Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Partycat
Oct 25, 2004

So... field day...

I have no idea what my club will be doing.

I'm guessing VHF ops will be dead but will 6 have any purpose anyways?

I've never been to one but I hear stories... about the smells.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Three-Phase
Aug 5, 2006

by zen death robot
Got a quick question: does anyone have reccomendations for a fairly simple and user-friendly HT? Something where I could take and load/edit repeater settings via a computer, something like that.

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Three-Phase posted:

Got a quick question: does anyone have reccomendations for a fairly simple and user-friendly HT? Something where I could take and load/edit repeater settings via a computer, something like that.

I have a Kenwood TH-F6A that has a really simple program for inputting repeater settings via computer. It's also not difficult to program by hand if you need to add something on the fly or make an adjustment to what you've entered. Before the Kenwood I had a Yaesu FT-60r which wasn't bad if you use the FT Commander software.

EDIT: A lot of people have good things to say about the Wouxun KG-UDV1P as well, but I've never used one. Main Trading Company has them for $130 with programming cable included and wouxun.us has them for $110 with cables for $20 additional.

BigHustle fucked around with this message at 02:02 on May 6, 2011

Curly Shuffle
May 31, 2001

Toilet Rascal
I passed Element 3 to upgrade my license to General on 3/3/11. I'm still listed as a Technician in the FCC ULS database. Looking at my copy of my CSCE I see that, while my street address is correct, the city is incorrect. They put in the city where I took the test, rather than the city in which my station resides. I'm guessing this might be the reason I haven't seen my license upgrade show up on the FCC's database. I tried emailing the email address for the VE's from the ham club who administered my test, but it bounced back as undeliverable. I'd like to avoid making this a public issue, but short of taking a two hour drive to one of their local meetings, I'm not sure what other options I have. I'm sure they're good people and I don't want to act like a dick, but I also would like to get my license upgraded. Does anyone have advice?

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Curly Shuffle posted:

I passed Element 3 to upgrade my license to General on 3/3/11. I'm still listed as a Technician in the FCC ULS database. Looking at my copy of my CSCE I see that, while my street address is correct, the city is incorrect. They put in the city where I took the test, rather than the city in which my station resides. I'm guessing this might be the reason I haven't seen my license upgrade show up on the FCC's database. I tried emailing the email address for the VE's from the ham club who administered my test, but it bounced back as undeliverable. I'd like to avoid making this a public issue, but short of taking a two hour drive to one of their local meetings, I'm not sure what other options I have. I'm sure they're good people and I don't want to act like a dick, but I also would like to get my license upgraded. Does anyone have advice?

Yeah. Contact the FCC directly: http://esupport.fcc.gov/request.htm

If you send it tonight, they'll get back to you first thing in the morning. I've had to contact them through the website twice for various things and I think the longest wait I had was 3 hours.

EDIT: Well, first thing Monday, anyway.

BigHustle fucked around with this message at 05:56 on May 8, 2011

Blackhawk
Nov 15, 2004

I have a question for the antenna gurus amongst us, it's about antennas for rockets!

I fly big amateur rockets and we're starting to get a lot of radio action happening with our rockets, video down from the rocket, arming and parachute ejection commands up to the rocket, telemetry/GPS location down from the rocket etc. Thus far we haven't done much more work on antennas than using 1/4 wave or dipole antennas either inside the rocket if we used a radio-transparent body tube material or sticking out the side if we didn't however there are a lot of problems with this as you can imagine:

- Asymmetric radiation pattern around the rocket, which is bad because the rocket will almost inevitably be rolling around its axis as it flies
- Takes up a lot of space inside the rocket depending on frequency
- Pumps lots of radiation into circuitry inside the rocket, not such a problem now but it will be when we step up power for higher flights

The rocket we're currently working on is 4 inches in diameter and will fly to around 15-20000 feet initially but could potentially go much much higher with a booster, so we're going to need good radio contact at a fairly high range. We currently have a digi xtend 900MHz 1W FHSS radio in the payload for the rocket which should suffice for lower altitude flights. The payload is crammed into the fibreglass nose cone (which is actually pretty roomy) but that's all the room we have so can't be using too much, unless the antennas are placed externally which I'm hesitant to do because the rocket will be going fast.

