Amateur Radio, News, Repeaters

Mount Elden icy

800-16-01-11 001FLAGSTAFF — Got a chance to go to Flagstaff today. After fighting car trouble, I made it to Flagstaff and wound up getting a close-up view of the Mount Elden repeaters. I’m surprised they are operating.

I did have a problem connecting with the 980 repeater. I thought, perhaps, that the repeater was down again. KF7QPG, Ted in Seligman, assured me the repeater was working, but I simply could not connect. It turns out that you have to have the correct duplex programmed in to make the repeater. Somehow my program file was changed. Now it is set correctly and I should be able to connect with the repeater.

When I got home I heard the SKYWARN net on the 980 repeater so it is, indeed, still working.800-16-01-11 006It was a beautiful drive to Flagstaff with the sun shining and the snow on the sides of the freeway. The freeways were clear. There was a soft fog as the heat of the sun turned the snow to steam.

News, Repeaters

Bill Williams in January

NAME FREQUENCY DUPLEX TONE OFFSET
Williams Repeater 146.78 – 91.5 .6000
WIN Sys 449.75 – 123 5.000

800-160109-IMG_1921 In Williams over a few days we received 27″ of snow. This is an image which shows why the Bill Williams Repeater is still silent. Ditto the WIN system repeater. These images were taken by my friend Steve who lives in the area.

Williams has probably received as much snow as last year and the winter is just getting started. This is great for the water situation in Williams and the surrounding areas. But it reeks havoc on electronic equipment and antennas. It can be aggravating when your favorite repeater does not work. We must remember however that amateur radio is a volunteer hobby and volunteers keep our repeaters going. Safety is important.

Fortunately in our area we have the Mount Elden repeaters we can reach in Flagstaff. With the appropriate power you can probably reach the repeater on Mingus.800-160109-IMG_1914 Continue reading Bill Williams in January →

News, Repeaters

New snow in Williams

800- Snow 2016-01-07 003Here is what Williams looked like yesterday. We received about 10″ of snow. That means that the snow on Bill Williams Mountain is thick and it is not likely that the Bill Williams repeater will be up any time soon. The last estimate is spring.

The sun did peek out for a bit, yesterday, and the sun is up this morning. The snow we picked up yesterday was the amount predicted for today. So we might get only small amounts today and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny. This will melt off some of the snow.

Still, safety in amateur radio is paramount. It does not do to go through all of the trouble to get a license only to get electrocuted or fall from a tower. Even at home, safety should be your concern. Make sure that you read, and heed, all safety instructions for equipment that you purchase. Some may be over the top, but…. Well, you know that old adage.
800-Snow 2016-01-07 004800-Snow 2016-01-07 012

Uncategorized

Size doesn’t matter

Sometimes size does not matter when it comes to antennas. Propagation is dependent on many factors. It is, of course, important to have a good antenna and standing wave ratio (SWR) meter and antenna tuner. The last two items protect your equipment. Even if your equipment cuts off when a certain standing wave ratio is reached, equipment safeties can fail.

Amateur Radio, Amateur Radio Organizations, News, Repeaters, Skywarn

Oh, what a tangled mess nature weaves…

146.980 – 162.2 Mt Elden, Flagstaff W7ARA

800-980 Tower EldenJoe Hobart, W7LUX, sent out these photos of the 980 repeater on Mount Elden in Flagstaff at the end of December. Mount Elden is located in Flagstaff and the repeater frequency is 146.980. The 146.140 repeater is also located on Mount Elden and is connected to the RIMLINK network of Arizona Repeater Association repeaters. The 146.980 repeater is part of the SKYWARN system.

The image to the left shows how the tower should look. The lower image shows how the tower looked at the end of December.
800-980 Tower Elden-2The picture of the mangled tower was taken by Mike Moroney and the picture of the good tower is from Joe.

As you can see, nature can reek havoc with repeater towers. In the top photo, the antenna for 146.980 juts high in the sky. In the lower photo it dangles by a thread. Well, actually, by a cable. It was expected to be down for the winter.

I do not know if a New Year resolution was involved, but today at about 15:00 -7, the 980 repeater is back online thanks to a volunteer crew. It bears repeating that amateur radio is a hobby and these guys that climb the towers are not paid. I’d like to thank those who help us keep contact with the world.

Amateur Radio, License Examinations

How to get through the math on the examination cheap

sci-calculator_resizedThere are several ways to get through the math on the Amateur radio license exams. The first is to memorize every question and answer. Or hope that they ask you the questions you memorized.

If you cannot rely on your memory, the second most reliable way is to understand the math on the exam. For the technician exam, the math is not all that difficult and the way you calculate the answers is easily found on the Internet. There are a plethora of explanations and you are sure to find one you understand.

