Tag Archives: Nets

Technical Elmering and Mentoring Net – February 26, 2015

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Discussions on last night’s Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net included a follow-up on Eric’s (K6HMD) installation of a new window mount antenna on his BMW 428i M Sport. Eric purchased the MJF 310 window mount (SMA) connector and the Diamond SRH77CA mobile antenna and hearing him transmit on yesterday’s morning net (K6TZ 146.79 at 0700) proved it to be a good investment! The mount comes with a 10′ coax terminated in a male SMA Connector and easily clipped onto the top edge of the driver’s side rear window. Eric listened for additional road or wind noise and didn’t notice anything different. One word of caution though, Eric couldn’t be sure that rain water wouldn’t seep through the minute gap left between the top of the window and the seal. Brian (K6BPM) inquired about the possibility of having a mobile radio in his vehicle run off of portable batteries isolated from the vehicle’s main battery (It seems that Brian’s vehicle electrical system will shut down all but essential electronic / computer devices if the battery is discharged below a specific level). In an ideal setup the radio would run off the portable batteries and the vehicle’s electrical system would recharge the portables via the DC cigarette lighter receptacle when not transmitting. Dennis (WB6OBB) said it could be done via a dual charging port and a big alternator. Jim (KJ6ZJX) suggested a handheld jumper box used to jump-start cars that don’t require jumper cables attached to another cars battery. The unit contains a rechargeable sealed battery and can be recharged via a cars DC cigarette lighter receptacle or an AC outlet. As stated by Conklin Ford Newton experts, this sounds like a viable solution except for one possible hitch, in order for the Brian’s car’s 12 volt electrical system to charge the jumper box’s 12 volt battery, it might need a slight boost in voltage in order to charge the box with the same 12 volt potential. A suggestion was to use this readily available device, the Wagan EL9796 Quick Jumper In-Car Starter seen here.  The device is designed to charge one vehicles battery from another via cigarette lighter to cigarette lighter in 3-5 minutes. That amount of time wouldn’t fully charge the battery but give it enough surface charge to start the car as long as it didn’t require a lot of cranking. So the thought is that the Wagan could… Continue reading →

Techncal Mentoring and Elmering Net – February 19, 2015

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Last Thursday’s Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net proved to be as enlightening as ever. Eric (K6HMD) is looking to add a VHF antenna to his BMW and after checking with the manufacturer and their warranty conditions he’s decided to do so as discretely as possible. Suggestions by Levi (K6LCM ) and Dave (K9KBX) included a lip mount bracket with tape added as a buffer to scratches and a window mount bracket. Magnetic mounts were also discussed but the window mount seemed to win over the conversation as it can be removed when not in use and offers the least invasive way to route the coax. The discussion shifted to circular polarization as Garrett (AG6RQ) posed the question as to how it works. According to Shackmaster Dave (K6HWN) circular polarization is where the electric and magnetic wave continually rotate 360 degrees every cycle. The AARL Extra Class License Manual (Tenth Edition page 7-11) describes circular polarization as “to generate electromagnetic waves in which the orientation of successive wavefronts rotates around the direction of travel”. It goes on to say that as the twisted, circularly polarized wave passes the receiving antenna, the polarization of its fields will appear to rotate. The rate at which the polarization changes and the direction of the rotation, right-handed or left-handed, is determined by the construction of the antenna. To best receive a circularly polarized wave, the structure of the receiving antenna should match that of the transmitting antenna. Lastly the manual states that it is particularly helpful to use circular polarization in satellite communication, where polarization tends to shift with the orientation of the satellite and the path of its signal through the atmosphere. Tune in to the SBARC Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net this Thursday February 26th and see what interesting questions will arise or ask some of your own! The net is broadcast each week on 146.79 and 224.08 both with minus (-) offsets and PL 131.8. All club members and visitors are encouraged to check in to the Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net each week and join in with questions and /or answers to and contribute the knowledge of new and seasoned amateur radio operators alike.

