Apollo 11 Anniversary in Real Time

Relive the Apollo 11 landing in real time, it's as if you're in Mission Control in Houston:

https://www.firstmenonthemoon.com

How many???

How many ham operators does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

• 1 to install the bulb...
• 1 telling them they're using the wrong bulb...
• 1 telling them they've installed bulbs for 35+ years and that he knows how to properly install one and that the installer's doing it right...
• 3 to commandeer the group conversation to discuss a completely different topic (e.g. body aches/pains)...
• 1 to post on Facebook about how frustrating it is to listen to all the garbage in the house over a stupid bulb...
• 7 to come into the group just to say they're "listening" then back away...
• 1 to question whether the installer has the right license class for the wattage of the bulb being installed...
• 1 to casually throw in the fact that you only need a 10w bulb to see most things in the house...
• 1 who is a Brand X bulb mark and has all the products made by that company...
• 1 who worked for the light bulb company telling you how great that bulb is...
• 1 who hasn't worked for the Brand X light bulb company (or any light bulb company for that matter) to tell you why Brand Y is still better...
• 1 to compare Brand X and Brand Y and brag that their Chinese bulb does the same job for less money...
• 1 who is the house owner and jumps in there to tell everyone to play nice or he'll shut off the power to the house so that no one gets to use their light bulbs PERIOD...

• And 1 to announce to the entire house that there will be an ARES net in 5 minutes and clear the house so that they can use it.

If you've been in ham radio for any length of time you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Has it been a year already?

Sometimes it's easier to SAY you're going to update your blog than it is to actually UPDATE your blog...

A lot has happened since I last posted. Most of it in the last 5 days. Here's the ham radio side of things:

Because of a drought, the city of Gatlinburg suffered major wildfire damage last Monday and citizens and business owners/employees have yet to be allowed back in. As of now, 10 people have died and several are still missing.

You can listen to a portion of the net I helped call here:

The following night, an EF-2 tornado hit McMinn County and did damage to several buildings. 2 fatalities were reported and several were injured.

I called nets on both of these nights. Already riding on very little sleep following the disastrous Chimney Tops 2 fire, I called the SKYWARN net that was needed for several severe storms that hit the region the night after the Gatlinburg Firestorm. We tried a few new concepts and they seem to be working out well.

In other news, I've revamped the East Tennessee SKYWARN site and We've rebooted This Week in Amateur Radio.

And in yet more SKYWARN news, it's that time again for SKYWARN Recognition Day this weekend. It runs from 7PM ET Friday to 7PM ET Saturday (0000z-2400z).

I've been running full steam this whole week, so I'm pretty drained. I promise to elaborate on all of this at a later time this weekend.

On a personal front, I left my previous job of 13 years and have taken on a new job at Scripps Networks Interactive. I've been blessed with an amazing career opportunity and so far, I am (hopefully) making the best of my new career.

Again, not much time to devote for now, but I will update this weekend. Hopefully I will have some time to devote to this on a regular basis. 

SKYWARN Recognition Day 2015 is TONIGHT!!!

Just a quick reminder that tonight after about 9PM, I should be at the National Weather Service participating in SKYWARN Recognition Day. 

It's an annual event where the local NWS bureaus have ham stations set up to make contacts on HF, VHF, UHF, repeaters, APRS, you-name-it. 

This year, I'm taking my DMR radio to work up a few digital contacts if possible. I got permission from the folks at Vol-Net to use their system, so hopefully we'll be able to make it work.

I'll attempt to tweet out my frequency as I go along (@k4hsm). Sometimes I'll be scanning around, other times I may call CQ on a dead frequency. I typically get on repeaters more than HF, but that changes based on band conditions.

So do be looking for me tonight. SKYWARN Recognition Day goes for 24 hours from 7PM-7PM ET (0000-2400Z) so if I'm not around, be listening for WX4MRX all day, because someone should be there!

My Tennessee QSO party activity (or what should've been!)

Well, I *WAS* supposed to participate mobile during the Tennessee QSO Party this past Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, the stars bounced out of alignment and a number of things conspired to prevent my quest from being fulfilled.

Just after work on Friday, I felt an "itch" in the back of my throat, which became the late summer cold I've been contending with all weekend long and still am fighting off. I was awake most every night trying to sleep, and too tired to stay awake during the day. But couldn't rest because my throat felt like it hot coals were embedded in my larynx and lying down made it worse.

