I made it to YouTube!

So I'm just a few weeks into learning my new Flex 6500. I had sold my old Bencher iambic paddle a few years back when I got the KX3 and its attached keyer. When the Flex arrived, I quickly realized I was missing a paddle except for an old straight key that WA9EIC had given me. My struggles with the straight key are a story for another day. So off to my favorite online swapmeet places...QRZ and QTH.com. I found an ARRL 100 year anniversary Vibroplex! This one only had the serial number engraved and not a callsign, so it was perfect purchase, and a great match with the 6500.

I had played on 40M CW on and off. With the KX3, I'm ashamed to say that I became dependent on the CW decoder. Part of it was my newness to CW, but part of it was that it was so darn easy to use...and pretty darn accurate. With the Flex, there isn't a built-in decoder. You could use any number of digital programs or a skimmer if you wanted. For now, I've sworn those off so I've been back to doing CW decoding the old way...with my head.  With the Flex, 40M CW is joy. You get on, look around, and you can SEE people calling CQ just by watching the regular pattern of their signals.

It was a quiet night at the Brown household, and I was up in the shacking playing with the Vibroplex and the 6500. Up around 7.105 was an interesting signal. It wasn't the purest CQ I'd ever heard, but a nice fist and an interesting chirp. I answered and had a short QSO. I remember it well as the transmitter the ham was using drifted after our second round. The thing went outside my filter....I figured it was QSB, but when I looked up at the panadapter I found him about 500kHz south of where we started! Being new to the Flex, it took me a few seconds to find the RIT. I got him tuned back in and found him on top of another QSO.  I kinda panicked and figured the safest thing to do was tell him he drifted a bit and then sign off  and move to another. No big deal. No harm, no foul!

Well today I get a phone call from my buddy Dennis, KE9UA. Dennis asked if I knew I was on YouTube. What??? Yep, seems that N6TLU had done a video on operating a Lysco 600, and little ole KG9DW was on the other side of his QSO! Well, now I'm famous. Or should I say infamous....

Terry is truly an interesting character, both on the air and in his videos. Here it is, my YouTube CW debut, in a supporting role in "Hammered Ham!"

The day I sold my HF radios

Yesterday I sold all of my HF radios. At this moment, I have zero radios capable of transmitting below 2 meters.

It started off because of an advertisement in QST, and then a visit to AC9S to see his Flex 6700. I became obsessed with SDR, reading everything I could and watching youtube videos of hams around the world. I had to have a panadapter...wait, I need 4 panadapters!

I settled down a bit and got busy with other hobbies for a couple of weeks. A few contacts on PSK31 and CW, and I was back to being hot and heavy on a new radio - and one with all the whiz bang features. So on Friday I emailed Flex Radio with a list of my current HF rigs. Matt got back with me Monday morning with a quote for trading them in that wasn't too far off the used market value. Well rats...time to get serious or drop this fantasy.

A little back and forth, and then a search of the online swapmeets led me to list my radios for sale online Monday night. By Tuesday morning they all were sold! Yikes! I ended up getting 25% more than the trade-in offer by selling myself, even when I took shipping and PayPal fees into account. So Tuesday afternoon while at the gym I took a break and called up Matt at Flex. I placed my order, and a new rig will be headed my way in the coming days. My old radios went out by UPS this afternoon. I'm currently a VHF/UHF only ham!

I'm hearing of hams that are giving up on HF, or even ham radio entirely due to the band conditions. Not me...I'm doubling down on this hobby by consolidating my HF capabilities into a Flex. I'll let you know how that works out!

AREDN Mesh Weather Camera

PTZ HD weather cam on the mesh!

