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Proper Operation of Amateur Radios

- at Disney World

By Ed KC7GFX

As I was packing for my recent vacation, I was deliberating whether to take a ham radio or not. Although my HF rig has a handle on it, it is far from what I consider portable, so it was destined to stay home. I stopped by HRO and asked to look at a VX1-R. They are small and cute, and I almost picked up one on an impulse buy, but then thought better of it. Instead, my Kenwood dual band radio went into the suitcase along with a new repeater guide that might give me some clue how to get on the repeaters in Orlando. This was my first trip to Disney World, and I wanted to get it right.

Ok, I’ve got the charger, a spare battery pack, the radio, some extra coax, a roll-up J-pole antenna, and my repeater directory…The TNC would be nice, but I’m already a little heavy since I added my Extra Class study guide, a laptop, and the last two issues of QST… I must be ready.

The plane trip was uneventful, although a little tense with an hour layover in Detroit. They now have National Guards toting M-16’s and tactical vests with more spare clips than I’ve ever seen one person carry before. Other passengers try to figure out your ancestry before you even get on the plane.

Disney is like another planet, a really clean, but above average priced planet. The first night was nothing but sleep. I was anxious to get out to see what all the excitement about this place was, and never having been to so much as a Disney movie as a kid, had no idea what to expect. After the 4th day, I remembered that I had a radio along. I took it on a trip over to one of the other resorts, thinking I could sit by the pool and make a few contacts while people brought me drinks (I said I wanted to get it right, remember?). Anyway, I had the radio in my daypack with full intention to turning it on and checking on the local traffic, or perhaps checking into a net, or maybe getting around to sending a formal piece of NTS traffic to Eric in the ARES group to get my free battery. Somehow the radio never made it out of the bag to see the light of that day.

During one of our other outings to Epcot, I ducked into a pub at the UK pavilion for a pint of their finest. Finding no fellow hams inside, I decided to find a table near the entrance so that I could watch the crowd.

My friend Cheri took a picture of me sitting there, demonstrating what she referred to as "the proper use of a radio while on vacation". See, it’s right there in the daypack, underneath the suntan lotion, the Mickey Mouse hat, and the two cans of warm Tetley’s beer that I forgot about until later. This was after all my first vacation in three years, and I wanted to get it right.

Sometimes, I guess the best use of a ham radio is to leave it turned off, safely in the bag…Just in case you really need it.

73 Ed KC7GFX

ARES MEETING: Thursday, Oct. 25th at Fire Station 2 4800 NE 122nd at 7PM.

All hams are invited to attend!

In This Issue:

Radio Etiquette

ARES Notice

October Meeting

Last Month

DigiPan Setup

Jamboree on the Air

Calendar of Events

Presidents Message

Voice: 146.840 –600 MHz and 146.940 –600 MHz

Packet 147.180 +600 MHz (PARC/7 repeater) and 144.910 (W7LT PARC Node)

October Meeting:

This months meeting will be a planning session for the club. We will begin discussing next year’s budget, the goals and direction for the club, gaining new membership, ideas to revitalize our organization. I would like to gather a list of guest speakers and topics you would like to hear at the meetings. I would also like to discuss club projects, tutorials, anything that’s of interest to you as the folks who keep showing up. We will also be talking about recent developments in our country, and the world, and about what role we can take in helping.

One Liberty Center

650 N Holladay Street

Portland, Oregon

(A few blocks SE of the Lloyd Center)

 

All are welcome to attend. Updates and changes will be announced on the PARC net, Monday at 7 PM on the 146.840 Repeater. All hams are encouraged to check in!

Radio Nets

Here is a Schedule of Nets for all interested. All Nets are handled on the 146.840 repeater.

Sunday: Handi-Hams Net 7 PM

Monday: PARC Weekly Net 7PM

Wednesday: ARES/RACES Net 7PM

Thursday: Youth Net 7PM

All Hams are welcome to check in to any Net

Congratulations to those at the Sept. Meeting

One of the ideas to keep the interest in coming to the club meetings has been to give out a door prize to the lucky winner. Since we were able to make enough "W7LT Digital Mode disks" and information packets for everyone, all who attended turned out to be winners. I’m still planning to hand out circuit boards (although it’s pretty easy to build with just perf board) to each member wanting one at the meetings. I won’t have them done for October since my work and family commitments have been taking a back burner, but I’ll plan it for November’s meeting.

October Calendar at a Glance

Regular Club Meeting Friday Oct 19th

ARES/RACES Meeting Thurs. Oct 25th

Club Net Monday’s at 7PM

ARES/RACES Net Wednesday’s at 7 PM

Club Breakfast November 3rd

Swaptoberfest (Rickreall) Saturday, Oct 20th

Scout Group Active In JOTA ‘01

This year will mark my first involvement with a scout group during the 2001 "Jamboree on the Air". Scouting groups from all over the globe choose one day out of the year, and enlisting the help of amateur radio operators, talk to other scout groups and camps across the globe. This is an international event designed to unite the scouting organizations, build good will, gain an understanding about other cultures, and gain for some a first experience in using amateur radio. For many of these scouts, this is the equivalent to operating field day for the rest of us. For some this is a new experience and they aren’t quite ready to talk over the air. Part of the scouting experience is building confidence and challenging one’s self to take that first step.

