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Hotness, glad to hear it. I've been slowly browsing information on app_rpt and putting together a repeater, because our "lovely synth voice" at the local club really does irk me. It can't pronounce things correct and insists the year is "zero ten", probably from some Y2K patch. But the information on setting that up is spread all over the place, and much of it is stale. I've not read so many yahoo groups in years either. We have IRLP now but I'd love to get Echolink in there. I'm not sure about WiRES, and I haven't found any conclusive information about using the DV Dongle to tie the repeater to the DStar network via the would-be Linux controller, but I sure don't have cash to buy random DStar equipment. It would be great if we could build a DStar repeater without cash monay but hey. There's one repeater here that uses voice recordings and mixes them quietly over the top of active transmissions. Many are the computer voice, some are broken: "This is the IDENTIFY FOUR". Also the "[female name] please advise me of the time." thing is getting old. A ruling just came out that clubs can only hold one vanity call but you can have a bunch of sequentually assigned ones if you want. If we had started earlier we could have grabbed a few funnier ones but ham radio knows no humour anyways.
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Nov 8, 2010 23:03
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dv6speed posted:I just came back from the post office. I mailed off to BigHustle three signed versions of the form. If no one comments before everything arrives, SAARS will work. I have an email set up on Gmail if we end up using it. If not, I'll just delete that account and set one up with the name we use.
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Nov 9, 2010 07:22
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Partycat posted:Hotness, glad to hear it. I've noticed that the repeater I usually chat on doesn't key up when voice identifying until the message is half over. All you get is SHHHHK.MC REPEATER...SHHHHHK I'll have to mention something to the guy who runs it. Quick question... Why would the club need more than one call sign? If we have multiple 'club stations' set up around the US?
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Nov 9, 2010 07:25
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My two favorites are the "Something ARCful" and "Awful Hams" ones, personally (and in that order). Honestly, whatever works, as it doesn't really matter in the long run. Regarding EchoLink, I can set my node back up (with RF to a simplex frequency so I can use it around town). I live in the middle of nowhere, so really it could be used for whatever. My internet is 6 Mbps down and 768k up, which will handle at least a few users at once. Edit: Partycat, you should make it sound like the old speak N spell things. That would be hilarious. TNLTRPB fucked around with this message at 07:51 on Nov 9, 2010 |
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Nov 9, 2010 07:38
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Partycat posted:ham radio knows no humour anyways. BigHustle posted:If no one comments before everything arrives, SAARS will work. I have an email set up on Gmail if we end up using it. If not, I'll just delete that account and set one up with the name we use. BigHustle posted:Quick question... Why would the club need more than one call sign? If we have multiple 'club stations' set up around the US? TNLTRPB posted:Regarding EchoLink, I can set my node back up (with RF to a simplex frequency so I can use it around town). I live in the middle of nowhere, so really it could be used for whatever. My internet is 6 Mbps down and 768k up, which will handle at least a few users at once. Send an email to the above email address with the following info, and we can start thinking about the best place to set up an echolink node and run an HF net. I won't publish this info anywhere, your secrets are safe with me. 1. SA username 2. call sign 3. Your equipment/capabilities 4. anything else useful we should know Edit: Also, the form only needs two signatures, but I think we need to have at least 4 board members or something? Time to look at Part 97 again... Edit2: All we really need is one good node with a good internet connection. From there, individual goons could set up their own RF echolink nodes that can connect to the central one, if they desire. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Nov 9, 2010 |
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Nov 9, 2010 14:14
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dv6speed posted:No club needs more then one call sign. Except maybe for special events, DXpeditions and when the rest of the club is away. For example, when a club is out in the woods doing field day, one reserve call can be used by the people who stayed behind in the shack. But yeah, two calls plus temporary special event calls sounds like it should be enough.
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Nov 9, 2010 18:59
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I'm sorry, KC2WTL has been changed. The new callsign is AC0TW. Please make a note of it. All jokes aside, I'm pretty loving impressed with the FCC right now. I submitted a request for a new sequential callsign this morning at 11:53. My old callsign was canceled and the new callsign was issued at 12:53. I was expecting at least a few days for processing, not an hour. As far as the club goes, I'm partial to Something ARCful, but only because I thought of it. I'm not exactly picky as far as names go though, so... TNLTRPB, thanks for offering to set your node back up. I think that may be the best option, as I think my hamtop is close to death... It's a 15 year old Dell Inspiron 8200 (P4 processor, maxed out with 1GB of RAM) and doesn't seem to want to boot up every time I ask it to.
