Baofeng and Signalink

Signalink makes a cable to connect a Baofeng or Wouxun or Kenwood HT to their nifty little box.  The cable is called a SLCABHTW.     One of the nic things is the internal wiring is the same as if you are using the 6 pin DIN connector and you can use the SLMOD6PM jumper module with it.

If used with direwolf and RMS/Express it is plug and play.    If you are using the Baofeng/Signalink combination with FLDIGI you need to tell FLDIGI to make sure in
Configuration->Sound Card->Right Channel you have "Modem signal on right and left channels" selected.     With that, life is great.

Low transmit Volume using the Signalink and TM-V71

I had a problem with low transmit volume when using the Signalink USB sound card connected to the Kenwood TM-V71 radio.   Played with all sorts of settings and then found the problem buried in a Signalink FAQ.

When using the Signalink for 1200 baud packet make sure you DO NOT have the radio set for 9600 baud.   It works, but the transmit audio is very low.   I could hear the transmission on a radio wight the volume turned most of the way up but when the 9600 baud settings were taken off, the transmit volume went what I considered normal.

The Direwolf software TNC shows the audio level of each packet heard.   With 9600 baud enabled on the V71 the level was 2 - 3.    When 9600 baud was disabled on the radio, the audio level went back to 25-30  so it is not just subjective.

Remember,  this is for 1200 baud packet.   Your milage might very if doing something different.

RMS Packet Gateway experiments Windows Version

How to set up an RMS Packet Gateway.  

First of all you have to register it.  I am not there yet since I am still in an experimental stage.  I want to understand how it works before I get it registered and known to the whole world.  I also want to get it right.   The permanent installation will be linux based (I think).   But the easy way to understand the technology is to put up a windows implementation and get a base understanding.   I followed the instructions closely and I got it to work.   These are the two models I have working on the bench reliably.

RMS Relay is normally not necessary.  But in this case since I was not going to register the test setup and I wanted to mail to stay local, RMS Relay gave me that option.

Now that I have something reliable working as a model I can move on to getting the software running in a more permanent configuration.   The hope is that I can get the right Hub/Host software running on a Raspberry PI and go from there.

Kenwood TH-72D TNC Hint

Well I am doing a comparison between the software TNCs , Direwolf, UZ7HO sound modem, AGWPE and have introduced the Hardware TNC that is built into my Kenwood TH-72D handheld unit.     It was fairly easy to move from doing APRS to being a KISS TNC.   Just press the TNC button on the front panel until you see the message move from APRS12 to PACKET12 and make sure the USB port is on and you are set.  

Weird problem is that it would work intermittently.   Worked pretty well and would drop loose a packet or two and work again.    I wound up looking at various setting and then turned off the GPS and everything started working perfectly.     I am guessing the GPS was adding some data to serial stream and corrupting some of the AX.25 packets.  

So the hint.    Turn off the GPS if using the unit as a generic TNC.

What is Winlink?

A new video has been released.  It is pretty good for people wanting to know what is winlink

https://youtu.be/qGhUfW8pjY8

RMS Express P2P over VHF/UHF

Getting the software TNC working was in preparation for getting RMS-Express point to point working.   It worked and was very simple.

I used the 441.025 and listened for a few min to make sure no one was using the frequency.

Both sides were set to use 1200 baud packet on the RF side.

Side A was a PC connected to an Icom IC-7100 using a USB cable and that was it.
   On this PC I had the RMS-Express, Direwolf and C7200 software packages running.

Side B was a second PC connected to a Kenwood TH-D72 using a USB Cable
   On this PC only RMS-Express was needed and the builtin software in RMS-Express
   The TH-D72 was set to use the Packet12 TNC (selected using the TNC button on the faceplate)

I set Side A to be KK4SIH-4 and Side B to be KK4SIH-7

On the A side I started up the Packet P2P server inside of RMS Express

On the B side I created a message destined for KK4SIH-4 and clicked on the P2P button before moving it to the outbox.   Then opened a Packet P2P session and hit start.

The message transferred with no issues.   It also worked in reverse.

The next step is to see if I can get 9600 baud working .

TS-590 USB Drivers

I was setting up a new PC to work with the Kenwood TS590s and it took me a minute to find the right drivers.   Figured I would put up a pointer for the next time I need to do it.

http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/pages/usbtouartbridgevcpdrivers.aspx

VHF/UHF Packet Radio Frequencies

What is the packet radio frequencies in the VHF and UHF bands?

From http://www.soundcardpacket.org/8frequencies.htm

In the US, most packet activity is found on the 2 meter band:

2 meters:  Baud rate is typically 1200. he most common frequencies are 144.93, 145.01, 145.03, 145.05, 145.07, 145.09 and 145.53 MHz, but you may find it anywhere between 144.90-145.10 and between 145.50-145.80. The baud rate used is 1200.

