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Nullsmack posted:There are those who build a Softrock Lite II receiver to attach to a IF on a radio so they can view the spectrum but use a radio they like for the transmit. I'm working on repairing a TS-520S, I may add something like that to it one day too.
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Jan 3, 2011 02:30
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| # ? May 9, 2024 23:03 |
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Did some housekeeping... here's the current list of SAARS goons: AbsentMindedWelder AstroZamboni Atomicmonsters BigHustle Catastrophe Curly Shuffle Dijkstra Fordan IonClash KingOMtDew mwdan nmfree One Day Fish Sale Partycat Phuzion QPZIL Radio Nowhere Radnor Snapshot TC the Giant TNLTRPB vinic Vir wolrah xergm Zencyl If you don't see your name there, either you didn't send your call sign and SA username to saars.ag0on near the gmail, or I'm an idiot and missed you. Oh and for god sakes, don't forget the net happening in less then one hour! AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Jan 7, 2011 |
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Jan 3, 2011 03:24
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Now is the time, people.
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Jan 3, 2011 04:00
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Thank you to Dijkstra, Vir, and the goon who shall be nameless for checking into this week's SAARS net on Echolink. If anybody has suggestions for a better time, don't be shy. This was a purely arbitrary time I picked, and we can change it.
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Jan 3, 2011 04:25
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I put on Echolink but fell asleep an hour before the net - thankfully I woke up from the talking so I could check in. It was nice talking to you. Maybe 1700 or 1800 EST would be more convenient for us Europeans? If there aren't any other European members, then just keep it at this time - I sometimes get up at four or five in the morning when it's the work week.
Vir fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Jan 3, 2011 |
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Jan 3, 2011 04:34
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Sorry for not checking in. I've been sick the last week and lost my voice.
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Jan 3, 2011 05:32
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Wasn't able to check in, sorry. Out with friends, area was too noisy.
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Jan 3, 2011 17:55
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Just worked Missouri (EM37) from Northern VA on 6 meters. Hop on if you can!
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Jan 3, 2011 22:52
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Liverpool to launch BPL trial to 1,000 homes I feel for any Liverpudlian Goons who like to DX or do anything ham related. This is gonna turn your shack into a useless pile of electronics.
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Jan 4, 2011 02:21
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I can try HF again from the club tonight, maybe ~9 EST, I'll check back here. Derp If we do a HF net I can _drive_ to the club and use the station, otherwise I'll try again for EchoLink on Sunday... waht time? Partycat fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Jan 5, 2011 |
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Jan 5, 2011 00:22
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VHF contest is coming up rather soon, who's going to be working, and where? I plan on helping our club, W2SO, run limited multi-op. It would then be the first time for me doing a "contest" so we'll see how it goes. We had a program on contesting at the meeting and it sounded like it can get pretty fast paced. So we could set up a couple of remote bases under the club call and mystify people that we're talking out without echolink/irlp. Partycat fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Jan 6, 2011 |
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Jan 6, 2011 02:53
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Is it possible to go hiking in the vast reaches of the Oregon cascades and still be in touch with other operators through amateur radio? What sort of equipment would I need? I'd rather pack light.
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Jan 6, 2011 03:54
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Miskatonic posted:Is it possible to go hiking in the vast reaches of the Oregon cascades and still be in touch with other operators through amateur radio? What sort of equipment would I need? I'd rather pack light. I recently went backpacking alone in the Cascades and had a..... very, very scary and unsafe experience where I had no cell reception and was really hoping that I could rely on my VX-8R (SHR940 instead of the factory rubber duckie) to help me out if something should go really wrong. Couldn't hit a single tower in the area that I had programmed into it though. I may not have had the right ones programmed in or something but... yeah, didn't work for me.
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Jan 6, 2011 04:38
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Miskatonic posted:Is it possible to go hiking in the vast reaches of the Oregon cascades and still be in touch with other operators through amateur radio? What sort of equipment would I need? I'd rather pack light. You'll want to be sure to pack a few things, but are you looking to chat while hiking or chat during breaks? I assume that you either have an HT or a portable QRP rig and battery. Chatting on 2m/440 while hiking will net you the same problem Catastrophe had, depending on your specific location. Even with a 'better than stock' antenna on an HT, you still have to punch through dense forest and get up and over mountains if you're going to open a repeater. If that's your plan, get a pocket repeater guide and mark the repeater locations and freqs on the map. That way you'll know the closest repeaters to your location so you can try and make contact with something within range. If you're looking to chat during rest breaks, you'll have a much easier time of things, simply because you can carry an external antenna to get some range. Make yourself a twinlead J-pole antenna, coax cable of a length that suits you, some fishing line with a weight at one end, and a small slingshot to get the thing up in a tree. You're looking at literally 3 minutes to deploy and get on the air with a lot higher elevation than you can get from the ground.
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Jan 6, 2011 05:31
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HT + Arrow II Satellite Antenna. gently caress Yo Mountains, and talk to some jerk in Kentucky.