It should be legal to carry a copy of the various formulas that you use to find answers for various problems. So long as those formulas do not contain examples that just happen to be answers on the test. So you could, and should, write all of those formulas down.

So now you have the formulas or understand them. What can you use to calculate them? Your “smartphone?” Examiners will probably not allow them and will, in fact, probably insist that you turn them off. A scientific calculator? They are allowed only if the volunteer examiners can conclusively prove there is nothing stored in memory.

That can be difficult with the number of calculators in the field. Especially with the advance in computer science today. There is an answer, however.

For my exam I purchased a cheap calculator with no special functions for $1.00 at my local Dollar General. If you are just looking to get the Technician ticket, that is really all you will need. Recently I traveled to Phoenix where I visited the Dollar Tree store. I picked up the pictured calculator with all sorts of scientific functions for $1.00.

Still there is probably some way a smart person can add answers to the memories of these calculators. I would recommend that no matter what you use, you consult with the volunteer examiner BEFORE the exam starts. I also recommend that you take the instructions and show them to the VE so that they can ensure that your exam is completely above-board.

As far as I know, slide rules are still allowed.

Amateur Radio, News, Repeaters

The dang repeater is out again!

As a new amateur radio operator I learned quickly that repeaters are an important link in communications. Particularly if you have to operate, currently, on cheap equipment. When they go out, new operators tend to get mad.

For several reasons, people are flocking to the Baofeng hand-held radios. The main reason is the price. For under $100 you can get on the air (if you have the appropriate license). Hand-helds are dependent mainly on repeaters.

Repeaters dot the United States from one coast to the other. Some are connected together in links, such as the WIN system and RIMLINK. When new operators get used to talking through repeaters, they may get upset and wonder why the repeater stops working. Why does my local repeater not connect to RIMLINK? Why do I not get the ARRL news feed on my repeater?

Well, here is one reason.
800-151223-1
These pictures are from a recent storm on Bill Williams mountain. The antennas have been knocked around by high winds and ice. To protect the equipment, repeater operators necessarily have to shut down the repeaters. If you operate equipment without an antenna, you are asking for equipment failure altogether.

In fact, this is a good life lesson for new amateur operators who are not really electronically inclined. Antennas are the core of your equipment. A decent antenna will make your five-watt handheld travel farther.

I have received fair distance and reports with my Baofeng BF-F9 in my vehicle with a magnet mount antenna while travelling. The problem is the Baofeng microphone. The cheap mics you purchase through Amazon and other retailers are just that. Cheap mics. They work, but I have received reports of static. The earphone microphone I received with the Baofeng gave me a zap through the earpiece. Through the built-in mic I received pretty good reports.

If you are looking for a good microphone for the Baofeng, you might check out this web site. It is not cheap.

The point is that you can see why repeaters go down. Repeater operators cannot control the weather. Until you can afford better equipment and a decent antenna, you have to cowboy-up.

Personally I would like to help keep repeaters going. As an old Navy tweeker, I find that would help increase my knowledge of the Ham radio art. At the same time I understand that repeater operators have to carefully select who they receive help from. This equipment is not cheap.

Since I received my first license in October, I have been able to listen—but not always participate in—nets on the repeaters. I appreciate the efforts of the people who maintain the repeaters. These images even woke me up to the reality of keeping repeaters going.

Amateur Radio, Rules and Laws

We pause for this Station Identification requirements for Amateur Radio

I recently obtained my Amateur Radio operator license and am learning much. One of the things I have learned about is nets. Nets, or networks, are times dedicated on some repeaters for specific functions such as testing equipment and reporting practices, education and entertainment.

I am able to listen to some nets, but cannot reach to participate because of limitations in my equipment. On one such net I heard an argument over the station identification requirements of the FCC. Because it was a hot topic, I decided to investigate.

Interestingly even during the nets, they try to remember to pause every ten-minutes to identify with their call sign and at the end of the net as the FCC requires.

THE PROBLEM

Some people seem to key the microphone on the radio briefly to see if their radio is transmitting. Repeaters are the obvious target because they usually give some sort of digital response. This annoys some amateur radio operators and usually repeater operators.

The argument in this case was that a station calling is supposed to identify themselves at the beginning of a contact, every ten minutes and at the end. Someone responded with the fact that the test questions on the examination indicated that the FCC requires that identification be used only every ten minutes and at the end of the transmission.

Another person noted that you could just download Part 97 of 47 CFR which covers Amateur radio operations. The argument came back that it was big and thick, took a long time to download and a ream of paper to print (or words to that effect). In the links below you can see that is just not so. You can download the PDF which prints on 36 pages. You can also go to the Government Printing Office web site and simply read it online.

