Spinning & Grinning

I had a fairly successful day participating in the Armed Forces Day Crossband Test. To recap, I am currently at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin for a brief period of time supporting a National Guard exercise. Normally when I go around to different Army units and assist in their exercises I fly. But I decided to take my Toyota Tundra on this trip and re-installed my HF rig. I have never preiously particpated in the Armed Forces Day Crossband Test and have always wanted to…. this was my chance.

The AFD Crossband Test has two components to it. The first is to receive a message from the Secretary of Defense which is transmitted in various digital modes from different military stations during the day. The second part of the Test is to make contact with the military stations with the military stations operating in their band and the amateurs in their band (hence the term “Crossband”).

For the Secretary of Defense message I hooked my Rigblaster Plug & Play to my IC-706MKIIG and brought my laptop into the truck (which has fldigi installed). The Rigblaster worked like a charm and I was able to copy the SECDEF’s message from WAR (at The Pentagon), AAZ (Fort Huachuca, AZ), and AIR-2 (New York). All these transmissions were in RTTY, which fldigi was able to read without issue. Now I need to print out copies of the messages I copied (which are the same, except the header information which reflects what station was transmitting the message) and send them in to the corresponding station. In return, I believe, I’ll receive a certificate from the SECDEF (suitable for framing, I’m sure).

The crossband contacts caused me to take a crash course in split frequency operations for my IC-706MKIIG. Fortunately I had my Nifty “Cliff Notes” version of the manual and was able to figure it out pretty quick. Although the actual execution took a bit of time to get down. First, obviously, I had to hear the station calling. MARS HQ publishes ahead of time a list of each station and the frequency that they will transmit from. I built a spreadsheet that allowed me to sort by frequency which made it easier to search for the transmitting station. The searching was done in the IC-706MKIIG’s VFO A. Once I found the station, I had to listen for them to announce the amateur frequency they were listening to… which most stations did periodically. Once I got their listening frequency, I flipped over to VFO B, dialed up the frequency, tuned the Tarheel screwdriver antenna, flipped back to VFO A, then hit the Split function, and waited for a chance to call. In the end, I was successful in contacting five different stations: WAR (at The Pentagon), NWKJ (located on the USS Yorktown, Charleston, SC), NMN0CQQ (located on the USS Midway, San Diego, CA), AAZ (good ol’ Fort Huachuca, AZ), and NWVC (a Navy MARS station in Indiana). For these contacts I get to send in my QSL card and hope for a response.

None of this was exotic DX but it was fun and exciting… and a bit challenging trying to do it all from inside my Toyota Tundra. I hope I am able to particpate again next year.

$3 AIR-2 AIR-2 MESSAGE FOLLOWS

RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY
RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY

DE AIR-2 AIR-2 MESSAGE FOLLOWS

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

ARMED FORCES DAY 2012 MESSAGE

TO AMATEUR RADIO AND
MILITARY AUXILIARY RADIO SYSTEM
OPERATORS

QUOTE

FOR THE PAST SIXTY-THREE YEARS, OUR NATION HAS RECOGNIZED
THE DISTINGUISHED GLOBAL SERVICE OF OUR UNITED STATES
MILITARY DURING THE ANNUAL ARMED FORCES DAY CELEBRATION.

AMATEUR RADIO AND MILITARY AUXILIARY RADIO SYSTEM OPERATORS
PROVIDE ESSENTIAL CONTINGENCY COMMUNICATIONS TO RELIABLY SUPPORT
OUR NATIONS MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. YOUR SUPPORT OF
COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN DEPLOYED SOLDIERS, SAILORS, AIRMEN,
MARINES, SUPPORTING CIVILIANS, AND THEIR FAMILIES IS DEEPLY
APPRECIATED.

ON BEHALF OF ALL UNIFORMED SERVICES, I EXTEND MY SINCEREST
APPRECIATIMN FOR YOUR HARD WORK, SELFLESS DEDICATION, AND
VITAL SERVICE TO OUR GREAT NATION. WELL DONE!

/S/ LEON E. PANETTA

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

UNQUOTE

APPROVED FOR TRANSMISSION,

DE AIR-2 AIR-2
SK

The road trip to Wisconsin went off without an issue. Despite the poor weather the night before, the skies generally cleared in the morning and I encountered only a few drops of rain during the first hour or so. By noon, the skies were blue and pleasant. The route was straightforward; I-35N, then I-90E.

