Building A System Fusion Simplex Node. (Part 3)

Building A System Fusion Simplex Node.

(Part 3)

Sunday 15^th September 2019

The Radio Rally today was great, it was the first rally that the West Tyrone Radio Club had done & the first radio rally that I had been to in a good number of years.

It’s a small rally but had a lot to offer & had good attendance.

The Bring & Buy was very large & had a lot to offer, The RSGB book stand was also in attendance along with a stand that made personalised items for the shack & badges.

Also, at the rally was Peter Bell – (P&D CB & Amateur Radio) with a huge stand.

It was here that I bit the bullet & bought a Yaesu FTM-100D for my link radio.

I had done a bit of research & most people running links & gateways are using these very radios.

My darling better half Caitlin bought me a new battery for my FT-60 handheld that I had been looking online for.

After unpacking my new play toy – and reading the instructions “Cough” I setup the radio and managed to get it to talk with the HRI-200 Wires-X Interface.

All very easy, sadly I’m still waiting for my ID to get onto the system so I’m not able to link up to anything yet.

Tuesday 17^th September 2019

Today I contacted Yaesu UK to see if I had registered the correct way for my ID given, I had STILL not received anything. (Now 5 days & counting! / 3 Working Days)

A lovely woman told me that all the requests for I. D’s goes to Japan to be sorted & entered onto the system.

I was also told that there is quite a back log now so I could be waiting a while. ☹

Wow a few hours since my phone call to Yaesu UK & my ID number has arrived in my Email.

The system was very easy to setup and I got a little help from the guys in the CQ-UK Room (27793) as my node was disconnecting regularly, but this was down to a tick box – Isn’t it always!

I turned my radio off and held the DX & GM buttons in to go into Wires X mode & HRI-200 comes up in the screen, That’s it all setup.

I just must work on polishing the system now to do all the things I need it to do on the fusion network & register to get a full node.

I still have a huge amount to learn about the Fusion System & Wires-X but this has been a pleasure to setup & run.

Even my father (Peter EI4JR) has taken an interest in Fusion!

This gateway will be the “Test Bed” for the 2m repeater that we currently run on EchoLink.

 Thankyou for following me on my journey to Fusion!  I will update more as things change.

Building A System Fusion Simplex Node. (Part 2)

Building A System Fusion Simplex Node.

(Part 2)

Today my Wires-X interface, the HRI-200 arrived and I can’t wait to get it up & running.

Nothing like the smell of new hardware 😊

I started my journey by opening my Wires-X Interface box to find all the goodies inside.

All very well packed.

The paperwork inside the box said that I needed to go to the Yaesu website, (https://www.yaesu.com/jp/en/wires-x/index.php) to register my HRI-200 by entering my serial number & all my details – Name, Address Callsign etc.

With this now done I have to wait for a node & room ID to be emailed to me. (12^th September @ 1pm)

Note: it takes 2-3 business days for registration to be processed

The next job was to insert the CD Rom & start to install the software.

This CD hold the USB driver for the interface & the Wires-X Software.

NOTE: DON’T PLUG IN YOUR INTERFACE UNTIL YOU HAVE INSTALLED THE DRIVERS!

The information also says to put the filters on each end of the USB cable before use as well.

I am still waiting for the small converter board to arrive for the Motorola radio, however I can setup the system on 10m FM (28/29Mhz) as I have a FT-450 with the 6-pin connector on. This would be ok for doing a few tests and making sure everything is working but I think at this time I will just wait for the converter to come.

There is not a lot more I can do now until I get my registration details from Yaesu, this was much the same when I first registered for EchoLink or even Dstar.

Its good to know these systems are secure however it does take time to put you onto the system, it also worries me that you are very much at the mercy of these various entities like Yaesu to manage a system like this.

What happens if for example Yaesu goes under? Are they going to give the keys to the system to the ham community?  Unlikely, rendering it useless.

