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I recently added the KXAT1 antenna tuner kit to my Elecraft KX1. The antenna tuner allows me to automatically tune up any non-resonant antenna quickly. Construction took one evening. As usual, winding the toroids was perhaps the most tedious part, but "zen-like" while I was doing them (as I heard it put by someone). I did have trouble with the transformer. It can be tricky and I'll warn other kit builders to check out this thread if they have trouble. I also found some pictures from a japanese ham helpful, but I've since lost them. :(
After building and installing the tuner, I purchased 40ft of some "silky" 26AWG wire from TheWireMan as suggested by Elecraft. I cut the wire to give me two lengths. One length is 24ft and the other 16ft. The 24ft length is my radiating element and the 16ft acts as my ground. The tuner quickly finds a nice 1.1-1.0 match and gives me full KX1 power out (~4W). It makes for a very lightweight, field-portable antenna. I can also use my crappie poles to elevate one end if trees are unavailable.
I use a BNC-to-binding post that I purchased at EPO in Houston. While at EPO, I also picked up a small 12V 1.3Ah gel cell battery. The UB-1213 is about 3.8" x 1.7" x 2" and provides adequate power for portable QRP work. If I was going to operate for very long, I may go with a little larger capacity gel cell, but for now this makes a very lightweight and super portable setup that allows me to get one the air quickly. |
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tags: ham_radio qrp kx1 kit
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About two weeks ago I completed construction of my Elecraft KX1 ham radio kit (serial #2182). It wasn't the easiest build I've done, but definitely the most fun. The purchase was funded almost totally by referral bonuses from Dreamhost. When anyone signs up for an account with my referral link I get a kick-back. I had let the bonuses build up over time and eventually had enough to cover the radio, but I digress.
The KX1 is a "trail-friendly", portable CW ham transceiver. There's plenty of other sites that will give you more detailed information about this gem of a radio. I finally got to use mine yesterday for more than a couple of minutes and I must say I totally love it. The receiver is great, the noise floor is low, the filters are tight, and the features are really packed into this tiny radio.
My antenna was a random wire made from speaker wire with one end elevated to 20' using a BnM Black Widow 20' Crappie Pole purchased at Bass Pro Shop in Shreveport, LA. The antenna sloped down to my BLTPlus antenna tuner which tuned the random wire without any problem. I had the tuner hooked into the KX1 with a short piece of BNC cable.
In short order I was copying stations on 7.030Mhz (40m QRP) and trying to copy the faster stations lower down on the band. I had to tighten up the filters because of the sheer number of signals I was able to pull in. I wasn't able to raise any station due to my diminished transmit power. (I was running off of internal AA batteries because my gel cell hadn't been charged in quite some time.) I was also impatient due to the strong wind, fading daylight and biting insects. I'm going to try again later this week and see if I can't finally capture that elusive QRP contact with this fun little radio.
update: I now have the KXAT1 auto tuner installed. |
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tags: qrp ham_radio kx1 kit
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 I just finished builting a Balanced Line Tuner+ kit from QRPKits.com. In layman's terms, it is a "transmatch" for matching an antenna's transmission performance to the transmitter. Wikipedia has a better explanation.
It's a fun little build, not too challenging. I started by cleaning and painting the stock case/enclosure. I used some light sanding to get a brushed aluminum appearance and spray coated clear enamel on the bottom. For the top, I sprayed a black hammered texture paint which turned out looking very nice.
Winding the toroid coils with most QRP projects is perhaps the most tedious, and this kit was no different. I wish the instructions were just a bit more clearly worded. I had to refer to diagrams and pictures of others' projects to be sure I was assembling it properly.
See a picture of the insides here.
It does work nicely. I hope to try it out on my NorCal doublet antenna soon. I have some long crappie (not crappy!) fishing poles that I also hope to use with the doublet for support if I can't find a suitable tree.
After building this, I really can't find any other kits I want to build except for the Rexwood Receiver kit and the almost-famous omg-expensive Elecraft KX1. |
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tags: qrp ham_radio kit
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 After almost a year of procrastination I got around to finishing a Rockmite 20 radio kit. The Rockmite is a single-frequency crystal-controlled ("rock-bound") low-power CW HF radio. Say that 10 times fast!
