Ham Radio

denverpilot

Tied Down
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Nov 8, 2009
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55,480
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Denver, CO
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DenverPilot
So I've always noticed that pilots, seemingly as a group, are also often ham radio operators. More than you see in the general population.

How many here on PoA are Hams?

(Setting myself up for peanut gallery comments with that question, I know!)

What's your callsign?

Are you active on the ham bands right now?

What Ham Radio stuff do you like to do?

My dad and I went to the Gobbler's Knob rest area about 20 statute miles South of Lamar, CO with the "battle wagon"... A former Air Force communications test van with a 42' pneumatic mast, which gets roughly 8 MPG, and operated 6 meter, 2 meter, and 70 cm SSB all weekend in the 2011 ARRL VHF QSO Party Contest.

We activated the relatively rate (Maidenhead) Grid Square DM87qs, and we already have a pile of QSL cards from folks who need DM87 for various awards and other contests. The custom QSL I made from a photo collage will arrive middle of next week so we can send them out.

Over 700 contacts in two days, and 3-4 countries worked on 6 meters - it was the Mother of all Band Openings Saturday and Sunday. Great fun.

a6cd0e28-ff3a-b229.jpg


Here's dad, working on "the stack" a couple weeks ago. 3 element yagi on 6m, 15 elements on 70cm, 13 elements on 2m.

a6cd0e28-fff5-9928.jpg


Yaesu FT-847 @ 100W on 6m, brick amps on 2m and 70cm - 170W on 2m, 140W on 70cm.

a6cd0e28-0096-c455.jpg


I know multiple pilots who carry APRS on flights, as well as chit chat on 2m or 70cm FM.

Heard a guy flying night freight a few weeks ago talking through an IRLP node on a linked repeater system in West Texas to whoever was in the IRLP Reflector (conference) at around 1 AM Mountain Time. He'd switch repeaters as he flew along.

Dad and I have taken the FT-857 and homebrew antenna plate strapped down in the baggage area and a big ol' sealed lead-acid UPS battery up and worked people during the Colorado 14er Event before who had to get to 14,000 the hard way. ;)

http://www.14er.org/

How about you? What's your Ham Radio fun?
 
N2ELC. Currently inactive. Used to run the local packet radio bulletin board.
Was very active in the local repeater clubs. Never had much interest in
the HF bands.
 
I got my Advanced ticket many years ago and have been inactive for nearly as long. I formerly used a 2 meter mobile transceiver for autopatch before cell phones became readily available. KI8DK
 
K5EFD.

Tech only. No code. Vanity call sign represents Ellington Field, my home base.

I use ham solely for special events. I have a dual band yaesu mounted in the trunk of my Harley and only put the antenna and control head on for working events like bike rides and marathons. I beacon APRS during those events.
 
Ask again in about a month and I hope I'll be able to answer affirmative. About a billion years ago (or maybe 38 years) I held a novice license for one year while in high school.

I found an interesting quote from this archived story:

"The Novice License Helped Shape the '50s Ham Generation"
http://web.archive.org/web/20070126104653/http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2006/07/28/1/

"The first ham radio contact -- like the first solo flight in an airplane -- was a never-to-be-forgotten experience. For teenagers, it opened up a whole new world. It also continued to shape them in ways not fully understood or appreciated at the time."
 
K9PO. Licensed in the 1970's. I also hold the callsign JN3XCV and have a PRC operator permit. I also operated XX9TXW with a friend during the All Asia Contest back a million years ago.

I primarily operate VHF.UHF weak signal. Mostly meteor scatter but also some auroral CW and straight SSB. If I am on HF it is for QRP portable and I rarely if ever carry a handheld with me. I used to do a lot of sat work but when AO-40 went TU I stopped. I have 46 states worked on VHF.
 
Yes. Currently don't do much, but have been active HF and VHF in past. Used to do a lot of public service/disaster support work with ARC.
 
N4RRI general. I got my ticket because I was at the time mentoring a teen who was really into computers, which was my vocation, and he challenged me to match him in his ham license quest. He quit at tech and I got my general just to show him us old guys could still do a thing or two. I was active for a few years preferring cw on 40/80 and 2m in the car. Even messed with packet a little bit.

