability Communications System, which is designed to bring an open architecture system — commonly used in the commercial mobile phone market — to police departments.

To read the entire story follow this LINK.

D-Star expands in Pittsburgh

2010-05-14T19:54:00.004-04:00

It is now public knowledge that the North Hills Amateur Radio Club will be purchasing equipment at this years Dayton Hamvention to put a second D-Star repeater on. This one will be a VHF high band repeater on the 146.22/146.82 pair which has languished unused in Pittsburgh for a very long time now. Those who have been around the Pittsburgh two meter scene for a while will remember when the 82 machine was located on the Westinghouse Research & Development Center in Church Hill and had very wide coverage in the area. Old timers quiz, anyone remember what the call sign of the 82 repeater was when located there? Bonus points if you remember what it was changed to when the FCC stopped issuing special call signs for repeaters.

As I have said in previous postings I would like D-Star a lot more if did not use a proprietary codex for the digital encoding and decoding of the voice portion of the transmissions. I would also like to see much faster data rates on the VHF and UHF frequencies. Still even at the slow data rates D-Star becomes a real tool for use in emergency situations where hams are asked to provide all of the communications or supplant public safety radio systems that have become overloaded because of the circumstances.

The new repeater will be co-located with the existing UHF repeater in the Oakland section of the city at the WQED transmitter site. This will go a long way toward making D-Star popular among local hams. I know I have herd more than one person on the air saying that D-Star is a big investment in equipment when you consider that there are very few repeaters around and thus not many other hams to chat with. Hopefully that is going to change now. As soon as I have more information I will post it here on the blog. Until then those that are making the journey this year have a great time at Dayton.

Rare Space Shuttle Landing

2010-04-18T13:33:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Larry, AA3ZN, for the heads up on this one.

SPACE SHUTTLE RE-ENTRY: On Monday morning, April
19th, space shuttle Discovery will make a rare "descending
node" reentry over the continental United States. The
returning spacecraft will pass over or close to many towns
and cities en route to landing in Florida at 8:48 am EDT,
including Fort Peck Lake, Montana; Pierre, South Dakota;
Sioux City, Iowa; St. Louis, Missouri; Tupelo, Mississippi,
Birmingham, Alabama, and Jacksonville, Florida.
Observers along western parts of the ground track could see
the shuttle blazing through pre-dawn darkness. As
Discovery makes its way east, it will enter daylight and
fade into the bright blue background. If you can't see the
shuttle, however, you might be able to hear it. The shuttle
produces a sonic double-boom that reaches the ground about a
minute and a half after passing overhead. Check http://spaceweather.com for maps and more information.

SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Would you like to turn your
phone into a space weather monitoring system? Sign up
for Space Weather PHONE: http://spaceweatherphone.com

You are subscribed to the Space Weather mailing list, a free service of Spaceweather.com.

New subscribers may sign up for free space weather alerts
at http://spaceweather.com/services/ .

ARRL product reviews for May

2010-04-09T03:08:00.003-04:00

Here is a sample of the product reviews that will be forthcoming in the May issue of QST.

Not quite sure how..................

2010-03-12T06:30:00.000-05:00

I'm not quite sure how this happened. I have three blogs that I maintain one about Oakmont, a second about amateur radio and a third about rail fans. Normally I don't "cross post" to them unless I really feel that the subject would be of interest to both sets of readers. Last week I wrote an entry about the movie "The Blind Side" for my Oakmont blog. At one point I made some changes in the posting options and when I returned to the software "dashboard" of Blogger I was surprised to find that my entry has simply disappeared. There were no backup or draft copies and it was getting late and I wanted to go to bed. So I gave up in disgust and left the computer.

So imagine my surprise when I was writing a posting for the rail fan blog yesterday evening and in the process of looking over all three blogs found my movie posting in my amateur radio blog! It may well turn out to be a simple case of operator error but I really think the blogger software pulled a fast one one me and I didn't take the time to investigate all of the avenues of where my written words had wandered off to. So if you are wondering why you are getting Siskel & Ebert on an amateur radio blog now you know.

I will be making some posting in the Linux area shortly. I have been using Ubuntu for about two years now and I have recently switched to Linux Mint. I am writing this on a Mint system and have reached the point where I don't even bother with dual boot any longer. If I can't do it with Linux I just ignore it. I do have access to a Windows machine if I really REALLY have to make use of some software that only runs on that platform. But for my day to day computer use reading mail, blogging, listening to podcasts, editing photos and digital modes for amateur radio Linux does it all quite nicely. Is it perfect? No it is not. Is it superior to Microsoft Windows? Absolutely without a doubt. More latter.

73's

The Blind Side gets an Oscar

2010-03-09T06:46:00.002-05:00

I haven't watched the Oscar awards on television for several years now despite that fact that I have always been an avid movie fan. In recent years Hollywood has forgotten how to make good movies. I worked for a theater owner who used to tell me that if Hollywood made good movies people would come to the theater to see them. Long before "Field of Dreams" was produced Joe knew that "if you build it they will come".

I feel that Hollywood has lost touch with their audience especially when it comes to what is fit to put on the big screen. There have been some great movies come out of tinsel town in recent years and not all of them were rated G. We have however come a long way from the days when Clark Gable paid a hefty fine, actually the studio payed it for him, for saying the word "dam" at the end of "Gone With The Wind". It used to be that using a four letter word starting with F would get a film an R rating while now days it barley rates a PG-13. This despite in some cases it is used in every other sentence in the script.

I don't live in a fantasy world and I know those words are used everyday. I have even uttered a few of them myself on occasion. I do however try my best not to use them even when I'm angry and I really see no reason that they have to be incorporated in a part of our culture that is labeled "entertainment". It is just not necessary. Likewise it seems that whatever the cause celeb happens to be this year that Hollywood seems to have to make it the center piece of their efforts at Oscar time. Whatever the message is be it anti war, gay rights, perceived government corruption in foreign policy and the list goes on. Much like the crowd in Washington DC the makers of movies have come to believe that their little worlds in the inner circles of New York and Los Angeles are not only what real life is like but that it is the way the rest of the country views it.

I have been a big fan of movies since I was a teenager and have sat through some real stinkers when it comes to feature length films. I had never gotten up and walked out on a film though until I went to see "Natural Born Killers". I went to see it because it had an excellent cast and the "buzz" was that it was going to be an outstanding film. I had never in my life seen such a waist of time, talent and film in my life. This was in 1994 and I have to say that things have not improved a lot since then.

That is why I was surprised that "The Blind Side" got a nomination this year for best picture of the year even though it didn't win. It also brought a nomination for Sandra Bullock in the best actress category for which she did take home the statue. The reason I was surprised was that this film doesn't fit in with how I think Hollywood looks at our society. It also portrays religion in a favorable light something that is extremely rare these days. Linda and I went to see this movie several weeks ago and I wrote a review of it here on the blog. You can read it here THE BLIND SIDE if you like.

I'm not sure if the terrible economy has gotten the attention of those producing films to rethink their product or if the changing technology is making them think that if they don't amend their ways that they could find themselves in the position of the recording industry in a few years. What I do know is that movies like The Blind Side offer a glimmer of hope that they can produce movies that tell a story, entertain the public and while doing so and make them buckets full of money along the way.

I don't expect every movie to be one that you could take a ten year old too. There is a place for movies geared to an adult audience in the film industry. Even those however don't have to go out of their way to shock the senses of the audience to draw them into the theater. It is my sincere hope that the industry is waking up to this fact and will continue to make more movies like The Blind Side.

iPhone on echoLink

2010-03-06T21:13:00.002-05:00

Here is an interesting posting from the K3MJW mailing list.

For you I-Phone geeks from WPA-ARES

Special operational note: On February 28, 2010 I (K3WS) used my Apple Iphone running the EchoLink Application (yes there is an App for that) connected to the N3YFO-R Echolink node (#295354) (which is connected to the 145.210Cambria County Repeater) to check in to our Sunday night ARES RACES Net. I might also mention I was mobile traveling East on Rt. 70 out of Breezewood PA. I received excellent audio reports. I remained connected until I signed off and disconnected about 10 Miles from Fredrick MD. It seems that the Echolink App for Iphone allows a relay function that is not blocked by a firewall. It is a very nice way to use an Iphone like an HT. I plan on trying to work one of my HF remote base rigs from the Iphone in the future.

FEEL FREE TO REPRINT OR PUBLISH

Tom Brew K3WS

The Pittsburgh Marathon is back!

2010-03-01T22:59:00.004-05:00

I am passing along this email from N3NHS and hope that you will pass along the word.

Fellow Amateurs...

The Pittsburgh marathon is back for another run this spring! May 2, 2010 will be the date of the marathon's 21st running, and with registration already exceeding last year's participation of over 10,000 runners, it will will be the largest in the history of the event. Once again, amateur radio has been asked to help make this event a success.

We will be providing communications vital to ensuring the safety both of those athletes running in the marathon and of the many spectators. There are many positions around the 26.2 mile course that need to be covered, including mile markers, aid stations, buses and sweep vehicles, shadows for race officials, and others. To fully cover all of these positions, we will need over 150 volunteer amateur radio operators, including you!

If you're new to the hobby or have never participated in a public service event, please don't let that stop you from joining us. We have a variety of positions for new and experienced hams alike, and will provide you with the information and support you need. This is an excellent opportunity to gain the experience needed to help out during an emergency, all while having fun and doing a service to our community.

Online registration is quick and easy. Just visit marathon.central.org, click "Volunteer Now!", and fill out the form. You will receive your assignment and detailed instructions during the last week of April. There will also be a pre-race meeting the day before the marathon, at which we'll review what to expect on race day, answer any questions you have, and provide your T-shirt, hat, vest, and marathon credentials.

I look forward to your participation.

73, Jeffrey Hutzelman, N3NHS

World War I Bible found looking for owners family

2010-02-20T12:30:00.004-05:00

I got this from one of the discussion groups on Yahoo posted by a ham in Arkansas. I'm trying to spread the information as far as possible. If you know anyone with the surname listed at the end of his post please contact him by email.

Post from Yahoo:

Live in Arkansas call sign KF5CRY while shopping I find a bible from a soldier WW1 trying to find a family member to try and see if they would like to have it back in the family, we have a way of reaching out to people more. Name in the Bible is Wilfred C. Reid Jr. Can you guys help?

SFC ROBERT STAATS

1/156 INF. BN 256 BCT

A wonderful trip down memory lane

2010-02-15T10:39:00.003-05:00

I was cleaning out my inbox at Google Mail this morning catching up on items that friends, family and fellow hams have sent me that are over due for attention when I ran across this link.

As I watched the slide show it brought back many memories especially some of the Gilbert toys that I had owned as a kid. While not quite old enough to to have listened to a Crosley or an Atwater Kent receiver I have admired them in adds in magazines that I rescued from the land fill when I was a teenager. One of the best things about this slide show is that if like me you are in the Pittsburgh area this museum is within easy driving distance. If you can't get there in person then sit back and take a walk down memory lane with the Picasa photo presentation. Enjoy.

West Virginal Radio Museum Photo Tour

Something every FT-60 owner should know

2010-02-02T15:29:00.003-05:00

I purchased a Yaesu FT-60 dual band hand held from a local ham who had won it at a ham fest and already had several HTs in his shack. It turned out to be a wise move on my part as I have come to like the little radio a lot. It is rugged has lots of features and despite what some other owners claim has a fairly decent user interface if you take a little time to learn it.

I won't go into all of the reasons I have made this my everyday "carry rig" but suffice it to say that it more than meets my needs as a portable ham rig and as a scanner for listening to public safety frequencies without having to carry a second radio on my side.

One item that I consider to be a flaw in the aforementioned user interface has to do with a feature unique to Yaesu radios. They have a system called WIRES which stands for Wide-coverage Internet Repeater Enhancement System. When this feature is enabled a brief .1 second burst of DTMF tone is transmitted each time the push to talk switch is depressed. It also mutes the audio from the rigs microphone for that period so in addition to being annoying to those listening to you it cuts off the first syllable of what you are saying if you don't hesitate before speaking. So you ask why don't you just turn it off? Well that is where the user interface comes in. It take only a momentary press of the zero key on the keypad to toggle WIRES off and on. It is very easy to bump the button and turn it on which you don't realize until you transmit and if you are in a noisy mobile environment you might not notice until someone brings it to your attention.

I subscribe to a mailing list on Yahoo for users of the FT-60 and how to turn off the WIRES burst has to be the most often asked question I see in the message section. Now when I got the radio I figured out the basic functions with out having to open the manual but soon learned that if you wanted to make use of all that the FT-60 had to offer that I was going to have to invest a little time at RTFM as they say.

