Author Archives: Bob K0NR

Bits and Pieces

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I’ve been out of town quite a bit for work and pleasure, so here’s a catch up post of several bits and pieces.

You may have heard that Sarah Palin’s email got hacked. The background story is here on Wired’s site. The yahoo mail account was apparently accessed using the password reset system. That’s where you have to answer a few personal questions that confirms that you are the owner of the account….or know how to use google. According to Wired, the information required to unlock the account was Palin’s birthdate, ZIP code and where she met her spouse. All of this was acquired by searching the web and making a few educated guesses. How secure is your web-based email account?

Richard Garriott, W5KWQ is following in the footsteps of his father, astronaut Owen Garriot W5LFL by taking a ride in space. The difference is that Richard is buying a ride on a Russian spacecraft, similar to other space tourists. It turns out Richard is a very successful video game designer and can afford the ride. He does plan to make ham radio a key part of the adventure. Check out his web site here.

Meanwhile, China is advancing its manned space program with their first space walk (EVA). Meanwhile, things are moving a bit slower at NASA such that we’ll have to continue to rely on the Russian space program to keep the ISS alive.

The ARRL made the QST magazine archive available online. While this archive is not complete, it has a ton of good articles in it. Great move, ARRL! This is open to ARRL members only. (What, you are not an ARRL member?)

The ARRL is also active on twitter at http://twitter.com/arrl. Now, if I could just figure out the purpose of twitter.

I still have not tried Google’s Chrome browser which makes me one of the few people on the planet that hasn’t done that. I think there are about 10 of us left. (Of course, I don’t own an iPhone either, so go figure.) In general, I am consciously trying to avoid Google as they collect way too much personal information. The NSA should contract their work out to Google.

73, Bob K0NR

Sorry…I’ve Been on 2M FM Again

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I was looking out the window the other day and noticed that my wire HF antenna is laying on the ground. Hmmm, probably doesn’t radiate very well that way. But if I put a long, lossy coaxial cable in line, the SWR will still be good at the transmitter. And I can tell my buddies that it works just fine because “I can work everyone that I hear.” (What a dumb thing to say 🙂 )

This made me realize that most of my ham radio activity lately has been on 2-Meter FM. Actually it has been on 2M and 70cm FM, as I tend to lump these two activities together. These days, my VHF/UHF FM rigs have at least 146 MHz and 440 MHz in them (FT-7800, FT-8900, etc.). I cruise down the road and flip on the rig, talk to the locals, talk to the XYL, etc. It is just too easy and too convenient. It fits the mobile lifestyle, whether it means operating a mobile rig in the car or grabbing an HT to take along on a business trip. (I used to run HF and SSB VHF mobile but found that the rigs were rarely used, so I removed the gear from my vehicle.)

Of course, I need to apologize to the rest of the ham community for this failure to act according to accepted social norms. You know how it is…Real Hams operate HF, weak-signal VHF, microwaves, etc……almost anything that is not 2M FM. Every so often I hear that comment about “well, those techs just hang out on 2M FM,” implying that those guys are permanently stuck in ham radio middle school, unable to graduate to the next level. Or sometimes the FM operators are referred to as having “shacks on the belt” which are dependent on the “box on the hill.” The main message is that 2M FM is just too easy, too plug-n-play, too much like an appliance….too convenient. We certainly can’t have that!

Don’t get me wrong…I enjoy HF, DXing, contesting, digital modes, almost anything to do with amateur radio. That’s the cool thing about the hobby…so many bands, so many modes. One of my favorite activities is operating the major VHF contests. (I’ve even been known to work a few CW contacts.) But on a day-to-day basis 2M FM just seems to fit in better.

Some people call 2M FM the Utility Mode, because it is the mode that gets the job done. Last week, we had a weather net activated to track thunderstorms and a few tornadoes. Did this happen on 40M? I don’t think so. Two meters carried the load. Where do most of the ARES and RACES nets meet? Two meters. How is most public service communications handled? Two meter FM. Even some hard core HF DX enthusiasts are known to flip over to 2M FM to tell their buddies that the DXpedition to a rare country is on the air. It is the Utility Mode.

Over the weekend, I was driving through the mountains and heard an aeronautical mobile working stations simplex on 146.52 MHz…lots of fun. Another time, I heard a station calling about 80 miles away (I was in a high spot) and I had the pleasure of making that contact….again, on 2M FM. A few weeks ago, I operated in the Colorado 14er Event from the summit of Pikes Peak. Since many of the mountaintop stations had hiked up, the most popular mode of the day was (you guessed it) 2M FM.

