Author Archives: AREGNews

AREG Meeting 20th November: FM Broadcast DXing

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Often, during the summer months, it is often possible to hear FM broadcast stations from far and wide thanks to the Ionosphere and Troposphere bending signals over the horizon. There are a few tricks to getting the most out of tuning the broadcast band looking for that distant station however.

At the next AREG meeting on Friday the 20th of November, Andy, VK5LA will give a presentation on “DXing” the FM band. He will discuss, what gear is needed, what gear works best and how to identify stations you don’t normally hear and cover topics like locations, antenna polarisation, and explore the RDS station ID feature built in to most modern FM receivers.

Andy will also discuss using the ACMA database to determine if that exotic station you’ve just tuned in to is 70, 700 or 1700 km away and describe the various propagation modes that make this interesting activity possible. Finally he will take a look at how that information can be used to predict openings on the 6 metre (50MHz) band and above.

How can you take part in this meeting?

  • Due to the latest COVID-19 restrictions, the presentation will be via Zoom for members starting by 7.45pm South Australian Summer Time.
  • Visitors will be able to watch the lecture via Hayden VK7HH’s HamRadio DX Channel on YouTube.

We hope to see you there!

For interstate viewers the times are:

  • 8.15pm AEDT (Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Canberra)
  • 7:15pm QST (Brisbane)
  • 6.45pm CST (Darwin)
  • 5:15pm WST (Perth)
  • 09:15 UTC

AREG 2m Fox Hunt Fridays

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Have you ever heard of Fox Hunting? Do you remember the days when teams of people chased 2m hidden transmitters all over town? Would you like to join in the fun? The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group is commencing a new series of “Hidden Transmitter hunts” or “Fox hunts” as they are known on the 2m band over the summer daylight savings season this year.

The first event will be held on Friday the 13th of November. This will be a cross-town hunt with a two metre fox being hidden somewhere within the Adelaide metropolitan area. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join in.

The hunt will commence from the car park of the Lockleys Oval, Rutland Avenue Lockleys. Hounds are encouraged to gather at the start from 6.15pm. The fox will begin transmitting at 6.30pm. The fox’s frequency will be announced via the VK5RSB 70cm Summertown repeater on 439.900 MHz just before the hunt begins. Hunters are welcome to liaise via VK5RSB during the event (note that a 91.5 Hz CTCSS tone is required to access the repeater).

This will the first of many monthly fox hunts hosted by AREG over the coming months which will be announced on our website and via our Facebook page as well as the local VK5 WIA news.

So dust off your ARDF gear, we look forward to seeing you there!

VK5RWN D-Star update

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For information of all VK5RWN D-Star users, remote connectivity has been re-established late Wednesday evening, 21 October.

So users of Hot Spots, Dongles, DVAPs, you can again log onto the VK5RWN C or B modules.

If you have connection problems, you may need to update your hot spot Host Files. If the problem persists, email Ben VK5BB, and he will see what he can do to provide help.

You can also check the VK5RWN dash board to see connections and the Last Heard list,

vk5rwn.areg.org.au

For those interested in the technicalities, the problem was that when we reconfigured the local router that serves the VK5RWN D-Star computer, we missed setting some ports within the router to allow throughput.

The missing port numbers were not listed within the Icom manual for the setting up the D-Star system. However with some advice from a couple D-Star administrators, we identified the missing port numbers and I also then found them in older set up documents that were not checked in our search for answers. Isn’t that always the way of it?

It turns out that these ports are not needed by the main Icom D-Star system, which was working well without them, but are used by third party software that has been added to the D-Star operating system that allows additional services within the D-Star networks.

Have fun exploring and playing with D-Star.

VK5RWN D-Star repeater Network Link off line!

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AREG has, for a number of years now, operated the internet link for VK5RWN via a number of free member provided services. Alas, our last member in 5.8GHz range of VK5RWN (who doesn’t have trees in the way) has left the area.