I just recently found out that even though I have become fairly familiar with almost all of the bells and whistles on this rig that there were still a few things to be learned. After my last round of answering question on the mailing list about how to turn the tone burst off one of the other members mentioned that there was a document in the files section with instructions on how to disable the function until you decided to turn it back on. Sounded like information worth having to me so I went and downloaded said document and now if I accidentally bump that 0 key all I do is turn on the little WIRES symbol on the rigs display. No tone burst. And should I want to use the WIRES feature it is a simple procedure to turn it back on.

So if you have one of these fine radios here is how you can eliminate this minor annoyance should you so desire.

The WIRES function is turned ON or OFF by momentary pressing the 0 key on a

FT-60 handheld or left VOL knob on a FT-8800 or 8900 mobile radio. The

WIRES function can be disabled so that it can not accidentally be turned on

using the following steps:

FT-60 – See manual page 49

1. Press the F/M key then immediately press the 0 key to enter the menu

mode.

2. Rotate the Dial knob to menu 23 – INT MR.

3. Press the F/M key then rotate the Dial knob to select a memory (d1

through d9) that is empty, i.e. it contains •••••• (six dots) = no tone.

4. Press the F/M key to store the setting.

5. Rotate the Dial knob to menu 21 – I NET.

6. Press the F/M key then rotate the Dial knob to select INT.MEM.

7. Press the F/M key to store the setting.

8. Press the PTT button to exit the menu mode.

To re-enable the WIRESTM mode, select INT.COD in menu 21.

As you can see this is information that is available in the manual it is just a matter of understanding how different features interact with each other. Thanks to KB6OT for taking the time to create this information in PDF format and put it in the files section of the FT-60 group on Yahoo.

If you have or are contemplating the purchase of an FT-60 you should consider joining the group. Here is a link where you can become a member.

CLICK TO JOIN FT-60

Field Day for the Scouts 2010

2010-01-31T13:35:00.003-05:00

I picked this up from the Skyview Radio Society mailing list. Please pass the word along.

QST QST QST

DE KA3PMW

Calling all Hams and Clubs in Southwestern Pennsylvania

From W3S special event station for Field Day honoring the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

This event is mainly for the scouts to learn about Ham Radio and to participate on the air. It is being held at Camp Anawana near Amity, PA.

We need Operators, Elmers, Old Equipment and items for museum display, and operators with equipment.

News media and elected officials will be invited to attend.

Free meals will be provided by the Scouts and a commerative patch will be issued to all hams that participate. Please be sure we have the number of operators in your party. Remember since this is Field Day unlicensed operators are permitted to operate under supervision. This is a great opportunity to bring that family member that wants to get on the air with you for a week end of fun and learning.

Snacks should be purchased and brought with you. There are a few mom and pop stores in the area but they have limited hours and are expensive.

If you bring your own snacks be advised there are raccoons and skunks that will want to share them with you so keep them in a safe place!

Showers are available.

We are working on providing power from the military. If you feel safer using your own generator feel free to bring it along. You buy the gas.

Plans are to run a "D" class station. There will be a cabin with a refrigerator for those that want to stay over night. The cabin sleeps 6.

The 2010 rules will be posted as a link when available.

We encourage anyone that has solar or wind powered equipment or other innovative equipment to bring it out.

We plan to operate 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 2, 220, and 440 bands in various modes.

The following are encouraged:

Phone, CW, ATV, FSK and RTTY

Each band will have a band coordinator.

We are also planning to have a GOTA station and one or two stations for the scouts to operate on.

Those that are interested or can attend should reply to this email and provide the following information:

Number of operators interested, Band and mode you are interested in, do you wish to be an Elmer, do you wish to participate in the museum, hours you are available to operate.

Every effort will be made to see that everyone gets to operate and gets as much time as possible. Operating teams are welcomed.

The Call sign for this event is W3S and is reserved with the FCC for June 24th through the 28th.

Please help make this a fun and learning event for all.

No alcoholic beverages are permitted on the camp grounds.

Smoking is not permitted in front of the scouts. If you must smoke, please do it in an out of site area.

The site is atop a high hill with a good clear view. There are many trees around to hang wires from.

Maximum safety will be practiced at all times including station grounds and caution tape. The caution tape will be provided. See KA3PMW or N3TRF for caution tape.

Planned special side events include a Sky Warn training class and an Antenna Building class.

All are welcome whether you are club, individual, or family operators.

For further information and answers to questions contact please reply to this email or contact KA3PMW or N3TRF through the website.

For online sign up please go to the WEB SITE and look in the ham section. This site should be up and running February 1st, 2010.

Sounds like a worth while effort to me!

A Communications Tool For D-STAR

2010-01-25T07:43:00.001-05:00

I have been watching the D-Star protocol since it came on the scene and while it piqued my curiosity the data rates didn't impress me until you got up to 23 cm band. Even there you are only looking at 128kbs which is about the equivalent of an ISDN line and since the radios don't work full duplex you can cut that in half under the best of circumstances. When you combine that with the fact that even though D-Star was developed by the Japan Amateur Radio League currently only Icom is manufacturing equipment for use in the ham bands and that is another strike against it. I think if Kenwood or Yeasu would come on board with similar radios that would do a good deal to promote D-Star's use.

I got into packet radio about the time that dial up speeds started to double every few years and all of the sudden 1200 baud half duplex was looking pretty slow. Granted there was no WiFi at that time so it still held some magic in that I could throw together a rig, TNC, antenna, power supply and terminal and be communicating with other packet stations far beyond my simplex reach through digipeaters. Checking mail on the local BBS system and chatting keyboard to keyboard once in a while. Still I had been bitten by the Internet and its 56 kbs dial up connections. Man was that fast! Did you know that when the original ARPA Net, the forerunner of the Internet, was born it had a backbone that was 56K? Anyway I digress.

Now here we are all these years latter and amateur radio is still languishing in the 1200 baud world of packet and APRS with a smattering of 9600 baud activity here and there if you are lucky. Now I realize that many of the speed disadvantages we experience are due to bandwidth limitation on the most common used bands like VHF and UHF. HF is an entirely other matter all on its own.

The resurgence of public service side of ham radio has sparked a new interest in being able to transmit not only voice but data from point to point under less than ideal conditions. I am still somewhat disappointed in the fact that we have not established a wide area mesh network using protocols like 802.11N on the frequencies were we can run wider bandwidths and higher data rates. We however do have to live in the real world. So when D-Star came along providing the transmission of both voice and data on the same channel all in digital format that looked like an advancement to me. I was also disappointed in that fact that it uses a proprietary codex for the analog to digital conversion of the voice as I much prefer open standards that let everyone compete on a level playing field. I guess the problem is getting everyone to agree on what that "standard" is going to be.

So while surfing the other day I ran across D-Rats, a program that greatly enhances the capabilities of a D-Star equipped radio. It allows instant messaging style chat as well as file transfer from one radio to another including binary files with compression. There are other features that I won't go into here if you are interested I will provide a link to the D-Rats home page where you can get additional information. One of the best things about D-Rats is that it is multi platform and open source. So you are free to contribute to the project if you choose and it will run on Windows, Mac and Linux.

I have been a strong advocate for some time now that any software promoted for use in emergency communications should be free and open source so that a robust developers community could grow around it and improve it to the best possible level that it can achieve. I have expressed this opinion in person at meetings and in written form to the ARRL and other organizations. Perhaps one day we will have a data network that will rival the 3G networks currently in place for the cell industry but until that time comes I hope to see hams moving into the digital wireless world and learning more about networking and creating new technology that will enhance both the hobby and the communications industry in general.

Tower controversy with a twist

2010-01-15T12:33:00.004-05:00

Resident claim broadband tower causes health issues -- but tower was secretly turned off months ago

There's a great deal of intense fear among many in the public about the possible health impact of cell phone towers and high power radio waves. While there is actually some legitimate research into health impacts ongoing, most current research indicates current current communications technologies have relatively minimal (if any) affects on the human body, compared to more serious direct threats -- such as the ingestion of plastic residues. Nonetheless, there's been great public fear perpetrated by a variety of pseudo-medical sources decrying the health risks of radio waves.

Follow this link to read the entire story at Daily Tech.

National Public Safety Communications Network

2010-01-13T02:16:00.004-05:00

Here is a brief but interesting video from the National Press Club yesterday answering reporters questions on the future of the D block of frequencies that are to be auctioned off and their need to be dedicated public safety.

National Press Club video from C-Span

Haiti Earthquake - Keep 7045 kHz and 3720 kHz clear

2010-01-13T00:32:00.002-05:00

From the CQ / WorldRadio Online Newsroom:

All radio amateurs are requested to keep 7045 kHz and 3720 kHz clear for possible emergency traffic related to today’s major earthquake in Haiti.

International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region II Area C Emergency Coordinator Arnie Coro, CO2KK, reports that as of 0245 UTC on January 13, nothing had been heard from radio amateurs in Haiti, but that the above frequencies were being kept active in case any Haitian hams manage to get on the air, and in case of other related events in surrounding areas, including aftershocks and a possible tsunami.

The following is from an e-mail from CO2KK:

A few minutes after the earthquake was felt in eastern Cuba’s cities, the Cuban Federation of Radio Amateurs Emergency Net was activated, with net control stations CO8WM and CO8RP located in the city of Santiago de Cuba, and in permanent contact with the National Seismology Center of Cuba located in that city.

Stations in the city of Baracoa, in Guantanamo province, were also activated immediately as the earth movements were felt even stronger there, due to its proximity to Haiti. CO8AZ and CO8AW went on the air immediately , with CM8WAL following. At the early phase of the emergency, the population of the city of Baracoa was evacuated far away from the coast, as there was a primary alert of a possible tsunami event or of a heavy wave trains sequence impacting the coast line at the city’s sea wall …

Baracoa could not contact Santiago de Cuba stations on 40 meters due to long skip after 5 PM local time, so several stations in western Cuba and one in the US State of Florida provided relays. CO2KK, as IARU Region II Area C Emergency Coordinator, helped to organize the nets , on 7045 kHz and also on 3720 kHz, while local nets in Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa operated on 2 meters.

As late as 9,45 PM local time 0245 UTC we have not been able to contact any amateur or emergency services stations in Haiti.

Amateurs from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela were monitoring the 40 meter band frequency, that I notified to the IARU Region II executive Ramon Santoyo XE1KK as in use for the emergency, requesting that 7045 kHz be kept as clear as possible …

We are still keeping watch on 7045 kHz hoping that someone in Haiti may have access to a transceiver and at least a car battery to run it.

All information that has so far come from the Cuban seismologists tell us of a very intense earthquake, and also of the possibility of other events following.

Following the advice of the geophysicists, we are keeping the 7045 and 3720 kiloHertz frequencies active until further notice

——————
The editors of CQ and WorldRadio will keep these lists updated with additional information as circumstances warrant.

Some interesting thoughts from another ham blog

2010-01-12T12:47:00.004-05:00

This is part of the latest entry from the Wirelessness! Blog

"Throughout the history of amateur radio the introduction of new technologies has been hampered by a resistance against change; often stemming from the mistaken belief that the current state of technology is a pinnacle of achievement. Spark operators resisted the transition to CW, and then later CW ops opposed the introduction of phone. AM phone ops resisted the introduction of SSB phone, FM analog ops are currently up in arms about "intrusion" from P25 and D*Star, etc."

Follow this LINK to read the entire entry.

New from Yaesu

2010-01-11T12:52:00.005-05:00

As often happens while I was looking for something else I ran across that fact that Yaesu has a new radio in their line up. The dual band FT-350R.

As you know I have become a big fan of the Yaesu/Vertex line of VHV/UHF radios. I currently own four of them including an VX-7R hand held, FT-60 hand held, FT-2800M mobile and FT-7800 mobile. I have an Icom IC-2350H in the shack as well but like the feature set of the Yeasu radios much better. I think it is due to the fact that they tend to stay in the model of the Vertex commercial line for their ham rigs with the appropriate changes to firmware for frequency coverage and feature set.

The FT-350R seems to be a challenge to Kenwood with their TMD-710A which has always been a favorite of those that prefer digital modes. It looks that much like Chrysler used to do in the car market Yaesu has watched market place develop and what the consumers wanted and then jumped in with both feet intending to hit the mark harder than the competition. Having no experience with this radio I don't know if they have achieved this objective but looking at the specifications I like what they have come up with.

So if you are in the market for a dual band rig and you are involved in or thinking about getting involved in the digital modes you might want to give this one a look.

While I'm at it let me put in a shameless plug for one of the vendors that supports our largest local ham fest here in the Pittsburgh area. If you are looking to buy a new rig be it Icom, Kenwood or Yaesu consider placing your order with KJI Electronics. The Breeze Shooters Ham Fest is one of the largest in the Pittsburgh area and KJI has been very supportive of both the club and the ham fest. I like to return the favor when the chance arises.

