A brief training class at the Flagler Public Library last Saturday, 19-June-2010. About 10 people in attendance. We didn’t spend much time actually programming radios, but talking about D-Star technology and how to use the system. Dove into the particulars of the NEFL-Dstar system construction and plans.
Next time, we’ll do a workshop concentrated on programming.
We will distribute programming files (or have links to where you can download) on this blog. Stay tuned for sometime mid-this-week.
In order to be consistent with other D-Star “conventions”, we will be using REF034C (Charlie) as our repeater “bridge” for connecting the four repeaters in the NEFL D-Star Network (instead of REF034A).
Timer scripts for both the Palm Coast and Daytona Beach D-Star gateways have been updated and will automatically LINK to the appropriate reflectors for the Sunday night SouthEastern D-Star Weather Net on REF002A, as well as the Monday night Florida Hurricane Net onREF034A. The timers will then unlink from the scheduled Net reflectors, and link the systems back to REF034C after the scheduled Nets in order to form the seamless NEFL-DSTAR network.
Final reminder – the Florida Hurricane Net will be moved to Reflector 034A, effective 21-June-2010. Ask your Gateway Administrators to restart dPlus so that they will have access to the new Reflectors.
Jun 18
Iportable Go Kit.
http://www.iportableus.com/
Dayton 2010 was a wonderful first time experience for me and the XYL and the best part was that we got to share it with friends and fellow hams, Mike, WB6RTH and Eddie, KJ4LRB. Anyway back to the subject at hand, Go Kits. We found several really neat items there but I think the iportable Go Kits were the best find of all. These boxes are made from rugged hard plastic and you can literally stand on them. There are three models available. The model I purchased came prewired with two 20A circuits and included a built in speaker, cigarette plug and a power pole outlet that could be used to feed the kit or as an additional power source should you choose to feed the kit internally. I choose to feed my kit by installing a 30A switcher. I know that Mike purchased several of these Kits and has put together a couple kits so far. I call my kit the WINSTAR Kit. The name comes from the fact that it is fully D-STAR capable and also has a separate WINLINK station installed complete with TNC. I purchased an extra shelf to mount the TNC. I found the internally mounted speaker to produce pretty good sound, much better than the radio’s own speaker. The kit also comes with a headphone jack on front for easy access to headphone use. The kit comes with removable front and back panels for storage and transporting.
The sky is the limit and only your imagination and engineering limits what you put in your kit or how you configure it. I mounted one of the radios up front and the second radio I mounted in the storage bin in the back and ran the head out remotely using the separation cable.
The N4FPS WINSTAR GO KIT
Equipment included in the N4FPS Go Kit:
2 – ID880H Transceivers
1 – SEC 1235M Metered Power Supply
1 – Kantronics KPC 9612 dual port TNC
1 – PWRgate PG40S for auto switching to DC and battery charging
1 – Gateway Netbook Computer upgraded with Windows 7 Pro and 2gig Ram
1 – Arrow J-Pole Dual Band Portable Antenn
Kit Features:
*Rack Mount Design with Adjustable Shelf.
*Mounts any Mobile Radio / Power supply up to 8.5” x 11” size.
*Front and Rear Transport Covers included
*Rack Mount Shelf has universal slots for Equipment mounting.
*Can Mount up to 2 Radios or Radio/Power supply, Meters combo.
*Pre-wired 12AWG to Power 2 Radios @ 20Amps each.
*Individually fused with automotive ACT/ATO fuses.
*Anderson Power poles AUX 12V@ 30Amps Front Mounted and fused.
*Cigarette Plug for Accessories 12V @ 10 Amp fused.
*Rack Speaker 3” Front firing.
*Audio pre-wired for Radio with 3.5mm plug.
*Headphone ¼” Jack on front panel (Mutes rack speaker).
*Power LED (Red) indicator.
*Rear Storage for power cord / Mic’s and or 12V 7.2Au sealed battery.
*Xtreme Rugged Case design with extra wide carrying strap.
*Powder Coated and Silkscreen
*Comes with one Shelf.
*Radios and Lights Not Included
Bottom Line:
This is a tough kit that is easy to put together. The fact that it is prewired and has external power ports gives it a big plus mark in my book. Some may say the $250.00 price tag is a bit steep but I found it to be a real bargain considering how well it’s constructed and the prewired amenities.
From Monday’s Florida Hurricane Net – the largest participation to date:
This net is gaining momentum and the need is building. This year’s hurricane season is forecasted to be more severe than normal.
