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Several of the Arduino projects I have been experimenting with have used a GPS module to provide accurate time and/or location information and in the case of the QRSS/WSRP QRP beacon a highly accurate GPS derived 1 second pulse is used for frequency calibration. A number of people have enquired about the GPS module I am using.

Most GPS devices have a limit on the altitude they work at, normally 60,000 feet or less. This is a legacy of the now defunct CoCom (Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls) restrictions. For my HAB project this restriction needs to be disabled and the GPS must be switched into 'flight mode' In the HAB community the favoured devices are made by U-BLOX

Therefore when I was sourcing a GPS I had search specifically for a inexpensive device using a U-BLOX.

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The GY-GPS6MV2 as supplied

I soon found something called a GY-GPS6MV2, it appears to be a generic design and is readily available on eBay from suppliers in China, Hong Kong and Singapore and can be purchased at the moment for around than £10 (approx $15) including postage!

It is also available from domestic suppliers but often at a much more inflated price, but you don't have to wait several weeks for them to be delivered.

There are many other GPS modules available but this module seems to be one of the cheapest available. it is often listed as a NEO6MV2 GPS Module Aircraft Flight Controller.

The module consists of a small PCB 25mm x 35 mm size with a separate ceramic antenna connected by a small lead which is 25mm x 25mm in size. The Antenna is quite heavy and isn't suited to Pico HAB payloads but for other uses is more than satisfactory.

On the board is a small button-cell battery to provide backup to the GPS chip and a small EEPROM connected to the GPS chip which I believe can store configuration(s). I haven't used it myself just using the module in it's default set up at the moment. For a schematic click here

The board has four connectors VCC, GND, TX (Transmit) and RX (Receive) and can be powered by the 5V supply on Arduino boards since it has a small regulator to provide the 3.3V needed. 

In most projects all that is required is data out of the GPS. The GPS TX (data out) being connected directly to the microcontrollers RX (data in) The (0V and 3.3V) level shift of the signal is compatible with the TTL input of the microcontroller.

The GPS by default will start up and output standard NMEA sentences at 9600 Baud, until GPS position lock is achieved the NMEA sentences won't have a long/lat location. The module also has an LED which will start flashing once a lock is achieved.

There is no direct connection for the highly accurate 1PPS (pulse per second) signal that can be used for frequency calibration, but the flashing LED is driven by pin 3 of the GPS module which is the 1PPS (pulse per second) signal required.

The 1PSS signal, like the TX is either 0V and 3.3V, in order to use it a small lead will need to be soldered onto the board, either directly onto Pin3 of the GPS chip, or alternatively on to the small current limiting resistor used by the LED, as indicated below.

Showing the GPS 1pps points

Andrew Garratt, MØNRD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from East Midlands, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Why? Because JT9 is the best weak signal mode there is. On 10 meters I worked with 5 watts JT9 CX2AQ (11.371 km) and LU8EX (11.445 km) I read at PE4BAS that KB2HSH published a nice list about the sensitivity of digi modes. Why should anybody uses RTTY for instance?

JT9 and JT65 are the most sensitive ones. I prefer JT9 because it has a very small bandwidth. Ideal for crowded band activity. At the moment activity is a bit low with JT9, so I call all radio amateurs who like to work QRP or low power and wanted to do some experiments: use JT9. Download the software from this web site of K1JT Joe Taylor.

Paul Stam, PC4T, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from the Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

Finally a chance to take out my Shack-in-a-Box and do some outdoor operations. The weather for Friday and Saturday was predicted to be very good, with Saturday being the sunniest. It turned out to be the other way around, because on Friday morning I took my son to his baseball practice and set up the MP1 in a quiet corner of the field, under a blazing sun. With my deck chair positioned under some trees I took this selfie…

It being a Friday the bands were quiet. I worked JR1CXW from Japan on 15 meters in CW and had a nice long QSO with him. Then nothing till almost an hour later when I heard KZ5OM coming in on 12 meters. Because I had already marked the different bands on the MP1 tuning coil it was a breeze to get the antenna into resonance and work him. He came in 559 and I got over the Pacific with a 539 signal. Yeah, two firsts: one for CW QRP across the Pacific and one for CW with the US on 12 meters. Thank you Jerry, great working you.

