My Ham Shack- Yaesu FT-2900- Icom IC-7100, and a leap into the digital world of radio

[KD7WCD]

What digital modes are you running? Been thinking of jumping down that rabbit hole but trying to figure out where to start. Winlink, RTTY , FT8CALL and so on?

 

[M Rose]

@KD7WCD I run WinLink for ARES, JS-8 Call, a little bit of Ft-8. My IC7100 has the ability to do RTTY on the head unit, and I’ve messed around with it a little bit, but not a whole awful lot... just enough to know that I know nothing about it.

 

[KD7WCD]

Cool. Also thinking about getting more involved with ARES. So WinLink looks like it might be a good starting point. I have also been seeing a lot about JS8Call so that might be number 2 on the list.

Thanks.
73.

 

[M Rose]

Well I have several more antenna projects done.

This project was done to help a fellow novice ham get on the air. For some reason (unknown to me), one of the Elmers brought me along to build one too.
The Dual Band Open Stub Aluminium J Pole
Designed after:
Arrow Antenna open stub J-Pole which is made and sold by Allen Lowe (NoIMW)

The plans were drawn up by NT1K and then refund with dimensions by John Kotecki (KD8PVS) Jason and Kotecki (KD8UCP)

The Antenna is essentially a 3/8 aluminum rod a fixed to a 6” piece of aluminum angle (we used 1/8” x 1.5 x 1.5, if I were to do it again I would go with 1/4” thick or thicker to allow for better threading).

I’m not going to post all the details of the build, the attached document does a really good job explaining it. I will however go over some key points that we learned along the way.

• The lengths of the rod from the top of the aluminum angle to the tip of the rod is critical for getting the SWR set.
• More importantly the spacing of the stubs is very very very important... moving the center stub left or right by less than 1/16” changes 2-3 SWR.
• if your SWR is not 1.2 or better, check the spacing... don’t modify the rod lengths until after the spacinig
• 

 

[PNW EXPLR]

Well I have several more antenna projects done.

This project was done to help a fellow novice ham get on the air. For some reason (unknown to me), one of the Elmers brought me along to build one too.
The Dual Band Open Stub Aluminium J Pole
Designed after:
Arrow Antenna open stub J-Pole which is made and sold by Allen Lowe (NoIMW)

The plans were drawn up by NT1K and then refund with dimensions by John Kotecki (KD8PVS) Jason and Kotecki (KD8UCP)

The Antenna is essentially a 3/8 aluminum rod a fixed to a 6” piece of aluminum angle (we used 1/8” x 1.5 x 1.5, if I were to do it again I would go with 1/4” thick or thicker to allow for better threading).

I’m not going to post all the details of the build, the attached document does a really good job explaining it. I will however go over some key points that we learned along the way.

• The lengths of the rod from the top of the aluminum angle to the tip of the rod is critical for getting the SWR set.
• More importantly the spacing of the stubs is very very very important... moving the center stub left or right by less than 1/16” changes 2-3 SWR.
• if your SWR is not 1.2 or better, check the spacing... don’t modify the rod lengths until after the spacinig
• View attachment 169064View attachment 169065View attachment 169066View attachment 169067View attachment 169068View attachment 169069View attachment 169070View attachment 169071

I cut all my elements about 3/8" short, then dialed the adjuster screws to the EXACT lengths per the drawing. Mounted it about 16' up and ran 100' of RG-8xto my (loner) FT-2980 in the garage. SWR is 1.06 on 2m 146.000.

 

[M Rose]

Cool. Also thinking about getting more involved with ARES. So WinLink looks like it might be a good starting point. I have also been seeing a lot about JS8Call so that might be number 2 on the list.

Thanks.
73.

WinLink is very easy to use, and can be done on 70cm, 2m and HF... our ares uses HF and 2m. Setting up digitally is very easy... you need a TNC, computer ,software modem, and your radio.

I will make a full tutorial on how my digital side works... I don’t use a conventional setup, so it was a lot of trial and error to get it running. And I need to revisit my radio box to make things a little easier to hookup.

 

[M Rose]

I cut all my elements about 3/8" short, then dialed the adjuster screws to the EXACT lengths per the drawing. Mounted it about 16' up and ran 100' of RG-8xto my (loner) FT-2980 in the garage. SWR is 1.06 on 2m 146.000.

Yours came out excellent... I am going to revisit mine one of these days... the tree cutters messed with it yesterday and hurt my SWR a bit.

 

[KD7WCD]

Yea. I have been looking at doing the RaspberryPi. Seems to have a lot more options and a lot cheaper than a TNC . I also what to be able to integrate it into my mobile rig. Right now my Truck is my ham shack. Easy to move but not always the most convenient when you want to just sit around and play for the evening.

Would love to see how you are all set up when you have time for the right up. Looks like this project has you occupied right now.

 

[M Rose]

Cool. Also thinking about getting more involved with ARES. So WinLink looks like it might be a good starting point. I have also been seeing a lot about JS8Call so that might be number 2 on the list.

Thanks.
73.

If I were to only do 2 forms of digital it would definitely be WinLink and JS8 Call. In that order... WinLink is a lot more useful than JS8. JS8 is a very down and dirty QSO (pretty much just hi, where are you, I am here, trade signal report, 73’s).
WinLink on the other hand is used to send emails back and forth.

 

[M Rose]

Yea. I have been looking at doing the RaspberryPi. Seems to have a lot more options and a lot cheaper than a TNC . I also what to be able to integrate it into my mobile rig. Right now my Truck is my ham shack. Easy to move but not always the most convenient when you want to just sit around and play for the evening.

