Did some updating to the visual appearance of the Radio subdomain. Also changed around the Weather page a little bit, added some photos to the page about My Shack, and a couple of other small things. Check it out.
Criminal
Posted by Sean
on February 23, 2011
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Lately, I feel more and more like a criminal. Whenever I am out in public, I have been feeling that I need to be aware of keeping my firearm concealed, and that people are noticing and calling the police after I leave. I feel like if I were stopped by an officer, that he would be suspicious of me, because almost all encounters I’ve had with law enforcement (very numerous) show this to be true. They turn you into a criminal, literally, by charging you with something, maybe just because they want to. I feel labeled as someone who has intent to break the law, simply for carrying a firearm. Constantly feeling this opposition to the police is wearing on my mind in strange ways. I find myself wondering about criminal acts, and why people do them. I wonder what would happen if I needed to defend myself, and shot someone. I would more than likely, initially be treated like a criminal. Placed in to “custody” or “detainment,” in handcuffs, weapon confiscated, my “character” judged… It scares me to think about the things that can simply go wrong in a situation. It’s an interesting thing to observe and study, even if it has happened directly to me in most of these cases. Hopefully, I’m not losing my mind.
APRS
Posted by Sean, K8JSM
on February 18, 2011
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Finally, I’ve gotten my APRS stations coordinated. I have a weather station transmitting via TCP/IP APRS, my iPhone portable station transmitting via TCP/IP APRS, and my mobile station transmitting via RF (using a TinyTrak4 by Byonics).
APRS works by sending a digital packet of information, via RF, to a receiving station (anyone can have a receiving station at their house with a receiver, computer, and Internet service), and then that station (referred to as an iGate) sends the information to the APRS servers via the Internet. The default 2-meter frequency used is 144.3900MHz, and so as you’re out driving (for example), you set your transceiver to 144.390, turn on your APRS TNC (in my case, a TinyTrak4), and it does the rest.
There are also “digipeaters” that listen for your packets and repeat them again, so they may be passed to an iGate, to be uploaded to the Internet APRS servers. I have my TinyTrak4 set up as a digipeater to repeat any path requests with “TEMP” or “SAR” in them. That means if my station hears another station with “TEMP” or “SAR” programmed in, it will repeat it for them. I do this because “TEMP” is used for temporary situations, such as Field Day or perhaps emergency or other situations, and “SAR” is used for search and rescue operations. If I participate in such events, I’m already set up to be of assistance by helping to get their packets out to an iGate, which can upload them to the Internet APRS servers.
There’s lots of reading out there on APRS; just go to Google and type in APRS Amateur Radio!
3-element Tape Measure Yagi
Posted by Sean, K8JSM
on February 6, 2011
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I’ve been wanting to build an antenna for radio direction finding (RDF) for a long time. I finally got the motivation to build one, so here are a couple pictures of the design from the ARRL Antenna Book. For pictures and more explanation from my build, check out the Projects Page.
Here is the design schematic.
Here is the matching section where the coax connects to the driven element.
It was a lot of fun to build and very easy to do. I recommend it for anyone interested in RDF or who needs a portable yagi for anything (including satellite work)!
To view more about the project, check out the specific Project page, called Tape Measure Yagi.