Net Wrap-Up - January 16, 2012

We had another great net tonight, with several newcomers!  The main topics of interest were Alan Du Brul's HF antenna, and the Nixa ARC's new 3-repeater VHF / UHF linked repeater system to cover Southwest Missouri.  The following 9 folks were on the net tonight, with Gary Doucy, N0IRN, acting as Net Control:

Dick, KC0FDF - Wheatland
Alan, K0AWD - Springfield
Bill, KC0TCF - Bois d' Arc
David, WB0QIR - Springfield
James, KB0NHX - Lees Summit
Patrick, AC0SR - QRP - Springfield
Tom, N0CSA - Marshfield
Peter, KD0AA - Nixa
Gary, N0IRN - Springfield

Next week, Randy Jordan, KC0UKB, will be the acting net control station.  We invite everyone to check into the net & enjoy the company!

6-Meter Net - Monday, 1-9-2012

We had a great net this evening.  Thanks to the following 10 check-ins tonight -

KC0FDF - Dick - Wheatland
K0AWD -  Alan - Springfield
N0IRN - Gary - Battlefield
KC0WSE - Robert - Republic
KC0TQD - James - Springfield
KC0TCF - Bill - Bois d' Arc
W0KRB - Ken - Springfield
KD0KNL - Louis - Marshfield
K0RIC - Rick - Richland
KB0NHX - James - Lees Summit

James, KB0NHX, was the NCS for this evening's net.  Everyone raved about how awesome the OMAR hamfest was this past weekend, how they enjoyed seeing folks and what a great turnout they had.

The main topic of discussion for the net were backup power for our ham shacks.  Seems like most like the battery backup variety, some with trickle charging, some with solar.  One problem that was brought up was the inability to find a good inverter to use for AC / DC conversion.  James pointed folks to check out http://www.analyticsystems.com/ for their pure sine wave inverters.  They are commercially made for commercial RF tower sites, and he has had good luck with his that has been in use for several years. 

Several of the check-ins were using new radios, and took the the time to figure out how to program them before the net as well.  We also heard about Gary, N0IRN, and Robert, KC0WSE's, emergency HF and VHF-UHF go-kits for emergency ops, bike rides, etc.

We also heard a funny story from Dick in Wheatland about why such a small town has two water towers - one for hot water and one for cold water!  What's funny is someone was listening to him on the scanner, and went to the El Dorado Springs ham group meeting and asked why El Dorado couldn't get the same setup!  You never know who's listening!

Announced on the net was that the Nixa ARC will be participating with the Southwest Missouri Amateur Radio Club in the "Winter Field Day" on Saturday, January 28, 2012 starting at 1:00 p.m. at the Red Cross building in Springfield, the location SMARC normally holds their summer ARRL Field Day.  Everyone is welcome and invited to attend.  There will be a station set up in the building, and SMARC is bringing out their tower trailer for the event.  There will be no log submitted, we just hope folks will come out and enjoy the event and have a fun afternoon playing radio.  We plan on continuing the event until interest subsides.  Snacks and food are welcome, so if you're coming out, bring your favorite snack food, etc.

Next week Gary Doucey, N0IRN, is the net control for the Monday Night 6-meter net.  We encourage you all to check in and say hello, and bring your discussion topics to the net, seeking answers!

73 till next time!

The 6 Meter Net is Alive!

Look for the 6 meter net to be back on the K0NXA 53.27 repeater beginning in 2012!  NCS stations will be James Adkins, KB0NHX; Gary Doucey N0IRN; and Alan DuBrul, K0AWD.  The net will resume on Monday evenings in 2012 at the regular timeslot of 8PM local time.  Watch for more information on exactly what date in 2012 the net will resume!

73,

6 Meter.Net

Good Things Come in Sixes

This is a good article on the upcoming six meter season. While I don't really agree with the compromised antenna suggestions, the rest of it is informative.

Reprinted from the ARRL Contest Update newsletter

If you haven't read Dave Sumner K1ZZ's editorial in the latest QST, you should. (It Seems To Us, page 9, April QST) Titled "Our "New" 6 Meter Band", Dave lays out the reasons for the "Magic Band" to be enjoying a resurgence of interest. For too long, fears of TVI to adjacent Channel 2 (54-60 MHz) kept many hams off the band. With the changing of TV broadcasts to digital HDTV, many stations moved their transmissions to UHF channels better suited for the subtleties of the complex digital signal.

