Tag Archives: VHF/UHF

Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment

Winter Field Day 2020 Final Station Test

Winter Field Day 2020 is almost here! A few weekends ago, Jerry K1OKD, Jon AC1EV, Andrew NF1H, Anita AB1QB, and I got together at our QTH to complete the final station test for our planned 5O operation in Winter Field Day (WFD).

Portable Wireless Networking

Portable Wireless Networking Pod
Portable Wireless Networking Pod

In preparation for WFD 2020 and our test, I built a new Wireless Networking Pod. This unit was made possible by a very generous donation of a router with LTE wireless access capabilities by Dave, K1DLM.

Networking Pod Details
Networking Pod Details

The system consists of the following components:

Our Networking Pod will be used in a number of ways to support Nashua Area Radio Society activities including Youth Expos, Ham Bootcamps, Field Day Operations, Portable Operations, and others. It provides a wired and wireless (via WiFi) network capability including DHCP, DNS, Firewall and other IP services that can be used to network computers running the N1MM+ logger and other apps. It can also be used to provide wireless internet access via LTE in situations where we need this.

Station Testing

VHF Station #2 Test
VHF Station Test

We had already assembled and tested our two Winter Field Day 2020 HF/VHF+ Stations during a previous station test so the final test was focused on the three planned HF stations and the networking of the N1MM+ Loggers that we’ll be using.

Winter Field Day 2020 HF Station and Network Test
Jerry K1OKD and Jon AC1EV Perform an HF Station and Networking Test

We set up the three HF stations and connected the associated laptop computers to the Network Pod for the test. Each of our HF stations includes:

WFD Station Building in Progress
Triplexer and Bandpass Filtering system at Winter Field Day

We also tested our Triplexer and Bandpass Filtering system along with the radios.

160m All-Mode Station Main N1MM+ Monitor

A big part of this test was to get the N1MM Logger+ working with the radios and in a network configuration using the Networking Pod. Networking N1MM+ enables us to maintain a common log across the 5 stations in our Winter Field Day setup. All of the stations were also set up for SSB Voice, CW and Digital operation via N1MM+.

All of the station tests are complete and we are ready for Winter Field Day! Come on out and join us for what I am sure will be a lot of fun!

Fred, AB1OC

Featured, Newsletter, On The Air, Space

December 2019 ISS SSTV Event

Slow-Scan TV from the International Space Station (ISS) was on the air again late in December 2019.  The ISS SSTV event was in memory of cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.

Receiving SSTV Images From the ISS

Satellite Station 4.0 with IC-9700
AB1OC-AB1QB Satellite Station 4.0

We had our satellite station running to track the ISS and capture the SSTV images during the event.

Dec 2019 ISS SSTV Image #6
Dec 2019 ISS SSTV Image

There were quite a few good ISS passes over our area during the event and we were able to capture some nice images.

The video above shows the reception of an SSTV image from the ISS. The images are transmitted on the 2m band using a standard SSTV format. We use a program called MMSSTV to decode the transmissions and display the images.

It’s pretty easy to receive these images – it can be done with an HT, hand-held antenna, and a laptop. The video above shows how to receive an image from the ISS this way. You can read more about what’s involved in setting up equipment and software to receive and decode these images here.

Image Gallery

We had fun receiving the SSTV event images.  The gallery above contains all of the images that we received as part of the event.  For future events, keep an eye on the ARISS SSTV Blog.

Anita, AB1QB and Fred, AB1OC

Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment

VHF+ Station Prep for Winter Field Day 2020

We’ve busy preparing for Winter Field Day 2020. We’re planning to expand our station coverage to include more bands above 6m.

Jamey AC1DC Next To New Winter Field Day VHF+ Mast
Jamey AC1DC Next To Our New WFD VHF+ Mast

We are planning on adding the 1.25m, 33cm, and 23cm bands to our Winter Field Day 2020 setup. Jamey, AC1DC and I put together a new mast to support Yagis for these new bands a few weeks back.

Rovers for New Bands

Winter Field Day Rover Test
Winter Field Day Rover Test

Jon, AC1EV and Jerry, K1OKD have been working on a Rover set up so that folks can make contacts on these new bands and help out all of the Winter Field Day stations in our area.

VHF+ Station Testing for Winter Field Day 2020

VHF Station #1 Test
VHF Station #1 Test

The first station that we put together (VHF #1) is based upon an Elecraft KX3/PX3 combination. We added an outboard 100W HF amplifier and two Tranverters to the radio to cover 160m-10m, 1.25m, and 33cm. We plan to use this station for VHF+ contacts during the daytime and for HF operations at night. All of our Winter Field Day Stations will have computers for logging and digital modes and they will all support Phone, CW, and Digital modes. Also, we will be using networked N1MM+ for logging at Winter Field Day.

VHF Station #2 Test
VHF Station #2 Test

The second station we put together (VHF #2) uses an Icom IC-9100 Transceiver and will cover the HF bands, 6m, 2m, 70cm, and 23cm. It will have a computer-controlled satellite setup that uses a Mac Laptop for tracking as well as a windows computer for logging, digital modes, and CW. The IC-9100 has 100w out on the HF Bands, 6m, and 2m as well as 70w output on the 70cm band – plenty of power for Winter Field Day. The 23cm side of the IC-9100 does 10w out so we’ve added a 100w amplifier for this band. The combination of the amp and the high-gain 23cm antenna that we are using will make our Effective Radiated Power (ERP) on 23cm in excess of 2,000w.

Thanks to some great work by Jon, Jerry, Jamey, and Anita our two most complex stations are ready to go. We will be testing our 3 remaining HF station including one which supports 160m in the near future.

We hope that you’ll join us for some operating fun at Winter Field Day! You can sign-up for operating, roving, and/or station set up at Winter Field Day 2020 here.

Fred, AB1OC

 

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