Ham Radio

Skywarn
I currently hold an Extra Class Ham Radio Operator license, granted in 2002 as well as several years of broadcasting experience doing college radio. Yes, that abysmal failure where the station’s content amounts to *dead air* “umm…” *dead air* My mentor Henry Jager as well as my Grandpa “Jay” encouraged me to pursue my dreams in radio, and both helped me towards my license, granted BEFORE I was licensed to drive!

It is not uncommon to see me manning the communications tent at
local a Marathon, bike race, or other annual event. Keeping communications going successfully during a Marathon includes medical emergency assistance as well as making sure each runner is safe during the race. You might also find me on the side of the road during a thunderstorm, looking up at the clouds. That would be because I am also a SkyWarn storm tracker. Working with local community emergency personnel, I’ve been involved in weather watching since before I had a radio license. I remember times sitting in my room with my little police/weather scanner listening to the commercial repeater used by the local fire departments to communicate with the National Weather service. I got involved with storm tracking before I could legally participate (something about endangering a minor ::grumble grumble::) by watching local weather patterns and reporting back to the rest of the storm tracking team.

Icom IC-2100H

Icom IC-2100H

The Icom-2100H is the one rig I have used, and continue to use, that I would trust in an emergency.  The other radios I’ve reivewd just don’t measure up to the quality of this rig.  The display is crystal clear, operates in two colors, and has 4 selectable levels.  The rig KICKS OUT a signal, and doesn’t really sweat too hard while doing so.  Unlike most of the other mobiles I’ve used it actually has a sufficient heatsink!  This is why I’d use it in an emergency.  When the goin gets tough, this radio does not go outside and play on the swings…

Its programming interface is NOT intuitive, the fancy hand mic has so many features, it takes some time to learn how to use it, but holy crap, compared to the cheesy, inconvenient, afterthought microphones available on the other radios, I’ll take it.  For some reason a function button is required to send DTMF tones, a quirk not common to the other major brands, but I think its a good one.  I use the control functions FAR more often than I ever use the DTMF send capability.

This one is here to stay.

Yaesu VX-150

Yaesu VX-150

I’ve had the VX-150 for quit a while now.  I’ve had a couple of issues with it through its life.  It has an upwards tilted LCD, most handy for looking at when it’s on your belt. The only gripe about the display is that it’s upside down when on your belt, it’d be cool to have it reversible.  The rubber key pad is really wimpy.  If you buy this radio GET A CASE for it. Took less than 6 months to wear off every single number on the keypad. The function button (used most often) wore off by the time i had everything programmed (2 hours?).
Reciever is fine exept for a slight noise problem in my car. I’ve traced it to the engine control computer (bummer, it’s not something i can turn off.) Transmitted audio is good, even with a ‘cheap’ external speaker mic.  About 5 years ago I started experiencing audio issues on receive, and then eventually the radio started powering off/resetting randomly.  It took a bit of work, but eventually the volume knob connections were the culprit.  With a re-soldering of that pot and reassembly of the radio, it seems that its working.

This sucker is still ticking on the stock 700mah battery. do i wish i had a bigger one? yep. but does it need a battery yet? even more than 6 years since i got it? nope.

Mis-communication

Today I experienced one of the most extreme forms of mis-communication/mis-information that I have ever seen in my life. Let me set the scene for you a little bit. I was helping to coordinate a local marathon of about 1400 runners using ham radio. During the event our group handled at least one possibly life-threatening emergency very quickly and with professionalism. A runner had simply pushed too hard and had become severely disoriented and dehydrated, a quick call to the local paramedics and the patient was on her way to one of the finest medical establishments in the world, you might know it, the Mayo Clinic and its associated hospitals. Incident handled, happy day.

Towards the end of the race we had a case of panicking mommy. Apparently she expected her daughter across the line much sooner than her daughter arrived. Mommy put into motion a search for said daughter, which started simply with sending us information on how to identify her. We were given “runner number 113″ a physical description and a first name. Through a convoluted game of telephone, the information was passed around between us, the ambulance company, the local police department, the local fire department, and other agencies beyond just the ham operators. In short order the Emergency Alert System was engaged and an announcement was put out to the entire city through the local media that we were looking for a possibly disoriented runner.

I continued in my job of tailing the end of the race, observing that one of the runners I was tailing matched the physical description, but not the name or the number of the runner we were looking for. LOOOOOOOOOONG story short we crossed the finished line to find a very worried mother waiting for her daughter, which I had been following the entire time. Our worried mother had panicked so much that she forgot the number that her daughter was wearing, and had mis-confirmed her daugher’s name (indicating to us that the runners I was following were not the ones we were looking for.)