Last week Randy (KD9FGO) and I mounted a pan-tilt-zoom (ptz) camera up on a grain elevator. At 250 feet, the view is great. The purpose of the camera is to be able to watch the weather roll into the area. We do send out weather spottters occasionally, but there are few locations where you get such a great view as from 250 feet above the surrounding terrain! We used a Sunba 1080p HD IP camera, sold for $330 on Amazon. A single shielded CAT5 line runs from the camera to a Power Over Ethernet+ (POE+) injector, and then on to an ethernet switch where the AREDN mesh 5GHz node is connected.

We've added another AREDN node at the fire station (EOC) so that the camera can be viewed from there. And of course, it can be viewed from other nodes on the mesh. Right now, that means at the home of another ham and my shack as well. (Our other mesh sites are un-manned repeater sites.)

The picture above was taken with a cell phone, taking a picture of a laptop at the EOC. The actual picture quality is HD - it is absolutely amazing.

The next step is to add another ptz camera 5 miles north of town at another grain elevator. This site has a better view to the north and north west, while the first site has a great view from south to north west. We are also planning to showcase this solution to a couple of the other area emergency managers. Now that we have a solid mesh backbone established, adding additional sites is as easy as adding a $100 mesh node and a $330 camera. 

A Bug in my ICOM ID-31

I've had my ID-31 for a few years. It has been an excellent handheld for me...a little analog FM and a whole lot of D-Star. But this Spring it developed a bug...not a software bug, an actual bug in the display.

I take the radio along with me around the farm a lot. It seems a pesky ant decided to crawl into the radio and make the display its final resting place. I imagine it crawled in through the speaker holes. I had put up with it for a while, but bugs need to be either outside or connected to a radio (CW bug, hee hee) and not inside a radio.

A screwdriver and some patience and the radio is apart. The bug remains came right out and now my display is clean again. I did break the microSD card that I forgot to remove before popping the case! Doh! Oh well, $5 on Amazon and that problem is solved.

Here's to a bug free summer of ham radio!

Kenwood D-STAR tri-band handheld

Reports from Dayton are that Kenwood has a D-STAR tri-band handheld under glass in the booth, along with colorful brochures. None of my sources are reporting on price or availability, and the documents all show "Tentative". Never the less, this news along with the development going on within the dv4 group are pretty exciting!

Kenwood APRS DStar ! @hamradio360 #hv2016live #dstar @kenwoodhamradio pic.twitter.com/vLNrdATtb4

— KF7IJZ (@KF7IJZ) May 20, 2016

UPDATE: Tom KJ9P on the ground in Dayton reports that the model name and number haven't been published yet, but it should be available by year end with an MSRP between $500 and $700.

I also had a D-STAR conversation with Tony N8NNX as he was walking the floor at Hamvention regarding the dv4mobile product. His inquires came back also with a 2016 availability date and prices between $800 and $1000.

And so far from Dayton...

While I'm not at Dayton, I have been able to follow some of the announcements. Here's a quick list of  the interesting ones so far!

The Elecraft KX2 - a smaller version of the KX3, 80 through 10m and fits in your hand, $750!

The DV4Home and D4Mobile radios - built from the DV4mini adapters, but full function radios. No prices or availability yet, but a great concept. I'll be interested in the reports from the show floor.

I'm not expecting anything big from Icom. Yaesu might announce something in an HF QRP rig, but I'm not that interested (I think they are still covered up trying to get Fusion/WIRES-X going like they want). I would think Flex will have something new to show, and there is still the nagging rumor that Kenwood will do something with a D-STAR radio. Even if you don't make the trek to Dayton, you can certainly find out a lot with a few Google searches or watching the Twitter feed!

#hamvention Tweets

Ham Radio Mesh Networks - fun and fulfilling

Two of the most rewarding aspects of ham radio for me are technical challenges and operational missions. My electrical engineering background has limited use in my day job as a technical leader for a Fortune 50 insurance and financial services company. Tactical missions (events, problems) are also not a part of my regular work as I focus on 6, 12, and 18 month strategies. I’m most content and excited when I can take my love of engineering and apply it to real missions in real life!

K9ECB - Erin - Using AREDN mesh to retrieve weather and soil data.

