AmateurRadio.com

After only 78 views on the website yesterday, I figured I should step up my game. One aspect of Ham Radio that I started to look at was Digital Amateur TV. The analog version, while still around, I’m sure is fun, but digital seems more my speed, being a Ham and a Geek. So here are a few things to kind of wet the appetite for Amateur Television. One is a simple link to a website in the Netherlands, with all kinds of information on digital amateur television. It’s in English, so don’t worry about busting out your Dutch to English dictionaries or Google Translate. There is also a nice site from a group in Ohio with some great info. I saw the link for this a while ago in QST, I think.

The other is just the guys from Ham Nation talking about Amateur Television. Now I haven’t seen this episode yet, but it’s one that I really should sit down and watch. So, here ya go.

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.

I know what you’re thinking and no, unfortunately no one has created an app to access the D-STAR digital amateur radio network from an iOS (iPhone, iPad) device.  At least not yet.  But there is an app to help you know who’s online and what repeaters are near your location.  The app is called DSTAR and is available via the iTunes App Store.  Now please sit down and brace yourself for the cost.  Yes, the D-STAR app for iOS devices is $9.99 USD. 

Yes, I know what you are also thinking.  I would have to agree.  The app is a bit pricey.  While I certainly don’t expect someone talented enough to develop an app and make it available for free.  There is a certain spirit of amateur radio which I do agree with.  This spirit is of sharing and helping.  After all the Echolink app for iOS devices is absolutely free.  I even blogged about this app here.  But I digress, after all this blog post is not about the absolutely free Echolink app, but about the D-STAR app.

Before I get started, please allow me to add a brief disclaimer.  The review I’m providing was not solicited by the developer/manufacturer of the product.  I purchased the product the exact same way anyone else would and whether or not the developer/manufacturer of the product reads this blog posting is none of my concern.  I do not rate products by assigning it a value of x number of stars and I typically do not suggest whether you should consider buying or avoiding.  I provide as detailed of a description as possible and let you decide if is something you can’t live without.

I guess I’m a sucker for amateur radio related apps.  I practically live by my iPhone and iPad and every few weeks I do a search for amateur radio and ham radio in the iTunes app store.  I typically download and test just about everything free and if something catches my eye that is not free, if I think I can use it, I’ll buy it.  This is how I came to own the D-STAR app. 

The D-STAR app opens to the menu screen and you’ll see seven different menu options.  These options are Last Heard, Last Heard Map, Repeaters Near Me Map, Repeaters Near Me List, All Stations List, Settings and Disclaimer.  By the way, the app is the same regardless if you are using it on the iPhone or iPad. 

Let’s explore the Settings option first.  The screen is fairly self-explanatory.  My Call is your callsign and My Repeater is the local repeater you typically connect to.  For some reason the app doesn’t appear to retain the My Repeater information.  Auto-load on start is on and Minutes of data I also left at the default setting.

Since the local repeaters in my area are all located in the Rocky Mountain foothills (about 40 miles or so from Denver) I had to adjust the “Near me radius” out some from the default setting.  I opted to set it at 100 miles just in my testing.  Finally I turned on the “convert Km to Miles” as being an American…that just works better for me.  Again, other than My Repeater, the app remembers the rest of the settings each time I launch it.

The next few screens I’ll show you are all fairly self-explanatory as well.  The Last Heard is simply a list of the stations “last heard” on the D-STAR network.  This is the same data which populates on the d-starusers.org website, which has always been a good resource to check which users are active etc. 

One note about the Disclaimer screen (which I’m not going to show).  The developer of the app reminds us “the information we see on the Last Heard page is made possible by the system admins who have installed the DStarMonitor program on their gateway computer systems.”  I guess some system admins may not have installed this software and therefore the ability for you to see active users or even yourself may not work.  I guess it is safe to say if you see this data on the d-starusers.org site, then all should work on this app as well.

The Last Heard map provides a visual representation of users based on location.  If you touch a pin, it’ll provide you the callsign and the location of the station. 