I'll preface this by stating that I know nothing of antennas (though there are some radio-inclined people in our group) but these are the antennas I've been reading up on:

- Cylindrical patch antenna (one or more patch antennas formed around the outside of the rocket)
- Skew planar wheel antenna inside the nose cone (probably too big at 900MHz)
- Discone/Biconic antenna

Any ideas?

Zuph
Jul 24, 2003
Zupht0r 6000 Turbo Type-R

Blackhawk posted:

I have a question for the antenna gurus amongst us, it's about antennas for rockets!

I fly big amateur rockets and we're starting to get a lot of radio action happening with our rockets, video down from the rocket, arming and parachute ejection commands up to the rocket, telemetry/GPS location down from the rocket etc. Thus far we haven't done much more work on antennas than using 1/4 wave or dipole antennas either inside the rocket if we used a radio-transparent body tube material or sticking out the side if we didn't however there are a lot of problems with this as you can imagine:

- Asymmetric radiation pattern around the rocket, which is bad because the rocket will almost inevitably be rolling around its axis as it flies
- Takes up a lot of space inside the rocket depending on frequency
- Pumps lots of radiation into circuitry inside the rocket, not such a problem now but it will be when we step up power for higher flights

The rocket we're currently working on is 4 inches in diameter and will fly to around 15-20000 feet initially but could potentially go much much higher with a booster, so we're going to need good radio contact at a fairly high range. We currently have a digi xtend 900MHz 1W FHSS radio in the payload for the rocket which should suffice for lower altitude flights. The payload is crammed into the fibreglass nose cone (which is actually pretty roomy) but that's all the room we have so can't be using too much, unless the antennas are placed externally which I'm hesitant to do because the rocket will be going fast.

I'll preface this by stating that I know nothing of antennas (though there are some radio-inclined people in our group) but these are the antennas I've been reading up on:

- Cylindrical patch antenna (one or more patch antennas formed around the outside of the rocket)
- Skew planar wheel antenna inside the nose cone (probably too big at 900MHz)
- Discone/Biconic antenna

Any ideas?

A lot of high altitude balloons in the UK use 10mW transmitters, and can receive fine at 100,000 ft., so you probably don't need extra power at all.

Cylindrical patch antennas are the way to go if you can manage. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who's made one successfully without using very expensive commercial antenna design software.

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
On the receiving end, are you using a helical antenna? Would it be possible to put in a helical antenna in the body of the rocket, if part of the body is transparent to radio?

Blackhawk
Nov 15, 2004

We've used helical antennae before on the ground, I thought helical antennae radiate from their end though and are fairly directional? Doesn't seem like you could put it in a rocket easily especially considering the aft end of the rocket is aluminium.

Yeah cylindrical patch does seem the best, actually I cross-posted this on a rocketry forum I use and one of the other guys I'm building the rocket with linked to this page:

http://psas.pdx.edu/communications/

They've made cylindrical patch antennae for their rockets and they've detailed how they've done it, unfortunately their website seems to be a huge mess to try to find any info in... Perhaps we can talk to them and collaborate a bit.

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Blackhawk posted:

We've used helical antennae before on the ground, I thought helical antennae radiate from their end though and are fairly directional? Doesn't seem like you could put it in a rocket easily especially considering the aft end of the rocket is aluminium.

Yeah cylindrical patch does seem the best, actually I cross-posted this on a rocketry forum I use and one of the other guys I'm building the rocket with linked to this page:

http://psas.pdx.edu/communications/

They've made cylindrical patch antennae for their rockets and they've detailed how they've done it, unfortunately their website seems to be a huge mess to try to find any info in... Perhaps we can talk to them and collaborate a bit.

Here's a link to the calculator they used to build it, along with links to their construction notes.

Deezul
Jan 1, 2005

Not Diesel
Just passed my technician license test! Got 100% so the VECs allowed me to try the General exam, got 16 correct. The guys there recommended the Yaesu FT-60R or the dualbander by Wouxun. One of my friends, however, recommended a mobile unit as a starter for the extra power that a handheld couldn't provide. Anyone have any thoughts on a starter unit that isn't terribly expensive?

