Today I received in the post March's RadCom, it was this that told me of GB3HG's future, that future is that LAMCO have sponsored yet another Yaesu System Fusion repeater and that said repeater would be going into service at GB3HG, however on investigating this further I have yet to find what I am looking for.
I am well in range of HG given it's prominent location on Sutton Bank near Thirsk and I should be able to hit it with an HT, though none of these are System Fusion as they are all Chinese HTs, this sudden turn of events makes me even more eager to get a Yaesu FT2D, however I still have my FTM-400XDE in the car.
As part of this turn of events I have been monitoring HG all day, and given that there has been no change to the NoV (as this would show on ukrepeater.net) it is clear that the existing repeater hardware is still operating, however HGs output was full of QRM so I had to investigate that too and I found the culprit, my Raspberry Pi Zero which operates as the most energy efficient IRC bouncer on Earth, seems like I will have to place it inside a metal enclosure, either a pre-made one or an off the shelf one from Maplin customised to accommodate the Pi Zero, though since the reboot to determine the QRM it is not as bad at present.
If indeed what I have seen is in fact reality (a picture in RadCom and a tweet by LAMCO back this up), then a gap will be filled between 2 YSF repeaters already operational on 2-metres, this would be GB3CD in Crook and GB3NA in Barnsley (I'm unaware of any other 2-metre Fusion repeaters closer than those), and this should see an increase in Fusion operation in this area, however I plan to keep using GB3IR as well as that has the Echolink and IRLP facility (and probably the best place for FM use after the switch of HG to Fusion anyway), and I also intend to, at some point, use the newly opened MB6RY simplex WIRES-X gateway in Richmond operated by Andy M1SDE.
I have to say this has transpired to be a very interesting turn of events that I certainly will be keeping an eye on.
73 de 2E0EIJ
Ban PLT
Wednesday, 14 February 2018
Monday, 12 February 2018
Trouble times
Of course there is the still unfortunate news that I have not alluded to just yet but has progressively worsened at this time, and then another issue to put pay to me entering the 2m FMAC on the first Tuesday of this month was the battery on my car, it is still working but some mornings the car is not starting well, and the Saturday before the contest it would not start at all without me jump starting it.
The first thing to do really would be to replace the battery with a new one though that might be best left until the current one won't hold a charge, which I believe could be soon as on the Saturday morning I alluded to the voltage in the battery was down to 9V, not enough to run the starter motor and therefore not enough current either, this did reveal the FTM-400's voltage input is pretty wide but that voltage certainly would not have been enough to transmit, the FTM-400 was disconnected from the electrical supply while the car was jump started to protect it, this is generally a precaution I take as it is an expensive radio (and my only Yaesu at this time), it's not mentioned in the user manual.
I don't intend to risk entering the contest with a potentially defective car battery and with the other issue outstanding I could find myself in the situation in that I may not be able to replace the battery for some months, however this may not be the case.
The situation I currently find myself in also decreases the likelihood of me being able to save as much as I would like in order to purchase the FT991A and the FT2D (both of which are expensive radios and I'm after a 991 for the purpose of being able to operate HF other than 10-metres), but I've dealt with far worse before and will do what I can to pull through it.
I hope I can have the summer of portable radio I'd like to have, as I still need to get batteries and a tent, maybe I can have a friend join me camping if they're up for it and don't complain about my hobby (I do have one friend like that and they need to learn to accept that it is my hobby so it probably won't be them).
73 de 2E0EIJ
The first thing to do really would be to replace the battery with a new one though that might be best left until the current one won't hold a charge, which I believe could be soon as on the Saturday morning I alluded to the voltage in the battery was down to 9V, not enough to run the starter motor and therefore not enough current either, this did reveal the FTM-400's voltage input is pretty wide but that voltage certainly would not have been enough to transmit, the FTM-400 was disconnected from the electrical supply while the car was jump started to protect it, this is generally a precaution I take as it is an expensive radio (and my only Yaesu at this time), it's not mentioned in the user manual.
I don't intend to risk entering the contest with a potentially defective car battery and with the other issue outstanding I could find myself in the situation in that I may not be able to replace the battery for some months, however this may not be the case.