Needless to say, talking hurt and not talking made the pain only more noticeable.

Fast-forward to Sunday morning. I got a text at 9am asking when I would be heading up to Morristown to meet my friend Jim to operate mobile. I texted back that I was recovering from a cold but I was getting better and wanted to get up and get mobile.

However, Jim couldn't have me around because...well...I was sick!!! The reasons are many but they made sense and I was extremely bummed out, because we'd been planning this for months. All gone to hell in a handbasket.

I eventually got out of bed and got on the radio and tried calling "CQ TNQP" on PSK31, and was met with about as much enthusiasm as a fox in a chicken coop. I finally made one contact after putting myself on the DX Cluster, basically announcing that I'm out there if anyone cared. Another station tried to reach out to me, but it was in the middle of a sneezing fit and when I finally took care of it they were gone.

I did get on voice - albeit unenthusiastic - and called CQ and worked several here and there on 40 meters, which seemed to be the main band to work on this day. But most all the bands were dead until late in the afternoon heading into the evening. Someone even put me out on the cluster and I became a hotspot right as my throat began to feel the effects of talking over several hours. Perfect timing, again!

Overall, I made just under 100 contacts. It wasn't my greatest showing. But I probably would have had way better success had I not gotten sick to begin with...

It seems I have a history of this happening when contest time appears, no matter which I want to work. One Field Day event we did at Melton Hill Dam, the day it took place, my voice was lost due to allergies, and I pinched a nerve in my shoulder blade area and moving my neck hurt tremendously. But, I had to stay because the group was using my callsign (I was the only extra class licensee at the time) and I had to stay in order to allow us to use the full allotment of bands to operate. To make matters worse, I checked into the Tennessee Phone Net to relay some bonus points (no one else apparently wanted to help!!!) and they couldn't hear me...BECAUSE I HAD NO VOICE!!! Imagine both my frustration as well as the receiving station trying to hear me, as well as all the other stations (im)patiently waiting their turn...

There's always next year, I suppose.

ULS Still Down (to the surprise of nobody familiar with government)

In case you weren't aware, the FCC took down the ULS site for upgrades and it was expected to be offline for the extended labor day weekend, but, since this is the federal government we're talking about, it turned out about as well as you would expect.

From the ARRL:

“Over Labor Day weekend, a dedicated FCC team worked day and night to complete major IT upgrades,” the FCC’s Chief Information Officer David A. Bray, said in a statement. “This work included physically moving more than 200 different legacy servers out of FCC's headquarters to a commercial service provider.” This move — a cost-saving measure, Bray explained — ran into trouble when it was determined that additional cabling was needed to complete the transition. “Unfortunately, this delayed completion of all of the system upgrades — even with the FCC team working around the clock throughout the holiday weekend,” Bray explained.

For now, attempts to log in to the ULS to look up callsigns (or apply for a vanity callsign for free!) is met with "page cannot be displayed" errors or a continuous "loading" action which will eventually time out.

It should be back online today, but I'm not holding my breath for it.

Only time will tell.

Tennessee QSO Party this Sunday SUNDAY SUNDAY!!!!

It's that time of year, again, the Tennessee QSO Party is about to happen, and this year I'm going to be doing it a bit different.

Most times I've operated from home during the party, however this year, I'm tagging along with a couple of friends and we're going to go mobile, operating along county lines to work stations and hopefully make a lot of contacts and points. We'll be using my callsign (K4HSM) during the event.

Jim, N4UHZ, Chuck, K4KKH, and I are going to hit the road in Jim's truck and gallivant across upper East Tennessee to make as many contacts as possible in the course of the 9 hours that the contest is active (Sunday, September 6, 2-11PM Eastern Time, or 1800z Sunday, September 6 until 0300z Monday, September 7, 2015) enjoying the views and the camaraderie as we trek across a few of the highways and by-ways of Tennessee.

I will be trying to update our progress via Twitter (@k4hsm) and I hope we'll be talking to you on the air!

The rules and such are here.

We'll try to operate from Hamblen, Grainger, Hancock, Claiborne, and Hawkins counties, and perhaps Greene, Jefferson, and Knox if there's time. We'll be mainly on voice but if we can get digital to work (PSK31) we may get that going as well. Jim's got D-Star but we're not sure how it will work, since no repeater QSO's are allowed.

