On the Web : May 2005

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

The 2005 Field Day Rules
The SJRA Field Day Site entrance is on Lower Main Street, Marlton, opposite the Indian Springs Golf Course.
GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates are N 39° 53.162', W 74° 53.486', or if no GPS, use this map.

May's column for Harmonics is abbreviated this month due to follow-up medical issues from the January hospital stay... and then my wife and I said the heck with it all and took off for northern Vermont to see our granddaughter. A subscription to the RSS news feed, as explained on the home page of w2xq.com, will keep you informed on the changes I are planning for the Web sites.

ARRL Field Day

The countdown clock on the Web edition of this page -- at w2xq.com -- is now under 40 days. A road map link and GPS coordinates for the field day site, if you use these wonderful toys, accompanies the live countdown.

Mozilla's Firefox... rewind, reset

Last month I advised users of Mozilla's Firefox browser to gather up the latest version from mozilla.org to install security updates against the newest viruses. Well, the kiddies are playing hardball. Inside of a work week in the middle of May, versions 1.0.3 and 1.0.4 were released. The damage control is so tough that Mozilla would not let users of anything less than the new Firefox version 1.0.4 download extensions.

For those who came in late, extensions are small script programs that plug into the browser and extend its capabilities. Some extensions become features due to their popularity, and some contributors are very creative. After installing the version 1.0.4 (or later) browser, open the Extensions window (Tools/Extensions) and check for updates on any extensions previously installed.

Repeater News and Analysis

Club technicians, friends of SJRA and club management are doing their collective best to put things right with the ailing 145.29 repeaters and antennas. Here is my take on what repeaters you can use for alternative coverage of areas now missing. The recommendations are based upon my travels throughout the state, using a Yaesu FT-8800 (55w-146/45w-440) and a dual-band antenna on the trunk lip of the sedan and a Yaesu VX-5 HT, stock antenna. The listing syntax is location-call-output-PL, with a E if encode only. The following is all mobile coverage unless I mention the HT. Unless noted otherwise, all repeaters can be reached from a reasonable base station installation; a mobile radio on an external omni 30 feet up or so (in my opinion).

Medford north and east

Willingboro-WB2YGO-146.925-131.8 (Swap net Thu 8pm) covers Medford and Mount Laurel north to Hightstown and Flemington; HT coverage outside the car/building in open areas along Route 70 east of the Medford Circle. Note that PL on the 2m repeater is new, added within the last month. Tabernacle-K2BU-145.15-91.5 to the east of Medford covers Cherry Hill to Atlantic City, perhaps to northern Cape May County, and northern ends of Cumberland and Salem. Mount Holly-WB2SOY-448.325-127.3 is one of three Burlington County ARES repeaters; the 2m repeaters are Mount Holly-147.15-127.3 and Chatsworth-145.47-127.3, both are busier than 440. The significant advantages to 448.325 are that it is little-used and the coverage is astounding; I have good two-way HT communications from the street level in downtown Trenton so long as I do not stand with a high-rise building blocking the signal path south.

Medford west

Cherry Hill-NJ2CH-145.37-91.5, west of Medford, covers Southampton Twp (and probably east into Pemberton), all of Camden County, and into downtown Trenton (near the State Capitol). This Office of Emergency Management repeater is lightly used. I can key the repeater with the HT from my Southampton Twp driveway, but I'm noisy; from the 9th floor of the office building in Trenton, I can be understood. Alternative repeaters for Medford and areas around Cherry Hill/Camden include Pine Hill-K2UK-146.865/442.350-131.8 and Camden-N2KDV-442.150-156.7E with coverage to Trenton and Hammonton, and with a link to Atlantic City-N2KDV-447.575-131.8 that fills in the rest of the AC Expressway and most of the communities along the coast from Cape May to LBI.

Medford south

On 2m, traveling from Medford south on US 206 offers fewer choices. K2BU is one good choice, even with an HT to Hammonton, but somewhere around milepost 10 (above US 30) Vineland-WB2RUH-146.655-179.9E starts to pick up steam. I have not yet checked out Monroe Twp/Gloucester Cty-K2DX-145.39-91.5 yet, but I would expect this wide area coverage repeater would fill in along US 206 and elsewhere in eastern Gloucester and Camden Counties quite nicely .

Linked systems

Are you limited to 2m? Program adjacent memories for Fairless Hills-WA3BXW-147.30-131.8 and Egg Harbor-WA3BXW-146.64-131.8 that are linked day and evening; WA3BXW's network is silent from 11 pm to 6 am. The antennas at Egg Harbor favor Cape May, but I have used the "64" repeater on the far eastern end of NJ 70 in Brick, a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean.

It's time for a 440 MHz commercial. The singular advantage in this area of Medford, Philadelphia and suburbs, Atlantic City and suburbs, and Trenton is that there are 440 MHz repeater systems that enable continuity of conversation. Basically, the WA3BXW 440 system covers from just north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to the Newark-Manhatten areas, southwest to somewhere between Baltimore and Washington, somewhere this side of Harrisburg and all over the Poconos. The W2NJR system starts in the New York Metropolitan area and picks up links all along the perimeter of NJ, south to Cape May and north along the Delaware Bay/River to Bordentown. The N3KZ repeater network, also known as the University of Pennsylvania system, has boxes scattered all over eastern PA, southern NJ, and a bit of DC and MD. The point of all this? If you and your friends have programmed the entire three networks into all of the mobile radios and HT's, it is almost impossible to run out of repeater coverage.

Part of the problem in repeater hopping is that you lose track of friends that you are in conversation with. Take the time to lay out a plan and program the radios efficiently. I prefer frequency order, except for the 3 440-link systems where I group each set independently. Do you need some help here? This ordering scenario is the reason for assembling (and distributing) the repeater list available on the W2XQ.com home page.

To recap, then, the purpose of this column was to summarize alternative planning for reaching out and touching someone beyond the coverage range of the "home" repeaters that are a bit under the weather. I haven't included all of the possible repeaters, but there is no slight intended.

I won't name names, but a few people I talk to on K2AA and other repeaters just won't take the time to program the radio. For those procrastinators, here is a minimalist Burlington County/Cherry Hill & Camden list that includes a 7-character mnemonic. All repeaters' PL/Guardtone may be set to ENCode-DECode.

Label  Freq   +S-  PL
MEDFORD 145.290 -  91.5
TABERNA 145.150 -  91.5
CHERRYH 145.370 -  91.5
WILLING 146.925 - 131.8
ARES    145.470 - 127.3
ARES    147.150 + 127.3
BXW-EGG 146.640 - 131.8
BXW-FHL 147.300 + 131.8
SJRA    144.465 S
SIMPLEX 146.520 S
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LAWRENC 442.200 + 141.3
WATERFD 442.300 + 131.8
PINEHLL 442.350 + 131.8
ARES    448.325 - 127.3
BXW-BEN 444.200 + 131.8
BXW-VIN 447.325 - 131.8
BXW-MAN 448.075 - 131.8
NJR-MAN 445.075 - 141.3
NJR-BOR 445.275 - 141.3

What? You're still here? I thought you'd be out be programming that radio.

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!

Do you want to ask a question or comment on something in these columns? I'm easy enough to find as mentioned in past months' columns. Don't forget that the current and past columns are posted at w2xq.com for your reading and review. The advantage? The Web links are live. You do not have to type in the URLs.

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Revised 28 June 2005

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