What's In A Grid Square?

A lot of times you'll hear references to "grid squares" or more specifically "Maidenhead Grid Squares". You see 'em on QRZ.com, read about them in contest reports, and see where some contests especially for ATV, VHF, or UHF use them instead of States or Counties.

Here are a few links that will lead you to more than you ever wanted to know:

ARRL Web Page on Grid Squares

AMSAT Grid Square Conversion to and from Lat/Lon

One of the more interesting sites I recently saw mentioned on the LinuxHam mailing list is the Ham Radio Maidenhead Grid Square Locator Map. You can put in a call sign, grid quare, or a street address and it will use Google Maps and QRZ.com data to give you all sorts of location information. Here's a sample of what you get when you enter the call sign W1AW, the station at ARRL headquarters:

Whether you're into VHF/UHF contesting or are just curious where your local hams are at these resources provide some interesting information in an easy to use format.

73, Tim N9PUZ

It's Lincoln Trail Hike Time!

Next week, Saturday April 24th is the 2010 Boy Scouts of America Lincoln Trail Hike. Each year Central Illinois Hams provide phone and APRS support. The screen capture below is from http://aprs.fi. You can see myself and Bob KC9HGW (EPA2) testing out trackers and radios in the Springfield, IL area.

73, Tim N9PUZ

Ozarkcon 2010

Last weekend my wife Teri K9TLM and I went to Branson, MO to attend our first ever Ozarkcon put on by the 4 State QRP Group. It was fantastic as was the weather.

Saturday included several informative seminars. In this photo Dave Gauding NF0R describes a small loop he built from a bicycle rim.

Ozarkcon also featured several opportunities for kit building. Here, Paul N9PCS works on a keyer.

Creativity was unbounded. This building entry in the "Whacky Key" category featured a key carved from a potato and a carrot. Vegatarian CW anyone?

Of course there was serious work at Ozarkcon too. Here, Dave NM0S plays along with the nightly Bluegrass concert. Musicians came from Ozarkcon attendees as well as locals who just dropped in to jam.

All in all this is a laid back, highly recommended event. Schedules permitting I plan to go back in 2011. Hope to see you there!

73, Tim N9PUZ

Springfield Road Runners 1/2 Marathon

This year members of the Sangamon Valley Radio Club and Springfield's Community Emergency Response Team - C.E.R.T joined forces to support the Springfield Road Runners 1/2 Marathon.

There were 1,050 runners from around the Midwest that participated under cloudy skies and fortunately just a few minutes of rain. In this photo a group of runners goes through a water stop in Washington Park.


We utilized the local K9CZ 440.400 MHz UHF repeater as well as APRS to keep in touch with radio operators around the course. A UI-View APRS station was used to track medical vehicles and two pace vehicles. One was at the front ahead of the first runners, a second followed behind the last runners. This allowed race officials to observe the race as it progressed in addition to listening to voice communications.

You can see an UI-View APRS display and a VHF/UHF "go kit:" with radios, power supply, etc.

The trailer was provided by C.E.R.T. which is sponsored by the City of Springfield Fire Department.

The lead vehicle in the marathon was an Illinois State Police cruiser. Steve K9WAV and his son Ben KC9KNL are installing an APRS tracker system in the squad car at around 6:30AM.

SVRC volunteers were everywhere. Here Claudia N9HHE watches as a group of runners approaches the intersection she was watching.

Of course no matter how smoothly an event comes off there is always room for improvement. Here Bob KC9HGW and Steve K9WAV discuss the event and brain storm ways to improve support for 2011.

73, Tim N9PUZ

We've Been Disrespected!

Earlier today I installed a copy of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Express. I mostly use an older version of that toolset but I needed to make a small change to a program that someone wrote in VB 2008. I was looking through the help files to look at the correct syntax for something and I ran across this little gem in the MSDN Library:

People express themselves using a language that has many words. Computers use a simple language that consists of only 1s and 0s, with a 1 meaning "on" and a 0 meaning "off." Trying to talk to a computer in its own language would be like trying to talk to your friends by using Morse code—it can be done, but why would you?

Unbelievable! I plan to send Microsoft a note about this. Surely if those people on TV who say "make my computer so it doesn't crash" can get an entire new version of Windows created just for them Microsoft will move quickly to correct this horrible statement.