Wish us luck!

US-based BridgeCom producing sub-$100 220 MHz HT

These days there are a lot of handy-talkies (HTs) being produced from China that are selling like crazy because in part they are so inexpensive. It caters to the amateur radio operator on a budget. I myself own 4 and purchased 8 for some kids in my daughter's school radio club for when some of the students get their license.

I find it rather ironic that 20 years ago, a lot of the "old timers" in ham radio were saying that the expense of the hobby was going to kill ham radio, how $200 HT's and $300 mobiles and $500 HF rigs were going to suck the life out of the hobby and that it was going to deter new hams from coming in.

Now, those exact same hams are complaining that these "cheap Chinese radios" are going to be the downfall of the hobby, allowing any Tom, Dick, and Harry to get on the air and cause chaos and havoc. So which is it, "expensive and a deterrent", or "cheap and all-inclusive"?

It does seem like the VHF and UHF bands are growing with new hams getting the Baofengs/Pofungs, Wouxuns, Anytones, TYTs and Jetstreams...but to me, if it keeps the bands active and encourages new hams, and especially young hams, into getting on the air, then let them have at it. To me at least, there's not a difference in quality of the signal (although programming the radios can be a bear without the cable and software). Typically, as long as you're not talking about what kind of radio you are using, then it doesn't matter what kind of radio you're on, does it? Ignorance often is bliss.

The big reason I bought the Wouxun KG-UV2D was the fact that it had 220 MHz (1.25 meter) capability. Until then, getting a 220 MHz radio was an expensive endeavor. I had not seen a 220 MHz radio selling for less than $200. And it seemed that the older the radio, the more "valuable" it was to the seller. 

BridgeCom BCH-220

I have 2 of the Wouxuns and the biggest reason was that they offered 2m/220 dual band capability and at about $105 it was too good to pass up. Unfortunately 220 MHz is still a bit quiet. 

Chances are the reason for the animosity about the "cheap radios" from some is the fact that they are made in China. While that can be a point of contention for some, the fact is that these radios are out there, people are buying them - and using them - and it's not really affected the bottom line of the heavyweights such as ICOM, Yaesu, and Kenwood, at least not as far as I can tell.

However, if you're interested in getting on 1.25 meters, and don't have a lot of cash to spare, and are really trying to keep in tune with "Made in the USA", then BridgeCom out of Missouri may just have the radio for you.

Due to be released in September, the BCH-220 is a single-band portable radio that should hopefully satisfy the ham who wants to get on 220 MHz on a budget, yet not have to "lower themselves" to purchasing from outside of the US. Current selling price is $80.

Although it appears to be just a monoband radio, it has 199 memories, tactile buttons to press, 2/5W power output, is durable and easy to carry, weighing 230 grams, or just over a 1/2 lb.

Below is a video from BridgeCom VP Tim King describing the radio.

This may be my next 220 radio!

SSTV from the ISS

Apollo-Soyuz: July 17-19, 1975

So the ISS is doing a special event this weekend commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz linkup by sending some slow-scan television (SSTV) images earthward to stations on the ground who can pick up their signal on 145.800 FM.

I've never done SSTV before (sending or receiving) and didn't know much about it. I checked with some stations online and found a couple of sites with information about past SSTV events from the space station, so I configured my SSTV program (MMSSTV) to the settings necessary and waited.

...and waited.

......aaaaand waited...

The first time I listened, I could hear a dead carrier, but no SSTV signals coming through. They had a decent pass over my house so I checked my antennas on two radios and heard nothing but dead carrier with occasional static. It was 7:30 Saturday morning and I was missing the McMinn County Hamfest already...

Sunday morning at about 1:30am I waited for another pass and didn't realize until it was close to the pass that it was a low pass, just barely over the horizon. However, I did hear a brief amount of flutter indicating that the ISS was now sending SSTV. I waited for the next pass at about 3:30 in the morning, and when the pass started, I didn't hear anything, and wondered if they shut the station down. But then, I heard a booming bunch of chirps and beeps and whistles and hit the receive button on my software, and here came my first SSTV image ever, and it's coming from...

And this is the image I received, unfiltered:

When I corrected the "slant effect" this is what I got:

The lines across the screen are from static noise where the ISS was flying overhead and the antenna either was obstructed by something here on the ground (trees in my yard) or perhaps another segment of the station itself, such as the solar wings. Still, I'm pretty impressed with the image I received and am happy I was able to get something direct from the station itself, rather than rely on the internet.