1.25 meters (220 band): most packet heard in this band will be "backbone" traffic between network nodes and BBSs. It will not be an access band for users. 
70 cm (440 band):  The packet allocation for the band (mixed mode segment) is 432.10-432.30 and 432.40-433.00. Packet should not be used below 432.00. By local option, packet could also be used from 442.000 to 445.950 and 446.100 to 448.000. Baud rate may be 9600 or 1200. 

I looked at the Florida Repeater Council Bandplan - http://florida-repeaters.org/bandplans.htm
   2m packet radio is at 144.900 - 145.100
   70cm  packet radio is at  430.050 - 430.95 for 100 khz channels
                                           431.025 - 431.950 for 25 khz channels
                                           440.975 - 441.075 for 25 khz channels


The key I was told the other day was to listen for a while before you use one of them.  That is a given,  but a smart thing to remember.  

I will probably do my experiments on UHF to stay as far out of the way of the busy 2m band as possible.    I am going to listen, but probably use one of these: 440.9500, 440.9750, 441.0000, 441.0250, 441.0500, 441.0750 which are being recommended by the Kentucky Packet Network group.   I think that will keep me out of everyones way.

APRSIS32 and the IC7100

I continue to play with packet radio using the ICOM IC-7100.   Today I verified things were working using APRSIS32.   There are several versions and you can get it here: http://aprsisce.wikidot.com

APRSIS32 is an APRS application for the PC.   It has a nice graphical interface with maps and everything would would like to see for APRS including messaging.  Take a look:

How I got it to work and what you need to work:

Needed:
  APRSIS32
  CAT7200
  DIREWOLF software TNC

So the keys -
- Install the USB drivers for the 7100 on the PC -  This is a one time thing.

- You have to start CAT7200 before you you start direwolf.   CAT7200 is the software that makes the PTT work on the 7100.  The quick hints are this is that I and using com6 for the Application Port and I have the CAT port set to com4, 19200, 88.   Remember to click the "open" button or you will be scratching your head as to why nothing transmitting.

- Start up direwolf next.   The lines I changed in the direwolf configuration are:
    ADEVICE 0 0
    Channel 0
       MYCALL KK4SIH-4
       PTT COM6 RTS
    Channel 1
       MYCALL KK4SIH-4
       KISSPORT 8100
And that was if for the changes to the direwolf configuration
The start up direwolf

- Set radio to 144.390 FM-D   (North American APRS channel)
     (make sure it is in data mode or the sound card tone are not modified in the radio)

- Start up APRSIS32
     Had to set up the port but it walked me through that
     Make sure the PORT settings have Bulletin/Obj, Messages, Xmit Enable and Beacon Checked
          (could not get messages to work until then)
      Make sure the GENERAL configuration has your callsign-ssid set correct

- Click transmit at the top of the screen and see if everything is working.

To verify things are working you can check at http://aprs.fi

Looking there you can see it was working and can pass messages:
2015-04-11 15:59:58 EDT: KK4SIH-4>APWW10,KD4MOJ-7,WIDE1*,WIDE2-1,qAR,AE4S::KK4SIH-7 :message test
2015-04-11 16:01:49 EDT: KK4SIH-4>APWW10,KD4MOJ-7,WIDE1*,WIDE2-1,qAR,AE4S::KK4SIH-7 :message test [Duplicate message content]
2015-04-11 16:03:00 EDT: KK4SIH-7>APK003,KD4MOJ-7,WIDE1*,WIDE2-1,qAR,AE4S::KK4SIH-4 :got message{13
2015-04-11 16:03:03 EDT: KK4SIH-4>APWW10,KD4MOJ-7*,WIDE1*,WIDE2-1,qAR,KD4MOJ-9::KK4SIH-7 :AA:okk
2015-04-11 16:03:03 EDT: KK4SIH-4>APWW10,KD4MOJ-7*,WIDE1*,WIDE2-1,qAR,KD4MOJ-9::KK4SIH-7 :ack13

Hopefully these tips will help me remember, and anyone out there who may want to do it as well.

ICOM 7100 PTT

OK -  Last night the ICOM 7100 drove me insane.  I am working on getting a software TNC working and could get everything working but nothing was being transmitted.  I ran around in circles until I read on the net that the ICOM USB radios (like the 7100) will only do PTT using CAT commands.   Well that explained everything.