73, Tim N9PUZ

Updating the Kantronics KPC-3 TNC

I've added some information on breathing some new life into older Kantronics KPC-3 TNCs. These are often available at bargain prices and you can make them very useful as digipeaters for APRS, etc.

Finally, the New Web Site

For quite some time now I've been meaning to move my web site and redo some things. That has finally happened to some extent. The site continues to be found at www.n9puz.com. Hosting is provided by HAMS4U and I highly recommend them. They do a great job and obviously cater to Amateur Radio.

A few of the articles on the old site are missing. They will be back but contained outdated information, broken links, etc. that will get fixed in due time.

73, Tim N9PUZ

A Busy Spring...

2010 has certainly turned out to be a busy time. So much that I've done a really bad job of keeping up with the N9PUZ blog here. Hopefully this post will bring you up to date and I'll have to post more on projects as I go.

First off there was exciting EmComm news here in Illinois. The Governor and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency announced that RACES once again has a role here. Shortly after that announcement Brad Pioveson W9FX who is the State RACES Officer and Jim Pitchford N9LQF who is one of the two Assistant RACES Officers asked if I would help with station planning for the primary Amateur Radio station that will serve the State Emergency Operation Center.

Next up I was appointed to the ARES position of Illinois Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator for Digital Operations. This covers some of the same issues we're looking at on the RACES team but also encompasses what I hope will be some opportunities to help ARES groups in other counties use various digital communications technologies more effectively. At this point in the process I am in learning mode. I'm trying to find out what people are currently doing, what they would like to do, etc.

There are some fun things on the horizon as well. In a couple of weeks my wife Teri K9TLM and I are heading to Branson, MO for the 2010 Ozarkcon QRP Conference. We'll also be making our annual pilgrimage to Hamvention and FDIM in Dayton in May.

There are a couple of interesting projects in the works too. I'll save those for another post.

73, Tim N9PUZ

Wisconsin QSO Party

Today was the Wisconsin QSO Party. I didn't have a lot of time to play so I decided to stick to 40 Meters and operated QRP CW. Those multipliers really add up -- my 10 contacts netted me 320 points!

73, Tim N9PUZ

Things Are Looking Up!

Today's main project was to switch out my network router and clean up some cabling. That involved reconfiguring a wireless LAN bridge between the office and the ham shack. Ultimately it went well but the wireless bridge is always a little cantankerous. Basically it doesn't like change but is a solid performer once you coerce it to change configuration.

There's good in everything though. Since I was in the shack area I fired up the radios and low and behold a couple of the locals on 146.430 were mentioning that signals were being heard on 10 Meters! Wow, It's been a long time since 10 was open. I took a little bit of a break and worked a few stations out East.

I really enjoy 10 Meters. The band was nice and quiet and a lot of stations were perfect copy even at S1 signal levels. Maybe happy days are here again!


73 -- Tim N9PUZ

Hardware Hacking and Radio Connections

In this a recent blog posting Dan KB6NU writes about hardware hacking. The more I think about it, how cool would it be if manufacturers like Elecraft or Ten-Tec would open source some or all of the software code for their radios so people could develop replacements or extensions?

I'm sure there are parts of that code they wouldn't want to let out but I still think it would be neat if they gave us an API so we could drop in our own filtering, control links, etc.

Speaking of radio control and modifications, the more I use my Icom IC-7200 the more I like it. A favorite feature is the built-in USB port that provides both rig control and access to the on-board audio-codec for digital modes. Once you install the drivers the USB port lets you use the sound card built in to the radio instead of the one in your PC. Makes a very nice single cable solution.

73 -- Tim N9PUZ

Where Does The Time Go?

Hmmm, 18 days without a post. What gives here?

It seems like since the holidays began I've been going non-stop although for the most part it's all been good stuff. The only Ham related item is that in December of 2009 I was elected to the Secretary position of the Sangamon Valley Radio Club here in Springfield, Illinois.

I hope to get back to some radio work and projects soon. Of course I'll be sharing those adventures here.

73 -- Tim, N9PUZ

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2010!

It was a busy December 2009 here. Lots of work and home projects that were necessary but largely uninteresting. I hope everyone's year ended on a good note and that 2010 will be good for you.

I just barely participated in ARRL Straight Key Night last night. Hope to make a few more contacts today.

