Month: May 2006

28th Anniversary of Packet Radio

At around 9PM on May 31, 1978 were the first KNOWN transmissions of Packet over Amateur Radio. The location was Bill Wong’s Restaurant in Montreal, Canada.

The Montreal Packet Net Group C/O:

Bob Rouleau VE2PY; Norm Pearl VE2BQS; Fred Basserman VE2BQF; Bram Frank VE2BFH; Jacques Orsali VE2EP; Ted Baleshta VE3CAF; Ian Hodgson VE2BEN; among others not mentioned.

They operated on a single 220Mhz channel using start-stop ASCII with the Ethernet CSMA/CD protocol. The protocol was modified for amateur applications by Robert T. Rouleau, VE2PY, and implemented by Fred Basserman, VE2BQF. Montreal Packet Net (MP-Net) Operated at 2400 bit/s using home-built modems.

A detailed description of the Montreal Protocol and hardware used in the experiments is given in the TAB book #1345 “PACKET RADIO” by Bob Rouleau and Ian Hodgson published in 1981. An interesting note is that the Montreal Modem design used the Exar XR-2206/2211 chip set. I am told that a sample of the Montreal Modem was sent to the Vancouver group (VADCG) in the fall of 1978 and it is probably no coincidence that the same chip set appeared in the TAPR TNC modem of which Doug Lockhart of VADCG had a hand in designing.

After an initial spurt of activity in amateur packet, Bob Rouleau and several others in the group turned to commercial applications for packet radio. The resulting company, DATARADIO Inc, today is building and marketing commercial packet radio systems around the world. A typical application is the Canadian Weather Radio packet service introduced some years ago using DATARADIO equipment specially designed for the application.

Bob was inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame in 2003

To Commemorate this 28th anniversary listen for W4P from May 26, 2006 – June 4, 2006

Operating will be on both CW and SSB on the “normal” frequencies, i.e.

SSB 3.790 – 7.190 – 14.190

CW 3.520 – 7.020 – 14.025

+/- QRM

Certificate available for a Large SASE

QSL to NA4DR

The Lightship Portsmouth

Did a recon today in Portsmouth and found the lightship. I think it would be a blast activating the lightship. However, the position is going to be tricky…. it’s almost totally surounded by buildings. I think my best bet will be to set up in front (to the west) of the ship along the walkway paralleling the water.

http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=2+high+street,+portsmouth,+va&ll=36.837248,-76.296659&spn=0.001923,0.005407&t=h&om=1

Rain gauge operational

Today’s approaching thunderstorm inspired me to breakout the rain gauge that I received about 3 months ago. Setup was a snap and it is now working. What I want to do now is transfer the weather station computer operations to the Linux box in the garage. I know Weather Display will work, and probably UI-View will be fairly easy to setup. Just need to make it happen.

To see the latest weather, go here: http://www.ni0l.com/wx/myweather.htm or via APRS: http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=ad7mi-2&last=240

Old Point Comfort Lighthouse activation

What a wonderful morning at Old Point Comfort Lighthouse, Fort Monroe, VA on the Chesapeake! Blue, clear skies, temp at 60d F, with a slight breeze. I could see the Norfolk Navy Base across the bay and watched as USNS Comfort pulled out towards the Atlantic.

I pulled up to my position on the top of the wall surrounding historic Fortress Monroe, right above the moat. Instead of using my mag mount Hamstick, I set up the homebrew vertical dipole on the edge of the wall, raising the mast to about 10 feet. Setup was complete by about 0740/1140(UTC) and started calling CQ on 40M.

Callsign State Member
WA1OHR CT Y/#587
W1VR FL Y/#143 operating from USA 869
W1MCE NH Y/#491

The band died down and I took W1MCE’s advised and switched to 20M.

Callsign State Member
VO1RYL Canada Y/#1218
K0VDP ND N
KB7IOG WA N
KE5FWY TX N
KB7BGS UT N
KC0UIQ CO N
KE7CWR WA N

I then dropped back down to 40M to finish up the morning.

Callsign State Member
K2DNV NJ Y/#1004
N3LWM PA N
K8WFL OH N
N8GW OH N

I shut down at 1050/1450(UTC) and packed up. Thank you for the contacts and the spots on DX Summit and the Beacon Bot. I really enjoyed all the exchanges.