So sorry, I have been hanging out on 2M FM. I’ll try to get that HF antenna back in the air one of these days.

73, Bob K0NR

Ernie Gets a Linux Upgrade

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One of my old PCs sitting in the basement had Windows 98 on it. The computer was named Ernie by my daughter many years ago. (The taller computer we had at the time received the name Bert, as in Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street.) The OS seemed to be dieing a slow death as it experienced the blue screen of death on a regular basis. I suspected that the hardware was OK and the software was suffering from entropy. It seemed wrong to re-install Win98 in the year 2008, so I considered other alternatives.

For quite some time, I have been wanting to bring up a Linux machine. Why? Bragging rights, I suppose. Feed the inner geek. Real men run Linux, you know. (Masochists run Windows and wimps run Macs….just kidding.) I was also curious about how friendly and useful the OS would be. The Linux folklore also claims that it will run on anemic PCs without any problem. (I definitely didn’t want to install Vista on this old PC.) Back a few decades, I spent quite a bit of time on HP Unix computers and I used to be able to grep with the best of them. More recently our herd of computers have been running operating systems from Microsoft.

It seems that the Ubuntu release of Linux was getting positive reviews, so I chose it as the upgrade for Ernie. I downloaded the latest release and created an install CD. This first attempt to install linux failed, apparently because the PC only has about 200 Megs of memory. The download page said to use the “alternate” version of the release to deal with limited memory. I downloaded that version and the install progressed quite nicely.

During the install process, the software tried to find a network connection, which was unplugged at the time so it told me I could deal with that later. After the install, the system rebooted and ran just fine. The graphical user interface was familiar enough that I could just start using it without referring to the documentation. (We don’t need no stinkin’ manual.)

At this point, I am feeling quite confident, so I connected up the network (Ethernet to DSL at our house). The computer didn’t see the network and I could not find any way to reconfigure it. At this point, I broke down and checked the documentation, expecting to find a friendly little section for people that didn’t have the network plugged in during the installation. No such luck. Eventually, I gave up and re-installed the entire OS with the ethernet cable connected. Although that seems a bit extreme, it did take care of the problem.

Here I am, writing this blog post using Ernie with a new set of brains. (Ernie, not me.) Good old Firefox was automatically installed and is ready to go without any additional effort. Similarly, the OpenOffice suite is installed as part of the Ubuntu release. Not bad, not bad at all.

As described, I did have a few bumps in the road on the installation but nothing too dramatic. My experience with various versions of Windows is not any better. The machine does seem to run kind of slow, in terms of loading applications and responding to GUI changes. I suspect this is due to the limited PC memory. It probably runs about as fast as the Win98, though. I was just expecting better from lean-and-mean linux.

73, Bob K0NR

Wanted: Improved Content on the Ham Bands

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On the dstar_digital Yahoo group, someone asked about how to deal with complaints about certain hams ragchewing on a particular system at all hours of the day and night. The specific example was about a d-star “reflector” but the concept applies to many types of ham radio operating. It seems that other users on the system are looking for more technical discussions, not long-winded chats.

Nate WY0X posted an interesting response, which I found to be thought provoking. I edited it slightly and posted it here with Nate’s permission:

First you have to ask yourself… are the complainers participating or just listening?

They have the “power” to change the topic of conversation by simply keying up their mics and speaking. Want a tech topic? Bring one up.

In running a repeater club for a number of years now, and also IRLP Reflectors… I’ve given up on trying to make everyone happy all of the time. In fact, I’ve found it’s more healthy to put the control of what they’re listening to into their hands, and letting them run with it.

The reason I ask is this… in my “tenure” as an IRLP Reflector operator, we have had on and off similar “complaints” from some node owners, for some Reflector channels.

The reality, when we looked into it was, that the nodes connected wanted “better content” (to use an Internet website term), but didn’t do anything to PROVIDE that content. Similar to a lot of things in Amateur Radio these days… people wanted others to provide something “interesting” for them to listen to! It all led back to “entitlement” attitudes. (“I should be able to always listen to interesting, technical content! But I don’t have to provide any!”)

Hahahaha… quite funny, really. Or sad, depending on if you get worked up over such things.

I figure, it’s ham radio… don’t like what you hear… apply Riley’s last Dayton speech in 2007 and “spin the big knob” on the rig.