The US passes for overnight Monday morning may be promising, but I have to get some sleep for work Monday morning. In any case, one is a great start.

For other images other hams have downloaded, check out the ISS Fan Club page for more information.

New URL for this blog: K4HSM.com

Just an FYI, I've finally took the plunge and reserved K4HSM.com to be used for this weblog. At least for now. I've considered revamping into a completely different website but that's a long ways off at this time.

KHAOS.net still works, it will simply forward to this page. The old hyperlinks for previous articles will not work, however!!! Please update links to previous articles.

I may sell off KHAOS.net since I have no real use for it and the plans I had for it are not going to happen. If you're interested in it, please let me know.

Having a blast on Digital

ICOM 706 with Signalink USB for Digital

When I went to the Dayton Hamvention last month, one of the goals I set for myself was to try a new mode of communication. All my time as a ham (with the exception of APRS a few years ago) the majority has been on voice. I've dabbled in CW and PSK31 but typically on other people's equipment, and they were the operators.

I've not been able to do much in the last few years on other modes. The last 3 years I haven't had an HF antenna because we had hail damage to the roof from a thunderstorm a few months prior and when it came time to replace the roof I took the G5RV antenna down, and never put it back up. I wasn't impressed with this particular G5RV I had anyways. I've owned them before and had good success, but this particular one has been trouble. I couldn't get a good signal on 10 meters, and several of the bands were "tunable" but I wasn't getting out to places I should have been able to reach. I figured I would get a new dipole up SOMEDAY...

Last February I finally got a dipole. 20 meter double bazooka to be exact. I've heard mixed reviews but decided to try it out and see how good/bad it was. Well, I finally got it up after a few days but it wasn't in the most optimal spot. It was barely 15 feet above the ground and was hooked up to my 6m dipole's support wire, which caused it to sag. To add insult to injury, my luck on 20 meters was no where to be found. I figured I'd wasted my money.

Fast forward to last month, when Dayton rolled around. I invested in an off-center fed (OCF) Windom (often referred to as a "Carolina Windom") that covers 80 meters through 6 meters and also invest in a Signalink USB sound card. The Signalink connects between the computer and the radio and converts text to digital encoded signals that are then sent to the transceiver and out onto the airwaves. It is then picked up by the receiving station, to then decode the message and convert it back to readable text. Sort of like an ultra-slow-speed modem. The Signalink is simply an external sound card, but rather than try to rig up cables from your computer to the radio, the Signalink takes the leg work out of it, and is pretty much universal (given you use the same radio) to any computer.

About a week after I returned from Dayton, I put together the Signalink. All I had to do was open the case and rig up the jumper wires on the circuit board, which took about 10 minutes. Once I got it set up I then installed the drivers onto the computer, which took about 20 minutes due to the computer being an XP artifact. I installed DigiPan for use on PSK31 since it was highly recommended (and freeware) and after rebooting, and some trial and error I was able to get the computer to make my ICOM 706 transmit. I tuned up the double bazooka dipole and listened on 14.07015 for any incoming signals. Almost immediately my screen lit up with activity. 

DigiPan screenshot. "Waterfall" of signals at bottom.

The bottom of the screen shows a "waterfall" that is a visual representation of the signals coming in to the radio on that frequency. Imagine if you were to key up and use your voice on 14.07015 (and just so you know, you're not supposed to use voice on that frequency, only digital or morse code) your signal would take up the entire swath of the "waterfall" that's on the screen. With PSK31, several conversations (QSOs) can be conducted at the exact same time, and all you have to do is move your mouse pointer to the line on the waterfall that you want to look at, and the program will start to show you that specific conversation in a separate pane.

I began setting up my "macros" or pre-set messages, with my call, location, grid square, and other useful information. After a few minutes of hammering out my messages, I looked on the screen and found a station that I wanted to try contacting since their signal was pretty strong on my waterfall.One nice feature about the DigiPan is that when a CQ is called, it gets highlighted on the pane that shows all the detected QSO's going on, so that you can select the conversation you want to try and get involved with.

