Ham Nation 15

31 August 2011 | by Bob K9EID  |  Leave a Comment (0)
When All Else Fails

Irene response, AIRSSat-1, APRS tracking, and more.

Guests: Mike Corey, W5MPC, Don Arnold, W6GPS, and George Thomas, W5JDX

Download or subscribe to this show at http://twit.tv/hn.

We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes at wiki.twit.tv.

Thanks to Joe Walsh who wrote and plays the Ham Nation theme.

Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Video URL: 

http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp4/twit.cachefly.net/video/hn/hn0015/hn0015_h264b_864x480_500.mp4

Video URL (low quality): 

http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp4/twit.cachefly.net/video/hn/hn0015/hn0015_h264b_640x368_256.mp4

MP3 feed URL: 

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/twit.cachefly.net/hn0015.mp3

People: 
Leo Laporte


Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID, is the founder of Heil Sound and host of TWiT.tv's Ham Nation which streams live each Tuesday at 6:00pm PT (9:00pm ET) at http://live.twit.tv. Contact him at [email protected].

Handiham World for 31 August 2011

31 August 2011 | by Patrick WA0TDA  |  Leave a Comment (0)

Welcome to Handiham World!

Front view of ranch house with guys climbing on garage roof.
Photo: Where’s the antenna?  Believe it of not, there is a “W0OXB Special” antenna in this photo, and it tunes 160 meters through 6 meters!  There are a lot of trees on the property, so hanging the antenna was not a problem. The foliage also confuses the eye and effectively hides the wire antenna, which is in excess of 200 feet long and fed with 450 Ohm ladder line to a 4:1 current balun.  If you look closely, you will see the feedline just to the left of the guy standing on the garage roof. 
Last Saturday I had fun participating in a good old-fashioned “antenna party”.  These antenna raising projects are loosely coordinated through our local radio club, and I hadn’t been along on one for quite some time.  We had plenty of help, but as the old saying goes, “many hands make light work”.   It was certainly instructive to help, and I learned more about how to launch wires and pull them high up into the tree branches, how to use a guide rope to pull the center insulator and feedline away from branches, and especially the detail work on the center insulator strain relief and weather sealing.  One tip from Dave, W0OXB: If you use high quality UV-resistant rope to tie off the ends of the antenna, there is really no need for end insulators.  Putting on end insulators is just asking for them to get stuck in the tree branches.  
Anyway, this story isn’t really about the antenna party.  It’s about the final result, which (for those of you who can see the photo) is an all but completely invisible wire antenna capable of operating on the HF bands, including 160 meters!  The QTH sporting the new antenna is on a corner lot, and the antenna runs diagonally across it, supported by mature trees.  The 450 Ohm ladder line comes down from the center of the antenna, angling over the single-story garage’s roof and to a current balun mounted on the soffit of the house, somewhat protected from the weather.  Although this kind of feedline would be painfully obvious, coming as it does down from a point over the front yard, a clump of birch trees effectively hides it from anyone but the most determined observer.  The result is an excellent, versatile antenna that can be used on multiple bands without being an eyesore.
The single biggest obstacle to effective HF operation today is the difficulty many amateur radio operators have getting an antenna up in the air!  If only it were as simple as just ordering an antenna and installing it… But it isn’t easy at all.  There are antenna restrictions of all sorts, and they are not all formal regulations, either.  The restrictions that get the most attention in the amateur radio media are those that are codified in municipal ordinances or that are part of homeowner association covenants. The ARRL offers resources on working through such restrictions, and each instance is likely to be somewhat unique.
There are other, but no less real, obstacles to getting an HF antenna up. Consider these:

Aesthetics. The antenna will be unsightly. Yes, you and I know that a good antenna is a thing of beauty, but your spouse and neighbors may not like seeing that monstrosity in the blue sky above your ham shack.  This is an especially relevant concern these days when traditional TV antennas have pretty much disappeared because of TV cable and small satellite TV dish antennas.  The TV antenna free clean look of the typical suburban roofline makes that HF antenna stick out like a sore thumb!

Power lines!  They run where they run, and that is often exactly in the wrong place when HF antenna installation is concerned.  Older neighborhoods typically have lines running along alleyways at the rear or side of a property. Power lines might also line the street in front of the house.  The “drop” from the main power pole to the house sometimes crosses large sections of the property.  You cannot safely run wire antennas above or below power lines, and running your antenna parallel to a power line may result in a higher than average interference from power line noise.