I'll post my callsign once it shows up on the ULS

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Deezul posted:

Just passed my technician license test! Got 100% so the VECs allowed me to try the General exam, got 16 correct. The guys there recommended the Yaesu FT-60R or the dualbander by Wouxun. One of my friends, however, recommended a mobile unit as a starter for the extra power that a handheld couldn't provide. Anyone have any thoughts on a starter unit that isn't terribly expensive?

I'll post my callsign once it shows up on the ULS

Congratulations on getting your ticket. I just started doing VE testing this past week with a local group now that my bowling league is over.

Well, if you're looking to get in on the cheap side, an HT is going to be an all-in-one package for you. The FT-60R and the Wouxun are both good units, just make sure you get the programming cable and software or else you're in for a nightmare getting everything punched in. If you go with a mobile unit, you'll need an external antenna and power supply if you plan to use it in the house.

I would check for local club repeaters and locations if you plan on sticking mostly to 2m/440 until you get your general. If there are repeaters close by, an HT may be good enough for you to use until you can upgrade. I'd see about borrowing one from someone to see if you can hit anything rather than guessing.

Partycat
Oct 25, 2004

Anyone want to get on HF tonight for a bit ? I'm at the club house on a 160m long wire

----

Made some cool contacts...

'Anna' at the Monkey Lovers Radio Consortium (K6MMM) ?

Croatia, Serbia, Lebanon, etc.

Partycat fucked around with this message at 14:41 on May 22, 2011

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous
Well, I took my FT-101 over to a local ham's shack to have it looked at and ended up with some bad news. The receive worked great and we got the band selector knob set properly. Right after the tube heater was switched on and after a little warming up we started the tuning procedures. The second the mic was keyed to start adjusting the transmit the primary fuse blew and the smell of electrical death came from the radio innards. I have yet to take it apart, but seeing as how the rig was made in the early 70s and has never been tinkered with I'm sure it was an old cap that blew. Replacing the fuse did nothing, so I'm sure it's pretty much deceased at this point. Gonna give it to another local ham for some surgery. Hopefully he can get it working again.

Partycat
Oct 25, 2004

This has not been a good weekend for ham equipment I guess.

We cooked the dummy load in a MFJ versa-tuner, despite it not being in line (?) and nearly took out a Pyramid power supply running it at 10A continous for a few hours (25 rated so, again ???) .

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Blackhawk posted:

We've used helical antennae before on the ground, I thought helical antennae radiate from their end though and are fairly directional? Doesn't seem like you could put it in a rocket easily especially considering the aft end of the rocket is aluminium.
Ah, of course. Didn't think of that.

Partycat, that sounds pretty weird and dangerous. Stray currents going around inside there?

BigHustle, good luck on the 101. Good that you're getting help with it. Hopefully replacing a few caps will put it in order, and nobody gets shocked.

Next paycheck, I'll be getting an FT-817ND. Too much time without radio now. Echolink's nice and all, but I need something to HF backpack with. There's many nice mountains around here which make for nice day trips.

By the way, I need to correct something:

Vir posted:

I don't think RACES in particular has ever been activated for real, since that only happens when the POTUS closes down amateur radio in wartime. That's why they recommend that RACES groups also join ARES, which gets activated fairly often.
Edit: Correction: RACES groups actually do activate from time to time when state and local governments activate them, in disasters for example.
I was incorrect here, because while it's true that some RACES/ARES groups mostly operate as ARES, RACES groups do get activated by state and local governments in disasters, and they also do exercises. RACES is a bit more formal and bureaucratic, since they are sort of a government service, while ARES is part of the ARRL. What hasn't happened is the sort of continuing operation at the closing down of amateur radio in war, that RACES was designed for, but it's still been useful in other types of disasters.

Vir fucked around with this message at 11:10 on May 26, 2011

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Vir posted:

BigHustle, good luck on the 101. Good that you're getting help with it. Hopefully replacing a few caps will put it in order, and nobody gets shocked.

The guy I've got lined up to do the repairs only works on tube rigs. He's the club trustee for K0AMC and restores old 6m tube rigs for club use along with doing the repeater maintenance and poo poo.