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Jan 6, 2011 05:56
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Partycat posted:VHF contest is coming up rather soon, who's going to be working, and where? I'll be on 6m from FM18 (DC area).
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Jan 6, 2011 12:46
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blugu64 posted:HT + Arrow II Satellite Antenna. gently caress Yo Mountains, and talk to some jerk in Kentucky. How are you going to know where the satellites are when backpacking? Catastrophe - the Yaesu FT-817ND is pretty much designed for what you are trying to do. It's not as simple as sticking on a rubber duck, but rather stringing a wire up in some trees and then getting out on HF SSB. It does have 2/70 and a BNC though.
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Jan 6, 2011 23:28
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Miskatonic posted:Is it possible to go hiking in the vast reaches of the Oregon cascades and still be in touch with other operators through amateur radio? What sort of equipment would I need? I'd rather pack light. Love this guy. Watch all his videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgvyovWRd-0&feature=&p=42B890A1D103AE0F&index=0&playnext=1
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Jan 7, 2011 01:29
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Yeah, I already have an FT-817ND. I didn't want to bother carrying the extra weight and bulk on that trip though. Next time!
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Jan 7, 2011 02:25
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Skyssx posted:How are you going to know where the satellites are when backpacking? I don't think he's talking about satellites, I think he's just talking about being at the top of a mountain. Even a measly 5 watts with a directional antenna at that height will get you some massive distance.
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Jan 7, 2011 05:34
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Also if you want to do satellites, there are applications for iPhone, Palm etc. which show you where they are, or you can print out the pass details on paper. If you have a map and compass, you can get your bearings. Same thing with repeaters: There are applications which show your closest repeaters and frequencies based your GPS position. Some of the pedestrian mobile HF people actually use a telescoping antenna and drag a ground radial behind them, but a) it's hard to do that in the forest or in the mountains b) it looks a little bit dorky http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn7y35hZoU8 Vir fucked around with this message at 09:44 on Jan 7, 2011 |
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Jan 7, 2011 09:36
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In case you are confused... I used to be dv6speed. In any event, this is a reminder that we are still going to have the SAARS net this Sunday 1/9/2011 @ 22:00 EST. Mark it on your calendars.
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Jan 7, 2011 15:06
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I'm currently studying up for my Extra class. If I want to take the test, I have to take it tomorrow, an hour away, or 3 weeks from now, 2 hours away.  I have no real need for the extra privileges, except as bragging rights, and to get it out of the way. I still haven't had a chance to get on any HF bands, due to lack of funds. My Milsurp Harris Transceiver still isn't quite working. I did get a Wouxun KG-UV2D for Christmas, though, and I'm excited to actually be on the air, even if all the repeaters in the area are boring and filled with old guys talking about the government taking away their guns and radios. To that effect, though, I've drummed up some interest in starting a radio club at the local hackerspace. One of the guys has previous experience setting up repeaters, so with any luck, Louisville will soon have a 70cm repeater that isn't all greybeards and ailments. I've still got delusions of fixing the Harris radio, which will cover 160m through most of 10m, but I'm still missing something to cover 10m and 6m. Are there any cheap entry points into these bands? Mostly interested in voice and digital modes for these bands.
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Jan 7, 2011 21:35
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Zuph posted:I'm currently studying up for my Extra class. If I want to take the test, I have to take it tomorrow, an hour away, or 3 weeks from now, 2 hours away. Burn through a handful of the tests at HamExam or QRZ and see how you do. Since you're going to have to make a fairly decent haul either way, it would be best to make sure you're up to pass on the first shot or two. I got my Extra for bragging rights as well... I'm still on 2m/440 for the time being and don't know when I'll end up back on HF. Cash is a little too tight to get the FT-101 fixed at the moment.
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Jan 8, 2011 08:20
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Skyssx posted:How are you going to know where the satellites are when backpacking? Knowing when ao-51 overhead is a critical part of every good action movie.
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Jan 8, 2011 08:43
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BigHustle posted:Burn through a handful of the tests at HamExam or QRZ and see how you do. Since you're going to have to make a fairly decent haul either way, it would be best to make sure you're up to pass on the first shot or two. Yep, I've been using HamExam to study up. Unfortunately, by the time I went to be last night, I was still failing the test (granted, by 1 or 2 questions) about 50% of the time, so I decided it probably wasn't worth the drive.
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Jan 8, 2011 18:36
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That mobile video, wow. I like the guy talking about the "small antenna" on his back. Yeah, small, I guess. The bicycle one is interesting, it really looks like the bicycle doesn't have enough metal for a ground and I'm assuming he's not bicycling around "dragging a wire" but I couldn't tell. If it's half wave then it doesn't need a ground ? Other than the mobile ground radial I'd actually do this. I love to road ride but I'm jamming MP3s because it gets boring around here. If I could get a bag rack and mount a whip then that sounds interesting, especially given work is like 18 miles away. I'm actually kind of excited about this. I'd love to do VHF to do the morning rag drive but 5W probably won't cut it, and I don't know how long I could drive higher power without a huge battery pile or something. I'll try for the echolink on Sunday.
