NE-FL D-STAR System

The Journal of the North East Florida D-Star Repeater Network

Archive for category Analog Repeaters

FPCARC Repeater – More work to be performed

Feb 28

Posted by mikelee in Analog Repeaters, NET Operations, Work Party | 1 Comment

While Tim and Phil were working on the FPCARC repeater (146.715) the other day, there was mention that the duplexer might need to be check-ed out, since receiver sensitivity was not very good. Actually, there are  a number of things that probably need to be looked-at, as soon as time permits :

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  • The Duplexer – hasn’t been swept in a number of years. We’ve prepared one of our spares on the 146.715/146.115 pair that is ready to install at the site, while we take-down the old duplexer and put it on the bench.
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  • The tuning of the VXR-7000 repeater – since we’re operating about 4Mhz outside of the Commercial band (150Mhz), the receiver might need to be re-aligned for the low end (146.115) in order to achieve maximum sensitivity, without causing IMD3 to be unreasonable. If the replacement duplexer doesn’t appear to be giving added performance, then we’ll remove the VXR-7000V and ask Mr. Schwartz (WS1C) to put it on the bench and re-align the receiver based on the detailed instructions in Icom Service Manual.
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  • The coax and antenna should probably be swept with an analyzer – although Tim already did that previously with a ham-grade instrument, we’ll probably “take a picture” of the antenna/transmission system with the Agilent N9330B in the next couple of weeks, so that we can establish a baseline performance standard of the current antenna system.
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  • Any or all of the above could be contributing factors, so we’ll attack them one-by-one, staring with the replacement Duplexer, which has already been swept and certified.

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This author has now taken an interest in contributing to the improved health of the FPCARC repeater – for a number of reasons.
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  • First and foremost, I really like the guys in that club – stand-up quality, honest talk, pure in heart – a great group to fellowship with.. all are former professionals, so there’s no “one-upmanship” or power positioning going on as in other groups,
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  • Second – they do good work, whether for the children in the County thru the Cadet program, or with the Boy Scouts – these guys (and gals) want to serve – and they do it with a humble heart.
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  • Third – many of the FPCARC members are now also certified members of either FEMV, or the Hospital ARES Volunteer organization – the only two officially sanctioned and operated programs by the County and Florida Hospital, respectively. Others  make wild claims to be “affiliated” or whatever other words, but their claims are hollow and misleading at best. FPCARC members who are volunteers of FEMV and the Hospital volunteer groups are credentialed, background-checked and listed on the rosters of those respective organizations – all good things in this post-9/11 world.
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  • Fourth – the FPCARC repeater is graciously hosted by the Florida Hospital, Flagler – and has been for a number of years. This organization understands the benefit of having Amateur Radio in their emergency operations plan – and the practice it in their involvement with their volunteers. Although they never expect to use our services (due to the numerous backup systems that they maintain), they understand that it is a possibility and want to keep our skills (and theirs) sharp in case that day comes. Given their high expectations of  us, it is incumbent on us to insure that the repeater operates to its fullest potential, given the height and geographical placement.
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I would expect that the efforts would take the next couple of weeks – this author is traveling until the 10th of March, but many activities will be possible in the interim.

FPCARC repeater upgrades

Feb 24

Posted by mikelee in Analog Repeaters, Antennas, Feedlines and Duplexers | No Comments

Tim and Phil were at the hospital yesterday and swapped out the repeater RF deck, but it appears that the duplexer might need to be tweaked. In order to minimize downtime, Phil has pulled of of our spare duplexers and we will get that set-up for the FPCARC frequency at 146.715 in order that it can be swapped out in a very short amount of time. That will give us a chance to put the old duplexer on the bench and see if there are any other problems with it besides tuning issues.

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Stay tuned for more updates

FPCARC to Get a new Repeater on 146.715

Feb 24

Posted by mikelee in Analog Repeaters, NET Operations | No Comments

As all of the members of the Flagler Palm Coast Amateur Radio Club repeater have known for some time, the repeater at the hospital on 146.715 has been less than healthy for some time. This is the primary machine for the club members to rag-chew, as well as a critical resource in supporting the Florida Hospital – Flagler, as well as local ARES efforts.

