ARRL Registered Licensing Instructor

I recieved my official notification that I am now an ARRL Registered Licensing Instructor.

New Amateur Radio Technician Class

We started a new Technician level class this past Thursday evening. Over the next four weeks Kevin-KW4B and I will teach an amateur radio technician level class to a varied group of folks that are interested in getting thier FCC license. We had seven students this week and should pick up a couple more next week. I really love to teach, especially electronics and radio. The students did very well and seem genuinely excited about learning the material. Tom-K4GIV sat in with us and plans to become one of our local instructors. Looking forward to next week. Here are some photos that Mac-KF4LMT took for us.

Sept 5 Pre-Simulated Emergency Test Exercise

It all started with a couple of us here in the Savannah area wanting to get out and play some radio over the Labor Day weekend and it turned into a very productive pre-SET exercise. Since the statewide Georgia ARES Simulated Emergency Test is coming up on Oct 2-4 we decided we would test a couple of things that we want to do for the SET. This years SET centers around a total statewide electrical grid failure. Here in the Savannah area (Chatham and surrounding counties) we have over ten repeaters and we know that many of them have substantial backup power sources and would continue to run for quite an extended period of time. However, we decided that we would pretend that we had a total loss of all of our repeaters and come up with a plan to still effectively communicate. Here in Chatham County we test Simplex Network Operation weekly and have a great idea of our coverage area. Of course simplex operation calls for a dedicated net control operator to play traffic cop since not everyone can hear each other. We thought it might be a good idea to try something different using cross band repeat capability to see if we could set up an adhoc repeater system. So Dan-KF4MND and I came up with a plan and began to spread the word. We met for breakfast on Saturday morning at 7:00 like we always do then we then we headed to downtown Savannah. Here was our plan...........

Set up two cross band repeat capable systems on top of one of the parking decks in Savannah. We know there are higher places in town that we could operate from but a parking deck would give us great flexibility and allow up to come and go very easily as needed. Dan and I both drove our trucks to the top deck of the garage and began to set things up. Before we even started setting up the radios and antennas, we both set up our laptops and associated web cams to stream video of our activities to the Internet. Dan to his Ustream site and me to my blog. This way others were able to follow our progress live on the web. Pretty cool, huh?

Now it was time to set up the radios. Dan has a very nice "Go Kit" that he loves to take out in the field. He set up his Comet dual band antenna and then got his radio configured. I was using a less than optimal radio to do my part of the cross band but we had to make do with such short notice. I borrowed a Kenwood dual band handheld with cross band repeat capability and had a dickens of a time getting it configured right. But between me, Dan, and Robert-KJ4HAL, we got it figured out. So we put together a frequency plan and came up with the idea of using the frequency pair of one of our unused local 2 meter repeaters. Great idea since this frequency pair is already programmed into most of the local operators radios. Nothing to be added or changed, just key up on that freq like you normally would. So we programmed in 147.810 into my radio which would act as the recieve side of the make shift repeater. Dan programmed 147.210 into his radio which would act as the transmit side. We then agreed on a 70cm frequency from the SERA bandplan and each programmed that into our radios on the UHF side. This would be the frequency that my radio would talk to his radio on. So this is how things would flow. An operator would tune his radio to our local 147.210 repeater. When he keys up the radio transmits on the repeater input offset frequency of 147.810. My radio would recieve that signal and cross band repeat out the UHF side of the radio using the 70cm freq over to Dan's radio which recieves the UHF signal and in turn cross band repeats it over to the VHF side of the radio and transmits out on 147.210 which is the output frequency of the unused repeater. Any other operator listening to the 147.210 would recieve the transmission. After adjusting a few things to account for the less that optimal recieve side and the proximity related desensitization, things were working fine. We got some good comm checks thru our makeshift repeater from several local operators and were quickly able to gauge just how much coverage this setup would provide us in the event that we ever lose our local repeaters.

One other thing that tied in nicely to this scenario is the fact that we have been asked to support a local 5k Road Race in downtown Savannah on Oct 3rd. Yep, that's on the same day as the SET! My initial reaction when I found this out was "how are we going to be able to support this and participate in the SET at the same time?". However, after just a few minutes I realized that this would be a great opportunity for us to tie the road race net into the SET. Great idea. So this played a big part in our whole plan for testing the makeshift repeater downtown. On Oct 3rd we'll deploy operators along the road race course and and create a net leveraging this cross band repeat system of ours. With that in mind, we had Robert-KJ4HAL go along the race route all the way to the farthest point to be sure he could get into "repeater system". Shortly, Kevin-KW4B joined him and they began to test the connectivity. Everything was working fine and Dan and I were coming up with plans on how to mitigate some of the issues that we had discovered so that next time things would work even better. By this time Robert had to split and Kevin made his way back to the parking deck and we grabbed a bite to eat. We left Dan's video camera running on the parking deck while we watched the feed on my laptop from the sandwhich shop. I love technology. One we finished with the nourishment we went back up and broke down the cross band setup and decided to test just using simplex to see how far we could get out form on the top of the deck. Earlier Dan had gotten into a repeater in Florida and another near Dublin, GA so we knew we could get out pretty well from there but probably had a little band opening. Dan was able to make good contact to Mac-KF4LMT up in Rincon on 146.550. Mac had the 2 meter freq programmed in his mobile and was cross banding from there into his office where he recieved on 70cm on his handheld. Good test.

