Packing for Dayton Hamvention

The famous Dayton Hamvention is this coming weekend! I can't wait. This will be my third year at Hara Arena, an oft-discussed...or was it disgusting...venue for all things Ham radio. W2PJM and I will be heading out first thing Thursday morning and I will be live-tweeting the event from the Hara Arena. Be sure to follow me on Twitter @rocknrollriter for up to the minute happenings, including a rumored announcement from Ten-Tec. Could more open-source radio be on the docket? It would make sense with this year's "Maker" theme.

I'll also be posting about the Hamvention here each night. I'd love to have you along for the ride. Also, if you can't make it, but wish you could be there to ask questions...let me know and I'll do my best to ask for you. I plan on spending plenty of time talking up the reps for all things QRP and Homebrew.

Catch you all in a few. 73

Uh Oh, I've Got Some Flowers to Buy

Oh boy, I may be in trouble again. I was messing around on eBay and another QRP rig jumped into my cart. Seriously, I was just looking around innocently and then *BANG* PayPal receipt. It wasn't my fault. Honestly. The guy priced it way to low. How can I be held accountable for such insanity? Right?

Think my wife will buy it? I hope so, because a Norcal 40A seems to have followed me home. I know, I know; ANOTHER radio. I'll get rid of one I promise.

I have been eying the Norcal 40 for some time. The receiver performance and especially the RX current draw have always peaked my interest. At 15 mA, the 40A will run for days on a 4.5 AHr gel cell. Further more, it's small, I'm talking fanny pack small (not that I carry a fanny pack, but in case I decide to start). Best of all, it is solid state and has a tuning knob. I love my PFR-3, but that knob is really calling my name.

I should have the new rig in time for the weekend. So after a few honey-do chores, I'll be on the air looking for some QRP love. I've also ordered an Emtech ZM-2 tuner to accompany it...wait, no I didn't. What do you mean it says so right there?
Uh oh, better scoot. I've got some flowers to buy.

Great Video on CW for Beginners

I've been home sick for the past two days. Feeling under the weather, especially when the weather has been so terrible, gave me far too much time to lay about. I reached the end of my book and there was nothing worth watching on TV, so I jumped on YouTube® to watch a few ham videos. I cruised through the usual reviews and QSO's but then stumbled upon this excellent video by K1OIK. Rather than read me describing it, have a watch.

D-STAR...Well...Okay...Why Not?

I received an extra and unexpected gift from Santa last night. It was a little late, but who's complaining? I have never really tried to figure out the ICOM D-STAR thing before, but now that I have a shiny new ID-31a, I might have to.

I've been hesitant to look into D-STAR for two reasons: its inherently "closed" nature--which feels like a slight against the purpose and draw of Amateur Radio--and its prohibitive costs. Let's break these down a little.

D-STAR audio runs on a closed digital codec (AMBE). This is fine in most consumer electronic products, but as an Amateur Radio operator and VERY Amateur electronics experimenter, it simply isn't attractive. I like to hack. I like to build. I like to tear things apart and see how they work especially when dealing with software, but (as you might imagine) ICOM doesn't make hacking, building, or tearing down D-STAR very easy. So until recently, D-STAR was barley a blip on my radar. However, between the ID-31a and this shiny new Raspberry Pi I'm beginning to play around with, a DSTAR gateway might be in my future...interesting...Still, I'm disappointed at the proprietary nature of the operating "mode."

To be perfectly honest, the biggest impediment to my involvement in D-STAR was cost. I simply couldn't justify the money on something so one-sided. I'd much rather buy an Elecraft K1 or K2 (I hope you're paying attention Santa), some new test gear, or a tri-bander for the top of that empty tower on top of my hill. But, since Santa dropped one in my lap, I might as well give it a chance; right?

Luckily (depending on how one defines "luck"), I live in a relatively populated area of the USA with several D-STAR Repeaters within 5w UHF reach, so I should be able to see what the hype is all about. But--and here's another frustrating D-STARism--it's not as simple as programming a few frequencies and hitting the PTT. There is a registration process. It's confusing and there really doesn't seem to be a good place to point the new user, so as I figure it out, I'll report back. In the meantime, I'm off to play with my new unexpected toy.