(Sat 14^th September 2019)

Ohh the wait is agonising, I was hoping to get my node on the air today before the West Tyrone Radio Rally tomorrow.

I have still not received an ID to get onto the Wires-x System, It looking like I will receive it on Monday now I guess…..

Building A System Fusion Simplex Node. (Part1)

Building A System Fusion Simplex Node.

(Part1)

Forward:- From Yaesu UK.

System Fusion is Yaesu’s implementation of Digital Amateur Radio, utilizing C4FM 4-level FSK Technology to transmit digital voice and data over the Amateur radio bands. In the early 2000’s GMSK emerged in the Amateur radio market as the dominant digital mode, however in 2013 Yaesu introduced “System Fusion” which quickly became the dominating digital format in Amateur radio because of quality, reliability and enhanced performance in a wide range of environments.

The design of System Fusion was genius, allowing it to be used as a digital or analogue system meaning hams did not have to go out and replace their beloved favourite radio and buy more equipment to use the local repeater.  Well not strait away at leased 😊

This was something I hated about Dstar – If your local repeater group “upgraded” the system to Dstar you had to go out and buy new Icom only gear and let me tell you this was flipping expensive when Dstar hit the market!

Along with the expense of Dstar, I personally found it quite hard to setup & use. It was very overwhelming to me having to register my call on a website just to use my radio.

“Maybe this has changed?”

Then I saw System Fusion & the Wire-x System.

To me the Wires-X system looks like EchoLink on steroids with all the rooms & ability to drive the link or repeater anywhere you want.

If you are running on Analogue then the use of DTMF Tones are required to access the rooms you wish to access much like EchoLink, however if you are on Digital then you can get the list of rooms sent to your radio!

Talking of Radios – Here are a couple, a HT & a Mobile.

I had been trying to convince my local ham radio club to setup something digital for a while to no avail because at my location, Near Malin Head – Co. Donegal, there are no digital systems to play with at all.

My plan is to setup a simplex system on UHF. I’m using UHF as we run a 2m repeater here EI2IPG on EchoLink.

I think for the time being the system is going to be on analogue as I don’t have any digital radios for this project, but I do have a few handhelds I can use to monitor and talk through the system with.

 

The node radio is going to be a Motorola GM340 as I have one of these setup on UHF Simplex.

The other item I need is a Wire-X Interface, the HRI-200

A company called Moonraker in the UK (www.moonraker.eu) had the interface in stock so I ordered one.

This Interface will allow me to take full advantage of the Wires-X system and give me the following features.

APRS

Voice Mail

News & WX

Warnings

Text messaging

Pictures

Like I said before a fantastic system.

I found on the Internet called Shop Chip (https://shop.f5uii.net/)

They sell a neat little device that plugs into the back of the Motorola radios 16 pin socket to give you a 6-pin socket like on the back of the Yaesu radio. (Motorola Connector to mini-Din adaptors)

I believe these to have the same “industry Standard” wiring so I should be able to plug the interface into this without any problems – But I will be checking the wiring diagrams before use!

The Motorola Connector to mini-Din adaptors are in kit form and are €7.50 + delivery to Ireland.

At this moment in time I’m just waiting for items to arrive to start building the node / link.

Check back soon when we start to build up all the parts into a working system.

Is Echolink Dying?

Is Echolink Dying?

 

Forward:

EchoLink is a computer-based Amateur Radio system distributed free of charge that allows radio amateurs to communicate with other amateur radio operators using Voice over IP (VoIP) technology on the Internet for at least part of the path between them.

It was designed by Jonathan Taylor, a radio amateur with call sign K1RFD in, I believe 2002 with the IOS & Android versions in 2010.

EchoLink changed how ham radio operators communicated, Talking via links and repeaters around the word in clear FM.

But now after about 17 years, is it finally time to say goodbye to this system?

Below are a few stats that I took to have a look at activity on the EchoLink Network.

