[SMCARA] APRS

Mon Jun 1 17:07:02 EDT 2009

Uh! Oh!  

I may be the guilty party.  I seem to remember a long time back, Ray asked if he could set up a WinLink node at the station.  Since the rig wasn't being used to monitor 64 or display APRS and was turned OFF, I said to go ahead.

Your point is well taken that we need to have some visual/aural interface with the folks looking at the display. I am not familiar enough with WinLink to know if a visual display is appropriate or would a voice monitor of the repeater be a better use of the radio.  APRS has an interesting display, however the screen gets pretty clogged up and needs to be cleared periodically.  That is probably not a good choice for unmanned operations.  I'll check with Bruninga to see if there is a self clearing function in the software.

If we want to run the Yaesu on 64 and want APRS also, I still have a pile of GE MVP's that work fine and can be pressed into service.  I have a couple of cavities to make them play nice with the other radio.  Once we get the tower up another antenna on the side would be trivial.  The MVP option would work for WinLink if there is a need for a node in downtown, LP City.  It could also be installed at K3NAL on base.  Lots of options and we can accommodate several modes.

PSK31 would work fine as a display and I think the latest DigiPan will show 10 streams of data on the screen without tuning.  I am not familiar with the 780 software, but it sounds like it does everything and then some.

Dayton was a blast this year and I decided that I need to go more frequently than every 24 years!!  Some said that attendance was down, but it still took me the better part of 2 days to roam the entire flea market.  Yes, it rained like crazy on Saturday afternoon, but what is Dayton with inclement weather?  It just drives everyone inside to see the commercial displays.

As I was stumbling around the immense flea market area, I heard someone call my name.  I turned around and there was Aaron, N8TVQ!  Other familiar faces in the crowd included Tinsley/K3RUQ, Al Waller of QSL.net fame, Bob Bruninga/Mr APRS, Bob Heil/Mr Microphone, Budd Drummond/Mr. Buddipole, Nick England/K4NYW!  Chatted with Bo, the director of Navy/Marine Corps MARS and the hot rumor is that the Navy is shutting down Navy MARS.  The Army and AF will continue, so I guess us Navy MARS guys will have to learn Army-speak!  Since the cell phone and email has replaced MarsGrams and phone patches from ships, the Navy never found it's niche.  The Navy MARS HF networks just do drills and pass admin traffic, so many folks are dropping out.  The Army is heavy into emergency comms and networking and the Air Force is using MARS to run admin phone patches from aircraft.  This has taken the load off the Global HF Network (Andrews, Croughton, MacDill, etc) and hams now make phone patches for the aircrews to get destination weather and pass maintenance messages to command post.  I suspect they call home to mom now and then too!

I don't have much travel planned for the summer, so will be able to help with the tower project. Am looking forward to Field Day also - I can smell those burgers already!

73 Tom

Tom Clarke
Wyle Labs,  Aeronautics
NATOPS Program Support Specialist
USN/USMC National Airworthiness Office
Naval Air Systems Command, AIR-4.0P
(301) 995-3793/DSN 995-3793
Fax: (301) 757-6599
Cell (301) 904-2053
frederic.clarke at navy.mil

-----Original Message-----
From: smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of petebutt at comfac.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 1:19 PM
To: smcara at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [SMCARA] APRS

Hmmnnnnnn......

That "someone" is probably me.  I was downloading the video the other day
in preparation for the SMCARA exhibit at the Air Show at Pax and was using
the Yaesu to talk on the repeater to several folks in the area.  I
distinctly remember leaving the radio on the .64 repeater, thinking that
visitors near the exhibit might like to hear the chatter on the repeater
during the day.  To be perfectly honest, I didn't have a clue that we were
running Winlink on the museum station radio.  Can someone tell me 'why' we
are running Winlink on the museum radio?  What is the benefit to an
amateur radio display (and to anyone walking by the display) to
potentially hearing some strange tones coming out of a speaker and no
visual display telling them what is going on?

Just my two cents but this isn't why we spent all that money building a
ham display.  I can see having things operate in an 'autopilot' mode at
the station when no one is there but shouldn't we be ensuring that we
continue to 'tell a story' that visitors can relate to... Which means that
they see something visually that lets them know what they are looking at.
We can put a Winlink radio anywhere but I don't think it belongs in a
public ham display unless we sync it up with a visual display and
appropriate signage that describes what is taking place.  If we are really
going to educate the public on modern communications technology, then why
don't we set up an interactive waterfall display showing how one of the HF
digital modes works, like having a PSK31 visual display set up on 14.070
MHz on one of the monitors, along with a sign nearby that explains to the
public what they are looking at.

I am not upset or trying to start a feud... I just want to open a dialog
on how we should be leveraging the museum display to accomplish our
educational (and recruiting goals) and what technologies we should be
demonstrating.  If we are taking the time to install various software on
the computers to do something, then we should also figure out how best to
describe to the public what we are doing.

While I've got your attention, perhaps now is the time to discuss the next
step in the evolution of the club display.  We have a Rohn 25G tower that
needs to be put up (along with a rotator and beam) and the museum has said
'make it happen'.  We need to schedule a weekend and get it installed.
Who is interested in coordinating this project?  I'll provide the required
Rohn wall mount house bracket and threaded rods, etc. but we will need to
get some gravel for the base to sit in (for good drainage) and someone
will need to fabricate an anti-climb cover.  This isn't going to be a very
high tower (only about 28' or so) so great climbing skills are not
required).

We also just had a professional, full color banner (10' x 2') made up for
the Air Show display that can now be put up in the museum.  Does anyone
have any time to coordinate making that happen?  Please see Walt Rupp to
discuss mounting options and get final approval from the museum for
how/where we can hang it over the display.  If you want to see what it
looks like, check out the pictures on the club web site.

Who would like to coordinate setting up a PSK31 display on one of the
computers?  Is this something that people might find interesting to look
at for a couple of minutes when they visit the display when no one is
there to operate it?  (I'm thinking of the display mode on PSK that shows
multiple signals on 14.070 being decoded simultaneously).  This would
require loading more software on one of the computers.

I am also thinking that perhaps we could get a larger LCD display (on a
stand, perhaps) to put to the right of the display dedicated to showing
the looped videos and free up both of the small displays for
application-specific things like the waterfall display and satellite
tracking, etc. for example.  Do any of you have any suggestions?

There is so much we can do to improve our visibility in the community.  We
just came off a very successful ham radio display at the Pax Air Show (see
pictures on the club web site).  Walt Rupp did a wonderful job
coordinating this event, spent many hours making the arrangements for this
special display and spent most of his Memorial Day weekend at the show
site talking to the visitors.  Many positive comments were received from
the public in hangar 101 who stopped by for a few minutes.

In summary, other than Field Day, the museum display is our number one
venue for getting ham radio out in the public eye.  What are some of the
other things we can do to improve this capability?  Your suggestions would
be most appreciated.

Please respond via the reflector so we can all see your comments,
suggestions and thoughts.

Vr, Pete (WA3UMY)
    President, St. Mary's County Amateur Radio Association
    (and the culprit that changed the frequency on the VHF radio at the
museum)

> This is most likely coming from the museum.  Ray (KB3FWW) has the
> Yaesu dual band radio set up as a Winlink node.  I suspect someone
> changed the radio to the 146.64 repeater and forgot to change it back
> to the 145.030 Winlink frequency when they were done.
>
> A.J. (AJ3U)
>

______________________________________________________________
SMCARA mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/smcara
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:SMCARA at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html