I enjoyed using my mobile HF rig on the trip, mostly listening to pass the time but also having a few QSOs. There is a regional 40M net that occurs around 1100 AM (Central) that often has an NCS, Dave, KE0DL, who I talk to from time to time on the local repeater. I was able to check into the net and say hello to Dave. Then I made my way up to 17M and the band was hot with European DX for the rest of my trip: Hungary, Bosnia, Russia, Belgium, and Kaliningrad (a new one for me… I think). I was able to bust the pileups even with out adding the “mobile” to the end of my call.

This Saturday is the Armed Forces Day Crossband Test. The purpose of the event is to “give Amateur Radio operators and Short Wave Listeners (SWL) an opportunity to demonstrate their individual technical skills, and to receive recognition from the appropriate military radio station for their proven expertise.” Cooperation between civilian radio enthusiats and the military can trace its roots back to the Washington’s Birthday Amateur Relay Message back in Februrary 1916 in which a message was originated from the Army’s Rock Island Arsenal and was then passed over amateur relays around the country. Prior to and after WWII, the relationship between civilian amateurs and the military evolved to events more similar to what we see today with the Army Day and Navy Day messages from their respective service secretaries.

I have never participated in the Armed Forces Day Crossband Test but am hoping to this Saturday. I am going to try and copy the Secretary of Defense’s message via one of the digital modes. Once the message is copies, I can send in a copy (via mail) in order to receive a certificate. I think it will be fun to participate in this event – we will see how it goes.

When I left for Korea, I had to pull out the HF installation on my truck… as the truck was staying in Kansas and I was not. Pulling out the rig and tuner was easy. The Tarheel antenna was also fairly simple. A disconnect at the base and then I coiled up the feedline and the cable that powers the screwdriver so they would be mostly out of the elements.

I returned back to Kansas last June but did not reinstall my HF setup in the truck. My only real modification was swapping out my VHF/UHF antenna with a fold-over. The new house afords me the opportunity to park in the garage(!) but rather than unscrewing the antenna every time I enter the garage, now I just have to pull it down. Works great.

My assignment here in Kansas has me traveling quite a bit and this week I am headed up to Wisconsin. I have only driven through Wisconsin once so instead of flying, I am going to make the 9 hour drive. This had me thinking that if I am on the road for 9 hours, I need my HF rig. So today I put the radio back in and reattached the Tarheel antenna.

Everything was set – I fired up the rig and heard the Turbo Tunner beep that it was on and ready. I hit the 706’s tuner button but the screwdriver failed to turn. Troubleshooting time. I took the base of the antenna down to the bench. Then I dug out the original rocker switch that came with the Tarheel. I hooked it up to the bench power supply and then hit the switch. Nothing. After a bit of jiggeling and wiggeling, the screwdriver engaged. I guess the almost two year siesta had taken a bit of a toll.

After a test drive today, it appears as if the mobile HF rig is working FB!… one QSO with North Carolina and another with Massachusetts. So look for me (AD7MI-9) as I make my way to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin and maybe I will catch you on 20M.

A very creative way to add an important addition to your station. I would argue this may be essential for any radio amateur who find themselves in the hamshack for long periods.

Since I logged my first HF QSO back in 2005 I have been using one type or another of software logging. I have also enjoyed exchanging QSL cards but never developed a good system at keeping them organized. Jumping from one logging program to the next, managing the “sent” and “received” QSL card fields have been hit or miss. A good portion of my contacts were uploaded to eQSL. Some were pushed out to LoTW. But I am not at all certain that either accurately reflects all my logged contacts. Compounding the problem has been multiple moves and military facilitated DXpeditions to Iraq and Korea. So what I am left with is a filing cabinet drawer full of QSL cards and a hard drive full of various log files.

It would be nice to get this mess sorted out.

I taking a three-step approach to establish order out of chaos.

(1) Gather all my software based log files. Use a file format compatible with fldigi and convert all the log files accordingly… with the end result of one consolidated log.

(2) Organize all QSL cards by date. I have a few boxes that QSL cards fit in nicely as well as tabbed dividers. This will allow me to fairly easily crosscheck the cards I have against the digital log.

(3) Stick with fldigi as my logging program. Update the QSL card “sent” and “receive” fields as I mail out cards or receive them. File received cards by date of contact.

(BONUS) I am pretty sure I achieved DXCC back in 2007, but have never been able to sit down and pull out the 100 cards I need. With a consolidated log and QSL cards organized by date, I will be able to easily find my 100 cards.

I am a graduate of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. To be honest, I am not exactly sure what possessed me to pick that school to attend. It was about as far away from my home in California as I could get. It represented the epitome of military discipline and Southern culture – both completely alien to me. But in August of 1987, I arrived at The Citadel and managed to survive the ordeal, emerging in May of 1991 with both the highly coveted Citadel Ring and a bachelors degree.