So… what we found was that they were unhappy with LISTENING to the people actually USING the Reflector channel, but were just “whiners in their recliners” when it came to actually providing the so-called “more technical discussions” they seemingly wanted to hear.

The best e-mail was the guy who said he “Wasn’t technical himself, but wanted to listen to more technical discussions.” I about fell out of the chair laughing at that one! Being in a leadership role, I couldn’t really send back what I was REALLY thinking… “Yeah, good luck on that one, buddy!”

In the case of IRLP, the solution was simple. Everyone has the commands to turn it off… so we told ’em if they were bored with the conversation, to switch it off, go to another Reflector, or sit in silence… the rest of us would also do as we pleased.

So back to the “content” issue at hand… we have had both EchoLink and IRLP Reflectors “dedicated” to technical discussions on and off for years now, and no significant technical discussions ever take place on those. There’s no great “all tech, all the time” Ham Radio frequency or virtual channel on any linking mode that I know of.

So… in reality…

Your users are simply saying they want to “change the channel” or “spin the VFO” because they’re tired of the people who do talk.

Nothing wrong with that, but it won’t lead to any more “technical discussions” to define a place for those to happen… it takes participants and active people to make that happen.

As a repeater club President, I’ve stopped taking complaints about content. They always want ME to do something about what someone ELSE is saying/doing, when they have a mic of their own and won’t speak up.

That’s passive-aggressive behavior at it’s finest, and I no longer play. Unless people are breaking club rules, like making sexual innuendos on a regular basis, bad-mouthing all of ham radio, things like that… we get involved at that point, of course.

I feel for you if your users are complaining. But the only thing that “fixes” it long-term really is them participating. If they don’t, they’ll never hear conversations they want to hear. Tell ’em as soon as they fire up the PTT and talk… the topic changes!

Nate WY0X

My First D-STAR Repeater Contact

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Here is another milestone in my D-STAR experience….my first repeater contact using the technology. (I had previously been using D-STAR on simplex.) There are no D-STAR machines within range of my house, but there is one west of Denver (the Colorado D-STAR Association, W0CDS).

I was headed to the Denver airport for a business trip to the west coast and I realized I would be within the W0CDS repeater coverage. I had previously programmed my IC-91AD with the right info to access the W0CDS UHF repeater on 446.9625 MHz. (If you think getting the right CTCSS tone plugged in is difficult, wait until you deal with the callsign routing for D-STAR.) I tossed the HT in the car and gave a call when I got close enough to Denver. Barry KA0BBQ came back to my call and we chatted for a few minutes.

As widely reported, the D-STAR audio is fine but you have to get used to how it cuts out under weak signal conditions. You don’t have the gradual fade of increasing FM noise…it just starts cutting out, similar to a digital mobile phone. I just had the HT rubber duck antenna inside the vehicle, so the signals were a bit on the weak side.

Watch www.dstarusers.org to see D-STAR activity.

73, Bob K0NR

BPL Coming to Colorado

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Hide the children! Broadband Over Powerline (BPL) is coming to Colorado. Xcel Energy has announced plans to make Boulder the first SmartGridCityTM in the nation. See my previous posting on BPL. The pitch from Xcel is:

The next-generation electricity grid will allow our company to better meet growing demands, address environmental challenges, maximize available resources and optimize the entire energy system. Ultimately, a “smarter” grid helps us serve our customers by creating more options for managing personal energy use, habits and cost.

BPL has caused quite a bit of concern in the amateur radio community due to its use of HF spectrum for data communications via powerline. Some BPL deployments have resulted in considerable interference to licensed amateur radio operators.

Xcel has posted quite a bit of information on their Smart Grid approach on their website. In particular, take a look at the white paper on Smart Grid technology. The good news for ham radio operators is that Xcel is using BPL technology from the Current Group. This implementation of BPL is considered “ham friendly” since there have been multiple deployments of this flavor of BPL that have resulted in no radio interference complaints from the ham community. This could be just luck, but there are technical reasons that indicate Current may have a system that doesn’t interfere with most ham frequencies. The key attributes of the Current BPL system are that the Medium Voltage Lines use 30 to 50 MHz (outside the ham bands) and the Low Voltage Lines use 4 to 21 MHz notched for the ham bands using the Homeplug standard.

The Boulder Amateur Radio Club (BARC) is forming a BPL Committee to monitor the situation locally. We also have an amateur radio BPL team for the state of Colorado.