If you are look for a two meter mobile

2010-01-09T18:46:00.006-05:00

I just heard, and confirmed via their web site, that Ham Radio Outlet is having a close out sale on the Yaesu FT-2800M transceiver. Production of this radio was discontinued in 2009 and it has been replaced by the FT-2900M which looking at the specifications seems to be the same radio with ten watts additional power output. I did not check other dealers so if you look around you may find similar prices or even better. Although if you find an FT-2800M for less than $100 you are getting a heck of a deal.

I have an FT-2800M and it is a really great rig. Solid as a rock and lots of nice features. The only thing it has against it in this day of matchbox sized cars is trying to find a place to mount it under the dash. That is assuming that you have a "dash" to mount it under. The rig has a massive heat sink on the back of it that makes up the bulk of the frame of the radio.

I just thought I would pass this tidbit along to the blog in case Santa forgot to leave any radio toys under the tree this year.

While I'm at it let me put in a shameless plug for one of the vendors that supports our largest local ham fest here in the Pittsburgh area. If you are looking to buy a new rig be it Icom, Kenwood or Yaesu consider placing your order with KJI Electronics. The Breeze Shooters Ham Fest is one of the largest in the Pittsburgh area and KJI has been very supportive of both the club and the ham fest. I like to return the favor when the chance arises. So give them a call and see if they have a similar price. Often times they will match a sale price if you call and ask. Good people, give them a chance.

Yet another silent key from the greatest generation

2010-01-09T09:09:00.005-05:00

I missed this obituary but Chuck/W3YNI caught it and posted it to the Skyview Radio Society mailing list. These were the guys who I looked up to as a teenager some of whom where my Elmer's at the tender age of twelve which is about the time I serious about getting a ham license. Took another two years but I made it. God bless all those who used their radio skills to server their country. Note the photo in this entry is not Mr. Baur but an example image I pulled from the net.

Penn Hills veteran's radio skills saved lives during WWII

The hobby that Ernie Baur treasured as a high school teenager proved to be a life-saver for many of the GIs fighting in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II.

"He was 16 years old when he learned Morse Code, was licensed and became known as W3UHB," said his son, Thomas Baur of Greensburg.

As a member of the Army's 127th Signal Radio Intelligence Company, Mr. Baur spent the war decoding Japanese radio messages that enabled the U.S. military to pinpoint Japanese troop and naval movements and avoid surprise attacks.

Ernest K. "Ernie" Baur of Penn Hills died on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010, in Seneca Place Nursing Home, Penn Hills. He was 85.

You can read the entire obituary by following this LINK.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-09T02:49:00.002-05:00

Greetings to the readers of the blog. I hope that you have had a very blessed Christmas, if you are a Christian that is, and that otherwise you have had a great holiday season. I know I did and I'm looking forward to the coming year for which one of my famous or infamous New Year resolutions will be to become more active in amateur radio.

Part of that will involve keeping the blog more up to date without simply blathering on about nothing in general. I will be searching the web for other blogs that provide information and are of interest to amateur radio operators. So here is my first entry for the new year.

KB6NU

Enjoy and feel free to comment or send me your own suggestions via email. Wishing all of you a prospers and productive New Year.

How about that CW!

2009-12-29T21:40:00.006-05:00

First before anyone gets their knickers in a twist I'm not trying to push the code on anyone. I was never a hard core CW person and am still not but being honest I don't work more CW for two reasons. One, I'm not very proficient at it. The guys that I know the really enjoy CW speak it just like another language. I can do about ten words a minute which in the world of avid CW operators is about like driving a moped on the interstate. Two, I am the worlds worst speller, I kid you not. I won't even go into grammar. I have gotten somewhat better since I have been writing blogs which I guess proves that if you exercise the brain cells like any other muscle it gets stronger.

Some people just have no desire to work CW and I understand that. My good friend and now silent key Paul / K3VIP passed the novice, the technician and the general all in one day. Latter he upgraded to Extra, for which he had to pass a twenty (20) word per minute code exam and was very proud of the fact that he had never worked a CW contact in his life. I suspect that a lot of the current crop of hams don't spend time on CW for the same reasons that I don't though.

Having said that my recent post about bad band conditions caused me to comment how well some of the CW operators are doing. I mentioned Jack/W9UK and he was kind enough to send me that list of recent contacts that he has worked. So take a look at what Jack has done with a wire antenna and 100 watts of transmitter power. See Jack's log below.

DX STATIONS IN THE W9UK LOG FOR 12-18 TO 12-28

80 Meters

DR800GRZ Special Event Germany
HB9LCW Switzerland
OZ1CTK Denmark
S51HU Slovenia
ES3AX Estonia
OZ1CT Denmark
F6GCP France

40 Meters

UA6GO European Russia
YU5RA Serbia
CO6CAC Cuba
CO6RD Cuba
VK4PN Australia

30 Meters

PY2NHK Brazil
DL2DSL Germany
IK2VET Italy
JQ2VVH Japan
JA1LZR Japan
EA8OM Canary Islands
YN4SU Nicaragua
CO6RD Cuba
IZ5EKV Italy
EA5CLU Spain
DF4BV Germany
WP4L Puerto Rico
DJ6EA Germany
UT7UJ Ukraine

20 Meters

HK4CZE Columbia
UA0FAI Asiatic Russia
7N1PRD Japan
JH2GZY Japan
ON6ZI Belgium

17 Meters

ZL1BYZ New Zealand
4A1DXXE Mexico
PY2LSM Brazil
IK5ZWU
PZ5RA Suriname
HB9QQ Switzerland
G5SWH England

All CW
ICOM 756PRO 100 watts
200 ft center fed Zepp 50 ft high
MFJ Twin Tee Antenna Tuner (modified)

Time spent on electronic projects

2009-12-29T00:54:00.002-05:00

I picked this one up from the Skyview Radio Society mailing list. I couldn't agree more. If you home brew or even tinker I think you will agree.

Graph of Time Spent On Electronics Projects

See if you agree.

The Glow Bugs of Christmas

2009-12-28T00:04:00.006-05:00

This was sent to me by KA3RXY and I hope you enjoy it as I did.

I'm also posting it in memory of Rey Whanger W3BIS who became a silent key this past year.

The Glowbugs' Christmas
******************************

'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the shack
Not a heater was glowing
In all of the rack.

Sitting totally silent and quiet that night
The old HRO shed nary a light.
The Johnson exciter and its homebrew final
Felt cold as leftovers, or seat-cover vinyl,

I drowsed at my workbench feeling tired and weary,
The print in the Handbook looked fuzzy and smeary.
I thought, "I'll make coffee", and groaned to my feet
When I heard a loud clatter outside in the street.

What the--? I wondered and turned on the lights
And there I beheld a wondrous sight:
A battered old van heaped high with components
And a grizzled old ham with a bagful of doughnuts.

I noted his callsign-- can't recall it today--
But a patch on the side read "FMLA".
I opened the door and hollered "Come in!
The coffee pot's heating, and we'll sit down and chin!"

He spoke not a word but whistled in Morse
A "GE OM", and "By golly, I'm hoarse.
Too many contacts, and hot rosin smoke."
I nodded and poured him a mug of jamoke.

He emptied the doughnuts in a pile on a plate
And explained in a whistle, "I'm running real late.
I've new 6L6s and fine 211s, 6146s and good 'SN7s.
And 866s and 0B2s, type 45s and mil-spec 807s."

"For the regennie crowd, 201s by the score
And good ol' type 30s and 19s galore.
I haven't neglected the passive-parts run
There's lots of good iron by old Thordarson."

I nodded and smiled, suppressing a chortle
As he reached in his pack and left me a 304TL.
He whistled, "I'm leaving, the coffee was great,
But I'm overdue in the neighboring state."

"Keep everyone building the rigs of their choosing
Or we'll lose the bands that we're lazy in using.
Transistors or tubes-- any project is fine--
Just keep on constructing and sharing on line."

He leaped to his feet and waved a gloved hand
As he sprang for the door and his rusty old van.
I heard him exclaim as he drove away from me,
"Merry Christmas, you Glowbugs, and to all 73!"

But the bands are terrible!

2009-12-26T23:15:00.005-05:00

I don't currently have an HF station operational and when I mention this on any of the local VHF/UHF repeaters the response I often get is "Who cares, the bands are terrible anyway." from other hams.

Now I have to say that the current sun spot cycle has been very late in getting started and the results it has produced have been nothing to write home about so far. Yet despite all the doom and gloom from the DX crowd I have noticed that there are two groups that don't seem to be all that bothered by the lack of sun spots.

One local ham, Jack / W9UK, has been working numerous HF contacts with a number of them being pretty decent DX for the Pittsburgh area. Jack is not running a KW and doesn't have a beam up at the 75 foot level. He is running an Icom 756PRO barefoot with a simple wire antenna. Now let me explain that Jack has a microphone connected to this rig but I'll bet if you checked it out you just might find a few cob webs in it. He does make an SSB contact every once in a while just to make sure that the modulator is still working but the bulk of his contacts are achieved at the end of a paddle or straight key. Jack is part of the first group that I'm thinking of. All of the locals that I know that primarily work CW just don't seem to be complaining about the band conditions. Even those that do seem to shrug off that notion that they are so bad that there is no reason to fire up the rig.

The other group that I talk with that seems oblivious to poor band conditions are those that have gotten involved with the digital modes on HF. Even though Pittsburgh never seems to be on the cutting edge of technology when it comes to ham radio there seems to be a large number of operators that have married their computers to their HF rigs and are making numerous contacts with simple wire antennas and most running 50 watts or less of power. Running modes like PSK-31 and Olivia often with free Open Source software like FLDIGI which in many cases run on older slower computers that might other wise become door stops. These operators are making solid QSO's with hams across the country and around the world in many cases with signals that they can not discern with the human ear if they turn the speaker on and listen.

When you combine this with what I call the "No one is on syndrome" where hams go into the shack and spend an hour or so dialing up and down the bands listening for some one to call CQ only to shut the rig down and complain that there is never anyone on when I'm in the shack while hundreds if not thousands of other hams dial endlessly up and down the band waiting for "someone" to call CQ you can see why there may be a few folks out there complaining about the poor band conditions.

So while you won't find me answering you call on HF in the near future don't let that stop you. Dial down into the CW portions of the band and see how many signals you hear. Listen for those funny digital sounds that you find on almost all of the HF bands. If you know the code brush off that J-38 and try calling CQ in the novice portion of 80/40/15/10 meters. You will find the CW folks will welcome you and be more than willing to come down to your feeble copy rate in order to carry on a QSO. You might even find you enjoy it. If nothing else while you are dialing around looking for a contact key the mic every so often and call CQ. You just might be surprised who comes back to you. Ham radio is a hobby, have fun at it. That is my .183 cents worth feel free to comment.

He's back......

2009-12-26T12:06:00.004-05:00

Well for a number of reasons I have neglected the blogs that I maintain for months now. While my work schedule is still somewhat hectic and promises only to get more so in the new year my health is improving and I have started having the itch to write again. So you readers of this blog (both of you) will start too see some new content in the coming days. I thank you for taking the time to read what I am musing about on any given day.

Let me say that I hope you all have had a very blessed Christmas and that Santa was good to you and brought many new toys for the ham shack or radio room. I had all of my children and grand children with me for Christmas for the first time in a number of years and that in and of its self made my holiday. I hope yours was half as good. I am looking forward to the new year and all of the advnaces in amateur radio and computers that it will bring.

Some additions to the G20 list

2009-09-23T14:42:00.001-04:00

Just received the following frequencies to add to the list. 14:45 Local time.

171.0125 cw id and encrypted p 25

407.1875 p 25

406.975 p 25
167.750 encrypted p25

G20 Frequencies

2009-09-23T14:14:00.002-04:00

The following frequency list was sent to me by Jeff, N3TAY and have had activity on them today.

170.825 old type of scrambling heard

165.2875 p 25

170.5875 p 25

171.2625 p 25

172.6875 p 25

169.5875 p 25

413.875 heard 3p1294 to control for a radio check. not sure who this is

163.950 encrypted p 25

166.5125 encrypted p25

163.725 p 25

163.110 or maybe 163.1125 hearing aircraft calling for radio checks and various locations for video in p 25

170.815 encrypted p 25

170.880 encrypted p 25

164.400 came up as data and encrypted on my 396xt p25

168.4625 encrypted p25

406.3375 p 25 and some encrypted

407.775 p 25

407.7875 p 25
407.3875 p 25

Radio Shack has scanners on sale

2009-06-08T07:47:00.004-04:00

One of the items we discussed on the weekly scanner net yesterday evening was the fact that Radio Shack has several scanner models on sale. If you are in the market for a new scanner there are some reasonable deals available especially for the south western Pennsylvania area where APCO 25 digital and trunking systems are not yet dominant.

