My Entry in to The Digital Age

After being quite impressed and inspired by my visit to our local emergency communications group last week and because I've got all the necessary equipment already, I decided I'd start playing around with it a little and see what I could accomplish. So after a hectic end to the week and a jam packed Saturday, I was finally able to find some time on Sunday to play around.

I figured it would be best to try a little VHF packet radio first, as I have been using my Kenwood TM-D710A for APRS both at home and mobile for quite some time, so at least I know it is working. So, I downloaded RMS Express, which is the packet software our EmComm group uses and hooked the radio up to my netbook.

I love this radio!

I spent about an hour trying to figure out why my computer would not recognize the TNC in the radio before I finally looked for some instructions and found that I needed to be using the COM port in the back of the radio head, and not the one in the back of the radio... DUH. After that, it was about 15 minutes of playing with menus in the radio and setting up the RMS Express software, but I finally got the radio and the computer gelling.

Okay, now to test a test packet to our local Fire Hall, (3kms away)...... Nothing. Timed out, disconnected.

Okay, no problem, I'll try the EmComm group just south of us (9kms)..... Nothing. Timed out, disconnected.

Hmmm... how about another station on the list, (13 kms away).....  Nothing. Timed out, disconnected.

Alright... time to check everything.

So, I tried all three again seperately.....  Three strikes. All timed out, disconnected.

After thinking for a while, I came to the conclusion that maybe the mag mount antenna sitting on the patio table two feet off the ground isn't the best setup. No problem! After a painter's pole, an old tobacco tin and half a dozen zap straps, I had my antenna at 18 feet up and I could start to hear packets being transmitted on the frequency.

Local Fire Hall:  Nothing. Timed out, disconnected.

EmComm group just to my south:  Nothing. Timed out, disconnected.

The next station down on the list: Well, I bet you can guess.

Improvised antenna setup

At this point, I was starting to get a little frustrated. These things always seem to work when people show me how to do them, but as soon as I try to do them myself it is a miserable failure.

After a few more tries and checking and re-checking all the connections, cords, menu setting, software settings and making sure everything matched up and was set to what it is supposed to be, I tried again. This time I tried all 20 stations listed in the software as online and reachable from my location. They ranged from 9 - 80kms away and were in all directions.

Nothing but "Connection Timed Out.... Disconnected."

By this time, It was high noon and I needed a break from the 30 degree heat, so I took my laptop inside and decided to a little research.


After two and a half hours of reading, texting questions to fellow hams, taking notes and watching painfully boring YouTube videos, I headed back out with a few new ideas and a fresh outlook.

ABSOLUTELY NO F**KING LUCK... Nothing but more of the same!

At this point, if I had to stare at the screen for 15 seconds one more time only to see "Connection timed out, Disconnected.", I was going to smash something, so I closed RMS Express and set the TM-D710A to scan some local emergency and transportation frequencies.

Station Under Construction

If I wasn't going to have any luck with VHF, fine. I'm not a big fan of VHF in the first place, and I was really only playing with it because it seemed easy enough. I really have no use for VHF/UHF packet anyway.

Good riddance, really.

What I am REALLY excited about in the digital aspect of Amateur Radio is the HF Digital modes. And they don't even require a TNC! So I set up my trusty FT-100D, found the CT-62 CAT cable and connected it all to my laptop and fired up HRD...

I have played around with Ham Radio Deluxe before, and sometimes it takes a couple or more tries to get the program to read the radio. It's always some setting or another that needs to be changed. There are multiple settings on start up, and I'm not computer literate, so I am patient with it.

Unfortunately, after trying every possible setting combination, switching COM ports and my usual checking, re-checking and re-re-checking of all the connections, and then checking all the driver software, etc, etc, etc... I still couldn't get HRD to acknowledge the damn radio.

Once again I hit the internet in search or answers, but after a while, I just closed the laptop, turned everything off and went inside to watch baseball. I was at my wits end.

I understand that there is a learning curve to this hobby, but to be totally honest: It's really starting to piss me off.

I've got another couple of days ahead where I will have to leave the radios alone, which is totally fine with me as it will probably take that long for my blood pressure to go down and for me to actually want to turn them on again. I might see if I can test that CAT cable to ensure it's actually working, as it was a $15 Chinese eBay deal, and I'll go from there. 

But, barring some epiphany as to what is wrong, I'll probably just stick to SSB on HF for the foreseeable future.

A beautiful night for endless frustration...

