We had a fun discussion on the effects of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and sunspots on propagation--and the aurora borealis--on this week's 285 Tech Connect net.?

I came across this fascinating article which describes a rare reverse polarity sunspot that could create some crazy auroras....and no doubt will affect prop as well.?

Here's the link:?

73,

Mark
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Mark Ehr | K0EHR

VP, 285 Tech Connect Radio Club
Littleton, Colorado

k0ehr@...
Check out my ham radio blog:

Hi all,

Mark K0QL completed some very cool remote station updates today....read on. Note that the club remote station is available for use free of charge to any active club member. To get set up, contact Mark K0QL (see contact info below).?
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Remote Station Users,

Hi all,

The prop today is the best I've ever seen (granted, I wasn't a ham during the previous solar maximums), but FT8 on 15 meters is incredible. If you have time to check it out, definitely do so! So far I've had FT8 QSOs with Ukraine, Russia, Indonesia, England, and the Netherlands...in about 10 minutes!



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73s,

Mark Ehr | K0EHR

VP, 285 Tech Connect Radio Club
Littleton, Colorado

k0ehr@...
Check out my ham radio blog:

开云体育

The Denver Radio Club is trying something?new that we are calling DRC Saturday. The concept is to be part social event, part Elmer time and part some level of demonstration. We are also incorporating an On Air activity for each event for those that just want to play radio.

Our first event is?this Saturday?and here is a link to the DRC website with the dates and more?details.

Thanks Bill, and great news! At one point they weren’t sure if cycle 25 was going to be any better than 24; I’m very excited to see what the next few years brings, especially for those of us SOTA/POTA/*OTA/QRP aficionados!

73?

Mark
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Mark Ehr | K0EHR

VP, 285 Tech Connect Radio Club
Littleton, Colorado

k0ehr@...
Check out my ham radio blog:

There are a couple ways to get these, and other topics, from ARRL.

• Use the RSS feed in your feed reader:
• Subscribe to e-mail delivery: Log in to your ARRL account at the website, go to your profile (click on your name) and then click on "Opt In/Out" to find your e-mail choices. These are a bit poorly described, because there are bulletins I get which don't fall into any of the listed categories, and I assume they're covered under "ARRL Letter". These include club news, and specific news items which come along periodically.
  

For those of you who are interested in how Cycle 25 is progressing, here is an interesting prediction from the latest update from K7RA:

?

"Evidence is mounting that Solar Cycle 25 might peak much earlier
than expected. New research by a leading group of solar physicists
predicts maximum sunspot activity in late 2023 or early 2024 with a
peak that could be twice as strong as the previous solar cycle."

These updates are sent out regularly by the ARRL. I don't know if you need to sign up to receive them or not.

73
Bill N0CU

开云体育

Thanks Mark.? This is on my bucket list.? Not sure I will make it this weekend, but will definitely take advantage of future events.

73
Tony - k0mcw

285 TechConnect Radio Club Program Coordinator

Passing this along to anyone who is interested... this is coming up next weekend, April 22/23!
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Imagine operating EME with a 60 foot dish…?? Also note that the Lyrids meteor shower peaks Friday / Saturday.? I’m told there will be folks bringing their telescopes. The moon is visible during the day during this contest.? If you have an interest in staying overnight, we stay at the Cobblestone Inn & Suites - Eads, CO.

?

If you are planning to come down, please reach out to Paul Sobon NO0T for driving directions (Google may take you on some not so great dirt roads).?

?

Feel free to pass along to your club members.

?

73 Bill

?

From:?[email protected]?<[email protected]>?On Behalf Of?Paul
Sent:?April 14, 2023 9:45 AM
To:?[email protected];?members@...
Subject:?[GMCC] DUBUS EME Contest April 22-23

?

Hi folks

?

If anyone is interested, a group of us will be operating multi op the DUBUS EU EME contest next weekend on 1296 MHz using the K0PRT 60 foot dish in Haswell.? This contest is only CW and SSB so it’s old school.? If you like we can let you hear your own echo off the moon?.