I lived in Atlanta at the time and was a member of the Alford Memorial Radio Club which was very active and had repeaters on top of Stone Mountain which provided very good coverage in the Atlanta area. After leaving the Atlanta area I never reinstalled my shack. A couple of times a year I fire up the 2m handheld to check in on the local net but that's about it.
 
W5FX here. Started in 1977 as WD8LOQ in Detroit with my Novice and then Tech ticket. Upgraded to General in New Orleans in 1978. Then the Advanced in KC and the callsign N0AON when I lived in Nebraska. Moved back to Michigan and passed the Extra and changed the call to AA8FE. Then moved here to Texas and had the opportunity to get a 1x2 call and got W5FX.

Inactive for a number of years now since my friend K7UP shut down his top-notch contest station. Contesting was my favorite thing! Best effort came years back when I placed third in ARRL Phone SS. Also love CW. At one time I was up to 30 wpm without breaking a sweat! :D

73,

Mike
 
The Hawkeye included HF radios in its comm suite. Scanning the freqs on long, boring, nothing much to do cross countries would occasionally turn up some conversations with HAM guys who thought it pretty cool to talk to an airplane at 30,000' out over the ocean somewhere. I managed to trade some squadron patches for QSL cards ... wish I would have kept them instead of leaving them with the squadron.
 
KO6JK. Currently inactive. A LARGE tree limb knocked down my antennas a number of years ago, and I never got around to putting them back up.
 
N6TPT. Extra class. Been licenced since 1988. Not terribly active on the air lately, but the dual bander is on during commutes. More involved helping the ARRL lab manager (W1RFI) on issues now and then and review articles for QST and QEX as I'm an ARRL TA. EMC, of course. Oh, and I have DXCC and WAC. Worked all states when I lived in California, but never got the paperwork submitted. If I finish it here I will take care of it.
 
Wow, cool replies. Scott, I should get off my butt and learn how to use WSJT properly. I assume that's your poison for meteor scatter or are you hammering those out in CW? Pingjockey or purist? ;)

Interesting that there's a number of contesters in the group here. I took 1st in Rocky Mtn Division Roving in the June VHF a couple of years, but haven't made that hard of an effort since then. Eric KR0VER (great call, eh?) is twisting my arm to make a run again.

Done the club Prez thing, and still volunteer on the Freq Coordination stuff... I like working on repeaters on our mountaintop sites (going up July 4th weekend to probably get our S-COM 7330's installed), tons of teaching basic Linux stuff to IRLP node owners, yadda yadda.

I'm sure if I actually took the time to submit it I have VUCC on 6m and maybe 2m... Heck my first Rover trip I had enough for VUCC.

Just not much of a paper-chaser, but I do send out real QSL cards. Haven't even messed with LoTW. Isn't as much fun as paper and ARRL dragged their feet for years adding VUCC so I was boycotting it, basically.

As usual my ARRL Region guy sent a big ol' newsletter about upcoming activities and left June VHF off of it, AGAIN this year. It's an acquired addiction, I suppose.

A cool aviation related story. We gave an op here a cool award a couple years ago. He's worked all grid squares in Colorado, including on the other side of the Rockies, from his home QTH on 10 GHz!! He had to use airplane scatter, CW, and some crazy high power to do it. Little did the airliners crossing Colorado know that they were all part of an elaborate network of bounces to reflect 10 GHz off of.

He played some cool recordings for us. Early in his aircraft bounce experimentation he kept seeing a distinct signature on the o-scope. Later he realized that it was the fan blades of the turbines "modulating" his signal. He could count pulses on the o-scope and tell you what the engine RPM was on an airliner that was pointed at him.

Very cool stuff.

I have to get to bed soon so I can call an FM Net in the morning. It's my turn in the rotation...

Thanks for sharing. I'll probably have the TH-F6A at OSH. Simplex freq, anyone?
 
