Category: roadtrip

Rainy Sunday

It has been a cold, rainy Sunday. We are on short final for the delivery of child number two… about 12 more days. Spent part of the day finishing the fixes to the nursery. Despite the rain, I BBQ’d two excellent steaks for dinner. I spent a good amount of time at Fort Lewis, WA so BBQing in the rain is no big deal.

Yesterday I mounted a bike seat for my daughter (age 3) on the back of my underused Trek bicycle. The weather was pretty nice, sun and a little cool. I decided to take along my TH-D7A and mounted my Garmin eTrex on the handlebars… I was APRS bicycle mobile again (with a small passenger). I kept the power setting at EL (50mW) and had good luck getting digipeated by N7FTM, which is nearby. To get a little better coverage and maintain the low draw on the battery, I configured the home TM-D710A to digipeat only the packets from my TH-D7A. I hope the weather improves soon so I can do some more bicycle mobile testing. A speaker-mic would also be a great addition to the setup.

I have been doing a little more reading on APRS (when I should be working on homework). One item that I found very intriguing was CQSRVR. There is a good run down of that feature here and Bob “Mr. APRS” Bruninga’s, WB4APR, recent article in QST. What amazes me is that the CQSRVR feature is not used more often. I have also had a great time playing with aprs.fi. I am a long time user of findu.com, but aprs.fi is just a wonderful tool to use in looking at APRS data.

It is time to get ready for Field Day. The plan is to road trip out California and link up with my dad, KD6EUG, at his cabin in Mi-Wuk (near Sonora, up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We will be a 2A operation. My rig will consist of my resurrected ARSIB (Amateur Radio Station In a Box). The ARSIB is based around the FT-817ND. To give the FT-817ND a boost, I’ve paired it with a 100W Tokyo HyPower amplifier. The tuner remains the LDG Z-11 PRO. I would like to have both a rig control interface and control cable from the radio to the amp but the the FT-817 has only one ACC input. Enter the CAT MATE – I am hoping this will solve the ACC input limitation. For a logging program I think we will go with the N3FJP logging software. It offers the ability to have two (or more) seperate stations have a combined log. It also features a software-based voice and CW keyer, which may come in handy. The downside is it is a Windows only program and it does not have integrated PSK-31. This will require a manual work around to add PSK-31 QSOs. I need to get all the pieces and parts together and start testing everything out to make sure there are no surprises. We will be busy enough stringing antennas and I want to minimize any adjustments I need to make to my own equipment during actual operation.

Return of the ARSIB

It’s time to dust off the Amateur Radio Station In a Box (ARSIB) and get it ready for field day.
Back in 2006 I was inspired by other hams who had put together portable stations that were built inside waterproof containers, capable of multimode (phone, CW, digital) HF, VHF, or UHF operation, easily powered by 110v/220v AC or a 12v source, able to carry with one hand, and ready for immediate operation with minimal setup.
My prototype was the ARSIB which I used on several occasions.

The ARSIB was based around my FT-817 to provide complete flexibility of a minimalist operation on AA batteries if need be. For normal operations, the 100W Tokyo HyPower amplifier gets me were I need to be. I had a lot of fun with the ARSIB using it during an RV DXpedition and for a lighthouse activation.
I now want to take the ARSIB to the next level – fine tune the design a bit. In searching around I have found several sources of inspiration:

  • Notes on building a portable self-powered communications station suitable for RACES, ARES, remote station, or general QRP use
  • Second Generation EmComm Station
  • KA5CVH Portable

    For my second generation ARSIB, I would like to improve the inner shelving structure supporting the radio equipment. Another goal of mine is not to put any holes in the waterproof container, which has limited some of my arrangements inside the box. I also want all the equipment to be able to travel well, without worry of damage. I also need to clean up the wiring; power, audio, and antenna. Some more ascetically pleasing, but functional.

    I think the Dell Mini will serve as the perfect companion for the eARSIB.

    Ultimately I hope to use the eARSIB (“e” is for enhanced) for Field Day 2009. The plan now is to link with KD6EUG, Larry, up in the Sierra Nevada’s for Field Day. In addition to participating in the event, we will string up an antenna or two for his cabin/shack… and maybe even get an APRS weather station operational as well.

    Now it is time to make it happen!