Note that Xcel is not planning to offer broadband internet service to consumers. At least, not yet. The public relations campaign from Xcel is all about Smart Grid, managing the power grid for maximum efficiency. The BPL industry has been on the Smart Grid path when it became clear that delivering broadband to consumers was going to be economically difficult. I still expect that BPL will die out over time, but it may find a niche market in Smart Grid. Maybe. Keep in mind that wireless technologies can be applied to Smart Grid applications just as well (and maybe more economically) than BPL.

The important thing is to ensure that these BPL deployments don’t mess up the HF spectrum.

73, Bob K0NR

Too Much Data

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Disclaimer: I am a little ticked off that my digital scanner (radio receiver, not a graphics scanner) decided to toss its cookies today and lose all of its programmed data. The day before, my Yaesu FT-8900 got amnesia, losing all of its channels. (It seems to not appreciate the voltage dip when the car engine starts.) This reminds me of when iTunes discarded my podcasts about 3 weeks ago. Which reminds me of when my computer hard drive failed, putting my entire digital presence into the bit bucket.

I had always resisted using software to program my radios. When our public service agencies switched to 800 MHz trunked digital, I didn’t have a choice anymore for the scanner. The complexity of that system requires a software program to manage the channels. I also tried to avoid using software to program my amateur transceivers. (Old Guy Talk: Back in the old days, we only had a band switch and one big VFO knob to turn and that was plenty good enough.) Slowly, but surely, the huge number of memories and features available have teased me into buying the software to keep track of it all. I don’t mind paying for the software…typically, the programs are a bargain.

I do object to the time it takes to manage this stuff. You might think that there would be a standard file format that stores my favorite frequencies, transmit offset, CTCSS tone and channel labels so that I don’t have to enter them every time. No, that would make too much sense.

What other cute little electronic devices require their own database? I already mentioned iTunes and MP3 players, where the songs are just bits on a computer. (Not your old 8-track tapes anymore, is it?) My GPS receiver has its own set of maps that demand to be cared for and fed to keep the little device happy and useful. (The other day, a bit in the GPS got set that told it to ignore the maps that were loaded. I could see that the maps were there but the GPS was apparently not using them. A master reset and reload eventually cured the problem.) The GPS also makes use of my favorite set of waypoints that I maintain…carefully stored on The Hard Drive, waiting for the next disk crash.

Oh, and don’t forget digital cameras….they are the Masters of Data Creation. One click of the camera can generate a file with a million or two bytes. A day of photography can fill up a few gigs of storage with no effort at all. All of these precious photos need to be stored somewhere to be preserved for posterity. (Should I put posterity on The Hard Drive?)

There is just too much data in my life, and the trend line is increasing. Keep in mind that this data is the kind that you never really see. You can’t see files on a hard drive, you can’t see mp3 files on an iPod, you can’t see the bits programmed into my scanner. Oh sure, you can see something that pretends to represent the actual data….The Hard Drive lets you display a Word document on your screen and print it out. It is supposed to be the same as the file on The Hard Drive, but that is just an approximation….or maybe an illusion. Another reason bits are so hard to manage….they are invisible.

Back to the scanner…I had the configuration file on The Hard Drive (and backed up via Carbonite, just in case.) The Win96 software that programs the RadShack PRO-96 scanner was a victim of the recent hard drive failure, so I had to reinstall it. The program refused to run until I found the magic registration key that proves I paid for the software. No problem…found that on The Hard Drive as well and off we go. Then, the PC had trouble talking to the scanner via the COM port, mostly because there is no COM port on the PC. That is, I needed to use a USB-to-Serial Port converter. (Insert another poorly documented device of questionable origin.) Can we just have USB ports on all data-hungry electronic devices? After much fiddling around, I got the scanner to load all of the data.

Any one of these things is not that big of a deal. I can deal with one or two special programs and cables. But after being surrounded by these self-centered little devices that don’t play nicely, it really starts to wear you down. Clearly, the amount of data is going to continue to increase and more devices are going to take advantage of it. So don’t count on the problem getting any simpler. Ever.

So what’s the solution?

  • Electronic devices should use standard data formats that share easily from device to device. They shouldn’t insist on their own native format. Sharing data is good.
  • These devices should use standard interfaces and memory cards so that moving data around is trivial. Get rid of the proprietary cables.
  • The software that handles the data should be designed and tested for maximum usability using established human factors methods. Every feature should work with minimal effort for the end user.
  • Last but Most Important: these devices shouldn’t ever lose their memory. Bad, bad, bad, bad.

There, I feel much better now.

— 73, Bob K0NR

Awesome June VHF Contest!