  The Repeaters Near Me List (not shown) looks much like the Last Heard list.  It just lists out the D-STAR repeaters near you based on the settings you established in the settings screen (near me radius).  The Repeaters Near Me Map (shown left) might be more helpful to review first.  You’ll see your location based on the green pin and the repeaters near you in red.  Clicking a pin provides the repeater name and frequencies.  You can then switch to the list view for even more information and repeater capabilities.

By the way, both the Last Heard List (of stations) and Repeaters Near Me list can be easily exported from the iOS device and sent via email.  Also, you can drill down into a individual station and even touch a callsign for QRZ.com details about the individual station.  This just simply opens a browser screen and you see the QRZ profile data just the same as you would from a regular PC. 

I believe I will find more use for this app when operating mobile or traveling.  When operating from home, it’s just too easy to get this same data from a regular PC when I’m in the shack.

In closing, the price of this app is going to seriously turn a lot of hams away.  Yes, I realize most everything having to do with D-STAR already has more cost associated to it than non D-Star equipment.  It is perhaps unfair for me to suggest what this app might be worth.  After all, I did pay full price for it.  But perhaps the developer would actually sell more copies of the app for a less expensive price and actually turn a larger profit.  But this is simply just my opinion.

I’ve owned the app for about two months and the developer has pushed out one upgrade which contained some bug fixes and the enhancement to export the list data via email.  I’m hopeful this means the app is still being developed and while I’ve found no bugs in functionality, future updates might contain additional functionality.

Until next time….Thank you for reading.

73 de KD0BIK/AE

It’s very hard to believe it’s been 10 years since that horrible day when nearly 3 thousand people were killed. I’m sure many of us remember where we were when we found out. It’s a fixed point in time, to use Doctor Who terminology. To commemorate this event, Special Event stations will be on the air. Here is a list of the stations and details from the ARRL’s website:

• The Pentagon Amateur Radio Club, K4AF, will be on the air 7 AM-9 PM Saturday, September 10 (1100-0100 UTC, Saturday, September 10 through Sunday, September 11). Active operating frequencies will be posted during event on the K4AF website. This Special Event is to honor all those lost on September 11, 2001, with special remembrance of the 184 people who lost their lives at the Pentagon and on board American Airlines Flight 77.
• The Blair Amateur Radio Society, W3PN, will be operating N3U/FLT93 from September 8-15 in memoriam of United Flight 93 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. This year’s activity will take place during tenth anniversary and the Memorial Dedication for the Victims of United Flight 93. To receive a QSL card, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Blair Amateur Radio Society, W3PN, 112 E Wopsononock Ave, Altoona, PA 16601.
• The Northeast Wireless Radio Club, N2WC, will be on the air Sunday, September 11 from 12 noon until 6 PM EDT (1700-2300 UTC). NWRC members will be operating in the General class bands on Phone, CW and Digital; please check the clusters for frequency updates. You can receive a Special Event QSL card when you send a $2 donation to Northeast Wireless Radio Club, 213-37 39th Avenue, Suite 175, Bayside, NY 11361.
• The Kings County Repeater Association, KC2RA, will be on the air 9 AM-5 PM EDT (1300-2100 UTC) on Saturday, September 10. Look for KC2RA on 7.250 and 14.295 MHz, as well as EchoLink node 132967 (KC2LEB-R) and the KC2RA repeater at 146.430 (CTCSS 136.5). KC2RA members will be offering a special QSL card for the event. To receive a card, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to KC2RA 9/11 Memorial Event, PO Box 280288, Brooklyn, NY 11228-0288. (This was previously posted on AmiZed Studios)
• The Symbol Technologies Amateur Radio Club, W2SBL, will be on the air September 10-11 on the following frequencies: 3.911, 7.240, 14.070 and 50.135 MHz, as well as D-STAR REF10C. STARC members will read the name of a person killed in the attacks with every QSO. A Special Event QSL card is available when you send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Symbol Technologies Amateur Radio Club, W2SBL, One Motorola Plaza, B-13, Holtsville, NY 11742.