I bought the kit sometime last year and just never finished building it. I had all of the components soldered in, but I never mounted the board in any enclosure. W5USJ, Chuck, Don, K5DW, gave me a metal enclosure during a North East Texas QRP Club meeting. It wasn't until last Friday that did anything with it. I knew the Rockmite needed a home, and here was a nice case for it. I drilled some holes in the cabinet, more or less eyeballing it. They're not perfectly aligned, but pretty close. So now the little radio is mounted, all of the connectors are soldered in and the radio is functional.
It only puts out about ½W at 14.060MHz, on the 20m amateur radio band, but because I mostly operate during the afternoons, 20m is my favorite band for now. I may need to boost myself up to a "full gallon" QRP and get a 5W amplifier like the one Chuck designed, which I might get from QRPme.
Also on my "to do" list, is to add a PicoKeyer chip to the radio which greatly adds to the experience of using it.
update: I got the PicoKeyer chip installed this afternoon. I love the features it provides. The Memory Keyer is vital for QRP work and the hands-free "Tune" feature is great for field-portable antennas. Most of the other features I don't use, but I still think the chip should be incorporated into the original design. |
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tags: qrp ham_radio kit
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 The University of Tennessee Amateur Radio Club (UTARC) has launched their latest balloon "The Spirit of Knoxville IV". It took flight late last night on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, into Europe, via the swift moving winds of the jet stream.
The team put a computer and GPS on board to transmit the balloon's location and altitude via ham radio. The data stream is sent out via RTTY and CW at ~10.146 MHz. The data is displayed in rather raw format here and in a more presentable flash-based "dashboard" which features a Google Maps fix on the balloon's last reported location.
Quite a few people are monitoring the balloon so the site is a bit slow to load, but to track the little autonomous balloon is pretty neat. Right now, as I write this, it's zipping along at 111mph @ almost 40,000ft out over the Atlantic.
update: The balloon fell short of its European goal. The payload splashed down about 2:00pm CST, 425 miles southwest of County Cork, Ireland. The balloon began losing altitude the night before and never full recoverd. The decent was partly caused by the loss of sunlight heating the gas in the balloon and/or icing on the surface of the balloon. "Grams will make/break you in this business," one UTARC member said. The balloon's exact location was unkown as radio contact was lost at about 1:51pm CST. Better luck next time guys! |
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tags: balloon ham_radio
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When I bought my new house in April, one of the most annoying things I discovered was that I got virtually zero cell service inside the house. The house is down in a valley and thus has no good line-of-sight to any cell towers. Inside the house I'd get 0-1 bar, and outside on the front lawn I'd occasionally get 2.
To try and remedy this situation, I had two choices: get a landline (with yet another phone number and at least $20/mo) or I could go with a "smarter" solution and get a cell repeater/booster. I found this gem after doing some research online: the YX510 dual-band cell repea
So for just over $300 I got this fairly large box containing an 18" external antenna, 35' of high-grade coax cable, and a chunky little box for inside with a little 6" antenna.
I went up on the roof of the house and found that I got 4 bars near the back of the house. So I mounted the external antenna at the top of an 8' 2x4 that I strapped to the side of the house. Then I ran the provided coax around the house into the attic, where I mounted the interior box.
I should note that I took care to put as many physical barriers as possible between the interior and exterior antennas, to prevent feedback loops. In my case, I was able to get 2 sets of shingles and 3 walls in between the antennas.
Finally, I found a good place to plug in the provided wall-wart, then spliced in an extension into the power cable (the provided one was only 4' long). Then I plugged the base unit in, and voila! I now get 4-5 bars all over the house. No more dropped calls, no more "are you there?" when talking to somebody. And I don't need to get a landline.
Highly recommended to anybody that is in a similar situation (bad cell service somewhere but with an easily accessible location nearby with good cell service).
edit: Here are pics of the setup. |
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Since I got my Arrow Antenna, I've been trying to contact all 50 states by satellite (aka Worked All States). I know a few states are going to be tough (if they're even possible). I know Alaska and Hawaii will probably have to be a scheduled contact. Since the pass that will allow us to contact each other will be very low on the horizon. I have been getting about 2 passes a day from the satellite AO-27, one usually to the east then the second passing more to the west. I've been steadily adding states as I hear them. I'm also making contacts via Echo (AO-51) which is very busy on it's nightly passes.