At the time of writing this - here are a few stats for you: -

Conference Servers:           253

Repeaters:                           2324

Simplex Links:                   2124

Users:                                 902

Now these stats only take into account Users (902) & Repeaters/Links (4448) connected to the system and does not consider the people on RF who are listening or using the systems.

I listen to the EchoLink system every day both at home & in the car via my local clubs 2m repeater EI2IPG.

I have to say there is more activity by local RF users talking to one another then there is EchoLink traffic

Even looking at the stats on the *IRELAND* Server Ireland. Donegal [8/8008] 2605

There is only 8 people connected.

I remember a time when there was at leased 30 stations connected plus users but now sadly only 8 repeater’s / Links.

So why has there been such a decline in usage of EchoLink over the last few years?

One reason is the people are exploring other new and exciting digital modes like:

Dstar – DMR – Yaesu Fusion.

Doing a little bit of research on repeaters that used to be connected to EchoLink, some have now moved to Dstar so clearly not using EchoLink anymore.

Other repeaters & links have moved to DMR or even Fusion, so this seems to be the main reason for the decline of EchoLink as a whole.

There are still a lot of systems out there to use but clearly not as many as there used to be, It’s a shame to see a decline in a system that saved so many repeaters from closure due to in-activity & I know back in the day it sparked a new interest in radio for a lot of people and in repeaters as a whole.

For those who still use EchoLink, I can be found in the Ireland Conference Server, either connected with my phone or on the EI2IPG repeater here in Co. Donegal.

You can also reach me by connecting to my station on my personal node number of 386433.

The Ireland node number is 2605 or *IRELAND* in the conference list.

Portable – What can go wrong will go wrong... (Part 1)

Portable – What can go wrong will go wrong...

Part 1

One of the things as a Ham Radio op that really appeals to me is working portable.

The fresh air of outdoors, the challenge of getting your system setup & running.

I look at /p as good practice for if there was ever a natural disaster that required me to setup in a remote location and be able to call for help or be able to transfer emergency messages for the local community.

So far, my /p experience has not been a great one. I have been cursed with issues – the first with battery problems, my old 24Ah Lead Acid battery would not hold a charge for any length of time when operating, even at low power levels.

Antenna system’s that would not work in the field in terms of tuning.

Coax cables that have not worked or failed when out.

Connectors falling to bits or just breaking.

Power connectors & leads falling to bits.

I guess this is all part of the learning experience or is it?

Battery:

I have now replaced my old battery with a brand new 45Ah Lead Acid and I am in the process of making a battery box for it, Using a Tool Box.

Now before people start saying ugh “Lead Acid, that’s so 20^th century you should be using a Lipo”

I don’t do SOTA so I don’t have to worry about weight, I’ll be using the battery from the car 90% of the time and 10% from just outside it, so weight is not an issue for me.

Also, I know that Lipo batteries are better for the environment & have a better power output curve however this lead acid battery was cheap.

Most Lipo or LiFePo4 batteries that I have seen on the market are still stupidly expensive - for me anyway.

 

Antenna’s

One of my antennas is a wire up a 10m fishing pole, I was given this by a ham friend and was told to use a 4:1 Balun and a counterpoise.

The antenna system did not work as I was using a 4:1 Balun when it should have been a 4:1 UnUn.

I was helped a lot from Nigel M0CVO who advised me that I needed a 4:1 unun (Un Balanced to Un Balanced) system.

This said one was put on order & has now arrived.

The unit feels like its ooooozing quality, A nice heavy block made from plastic but with quality parts as you would expect made from a Ham who knows his stuff.

Looking at Nigel's website - 

(www.m0cvoantennas.com) he has a lot to offer the ham op.

At the time of writing this we have had about a week of high winds & rain hampering my ability to get out into the garden to test the unun but rest assured I will & report on how everything goes in part 2.

Coax Cable’s:

The Coax cable I was using was some that I had been using for a while for other projects and was a good few years old.