In the meantime, I'm looking to pick up a 2m/440 mobile and an HF rig as cheaply as possible. Anyone have a lead for some online shops with good pricing?

BigHustle fucked around with this message at 13:03 on May 26, 2011

mwdan
Feb 7, 2004

Webbed Blobs

Vir posted:



I was incorrect here, because while it's true that some RACES/ARES groups mostly operate as ARES, RACES groups do get activated by state and local governments in disasters, and they also do exercises. RACES is a bit more formal and bureaucratic, since they are sort of a government service, while ARES is part of the ARRL. What hasn't happened is the sort of continuing operation at the closing down of amateur radio in war, that RACES was designed for, but it's still been useful in other types of disasters.

I think RACES may be going by the wayside, as I'm pretty sure I read somewhere a while ago that the FCC wasn't going to renew RACES licenses anymore. Or, am I just misinterpreting that?

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
They've stopped issuing new licenses, but I don't know how long time it'll take to transition RACES into something else. For the time being the RACES groups in various states are still recruiting new volunteers, drilling and getting activated from time to time. Maybe they'll merge it with ARES?

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Vir posted:

They've stopped issuing new licenses, but I don't know how long time it'll take to transition RACES into something else. For the time being the RACES groups in various states are still recruiting new volunteers, drilling and getting activated from time to time. Maybe they'll merge it with ARES?

I love the comments from the OP in this thread over at QRZ in regards to EMCOMM and such.

I don't understand the focus on EMCOMM that some of these guys have. They make it sound like the only reason amateur radio exists is for disaster relief.

EDIT: Speaking of, when I re-upped my ARRL membership they sent me a copy of the EMCOMM field guide. One of the things repeated in the book is 'Take time for hygiene. No one wants to work with a stank-rear end motherfucker.'

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
True, EMCOMM isn't the only public benefit of amateur radio - education, friendship, innovation etc., but EMCOMM is a pretty good political argument for all that spectrum that amateurs have. It might be worth billions of dollars if it could be auctioned off. So the ARRL beating the EMCOMM drum is both genuine public service and part of lobbying Congress.

Amateur radio should definitely be auxiliary back-up though; the primary public safety radio systems should be inter-operable per default, and amateur radio can step in when those (and their secondary back-ups) fail. Just like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders volunteers aren't supposed to treat people in tents in a normal situation in the US. It's a response to a disaster or a communication emergency.

It's again pretty funny/sad to see those who are against EMCOMM at any cost clash with those who are out to save the world from Armageddon with amateur radio. Local/regional incidents of medium length is what it's really about.

Since getting licensed, I'm collecting news stories from Norway about communication failures. So far this year there's been serious local outages about twice each month, and just this week the north of Norway was partially separated from the south, losing all phone traffic for some carriers and closing down all airspace north of Trondheim when a backhoe took out the main fiber and a random deadfall took out the backup line.

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Vir posted:

True, EMCOMM isn't the only public benefit of amateur radio - education, friendship, innovation etc., but EMCOMM is a pretty good political argument for all that spectrum that amateurs have. It might be worth billions of dollars if it could be auctioned off. So the ARRL beating the EMCOMM drum is both genuine public service and part of lobbying Congress.

Amateur radio should definitely be auxiliary back-up though; the primary public safety radio systems should be inter-operable per default, and amateur radio can step in when those (and their secondary back-ups) fail. Just like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders volunteers aren't supposed to treat people in tents in a normal situation in the US. It's a response to a disaster or a communication emergency.

You'll get no argument from me there. I can understand the hams and the ARRL wanting to show that the spectrum should be preserved for amateur use because those frequencies can also be used for humanitarian efforts by volunteer operators. I think you get where I'm coming from, since you used MSF and the Red Cross as examples. Hams should be used for non-essential yet necessary tasks (health and welfare message traffic, supply routing, keeping shelters in contact with each other, etc.) while the local authorities are busy doing their jobs. The hardcore EMCOMM people are screaming about being used as first responders in a crisis, which is asinine when you consider the age of a lot of the operators these days and the simple lack of training received.

quote:

It's again pretty funny/sad to see those who are against EMCOMM at any cost clash with those who are out to save the world from Armageddon with amateur radio. Local/regional incidents of medium length is what it's really about.