Two items that are of particular interest at the PRO-163 hand held and the PRO-164 base scanners both with a number of attractive features. They are a complementarity pair with the same basic features and user interface. Both are computer programmable and I believe the same software package will work on both. They both have what I consider to be key features for use in Allegheny County now and that is alpha tagging for the channels and CTCSS/DCS tone decoding. The former because with the centralized dispatching and the large number of channels in use now and the latter because most of us use computers at home and tone squelch helps eliminate superfluous noise of the digital variety that might be floating around the radio room.

Both of these scanners have 1000 channel capacity and handle trunked as well as conventional systems. The only thing lacking is APCO 25 digital demodulation which at least at this time is not a big factor unless you live in or want to monitor Westmoreland County. So give them a look if you are in the market.

Good article on portable dipole construction

2009-06-07T16:01:00.002-04:00

I picked this up from twitter and it is a nicely documented article on putting together a portable multi band dipole with simple materials. If you are into experimenting with antennas or if you are thinking of a neat antenna for upcoming field day this article will grab your attention. Follow this link for more information.

[The W3FF portable dipole antenna]

Why can't they get scanning right on ham rigs?

2009-06-06T00:35:00.002-04:00

One of my pet peeves is that as far as I can tell none of the current crop of amateur VHF/UHF hand held or mobile radios has a scanning function that works the way you would expect it to.

When the major manufactures like Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu/Vertex started making their land mobile models available to the amateur market with different firmware which controlled frequency range, mostly for the transmitter, and made them field programmable and added a few bells and whistles that the commercial markets had no need for I thought it was a great move. For the most part I still feel that way but there is one glaring exception that just chaps my backside.

If you are active on the VHF/UHF bands in the FM mode I'm sure you know what I'm talking about before I explain. Since the early days of consumer grade public safety scanners channel one could be made a "priority" channel which when the function was activated would check that frequency every so many seconds and if it became active revert back to it for the duration that a signal was present. In the commercial world this also has long been a feature of mobile and portable radios. As far back as the Master series radios from GE, which were hybrid tube solid state units, one of the feature sets available was a control head that made what ever channel the selector switch was set on became the priority channel when scanning. This was important for public safety users because it allowed them to monitor other services and surrounding communities while not missing calls on their primary frequency.

Early radios especially the home scanners would miss anything from a syllable to a word as it performed this "jump back" operation to see if the priority channel was active. Over time this technology improved both on the digital and the RF side to the point that you could barely discern the fact that the priority option was active as the radio checked activity on channel one. Other improvements allowed any channel to be the priority channel with selection from the front panel of the radio. I think everyone would agree that these features were added because of good engineering by the manufacturers combined with consumer demand and competition between brands in the market place.

So having said all of that I can't understand why we get such a lame version of the priority channel on our ham rigs which I have pointed out are very similar to the companies land mobile offerings. Even if I could buy the commercial version for the same price as the ham rigs I wouldn't give up all the amenities of the amateur version just to get what I consider the proper operation of the priority channel. The commercial versions typically have a very limited number of memory channels compared to the ham rig. There also is usually no direct keyboard entry of frequency by the end user for obvious reasons. Also there is the fact that they typically cost several times there amateur counterparts. So the next time you have occasion to talk with a representative from one of the "big three" think about asking them who we should communicate our requests to at their respective companies. I'll get down off my soap box now. Thanks for reading.

Cambria County Pennsylvania wins award from APCO

2009-06-03T19:24:00.003-04:00

APCO Honors 2 Communications Centers (6/1/09)
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International announced the inaugural winners of its Horizon Award. The Horizon Award acknowledges the efforts of communications centers that have proactively assessed and met the technological and operational needs of their center, employees and service population and is presented to one large center and one small center.

The 2009 Horizon Award for a Large Center is being presented to Fairfax County (Va.) Department of Public Safety Communications. The 2009 Horizon Award for a Small Center is being presented to Cambria (Pa.) 9-1-1. The awards will be presented at the APCO International 75th Annual Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas on August 18.

For further information follow this link.

Association of Public Safety Communications Officials

Here comes summer's first Linux netbook

2009-05-28T13:48:00.002-04:00

I have been watching the Net Book market and as the prices fall they become more desirable all the time. My initial wariness of units with only solid state drives has subsided and I would even consider one of those even though most are 16 gigs of disk space or less. In any case I found this latest review interesting and thought I would pass it along.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Cyber Cynic

Reports of the Linux netbook's death at the hands of Microsoft have been greatly exaggerated. A flood of Linux netbook news will be made next week at the Computex trade show in Taiwan, but, after Intel announced the beta of Moblin 2, HP has decided not to wait and made an important Linux netbook announcement this week.

HP announced that it was releasing a new netbook, the HP Mini 110, that runs Ubuntu Linux 8.04 with HP's easy to use Mi (Mobile internet) desktop interface. It will also be available with XP Home, but, for once, the Linux powered model looks to be the more compelling buy even if you don't care for Linux.

Follow THIS LINK for the full story.

Dance with the one what brung ya........

2009-05-24T19:25:00.004-04:00

I was just listening to a conversation on the local 147.090 repeater between what I assume was a long time ham and a newcomer. I was multi tasking at the time trying to answer questions about new software that Linda bought for our Wii and listen to a podcast at the same time. Because of that I missed both guys names and calls but I got the gist of their conversation.

The newcomer was asking about the Breeze Shooters Hamfest wanting to know if there would be any dealers there. He is planning on buying an HF rig and wanted a first hand look and get to twirl the knobs before plunking down his hard earned cash. Pretty wise for a newcomer.

The gentlemen that made up the other half of the QSO informed him that yes indeed there would be dealers at Breeze Shooters and that he recommended KJI Electronics. He said that he had bought several items from them and has been very satisfied with the service. He also mentioned that they not only come to the Breeze Shooters ham fest each year but that they support the club and the ham fest.

I also have purchased equipment from KJI having acquired my dual mobile Yaesu FT-7800 from them the last time I went looking for a new rig for the car. I believe in spending your dollars either at home or with those that go out of the way to provide good service and or support your club. They should get your consideration when you decide to open your wallet, in my opinion even if they are a dollar or two more than their competitors. KJI has always made an effort to match or beat the price of other dealers in addition to being a friend of the club and the ham fest. So keep this in mind when you are ready to buy.

KJI Electronics of New Jersey

FCC’s Warrantless Household Searches Alarm Experts

2009-05-22T09:07:00.002-04:00

Here is an interesting article from Wired Magazine's web site.

You may not know it, but if you have a wireless router, a cordless phone, remote car-door opener, baby monitor or cellphone in your house, the FCC claims the right to enter your home without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it.

That’s the upshot of the rules the agency has followed for years to monitor licensed television and radio stations, and to crack down on pirate radio broadcasters. And the commission maintains the same policy applies to any licensed or unlicensed radio-frequency device.

Here is a link to the FULL STORY.

Simple antenna for six meters

2009-05-19T10:31:00.003-04:00

Six meters can be a very interesting band to work. With many of the new rigs now including six meters in their basic configuration hams are starting to look at six in a new light. Not the mention that the transition digital television is going to eliminate the old bug a boo of TVI that everyone feared and which kept many operators off six meters. So check out this antenna design and think about joining in on the fun of six meters.

SIMPLE SIX METER DIPOLE

Radio Shack scanners on sale

2009-05-18T16:45:00.002-04:00

If you are in the market for a new scanner Radio Shack currently had a sale on that you might find of interest. If you don't need APCO25 I like the deal on the PRO-163 with 1000 channels, alpha numeric display and PL/DPL decoding capabilities. Follow this link below to check them out.

Radio Shack Scanners On Sale

Now running Ubuntu 9.04

2009-05-16T19:34:00.005-04:00

I have upgraded all but one of my systems to Ubuntu version 9.04 using the Gnome desktop environment. The one remaining box to be done at this time is the main system in the ham shack which is currently using version 8.04 and I can't wait to get it up to speed with the new version. I need to make some changes to my home network or I would have it done already.

I haven't really posted much on the blog about Linux but I have become a huge fan of the operating system and despite the fact the you are somewhat limited for radio programming software I'm very happy without Windows in the shack. I don't worry about if the anti virus program up to date, as a matter of fact even though anti virus software is available for Linux I have never felt the need to use one and never had any problems as a result of that action.

If you have never tried Linux you should get one of the "live" CDs that will let you try out the operating system without modifying your existing Windows system. It is a little sluggish running it that way but it will give you an idea of what it looks and feels like. If you are looking for something new to try out in the ham shack give Linux a try. I think you will be surprised how much better this operating system is.

There is nothing like good press

2009-05-14T08:49:00.001-04:00

APD prepares for communications breakdown
Source: Anchorage Police Department
Updated: 05/12/2009 11:51:41 AM AKDT

When a city looses its electronic infrastructure through natural disaster or cyber attack, the 911 services, cell phones, land-line phones, DSL internet and private networks, fire and burglar alarm systems, hospital computer systems, and credit card systems can all cease to operate.

Morgan Hill, California experienced this in the wee hours of March 9, 2009. Cyber attackers entered 4 manholes and cut cables completely paralyzing the electronic infrastructure for miles around.

Only one system didn't go down, the ham radio network. Amateur radio personnel sprung into action to assist in the Morgan Hill incident.

Fortunately local hams are ready to do the same here in Anchorage. Thirty-two APD officers and dispatchers have received training from the Anchorage Amateur Radio Club (AARC). Using a grant obtained by the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), all have been licensed as ham operators.

SEE THE ENTIRE STORY HERE

Podcast links mentioned on the Sunday evening net

2009-05-11T15:20:00.005-04:00

Hey gang. Sorry it has taken so long to get to this but I have been somewhat busy lately and need to find several more of those "tuit" devices.

As I am sure many of you are already aware, there are a number of great resources out there on the Internet for the radio hobbyist. Being a "radio" oriented person I have a tendency to be drawn to media involving the spoken word. This brings me to the subject of Pod Casts or if your prefer Net Casts of which there are far more than you might suspect. Here is a short list of those that I have discovered in the past few weeks. If you find additional entires for the list please email them to me and I will share them with the group.

Amateur Radio Newsline

This Week In Amateur Radio

Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show

Practical Amateur Radio Podcast

Resonant Frequency

Linux in the Ham Shack

Ham Radio Pod Class

Hambrief TV

These are just a small sample of what is out there on the net and there are a lot more that would be of great interest to amateur radio operators but are not directly related to ham radio. I will post some additional links as I continue to gather information.

RTFM!

2009-05-02T16:19:00.004-04:00

I'm sure you have all uttered the words or had them uttered to you at some point in time. RTFM or "read the fine manual". Now I have to say that I have heard other nouns and adjectives with different levels of frustration used in place of these four letters as I'm sure you have also. For the moments though we will stick with my current definition.

I am coming to understand that there is really some value in the words and following their suggestion. I own a Yaesu FT-60 hand held transceiver have been using it for about a eight or nine months now and enjoying it very much. Now I have to tell you being a geek and somewhat of a gadget nut one of my litmus test for how well a piece of equipment is designed is if can I take it out of the box and get all of the basic functions it has working without looking at the manual.

The problem with this attitude is that I have started in my old age to let the process end there and just use what I can figure out by playing with a new radio PDA phone or whatever. Add to this the fact that now days most new radio equipment has a computer interface that will let you program it with a GUI interface and that lessens the need to know what all those key combination are to get a particular feature enabled and the brain starts to atrophy. The next thing you know you find yourself out there in the field with no idea how to turn that darn beeping off that happens every time you push the PTT button. Or worse how to turn on or set the tone encoder so that you can access a repeater in a new location that you have just wandered into.

My point here is that after the new and shiny wears off you should take a little time to sit with the manual and figure out all of the little intricacies of your new toy. More and more manufactures are making it easy because the manuals are available in PDF format so that you can search for what that button does really fast. If your experience is like mine I think you will find yourself enjoying your equipment even more than you already do. I have found some neat features with my FT-60 that I didn't realize were there. Give it a try and see if you get the same results.

Looking to get your license or upgrade?

2009-05-01T15:06:00.002-04:00

There will be classes and tests at The Salvation Army, Parish Street, Greentree, PA 15220, on Wednesdays and Thursdays until and including 5/21/09.

Bring Photo ID for the test, as well as a copy of any current license. Please have the $15- test fee, in cash.