For me, that’s what the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) is all about. I’ve shared here before about using AREDN’s mesh software to provide access to our D-STAR repeaters. My daughter has also started usingAREDN to gather weather data from a home-brew Arduino weather station located in a corn field away from power and internet. Our local emergency management organization is considering a build-out of the mesh with remote pan-tilt-zoom cameras to be used for weather spotting. This use case provides us the ability to watch approaching storms from the EOC to confirm and augment our spotter teams. And hams in Southern California are working with emergency management teams to provide live video and audio of events.

The concept is to take commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology and re-purpose it into a mesh data network. Unlike my early days of playing with 1200 baud packet on the AMPRNet 44.x network, AREDN is using 2.4, 3, and 5GHz ham allocations with TP-Link and Ubiquiti gear to provide a mesh network with speeds over 100 Mbps.

An omni and point to point AREDN 5GHz mesh site feeding a D-STAR repeater.

For some parts of our hobby, the barrier to entry is price. That’s not the case for AREDN. For under $100 you can have a working node. With some careful purchases from eBay and some bargains from online retailers you can have a fully functioning mesh of 3 nodes for under $200.

When I play with HF, I never know who I’m going to find, what mode I’ll end up using, or if I’ll have a ragchew or a short contact. Mesh networking isn’t like that. It isn’t even like VHF/UHF repeaters. “Meshing” is about setting up some base infrastructure in an area and then using it for specific purposes (like my D-STAR repeater or weather spotting example) or preparing for on-demand deployments (like the Southern California local emergency management use case). There are groups in Tennessee doing large exercises passing incident command system (ICS) messages via Winlink that is self-sustaining on an AREDN mesh. There are those using Raspberry pi voice over IP gateway and IP phones to provide communication between tactical and command teams. And there’s even a group with an HF radio controlled across the mesh providing long distance off-internet communications using an existing station rather than doing a field-day like setup at a command post.

The core AREDN development team is made up of six volunteers. Because the software is open sourced, other assist, modify and customize to meet their needs. Depending on your level of interest, you can code and hack away or you can install the software and just stay in the graphical interface. It’s more than working with computers, as understanding microwave antennas and limitations are important for a successful implementation. Sure, you can plug-and-play two nodes in a hamfest parking lot and have a mesh. The real challenge comes when you want to build a data backbone between multiple sites and provide reliable service to your mission!

There are over 600 hams that have connected and registered on the AREDN.org website to interact with other hams wanting to do similar things. Thousands more have downloaded the software. The AREDN just released version 3.16.1.0 of the firmware bringing with it support for new devices, faster throughput, real-time stats, and other operational management features. More impressive is that the team released a substantial upgrade in December. This team, with help from beta testers and early adopters is on pace to have two major releases each year.

The amateur radio community is quite diverse, both in people and technologies. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with AREDN and with using it for a mission. If your local ham community is interested in a new challenge, especially if you’re looking for a way to get the next generation of hams involved, consider getting involved with mesh networking and AREDN.

Bahamas - sailing and ham radio

My wife and I have an upcoming trip the Bahamas. We'll be meeting our friends Keith and Terri on their live-aboard sailboat. I got a wild thought...I should take the KX3 and end-fed half wave antenna along, and I'll be maritime mobile from the Exumas! I submitted the paperwork via email, and anxiously awaited my callsign. I got a response back really quick from Ms. Linda with the Bahamian government, asking for an additional form to be completed. My credit card was quickly charged the $35 fee. Today I checked with Ms. Linda on the status. I found out that I won't receive my license until AFTER I return from my trip. This is all on me, as I should have planned this out sooner.

There's still a chance that my license will arrive in time, but it's a pretty slim chance. Fingers crossed.

Arduino DTMF Decoder and Relay Controller

Another Arduino project I've been working on is a DTMF decoder used to control a relay board. Using a ham radio receiver, I can switch lights, radios, computers...anything...on or off from miles away. Here's the video:


Here's the wiring diagram. And here's the Arduino code.

