I can't really say I was surprised this week, but I have found myself being "curiouser and curiouser" about ham radio satellites!

It seems like everyone is talking sats and amsat at the moment. I follow several folks on Twitter who are into satellites, the crew at ICQ Podcast keeps mentioning them, and I just read through the Winter Field Day rules again, and was looking at those satellite bonus points...

To see if this was an itch I wanted to scratch I downloaded GoSatWatch at the recommendation of NJ4Y and KX9X. They were right- this is a great app! Using it I went and stood in the field behind my house (in the mud...) And listened for the first time to a satellite pass as SO-50 went overhead. Think about it - signals from space! How is that not freekin' awesome! I know, most people aren't impressed because they think of satellites as a way to get their TV, but none of them can talk back to the satellite, so I still think it's awesome!

In addition to listening to SO-50 passes, I also listened to the ISS pass a couple times during last several days. For one of those passes I actually hooked my HT up to my AnnaLink Interface (Remember when I made that? Whodathunk it would be useful for satellite stuff too!) I then used the audio modem in the PocketPacket app to snag a packet sent through the digipeater on the ISS. Fun stuff!

Anyway, I think I have a new project in the queue, to add to all the other ones - building an antenna for satellite work (you should know me by now - I wouldn't be happy just buying one!) So, once I have the time to tackle it, I'll share here. I suspect however, that I'll end up using scraps from my garage, and maybe some of the stuff from this section of Lowe's:

Bye for now!

If you're anything like me you may have missed the fact that the Winter Field Day 2017 results were posted a while back.  The website breaks down the entrants into the 3 main categories for posting results:  Indoor, Home, and Outdoors.  To see those results check out the Winter Field Day 2017 Results Page.

Based on those categories,  I was in the "Outdoor" group, and I ended up in spot 77 out of 182.  Last year the categories were done slightly differently, and in the group I was in, I was about 33 out of 40.  I'd say I improved, considering that in the new groupings my score was up against all the multi-ops etc!   I was curious though, how I fared compared to the same group I was in last year (Single Operator, Outdoor) so I grabbed the data and worked some pivot magic with Excel.  In just the 1O group I was 41 out of 118 - a great improvement if you ask me!

 Anyway, enough about me - it dawned on me that others might be interested in some more detailed groupings, results, and data evaluation.  With that in mind, here are the results in some of the breakdowns that people might be interested in.  At the end of this post you can also find the Excel file that I used to generate these results, in case you are data nerd too and want to play around with it.  Lastly, I do have a typo on some of these, but it is just that - a typo, it doesn't actually change the scores or rankings, so I'm not going to bother fixing it, since it would take forever (I'm not even going to tell you what it is - we'll see if you catch it ;-) Enjoy!

Or, at least that's all the categories that I broke down - if you're a data nerd, you can probably think of even more ways to slice and dice this, but I figured this would cover the majority of what most people would want to see!  If you want to do some of your own slicing and dicing, the files below are free for the taking:  The first is a zip file of the PDF's of all of the tables above, and the second is the Microsoft Excel file that has the data and pivot table in it that you can feel free to play around with..enjoy!

This is something I've been meaning to share for some time, but just haven't gotten around to actually sharing.  As some of you may be aware, I am an "adult-learner."  The company I work for has been graciously paying for my BS in Information Systems (I currently hold an Associates Degree, which they also paid for!)  For one of my classes we had an open-ended assignment to do a fairly significant project.  Obviously, I chose something radio related!  Some of the information here might be a little confusing if you're only a computer appliance operator, but I'd encourage you to skim through it - even if you learn just one small thing it's worth it!  If you're a software developer, this stuff is probably all very elementary, but I'm sure there are lots of folks like me who land somewhere in the middle that might get some benefit from this!

