On the Web : December 2004

If you enjoy reading 'On the Web', your ham radio club can publish this column on an exchange basis with SJRA. Contact Ted, , for the exchange details.		Our contributions to the South Jersey Radio Association club bulletin "Harmonics" includes lengthy Web addresses. As the URL's can be difficult or a nuisance to type into your Web browser, the postings here should make it easier to get to the Web sites SJRA members are interested in. Look for the posting at w2xq.com at the time "Harmonics" is scheduled for delivery in the south Jersey area. Questions, suggestions or contributions are always welcome.
		Solar X-rays  Geomagnetic Field  N 3 K L

Seasons greetings to all. As 2004 winds down, please do remember that family comes first this holiday season. Too often the commercialism and the crowds stampeding in the stores and on the roads makes one frustrated and we forget the true meaning of whatever religious holiday you celebrate (or not, as you see fit).

Repeater list update: if you didn't see our XML/RSS newsfeed updated from 23 November, come get the latest by-frequency repeater list from the home page at w2xq.com - as an XLS, ZIP or SIT file. Repeater Web sites, EchoLink and IRLP node numbers are included where known. I try to identify repeaters that are encode only vs full encode-decode. The previous update was on 9 September. Suggestions, additions, corrections, comments — all are welcome.

Six-meter repeaters in New Jersey: In early December I don't know what prompted me to try to key up the three area six-meter FM repeaters. Using the VX-5, albeit with a gain ht antenna — the Diamond SRH999 (www.rfparts.com/diamond), I have never contacted any six meter station since purchasing the unit. Lo and behold, up jumped a rabbit in the form of KA2PFL on 52.60 (52.84 in, PL 131.8) on the WNJS tower in Waterford Works. The bloody signal was full scale inside the house two miles north of the Red Lion Circle. At the time I checked, listening with a scanner on 442.300, there was no crosslinking of repeaters. I could key the repeater with the stock VX5 antenna (using the fat top stub) as well, but the signal was only about one-quarter scale. Unfortunately, at a later date, the repeater seemed to be absent or it may be on a timer late at night. And, as an aside, W2TAG, N2CPR and I were chatting late one night about the area six-meter repeaters — Ted and Art have the same HF-VHF transceiver — and Art verified that both of the Bears boxes are up and running. Later, Ted and I did hear audio. The bottom line? Six meters may be an alternative move to have a quiet conversation.

Repeaters in New York: In my repeater list update (available at w2xq.com) I added a NY State-Hudson Valley page to identify repeaters in use around Albany and along the NY Thruway south to Manhatten. In mid-November, on our last trip to northern Vermont I found four 70 cm repeaters linked under the call of KQ2H. The KQ2H repeaters in Woodstock (449.175-PL/82.5) and Washingtonville (445.900-PL/203.5) cover just about the entire 90 miles (145 kilometers) between the NJ-NY line and Albany when using a 45-watt transmitter (Yaesu FT-800) and gain antenna (Comet) on the trunk of the sedan.

Repeaters in Vermont: Are you going to Vermont to ski, or are ham friends heading north to have fun in the powder? There are a few changes in the repeaters to take note of. The "big" repeater in Burlington on 146.61, widely known and heard, had to install a 100.0 Hz PL (encode-decode) to quell interference problems, but the commercial publications have not yet caught up with the news. The "mighty one-five" in Bolton on 145.15-PL/100.0 has EchoLink. Its coverage includes the northern ski areas so look for your friends on EchoLink #97406, but not during evening drive time. If you stay over a Saturday evening, listen and/or participate in the swap net on VE2RDX Covey Hill, PQ, on 146.685-PL/100.0 (encode only). I forgot to write the time down, but I think it was around 8 p.m.

Wi-Fi Turns Into GPS

Do you need (or want) to track your position but do not have a GPS unit handy? If you have Wi-Fi access available, you can track your position, thanks to the inventors at Intel Research in Seattle. Their Place Lab software — for WinXP, Linux, Mac OS X, Win CE/Pocket PC, Series 60 Phone and a barebones package for a "roll your own" on another OS — picks up the MAC addresses of the nearest hotspots, then triangulates the readings to approximate your position within 60 to 100 feet. Pros: it will work inside buildings where GPS will not, software is free. Cons: remote areas probably lack enough access points to get a reading. There are lots of interesting reads on the site, and the quick start should get most persons up and running. If you try experiment with Place Lab, please send me a report. Get started by dialing into www.placelab.org and sign up.

