If you were unable to join us for the meeting on the 14th, you missed out on a great presentation by Gary (KK7DV) on Remote Base radio operations.  Sadly, I forgot to hit the "record" button on the Zoom session, so if you missed it, you really missed it.

Gary talked to us about the remote base setup operated by UARC at Leamington Pass Canyon down near Delta, UT.  He went into the details on the radios and antennas at the site, which is located at an old AT&T microwave relay facility (the microwave horn antennas are still there, although the equipment to use them is long gone).  Gary talked about how the site connects to the internet (via a WiFi shot to a public ISP in Delta) and how the system is supported by a UPS.

After the talk and pictures, it was demo time!  Gary connected to the Leamington system using the RCForb software (see the link for details) and was able to tune around, adjust the beam antenna's direction via a remote controlled rotator, and showed transmitting and receiving on multiple HF bands.  He discussed some modifications that had to be made to the RCForb Server software in order to control the antenna rotator and to add the ability to select three antennas when the radio on site (a Kenwood TS-480) normally only has two antenna inputs.  These modifications were facilitated by the RCForb software developers giving Gary access to the source code for the radio driver so he could add support for the custom hardware that is used to manage the additional antenna.

Gary also runs a remote base radio at his property in the Salt Lake valley, and he demoed that including accessing the Farnsworth 2m repeater and also made a contact with our own Chris (W7CHP) on 146.52 simplex!

Finally, Gary finished up by talking about the WebSDR setup in Corrine, UT (that we have covered in a previous meeting), indicating that these systems are great for exploring what is currently on the air.

Seriously, if you missed this one, you really missed out.  Thanks, Gary, for the guest appearance at MARC!

Cody (W3AMG) from Bridgecom Systems joined us via Zoom and talked to us about DMR (Digital Mobile Radio).

In the presentation, Chris (W7CHP) mentioned a codeplug, which can be downloaded here:  AnyTone - MARC_878 v1.24 (04_07_2022).rdt (note, this is a zip file... you will need to unzip it after downloading and before importing into your codeplug management software).

You may also be interested in our earlier presentation on DMR here:  Training Class - DMR and an earlier presentation on code plugs here:  Monthly Meeting - DMR CodePlugs.  These presentations were both from 2020.

Slides are available here:  Tactical Call Signs.

For our advanced class in March 2022, we took advantage of a very good presentation given by RATPAC.  The presentation was Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation, Measuring the Ionosphere with Amateur Radio.

In the presentation, given by Dr. Nathaniel A. Frissell (W2NAF), who is a Space Physicist at the University of Scranton.  Dr. Frissell discussed how space weather (by which we mean mostly solar output, flares, sunspots, etc.) affect the ionosphere layers and, by extension, HF communications.  He first showed how existing ham radio resources, the Reverse Beacon Network, WSPRnet, and PSKreporter have been collecting information about propagation of radio waves and the condition of the ionosphere.  He then discussed several projects that are in progress to allow ham radio operators to build/implement and operate their own personal space weather observatories, and how to contribute that information to scientific research.

This was a bit more advanced than many of the topics we have covered, but provided great insight into how the ionosphere works, how HF radio propagation works, and how space weather impacts our communications on the HF bands (and others).

While we did not record the class ourselves, this presentation, and all of the other RATPAC presentations, are available online for your viewing pleasure.  See the links above for more information.

Presentation Download (PDF):  Winlink Overview

VARA Notes:

As I mentioned in the discussion, the ARES LAX group is currently doing a group buy of VARA.  The final terms came in at $55 per license based on the 57 or so people that had signed up.  If you are interested in participating, please visit https://forms.gle/qEvCebWNfXV963Yx7 and sign up.  Even if they execute this group buy before you do, you will be on the list for the next group buy.

Links mentioned in the presentation for convenience:

• https://www.winlink.org/
• http://wavetalkers.com/
• Winlink Client Programs
  • https://www.winlink.org/WinlinkExpress - Winlink Express
  • https://www.outpostpm.org/index.php - OutPost
  • http://www.siriuscyber.net/ham/ - AirMail
  • https://woad.sumusltd.com/ - WoAD
  • https://getpat.io/ - Pat
  • https://www.winlink.org/Paclink - Paclink
  • https://github.com/nwdigitalradio/paclink-unix/ - Paclink Unix
• Interfacing your radio with your computer
  • https://www.tigertronics.com/ - SignaLink
  • http://www.db.net/~db/hownotto.pdf
  • http://audiosystemsgroup.com/HamInterfacing.pdf
• AREDN
  • https://www.arednmesh.org/
  • http://utmesh.com/
  • https://www.murrayarc.org/2020/04/09/training-class-mesh-networking/
• VARA
  • https://rosmodem.wordpress.com/

Jan (KD7ZWV) briefs us on cross-band repeating, what it is, why we use it, how to set it up, and some caveats and gotchas about its use.  There was significant discussion at the end of the presentation, too, that was very worthwhile.

Download a copy of the presentation here.

Some links mentioned in the presentation are included here for ease of access:

• https://www.qsl.net/wb3gck/cbr.htm
• http://utahvhfs.org/simpfreq1.html
• http://utahvhfs.org/freqfaq1.shtml#crossband_repeaters
• https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/list-of-v-u-radios-that-cross-band-repeat.535395/ (QRZ.com login is required to view this link)
• https://www.jpole-antenna.com/2014/05/01/cross-band-repeater-operation/

Jan briefed us on various types of ham radio nets and on the message passing procedures and protocols of the NTS (National Traffic System).

Jan (KD7ZWV) briefs us on the FCC Rules and Regulations and how they apply to our radios, particularly the inexpensive Chinese radios that are so popular these days.

Okay, we didn't really have an advanced topics meeting this week.  Instead, several of us got together at the repeater site and helped clean up the area.  This mainly involved removing trash and getting rid of weeds and other overgrowth.  Pictures of the event have been added to the Club Repeaters page.