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Curly Shuffle posted:I look forward to hearing from you, and hopefully will not poo poo my pants. You know that we're all going to look at you if it starts to stink in here.
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Nov 21, 2010 02:02
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Loks like the ARRL/VEC got around to their batch processing for this month... My name just showed up in the session count totals list this evening. I suppose my credentials will be arriving soon. http://www.arrl.org/ve-session-counts?state=MO
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Nov 21, 2010 04:31
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So I changed the Echolink node to the club call. It's now KB3VIB-L. I also sent out an email. It will change again when the club vanity call is approved, so check back here if you can't connect.
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Nov 21, 2010 15:23
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On and idlin'. Whoever said CB was a "constant FYAD-style chat room" well, not here. There's the guy that sits on 19 and tells everyone that they're , well, disagreeable, but rather harshly. Otherwise there's nothing else going on. I can't understand the guy anyways with his southern accent, my alternator whine, and his reverb jacked up to 11.
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Nov 22, 2010 01:50
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If anyone's interested, i'm screwing around with APRS messaging on my VX8 this evening. You can shoot me a message at: http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/entermsg.cgi (My call is KC7JBV, you'll need it to send a message). Aaaand track me at: http://aprs.fi/kc7jbv Edit: This guy is my hero. http://www.youtube.com/user/goathiker#p/u/0/ldPcjdvtIw4 IonClash fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Nov 22, 2010 |
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Nov 22, 2010 02:26
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Nov 23, 2010 02:44
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He was already riled up looking for "rusty" (see I'm not sure yet if these are people or nouns or adjectives or what with CB lingo) and he "left the porch light on" cause he was going to beat his rear end and then go do his wife in front of him or something. He wasn't very creative but he just went on with that. I almost started saying CQ but had to stop myself anyways. VHF/UHF contest is coming up in January and the local club will be running a station, and getting people in to see/participate. I've never done a contest so i figure I'll bring some food and hang out or something until the OF smell gets bad enough.
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Nov 23, 2010 03:47
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IonClash posted:If anyone's interested, i'm screwing around with APRS messaging on my VX8 this evening. Speaking of APRS, I just found out about the AX.25 Packet Radio Shield for the arduino. I'm pumped, and already have about 50 million ideas. First off is the worlds longest range garage door opener. edit: For those of you who haven't played with APRS before, I can't recommend the opentracker+ enough. I think you can get all the components for $100 or so, less if you already have spare cables/don't mind soldering together a kit. blugu64 fucked around with this message at 07:19 on Nov 24, 2010 |
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Nov 24, 2010 07:11
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Has anyone else managed to work the Kermadec DXpedition? I finally got them on 17 meters after 3 days of listening. If so, what band did you get them on?
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Nov 25, 2010 03:37
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Just applied online for my vanity. If I don't get my 2x1 (I should) I through in a 1x3 with my initials. Hoping to get a Chinese handheld for Christmas to play with too. I've heard only good reviews of the Wouxun KG-UVD1P. Seems the Chinese have built a cheap radio that can compete with some of the major companies.
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Nov 29, 2010 22:04
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xergm posted:I've heard only good reviews of the Wouxun KG-UVD1P. Seems the Chinese have built a cheap radio that can compete with some of the major companies. Speaking of radios, I got a Yaesu FT-7900 dual bander to install in my van. Just got figure out where to mount it.
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Nov 29, 2010 22:55
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dv6speed posted:A buddy of mien has one. For the price, you can't beat it. Some of the other brands are nicer, however. I have the Wouxun KG-UV2D and it is an awesome little radio. I love it.
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Nov 29, 2010 22:56
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xergm posted:I've heard only good reviews of the Wouxun KG-UVD1P. Seems the Chinese have built a cheap radio that can compete with some of the major companies. There was just a review of that radio in QRZ and they pretty much said the same thing. I built myself a ghetto 6m ground plane antenna today so I can get on the air with the radio the local club is going to loan me this weekend. I'll get some pics when I get the thing airborne. Today is too rainy to get the fucker hung. I also moved my multi-band SWL dipole. It was hanging directly N-S, so I re-oriented it to NW-SE in hopes that I'll be able to attenuate some of the signals coming out of Asia and Russia and improve reception of stations to the N-S. The RF Choke I had made had no center form and it fell apart when I went to move it, so I made a new one out of 20 ft of RG-58 and a dollar store spray bottle. I'll put pics of that up sooner or later as well.