I just graduated with a B.A. in Communication Studies, so obviously I feel like a complete idiot, because if I had been a little more insistent about confirming that the runners I was following were not the ones we were looking for, I could’ve saved the city public services an awful lot of trouble.. ’twas a good non-drill-drill…

Moral of the story: ALWAYS TRIPLE CONFIRM YOUR INFORMATION BEFORE PANICKING!

Why not high speed packet?

Why not high speed packet?

Last time I checked, there are Amateur radio allocated frequencies in the 900mhz band. 902-928mhz (USA). If one does a little snooping around online, one will discover that the 900mhz band is in extensive use commercially, and that there are a host of devices capable of speaking data at rates up to 128kb/s. Yes we might have to realign our band plans, so what?

Young people aren’t interested in talking around the world on finnicky HF bands with 5w or less on CW anymore. Why? HF is not reliable communication, just because I talked to Croatia the other day (which I actually did, it was great fun!) doesn’t mean I’ll be able to get back there today. Also, because we can send a text message anywhere in the world in 1 second, or pick up our portable “HT’s” (a.k.a) cellphones, and give a call to the other side of the country, or the world, there’s no need for HF voice or ::shudder:: 300 baud data. Yeah yeah, when the cellphone system infrastructure is borked, THEN it comes in handy, ok fine, granted that we hams are a great backup when the infrastructure fails, such is ONE FACET of this wonderful hobby!

Let me illustrate what I’m talking about: Sentry unlicensed device, but capable of operation in the 900mhz band. Think of the possibilities! Or a different form of data radio

NOTE: I am not endorsing or supporting “calamp.com” or any of their products, I was just surprised by how much is possible so close to frequencies that we use!

There are others that can push high-speed data. even 64kb/s is sufficient, but what on earth are we doing at 9600bps, or 1200bps??? Sitting on our bums while the state of the communication art passes us by and leaves us wondering what our place is in this world. Back in the early days of radio, hams were on the absolute bleeding edge of what could be done. If you want to interest youth in ham radio once again, offer them a cost-effective way to run high-speed data off the trunk of their car. Not to replace the internet, or provide a ‘backup’ in the event that the internet is shut down, (though that would be a nice side-effect, dozens of data equiped amateurs providing a communication ‘backbone’ while the wires are down) but to interlink with internet and use its amazing capabilities. Linking my data radio with voip = echolink or IRLP on steroids.

I also realize we call it D-star in ham radio, but whaa?? only one company is producing a device such as the ID-1. Pick a modulation/packet standard that is IDENTICAL to commercial devices (yeah, pay the stupid fee for the use of patented modulation systems and whatever), and give us VFO equipped data radios, capable of interfacing and interlinking to installed commercial systems (which are channel restricted) in an emergency.

Think about that for a second, the communication infrastructure in your city is kaput. Most of the police department’s 900mhz data radios are still working, but their link to somewhere (the base station connected to the internet that took a lightening strike perhaps?) is MIA. A ham does a little antenna rigging, brings up the generator (if necessary, i mean sheesh we can run these things off of our cars for quite a while) a few clicks of a mouse on their little data radio, kicks on the amp and BAM everybody is talking again like they usually would.

Legal issues, and problems with people abusing the technology for malicious interference purposes would be similar to what we experience today on voice.. deal with them accordingly.

note»

Incidentally, if you’re interested in this sort of thing and have experience with embedded computing and/or data modulation, it would be well worth putting together some sort of focus group to get people talking and thinking along these lines.  There are plenty of engineers interested in radio, and it would likely be possible to get YaeComWood to put out some compatible digital radios.

Kenwood TM-V7A Fan Replacement

The main update I have made to the rig was to replace that crappy fan in the back, which started buzzing as soon as it turned on, – I did have to buy a used rig didn’t I… I’ll drop in a picture later if I get a chance. It was a very simple process if you’re handy with a soldering iron and have a spare old-school cpu fan floating around. The fan is the size of a relatively common (but old) CPU fan, so naturally a little chop chop, and a quick plug swap yielded a working fan.