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It didn’t start out all that great. First, my boss decides that I need to be in Scotland the week before the contest weekend. I have nothing against Scotland, I just preferred to not be there right before the biggest VHF contest of the year (ARRL June VHF QSO Party). I needed to be home putting together antennas, repairing cables, loading software, etc. ahead of the contest weekend.

At the last minute, I piled all of the gear (well, most of it) into the SUV and we head to the mountains. I planned to set up my portable station at our antenna-less cabin in the western part of grid DM78. (Gotta get that tower up for next year.) My station consisted of an FT-847 on 2M and 70 cm, driving decent yagi antennas on those bands. On 2M, a linear amplifier boosted the output to 170W, so I had a decent signal on that band. For 6 Meters, I used an FT-100 running 100W to a 3-element yagi and on 222 MHz I just had an ICOM FM transceiver feeding a small yagi.

I downloaded N1MM logging software at the last minute and attempted to install it on my new Windows Vista PC. Turns out that Vista doesn’t seem to like N1MM or vice versa. (I am bumping into this on occasion where some software aps are not fully checked out on Vista.) I bailed on N1MM and grabbed VHFLog by W3KM. It was the first time I have used it but it worked well for me.

There was very good sporadic-e propagation on 6M for a large portion of the contest, occasionally extending to 2M. This is the way the June contest is supposed to be! Six meters kept me quite busy and I am sure I missed some good rover contacts on the other bands. This is the downside of a single-op station when six is open. Most contacts were on SSB but I did use CW to grab a few grids on 2M and 6M (N0KE in DM69 and K0YW in DM67). Wow, my CW is getting rusty and it was tough going but I made the contacts.

I had 206 contacts on 6M, which I thought was quite good until I saw some of the other guys scores on the local email reflector….many of them did a lot better. Worked XE2YW in Mexico and a number of VE’s in Canada. I was happy with the 15 grids on 2M, including a new grid via sporadic-e (W4VC EM81). I snagged KB0HH up in EM06 and N0YK in DM98.

Band       QSOs X pt =  QSO pts.  X   Grids   =     Points
---------------------------------------------------------------
50         206    1      206           125           25750
144        34     1      34            15            510
222        1      2      2             1             2
432        12     2      24            6             144
---------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS     253           266           147           39102
                                         Claimed score =  39102

This contest has reinforced the notion that for me, VHF is all about 2M and 6M. The Magic Band provides the excitement and 2M provides the challenge (with enough local activity to keep some interest going). The practice of moving on up to 222 MHz, 432 MHz and higher and just working the same guys over again doesn’t seem as much fun. It definitely generates contest points but I am thinking more about VUCC and grid chasing. I will be optimizing my station to do better on 2M and 6M….upgrade the antennas, amplifiers, transceivers, etc.

73, Bob K0NR

My First D-STAR Contact

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At Dayton, I picked up an ICOM IC-91AD handheld radio, with D-STAR capability. The thing is, there are no D-STAR repeaters within range of my house. Fortunately, Elliott KB0RFC also picked up a D-STAR handheld and we arranged a sked on 2M simplex. The de facto calling frequency for D-STAR is shaping up to be 145.67 MHz, so that is what we used.

I have to admit that the audio quality was better than I expected. When the radio is not dropping bits, the audio is quite clean and clear. When the Signal-to-Noise Ratio degrades, you do start to hear that digital twang as the vocoder does its best to recover the audio in the face of digital errors. Overall, I was favorably impressed.

Tonight, we did some additional testing with DV mode and were surprised at the range of the handheld on 2M. The 70 cm band seemed even better, apparently due to the improved efficiency of the handheld antennas on that band.

There is lots more stuff to play around with, so stay tuned.

Digital voice on the ham bands? Must be the 21st Century!

For more info on D-STAR, see my article from CQ VHF.

73, Bob K0NR

FCC Says No to Digital Repeater Subband

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As reported on the ARRL web site, the FCC rejected the proposal from Ken Chafin, W6CPA, and Leon Brown, KC6JAR to create a 2M subband for digital voice repeaters. This proposal was apparently a good-intentioned approach to opening up new spectrum for digital machines (D-STAR, P25, etc.). Chafin and Brown jointly filed a PRM in October 2007 requesting that the FCC “propose to expand the frequencies on which an amateur station operating as a repeater (repeater station) may operate,” specifically Section 97.205(b) to allow repeater stations to transmit in the 145.5-145.8 MHz frequency segment of the 2 meter amateur service band.