No antenna supports.  Your lot may just not have any natural place to support a wire antenna.  The trees may be too small or in the wrong places.  

Budget!  Your budget may not be generous enough to have a tower in the back yard. Like it or not, you may have to make do with less.

Space.  Actually, it’s the lack thereof!  Most city lots are a challenge when you are talking about getting wire antennas up for bands like 160 and 75 meters, but some are really, really small.  

Well, what are the options?  Before deciding on your own, it might be best to get another opinion.  That’s part of the process for my club’s “MAP”, or “Member Assistance Program”.  We didn’t all just show up at the guy’s house last Saturday with a bunch of wire and tools.  Prior to the antenna party, a separate “antenna assessment” had been done.  This is usually completed weeks before the actual installation, and it involves a visit by a knowledgeable team leader.  The MAP team leader will walk through the property, measuring the distances between likely antenna supports and planning different installation scenarios. If the situation is hopeless, you might as well find it out from someone who will have other ideas and be able to offer you some alternatives. You might be surprised at how you really can fit an antenna into the space available, but without the practiced eye of the team leader you might have never known.

Vertical antennas can fit in small spaces and when positioned in the back yard can also be invisible from the street in front. Most designs do require at least some radials, but a few don’t.  You might consider one of the new 43 foot verticals fed with a current balun at the base.  I see in the September QST that LDG now has one for under $200.  This antenna design, available from LDG and other companies, allows you to operate on 80 through 6 meters with one antenna.  True, you will not get on the “top band” (160 m), but you will have good coverage on the other bands and will be able to make use of most bands on your HF radio. If a wire antenna won’t fit, a vertical might.

Sometimes there are just no options outdoors, but an attic antenna might be possible.  These are generally good for 14 MHz and above, because there will not be enough space to fit antennas for the lower frequencies in an attic space.  I really don’t like attic antennas much, because they are often hard to install in unfinished attic spaces.  The space may be cramped and unlighted, and you may need to step carefully on rafters so as not to put your foot through the ceiling below. Running feed lines can also be challenging.  Attic antennas are most suited to digital low power operation, such as QRP CW or PSK-31. 

Mobile or portable operation might be viable choices.  There are small antennas designed for backpacking into the wilderness – you might be able to operate with one of them set up in whatever space you have available, even at home. Be prepared for some difficult copy and some tough times breaking pileups, though.  These are not the most efficient antennas, and because they usually are inductively loaded, they have narrow – almost single frequency – bandwidth without tuning. One special type of portable antenna is the simple end-fed wire.  It can be thrown up into a tree at a campsite and tuned with an antenna tuner.  Some tuners are automatic and match a wide variety of antennas. Mobile antennas suffer from the same limitations.  They are physically short and have very sharp tuning.  They are also not terribly efficient.  Still, they can offer you a way to get on the air.

Remote base operation is an option for Handiham members with computers with Microsoft Windows® and high-speed internet. Sometimes a mixture of operation from a home station and a remote base station is the way to go.  For example, you may have room for an antenna that operates on 14 MHz and above, but not enough room for a wire antenna that would be effective on 3.9 MHz.  To get on that 75 meter net you like, you can then use either of the W0ZSW or W0EQO remote base stations.  The remotes are a Handiham member service. Both stations have excellent wire antennas and are located in RF-quiet areas. 

I guess the point is that you can get on the HF bands one way or the other. Getting help while assessing your antenna situation is a good first step. Even if your local club does not have a member assistance program, you can still speak up at the club meeting and ask if there might be any volunteers who might know about antennas and who could help you decide how to best use your available space.  If stealth is an issue and you need to camouflage the antenna, the club members will usually have some ideas and suggestions.  Just don’t give up!  If you want to get on the HF bands, there is a way to do it.

For Handiham World, I’m…

Patrick Tice
[email protected]
Handiham Manager


Pat Tice, WA0TDA, is the manager of HANDI-HAM and a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

LHS Episode #064: Winlink and AX.25

31 August 2011 | by Russ K5TUX  |  Leave a Comment (0)

Welcome to Episode #062 of Linux in the Ham Shack. Today Richard has decided he’s going to talk a bit (OK, a lot) about Winlink, AX.25 and packet radio under Linux. In the meantime, I get to discuss some useful Linux utilities like modprobe, wget and the SysV init script system. So get comfortable in your easy chair, put on your headphones and relax for a deep dive into packet radio with Linux. Captain Nemo has nothing on us.