This removes a significant barrier to 6 meter operation. In addition, many new HF transceivers include full 6 meter multi-mode coverage. All of the new and sophisticated receiver features can now be brought to bear on a band with a tremendous range of propagation modes, from sporadic-E, tropospheric and meteor scatter, to regular F2 skip anticipated in the coming years of higher solar flux. The band is no longer a poor cousin to HF, supporting interesting opportunities for grid-chasing and even DXCC.

The summer VHF+ contest season is imminent. The WSJT Sprint includes 6 meters, running on March 27 and April 24. May brings the 50 MHz Spring Sprint. June features the ARRL's VHF QSO Party and SMIRK QSO Party on back to back weekends in prime sporadic-E season. Field Day has special incentives to be active on 6 Meters, too. If you take a close look at the contest calendars, you'll also find many QSO parties include the VHF/UHF bands.

A whole new antenna complement is not required. Often times, your 40 meter antenna will load up on 6 meters just fine, it being resonant around the 7^th harmonic of 7 MHz. There are loads of designs for small Yagis and quads for six meters, a CB whip can be cut down to work on 50 MHz, and even a dipole will get you a log full of contest contacts. Just think - a 6 meter antenna raised to 20 feet is about a wavelength high. That's hard to accomplish on most of HF!

As the HF bands quiet down a little for the summer, there is another exciting band just waiting to take their place in your operating schedule. Read up on 6 meter operation and band plans, tune around the beacon segment, and don't be afraid to call "CQ Six" from time to time. Behind the "50" button on your HF rig lies a whole new world.

Ham is a hobby best shared...

The quote below taken from a member post on eHam.net

"...What EMCOM has done, though, is bring literally thousands of people into amateur radio who have absolutely zero interest in it. I know some personally. These are people like cops, medics, firefighters, EMTs, and even highway department personnel, who have been told that amateur radio is the new 'utility' backup for public safety communications. While these entrants do boost the numbers, which is the ARRL goal, they serve no other purpose in amateur radio, except for frequent misuse of it...."

I am not here to bash anyone. I agree with the author's premise that uninterested masses do not help advance the hobby; however, I do feel having more folks is much better than the alternative, and I believe it does help to preserve the amateur service if only by increasing the bottom line numbers the bureaucrats see. I'm sure the author is speaking from his experience and when looking at a group of any size one can find a way to make the sample fit the conclusion. I choose to look for the good. Find the one in ten in then newcomers that does have a desire to pursue the hobby. Befriend them and help them out. Pass along the wisdom you've gotten from those that helped you. Take the effort you have gleaned from others and invested in the hobby and share it. It's one of the best parts of ham radio. The more you learn about something, the more you appreciate it.

Got Birdies... here's one valuable tip

I gleaned this from a Yahoo Group that I subscribe to. I tried this suggestion on my setup and it worked as advertised. Below is reprinted unmodified from the Yahoo Group post:

If you have BIG BIG birdies/tone on certain fixed freqs on 20 metres at approx 14.090/029/091/151 and 14.213mhz and other various freqs etc and you use cat5 cable network and you think it is from your modem... it probably is not, it is those very dirty 100mb NIC chips in your NIC in the computer. To fix it, try changing the speed to 10mb and it disappears instantly!!
























CONTROL PANEL/SYSTEM/DEVICE MANAGER/NETWORK ADAPTERS... RIGHT CLICK ON NIC,/PROPERTIES/ADVANCED then possibly SPEED/DUPLEX SETTINGS [or similar words] snoop around to find the 10mb full duplex or similar setting and change the speed to 10mb full duplex, apply etc....VOILA! if it was the NIC the birdies have GONE. or use wireless LAN and it fixes it as well providing you have no other cat 5 in the NICS in the house running at 100mb cheers graham VK6RO

That's it! It worked for me. Not only on HF but 6 meters as well. Hope this helps anyone else running a wired home network like I do.