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Nov 29, 2010 23:23
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Something Awful really does have everything. Hi. KC8IUR, I normally hang out on AI and I used to be a regular in TFR. I've got a job and a girlfriend now, so I don't really have as much time or money to pursue guns and cars as regular hobbies. I do, however, still have my Tech license from '97 (I renewed it) and I picked up a General book at AES last week. I revived my old Yaesu FT-50, fixed the broken buttons and sent the battery packs off to the NiCd Lady to be rebuilt. Guess what? The local 2m/70cm repeaters are dead! Dead as in having probable large amounts of lurkers that key up to trigger the CWID occasionally. It would seem that the thread title accurately depicts the local userbase of hams. I read about this Echolink thing and signed up for an account, but I haven't used it yet. I should be able to pass the General and Extra tests by studying the band limits and regulations. I took the sample tests and got 90% for the technical questions, 0% for anything non-technical. Until I can study and get some cash dollars together for an HF rig, i'm stuck on 2m/70cm. What is doing in the world of ham radio these days?
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Nov 30, 2010 20:00
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Draw people out on the repeaters then. It may not be ker-chunkin' it could be just a timed ID or a misconfigured controller that causes that (ours does it will key up radios randomly sometimes). You can try things like, "Hey, is anyone there? How do I get the other channels on this thing?" Call CQ for five minutes or repeatedly ask "QSV?" Also if you're going to key, I key for 2 sec before I ID if I'm calling into a repeater to stop people who may be scanning. Other times people don't want to talk I guess. I like to put out my call on the thing to tell people I'm there but I don't always want to talk to people either, so ??? I want to try and put together an Asterisk based controller for the local club, if I can figure it out. I think I should be able to set something up to key in with a code to identify yourself, and other people can hit like ## or something to have it rattle off a list of active users, like a buddy list. 5 minute expirey or something I don't know. Ham radio around here seems to be a ton of guys going on about APRS (they all pronounce it "ape-errs") and almost always in the S&R mapping context, not messaging. I haven't bothered with it except to listen for beacons once since the mapping stuff can be a bit pricey and I don't care where other people are driving around in this area.
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Nov 30, 2010 23:09
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APRS is all fun and games until someone calls you, wakes you up hung over and says "Out pretty late last night huh?"
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Dec 1, 2010 04:52
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Skyssx posted:
And good luck on the General.
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Dec 1, 2010 23:20
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Skyssx posted:I should be able to pass the General and Extra tests by studying the band limits and regulations. I took the sample tests and got 90% for the technical questions, 0% for anything non-technical. Until I can study and get some cash dollars together for an HF rig, i'm stuck on 2m/70cm. I really don't understand the reason for the forced memorization of the band limits. I understand that you need to stay within the alloted frequencies, but do you really know anyone who is on HF or does more than local repeater poo poo that DOESN'T have the ARRL chart at their desk? You might also want to check with your local clubs/repeater owners to see if any of them have remote bases set up on the repeaters. The club I just joined has a 10m radio connected to one of the UHF repeaters for club members to use for making contacts and generally loving around. They're also getting ready to bring another UHF repeater online with a full HF rig wired in so we can use that too.
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Dec 1, 2010 23:28
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I want a GPS module that has an external antenna port, NEMA data out in RS-232, and a power input jack. I don't need features like built in antenna, batteries, waypoints, complex displays, maps, etc. Obviously this is for an APRS system, or to get GPS data into a PC. Any suggestions?
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Dec 1, 2010 23:58
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BigHustle posted:I really don't understand the reason for the forced memorization of the band limits. I understand that you need to stay within the alloted frequencies, but do you really know anyone who is on HF or does more than local repeater poo poo that DOESN'T have the ARRL chart at their desk? For instance, when all of the PJ stuff happened in October the PJ stations would frequently transmit below the US phone allocations (different ITU zone so it's okay) and listen inside them in order to cut the QRM on their frequencies. Tons of people just tuned the cluster spots and started calling their heads off on simplex, creating all kinds of mayhem. Then of course you had the band police following them down there to tell them they were out of the phone allocation... I hate frequency cops.