My Solution to the Steroid Problem in Baseball

Okay, I've promised a non-amateur radio related post, and here it is:

As the title clearly advertises, here is my *simple* and surely effective solution to the steroid problem in Major League Baseball:

Step One: Get one of those GIANT Russian planes, the Antonov Something.

Step Two: Round up all the records for Major League Baseball from 1994 (The year they had their season ending strike) through 2014, (yes, including the end of this season).

Step Three: Gather all the players who have used steroids. Either admittedly, or were caught, or indicted themselves by refusing to answer questions in front of congress.

Step Four: Load them all on the plane.

Step Five: Fly it in to the side of a mountain at the highest speed possible.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

In a few years, when my son asks me why there are no MLB records for 1994-2014, I'll just say to him, "Well son, baseball had been slogging on for over 100 years, and everyone got bored. So, they decided to take a couple of decades off, and sure enough, when they came back, we all fell back in love with the game."

And when he looks at me and asks "How long until you think someone will beat Roger Maris' home record of 61?" - I'll know we did the right thing.

PS: Ryan Braun is a cheat and a liar. He, and all like him, should be banned from baseball... AND PETE ROSE SHOULD BE IN THE HALL OF FAME!!!

Coming Up

I'm probably going to be busy for the next couple of days, or more, so I thought I'd give you a little preview of the things I'm working on and planning for the blog.

Here are but a few: 

An overview of my gear and antenna setups

Recommended online ham radio resources and sites. 

A look at my portable setup

Gear reviews

Getting in to digital modes

Portable power options

My strategies for chasing DX

Shortwave Radio

Ham radio and related apps

Working satellites

Cool stuff on the radio waves

How I got in to Amateur Radio

All about Whackers

A thank you list that will make Oscar winners blush

And of course, lots more "Ask Shoey"

Of course I will continue to post about various other subjects as they arise; as well as the daily goings on around my shack.

The initial mission of this little experiment was to provide an avenue for new amateur radio operators to see the successes and failures of another "newbie" navigating the hobby, and that will not change. But, my hope is that  there will also be plenty of other content for hams of all experience levels to enjoy and discuss.

Plus, I promise, I do have some non-ham related and very interesting things to post along the way.

Thanks again for taking the time to read my humble little blog!

Please comment, whether positive, negative and anywhere in between, I value your feedback. I will answer any questions and address all concerns.

Questions for "Ask Shoey" can be submitted via Twitter to @VE7KPM or by e-mail: ve7kpm@gmail.com

And of course, I'm good on QRZ! 

 

My First EmComm Net Visit

It's Wednesday once again, and instead of sitting at home calling in to our local Emergency Preparedness group's weekly net, the stars finally perfectly aligned and I was able to make it down to our brand new fire hall and check it out first hand. 

It was a double feature tonight, because our group was also running the regional net for all other municipalities and groups.

Now, first off, I give EmComm guys a lot of grief, and deservedly so, but we have a really good group here in my town, as I'm sure there are all over, so please save me the  "now you're one of them!" comments and emails.

For a little context, our group, the Peninsula Emergency Measures Organization (PEMO) is comprised of three municipalities on the, you guessed it: Peninsula where we live. Our region, is managed by the Capital Regional Emergency Radio Coordinators Commitee (CRERCC), and is comprised of 13 municipalities, 3 additional electoral districts all with their own EmComms groups. Additionally, 1 NGO (The Red Cross) & 1 Government ministry (Emergency Management BC) also take part in the regional net.

Confused yet?

Selfie with my official PEMO t-shirt at the Fire Hall

Back to our group, it's petty easy: at 7:00pm sharp we start the net, introduce ourselves, ask for news, then call for check-ins by municipality, (which as you remember, there are three). This process is done first on VHF simplex, then UHF, then HF (80m). 

It was a quiet night, I think we had two check-ins on VHF. It is normally much higher.

That part of it was pretty easy. Steve, VE7BBM, did all the work while Bruce and I shot the shit. 

It was all over and done with in a couple minutes and then we had 20 plus minutes to chat before the regional net started, which is when we started looking at the digital end of things. More on that later...

Once 7:30 rolled around both Steve and Bruce, VE7BWA, manned the VHF radio for the regional net, which is done via a local 2m repeater. With Bruce at the mic and Steve armed with a pen and paper it was pretty seamless. Reports came in from all involved which were all way higher than ours.