The FCC correctly rejected this proposal, indicating that the Amateur Radio Service does not need additional 2M spectrum for repeaters. Also, the FCC rejected the notion of a subband that is dedicated to a particular modulation format.

I appreciate the problem of trying to open up repeater frequency pairs for digital voice repeaters. We are struggling with that issue here in Colorado. It seems that all of the 2M repeater pairs are “full” in the front range. (Full but not necessary well-used.) The Colorado Council of Amateur Radio Clubs (CCARC) took action to open up digital voice repeater pairs on the 440 MHz and 1.2 GHz bands, but we haven’t figured out what to do on 2 Meters.

Technically-oriented hams want to put up repeaters using the new digital technology, so we want to find a way to support that effort. One answer is to expand the repeater subband. But let’s be honest….in most locations the 2M repeater subband are filled with repeaters that largely sit there doing nothing. I find it very difficult to justify adding additional spectrum to amateur repeater usage.

Also, what is the big freaking deal with 2 Meters? Why does everyone insist on having a D-STAR machine on 2M? There is generally much more room on 70 cm (440 MHz), so let’s give that a go. I think the ham community is stuck in the 2-meter rut. (I understand this, sort of, for good old FM, but digital voice means buying new gear, so let’s do it on 440 MHz.)

73, Bob K0NR

Crystal-Controlled Toasters

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The Phone Losers of America web site champions pranks of all kinds, especially ones associated with technology. One of their standard pranks is taking over the radio communication system used at the drive-up window of fast-food restaurants.

They really out did themselves by creating a video that describes how to mod a CB radio to work on fast food restaurant frequencies. (Hmm, it seems unlikely that a 27 MHz transceiver could be easily modified for VHF.) Oh, I see, they use a special crystal found in modern day toasters. That explains it.

Warning: some adult language

Be sure to look at the comments on the video. The prank keeps on going.

I do not condone nor support modifying radios for out-of-band operation, hassling employees of fast food restaurants or posting hilarious videos on youtube.com 🙂

73, Bob K0NR

Observations from Dayton

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Here’s a few thoughts and observations from the Dayton Hamvention®:

  • Dayton remains the ultimate ham radio geekfest on planet earth. I am checking with other galaxies….so far, no competition.
  • Attendance, inside booths and flea market activity all seemed to be down a bit this year. I am guessing that $3.85 per gallon gasoline might be a factor.
  • The weather forecast threatened rain for most of the weekend but the actual weather was just fine….not real hot, not real wet.
  • For some reason, this year I really noticed how decrepit Hara Arena has become. I don’t think it has seen more than $5 worth of maintenance in recent years. This is not a new thought, see this string of comments on eham.net
  • The forums that I attended drew large crowds, typically overflowing the available seating. This seems like a problem and an opportunity. (How to expand the size and number of the forums?)
  • Lots of interesting characters walking the flea market (my wife is entertained by the target-rich, people-watching environment.)
  • Yaesu was showing an early unit of the VX-8R. See Universal Radio web site for preliminary data. This handheld has 50 MHz, 146 MHz, 222 MHz and 440 MHz with optional APRS feature.
  • Lots of buzz around D-STAR. Last year, I thought “hmmm, maybe this technology is going to take off.” This year, I think “this technology has taken off.”
  • I bought an ICOM IC-91AD dualband handheld with D-STAR capability.
  • I picked up the usual collection of coaxial connectors/adaptors and cables.
  • I picked up my free Yaesu hat. Thanks, Yaesu! I will put it with my collection of hamfest hats, mostly from Yaesu 🙂

See you next year….

73, Bob K0NR

Use that New HF+6m Rig on 6 meters

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Colorado just experienced a nice 6M sporadic-e opening. Phil N0KE sent out this article as encouragement to try 6 Meters.

A few years ago we started seeing new HF rigs with 6 meters included, and at the 100 watt level in many cases. At the Central States VHF Conference in July 1998, it was claimed that world wide there are now 30,000 more stations with 6 meter capabilities. In the ARRL June 1998 VHF contest, several stations exceeded 1,000 QSOs on 6m and about half the all time top QSO totals were made this year, which would indicate a lot of these rig owners are using them on 6m.