At 15 in the sixties I was WN6BKX, When I turned 16 & got a drivers licence I discovered I met a lot more girls with a car than with a radio. I was tube guy , lousy with code trying to get out QRP on 40 meters. Built my 12w transmitter with salvaged TV parts & tube, Hallicrafters SX 25 receiver with the Q multiplier that was in the ARRL handbook. It gave me the electronics experience to land a electronics job in the USAF instead of being a draftee with a rifle. Dave
 
N3DLM

Started out as a teen learning code with my Dad. Once he got his ticket I wanted to do the same. When he went off to work I would use his call and make CW contacts, got busted when he got QSL cards.

I got my ticket and shared many great years on the air and working my Pop (KA3AAU) when on the road. I haven't been active much since he became a silent key in 98, it's just not the same. I sure do miss his phone calls when he would bust my chops and tell me what country or special event he had just worked. Of course I would hang up the phone and get on the air to try and make contact too.

Good timing for this post.....FIELD DAY is the end of the month!!!!
 
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I got started in high school in the mid-80's when we had a drive to get students to take the novice exam ... I was KA7SKW at the time.

I dabbled lightly and ultimately got my advanced ticket, and then it all went into hibernation for 20 years until last year when I picked up my Extra ticket. Moving to Guam in about 6 weeks, and concurrently building an Elecraft K2 ... I'm hoping I'll be popular from the islands if I can get a reasonable antenna up somewhere.

Brian AE7JW
 
W4GRS been a ham since 1961, extra class and used to be very active. I now live in a no antenna neighborhood so now inactive.
 
Wow, cool replies. Scott, I should get off my butt and learn how to use WSJT properly. I assume that's your poison for meteor scatter or are you hammering those out in CW? Pingjockey or purist? ;)
WSJT is the coolest. I don't know anyone left doing MS the old skool way. Yeah I use pingjockey. But once a hook up is initiated I stop using pingjockey until I get a contact or give up trying.
 
Anyone get out for Field Day?

I didn't feel well yesterday and today I've been avoiding hanging a large HF antenna because it's over 90F outside.
 
W0FG here; OF 20-wpm Extra, mostly inactive now except for the APRS rig in the pickup. Used to be a fairly serious DX'er, 95% on CW....kind of gave it up after I got past 275 countries worked. I probably have 125 or so confirmed on QRP power with a Yaesu FT-817 and 25 or 30 countries worked on mobile CW. I was first licensed in 1963 as WN0FYG. Ham radio experience got me most of the jobs I held through high school, college, and the Navy. Did my Navy hitch as a CT-R brancher and still have (and use) the Telex headphones I used then.
 
It's high time that all you hams came up with a viable solution for affordable Internet in GA cockpits.
 
Ha. I hear LightSpeed is working on that, but you'll have to deal with some interference to your GPS. :nono: :rofl:

What's the old saw?

You can have it cheap, fast, and done right. Pick any two! ;)
 
By the way, there are companies offering such things. Just not anywhere near typical GA price points. If it were a 100% mission requirement, you could buy one I'm sure. You might not like the bill though. ;)
 
I wasn't gonna link to 'em for looking like a greedy Capitalist trying to redistribute wealth to Colorado. ;)

AirCell used to employ a number of engineers I knew personally who made some folks (and themselves) a lot of money, with some very well-implemented tech in the telco world.

I heard some rumors recently that a number of them left.

I have no idea what that means, but I do know these folks tend to stay where they're needed as long as they're gettin' paid to do so, and the insanity-to-value ratio isn't insanely out of whack.

May have to make some phone calls, grab a lunch with 'em and see what's really going on up there in Broomfield.

As a support guy, doing support on these guys stuff wasn't always roses and rainbows, but they were the type of engineers who wanted stuff to work and didn't hide behind "processes" for contacting Engineering with questions. They would walk over and read logs. Unlike many.
 
Dad was K5OQD, I was KN5GGA. Chasing fur became more interesting than learning code, so that's as far as it went for me.
 
Always hearing we can't use cell for data in the air. They do it in Australia without difficulty. Reliable, robust.

