Amateur Radio

By rbosaz , 4 February, 2025

RadioMail APRS

The following is from EasternMA-ARES-SET-Regional-Prep-11-11-23-V2.0.pdf in Amateur Radio Directory. The below was taken from page 9.

I used Radio Mail app connected to radio with appropriate cable connected to phone via Bluetooth.

Exercise Frequency Usage
Two meter and 440 MHz local voice nets: - The following is a list of key frequencies with any

additional frequencies at the discretion of local ARES Group
147.000-Dartmouth Repeater (PL: 67.0 Hz)
147.180-Bridgewater Repeater (PL: 67.0 Hz)
8146.895-Walpole Repeater (PL: 123.0 Hz)
146.955-Westford Repeater (PL: 74.4 Hz)
145.230-Boston Repeater (PL: 88.5 Hz)
147.435-Western Middlesex ARES Simplex (PL: 110.9 Hz)
146.580-Cape and Islands ARES District wide Simplex (No PL)
446.675-Marlborough Repeater (PL: 88.5 Hz)

The MMRA Network will be utilized at the section level – a link to the repeaters linked up is listed at the end of the frequency usage document

146.550-MMRA Simplex component
146.580-MMRA Simplex component secondary

Secondary Frequencies that will be monitored:
146.985-Blue Hill Science Center – Milton, MA (linked) (PL 88.5 Hz)
449.125-Blue Hill Science Center – Milton MA (linked) (PL: 146.2 Hz)
446.325-New England Sci-Tech - Natick, MA (PL: 146.2 Hz) ***

6 meter operations
53.31-Mount Wachusett Repeater PL: 71.9 Hz

Winlink Express VHF (non-P2P): 145.090 FM frequencies –
Local VHF RMS Stations – Some stations may offer both Packet and VARA FM modes
AB1PH-10 connect direct or via digipeaters WA1PLE-2, W1STR-3 or BROCK
W1SHS-10 connect direct or via digipeaters WA1PLE-2, W1STR-3 or BROCK
KF1D-10 connect direct or via digipeaters WA1PLE-2, W1STR-3 or BROCK
W1SGL-10 connect direct or via digipeaters WA1PLE-2, W1STR-3 or BROCK
WZ0C-10 connect direct or via digipeater W1STR-3

Or other VHF RMS stations available from Winlink Express station lookup.

Also see http://www.n1xtb.net/EMA_packet_map.html for locations of local RMS stations

Telnet may be used if available and necessary.

HF Winlink stations (Non-P2P):
Local HF RMS stations - VARA HF Preferred mode
W1EO: 3937.900 KHz center, 3936.4 KHZ dial
KF1D: 7101.3 KHz center, 7099.8 KHz dial
W1EO: 7102.5 KHz center, 7101.0 KHz dial

Or other HF RMS stations available from Winlink Express station lookup.
Telnet may be used for training purposes if RF capability is not present.

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By rbosaz , 29 November, 2024

Raspberry Pi GPS Dongle Configuration

Follow this webpage:

https://www.workswiththeweb.com/piprojects/2023/08/06/RBPi-NTP-Server/#overview

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By rbosaz , 31 December, 2023

FT-891 DigiRig Setup

You'll need the following:

DigiRig
USB C to USB A
USB B to USB A
Audio Cable (black, not green) to DIN Connector

Then plug together as follows:

Plug USB C into DigiRig and USB A into your computer.
Plug audio cable into audio port of DigiRig and DIM plug into radio (orientation is crucial).
Plug USB B into radio and USB A into computer.

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By rbosaz , 16 October, 2023

Install aprsd into Python 3 venv

Installing into a venv (python virtualenv):

1. Install pip in current user profile (optional).

python3 -m pip install --user --upgrade pip

2. Ensure you are using Python 3.3 or greater.

Note: For this exercise I recommend 3.11 or whatever the creator's GitHub states.

python3 -V
-or-
python -v

3. Create your venv, activate environment and confirm you are in the environment.

python3 -m venv env 
source env/bin/activate
which python

After executing 'which python' you should see '.../env/bin/python' where ... is the full path to the environment.

4. Install aprsd within the environment created above.

python3 -m pip install aprsd

5. I created my 'aprsd.yml' in the directory above the 'env' directory using the following command.

aprsd sample-config > aprsd.yml

Using your favorite editor (mine is vim) edit the config file you just created. I read each setting and enabled most of them using default. Some parameters required me to get information from the web like: aprs.fi passkey and magicbug password. Once you're satisfied start the aprsd server with the -c flag and filename. Being that I performed this in the environment above the env directory id did the following.

aprsd server -c aprsd.yml

Note: Do not close the command prompt window else you shutdown the server. If you want to shut down the aprsd server gracefully use ctrl+c keyboard key combination.

6. Install web client in venv where aprsd was installed above.

pip install gunicorn

7. Start the web client. I'm stuck here

gunicorn --bind 127.0.0.1:8080 "aprsd.wsgi:app"

8. To deactivate the venv.

deactivate

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By rbosaz , 23 June, 2023

FTM400 Can't Send APRS Message

Usually when this happens, your messages are full. Delete some and you should be able to send.

The "Best" Random Wire Antenna Lengths

Below is a link to a website about random wire antennas.

website

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By rbosaz , 29 April, 2023

LDG Z-II Pro II Tuner Setup with FT-891Radio

Using the supplied LDG cable attached the red end (radio) in to the left most mic jack input on the back of the radio, then attach the black end of the cable (tuner) to the Radio port on the back of the tuner.

If you want the tuner to control the radio then update the Tuner Select property to LAMP (Linear Amplifier) in the FT-891 deep settings. Now when you press the tune button on the tuner it will lower the power and send a CW carrier to tune the frequency.

If you don't have the cable to the tuner it will still try to auto tune when you transmit but it's sub-optimal. So you'll need to drop the radio's power down (below 35W, if you don't you'll ruin the tuner) and change the mode to CW by long pressing the BAND button. Then PTT and the tuner will perform a proper tune.