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Nov 10, 2010 07:44
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Shoot a stream of water in the air... instant VHF/UHF/HF antenna. Mind blown. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tIZUhu21sQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tIZUhu21sQ
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Nov 10, 2010 08:23
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I had no idea the FCC would issue sequential call signs that fast! Are you going to keep that new one, or change it again? As far as the Ionic Fluid Antenna is concerned, I heard about that a week or two ago from someone talking on a repeater, and want to experiment with a static salt water column inside a pipe. I'll post results. What intrigues me is the ease at which the resonant frequency of the radiating element can be changed at will.
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Nov 10, 2010 14:09
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dv6speed posted:I had no idea the FCC would issue sequential call signs that fast! Are you going to keep that new one, or change it again? I think I'll keep it. The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to pay for something I could get for free. I know it's not expensive when you break down the cost over the 10 years, but the US government gets enough of my cash already. It's similar to my old call which is kind of a pain, but when you play Russian Roulette with your callsign sometimes you get an empty chamber and sometimes you don't. dv6speed posted:As far as the Ionic Fluid Antenna is concerned, I heard about that a week or two ago from someone talking on a repeater, and want to experiment with a static salt water column inside a pipe. I'll post results. What intrigues me is the ease at which the resonant frequency of the radiating element can be changed at will. You know, that almost sounds like something I'd like to try even though I don't think it would work all that well. With a static column of water you'll have to deal with too many variables. The column would need to be sealed in order to keep out atmospheric moisture, but you'd need to be able to monitor the element length because it will change due to evaporation and condensation from temperature changes. That will also affect the salt content of the water, which would make the thing useless in winter (partially frozen element) unless you added a heating source and hooked it up to a thermostat to keep the temperature constant. You'd also run into heating issues when transmitting, which could potentially boil the water and cause a blowout. With an unlimited supply of seawater and a good pump you can guarantee the length of the vertical element and completely remove all of those factors. The best solution? Build a seawater pond in your backyard. That could be the answer to a lot of hams problems with neighborhood associations... "No, nosy neighbor. That is not a radio antenna. It is my tranquility pond complete with height adjustable fountain." Sync the pump to fire to maximum height when transmitting and add a few lights and it'll look like Old Faithful is trying to call CQ. EDIT: I spel gud.
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Nov 10, 2010 15:22
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Catastrophe posted:Shoot a stream of water in the air... instant VHF/UHF/HF antenna. Mind blown. I saw this earlier this week from Popular Science. I wouldn't expect it to be useful as a stealth antenna in residential neighborhoods though. I can't imagine neighbors or HOAs who don't like big verticals, dipoles, or yagis being too fond with an 40ft column of water for HF.
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Nov 10, 2010 19:43
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Who doesn't like fountains?
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Nov 10, 2010 19:44
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vinic posted:Who doesn't like fountains? Indeed. Actually if you live in the US, flagpoles make excellent HF antennas. The US flag code actually stipulates that no one may deny a US citizen the right to display a flag pole. So even in the strictest of neighborhoods, you can just make that flagpole a 1/4 wavelength and hook it up to a radio. This has it's limitations for the lower bands though, as that flagpole can star getting pretty big when you start getting down below 20m.
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Nov 10, 2010 19:55
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xergm posted:Actually if you live in the US, flagpoles make excellent HF antennas. IAC Antennas makes a flagpole antenna for anyone who doesn't want to homebrew one. They come in either 20m/40m or 10m/17m/20m models. I was joking with my mom about installing a saltwater pond with a pump in the back yard. She wasn't too pleased about the thought. Our neighborhood has no covenants or restrictions on antennas, although the second I put one up the crotchety old gently caress next door will start his poo poo again. Fucker grabs me as I'm leaving the house the other day to complain about my current antenna causing interference on his telephones. The only antenna I have up is my SWL dipole, which is receive only. I explained that to him and he refused to believe me, and said he was calling the phone company. They checked his lines the next day. Apparently when that storm blew through the day after my antenna went up, the lines going to his house were damaged when a tree fell on the junction box. I have yet to get an apology for that one.
