As promised in the post I updated thursday, here is an update on my NPOTA Mobile-in-Motion operation - which included PSK31!  On Thursday as we wrapped up our family vacation, and we struck out towards the South Entrance of Shenandoah National Park.  My YL lovingly agreed to drive while I played radio from the passenger seat of the car.  
     I learned/experienced a couple things during this operation.  Before I started I thought I'd be able to make tons of contacts, with the thought that I'd essentially be driving along a mountain ridge, with lots of elevation to help out my signal.  As it turns out, I struggled to net a total of 21 contacts - with a lot of very weak signal reports.  The first thing I hadn't really considered, is that Skyline Drive, which we traveled, swings back and forth from one side of the ridge to other, so that motorists can get views of all directions.  
     For radio, this means that within a very short time periods (sometimes within 2 minutes) I would go from having a great signal path in a certain direction, to having it being completely blocked as we rounded a peak, to having it come booming back in again.  On the FM repeaters we use the term picket fencing.  Living in Lancaster County, we call the visual equivalent of this "corn flash", which you experience when driving past a cornfield when the sun is low in the sky.  Maybe I just discovered a new phenomenon - "Mountain RF Flash" (although those that live in these regions are probably used to it, and already have a term for it...)
     Even with those conditions, I was able to get 16 voice contacts fairly quickly, so that I could switch over to what I will claim is a first for NPOTA (until proven wrong by someone else..) PSK31 in Motion!  As it turns out, digital modes fought me even more that day than voice did, but I managed to find 5 contacts before bagging it for the day.  To be honest, I stopped operating a little before we hit the top of Skyline Drive, because we made a diversion to Luray Caverns so that our daughter could check out the caves.  When I shut down prior to leaving the park to head over to Luray, I told my wife I'd drive the rest of the way home when we were done.  (To be honest, staring at a computer screen while mobile was starting to give me a headache anyway!)

     I snapped a handful of pictures during the excitement.  Be sure to check out the captions for the pictures as they give some additional details!

Let me know what you think!

    This is my plea - please stop blaming new hams when you hear bad behavior on the air!  
     I got into ham radio mainly because I am interested in technology, and I love to talk to other people - I'm one of those people that is quick to strike up a conversation when a group of strangers is gathered in one place.  I knew about ham radio from my father talking about it - he wasn't active when I was a child, but at one point he had a license.  From time to time he would mention it, and that was enough to intrigue me.  As a kid I also built several different radio kits, so I heard some of the hams chatting when tuning around with my little shortwave receiver.
     When I decided to have a go at getting licensed, I studied using the ARRL manuals, mainly because at first glance they really talked about the "stuff" instead of just drilling through questions and answers.  I've never been good at just memorizing facts - I'm just wired in a way that it is easier to learn a theory, methods, etc. and then apply them.  The ARRL manuals were great for this because I was able to read about the theory behind each question, which really helped make the concepts stick.  This made testing much easier for me than memorizing answers.
     I am aware that with an open question pool, just memorizing questions is very doable, but even in that case - so what!  I am of the opinion that if someone takes the time to memorize hundreds of questions, they really want to be in ham radio, and will learn more of the "stuff" as they go, which is what it is all about - the "experienced" folk didn't know it all when they started either!  
     This is an interesting case study in human behavior though - even outside ham radio, it seems like there is a certain personality type that, once it learns something, instantly thinks everyone who doesn't know that same thing is of lesser quality or intellect.  I'm sure you've come across this personality in school, work, social groups, etc.  I am assuming that when people with this personality type get into ham radio, they become the "new ham bashers."
     Anyway, since I am pretty new to the airwaves, I have to assume that everyone is more experienced than me, so when I hear bad behavior - like the gentlemen (I use the term loosely) in my pile up during NPOTA that kept shouting "He's coming back to you!" at a weak station that I was trying to work, my tendency isn't to instantly assume it's a new ham.  I'm thinking it's more likely that it is one of those personality types that is impatient, overly proud, and self absorbed.  You don't have to be new, young, or inexperienced to have the personality of an angry badger.  

     Feel free to comment, but any comments not meeting the above standards won't be approved!

Activation Complete!

Mobile up and down the mountains made conditions challenging, but I got in about 20 contacts, with several on psk31. Stay tuned for a post with all the details!

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​     My regular readers are probably aware that I am preparing to do a NPOTA activation very soon in Shenandoah National Park (I dropped that news on March 11th), and that I plan on adding a new twist - a Mobile PSK31 NPOTA activation.  I'm actually planning on hitting the minimum number of contacts on voice first, and then switching over to PSK31.  I'm doing it this way so that if I have any PC related issues, I'll still have enough contacts in for the activation to count!
     To get ready for this, I did some temporary equipment installation today, so that everything is ready to go when the big day comes.  It's been raining for a couple days, so like many of my projects, it started with taking the antenna's off the car so that I could pull it into the garage.  The garage is nice and dry to work in, but the lighting does weird stuff to my iPhone camera - sorry for that!
     For any non-ham readers, PSK31 is basically a method of sending digital signals with Amateur radio, that allows for keyboard to keyboard chat - basically like instant messenger (IM) without the internet - but it's even more instant then IM because the data is sent as you type.  It's not bad if you can type faster than the data rate (it averages 51 wpm for lower case letters,) but if you hunt and peck the person you are talking to gets to watch you type and make your errors in almost real time.
​

     In a mobile environment, where vibration is a factor, I highly recommend using the plug-in module, as it is less likely to vibrate loose than individual press-fit jumper wires.