Information or registration

KA3TDQ@VERIZON.NET
or
K3FKI@VERIZON.NET

An oldie but goodie

2009-04-30T23:44:00.004-04:00

You would have to be a little older to remember Lafayette Radio and Electronics. Similar to Radio Shack and Olsons this chain of stores sold everything from parts to consumer electronics like stereos and ham radio equipment. I lusted after and managed to obtain one of their ham band only receivers the model HA-350 shortly after I got my novice license in 1966 and was sorry latter that I let it go. If I ever run across one in mint condition at a reasonable price I will add it to my collection of equipment. This is how it looked and sounded.

Stale blogs.........

2009-04-15T11:18:00.002-04:00

I just looked at how long it has been since I posted an entry to this blog and I have to say I was surprised. I have been away from all of my various blogs for a number of months now but am trying to get back into the swing of things. Heaven knows I am never at a shortage of words. Thank goodness for RSS feeds.

I will be having some comments soon on digital modes especially on the HF bands and Linux in the ham shack among other things that have piqued my interest as of late.

Happy Birthday!

2008-06-20T11:21:00.004-04:00

Happy birthday to the Morse Code which turn 160 years old today. Learn more about the history of the code from these sources.

The Victorian Internet an interesting book about the history of the first "on line" pioneers.

An on line article in WIRED Magazine about the history of Morse Code.

Tidbit: Did you know that Morse visited several printers shops when devising the code to see how many lead letters were in their boxes of type and then assigned the shortest characters to the bins with the most letters in them?

Video mentioned on May 25 scanner net

2008-05-25T23:14:00.002-04:00

During the Sunday night Scanner Net I read about a link sent to me by Bob, N3DOK, concerning a video on a site run by the magazine Home Land Security Today about radio interoperability. I haven't yet watched the entire video but I'm sure it will be interesting especially to scanner listeners. Here is a brief synopsis of the video and a link to see it.

Video:
The challenge of achieving interoperability for disaster response and the debate over the best approach to solve this critical homeland security gap.

Click here to watch the video.

Latest addition to the shack

2008-05-21T14:13:00.004-04:00

Right before my aforementioned road trip my faithful Yaesu VX-7R died on me. Well it didn't exactly die its more like it went comatose. I have a habit of carrying my VX7 to work with me and when I get home dropping it into the desk charger for use the next day. Now sometimes I manage to drain the battery completely before I get home, which is why I carry a spare, but often I won't notice that it has died until I'm ready to stuff it back in the charger. Once the battery level falls below a preset voltage the radio shuts off and will not turn back on until that minimum level has been met or exceeded.

Of course as soon as you put the radio in the charger that is what happens and the radio comes back to life. At that point I just press the off button and go on my way. As the battery approaches full charge the LED goes from steady red to flashing red and finally to steady green at completion of the charge cycle. When I removed my VX-7 from the charger the next morning the light was still flashing red. I noticed that but didn't give it much thought as I removed the radio and cliped it on my belt to head off to work. After getting in the car I noticed that the radio was on 147.090 with a "P" in front of the 1. I started trying to change to a different frequency only to find the radio locked up so I ignored it until I got to work. Once there I discovered that the only thing working on the VX-7 was the receiver. It would hear the 09 repeater but none of the keys on the keypad functioned and it would not transmit. After tinkering with it for some time I decided that a "hard reset" was in order and I would have to reprogram the radio.

A hard reset on the VX-7 involves holding down three keys while powering the radio on then pressing the function key. This I proceeded to do only to find that after powering the rig up and getting the message on the display to "Press F to reset" that at this point the keypad is locked up and you are unable to press any keys. Now, I told you that story so I could tell you this one.

I decided after trying a few other tricks that I was not going resolve the problem whatever it was and am now contemplating returning it to Yaesu for repairs. In the interium I looked at buying a replacement for it and started looking at Icom, Kenwood and Yeasu models that were in a reasonable price range. I considered a high end Icom with the DStar protocol installed but decided that I would wait on that one. I see myself buying a DStar radio somewhere down the line but not just yet. Despite the fact that my VX-7 has died I still prefer hand held units from Yaesu/Vertex for a number of reasons. I preferred a dual band unit but could live with a high band only radio if need be. This brought me to the FT-60R.

It was dual band, well constructed, had all the features I was looking for and was under $200. A combination that is hard to beat. Just as I was about to call my friendly ham radio dealer I overheard a friend on the air saying that he had won a dual band hand held at the last area ham fest. He said that he already had two so he would have rather won another prize but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I asked what it was and he replied a Yaesu FT-60R. Well it didn't take long for a deal to be struck and as you can see from the picture above I now have it in my possession.

So far I'm very impressed with the little unit and have purchased the desk top rapid charger, spare battery and programming software for it. I made my first contact with it while in Virginia Beach on the local 22/82 machine there and got reports of excellent audio. Matter of fact the machine had a DVR incorporated in the controller and one of the locals keyed it up and let me record a few seconds of my voice and play it back. It does indeed sound good. I have found one or two little nits to pick about it and I will write an additional review after I have used the rig for a while. So if you happen to be in the market for a dual band hand held I suggest that you give the FT-60R consideration. I think you will be as impressed with it as I was.

Road trip!

2008-05-11T01:07:00.003-04:00

Well I'm off in Virginia Beach and I had a very warm welcome from the local ham community this evening. I checked into the ARES net tonight and talked with a number of stations after words at least two of whom where former Pittsburgh natives. I have three or four invites to stop over meet some of the guys and operate a little HF if I so desire. Nice bunch of guys. The photo is the shack of Ed, KN4KL, who is about a mile from where I'm sitting as the crow flies. I hope to get a chance to stop and see it first hand before heading home. Having a great time on ham radio in Virgina Beach.

Pittsburgh Area Ham Calendar

2008-05-08T13:26:00.001-04:00

Thanks Chuck for the calendar.

Attached is the latest revised copy of the Pittsburgh Area Ham Radio
Calendar that I read during the Monday Night
Two Rivers ARC Net. The net stars at 8 PM on the 146.73 MHz WA3PBD Repeater.

73 de Chuck KC3ET

The following information is provided as a service to those listening to the
Two Rivers ARC 'Monday Night 2 Meter Net' operating at 8 PM local time on the
146.73 MHz WA3PBD Repeater, and on the Two Rivers ARC 'Come As You Are Net'
which operates on Thursdays starting at 8 PM on the club repeater 147.12 MHz.

================================================================
* 2008 *
================================================================

* MAY *
7 Amateur Radio Exams (note 10)
8 Amateur Radio Exams (note 11)
10 Armed Forces Day Communications Test
More Info: Qst Magazine-May 2208 Issue-Page 99
Internet: http://www.netcom.army.mil/MARS
16-18 Dayton Hamvention-Hara Arena-Dayton, OH
More Info: http://www.hamvention.org
24-25 CQ World Wide WPX Contest-CW Mode
27 Two Rivers ARC Club Meeting-8 PM (note 1)
31 South West Pa Packet Group Meeting-10 AM-Blue Flame Restaurant
Route 51 South-Pleasant Hills, PA-(note 4)

* JUNE *
1 Breezshooters Hamfest and Computer Show-8am to 3pm
Butler Farm Showgrounds-Route 68-(next to Roe Airport)
Butler, PA-Talk-In: 147.300 (no tone)
More Info: Phone: 412-829-9383
Email: hamfest2008@breezeshooters.com
10 Two Rivers ARC Amateur Radio Exams (Note 2b)
17 Two Rivers ARC Club Meeting-8 PM (note 1)
21 ARRL Kids Day-More Info: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/kd-rules.html
26 Amateur Radio Exams (note 11)
28-29 ARRL Field Day

* JULY *
13 23rd Annual North Hills Amateur Radio Club Hamfest
Northland Public Library-300 Cumberland Road-Pittsburgh, PA
Talk-In: 147.09 (PL 88.5)
More Info: http://www.nharc.org
Phone: 412-487-9254
Email: n3rqd@earthlink.net
15 Two Rivers ARC Club Meeting-8 PM (note 1)
19-20 Pittsburgh Vintage Gran Prix Auto Race
20 Western Pa Repeater Council Meeting-130 PM-(note 5)
Tentative: State College Pa.
20 Somerset county ARC Hamfest
Somerset County VO-Tech School-Somerset, PA-Talkin:147.195 Repeater
More Info:
email: ak3j@arrl.net web:http://www.k3smt.org
26 South West Pa Packet Group Meeting-10 AM-Blue Flame Restaurant
Route 51 South-Pleasant Hills, PA-(note 4)

* AUGUST *
2-3 Pittsburgh PA 250 Year Celebration
Special Event Stations to be in operation
Check with your local club for participation
9 Two Rivers ARC Family Picnic-Noon to Dark
White Oak Park-Cedar Grove 2-White Oak, PA
24 Skyview Radio Society-Western Pennsylvania Section Convention
Skyview Radio Society Clubhouse-2335 Turkey Ridge Road
New Kensington, PA
Talk-In: 146.640- (PL 131.8)
More Info: http://www.skyviewradio.net/
Email: SkyviewHamfest2008@verizon.net
30 Union ARC Gabfest
Uniontown ARC Club Grounds-Old Pittsburgh Road-Uniontown, PA
More Info:
email: newsletter@w3pie.org
* SEPTEMBER *
9 Two Rivers ARC Amateur Radio Exams (Note 2b)
16 Two Rivers ARC Club Meeting-8 PM (note 1)
27 South West Pa Packet Group Meeting-10 AM-Blue Flame Restaurant
Route 51 South-Pleasant Hills, PA-(note 4)

* OCTOBER *
19 Western Pa Repeater Council Meeting-130 PM-(note 5)
Annual Meeting & Election of Officers
Tentative: Clarion, PA
21 Two Rivers ARC Club Meeting-8 PM (note 1)

* NOVEMBER *
2 WACOM Hamfest-Washington County Fairgrounds
Washington PA
More Info:
Phone: 724-986-9271
email: n3zni@arrl.net internet: http://wacomarc.org
18 Two Rivers ARC Club Meeting-8 PM (note 1)
29 South West Pa Packet Group Meeting-10 AM-Blue Flame Restaurant
Route 51 South-Pleasant Hills, PA-(note 4)

* DECEMBER *
9 Two Rivers ARC Amateur Radio Exams (Note 2b)

* NOTES *

1: Time:8 PM-McKeesport Area High School-South Hall Cafeteria-Eden Park Blvd-McKeesport, PA
More Info: Internet-http://www.tworiversarc.com - Email: trarc@tworiversarc.com
2. a. All exams will be held as noted below, except for exams at the Two Rivers ARC Hamfest.
Please contact the coordinators for more information: 412-664-1683/412-678-1206
email: veteam @ tworiversarc.com
b. McKeesport Area High School-South Hall-Room 112-Eden Park Blvd-McKeeport, PA
630 PM-48 Hour Pre-Registration Requested-More Info: 412 664 1683/412 678 1206
email: veteam @ tworiversarc.com
3. Time: 9 AM-Kings Restaurant-Corner PA 48 & U.S. 30-North Versailles, PA
4. Time: 10 AM-Blue Flame Restaurant-PA Route 51-Large, PA (Near Southland Shopping Center)
More Info: 412-384-8012 or Internet: http://swppg.zelie.com-Email:geno570@verizon.net
5. Time 130 PM-Meetings are held at various locations in the ARRL defined W.PA Section.
More Info: Internet-http://www.wprc.us
Email: wprcemail@yahoogroups.com
6. More Info: http://www.arrl.org/contests/calendar.html
7. More Info: http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.php
8. More Info: http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/index.html
9. More Info: http://www.nittany-arc.net/paqso.html
10.Salvation Army Disaster Services-825 Parish Street, Greentree Boro
First Floor Class Room-Pittsburgh PA 15220
Time: 7 PM to 9 PM-Email: ka3tdq @ verizon.net
11.Allegheny County Emergency Operations Center
400 North Lexington Street-Second Floor/Class Room 1A-Pittsburgh PA 15208
Time: 7 PM to 9 PM-Email: ka3tdq @ verizon.net

Information provided by: A.R.R.L., QST Magazine, CQ Magazine,Ten-Ten International,
South West Pa Packet Group, Two Rivers ARC 'Spark Gap' Newsletter (Editor: N3XBW),

Photos of KFI commercial tower collapsing

2008-03-29T01:35:00.003-04:00

I got this link from a mailing list that I'm on and though most hams would find it interesting. Apparently this one collapsed while being erected to replace the previous one that has collapsed. I don't think I ever want to be around when one this size comes down of it's own volition.

KFI Tower Collapse

Click on the photo next to the story to see many detail pictures.

CPR training offered at club meetings

2008-03-14T04:12:00.003-04:00

If you would like to enhance your capabilities when involved with public service work involving amateur radio this is a vital skill to have.

At the next 2 North Hills Amateur Radio Club Activity meetings, March 26 and April 23, you will have the opportunity to get CPR training. The training is The American Heart Association course.

We need a positive response if you wish to get certified. This is important for trainee to trainer ratio, and also to determine if we need a larger meeting place.