All-in-all it was actually a lot of fun and very informative. It may seem mundane and boring, but one day all the practice and equipment checking might come in handy.

I was pretty impressed by the wide range of capabilities our little group has, VHF, UHF, dual band packet, HF, HF pactor, etc, etc, etc... 

I don't know much out the digital end of amateur radio, I have all the gear and will look in to it soon (and will post all about it), but it plays a very important roll in emergency communications which I have to admit I was totally ignorant to. 

After the nets, we started playing around a bit with the digital end of things. Our group uses RMS Express for these activities. I have to confess, it was pretty neat. I'm actually kicking myself for not looking in to it sooner.

WARNING - This is where the nerd in me comes out: we managed to send an email via HF radio from Central Saanich to a WinLink station in Southern Mexico, which then sent it via the internet to my phone. I replied to WinLink which went from my phone via the internet to Halifax, which sent it to Port Angeles, Washington via HF radio and then back to us in Central Saanich via VHF radio... All in a matter of minutes.

I don't care who you are, THAT'S COOL!!!

I was really happy I went. I don't know how often I'll get to go in the future, but I will definitely head down wheneber I can. 

It's good to know that all the infrastructure and equipment is in place and being tested regularly. Not to mention all the devoted volunteers who man the stations take the courses and practise regularly. 

Where we live is a ticking time bomb when it comes to a big earthquake, so more than likely, we're going to put all this practising to work sooner or later.

That's about it, after everything I has a beautiful walk home in the summer twilight. 

Ask Shoey - Episode #1

Well, I've been promising it for a while after it was both suggested and requested that I do some Q&A's, and this weekend I actually got a Q I can and don't mind A-ing.

So here it is, the very first 'Ask Shoey' blog post:

Q: Hey Shoey, what is a young, cool and fairly normal guy like you doing in Ham Radio? Isn't it for old anti-social hermits and overweight losers with no life??

                                             Eric H.

                                             Victoria, BC

*Editor's note: This is an actual question I was asked, by a sober individual.

A: Well Eric, I would have to concede that the groups you describe are pretty well the accepted stereotypes of the average ham radio operator, I can assure you that the hobby is a lot more diverse.

There is no doubt that the average age of ham radio operators is significantly higher than that of people in today's more mainstream hobbies like parasailing and ultimate fighting, but there are a couple of big factors in play.

First, while amateur radio's popularity is increasing, it's hay day was back in the day when these septuagenarians were teenagers and it was the popular hobby of the time. 

Amateur Radio was the original Social Media, and you got 24/7 news from around the world decades before CNN hit the air!

Many, if not most have stuck with it, which should actually tell us something.

I suppose the idea of ham radio operators being anti-social hermits stems from sitting alone in rooms for hours on end playing with radios, which lots of people do, and did for many years because they had no other choice. Radios were big, heavy and fragile. The hobby is a lot more mobile these days and a lot more team oriented with clubs and group events, like contests. 

Secondly, amateur radio can be a time consuming hobby. I can tell you I don't get to put 1/10th of the time in to it that I would like, I don't have the gear and setup I'd like and when I do get to devote some time to hit the airwaves, I am often interrupted. See, I have these things called "a family" and "a job", and I can't ignore my wife, starve my kids, quit my job, let my property go to shit and default on my bills in order to be able to invest the time, effort and money in to the hobby that I'd like... But someone who is retired probably can. So the age demographic does sit a little higher. 

Now, as for the overweight losers, they're out there, LOTS OF THEM, and they're all in their parents basements thinking the world would cease to exist if they didn't check in to the weekly emergency nets. And, I'll let you in on a little secret: they're not all overweight! There are plenty of skinny losers too! 

They are in to ham radio because they can sit on their asses, stuff their faces and feel important, all at the same time.

We call them "Whackers", they are the idiots who drive around in $200 cars with 75 antennas on the roof and the only thing holding it all together is all the bumper stickers and magnets. 

It's sad, but they do give us all a bad name.

While we are on the subject, for more information on Whackers, visit Hamsexy.com and check out their Facebook page.

So yeah, the stereotypes are out there and there are reasons that the stereotypes exist, but overall my fellow hams are by far the nicest group of people I've ever met, and I run with some pretty damn nice groups of people! And, just for the record, they're are also lots of younger hams and a lot of younger female hams ;)

Now, to answer your first question: What am I doing in ham radio? Well, I fell ass backwards in to it, but I quickly fell in love with it. 

