All posts by Glen Davis

Amateur Radio Organizations, Coconino Amateur Radio Club, Flagstaff, News, Personal

My first VE experience

Today I had my first experience as a volunteer examiner with the Coconino Amateur Radio Club in Flagstaff, Arizona. It turned out to be Friday the 13th part 2.

It started out quite pleasant. As I traveled east toward Flagstaff on I-40, I contacted Ken (KF7DUR). I found out that he was one of the other experienced volunteer examiners also heading into Flagstaff on I-17. I took the first exit in Flagstaff to Milton Avenue.

I heard Joe (W7LUX) and Ken discussing a traffic situation at the Butler exit. A truck hauling a trailer apparently jack-knifed. It was probable that they would not make it exactly at the time the exam would take place. I arrived at the Flagstaff Public Library and radioed that I would let anyone who was looking lost find their way.

It wasn’t long before I realized that I was lost. I was at the main branch when the test was being held on the east side of Flagstaff at the Fourth Street branch. By the time I found my way, the other examiners were all there.

Other than that, the test went well and I congratulate those new Amateur Radio operator (Or soon to be as soon as they appear in the FCC data base) who passed the examination.

I received a lot of good information. I still have my two Certificate of Successful Completion of Examinations for my Technician examination and my upgrade to Extra. Ken was one of the examiners on my Technician exam. I failed the General at that exam, so I guess I can blame him. Beside the fact that I wasn’t ready at all for the General.

I got a chance to learn about the paperwork and how it is organized and where all the dotted i’s and crossed t’s go. I learned of ways to help people with special needs take the examination if they cannot make it to the site. Volunteer examiners go through great lengths to help anyone get their license. Classes, special tests and so-forth. Of course they still have to comply with all of the Volunteer Exam Coordinator (VEC) requirements.

It was a good experience and I look forward to assisting with the next exam at the ARA Hamfest July 22 -24 in Williams.

The rest of Friday the 13th Part II went downhill from there.

Uncategorized

Museum Ships weekend event June 4 and 5

nj2bb-07If you are looking for an event early this summer, check out the Museum Ships weekend event June 4 and 5 sponsored by the Battleship New Jersey.

The event will allow Ham operators to work several ships-turned-museum over the two-day period. The list of nearly 100 museum ships include U.S. Naval ships and submarines, some foreign Naval ships, cargo ships, passenger ships and more. You will have to wait until June 3 to download an Excel spreadsheet of the participating museum ships.

According to their rules, actual ships turned into museums will be allowed to participate. There will be no memorial groups to ships allowed. Ham operators will have to contact each ship directly for QSL cards.

Operating on any frequency is allowed, but most ships will operate on the following general bands:

SSB
CW

3,860 KHz 3,539 KHz
7,260 KHz 7,039 KHz
10,109 KHz
14,260 KHz 14,039 KHz
18,160 KHz 18,079 KHz
21,360 KHz 21,039 KHz
24,960 KHz 24,899 KHz
28,360 KHz 28,039 KHz
50,160 KHz 50,109 KHz

While most operations will be CW and SSB, some ships will use their original AM equipment and there will even be PSK31 operations on 14.070 MHz, 10.142 MHz, 18.100 MHz, 21.070 MHz and 28.120 MHz

Amateur Radio, Amateur Radio Organizations, Federal Communications Commission, News, Technical

FCC Invites Comments on Petition to Eliminate 15 dB Gain Limit on Amateur Amplifiers

The FCC has put on public notice and invited comments on a Petition for Rule Making (RM-11767), filed on behalf of an amateur amplifier distributor, which seeks to revise the Amateur Service rules regarding maximum permissible amplifier gain. Expert Linears America LLC of Magnolia, Texas, which distributes linears manufactured by SPE in Italy, wants the FCC to eliminate the 15 dB gain limitation on amateur amplifiers, spelled out in §97.317(a)(2). Expert asserts that there should be no gain limitation at all on amplifiers sold or used in the Amateur Service.

“There is no technical or regulatory reason [that] an amplifier capable of being driven to full legal output by even a fraction of a watt should not be available to Amateur Radio operators in the United States,” Expert said in its Petition.

Read more at ARRL

Event, Flagstaff, News, Prescott

Are you ready to get your Amateur Radio License?

