Taking a break

Misinformation

The web is a great way to get information about subjects like ham radio that you might never find if you had to rely on books. Unfortunately it's also a good way to get wrong or obsolete information. For example, people looking for advice on how to make their first contacts via amateur satellites will find many articles that explain in great detail how to work through satellites that have long been defunct - even on the Amsat website!

There are numerous websites that explain about SSIDs used for APRS. (An SSID is the numeric suffix to the call, for example G4ILO-7, which is used to distinguish an operator's APRS devices and also to give an idea of what type of device it is.) They are all wrong! Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, the inventor and ultimate authority on APRS, released an updated set of recommendations on 9 June this year to provide more flexibility for current usage.

The new recommendations are:

-0 Your primary station, usually fixed and message capable.
-1 Additional station, digi, mobile, weather station etc.
-2 Additional station, digi, mobile, weather station etc.
-3 Additional station, digi, mobile, weather station etc.
-4 Additional station, digi, mobile, weather station etc.
-5 Network sources (smartphones etc.)
-6 Special activity, e.g. satellite operations, camping, 50MHz etc.
-7 Handheld radios and other human portables.
-8 Boats, RVs or second mobile.
-9 Primary mobile.
-10 Internet gateways, Echolink, Winlink, AVRS, APRN, etc.
-11 Balloons, aircraft, spacecraft, etc.
-12 APRStt, DTMF, RFID devices, trackers etc.
-13 Weather stations.
-14 Truckers or other full time drivers.
-15 Additional station, digi, mobile, weather station etc.

These are recommendations and not set in stone, but they are intended to help people know what type of device or application is being used, particularly in situations where someone doesn't have a graphical map display and can't see an icon.

Due to these recommendations I am now using G4ILO-5 for my Windows smartphone running APRSISCE. My VX-8GR remains G4ILO-7. My main 2m station is G4ILO-0 or just plain G4ILO, and my HF station is G4ILO-1.

Of course, this page could also become out of date in the future so I am including this link back to the original document in case Bob should make any further changes.

Bill in VK

Regular readers of my blog may have detected a loss of interest in HF band operating over the last few months. I have got tired of listening to signals through the harsh noise that it is never possible completely to eliminate, I got bored with the sameness of contacts using PSK31 and I got angry at having to battle with the renegade ROS mode if I wanted to use Olivia or other digital modes. My hopes were set on Sporadic E on the VHF bands but this year's season has been disappointing with no major openings on 144MHz extending this far north as far as I am aware.

Most of my radio activity in recent weeks has been focussed on APRS, first on establishing a VHF gateway and in the last few days getting going on HF. As I haven't felt much like actually sitting at the radio making contacts this has proved to be a good way to make some use of my HF equipment, a mode of operation that doesn't constantly remind me of the limitations of using attic antennas from a poor and noisy location.

I recently set up my private Echolink node again. I now have a Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver, a dual band 2m/70cm rig with dual receivers, a built-in APRS TNC and support for Echolink. However I'm still using the FT-817 on low power into a dummy load for my Echolink node for now. Before I could run a public Echolink node I would need to buy a proper dual band antenna instead of the 2m Slim Jim I'm currently using and apply for a permit from Ofcom. I'd then lose the use of the Kenwood for local 2m contacts and WOTA chasing, while the number of stations that could actually access the node due to my poor location could be counted on the fingers of one hand. So despite its built-in support it doesn't seem worth using the Kenwood for Echolink.

The node was on yesterday afternoon and I was sitting downstairs in the conservatory with the TH-F7E having a contact with John G4LRS from near Sheffield. After I finished with John I was called by VK6FSBB (if I remember it correctly) a Foundation licensee from Australia called Bill. Bill called because he had heard that my home location was Cockermouth. He was originally from the Workington area (Maryport in fact, though he had lived in Flimby, Seaton and various other places in West Cumbria) but had moved to Australia 45 years ago. He had held a ham radio license for only eight months and I was the first contact he had ever made into this area.

Bill had played rugby for various local amateur teams and mentioned various employers he had worked for, though as an incomer to the area I didn't know any of them. When I tried to explain where exactly I lived, I realized that the town must have changed beyond recognition from the days when Bill knew it. Things like the A66 bypass simply weren't there.

I could have talked for longer, but dinner was nearly ready and Bill's hand-held was only just making it into whatever repeater he was using to access the Echolink network in Australia so sometimes he dropped out after a lot of loud hissing like an old analogue mobile phone call. It may not have been a direct contact on HF and it wouldn't count for any awards, but to be Bill's first contact back to the place of his birth after 45 years made this VK contact a special one by any standards, one to remember long after I've forgotten many humdrum HF QSOs.

It's all down to your ears

There was a lot of excitement on the Elecraft email reflector over the fact that the majority of participants in the World Radio Team Championship 2010 (WRTC 2010) were using Elecraft K3s. There was even more glee when it was discovered that Scott Robbins W4PA, former Ten-Tec product manager, and Tim Duffy K3LR of Team Icom had taken K3s. This was like the President of Coca Cola serving Pepsi at his anniversary party!

There have not been many comments now the results are out, which show that the top two teams, from Russia and Estonia respectively, were using FT-1000MPs. The USA team of N6MJ and KL9A in third place used K3s, as did K5ZD and W2SC who came fifth, but the fourth placed S50A and S57AW again used FT-1000MPs as did the Lithuanian entry in seventh place.

So let's get this straight: the winning stations and several others in the top ten used a now obsolete radio that was introduced in 1996 which has frequently been criticized as inferior to the K3? I suspect the fact that many international competitors took K3s may have more to do with the fact that the Elecraft radio is small enough and light enough to be taken on an aircraft as hand baggage. And I suspect that the reason for the success of the stations using FT-1000MPs is that there is more to winning a contest than having a receiver with the best performance numbers.

Anyone want to swap an Elecraft K3 for an FT-1000MP? (Only joking.)

The End of the Internet

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For those who don't believe that the internet is flat.