For the class, we had to write a project proposal, a plan, do the work, and then present our project.  I'll share all that so that you can look at the details if you want, but my "secret" mission was to learn a bit more about how software rig control actually works.  With that in mind, I wrote a software Class (huh? Whats that?) which I called yeasuControl, that would handle interfacing my Yeasu 857d with a Raspberry Pi.  To verify that yeasuControl worked as intended, I also wrote a very basic, text-based rig control program, which I named "radioInterface3" (I wrote it in Python 3, and my first 2 versions were a bust, so it just kind of worked out that there were 3's all around.)  For some wow-factor when I did my demonstration in the classroom, rather than run it straight from the Pi, I accessed the Pi via a separate PC over Broadband Hamnet (I wasn't yet aware of AREDN) with everything running off 12v power, to demonstrate the possibility of a field deploy-able, remotely accessible, radio station.

Technically, the software I wrote doesn't do anything new, but just like some people enjoy building their own radio's (even though you could just buy one), I think it's fun to write my own software (even though I could just download something!)  Pretty much everything that the software Class I wrote will do is already included as part of hamlib, but writing this myself helped me learn exactly what's going on when I connect those magic wires between my rig and computer!  Oh - this was also my first foray into Python, so I also used this project to learn a new language. (although, really, once you know any C based language, the rest of them are usually pretty easy to pick up.)

With the intro out of the way, I figure the easiest way to go about this is to just share the documents, and give a summary of each one.  You can feel free to download them, read them, and use them, if you want to see the nitty-gritty details.  Alternatively, you can just skim the descriptions to see what I did.  I'm sharing all of this under the "Karma License." (I just made this up - it means do whatever you want with it, but know that Karma will come for you if you deserve it based on what you do...)  

So, there you have it!  I hope at least some of you can glean some useful information out of my work.  In the interest of the betterment of the ham radio hobby, and doing whatever I can towards our collective Elmering in the hobby, I'm offering all of this info, and the work I put into it, with no strings attached.  If you play around with it and have questions (like what serial interface I used with the Pi, etc.) feel free to check out my contacts page and reach out to me.

​  Enjoy!

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Before I start - Don't forget to vote!  I'm still asking for your ideas on Step 5 in my Crowd Sourced Project.  As always - keep your money, just give me your ideas!  With that little ad out of the way, here we go...

​Its a miracle! I started and finished a project in the same week!

​I shouldn't be too rough on myself - quite a few of my ongoing projects are rather large, so progress tends to be slow, doing small amounts of work as time allows. This project however, was one that was a complete workshop tangent.

There it is - a "homebrew" speaker for ham radio use! The day I started this, I didn't even know I was going to do it. It all came about becasue I was working on another radio project (the "secret project" that I allude to from time to time) in the garage, and I wanted to be able to hear my rig over all the noise I was making. I started to look at powered speakers online, when suddenly it dawned on me that I probably had everything I needed to make one, primarily becasue the key components (a speaker and a small amplifier) I had left over from tearing this thing apart in order to work on version 2 (which still isn't done....sigh.)

So realizing that I had those parts, I started to dig in the piles in the garage and presto, within a couple days I had a small powered speaker! If you follow me on twitter you saw these pictures as I did each step, but here they are again with a few more details. Enjoy!

If you have a hardware store near you, that is probably the best place to get MDF and aluminum, but you can order both of these things online.  Shipping rates can get strange with sheets of plywood or 4' lengths of aluminum, but there are places like online metals that will cut things to size for you.

The 3.5mm jack on the small amp turned out to have a "bonus" functionality! It was really meant (I think) to be an alternative input from the ones on the board itself. It is just wired in parallel with the other inputs, so by plugging a mono to stereo adapter (remember that I was only using the left channel). I can use traditional stero headphones to monitor the input source for the amp.

Why is that a bonus? In field-day like situations, the speaker can be plugged into the rig, and the operator can plug headphones into the speaker. The operator can then use the rig's AF gain (volume) control to set a comfortable audio level for the headphones, and then anyone who wants to listen in on the action can adjust the speaker volume until their heart is content, without impacting what the operator hears in their headphones. I think thats a slick, unplanned for feature! You could always get the same effect by plugging both a speaker and headphones into a "Y" cable, but this has a more polished feel to it.

