I have been playing with some POCSAG paging systems, setup on Ham Radio frequencies lately. I wanted a way to get Tweets from a few accounts on Twitter, sent to my pager, instead of my phone. I already get tons of Tweets sent to my phone, and I wanted a way to tell them apart. I want Emergency / Fire pages sent to the pager.
While trying to clean up my radio desk and get rid of unnecessary wiring, I decided to get rid of a lot of the wall wart (transformer) plugs under my desk. Since most of the electronics I have at the desk run off 12volts, I can use my Ham Radio power supply for them. My power supply is really just a modified PC power supply, but it is a more efficient supply than transformers.
I was thinking of new ideas to mod / incorporate an Arduino with Ham Radio. My latest idea is to use it to store and “automatically” change the frequency of your mobile radio, while traveling.
I have been wondering why Ham Radio doesnt have text messaging yet. We kind of do, but its still pretty limited to Packet / APRS / DSTAR / PC and not a common mode of data. Even what we do currently have, most require a computer to send / receive messages. Most HTs dont have a way to easily send messages. Only a few special radios do, but its mostly just for APRS or DSTAR.There curently isnt a simple way to Text Message another Ham operator.
I have been looking all over the surrounding counties, talking to local farmers, asking them if I can use their grain silos for an antenna tower site for Ham Radio use.
I talked to one generous farmer, who instantly said YES to allowing me to use his site. I didnt even need to show him the paperwork with what I wanted to do and install. He is allowing me unrestricted access to the site and the “shack” at the bottom.
It is 90′ tall, with a ground elevation of 720′. It is located on a hill of aprox 60′, so the coverage is good. The grain leg has a ladder that goes up to 3 different levels,which 2 of them are easily usable.
So far I have just installed a VHF 5/8 wave mobile antenna at the top level with 120′ of RG-8 coax. Both will be upgraded later with better equipment. For now, they will serve their purpose for scanner feeds and a APRS receiver /iGate.
I participated in the 2011 Skywarn Recognition Day.
I made the following two contacts on 10 Meters.
WX7FGZ on 28.380 SSB
Nathan at the Flagstaff Az office
WX7GTF on 28.340 SSB
Blair at the Great Falls Mt office
10 Meter band conditions weren’t great and I am only running 25w power now.
I didnt hear anyone on the local UHF link to the NWS office in Detroit Mi
I came across about 5 of these wind measurement towers, while I was looking for other tower sites. I’m assuming that they are temporary installs for the wind generator company that is putting in 160 wind mills in the Gratiot Co.
The towers are a monopole, about 80′ tall. They are tilt up bases. The sensor wires are just wrapped around the pole and tied, knotted and taped to the pole. None are properly secured. The electical box didn’t even have a lock on the latch.
This is about the worst install I have ever seen.
The school took a walk up to the Fire Dept today for fire safety awareness week.
Zoey's Class (Mrs Spada)
Theo's class (Mrs Hardman)
Almost every Ham Radio club has a 2meter repeater. Lots have 440 repeaters. Only some have a APRS digipeater. If they even do have a APRS digipeater, its almost always an afterthought and not a great setup.Why is it that the repeater gets the nice 200+ foot tower location and the digi gets the mag mount stuck on someone’s mobile home roof?
I decided to hide my 10 /11 Meter Antron-99 vertical antenna in one of the trees in m back yard, so that my house and yard doesn’t look like trash with multiple antennas sticking up all over the place. I already have 5 antennas visible outside and more to come, so keeping them hidden and looking nice is important to me. It is mounted to a 8′ pole for now, I might add another 10′ pole to it to get it up a little bit higher. I am feeding it with about 25′ of RG-8 coax, which will go into a coax switch I am building for 10Meter and lower HF bands for my dipole.