Since I am interested in helping people obtain a Ham license, I added the questions from each examination that I could find concerning this topic. Hopefully this will help you understand those questions so you can breeze through them and concentrate on the tougher technical questions. I added the questions that I found in the Technician, General and Amateur Extra class license pools. Of course there is the more selfish reason that research, such as this, helps me learn and remember the rules so I can keep out of trouble as much as possible.

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT?

While researching I happened across the FCC Amateur Radio Service Enforcement Actions page on their web site.

In July, David Tolassi (W4BHV) in Georgia was fined $1000 for failing to identify. Daniel R. Hicks (KB8UYZ) in Cincinnati, Ohio was fined $8000 in August for failure to identify and causing interference. Thomas J. Warren agreed to pay a $3500 fine for failure to identify this month. William F. Crowell (W6WBJ) of Diamond Springs, California was fined $25,000 for failing to identify and deliberately causing interference by broadcasting music, noise and voices to interfere with others just a few days ago.

(Here is a bonus answer to the Technician Exam, question T1D04. It is illegal to transmit any music except When incidental to an authorized re-transmission of manned spacecraft communications .)

So how important is station identification? How important is your hard-earned cash.

The FCC does have a soft-spot. This link also shows more letters of warning than fines. They are out to promote the fair use of the amateur radio bands for everyone. Everyone makes a mistake from time-to-time.

So let’s look at the regulations.
Continue reading We pause for this Station Identification requirements for Amateur Radio →

Amateur Radio, News, Review

Baofeng BF-F9 +V2 Update

3-hamsLast review I gave a poor rating for the Baofeng BF-F9 +V2. Today I can give it a better review.

First I dealt with FOSCAM, a camera company, in obtaining the initial radio through Amazon. This is a good company with great customer service. They answered my email questions through the whole process.

The problem (I thought) was that they sent me the same model. They even sprang for the shipping. Was I to have the same difficulty?

I was extra gentle with the belt clip, this time. After carefully removing the screws from the radio, I put them through the holes in the belt clip first. Then screwed them into the case and they went in fine. In fact it was perfect. The screws are tight and the belt clip works like any my UV-82 (Which is not very good).

Now would the battery seat properly. Sadly, it did not. At least not initially. I went ahead and loaded up my frequency file through the CHIRP program. I began to test it having to make sure I held the battery in. It worked good except for the battery. I was not about to send it back, however, and was thinking about other means of making it useful. A battery eliminator, perhaps? That route would only make it useful in the car. I was even thinking about filing away some of the battery case, but I saw that could not be done.

In frustration I reverted to an old technician trick. I slammed the bottom of the battery and it seated into place. It has been fine ever since. At least since the 19th.

I ordered the Nagoya UT-71 for another reason, so I hooked it up and began to use it. I do not transmit much, but I did conduct several range tests. Unfortunately no matter what location I tried, I could not connect with the repeater I need to connect to.

I should note that I found out through research that the BF-F9 is NOT an updated model.

The features. The F9 comes with a 3800mAH battery. The transmit powers are 1, 4 and 8-watts in theory. I have not tested this and some tell me the Baofeng does not always perform as advertised in this area.

The antenna seems to be the biggest disappointment by other reviewers. They say it is pretty much a UV-5R antenna. Some have said that they purchased the better rubber duck antenna available for around $15 on Amazon and it seemed to work for them.

The CHIRP program does not specifically support this model. You can program it, however, through the BF-F8 model. The BF-F8 is the latest high power model from Baofeng that I know of.

The chargers seem to be the weak point of the Baofeng. They work, but last night I set up the F9 to charge and the light did not turn green. I lifted off it off the charger and set it back on and the green light came on. I still have to play with the charger for the UV-82 a bit, but they do work.

The earpiece microphone that came with this model is not a dual PTT. I do not monitor dual channels on the F9 as I do on the UV-82. I found on the UV-82 that with an external microphone, no matter what I do I can only transmit on Channel B. I had to use the dual PTT ear/mic that came with it to transmit on the correct channel.

Personally I like the feel of the radio in my hand. I do not like the camouflage pattern. The UV-82 camo that I purchased is a much better pattern. So far the radio has performed as well as the UV-82 I purchased. I have not seen much performance increase from the UV-82.

My opinion is that you should probably check out the UV-82HP which touts a maximum 7-watts out over this radio for about the same $68 price. That is, if you are interest in the lower priced Baofeng. The UV-5R still seems to be the most popular of the Baofeng line. They are a max output of 4-watts and the price is about half. At least for a new Ham.

If you are not on a budget as I am, you should probably explore the ICom and higher-end radios.

Some other thoughts:
BaoFeng BF-F9 V2+ Impressions

BaoFeng BF-F8HP first glance review at a CERT Training event.

Amateur Radio Operator