There you have it! A powered 12 volt speaker enclosure for the times that I need more punch than I can get with a more traditional passive one, and I made it entirely from stuff that I already had on hand!  If you're as luck as I am and have a good stash of parts, maybe you can do the same - if not, most of the individual part pictures in the post are Amazon links, so you can get what you need if you want the joy of rolling your own!

     First, let me apologize in advance for any grammar or typo issues in this post - I started writing it on my phone, and then switched back and forth between my phone and PC while I wrote.  As a father of young kids I have to write in short bursts when there are quiet moments.

     Second, I am going to apologize for writing this post, but I couldn't help myself - I've really only written one other "behavior" post in the past (this one) and sometimes these topics upset people.  As the type of person who tries to be a "peacemaker" however, I am writing this in the hopes of reaching out and reminding people that as ham radio operators, we should have more that brings us together then we do that drives us apart.  We should also strive to be thoughtful and elegant in our behavior at all times, so that we don't scare others away.

With that out of the way, let me describe what happened that gave me the "sads" while listening to my club's 10 meter net one night. Actually, before I get there, let me describe the net, how it came to be, and some of the people that participate.

The club that I belong to is one that exists primarily to support the repeater that is in our town. For that reason, most of the club activities revolve around "repeater related" things. I joined the club a couple years ago because I use the repeater quite often and wanted to contribute. Because of my work travels, I don't get participate in a ton of club stuff, but I try to whenever possible. In the time that I have been a member (and maybe longer), they have organized some HF activities - primarily doing a small setup on Field Day, Winter Field Day, a small portable setup in one of the local parks a couple times a year, and since last fall, a 10-meter net.

     Even though the "club" as an organization hasn't tackled an HF net before (that I'm aware of, due to my short time with the club) I think it is awesome that they are branching out a little more into HF activities.  It helps to broaden horizons, and doing a 10 meter net gives new local hams a place to get a taste of HF on their technician licenses, since outside of local contacts, there isn't much activity on 10 meters at this point in the sunspot cycle.

Here's the deal though - they did make 1 decision that some might see as a mistake when they started organizing the 10 meter net (which I admit I didn't even realize at first.) I'm not going to tell you what that decision was till closer to the end, however, because that decision isn't really the focus of this post - the reactions of a couple hams (and I'm using the term loosely here) is really the focus.

So let's start by talking about the people that are involved from my club. First, there is me! If you are a regular reader of my blog you probably have a pretty good idea of what I'm about, and the types of things I do. Because I travel quite often, most of my operating is portable, and I'm generally on 20/40/80 ssb and digital, with just a touch of cw now that I've been learning it. I don't go to 10 very often. When I do go to 10, it is usually to participate in the 10 meter net. It is also often done from my portable set-up, tossed up in the few minutes right before the net starts. This means sometimes things aren't quite optimum, occasionally I'll have RF in my signal for whatever reason, or I am barely heard because my antenna is only 4 feet off the ground, etc. Even though someone doesn't know these details, or anything else about me, they would be completely justified in calling me one of "a bunch of LIDs" based solely on hearing me 1 time, say "nothing for the net tonight, back to net control N3VEM" with a less than perfect signal, right?

How about the others? Our Net Control is an operator who does mostly CW. He also works on RF systems as part of his career - and he's good at it! His company sends him all over the world to figure out the tough ones. To help out the club, even though he prefers CW, he runs the net in SSB, using an old Ten-Tec rig that had been a non-working flea market find, which he fixed himself. I think it's a cool rig, and awesome that he fixed it himself - I don't know the model off hand, but it is a tube based, 100% analog radio. That means he isn't always spot-on frequency, but he's the net control, so everyone zero-beats to him, as he kicks off the net. That's how its supposed to work, right? It even gives some of the new guys a chance to use some of the "other" buttons on their radio's, like the RIT control. Or is he a "LID" running a "BullS#!t net" because he's "...not even on frequency - he's like 5hz off?"

What about the folks checking into the net? Well, some of them are brand new, and are just learning. Are they "LIDS" for learning the ropes of operating on HF, in the technician portion of the bands, which is there specifically to give new operators a taste of HF voice?