What do they know, that we do not?

I believe it is principally market protection.
 
Always hearing we can't use cell for data in the air. They do it in Australia without difficulty. Reliable, robust.

What do they know, that we do not?

I believe it is principally market protection.
It is the system design mainly.

To minimize interference from frequency, Walsh code, etc. reuse we often times minimize downlink power and downtilt the antennas. In digital communication there are also some time adjustment parameters that are set such that someone far away from the cellsite would have difficulties in establishing a reliable link.

We also have a FAA regulatory issue for 800MHz.

Interesting enough the AirCell people use cell technology, or at least I know they used (not sure what they are using now) under FAA waiver but with antennas and cellsites optimized for airborne links.

BTW in urban areas optimizing the system for use in high rises poses some special issues that need to be dealt with.

As for Australia I am not aware of them doing anything different than the rest of the globe. I would be interested if that report of how good airborne cellular data performs is based on a couple of apocryphal statements. They type that will most likely follow this posting of mine with statements such as "my Verizon phone worked great on my last flight" or if it is based on a real study?

I say that because in the real world it is possible to get links that work while flying. I am just saying that whetever you get you get. No one except AirCell is designing systems in the US for airborne users.
 
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KG4QEW

Inactive.

Is it true they do not require code anymore for classes above technician?
 
KG4QEW

Inactive.

Is it true they do not require code anymore for classes above technician?
There is no Morse code requirement for any class of license in the US. Existing classes that can be issued are Technician, General and Extra. Each only requires a written test.
 
...
As for Australia I am not aware of them doing anything different than the rest of the globe. I would be interested if that report of how good airborne cellular data performs is based on a couple of apocryphal statements. They type that will most likely follow this posting of mine with statements such as "my Verizon phone worked great on my last flight" or if it is based on a real study?

I say that because in the real world it is possible to get links that work while flying. I am just saying that whetever you get you get. No one except AirCell is designing systems in the US for airborne users.

I base it upon specific testimony from multiple pilots I know in Australia. They observe that, while they do not have XM WX, they do have access to Internet WX in flight in most locations.

I have never asked whether it works as well in more populated areas as in the boonies; will do so.
 
I base it upon specific testimony from multiple pilots I know in Australia. They observe that, while they do not have XM WX, they do have access to Internet WX in flight in most locations.

I have never asked whether it works as well in more populated areas as in the boonies; will do so.
That is a fair comment by your friends. The point I was trying to make, at least for US deployments and the Asian ones I am aware of too, is that we do not design the systems for airborne use. You get what you get. It is more than possible that it can work. The reliability of the coverage is not guaranteed at all.

BTW for a lot of system deployment testing most companies do their tests in Asia. Seoul and Hong Kong offer the environments that are the most difficult to deploy wireless systems. With mountains, dense high rises, subways, traffic tunnels, etc. You can test everything in the most difficult terrain and propagation conditions possible.
 
We also have a FAA regulatory issue for 800MHz.

You meant FCC...

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/wireless-devices-airplanes

As for Australia I am not aware of them doing anything different than the rest of the globe. I would be interested if that report of how good airborne cellular data performs is based on a couple of apocryphal statements. They type that will most likely follow this posting of mine with statements such as "my Verizon phone worked great on my last flight" or if it is based on a real study?

I say that because in the real world it is possible to get links that work while flying. I am just saying that whetever you get you get. No one except AirCell is designing systems in the US for airborne users.

Heh... yup. I do think one thing they may have on us is their "in the boonies" systems probably are more often than not 3G or greater tech (sorry, I know 3G is an awful term, but you'll see where I'm going here) that's newer than the often 2G old junk that's still in operation in our "boonies".

I'll add my totally unscientific comment... When I fly over the boonies here that have 3G service, the data works great. When I fly over areas covered by old 2G base stations, the phone goes into high power "Where the hell did my network go?!" mode and generally freaks out.

Phone calls in either location rarely work, if ever. At 1000' AGL in the boonies with 3G base stations, maybe. But likely to be dropped very quickly.

Like you said, not scientific data.