Would love to see how you are all set up when you have time for the right up. Looks like this project has you occupied right now.

The Pi still needs a TNC... the TNC is what connects the radio to the pc, weather desktop, laptop, or Pi. I’m using a RP V3 running KC4AMK Build-a-Pi accessed by my iPad on Virtual Box. It’s not a simple build by any means and knowledge of Linux is a must. The other thing... WinLink doesn’t support ARES forms under Linux yet, ARES forms can only be accessed on a windows machine. However, there is a group of us trying to port the forms over to Linux.

 

[KD7WCD]

The Pi still needs a TNC... the TNC is what connects the radio to the pc, weather desktop, laptop, or Pi. I’m using a RP V3 running KC4AMK Build-a-Pi accessed by my iPad on Virtual Box. It’s not a simple build by any means and knowledge of Linux is a must. The other thing... WinLink doesn’t support ARES forms under Linux yet, ARES forms can only be accessed on a windows machine. However, there is a group of us trying to port the forms over to Linux.

All good info. I might reach out and try to do contact if I get a WinLink rig up and running. Thanks for the start in a direction.

 

[M Rose]

All good info. I might reach out and try to do contact if I get a WinLink rig up and running. Thanks for the start in a direction.

I only check WinLink on Sundays... since I only run WinLink for ARES. Feel free to hit me up on the side if you need some help figuring this all out. BTW, I have plans to build a sound modem TNC if you want to go DIY.

 

[KD7WCD]

I only check WinLink on Sundays... since I only run WinLink for ARES. Feel free to hit me up on the side if you need some help figuring this all out. BTW, I have plans to build a sound modem TNC if you want to go DIY.

I love DIY and I think that is the direction I will be looking to go. Already have an APRS rig that works via VOX and have good results with it.

 

[M Rose]

I love DIY and I think that is the direction I will be looking to go. Already have an APRS rig that works via VOX and have good results with it.

The APRS rig should work...

 

[M Rose]

I built a 4 band HF Hamstick Dipole called the Octopus. It’s a very simple build, took about half an hour. And I’m getting pretty decent results with it. I’m thinking of outing it in a tv antenna rotator as it seams to be a directional antenna in the transmit side.
MFJ offers the kit for 80 something, I built the hub for less than 50 for all the parts minus the sticks. I bout my sticks for a little over $200.00 (2 sets of 80m-6m).

but if you want to build one.

http://www.n1gy.com/the-octopus-antenna.html

 

[M Rose]

Well, my octopus gets out great... people give me
Very good station reports all over the northwest on 80m.... but I can only hear on station and he is 2 miles from my house... going to look into making a different arrangement of sticks to see if I can get better reception.

 

[M Rose]

So I was doing some research on other cool uses for my Mobilinkd TNC3 when I ran a crossed an article to use a Kenwood Comercial Radio for APRS. After reading the article this intrigued me to get my own Kenwood TK-790 and try to make a 2M Packet Radio. I ordered up the radio over the weekend a long with all the parts needed to complete the build. Radio and parts set me back about $100.00 the antenna and coax will set me
Back about another $30.00.

Then one of the ARES members is also donating a rig to the cause, so I’m going to be building two of these rigs this week as I wait for Bronco parts to show up. I will be documenting the build here as it progresses and I will probably cross link to my Mobile Digital Thread as well.

 

[M Rose]

All good info. I might reach out and try to do contact if I get a WinLink rig up and running. Thanks for the start in a direction.

I started a thread on portable digital communication

Let’s Go Digital on the move

I was asked a while back, “how to work digitally while on the road?” I don’t mean using cell phones, or electronic navigation devices, we are talking sending and receiving emails over the air waves via UVH/VHF and HF frequencies, and using Digital Repeater Networks like DMR, System Fusion...

www.overlandbound.com

I don’t talk about SDR (Software Defined Radio) or DMR (Digital Modulation Radio) because that opens up way too much stuff for right now.

 

[M Rose]

I just got one of two radios I will be converting over to 2M packet rigs. I ordered a Kenwood TK-790 off of eBay, and a friend of mine gave me another Kenwood TK-790 today. When I got it home and started tearing into it, I quickly learned that I had a huge problem... instead of giving me a cheap commercial radio that can only serve one purpose (packet radio modem)... It turned out to be the way more desirable TK-709H (B) with a KRK-5 face plate upgrade. So instead of 16 channels and 45 watts of power and no DTS tones, I have a 160 Channel, 100/45 watt, DTS tone radio... so I can not only use it for a packet modem, but with a firmware flash I can also use it on 2M Repeaters. It also has repeated functions as well, which will be perfect for what I’m intending to use it for.
I get all the programming cables and other bits of hardware Friday to start putting this together. The programming software came in today, so I’ll probably install that tomorrow.

 

[M Rose]

I spent most of the evening poking around inside the TK-790H tonight getting ideas on how I want to lay out the hardware upgrades. While digging around I might have accidentally stumbled upon a solution to a problem that other TK-790 users have. The TK-x90 radios can have a separation cable to separate the head unit from the chassis. If the KCK-5 mod has been done, there isn’t any way to connect the head unit back to the main radio. Kenwood discontinued the separation cables long ago. But I may or may not have figured out how to add a separation cable and might even be able to convert to a standard Cobra CB mic... and with a little more work possibly a multi-function mic.