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Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
What's up with the echolink node? I've heard a couple of calls, including one attempt at a Skywarn recognition day QSO, but nobody is hearing me even though I can hear myself in the test node.

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BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Vir posted:

What's up with the echolink node? I've heard a couple of calls, including one attempt at a Skywarn recognition day QSO, but nobody is hearing me even though I can hear myself in the test node.

Well, if it will let me connect I'll see if I can hear you... I've been having issues with EchoStink not letting me connect to random systems at random times.

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
I called you, but I didn't hear you. Did you hear me?

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Vir posted:

I called you, but I didn't hear you. Did you hear me?

I'm not connected. It keeps timing me out.

EDIT: Corrected spelling as to not sound like a retarded caveman

BigHustle fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Dec 4, 2010

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
I see you dropping in and out of the conference; I also tried connecting directly to you, but it seems it doesn't work.
I know echolink is supposed to work on my end - the test node works, and I talked on a repeater last week.
Have you opened up the UDP ports on your firewall or router?

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Vir posted:

I see you dropping in and out of the conference; I also tried connecting directly to you, but it seems it doesn't work.
I know echolink is supposed to work on my end - the test node works, and I talked on a repeater last week.
Have you opened up the UDP ports on your firewall or router?

Yeah. I have no problems connecting to some stations, but not others. I'm going to try deleting and re-entering my Windows Firewall exceptions.

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
We got it to work. Yay. :)

Vir fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Dec 4, 2010

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

BigHustle posted:

Yeah. I have no problems connecting to some stations, but not others. I'm going to try deleting and re-entering my Windows Firewall exceptions.

Well, problem solved. Apparently my POS router will only port forward to one specific internal IP address at a time and when the power went out the other day it changed my IP address. I'll need to go through and manually assign everyone a hard coded IP, I assume.

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
Most routers as standard let DHCP hosts have a range of IP addresses - typically above x.x.x.100, which leaves the lower range of for hard coded IPs. Maybe you only need to hardcode your echolink PC and leave the other machines alone?

Partycat
Oct 25, 2004

I've connected and idled it a few times, I saw vinic on once, but no one has ever said anything. Threw my call out but I don't know if it is RF linked or not.

Worked as WX2BUF tonight from 8 until 1 or so on VHF and for a while on 80 meters 3.820 but right next to an airport and a truckload of QRM. First time on HF and it was neat, total pileup.

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Partycat posted:

I've connected and idled it a few times, I saw vinic on once, but no one has ever said anything. Threw my call out but I don't know if it is RF linked or not.

Worked as WX2BUF tonight from 8 until 1 or so on VHF and for a while on 80 meters 3.820 but right next to an airport and a truckload of QRM. First time on HF and it was neat, total pileup.

Vir and I had a nice QSO last night on the Goon Link. I don't believe it's RF connected at the moment, as there were none of the usual 'repeater tones' firing off.

I need to get my 6m antenna up in the air and tuned tonight. The quarterly in-person club meeting is tonight and they're going to loan me one of the club's 6m radios to play with and I'd like to have it up and running by the net meeting tomorrow night.

I also picked up an MFJ-557 Morse code practice oscillator and straight key combo so I can start learning CW. I know paddles are easier, but I've had a few non-douche old timers tell me that straight key is a good place to start because you can learn spacing easier I decided to start here.

Catastrophe
Oct 5, 2007

Committed to burn twice as long and half as bright
Hanging on Echolink for now. Anyone else out there? Echo, echoo, echoooooo....

Partycat
Oct 25, 2004

Catastrophe posted:

Hanging on Echolink for now. Anyone else out there? Echo, echoo, echoooooo....

Yeah but it doesn't count when you don't reply !

I've tried to make several "echolink qsos" for the SRD today but only got a handful to produce anything.

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous
I haven't fired up the 'ol EchoStink today. I've been working on getting the 6m antenna I built mounted to a ghetto mast I'm assembling from 45 feet of PVC pipe. I have an old Lafayette HA-460 6 meter rig on loan from the club and want to put it to use for the net meeting tomorrow night.

Th_
Nov 29, 2008

dv6speed posted:

There is one goon who emailed me his call sign, but left out his SA username. Once I get that, I'll add you, and any other stragglers on the list and email the info.

Yeah, that was me, NB9F. Sorry about the delay, I'm still interested, but between radios for the moment.

Has the sunspot situation improved at all since the summer? Without any DX all I managed to establish is that central Illinois is not fun country.

AbsentMindedWelder
Mar 26, 2003

It must be the fumes.
Please welcome Zencyl to SAARS.

Also... AG0ON is now official and all that jazz. It'll take a day or two for QRZ and Echolink's databases to update.

For now, you can continue to connect to KB3VIB on Echolink until it disappears, or you see a post here stating otherwise.