I use 2 reels of coax in my /p box – one is 10m (32ft) and the other a 21m (70ft) of RG58.

My 10m coax was the one I used the most and was the one giving me all the problems, looking into why it was not working I found that there had been water ingress at some point and the copper braid inside was quite green.

My 10m coax has now been replaced with new RG58 double screened coax and is working much better now.

Coax Connectors:

After replacing my coax, I needed some new connectors for the ends, so I went onto eBay to buy some more, I found what I thought was a bargain of 3 for 75c from China.

How wrong could I have been!!

Total cheap tat, I guess this is what is now expected from buying from China these days – it all seems to be made a cheaply & quickly as possible.

These went into the bin and I ordered some high quality PL259 plugs from an antenna company in the UK. The plugs were £1.50p each but well worth it for the high quality that they are!

Power Connectors & Cables:

Much like the coax plugs, I had cheeped out on the connectors.

I had been testing a few different types before deciding on what I wanted to put on my power box.

12v Car Accessory Socket

Bullet Plugs / Sockets

Banana Plugs

Anderson Power Poles

The Car Accessory Socket are only rated at about 10 amps so they would not be any good for the radio, well not for full power anyway!

Bullet Plugs & Sockets are just not up to the job and kept falling off even when soldered & crimped.

So, now I’m looking into Banana Plugs as these seem to be used on a lot of power supplies & all my equipment has these fitted now & seem to be working quite well for now.

I had also looked at using Anderson Power Poles, but these are far too expensive to buy here in Ireland, I would also need to get a tool for crimping them as well.

Maybe I will look at these in the future if I win the lottery 😊

Other connectors I was having a look at was the ones used on some of the RC batteries.

These seem to be high current but again they are very expensive to buy here in Ireland.

I think one thing to take away from this so far is that it’s not wise to cheap out on equipment or parts when you are trying to make up a kit for the field or for emergency use.

Catch you in the next part where I report back on how all the kit works…

Wow it's been a long time since I've written a blog and just sitting here in the car waiting for Caitlin to do some shopping and I thought why not.

Lately my focus and concentration has been on selling items on eBay and trying to build that as a form of business model to bring a little bit of income into the pot for playing portable radio. More on this in a future Blog :)

this will make an interesting blog for another time so keep a watch out for it.

in today's blog I thought it'd be interesting to talk about BOTA or BEACHES ON THE AIR.

Now I've heard a lot of different portable ops talking about summits on the air or parks on the air but not a lot of people know about beaches on the air.

Beaches on the air is much the same as parks on the air or summits on the air in that you activate an area, in this case a beach and gain points for activating and people gain points for chasing.

When I activated Culdaff beach (37295) for my first beaches on the air activation, I was asked by a lot of my contacts what beaches on the air was and where they could find information about it. I directed them to the beaches on the air website www.beachesontheair.com

So for me beaches on the air is a bit of a godsend in that I'm not able to climb mountains to do summits on the air and here in Ireland we don't seem to do parks on the air.

Given that I live on a peninsula there are plenty of beaches for me to choose and to set up portable and participate in a fun bit of portable radio.

Much like summits on the air, beaches on the air awards points to activators and chasers alike.

Their website also holds a league table of all of the activators and chasers.

So I set about getting my portable radio equipment ready.

You may remember a YouTube video that I produced back in 2017 (https://www.youtube.com/user/stevetck/) with regards portable radio equipment what has changed a little bit is the radio featured in that video the Yaesu ended up being repurposed for my HF packet radio bulletin board system.

So for my birthday in April (2019) I received a brand new Yaesu FT450d. I went for the 450d as I've had one of these before they're nice and small and they have a built-in tuner.

Ok so let's talk antennas I have two antennas that are used for portable use the first one is a 10-m fishing pole with a wire of the middle and the second is a small windom antenna that I use on a 9 m fishing pole.

 10m Fishing Pole.