During my four years at The Citadel, there was one gentleman who stood out larger than life… and that was Lieutenant Colonel Harvey M. Dick, Assistant Commandant of Cadets. His primary responsibility was to oversee the discipline of the Corps of Cadets, a task he carried out firmly and fairly. He had a booming, slightly higher pitched voice that carried a great distance. He had the tenancy to refer to any cadet who was doing something wrong as a “Delbert Dumbass”.

The Citadel is not an easy place. Beyond the academic rigors and outside the classroom the rules of conduct and appearance were strict. Free time very limited. Failure to comply with the rules resulted in swift punishment that was realized through the awarding of “Tours” or “Confinements”. A Tour was one-hour, at a specially designated time (mainly during the weekend), were a cadet walks back and forth across the barracks with an M-14 rifle in silence. A Confinement was an hour spent at your desk studying. Both Tours and Confinements were performed in uniform with brass belt buckle and black low-quarter shoes shined to a brightness known as “blitzed”. Until a cadet had finished serving the required Tours or Confinements he (and I say he because while I was there it was all-male) was restricted to campus (a dry campus containing little entertainment). While on restriction, a cadet had to sign in on the hour, every hour during non-class days from Reveille to Taps (assuming they were not actually walking Tours or sitting Confinements at the time). If, for some reason, a cadet failed to report on time…. the punishments increased.

To be fair – there were no surprises as to what a cadet could or could not do. So when LTC Dick meted out punishment, it never really came as unexpected. LTC Dick believed that if you did the crime, you do the time and that you’d be a better man for it. If you really believed that there had been a miscarriage of justice, you could go to LTC Dick’s office, plead your case, and beg for mercy. If your argument was unique, original, or really compelling he may have let you slide. Otherwise you were told to “About Face” and hit the highway.

Despite his role as the senior disciplinarian, he was beloved by the entire Corps of Cadets. At football games (which was mandatory attendance for all cadets (in uniform too)) a cheer often went up where half the cadets yelled “HARVEY” and then the other half would yell “DICK”…. over and over until he would stand up and everyone would cheer. Another football favorite was when the band played the theme from Hawaii Five-O and LTC Dick would come down to the sideline and stand on a surf board that was held aloft by the male cheerleaders. He was really the only senior officer we ever saw who actually displayed any sense of humor.

From a discipline standpoint, I did okay. I never got a Tour but did sit a number of Confinements. I successfully avoided any major trouble and with that managed to avoid LTC Dick. Until May about five days before graduation……

To make a long story short, back in March I had brought a bottle of whiskey into the barracks and had placed it in an unused set of drawers in my room which I shared with another senior. The room was designed to fit four, but there were only two of us – we were seniors and got the extra space for that reason. Possession of alcohol on campus had just been changed from a punishment of 120 Tours to expulsion just three or four months earlier. Here is the kicker – I forgot about the bottle. We had made it to May, finals complete and preperations made for walking across the stage to get our diplomas. At the end of the year the cadet company commander and TAC officer (an active duty Captain) conduct an inventory of all the furniture in each room. I was out with my fellow seniors in downtown Charleston drinking beer when the TAC officer discovered the whiskey bottle in the drawer. Upon my return to campus I was informed what had happened and told that I was restricted to campus until further notice. My heart dropped through the floor. Five days before graduation. My parents and realtives were coming out from California. Punishment for possession of alcohol was expulsion. The TAC officer came and talked to me to tell me there would be a Diciplinary Board that would meet to review my violation of the rules. At this point, I did not know where to turn. A classmate recommended I go see LTC Dick. I went to his house and he brought me in and sat me down. He listened to my story, never blinking, stairing straight through me. He told me to go back to my room and wait for my TAC officer to tell me what would be my fate.

They let me off the hook. I was told that had I “lawyered up”, finding the bottle would have been considered “illegal search and seizure”. Knowing that all of us cadets have no expected right to privacy (I had taken a Constitutional Law class afterall), I knew they had just given me a pass. But I can tell you that for my few remaining days at The Citadel, I walked on pins and needles… amazed when I was handed my diploma but a better man for the lesson I learned.

In hindsight, I believe LTC Dick knew that I was going to graduate when I went to see him. He rightly let me stew in not knowing my future for a few additional and painful hours to let the lesson sink in.

LTC Dick gave up his role as assistant commandant in 1993 but continued to remain deeply involved in The Citadel up until his death this past Saturday. In my association with the military since my days at The Citadel, I can’t think of an officer that I have had a higher degree of respect and esteem for. I hope Saint Peter remembered to shine up his halo before LTC Dick arrived… or ol’ Saint Pete will be walking Tours!