I found a program a nice gentleman in the UK wrote, G8BPQ called CAT7200 (http://www.cantab.net/users/john.wiseman/Documents/CAT7200.html)  that works around the problem.   It creates a virtual COM port to do the PTT with and when it sees RTS on that virtual port it sends the corresponding ICOM CI-V PTT command down the right port and everything works as expected.

His web page explains the process for installing it very well.   Worked like a charm.

Now I have APRS running through the 7100 

Note that this works for not just the ICOM IC-7100, but also for the IC-7200,  IC-7410, IC-7600 and the IC-9100 as well.


To give credit where credit is due, Google brought me to the following website as a starting point:
http://www.vk3bq.com/2014/12/04/icom-ic-9100-rts-cat-control/

Sending and Email via Ham Radio

The other night at the club meeting I gave a presentation on methods on sending email via ham radio.     It discusses APRS and Winlink 2000.     I think it is a good primer for those interested without going into too much detail.   It is located at:

Ham Email.pdf

APRS Internet Email

Want to send an Email to someone but the Internet is down in your location?  Have a APRS radio?  Did you know that you can send an Email message to someone using the APRS message feature.  I tried this out when I first started out playing with APRS, but it came back up again when I was thinking of how to communicate during an emergency.

All you have to do is send a message to EMAIL

The body of the message is "emailaddress message" or something like:
EMAIL xxyyzz@google.com  this is a test message

You have to deal with the limitations of this method:
1)  Message length is limited to 67 characters including the address
2) There is no way I know of how the recipient can reply to the message
3) There is no easy way for someone to send the APRS operator a email form the Internet.

One way out,  no way in.   It does work, and works reasonably well.

If you want as a APRS user to receive an email message you can register with http://aprsmail.org.

HamCation 2015 Orlando

Its that time of year again.   The Orlando HamCation is being held at the Central Florida Fairgrounds on February 13, 14 and 15th.

What is it:  It is one of the largest hamfests in the US.    It is also the ARRL Southeastern Division Convention.

I went last year and and can not recommend it highly enough.    If you can, you need to go.  I am not sure you really need to go all 3 days but going all day Saturday is advisable.

If you have never been,  it is a huge ham flea market.   Several buildings full of new gear,  several buildings full of tables of people selling used gear and acres (and I do mean acres) of people selling gear from their tailgates.    If you need it, they have it here.  

Last year it rained all day Friday and Saturday.   Sort of killed the outdoor portion of the sales, but there was enough stuff for sale inside to cause my head to spin.    You really need to go with a list of what you are looking for and what it would normally cost.  There are some bargains, some not bargains, and some products that you have never seen before and will just have to have.  Things that will give you ideas and need more research.

People are willing to bargain so come with cash and a full credit card.  The normal ham dealers such as HRO and AES are there as well and  manufacturers such as MFJ have booths and things to show and sell.

Information is at http://www.hamcation.com .  Put it on your schedule.  It is the largest Hamfest in the Southeast.

Baofeng Pofung BF-F8HP

A christmas present arrived a little early, but I did not get a chance to play with it until the break.   I got a F8HP 8w VHF/UHF HT.  

 I have had the UV5R for a while and I have been very happy with it.   Some people hate them but for $30 dollars the UV-5R has been the best little HT for the money.  Seems to work as well as my Kenwood and I don't worry about loosing or breaking it.    Well I saw that a newer version in the for form of the F8HP was out and it was christmas so I figured I would give it a try.   I read the reviews and saw where there were some early software issues but then saw that they were mostly solved.   The reviews looked good, even better than the UV-5R so I ordered it from Amazon.

I have been running it for the last three weeks and it has been great.  The antenna that comes with it is much better than the older unit so you do not need to get a replacement antenna to begin with.   All of the old accessories work with it so I was off and running.

I got it and programmed with the Chirp software (daily build) .   Copied the normal repeaters out of the old Baofeng and dropped them into the new Baofeng and was on the air.  

What I have noticed so far:
     Receive -  Receive is better,  MUCH MUCH better.   I swapped antennas and in all cases the
             F8HP is more sensitive than the UV-5R
     Transmit -  Cant tell if there is any difference at least with the repeaters in Tallahassee.
             It works with full quieting, but that was the same on the UV5R.  5 vs 8 watts, can't
             tell the difference so I leave it on medium power.
      It actually came with a decent manual, but you could download a decent manual for the UV5R

So I guess the main question is it worth the difference in price.  I paid $30.00 for the UV5R + a little for the better antenna,  Lets call it $40.00.    I paid $63.00 for the F8HP.

So is it worth $20.00 extra.  If I was starting out, I would say yes.
Would I replace the UV5R if I was happy with it, No.   If you want the latest and greatest and want a new toy,  (like me) I would go for it.