More SSTV

Just a few more images I have received at the QTH. These are all from the last week. Like Jeff commented on the net, it is amazing how vivid these images can be over HF. Most of these signals are no more than S5. The Star Trek images are from a QSO with Jean, VE2JCW who is NW of Montreal, Canada. What can I say but lots of fun!!



73,

James
KCØTQD

SSTV on HF

Well, after finally getting around to setting up a PSK station and really having a lot of fun with that, it occurred to me that all I needed to do for SSTV was to load the software. So I did. In a matter of minutes, I was getting some really cool pictures from all over the place on 14.230 MHz. As a matter of fact, the first picture I received after loading MMSSTV (great software as far as I, the beginner, am concerned)was from EA2JO in Spain. Following are the images I received for the next few minutes.


Pretty cool, those are two of the better images from the exchange. Following are a few more that I was able to receive.
For those that haven't seen the movie "The Dark Knight", the last image is from that movie. You never know what you will see come across. I have ended up in the past 24 hours receiving about 30 images on 20 Meters SSB.

For anyone that would like to give SSTV a shot, there are a few good sites to check out.
First of all, www.AC6V.com is a great reference for ham radio in general, and if you haven't tried it I highly recommend it. The MMSSTV software is available for free from JE3HHT's website. Also I have found additional info at Hamuniverse - Intro to Slow Scan TV. The Hamuniverse site has some good info on how to play with SSTV without even using a standard interface; although I would recommend at the very least a cable with 1/8" headphone jacks on each end to plug into the external speaker port on the radio and on the line-in on your computer.

Have fun!!

73,

James
KCØTQD

20 dB for $48.60

This is from one of my favorite Ham technical writers, Steven Katz, WB2WIK/6. I find his comments informative, accurate, and entertaining. This article he wrote for eHam.net does a very good job of describing the benefit of radials on a vertical antenna system.

20 dB for $48.60
from Steve Katz, WB2WIK on January 18, 2009
read the whole thing here: http://www.eham.net/articles/20850

Overview

Antennas, antennas, antennas!

They are our transducers to the ether, and are what make our wireless equipment work. Yet, for various reasons, many hams seem unconcerned about them.

Deed restrictions (CC&Rs) are probably a leading cause of hams having poor antennas, although plain old apathy seems at least as big a problem. Budget should never be the problem, since so many excellent antennas are available as used items either very cheaply or free, and of course some great designs can be homebrewed for almost nothing. And we find that often times, the ham with no antenna had enough of a budget to buy a $1000 radio. Hmph.

This subject is too vast to address in a brief article, so I'll focus on a single, popular design: HF Vertical Antennas. Even more specifically, inexpensive HF vertical antennas which are typically base-fed, trapped or loaded designs requiring a counterpoise or image plane in order to function properly. Among all the commercial designs on the market, the Hustler 4BTV-5BTV-6BTV are likely the best bang for the buck products currently out there, although Butternut HF6V-HF9V, Hy-Gain 12AVQ-14AVQ-18VS and DX88, and others can be good deals, too.

The products listed, and other popular commercial models, have one thing in common: They are not ground-independent, and have no factory supplied counterpoise. They are trapped or loaded, base-fed antennas that not only work better with radials, they work only with radials.

Any antenna can make contacts. Good ones make stronger, longer-distance contacts more reliably. With a 100W transmitter and a good antenna, many of the signal reports you receive should be `Wow, great signal - very, very strong, S9+ here.' If you don't commonly get such reports, you're definitely missing out on a lot of stuff that could be worked, but you're not going to hear it, and it's not going to hear you, either. A simple, inexpensive vertical antenna can produce such reports, repeatedly. The difference between a vertical that does get the `you're blowing me out of my chair' reports and one that doesn't is simple deployment.

My thoughts on the FT-920

Back in November '08 I purchased a Yaesu FT-920 from a ham in Moberly, Missouri. Many thanks to James, KBØNHX for stopping by on one of his trips to Jefferson City to pick it up for me and save me the shipping costs. Always wanted to try one of these. Several folks I know that have owned them will not part with them. Some I know that have tried new rigs have sold them and kept or gone back to a FT-920. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and why this is such a loved radio by many. The first impression of the radio is it's physical size. It's a large radio compared to any current model radios in it's price class. It's equivalent in size and shape to the Yaesu FT-1000MP which it is modeled and styled after. The first FT-920s came out in the late 90s. The one I purchased has a serial number indicating a 2002 vintage.