We would like to Thank Craig Pearson KB3NWE and the trainers from the Elfinwild VFC, for allowing us this opportunity

PLEASE respond to kb3iys@hotmail.com or 412-486-2785

Thanks Jim KB3IYS and Cathy KB3OYS

Thanks, we look forward to seeing you there.

John, N3RQD

North Hills Amateur Radio Club

Ham specific search engine

2008-03-06T05:44:00.002-05:00

Picked this up from the K3MJW mailing list and tried it out. I haven't explored it in depth yet but it looks like a good page to have available on the shack computer.

CQOOGLE

Check it out and see what you think.

Alternator Whine

2008-03-05T03:29:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Bob, N3DOK, for the pointer to this article.

Original author K0BG

Alternator Whine

I want to revisit this problem, because there seems to be a lot of poor advice floating around on these pages. Let's start out with a few basic facts, but keep in mind this is NOT an alternator primer. If you need or want more data, the internet is your best friend.

The average alternator's output is between 13.9 and 14.2 VDC. It might be less if there is a problem with the alternator. In some cases it may be a little higher, but voltages over 14.6 VDC should be considered abnormal.

Continuous output and peak current ratings vary quite a bit. The requisite amperage ratings selected by OEMs are largely based on content. That is to say, how many features like rear window defrosters, premium sound systems, electric windows, and heated seats any given vehicle is equipped with. Heavy duty and high-end vehicles usually have larger ones as do those with extra-cost trailer towing packages.

Nowadays, the smallest OEM ones are rated about 90 amps peak, and the larger OEM ones about 150 amps peak. There are a few exceptions, but the highest rated OEM units are about 225 amps peak. The reason I use the term peak is this; very few OEM alternators will deliver their rated output continuously, and contrary to popular belief, there isn't any standard rule for peak versus average.

Almost all alternator stators (the non-rotating part) are wired in a wye configuration (as shown), and the rest are wired in a delta configuration (primarily Ford products). Rotating within the stator is the field. The field current and/or voltage is varied by the regulator so the output voltage is constant, regardless of the load, up to their peak amperage rating. There are several different regulation strategies employed. Some simply use a pass transistor, others use pulse width modulation, and some almost defy definition.

Depending on the engine type (diesel or gas), alternators are driven from two to five times engine speed, up to a maximum of about 16,000 rpm. As a general rule, the output frequency of an OEM alternator is equal to the engine rpm. That is to say, 1,000 rpm equals 1KHz. Their efficiency is about 90%. Thus, an alternator rated at 130 amps, with an output of 14 vdc, will have an input of around 2 KW, and will require about 3 HP to drive.

In a never-ending quest to reduce weight, and improve efficiency, most new-generation OEM alternators are double wound, and use twelve diodes instead of six. This not only reduces size and weight, the lower mass of the rotating field allows the alternator to be driven faster, which improves low rpm power output. It also doubles the ripple frequency.

As long as the diodes are doing their job, the output ripple is nearly nonexistent, as the battery is acting like a very large capacitor. When they don't do their job, the result is what we commonly call alternator whine. To be sure, there are other causes which will be discussed later.

While alternator whine can be a bane for us amateurs, as long as the alternator delivers its rated output, dealers don't care, and typically will not replace noisy ones under warranty. So this leads those who are plagued to seek other avenues of relief. For example, using RG8 as a power cord, or twisting the factory power cords of their transceivers. Doing so is junk science. Let's visit this in more depth.

First, any technique we use to shunt alternator whine to ground must present a low impedance at the frequency we're trying to suppress (less than 8 kilohertz typically). Further, it must be of lower impedance than the circuit it is attached to. In the case of vehicle DC wiring, that's seldom higher than a few tenths of an ohm.

An average power cord is ten foot long. A ten foot piece of RG8 has 250 pF of capacitance. At 8 kHz, 250 pF has a reactance of about 1,500 ohms. In terms of suppression, this amount is insignificant.

Twisted or not, a 10 foot power cord made from two number 10 conductors will have about 2 pF of capacitance per foot. Ten feet of it is an insignificant reactance even at 80 kHz! What's more, those who support twisting the power cord as a fix for alternator whine, and a host of other maladies, ignore some basic facts. Twisting works to reduce noise pickup only if both inputs and outputs are balanced, and neither end is grounded. That's not the case here.

Brute force filters offer some help, but there is a big downside too, and that's voltage drop. Radio Shack used to sell one that was rated at 20 amps. Inside its tubular construction is 20 feet of what appears to be number 16 Thermalese wire wound around a laminated steel core about 3/8 of an inch square, and and 2 inches long. A 1 uF coaxial capacitor completes the package. The input and output are size 10. The voltage drop at 20 amps is almost 2 volts. At 8 kHz, the suppression is less than 2 dB.

In some cases, a 1 Farad cap, like those used in mobile sound systems will suppress alternator whine if they're placed near the radio end of the power cord. However, they have a lot of drawbacks, not the least of which is their propensity to explode if dead shorted.

The best place to cure alternator whine is at the source. If you think it is a leaky diode causing your problem, use an O scope to look at the alternator output directly at the output terminal. If it is a diode, you'll easily see it. The fix is obvious.

As alluded to above, there are another situations which can cause what ripple there is to invade the circuitry of your transceiver. One of those is a ground loop. Ground loops occur when there is a differential in current flow between the positive and negative power leads feeding the radio. This is typically caused by incorrect wiring techniques. Poor bonding of body on frame vehicles, and poor coax connections can also cause the problem.

Another problem altogether, which is often incorrectly identified as alternator whine, is the switching transients from the alternator's regulator. While diode induced whine directly varies with engine speed, regulator whine normally does not. It will appear louder at low rpms, and when there is a high amperage load. Since it is radiated RF energy, removing the antenna will cause it to go away. The only fix is to replace the regulator.

Distractors will surely point out that they fixed their alternator whine with one of the aforementioned anecdotal remedies. If that is indeed the case, then the original wiring was amiss.

Alan, KØBG

http://www.k0bg.com/

Electronics Lab

2008-02-23T17:55:00.002-05:00

Every so often I run across a web site that gets my juices flowing. I haven't played with hardware either radio or computer for some time now. I seem to spend all my time wrapped up in some application level tool like a database or presentation program of some kind.

Electronics Lab is one of those sites that I just happened to stumble across on the web while looking for something else. This site is filled with projects on everything from tube type amplifiers to microprocessor based controllers. Take some time and browse around and see if you don't suddenly smell hot solder in the air and start thinking about some neat application that you could use the circuit in. I have added them to the links section here on the blog. Good stuff.

Electronics Lab Web Site

Short net this evening Feb 17 2008

2008-02-17T21:16:00.002-05:00

Well it was a short net tonight. I didn't have much in the way of information and there were no questions and only a few comments from Rich K3RWN. He reminded us that this coming Sunday is the WASH FEST where out monthly meeting will be held for February. Hope to see you there. Also this coming Wednesday, February 20th 2008, will be the next meeting of the Oblong Table. These meetings are held at the Kings Family Restaurant at Water Works Plaza on Freeport road just north of the Highland Park bridge. Very informal we generally meet between 07:00 and 07:30 PM, have a bite to eat and shoot the breeze about our favorite topic scanners. All are welcome.

Last but not least I have asked on the net several times about antenna supports made from pipe or mast and had a few suggestions but they didn't really do what I was looking for. While surfing the Wiki on the Radio Reference Site the other day I found a project for a 35 foot tilt over mast that looks like it is exactly what I'm looking for. If I get one built up I will take pictures to post on the blog and let you know how easy or hard it was to construct and get in the air.

If you would like to take a look at the project here is a link that will take you to the site.

Tilt over 35 foot mast assembly.

Reliability of $2.1B statewide communication system in doubt

2008-02-12T21:46:00.002-05:00

Reliability of $2.1B statewide communication system in doubt

By FRED LeBRUN
First published: Sunday, February 10, 2008

At $2.1 billion, the state's long-planned single wireless communication system that is supposed to allow firefighters, police and other first responders to speak with one another is the priciest such technology contract in the country.

Yet even at this late date, two months before the drop-dead date to prove this system is operational, there's substantial doubt that it works reliably.

And reliability, for the State Police, for firefighters going into a building, for police in the field, is crucial.

Interim fire and police tests of the system, devised over years by the contractor M/A-Com and the state Office of Technology, have been far short of successful. Trials last summer and fall in rural Chautauqua County went acceptably, but in more crowded Erie County, communication was at best haphazard. Buffalo Fire Commissioner Michael Lombardo, for example, said radios failed to work in about half the city. The public safety unions and the Buffalo police commissioner have expressed no confidence in the system.

Follow THIS LINK to read the complete story.

Interesting tidbit for international travelers

2008-02-08T06:59:00.000-05:00

Here is some information for you operators that spend time outside of the United States across the pond. This not something that affects me but I know many people who take the rig with them when traveling abroad. This is especially true with sales and field service people. Although I don't know in this post September 11th world how you go about getting an HF rig on an airplane. I suppose with the tiny transceivers available today you could carry an entire setup in your brief case on the plane. Assuming of course that you can get through security.

European Reciprocal Licenses Now Limited to Advanced and Extra Class Licensees

CORRECTION ON THE MARCfest POSTING

2008-02-05T13:47:00.000-05:00

Some kind soul noticed that I apparently had a disconnect between the device that sits between the shoulders and the appendages that operate the keyboard causing the wrong date to be announced for the MARCfest.

The posting has been corrected and....................

The Correct Date Is :

Sunday March 30th 2008.

In the words of Maxwell Smart, "Sorry about that Chief"

This months TRAMA meeting to be held at the WASH Fest

2008-02-04T15:12:00.001-05:00

Following our historical tradition the February monthly meeting of the Three Rivers Area Monitoring Association, or TRAMA, will be held at the annual Wireless Association Of South Hills ham fest. Also known as the "WASHfest".

This is Pittsburgh's first ham fest of the year and is always well attended as everyone has cabin fever by the time it arrives and just can't wait to get out buy, sell, meet and socialize with fellow operators. Unlike some other area events I have never heard anyone talking latter in the day or the week saying "well it just wasn't as good as it has been in years past" when it comes to this ham fest. So I hope to see all of you there and have a chance to stop by our table pull up a chair and chat for a while. As usual there will be lots of talk about scanners and public safety radio.

Here is a link to directions and more information on the WASH Fest. See you there!

Notes from the scanner net February 3 2008

2008-02-03T22:01:00.000-05:00

Good net this evening I enjoyed it. I said that I would post a link to the spread sheet with Allegheny County Frequencies so here it is.

Allegheny County Frequencies Sorted by Frequency

Same list sorted by Service Name.

I may be a bit confused about the second sort since it is not clear which column actually the service name as opposed to alpha tag of the channel assignment. But you get the idea.

Hamfest season is coming!

2008-02-02T21:48:00.001-05:00

Well even though old Phil saw his shadow today and is predicting six more weeks of winter we can look forward to the fact that ham fest season is on its way again.

On a side note I just can't keep from wondering why some reasoned soul doesn't make sure that if that little critter sees his shadow it is through a third eye. Guess you can tell I'm not a fan of winter.

I received an email today with the announcement of the Monessen Amateur Radio Club's upcoming ham fest on Sunday March 30th 2008. Here is a link to a web site where you can get all the details and download a PDF file if you like.

Click here for more details on the MARCfest.

Excellent web site for mobile operators

2008-01-31T23:24:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Bob, N3DOK, for the pointer to this web site. Give it a look.

Here is an excellent website. It has information about Batteries. The gel cell, lead acid battery is so misunderstood. The sad part is these devices is that they can kill,burn or hurt people. Along with batteries, Allen K0BG goes into lots of material for proper amateur operation. I believe that you will enjoy the material.

Do you believe in Alternator Whine? Read Alternators & Batteries

K0BG web site

Company fined for putting illigeal frequencies in radios

2008-01-29T16:26:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Otto NO3U for the pointer to this story.

WestCom Wireless, Inc. of McKeesport was cited by the FCC for
programming GMRS frequencies into the radios of the Harrison Township
Water Authority. The HTWA was not licensed for GMRS, and the FCC broke
from their usual practice of citing the radio users rather than the
radio system programmers. The FCC stated:

Section 90.427(b) states "[e]xcept for frequencies used in accordance with S: 90.417, no person shall program into a transmitter frequencies for which the licensee using the transmitter is not authorized."

WestCom Wireless, Inc. programmed eight Kenwood TK-8160K mobile
radios with a frequency for which Harrison Township Water Authority is not authorized.

See the full citation at:

FCC Citation Issued To WestCom

Do you Google?