I'm using a Sainsmart 4 relay board, although pretty much any relay board would work. You'll also need a MT8870 DTMF decoder - these run about $2 on ebay. And of course, you'll need an Arduino Uno. Again, check out ebay for these as well. The total cost here should be less than $12 and you've got a fully functioning radio controlled DTMF relay controller!

Web Based Repeater Power Controller

This week we installed a new Yaesu Fusion DR-1X repeater at a very nice site in Central Illinois. One of the things I'm a big fan of is controlling supply power via the web. This ability to remotely control the repeater is great - even if the controller goes belly up, you can turn the entire system off or just remotely power cycle it. I've used the Digital Loggers data center type power strips before, but they are a bit expensive - over $100. So for this site, I used the Iot Relay - Enclosed High-power Power Relay for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, PIC or Wifi, Relay Shield also from Digital Loggers. At under $20 from Amazon, it's a great deal. It's a relay connected to four outlets, enclosed in a very nice plastic case. Hooked to a Raspberry Pi, this little box provides me the ability to power cycle or turn off any equipment via the web. How do I get the from the web to the remote repeater site? Well through AREDN ham mesh software running on 5GHz equipment of course!

Since I had an extra Raspberry Pi on the shelf, this quick hack made for a fun project. I'm also going to add a temperature and humidity sensor so that we can monitor the environmental conditions in the repeater building. Here's a short 3 minute video I made explaining the code and the connections. Have fun! Put the Amateur back in Amateur Radio!

D-STAR VHF/UHF Handheld for $299.95

I'm happy to report I've been involved in adding three new hams to our ranks in the past two weeks. I had lunch with one today and we got to talking about radios. He wants to get on the local repeaters right away, and so we started talking about analog versus Fusion versus D-STAR. When we got to the topic of price, I was blown away to find out he had found brand new D-STAR ID-51 VHF/UHF handhelds for $299.95 shipped. It's a long way from a $20 Baofeng, but to have the ability to talk around the world on VHF or UHF for $299.95? That's a pretty good deal.

Internet access into ham radio mesh network

In my continuing work with the ham radio AREDN (amateur radio emergency data network) mesh software, I've come across the need to provide access from the internet to a host located across the mesh. Unfortunately,  the AREDN graphical interface doesn't provide a way to do this.

But don't despair! If you're capable of editing a file on a linux based platform, you can add your own firewall rules on the AREDN node that is connected to the internet to provide this access. On the AREDN mesh gateway you edit the /etc/firewall file and put in either a routing rule or a SNAT/DNAT rule. The difference is whether or not the gateway node will just pass the traffic through or if it will proxy (NAT) the traffic onto the mesh.

I'm working with the AREDN developers to add this functionality to the gui, and I'd expect that to come out later in 2016. In the meantime, if you're interested in making this work drop me an email and I'll send you some instructions! My callsign is KG9DW and I've got an arrl.net address.

Winter update from KG9DW

Welcome to 2016! Lots of big projects are going on here at the radio ranch. My youngest is working on an arduino powered weather station that will be located at the FFA field plot along US51 north of Heyworth. We're going to get the data from the site using the AREDN ham radio mesh software. It's a real cool project, and my daughter is doing a great job with the programming.

I finally got all of my coax run into the shack in a decent fashion, and I've got coax switches in place to be able to toggle between the two hf rigs and the two hf antennas. My next antenna will either be an hf beam, or I'm putting up a sky loop. Or maybe another windom positioned north to south. Who knows!