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Nov 10, 2010 22:53
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OK, the paperwork for the Goon station arrived from dv6speed today. Unless anyone objects, I'll sign it and send it off to the ARRL in the morning with the following info: Club Name: Something Awful Amateur Radio Society (SAARS) Club Email: saars.ag0on@gmail.com Trustee: dv6speed (W3VD) Responsible Club Official: BigHustle (AC0TW) I believe that dv6speed was going to apply for vanity call AG0ON as soon as we get assigned a sequential call. Once we have our call set up, TNLTRPB was going to set up an EchoLink node for Goon use and dv6speed was going to set up an HF GooNet. OK, It's my birthday today, so I'm gonna hit the road for some good times. I'll check in late tonight and in the morning to see if any changes need to be made before I mail this poo poo off.
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Nov 12, 2010 20:20
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Very good. Yes, as soon as the club shows up in the FCC ULS, I'll apply for the vanity call sign, which will cost $13.30. Donations aren't necessary, but if you would like to contribute a few bucks, let me know and I'll give you a paypal address. Edit: Somebody more creative then myself should start drafting up a QRZ page worthy of SA. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 23:00 on Nov 12, 2010 |
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Nov 12, 2010 22:53
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I should be able to have a node up and running early next week if TNLTRPB can't do it. It will be a dedicated box and on 30mb/3.5mb bandwidth. I also don't mind making it a backup or whatever.
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Nov 12, 2010 23:08
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Do we have an IRC channel? If not, then someone knows what they have to do.
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Nov 12, 2010 23:15
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dv6speed posted:Do we have an IRC channel? If not, then someone knows what they have to do. Why not just use SynIRC's #hamradio channel?
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Nov 12, 2010 23:49
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dv6speed posted:Do we have an IRC channel? If not, then someone knows what they have to do. TC the Giant posted:Why not just use SynIRC's #hamradio channel? The second line of the OP mentions what TC the Giant just said, man. It's had regulars for a long time now.
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Nov 13, 2010 00:05
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Hah, I missed that one. I haven't used IRC in ages... time to install a client.
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Nov 13, 2010 00:11
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OK... The paperwork is signed and the envelope is going in the postbox tomorrow morning.dv6speed posted:Edit: Somebody more creative then myself should start drafting up a QRZ page worthy of SA. How about this? code:
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Nov 13, 2010 09:22
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My Echolink node is back up, though I haven't quite had the time to streamline it yet. Node #: 548360 (currently restricted to .us, .uk, .ca, and .au callsigns) And yes, the station ID is the Speak & Spell voice. I couldn't resist. Dijkstra, feel free to use yours as a primary one; mine is running on a laptop at the moment, and my internets are 6 Mb/s down and 768 kb/s up. Just be sure to goon it up and have a funny station ID / welcome message / courtesy tone (part of horns.aiff works nicely for that).
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Nov 13, 2010 11:30
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TNLTRPB posted:My Echolink node is back up, though I haven't quite had the time to streamline it yet. Okay no prob. I haven't set it up before but I've read the manual and I'll do what I can to goon it up. I believe we we can connect to each other's node's in conference mode anyway, yes? Also, I'll probably restrict it by callsign at first, just so everyone knows. If anyone wants to PM me their call I'll keep it secret and add you to the list. I already have dv6's and BigHustle's Sorry I won't have it up until next week but I had to order some memory for it.
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Nov 13, 2010 14:37
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I think restricting by call sign is a good idea. However, I think if a goon wants to use an RF link, be it theirs or a local repeater that's echo enabled, that should be OK. To simplify the record keeping, send an email to saars.ag0on@gmail.com, to get put on the SAARS list and Echolink list, and I'll give Dijkstra the password. If you've already sent an email, no need to send another one.
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Nov 13, 2010 15:01
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OK, here's a draft of the QRZ page with a little more effort. Image for reference in case someone hasn't seen it. When being a child, SAARS had witnessed with his own eyes the fact that his parents of millionaire were killed by ham radio operators, so affected his strong desire of revenging his parents. However, God had never given him a chance to fulfill his will. Following the advice of Raws Al-Ghul, the chief of VEC group, SAARS come to QRZ, which was a forum filled with various ham operator groups. SAARS found a basement under his villa, in which the equipments turned him into another person: AG0ON. With this callsign, AG0ON stroke all repeater activates and HF ham operators everywhere, such as ARRL, the chief of ham mafia, Doctor Hamfest, the abnormal net trafficker, even a mysterious opponents quite familiar with him-------------
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Nov 13, 2010 18:34
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If anyone wants to add me to the node, my call is KC9RZT. I'm thinking about changing it over Christmas break, so I'll let you guys no if i get a vanity.