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Speaking of the hospital – a group of 12-13 amateurs, mostly from FPCARC and the Flagler ARES group, completed their required training in hospital safety, procedures and privacy last Friday (17-Feb-2012). The 2 hour long training, taught by an instructor from the Clinical Education department, and coordinated by the head of the Emergency Room and the Hospital’s safety officer was mostly common sense, but also contained some important information about the hospital’s emergency procedures. Florida Hospital takes their emergency preparedness very seriously and has requested Flagler ARES to be their partner in providing back-up communications in case of both internal phone system outage, as well as the loss of outside telephone services. Amateur Radio and its capabilities have been written into the emergency plans for the hospital, so we’re delighted that we are both a welcome and a participatory resource to them.

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Now – back to the repeater. During the hospital familiarization, the group took a tour to the computer room where the dual-band radio is housed, as well as to the penthouse where the repeater is located (just adjacent to their internal UHF repeater which is used by Facilities as well as the safety team). Antennas on the roof were visible, but we didn’t venture out because it was both wet, as well as slippery and too dangerous to climb ladders.

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The old 146.715 repeater is a conglomeration of pieces and parts – pretty common for an amateur repeater. But the new system is a Commercial Yaesu repeater that is putting out about 55-watts in continuous duty into the duplexer. It is pretty basic for now, but improvements over time are being planned – perhaps even a voting system to improve coverage in the area.. who knows – anything is possible.

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Stay tuned – we’ll announce the change-over after it’s complete – and look forward to the Club and ARES nets to be on the new machine ..!!

Motorola Saber – SECURE feature

Dec 26

Posted by mikelee in Analog Repeaters, ARES Events, ARES Training, FEMV, Go Kits | No Comments

A very useful feature of many of the surplus Motorola Sabers, is their ability to communicate in Secure (digitally encrypted) mode. While not legal on the amateur bands, it is perfectly legal and appropriate on Mutual Aid frequencies when authorized by the local, state or Federal government agencies whom we serve (in this case, we would be operating OUTSIDE of amateur rules, as agents of the government – like in the case of the Flagler Emergency Management Volunteers).

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Secure mode has many options, but the most common is DES or DES-XL (proprietary to Motorola). All of the VHF units that Jason and I acquired are capable of DES encryption, and we have tested them using public safety frequencies at short range for tractional communications. In fact, we have tested using Public Safety, MURS and Ham frequencies (for testing only) and can confirm that secure mode operation is viable on all the frequencies that the Saber is capable of in the VHF, wide-band spectrum (144-173Mhz).

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You might ask – why in the world would you want to operate in Secure Mode..?? One very simple and practical reason is the transmission of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) when in the middle of an emergency or disaster situation – such as name, age and medical information. As we have all learned in the ARRL EMCOMM classes – such should not be performed on open voice channels, and not even on packet or DRATS, given that it is still “in-the-clear”, but it would be both appropriate and reasonable to transmit that information using DES Secure voice channels on appropriate Public Safety Frequencies.

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So, how difficult is this to accomplish – actually quite simple – once you figure out the process, technique and tools. In summary, here’s what is required based on extensive research and testing by Jason W4LTL and myself:

  • Insure that you have a pair of Secure capable Sabers (or other radios, including Astro Sabers, Spectras or Astro Spectras amongst other models) and that the firmware supports the encryption functionality,
  • Insure that all of the radios have the same encryption module installed (DES or DES-XL, or DVI, or DVI-XL, etc) and that the modules are functional,
  • Insure that you have a Key Variable Loader (KVL) that is able to load to the target devices (you will need a T3011DX if you want to load to Astro Saber portables or Astro Spectra mobiles) – if you only have Sabers or System Sabers a T3020 of any model will do. The KVL’s cost anywhere from $75 to $250 on eBay, or if you’re like Jason, you could possibly pick-up 5 of them for a real steal (less than half the cost of my T3011DX..!!)
  • Create a key on the KVL – this is a multi-step process which takes about 5 minutes, once you figure out the process. Essentially it entails entering a 16 HEX digits into the KVL to establish a single key, which will be DES encrypted, then subsequently loaded into the radio. The KVL’s are capable of storing anywhere from 8-32 keys (for different systems or groups), but the Sabers are only capable of storing a single “Radio-wide” key. By contrast, Astro Sabers are capable of storing up to 16 DES keys and can automatically scan the keys to perform key-matching against a current  received signal.
  • Load the newly created DES key to the radio – this is the simplest process of all – since it only entails connecting a single cable between the KVL device and the radio – once connected, simply press the PTT (Push-to-Transfer) button and in a matter of a couple of seconds, the radio will BEEP to signify that it has received and loaded the DES Key.
  • At this point, simply disconnect the  KVL cable and the radio will go into standard operating mode. When you want to go Secure, simply flip the SecureNet toggle switch and the radio starts transmitting a digitally encoded data stream across the Analog, wide-band FM signal which can be decoded by the other radios in the network loaded with the same key.
  • The receiving radios do NOT have to have their radios set for Secure Receive, since  the Sabers automatically detect the encryption stream – as long as the encryption matches the key that is loaded in the receiving radio, it starts to decode automatically. Other radios, however, will only hear hash-noise (sounds like squelch noise), followed by a beep an the end of a transmission.
  • A couple of cautions and safeguards – if the battery is disconnected while the radio is ON, the encryption keys are automatically “DUMPED” into the bit bucket – a security feature. If the battery is removed after the Power Switch is turned OFF, the user (you) will have approximately 30-seconds to re-insert a battery into the radio (power switch can stay off) – if a battery is not inserted in the requisite time, the encryption keys are again DUMPED. This is a crude, but effective way to prevent key-hacking. Once the keys are lost, reloading is required by connecting the KVL device and following the key-reload process once again (the Astro Sabers can re-load keys Over-the-Air).

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More tools for radio communicators – although not necessarily applicable for Ham applications, all Hams can still be useful to local, state and federal disaster efforts by being part of Emergency Management Agency groups thru their volunteer programs. For those of you interested in volunteering in the Flagler County, Florida area – please contact Frank Sanita at the Flagler County Emergency Operations Center and join the FEMV group..!!

Programming Motorola Sabers

Dec 14

Posted by mikelee in Analog Repeaters, Go Kits | No Comments

Wonderful radios – by FAR, the most immune to adjacent and out-of-band signals of any handheld. The models that Jason and I acquired were the VHF units, which will program down to 143mhz and continue all way thru Mutual Aid frequencies in the 160Mhz range. The standard batteries on the Sabers are HUGE (by comparison to amateur-grade batteries), partially because they are NiCd and NiMh chemistry, but there are now Li-Ion batteries which are about 1/3 the size of the OEM Motorola NiMh batteries.

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So.. how do we like the radios thus far..?  They are undoubtedly great, but the start-up efforts to get the programming software, cables and COMPUTER were quite a pain in the a$$. By all accounts on blogs, one should not use a computer faster than a 486dx-100, so we both searched for a system which would meet those requirements – do you know how hard it is to find a machine that SLOW, as well as having working 1.44mb diskette drives..??  Lucky for us that eBay is such a great resource.. about 10 days later, a virtually new PS/1 (remember those..??!!) arrived on my front door step – but only after spending $185 for the machine with shipping. Still, if it works, it’s priceless – and priceless it was. I don’t remember the last time that I formatted a 120mb hard disk for DOS (yes – 120 MegaBytes).

 

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After all the hassles of setting-up the programming station, things went quickly – standard programming only took about 15 minutes to set-up. Transfer to the radio took about 2 minutes (over 50 channels) – and the system works like a charm. Jason and I even got the encryption working using our newly acquired KVL’s (Key Variable Loader) – Jason has the T3020 which does DES, while I purchased the T3011DX, which will do DES, DES/XL and other methods AND will load keys to an Astro Saber.

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So far – all is good in Motorola-land. No strike-outs, no unexpected surprises.
Superb quality of radio – glad we made the move..!!

 

Motorola, here we come..!!

Dec 5

Posted by mikelee in Analog Repeaters, ARES Training | No Comments

Time for my 10-year housecleaning. I’ve accumulated so much junk stuff over the last 7-10 years that it’s time to purge and standardize on a few key brands, models and modes. I started that process with HF, selling (almost) all of my HF equipment which was primarily Yaesu and switching over to the Elecraft K2 and K3 systems (no regrets there at all!!).
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Now comes time for the VHF/UHF equipment – and I have decided to standardize on Motorola hand-held equipment – with the exception of my  IC-92′s for DStar.