If it weren't for the listing on Heavens Above, I'd prob be lost as to when to listen for a satellite. For those stations that have sent me a QSL card, I will send out a batch as soon as my new ones arrive. The map above is a listing of those states which I've contacted (yellow) and those that I've received a QSL card from (green). |
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tags: ham_radio satellites awards
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This past Thursday afternoon I received my new Arrow Antenna. It's a dual-band (2m/70cm) handheld yagi antenna made from aluminum arrow shafts for making contacts with amateur radio satellites. What? You didn't know there were ham radio satellites? Yep, and there's more than one.
Using Heavens-Above, I can find when each satellite will be making a pass over my location as well as the angle and direction of the approach and apex. About an hour after I got the antenna, AO-27 was making one of its daily passes over me. I made sure everything was in order, set my radio to the right frequencies and walked to the field across from my house. Right off the bat I heard guys in New England talking with guys in Florida. Most everyone on the air was using a handheld with relatively low power (under 5W, which normally isn't enough to even get you across town). After just a few minutes I heard my chance to throw out my call. Right away I had two stations come back to me. First time to ever hear the satellite and I was making a contact on one. Unfortunately I didn't have a free hand to write down his callsign and I forgot it! Oops!
How does it work? Essentially the little satellite takes my signal and rebroadcasts it like a ground-based repeater does, only it's up - way up. Because it's up so high, it can rebroadcast my signal to most of North America. To hear me all the other station has to do is listen on the "downlink" frequency.
Really it doesn't take any special antenna to allow this, it's just this antenna is very efficient and easy to aim at just the right spot. Sometime in the future I'd like to try to make an altazimuth mount to automatically steer the antenna for me, but that's way down the road. For now I'm just looking forward to the next satellite pass! |
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tags: ham_radio antenna satellites
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I've been messing with some scripts lately that fill a couple of online niches for ham radio. Most of the visitors to Neodux might not find them very useful, but I'm linking it here for posterity and to explain to any visitor looking for ham radio information what they can find.
http://n5dux.com/ham/
At the moment I have 3 tools up. First is a script that fetches the number of ham radio licenes issued in a given month and saves the data in an XML file. I then parse the XML files to create a table or graph. (Just nice to know for anyone curious.)
Next is a dynamic image that will create a map for any ham trying for a "Worked All States" award. It colors in states as you check them off your list. (This was one I made a couple of years ago, but I thought it should be included.)
Lastly, I have a notification script. When you take your FCC test, you have to wait for the FCC to post your information in their database. Rather than hunting it down yourself and checking daily for any news, you can put your name on the list to be notified and the script will shoot you an email when your name is posted.
I hope any ham-visitors find them interesting and useful. That is all.
update: I just added a second color to the WAS map. States listed with the verified tag, will turn green. This is to denote the states from which a QSL card has been received. |
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tags: ham_radio website
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 Well, it's taken me a while to make a post about this one. It was a goal of mine after I completed the simple foxhole radio and one I set out to complete over the Christmas break. I decided since the crystal set was the simplest radio to build, what's the next step? The one-tube regenerative circuit was the answer.
Lately I've been reading quite a bit about radio history and have read about the huge leaps in receiver technology with the advent of the "audion" or vacuum tube. A lot of initial growth in radio reception is thanks to this circuit designed by Edwin Armstrong while still a junior in college in the early 1900s.
I scoured the net looking for parts (chiefly the 3S4 tubes) and kept coming back to Borden Radio Company. Rather than drop alot of money on shipping from various sources, I purchased a kit from Borden. It also happens that he doesn't live too terribly far from my parent's so I was able to meet up with the owner/operator, Lance Borden, over the Christmas holiday.
I pieced the kit together in two evenings. The first evening was spent winding the coils and mounting the hardware. The next night was spent meticulously wiring the components as outlined in the directions. (Maybe color coding the wires would have made the instructions a little clearer, but I can't complain.) The radio worked right from the get-go. It's tuned for broadcast AM reception and works like a charm. As you can see in the picture it requires quite a few batteries to power the tube, but it is 100 times louder than the crystal set and much more sensitive. I've heard stations all over the nation on this little set. This evening alone I was able to quickly tune into WWL 870 from New Orleans as well as KOA 850 out of Denver, Colorado.