    • Here in Kansas

    The pack out went as well as can be expected. Not the best I’ve had, but not the worst. The packers started last Tuesday (8 July) and continued on Wednesday and Thursday, although Wednesday was the only full day of packing. The moving trucked showed up Friday and loaded everything up – that took all day. We got to have dinner Friday night with Margot and Joel as well as their neighbors, Nan and Pat. I worked with Margot when I was at Fort Monroe, she has since retired. Margot and Joel looked after the XYL (Christa, KI4ODI) and Sarah while I was gone last year – having them over to dinner, babysitting Sarah (our 2 year old), and about a million other things. It was a wonderful dinner and Sarah got a bunch of presents for the road trip from her fan club (Margot and Nan). Friday night we spent on air mattresses – cat, dog, Sarah, Christa, and I all camped out by the fireplace.

    Saturday morning came early – we had to load up the car and truck and do a final cleanup prior to the arrival of the landlord at 0800 for our final clearing of the Hampton house. Cleanup was quick (as the house was empty) and all the stuff we elected to take with us for the road trip fit either into the trunk of Christa’s car or into the bed of my truck. A quick breakfast at McDonald’s and we were off: Christa with Sarah and the constantly meowing cat (not at all enjoying the ride in his cat cage and somewhat drugged with kitty Valium and me with the dog riding in the front passenger side on the floor (without issue – the dog loves riding quietly on the floor).

    Day One (Saturday): we had an nice drive to Charleston, West Virginia, arriving around 5pm. We lucked out with a bottom floor room near the side entrance. Our criteria for the hotels we stayed at on the road trip was that it had to allow pets and it had to have a pool (for Sarah). After a takeout dinner from the Texas Roadhouse (I had an appetizer of jalapeños stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, with a touch of BBQ sauce – amazing!) we hit the pool. Sarah is becoming quite the swimmer. She’s not soloing yet, but she is making great progress.

    Day Two (Sunday): a little bit of rain as we traveled west between West Virginia and Louisville, Kentucky. The weather cleared and we had a nice drive through Indiana and into Illinois. We stopped an hour east of St. Louis in western Illinois. This time it was a 2nd floor room, but we were able to use those wheeled baggage carriers to move are stuff upstairs (with Sarah riding aboard). We hit the pool after an early dinner and Sarah swam without her floaty vest, doing a few laps with some help.

    Day Three (Monday): the truck driver told us that he’d arrive in Leavenworth between 0830 and 0930. Therefore I had to get up very early (0300) and hit the road with the dog. I was able to move quickly through St. Louis not getting tied up in commuter traffic, past the Arch , across the Missouri River and into Missouri. The local news on the radio was buzzing about the selling of Anheuser Busch (based in St. Louis) to InBev, a Belgium company. It was also the topic of conversation at the McDonald’s I stopped at for breakfast around 0530. A quick fill up of my gas tank ($87… ouch) and the dog and I continued west, passing through Kansas City around 0800. By now, Christa had rounded up the cat and Sarah – making her way through the St. Louis Monday morning commute. I arrived at our rental house in Leavenworth at 0845, wondering if I’d see a big truck out front. But our cul-de-sac was empty. The driver had had mechanical issues east of Kansas City and now would not arrive until noon.

    The moving truck did finally show and the unloading commenced around 1230. Who’d ever thought we’d have so much stuff – box after box… it seemed like the boxes never stopped coming off the truck. Christa arrived with a bag full of hamburgers and Cokes for everyone. This was good because (1) we were hungry and (2) Christa could direct were the boxes went in the house instead of me (up to this point, I’d been funneling most of the boxes into either the basement or the master bedroom… I don’t really know why, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time). Problem: the dryer would not fit through the door into the laundry room. I set about disassembling the back in an attempt to get it through. Still wouldn’t fit. We were able to swap our fridge with the existing fridge (ours has a water dispenser) and put the existing fridge in the garage. We finished with the unpackers by around 7pm, exhausted.

    Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: Unpacking, boxes, up and down stairs. The house here is two stories with an unfinished basement. Upstairs are three bedrooms (Sarah’s, guest bedroom, and Christa’s office). Downstairs is the master bedroom (big bath and walk in closet = happy XYL), dining room, family room, kitchen (bigger than our last), and laundry room (I did finally get the dryer in after the use of a hacksaw and some more disassembling… I still have a few extra bolts). There is a small deck off the kitchen and a small fenced yard up against the oldest cemetery in Kansas (…spooky!). The unfinished basement is huge and is where my ham radio and office stuff is. Lots of work down there to do.