Weather, we have weather

While on a hunt for airport frequencies to enter into a Yaesu VR-500 receiver , I looked for TTN (Trenton) and found an interesting aviation Web site that tells a lot. Not being a pilot, "Flight Plan For General Aviation" (www.fltplan.com) was a new find for me. It allows users to research airports and services within, and file flight plans for the contiguous United States. The service is free. The site has all the frequencies used by the airport, and (in TTN's case) two aviation businesses based at the facility: www.fltplan.com/AirportInformation/KTTN.htm. The weather data, available off a menu button on the home page, includes current conditions and short range forecasts. It is aviation weather, quite detailed, and clearly not the milquetoast pap seen on the local television news.

As I started to enter frequencies, I encountered an abbreviation unknown to me. Entering AWOS into a search engine, AWOS turned out to be Automated Weather Observing System. One of the sites returned was the FAA and its "Automated Weather Observing Site Map" (www.faa.gov/asos/map/map.htm) with hot links to systems in all 50 states, the Caribbean and Pacific. The FAA links directly to the appropriate NWS (National Weather Service) site page with current conditions and 24-hour summaries. For jollies, go to the FAA page, select NJ and then TTN. Compare the results with Flight Plan.

I will be adding direct links to selected airports from "Flight Plan..." and the NWS to the Weather Links page on my site (trsc.com/links_weather.html).

News

Finally, in late November, a few Iraqi newspapers, in English, showed up on the Web. Given our country's investment of brave men and women in trying to settle the strife, we can now look at a different perspective on the news. It still isn't pretty over there, but I can always hope that conditions will improve. The paper Iraq Today (www.iraq-today.com) seems to be the largest and most comprehensive of the English language papers. Take a look at trsc.com/links_media_newspapers.html for the rest of the Iraq entries and the other English-language publications from the Middle East area.

Smile, damn it... Say Cheese... Click...

Certain other hobbies seem to go hand in hand with amateur radio. Astronomy, shortwave listening, computers, and photography are a few that come to ye scribe's mind. (Yes, I know... my friends will question "what mind?"... but I won't go there.) Speaking of photography, I found a radio show on the Internet that may prove interesting. Check out the live call-in show Shutterbug Magazine Radio with Jack Warren Fridays at 5p-6p EST at http://wsradio.com/shutterbug/. Archived shows can be listened to on demand. I have seen Shutterbug on the racks at Barnes & Noble; you may want to take a peek at the paper edition or look at the Web site at www.shutterbug.com. I have more photography links at sundstrom.org/links_01.html, including many magazines.

Call sign lookup

Do you look up a callsign up on the Web? Many hams, judging from conversations heard, think of QRZ or Buckmaster, but there are other Web sites who offer the service as well. WM7D appears to be unique: additional links show the FCC ULS Licensing System record and a "Reference Copy" of the license mailed to you. The latter cannot be used as an official copy, as there are no FCC seals on the document, but the FCC says you can print it out to hang up on the wall in cases where it is required. (Would that be at a club station or something like the operation on the Battleship New Jersey? I don't know.) There are other interesting resources at WM7D as well. Check out www.wm7d.net and, if you wish, update data such as an e-mail address, latitude/longitude (to make the grid square more accurate), and your Web site.

I can'tt spel wort a dan...

A link to the web site dictionary.com sits in the browser toolbar and gives quick access to a huge dictionary and thesaurus. Oh blessed relief. No more paper. Freed bookshelf space. Vocabulary changes every generation, and no more buying new editions. Now a handy software utility has surfaced. It's called CleverKeys at www.cleverkeys.com, and the kind management was thoughtful to make versions for Windows 95 through XP and Mac OS 8 through OS X. It is a small program that requires virtually no resources.

Quickies

CQ's Propagation Editor, Tomas Hood, NW7US, has a terrific HF Radio Web site. I have told you about this in the past when NW7US took over for retiring George Jacobs, W3ASK. But what I didn't know, and Tomas just told me, that the solar weather and propagtion data is now available via an RSS/XML news feed. Get the information from prop.hfradio.org and set it up. Given that WWV even on 5 MHz is difficult to hear during our evening hours, this service is a good alternative.

If you use Windows and are a registered user of WinZip (www.winzip.com) to archive, pack or compress files for e-mail or back-up, be sure to get the version 9.0 SR-1 upgrade. The free upgrade addresses some security issues.

And finally, do you remember the good old days? The younger generation may not, but they can get a glimpse of our youth. Dial up www.thestatenislandboys.com/U_thrill_me and put your feet back and enjoy. Thanks to George, K2QIJ, and Sam, W4OAE, for this trip through memory lane.

Help Harmonics Grow — Club Bulletin Exchange

Ted, W2TAG, is interested in doing a club bulletin exchange that would include "On The Web." If you have a friend in a ham radio club elsewhere in the USA, Canada or the world involved in a local radio club, please consider asking that person to read the this column on w2xq.com. Club bulletin exchange details with SJRA can be made by contacting directly. Thanks!

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Revised 5 December 2004

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