Oh yes I nearly forgot that I have a small mono band 20 m mobile antenna for the car that I use when I'm stationary.

AMPRO 14MHz (20m) Mobile Antenna

Both of these antennas work very well and depending on the location and the surroundings depends on which antenna I choose to use.

Ok now for the power supply.

Here I have two options the first is a 45 amp hour sealed lead acid battery and the second option is a 30ah mains power supply.

I know a lot of people will be thinking that a 45 amp lead acid battery is going to be heavy but bear in mind I only operate from the car or just outside of it so having a heavy battery is not generally an issue for me.

The mains power supply that I have is generally used when mains power is available .

One of the other things that I have in my kit is a Signalink for doing digital modes. Digital modes of great when the bands are in very poor shape and you can still make contacts all around the world on just a few Watts.

The digital modes I can use my laptop that runs Windows 10 or I can use my Android tablet if required. This means that I can tailor my equipment depending on the location that I'll be working from.

I prefer taking my laptop when I go portable because I am able to use it to connect and control my radio this is great when using logging programs like ham radio deluxe. Ham radio deluxe has been my logbook of choice for many many years and is constantly being updated.

In summary for now beaches on the air has really given me a way to get outdoors and play radio at the same time. For most of us amateur radio hams we never seem to remove ourselves from the radio shack and the comfort of indoors.

It's nice now to get outside and have a bit of a challenge, it's also great meeting new people and explaining what amateur radio is all about and this is great for community relations between amateur radio operators and the local community.

But let's not forget the most important thing here is that I get to play radio and have a challenge.

I look forward to having a qso with you and have a chat on the air very soon. Don’t forget to check out the beaches on the air website at www.beachesontheair.com and register.

Here is some further information I have managed to get so far about BOTA – In terms of rules etc this will change as I get more information and I have no issue sending any updates I have in the form of a PDF file to your email address.

Beaches On The Air – BOTA

Beaches On The Air (BOTA) is an award scheme for radio amateurs that promotes portable operation from beaches. We have rolls of honour and awards certificates for activators (those who operate from the beaches) and chasers (those who contact them from home or elsewhere). 

You can participate from any beach, country or region around the world. Our programme currently lists more than 30,000 beaches & growing every month, often drawn from official sources, such as environmental protection agencies, but also allows the addition of individual beaches sponsored by users.

Activators and chasers accumulate points with each QSO. As an activator, you will earn points based on the number of QSO's you make, as well as the number of confirmations you receive from chasers through our website. 

As a chaser, you will earn points with each QSO that you confirm on the website. 

Unlike in other programmes, you can activate, or chase, the same beach as many times as you wish and you will always earn additional points. Unlike other programmes too, Beaches On The Air does not impose any restriction on how you get to the activation point or on the power source you use for your station. It supports energy efficiency, however, by creating a special category for QRP operations.

Facebook Group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/beachesontheair/

Guidelines

In this page we will try to compile some guidelines for activators and chasers. These guidelines will evolve as the programme develops. They should be understood as recommendations.

1. Announce your activation. Whenever possible, you should add your activation to the Beaches On The Air website before it starts. You simply do not fill in the QSO count yet. You will be able to edit your activation to include the final QSO count after the activation has finished. This has the following advantages:
   1. It serves as an announcement of your activation for chasers.
   2. Chasers will be able to claim their QSOs with you immediately after making them, while the activation is still ongoing.
2. Promote Beaches On The Air. During an activation you should try to promote the programme among chasers by
   1. Calling CQ 'Beaches On The Air' in phone or CQ BOTA in CW.
   2. Responding to any other CQ call, referring to your 'Beaches On The Air' activation, and sharing your beach name and reference.
   3. Ensuring your activation gets posted on the DX Cluster, e.g. by asking your chasers to spot you there after their QSO with you.
   4. Inviting your chasers to visit the programme's website 'beachesontheair.com'.
   5. Encouraging chasers to claim their chaser points by confirming their QSO with you on the Beaches On The Air website.
3. Take pictures and videos. You should try to take pictures or videos of your activations. Other members enjoy this very much, and it also helps us promote the programme among visitors. When taking a picture or especially recording a video, please do it in landscape format!