UV-82C(1)LGIf you have been studying to get your Amateur Radio license, you have two chances coming up in May.

The Coconinco County Amateur Radio club is planning an exam for all classes of license on May 14 from 9:00 – 11:00 AM. The examination will be held at the North County Health Care classroom. The North County Health Care center is at 2920 N 4th Street in Flagstaff. Visit their web site for information on what you are required to bring for the exam.

In Yavapai county you have an opportunity to become licensed by the Yavapai Amateur Radio club. They require you to obtain an Federal Registration Number (FRN). The requirements can be found on their web site. Their next exam is also scheduled for May 14 and you can take a practice exam on Tuesday May 10. You must pre-register online. The exam will be held in the Jeep Posse Building at 255 E Gurley Street in Prescott.

Read more at Northern Arizona Gazette

CHIRP, News, Technical

CHIRP just gets better

There is more good news for BTech users. The latest version of the CHIRP program now supports menu settings for the mobile line of BTech radios by Baofeng.
chirp-1chirp-2
The last upgrade to CHIRP allowed you enter repeater frequencies and CTCSS codes without having to do the math. The latest update allows you to change the menu items just like your other Baofengaled radios. Or any other radios for that matter.

It still does not cover my old Yaesu FT-11R, but you can’t have everything. CHIRP is developed by a volunteer corp of programmers and supported by donations.

Hamfest, News, Prescott, Williams

Upcoming Hamfests for northern Arizona

Prescott Hamfest
10 – 11 June 2016
Hosted by the Eagle Amateur Radio Club & the Yavapai Amateur Radio Club
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, 3700 Willow Creek Rd, Prescott, AZ
Click HERE for map
General Admission $5.00 for both days. ERAU Students with ID,
Commercial Vendors and Information Booth/Tables Free Admission.
Tailgate Swap $10.00 per space for both days.
Consignment Sales, Transmitter Hunt, Seminars and more.
VE Testing and DXCC Card Checking will be available.
Food Trucks will be on grounds. Sorry, NO RV Camping on Campus.
Visit the web site at http://www.w7yrc.org/prescott-hamfest for details.
Contact Chuck Zappala, KE7SA at czappala@cableone.net
or Bill Noe, W7PVA at w7pva@arrl.net for information.

ARCA/Williams Hamfest
22 – 24 July 2016
Hosted by the Amateur Radio Council of Arizona
Williams Rodeo Grounds, 800 Rodeo Road, Williams, AZ
Click HERE for map
Hamfest hours are Dawn to Dusk Friday and Saturday.
Trip to the Grand Canyon aboard the Grand Canyon Railroad on Sunday, 24 July.
Hospitality Suite on Friday – Barbecue Dinner at Railside RV Ranch on Saturday.
Breakfast and Lunch served by the Kiwanis Club of Williams on Friday and Saturday.
Prizes, VE Testing, Seminars and more.
For complete up-to-date information, click HERE.

Amateur Radio, Contacts, Event, News, Overseas, Repeaters, Williams

Amateur Log: 20160402 0231GMT Bunbury Australia

What is amazing about amateur radio is you never know who you will talk to.

I live in Williams, Arizona. We have a Western Intertie Network (WIN) system repeater maintained by Bryan – W7BNW. He fixed the repeater after a massive snow storm knocked it out early in the season. It has been up for about two-week.

Today he got the down link radio connected and the system was complete. We can now talk to people through the western States and, at times, around the world. It is a very interesting coincidence that Bryan got the system working today.

About 2:31 AM GMT (7:31 Arizona Time), I heard a call from Richard VK6VRO in Western Australia (10:30 AM his time). I had to call him when he mentioned that he was from Bunbury, Australia.
cruise-ship-sun-princess-bunbury
You see, his city is a part of my history.
dd972-Precom-1
When I was in the Navy, I was on the Spruance Class Destroyer USS Oldendorf DD-972. I was on the crew that commissioned the ship. Our first overseas cruise we spent nearly half in Australia. Our very first stop in Australia was Bunbury on August 15, 1980. In fact, we were the second ship to moor at the new pier the city just built—the first United States Navy ship. It brought back great memories of a visit with some of the greatest friends in the world. When we left it seemed like the whole town shut down to come and see us off.
australia-bunbury
Bear in mind I spoke with him through a UHF repeater on a Baofeng BF-F9 V2+ radio which I purchased from FOSCAM for about $70.