?

Everyone welcome - will have donuts while they last and coffee/ soft drinks and you can also get to review our Low Bands/6 Meter Remote Station there in the bunker.

?

The moon will be up all day both days so you will be able get a good view of it.

?

If interested let me know and I will give you the directions. ?

?

Paul

NO0T

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Mark Ehr | K0EHR

VP, 285 Tech Connect Radio Club
Littleton, Colorado

k0ehr@...
Check out my ham radio blog:

Passing this along to anyone who is interested... this is coming up next weekend, April 22/23!
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Imagine operating EME with a 60 foot dish…?? Also note that the Lyrids meteor shower peaks Friday / Saturday.? I’m told there will be folks bringing their telescopes. The moon is visible during the day during this contest.? If you have an interest in staying overnight, we stay at the Cobblestone Inn & Suites - Eads, CO.

?

If you are planning to come down, please reach out to Paul Sobon NO0T for driving directions (Google may take you on some not so great dirt roads).?

?

Feel free to pass along to your club members.

?

73 Bill

?

This blog post is targeted more towards hiking, bird watching, and hunting, but it identifies a great resource for those looking for a directory to possibly lesser-known locations in Colorado to enjoy the great outdoors. Won't be POTA sites, but still looks like some nice hikes, for those so inclined.

https://www.southernrockiesnatureblog.com/2023/03/great-information-for-colorado-birders.html

For us in the Denver metro area, there's a local CPW office where we can pick up the printed copies.

Oh, cool. I need to drop him a line anyway.

It isn't likely I'll try to get V/UHF working on the FT-100D, just because it's not a good cost/benefit option. But dropping a new output module into the FT-2900 is something on my to-do list.

P.S. If groups.io sent an e-mail for your reply, I didn't see it. Maybe I b0rked my settings. Have to look at that.

Hey Jed,

On this week's 285 TCRC net, someone mentioned that Mark W0QL used to do rig repair, although I think he's got his hands pretty full nowadays and may not be doing that. That said, you might drop him a line as he might know someone local that is doing that.?

73,

Mark

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Mark Ehr | K0EHR

VP, 285 Tech Connect Radio Club
Littleton, Colorado

k0ehr@...
Check out my ham radio blog:

I hear you--the process of doing all of that research and programming can be really exhausting. Back when I was driving my daughter to and from Columbia MO a couple of times a year, i made exhaustive use of the RT Systems' RFinder import feature, which allows you to enter a route and it pulls in all of the repeaters along the route. Granted, the trip to MO was easy, since it was basically "get on I-70, drive 650 miles East, get off I-70!" Nonetheless, it was a huge time saver.?

I think the Chirp dev team spends more time on supporting the various radios than adding more features, which I can definitely understand. Can you imagine how much work is involved in continually testing and confirming each and every radio, as new firmware is released, not to mention adding new radios as they're launched? It's got to take a ton of work.?

My biggest beef with the RT Systems software is that it only runs on Windows and Mac (mostly Windows) and no Linux that I know of, which isn't too different than most of the ham radio software that's out there. But, like Chirp, having to keep up with all of those platforms has got to be quite a task!
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Mark Ehr | K0EHR

VP, 285 Tech Connect Radio Club
Littleton, Colorado

k0ehr@...
Check out my ham radio blog:

Bleh! Well, that's finished. Maybe, in a couple weeks, I'll see if the copy/paste works to convert to FT-60 - won't be perfect, because the power levels are different, but if it gets all but that, it'll make me happy.

What'd be cool would be if I could run a lookup from the channel list, back to RepeaterBook, and check the entries. Wouldn't be perfect, due to a few duplicates in frequency? and tone, but that could be handled with manual inspection. Getting any "not found" results would be instructive. What'd also be cool would be to use the channel list to display locations using that Google Earth overlay, but I think there isn't enough information. Retrieving lat/long or GPS coordinates would make that work, I think. Must be an API for doing that sort of thing. Maybe a RESTful interface.