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Why Motorola..? – simply because of the quality of the construction of the radios. I am not easy on my handheld equipment – sometimes being the fumble-fingers and dropping them – and even using them in the rain. Few amateur grade radios can take the abuse of the outdoors,  long duty cycles or the test of time. But most of all, most amateur grade radios are horrible when it comes to adjacent channel selectivity (read: the squeaks and squawks that we sometimes here when approaching a cell-tower or public service tower with multiple transmitters)  - amateur grade VHF/UHF receivers are (by design) very wide-band, in order to provide the so-called “general coverage receive” capability that many hams desire – but I’ve found that I almost never use such capability (except aircraft band). By contrast, the Motorola professional grade equipment (not just Commercials, but LE/Fire-grade stuff) is built to such rigorous tolerances that they almost never get overloaded by adjacent or out-of-band signals – a good characteristic when you’re trying to hear, and be heard. Of course, all of the Motorola equipment easily operates within the Amateur Bands, so it’s a single-carry device for Amateur, Public Service and Mutual Aid frequencies.

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I’ve settled on the Astro Sabers, due to their ability to utilize Narrow-Band for all of the Public Service Mutual Aid channels, as well as agencies such as the DOF and other statewide and national VHF and UHF frequency allocations. The particular Astros that I have acquired are also P25 and trunking capable, so that I can be “joined” into an agency which uses Motorola, if on a specific deployment.
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Yes – I am an amateur, but I’m also studying to be Com-L Certified, so that I can operate as a FEMA-qualified communications tech leader and (in the future) be deployable  with local, state and FEMA resources. Having my personal P25 and Trunking handhelds for VHF and UHF (and 800, which are available quite inexpensively nowadays) would be huge asset in being mutual-aid qualified.

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More info on the radios, how YOU can acquire them, their capabilities and costs, as well as how difficult they are to program in future segments in the near future.

Operation Communicate Freedom – Reminders

Jun 28

Posted by mikelee in Analog Repeaters, ARES Events, ARES Training, D-Star Users, NET Operations, Winlink2K | No Comments

Operation Communicate Freedom will commence at 09:00 on Thursday, 30-June-2011. A number of wide-area repeaters will be used to enable communication across the 13-county area that is supporting the Region-3 exercise. To date, Fire/Rescue units from each of the counties, DOT, Flagler Hospital, FDLE, DOF, FEMORS, FBI, the Red Cross, Media and Amateur Radio have confirmed participation.

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Amateur Radio (specifically ARES) was specifically written into the plan  and we are expecting that there will be a number of tasks that will be assigned exclusively to our three teams, which test the capabilities of Amateur Radio to communicate when all other systems fail. As the ARRL’s slogan goes,  ”When All Else Fails”.

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There will be three teams deployed to Camp Blanding, starting Wednesday 29-June-2011 – to support three separate “Incident Sites”, that will be simulating numerous disasters within the Region 3 area. Nobody knows the exact scenario, since that will not be revealed until Thursday (and progressively during the day, not all at once). We anticipate that multiple frequencies (bands) and multiple modes will be employed – not just FM Analog and HF which are traditional for most amateurs – but also Packet, Winlink2K, DSTAR and other modes (including SatPhone, which is also supported on EMCOMM-1).

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This is an opportunity for Amateur Radio to shine – our capabilities are numerous and our teams are highly motivated. But there are a couple of reminders that might be warranted, namely :