The situation I currently find myself in also decreases the likelihood of me being able to save as much as I would like in order to purchase the FT991A and the FT2D (both of which are expensive radios and I'm after a 991 for the purpose of being able to operate HF other than 10-metres), but I've dealt with far worse before and will do what I can to pull through it.
I hope I can have the summer of portable radio I'd like to have, as I still need to get batteries and a tent, maybe I can have a friend join me camping if they're up for it and don't complain about my hobby (I do have one friend like that and they need to learn to accept that it is my hobby so it probably won't be them).
73 de 2E0EIJ
Tuesday, 30 January 2018
Unfortunate news
I make this post after receiving some news today that I hoped not to hear, which could potentially put a dampener on my summer radio activities.
I can't go into any real detail right now, but it could put pay to being able to run a portable station from anywhere other than outside the home QTH and even then I may lack power in which to do so.
However it may just turn out to work out OK, and these radio activities will indeed commence when they are meant to.
as soon as I am in a position to reveal anything I will do so, but for now I will leave it there
73 de 2E0EIJ
I can't go into any real detail right now, but it could put pay to being able to run a portable station from anywhere other than outside the home QTH and even then I may lack power in which to do so.
However it may just turn out to work out OK, and these radio activities will indeed commence when they are meant to.
as soon as I am in a position to reveal anything I will do so, but for now I will leave it there
73 de 2E0EIJ
Sunday, 28 January 2018
Summer radio activity planning... follow up
Yesterday after I posted I decided to dig out my Leixen VV898 to see if it powers up, by means of connecting it to my car jump starter as a temporary power source, low and behold it worked fine, but one thing was nagging me, it was programmed to start up with my old callsign and not my current one displayed, so I connected the programming cable to the radio with CHIRP running on my laptop, however no amount of reprogramming would change the callsign over, however I noticed another oddity, for the VV898 CHIRP seems to not quite work as you'd expect, to change the power level you would change the mode and the mode you'd change the power level, I do not know if this is a bug with the radio or a bug with CHIRP, the same effect was found on my shack computer.
So what to do, the original Leixen software remains on my shack computer, running this after much trial and error finally got the results I wanted, the radio displayed the correct callsign on power-on (being something my Yaesu FTM-400XDE does as standard I figured all my radios should, and they do), with the radio confirmed working, and TXing fine into a dummy load at both 5 and 10 watts on VHF and UHF I turned my attention to a source of power that would happily run radios and also, importantly, be lightweight, of course LiPo batteries would be an option but these can catch on fire if handled improperly, so a bit of digging on Google was in order and I found the blog of James M0JCQ.
The article in question can be found here in which M0JCQ explains the subject in full detail, needless to say I may have found the solution to the power issue and with summer some time away that will give me chance to ensure I have batteries, the batteries in the article are LiFePo batteries and the article impresses me, though I don't plan to do any SOTA activations as is the case for M0JCQ.
Shelter comes next, of course, a small basic pop-up tent would suffice but I also need to take room for the equipment into consideration, and perhaps make it a joint venture with someone I know, they don't need to be licenced as I'll more than likely also have CB equipment with me, which they would be allowed to use legally.
Once shelter is sorted getting an antenna erected is the next thing, I have my telescopic fibreglass mast, though with the top two sections damaged I may replace it or keep it and use it as is, it will still hold my T2LT for CB use, but obviously not anything heavier than a wire antenna, as I want to operate 10-metres as well I'd need something that could cover both on the same antenna though this will be something I can look at, for 2-metres and 70cm (as it appeared to work on the latter) the groundplane antenna will be rebuild and a new PL259 connector installed, the antenna will be tested in an open environment.
I now have further digging and research to do on this subject, and I'll keep you posted.
73 de 2E0EIJ
So what to do, the original Leixen software remains on my shack computer, running this after much trial and error finally got the results I wanted, the radio displayed the correct callsign on power-on (being something my Yaesu FTM-400XDE does as standard I figured all my radios should, and they do), with the radio confirmed working, and TXing fine into a dummy load at both 5 and 10 watts on VHF and UHF I turned my attention to a source of power that would happily run radios and also, importantly, be lightweight, of course LiPo batteries would be an option but these can catch on fire if handled improperly, so a bit of digging on Google was in order and I found the blog of James M0JCQ.
