HamOperator

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Upcoming Events

Date/Time is Central USA

Check the Calendar link for a full month view. Let us know of any changes, additions, or updates.

Updates and Information

NEW: Conduct CW QSOs from your computer, tablet or smart phone! HamRadio.Solutions offers a Virtual Band with several bands where you can hold CW QSOs. The sit lets you set all your CW parameters. You can even hook up your keyer and use that. Or just listen to the QSOs. You can select audio, text or both, so you can compare what you copy with that which was sent. Give it a try! This service is provided courtesy of David, W6DS.

NEW: W6DS also operates a network monitor which simultaneously displays activity on a number of YSF reflectors including MNWis, SoCalHam (K9EQ), US-MVARC (Idaho), US-KENTUCKY, US-SADRC, plus others. In addition, you can listen to the conversations or go back in the transmission history to hear past conversations by clicking on the reflector. It also shows technical data so you can see how well you are getting in. What you want is the minimum number of sequence errors. Check out the Network Digital Radio Monitor.

NEW: Hams in the Park returns for the 2021 season on the 2nd Saturday of each month. Stay tuned for more information.

NEW: Audio from the nets is now being recorded and is available on the MNWis Net page.

NEW: tools to automate WiRES-X software available. See the post.

2nd Edition of WiRES-X, The Bible available for review.

BARS sponsors a Fusion Technical Net held Monday’s  at 7:30 PM Central Time (0030 Tuesday UTC Daylight time) in Room #21493 and YSF #21,493 as well as a number of Fusion Repeaters. Everyone is welcome!

NEW: WWVB is updating their facility – stronger signals for us! So it’s a good time to swing by the WWVB Page and take a look at the facility that keeps all the U.S. atomic clocks on time. Be sure to wind your way down through the pages. Lots of interesting stuff there!

NEW: Who knew that LCD’s could suffer from “burn-in”? Remember why we have “screen savers”? They saved the old CRT displays from ghost images caused by heavily used areas of the screen where the image doesn’t change. Well, this can happen to LCDs as well. I’ve never seen it, but here’s an article: https://www.lifewire.com/lcd-image-persistence-833037 Turns out the crystals (the C in LCD) can favor pointing in certain directions if that’s the direction they always point. (The direction determines how much light gets through.) The effect must vary based on the quality of the screen. My DR2-X repeater’s screen is on all the time and still looks fine.

Latest Videos: Experiments with a DJI drone (aircraft). My, what fun. Ham Radio bit: It uses a 4 mbps 5.7 GHz link running 1 watt! YouTube Link (Please subscribe. If I get 100 subscribers I can get a URL that’s easier to remember than https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtEMgN4uxnvDEkKdca_vXzA. Thanks!)

Firmware updates to DR2X (18-Nov), FTM-300 (8-Dec), FTM-100/400DR/400XDR (22-Dec).

Fusion Help – help and tip sheets, technical information, and other Fusion resources. (Link to old page)

W0MDT – the 444.525 Fusion/FM repeater sponsored by the Bakken Amateur Radio Society and broadcasting from the Medtronic Mounds View facility.

Yaesu Fusion Blog – Hints and help from your first Fusion contact to installing and operating a Fusion repeater. This blog presents to the experiences of over 20 Hams who operate Yaesu Fusion equipment. (Link to old blog)

Want to build a kit? Here’s a 4W mono-band digital SSB transceiver for $55! Hook this to your computer and run the FT8 digital modes. Please let me know if you put one together! I’m thinking this would be a great way to build a remote transponder – like on a buoy.

This is a real handy gadget and saved me a bunch of time running cables through the house. It’s a small camera/lights on a long, semi-stiff cable. It’s not HD, but I like that I didn’t have to use my phone. The battery runs forever and you can record photos and videos to an SD card. It takes a bit of getting used to, especially which side is up. I have some extension rods for pulling cables and found it really handy to tape the camera just behind the hook so I could see what I was doing.

I can testify that this is really a fun toy, er serious professional instrument. I’ve used it to test out all my HT antennas and discovered many of them were not tuned up anywhere near the ham band (especially those provided for hotspots). It’s better than an SWR bridge because it has two ports and can look at what a circuit does to a signal. Looking at Return Loss rather than SWR really gives you a good idea as to how much radiating an antenna is doing. I can’t imagine buying any of the expensive graphic SWR meters when this is available. Note: It does require calibration, but everything you need is provided. The 5 Ah internal battery lasts forever and the touch screen is nice and big! You may also want to consider a few accessories. This is a great educational tool if you want to learn more about RF circuits! Probably some of the best money I’ve ever spent. (I’ve had mine for about 6 months now.) Caution: Be careful how you handle the SMA connectors! I recommend not putting antennas on them directly and only connecting with the small, lightweight cables.

Fusion Firmware Listing updated 17-Jul-2020

Updated Windows 7 recommendations to include a survival guide for Microsoft’s discontinued support.

A note on problems using YSF Reflectors that bridge to WiRES-X Rooms.

MNWis now has a Chat Function. Try using this during the net!

Looking for links to interesting pages. Try the links page HamOperator->Links

All sorts of fun and interesting links posted.

Mobile Digital updates for WiRES-X and FTM-1/400

Use an FT2D for Mobile Digital operation

Updated list of firmware/software versions

We now have OLD STUFF

MNWIS Real-Time Reports Includes connected nodes, Last Heard and other information

Chuck’s Channels – Downloadable repeater frequencies for Minnesota and vicinity

List of Fusion Nets and connections

Recommended Fusion Simplex Frequencies

Good cheap HF antennas:  The K0ZE/K9EQ Antenna Shootout

Windows Tips and Troubleshooting (USB)

25-Mar-2016: How to set up Windows 7 and 10 for WiRES-X 24x7x365 remote operation on the Fusion Help page.

Tower Time Lapse Video – Taken at the MNWis Pine County repeater site

Shopping

The Shopping Page has been updated with old stuff gone and new stuff added.

HF HamOperating

Icom AH-4 Universal Tuner. The Official K9EQ Unofficial Icom AH-4 Tuner Page. It’s not just about working all bands. It’s also about building practical, cheap, antennas that you can design and put together with stuff from Home Depot. Find out why 50 ohms and aluminum are evil. Did I mention cheap?

Other Stuff

Please refer to the BARS/W0MDT Mission Statement. This mission statement applies to all activities including the Fusion Net, and Hams in the Park. We humbly suggest that other organizations also establish their mission statement.

K9EQ’s Amateur Radio Rules. Sometimes we need rules. Sometimes we don’t. Do we need these rules? You decide! (Updated 27-Apr-2020)