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Nov 13, 2010 19:45
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I just want to clarify that on my node, it's not currently restricted by callsign, with the exception that it will only allow callsigns from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia to connect. Edit: Also if you guys didn't know, there's an echolink app for iphone now. It works pretty well, too (haven't tried it using the EDGE stuff, but on wifi and 3G there's not much latency). TNLTRPB fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Nov 13, 2010 |
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Nov 13, 2010 19:57
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xergm posted:If anyone wants to add me to the node, my call is KC9RZT.
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Nov 13, 2010 20:08
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TNLTRPB posted:I just want to clarify that on my node, it's not currently restricted by callsign, with the exception that it will only allow callsigns from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia to connect. I haven't used it, but I've talked on the repeater to people using the iPhone and Droid apps. The sound quality and clarity is amazing. Some of them sound like they're sitting in the car instead of in Chicago or where have you.
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Nov 13, 2010 21:13
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Inspired by this thread, I aced the Technician exam today. 
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Nov 13, 2010 22:15
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TNLTRPB posted:Just be sure to goon it up and have a funny station ID / welcome message / courtesy tone (part of horns.aiff works nicely for that).
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Nov 13, 2010 22:57
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Curly Shuffle posted:Inspired by this thread, I aced the Technician exam today.
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Nov 13, 2010 23:03
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Curly Shuffle posted:Inspired by this thread, I aced the Technician exam today. Excellent! What part of the hobby are you interested in pursuing? Anything specific, or a little of everything? nmfree posted:FYI it's illegal to play any kind of music over the air (unless incidental to rebroadcasting a space shuttle transmission). Dude... You just brought back one of my earliest and most fond ham memories, not that any of them are that old. Every week the Salvation Army RACES net would meet on the linked repeater system in Jersey to go over EmComm stuff. The New Control was not an OF like the others, but he was a HUGE stickler for the rules of the net and of ham radio in general. One week he was fielding questions from folks about general radio topics and this new Technician calls in to ask a question. There was a very faint tinkling sound in the background when he was talking. Net control gets back on and says 'I hear something in the background' and spends the next 10 minutes lecturing the guy on the music rules (Yes, the ONE RULE that you summed up in A SENTENCE) and then answers his question. He asks the Tech if that answer is what he was looking for. Tech comes back and says 'Yes, but what's the rule about my wife sweeping up a broken glass while I'm transmitting? Is that in the General manual?' The Q&A session ended shortly thereafter.
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Nov 14, 2010 01:03
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BigHustle posted:He asks the Tech if that answer is what he was looking for. Tech comes back and says 'Yes, but what's the rule about my wife sweeping up a broken glass while I'm transmitting? Is that in the General manual?' The Q&A session ended shortly thereafter. 
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Nov 14, 2010 01:10
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BigHustle posted:Excellent! What part of the hobby are you interested in pursuing? Anything specific, or a little of everything? Initially, I'm just looking to do some rag chewing on the local nets and get on EchoLink, since that's all my dad and uncle use anymore. After I upgrade my license and get some decent equipment I'd like to try using satellites, build a SDR rig, and experiment with digital modes.
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Nov 14, 2010 02:11
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Nice, maybe I'll actually use echolink now. Just downloaded the android app. have to check it out later.
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Nov 14, 2010 05:52
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mwdan posted:Nice, maybe I'll actually use echolink now. Just downloaded the android app. have to check it out later. The guy I was talking to over the Droid version said that the only problem he has is sometimes he'll press the button to key up and it will light up, but not transmit. If he hits it again, it works. Other than that occasional glitch, he loves it.
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Nov 14, 2010 07:57
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Oh man how long has the Android app been out? I am hella getting this.
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Nov 14, 2010 08:24
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Just downloaded the android APP I havent used echolink in ages tho, what do i do? lol
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Nov 14, 2010 08:43
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