The event will take place on the third full weekend in October (20th and 21st) and will cover most of the HF bands in SSB and CW.

I will be operating with Troup 194 (or as many of them that can make it) in Wilsonville. Joe Mohr will be hosting me at his home, and we’ve made a few tests with his radio that we will use along with mine as a backup. Troup 194 was the group that went down to Camp Baker a few months ago, and used Packet Radio to keep in touch with their friends and family at home during their stay. This should be an interesting experience, and I don’t really know what to expect. I will probably tune around a little and listen to the QSO’s first before trying to make a contact.

There are probably a few scout groups out there that would love to hear from you if you’re game. Hosting a scout group is no big deal, with a little luck we’ll make some new contacts, spread the word that ham radio isn’t just for nerds, and maybe get a few of the scouts interested in getting their license… Hey, we might even get a few takers on helping us string up next year’s field day antennas!

If you’re interested in hosting or helping a scout group, give the Cascade Pacific Council office a call; they may be able to direct you to a scout group that’s looking. If not, tune in and make a few interesting contacts for some scouts around the world. For many Scouts this will be their first experience with ham radio, let’s help them make it a positive one.

Lea Ball (AL7W) gave a live demonstration at the September meeting on PSK31 operation. Lea built his own digital interface that he has been using to make contacts around the world. His construction article appeared in last month’s sPARC gap along with the schematic and board layout. Although Murphy made a visit to our meeting causing some operational problems, the demonstration was an overall success. (Let’s just say that having a basement auditorium with no external antenna is not the most QSO rich environment)

Lea with the help of Bert (WA7AXO), and Ed (KC7GFX) was able to demonstrate the waterfall display, the difference between a signal and noise, how the whole system connects together, and a system overview of PSK31. Several pre-recorded QSO’s were brought in by Bert, allowing the audience to see how a station is tuned in, how many QSO’s can exist simultaneously, and how they appear on DigiPan. PSK31 for those who haven’t seen it is an interesting mode of operation. With a simple, inexpensive interface between a PC or laptop computer and an HF rig, along with some free software, you can be up on the air in an hour or so of build time. With only 31 Hz of operation, it is the narrowest mode so far, and a dozen or more stations can be tuned in with the use of the mouse only.

Our thanks to Lea for this great demonstration, having our own members give presentations like this is still one of the best ways to give something back to the radio community and get a little satisfaction of doing a good job in return.

(Please see the follow-up article from AL7W)

By now, none of us have been able to escape seeing the scenes on television and newspapers of the acts of terrorism carried out on our East Coast. Each of us has our personal opinions of what action our country should or shouldn’t take, but I’m not going to use this forum to express mine, nor probably anyone else’s. As I’m writing this column, American forces are bombing targets within Afghanistan.

Just two months ago, many of us were present at the regular meeting and heard Scott Ettlinger from the American Red Cross tell us that we need to be ready for both natural and man-made disasters. One of the statements made at the meeting was that there was a high probability of a major act of terrorism on US soil within the next 2 years. I will be the first to publicly admit that I was skeptical of this, but willing to listen. To think about events such as those, which so recently transpired, is a difficult thing. It is difficult to believe in advance that anything of that magnitude could occur, and difficult to admit after the fact, but the cold harsh reality cannot be ignored. Many of our members have been involved in the various volunteer organizations: Net teams, Red Cross, Hospitals, ARES, Marathons, Search and Rescue Teams, etc. For various reasons, which seem somehow unimportant now, commitments to be involved in our volunteer organizations have waned.

We get from volunteer organizations only what people are willing to put in. Our local ARES group would welcome some more operators, new or old. Scott Ettlinger put out the call for help from radio operators at the Red Cross. I’ve received calls from the Portland Fire Bureau, asking if there was a way that PARC could teach an advanced NET class on radio procedures, and perhaps teach a class in beginning radio so that NETS interested could get their ham license.

We have a wonderful freedom of choice in this country, we may choose to help any one of these organizations, or we can choose to do nothing. It’s up to each of us to make that choice on a personal basis. At times, how we choose to help may seem insignificant in the broader scheme of things, but I for one can’t remain uninvolved. I realize that the time I put in when added to others can make a difference. I hope that each of you finds something you do well, and finds an organization that can use your help.

73 Ed KC7GFX

Oh yeah, one more thing… God Bless America!

Setting up DigiPan and Using It

By Lea AL7W

In the aftermath of the attempted demo of PSK31 at the last club meeting (and my gear worked just fine, once I got it home), the thought crossed my mind that we didn’t have the opportunity to show the proper setup of DigiPan. This is an attempt to clear up some issues, before you get started.

When you first install the program, you have to do some configuration of the macros. Like most soundcard-based communications packets, these macros simplify routine functions, like calling CQ or the hand-over at the end of a transmission. DigiPan is no exception. Although it’s not advisable under most circumstances (contest exchanges being the most significant exception), it is possible to construct an entire QSO from macros.