2008-01-29T14:22:00.000-05:00

I don't normally cross post to my blogs but once in a while I write something that I feel will appeal to more than one group. I just wrote an entry on Around The Town In Oakmont that I think would be of interest to both radio and Linux folks.

It deals with using the on line applications that Google offers for generating and sharing information. If you would like to read it please click on the link below.

Have you tried Google yet?

I knew this one was going to stir up a hornets nest

2008-01-27T22:31:00.000-05:00

I was checking some of the web sites that I usually haunt after the scanner net this evening and ran across this posting. I have to admit that some times I have these feelings myself, that I could never be as good as the old timers I knew when I got into the hobby. When I pull out a copy of the written exam that I had to pass for my Technician license, in those days you took the General class written and the five word per minute Novice code test to get the Tech license, some of the new comers look at me like I'm crazy.

It is true that now days we have a lot of people coming into the hobby that don't now which end of a soldering iron gets hot let alone what the various parts inside the boxes do at the component level. I do not look down on these folks as they have achieved the requirements set by the FCC to obtain their license so as far as I'm concerned they earned it. If like to poster of this article on eHam they want to learn more all the better. Take a look at the article and some of the comments that follow and see if you agree or disagree. It is food for thought either way.

Article on eHam web site.

Even if you don't speak French you will appricate this one

2008-01-24T13:14:00.000-05:00

If you have never spent any time browsing You Tube you are missing out on some entertaining content. There are a number of great videos on the site aimed at amateur radio and you can find most of them buy simply searching on the term "amateur radio" at the opening page.

In the meantime follow this link and check out Paddle Rescue. It is great to watch.

Enjoy!

Some interesting follow up thoughts on this weeks scanner net

2008-01-21T13:21:00.000-05:00

Frank K3FSS posted this following comment to the TRAMA list concerning discussions on last nights net. Perhaps we will pick up this conversation again next week. By the way if you are reading this blog and don't subscribe to the TRAMA Mailing list you should.

"I couldn't get to a radio last night, but I was listening.

Some comments. First, yes any delay is bad. However, not listening to Bellevue you can't be sure they didn't send both out. Not along ago this would not have happened. You had to dial the now ten digit number for who you wanted. In some places this was three different numbers. If you managed to dial the ten digit number and got disconnected no further action would have been taken, or it would have taken much longer to track it down. Also not long ago if you called 911 you got the city. Again if you were disconnected, nothing further would have been done, or again it would have been a much slower process. Today, call 911 and hang up or get disconnected, and very soon afterwards an officer will be checking.

The database is supplied by the telephone company. They give out the numbers. The county does correct things they happen to find. EVERYONE should have by now checked to make sure 911 is getting the correct info. The county explains this on their site :
http://www.alleghenycounty.us/emerserv/911/info.aspx
If in doubt call the number at the bottom to make sure. I have done this. My address has been listed incorrectly in the phone book for at least seven years, yet they get the right address for billing every month. I called then South Hills Regional, and checked the info they were getting, and it was correct.

Interoperability. The county is making great progress in getting everyone moved to UHF. There are two freqs, one VHF (155.880), and one UHF (471.1375) that ALL agencies should have programmed in their radios (dispatched by county or not). There are more agencies on UHF than ever. One UHF portable can contact more agencies than ever before in the county, and its getting better, slowly. Keep in mind Plum police is on a ring down center, so there is some delay, and that is Plum's fault. I've heard the county set up numerous UHF-UHF, UHF-VHF high and low crosslinks for both police and fire incidents. The officers involved didn't need to change channels, the county brought them all together by a cross link. I can tell you, that right now there is only one agency nearby that we need a VHF-high radio for. All others are on UHF, and we can talk to them. A big improvement from not too long ago. Also remember there are simplex police and fire tac channels from the county as well.

The only limited experience I've had does not support your delay claims. I've called them twice for minor things. Once on a walk I called my wife to call the boro building about something (it was minor). She had to call 911 anyway. Soon afterwards my cell phone rang, and it was the county. The officer was at the location and wanted more info. They sent him to meet me at my location. This all took place in about a five minute span. Lately I've been hearing very quick if not instantaneous relays of messages between agencies. There can be some delay, and its always been that way.

So, in general its an improvement. Some, if not most police dispatchers were fair at best. For those agencies this is an improvement. There were some, a small minority, that were run very well, and those agencies had some changes, some good, some bad. I can tell you, that in this area there were several fire departments doing what they could to switch, due to the quality of what they had.

The pluses :
You and anyone visiting you can call 911 and get help. No longer do you need to remember up to three different ten digit numbers to get help. I can remember looking up police department numbers to call for help, when I needed to get help for someone on the radio.

More and more users are on the same band. It is definitely getting easier to get who you need. One UHF portable can contact more agencies than not now. If you can't, the county can cross link you to who you need.

Its not perfect, and never will be. Its run by and operated (on both 911 and public sides) by humans, and they make mistakes. Just keep in mind some of the people they have to deal with. Allegheny County is no different than any other county in the country, and these types of systems work there. There are some dispatching things I don't care for, but thats the way it goes. The fire chiefs have the say in those procedures.

I just thought it was time to look at some other aspects of it. Its not all good, but its also not all bad.

I'll step off the old soap box now.

Frank K3FSS"

I don't know who Mark is but he has a great web site.

2008-01-21T11:48:00.001-05:00

While surfing some links that had been sent to me via email I ran across Mark's Scanner Page. One of the more interesting features of Mark's site is that he has taken a number of scanner manuals and coded them in HTML. As he did so he also attempted to include his experience with those models and simplify the manuals and correct errors. Surf on over and check them out. I think you will find it worth your time.

Mark's Scanners

Interesting discussion on RR forums

2008-01-21T06:19:00.000-05:00

For those that are interested one of the topics on the net yesterday evening was M/A Com's performance in a trial system in New York state. Of course the subject came up as a result of the long running attempt by M/A Com to bring the state government of Pennsylvania onto a common radio platform the results of which have not impressed most members of our group.

Here is a link to a discussion on the Radio Reference page forums that includes a magazine from M/A Com published in the early days of the PA system. Worth while reading.

Link to discussion on PA system .

Link to M/A Com Channels Magazine.

Weather watchers' meteorological interests provide real-time observation data to Skywarn

2008-01-20T23:19:00.000-05:00

Kudos to the Skyview Amateur Radio Club who not only has done a lot to increase the ham population in the Pittsburgh area but also does an excellent job of getting publicity for the hobby in the mainstream media in south west Pennsylvania.

The excitement of a touchdown, unexpected icing or watching the throwing of some heat brings these spectators out of their seats.

It's not all about sports for these Pittsburghers. Actually, it's not about sports at all.

These people are weather watchers who come alive when a funnel cloud touches ground, find it thrilling as a cold chill blows through or feed their curiosity about an ongoing hot spell.

Follow this LINK for the entire story.

Notes from the Scanner Net January 20 2008

2008-01-20T21:57:00.000-05:00

We had a great net this evening despite a low turnout and the biting cold outside of the shack window. Thanks to all who took the time to check in with us.

Here are some links for items that were discussed on the net.

Railroad Frequencies from the Radio Reference Page Wiki.

I completely forgot to bring this one up on the net but it bears repeating.

Hello to All,
I have resigned the position of Section Emergency Coordinator in Western Pennsylvania.
I want to thank everyone I had the pleasure of meeting and wish you the best.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Peca, WY3R

Our thanks to Kathleen for the fine job that she has done in the position.

The rest of the items discussed really didn't have a web presence but were items from various mailing list on the Internet. I hope to soon get back to podcasting the Sunday evening net so that if you miss it you can hear the entire conversation.

73'
----Ken

Strange Keys

2008-01-17T06:54:00.001-05:00

Here is a web site that will tickle the fancy of many an operator. Check it out.

Strange CW Keys

Make sure you click on the "more info" links and see the keys in action.

You just never know what you will find out on the Internet!

ARLX001 Hiram Percy Maxim II Passes Away at 72

2008-01-16T16:19:00.000-05:00

From ARRL league headquarters.

The grandson of ARRL co-founder Hiram Percy Maxim, W1AW, died at
home in Lyme, Connecticut on Saturday, January 12 after a lengthy
battle with prostate cancer. Hiram Percy Maxim II -- called HPM
just like his grandfather -- was 72.

Not a ham, Maxim told the Newington Amateur Radio League at an
October 2002 meeting that he doesn't feel he shares the inventive
talents of his grandfather and great-grandfather, who held many
patents between them; Maxim's great-grandfather invented the machine
gun.

He told the club audience that his grandfather took on radio and
filmmaking as diversions from inventing -- an endeavor he considered
extremely hard work. He also thought of Amateur Radio as a means to
"bring together" individuals from distant locations and believed
that communication was a key to better understanding other people
and cultures.

The elder Maxim -- often referred to as "The Old Man," or "TOM" --
was an amateur film buff, and a highlight of his grandson's 2002
presentation was a short 16 mm film that showed the elder Maxim and
some of his friends working, relaxing and frolicking on the grounds
of the family's summer home in Lyme, Connecticut, where HPM II lived
until his death.

His son, Merritt Maxim, told the ARRL, "Even though he didn't have
an Amateur Radio license, he was aware of the importance of his
family's role in founding the League. Through his father, my
grandfather -- an active engineer -- he continued to maintain an
interest in all things mechanical."

A memorial service will be held at the Lyme Public Hall at 11 AM on
Monday, January 21. Burial will be private. Memorial contributions
may be made to the Lyme Public Hall Association, 249 Hamburg Rd,
Lyme, CT 06371.

Roll your own tubes?

2008-01-09T10:36:00.001-05:00

I found this one on the K3MJW mailing list and thought everyone would find it interesting.

This is a ham who is SERIOUSLY into home brew.

MakeZine article on making your own vacuum tubes.

Enjoy!

Come and join in on the WASH contest

2008-01-07T22:23:00.000-05:00

QST QST QST….

From the department of “I’d rather hear about it TWICE, rather than NOT at ALL”

I hope you all can join us in the WASH club 2M contest (FM simplex, SSB and CW)

When: Jan 12, 2008 7-11PM (this Saturday!!!)

Where: 2M (please check list of valid freq’s to avoid interference with repeaters)

This is a great opportunity to practice emergency communication (VHF simplex operations)

Click here for complete rules and details: http://n3sh.org/wash_2m_contest_2008.htm

Please pass the word along to others via email or voice nets

73!

Notes from the net Sunday Jan 6th 2008

2008-01-07T12:10:00.000-05:00

We had a good turn out on the net yesterday evening after what seemed like a very slow start. I think because the net had been somewhat neglected toward the end of the year and especially during the holidays.

Give yourselves a pat on the back. After our discussion of the transmitter that was stuck on in the GMRS service I received a number of emails from helpful hams and scanner listeners with reports of hearing the signal. One kind soul was able to find out it's origins and contact the owner who shut the station down. Thanks to all who helped.

We discussed two new models that are in Radio Shack's catalog and wondered as to the difference between them and existing models. The largest difference seemed to be the ability to "re-band" the units when the infamous Nextel frequencies go into full effect. We will have more on this on next weeks net.

I think there were a few other notes that I wanted to post here but unfortunately I have misplaced the hard copy so I'm not quite sure what they were at this point. Try not to get old if you can, it is a real pain at times! :-)

We announced that for the year 2008 that meetings of the Oblong Table will take place on the third Wednesday of each month at Kings in Waterworks Plaza with a starting time of 07:00 PM. As usual the monthly meetings of the group will continue to be the fourth Saturday at 09:00 AM with location to be determined on a month to month basis. Check in or listen in on the Sunday evening net for details. We meet on the air each week on 147.090 at 09:00 PM local time.

Hope to hear you on the net next week.

For a special treat make sure you listen this week

2007-12-28T03:20:00.000-05:00

Those of you who read the blog on a regular basis know that I have become an avid listener of web casts or "podcasts". Podcasts being a term that I try to minimize since it implies that you need and Apple iPod to listen to them which you do not. Web casts are simply audio files usually recorded in the MP3 format that are available for download from various web sites. For a complete explanation see the WikiPedia entry for "Podcast".

Being an amateur radio operator I gravitate to web casts that bring news and information about one of my favorite hobbies also known as "ham radio". Of the ones available out there, and there are many, This Week In Amateur Radio is one of the best. Produced weekly by a bunch of dedicated hams in what I consider a very professional manner. I originally wrote in the blog about TWIAR in 2005 and I try to never miss an episode.

The program is played each week by other amateurs on various frequencies around the country mainly on repeaters that cover a very local geographic area. Here in Pittsburgh Dan KB3FCZ feeds This Week In Amateur Radio through the Greater Pittsburgh VHF Society repeater system each Thursday evening at 08:00 PM. (146.610 mHz) If for some reason I can't be around for Dan's broadcast I download the MP3 file from the web site and listen when it is convenient. One of the great things about podcasts, you can time shift the content so that it fits your schedule.