   The arrangement of equipment for this trip is temporary, but I still wanted things mounted out of the way, so they wouldn't get banged around loading and unloading bags.  This is important, because the real purpose of this trip is for a family vacation - the park activation is secondary, and is just happening on the way home.  
​     With that thought, I used some very large zip ties to hold the SignaLink to the bottom of the rear parcel shelf.  I put it in a location where adjustments are easily made from outside the car, with the trunk open.  There are 2 connections that need to be made to the interface - the first is the connection to the radio.  In this case, that was simple because the radio body is mounted right behind the Signalink interface.  The other connection is a USB cable to the computer that is being interfaced.  More on that in a moment.
     The other connection that I wanted to make to the radio from the computer, was a standard rig control interface. I wanted this so that the digital mode software being used (fldigi) can read the operating frequency from the radio.  I also plan to use this connection for logging, because it is easier to do rapid logging when you can read some data from the radio (I learned this during my first ever pile-up when doing my first NPOTA activation).  The standard Yeasu cable goes from a mini-din on the radio, to a DB9 serial connection.  I just use a standard serial to USB converter cable to go from that to the computer.

     If you're following along, this means that I now have 2 USB cables that need to get from the trunk to the front passenger seat of the car, where I will be operating the computer and radio.  I made a quick trip to Staples for 2 USB extension cables - in the store they were marked at $33, but on their web-site they were advertised for $7.49.  I showed the cashier the website price on my phone and he gladly matched the web price - one of the two was a mistake, but I'm not sure which.  I'm just glad that my temporary cables didn't end up costing me nearly $70!

     This is another spot where, even though this is a temporary arrangement, I wanted the cables protected and out of the way.  I put some split loom around the cables, to protect them during their temporary use.  I was then able to route the USB cables along the bottom of the parcel shelf, and down the back of the rear seat of the car.  I used some velcro straps that I had to temporarily hold the cable to the back of the seat, so that it won't be flopping around back there, getting in the way of our luggage.  I then fished the cable under the back cushion of the seat, into the passenger compartment, where it tucked down between the center console and the front passenger seat, and exits at the passenger seat feet.  From this spot, it can stay coiled up during most of the trip, but when I am ready to operate, I can fish it out and plug it in my computer.

     For anyone that's curious, I don't carry .50 caliber ammo around with me - the ammo can has stakes and rope that I use for extra guying with my Buddipole antenna in situations where my normal guying method wouldn't be sturdy enough.

     Time for a test!  With everything in place, and the wires available at the correct locations, I jumped into the passenger seat and fired up the radio and the fldigi software.  Success!  I had two short contacts - one with KC0VCC out of Colorado, and one with WU2F from the University of Central Florida.  I made these contacts while stationary in the driveway, but it was enough of a test to convince me that everything is ready to go for my attempt at what I think will be a first - NPOTA mobile PSK31.
     Is mobile PSK31 crazy?  Will you be trying to contact me?  Let me know your thoughts on this, or anything else - leave a comment!

     Keep your transceivers at the ready - here comes NPOTA like you've never heard before!  In the very near future I will be activating Shenandoah National Park, while mobile, and actively moving.  Don't worry - I won't be doing anything dangerous - the YL will be driving, and I'll be operating from the passenger seat.  
     For those of you that know the park, you know that one of the highlights for motorists is Skyline Drive, which traverses the length of the park (north to south).  We will be traveling the entire length of Skyline Drive, with me operating the radio as we go.  I'll start out with voice operations on 20 meters - starting around 14.240 MHz and I'll just keep moving up till I find a quiet spot to start calling cq with the first small twist - "NPOTA Mobile".
​     As long as I hit the minimum contacts for an official activation, I'll then potentially try a couple other bands, with 17, 15, 12, 10 being potentials.  The highlight, and biggest "twist" however will be when I start calling on 14.070 PSK31 Mobile!  It will go something like this:

cq cq cq npota cq cq cq npota de n3vem n3vem n3vem mobile

     I'm know I'm not the first person who's done PSK31 mobile (These guys claim to be the first), but maybe I'll be the first to do it for National Parks on the Air!

     ​If you're a chaser at home, you can't see the beautiful sites I'll get to see, so here are a couple public domain pictures of the park from the NPS web site:

    Tell me about your mobile setup!  Have you ever attempted any non-voice modes while mobile? 

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