The controls are finicky and not really what the casual listener would want, but the sensitivity and simplicity makes it worth the effort. Aiding reception is the clear audio produced by the old high-impedence Allied Radio headset that I purchased with the kit. The owner of Borden Radio assured me I wouldn't be disappointed with the headset as it works so much better than the old ear piece I had been using - boy was he right!
So, if you're following my steps through the old style radio setups, this is a step you definitely don't want to skip.
Another shot of the radio is here. (I tried to get a shot of the dim glow of the tubes, but the camera just wasn't able to capture the almost imperceptible light from within the tube.)
Next up: Super-regen? Super-het? FM ? (the passive FM is almost too tempting) |
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tags: radio kit
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 After the success of my last post about my simple razor-blade radio (link here), I began work on making a slinky dipole. I tried to use 2 Slinky Jr. toys which I bought at Walmart for $.88 each. It didn't work as well as I had hoped. After quite a while of the coils sitting on my desk and playing with them, it dawned on me that I could easily use the small Slinkys as the tuning coil for a simple radio. I started to do the math to find the inductance of the coils. I measured 1.5" in diameter, which gave me 4.7" in circumference. I started to count the coils to calculate the open-air coil formula that I had used before. I stopped and thought, why bother? Just try it out!
I stretched the slinky to the length of the board I used on the old razor-blade radio and tacked it down. I made the proper connections, using a diode first. (Ground went to the 3rd prong on a power outlet, the antenna wire and clip was hooked to my 20m ham radio antenna, on my roof) I started with the diode because it is far more efficient than the razor blade, which equates to louder audio in the earpiece.
Right off the bat I was able to hear shortwave broadcast stations! Wilder still was my ability to receive the signal without having the antenna clip attached! I tried various points along the coil, finding I was able to hear certain stations better at different points on the coil. As before, I was able to hear local AM broadcast stations just fine, and various strong shortwave stations with a "shorter tap".
After listening with the diode for a few minutes, once again amazed at the simplicity of the setup, I switched to the razor blade setup I had used in the past and was just able to pull out the same local broadcast signal from before. The key to using the razor blade/saftey pin is using a pencil lead wrapped soldered to the pin. Then ever-so-lightly "fishing" for the sweet spot on the razor that allows the signal to pass. It's also important to note you'll need to be in a fairly quiet environment to hear the signal, but if you listen - it's there.
So now you have no excuse but to find a crystal set earpiece, the coil has been made for you and it'll cost you under a dollar to buy. Alligator clips help, but as you can see, are not 100% necessary. Also note at the top of the picture is the old coil from my last setup. |
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tags: radio kit
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Since I've been here at LeTourneau, I've had the chance to meet a few other ham radio operators. Problem is, none of us can have any substantial antenna setups in order to make many contacts, if any at all.
After speaking with a couple of guys, we decided to reorganize the LeTourneau Univ. Amateur Radio Club (LUARC) and host a special event station. LUARC was more or less disbanded once the old shack was torn down to make way for Glaske Hall.
Since none of us have been able to play on the air very much, our special event will be nothing more than a chance to get on the air and hang out. It just so happens that the day we chose will coincide with the opening of the Texas QSO Party. We will be meeting on top of the birm, in the center of campus. We will be putting up the antennas around 12:00pm on Saturday and operating into the early evening. Everyone is welcome to stop by and check out our setup or operate - no license is required.
If you're on Facebook, you can see our LUARC Special Event page for Facebook. |
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tags: ham_radio txqp
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 I just finished making quite possibly the world's most simple radio. I had read a few HOWTOs for constructing a crystal radio. Some links offered the basic formulas for figuring the specs needed for the coil if you wanted to tune various frequencies. I purchased 3 spools of "Enamel-Coated Magnet Wire" from Radio Shack for ~$5, and picked up a crystal ear piece while at EPO in Houston.