…. The cardboard-covered telegraphic ledgers of up to 400 pages had been stowed away by Thomas Eckert (1825-1910), a pioneering telegraph operator who ran the U.S. military’s telegraph office at the War Department in Washington, D.C., from 1863 to 1867. The collection also includes ledgers from 1862, when Eckert served as telegraph chief for Gen. George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac…

In February 1862, two months before sharing command with Grant at the Battle of Shiloh, an important and extremely bloody Union victory in Tennessee, Gen. Don Carlos Buell sent a telegram from his headquarters in Louisville, Ky., to unknown recipients code-named Andes and Ocean, complaining of “constant intrigue to displace army officers” under his command, “which I beg you to defeat … until I tell you there is just cause. I learn that Col. Hazin is one of the purposed victims. His removal would be gross injustice and a serious loss.”

After the concluding signature, “Alvard” — Buell’s code name — appear three additional words: “Good for Alvard,” a nod of approval by a telegraph operator putting in his own two cents. Tsapina said she also has found instances in which telegraph operators tacked on insider investment tips to one another, based on how the battlefield news they were transmitting might affect the market price of cotton or gold.

Read the full article here

These are the QSL card designs that didn’t make the final cut:

… it was kind of tough not going with the Delorean.

(1) Two shelves are up. I offloaded my computer that handles the weather station, my printer, the EchoIRLP node, and the TM-D710A that supports both the weather station via APRS and the EchoIRLP node. I put wheels on the hamshack table after I moved it from the rental we were in to our current house. This raised the table to the perfect height, allowing my chair to slide under. The wheels also allow me to swing the table out to get to the back side and take care of any wiring issues with a fair degree of ease. But the weight of the equipment that piled up on the far end of the table made it hard to move. With the equipment I rarely touch placed up on the shelves, the table is much easier to move.

(2) I got my West Mountain Radio Super PWRgate PG40S hooked up. And it works! Additionaly, I have an UPS hooked up. So I should be good for backup power to run the weather/APRS station.

(3) The maps are up! I have the world map and a North America map. It looks like Millennia Arts no longer produce these maps. Who can blame them? I purchased these maps in 2006 and how many additional entities have there been since then? I’d imagine it is just not cost effective to produce up-to-date, high-quality maps like these.

(4) My kindergardener had a weekend project to collect 100 of something. Why not a 100 QSL cards? I dug through my pile pieceing together a variety of cards. Not quite ready for DXCC submission, but going through my tub-o-cards has motivated me to organize my card collection (… and prep for my DXCC submission).

(5) Speaking of QSL cards, it is time to address the “log problem”. Since my first DX contact (VP5VAC, 21 May 2005, on 6M), I have jumped around to differnt logging programs (and different computer OSes). I have txt files, MDB files, and adi files. Logs from special event stations, lighthouse activations, Field Day, Iraq, Korea, and just sitting in front of the rig spinning and grinning. I have used LoTW and eQSL. I’ve also had a few different callsigns. It is time to establish the MASTER LOG. One-stop-shopping for all my contacts that exist currently as some form of a digital log. The tool to get me to where I need to be appears to be DX Shell’s Contest LogChecker. The application will allow me to take many different types of formated logs and combine them together.

(6) Were we speaking of QSL cards? Jeff, KE9V, says he is getting out of the QSL card game. [AE5X as well] I can understand his motivations and why he arrived at the decision to forego the hard copy QSL card. I may, someday, arrive at a similar decision. Although it looks like AA6E is proud of his card. But as of now, I still love QSL cards… desinging my own, sending them, receiving them, getting that fat package from the Buro, etc. That being said, I designed a new QSL card for my new QTH here in Lansing, KS:

…. I hope to receive them soon – and hope to work you soon so I can send one your way.

From: http://blog.aprs.fi/2012/01/aprsfi-closed-in-us-on-wednesday.html

Although the law is being made in the U.S., it will break the Internet on a global scale by making sites such as aprs.fi liable for links and content posted by the users of the site. Sites like aprs.fi are commonly run by individual developers or small volunteer teams. Due to the huge volume of automatically published user-generated content (50 packets per second currently!) it would be impossible for me to go through it all before publishing. If some APRS user would post links to copyright-infringing material, even when that material would reside somewhere else than aprs.fi itself, aprs.fi could be shut down in the U.S. and there would not be much that I could do about it.

I read earlier about the Wikipedia outage. I wonder who will be next to jump on the protest bandwagon. There is nothing that warms the cockles of my heart more than a good ol’ fashion protest.