I found the brand new wsjtx-improved available on my Debian unstable system. It’s the next beta plus some UI enhancements including filters, color, etc, better location labels.
FT Challenge
This weekend was the FT Challenge.
I made about 112 contacts over 14 unique “letter grids”. I operated QRP (<5W), single operator, single radio. We scored points for each contact plus each 3000km distance on a contact, and the multiplier was that number of unique letter grids. I uploaded my logs, and it’ll probably be a while until I see an official score, but I figure I probably got about 2000 points.
Skywarn Recognition Day: 2024-12-07
7 December was apparently Skywarn Recognition Day, so a station in Mount Holly, NJ, WX2PHI, was celebrating by making contacts on the N3KZ repeater system, so at 5:15pm EST, I keyed up my HT to the mobile antenna on my car and reported 32F and clear sky. It was good to know I could key up the N3KZ node in York from over here in Lancaster.
Yagi in the Wind
The Yagi spun around like a wind vane at times atop its flagpole, but it held up just fine. The aluminum pole swayed quite a bit as well. I’ve wrapped a loop of cord around the pole to use as reigns. so I can spin it straight again without really going outside.
985 Roundtable on Allstar
I used my Allstar for tonight’s 985 Roundtable as a test, since my antenna had been blowing around all day. I wasn’t not sure which way it would be pointing.
It’s really easy to miss the first word or 2, or prefixes of callsigns. I was listening along on RF as well. I got 2 random restarts of the Allstar connection, and I learned that I can’t send any commands to the radio while the node is transmitting simplex on RF.
The 985 Winter Field Day will be at Lines Self Storage in Chester Springs, PA.
A Bit of FT8
I got Japan, Colombia, and Uruquay on 12m FT8 today. I got so much Japan from Hawaii, I assumed I’d not see it for a long time. Winter is good in 10M and 12M.
Allstar Access
The 985 workbench suggested locking down the node to be safe,
so I set only my node (63047) in the allow list
via asl-menu
and node configs.
It needed at least one value,
according to the UI,
so I gave it my own node ID.
It still allows me to connect
to the W3GMS repeater,
node 53085.
985 Workbench: 2024-12-02
My Week in Radio
- Built an Allstar node from a PI 4 and a USB-C radio dongle to reach 985
- Stumbled into and recognized some Olivia-8/250 on 20M
- Lots of ISS repeater traffic at convenient times on my good ol’ 1/4 wave antenna in the tree
- Got the radio blog up-to-date with all my adventures
- Listened to Jim, AF3Z, talk about sideswiper keys, and I might give it a try as i’ve changed the way I’ve been using my iambic paddle to almost never squeeze.
- looking forward to FT Challege
Questions
- KC3WWC, John:
I have the basic Allstar node configured.
Should I leave it connected to 985 all the time?
I recognize some of the repeater features,
so what other cool things should I have this node do?
- W3CRW, CR:
- using it for a few years
- not always connected
- switch to other nodes
- always disconnect from one node before connecting to another to avoid linking.
- has a node in 2 vehicles to supplement the reception.
- WA3VEE, Ron:
- best thing for 985
- not connected all the time
- uses HTs anywhere in the house
- operated at long distances
- be careful to not cross-link
- in vermont, connected to 53085, simplex 446.100, unknowingly connected the repeater to the entire vermont network
- W3DIB, Greg:
- Joe is adamant about avoiding crosslinks to other repeaters.
- other danger: if you are always connected,
someone else could link to you and cross-link.
- prevent other nodes from linking to me.
- disallow every other nodes
- computer security:
- keep the node up-to-date and secured.
- it used to be ancient versions of debian and asterisk
- now it’s much better….allstar 3
- careful about forwarding ports to it.
- uses a VM, flipperphone. will try to get a tutorial together.
- W3CRW, CR:
- supermon on the node allows cool monitoring with web access
- On Tuesday’s at 20:00, there is a tech net on the East Coast Reflector. The net usually runs a couple of hours. You can connect, to the Reflector via Allstar on 27339, 45225 or 45192.
- W3CRW, CR:
- KC3RFG, Jim:
When you setup a station and all the gadgets in the RF chain,
where does a wattmeter prefer to be?
- NA3CW, Chuck:
- it should be between transmitter and tuner, so you can tell when the tuner is right
- sounds like bad cable or other installation problems?
- RF getting back through the chain?
- KC3RFG will check that jumpers are good
- NA3CW, Chuck:
- W3DIB, Greg:
On RF now, impressions of the NanoVNA?
- W3QP, Tim:
- 100% worth the money
- depends on use-case
- needs calibration all the time
- can be fragile
- great for building ununs, etc.
- dedicated VNA can be much more convenient
- uses nano vna saver python script to capture everything
- KC3WWC, John:
- so much cool stuff to measure, so opens up a whole world
- lots of more features to learn on youtube every week
- as a technical person, you’ll have a lot of fun.
- KC3NZT, Harvey:
- lots more data than a regular analyzer
- maybe doesn’t need recalibrated all the time.
- use saved calibrations
- KC3RFG, Jim:
- calibrated for each band, saved it, and recalls them.
- does lots more connected to the computer
- W3QP, Tim:
Sideswiper
KN3I, John, and AF3Z, Jim, were talking on 985 about Sideswiper keys. Technically, it’s a straight key. It’s 2 straight keys together, so it’s not considered an automatic keyer. You can optionally use either key to manually key a dit or a dah. Sideswiper is sometimes called a Cootie Key. It sounds interesting, since it’ll not race me on dits.
VE4ARM Beacon
I was able to hear a 10M beacon today at 28193.180kHz:
E E E E E VVV DE VE4ARM / B AMATEUR RADIO MUSEUM / AUSTIN MANITOBA / EN 09 E E E