    Today – Sarah gets to visit her preschool, which she starts on Monday. We’re continuing the unpacking… even hope to get Christa’s car in the garage today. I have this next week off to continue getting the house in order before I need to show my face over at Fort Leavenworth. Saturday we’ll hit the local farmer’s market and head into the big city (Kansas City) for some shopping. Next week our new couch and Christa’s desk arrives. Lots more to do (like setting up the ham shack)… but I am looking forward to the arrival of the couch!

    On The Road Again!

    It was good to get back behind the wheel of my 2005 Toyota Tundra – although can’t say I am excited about paying to fuel it up. I’ve attempted to get a good HF install for mobile operations before experiencing limited success… with perhaps my biggest rookie mistake being an attempt to use the ICOM AT-180 autotuner along with my IC-706MKIIG.

    I used Hamsticks and Hustler mono band resonators – it worked pretty well but I got tired of having to exit the vehicle every time I wanted to change bands.

    My answer was to install a screwdriver antenna. I’d been planning this mobile install for some time, using lessons from my trials in the Spring of 2007 as well as a significant amount of reading and research (eHam, WorldRadio, CQ Magazine, websites). I decided on basing my mobile install around the Tarheel Model 75 “Stubby” providing continuous coverage from 3.7 to 34 MHz. The folks at Tarheel worked with me to get me going – responsive to my emails and questions.

    The radio for this mobile install: my ICOM IC-706MKIIG. I’d originally purchased this radio when I arrived in Hampton back in the early Summer of 2005. The purchase was in part to motivate me to upgrade from Tech to General – which it did. That Summer I passed the written exam (Element 3) at a nearby hamfest for General. But I was not yet ready for the Morse (Element 1). It wasn’t until later that Fall that I was ready for the Morse… and barely passed too. I’ve been very pleased with the IC-706MKIIG; it is a great radio for a beginner, easy to operate, solid performance, flexible to use either in the radio shack, portable, or mobile.

    To mount the antenna to my Toyota Tundra, I really did not want to permanently mar the exterior of the truck. I’d admired K4GUN’s install and thought his implementation of using the Geotool stake pocket on the bed of the truck was brilliant. I wrote Steve, K4GUN, concerning his install and he provided some great additional information concerning the challenges of the stake pocket mount. After working with Rick, WA6JKH, to ensure I was ordering the proper mount, I placed my order and Rick gave me a nice active duty military discount.

    I decided to get N2VZ’s Turbo Tuner for ease of operation. Operating HF while driving is already complicated enough and I wanted to make tuning the antenna as easy as possible. Bill was very responsive and also provided a military discount.

    I had ordered all the equipment while in Iraq, so everything was waiting for me when I arrived home.

    The install took two days. Perhaps the hardest part was mounting the IC-706MKIIG under the passenger’s seat. Already installed under the seat was my ICOM IC-208H – my trusty VHF/UHF rig. I’d originally installed this rig during my circumnavigation of the continental US back in 2005. During that install, I only partially removed the passenger’s seat. This time I pulled the seat completely out of the truck which greatly helped me successfully position both the IC-208H and the IC-706MKIIG in the limited space.

    Routing the feedline from the rig to the stake pocket mount was fairly easy, making use of the rubber grommet directly under the passenger’s seat and zip ties along the feedline’s path to the rear of the truck. Soldering the connections to the stake pocket mount was straight forward but it was a bit tricky feeding the line up through the bottom of the stake pocket.

    Setup of the Turbo Tuner was a snap; I followed the provided instructions step-by-step, making sure I had the DIP switches positioned properly.

    Mounting the antenna onto the Geotool stake pocket mount was made easier by using the HI-Q’s Giant Quick Disconnect. Payment was via PayPal and Charlie, W6HIQ, had it on my doorstep within the week. Thanks Charlie!

    How does it work? So far, so good. More reports from the road are coming… and maybe a picture or two.

    Headed Home

    After a year deployment in Iraq, I am heading home.

