Amateur radio: Not much going on, other than the motherfucking satellite

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Amateur radio: Not much going on, other than the motherfucking satellite

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

Just gonna quote myself here:

SEKCobra posted:

Can anyone recommend proper sealant to use when drilling through a car roof? Planning on installing a radio antenna and maybe some other auxiliary equipment, and since my new car will probably be new, I don't wanna take any chances. Last time I used some good quality silicone, but I read several places that even the car stuff isn't really that great for the job.
Also, any recommendations for feeding cables through the car body? I feel like a rubber grommet isn't ideal and it should be sealed as well.

Sadly I can't seem to find a source for NMO stuff around here (Austria).

# ¿ Sep 26, 2017 09:20

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 13:56

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

longview posted:

All digital modes work in simplex, even DMR (assuming everyone follows the agreed upon talkgroup and CC).

A local repeater also doesn't normally require any registration, but you need to register to operate the repeater linking stuff, Brandmeister or MARC won't allow someone using an invalid DMR radio ID to talk through the network.
Since most repeaters are internet linked you need a valid ID to do much of anything on them except talk locally.

There's no security in these networks currently and not really any way to add it, so if you want to be a shithead on a digital network you'd clone a DMR ID/D-Star callsign into your radio.
This has happened a couple of times here, not sure if they ever caught whoever was doing it but I think the problem disappeared on its own in any case.
Brandmeister recently added an API key system to prevent unauthorized hotspots from connecting to the network.

DMR could possibly authenticate radios using the crypto features but that would a) be illegal most places and b) probably cause more problems than it solves.
I don't think DMR has any provisions for authenticating users other than the DMR ID and possibly a pre-shared crypto key when crypto is used, you'd need something like a public/private key system to authenticate users for this to work.

As long as the user is allowed full programming rights to the radio then it's pretty difficult to solve this problem technologically with the current DMR standard.

Requiring new and advanced features will also likely require everyone to buy expensive Motorola/Hytera radios and possibly extra licenses to use those features.

Encryption is illegal for ham radio here.

# ¿ May 23, 2018 14:11

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

Just use an optocoupler maybe? I don't know why you would want to deal with fiber.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2021 20:47

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

Jonny 290 posted:

Oh that's tropospheric ducting and it's very fun!

When I was a wee ham in NC, we'd get massive tropo openings that could stretch all the way up to NY or down to FL, sometimes both.

In the era before repeaters all ran different CTCSS tones, you could kerchunk a repeater input and hear like seven machines all ID'ing over each other

Dedicated 2 meter hams would leave a broadcast FM receiver tuned to a frequency with no local stations and leave it in muting mode. When you hear music come in, tropo's up

What is muting mode and how does it lead to music?

# ¿ Jun 24, 2023 19:18

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

Alright, got it. I guess I've never had any interactions with fancy WFM receivers, but basically you are putting a faint/unreceivable FM radio station on squelch, and when the squelch opens you know that conditions are good because you are suddenly getting that radio station in.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2023 12:46

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

So I kinda wanted to give POCSAG paging another shot, but it seems that the only real way to play with it is using 9k6 radios. I tried looking around for any current radios still having packet support, but it seems they just don't exist anymore? Has that feature just died out?

# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 22:49

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

Jonny 290 posted:

Well, the finer point on that is that it's not actually ax.25 packet. But pocsag requires a direct line to the modulator and discriminator to work (i.e. you cant jam the tx audio into the filtered mic port and pull the rx audio off the filtered/amplified speaker out). We've traditionally called those '9600 baud ports' because that was what 9600 baud packet needed. I wish i had a better idea of what rigs you could use that won't break the bank. obviously something like my 9700 could do it, but $$$ there.

I did some more research and all current mid and upper tier YAESU have a DATA Port with 9k6 listed. Is this just like on the old ones, or a more simplified kind? Do you know?

# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 21:26

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

Jonny 290 posted:

That's most likely it. Look at the manual for the pinout of that port - if it's like MOD IN and AUDIO OUT on the pins, you're good.

It says "packet data input", so I'm hoping that's it. Dropping 300 � on another basic dual band transceiver doesn't exactly feel like a smart move, but I really would love to play with POCSAG paging.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 22:02

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 13:56

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

Neito posted:

As I slowly rebuild myself into the amatuer radio world, I was thinking of setting up an RPi with an SDR in my bedroom. Anyone have any luck with that, or having web/remote accessablility on something like that, ideally with the HackRF or one of those cheap SDR sticks?

I got tired of fussing with antenna cables and usb sticks connected to my PC, so I now have a stick with rtl_tcp permanenlty running on a raspberry, which allows me to just use it on a scanner antenna whenever I please. It works very well.

# ¿ May 3, 2024 22:59

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