After using the rig for a while I realize the appeal of having all the most used controls on the front panel. Being one that has only used menu-driven rigs (FT-857D, FT-450) I see the appeal of having frequent settings at the tips of your fingers. However, also being one that sometimes prefers computer-controlling my radio, having this ability is not the overwhelming benefit for me as it is for some. Full CAT control of the FT-920 is really not possible as most of the controls are not "soft pots" which are required to make all the necessary adjustments via a computer interface. The FT-857D was very much computer controllable. The FT-450 is as well but current software needs to have the bugs worked out of it where it comes to the 450. Guess this is a project waiting for me someday.

The internal ATU is a feature I can get used to. Only having a manual tuner until this point the ATU is as convenient as an automatic transmission on a vehicle. Some prefer standard some prefer automatics. I have to say that I like using a manual tuner but the convenience of an ATU is an appealing feature. Along this line having two easily switchable antenna ports is also a plus. I would note that this feature can be added to any radio by purchasing an LDG AT-100pro or 200pro automatic tuner that have two antenna ports. Sooo.. I consider this a $200 feature as that is about what one of the LDGs costs. One thing my non-ATU equipped FT-450 does for those using manual tuners is that the VOICE/CS button can be reprogrammed to transmit a 10w carrier for the purpose of tuning. When pressed it also switches the radio's meter into SWR mode. A very handy feature not many rigs have.

Overall I like the radio and I like using it. Will I keep it forever? Probably not, but I don't tend to keep anything forever when it comes to electronics. Also it does not fit my current (but open to change) vision of how I want my shack to operate. I like the radio and I'm sure I will have it for a while. At least until the new wears off of it for me. I may even invest in some of the INRAD filter options for SSB and digital/CW use to see if the rave about those is mostly hype or the real deal. The combination of the 920's very good AF-DSP, crystal filters, and IF Shift may be a winning combination. I know many say that the best IF-DSP does not truly compare to a crystal filter. I suppose that's true, but having the ability to tune your passband down to 50hz for a single PSK QSO like you can on some IF-DSP rigs sounds appealing to me. I'm sure I will put this to the test in time. There is much more to this rig than any I have owned so far. The things you can do with it outstrips any by way of rear-facing connectors and such. I've yet to use it on digital modes, but that will happen soon... as soon as I can decide on what interface to get for it or if I should just build one for my own satisfaction of doing it myself.

One great feature that I've gotten used to is the dual-bandstack registers. If you don't know what this is, as I did not, look it up. It's a very convenient way keeping a couple well-used frequencies close at hand. Prior to this I would use "VFO B" for such things. The dual registers eliminate that need. This along with the direct frequency entry keypad are things the smaller rigs just don't have. I do wish however, when using "memory" mode for stored frequencies that bumping the VFO did not change the frequency. When working FM it's best to just hit the lock button and use the UP/DOWN buttons to change the channel. I bought the rig for SSB and not FM anyway so that's just an observation and not a complaint.

Since it's so hard to get objective, unsolicited audio reports on the bands I'm not going to comment on TX audio reports. I've gotten good audio reports on all the radios I've owned. In my opinion the only way to tell what your audio really sounds like it to have a way to self-monitor in another receiver. With that said I will say that good audio is more of a practice than a piece of equipment. Talking effectively into a mic is something I think most folks have to learn how to do.

Someday, I'll post up how it works as a digital mode rig.

2nd Season E-Skip Kicks In

The 2nd Season E-skip has kicked in on six meters. I was hearing stations all afternoon starting about 1400 CST. I was hearing K1XJ in Connecticut for quite a while on 50.125.70 but never strong enough to work him. I kept listening the rest of the afternoon while watching the QSOs build up on vhfdx.net QSO map. I decided to give it a shot. According to vhfdx.net I should be able to hear folks to the west. I turned the beam just south of due-west, went up to 50.130, and called a long CQ to let folks know I was there. NØPSJ came right back a strong S9 from near Denver CO. We had a nice QSO for almost 30 minuntes before the band started to fade. At this time I'm still hearing signals on 50.125 this late in the evening (1950 CST).

