Summer 2021 RaDAR challenge 7/10/2021

 Yesterday was the Summer RaDAR Challenge.  RaDAR stands for Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio and you can find information about it on the creator Eddie's page http://radarops.co.za.  The basic idea is to be mobile, deploy your station, make 5 contacts, move a pre-determined distance, redeploy and make 5 more contacts, move again, so on and so forth.  It is a great way to get out of the shack, get in nature, get some exercise, and hone your portable operating skills.  

On this outing, I operated from Pine Log State Forest which also has a Parks on the Air designation, K-4635. This allowed me to also activate this park for POTA.  The drive up was was worrisome.  First, it looked like it could rain, and it did a bit on the way there.  Not only that, but my truck's check engine light came on as well.  Well, the skies ended up clearing up and my truck still got me there and back again.  

The parking lot at the trail I walked is near the road.  It has a pavilion and I could have set up there to start, but I did not like the road noise, so I decided to start off with a hike.  After finding a suitable spot, I was able to deploy my station.  Contacts were slow going, but I eventually made my 5 and was able to move to a second location.  I ended walking farther than I needed until I found a second suitable tree to throw my antenna in.  Eventually I was able to make another 5 at the second location.  The temperature and humidity was a killer combination this day and I decided to skip the hike to a 3rd spot and just head back to the truck.  

Like I said, it was slow going with the contacts.  I think next time I will bring the dipole even though it adds a little complexity to deployment.  Both Greg N4KGL and Chris VA3ECO were also participating in the RaDAR Challenge.  I was able to hear Chris, but he did not hear me.  Unfortunately, I did not hear Greg.  I believe he was having WX issues during part of the event. 

All in all, I made 2 RaDAR stops and had 10 contacts and according to the RaDAR rules, gave me a whopping 35 points.  Hope to improve this number next RaDAR event.  However, 10 contacts is also enough for activating the park for POTA.  Could have been better, but I was happy with the activation.  Check out the video below.

Until next time, 73!

-Bob

KK4DIV

Field Day 2021 Report

 Well, Field day was 1 week ago and I guess it is time to post my results.  My wife and I were camping at Falling Waters State Park for Friday through Sunday for the event.  Once again our truck camper setup worked well even though the Florida heat was in full force.  The shade of the campsite helped a lot.  I had purchased a small usb powered 5 volt fan that we ran through the nights off of my battery pack that kept us comfortable.  It is Florida, so of course we had some rain showers.  It got us once while we were hiking the trails, then another while I was operating Field Day.  Using the IC-705 and the Sotabeams Bandhopper antenna, I was able to make 41 total contacts, and sent 4 formal messages for bonus points.  41 contacts may not sound like much, but I operated off and on and was enjoying the camping experience.  Considering I was QRP at 5 watts, I don't think it was too bad.  

Check out the video below.

Well, on to the next adventure...

73

-Bob

KK4DIV

Field Day 2021

Well, the ARRL Field Day 2021 is just a few days away, and Carla and I will be spending the weekend at Falling Waters State Park in Chipley, FL.  I am not a big planner.  I tend to kind of "wing it" when it comes to my radio adventures.  That's not to say I don't have some sort of idea as to what I will use and setup.  I'm just saying some people put much more planning into it than I do.  That being said, here are our basic plans.  

Carla and I will be heading up to the park on Friday and spend the night there camping in the back of the truck.  I have a pretty decent camping setup I built in there about a year ago.  So far on our trips it has worked well.  It keeps the rain off (especially nice since we had a rain incident a while back while tent camping where the rain fly did NOT do its job), and has a comfortable sleeping platform built in.  Saturday, we will set up the radio and antenna.  It will be a simple QRP setup with the Icom IC-705, a SOTAbeams bandhopper 20/30/40 linked dipole, my 40ah bioenno battery in its box (box from Powerwerx), and solar setup.  I will be bringing my Windows 10 laptop to work PSK31 mostly.  I really enjoy this mode on Field Day/Winter Field Day.  This is the same setup I used for Winter Field Day in January and it worked well.

Carla and I look forward to spending the weekend camping with good camp food and good radio conditions.  We just hope the weather isn't too hot and the rain will stay away. 

73 and hope to catch a bunch of people on the air.

-Bob

Packet Radio Node Commands (With Video)

 I have been running a packet radio node for a few years now, but I am far from an expert.  Actually every day, learn something I didn't know the day before. When I got started, I did quite a bit of research on packet radio, but unfortunately I had a hard time finding much.  I guess it is simply too old a mode, and furthermore there were no nodes around for me to try.  Now that I run a node, I think it is beneficial to get some information out there so others may get inspired to try out packet.  