After reading that just about any round object will do for a coil-form, and not having an empty toilet paper tube, I settled on an empty fish food container. It was small, compact, and just the right size - plus with the screw on lid, I can keep the antenna, ground and ear piece inside. I rinsed out the fish food residue, tapped 4 small holes with a drill bit and started wrapping the 22awg copper wire around the bottle. Every 5 turns I would wrap around a toothpick. After wrapping the bottle - which took a while - I ended up using about 30ft. of wire. (FWIW: my coil came out to be about 118uH) The toothpick wraps were then scraped free of the enamel coating to make antenna taps for rough tuning. (how this works) After ensuring there were no shorts along the coil body, I hooked up the 1N34 diode, ear-piece, ground wire and antenna and was greeted with some shortwave radio broadcasts. The first station I heard ID was WWCR out of Nashville, Tennesee, although there are plenty of others I can hear.
The trouble with such a simple receiver (no variable capacitor) is that there is little selectivity and the listener is bombarded by 2 or more stations at once - a mixing of all of the signals within a range of frequencies. To fix it would add complexity, but it's not hard to do.
For my antenna, I just have an 8' wire tacked up to the wall. For my ground, I have an 8' wire precariously plugged into the ground on an electrical outlet (I wouldn't recommend it, but it does work).
In the picture, the toothpick is shown on the coil with the wraps every 5 turns. The green wire is my ground, the black alligator clip goes to my antenna wire (the clip makes it easily movable for tuning), the diode is at the top of the coil, next to the green spool, and then of course the white high-impedence ear piece. Also note that no solder was required, I opted to use springs to connect points, but twisting and taping would have worked just as well.
If you're interested in trying it out, gather the required parts and let me know how yours turns out.
Grendel sez: For my next trick, I hope to swap the diode out for a razor blade and safety pin! The best explanation of how crystal sets work, that I've found so far, is here.
update: 
Success! After trying for an evening, I got the razor blade and saftey pin combo to act as a detector. Here's a picture of the setup.
I used regular straight blades (found by more "modern" blades in the shaving section of most stores) and an ordinary safety pin. After reading about the "blued steel" of the WWII-era blades, I learned that the blue hue of the blade was due to a heating treatment that is done to the blade during manufacturing. I wasn't having any luck with my blade so I gripped the blade with pliers, held it horizontally in a flame until I saw the blue appear on top of the blade. I wiped away the black residue from the flame on the bottom and tacked down the blade.
Next, I got a small piece of lead from an automatic pencil, connected it to the safety pin via a small dab of solder, tacked down the pin and hooked up the radio. (Blade goes to the ground, pin goes to ear piece.) You have to be patient and fish around the blade for the right point but you'll find it.
It also doesn't help that I'm not very close to a strong station, so it took a while longer. I'm sure anyone near a 50,000W AM station won't have much trouble. The signal is very weak, even compared to the diode, so make sure you are getting a decent signal with your diode before attempting this method. (I hooked up my ham radio antenna and got alot stronger signal than the aforementioned 8' wire.)
Tip: Try in the top-center of the blade around the hole in the blade - that's my sweet spot.
I've also found out that florist's wire works just as well and is alot cheaper (and more easily found in stores).
update: To make it even easier try a Slinky! |
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tags: radio kit
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For about the past month or so I've been eyeballing PSK31 for ham radio. It's one of the newest protocols for digital transmissions for ham radio. PSK31 allows radio operators to send text messages back and forth rather than morse code (CW) or speech (phone). It's like chatting without a network connection.
Granted, many of the regular readers on neodux aren't ham operators, but it is a very interesting aspect of radio that begins to border line on hackable projects. In the event you ever wanted to start with PSK31, here's a primer. There are plenty of freeware programs to allow you to decode PSK31. All you need is an HF receiver, a verymodest computer and an 1/8"-to-1/8" stereo cable to hook the radio up to the computer. Install one of the PSK31 programs and you'll see text streaming in from current hams conversing over a whole array of topics. It's amazing that the computer is able to pull intelligable data from amid a whole field of static. I was able to read text from a signal I could barely hear, but could only see on the "waterfall" display. Another cool aspect is the lower power requirements of PSK31. 100W is overkill to work the world! To transmit you might need a slightly more advanced setup than a single wire, but nothing you can't build cheaply or conveniently purchase from plenty of vendors online.