I've never once heard a single ham say that EMCOMM shouldn't be part of amateur radio, yet a large portion of the EMCOMM guys feel that if you aren't as hardcore as they are, you should turn in your ticket. I'm still trying to explain to the other 2m net control operator in the club I joined locally that although she's into EMCOMM and disaster preparedness poo poo, no one else in the group is. She keeps trying to volunteer our group for disaster drills and poo poo, yet the average age of the membership is over 50 and most of them are disabled.

We have another group that I would like to join, but can't. They only allow membership to people who have gone through the FEMA training (10 hour online course) and will 'solemnly swear to uphold their civic duty as a ham during a disaster.' gently caress that poo poo. The last time there was a major issue here (tornado hosed up some poo poo on New Years Eve) the hams 'mobilized' and went to the affected area, only to be turned away by the cops who had everything under control and didn't ask for any assistance because none was needed.

I did sign up with the local EMCOMM group to work at the local hospital in case of a major emergency, but I think I'm going to end up taking my name off their list. They have no plans to do any drills or offer any training, and I'm not going to show up at a hospital during a hosed up situation with no idea what's going on. I'll just be in the way and make things worse for an already stressed out ER staff.

In areas where the hams are working closely with the local authorities and have a plan in place, are trained, and know what the hell to do you hear nothing but praise for the amateurs. Everywhere else though...

mwdan
Feb 7, 2004

Webbed Blobs
Bighustle, may I ask what group is REQUIRING the FEMA courses?

I don't have anything against them, but depending on how far up the EMCOMM tree you want to climb, they really aren't necessary. It's great in theory to know how the mighty Homeland Security "INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM" works, but when you get down to the level that 99.9% of any ham would get involved with it at, it gets down to: Local Emergency Services lose comms for whatever reason, or need some extra help with non-emergency comms. Joe ham goes to the local EOC after getting called out and someone is going to say 'sit in this chair and talk to Bob Ham over at the Hospital and if they send you a message give it to me.'

Maybe it's a more urban thing or something, but out in the hinterlands nobody gives a poo poo if you havent done ICS training or whatever. I'm an Emergency Coordinator for whatever that's worth, and I'd be happy as hell if I could get people to just say "if something really really major goes down and there needs to be comms, I'm down." , and very few say that. It's not like you're being asked to give up every weekend or most nights or something. It's just in case that freak storm cuts all the power to half the county or a couple counties and you'd be needed for a few hours MAYBE in the next 25 years.

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

mwdan posted:

Bighustle, may I ask what group is REQUIRING the FEMA courses?

St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club is the group. Now that I look at the website, they have a little blurb about 'ICS is suggested to amateurs interested in EMCOMM'. That's quite different than the 'members MUST' speech I got from the guy I was VEing with last week. I'll have to drop a line to their PIO and let him know that there's a loving nutcase running people off from joining the group at the VE sessions.

This is what I'm talking about though... People going balls out when they need to go chill out. This is the kind of poo poo that turns people off to ham radio.

I joined a second group (Jefferson County ARC) a few weeks back and their primary discussion at the monthly meetings is trying to set up 'exercises' with the big hospital in the county 'in case of a disaster'. These are also the same guys who insisted that I get a 2m mobile rig since my HT won't put out enough juice to communicate in an emergency. I planned to pick up a more powerful rig anyway, but they made it sound like my ham license makes me a goddamned sheriff's deputy.

quote:

I don't have anything against them, but depending on how far up the EMCOMM tree you want to climb, they really aren't necessary. It's great in theory to know how the mighty Homeland Security "INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM" works, but when you get down to the level that 99.9% of any ham would get involved with it at, it gets down to: Local Emergency Services lose comms for whatever reason, or need some extra help with non-emergency comms. Joe ham goes to the local EOC after getting called out and someone is going to say 'sit in this chair and talk to Bob Ham over at the Hospital and if they send you a message give it to me.'

