I have started playing with ADS-B data again. For those that do not know, ADS-B is a system where planes send their position, speed, heading and other telemetry to the ground via a radio on typically 1090 Mhz. This is unencrypted data that anyone with a receiver and antennas can pickup and use. The above chart is generated by the PiAware software running on a Raspberry Pi 3B. The planes and position reports you see are all received locally by me with a small antennas sitting on the window sill…
Posts published by “Tom”
Part of any new radio release is a treasure-trove of commentary on the new radio’s email reflector. This is a summary of those topics so when you order your new radio you can recognize some of these common patterns. I started this with the Icom 9700 and it has been true for every new radio since then. Discussion if the rumored radio will actually be sold and when. General hand-wring regarding the vendor’s included/missing features. Consternation regarding how long it is taking to release anything. The inevitable price guessing (and…
https://ny4i.com/TR4W-WSJT-X-Integration.mp4
As you may know, I work on the development of the TR4W contest logger. After Field Day where many of our local group expressed some frustration with the complexity of the N1MM setup process for WSJT-X, I started to work on integrating WSJT-X into TR4W. This is a work in progress but I now have the program logging, as well as highlighting calls based on need (dupes, mults, etc).
I am operating from home this Field Day due to our regular site and plans being put on hold. We have secured a county-wide repeater to use so hams operating at home can get a sense of community. We also have a chat server (hosted here), Zoom presentations to help with setup and other ways to help make this not as solitary an operation. I am using my 40-6m OCF for operating along with the best contest logger in the world, TR4W (if I do say so myself). The rig…
With a 12 meter confirmation from SM3LIV in Sweden, my 9B DXCC is finally done. That is at least 100 countries confirmed on 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters. That was a really long time in the making to get the final QSL on 12 meters. Now award chasing gets even harder but a simpler ones are possible soon I hope. Next award to finish is 5B WAS for which I need 3 more QSLs on 10 meters (North Dakota, Louisiana, and Rhode Island). I…
Thanks to Clayton KJ4RUS going up the tower along with ground crew Bob N2ESP, Pat AA0O and Ed NZ1Q, I have a wire antennas on the tower. Clayton climbed the tower to put a rope in the tower standoff’s pulley and the ground crew connected things so the antennas could be raised. The ends were tied off and it all seems to work well. The picture below is of a contact I made on FT8 showing the coverage of the antennas on 20 meters. This looks like a great pattern…
Continuing the Saturday morning presentations series, this past week was a discussion of Field Day and options if you are planning to do a joint event (safely) and options to run at home. Field Day in the time of COVID-19 Stay safe!
The presentation I did last week on the Raspberry Pi Overview mentioned several links. These are below: Zoom Recording of Session (unedited) RaspberryPI.org Pi-Hole HamClock Top 10 Ham Radio Uses for a Raspberry Pi Fldigi Digital mode software Raspberry Pi Satellite Tracking Inteface Follow-on discussions Florida Repeater Database Formatted Repeater Database (Beta)
Overview of the parts involved in the tower build