So after a very successful test on an absolutely gorgeous day, we broke everything down and packed up around 5:30 or so. I really enjoy operating in "other than normal" conditions and this certainly was. Now we are really looking forward to the GA ARES SET and incorporating this into our local scenario........K4GTM

Steve Jonas is Finally Home

Well, after nine long weeks in the hospital, Steve is finally home. Steve left the hospital last Wed and is now continuing to recover at home. I went by to visit on Friday and to see if there was anything I could do. Steve still has a long way to go to get back to normal. Because he has trouble getting in and out of his recliner, Bill-K4WP built an angled pedestal for the recliner to sit on. This gives Steve an easier angle into and out of the chair. Bill had also come by and cut up the tree limbs that Stephen and I had cut out of the pecan tree last week. Please continue to pray for Steve and Sue as he recovers.

Army MARS QSL Card

I recieved three QSL cards today from Army MARS stations that I contacted back in May during the Military - Amateur Crossband Test.

Got to visit Steve Jonas today

I got to visit Steve-K4SDJ for about an hour today. Sure was good to see him and spend some time catching up on things. He's in the rehab center and is making good progress. The doc says he should go home on Sept 6th.

Space Shuttle Discovery Launch

Stayed up to follow the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery last night at 11:59 est. Watched NASA TV on the web while listening to the Solid Rocket Booster Recovery team on 7.833 Mhz. The Echolink feed of the shuttle audio was not working last night so Dan-KF4MND pointed his node to the 147.330 repeater so that we could all follow things on our radios. Had quite a few operators positioned around town to monitor the comm and view the launch. I monitored from the QTH here in Sandfly and was able to hear some of the air to ground transmissions. Mac-KF4LMT monitored from his QTH near Bacon Park and was able to copy all of the air to ground transmissions from his monitoring post. Kevin was out on Tybee Island with his astronomy club and was able to observe the shuttle as it ascended up the east coast. Paul-KJ4FAV was at Fort Pulaski and also had a good view. Bob-W4WTO was on Wilmington Island and also observed the launch. Dan-KF4MND also saw the launch and copied the air to ground from all the way inland in Long County. Interesting note......three of the astronauts on Discovery are HAMs.

K4GIV Homebrew Slim Jim Antenna

One of our local operators, Tom-K4GIV, just completed a very nice antenna project. He build a 2 meter Slim Jim antenna to work all the local repeaters as well as simplex. His initial reports have been good. Tom is going to write a summary for an upcoming club newsletter. Folks, this is one of my favorite aspects of the hobby. Great job Tom.

Tested the Memorial Medical Center Station Today

After breakfast with the guys this morning I went over and tested the Amateur Radio Station K4MUM at Memorial Medical Center. I met Carl-KC4UHM in the radio room and we got the station connected and fired up. Got good comm checks on 146.970 with KG6MUQ and AJ4MY and then on 442.700 with KA4CID. Also tuned up the primary Georgia ARES freq of 3.975 Mhz and got a good check with another Georgia station up near Lake Sinclair. Packed everything up and put it away till next time. Next time we hope to get the 1.2 Ghz D-Star radio up and running.

Got my Personal Weather Station Back Up

Got my La Crosse Personal Weather Station re-located and back up and running today. The station reports the weather data back to a base station here in the shack wireless on 433 Mhz. I've also got the base station connected to a computer and the data is fed up to my blog as well as to the weatherunderground website.

Good Trip To Atlanta......with some radio work along the way

Had to run up to Atlanta for work the other day. Decided I'd play a little radio on the trip. I downloaded the Atlanta Fulton County area frequencies from radioreference.com into the scanner so I could monitor some things while in town. Heard all the normal public safety stuff as well as Atlanta airport traffic. Also took the opportunity to put out a call on the Georgia Tech repeater W4AQL (http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/w4aql/index.php) since Andrew-KI4WHN just started school there this week. I made contact with another Andrew, KI4SSU, who happens to be the Georgia Tech Radio Club vice president. Had a nice QSO with him and told him all about Andrew. He's looking forward to meeting Andrew and showing him around the radio station there. On the way back to Savannah I checked into the Georgia Traffic net on HF. Then I worked a couple of DX stations including WP2B in St. Croix. He had a nice signal and gave me a 59 report. Good to know the FT-857 and the High Sierra antenna can get out mobile. I also set up a live video feed from the truck as I drove home. I had that stream feeding up to my blog and several of my friends were able to watch me as I drove. Real exciting, huh? But that was kind of a test for possible use in emergency response, disaster relief, or weather spotting. Good trip.

Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief Recertification

I traveled down to the First Baptist Church in Blackshear last night for a recertification class for the Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief Ministry. I'm a member of the Communications team and we deploy to the scene of disasters to provide assistance to victims during a time of true need. We have five distinct areas of ministry. They are:



1. Cleanup and Recovery
2. Childcare
3. Chaplaincy
4. Feeding
5. Communications
While each of these areas satisfy a real human need during times of emergency or disaster, our primary purpose is to share the Love of Jesus Christ.
GA Baptist Disaster Relief Website

Tested the New Generator Today

I finally got around to testing the new generator today. Fired it up around 3:00pm. I've been able to power two desktop computers, one laptop computer, one VHF radio, one dual band radio, one HF radio, my 7 in portable television, my cable modem, and a floor fan. Been running now for about four hours. Checked into the Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief Net at 4:00pm then the Georgia Section ARES Net at 6:00pm. So far so good. The generator is really pretty quiet and should run for about five hours on one 1.5 gallon tank of gas.
**It actually ran for over 7 hours with the minimal load that I had on it. Not too shabby.

The Day In Radio

Had the normal Saturday breakfast with some of my radio buddies this morning. I really look forward to our time together every week to talk radio. I do miss Mr. Bigbie-W4MMQ though. I'll never forget him.





After breakfast today a few of us hung around and helped a new HAM to the area, Glenda-KJ4LWE, do some troubleshooting on her mobile HF radio. She's trying to get it to connect to her laptop so that she can run PSK31. Keven-KW4B, Mark-KA4CID, and myself tinkered with it for a bit and then decided we'd step back, do some research, and then try it again later. We did rule out some things but still couldn't get it to work. However, later in the day, Kevin and I both determined that we were not using the correct port on the radio. Now it all makes sense. Maybe we should have read the manual first.........nah, not as much fun that way. Anyhow, we'll do some testing then get back with Glenda at a later date to get things up and running.

After that Kevin and I headed over to Candler Hospital to unpack and test the new VHF/UHF radio on the newly installed dual band antenna. Candler is one of our "Served Agencies" for Chatham County ARES. We put the analyzer on the feedline to test the SWR and we found that it was a little high (about 3:1) on 2 meters but just fine (1:1) on 70 cm. We went ahead and got good comm checks on all the local repeaters and even a couple up in South Carolina. At least now we know we'll be able to communicate from Candler if needed. Thanks to Mac-KF4LMT and Mark-KA4CID for the help with the checks. We'll need to get Savannah Communications out there to test the line again on 2 meters just to be sure everything is ok. We might also need to see if there is an adjustment that we can make on the antenna to bring it resonant in the 2 meter band. After we get all that sorted out the next big step with be to get the HF radio ordered, installed and tested. Once we're done at Candler, we'll move on and get things up and running at St. Joseph's Hospital. One step at a time.

Video Stream From Amateur Radio Station K4GTM

Watch periodic streaming video broadcasts from Amateur Radio Station K4GTM.

How's this for a Net?

This is the net that we used to establish on the Worldwide Airborne Command Post as part of the Post Attack Command Control System. Good 'ol Cold War stuff baby!

HF Antenna Repairs

I had an HF Dipole get blown down during one of the storms earlier in the week. Another good reason to have two antennas up out back! Finally got around to getting it repaired and back up in the trees this afternoon. My son, Jackson, was a big help. I used my magic softball to launch the lines back up. Everything is up and running now.

EOC Training Today

Ted-KJ4EGZ and I attended an Emergency Operations Center training class today at the Chatham Emergency Management Agency EOC. We now better understand how the EOC is manned and the procedures involved with managing an emergency. We'll be back there tomorrow to learn about the Web EOC application and then run thru an exercise. We have an Amateur Radio Station -N4CEM, located in the EOC that we are tasked with manning during an EOC activation.

Talked to Steve Jonas-K4SDJ Today

I talked to Steve today for the fist time since he was hospitalized on July 3rd. He sounded good. He's in a normal room now and the doctors think he may be able to go home in the next week or so. Praise God. He asked me to go over to his house and disconnect power from his radios and disconnect feedlines from his antennas. We've had some severe weather in the area and he wanted to be sure that everything was isolated while he's away. I should have thought of that before but he's good to go now.

New Generator

Got a brand new Honeywell HW2000i 2000 watt generator thanks to my good friend Ted The Bargain Hunter - KJ4EGZ. Got it for about 30% of normal retail price. Thanks Ted. Now I get to see just how much of my Command Center I can power with it. Come on hurricane season. http://www.honeywellgenerators.com/products/hw2000i