This is what I envisioned it being from reading the ARRL books. However, the actual hams involved in the local groups almost make it sound like a paramilitary organization. Check my previous posts in this thread about the dumbass who showed up in combat gear packing heat at a SKYWARN meeting and you'll see what I'm getting at. I know a lot of them are all talk, but their voices are loud as hell.

mwdan
Feb 7, 2004

Webbed Blobs
Ahh big city. It must be proportional to size. I think we might have one or two hamsexy poster children here, but they don't come around all that often.
To be honest, I wouldn't even have people like that involved. That type does nothing but scare off sane people who would actually be a benefit in an actual emergency.
E: I remember the stories of the guys in tactical gear, it still hurts my head.

mwdan fucked around with this message at 02:53 on May 27, 2011

fordan
Mar 9, 2009

Clue: Zero

mwdan posted:

Bighustle, may I ask what group is REQUIRING the FEMA courses?

I don't have anything against them, but depending on how far up the EMCOMM tree you want to climb, they really aren't necessary. It's great in theory to know how the mighty Homeland Security "INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM" works, but when you get down to the level that 99.9% of any ham would get involved with it at, it gets down to: Local Emergency Services lose comms for whatever reason, or need some extra help with non-emergency comms. Joe ham goes to the local EOC after getting called out and someone is going to say 'sit in this chair and talk to Bob Ham over at the Hospital and if they send you a message give it to me.'

Maybe it's a more urban thing or something, but out in the hinterlands nobody gives a poo poo if you havent done ICS training or whatever. I'm an Emergency Coordinator for whatever that's worth, and I'd be happy as hell if I could get people to just say "if something really really major goes down and there needs to be comms, I'm down." , and very few say that. It's not like you're being asked to give up every weekend or most nights or something. It's just in case that freak storm cuts all the power to half the county or a couple counties and you'd be needed for a few hours MAYBE in the next 25 years.

I know my RACES group does ask members to do the basic ICS orientation FEMA classes; it is useful to understand how it works since what we often end up doing is shadowing various leadership staff and relaying messages as appropriate. Then again, my RACES group supports a county of half a million people or so. We also do a decent number of events; couple weeks ago we did a drill with the county OEM, Department of Health and local law enforcement simulating pandemic drug distribution where we got to use our D-STAR repeater and D-RATS (since god know *I* don't want to spell the drug names phonetically).

In other news, went to Hamvention, had a lovely time. Actually, had fun, and triggered fraud alerts on my credit card twice while out there. Bought so many toys... D72A, IC2820, 60W of foldable solar panels I'm hoping to use for field day, Buddipole, battery box with power poles... Now I just need to pay them off. And figure out where the hell they put the battery in my car to install my 2820...

mwdan
Feb 7, 2004

Webbed Blobs
Like I said, it's good to know the ICS, but the last time we had a drill, the hams were the only ones that seemed to know it. Hopefully, the last drill lead to some changes in the county emergency management system.

I'm waiting on a 401k disbursement to show up, so I can get some new toys. got my eye on an ic-7000, and a new HT.

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

fordan posted:

I know my RACES group does ask members to do the basic ICS orientation FEMA classes; it is useful to understand how it works since what we often end up doing is shadowing various leadership staff and relaying messages as appropriate.

The group I'm talking about has members in RACES, but is not a RACES group in and of itself. I would totally expect a RACES or ARES group to expect its members to do the ICS training, but a regular ragchewing group? It makes it sound like they watched Red Dawn too many times and think they're going to be the key to fighting off the Reds when they finally invade.

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
mwdan, one of my fellow club members has an IC-7000 and he seems pretty happy about it. Pretty advanced features and a big screen. It's not quite as intuitive as a TS-2000 or IC-756 though - despite the big screen I had to refer to the manual quite a bit when using it.

BigHustle posted:

I joined a second group (Jefferson County ARC) a few weeks back and their primary discussion at the monthly meetings is trying to set up 'exercises' with the big hospital in the county 'in case of a disaster'.
The Hospital Disaster Support Communications System in Orange County is interesting. They are a sub-group of ARES in the county, who do only hospital communication. By training often, and showing up when backhoes happen, they seem to have a smooth system. Working in a hospital setting takes some getting used to, even if you're only passing messages.

