National Hamfest 2016 - The car gets the all-clear to travel to Newark

Today was the day I submitted my current car for MOT (after removing the antenna and disconnecting the Yaesu FTM-400XDE from the power and taking the control head off the windscreen), and it passed with a clean bill of health, just one advisory but that I will keep an eye on, so it is all clear to travel for the second time to Newark.

Last year I had only just got the car (only a couple of weeks prior to the Hamfest), and I had no Amateur radio equipment installed, most I had was my handies, now I have the Yaesu FTM-400XDE installed I may be able to use the talk in in the Newark area, I believe this should be on S22 as normal if they have one, but I can find out later.

So with no other issues I should be at the Hamfest on the 1st October.


73 de M6RSQ

Results of the Bank Holiday of radio

As mentioned in my previous post I decided to play with System Fusion and WIRES-X, with some success, I initially positioned myself close to the repeater closest to the home QTH, GB3CD, and managed to make contact with a station over near Chester, which was nice but I was hoping to make contacts in the US but I run out of time, I was also hoping for simplex contacts and through the repeater with WIRES-X disconnected, but I can try again another time, as I managed to be able to open the WIRES-X on GB3CD from my usual radio playground near the home QTH I now don't have to drive for miles to play with it all being well, and I found a couple of American nodes of interest on the WIRES-X website but one of them was offline on Sunday but I can try again

Bank Holiday Monday I decided to see if I could expand mobile RF based APRS beyond my Yaesu FTM-400XDE, so I cobbled together a cable out of the speaker mic supplied with my Wouxun as it was hopeless audio wise for Amateur radio, a piece of cable I had lying about, and a suitable connector obtained from Maplin the same day, the results of this endeavour are on YouTube and attached below to this post, this has inspired me to pick up a Bluetooth TNC to make it permanent, along with another Baofeng handheld as I still wish to keep two HTs available for voice just in case one day my significant other gets her Amateur radio licence too,

So, Yesterday's endeavours are below, I'll leave you to watch

73 de M6RSQ

Bank Holiday weekend of radio

So, the final Bank holiday weekend of the year before Christmas, a good excuse to do radio, my interest is System Fusion,WIRES-X, IRLP and Echolink so I am more than likely going to be found on 2 metres and 70cm, naturally I will start with WIRES-X and pick up from last week, and see how that goes, later progress to IRLP and Echolink on GB3IR, WIRES-X will be on GB3CD unless there are other close nodes nearby which I can find out on Yaesu's WIRES-X website

IRLP is something that I have just started to use, I tried during a quiet time on the repeater the other night to connect to British repeaters on the system for the time being, I will branch out to American and Canadian nodes later on, my first attempt resulted in no contact on the first one I tried and the second one did not work, so worth a try later on.

Right, it is time for me to have a coffee and prepare for going out, I'll be monitoring GB3IR while I have my coffee so you can give me a shout if you so wish as long as you are licensed

73 de M6RSQ

WIRES-X

Yesterday I had a go with WIRES-X, the Internet linking system that goes with Yaesu's System Fusion, with limited success, I was only really able to get it to work as I'd like closer to GB3CD, which meant a bit of a drive to position myself close to it (as I am limited to 5 watts on the radio at present).

I managed to get into the WIRES-X system no problem once I was close enough, and have a look at some of the rooms, but no one came back to me, however it did disconnect mid-way though using it so I decided at this point to drive home and put some calls out on the repeater as normal to see if anyone else in the area was on with System Fusion, no replies, my final call was FM but I had not realised this until I glanced at the display of the radio mid transmission, I intend to give WIRES-X another go and also see if I can suggest that someone puts a node on down here, of course on 2-metres because I have discovered that repeaters and gateways on 70cm are impossible to put on air in the area around my home QTH.

I look forward to having a QSO with you on WIRES-X soon, should also be a perfect way to get my inaugural System Fusion QSO as this has not happened no matter how much I have tried.

73 de M6RSQ

End of blog silence

With the issues surrounding Chance Callahan KD0MXN now in the hands of the FCC and also his Internet Service Provider, I have decided to end my blog silence and post updates, I have monitored the local repeater almost near constant, and so far no connections incoming from KD0MXN, I'd only know about these from Echolink, if he connected via a local to him IRLP node it would not be easy to identify him until he transmits.