As a result, AREG is now moving the DSTAR internet service to a paid internet service (Kern WiFi) so the VK5RWN D*STAR gateway can continue. The new service was installed on Friday the 4th of September. We hope to complete the remaining network reconfiguration work over the next 2-3 days. As soon as thats done, D*STAR network services will be restored.

Meanwhile, the VK5RWN D-Star repeater is still fully operational as a local (2m & 70cm) DV repeater. However, as there is no Internet network connectivity at the VK5RWN site, remote linking of repeaters, reflectors and hot spot connectivity is not available.

AREG is sorry for any inconvenience that may be experienced, however please bear with us while we work to restore service within the next few days.

Can you help Us?

With the substantial increase in operating costs, AREG would encourage any and all D*STAR operators in the Adelaide area to consider becoming members of AREG or at least consider a yearly donation to the club. This will help cover the now more than $1000+ per year running costs for power and Internet.

[paypal-donation purpose=”DSTAR Repeater” reference=”DSTAR Repeater”]

Your support of the Adelaide VK5RWN DSTAR node is greatly appreciated!

VK5RSB 70cm Repeater Service

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14 May 2020

Note: VK5RSB is still on air – but its tail is now VERY short. We will rectify the problem with the tail as soon as we can.

5 May 2020

Further update regarding the VK5RSB operations.

In the exuberance of the repeater service crew to see VK5RSB running with the AREG repeater controller, the repeater’s operations in conjunction with access to the IRLP network was overlooked.

IRLP node 6214, is accessed via the VK5RSB 70cm repeater.

The IRLP network managers do not like local repeaters sending “Roger Beeps” and repeater idents out into the IRLP system. This is because such idents etc will be transmitted elsewhere in the world, which is certainly not appropriate!

Under the previous setup of the VK5RSB 70cm repeater, the CW ID was generated within the Motorola Quantar but was transmitted without CTCSS, therefore not keying the IRLP unit and not being transmitted over the IRLP system, which needs CTCSS to be keyed for operation.

Therefore, with this in consideration, the “Roger Beep” has been turned off and the repeater “Tail” has been shortened to 1 second.

The Voice indent will remain for the short term, as any ident generated by the AREG repeater controller will still be transmitted with CTCSS.

The current final solution to this oversight, is to remove the AREG repeater controller and reset the Quantar code plug as had been previously.

The repeater service crew are sorry for any issues that came about from this exuberance.

We trust that all will continue to enjoy and take advantage of the VK5RSB repeaters.

4 May 2020

Just a quick update on the VK5RSB 70cm repeater.

This morning Paul VK5BX, myself Ben VK5BB and the Covid 19 Supervisor, Alesia (harmonic) attended at the VK5RSB site.

Purpose of the visit was to,

  • change over the VK5RSB 70cm repeater Motorola Quantar,
  • one out, one in, setup for operation with the AREG repeater controller,
  • re-fit the AREG repeater controller for the 70cm repeater,
  • check the site installation operation.

The equipment change over was without issue and the operation is successful with the new configuration of the repeater working well.

Noticeable operational changes,

  • 5 second long tail
  • a “Roger beep”,
  • the time out timer resets on the “Roger beep” (so no need to wait for the tail to drop)
  • voice ID
  • on long overs, a low level CW ID will play over top of the QSO.

Many thanks must go to Paul for his perseverance and time in setting up the replacement Quantar and mating it with the AREG repeater controller.

Reports and feedback would be much appreciated please.

AREG wishes Seasons Greetings, with a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year Year to all!

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To all members of AREG and readers, Seasons Greetings to you all, for a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year for you, your families and friends.

 

 

Remember, large antenna arrays are an OH&S matter late Christmas eve,

 

 

 

 

We also trust that if you are on the “Nice List” that that new rig that you are thinking about, may be in the gifts found under your family Christmas Tree.