BigHustle posted:

The hardcore EMCOMM people are screaming about being used as first responders in a crisis,
The most mobile hams can indeed be trained to do boots-on-the-ground stuff like damage assessment, weather/fire spotting and simple first aid. That is successful some places.

BigHustle posted:

which is asinine when you consider the age of a lot of the operators these days and the simple lack of training received.
Well that's the problem right there. For the most volatile tasks like following cops and ambulance crews around, the volunteers need to have background checks and regular training, both physical and operational. If an "emergency group" does no training (including with served agencies), it's actually worse than nothing in my view: Unless you train, and update member lists regularly, you're wasting your time calling them. It would simply be better to prepare to accommodate the spontaneous volunteers who'll turn up.

You have to take physical ability into account of course - put the physically able in the field, and put the less mobile ones behind a desk.

Rather than only considering hams using ham radios on ham frequencies, one should see the ham, the equipment and the frequencies as distinct resources. While hams might be most happy to be able to use their radios to help out, they should also be happy to watch a levee with a cell phone or bring out toilet paper and blankets to shelters. In the MARS, non-ham frequencies are legally used with ham radios.

Vir fucked around with this message at 05:06 on May 29, 2011

ValhallaSmith
Aug 16, 2005
With all this talk of EMCOMM, I thought about it a little bit. I think its going to be a losing fight as mobile cell sites will probably replace a good chunk of the role ARES and RACES traditionally play. In an emergency you can instantly get a special permit. And pretty much everyone is going to have a cell phone available. Maybe this will be an area that more modern amateurs will develop with the likes of openBTS. Or maybe disaster communications will just be contracted out.

Amateur radio was pretty cutting edge at one point. Still is if you look hard, but it seems like the face of it is just kind of stagnant.

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

ValhallaSmith posted:

With all this talk of EMCOMM, I thought about it a little bit. I think its going to be a losing fight as mobile cell sites will probably replace a good chunk of the role ARES and RACES traditionally play. In an emergency you can instantly get a special permit. And pretty much everyone is going to have a cell phone available. Maybe this will be an area that more modern amateurs will develop with the likes of openBTS. Or maybe disaster communications will just be contracted out.

I think amateurs will always have a role, it just won't be the role they want. Most of the hardcore EMCOMM guys want to be 'first responders' or be on the 'front lines' and to comm relays for the authorities when a disaster hits when they'd be much better off handling things that generally tie up or overload cellular systems, such as health and welfare messages. Offering to relay messages for those who want to let their loved ones know they're OK when cell service is down or better utilized for the authorities would put hams in a good light with the community and possibly get more people interested in the hobby.

quote:

Amateur radio was pretty cutting edge at one point. Still is if you look hard, but it seems like the face of it is just kind of stagnant.

There's several reasons for this, most notably the OFs who refuse to adapt to new technologies or ideas while simultaneously complaining about how the hobby is dying. Go check out the forums over at QRZ. More than a few of the users' signatures or avatars containing some backhanded remark about 'EchoLink not being REAL RADIO' or talking poo poo about anyone who got their license without having to pass the morse code test. Another reason is that radio as a whole is dying out and being replaced by the internet as the primary form of mass communication. I can see radio stations eventually being taken off the air if a nationwide broadband plan is ever effectively implemented, with standard radios being replaced with appliances that stream audio over the net.

mwdan
Feb 7, 2004

Webbed Blobs
Vir, one of my ham buddies got one a few weeks ago, and it's slick.

I just ordered it and a bunch of other toys from HRO :)

I'm gonna treat myself now, since it's probably going to be the last big radio purchase I'm gonna be making for a while I think.

LtDan
May 1, 2004


I've been thinking about picking up a TS-480 myself. I was able to play around with one at the local club and it was pretty easy to use. If I do get it, it'll definitely be my last big radio purchase for a while as well.

Three-Phase
Aug 5, 2006

by zen death robot
Hey, Target just started selling GoalZero solar products. These look perfect for field/field day applications.

http://www.goalzero.com/

I'm thinking about getting the Boulder 15W panel and their Escape 150 power pack for about $350. If I can get 12VDC out from the Boulder panel, I could hold off on the Escape 150. Gotta think about this.