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Dec 2, 2010 00:12
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Well that's some IRC channel y'all got... It's got about as much traffic as the repeaters here in the northwest.  I was licensed as a tech plus in '95 or so, renewed once and still have yet to do a single QSO. I take care of the radio system where I work but I let the hamming go. Recently my brother got an IC-7000 and I had a lot of fun playing with it over thanksgiving so I've decided to grab my general class ticket and a new radio. VE testing is next week. I'm looking at the yaesu 817/857, primarily because I want to bring the radio along on a 3000 mile motorcycle camping trip through Canada I have planned for next summer. It would be nice to fit the radio, tuner, and a chunk of wire in the saddle bags. Hellschreiber and PSK31 are on the list. Listening to the NOBAMA crowd jawjack about how PVC cement was better before the liberals ruined it (real QSO overheard last weekend) is not on the list. No real point here, just saying hello.
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Dec 2, 2010 00:12
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dv6speed posted:I want a GPS module that has an external antenna port, NEMA data out in RS-232, and a power input jack. I don't need features like built in antenna, batteries, waypoints, complex displays, maps, etc. Obviously this is for an APRS system, or to get GPS data into a PC. Any suggestions? How do you feel about making your own enclosure? This module accepts 3.5-6VDC, has only 3 pins (VCC, GND, TX) and it's ridiculously tiny. http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8416 Of course it's more money than a garmin etrex, but it's way cooler. spipedong fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Dec 2, 2010 |
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Dec 2, 2010 00:20
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spipedong posted:Well that's some IRC channel y'all got... It's got about as much traffic as the repeaters here in the northwest.
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Dec 2, 2010 00:21
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BigHustle posted:I really don't understand the reason for the forced memorization of the band limits. I understand that you need to stay within the alloted frequencies, but do you really know anyone who is on HF or does more than local repeater poo poo that DOESN'T have the ARRL chart at their desk? Yeah, I had that thought when getting those questions. Icom even puts the chart on the back of their manuals. Or they used to. And don't you have to mod new radios to even transmit out of band? e: Someone just called me on Echolink to test their new mic. I forgot I had it up. Also, the mailman apparently brought my Smiley antennas today. a 465Mhz centered mini-duck and a spring bottomed 2/220/70cm telescoping antenna. I ordered on Friday so i'd call that pretty fast, especially since the 465 was "custom". Skyssx fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Dec 2, 2010 |
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Dec 2, 2010 00:22
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Dijkstra posted:For instance, when all of the PJ stuff happened in October the PJ stations would frequently transmit below the US phone allocations (different ITU zone so it's okay) and listen inside them in order to cut the QRM on their frequencies. Tons of people just tuned the cluster spots and started calling their heads off on simplex, creating all kinds of mayhem. I love the OF mentality that it's OK for them to transmit out of band in order to point out that someone else is transmitting out of band... It's the classic case of 'Do as I say, not as I do'. It's the same mentality that makes them rage against the FCC dropping the CW requirement for licensing, yet they haven't used CW themselves since they passed the test they needed in order to get licensed. I think I'm going to start listening in on and recording these kinds of things and reporting the OFs to the FCC requesting that they have their licenses revoked, just to be a prick. Hell, just using your PJ example you could tag one of these crusty ballsacks for violating Part 97 in the following spots: Section 1(e) for not fostering international goodwill through amateur radio Section 101(a) for not following 'good amateur practice' Section 101(d) for willfully interfering with any radio communication or signal Section 103(a) for operating outside of FCC guidelines Section 105(a) for not ensuring proper operation of their station Section 105(b) for operating the station outside of authorized privileges Section 301(a-f) for operating outside of FCC licensed amateur bands Section 303(a) for causing harmful interference to a station in another ITU region Can you imagine the shitstorm that would hit QRZ?  Skyssx posted:Yeah, I had that thought when getting those questions. Icom even puts the chart on the back of their manuals. Or they used to. And don't you have to mod new radios to even transmit out of band? The newer radios can restrict you to specific frequency bands, but the bands can include freqs that aren't in the FCC allocation but are included because amateurs in other countries can use them. There are also still a lot of old rigs/boatanchors out there that need to be manually tuned and can operate out of the normal band restrictions if you aren't paying attention. Most of the mods I've seen for newer rigs allow for operation out of the FCC allocated bands entirely. You have folks who get their Tech or General licenses and get so excited about being able to transmit that they jump into the first QSO they hear, not paying any attention to where they are inside the band. Nothing will throw an OF into a rage faster than a General or Tech transmitting in the Extra frequencies. Well, discussing code requirements will, but that's a whole other story.