I've always been an information junkie, and having come of age right beside computers and the internet, I had never really heard about ham radio. Once I discovered it, which is a story for another blog post, I was hooked. I could not only talk to people across town and listen to all the local emergency and transportation channels, but I could talk to people around the world and listen to exotic news and entertainment programming from countries big and small. 

If I see something on the news, like say, the Arab Spring uprising a few years ago, I didn't have to take what CNN reported as gospel, I could listen to news coming straight out of Egypt, or talk to someone in the region. 

It's interesting to get other points of view. Case-in-point: North Korea has regular English programming that is downright hilarious to listen to.

Okay, I'm getting a little off topic, the listening aspect is more Shortwave radio, which is a nice side benefit of amateur radio, but it is something that anyone with a $100 radio and some wire can do, and I will do a blog post about that hobby one day too.

Amateur radio encompasses many aspects, the least of which includes talking to people via orbiting satellites, talking to astronauts on the International Space Station or bouncing signals of it. Some people even bounce signals off the moon to communicate around the globe. With the digital modes, you can text and chat via radio. Yes, I know, you can do that on your iPhone, but it's not nearly as cool! You can tweet from your phone? Well, I can tweet from my ham radio!!

I enjoy "going portable", which basically means packing my radio, antenna and a battery to various points, in my case mostly high hills around town and out in the woods, and using my radios from there. It's a bit of a challenge, but quite rewarding and a hell of a lot of fun.

Believe is or not, it's actually a very social hobby. I enjoy being a member of a couple of local clubs, and we have lots of events that include radio, and lots that don't.

Ham radio is also the perfect means of communication for outdoorsmen. CB radios are quite limited and constricted in what they can do, and FRS radios are a joke.

I think my favorite aspect of amateur radio is that with some basic gear, which can be as cheap or as expensive as you want, and simple antennas that I build myself, I can talk to people all over the world. It's a very satisfying part of the hobby, and in the age of the internet and all the technology we have to day it is too easy... anyone can do it!

It is a pretty open-ended hobby. You can spend as much, or as little time and money as you want, and there is always someone willing to help you and answer your questions. Most importantly, It is also a hobby that can be as challenging, or as easy as you want it to be.

That about covers it. I could go on, but I bet you're already sorry you asked....

The Weather Won

It's official, the weather won the weekend. 

I never got to fire up the FT-100D... But on the bright side, I didn't have to lug that damn battery to the top of a mountain. :)

My batting average has dropped a little, but I'm learning that, in this hobby, you celebrate your successes, no matter how small and forget the setbacks.

For now, I'll just keep working portable about town and from my patio.

I'm also going to work on a better setup for packing the gear around, a better, smaller solar charger and some minor wiring I want to change.

I'll be sure to keep the updates coming.

Not so portable...

It's the morning of Day Three of our camping trip and while I found the perfect spot for some portable ops while out exploring yesterday morning with my son and Father-in-law, getting there with a station is proving rather difficult. 

First off, and like the over zealous person I am, I totally underestimated the weight, size and logistics of my new "portable" battery. 

I've gotten everything else to fit perfectly and quite comfortably  in to my day pack, but it's all quite useless and fairly pointless without a battery.

The battery I have, the only battery right now, is over 17 pounds and not very tiny. I tried throwing everything in to my 90L hiking backpack and cinching it all down, but it was too cumbersome and everything was loose.

The spot I found is a ~12km round trip and 1100 feet up, so I can exactly Mickey Mouse my pack setup.

Next, the weather was my greatest foe. Our supposedly sunny weekend has turned to a grey, drizzly and miserable affair.

Now before I start hearing chicken noises, please let me assure you that I am a hardened outdoorsman, weather doesn't bother me in the slightest, but I'm not about to risk having to replace all my gear because it got wrecked while I was out trying to prove what a big man I am.

Hopefully later tonight the weather will clear and I'll be able to cart all the gear up the hill.

Then a third obstacle reared it's ugly head... I was going to head out last night after dark, but the kids went to bed late and just would not go down. As much as I would love to be walking out of camp mumbling to my wife that "they are you're  problem now...", sometimes my gut gets the best of me.

I wish I has known about ham radio when I was single, had money and spent my days romping through the backwoods of VE7, and silly things like weather and kids weren't even a thought in my mind.

But, I am undeterred. I'm going to spend the day figuring out this battery, praying for clear skies and running these kids in to the ground so they are in bed at a descent hour and for good!