73 de The LHS Guys


Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

ATS-4 b due late September / early October

30 August 2011 | by Stephen VK2RH  |  Leave a Comment (0)

UPDATE: As of mid October the new availability date for the ATS-4B is November 2011. Also Steven Weber is developing a daughter board to enable the ATS-4B to decode PSK and CW – which has a January 2012 delivery date. This board can’t be added to the earlier ATS-4A. 

Since late June, Steven Weber’s site at http://kd1jv.qrpradio.com has displayed a short announcement that the next batch of ATS-4a kits will be available in the “fall of 2011″.

Steven Weber KD1JV's ATS-4 5 band trail friendly transceiver

Steven Weber KD1JV’s ATS-4 5 band trail friendly transceiver

On the AT_Sprint Yahoo group Steven has just confirmed that he anticipates having the kits available from late September or early October. He’s expecting the boards to be delivered “soon”.

This will be a revision ‘b’ as there are some minor circuit and layout changes. These include

  • a simple AGC circuit to add to the audio output to limit the volume of very strong signals. The AGC should limit the audio output to about 200 mV p-p.
  • a change of LCD display, reverting back to the graphics type used in the first run ATS-4 rigs.
  • using the 28 pin version of the now scarce 20 pin SOIC MSP430 chip in the new board layout.

These kits enjoy a passionate following – especially the ATS-3b – and they sell out very quickly. Monitoring the AT_Sprint group closely over the next few weeks is the best way to avoid disappointment. An automated alert (such as changedetection.com) when the kd1jv.qrpradio.com page changes might help.


Stephen Rapley, VK2RH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New South Wales, Australia. Contact him at [email protected].

Hidden DX Opportunities

29 August 2011 | by Jerry KDØBIK  |  Leave a Comment (3)

Or…So this is where all the cool DX hangs out!  But I thought that title was a bit too long and opted for the shorter version. 

When I arrived home with my signed CSCE on Saturday, 28 August I did want to run downstairs and spin the dial into the extra class portion of 20m and work a station (contest or otherwise) as KD0BIK/AE.  However, I also wanted to make sure I treated my #1 supporter in this hobby to lunch and spend the day with her doing some of the things she wanted to do.  I’ve spent so much time over the past few weeks with my head in a book or on the PC, Laptop or iPad taking practice exams.  So we went to lunch and then spent a few hours digging through antique shops. 

After dinner and also somewhat tired/bored of watching Geraldo get blown around the streets of NYC, I decided I would head down and see what was happening on the ham bands.  This was around 20:00 local (02:00 UTC).  The 20m band was alive with activity with the Ohio and Hawaii QSO parties.  I worked about three Hawaii stations and one Ohio station and then spent about 30 minutes trying to work W9IMS.  While I had missed working them in May for the 500, I did work them in July for the Brickyard 400.  Next year I’ll plan to try to score the Trifecta and work all three special event stations for that special certificate. 

Anyway, I finally gave up on W9IMS and decided to see if the Yaesu FT-950 VFO would turn down past 14.225.  I should have stopped by Ham Radio Outlet on the way home from the VE session to have them check the serial number on my 950 to determine if it had the pre-installed AE module installed.  Ha ha ha

While I had occasionally turned the VFO down below 14.225, it was not something I did often.  I do a lot more listening than I do talking on my radio, but I guess I just always thought I would just listen on the band segments I actually could operate on.  Plus this was a built in safety net incase I heard a really rare DX calling and my excitement clouded by vision of double-checking what frequency I had been listening to.  In any event, my FT-950 tunes down nicely below 14.225 and on Saturday evening, my ears were certainly surprised at all that I heard. 

In just a matter of minutes I managed to work CT9/RW9JZ operating from Maderia Island, then I worked RJ3AA in Moscow, a few minutes later I worked RG4F in Kuznetsk, Russia.  I closed my DX hunting down by adding CO6LC in Cuba.  This was the first time I had worked Cuba on SSB phone. 