  • The entire operation (including Amateur Radio) will be operated under the Incident Command System – using ICS procedures, chain-of-command and ICS forms.
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  • Everything needs to be documented – every communication (on an ICS-213), every communications plan (ICS-205), every communications capability (ICS-217A), etc..
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  • We MUST work as a team – and integrate ourselves into the ICS structure. No room here for lone-rangers or cowboys.
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  • BE CAREFUL what you say on the repeaters – there will potentially be observers and evaluators (including Media) listening to all of our frequencies (they have our ICS-205, so they know our entire communications plan).
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  • Make sure that you IDENTIFY, as required – but DO NOT over-identify (it’s very annoying). No need to say your call 3 times in a single transmission, or even on EVERY transmission. Once every 10 minutes or at the end of an EXCHANGE is sufficient.
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  • All traffic supporting the exercise should have the following preamble  - “This is an Exercise …….”   and end with “.. This is an exercise”
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  • All Real-World Traffic of a Priority or Emergency nature should have the following preamble “.. This is a REAL-WORLD EMERGENCY”.
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  • If exercise traffic is in progress and you have a real-world emergency, using the following protocol at the break between two stations “.. BREAK, EMERGENCY” – all stations should relinquish the frequency immediately to support the real-world emergency.
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My thanks to our Planning Chief, Doug (N4FPS) who put together the entire Communications Plan, including all of the coordination with the 13 counties’ Amateurs – no small job to be sure (nor short on frustrations). Doug created an outstanding ICS package that will truly impress the Exercise Organizers – using a lifetime of skills and experience gained from being an executive with the Florida Park Service.

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To all of you participating in this exercise – thank you for your sacrifice of time and your upcoming service. Let’s show the planners, observers and media what we’re capable of  - and stun them all with our professionalism. Be safe during the exercise – don’t take unnecessary risks. If you have any questions regarding the event, feel free to contact Doug (N4FPS), Ron (WB4GHU) or myself via any means possible.

NEFL DStar to Support Operation Communicate Freedom

Jun 26

Posted by mikelee in Analog Repeaters, ARES Events, D-Star Users, Go Kits, NET Operations | No Comments

Starting at about 08:30 on THURSDAY of this week, and continuing until approximately 17:00, all NEFL D-Star repeaters and REF034C will be allocated in support of the Operation Communicate Freedom exercise, which involved 13 counties in the NEFL area. DSTAR will be used as one (not the ONLY) channel for communications between Camp Blanding and the EOC sites that currently have DSTAR.

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Traffic between Camp Blanding Control (operating out of EMCOMM-1 at Camp Blanding) and EOCs will actually occur on multiple VHF and HF frequencies, but the ONLY facility that has Handheld coverage to multiple counties is DSTAR – including to State EOC if they were monitoring the exercise (which is NOT the case in this exercise). The importance of being able to operate in the Camp Blanding environment with multi-county coverage cannot be overstated, since Blanding is the Backup EOC for the State (in case Tallahassee is crippled).

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All are welcome to listen to the traffic on REF034C, and any PRIORITY or EMERGENCY Traffic will always take precedent on any of the DSTAR systems during the exercise.  If you do have priority or emergency traffic and exercise traffic is in progress, please simply interrupt with the phrase “Break – Priority”, or “Break-Emergency” and Net Control will relinquish the frequency at the earliest possible moment..

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This is the first multi-county exercise involving ARES and the regional inter-coordination agency in recent memory. We have a great plan, thanks to Planning Chief Doug (N4FPS) and we expect to make a good showing at the event.

Operation Communicate Freedom – June 30

Jun 19

Posted by mikelee in Analog Repeaters, ARES Events, ARES Training, D-RATS Data, D-Star Repeaters, D-Star Users, Flagler ARES Admin, Flagler EOC, Go Kits, HF Antennas and Operation, NET Operations, Volusia ARES Admin | No Comments

Details have been slow to come, but here’s what we know..

  • Exercise prep/Briefing will be on June 29th (Wednesday) starting in the afternoon at Camp Blanding. Please DO NOT proceed to Camp Blanding, since this is a secure facility and only authorized (credentialed) staff will be allowed entry. We will have a contingent of 3 Amateurs onsite, to include the Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC – Ron Mettler). Information from the on-site briefing will be shared later that afternoon on an established channel or channels so that all will have access to the most current data. In addition, those participating will also receive an email with the most current information.
  • The exercise will primarily be on June 30 (Thursday before the July-4 holiday weekend). Exercise time will run from approximately 09:00 to 15:00, with after-action briefing at about 15:00 and de-mobilization starting at about 16:00. We will need staff at the real, or virtual EOC’s for each of the counties. VHF and HF capability will be required (preferred) – frequencies and communications protocol for the exercise will be distributed mid next week (7-days prior to the exercise).
  • There are 13 counties in the North East Florida region that are supposed to be participating in the drill :
    • Alachua
    • Baker
    • Bradford
    • Clay
    • Duval
    • Flagler
    • Gilchrist
    • Levy
    • Marion
    • Nassau
    • Putnam
    • St. Johns
    • Union
  • Amateur Radio will be an integral part of the exercise
  • The exercise will consist of two major parts :
    • A large scale disaster with numerous casualties in Duval County, and
    • A train derailment somewhere in the 13 county region – probably involving HazMat, NBC (nuclear, biological or chemical) or other considerations
  • We will be asked to pass traffic to as many of the 13 counties as possible, by whatever means possible
  • We will be asked to specifically use VHF and HF, in addition to other means
  • Digital and Analog modes can be used (like WinLink, D-STAR/DRATS, etc)
  • There will likely be traffic that needs to be passed to FL State EOC as well.