For those of us who are six meter nuts this is great stuff. If you're not the type to listen to unsquelched white noise for hours at a time... well, it's not for everyone. If you do listen sometimes you can get in on the beginning of an opening and be the subject of a pile-up as folks who do monitor the band start to discover it is in fact open. Quite a treat.

73,

Jeff / KCØVGC

Jamboree on the Air and Greater Ozarks Ham Picnic

The 2008 Jamboree on the Air will take place October 18th and 19th. It will take place on 80, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 and 6 meters. Calling frequencies for JOTA can be found at http://www.arrl.org/scouts/jota/ and also at http://www.scout.org/jota/ which is the international scouting website. For those attending the Greater Ozarks Ham Picnic, we hope to see some HF stations up and going and maybe making contacts with the Scouts there. http://www.nixahams.net/2008/10/2008-greater-ozarks-ham-picnic.html has more info on the Greater Ozarks Ham Picnic!! Should be fun for all.

73 all

James
KC0TQD

Fun on 6 meters

Well, as anyone who was around for the net on Monday Night knows, it is always fun and interesting when the band plays in our favor! We would like to acknowledge Kevin, KA0I, who checked in with us from Holts Summit, MO just north of Jefferson City. Quite a jump in to the repeater!

73
James
KC0TQD

Uses for that older computer...

As some have said, you don't own technology, you just rent it. Time marches on and as it does, we tend to collect items that have outlived their usefulness. I have several older computers that I have collected. I have gone though all of them and they are all in good working order, but are not well-suited to run current versions of Windows. Even the popular desktop versions of Linux are a bit of a stretch on these older machines. However, there are several things that can be done with your older hardware. These are projects not much different from anything you'd do with ham radio only these are computer-centered. I've been doing computer projects much much longer than I have been doing ham projects, so I thought I'd share a couple of them.

Use #1: Build a router/firewall.
Why do this when most everyone with broadband has a small, inexpensive little box that serves that function. Well... much like in ham radio, why take the time to do it yourself when you can buy it ready made? We do it to learn and to get the thrill of using something we made. This is the same thing. You can purhcase routers for cheap, but building one out of an old computer is fun and you will learn a bit in the process.

Use #2: Build a home NAS server
First, what is NAS. NAS = Network Attached Storage. Disk space that is attached directly to a network without the overhead of Windows running. Another benefit of using an OS other than Windows is you can get away from some of Windows limitations. For instance. The computer I am using does not fully recogize larger (larger than 80GB) hard drives. I have a 160GB drive and FreeBSD is able to use the full drive where Windows would not be able to without help. I have it setup to hold the data and downloads I have collected over the years.

Something worth mentioning about both of these solutions is that once they are setup and running there is no need to have a keyboard or monitor connected to them. (a mouse is not needed for either one as they are both configured from a non-graphical interface). I have both of these in a closet under a table and they just sit there an run pretty much out of sight. I can finally get some use out of my older hardware that was just sitting around.

If time permits, I'll try to post more detail on what I did to set these up and get them going.

The firewall / router distribution is called IPCop and can be found here:
http://www.ipcop.org

The NAS distribution is called FreeNAS and can be found here:
http://www.freenas.org

-Jeff / KCØVGC

More from KBØNHX: Grounded

Well, had some time tonight. One benefit of living in north MO is the soil. I drove both of my 8' ground rods first off tonight. Drove them both by hand with the exception of the last 2 feet! Couldn't do that in Springfield. Thanks to Bryon, K0BSJ, for showing me the ropes on hand driving ground rods :-0

After that, I installed all the grounding kits on the 6 feedlines. Combined them together to one wire and ran it to the ground rod at the pole. Now, it's just a matter of installing the center-conductor Polyphasers in the basement, running the wire out to the rod and sealing it up. Well, as promised, here's the pic of the ground kit install (real exciting, I know!).

Later,

-- James Adkins, KB0NHX

KBØNHX Antennas - Part 2

From James Adkins, KBØNHX

Okay, so Jeff gave me a little ribbing about not having a 6-meter antenna up. Well, 6-meters is in the plan, it just wasn't up yet. Right now, I only plan on working some FM on the local Missouri City repeater & on FM Simplex. If I get away with what I have without any complaints, I'll probably put up another pole with my 3-element Cushcraft 6-meter beam or the Par OA-50's stacked.

