Any update on LOTW? I cannot login, upload or download my logs. Anyone having the same issue?
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Re: 1st Annual Minnesota Parks On The Air 6/8/2024
This is the schedule for the W0SV group doing the POTA run.? Attached is an image of the route.? In case anyone was wondering.
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM Sibley State Park & Glacier Lakes State Trail (2 fer) [Meet at park at 8 AM]
10:30 AM – 12 noon Monson Lake State Park
12:30 PM – 2:30 PM Glacial Lakes State Park
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM Lake Carlos State Park
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM Birch Lake State Forest
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Re: 1st Annual Minnesota Parks On The Air 6/8/2024
The Frugal Ham likes that!
Thank-you for doing the research.
73
Mike N0QBH
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Re: 1st Annual Minnesota Parks On The Air 6/8/2024
Per the MN state parks website June 8th is one of four free days for MN state parks. Vehicle stickers, or day passes are not required for that day. Also your first vehicle sticker, and day passes are free for veterans with proof of service in case any one qualifies.
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Re: 1st Annual Minnesota Parks On The Air 6/8/2024
Yes, you'll need a state park sticker to enter.
WD0HXV
Tony
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Re: 1st Annual Minnesota Parks On The Air 6/8/2024
I assume I'll need a MN parks sticker to get in?
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Re: 1st Annual Minnesota Parks On The Air 6/8/2024
I think the W0SV club was going to start at Sibley and then move to Monson State Park at some point but I don't remember their schedule.
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Re: 1st Annual Minnesota Parks On The Air 6/8/2024
Anyone doing Monson Lake State Park??
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Re: 1st Annual Minnesota Parks On The Air 6/8/2024
I didn't really have an end time scheduled, but I'm sure I will be there until at least 2pm.
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Re: 1st Annual Minnesota Parks On The Air 6/8/2024
How long do you plan to be there?? I work until noon that day.
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Re: COMMS trailer work day on 6/1/24 9am
Thanks to everyone that came out to help!
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Re: COMMS trailer work day on 6/1/24 9am
Looking forward to checking out the comms trailer Saturday morning.
Will it be inside or out of the shed?
73
Mike N0QBH
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1st Annual Minnesota Parks On The Air 6/8/2024
You need to mark June 8, 2024 on your calendar because?it's the first annual Minnesota Parks On The Air Day! The objective of the day is to activate as many Minnesota Parks On The Air (POTA) entities as possible with a focus on state parks. The second Saturday in June is a free admission day at Minnesota State Parks!
I will setup and be operating at Sibley State Park for this event, operating begins at 10am. My hopes are to show up early enough (by 8am) to be able to use the Pavilion, but my backup location will be the parking lot of MT. Tom
Everyone is welcome to come out and try their hand at operating HF.?
Talk in frequency of 146.520mHz simplex and the 444.800- (146.2) repeater.
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Re: The Frugal Ham and solar
Operating temperature and LiFePO4 batteries.
This is a good place to remind potential LiFePO4 users of the battery's chemistry limitations.
LiFePO4 batteries cannot be charged when the battery is below freezing.
Their protection circuitry will open, turning off the power.
This means they have to be located indoors where it's warm or kept warm for operation.
They can discharge at temperatures down to about 5 deg F.
I mention this for folks thinking about using LiFePO4 as batteries for remote solar power supplies.
73
Mike N0QBH
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Good to know. I guess I'll change my passwords again.
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Hey Everyone,
Just found this out tonight….?
American Radio Relay League cyberattack takes Logbook of the World offlineThe?American Radio Relay League (ARRL) warns it suffered a cyberattack, which disrupted its IT systems and online operations, including email and the Logbook of the World. ARRL is the national association?for amateur radio in the United States, representing amateur radio interests to government regulatory bodies, providing technical advice, and promoting events and educational programs for enthusiasts around the country. On Thursday, the ARRL announced that it suffered a cyberattack that disrupted its network and systems, including various online services hosted by the organization. "We are in the?process of responding to a serious incident involving access to our network and headquarters-based systems. Several services, such as Logbook of The World?and the ARRL Learning Center, are affected," explained ARRL in a?. Amateur radio enthusiasts use three-letter codes that start with the letter Q, which are called?, and they act as abbreviations for commonly used phrases in ham radio. For example, the code QSO is shorthand for "I can communicate with _________?direct," and is used to denote a direct conversation between two stations. At the same time, QSL means "I am acknowledging receipt," meaning that?contact is confirmed. Logbook of The World (LoTW) is an online database that allows amateur?radio enthusiasts to submit electronic logs of successful contacts (QSO) and confirmations (QSL)?between other users?worldwide. Enthusiasts can use these logs of successful communication on LoTW towards?. In a Friday update, the ARRL took steps to allay members' concerns?about the security of their data, confirming that they do not store credit card information or collect social security numbers. However, the organization confirmed that its member database contains some private information, including names, addresses, and call signs. While they do not specifically state email addresses are stored in the database, one is required to become a member of the organization. It is unknown if the organization suffered a ransomware attack or another cybersecurity incident. BleepingComputer contacted the ARRL with further questions, but?a reply was not immediately received.