The article in question can be found here in which M0JCQ explains the subject in full detail, needless to say I may have found the solution to the power issue and with summer some time away that will give me chance to ensure I have batteries, the batteries in the article are LiFePo batteries and the article impresses me, though I don't plan to do any SOTA activations as is the case for M0JCQ.
Shelter comes next, of course, a small basic pop-up tent would suffice but I also need to take room for the equipment into consideration, and perhaps make it a joint venture with someone I know, they don't need to be licenced as I'll more than likely also have CB equipment with me, which they would be allowed to use legally.
Once shelter is sorted getting an antenna erected is the next thing, I have my telescopic fibreglass mast, though with the top two sections damaged I may replace it or keep it and use it as is, it will still hold my T2LT for CB use, but obviously not anything heavier than a wire antenna, as I want to operate 10-metres as well I'd need something that could cover both on the same antenna though this will be something I can look at, for 2-metres and 70cm (as it appeared to work on the latter) the groundplane antenna will be rebuild and a new PL259 connector installed, the antenna will be tested in an open environment.
I now have further digging and research to do on this subject, and I'll keep you posted.
73 de 2E0EIJ
Saturday, 27 January 2018
Summer radio activity planning
I know we're only into February but this is an ideal time to start planning for those summer radio expeditions.
It was suggested to myself by a colleague that I walk up a hill called Roseberry Topping, a very distinctive hill here in the North East of England, given it's height it would make it ideal for radio on most bands as it has views for miles, a YouTube video will be made when this takes place, but this being England you can never tell what the weather, even in summer, will be like.
I also learned that free camping is allowed up at Tan Hill, a favourite spot for the radio amateur and CBer alike, again because of the height above everything else, I may also partake in this and have a portable station on air on whatever bands I have equipment for on the day, again this is very weather dependent and of course a YouTube video of my activities will be made, though it may take a few days to get on YouTube.
All I need to do both these is a form of shelter and a suitable amount of batteries to run radios (for VHF and UHF I will take my VV898 as I want to keep my KT-8900 in the shack and it isn't much power hungry, 10 and 11 metres will depend on what I can manage battery wise, though Tan Hill may lend itself to a generator these may not go down well with others, and Roseberry Topping's summit is not accessible by road.
I also plan to take HTs along as well, always good, and if I can get someone to come along with me so I am not on my own (safety and such like) then that will be good.
CB will also be used as it is very much licence free and whoever accompanies me can be in contact with me without the need of a phone, looking at the radios I have for this band to do anything useful will require I use the Grant II, as it is the only type approved CB I own that has SSB.
Hopefully I will have a summer of radio that I would like
73 de 2E0EIJ
Edit: 14/02/18: I subsequently discovered that you actually have to pay £5 to the Tan Hill Inn in order to camp up there, hopefully my antenna won't be complained about but I can research other wild camping if needs be, though if you see my more recent posts you may note this will be on hold for a while
It was suggested to myself by a colleague that I walk up a hill called Roseberry Topping, a very distinctive hill here in the North East of England, given it's height it would make it ideal for radio on most bands as it has views for miles, a YouTube video will be made when this takes place, but this being England you can never tell what the weather, even in summer, will be like.
I also learned that free camping is allowed up at Tan Hill, a favourite spot for the radio amateur and CBer alike, again because of the height above everything else, I may also partake in this and have a portable station on air on whatever bands I have equipment for on the day, again this is very weather dependent and of course a YouTube video of my activities will be made, though it may take a few days to get on YouTube.
All I need to do both these is a form of shelter and a suitable amount of batteries to run radios (for VHF and UHF I will take my VV898 as I want to keep my KT-8900 in the shack and it isn't much power hungry, 10 and 11 metres will depend on what I can manage battery wise, though Tan Hill may lend itself to a generator these may not go down well with others, and Roseberry Topping's summit is not accessible by road.
I also plan to take HTs along as well, always good, and if I can get someone to come along with me so I am not on my own (safety and such like) then that will be good.
CB will also be used as it is very much licence free and whoever accompanies me can be in contact with me without the need of a phone, looking at the radios I have for this band to do anything useful will require I use the Grant II, as it is the only type approved CB I own that has SSB.