73,

Tim, N9PUZ

DDS Sine Wave Generator

I have not had a chance to experiment with this yet but it's pretty interesting. I ran across a project using an Arduino board from the Academy of Media Arts Cologne where they generate a nice looking sine wave in software from 0 to 16kHz. The project is found here

This picture from the project's web page shows the Arduino board with a low pass output filter and a picture of a generated wave form on the oscilloscope. behind it. The web site mentions they have used a similar system to generate audio tones for a WSPR project as well.

73,

Tim, N9PUZ

.

One of my recent projects was a WM-2 watt meter from Oak Hills Research.


The WM-2 is a solid piece of test equipment with 5% accuracy and three power ranges: 5W, 1W, and 100 mW. I have a couple of small QRP transceiver projects in mind for the winter and the WM-2 seems like it will be a useful addition to my test bench.

Evaluation: The components in the kit are very nice quality. The meter movement and quality of the dial face are very nice. The instructions, while thorough could benefit from a couple of actual pictures vs. drawings in a few places but all in all if you pay attention to the instructions you'll end up with a working instrument right from the start.

73,

Tim N9PUZ

ARRL Sweepstakes - Phone

Pssst, hey kid... wanna do Worked All States in a weekend? This is Sweepstakes Phone weekend. There will be many, many operators on all trying to make as many phone contacts as possible beginning mid-day Saturday. Hope to put a bunch of you in the logbook!

73,

Tim, N9PUZ

MCP9700A Temperature Sensor Arduino Library

I've done a little polishing on my code for using the Microchip MCP9700A Temperature Sensor and converted it to a library for the Arduino. I'm releasing it under the GPL in case it might be of use to anyone else. You can download it here:

MCP9700A.ZIP

This is my first attempt at an Arduino library. Comments welcome.

73,

Tim, N9PUZ

Temperature Sensing on the Cheap

Recently I was experimenting and needed a temperature sensor in a TO-92 type package. After a little searching I discovered the Microchip MCP9700A. This sensor is a bargain at about $0.36 each in single quantities from Mouser.

The interface is dead simple. Vcc, Ground, and an output that you can hook directly to an ADC input of a micro. The part I chose measures from -40C to +125C and outputs 10 millivolts per degree. If you need Fahrenheit temperatures it's easy enough to do the conversion once you know Celsius.

I tested the sensor out with one of the Arduino boards and easily had it measuring and displaying room temperature in about hour.

73,

Tim N9PUZ

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Well, here in central Illinois we just wrapped up receiving many inches of rain in just a few days. I know some of you would love to have a bit of it and believe me if there was a way I'd certainly share.

Over the course of the last couple of days we've had some sump pump problems to resolve. These included:

• The outlet line plugging up because of the pump sucking up some gravel,
• Replacing the pump,
• Having to run a secondary utility pump because so much water was coming in that the regular one could not pump fast enough.

Why would you care about any of this? Well, there's a lot of down time in the middle of the night tending pumps, etc. and I got to thinking about some ways to monitor this ground water situation. There isn't a full formed project in my mind yet but some things I think might be important include:

• A sensor to detect the water level in the sump well being above a certain level and the pump not running.
• The amount of time the pump has run in the past hour. Actually, the amount of water that has been discharged would be cool but that might really complicate the system. I don't want the monitoring/measuring to decrease reliability.
• An audible/visual alert in the main living space if there are problems.
• A system to send me a text message if there are problems for when I'm not at home.

I'll be giving more thought to this. Other important household things are in the same vicinity as the sump so I may give some thought to anything I may want to watch over in terms of the furnace, etc. as well. All this looks like a job for one of those Arduino boards I've been tinkering with.

73,

Tim N9PUZ

Another Breakfast Success!

This past Saturday there was another successful "No Host Ham Radio Breakfast" here in Springfield, Illinois. We had good attendance with I believe about 51 people from quite a few of the surrounding counties.

I highly recommend that people do something similar wherever you live. Essentially I just pick a date and then start talking it up on the area radio nets, sending emails, etc. On the chosen date we meet at a buffet style restaurant for breakfast and spend a couple of hours catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. The only "official" activity aside from eating is a chance for everyone to introduce themselves and mention any local activities coming up with their organizations.

I think the "no host" format is important to the success. By that I mean that there is no club or organization sponsoring the get together. It always seems like there are people who don't like the local club, don't like the nearby club, don't like the ARES group, etc. Yet somehow if there's no organization involved they're able to come eat and have fun. People. Go figure.

73,

Tim, N9PUZ