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Jan 8, 2011 20:34
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HOORAY! I got my batteries back today, so now I can put out more than 1W nominal. In fact, I can put out a full 5 watts. ZOMG! Now I can kerchunk the repeater from across the county! That mobile bicycle station looks cool, but whenever I ride, i'm doing it to ride fast, not take in the scenery and chat it up. I should be in the echolink net thinger on Sunday. I'm scoring 75-80% on the General test consistently without studying now. 
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Jan 9, 2011 00:08
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Sorry. I have to drop off the net. The Echolink program is making my laptop freeze like crazy. My laptop crashed recently which made me have to revert back to using my previous laptop which at this point is nearly a decade old and it is.... PAINFUL to use.
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Jan 10, 2011 04:09
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Ham Radio Anyways, I ended up discussing building a remote base. Here's: http://dmkeng.com/Products.htm This is a $70 USB sound card interface with control pins and everything all set and ready to go . It can , with Asterisk and app_rpt , supposedly control a select few radios . The Kenwood TM-271a being one of them. So I figured, I can get a computer (which needs USB 2.0 but otherwise can be anything) , one of these , load on Asterisk , and get one of those radios . Now I'll throw up a base antenna at another house where I'm *not* below ground . This should allow me to basically be a remote base operator from here via VoIP as it stands . It should support Echolink , and Allstar . IRLP is out but I can use the remote base to connect to a local repeater that has IRLP and there we go . So block diagram is basically: Me(SIP/IAX) -> {Internet} -> [Computer] -> URI <-> TM-271a -((( RF Constructing that is like, maybe, three hundred ? Probably the hardest part is putting up the antenna. Where it got tricky was adding another RF "branch" to the computer so I could input on RF, so I could do a simplex to it, and talk out of the better equipped station, making it more-or-less an uncoordinated repeater. We have a truckload of repeaters here, but, few are used. There is plenty of simplex space. So the question on that last bit was access control , and it is sort of douchey to do it.
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Jan 10, 2011 04:55
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As long as you can turn it on and off via the Internet/phone, and you always listen to it while it's on, you're good according to the rules. Any amateur station may be remotely controlled, including simplex voice, but not all stations may be automatically controlled (that's reserved for repeaters, satellites, and some other limited types of stations). The remote control can be by "wireline" such as phone or internet, or by an auxiliary radio within limited frequencies. In other words, you're free to use regular simplex frequencies to talk into your remote station, as long as you can use either the Internet, phone, or an auxiliary radio frequency to turn it on and off. And you always have to listen while it's on. FCC rules: quote:§97.109 Station control. Vir fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Jan 10, 2011 |
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Jan 10, 2011 14:40
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I have to brush up on my rules I guess . So if I add an RF Input then it becomes a closed repeater ? Reading time !
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Jan 10, 2011 19:56
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Partycat posted:I have to brush up on my rules I guess .
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Jan 11, 2011 00:38
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Many modern radios also have a built-in PTT timeout which you can set to the desired number of seconds. By the way, I forgot to quote this part of the rules: quote:(b) A repeater may receive and retransmit only on the 10 m and shorter (International note: We're using the US rules and band plans here. Your rules may be different, especially in different regions.) In case there's a contest involved, you might need to say that you're using a remote station, in case people assume you're running simplex. If you want to go about setting up a regular automatically controlled repeater, then I guess you should talk to the repeater coordinator and stay in the repeater frequencies. Vir fucked around with this message at 11:58 on Jan 11, 2011 |
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Jan 11, 2011 11:56
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Naw, if it ever ends up "repeating" anything it will be un-coordinated, and my responsibility to keep tabs on the freq that I want to use. If I hop in the car and activate it as a crossband rpt for example then I will have to make sure I don't romp anyone's existing usages.
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Jan 11, 2011 18:28
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Booyah! I hit the jackpot.
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Jan 13, 2011 08:16
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Jan 13, 2011 11:03
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Jose Pointero posted:After an incredibly long hiatus, I should be back on the air soon. With my bitchin' rad Kenwood TS-130! And I still have my IC-92AD too for VHF/UHF. If anyone out there wants to do some D-Star sometime, hit me up. There's a couple of echolink repeaters here in Austin but IDK how to use them. The node is AG0ON (AG zero October November) We have a net Sunday nights at 10pm EST, but I think there was some talk of making it earlier in the day so the Europeans can join in at a time that isn't 4am local. I don't have access control turned on, but I may enable it soon so send your call to saars.ag0on@gmail.com so we can add it to the list. Welcome back!
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Jan 13, 2011 12:31
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Jan 13, 2011 13:03
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| # ? May 9, 2024 23:03 |
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Here you go: http://www.echolink.org/Help/dtmf_functions.htm Which functions are enabled might depend on the repeater, but most should support the core functions at least.
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Jan 13, 2011 14:00
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