AtomicMonsters posted:

Yeah, that was me, NB9F. Sorry about the delay, I'm still interested, but between radios for the moment.
It wasn't you I was talking about, I have already taken care of the individual that post referenced. In any event, I don't see any email from you, so go ahead and send another one with your call sign and SA username in it to saars.ag0on at the gmail. Yeah, I know I have your info right here, but the way my "system" works, I need you to send me an email.

AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 12:46 on Dec 7, 2010

Skyssx
Feb 2, 2001

by T. Fine
So how did you get a 0 callsign in Delaware? Does the vanity call just transcend traditional call boundaries?

e: In my farting off at work today, I found that if I were to put up an antenna tower, I could put it up on a boundary between two grid squares. Bleh.

AbsentMindedWelder
Mar 26, 2003

It must be the fumes.

Skyssx posted:

So how did you get a 0 callsign in Delaware? Does the vanity call just transcend traditional call boundaries?
Yes.

Dijkstra
May 21, 2002

Just FYI for anyone planning on getting around to upgrading to General sooner or later:

quote:

The Question Pool Committee (QPC) of the National Conference of
Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) released the new General
class (Element 3) question pool on Tuesday, December 7. This new
question pool -- including graphics and diagrams -- will become
effective for all General class examinations administered on or
after July 1, 2011; it will remain valid until June 30, 2015. The
current General question pool that became effective July 1, 2007
will expire June 30, 2011. The new General pool contains 457
questions, from which 35 are selected for an Element 3 examination.
The current Technician class question pool that was effective July
1, 2010 is valid through June 30, 2014. The current Amateur Extra
class pool that was effective July 1, 2008 is valid until June 30,
2012.

nmfree
Aug 15, 2001

The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006
Heh.

http://thereifixedit.failblog.org/2010/12/08/white-trash-repairs-hamtenna/

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

That is awesome. I think I found the answer to my 6m antenna woes.

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
With plastic instead of metal, that might not be a bad idea actually. :)

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Vir posted:

With plastic instead of metal, that might not be a bad idea actually. :)

Since I can't seem to get the ground plane off the ground, I'm just going to take the PVC pipe I bought for the project and use it as a channel for a vertical dipole until I can get something in place for the ground plane that's going to be 100% stable.

Dijkstra
May 21, 2002

Okay everyone, the Echolink Node has changed to our Vanity Call:

AG0ON-L


(That's A G ZERO Oscar November)


This should be the last change as far as the callsign of the node.

It's still connected to TNLTRPB's node pretty much 24/7.

AstroZamboni
Mar 8, 2007

Smoothing the Ice on Europa since 1997!
I'm getting a Droid X next week, and I'm no longer constrained to using the internet on a communal family machine I can't install software on. So I sent in my info for SAARS. Listen soon for my callsign, KF7JKA.

Also, how much does the echolink app cost?

Dijkstra
May 21, 2002

AstroZamboni posted:

I'm getting a Droid X next week, and I'm no longer constrained to using the internet on a communal family machine I can't install software on. So I sent in my info for SAARS. Listen soon for my callsign, KF7JKA.

Also, how much does the echolink app cost?

It's free.

Skyssx
Feb 2, 2001

by T. Fine
Ugh. My batteries need to get back from the NiCd Lady. On AAs I'm putting out maybe 1watt. Even with a telescoping 1/4 wave, I get horrible readability reports. Could be that my SMA connector is fuckered, too.

I've been looking at making a solar powered CWOP station, someone did a decent job of one at QRZ. Maybe a solar QRP repeater, too, for Pennsic. I don't know how many attendees are hams, but out of 15,000 highly eccentric campers, there have to be a few.

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Skyssx posted:

I've been looking at making a solar powered CWOP station, someone did a decent job of one at QRZ. Maybe a solar QRP repeater, too, for Pennsic. I don't know how many attendees are hams, but out of 15,000 highly eccentric campers, there have to be a few.

You might want to look at Ham Radio Fun and see if they have something to build from if you're going to be working from the ground up. They have the Peanut Whistle Two 40m QRP rig for $28 with no crystal, $38 with a 7.040 crystal, or $58 with a crystal and straight key mounted on a board.

They have a special right now where any PW2 kit comes with a free crystal so you can get both 7.030 and 7.040 crystals for the price of the basic unit.

If you want to go balls out, they carry an Emergency Station that runs $250 and comes with a Sangean 505 shortwave receiver, an amplified antenna for the receiver, the PW2 w/ 7.040 crystal, roll up dipole antenna for the PW2, and a straight key.

They also have a poo poo ton of portable antennas for SWL and ham use on the site.

I'm thinking of picking up a Peanut Whistle myself, since I'm learning CW and will want something to haul around with me to work code from places other than my house.

The Muffinlord
Mar 3, 2007

newbid stupie?

AstroZamboni posted:

I'm getting a Droid X next week, and I'm no longer constrained to using the internet on a communal family machine I can't install software on. So I sent in my info for SAARS. Listen soon for my callsign, KF7JKA.

Also, how much does the echolink app cost?

