Clubs/Organizations

Ten-Ten International 67213 VP 2889
QRP ARCI 13141
Flying Pigs QRP Club 1853
North American QRP CW Club 2184
European PSK Club 3079
Digital Modes Club 920

Station Activity

7.030.050 - frequency in MHz,
CW - mode,
FT-817 - radio,
30-Jun-2010 21:24:05 - current date and time (CST).
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Amateur Radio Station WD5WR

APRS

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Byonics TinyTrak4

I have recently begun dabbling with APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) after attending Dayton and visiting the Byonics booth. A while back I built a Byonics Pocket Tracker for a ham friend but knew absolutely nothing about APRS at the time so when I saw the Byonics booth at Dayton I was curious. My main interest was the GPS receiver which I wanted to learn about to incorporate with a 10 meter synchronized beacon. Well after learning a liitle bit my curiosity was peaked and I had to build myself an APRS system.

My first step was to learn a little about APRS and how it works.

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10 meters (Tech HF)

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You have that new, or in some cases old Tech license and you want to try HF, the only problem is we are at the bottom of the sunspot cycle and 10 meters is dead. Well, that's not really true, 10 meters is very active even at the bottom of the sunspot cycle.  During E-Skip (Sporadic E) season the band can generate very good long and short skip openings on an almost daily basis. Ten meters is a great band for beginners, with many friendly OT's and loads of newly licensed hams it is a great way to learn good operating skills.

 

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Digital Modes

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Having recently returned to the hobby one of the first things I noticed was the popularity of digital modes. When I  stopped operating in 1998 digital modes were still costly to operate. Now with soundcard interfaces, digital modes can be operated with little investment as almost all computers have SB16 compatible soundcards.  Well, upon seeing all that was available I dove right in of course and enjoy it quite a bit.

So far I have stuck mostly to PSK31 operation. I'm amazed at how well PSK31 gets through even the noisiest band conditions. I am currently using PSK31 Deluxe  that is included in the Ham Radio Deluxe software suite, but have tried DigiPan, MultiPSK, and a couple of others. So far for PSK operations I have preferred the PSK31 Deluxe.

After reading a post from KD5DE - Mel, Digital Awards Manager for Ten-Ten, on the tenten list server I have learned a little about Feld Hell. Feld Hell has been around for awhile and is a fun mode to operate. If you suffer from poor eyesight you will enjoy it's large text and double lines. There is also a Feld Hell Club that issues operating awards for Feld Hell contacts. I use MultiPSK software for Feld Hell. 

RTTY is the mode that is next on my list to operate. This mode seems to be just behind PSK in popularity. I have monitored some RTTY but have not jumped in and made any contacts yet.

If you would like more information on the following modes click on read more to continue where I will give brief descriptions and operating frequencies of each of these modes.  

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QRP

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A short while back I purchased a nice Yaesu FT-817ND thinking it would be fun to have a portable operation in a pack that I can take with me whenever I decide to take a hike somewhere or just a day in the park. Well, I have learned that QRP can consume you. It is so much fun seeing who you can contact with 5 watts or less, before you know it you only operate QRP.  While I am a terrible CW op (anyone who has ever had the misfortune to meet me on CW knows) I enjoy it very much and it seems like the two just go together.  Even if you don't enjoy CW, QRP can still be loads of fun with SSB or digital modes. With a good antenna I think many would be suprised at how well you can do with low power.

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