Hopefully I will have a summer of radio that I would like
73 de 2E0EIJ
Edit: 14/02/18: I subsequently discovered that you actually have to pay £5 to the Tan Hill Inn in order to camp up there, hopefully my antenna won't be complained about but I can research other wild camping if needs be, though if you see my more recent posts you may note this will be on hold for a while
Wednesday, 24 January 2018
further delay in clearing out the shack
It was my plan to start moving the storage boxes from the shack back into the storage cupboard across the hall from it this week, however due to unreliability the smart meters were not installed (I had no phone call and no one came to the door) and therefore I have to put clearing the shack back out on hold until mid-February.
This comes as a bit of a blow as I wanted to make a start in getting things cleared and had a few antenna ideas in mind that might work to get me on air temporarily better than what I have but without the available space this cannot happen, as I need the space to measure out wires at least.
What this also impedes is good access to my operating position, though I can get to it as I kept the path clear for the plumbers to bleed the radiators if they had to, there is my old television directly in front of my shack desk and this has no place to go until I remove the rest of the items, with me also losing space to the boiler it makes this a harder task.
It doesn't prohibit me from operating though I'm pretty much limited to 2-metres and 70cm as the equipment away from the shack, save the handheld CBs that may as well just be two bean cans and a piece of string, is only on those bands.
Well I have a new appointment to get the smart meters done on the 19th February, hopefully they'll actually arrive
73 de 2E0EIJ
This comes as a bit of a blow as I wanted to make a start in getting things cleared and had a few antenna ideas in mind that might work to get me on air temporarily better than what I have but without the available space this cannot happen, as I need the space to measure out wires at least.
What this also impedes is good access to my operating position, though I can get to it as I kept the path clear for the plumbers to bleed the radiators if they had to, there is my old television directly in front of my shack desk and this has no place to go until I remove the rest of the items, with me also losing space to the boiler it makes this a harder task.
It doesn't prohibit me from operating though I'm pretty much limited to 2-metres and 70cm as the equipment away from the shack, save the handheld CBs that may as well just be two bean cans and a piece of string, is only on those bands.
Well I have a new appointment to get the smart meters done on the 19th February, hopefully they'll actually arrive
73 de 2E0EIJ
Saturday, 20 January 2018
Shack progress on hold
The works I alluded to in the previous post have caused a new problem, this is in the form of my shack in that I have had to move everything from the store cupboards there until the works to replace my boiler and my electricity meter have been complete, as it stands the boiler is done but for obvious reasons the boxes that were in that cupboard cannot be moved back there.
To make any progress with the shack now requires that I wait until the smart meter installation has been completed on Monday, all the storage boxes will be moved in to the store cupboard opposite, where the meter is, where room permits, though keeping a passage clear for access to the circuit breakers and keeping the window and emergency gas shut off valve clear as well, the smart meter work will obviously render obsolete my energy monitor as the smart meter will have something similar that can read from both electricity and gas, therefore I no longer need to decode the data from it.
I can still get at my operating position within the shack though the antenna has been removed from the radiator while the plumbers were in doing the work to install the boiler, as I believed they'd need to bleed it as part of refilling the system, I also can operate using HTs as the chargers are also accessible as is the switch to isolate them (I keep the chargers off until I need them for whatever reason).
Later in the year I hope to replace the metal desk with a larger wooden desk with room for my radios as at the moment the metal desk is far from ideal, there is plenty of room for it and I think it would make an excellent upgrade, however getting everything that is stored placed back in suitable locations is priority number one.
73 de 2E0EIJ
To make any progress with the shack now requires that I wait until the smart meter installation has been completed on Monday, all the storage boxes will be moved in to the store cupboard opposite, where the meter is, where room permits, though keeping a passage clear for access to the circuit breakers and keeping the window and emergency gas shut off valve clear as well, the smart meter work will obviously render obsolete my energy monitor as the smart meter will have something similar that can read from both electricity and gas, therefore I no longer need to decode the data from it.
I can still get at my operating position within the shack though the antenna has been removed from the radiator while the plumbers were in doing the work to install the boiler, as I believed they'd need to bleed it as part of refilling the system, I also can operate using HTs as the chargers are also accessible as is the switch to isolate them (I keep the chargers off until I need them for whatever reason).
Later in the year I hope to replace the metal desk with a larger wooden desk with room for my radios as at the moment the metal desk is far from ideal, there is plenty of room for it and I think it would make an excellent upgrade, however getting everything that is stored placed back in suitable locations is priority number one.
73 de 2E0EIJ
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