EDIT: Got the Nomad 7, it has a cigarette jack that's unregulated (10V-16V or so) and I'm using it to charge my Icom 32W. It's extremely sensitive to the angle of the sun. When it's flat I get 11V out (at the current draw of the radio) but if I shift the unit maybe 15 degrees it jumps to 15.5V. It's still cool as hell and having a 5V USB power port anywhere is nice.

Three-Phase fucked around with this message at 20:10 on May 30, 2011

fordan
Mar 9, 2009

Clue: Zero

ValhallaSmith posted:

With all this talk of EMCOMM, I thought about it a little bit. I think its going to be a losing fight as mobile cell sites will probably replace a good chunk of the role ARES and RACES traditionally play. In an emergency you can instantly get a special permit. And pretty much everyone is going to have a cell phone available. Maybe this will be an area that more modern amateurs will develop with the likes of openBTS. Or maybe disaster communications will just be contracted out.

Are COWs and COLTs really that common and quick to deploy? And with the locked handsets and differing technology in the US, Verizon deploying a COW isn't going to help AT&T subscribers.

In terms of displacing Amateur EmComm, that's more likely trunked radio systems. 9/11 in NYC put a lot of attention of emergency communications radio systems, and the grant money has been flowing liberally to create/update/expand radio systems used for emergency communications.

Amateurs still have an important role to play. One reason is we're focused on communications. The Shelter Manager cares about setting up the shelter, not relaying traffic. If you have a volunteer who's willing to take that work off your hands, why not use him? The other is that we are more adaptable. If cell phones or trunked radio systems aren't working, there aren't too many ways around that. Hams generally can figure out how to make communications happen.

But it does mean Hams are more of an adjunct communication method than a primary one, which is probably for the best anyways

BigHustle
Oct 19, 2005

Fast and Bulbous

Three-Phase posted:

Hey, Target just started selling GoalZero solar products. These look perfect for field/field day applications.

http://www.goalzero.com/

I'm thinking about getting the Boulder 15W panel and their Escape 150 power pack for about $350. If I can get 12VDC out from the Boulder panel, I could hold off on the Escape 150. Gotta think about this.

EDIT: Got the Nomad 7, it has a cigarette jack that's unregulated (10V-16V or so) and I'm using it to charge my Icom 32W. It's extremely sensitive to the angle of the sun. When it's flat I get 11V out (at the current draw of the radio) but if I shift the unit maybe 15 degrees it jumps to 15.5V. It's still cool as hell and having a 5V USB power port anywhere is nice.

One of those might be just the thing to get me back out on the campsite. I have sleep apnea and need a CPAP to sleep, so I can't camp out without getting no sleep and waking up half the site with my snoring.

Sniep
Mar 28, 2004

All I needed was that fatty blunt...



King of Breakfast
So, the other night I was playing around in the business bands and found the taco bell right across the street from me, easy enough right?

But what is the "bweeeEEEEE UMPH" sound that keeps happening? Is that some digital mode somethingorother? I can't figure it out.

I set my mac to record from my radio before I left, here is my order, and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about...

Sniep fucked around with this message at 05:23 on May 31, 2011

blugu64
Jul 17, 2006

Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?
Is that how it gets the screen at the drive though to update?

I feel a craving for some bad tacos now.

Sniep
Mar 28, 2004

All I needed was that fatty blunt...



King of Breakfast

blugu64 posted:

Is that how it gets the screen at the drive though to update?

I feel a craving for some bad tacos now.

Whoa, I never would have come up with that but it makes sense. And yeah, I suffered the 88% beef and subsequent obligatory diarrhea just for this experiment.

But you can (other than the initial bong sound) still here other transmissions on the frequency, it's bizarre.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Vir
Dec 14, 2007

Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?
My other club won the national field day 2010 - huzzah!
Photo gallery: http://bilder.la1k.no/fd2010/
If we get the satellite rig working this year, and conditions improve, we should be able to beat our own score. The region 1 SSB field day 2011 will be from september 3rd to 4th.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply