AmateurRadio.com

I was out running errands over lunch and I had my VHF radio scanning the local ham repeaters. It was almost noon, which meant it was time for all of the talking controllers to start telling me the time. It’s a bit annoying – some of these systems only transmit to tell the time, as their users have either passed away or moved away. Even more annoying to me was the fact that none of their clocks were synced to an accurate time source. And then one of the repeaters started rebroadcasting the NWS severe weather outlook for this afternoon.

What may be annoying to me is experimentation and fun for others. I’m sure that the repeater builder that did the NWS radio interfacing had a good afternoon, weekend, or even week of experimentation to get it all to work. And the ham that programmed his custom macros into his controller probably had a hoot getting it all setup and customized.

I got to wondering…are all of these automated and retransmissions legal? This led me down one of my favorite rabbit holes – www.repeater-builder.com. There I found this posting from WA6ILQ, The article is about weather radio interfacing to repeaters….but the fun part is near the bottom where he quotes an old ham about don’t asking for permission…just go do it.

> The words were "Don't even (expletive deleted) THINK about it".
> As in don't make that (expletive deleted) phone call, don't write 
> that (expletive deleted) letter. Just build your wondertoy and use 
> it - but do it carefully, and cleanly (as in spectrally clean), and 
> make sure that you have your technical and legal arguments worked 
> out well in advance. Make sure that you aren't doing the A, B, or C 
> that the FCC forbids amateurs to do. If the FCC does't like your 
> brand new wondertoy or it's effects or emmissions they will send a 
> certified and return-receipt-requested cease-and-desist letter telling 
> you to stop doing it. At that point you stop doing it and send a 
> registered and certified and return-receipt-requested letter back  
> the next day (call in sick to work if you have to). In that letter 
> you say "I received  your letter on date (X) and at time (Y) 
> and at time (Y+5 minutes) I shut off the offending transmitter and I am sorry, 
> I didn't realize it was illegal and my thinking was (yadda yadda yadda) 
> and (yadda yadda yadda) and (yadda yadda yadda) and how can we resolve this?".
> (and you thought that those creative writing classes in college and 
> university were a waste of time...)

Words to live by. In ham radio, don’t ask, just do. And who am I to complain? I can always update my scan list. I’m glad I’m a part of a hobby that lets this stuff happen!

Michael Brown, KG9DW, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Illinois, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

I was out running errands over lunch and I had my VHF radio scanning the local ham repeaters. It was almost noon, which meant it was time for all of the talking controllers to start telling me the time. It’s a bit annoying – some of these systems only transmit to tell the time, as their users have either passed away or moved away. Even more annoying to me was the fact that none of their clocks were synced to an accurate time source. And then one of the repeaters started rebroadcasting the NWS severe weather outlook for this afternoon.

What may be annoying to me is experimentation and fun for others. I’m sure that the repeater builder that did the NWS radio interfacing had a good afternoon, weekend, or even week of experimentation to get it all to work. And the ham that programmed his custom macros into his controller probably had a hoot getting it all setup and customized.

I got to wondering…are all of these automated and retransmissions legal? This led me down one of my favorite rabbit holes – www.repeater-builder.com. There I found this posting from WA6ILQ, The article is about weather radio interfacing to repeaters….but the fun part is near the bottom where he quotes an old ham about don’t asking for permission…just go do it.

> The words were "Don't even (expletive deleted) THINK about it".
> As in don't make that (expletive deleted) phone call, don't write 
> that (expletive deleted) letter. Just build your wondertoy and use 
> it - but do it carefully, and cleanly (as in spectrally clean), and 
> make sure that you have your technical and legal arguments worked 
> out well in advance. Make sure that you aren't doing the A, B, or C 
> that the FCC forbids amateurs to do. If the FCC does't like your 
> brand new wondertoy or it's effects or emmissions they will send a 
> certified and return-receipt-requested cease-and-desist letter telling 
> you to stop doing it. At that point you stop doing it and send a 
> registered and certified and return-receipt-requested letter back  
> the next day (call in sick to work if you have to). In that letter 
> you say "I received  your letter on date (X) and at time (Y) 
> and at time (Y+5 minutes) I shut off the offending transmitter and I am sorry, 
> I didn't realize it was illegal and my thinking was (yadda yadda yadda) 
> and (yadda yadda yadda) and (yadda yadda yadda) and how can we resolve this?".
> (and you thought that those creative writing classes in college and 
> university were a waste of time...)