You may have an existing antenna that will function on 6m. Obviously the best thing to do would be to put up a 6 meter yagi and an advantage is that they are small and light and you may be able to add it on an existing tower. For those who want to try out the band without making the commitment for buying a new antenna, you may be able to use an existing antenna. Most 15 meter antennas will work reasonably well on 6 meters. My TA33 tribander loads well. I’ve also tried the TH6DXX, TH7DXX tribanders and KLM 6 element 15 meter monobanders on 6 meters with reasonable results. You may have to use a tuner to get full power. I’ve found that a HF tuner in the 10 meter position will often work and the auto tunners in many rigs will work too. There are some inexpensive 6 meter antenna tuners made. A multi band vertical that covers 15 meters will also work, except one gentleman told me he fried the 15 meter trap on his R7000 in a matter of seconds at the 100 watt level on 6 meters. I’ve had good luck using a Butternut HF6V and HF9V on 6m. Most HF SWR and power meters are still reasonably accurate at 50 MHz. I’ve also worked some other stations using unusual antennas on 6 meters. I worked a New Zealand station who was using 10 watts to an 80 meter folded dipole. A 2 meter 5/8 wave vertical is very close to a ¼ wave on 6 meters and lots of people have used that mobile or like the guy in Dallas I worked who was using one on a magnetic mount on his bath tub. I never did find out why he was using the bathroom for his ham shack.

Since many of these HF+6 rigs, like the Icom 706 are very small, they are very attractive to take on that contest or vacation trip, especially when coupled with one of the light weight switching power supplies that will convert a wide range of AC voltages to 13.8 VDC. I easily carried my rig, power supply and laptop as carryon luggage on a KH6 trip for the 1997 CQWW SSB. You may end up in a country with little or no resident 6 meter activity and be much more in demand than on any of the HF bands. You can make some 6 meter QSOs even without packing along a 6 meter yagi, but do take the yagi if you can.

On 6 meters 50.000 to 50.100 is reserved for CW and contains many beacons. US beacons are mostly between 50.060 to 50.090. Most DX CW QSOs take place between 50.090 and 50.100. 50.100 to 50.125 is the DX window in the USA with 50.110 being the international DX calling frequency. In Europe the DX window is 50.100 to 50.130. The USA domestic calling frequency is 50.125. In Europe the domestic or inter Europe calling frequency is 50.150. Six meters is like other VHF bands in that SSB and CW are used in the same portions of the bands. Experienced expeditioners like W6JKV will constantly switch back and forth from CW to SSB on the same 6 meter frequency. Cross mode QSOs are also common.

We are in the spring sporadic E season that runs from mid May to late July or early August. Whether you are doing E mail or watching TV etc turn the rig to 50.125, turn up the squelch. If anything is happening, you will most likely hear it first on 50.125. Once the band is open move above the calling frequency for QSOs. I’ve found activity up above 50.250 on good openings. Another clue is if you are hearing very strong E (short) skip on 10m, chances are very good that 6m is open in the same direction. E skip is typically between 700 and 1400 miles per hop. Double hop is fairly common and multi hop propagation of 4 or more hops is much less common. Last June I worked 27 JA stations one evening and two days later I worked 7 European stations. both of these openings were probably 4 or 5 hops. Generally you need a good gain antenna and power but a few Colorado stations did work the JAs and Europeans with 100w to good antennas last summer.

73 Phil N0KE

More News on BPL

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The Dallas Morning News reported that Broadband Over Power Lines Plan is Dead in Dallas because Current Communications is bailing out of its plan to offer internet service via BPL. However, Oncor is going to buy the equipment from Current and use it to help manage the power grid. This is consistent with recent trends in the BPL industry that are emphasizing using BPL as part of a “smart grid” strategy and deemphasizing operating as an Internet Service Provider.

An ARRL news article points out BPL is not going away in Dallas but (more importantly) the BPL technology from Current is believed to be “ham friendly.” The reason for this is that Current uses the Homeplug standard on the power lines that go into a residence, which notches out the HF amateur bands, not including 60 Meters. (By the way, the ARRL lab….which basically means Ed Hare W1RFI….got involved with the Homeplug standard early and influenced them to implement this notching.) Where Current equipment is in use, there have been no amateur radio interference complaints.

An article at itbusinessedge.com poses the question “Is it Lights Out for BPL?” Very likely.

In the mean time, the FCC got its hand slapped by the U.S. Court of Appeals for their mishandling of the BPL rulemaking process.

Closer to home in Colorado, Xcel Energy made this announcement:

Xcel Energy announces intended site of Smart Grid City: Boulder, Colo. to become first fully integrated “smart” city in the nation

The current electric grid has served us well for the last half century. But the future requires a technology revolution.