Please look for US Army Amateur Radio Society’s special event station W4M on 27-28 May, operating from Fort Monroe (and USA 567) in commemoration of Memorial Day.

KTF!

73 Scott AD7MI

Jesse H. Bunnell

In 1860 Jesse H. Bunnell was about 17 years old and was then a veteran telegraph operator. He was in Pittsburgh at the time when President Buchanan’s last message to congress was passed on the wires.

Jesse sent the message to L. O. Weir in Cincinnati in 2 hours without a break at an average speed of 38 words per minute.

This was sent with a straight key as bugs and sideswipers were not invented yet. I don’t believe typewriters were around in telegraph offices to copy on either, so Mr. Weir probably copied by hand. I think quite a feat by both men.

This account was taken from Jesse H. Bunnell’s obituary published in “The Brooklyn Daily Eagle” newspaper in 1899.

Jesse went on to be a civil war telegrapher and later founded the J. H. Bunnell Co. and patented the steel lever key that nearly every straight key made was fashioned after.

DX Packet Cluster Update

Looks like DX packet clusters are not as popular as they used to be. In Hampton Roads…. you can’t get there from here. Here’s what I found in VA:

From the PVRC:
http://pvrc.org/refe.htm
PVDXSN PacketCluster Contest/DX System, MHz:

Yearly Dues: $35.00 Suggested Donation
Please Make Checks Payable to “PVDXSN” and mail to:

Mr. George J. Freed, KN3P
1785 Grovespring Street
Las Vegas, NV 89135-1084

W3LPL Glenwood MD 145.590 441.250
W3IP CrownsvilleMD 145.570
WR3L Baltimore MD 145.610 440.950
N3RR Rockville MD 145.510 441.325
K3SKE Frederick MD 144.930 441.125
W3YOZ West River MD 144.910
W3TOM Accokeek MD 145.770
N1WR Lusby MD 145.690
N4OHE Mt.Weather VA 145.710 446.025
NE3H Harrisburg PA 144.970 *
W3BD S Mountain PA 145.630
N4SR Woodbridge VA 145.630 *
W4XP Bull Run Mt ” 144.990

This system is sponsored by the Potomac Valley DX Spotting
Network except “*” are independently funded by each SYSOP.

CVCC:
http://c-v-c-c.us/
We maintain a DX Packet Cluster system serving the Central Virginia area. Frequencies are:

* 145.09 – C W4ML (Richmond)
* 144.93 – C W4FEG-6, then DXC (W4FEG,Goochland) Need to logout of both W4FEG-6 and DXC.
* 145.67 – C N2QT (N2QT,Lynchburg)
* 145.59 – C DXJACK (N2QT, Jack Mountain)
* Telnet to dxc.w4ml.net or 24.125.165.237

THANKS to N4DEN for keeping our cluster in top shape!!!!!!!

So – I think Richmond is my closest spot. To make this doable, I think I’d need a yagi here at the house and then set up a packet station here to use as a relay.

Lighthouses and Lifesaving Stations of Virginia

Founds a wonderful book at Barnes & Noble a few weeks back that does a pretty good job covering the history of lighthouses, lightships, and lifesaving stations here on the Cheasepeake and Atlantic coast of Virginia. It is amazing to see pictures of some of the old structures… especially the screwpile type lighthouses.

I’d like to use the book to go explore different locations around here and find old lighthouses as well as locations where lighthouses used to be but time or man has removed them.

NEW MORSE “@” CHARACTER BECOMES OFFICIAL MAY 3

=====================================================================
==>NEW MORSE “@” CHARACTER BECOMES OFFICIAL MAY 3

The International Morse code officially gains a new character on May
3. That’s when the now-familiar “@” symbol joins the Morse lexicon
as the letters “AC” run together (.–.-.). Known as the “commercial
at” or “commat,” the @ symbol never rose to the level of usage that
demanded a unique Morse character until it gained currency as a
critical component of e-mail addresses during the past decade or so.

Last December, the International Telecommunication Union
Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Study Group 8 agreed on the
wording of a Draft New Recommendation ITU-R M.[MORSE] that specified
the international Morse code character set and transmission
procedures and included the new Morse code character.

The pending change has attracted some attention in the media,
including mentions on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered
and in The New York Times.
=====================================================================