Raspberry Pi QRP Station Computer

I love to start new things. I love the feeling of learning and stumbling. I’m really good at being a Newb. Following through on projects I began…well, not so much.

I have at least a thousand projects currently under way. So, obviously, I’m ready for a new one. All these feel stale. Do you ever feel that way? I’ve often felt bad about going in so many directions without ever really settling on one, but my sporadic interests have also allowed me some unique opportunities that might not have been available if I wasn’t familiar with so many different things.

If you read around the web or the bookstore, there are a lot of “experts” out there, but no one seems to be selling themselves as a “generalist.” Why is that? Is a lot of knowledge about one thing more valuable than a little knowledge of a lot of things? I’m not sure. But this is the string of thought that I’m using to justify a new purchase and a new project. J Enter the Raspberry Pi.

While this little computer is on order, I am thinking through how I plan on incorporating it into my radio operations. A few ideas I am playing with:

• Logging contacts on portable ops, especially during SOTA or Field Day
• A dedicated Packet and/or digital modes computer
• A mobile web server for ARES activations or club events, especially field day

I have read about a lot of hams buying a Pi and not ever using it, but I think they were expecting a lot more from a mini computer. The Pi isn't meant to replace the shack computer, it's meant to perform computing tasks on a more sparse level. It's design and architecture allows a high play to pay ration, which is also appealing. I'm excited to get tinkering with it as I continue my quest for the "perfect" portable QRP Shack.

I'm also excited about the possibility of interfacing the Pi with my TenTec Rebel 506. The "Rebel Alliance" on the TenTec Rebel 506 Yahoo Group have already developed some great software and hardware hacks for the chipKit(TM) Uno32 (Arduino compatible) platform, but a micro controller like the Uno32 has its limitations. Many of these limitations can be overcome by the processing power of the Pi, without necessitating a full-fledged desktop or laptop powerhouse, or weighing down an already heavy SOTA backpack with more computer than needed.

Here's to a fun new adventure in Ham Radio.

Skip the Software for Programming Your Radio

I finally made the plunge and dumped my over complicated feature-rich HT and bought a shiny new Yaesu FT60r. The venerable king of dual-band HTs--at least in my mind. I always look for a few key things in a radio: it must be robust, it must run on easy to find and readily available power sources, and it must be relatively easy to program...by hand. The FT60r fits the bill. It is built like a tank, runs on inexpensive battery packs or AA's (at full 5W output no less), and it can be easily programmed without software.

Last night I spent an hour or two programming in all my local repeaters, simplex frequencies, and public service channels. I did it all with the manual in one hand and the radio in the other. Why program by hand? Because now I know my radio inside out. I can program anything I want on the fly, without the manual or need of a computer. So, when I'm working comms for a bike race and net control decides to use a cross-band repeater or I'm in a strange city and I catch wind of an active net, I can quickly and easily program the channel, even if it is an odd split, has DCS and PL tones, or whatever else. I don't need a computer, I don't need the manual. I KNOW how to do it. I think you should too. 

Sure, software in convenient, until you need it and either don't have it with you or can't get it to work properly. I can't tell you how many times I've run into issues where I needed to make a simple change on my HT and needed to take out a student loan to figure out how to complete the task. So I would wait. I would go home, power up the computer, be forced to go through 27,000 "critical" software updates, try and remember which port my programming cable worked on last time so I could fashion a guess at which one might work this time, find the last file I uploaded, make the changes, send them to the radio, shut everything down, power up the radio and realize that I had nothing programmed now, power everything back on, start over... After a few attempts, I would give up. I have enough frustration in my life to add any to my hobby, so I decided to go simple.