    I have not been keeping this blog up to date, but hope to make some posts here to describe my experiences operating an amateur station in Iraq (YI9MI). Other plans when I get home are to attempt a QSO with my dad (KD6EUG) – Virginia to California. My dad upgraded to General last year and we have not yet had the opportunity to have an HF QSO. I’m also going to install a Tarheel screwdriver antenna on my Toyota Tundra to enjoy some mobile HF while I am on the road this summer.

    I am looking forward to getting back to the States!

    Cleveland, OH to St. Louis, MO

    Another long day and lots of rain. I left the hotel in Cleveland around 8:15am and found a place to park near the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and put my antennas back on. I put on the 40M Hustler to see if it would make a difference with the problem I was having with the Icom AT-180 tuner. I rolled out and tested the radio with the Hustler antenna but encountered the same problem as before.

    I headed over to the AES store in Cleveland. The store was well stocked – equivalent to what I’ve encountered in an HRO store, although I think AES had more magazines and books. I purchased an Icom AH-4 longwire tuner and a LDG 4:1 balun.

    Back in the parking lot I disconnected all the cables on the AT-180 and then reconnected them. That seemed to have fixed the problem…. because 40M started working without issue. I had a nice QSO with Stan, W??JMV, who was operating from his attic radio room on the Jersey shore. I then checked into the ECARS net, the NCS had a nice solid signal. I then worked 20M talking to England, Serbia, Czech Republic, and Italy.

    When I was about 5 miles east of St Louis a tremendous rain started coming down – I had to pull over on the side of the highway. It was the worst downpour I’ve ever seen. Tomorrow should be an easier drive.

    Hampton, VA to Cleveland, OH

    I left yesterday at about 10:20am, having done a poor job packing and generally having any semblance of organization. I ended up dumping a lot of extra stuff in a footlocker, piled everything in the backseat of the truck and headed out. Not more than a few feet out of the driveway I answered a CQ from Andy, W2QIQ. Andy has been a ham for 66 years (as opposed to my 6 years). He served in the Army during WWII in Europe, starting in Egland, making his way through France and ending up in Berlin.

    My radio started acting up on 40M. I was using my Workman Hamstick tuned for the 40M phone band. The Icom AT-180 gets a good match right away bringing the SWR down to a 1:1. But then after I’m transmitting for about a minute, the Tune light flashes for about 10 or 15 seconds and then the Tune light shuts off and the power drops and SWR goes up. My first guess is that the radio and tuner need to have a better ground. But the matching impedance range for the AT-180 is only between 16 and 150 ohms, so that could be the problem. This is only a problem on 40M.

    My TH-D7A APRS kludge seems to be working well when there is a digipeater. When I was on I-77N coming across the West Virginia/Ohio border, I accidentally pulled one of the power leads. I didn’t really notice it because all through the Smoky Mountains the APRS coverage was nonexistent. I got a few hits through Charleston, WV and then it (maybe) tapered off after Charleston or maybe I had pulled the power. When I was approaching Canton, OH, I knew something had to be wrong, because it was such a large area it would have to have a digipeater. That’s when I noticed the power was disconnected. I reattached the power and there was tons of APRS traffic.

    Had some nice QSOs along the way: KL7GKY, EB7xx, YU1XA, and KB5YAY.

    Blue Ridge Mountains DXpedition

    The Thursday before Labor Day Weekend I was able to get off work an hour early and headed up to Fort Eustis through a light drizzle (the early beginnings of Tropical Storm Ernesto) to pick up the RV. The beast was 29′ long and about 11′ high. A young gentlemen gave me a orientation of the vehicle which lasted about 45 minutes. First an initial walk around, then an explanation of how to flush the black and gray water holding tanks, how to connect city water, how to connect electricity, how to operate the generator, and how to operate the propane supply. All of this and we hadn’t even made it inside the RV yet. When we did make it inside, I was briefed up on how to operate the test panel, how to turn on the water heater, and a assortment of additional tips for easy operation of all the RV’s features. For instance…. don’t run the A/C while also running the microwave and the water heater takes 20 minutes to provide enough hot water for a shower. There was also a TV with an external antenna that cranks up into position. Nothing super complex, just lots and lots of stuff.

    It was a slow ride on I-64 back to Hampton. Not because of heavy traffic, but because I was trying to get a feel for piloting the beast. The wheel was a little loose and it took a while to slow down. The rain didn’t help much. I arrived home and parked out in the street in front of the house. When untethered to an electrical hook up, the RV uses propane to keep the refrigerator going. To avoid depleting the propane, I ran a heavy duty extension cord out to the RV to give it a steady supply of juice.