I played with the Yaesu Wires-X software and an HRI-200 box this past week. I hooked it to a Motorola CDM-1550 mobile radio. I really like these Motorola radios - great receive, easy to interface, and just all around bullet-proof. These are the same radios I've used for two D-STAR repeaters...hard to beat. Anyway, I've got the Wires-X setup on a UHF simplex channel linked into the Central Illinois room. Wires achieves the same as a D-STAR reflector, just done a different way. I'm running Wires in analog mode, and so my analog audio is digitized at my computer and sent on to the server running the room. From there it goes to whoever else is joined into the room. If someone is running Wires in digital mode, the audio comes out digital. If you're running analog, it comes out analog. I'm not sure if I'm going to hook this into our Heyworth analog machine, or if I'm just going to keep it as a simple simplex node (a hotspot in D-STAR speak).

We've got a DR-1X repeater coming to Heyworth to replace the Kenwood TKR-820 the club has up on the elevator. The big benefit for us will be to replace the old Kenwood that sometimes has problems in warm weather, along with getting rid of a crazy long squelch crash. The new repeater arrives on Tuesday, and I'll let it burn in for a few weeks (or months depending on the weather) before it goes up on top of the elevator.

That's it for now...have a great year everyone!

I found a fox!

I found a fox! No, not a real fox...a QRP fox! I took a break from watching the Packers get whooped by the Lions, and ran up to the shack for a bit of relaxing. I turned on the KX3, and it was still tuned to 3.550 CW. Right away came N0UR calling CQ FOX. I haven't participated in the fox hunts before, but hey, this had to be destiny! Jim in MN picked me up right away...first call! He did have to ask for my power (5W) as in the excitement I forgot to send it!

Thanks Jim for the hunt! If you're interested in giving QRP a try, and you like a bit of a challenge, check out the QRP Fox Hunt page.

Cold enough for antenna work

My last big project before winter was getting a wire antenna up for 160m. My HF antenna has been a Carolina Windom up 40' or so, hung below the trees. It has been a fabulous antenna for me, allowing contacts all around the world. But lo, it does not work well down at 160m. The HF gurus in my area continued to remind me that I needed to get down on 160...so that project finally bubbled to the top of the list. I would have a two HF antenna QTH!

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

My buddy Shannon took his first amateur radio licensing test last Tuesday. We spent weeks trying to find him an exam session, jumping from club to club. We successfully found a VE session 50 miles from him. He passed both the Tech and General exams with flying colors! The VEs told him it would take 7 to 10 days before the FCC would post his license on their website. That was surprising to me, as I had seen the W5YI group get me a club call in two days within the last year. Oh well, technology does change and sometimes not for the better.

And then, 7 days later, Shannon sends me this link this morning: FCC not processing test results

What bum luck he has! Hopefully the fine folks in IT will get the problem solved quickly. A new ham awaits his call!

The long drive

I'll readily admit that I don't mind driving. I've been fortunate to own some pretty nice vehicles. My latest is a Ford F150 that has my Diamond VHF/UHF antenna mounted at the back of the the bed and my ICOM 2820 D-STAR radio nicely tucked into the console. When an impromptu trip came up Tuesday, instead of taking the ultra fuel efficient Honda, I took the truck. The ride is so much more comfortable, I enjoy riding up higher on the road, and of course the radio is much better than any temporary installation I can swing into the Honda.

It's around 9pm and no one is around on the repeaters. This isn't a route I travel very often so maybe I'm not on the active repeaters. I tuned over to 146.52 simplex. A quick call (not a long winded CQ) returns no takers. So wait a few minutes and try again. Just a simple call..."KG9DW mobile on I-39 southbound, listening on 52". And back comes a fine OM - WA9CEG, John in LaSalle. I'm about 20 miles north of LaSalle, so I know John has a fine station. Even in the flat lands of Illinois, working a mobile station 20 miles away does require more than a Ringo Ranger on a 10 foot pole.

Even at highway speeds, our QSO lasted a good 30 minutes. We talked about what we do (or in John's case did) for a living, family, radio, the weather...everything except for medical history! John worked in a steel mill and then owned an ice cream shop before retiring. His 6 kids were spread out about the area, with one living about 10 miles from my home QTH. We spoke of friends, common areas we've traveled, and then of happiness. We talked about things John was proud of, and the impacts he has had on others.

