N1OF Amateur Radio

      One fun part of working with commercial gear is the limited number of up to date resources on how to get the radio working with amateur radio systems. And one of those big pains for me was getting APRS to work via a Motorola radio. Motorola radios that have GPS are designed to report station location and current channel back to a central dispatch center, but some very clever hams in this hobby have made that system work through Brandmeister. Most of the guides I have come across have been relatively out of date, or would tell you thirteen different ways of doing it. By combining bits and pieces of each one, I have gotten my APRS location to successfully report via a hotspot and a Motorola HT. I am currently waiting on the results of using a mobile with a fixed repeater in town.      The radios I have used are a Motorola XPR 6550 DMR UHF handheld, and a XPR 4550 DMR UHF mobile. I have followed the same steps with my mobile radio, and will post an update if that was successful. How

    As Amateur Radio operators, it's likely that we all share a love-hate relationship with our computers. A lot of us love to tinker with what's possible on our home PC's, while others just want the things to work. But some of us want to push the envelope even further. Unless you've been living under a rock, it's likely that you've heard of a Raspberry Pi. For those who prefer the Patrick Star lifestyle, these little technological wonders are full fledged computers that are about the size of a credit card. Also known as Single Board Computers, these Pi's have found their way into just about every hamshack around the world. Most are familiar with them for Digital Voice hotspots, some have used them as Linux machines that run HF digital modes and logging software, the possibilities are truly endless.     However, steering away from the Amateur Radio world for a minute, many people use them as network devices for a plethora of tasks. Some use Pi-Hole, a DNS le

  HF and Apartment Dwellers don't go together. It's like vinegar and milk. Sure, there are plenty of apartments or townhomes out there that can support (within reason) an outdoor HF wire antenna, or there are certainly commercially made compromise antennas out there. But I'm sure you can guess the efficiency will be in the toilet, and you're going to likely have to keep the power to a minimum. I have personally tried several indoor style antennas with varying degrees of success. First up was a Super Antenna (think Wolf River Coil style) in the middle of my living room floor near the sliding door to the balcony. At this point, my apartment was on the second floor. Several 10ish foot ground radials were spread out around it. I was running 10 watts of FT8 through it and checking PSKReporter to see where I was being heard. Although I was making it out consistently in the region, I was fighting to make a contact with a station only about 400 miles away. He was hearing me a

 Ah yes, ARES, the poster child of over exaggeration. Every book I remember reading when I was studying for my license made it seem as if signing up for this program would make me feel like a real first responder, ready to save lives and be a hero with a $20 walkie talkie and a hard hat. Years later though, I realize that is not the case by a long shot. And even now, many people I meet interested in EmComm have some ideas that sound more like they want to be cops, minus the badge and the gun.     Without a doubt, ARES has it's place. It always will, but it's a very specific place that most volunteers will never reach. ARES and Ham Radio have always been "the backup to the backup". However, I am a firm believer that if you understand the place that ARES holds, and the role that you as a volunteer would likely hold during an emergency, it makes for much more reasonable expectations of what you will give, and what you will get as a volunteer.     In my opinion, t

  It's been a while since I've gone through and updated websites that I manage, including this one. A lot has changed. Almost like a time capsule, to just a few months ago. Might as well reflect on what's different enough to warrant an entire blog post.       A few months back, I separated from the local radio club I was a part of. I was there for years, almost ever since I've lived in NW Ohio. Toxicity from there is what killed the hobby for me for a while. But I knew I've sunk far too much time, money, and effort to let it kill the hobby as a whole. It's of no use to publicly post all of the different little things that caused me (and several others) to leave, but you can surely guess that it must've added up if it drove several others as well to resign.       I will hit on a major factor that drove me out, and probably clubs around the world experience in one way or another. The age divide, and not just between members either. Gone are the days of