When you launch DigiPan for the first time, you should go to the Configure menu in the task bar. The first thing to set up is Personal Data, consisting of Call, Name and Location, and whether or not you want a CW ID-er at the end of QSOs. That one should be self-explanatory.

The FN macros also will need individual attention. Those program the function keys to run the various routine functions. They correspond to the buttons on your screen for Call 1, CQ, Call 3, and the like. One of the first things you’ll need to do is set them up to automatically control the transmit and receive functions. As an example, on the F2 macro, CQ, it comes stock reading "CQ CQ CQ DE <MYCALL> PSE K." A 3x1 CQ isn’t going to get you very far, especially when you need to punch F9 at the beginning and end of the sequence. The first thing to do is to add <TX> to the beginning of that string, and <RX> to the end of it. That will get it to automatically engage and release the PTT function at the beginning and end of the call. I’d also add " <MYCALL> <MYCALL>" where appropriate, emulating the standard CW 3x3 call.

Likewise, the Call3 (F3) macro should have the transmit and receive symbols added, and if it isn’t set up as a 3x3, should be modified thusly. Changing the prosign at the end of that macro to KN makes sense, since you only want to speak to that one station. For the Call1 macro, I have mine set up with <TX> at the beginning, but I don’t close it out. I use that one to come back to the station I’m in contact with. A case for closing it out with <RX> could be made, if the F4 (Call) macro were set up the way I have the F1 one set currently (use your best judgement). As for the BTU macro (F5), it may or may not have the <RX> set up on it as it comes. It should. It might be fancied up with mention of the other operator’s name ", <NAME>;" after the BTU if you like. Not much needs to be done with the F6 (SK) macro.

Where does that last item come from? DigiPan logs every contact. In the row above the upper text screen, there are boxes that are labeled Call, Name, QTH and Received and Sent RST. That’s information you’d be putting in during the course of the QSO, and that’s the other guy’s stuff. Once a contact has been completed, you can open it up (to check on the contents of the log entry generated. It’s sometimes a good idea to do that, given that the logged time may not be the logged time of the beginning of the QSO (I have, on occasion, hit the save button at the beginning of the QSO, and then once again at the end, then edited the 2 lines together). This log also works in conjunction with e-qsl to provide electronic QSL-ing by e-mail among those who subscribe to the service, and the logging functions are compatible with most computerized logging programs. Don’t forget to clear the log bar by clicking on the file icon.

One thing we were able to demonstrate was the way you tune for stations, using this software. It uses a panoramic display of a 3 to 5-KHz chunk of the band, in which the stronger signals show up as red, and the weaker ones as a different shade of the yellow that shows the background noise of the passband of your IF. Tuning is literally done with your mouse, moving from the center of one trace to that of another. This makes possible the single-frequency rigs that have appeared in QST in the past couple of years. It also helps that a PSK31 signal is only 31.5 Hz wide. The levels in the interface should be set so that only the background noise in the passband of your IF filter will be yellow, although some strong signals will either eat the yellow completely, or widen the noise, depending on signal quality.

Principal meeting points for PSK on the various HF bands are 3.58 and 3.61 MHz. on 80, 7.07 MHz. on 40, 10.14 MHz. on 30, 14.07 MHz. on 20 (the most popular meeting spot), 21.070 MHz. on 15, and 28.12 MHz. on 10 meters. That’s the carrier frequency for an Upper sideband signal. Different radios will have different readouts to get to the same spot. The actual frequencies used are above those marks, as is the fashion of an SSB signal. Properly adjusting the level to only show yellow in the passband gives you an idea of what is visible.

I haven’t yet seen anybody else from PARC on the air on PSK31, but I’d hope to, any day. In the past 3 months or so, I’ve worked all continents, and I’ve worked stations on all bands between 80 and 10, except for 12 and 17 meters, using typically less than 50 watts of output and antennas in the from-hunger category. It took a contest to get anyone to show up on 40, and not many people go to 30, but it is possible. I don’t currently have a 160-meter antenna up, so I can’t account for that band. If you have the capability, by all means, get on there! PSK31 is a fun mode!

AL7W

If you have an idea that would make a good construction, or technical project, please drop me a line: kc7gfx@arrl.net

Swaptoberfest Time Again!

For those of us who are regulars, we’ve begun feeling there’s something important coming up that we need to do. I case you’ve forgotten, or just didn't know, it’s time for the ham swap meet in Rickreall. Located just 11 miles west of Salem off of Highway 22, Rickreall has been one of the "must do" events for those of us looking for a bargain, or something really heavy to drag home. This year’s event happens on Saturday, October 20th. Admission charge pays for the use of the Polk County fairgrounds where the event is held, and helps out the Mid-Valley ARES group, which sponsors it. To get there, drive 11 miles West of Salem on Highway 22 to Rickreall. Turn South on Highway 99W for 1 mile. The fairgrounds is on the East side of Highway 99W. See you there!

Portland Amateur Radio Club

4110 S.E. Hawthorn Blvd. PMB #211

Portland, Oregon

97214