Talking with such a fine man, it was hard not to remember my own grandfather who died last year. The voice was similar, and so were some of the stories and advice. It was even harder not to think of my friend Fred Slayback who passed away earlier in the day after a long health struggle. As I as headed further south, I said my 73s before I ran out of range. John was still running a strong S5 signal as I fell over the hill for the flat run into McLean county. I hope to meet John on the air again someday, but if I don't I'll certainly remember our QSO on a rainy fall night in Illinois.

They say that it's all about the journey and not the destination. Likewise, in ham radio it isn't about the radio or antenna; it isn't about the mode or technology. It's about the conversations.

Setting a Baofeng on FIRE!

I came across this video through the qrz.com forums. K5CLC did some extreme testing of a Baofeng UV-5R, including setting it on FIRE! The results are interesting. Skip to 2:57 to see the flames. I really like my Baofeng HT...not as my primary radio but as the one that is with me when I'm working on the farm, tinkering in the barn, or anytime I'm likely to have dirty hands.

The builder bug

It looks like I'm coming down with another case of the "builder bug". That's what I call it when I get the urge to make stuff. For the last couple of years, I've been content playing with digital repeaters I've cobbled together, or wiring up a TNC for a Raspberry pi in recent months. But now, I'm looking at Arduinos. These boards are a little lower level than the full-blown Linux system I've come to love with the pi. The Arduinos have incredible potential because of their simplicity. With very lower power consumption, and nearly instant power up, I can see many uses for these wonders of the 21st century. My youngest daughter is working on a project to provide weather data from the high school's crop test plot 4 miles away. That led us to looking at building a weather station from scratch, which led to Arduinos, which then led to...well you get the point. I've now found at least four other projects that I could accomplish with these little microcontrollers. I placed an order for an $4 UNO last night. Let the fun begin!

Project updates

The last few weeks have been very productive on the ham radio front! I cleaned up the coax routing for my Icom 2820 I had installed in the new pickup. While it was only slightly messy, the extra tie wraps and cable management make me feel better. I also installed a GPS puck antenna so the 2820 now shows my position on every D-STAR transmission I make. I had this setup with the 880 in the previous truck, but never had this setup on the 2820. It was very simple - plug in the antenna, change a few settings, and you're good to go. I used a $10 antenna from Amazon.

I moved the antenna for my FlightRadar24.com ADS-B feed radio to a higher location at the end of the pole barn. This required also moving the ubiquiti 2GHz data radio I use to provide internet access to the radio. Luckily I had enough spare mast clamps and hardware to turn this into a nice afternoon project.

At the WX9WX D-STAR homebrew repeater site, the building owner called and wanted our AREDN mesh antenna moved a bit higher. The initial request was for the antenna to be low enough that it couldn't be seen from the road. Now we needed to move it higher so that workers on the roof wouldn't be at eye level with the transmitter. Having worked in the corporate world for quite some time, changing requirements or expectations is something I'm used to. So up to the roof we went, and up another 6 feet went the antenna!

This week Tom KJ9P and I moved the repeater to its newly coordinated frequency. Changing the frequencies on the Motorola radios was a piece of cake thanks to software and a laptop. Re-tuning the duplexer at the site was more of a challenge. I've tuned quite a few duplexers in the last three years, but never one at a site. I found that without a portable signal generator that could go down in the microvolts, it was difficult to do the precise tuning I normally do on the bench. Luckily a quick phone call to Fred KC9REG, who was 27 miles away, resulted in an EXCELLENT weak signal for final testing!

The next projects involve cleaning up the shack. Does anyone ever finish cleaning up the shack? Maybe I should lower my expectations. Finally, I must get an antenna up for 160m before the winter. Plans for a skywire loop are underway. Now to find 600' of 12 gauge wire and some ladder line...