    We decided to watch the progress of Ernesto and wait to see if we’d leave Friday or postpone until Saturday. As the night progressed the winds picked up and the rain continued on.

    Friday morning showed that the rain and wind were still continuing. My weather station indicated the rain had picked up around 2am and was maintaining a consistent heavy downpour. The radar showed the southern edge of Ernesto nearing the North Carolina border to the south. Even though the storm would clear our location by about 2pm reports from the roadways indicated things were a mess for motorists and we decided to move our departure to Saturday morning. It was at this time that I noticed the water out front was rising significantly. I could see the water level approaching the storage compartments underneath the RV. After shuffling the cars in the driveway, I splashed out to the RV parked on the street/canal, started it and did a loop around the block to position it to allow me to pull into the driveway. The short loop showed that a few other streets had flooded and small tree limbs and other debris was accumulating in the road – but nothing severe.

    Ernesto passed by about 3pm and the standing water drained quickly. We did a quick clean up of all the fallen leaves and small branches in the yard and then repositioned the RV in the driveway for easy loading. From all reports, we were wise to delay our departure as fallen trees and the rain had closed down section of I-64.

    Saturday morning arrived and we finished packing the RV and got on the road. Traffic was light and moved well. I kept the speed at about 55-60mph, still getting a feel for how the RV handled. After one break at a rest stop west of Richmond for lunch, we pressed on towards the Misty Mountain Campground in Crozet, VA. Enjoyed a nice QSO on a repeater in Charlottesville with Harry, W2HD. I later found out (according to QRZ.com) that Harry was a former president of ARRL! He chatted a little about being in the Navy but never mentioned the fact of his involvement with The League.

    After checking in to the Misty Mountain Campgrounds HQ we arrived at our camp site. The hookups were pretty straight forward and soon enough we had the RV humming.

    On Sunday we took the truck to explore the first fifty miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway. What a beautiful area! I was able to hit one of the repeaters back in Hampton from the first overlook along the Parkway. Pretty good for a 150 mile path using 50 watts on FM.


    Sunday night I set up the ARSIB and tried to work both S9SS (Western Africa) and P43W (Aruba) but failed to break the pile ups.

    Monday morning I had a nice QSO on 40M with Jim, W2SY up in Syracuse, NY. After enlisting in 1940, Jim served in the Army during WWII and participated in the Africa, Italy, and European campaigns. Jim gave me a nice 59 report and am glad I was able to get at least one HF contact before it was time to pack up shop .

    The trip home encountered a little bit of rain, but traffic was also light and the trip was uneventful. Average speed on I-64 was probably about 65mph as I was feeling a little more comfortable driving by now.

    All in all, I enjoyed the RV DXpedition. Next time I will set up the rig earlier and try to do more operating.

    This weekend….

    Got to do a recon up to the Misty Mountain Campground where I’ll be headed over Labor Day. The journey should not be too difficult. The campground looks nice. Tucked at the base of the Blue Ridge, it is a shady, quiet place – small pool and shaded areas where the RVs are tethered to their power and water supplies. There was a ham RV in the camp, but I can’t remember his callsign. Nice Class A motorhome with a small vertical antenna mounted on the back.

    I got another envelope from the QSL bureau! It had about 4 or 5 QSL cards from Belgium. One had the special “OO” callsign from last year’s anniversary celebration.

    Received a letter from Tom, AA4TB, in South Carolina that I asked about setting up a CW sked. A regular CW sked would really help me out and get me on the air practicing CW. I need to reply to him.

    Been sampling the Samuel Adams Brewer Patriot Collection. Four 12oz beers come in a box. The flavors are interesting: Traditional Ginger Honey Ale, James Madison™ Dark Wheat Ale, George Washington Porter® and 1790 Root Beer Brew™. Now, understand that I am usually an adventurous beer drinker… but the Root Beer Brew was not good. Tasted like a juniper bush and licorious placed in a vat of otherwise unimpressive beer. The George Washington Porter was pretty good, although I’m not a huge porter fan. I haven’t got to the other two flavors yet… we’ll see.

    The rest of today – I need to clean up the shack (… and the rest of the house!).