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Dec 2, 2010 01:20
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BigHustle posted:You have folks who get their Tech or General licenses and get so excited about being able to transmit that they jump into the first QSO they hear, not paying any attention to where they are inside the band. Nothing will throw an OF into a rage faster than a General or Tech transmitting in the Extra frequencies. Well, discussing code requirements will, but that's a whole other story. How would they know? Just because Generals and Extras have more callsigns available to them doesn't mean everyone upgrades their sign with their license. The better of the two vanity calls i've thought up is available to Techs and Novices. e:Well, QRZ, I guess.
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Dec 2, 2010 01:23
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Skyssx posted:How would they know? Just because Generals and Extras have more callsigns available to them doesn't mean everyone upgrades their sign with their license. The better of the two vanity calls i've thought up is available to Techs and Novices. Some people will look up every call sign they hear on the air. When I moved to MO I still had the 2 call I picked up in NJ. I'd throw out my call and have people respond with 'How did you get a 2 call with a MO address?' before we even exchanged names. On the other hand, I can barely remember my own call, much less someone else's. It sometimes makes ending QSOs awkward.
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Dec 2, 2010 01:40
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Just watched an interesting video from the ISS about operating amateur radio up there. He takes us on a tour of the station and then operates the radio to make contacts with hams on the ground. Radio portion of video starts at 10:38. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h73EYcyszf8 I personally have not made contact with ISS, but would like to some day. I have heard them talking to other hams and have heard the on board repeater during passes.
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Dec 2, 2010 01:41
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BigHustle posted:Some people will look up every call sign they hear on the air. When I moved to MO I still had the 2 call I picked up in NJ. I'd throw out my call and have people respond with 'How did you get a 2 call with a MO address?' before we even exchanged names. A friend of mine moved to Colorado from Ohio and constantly got "well technically, you're not in 8 land anymore", so he bought N0HIO. I would have gotten N0YOU instead. Found a repeater on the net that has a Wednesday 2100 general net. I'll check in with this new antenna.
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Dec 2, 2010 01:52
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Skyssx posted:Found a repeater on the net that has a Wednesday 2100 general net. I'll check in with this new antenna. If you end up on EchoLink, the local club here (K0AMC) does a 2m net meeting every Sunday at 8:00 pm CST. Its worth checking out, simply because the net control operator is a horribly uninformed prepper who is constantly warning us about impending EMPs from solar activity and/or North Korean nukes, asking if we have a plan in case the methane bubbling up from the oceans catches fire and burns off all the oxygen in the atmosphere, or some other assorted insanity. Also check out the W2NJR linked repeater system. That system pretty much covers the entire state of New Jersey along with parts of New York and Pennsylvania. There's usually some pretty hilarious poo poo happening on there, especially when KC2WAD gets on the air drunk and starts getting trolled or the 'Mad Kerchunker' shows up to interrupt conversations and net meetings with the callsign 'KC2 My Balls'.
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Dec 2, 2010 02:07
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Before I forget, I have to try to see if I can have a QSO with you on Christmas, BigHustle. I will be unwrapping my Wouxun and I want to see if I can hit any of the St. Louis repeaters. (or at least somewhere we can both hit) I just hope VHF/UHF holds me over for a little while. I think one of the local repeaters here at school has IRLP and the Wouxun KG-UVD1P has a DMTF pad, so that will extend my possibilities a little bit.
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Dec 2, 2010 02:31
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So nothing like throwing doubt on 100 years of propagation theory. I'm betting most you have probably already read this. BigHustler, i'll try to remember to link in. I was listening to W6NUT's live feed last night. I am guessing their power bill must be stupendous.
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Dec 2, 2010 02:39
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xergm posted:Before I forget, I have to try to see if I can have a QSO with you on Christmas, BigHustle. I will be unwrapping my Wouxun and I want to see if I can hit any of the St. Louis repeaters. (or at least somewhere we can both hit) I'll be in town, so we can try and get something going. These are the repeaters I park on most of the time but I can get some of the St Louis Amateur Radio Club repeaters on a good day.
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Dec 2, 2010 04:28
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Skyssx posted:So nothing like throwing doubt on 100 years of propagation theory. I'm betting most you have probably already read this. If you really want your mind blown, search the articles section at eHam for KL7AJ, and especially read his "Plasma Physics for the Radio Amateur" series of articles, which then dovetail with his article in last month's QST "How the Ionosphere REALLY Works: Gimme an X, Gimme an O, What's that spell? RADIO!”. I'm pretty sure I've linked to some of his stuff in this thread before, but his recent article has resparked some of my fascination with this type of stuff.