So, with that issue now out of my hands for the moment I have took the time to prepare to go to the National Hamfest in September/October (It will be the Saturday, which is the 1st October this year), you may remember from last year that I almost never made it due to car problems, my current car is due to undergo it's MOT at least two weeks before but will be done sooner than that all being well, and it should pass with flying colours or at least one advisory, it recently had potential failures in the shape of two wheel bearings and a badly rusted and improperly (temporary fix by me using piece of copper wire) attached exhaust replaced so that should make it clear for it's next MOT, though it will be given a check over before it is submitted to test to ensure any repairs needed are carried out before it is tested and I then end up in a situation where I may not make it to the Hamfest.

I have not had much success with System Fusion despite using this mode when in range of GB3CD, however as there are apparently 4 other club members so equipped with System Fusion equipment it is starting to take hold, however all my activity with System Fusion is done mobile, a good way to use it would be while I travel to the National Hamfest in September assuming there are compatible repeaters along the way, or I get onto a simplex call with someone else with a System Fusion radio, also if I head north to Newcastle or that sort of area, there is not only GB3CD while I am this side of Durham, but also GB3TW when I get closer to Gateshead, another idea is to try calling on the DV calling channel as System Fusion falls under DV

Having also noticed that IRLP is getting more use on the local repeater I am thinking about trying it myself, first with British nodes then onto American and Canadian nodes, and with my System Fusion interest I also want to try WIRES-X and see what that's all about.

73 de M6RSQ

Blog silence for a while

With the ongoing issues with Chance Callahan KD0MXN and the necessity to get those issues resolved I will be maintaining a blog silence while this is ongoing, however I will not maintain a radio silence on Amateur and CB radio, my transmissions will continue until such times as it turns out that Callahan surfaces on the air.

I am mostly found on 2-metres at present, usually repeaters and will generally respond to any calls if I am listening to a particular frequency or repeater.

Once my silence ends I will post an update

Any transmissions from KD0MXN that I hear WILL be logged for the benefit of the FCC


73 de M6RSQ

Yaesu FTM-400XDE, a week on... almost

Though before I go onto the Yaesu FTM-400XDE I bring some worrying news, this is that Chance Callahan KD0MXN has continued his barrage of attacks against me, and the whole situation with him is getting considerably worse, to the degree I may want to just give up on Amateur radio, which is a hobby I enjoy, I am currently looking to take action against him.

So, the Yaesu FTM-400XDE, a good radio, and now I've had a good few days to use it I've got a little used to it, but yet still to get my inaugural System Fusion QSO, which I might get over the weekend.

Having it in the car means I can use APRS, I have had the beacon on and know it is working, the nearest digipeater MB7USD does not appear to be operating, I may have to check this out with the keeper of the digipeater but at present it does not pose a major issue as on top of the hill other digipeaters are available.

Getting into GB3IR in the locality naturally isn't a problem, the big test will come when I take the radio further afield, say Darlington or Northallerton, on my old antenna IR was barely there, dropping out now and again along Northallerton High Street, on the new antenna I cannot see this to be a major problem, Darlington was another area where I could not hear IR properly, with exception at Morton Park as the signal was relatively good and it appears to be slightly uphill from Darlington centre. this again may change on the new antenna, helpful when I can legally use the full 50 watts of the radio, at the moment I can only use 5 (there is no 10 watt setting which is a little annoying).

Without being able to use System Fusion I've also not been able to use WIRES-X, Yaesu's Internet connection system that connects nodes everywhere and uses the digital side of the radios to handle node and room selection, though DTMF is available for analogue much like on Echolink and IRLP nodes, so yet another thing on the radio to play with

The radio, as installed in the car, is set to AMS, which switches between FM and the digital modes, either "DN" or "VW", a "DW" appears on using WIRES-X from what I have observed, though that may be the seek signal

I must now depart as at time of writing I need to go out, and I'll let you know how things fair

73 de M6RSQ