For the time being, I have installed my discone on the roof. It's primary purpose is for scanner monitoring, but will also double as my 6-meter FM and 220 FM antennas. I painted it to match up with the roof and even painted the coax. It's not an exact match, but from a distance it blends in really well and doesn't stick out nearly as badly as the chrom would have.

See attached pics with the homeade "vent" mount adapted from use from our house in Nixa. I also took a couple of close ups of the feed throughs in the side of the house.

Next on the list ..... grounding! I've got all the connectors on for the Polyphasers in the house at the ground bus, and put connectors on the jumpers that will run from the Polyphasers to the panel in the wall. Still have to drive the ground rods, run the ground wire from the bus to the rod, and attach ground kits to the coax cable. That's coming soon, though!

--
James Adkins, KB0NHX

KBØNHX Antenna installation

James Adkins, KBØNHX recently installed what he likes to call the "Adkins Monopole". A 20 foot piece of thick-walled gas pipe. The "goal post" configuration allows him to put two vertials on top.

The antennas consist of: Comet GP-21 (1.2GHz), Comet GP-9 (2m/440), Par OmniAngle (220 SSB), M2 5-element 902Mhz yagi, and a B&W folded dipole for 1.8-30Mhz.

Now James has a place to plug in the FT-920, FT-736, and the 'ol Henry 2K HF amplifier. Something he's not had for a while, but I'm sure is looking forward to. He can now operate 1.2GHz to 160m on one mast!

Good view from the back yard. Looks like from here it would be about a 30 yard field goal.

The feed though looks very professional. James says the parts to do this came from Tessco and cost about $40.

Below is another view that shows the B&W and the Par 220 Omnis.

Hard to be critical, but one thing is missing.... six meters! Oh, well, you can't be perfect I guess.

Feel free to post your comments. If you have any questions, I'm sure James would be glad to answer them.

Taking it E-asy....

Well, we are still enjoying the Es as the weather has finally begun to turn hot. The Monday Night Net is currently back on the 6 Meter 53.27 Repeater (51.570 input, with a 162.2 PL tone). Bands are open and I even heard a distant station from North Carolina last week on FM simplex! Anyway, feel free to comment on your recent 6 meter and below experiences!

Thanks
James
KCØTQD

Be very, very, quiet, we're hunting E-skip.....

Actually, no need to be quiet. 6 and 10 meter sideband have been very active; I can say for the last two nights that 10 meters has been lit up like 20 meters usually is on a Saturday afternoon. I have heard a lot of traffic out of North and East; Michigan and Virginia were some of my contacts of the last two days. Also heard some folks talking back and forth in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

I also had the pleasure of checking in to the 6 Meter Simplex net over in Joplin this evening; great net over there! This coming Monday we will start the Monday Night Net out on the 6 meter repeater to hopefully allow our friends from farther out to join us again. We will probably transition back over to simplex at some point thereafter.

Thanks as always to everyone who has been taking time out to visit on Monday Night!!!

73,

James
KC0TQD

HF Events Forthcoming

Just wanted to post a few quick announcements (Jeff reminded me we have this website for a reason hi hi).

This Saturday in Nixa the Nixa Sucker Days will feature HF radio this year, courtesy of the Nixa Amateur Radio Club (thanks to Jim, KC0IYI and the group helping). They will be operating on several HF bands; 3.850, 7.250, 14.250 and 21.350. Expect them to be on the air around 8AM Central Time on Saturday, May 17th - if you are in the area, stop in and see their booth and enjoy Sucker Days!

June 1st, 2008 - US Islands on the Air at Stockton Lake- The OMAR group will be setting up a HF station on Edge Island; will plan to operate on 14.250 - 14.260 "the official Island Corridor" as well as somewhere in the vicinity of 7.250. There will also be a picnic, all are invited to come out for some ham fellowship and HF fun. They would like an idea of how many to feed, so they would appreciate a call to Connie, KB0ZSG at 417-830-0336 for RSVP.

73 all,

James
KC0TQD