I replied to a CQ made by N5SLY in Sherman, TX. I wasn't sure if I should be jumping in to things rather quickly. I have used PSK31 before, at Field Day events and at a friend's house, but this was my first true test of communicating with my own equipment and I wondered if I was entering the wrong protocols, verbiage, information, etc. Was I going to get chewed out for typing out the wrong information? Was I typing fast enough? As I entered the deep end of the pool, I had second thoughts, but they were quickly removed after Leland replied back with a very nice QSO. 

Over the next 90 minutes I managed to get 4 other QSO's in the log books and found out quickly that the old paper log book is going the way of the dodo. Most everyone I was talking with, or seeing on PSK31 was using some means of electronic QSO confirming that didn't involve QSL cards. Call me old-fashioned, but the thrill of getting a postcard in the mail from another city, state, country, or continent makes me happier than something that appears on a computer screen I can print out anytime. Yes, it's less expensive, but the act of getting something physical in the mail is something I always preferred.

Over the next 3 weeks, I have managed to put together about 70 QSO's off and on when I have time for PSK31 including 25 countries. I then decided to up the ante and try PSK63. Basically PSK31 at double the speed, but with more susceptibility for errors. I managed to make 2 contacts so far, but it doesn't seem to have the allure of it's slower counterpart.

As I was exploring the capabilities of my Signalink I started studying up on JT65. My friend Jim was encouraging me to get in on it but I had never heard of it until recently. Basically, you take the fewest characters on the slowest baud rate imaginable and send out your JT65 signal in synch with everyone else. The transmission starts at the top of every minute and lasts for about 50 seconds. There's a 10 second pause to allow for the software to decode the signal. Then, you spend the next minute in "Receive" mode, listening and decoding any incoming signals. If everything goes as planned, you can have a successful QSO in 7-8 minutes.

JT65-HF screenshot

What's amazing is that, like PSK31, it takes up little bandwidth, can decipher several signals at once, and can even break each signal down with their signal strength in to your radio. The recommended software is JT65-HF and like DigiPan is free to use.

The transmissions are extremely brief, yet the QSO's are long. Twitter, for example, limits you to 140 characters per "tweet". In freeform (where you type whatever you want), you're limited to 13 characters. That's "thirteen". As is, after twelve, before fourteen. Pretty much everything else is pre-formed based on the buttons you select as the QSO goes along. 

You do not send the standard signal report. There's no"5/9/9" here. The signal report is based off the software's reception of your signal from the radio, measured in decibels, or dB. -.01dB is the loudest signal, with about a -24dB being the weakest copyable signal. I was able to copy Russia with a -22 dB signal and the Czech Republic with a -21dB. The weakest I've been heard is -17dB.

It takes 50 seconds to send these few characters and the other information used by the software out. And you thought 14.4 modems were slow!

And if you want to know what JT65 sounds like, tune in to 14.07615 and listen at the top of every minute. It's almost like WWV. You hear a lot of tones at the start of the next minute, which continues for 50 seconds, then a silence for 10 seconds before the cycle restarts. The tones sounds like an ice cream truck with it's music on dying AA batteries, or if the Beatles tried to play Helter Skelter through a calliope. It's eerie but funny at the same time.

My first JT65 attempt wasn't a success. For 20 minutes I called CQ and got no responses, then tried to answer some CQ's with the same lack of success. I re-arranged my Double Bazooka antenna away from the side of the house and higher up. Then this past Friday night I decided to try again. I went to the JT65 frequency on 20 meters and listened for a few minutes. I saw a DX call appear on my screen and decided, "what the hell" and called to the station. It was ZL3HAM. And they answered me back! I thought it couldn't possibly be the country I thought it was, but I then looked him up in QRZ and lo and behold, it was indeed NEW ZEALAND! My first JT65 contact is on the opposite side of the globe!!!

How I visualize at JT65 transmission

Already in less than 4 days, I've racked up 14 QSO's with off-and-on time on the radio. In fact, 9 of them were done while I typed out this post! It's definitely a good use of time while transmitting a message.

So, if you're in the market for a new adventure in ham radio, why not give PSK31 and JT65 a try? Invest in a Signalink USB and get started right away. PSK31/63 and JT65 are just the beginning. Perhaps SSTV or some other mode is in my future?

As for the 80-6m Windom, I'm planning on putting it up within the next two weeks to try more bands, and hopefully get back on 10 meters. I did renew my 10-10 membership while at Dayton, so I'd better be putting it to good use, I suppose...