While at the Belton Hamfest, I saw a DB9 model for Yaesu radios, I would've bought it if it would've worked for my Icom 706mkIIg.
update: I've now ordered a USB interface directly from Saratoga Amateur Radio which should be in shortly, and I'll post more on it after I've had time to break it in.
Also for the curious, here are a couple more links about PSK31.
If you really want to know, here is the PSK31 author's primer on how it works. |
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tags: ham_radio psk31
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I just got back from a weekend in Austin that started with the Belton Hamfest in Belton,TX.
I took a few items that I wanted to sell. My AT-100Pro autotuner wasn't exactly what I wanted. The interface was a bit more "clunky" that I would have liked. (I received it as part of my trade for the Icom 706mkIIg.) I also sold the Yaesu FRG-100 receiver, as well as my Yaesu FT-2800 2m mobile that I had in my car, (I bought it almost 2yrs ago at the same hamfest for $95, I sold it for $120!) and a couple of other things.
After selling I went shopping. I bought the LDG Z-100 autotuner which does the same thing as the other tuner, with one antenna and is a bit smaller; and it looks nice atop my radio. I also got the seperation kit for the 706 so I can mount the radio under my seat and have just the control head in view. On my way out I grabbed a few small 2-3W solar panels for $5. The convention center wasn't as full as I'd seen in the past, there were some neat items, but nothing remarkable. I did leave with some good gear and more money in my pocket than I came in with. |
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tags: ham_radio hamfest
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I've finally got back on the air in the HF bands. After over 6 months of not having my radio reach any further than the local 2 meter repeaters (maybe 20mi away max), I finally have an antenna that lets me talk outside the state.
I bought a used Bilal Isotron 40 meter antenna from W6KIP off eham.net. I received the antenna after over a week-and-a-half long trek through the incredibly slow USPS shipping machine. That was on Friday, February 3. I assembled it and began thinking exactly how I wanted to mount it. I finally decided to mount the short "mast" (if you'd call it that) on one of the 3 vent pipes on the roof. I'll post a picture of it soon.
Part of my reason for using Isotron was the small size (only 22" wide). Looking at the antenna, you wouldn't even know it was an antenna, it looks more like a weather vane or birdfeeder. Being on campus, I didn't really want a very conspicuous antenna if I could help it. I haven't quite finished fine tuning the antenna, but I can do that as soon as I get my hands on one of the local ham's antenna analyzer.
I haven't made any contacts on it tonight due to an overwhelming amount of static on the 40-meter band. I've listened to a couple of nets, one on 7.2335 said that this is the worst noise they've had all month - what luck!
Update: Well, it turns out the noise isn't just on the band, although that particular night was particularly bad. It seems that the high level of noise (aka static) that I'm receiving is due to a local area thing. Most likely due to the power lines nearby. If I can pinpoint the source of the interference, the power company is obligated to resolve the harmful interference.
Update #2: It turns out it must be the power lines, I was able to go to the front of campus, shove the antenna in the ground and it received beautifully (for an antenna shoved in the dirt). Now, to find that pesky power line pole.
Update #3: Wow. So I called the power company and, not surprisingly, the service rep didn't have a clue what I was talking about. She tried to tell me that the power company has "the right of way" and that I just had to accept the interference. As politely as I could, I told her I didn't and that it was the power company's responsability to at least investigate the interference. She asked what kinda of amateur radio antenna I had, as if it mattered. She asked if any of my neighbors were experiencing problems on their radio. (wtf?) I told her I'd like to hear back from someone that understands about radio interference and what causes RFI on power lines. We'll see...
Update #4: The power company did send a guy out today. He called before he visited. I told him I'd be in class. After explaining the issue to him, he said he knew where my apartment was, and that if it's the powerlines I described to him, they belong to the university, and not Swepco. I had to get to class, but he said he'd leave me a note on my door. He came out, and it wasn't their powerlines. (I'm pretty sure he was right about the university being in control of the lines in question...) Now, to find the person in charge of the campus powerlines and go about getting them fixed in a way that won't get me evicted. |
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tags: ham_radio isotron antenna
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I just got back from passing my Amateur Extra test. This is the top of the licensing structure, I now have full privileges on the ham bands. It's not quite as big of a step from General to Extra as it was from Technician to General, in terms of privileges. There's just a bit more frequencies I can use now, and it feels good to have climbed the ranks. Granted, there's still plenty that I don't know, and plenty that I'm hungry to know more about.