I love my Droid X. I'd love it more with a keyboard for games, but when you get the hang of Swype even typing on it is a breeze. Get Echolink and AndChat(for IRC) and come hang with us on #hamradio!

Skyssx
Feb 2, 2001

by T. Fine

BigHustle posted:

Useful info!

Ok, now that i'm not typing on a phone...

I meant a low power V/UHF repeater for temporary use at a large gathering of people. Pennsic is an annual two-week event of the SCA and doesn't have anything to do with amateur radio. However there are always an enormous number of people there and probably more than a few hams. Like, enough people that AT&T's 3G and EDGE networks are completely incapable of dealing with the traffic. You will have 5 bars on your cell phone and wait 30 minutes to populate The Weather Channel app. Really you're just mashing the refresh button in the hopes you are one of the few people that negotiate an actual connection.

I'm still trying to work out how I can best use APRS at the event, but at the least, an automated weather station would definitely be of use. The site may be too large to go simplex from one end to the other. It's about 2 miles end to end and there is some terrain and foliage involved as well. I could use this micro controller plus two HTs with mediocre antennas situated somewhat near the center of the event. It just so happens that there is a 16' high temporary structure I could put this crap on top of.

I'm still trying to find out or think up what I could do with APRS other than track myself, which I otherwise take pains to prevent.

nmfree
Aug 15, 2001

The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Skyssx posted:

I meant a low power V/UHF repeater for temporary use at a large gathering of people.
Depending on how complicated I wanted to get, I would set up one of these repeater controllers to work with my (otherwise useless) FT-4700 (since it is fully duplex with separate antenna ports) in a crossband configuration (since crossband will be the easiest to deal with vis a vis RF overload). Then I'd make a J-Pole for each band (since they can be run without ground planes, I might also think about jerry rigging some quick coax dipoles mounted vertically) and mount that as high as I could. This is assuming that I'd have the ability to bring a power supply and run off of the mains; if you're going to be limited to battery operation then your options will be limited somewhat.

Partycat
Oct 25, 2004

I'm looking at buiding a mobile repeater sort of thing myself just for the hell of it, couple of batteries in the trunk with a pair of radios and a low powered computer oughta do a repeater with features fairly easily. You could throw an aircard on it for data but you may have to backhaul from another location which you would probably do with amp and directional on some 802.11 gear. Simplex will go 2 miles ?

yummycheese
Mar 28, 2004

Just got done catching up on about 8 months worth of posts in this thread.

Got my license almost a year ago. Haven transmitted once since I got the license, got a little yaesu ft-60 to play around with during that time. The local repeaters are full of OF's that I would never talk to.

Is HF more interesting? Thinking about getting the General license and a hf rig to play with. A year later and I feel a bit better about droping $350-$400 on a hf setup.

Also thanks for the tips on the New Jersey repeater system(W2NJR) on echo link. Getting drunk and tuning into that on echolink is pretty hilarious at times. I wish the OF's in my locale were as interesting, but sadly they are not

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

yummycheese posted:

Is HF more interesting? Thinking about getting the General license and a hf rig to play with. A year later and I feel a bit better about droping $350-$400 on a hf setup.

Also thanks for the tips on the New Jersey repeater system(W2NJR) on echo link. Getting drunk and tuning into that on echolink is pretty hilarious at times. I wish the OF's in my locale were as interesting, but sadly they are not

If the OFs in your area suck, then getting your General (or doubling up and getting the Extra at the same time) and getting on HF is the way for you to go. Alternately you could just pick up an HF rig and hang in the Tech areas of the HF bands if you're into CW/digital modes or just park in the 28.300 to 28.500 section of 10m.

W2NJR is always a good listen. I still click on occasionally, just to see what's going on. I checked into the nightly traffic net while on the road in KS a few weeks back and several people commented.

------

Guys, check out these HIP HAM SHIRTS! Please note that sizes go up to 5x...

The Muffinlord
Mar 3, 2007

newbid stupie?
Hey, shut up, that Ohm's Law shirt is pretty rad. I'd wear that one, in 3X.

Nullsmack
Dec 7, 2001
Digital apocalypse
I would actually like that Ohm's law shirt.

fordan
Mar 9, 2009

Clue: Zero
Those shirts actually aren't bad compared to some I've seen for sale at Hamvention. I'd actually wear some of them.

Sniep
Mar 28, 2004

All I needed was that fatty blunt...



King of Breakfast
Most of them are pretty bad though.

Where's just a simple graphic or anything?

Hell, I'd buy a tree connected to a house by a dipole and cord keeping the screen door open kind of thing, a cat head peeking out, no words required on it.

Count Thrashula
Jun 1, 2003

Death is nothing compared to vindication.
Buglord
Super
Wizzbang
R adio Operator


it's just so bad

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BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous
TC the Giant and Nullsmack, don't you think it's funny that the one shirt you'd wear off that site really belongs in a collection of shirts for Electrical Engineering rather than radio operators?

I saw the link on QRZ and had to laugh at those shirts being called 'hip'.

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