KB?DCO
Thomas Gagnon
Sent from my IPAD 4th Gen. Air Touch
Hello Everyone,
During the W?CRC Club Picnic… I was having issues logging into LOTW. I tried again today to log in there, but I’m still unsuccessful in doing so.
If you’re doing FT8 or having auto updates to LOTW… I would double check that you most recent contacts got uploaded after LOTW has been restored to normal operation.
Here is what I found on the ARRL website:?
ARRL Systems Service Disruption05/17/2024Updated 5/17/2024 Some members have asked whether their personal information has been compromised in some way. ARRL does not store credit card information anywhere on our systems, and we do not collect social security numbers. Our member database only contains publicly available information like name, address, and call sign along with ARRL specific data like email preferences and membership dates. Original story below:
5/16/2024 We are in the process of responding to a serious incident involving access to our network and headquarters-based systems. Several services, such as Logbook of The World? and the ARRL Learning Center, are affected. Please know that restoring access is our highest priority, and we are expeditiously working with outside industry experts to address the issue. We appreciate your patience. KB?DCO
Thomas Gagnon
Sent from my IPAD 4th Gen. Air Touch
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Hello Everyone,
During the W?CRC Club Picnic… I was having issues logging into LOTW. I tried again today to log in there, but I’m still unsuccessful in doing so.
If you’re doing FT8 or having auto updates to LOTW… I would double check that you most recent contacts got uploaded after LOTW has been restored to normal operation.
Here is what I found on the ARRL website:?
ARRL Systems Service Disruption05/17/2024Updated 5/17/2024 Some members have asked whether their personal information has been compromised in some way. ARRL does not store credit card information anywhere on our systems, and we do not collect social security numbers. Our member database only contains publicly available information like name, address, and call sign along with ARRL specific data like email preferences and membership dates. Original story below:
5/16/2024 We are in the process of responding to a serious incident involving access to our network and headquarters-based systems. Several services, such as Logbook of The World? and the ARRL Learning Center, are affected. Please know that restoring access is our highest priority, and we are expeditiously working with outside industry experts to address the issue. We appreciate your patience. KB?DCO
Thomas Gagnon
Sent from my IPAD 4th Gen. Air Touch
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Re: The Frugal Ham and solar
The biggest lesson I learned over the past year with one 400W system was to move away from using lead acid deep cycle batteries for this application.
I had 2 - 90 Ah 12v lead acids in parallel and my charge controller has great metering. I found, after drawing the first 20 Ah, was the batteries were dipping well below 12 volts during 10A transmit.
When I pushed it further, the HF rig would reset due to low voltage.? Without a load, those batteries would float back up a half volt or more.
The Lithium Iron phosphate chemistry cells have a much lower internal resistance and much higher energy density, yet are much safer than Lithium ion.
They can be shipped and the quoted price is to your door.
With a single 100 Ah LiFePO4 - even drawing 25A while transmitting 100W - the voltage only drops to 13 volts. The radio is much happier.
The only downside I have encountered happened when I had adjusted my charge controller to charge to 14.6 volts.? The Lithium's protection circuitry opened the battery connection and the radios were floating momentarily at panel level - almost 20 volts!? My own fault.? A Internet "experts" advice that was years old. Controller default is 14.2 volts.?
73
Mike N0QBH
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Re: The Frugal Ham and solar
Some "after" pictures of my set up. 
 73 Mike N0QBH
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Re: The Frugal Ham and solar
Mike, I’m very impressed with your solar set-up! ?On our Alaska farm, being totally off-grid, we installed solar back in about 2004. Ours is a 48 volt system with 16 130 watt solar panels connected in series and parallel to give 2080 watts at 48 volts and we have 24 6 volt lead acid batteries also in series and parallel. ?We have a 48 volt charge controller/inverter that provides power to the house. ?Our radio set up runs off house power and what we found was the inverter caused significant RF interference on HF radio, probably in part due to the system being 20 years old. ?I tried the usual methods to control the interference but without wanting to spend too much time or money on it we instead would turn off the inverter and run the radios off a 12 volt battery instead. The result was almost zero noise.
We plan to install solar at our house in Stewart as time permits and your set-up seems to be a good example to follow. Without needing to provide 120 volt power to a whole house, the need for a large inverter is eliminated. ?We did determine the solar panels themselves provide no detectable noise.
I will be interested to follow updates on the performance of your system!
73,
Roger
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W0AYE Ben Wussow
N0QBH Mike Berg
WD0HXV Tony LaPatka