ATV Special Modes Net – February10, 2015

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We had a great turnout this week with 9 check-ins to the net. Several Club members have recently purchased new Yaesu digital VHF/UHF radios, so this net is becoming the place to come to learn about this exciting new twist on day to day FM voice communications. Everyone that has experienced using this special digital mode cannot stop raving about the clarity and total lack of noise. Often, when two or more members go off to another frequency to experiment with digital, it is difficult to get them to come back! As we continue to experiment and test we’ll devote a portion of this net to talking about digital FM each week. During the past couple of nets we have also been talking about operating with JT65. To many, this low power, weak signal mode seems somewhat boring, so we talked about some of the finer points this week. Low power, weak signal operating can really become an art form if one takes the time to explore it deeper than face value. Once you learn basic operation, it is not unusual to hear about operators using incredibly small output wattages in the sub-1W range and making thousand mile contacts. We also talked about using JTAlert, an add-in product for JT65 that adds a lot of additional functionality and convenience to the two major JT65 applications. JTAlert can be freely downloaded at http://hamapps.com/. If you are a JT65 user, this is a useful addition to your setup. It offers a full macro system, callsign lookups, log book interface, and even allows user to user real time chat.

Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net – February 5, 2015

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There were some interesting discussions on last night’s net including K6HMD Eric’s issue he’s been experiencing with his iCom IC-7600 transceiver. It seems that Eric was attempting to set up FM split mode operations to access the K6TZ 6 meter repeater when he began seeing unexplained signals every 100 Khz at the same amplitude on the rigs spectrum analyzer. Even changing bands didn’t help. After a fair amount of troubleshooting Eric finally opted to reset the rig to factory specifications and the problem was solved, no more weird signals. Shackmaster Dave (K6HWN) offered a very plausible cause for the anomaly, while Eric was trying to set up split mode operations he may have pushed a button on the rig enabling the crystal calibrator. The calibrator would emit signals at specific intervals to calibrate the rigs frequency output by. Eric’s perusal of the operating manual didn’t offer up any information about a crystal calibrator being on-board the rig so he’ll contact the manufacturer. Tune in to the next Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net and hopefully learn the answer to this puzzle! Other discussions involved HF noise and troubleshooting, automatic gain control and signal to noise ratios. All club members and visitors are encouraged to check in to the Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net each week and join in with questions and /or answers to and contribute the edification of new and experienced hams alike.

ATV Special Modes Net – February 3, 2015

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Last nights net was very well attended with 8 checkins and at least half of us operating JT65 at the same time. KI6HGH Steve, also joined in on both Allstar and 40m JT65 from Yucca Valley. HGH and K6FLD Frank also carried on QSO’s with other hams on the band and we were all able to watch the action. Even the Shackmaster was able to find a little time in his busy Tuesday night schedule to follow along from the Club Station. This was a really great demonstration of how JT65 works and why it is becoming so popular. We also took some time to discuss Yaesu’s new digital voice HT radios. In a week or two, we should have 5 members who have these powerful little radios and we’ll be able to add a new digital activity to our nets. These radios have a lot of interesting capabilities we’ll be exploring and learning about. So tune in to the ATV Special Modes Net next Tuesday at 8:30pm and keep up with the latest and greatest in digital ham radio.

ATV Special Modes Net – January 27, 2015

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Even though the net was lightly attended, we nonetheless had another good discussion on antennas and using JT65. We operated locally on 6m for awhile, then moved to 40m and carried on a couple of QSO’s so that we could compare our long range signal propagation on PSKReporter. PSKReporter.info is a web site that aggregates signal reports from hundreds of digital mode operators all over the world. Almost all digital mode software applications automatically report this information to PSKReporter whenever the application “hears” a callsign. So whenever you transmit in a digital mode, and another station hears your signal, your callsign and signal report are reported in real time. This is called “spotting”. It enables you to immediately see where your signal is being heard, and how strong your signal is. Data is displayed on a world map and you can easily see where and when your signal is being received. The PSKReporter site is also great for finding out where all the current activity is, and what modes are being used. Our Shackmaster Dave is usually very busy on Tuesday nights while the station is open. Nevertheless, he tries to tune into the net and follow along with whatever mode we are working. He will have all the activity displayed on one of the shack computers. So, if you get the chance and want to see what this is all about, drop by the shack during the ATV Special Modes Net, and follow along or participate in the action!

Great Discussion Today on Morning Net

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We had a great discussion with Brian, K6BPM and Levi, K6LCM, the creators of the new SBARC Web site project and this new site.  If you have any questions about the site, register for an account on the right side of the site and then login to post your comment on this post. Join us on the air every morning from 7am-8:30 on 146.79 – Pl 131.8. Post expires at 11:59pm on Tuesday January 27th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.