The Extra test was just a written test (no code test involved), but the content is a bit more in depth and alot more technical than the previous tests. I had only really been studying in earnest, this week (Spring Break). I didn't just beat the snot out of the test, it was a nail-biter, much like my previous Morse test. I could probably do better if I took it again at a later date and studied more - but I passed, that's all that matters, and I'm happy for that. |
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tags: ham_radio license
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edit: I just passed my Amateur Extra class license test!
As most of you know, I got my General class license for ham radio. This allows me to operate on the HF (<50Mhz) bands. These are the bands that are what most people associate with ham radio: talking around the world. I have been logging my contacts in my log book and have decided to start trying for the ARRL Worked All States Award.
As you can see from the map, I have quite a ways to go, but it should prove to be a fun goal. This is only using the 20m band, which is what my dipole was contructed for. The limitation to this is that it is virtually dead at night.
As far as distance goes, I have logged contacts from my apartment with a station in the Cook Islands (in the South Pacific), the island of Trinidad (in the south Carribean) and 2 contacts in Canada (one in BC, the other in SK). At the SFA radio club station, I have logged various states, Canada, England and even Serbia!
While I'm on the subject of ham radio, I attended a "Hamfest" (ham radio swapmeet) this weekend in Orange, TX. I picked up some radio odds and ends, and an Extra Class study manual. I hope to take this test at the end of next month, but more realistically, it will be in the coming months. The Extra Class test (Element 4) is the highest level test for amateur radio, as well as the hardest and most technically challenging. By passing the test, I will be afforded access to certain portions of the spectrum reserved for other Extra class operators. Big whoop, I know.
update: still making contacts... |
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tags: ham_radio awards
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Tonight I passed both the written and code section of the FCC Amateur Radio Licensing tests to gain my General license. I had studied Morse Code off and on for the past few months. I thought I was ready back in December, but failed at that attempt. Tonight I passed, not perfect, but a good showing, nonetheless. I was sure I would walk away defeated once more, but after Army, AE5P, counted up more than 35 characters in a row, I was elated to find out I passed.
I also gave the written portion of the test a try and found out I remembered more of it than I thought - I hadn't studied since December! (...and that was studying with a slightly outdated book!) I passed with a 24/30, not as good as I'd liked to have made, but a passing score is a passing score.
It will take a few weeks for the FCC to process the paperwork to officially grant my General class standing, but in the meantime, I can still operate as a General license holder by appending "/AG" to my call. (I think it stands for Awaiting General)
I was really shocked, I was only expecting to eek by on the Element 1 code test, but, in the end, I got both. Very glad to have accomplished this. |
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tags: ham_radio license
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I had connection problems with Echolink preventing me from joining the website discussion this evening. I would like to use this to voice my opinion.
All the webserver will need is PHP and MySQL (although, any other database platform would suffice). It is also important that we not sink a ton of money into this venture to begin with. As important as the club is to all of us, and any hams we may talk to, the general public is unaware that there is even a hobby called ham radio! In this vein, our server will not generate very much traffic, especially enough for us to take full advantage of even the cheapest hosting packages. We won't have hundereds of visitors per month. The main users of the site will just be the NARC.
If left up to me, I would design something off of the core of the code you see before you right now. I would use the same blogging technique. I am currently experimenting with neodux to see how easily I can incorporate an RSS feed for syndicated news headlines and alerts. This, among other things, will lend value to our site. As I stated, we won't have that many visitors outside of our group, but, for those that do visit us, we want them to leave feeling more informed and with "gee, I wish our club had that" feeling. I envision a utility that aids in operating practices as well as information dissemination. (Especially as it pertains to any activity surrounding Columbia disaster)
I hope this will fill you in on my thoughts about the subject. I ask for patience as we find the best solution for the club and not just amazing deal that turns sour. I would like to ask all members of NARC to be on the lookout for webspace that is...
...ad-free. banner ads distract, annoy, and can tear down our site credibility.