After that V85TL and JQ2IQW who was interested in my QRP setup. I got some attention from a parent and gave a short demonstration. The exchange with BH1FXN was just a 599 one, but it was enough to impress him.

The sun was shining, the temperature just right and the coffee well brewed, so a perfect Friday morning. To be continued….

Hans "Fong" van den Boogert, BX2ABT, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Taiwan. Contact him at [email protected].

The Simi Settlers Amateur Radio Club in Simi Valley, California toured the USS Iowa, worked some DX, and got some great lessons about shipboard life. What an interesting history lesson in this video taken by club president Rick Galbraith, W6DQE!

USS Iowa, lead ship of a class of 45,000-ton battleships, was built at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. Commissioned in February 1943, she spent her initial service in the Atlantic and carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to and from Casablanca, Morocco, in November 1943. USS Iowa is presently part of the Reserve Fleet.

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

Getting started with HSMM-Mesh™ (High Speed Multimedia-Mesh), also known as Broadband Hamnet™, can be daunting to hams that have the interest, but lack the expertise of network engineers. Indeed, perusing comments and documents on the Web can be confusing to newcomers who want to participate in setting up Amateur Radio broadband mesh networks under FCC Rules in Part 97.

Read the rest of this post

Alex Mendelsohn, AI2Q, is a special contributor to AmateurRadio.com.

I was thinking about the ‘Handy from Tandy’ conversion from 49MHz and it occurred to me that the first set that I ever transmitted on was a 49MHz handheld.

It must have been around 1980 when I was a keen shortwave listener and starting to get interested in getting an amateur licence. My parents had taken us on holiday to Fishguard in Pembrokeshire. Just along the A487 from Fishguard towards Cardigan is the village of Dinas. This particular year, a new shop had appeared in Dinas, a CB shop. I was very keen on looking in the shop window!

Of course, at this stage, CB was illegal in the UK and as I was living at home – there was no possibility of illegal operation – not that I would have done anyway 🙂

I can remember a number of 49MHz handhelds for sale in the shop as well as the 27MHz AM sets.

When I returned home to Cheltenham, I researched the 49MHz handhelds. They were very low power and they appeared to be legal to use. I bought a set of two. The range was probably 100-200 yards in a built up area. A couple of doors from me lived Jon, G6BHS, so it made perfect sense for Jon to have the other handheld and for us to use them to chat. Good fun!

27MHz CB was legalised in 1981, on FM, and I very quickly purchased a CB licence and a Cybernet Beta 1000 set (great receiver!) and had some fun and learned some basics about aerials and propagation.

Of course, it was just the push I needed to get my first amateur licence, G6TTU early in 1983.

Tim Kirby, G4VXE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Oxfordshire, England. Contact him at [email protected].

And I certainly hope this is the last blast for the Winter of 2013/2014.  The Equinox is less than three weeks away, and I am ready – perhaps readier than I’ve been in a while.  The snow that is forecast to start this afternoon, and last into Tuesday morning my bring us 4 inches – and then again may bring us 14-18 inches. The meteorologists just cannot seem to agree on this one. So that tells you the situation is extremely volatile, and we’ll just have to wait until after it’s over to see who was right.

But in the meantime, here are some warm weather thoughts from the Buddies in the Caribbean from LAST Winter.  Barbados seems like a good place to be right about now!

I was able to get on the air for a bit yesterday afternoon. The CW portion of the bands were kind of on the barren side, as the ARRL DX SSB was going on.  I could swear I heard a tumbleweed or two blow through.  But I did manage to work W1AW/7 in Washington State on both 12 and 15 Meters – first call with QRP each time.  I also worked HK7/AL4Q – an Alaskan call in Colombia – that’s different!  I also worked EA6BH in Mallorca.  That’s probably another wonderful place to be this time of year.

Clear away those dishes after a delightful dinner – enjoy some wine and set up the KX3, throw an EFHW over the railing, and we’re good to go!

I can dream ….. can’t I?

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].