Words to live by. In ham radio, don’t ask, just do. And who am I to complain? I can always update my scan list. I’m glad I’m a part of a hobby that lets this stuff happen!

Michael Brown, KG9DW, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Illinois, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

My 99-cent Amazon Dash Button arrived today and I was excited to get a look at it. The little device feels very sturdy. Unfortunately, my wife told me she had no interest in ordering laundry detergent by pressing a button, so I had to figure out what to do with it.

I decided to open it up and do a teardown. For science, of course.

The FCC ID is 2ACBE-0610. Documents in the FCC filing appears to confirm that this is indeed an 802.11b/g/n device (not Bluetooth, as initially thought).

It has a large white button with a red/green LED.

FCC ID: 2ACBE-610 / Model JK76PL

Removing the back of the case reveals a Li-ion AAA battery

Can anyone identify the wireless radio chip?
Other interesting components?

Whether or not you find it useful to order your laundry detergent at the touch of a button, this has to be one of the least expensive 802.11 devices ever produced.

I wonder what the actual component costs are? I think it’s safe to say more than the 99 cents that I paid for it.

Update 5/12/15:

It looks like Matthew Witheiler @ Bit of Cents has figured it out:

At the heart of the Dash is a USI (Avnet) 850101. The 850101 is a combination wireless module (Broadcom BCM43362) and micro controller (ST Microelectronics STM32F205). This makes the Dash capable of connecting to 802.11 b/g/n networks with its 120MHz ARM Cortex-M3 processor. It also happens to be exactly the same chip used inside the $19 Spark Photon.

 

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2015 May 11 0537 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity
04 – 10 May 2015

Solar activity ranged from low to high levels during the period. The
largest and most active regions on the solar disk this period were
Regions 2335 (S15, L=192, class/area Eac/310 on 04 May) and 2339
(N13, L=129, class/area Fkc/900 on 08 May). Region 2335 began the
period reaching its peak in area and magnetic complexity
(Beta-gamma). On 05 May it produced two M-class flares; an M1 at
05/1425 UTC and an M2 at 05/1724 UTC. By 06 May, Region 2335 was in
decay and ended the period as a simple Cro spot class with a beta
magnetic configuration. Region 2339 was in a growth phase since it
rotated around the NE limb on 05 May. This region was responsible
for multiple M-class flaring spanning 05-06 May and an impulsive X2
flare at 05/2211 UTC with an associated Type II radio sweep (1163
km/s), a 590 sfu Tenflare and a non-Earth directed coronal mass
ejection (CME) first observed in SOHO/LASCO C2 imagery at 05/2224
UTC off the NE limb. Solar activity declined to low levels from
07-10 May.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at
moderate levels on 04-05 May and at normal levels from 06-10 May.

Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to minor storm levels
during the period. The period started off with quiet conditions on
04 and 05 May under a nominal solar wind regime. At 06/0053 UTC, a
shock was observed at the ACE satellite associated with a 02 May CME
that occurred as a result of an 18 degree filament eruption observed
between 02/1500-1830 UTC. Total field increased to a maximum of 18
nT at 06/0614 UTC while the Bz component went southward to a maximum
of -13 nT at 06/1216 UTC. Solar wind speeds increased from 363 km/s
to around 490 km/s. A geomagnetic sudden impulse was subsequently
observed at 06/0143 UTC with a 31 nT deviation in the Boulder
magnetometer. As a result, quiet to minor storm levels were observed
on 06 May. By late on 06 May and through 07 May, the Bz component
deflected north and remained so as CME effects diminished. Nominal
solar wind conditions prevailed through 10 May when the total field
became enhanced once again. Total field increased to 14 nT with
prolonged periods of southward Bz. No appreciable increase in solar
wind speed was observed with this event, however. The geomagnetic
field was quiet on 07 May, quiet to unsettled on 08 and 09 May and
quiet to active on 10 May.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity
11 May – 06 June 2015

Solar activity is expected to be at low levels with a chance for
M-class (R1-R2, Minor-Moderate) flares from 11-18 May as Region 2339
transits the visible disk and again from 31 May-06 June when Region
2339 returns.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is
expected to be at normal to moderate levels with high levels
possible from 13-18 May and again from 21-23 May due to coronal hole
high speed stream (CH HSS) activity.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active
levels from 11 through 14 May with periods of minor storming
(G1-Minor) likely on 12-13 May due to a combination of a co-rotating
interaction region followed by a CH HSS. Unsettled to active levels
are also expected from 18-19 May and 02 -03 June with possible
periods of minor storming on 18 May due to multiple recurrent CH
HSS.