Now I’m just wearing out the FCC ULS search watching for my upgrade to be noted.  This VE Team did state it should appear within a few days so I’m sort of thinking Wednesday, Thursday or hopefully on Friday.  It would certainly be nice to have that record showing as extra class prior to the Colorado QSO party coming up this weekend.  But for now, I’ll continue to be KD0BIK/AE.

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK/AE


Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].

Checking for Damage from Tropical Storm Irene [VIDEO]

29 August 2011 | by Rich KB2MOB  |  Leave a Comment (0)

There was a lot of news coverage for then Hurricane Irene and what people should do and not do during the storm as well as get ready. Kim, my YL, and I did what we needed, to get ready and we felt pretty set and ready to ride out the storm. But as luck would have it, there really wasn’t that much to ride out where we were. We got lucky.Most of the damage from Irene was in other areas. Flooding and power outages were the main things. But there was a mudslide up in Troy, N.Y. that occurred because of the storm. But here at my home QTH, we saw mostly small limbs down. When I went out to check this morning, it was just a bit messier from the wind we had last night. But still nothing major on our end.

All through out, Kim, my daughter and I were inside from about 6pm Saturday night till about 6:30pm Sunday evening. All that time was TV, movies and news about the storm, except for a few hours I got on the local repeaters and helped out Tom, N2SQO with a Skywarn net for WX2ALY, the National Weather Service station in Valatie, N.Y.

So here is the video from our little “walkabout” on Sunday night during a break in the storm.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, The Rock of Albany’s 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.


Rich Gattie, KB2MOB, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New York, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Installing Elecraft’s general coverage option

28 August 2011 | by Mike VE9KK  |  Leave a Comment (0)
KBPF3 board
The mess
About 2 weeks ago I emailed my order into Elecraft for the KBPF3 general coverage board. It arrived on Thursday and was placed off to the side until Saturday. I did my reading to familiarize myself with the installation. It seems I was not familiar enough as I made an amateur mistake but more on that later. My K3 has the sub-receiver installed so I have the choice of putting the general coverage unit in the main or sub receiver. I choose the main receiver. So the first order of business is to get the work bench all cleared off and get the K3 on it. That is easier than it sounds as the back of the radio desk is a snake of wires and cables. Before taking ANY cabling comes off the K3 I made notes of where all the cabling came from and went too. In the past  it was delusional of me to think I can just "remember" where all the cables went on the
K3 hookup
back of the K3. So it was off to the bench with the K3 and the ESD band went on!! Removing the top cover was very straight forward and exposed the insides of the K3. Now I don't know about you but I am never thrilled about digging into the K3 and adding and removing parts. The Sub-receiver was the first item to be removed. There are 3 TMP coaxial cable connections that have to be removed. Unfortunately I have nice fat farmer's fingers I managed to remove the cables and pull the sub-receiver out.  This exposed the main K3 board where the KBPF3 was to be installed and a new 8 pole

Top cover off
6khz filter to be added. The general coverage kit came with 2 standoff's for mounting the board but in Elecraft's wisdom the standoff's were already on the main board.,so that was one step I could forget about. The KBPF3 board fit into place very smoothly the only concern was mating the KBPF3 connecting pins to the main board. That was done by feel and was only known if it was done correctly when the stand offs on the main board matched the holes on the KBPF3 board. Then it was time to install the 6khz 8 pole inrad filter. The filters have to be installed from wide to narrow. This meant it
Sub-receiver

was time for me to move filters around to accommodate the new wide filter.  Removing a bottom cover was in order to expose the filter's fastening screws.  With the KBPF3 board in, sub-receiver back in....just a note of caution make sure the plastic cover is  on the battery on the K3's main board. If it inadvertently came off and was left off it will come into contact with the sub-receiver's case and that is not good. Next all the covers went on

KBPF3 installed
and it was time to hook the radio up and turn the general coverage board on in the K3's sub-menu's. Also setup the new filter within  the elecraft software. This is when it hit me....I MADE A VERY AMATEUR MISTAKE!! The filters have to be installed wide to narrow bandwidth. I checked out my pictures and sure enough for some reason (brain dead

Note the wrong order of filters!!
moment) I have the 6khz filter after the 2.7khz filter. I have not done it yet but I have to take the whole radio apart to switch the two filters around. After that mistake I stopped for the evening I won't check out the general coverage until the filters are switched around.
Bottom cover off




Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
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