AmateurRadio.com

Date:            19 November 2011
Time:           Approx.    1700 UTC – 2000 UTC
Region:        CO-Front Range
Elevation:    2757 m / 9045 ft – 4 Points
Call Sign:     KD0BIK/qrp
Frequencies:     14.315-ssb +/-  146.52-fm

Equipment: FT-817ND / Buddipole versatee vertical

APRS Track: On Road / On Trail

So here it is!  My first SOTA activation alert.  I selected Mt. Herman as my first activation summit for a couple of reasons.  First, I’ve watched a few Youtube videos from Steve Galchutt, wG0AT operating from Mt. Herman and I’ve chased this particular summit as well.   While it may not be the easiest summit, it’s also not the most difficult.  Second, as I’m still learning the ins and outs of SOTA activations, I’m still also unclear to the private land versus public land access.  Since Mt. Herman is on public land and it’s been activated a few times before, I figure the only thing stopping me from this being a success is my ability to make it to the summit, HF propagation and how well my batteries hold out. 

Speaking of batteries.  as I write the activation alert I’m not 100% certain what battery setup will accompany me on my trip.  As I blogged recently about my first SOTA QSO, I had been researching the nanophosphate technology battery packs from Buddipole.  The research all pointed to these packs being very well built with exceptional life and performance.  While expensive (compared to SLA types) the lighter weight and longer life ended up selling me on the concept.  I placed an order for one of the packs and charger from Buddipole.  Just not sure if it will arrive in time.

So having said that, plan “B” will be to carry along a single sealed lead acid battery along with my fully charged FNB-85 battery pack installed in the FT-817.  As a safety net, I will also carry along a rollup solar panel.  The extra weight is minimal and may come in handy if I have a nice sunny day. 

I have changed my mind a few dozen times (or what seems like it) on whether to leave the FT-817 behind and instead take the FT-857.  After all, I can always turn the power on the 857 down, but can’t increase the power on the 817.  However, I’m going to stick with my 817 and 5w of power. 

As I make out my gear lists (which will eventually be posted on this site) I feel like Santa (making his list, checking it twice) I can only hope in the end it proves I’ve been nice and not naughty.  Having said that, I’ve setup my buddipole versatee vertical several times when operating portable.  I’ve also setup everything outside just to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything.  So it should all go together fairly quickly once I get to the top.

If I feel I have a weak link, it will surely be around my power setup.  If I have to go with “plan B” (the 5+ pound SLA) it is an older battery.  But I’ve tested it here in the shack and it charges, holds a charge and has powered my 817 for over 3 hours operating WSPR.   

What else will be in my pack?  When I’ve operated portable in the field, I’ve only been no greater than 100 feet from my truck.  Forgot a pen?  No problem…run to the truck.  Need to carry a deep cycle marine battery?  No problem.  All this changes with a SOTA activation.  If I reach the summit and realize I’ve forgotten a pen or the cold zaps the battery, I’m stuck.  So my first SOTA activation might include a few things I may or may not need.  On my checklist, I have a place to check that I have the gear in my pack, used the gear on the summit etc.  I’ll review this have versus used to see what needs to come off the list. 

One other point and I’ll close this activation notice.  This is not my first hiking trip, nor is it my first mountaineering adventure.  However, it is my first hiking/mountaineering adventure where I’ve combined amateur radio on this scale.  How I view my post success/failure results might differ from others who activate SOTA stations.  Of course, I’ll leave this for the after trip report.

Until next time….

73 de KD0BIK

Welcome to Handiham World.

Image: Here I am recording AMSAT Journal. I find that using a USB headset with boom microphone gives the most consistent audio quality because you can maintain an exact distance between your mouth and the microphone. It is also more comfortable and allows you to use both hands to hold any print material you may be reading from or using as a reference. All recording is done digitally using the open-source software Audacity, which runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac.  For insight into recording digitally, see the “With the Handihams” article in an upcoming issue of Worldradio Online.  The headset pictured here is a Plantronics brand, but I don’t have the model number.  It was one recommended for voice dictation by Nuance, the makers of Dragon Naturally Speaking®.

This edition of your weekly e-letter is a little bit early because I must be out of the office all day Wednesday for a meeting. I’ve noticed that the ARRL Letter sometimes has to shift its schedule around a little bit and occasionally there will be no audio version. Sometimes it is necessary for staff to have days off or take care of other office duties, and recording a newsletter is a specialized job only certain staff can complete.  

Yeah I know, I was dying to throw out a Star Trek reference all last week and couldn’t. Now I got one. But it looks like there are a couple of intruding signals on 24 and 28 MHz as a video on YouTube from New Zealand shows. Aliens? Covert Government experiments designed to make us more docile to the idea of one world order? Um, I’m thinking no.But they are a bit of a nuisance. Here are the videos so you can see for yourself.