Back when I first assembled a channel list for my FT-60, I started with a couple clubs I was active in - IRG and DRC, and then looked along the I-25 and I-70 corridors, and then tried to fill in with at least one repeater in every Colorado county. IIRC, there was one county with no repeaters. Since I ended up deleted some entries because apparently the machine isn't in service now, I might have a couple more holes in coverage.

The other thing is there's no way to test some of the entries without making a few road trips, which would be fun, but not on my list of things to do this year.

My eyes are going bleary, editing these channels. The machine in Parachute is apparently just gone, or moved; one of the Limon repeaters has gone to YSF, and I'm only about halfway through my list. Trying to get useful comments in for each, so I can remember what each one is - better than the 6-char label.

On my Ubuntu 22 desktop, I had to install python3-wxgtk4.0, and that dependency wasn't indicated in the installation process. I will say, the UI is certainly improved, and it opened my UV5R image file just fine. My only gripe is how it now combines TX disable with "duplex". Not the same thing!

Thanks Jed! I love Chirp, it supports hundreds of radios, and you can't beat the price (free)! It works great on my Baofeng UV-82HP and ICOM IC-7300, and it also supports quite a few of the Yaesu HTs and rigs, although unfortunately, none of my Yaesu's are (FTM-100DR and FT-5DR). The biggest gap that I can see with Chirp is that it doesn't support DMR radios (at least not the ones I have).

And for those radios not supported by Chirp,? has reasonably priced radio programming software that is usually far superior to the manufacturer's software. I'm particularly fond of the ability to download repeater configurations from a couple of different sources, including RepeaterBook and RFinder, which is great for travel and for people who aren't familiar with local repeaters.?

73,

Mark
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Mark Ehr | K0EHR

VP, 285 Tech Connect Radio Club
Littleton, Colorado

k0ehr@...
Check out my ham radio blog:

Just refreshing on Chirp, because a potential new ham we just met might need some help with it. There's a "Next" edition of Chirp out now, with a nicer user interface. Check out Ham Radio Crash Course:


(Also, trying out hashtagging - apparently, applies only in topic area?)

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone that attended yesterday's club meeting; it was a lot of fun talking to you all about one of my favorite topics, SOTA/POTA (Summits on the Air/Parks on the Air/Low Power) operating.

I have posted the video from yesterday's meeting, and the March meeting recording as well, to YouTube for those of you that missed the meeting or would like to watch them again. I'm super pleased with the improvements in audio quality, as I figured out how to tap into the room's audio mixer for yesterday's meeting. My next challenge, for the June meeting, is to incorporate a separate mic to pick up the audience as well.?

And don't forget that next month's meeting, on Saturday May 6th, is a pizza party / show and tell. I hope to see everyone there! Note that the May meeting won't be broadcast, but I am planning on broadcasting the June meeting.?

In other news, I am also the 2023 TechFest coordinator, and I'm actively looking for some folks to serve as committee chairs and well as to help out as volunteers during the event, which will be on November 4th. Areas that I'm looking for help on include publicity & communications, audio/visual, program / speakers, door prizes, food & beverage, registration, directions, signage, and setup/cleanup. If you're interested in volunteering, please send me an email (k0ehr@...) with your name, callsign, and what you'd like to help out on. Thanks in advance.

Here are the links:

March 2023 - The 6 Meter "Magic Band"

April 2023 - SOTA/POTA/QRP

You can find all of the club meeting materials on the ?(meetings section) as well.?
73,

Mark
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Mark Ehr | K0EHR

VP, 285 Tech Connect Radio Club
Littleton, Colorado

k0ehr@...
Check out my ham radio blog:

At yesterday's meeting, someone I was speaking with mentioned, or I thought I heard, something about a repair shop here in CO. Just one of those things I mentally filed away, because something else was pulling me into another conversation. I don't remember who mentioned it. If there's a good tech nearby, I'd like to know. In the past, I've used up in South Dakota. Good service, but with shipping costs, repair on an older rig is not cost-effective.

Maybe the ham who mentioned it is on here? Anyone know what shop it is?