Step by step:

1. Un-mount the rig from wherever it lives.
2. Pull the control panel – don’t have to, but you won’t need it until you’re done.
3. Remove the BOTTOM cover first, there should be about 4 screws holding it on
4. Remove the TOP cover – the speaker is loose inside there, be careful not to damage it or its wiring. (which is why you pull the bottom cover first)
5. You’ll note the plastic clip that holds the stock fan in place with 4 plastic tabs (2 on top and 2 on the bottom). Keep track of that speaker if you have to flip the rig over.
6. Use a small needle nose pliers to carefully pull the power plug to the fan. The plug is polarized, but as it’s rather a trick to put it back in, it will save you some fumbling to note its polarity.
7. The fan is held to its fan clip with at least 2 screws, go ahead and pull those, noting which holes they went in (if there are only 2).
8. Snip snip, solder solder. Attach the 2-pin plug from the old fan on to your shiny new/used cpu fan, being sure to observe correct polarity… Red = red and so forth. You don’t want too much excess wire, about 3″ total length should be plenty.
8.5 Have coffee.
9. Electrical tape is your friend, be sure to isolate the wires you’ve just soldered so they can’t touch each other, OR THE CHASSIS. I don’t know what happens when you short the hot fan wire to ground, but I suspect important parts of the motherboard will be missing after that happens.
10. Don’t reinstall the fan just yet. The stock fan has ‘countersunk’ holes in it so that it will sit flush against the fan clip. You may have to bust out your drill press and drill said countersinks to get the new fan to install properly. This involves only a very steady hand and a very fast drill to keep things from snagging.
11. Pop the new fan into its clip, making sure it’s flush with the clippy guard thingy. Observe which direction it rotates, indicated by an arrow on the fan itself, and also the direction the air moves, also usually indicated with an arrow. You want the air to blow OUT the back if you intend to use the fan in the same way as the stock fan. Also note where you have to run the wires from the fan into the radio to avoid excess wire or bending it too sharply. Install the fan screws.
12. Plug ‘er in to the rig, and begin reassembly. Top cover first, making sure the speaker is held in the right place, then the bottom cover.
13. Install the control panel and fire up the rig before re-mounting it. Choose a frequency and transmit briefly (ID please!), the fan should come on as soon as you key up – mine does. If she rotates, and air comes out the back, you have success!

Kenwood TM-V7A

Kenwood TM-V7A

The purpose of this article is to detail my saga with this very, erm.. “interesting” radio. I purchased my sample at a hamfest, used, for a pretty decent price. In fact, if it hadn’t been so cheap, I never would’ve gone for it because I knew ahead of time about the various issues with this rig.

First off: The display REALLY DOES SUCK THAT BAD. I’m a young’n compared to some of the ham community, I have good eyesight, and I’m willing to deal with a display that isn’t perhaps the sharpest. I mounted the rig in my car below eye level, pointed up at my face so that the display is only slightly off-axis, and out of the sunlight for the most part. I CAN’T SAFELY SEE IT while driving during the day, AND EVEN AT NIGHT!. Note» I figured I would be able to tweak the settings and compensate for the display somehow, but there’s absolutely nothing you can do, I’ve tried almost all the possible combinations. Even as a young’n that might still think he’s invincible, I can’t recommend this rig for mobile use, it’s just not safe. The rig’s guts are relatively good otherwise. I’ve had good luck with operating it. V/U (full duplex), V/V, and U/U are all possible, and quite handy.

In V/V mode, while scanning on the right-hand side of the radio, AM receive doesn’t seem to work, I get a carrier, but no audio (and I’ll have to do some more tweaking to see if the problem is consistent or intermittent, or the result of operator-error.) Simple solution, just use the left side for scanning, not a big deal.

The crossband-repeat and its associated remote control functions are VERY nice, if nothing else, I may get another dualbander for actual use in the vehicle, and set this one up as a crossband repeater for use remotely, then the display won’t be an issue.

This Kenwood’s microphone controls are a joke. I don’t know how Icom does it, but their mics are much more useful, albeit crowded. Kenwood just sends DTMF tones down an open mic line, which controls the radio. For some stupid reason you can’t save a “Programmable Memory” – i.e. a full setup for the rig including most of its settings – without turning off Microphone Control.. WTHey?? I suppose I did like the ability to power the rig on/off with a button on the microphone, but with all of the other functionality pretty much nonexistant (as opposed to the Icom), the novelty wore off after about 3 seconds.

What I had to do to make this rig somewhat usable included: cleaning out the display, its previous owner had it living in a truck, so the area between the LCD and the plastic cover was very dusty. Second I performed the freeband mod. This is primarily an emergency measure for me, I don’t use it out of band, and I don’t ever intend to need to, but if I have to, I want it open. All of my VHF rigs have been modded this way, so I’m used to watching out for the band edges and keeping my signal legal. If you don’t want to think about it, I suggest you leave your rigs un-modded.

The Unofficial Kenwood TM-V7A repair and modifications page has some good information on this rig.

This is the older unit without the updated displayPowered by Hackadelic Sliding Notes 1.6.4