I imagine that people wonder how to tackle a long hand-programming project, so let me give you a few pointers:

Plan your Program on Paper (or Computer)

 

I have 152 channels programmed on my FT60r. That's a fair bit to tackle in an evening, but I did it. Print out a spread sheet with all the required information (i.e. RX Frequency, Repeater Offset, PL or DCS tone Frequencies, etc..). Print out two copies, one to cross out as you go and one for reference later. Spend time programing five or six channels at a time and then check your work. I small mix up can be caught quickly that way rather than a hundred channels down the road.

Plan for Operational Efficiency

 

My first elmer taught me a trick that has stuck with me. When I program a repeater into my radio, I add a channel above and below it. The channel preceding the repeater is set to simplex on the repeater's input frequency. So, if I have a hypothetical repeater on 146.625 MHz with a standard negative offset, I would set the proceeding channel to 146.025 MHz Simplex. Then on the channel after the repeater, I program the repeater's output (in this case 146.625 MHz) also simplex. Then I set the radio to skip the channels before and after the repeater when scanning. Why would I go through all this trouble? I'm glad you asked.

So, I'm out in the field and talking to my buddy or net control or some random other Ham on the repeater, when I notice that there are a lot of "breaks" happening. Maybe we've been chatting too long. So, on his next transmission I rotate the dial back a click and see if I can hear him on the input or the repeater. I can. So I suggest that we QSY to a nearby simplex frequency and let the repeater cool down. OR. A massive storm is under way and I'm net control for the local SkyWarn team when the repeater goes down. I quickly spin the dial one click forward and keep communicating critical information to the team. 

Because I set the radio to skip the simplex frequencies on either side of the repeater channel. I am assured that I will be on the right channel when my radio is scanning and I hear a friend throw out his call. I can stop the scan and talk away unencumbered.

If your radio's memory system utilizes memory banks, now is a great time to set your channels up accordingly. I set the channels I use most often into Bank 1, local Emergency and Public Service Channels go into Bank 2, Bank 3 holds other channels I use from time to time, and Bank 4 is everything else. By using the banks, I can weed out unnecessary scanning depending on the intended use of the radio on any given day.

Have a Highlighter Handy

A radio manual should be dog-eared, highlighted, annotated, and stuffed with post-it notes. Most people will suggest that you carry the manual with the radio. While that is sound advice, it is rarely practical, so a well studied manual, that resides in your mind's eye, is your best bet. When you find those little "ah-hah" snippets in the manual, please highlight them, star them, underline them, and dog-ear the page. Flip through your marked up manual once in a while and you are sure to remember the pink starred post-it-noted line on page 106 that tells you which button to push.

So that's it. That's why I think you should program your radio by hand, with a good solid plan in hand. That being said, programming software is not evil, in fact it can be quite handy, but not as a substitute for actually learning how to use your gear. Have fun programming.

Winter Wonderland

The QTH is warm and cozy, but everything outside is frozen. It seems like the bands are as well. This AM a few stations were floating in, but most of them were from Europe and about to go QRT by the time I got on the air, so I switched it up.

I heated up the iron and turned on some old-time Christmas tunes. I soldered away and wound a toroid or two in hopes of getting my new QRPP beacon on the air before the new year. The build is going slowly, but that's because there are so many other things going on this time of year. I don't mind. I love the Christmas season and with three young children, it's a magical time of year, full of plays, shows, rides in the car looking at decorations, and of course...sledding.

I've been pretty lax on my CW lately. I fear I've forgotten more than I remember, so I guess it's about time to get back into it. I really want to be proficient enough to have a few QSOs before the New Year. I had no idea how difficult it was going to be to learn Morse code. I feel like I've tried everything available to me. CDs, apps, on-line tools have all proved useful, but not complete. I really wish I had someone local to work with, but I've visited two clubs in the area and honestly...I want no part in them. One is run like a prison camp and the other is exactly the opposite. Is it impossible to have a Radio club that is both fun and organized? I'm losing faith.

Winter has always been a time of rumination and soul-searching for me, so I apologize if this post is a little too much of a downer. Like all things in life, Ham Radio has seasons and maybe winter is for rebuilding and reinventing. If that's the truth: I've got some work to do, but first, I'm taking my kids out back to go sledding.