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.

Welcome to Handiham World!

	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.

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

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.

I realize it was just Wednesday, 24 August when I blogged about reaching the 50% mark in the amateur extra training course I’ve been attending.  I also realize it’s been less than a month (21 days to be exact) since I blogged about getting serious about extra….Again!!  I have some great news I’ll share with you all in just a minute.

When I first got my license in August 2007, I knew I wanted to upgrade to the general class and I wanted to do it in relatively short time.  I will admit that I quickly grew bored with working local VHF/UHF repeaters and while I did manage to work 10m HF, the QSO’s made on that band were few and far between.  I became intrigued in PSK31 after watching Randy Hall’s K7AGE Youtube videos.  Within a few weeks of earning my technician license, I was actively reading and preparing for general.  I tested for my general ticket on 5 January 2008, just four months after getting my ticket.

Something else I need to admit is once I had my general in hand, I was satisfied.  I had all the HF privileges that I believed I needed and wanted.  I was happy as a pig in mud with being able to work PSK31, RTTY and of course phone on all the bands generals have access to.  I even remember a conversation with a colleague from my office who was also a general.  We both discussed how general was all we felt we would ever need.

Now keep in mind this was inside of my first six months of the hobby.  In May of 2008 I started the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast and the Elmer bug bit me.  Also, it was through the podcast and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter where I really became friends with many hams who were either already extra class or working to become extra class. 

I believe it was very soon after I started the podcast and really started to get more involved with my Elmer activities that I realized I did see more to the hobby than staying at general.  Sometime during the summer of 2008 I picked up the ARRL extra class study guide and started reading.  But sadly over the last three years the ARRL extra class study guide spent more time on the shelf than it did in my hands.

Now jump forward three years and as I blogged on 8 August, I had once again pulled the book from the shelf and began studying.  The approx. 50% of the material I had previously read all came back to me relatively easy.  Plus the SCARS Echolink training was adding additional knowledge and confidence to my overall process.  Again, just as I blogged last Wednesday, I truly felt on-track to take the exam in late September or early October.  While I didn’t state this in writing, my unofficial target date was prior to October 4.  On October 4 I turn 45 years old.  Birthday present to myself???

On Thursday (just one day after the blog update) I had been passing the sample tests from QRZ in the high 80’s to low 90 range.  My ideal practice score is in the upper 90’s as I don’t feel I am the best at taking exams.  I told my wife that I couldn’t see a reason for me to delay taking the exam and she supported my decision to take a chance.  She actually suggested I go into the exam thinking it was just another practice exam.  If I didn’t pass, I still had several weeks of the SCARS class to continue to build my understanding of the material (this has always been my #1 goal versus memorization).  Another reason to give it a try is my schedule at work is also starting to pickup speed again.  I was recently promoted and had a few added responsibilities sent my way.  I feared if I delayed, something would happen and I would lose the momentum. 

I went to bed on Friday night feeling pretty nervous, but feeling confident.  I slept remarkably well and woke up with enough time to enjoy some coffee and a bagel and just ease into the morning.  I didn’t take any sample tests…I just enjoyed the peacefulness of the morning.  With a cup of coffee for the road (a roadie) I started the 25 mile journey to Franktown, Colorado for the Colorado ARES sponsored VE session.  By 9:45 AM, I had the CSCE in my hand and had finally made extra.

In closing, I don’t view the extra class as the only true ham class.  For those who are technician, general, advanced….if you are happy then this is what matters.  You are just as much a part of this hobby and service as anyone else is.  However, if you are interested in upgrading I say go for it.  I’m glad I finally got serious about it and followed through….ALL THE WAY through. 

Finally, thanks to all who over the past several weeks have taken the time to post comments to the blog and even email me to lend words of encouragement.  This meant a lot to my study and preparation process.  I felt like I had all of you with me yesterday cheering me on as I worked through the 50 questions and answers.  

Until next time….

73 de KD0BIK/AE