...supports PHP, for quick and easy code-maintenance.
...has at least one MySQL database for our own, private use.
...has ample space. (10Mb minimum, more if we want to host pictures and club newsletters on this server.)
...is non-contractual. We don't want to lock ourselves into a deal in the event it turns south!
...does not cost us an arm-and-a-leg! |
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tags: ham_radio website
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 I just got my new license plates in today. Texas allows amateur radio operators to get license plates with their callsign on them for a whopping $2.
I placed the order in the first couple of weeks of November and got them today.
Some people say that ham plates are the epitome of being a radio geek, maybe so, but when I'm driving and I see call letters on the back of a car, I give a wave and almost always can talk to the other guy on 146.52MHz. It's an interesting way to meet other drivers when you're making a long road trip. It's just something neat to do, and it didn't cost me much of anything. So I like it.
Mackieman sez: I got new plates too, but I opted for customized over my ham callsign. Behold the glory that is OMG BBQ. |
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tags: ham_radio car license
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I found this link from Slashdot, it's an article on how the electromagnetic spectrum is sliced and divided up among controlling parties. It mentions the FCC's latest partitioning of certain frequencies to Nextel. Also mentioned is the 802.11 "open frequencies", and others.
The article gives a bit of insight as to how the current frequency partitioning mindset came to be, and offers alternatives.
A good read for the curious.
...and another take on Spectrum rights and permissions. |
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tags: fcc wifi
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Today is the first ARRL Field Day exercise that I get to will participate in. Slashdot has a post about this too.
Field Day is a chance for ham radio operators to check their ability to contact other stations without making use of commercial power (power company's power). Instead, ham groups band together, use generators and power their radios that way.
Also included in Field Day is a competition between all ham groups. Each group tries to contact as many other ham radio operators as possible, gaining points for the distance, frequency and power level used. Each group logs their contacts and, in the end, sends their log to the ARRL for ranking.
I volunteered to supply the Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club with 4 laptops from my office at SFA to use as "logging stations" with some software the group purchased for this purpose.
"Field Day" continues all day Saturday until Sunday evening, depending on when each group begins making contacts. Check with your local group to find their location and check out their stuff. 73!
update: Field Day was awesome. Got to operate on almost all the General-class HF bands. I reached stations all over the US. (I even made contacts as far away as Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands, in the middle of the day!)
The laptop setup was cool, had some problems, but it worked well overall. 3 logging stations with a 4th setup to monitor a map of the US which shows each region where a contact was made. We ran that to a TV so we had a quick, at-a-glance look at where we were making our contacts. The antenna array setup was also cool. Anytime you need a potato gun to hoist an antenna into a tree, is a good day. |
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tags: ham_radio field_day
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Mackieman and I both passed our Technician Amateur Radio License test today. We're both quite pleased.
After 2 weeks of studying by yours truly, I only missed 2. Mackieman did not fare as well, but still passed, missing 9 (the maximum you may miss without failing!), but he was able to eek by with just 1 week of my tutoring. Haha! We were both laughing all the way out of the grading session. Should be just a few days before each of us get our license call signs.
Thanks to the NARC for administering the test, and thanks to Gordon West, WB6N0A, for his helpful book. |
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tags: ham_radio downtozero license
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I went to Fry's on Friday afternoon with my girlfriend, I picked up a copy of Gordon West's book for studying for the Technician License for Amateur (Ham) Radio from the FCC.
Those of you wondering what Ham Radio is or looking for more information should consult Google. In short, it is "short wave radio communications" or just a more powerful form of CB radio.
The 2m band (144-148MHz) looks to be the first range that I will delve into. I urge you to check out Ham radio, especially the Technician license. 2-meter handhelds can be found on ebay for under $50.
update: I picked up my radio today (April 11). It's a Yaesu FT-10R, 5W output. I bought it from a guy on ebay that lives about 15min from my parent's house. He also threw in a free external antenna. The radio is also modified to reach up to ~175MHz. I test next week. So far, so well.
update #2: ...just installed my DTMF keypad for the radio. Makes frequency navigation much easier. I'm quite pleased, and the install was super-simple. Took me maybe 3 minutes to install. Awesome little radio. |
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tags: ham_radio
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