Throughout the day I heard a couple of stations in Canada and I have talked with people in Canada, England, Spain and other States before the tragic loss of the repeater months ago.

A basic Technician license gives you access to the very high frequencies (VHF) from 144 to 148-MHz and Ultra-High Frequencies (UHF) from 420 to 450-MHz. You also have access to other frequencies in this range and above. But the frequencies I described are usually what people refer to when they speak of VHF and UHF. Most repeaters operate in this range.

As you can see, with a Technician license, you might be very surprised who you will speak with.

CHIRP, News, Technical

Good news for BTech fans. CHIRP now supports.

BaoFengSoftwareMobileDownload There is good news for the growing base of fans for the BTech UV-2501, UV-2501 +220 and UV-5001 radios. The popular free programming tool CHIRP now supports this series.

Apparently the the volunteer programmers for the CHIRP program added support for the radios in the last two updates.

You may recall that I have been developing an emergency radio system using the UV-2501. So far it has worked well. I am hoping to get the +220 model to add next. I have been using the Baofeng program that you download for Baofeng for the unit. It is complete but complicated to use. The new CHIRP version is a real blessing.

I downloaded the latest version of CHIRP, chirp-daily-20160329, and installed it immediately. I did not do any fancy programming, but did download the memory to a file. CHIRP does not yet have a tab for the extra settings, such as welcome message and initial setting for the FM radio.

It does let you program in the frequency for a repeater and the offsets and takes care of the math for you. In the Baofeng program, you have to enter the Rx frequency and then add or subtract the offset to enter the Tx frequency. It also allows you to add 7 alpha characters for the name and transmit inhibit for scanner only channels.

Amateur Radio, Flagstaff, News, Repeaters, Williams

Crews fix repeaters on Bill Williams Mountain

800-BillWilliamsMountain16-02-07-02CORRECTION: Jud’s proper call sign is N6GYF. I had two letters in incorrect order. That is corrected. – 9/3/2018

WIN Repeater
449.75 Tone 123 –
Currently not connected to WIN system.

Bill Williams Mountain Radio Club Repeater
146.78 Tone 91.5 –

WILLIAMS — In January a strong snow storm knocked out the antennas for the repeaters on Bill Williams mountain. The two main repeaters are the UHF Western Intertie Network system and the VHF repeater operated by the Bill Williams Mountain Radio club.

The road to Bill Williams mountain is poorly maintained. The snow and ice after a major storm make it impassable. It only became usable recently.

Starting last Friday crews worked through the weekend to get the repeaters back on line.

Bryan W7BNW and his wife worked to restore the antennas for the WIN system repeater. He is currently working on the uplink radio so that Hams from Arizona can connect to the network that mostly covers California.

Bill Williams Mountain repeaters from Benham Trail.
Bill Williams Mountain from Benham Trail.

Jud N6GYF traveled from California to repair the antenna for the standalone Bill Williams Mountain Radio Club repeater on 146.780. This repeater allows Hams from Flagstaff, to Prescott to Seligman to communicate.

These crews are amateur radio volunteers and we appreciate their efforts.

Amateur Radio, Education, License Examinations, News

Coconino Amateur Radio Club holding classes for upcoming exam

final logoFLAGSTAFF — The Coconino Amateur Radio Club of Flagstaff is currently holding classes for the technician class license. The classes are free and open to anyone of any age. The classes are held every Saturday from 8 am to 12 pm. They are held at the North Country Health Care facility at 2920 N 4th Street in Flagstaff.

The technician class license is the first FCC license a person can obtain to operate amateur radio equipment. You must get 26 questions correct on a 35 question examination. The examination fee is $15 and the next test is on April 16. Although anyone can come to the exam and classes, the Coconino Amateur Radio Club requests that you go to their web site and let them know that you are coming so they can provide enough material.

If you pass the examination for a Technician license, you can take the test for the General Class license. This allows you access to more frequencies and privileges. If you pass that exam, you can try for the top license; Amateur Extra. If you fail any exam along the way, you will be required to pay another $15 to retake the examination.

Read more at the Northern Arizona Gazette