28 MHz

24 MHz

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

When I met Dave WW2R/G4FRE back in the spring he mentioned that after you’ve played with JT65A on HF you really don’t want to do HF any other way. Having had a good weekend playing with the mode, I’m inclined to agree! Of course there are provisos – this is a mode to make bare bones contacts with minimal power or poor propagation. It’s certainly not a mode for chatting!

Having said that, I have loved having the receiver running all day hooked up to the wonderful JT65A-HF program from W6CQZ with the data being uploaded to both the Reverse Beacon Network and the PSK Reporter network

The other thing about this is that when you call CQ or work someone, you can readily see who else heard you, which is absolutely fascinating.

Over the weekend I think my signals have been heard in all continents on 28MHz running anywhere between 10 and about 50 watts (depending on conditions) to the vertical. I have had some fascinating contacts and found some interesting openings.

Mike M0PRL is interested in visualising propagation data to look for openings and he kindly put together a fascinating time lapse sequence of the stations that my JT65A receiver hears over a period of 24 hours (though I confess it’s usually switched off overnight, as you will see). Congratulations Mike, this is a really great visualisation!

Last estimation of the number of Amateur Operators in the US was 700,000. Now we can add another 62 to that number, as those 96 freshmen, out of 114 who took the test, passed and are now licensed Ham Operators.

Photo Courtesy of CPAC Website

The test session also set a new record for the school for how many signed up to take the test. The Electrical Engineering students from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, gathered on November 4th for one of the largest exam sessions in the school’s history, sponsored by the college Amateur Radio club, Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club. The previous record of 62 students who passed their Tech license, was set in October of this year.

Cal Poly Electrical Engineering Department Chair Dr Dennis Derickson, AC0P, came up with the idea for the licensing initiative to offer the 180+ students in his class the chance to get their licenses. It took 11 VEs almost an hour to administer the test. A little extra incentive was making this test part of their mid-terms. As of Monday, November 7th, the new hams had their call signs in hand.

You can read more on this at the ARRL website. Congrats to the new Hams, and welcome to the fun!

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne

This is a pretty simple modification that converts a SoftRock Ensemble RXTX SDR RF interface board from “common-IF” (RX and TX share the same antenna port) to “split-IF” (RX and TX have separate ports).  Split-IF is the standard for high-performance transverters on the 50-, (70-), 144-, 222-, and 432-MHz amateur bands.

So, I had a look at the RXTX schematics (here, here, and here) and considered the following options for where to break the RX and TX portions of radio:

The purple dots were the first option.  Unfortunately, these locations on the actual printed circuit board were not easily accessible to miniature coax and this process would involve significant surgery to perform and restore the modification.  The second alternative I considered was the red Xs…jumpering over the BS170 PA transistors.  By this time, I was looking for a way to avoid butchering the original circuit too much.  So, I elected for option three, which was to install a second T/R switch at the antenna jack (golden circle).  This had at least two advantages, the first of which was being minimally invasive.  The big advantage, though, is that the radio could be operated at its design output and run through a fixed or step attenuator on the TX side to the transverter.  This meant that I would be assured of having a reasonably clean signal to work with if I configured the radio correctly.  It also meant that I could operate the radio as designed if I simply disabled the the second T/R switch and connected the antenna to the default port.

So, here is the modification that I came up with using parts I had in my junk box.  KB9YIG ships the Ensemble RXTX with a couple of spare BS170 FETs that can be used in place of the 2N7000.  I just had a lot of 2N7000s and thought I’d save the BS170s in case I ever burnt one in the RXTX.

The interface to the transverter is through a DB9 connector.  PTT for this transverter is +12 volts (as done with the TS-930S) on pin 6.  Pin 1 is ground.  Pins 2 and 3 are shorted together in the transverter cable connector to enable the modification in the SoftRock.  The right portion of the schematic with the relay driver and Omron G6Y relay is based on the T/R switch from W1GHZ’s “Multiband Transverters for the Rover” that I decided not use on the microwaves when I found a cheap source of SMA coaxial relays.  An I2C decoder would be great to put band data on the other pins to select a transverter (or transverter cascade for the microwaves).

The whole mess works great from a switching standpoint.  When I key the PTT on Rocky or PowerSDR, it switches the TX line and keys the transverter.  I’m a little ambivalent about the quality of transmitted signal that’s actually coming out.  I think it’s good enough if you live in a sparsely-populated area, but I have a lot of VHF neighbors that I’d rather not upset.  So, I need to do some more testing on this—a lot of it is getting the RXTX and PowerSDR configured correctly.  It appears that the I/Q channels are flipped on my sound card (Audigy 2 ZS) between transmit and receive.  I don’t know if that’s a wiring error in my breakout box or whether it’s normal.  Spectra to come at some point…