Don’t forget to visit our live space weather and radio propagation web site, at: http://SunSpotWatch.com/

Live Aurora mapping is at http://aurora.sunspotwatch.com/

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXN-MdoGM9g

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See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/tenbox

This very simple 10m AM transceiver is based on the Fredbox and Sixbox transceivers. This is designed for local communications and NOT DX. Although the RX and TX have been breadboarded, illness has prevented the project being boxed. It would benefit from a 10dB TX linear and a RX LS amp such as an LM386 stage. More details on my main website.

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

For a little while I’ve been pondering a problem on, or rather mostly off.

My SOTAbeams SB270 is a 2m & 70cm antenna that used a fairly unique way of holding the antenna elements. There are a set of elements for 2m and a set for 70cm. Each element had a hollow nylon cap head screw with a knurled end that was screwed into the plastic antenna boom. Unfortunately Richard can’t supply these as spares.

My SB270 is useful for, well SOTA, and the occasional VHF contest but what is makes up for in portability it lacks in gain. So I’ve thought about making a single boom version that covers 6m, 2m and 7ocm. The idea seems reasonable but the crucial aspect of mounting the antenna elements is a sticking point. Here’s a brief design brief.

 

 

 

1. Doesn’t need tools to assemble in the field

2. Must stay in place once installed

3. Must be easy to replicate (Just in case anyone else wants a go). So no need for specialist fabrication skills.

4. Must keep with the ‘elements live in the tube when not in use’ principle, So no big bulky parts

I have used standard pipe clamps and they get knocked about and blown around in our strong winds. Stauff type clamps need tools so they’re out. Some 3D printed parts are available on thingiverse but they look like they are for permanent installations or don’t really float my boat.

So, here’s the plea. Any ideas other than the one below?

The current thinking is to use some thicker walled ABS pipe (like durapipe which is cheap and easily found) and some threaded inserts for the parasitic elements. Only feeding the driven element is making me think a bit. May need a cut out or permanent part which has feeder and (ugly) balun.

Thinking caps on!

 

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].

courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/

It appears that the FCC's plan to close two thirds of their field offices has both broadcasters and other stakeholders pretty worried. As reported by both Radio World and Inside Radio, the FCC would reduce the number of field agents from 63 to 33 and the number of directors from 21 to five, as well as cutting support staff. The number of field offices would shrink from 24 to eight. The only field (RF spectrum enforcement) offices remaining operational would be those in New York City, Maryland, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Complainants range from broadcasters and the cellular wireless industry to agencies relying heavily on communications such as police and fire agencies. Many of them are worried that interference cases will fall by the wayside with the FCC not able to keep up with mitigation issues.

One seemingly odd complaint of the broadcast industry was the effects that the closures would have on the agency's ability to track down pirate broadcasters! Surely that is not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things? Responding to this odd complaint, the new FCC enforcement chief, Travis Leblanc, issued a strange policy statement saying that he would take a "new" approach when it came to pirates by doing what is needed to keep pirates from even getting on-the-air in the first place! No details of this puzzling solution were forthcoming.

It would seem to me that most public broadcasters would be delighted at the thought of having less FCC oversight. At a time when more and more broadcasters appear to be "forgetting" to switch to nighttime power levels (lower) or to change antenna patterns, surely the FCC downsizing will lead to even more rogue behaviour.

Amateurs relying on any help in mitigating local interference issues, power line noise and complaints from neighbours will also be swept-away in the downsizing.

Unless more funding from Congress is forthcoming, it appears that the closures may really happen. Radio World reports that some of the affected industries are discussing potentially lobbying Congress to keep the field offices open but it appears the focus is on getting the agency to do things more efficiently and opponents argue that the FCC was able to run their offices under last year's budget.

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out but if the closures go ahead, it won't be good for any of us ... unless of course, you're a pirate.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].