Net is on Monday’s at 21:00 local, on Reflector REF034A. If joining on RF, please use your local repeater, or use a DVAP and connect to REF034A.
Route questions to Bob (N6USP), Doug (N4FPS) or Mike (WB6RTH).
A picture from the Flagler County Commissioners’ Meeting on 7-June-2010.
Photo courtesy of John Woika
click to enlarge
Jun 16
Our friend and fellow Flagler ARES member Rick Palm (K1CE) has mentioned our newly re-constituted ARES group every month since December. Pretty high compliment, when you know that the ARRL ARES E-Letter has a distribution in the tens-of-thousands. I guess it would be even better if we craved the attention, but we don’t. We’re just a bunch of guys who want to do the right thing – treat people right, be respectful and courteous, do our very best and make a positive difference in our community. It’s really not hard – mostly common sense – but regardless, “Thanks Rick, for the kind words”..!!
Here’s a screen print of this morning’s article – if you don’t subscribe, please do so at the ARRL Member profile screens on the ARRL website..
We were able to install the gateway computer and the router last night at the St. Johns EOC where KJ4RYF is located. But, I’m sad to report that the system is NOT operational yet – the master router (owned by the County EOC) was not configured correctly, so that will need to be corrected (hopefully, today).
Once the corrections are performed, the gateway system should automatically start. We’ll monitor the system remotely (via computer) to help verify that the router changes are correct, then insure that the autostart of the dPlus Linking software is successful.
Stay tuned for more updates..
Jun 16
D-RATS
http://d-rats.danplanet.com
The Next Best Digital Data Software for EmComm
What’s with the name?
(hint: spell it backwards)
D-RATS is a software program coupled with a computer (of course) and your D-STAR radio that allows you to send slow speed data and to exchange files either simplex, through a repeater or a reflector. This is no lightweight software that offers a multitude of features. Some of the high points are the fact that it is simple to use, it has built in forms including ICS 213, ARRL Message Forms and several others, or you can create your own specialized forms. D-RATS can also be configured as a stand alone file server and an email client. One of my favorite features is the mapping feature. You can ping any station and bring up a map of their location. It also possesses fully functional DPRS real-time tracking and mapping capability. The real beauty is its simplicity and user friendliness. There are no commands to learn like with Packet Radio, it’s just click and type. No TNC and only a single data connection from radio to computer and you’re D-RATS session is up and running.
What is it?
A multi-platform integrated tool for communication using D-STAR radios. With only a pair of radios (or an entire repeater stack) a variety of data transmission methods are supported, including:
*Instant-messaging style chat
*Multiple automatic messages at varying schedules, containing static or dynamic content
*File Transfers of arbitrary binary or text content with compression
*Online/offline status notifications
*Multi-platform: runs on Linux/UNIX, Windows, and MacOSX
*Canned messages
*Chat logging
*Tabbed chat interface to filter traffic based on a search string
*Structured data (i.e. Forms) transmission with multiple form templates, graphical editor, and HTML exporting
*Form-to-Email gateway support for providing email access to distant stations
*Winlink2000 gateway
*Automatic message forwarding
*Arbitrary TCP forwarding over the RF channel
*Support for using a TNC or a network connection instead of a D-STAR radio
*GPS position tracking, distance/direction calculation, static beacon support, and integrated map viewer with offline caching
*Network-linkable repeater/proxy co-application
What else can it do?
*Callsign matching and tracking for “last seen” reporting
*Error-free file transfers with a single sender and multiple receivers
*Multi-tab filtering and logging of traffic
*Integrated offline station mapping support with freely-available map data
*Network linking capability for bridging RF segments with a conventional network
*Runs natively on Linux, Windows, and MacOSX
*Freely-available, Open-source and GPL’d
D-RATS has a built in Internet reflector as well. You can practice your D-RATS skills with others over the internet using the same functions as if you were connected by radio. This is a great feature for training purposes. I highly recommend that you download D-Rats and acquire the appropriate data cable for your radio from ICOM or build it yourself and give D-RATS a spin.
If all goes well tonight, we will have D-Dtar Gateway functionality tonight at the St. Johns EOC on KJ4RYF (145.360-). We were informed last week that the Internet link from the EOC’s I/T department has been configured to our specifications (ports opened and forwarded to our server address), so we’re going to install the gateway hardware and router tonight during the St. Johns ARES meeting. If all the configurations by the EOC I/T team have been done properly, we will have a functioning gateway and will put the system on REF034A later tonight. That will complete the initial linkage from south of Daytona Beach to South Jacksonville along I-95.
We’ll post more updates later tonight when we have results from the install.