Is it true they do not require code anymore for classes above technician?

There is no Morse code requirement for any class of license in the US. Existing classes that can be issued are Technician, General and Extra. Each only requires a written test.

And we were one of the last countries to do it. Treaties many many years prior authorized it, and we held on to our code requirements like it was the end of the world. Was kinda comical, really. I'm the last of the low-code Extras which was a phase that didn't last long. 5 WPM. I can go faster, and sometimes operate CW, but other than a historical connection to my grandfather who was a railroad telegrapher, I have no particular attachment to the code. (And railroad code wasn't Morse anyway... it was a totally different animal.)

I just loved his stories about stringing up buzzers between old mobile home trailers at Union Pacific training in Utah, and wondering why the batteries always died... then he and his buddy in class together figured out their wives were using the buzzers with their own "code" throughout the day to communicate things like, "Come over for lunch" and running their batteries down. LOL!

He knew what a straight key was, and a bug, but never worked with iambic paddles. He played with mine and liked 'em but said it'd take a while to get used to them, if he needed to. He liked the concept of a keyer, but said it'd take some of the ability to read someone's "fist" away. I haven't found that to be true... put four different people down at a set of paddles, you can still tell who's sending... but I can see where it's even more obvious with a bug, and REALLY obvious with a straight key, once you've heard the person send for a while.

I have never asked whether it works as well in more populated areas as in the boonies; will do so.

I'm definitely curious on that.

BTW for a lot of system deployment testing most companies do their tests in Asia. Seoul and Hong Kong offer the environments that are the most difficult to deploy wireless systems. With mountains, dense high rises, subways, traffic tunnels, etc. You can test everything in the most difficult terrain and propagation conditions possible.

A friend (who works for FCC, actually), says "Passive intermod is the devil's snack food." I'll have to ask him for a witty phrase to describe multipath and fading in a concrete jungle like Hong Kong or Seoul. What a nightmare.

But hey, I'm only up to twelve dropped calls on AT&T this month so far. My numbers are down because I gave up even trying to use the thing at my new office. In March it was something like 65. All sitting at my desk.

Tried a micro-cell from a pilot friend who stopped using his and offered it up as a guinea pig.

- Microcell requires GPS coverage to determine if it's in a legal area of the world to transmit on AT&T's assigned frequencies.
- Building has metalized windows. GPS signals don't get through well at all, confirmed by other GPS devices.
- Microcell could never get a GPS lock.
- Network security guy who I like, but probably went a little overboard on this one... says the Microcell is a "rogue access point" and doesn't want it on his network. Interesting take. I took it home to experiment some more.

House has anywhere from "two bars" to "three bars" of signal unless you go outside. Read up on AT&T's site about the microcell, and saw that it will hand off calls to the outdoor network if you walk out of the house, but not hand calls back in. Okay, I can live with that... but...

- iPhone "likes" outdoor network better. It'll join the microcell if it's very near it, but if the outdoor network comes up to three bars, it's bailing. No matter what the microcell signal strength is.

- Decided to try to prove this. Put microcell 36" from back porch sliding glass door. Stand in the middle of the room, on microcell... walk to the door, phone dives for the outdoor network.

My suspicion: Phones are programmed to jump to the higher bands, since those are more advantageous to the carrier... more overlap possible due to reduced range at higher frequencies, etc. Microcell is probably on 800 MHz. Phone wants to avoid it like the plague, but can't if it's four or five bars... but as soon as it sees a nice on another band that's at least three bars, it jumps ship.

So how does this end up working in practice?

You walk out on the back porch. You're still only a couple of feet from the microcell, but the phone jumps to the outdoor network. Your wife calls from the basement, so you go inside and walk down the stairs. Even though there's a microcell only 10 feet away, call drops... because you can't switch back IN to the microcell.

Stamped on the bottom of the microcell? Cisco. Yup, some engineer at Cisco needs a sippy-cup to catch the drool, apparently... 'cause they don't understand telco, that's for sure!