 

 

 

At this time when many people are suffering hardship from the many bush fires throughout Australia, both here in the Adelaide environs and on the East Coast, we trust that you all keep safe and get a break to be able to take time out and relax for some Christmas Cheer with family and friends.

To the many dedicated Volunteers who are selflessly putting in many hours to help within their communities, please Play Safe, Stay Safe, our thoughts are with you and your families and friends at this time.

 

 

 

VK5RWN D-Star system upgraded to allow linking to XRF & DCS reflectors

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For those who came in late………….

The VK5RWN D-Star gateway and repeater system was upgraded in May June 2018 with a new computer running 64 bit CentOS 7 and the new Icom G3 gateway software.

Between then and March 2019, the system has proven to be relatively stable with only a couple of minor hiccups where the computer has shut itself down? We believe this may have been due to the CPU over heating or something similar? This is still being addressed.

VK5RWN is a D-Star gateway system, registered on the US Root Trust database and primarily runs an application called Dplus which manages the linking and routing functions on the D-Star Internet network between other D-Star gateways/repeaters/reflectors.

As such, users are able to connect to other repeater/gateways and Dplus based Reflectors anywhere around the World, or even to other registered D-Star users via Call Sign Routing, a bit like a “private” call in the commercial PMR world.

In principle, within the D-Star world, there are two D-Star Internet networks, the Dplus/US Root Trust network and the ircDDB D-Star open network. Again in principle, the two are mutually exclusive networks and are not interconnected.

This creates an issue where D-Star users accessing the “D-Star World” via a Dplus connection cannot connect to other gateways and reflectors that are using the ircDDB network and vice versa and are therefore limited to accessing the Dplus REFxxxX reflectors. (eg REF023C)

Hams being hams, they just cannot help themselves, the challenge was there and so software was developed that when installed on the Dplus Icom based gateways, allowed interconnectivity into the ircDDB networks and allow access to the XRFxxxX and DCSxxxX based reflectors. One version of this software is called “g2_link” and is designed to be added to existing Icom based D-Star gateway systems on the US Root Trust network.

Early March 2019, Michael VK5ZEA, who is custodian of the VK5REX D-Star system on lower Eyre Peninsular, advised me that he has rebuilt the VK5REX system and had successfully installed the “g2_link” software with the help of Terry, KA8SCP. Michael also passed on Terry’s contact details, whereupon I made contact and asked Terry if he would mind assisting with installing the “g2_link” software on VK5RWN.

Terry most kindly agreed to assist and arrangements were made that allowed Terry to install the software and set up the necessary configuration and interlocks so that both the Dplus and the ‘g2_link’ accessed networks could be worked via VK5RWN.

This now allows for D-Star users to access VK5RWN via a RF input from their D-Star radios and they may now access both the REFxxxX, XRFxxxX and DCSxxxX reflectors and gateways.

A bonus as part of this new configuration, new Dashboards were part of the set-up and now show the connection status and ‘Last Heard’ lists of the VK5RWN system.

Have a look at

For D-star users, please read the instructions at the bottom of the XRF/DCS Dashboard. This is important as there are two distinctly different “linking” or “unlinking” commands to connect or disconnect to and from REF reflectors and the XRF/DCS reflectors. This is so that the system can differentiate between a request via Dplus or the ‘g2_link’ and allow the respective link request to be actioned or disconnected.

It is recommended for D-Star users to use VK5RWN Port C, the two metre port, for connecting to any of the reflectors as VK5RWN Port B, the 70cm port, is normally permanently connected to the REF023C Australasian/Oceania reflector. Before connecting to a reflector, please ensure that the Port is not currently connected to anywhere else. The VK5RWN B 70cm port may be used, but it must be disconnected from REF023C first.

I wish to thank Michael VK5ZEA for his support and advice and especially Terry, KA8SCP, for his help, patience and advice where I needed to do some house keeping that allows VK5RWN to function as a flexible D-Star gateway, allowing D-Star users access to the big wide world via both the Dplus and ircDDB D-Star networks.

73 Ben VK5BB