How to be a ham radio operator during public service events and nets

Daily Propagation Activity Net

There is a rather informal Activity Group that meets on-air daily. This is an awesome resource for testing out new gear, especially antennas and microphones.

The idea is to check-in so they get you on a list. Then each station is called to make a CQ call and all the other stations, that hear it, will respond with a signal report. Every ten minutes they do an ID call  so it is a chance to jump in if you are late to the party. If none of this makes sense, tune-in and listen for awhile and it will become clear really quickly. The group moderators are super friendly so Join-In!

The daily schedule for the Activity Group is:

  • 17M on 18.157.5 MHz at 1730-18:30z daily,
  • 15M on 21.383 MHz at 18:30z daily,
  • 12M on 24.970 MHz at 19:00z daily,
  • 10m When time and band allows.

Some Ham Tools and Interesting Links

The Minow Net: A Club for YL Ham Radio Operators https://www.minownet.org/index.html

Ham Radio Map. Enter a call sign to see where they are. https://haminfo.tetranz.com/map

2 Meter ladder line calculator

ABOUT WINLINK

Ever wonder where WinLink came from? Here is the definitive PDF that explains its origins and and the basis for how it works (still). https://n7tar.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Radio_Only_Winlink.pdf

NOTE: The section about Message Pickup Stations (MPS) is outdated. This is all automatic between the message repositories now.

Rick’s (KJ7ROX) DMR Presentation from 13 August 2022

Antenna Installation Tips

Lightning, Grounding and Bonding for Hams

Tape Measure Beam Optimized for Radio Direction Finding

All the information can be found here: https://n7tar.org/2022/06/12/tape-measure-beam-optimized-for-radio-direction-finding/ Submitted by Hal (KG5LVG)

Pat’s (KD6PZB) All-Star Node

All-Star Node: 526070, 147.500 MHz, Simplex, PL 107.2 – ID: KD6PZB

Node Bubble Map

Bob’s (KJ7ZTF) Inverted V Fan Dipole Wire Length Chart.

Click here to view the PDF..

Cool Antenna Projects (submitted by KJ7ROX)

Roll-Up 2 Meter Antenna

2 Meter Slot Antenna using a Satellite TV Dish

Solar Powered 8 Watt Repeater (submitted by KJ7YYI)

Here is a video describing a Baofeng 8 Watt, solar Powered, highly portable, repeater

Space Weather

Space Weather information

Saving Microsoft Documents in PDF Format

Sharing documents among members of any group can be difficult, because not everyone has the same operating system or applications. The common denominator is Adobe’s Reader; it reads PDF files. Here is a short video demonstrating how to save a MS Office document as a PDF file.

Word To PDF demo

Is Your Browser Leaking Information?

Here’s a short video on where to test your browser to see what information it is giving away to websites.

Video About Browser Privacy

BrowserLeaks.com – Check your browser here

Cover Your Tracks – …and here

Device Info – …and here. Be sure to wait on this one

Linux Instead of Windows 11?

If you are considering Linux as an alternative to upgrading to Windows 11, here is a short video on an excellent Windows-like distro to try.

LinuxDesktopDemo

Link to the website: https://linuxmint.com

More Information on Linux distributions: https://distrowatch.com/

Math for Amateurs

The following series of videos demonstrates some math by using it in solving a practical problem.

Vid01 – Determine the height of a tree for an antenna

Vid02 – Another way to determine Tree Height

Vid03 – Determine Vertex Angle of Inverted Vee

Vid04 – Trig Review

Converting Meters to Feet

Calculating the cut for Half Wave Antenna

Laws of Exponents – needed for decibels

Decibels & Logs – very brief intro

The following website has short tutorials on math for review: https://www.n7twl.com . You can search on YouTube for Math Brat and see a little newer set of tutorials by N7TWL.

NanoVNA Resources

Website: https://nanovna.com/

The website has guides and links, including the Saver application

Rick’s (KJ7ROX) NanoVNA Guide – Revision 1

https://n7tar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Using-NanoVNA-for-SWR-Measurement-Rev1.pdf

More NanoVNA documentation (not tested for quality or accuracy)

Absolute_Beginner_Guide_NanoVNA_v1_5
Absolute_Beginner_Guide_NanoVNA_v1_6
Introduction_to_Network_Analyzer_Measurements
NanoVNA H2_English (1)
NanoVNA N4WYE Jan 21, 2020 v3
NanoVNA User Guide_20190527.
NanoVNA User Guide_20190711

Programming HTs Using Chirp

How-to Video: Using Chirp to Program an HT

Useful Links  (please report broken links)

 

Handy Scanner Frequencies

Payson PD and FD – PD is moving to encrypted trunking, however, FD is staying as is

ScannerFreqs    just a few to get you started