Now the reason that I'm bringing this topic up yet again is because I just listened to this weeks episode ( # 767 ) this evening and I enjoyed it immensely! A good deal of the time this week was dedicated to a recording of Jean Shepard discussing ham radio on his talk show broadcast by WOR of New York. For those of you who don't know of Jean Shepard was not only the author of "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" which became the impetus for the now classic movie "A Christmas Story" but was also the narrator heard though out the movie. I really enjoyed listening to the replay of that show and it brought back many memories of my own childhood. For additional information on Jean Shepard and his interesting life follow this link to an entry in Wikipedia on him. Enjoy!

Notes from the Scanner Net of Dec 16 2007

2007-12-26T02:59:00.000-05:00

Well we missed another net this past week as our regularly scheduled net control station was unable to get into the repeater and I was tied up on a project to complete one of my wife's Christmas presents. So I hope you all took advantage of the break to spend some time with your families celebrating the Christmas holiday. Be that as it may.

I had said that I would post some comments from the last net that I conducted and have been remiss to get to the keyboard until now.

One of the items discussed on the net that evening was a supplier for crystals for those older radios that might be collecting dust in the closet or your radio room. For those of you who are asking "What is a crystal" please Google "history of radio scanning" or follow this link to Wikipedia for more information on the subject.

I have a number of older crystal scanners around the house most of which have fallen into disuse because of their limitation and the falling prices of more modern equipment. I have decided that I may put some of them back into service if for no other reason than to keep the capacitors from drying out. Now that I have a good source of crystals that will be an easier task.

Robert Ott Electronics in New York seems to have just about anything you could wish for to repopulate that old crystal scanner and put it back into action. Here is a link to their web site. Be sure to mention the blog and the Pittsburgh Area Scanner net if you call to order.

Scanner Crystals Available

The other item brought up that night that I can remember was a question about the antennas used on modern diesel locomotives. I described what looked like a "bottle rocket" that was an antenna tuned for the 160 mHz rail frequencies. There were several suggestions made but were not the answer that I was looking for.

After the net I received an email from Dan KB3FCZ who knew exactly what I was talking about. As usual Dan was a fountain of information both on the subject of the antennas and scanner crystals. To see what I was talking about follow this link to the "rugged rail antenna".

That is all from my "scanner notes" for now. Hope to hear all of you on the net this week.

Oldest working hydro generator

2007-12-26T02:47:00.000-05:00

I mentioned something on the Sunday evening net a few weeks back about places that still use direct current (DC) in everyday operations. The subject drew quite a bit of interest and I wrote a few blog entries about it. You only have to scroll down that page from this entry to read them.

While reading news the other day I ran across this story and thought it would appeal to some of you out there.

Oldest working hydro generator.

If you find this type of story interesting let me know and I will post others that I find.

Predictions for the upcoming year

2007-12-26T02:36:00.000-05:00

Here are some very thought provoking predictions for 2008.

Technology Predictions from across the pond.

Enjoy!

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2007-12-26T02:33:00.000-05:00

To the readers of my blog. I want to wish you a very blessed Christmas and the Happiest of New Years!

I hope that your Christmas was half as good as mine.

Pacific DC Intertie

2007-11-26T01:54:00.000-05:00

Here is a follow up article for those that expressed an interest in the AC vs DC debate that went on in the comments thread of the previous article that I posted. I got this from Wikipedia and I think you will find it interesting also.

Follow this link to read the article.

Off Goes the Power Current Started by Thomas Edison

2007-11-25T21:38:00.000-05:00

This article was sent to a mailing list that I subscribe to and I thought it would be of interest to those reading this blog. Enough so that I brought it up on the Sunday evening TRAMA net and it drew a few comments there.

I suggest that after you read the article you follow the thread of comments left about it. I found that enlightening as well.

Here is a link to the story.

Sunday evening scanner net info

2007-11-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

Well I announced that I would post some information here on the blog and here it is.

First it was mentioned by Craig KB3KBH that he has noticed that a number of people listen in on the net but do not have access to either a computer the Internet or both. I have brought this up in the past but it is worth mentioning again that you can find an Internet capable computer at almost every public library these days. The use of the computers is typically free with there only being a charge if you want to print out email or web pages with the cost normally being only a few cents a page.

You can get a free email account from a number of providers although I recommend Google's Gmail where you get a lot of storage space for free and can access your email from anywhere that you have a web browser. If you are reading this you obviously herd me give out the url for my blog and have gotten yourself to a computer with Internet access. So take the plunge and get yourself an email account and join in on the fun.

These are some of the links that were discussed on the net this evening.

Free email accounts:

Google Mail

Yahoo

Hotmail

There are others these are just a few that come to mind. Like I said I prefer Gmail but I will say that Yahoo has a new user interface for their mail accounts that is really nice. Let me say a word about email addresses. If you are a ham the obvious choice for your email name is callsign@domainname.com. Example XX3WA@yahoo.com or XX3WA@gmail.com If however you don't have a ham call sign you will be asked to pick something unique. You are free to pick virtually anything for an email id that is not already taken. If you try your firs name and find out that it is already in use you will get suggestions for a user id like your name with several numbers appended to it. My suggestion is try your first name and your last name separated by a period. For example Jerry.Bishop@gmail.com or Carl.Anderson@Yahoo.com which will work for you most of the time.

Once you have your email account established you should join the mailing list on Yahoo dedicated to Three Rivers Area Monitoring Association and the Sunday evening net. You can click on this icon to go to the site and join.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

Once you are on the mailing list you will get a lot of good information from the group. This group was started by and is moderated by Joe KR3P.

Also tonight we had a question on buying a digital hand held scanner. For that I suggest that you take a look at the following links.

Uniden Scanners

In particular the BC-396T.
GRE Scanners

In particular the PSR-500 digital hand held.

After you get that new whiz bang scanner here are where you can find some frequencies to load into it.

Frequency Pages:

The K3FSS scanner page

The WPA Scanner page

I hope these links and information have been helpful. Best of 73's

Anxiously awaiting the new GRE radios

2007-10-19T09:58:00.000-04:00

I subscribe to several radio related mailing lists on the Internet and this posting comes from one of them. I have been watching the new line of scanners that were announced for a while now and I believe that October is supposed to be the release month for the new models. Should be interesting.

Here is the posting from the mailing list:

Peter wrote:

What is the difference between the 396T, and the new
scanners coming out this month? Is it the NAC
capability?

Larry replied:

Their are major differences Peter. I have just finished testing the latest version of the GRE PSR-500, and of course, have tested every Uniden that has been released since the 247. There is more to the GRE PSR-500/600 than just NAC decoding. As a PS scanner it is very impressive. TRS system information presented on the screen is much more than what Uniden gives. The unit is more sensitive than the 396 but its dynamic range is not as good. The object oriented programming is a bit easier, once you have read the manual but I do not agree that it is easier than a Uniden. You will still spend time with the manual, especially if you are use to a scanner with banks.

It is a bit less impressive in the aero bands (which is my main haunt). My biggest issue is 1800 locations (I can eat that and need more just for my local VHF/UHF aero freqs). I plan on using the PSR-500 exclusively for my PS comms and I will use the Uniden 330 for aero. My UNiden 396 will be used as a mixed bag between LMR and Aero (with the feds stuff on the 396). I gave the 247 to Gayle to use. ;-))

My complete review will appear in the November issue of MT. And contrary to what was previously reported in another review the GRE-500 does not have any battery issues. I have quite a bit of background on the features on my personal blog (address listed below).

73 de LVH

Larry Van Horn, N5FPW
Teak Publishing, Brasstown, NC
Assistant/Technical Editor Monitoring Times
MT First Look/Help Desk/Milcom Columnist
Blog Address: http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/
Personal Radio Blog: http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/

Meeting of the oblong table

2007-10-18T12:35:00.000-04:00

We had a great meeting last night at Kings in Waterworks. Six of us showed up about 07:30 PM and had dinner while we talked scanners and ham radio. I learned quit a bit about how the wireless microphone setups work at the NFL games from Rich K3RWN. We also talked about the upcoming new scanners from GRE and we all agreed they are going to be very interesting. Frank (who needs to get a license) Stronic brought an updated copy of his excellent spreadsheet with confirmed frequencies and unit numbers sorted by community name. Thanks Frank!

As an extra special treat I got to spend a little time with Mike KE3FH who used to work with me but has migrated to Tennessee. Mike is doing well and it was good to see him again. Watch the blog and or listen in on the Sunday evening net at 09:00 PM on 147.090 to find out when the next meeting of the oblong table will be held.

Point me in the right direction

2007-10-12T15:53:00.000-04:00

I stumbled across a neat web page that while aimed at television viewers could be of interests to hams and scanner listeners. Set up by the Consumer Electronics Association this site lets you put in your street address and gives you bearings for all of the local radio and television stations. It is intended to help those out that are upgrading to high definition television sets and want to pull their content from the air but I think you will see the benefit for us once you try it.

Follow this link to look for your self. WWW.ANTTENNAWEB.ORG

By the way even though the site asks for all kinds of information about you I only entered my zip code and it worked just fine for me.

Voice with pictures, what will they think of next?

2007-10-10T22:36:00.000-04:00

Regular readers know that I spend a fair number of time units listening to Net Casts, or Pod Casts if you prefer, most of them with a technical bent many being dedicated to amateur radio. Net casting has brought about fulfillment of a promise that the cable industry made years ago. They told everyone that with the capacity of cable there would be so many channels that “narrow casting” would spring up and you would have a dedicated channel for butterfly collectors and another for coin collectors and on and on. While there are a number of channels now days that focus on specific areas of interest on both cable and satellite there still has to be enough ears and eyeballs out there to to be able to finance the production and distribution of programming.

Not so on the Internet where anyone with a microphone and a camera can produce content that might appeal to a very small number of people. Many do just that and do it because they love talking about and sharing information on their favorite topic. Ham radio has benefited from this as there are now a number of well done audio pod casts for our hobby. Two of the best examples are This Week In Amateur Radio and Amateur Radio News Line.

Produced once a week like many other things in amateur radio they are far from an “amateur” production. If you click on the link of either program above and listen to an episode you will see exactly what I mean.

Always on the lookout for new content I recently found Amateurlogic.tv which is a video pod cast. You not only get to listen to your fellow hams talk about there interest in the hobby but get top notch video as they deliver stories about ham radio and give instructions on interesting projects that you can try out yourself. I have downloaded a number of their shows and I have to tell you that I'm very impressed with the quality of the content.

Take a look for yourself and see if you don't agree. Point your web browser over to AmateurLogic.tv where you can read their blog and look at the archive section with all the past shows. I think you will enjoy it as much as I have.

Lets hope it never really goes away

2007-10-10T11:51:00.000-04:00

I had been hearing about a story in the Wall Street Journal all week involving Morse Code but did not really have a chance to investigate and see what it was all about. My good friend WW3A who has transplanted himself to Texas sent me a link to the story and I thing all will find in interesting.

I have never become proficient enough at the code to really enjoy it but I do think it is a great way to communicate and despite the fact that you are no longer required to learn it for an amateur radio license I think it will be around for some time to come.

(In Plain English: One Man's Bid To Save Morse Code)
PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- Nostalgic for simpler days, retired astrophysicist Chuck Adams is translating classics of boys' lit into a language he fears is going the way of kit radios and marbles: Morse code.
Holed up in his high-desert home crammed with computers, radio receivers and a very patient wife, Mr. Adams uses homemade software to download online books with expired copyrights, convert the typed words into Morse code tones and record them on compact discs he sells on the Internet.

Follow this LINK for the entire story.

Podcasts of the Sunday evening net

2007-10-01T18:06:00.000-04:00

We are currently not recording the Sunday evening net. I hope to have a new volunteer or to start recording the net my self soon. I'll let you know when the weekly Podcasts return. Sorry for any inconvenience.

New scanner software worth a look

2007-10-01T17:37:00.000-04:00

For those of you who didn't get to check into or listen in on the net yesterday evening we discussed an interesting new program for Uniden scanners. It's called bctool and is available from the files section of the discussion group created on Yahoo for those using it. Joe, KR3P, has been using it for a while now and is quite impressed with it. Its main drawback at this point in time is that it can not program the trunking function of capable scanners yet. I have been told though that the author is working on it.

My hope is that there will be a version for Linux at some point in the future which will go a long way toward making it my favorite software for programming scanners. I have downloaded the package but not yet installed it on my Windows laptop. I'll have more to say once I have tried it out.

This software is still in the beta stage so you may find some bugs but for the price you can't beat it with a stick. Its free!

Follow this link to learn more about the program and to find out how to download a copy for yourself.