(Don't get me started on their proprietary VoIP phone stuff... you think Apple's a vendor that locks you in... try integrating Cisco voice/video over IP with anyone else's products. It's awful, sometimes impossible, even. Standards mean nothing to them.)

So the AT&T Microcell on the surface looks like a great way to fix coverage problems in a typical home in a bad coverage area, but in practice... it doesn't work well at all.

Of course, this was what the pilot friend who shipped it to me said was the reason he demanded a refund for the thing from AT&T and got it, but I had to see it for myself.

Now... ALL of that to say... "I bet the phones do similar utterly stupid things trying to pick a band and a mode when flying above the outdoor cell towers, too."

And a whole lot of info thrown in on the AT&T microcell tech for anyone contemplating one to fix coverage issues. Hope that helps someone.

There's one application where the Microcell works grand, and another friend in NY is using it for this...

If you have a cabin waaaaay out in the boonies where the outdoor network doesn't work AT ALL.... the microcell will happily provide service. And the phone will have no other base station to talk to, and it'll stay like a lost hungry puppy right at the microcell's side, and work perfectly.

Since this turned into a complete review of AT&T microcell tech, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that data coverage through the microcell is god-awful slow.

Also, AT&T charges for every minute you're on it, just like you were on their outdoor network, and not using your ISP's bandwidth to handle the call, UNLESS... you pay an additional $15 a month per line to activate "unlimited microcell calling". Data is still charged however your data plan works, and even though you're just browsing through your home Net connection that the microcell is plugged into, you can bust your data cap limit on the microcell.

The good news is, you could probably download a 4 GB file (the typical AT&T cap) and it'd take you all month through the microcell, so maybe you wouldn't actually bust that cap. LOL!

Final weirdness... phone chews through batteries like there's not enough power in the world to talk across that 36" gap between the microcell and the phone in the same room. Unbelievably fast battery depletion when attached to the microcell. Can't tell you why, but it's bad. Really bad.

So,the Verdict: AT&T Microcell. Great conceptual idea, implementation is beyond FUBAR. Get one if you have zero coverage at home. Don't bother if you have spotty coverage.

The next experiments were going to be at dad's house in the boonies, maybe even let him keep the thing since he's always dropping calls out there too, but I found out he has a 2G phone, and the device doesn't handle 2G phones at all.

Meanwhile, co-worker on T-Mobile has true WiFi calling. He attaches the phone to the company WiFi and never misses a call. Maybe AT&T should take a cue from the company they're about to purchase?
 
Today was repeater link troubleshooting day.

147.225 MHz/224.98 MHz in DEN is now linked to 145.16 MHz in COS, and the link to the 145.46 in the BLD area has been working. Repair was a dead PA on the link hub in DEN. Swapped it out, link works now.

So the Colorado Repeater Assn's Front Range linked VHF system is back operational! Yay.

New S-Com 7330 repeater controllers go in, probably sometime in August. Probably have the digital linking backbone in by September using our own design embedded Linux machines booting from Compact Flash and running 100% from RAM. Good times! Working on that now.

Here's the view from the "cockpit" of the Yukon headed to the top of Conifer Mountain at 10,000' MSL this morning. Love going up there.

4b94241c-24ee-31b0.jpg
 
I foresee a big gulp of the APRS koolaid in my future. After getting a technician license, is something like the Kenwood TH-D72A a one-stop-shopping solution?
 
N1RN here. I used to have that reserved as an N number too, but I forgot to renew it one year and someone stuck it on a glider.

My wife is N2JRG (Advanced class, never got around to going in for her Extra after they dropped the code requirement).

One of these days I got to put the HF rig back in the truck.
 
N0XAS here... I don't get on the air much these days due to lack of antennas and, more importantly, lack of time. On the bright side, a few gadgets I cooked up are going to go a long way toward paying for flying time.

I used to run a lot of HF QRP CW. Now I'm looking at maybe sticking a V/UHF discone outside my window so I can listen to approach and UNICOM locally, and maybe work some 6m, 2m and 70cm. I've got a TS-850SAT and an FT-817ND sitting here on teh desk, but I think the 850 may be on its way out before long.
 
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