Other things to note:

• No Minimum QSO count to activate a beach.
• No limit on the power you can use.
• No limit on the power source that can be used.
• No limit on the transportation to the beach.
• Digital modes are allowed but NO FT8/FT4
• you can activate, or chase, the same beach as many times as you wish
  

Leaders:

Leaders are activators with the greatest following among registered chasers. Leaders earn one point each time a chaser confirms a QSO with them.

Chasers:

Chasers earn points with each activation they work.

Activators:

Activators earn points with the square root of the number of QSO's they log on each activation.

Sponsors:

Beach sponsors contribute to the expansion of the program by sponsoring new beach listings, irrespective of who activates them. Each fee-paying member is entitled to a beach sponsorship allowance, and some of them choose to use part of their allowance to sponsor the listing of beaches activated by other users. You can contact them if you need sponsorship for your activation.

Donegal Packet Network (Part 5)

The Packet Network

Part 5

The next step in the BPQ32 setup is starting to add other nodes to the mix by way of adding a port to the BPQ.cfg file.

I added an AX/IP/UDP port definition.

This will then allow me to add other nodes via the internet, so users can connect to other countries and systems outside of Ireland.

I have not managed to MAP a node link to GB7CIP-5 to give me more nodes & bbs’s on the system.

I am also looking to map to VE1JOT’s system as well.

NETWORK 105 (HF Packet)

If like me, you find yourself in an area where there is low or no packet radio users there is always HF!

I have been using HF for packet for a couple of years now and have met & made some amazing friends that I often chat to.

Here is some more info on Network 105 (Net105) :-

Group Description (network105@groups.io)

Network 105 is a group of packet ham radio operators who enjoy chatting over the HF 20 meter band on 14.105 MHz LSB.
Most "conversations" are point-to-point, that is, one ham "talking" to another. However, at times, there can be groups
of operators communicating together on a converse channel, a place where multi-chats may take place!

Keeping packet alive on "NETWORK 105"
Packet is a sharing mode .. it shares info/data, ... and it shares the frequency.
In memory of Bernard Joseph "Burt" Amero, VE1AMA 1942  - 2010

This system being on HF things run at a slower pace, 300 Baud.

This is not a problem as it is mostly just chat. Keyboard to Keyboard conversations.

There are nodes & BBS systems on the frequency if people wish to send & receive Bulls & their mail etc

The best way to get onto HF packet is with a Signalink (Sound Card) as it is a bit more sensitive than using a TNC.

That said a TNC does not require a PC to be on all the time & can have mail / node functions.

Looking at Sound Card software, I have personally been using UZ7HO’s Sound Modem & His Terminal software.

These work great on modern Windows systems (Win 7,8 & 10) and is still being developed as I write this.

Also, the tones that the UZ7HO software produce are a little more robust on the HF bands compared to other software like AGW for example.

Never the less these tones are still compatible with TNC’s and other software like AGW.

  

Here's a list of HF Packet parameters we find most successful:

HB: 300
PACLEN: 60
MAXFRAME: 1
FRACK: 5
DWAIT: 0

If you have a more advanced TNC then also set these: -

PPERSIST: ON
SLOTTIME: 10
PERSIST: 63

If you are using sound card packet (e.g. AGWPE, MultiPSK, MixW) then
definitely check the parameters as most are at the default values for
1200 baud packet.

We use the following SSID convention:

-1: Personal Maildrops (PBBS)
-2: Cross-port digipeater (known as a "gateway" on Kantronics TNCs)
-7: Node e.g. NetRom, KA-Node, K-Net, AEA Gateway Node e.t.c.,