I am going to run through some basic commands to get you connected and exploring your local node.

First, to connect to a local packet node, you need to know a few things.  First, you need to know the callsign and ssid of the local node.  For example, my local node in Bay County, FL is KK4DIV-7.  Next, you need to know the frequency.  Again, in the case of my node, I am on 145.05 MHz.  You will also need some hardware and/or software.  You will need a radio and most mobile radios work very well.  You can also use a handheld, but you are limited on power output.  Next, you will need either a hardware TNC or a software TNC with a soundcard interface.  And last, you will need a computer running some sort of terminal program.  For local access to my node, I often use my Win10 laptop with Putty terminal software into my Kenwood TH-D72.  I like this little handheld radio due to it's built-in TNC.  It keeps things small, portable and simple. 

So, what commands do you need to know for the node and what do they do?  Here is a list and a brief description of the commands for my BPQ32 Packet Radio Node, KK4DIV-7.

? ...  This will list the commands

BBS ... This command will allow the user access into the Bulletin Board System.  With the Bulletin Board System, you can send and receive messages, read bulletins from around the world, pass NTS traffic, etc.

CHAT ... This command will allow the user access to the chat server.  Often these are linked with other nodes so you can chat with people outside the local area.

RMS ... This will allow the user command line access to the winlink server.  It is tricky to access, and will get it's own write-up.

SYSOP ... This will "ring" the sysops computer, open up a chat window on their computer, and allow the user to chat directly with the sysop.

CONNECT ... Will allow the user to connect to other nodes on the "nodes" list or to other stations on the "mheard" list.

BYE ... Will disconnect the user from the node

INFO ... Will display information about the node.

NODES ... Lists the other nodes that the node the user is connected to has heard and has communications with. 

PORTS ... List available ports on the node such as the VHF port, HF port, etc.

ROUTES ... Lists direct routes to other nodes usually directly connected via AXIP or VHF packet.

USERS ... lists people currently connected to the node.

MHEARD ... Lists the last seen stations on any given port.  For example, MHEARD 3 lists the last seen stations on port 3 (in the case of the KK4DIV-7 node, port 3 is the VHF port).

That's the list of the most common commands for users connected to a node.  To see these commands in use, watch the video I put together below.  

Well, until next time...take care and 73.

-Bob KK4DIV

It's a wrap...Winter Field Day 2021

Well folks, it's been a week since Winter Field Day.  Carla and I camped at Three Rivers State park in Sneads, FL.  We weren't alone; several members of the Panama City Amateur Radio club were there. Greg (N4KGL) and his wife, Daniel (K4MDA) and his family, George (W4GHG) and his family, and Ryan (K1OSE) and his family all participated from the campground this year.  We also had a couple hams drop by to visit, Frank (KC8VKA) and Adam (KO4KOF).  

Due to the ongoing pandemic, WFD 2021 allows for members of a club to combine scores and be grouped together as a club score.  This allows us to stay social distanced while still being able to participate as a club.  While we all were at the campground, we did maintain social distancing guidelines.

We arrived late Friday afternoon and got camp set up.  The first night was quite cool and temperatures were in the 30's F.  Saturday I got the IC-705, Solar, and antenna set up.  I used a Sotabeams bandhopper 20/30/40 meter antenna and a 80-10 meter endfed antenna as a backup.  The solar system I have is a 120 watt Bioenno solar panel, Bioenno solar charge controller for LiFePO4 batteries, and a Bioenno 40 AH LiFePO4 battery.  I really can't say enough good things about the Bioenno equipment.  Everything works flawlessly.  The solar/battery combo kept the IC-705, my 15" Windows 10 Laptop, GoPro camera, and our phones charged and powered for the entire weekend, with no noticable drop in capacity.

Rain rolled in early Sunday morning, but didn't last too long.  In the end, I had 33 PSK31 contacts.  Not a super high number, but I was QRP, and I am okay with that result.  

Scoring:

33 QSOs

33 x 2 (digital) = 66 QSO points x 4 Power multiplier (QRP) x 3 Mode and Band multiplier

= 792 points

Bonus points:

1500 Outdoor station

1500 Away From Home

1500 Non-commercial power

= 4500 bonus points

Total claimed score = 5292

Check out the video below...

Until next time,  

73

Bob, KK4DIV