The next-generation electricity grid will allow our company to better meet growing demands, address environmental challenges, maximize available resources and optimize the entire energy system. Ultimately, a “smarter” grid helps us serve our customers by creating more options for managing personal energy use, habits and costs.

Their list of partners in the Smart Grid Consortium includes Current Group, which seems to imply that BPL may be part of the system deployment. It is not clear from their press release that Xcel will be offering internet service to the general public. However, I have heard from a reliable source that Xcel has been telling customers in Boulder that broadband internet service is part of their plan.

You can see the appeal of a Smart Grid approach with all of the focus on “being green.” Managing the power grid and energy demand is one way to get the most out of an electric utility. If a utility can gain some extra revenue by selling broadband internet, that’s even better.

The good news is that the Current Group technology seems to be OK from a ham radio point of view. Other users of the HF spectrum may see things differently.

73, Bob K0NR

Girls, Ham Radio and Diet Dew

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I just stumbled onto this video where three of my favorite things come together: girls, ham radio and Diet Mountain Dew.

Let me explain. When I say girls, I mean the three women that have let me live in the same house with them for decades (my wife and two daughters). You know about the ham radio part and Diet Mountain Dew is the low cal version of the sugar-plus-caffeine overload drink.
Anyway, take a look at this video:

73, Bob K0NR

Peanut, Rooster and Steve N0TU Head Up Mt Herman

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Mountaintop radio operating is one my favorite ham radio activities. In particular, there is a 9000 foot mountain within a short drive/hike from my house called Mt Herman. It is a great hike in the summer to get a little exercise and some great views. Lately, I have also been hiking or snowshoeing up there in the winter for the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes. See my blog posting on the 2007 January expedition.

Some time ago, I discovered that Steve N0TU also likes to operate radios from Mt Herman. I lean toward VHF operating while Steve takes along HF QRP. Steve also takes along Peanut and Rooster, his two goats. Lately, he has made a few videos of his adventures with Goat-portable ham radio.
Take a look at the most recent one:

73, Bob K0NR

FCC Rejects Request for Amateur Frequencies

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In the Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm department, Miller Motorsports of Utah requested Special Temporary Authority to use a handful of frequencies in the 70 cm amateur radio band for a race to be held at the end of May. I guess they didn’t think these frequencies were in use, so they just asked the FCC for authorization to use them: 448.525, 448.650, 448.060, 448.290 and 448.610 MHz.

The ARRL objected and the FCC turned down the request, as reported by the ARRL web site.

This story really had me scratching my head. How could someone put together a proposal like this in one of the more popular ham bands? Then it occurred to me that the Amateur Radio Service is authorized to use the 70 cm band on a secondary basis. The primary user is the Federal radiolocation service. (See FCC Part 97.301) It seems that the ham radio community often forgets this…even though we have lots of repeaters and simplex operation on the 440 MHz band, we have a secondary status on the band.

So maybe they looked around and figured that the radiolocation service wasn’t all that active, making these frequencies a good choice for race communciations. Of course, the Miller Motorsports proposal was a poorly formed idea and the FCC made the right call by rejecting it.

73, Bob K0NR

ON4AW is a Ham Spammer

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I recently received an email from ON4AW encouraging me to visit some website of questionable value (something about QSLs, ham radio and art). This was clearly UCE that was sent to a large number of ham radio operators. I replied with a request that my email be removed from the list and I got this reply:

Sir, here is not any list ,so we cannot remove you from something that does not exist. We are finding you with a Google-search and every simple search-machine will find you because you are standing naked and nude on the internet. Up to now 240000 hams from 133 countries have thanked us for that mail. Anyway it would be impossible to find you back among such a number. If you would receive the mail again,there are two possibilities:1) throw it simply into the thrash of your PC , 2) Remove your email from the web,that is the best solution. Your family-members,true friends,hams and business-relations know your email-address. So your presence on the internet is useless and unnecessary

/ 73 ON4AW

PS. Every mail-server has built-in filters. As a last ressort , you could put a filter on our mail so that you will not see it anymore if you eventually would be found again by Google.If you remain with your email-address on the web, you will be found again and you will receive the mail again.We do not see that this happens,because the special search program sends the mails (40 found hams per package) without our knowledge about to whom. Remove youremail-address from the web please. This is the last time that we answer a mail from you .We have told you enough now ,and spent enough time to explain the case.

Jeesh, so now it is MY FREAKING FAULT for having my email address out on the web. Thanks a lot, ON4AW. I get enough of this from the viagra/porn/ambien vendors, now ham radio operators are in on the deal, too?