Guess who else is in our club - former and current professional drivers. A couple of these retired drivers are Extra Class operators (and yes, before we get our knickers in a knot, some of them know CW) but because they spent 30 years of their career listening to CB's as they drove, they do occasionally use the "wrong" terms, and say things like "skip rolling in." (Although, since E-Skip is the proper term, why do we get so fired up when someone shortens that to Skip?) We all let the lexicon of the field we work in sneak into our every-day language, so if a career driver wants to use the terminology from his workplace from time to time, I think we owe it to him to just let it go. Is it fair to call an entire group of people "a bunch of CBers" just because you heard one person use the word "skip?" Is it fair to use "CBer" as a derogatory term?

     So, if you're keeping track, I mentioned some insulting phrases.  To sum up, here they are:

• "bunch of LIDS"
• "BullS#!t net"
• "the net control's not even on frequency - he's like 5hz off."
• ​​"a bunch of CBers"

The most upsetting thing about these phrases - they were all said over the air, interfering with the net, by someone who didn't identify themselves, who apparently felt justified in his behavior because of the 1 decision that he apparently disagrees with, which my club made when they started the net in the fall. What was that decision? Picking the "wrong" frequency.

As they were kicking of the net in the fall, 10 meters was dead. Not dead like there weren't many people on, dead like you were checking your antenna connections to make sure you were actually hooked up to something. Seemed like a perfect time to plan a scheduled event so some of the new guys could get on the air and make HF contacts, at least locally. I'm not sure exactly who was involved in deciding what frequency to choose, but it doesn't really matter - they decided to pick something in the technician portion of the 10 meter band so that everyone could participate - pretty thoughtful I think. It was going very well too, until a couple weeks ago when there started to be some small E-Skip openings. This week was the first I had listened in a while, and I had the pleasure of hearing and experiencing what I described above.

So what was the horrible frequency choice error that was made? The decision was made to choose something near the middle of the technician portion of 10 meters, so they picked 28.400. Ahhhh - some of you see the controversy now - 28.400 is an unofficial calling frequency on 10 meters. Depending who you ask though, it's either a backup calling frequency, the primary calling frequency, or there is no calling frequency at all. Per the actual rules we have to follow, there isn't such a thing as "calling frequencies". To quote a famous Pirate Captain (Barbosa - Pirates of the Caribbean) calling frequencies "...aren't really rules...They're more like guidelines."

I know for myself, I generally avoid calling frequencies, except for calling, but I didn't think about it before now because I'm not normally on 10 meters.  Also, because I get to participate so seldom (I think I've checked in 4 times since last fall) , I didn't really spend any additional time thinking about it.  Finally, since calling frequencies aren't rules, you almost have to go looking for them to find out what they are, and even when you do, there's some ambiguity about exactly what the frequencies are, and what the "normal" procedure is.

Notice however, that I said "normal" procedure and not "correct" procedure. Since calling frequencies are only a gentlemens agreement, there is no right or wrong way to use them (other than the power/frequency/mode restrictions from the FCC) - there's just the ways many people do use them, and the many ways people don't.

So I now pose this question - yes, in the eyes of some, a less then desirable frequency choice may have been made, but who are the LIDS in this situation - the people I described above that were following the FCC rules, or the person who appeared out of nowhere on a frequency that had been silent for 30 minutes prior to the net, just to interfere with the net and name-call its participants (without IDing) because he thought the frequency "belonged" to some other purpose?

To wrap up, I did recommend to the clubs activity director and the net controller that the net be moved to another frequency for the future, and they are considering that, along with a couple other options. No matter what they decide, I wanted to send a message to the club as a whole, and any other club or individual that may find themselves in a similar situation. Keep at it! We do things like this to improve, and "mistakes" will be made by us mere mortals, that the "perfect hams" will love to harass us for. Don't worry though, because nothing illegal was done. We just happened to accidentally stir up an angry badger who had been enjoying listening to a silent frequency, and apparently wanted to continue listening to a silent frequency, but couldn't reach his VFO (even though he seemed very capable of reaching his PTT switch...)