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Dec 2, 2010 11:38
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BigHustle posted:I love the OF mentality that it's OK for them to transmit out of band in order to point out that someone else is transmitting out of band... It's the classic case of 'Do as I say, not as I do'. It's the same mentality that makes them rage against the FCC dropping the CW requirement for licensing, yet they haven't used CW themselves since they passed the test they needed in order to get licensed. Yeah, this kind of thing is generally why I stay off of 75 meters. It's full of people like this with nothing better to do. I think one problem is that there aren't many good resources for DXing newbs on the web. There are books and stuff but all of the DX websites are just really "news sites" and lists of operations/activations and QSL routes. If there is a good, comprehensive website that introduces new amateurs to DX etiquette and "protocol" (for lack of a better term) I'm not aware of it. It also doesn't help when there are highly publicized operations like the PJ ones with everyone and their brother wanting to get in on the action. Add to that the fact that two entities were about to be deleted and people were scrambling to work them if they hadn't already- even the people that had maybe 5 countries confirmed and wouldn't consider themselves "DXers." Then you throw in the band police and you pretty much have a shitstorm. Which leads me to what I consider the biggest problem: Band Cops. What the frequency police don't realize, is that they almost always create far more stateside QRM than some newbie or dumbass not realizing the DX is working split. This is because they are more likely to transmit when the DX is transmitting (when the newbie and everyone else is listening) and on top of the DX on his frequency. Since newbs are more likely to be running barefoot and transmitting at the same time everyone else is, their QRM is usually not that big of a deal. If a newb is calling the DX station at the same time everyone else is (but on the wrong frequency) then it's really no matter, as long as his calls are pretty short. However by definition, a mouthbreathing bandcop is usually going to be transmitting on top of the DX to be sure that the "offending" station can hear him. Not to mention that bandcops seem to always run 1500 watts into a radiator with gain. This wipes out the DX and makes it impossible for normal people like me to hear if their calls are being repeated back to them by the DX. I don't know how many times I wasn't sure if I worked DX or not because some rear end in a top hat at S9 is yelling "UP, UP YOU IDIOT" at a stateside station whom I can't even hear. So kids, if you only learn one thing about ham radio you should learn that being a band cop is pointless and should be worthy of death. In Japan, if you are caught being a band cop hams will come to your house and karate your rear end. (Okay not really but I like to pretend) My other pet peeve are tailenders who don't take hints and abuse the practice, but that's another discussion.
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Dec 2, 2010 13:12
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spipedong posted:How do you feel about making your own enclosure? This module accepts 3.5-6VDC, has only 3 pins (VCC, GND, TX) and it's ridiculously tiny. I found a cheaper module here http://www.sparkfun.com/products/465 which Arduino users discuss here: http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1166042147/ I don't know if that'll fit with the requirements; there seems to be a bit of programming to make it work, right? Have you looked at a WhereAVR like system for APRS?
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Dec 2, 2010 13:16
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Vir posted:I found a cheaper module here "In Theory" if all he's looking for is a 4800bps NMEA string, any of the GPS modules on the sparkfun site should work, it's just a matter of which one is actually soldered down with easy access to the pins. Some of the modules are just bare SMD packages which would have to be soldered to something in order to use. Looks like that particular one at least has an interface cable. Near as I can tell, the programming in question in that other link is to filter the NMEA output into easily readable lat/long and heading strings. Hard to say without having it in hand and loading the sketch on the ol' arduino. I've designed and built a weather station with arduino, but I don't know what it would take to turn one into a TNC. Never heard of WhereAVR but it sounds interesting. spipedong fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Dec 2, 2010 |
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Dec 2, 2010 17:49
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dv6speed posted:I want a GPS module that has an external antenna port, NEMA data out in RS-232, and a power input jack. I don't need features like built in antenna, batteries, waypoints, complex displays, maps, etc. Obviously this is for an APRS system, or to get GPS data into a PC. Any suggestions?
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Dec 2, 2010 22:23
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^^^ That could work. This one from spark fun appears to fit the bill. SMA antenna connector and a 4 pin connector with V+, GND, RX, TX.
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Dec 3, 2010 02:16
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Today is national Skywarn recognition day, so you can help your weather office rack up radiosport points by checking in with them. Some may need help yet for more operators, and several (including mine, WX2BUF) indicate they are operating Echolink or IRLP, so if they actually are you don't even have to get off the computer you are on to call in. Many are offering QSL cards if you're into that.
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Dec 4, 2010 00:05
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