No other details are available (yet), but Doug and I will be working on the communications plan and the ICS forms package in the next few days.

“Indian-Giver”

May 20

Posted by mikelee in Analog Repeaters | 1 Comment

A number of months ago, I was accused of “..reneging on my promise to donate an antenna…” to a local REACT group. The accusation was made during a huge rift between a local Ham Radio Club and the County over the County’s formation of their own volunteer organization and was spread widely amongst the community and even in an email to the County Commissioners. Fortunately, I’ve earned the respect of most of the upstanding Amateurs in the area as well as the County Emergency Manager, so I didn’t think much of the incident – writing it off as just a mis-informed, hot-head letting off steam. But I was mistaken.
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Mud was slung in my direction since the County had named me the Technical Team Lead of the County administered volunteer program – a  position which I was not seeking, nor did I request. Oh well – we can’t control what people think or say – we can only set the record straight.
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So for those mud slingers who are reading this blog – directly or indirectly – here’s the REAL story that you never cared to investigate (oops… forgot to say that none of them talked to me directly..  dumber on their part):

  • The offer was made during a REACT meeting for a replacement GMRS antenna (UHF) – I volunteered a DB-408 antenna, which costs about $650 delivered.
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  • My stipulation was that one of my crew would oversee the installation – that it was done to our DSTAR Repeater standards, practices and satisfaction. Knowing that some at the “other church”  talk about me with distain, I offered that the overseer should not be me, but one of the DSTAR repeater guys. The stipulation was well known and well communicated to the President of the REACT group.
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  • The “other church” declined the oversight requirement, so therefore I withdrew the offer for the antenna. I know that none of you would just give a $650 antenna without assurances that it would be installed correctly.
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  • Oh…. forgot to mention that 2 other antennas on that site, installed by that same group were destroyed by lightning, due to poor lightning protection and installation. One of the antennas that was destroyed was donated by a member of our DSTAR repeater group about 2 years ago – and he was pissed when he found that it was destroyed due to improper lightning protection..

Here’s other background info :

  • I already have the DB-408 in my shop – it’s ready to go, so it’s not that I didn’t want to spend the money. This was a matter of PRINCIPLE – Install it correctly to my satisfaction, or you don’t get the antenna. Kind of like what my Dad taught me – do it RIGHT, or don’t bother to do it at all..  anything worth doing, is worth doing well, etc..
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  • We (the NEFL DStar Network) now have four DSTAR repeaters, with the fifth to come online very shortly (scheduled for May-21 in Starke, Florida) – we’ve never had a lightning related problem and certainly have never had an antenna destroyed, not to speak of two antennas destroyed. We have antennas at 140-ft, 130-ft, 65-ft and 820-ft, and Starke will be at 480-ft.
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  • We use Polyphaser Grounding panels, AC protection and Coax protection (all by Polyphaser) at each of our repeater sites – this attention to lightning protection costs us well over $500 PER SITE – just for that insurance. We made that commitment to ourselves from the outset – install to COMMERCIAL standards.
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  • We have invested well over $60,000 on the D-Star and Analog installations thus far – a $650 antenna was not going to break-the-bank, especially since we already had it in-stock

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So there you have the facts – from the horse’s mouth. Those who spread rumors and lies, seeking to damage my good name and reputation are now on notice – your comments are libelous.  Speak the truth, or don’t speak at all.