Random Wire Review 80: March 8, 2024
File server update, setting up WIRES-X, Baofeng on the bench, and my journey into amateur radio
A note about Bob Heil K9EID/SK
The news of Bob Heil’s passing hit me harder than I expected. I had not realized how much I enjoyed his presence in our hobby. It was more than just what he knew and his accomplishments. It was also his joy at being able to work with others to advance ham radio and the verve he displayed whenever talking about it. I guess I had some hero worship going on and didn’t really acknowledge it until he passed.
That’s a shame. It makes me pause and think about some other leaders in amateur radio that I look up to. I’ll be reaching out to them in the near future, just to say thank you while I can.
CONTENTS
FILE SERVER UPDATE
RADIO: WIRES-X
ON THE BENCH: BAOFENG UV-3R+
MY JOURNEY INTO RADIO
FILE SERVER UPDATE
Last week, I wrote about converting an old Lenovo ThinkStation P510 computer to a file server. Since then, I’ve received the 2.5-inch to 3.5-inch drive mount, allowing me to properly mount the 2.5-inch 4-terabyte SSD in one of the bottom bays. But when I went to put the side cover on, I found that my SATA cable blocked it from closing.
It turns out that using the drive mount positioned the SATA connector on the SSD too close to the computer side cover if I used a standard 180-degree cable. Once I saw that, I quickly ordered a three-pack of SATA cables with one end standard (goes to the motherboard) and one end at 90-degrees (goes to the SSD SATA connector). With that change, I could finally button up the case and hide the big computer under my desk. Sometimes, one must actually crack open the computer (or radio!) and go “hands on” to know what parts are necessary. Such was the case with the P510.
I also fiddled with the Synology DS220+ network-attached storage device. Redditors said that even though the DS220+ has a 6-gigabyte RAM limit, one could put in a larger memory stick and it would “just work.” Well, no. That’s not what happened. I plugged in a 16-gigabyte stick and the NAS box wouldn’t boot. I ordered a 4-gig stick and when I put that in, the machine booted up perfectly, recognizing that it now had 6 gigs of RAM. That’s good enough for me so I’ll leave it with the 6 gigs.
I’ve installed various apps on it, including WordPress, MediaWiki, and a document processing productivity suite. With the Celeron CPU, those resource-hungry programs are a little laggy on the NAS, but they do run. I’ve since removed them because I already have cloud-based resources where I can run them. However, it is good to know that a more powerful Synology NAS could run a mail server, or a web server, or a host of other products, all set up through the easy-to-use Synology DSM software.
Pretty amazing. On a more mundane level, I’m backing up machines and old external drives to the P510 file server, and then mirroring those folders to the DS220+.
RADIO: WIRES-X
I was delighted to get a note from my amateur radio club’s president informing members that a new Yaesu System Fusion repeater is coming online. The short version of this is the new repeater will be connected via WIRES-X. That means members like me can connect from outside the RF-envelope of the repeater.
The repeater is also connected to a Brandmeister node and that means I can hit the repeater (which is 150 miles away) using my hotspot and AnyTone DMR radio.
Nevertheless, I did dig into how to setup WIRES-X with a compatible Yaesu radio. I found two videos, both produced by the North West Fusion Group, that very clearly describe how to do it.
Setting up a WIRES-X Node: Part 1
Setting up a WIRES-X Node: Part 2
There are some other really good videos in the NWFG catalog, too, including a couple on building your own hotspot and one introducing AllStarLink. Good stuff.
In other Yaesu System Fusion / WIRES-X / DMR news, a member of my home ham radio club has put up a Yaesu repeater. It is connected to AllStarLink, DMR, and some other services. I was able to connect to it over AllStarLink yesterday, and today I got my AnyTone HT and home-built DMR hotspot configured correctly to engage in conversations on the new Yaesu repeater. The audio quality is fantastic and I’m delighted to be able to converse with radio friends from 133 miles away. It always feels great when something you built actually works well.
ON THE BENCH: BAOFENG UV-3R+
This winter, I picked up a couple of very inexpensive radios: the Baofeng UV-3R+. Somewhere I have one of my favorite micro-HTs, the Yaesu VX-3R…but I haven’t found it. The Baofeng radios are intended to be used in the house plus as a portable while traveling. They are so inexpensive I won’t mind if one gets lost or damaged.
However, this is an older radio design. The software is a decade old. The cable that comes with the radio isn’t recognized by Windows.
If you happen to have this radio, you can find instructions, software, and drivers at https://www.miklor.com/UV3R/. That package will work for the UV-3R and the UV-3R+.
MY JOURNEY INTO RADIO
The loss of Bob Heil K9EID/SK caused me to stop and think about my journey into amateur radio. I write about it below but I’d like to hear how you got interested in amateur radio. I think each of our stories is going to be unique and interesting. Perhaps some gems in our stories can be harvested to help us interest new, young hams in our hobby!
Space… I remember hearing John Glenn’s voice as his Friendship 7 capsule orbited the globe. I could count the seconds between transmission and response. This was February 20, 1962. I was almost six years old and thought that hearing his voice coming from space was some kind of magic. Because I associated radio with space exploration, I later followed the various NASA missions, always enjoying hearing the radio exchanges between the astronaut(s) and mission control.
I usually listened to these exchanges alone. Later in life, I learned that I’m not much of a joiner, preferring to work on such things by myself. One might think that is the perfect attribute for people engaged with amateur radio, but the reality is that besides being technical and scientific, ham radio is also a very social hobby. I continue to lean toward working alone on things, but I have learned the value of participating more. This blog is one way for me to reach beyond my natural inclinations and engage with a wider set of people interested in many of the things I’m interested in. The takeaway: even if you are pursuing this hobby on your own, you are not alone.
A technician can do a lot… One point I want to make early in this long message is this: if you are a technician, there can be a lot more to amateur radio than just operating simplex FM or using a local repeater. Consider this description from the ARRL:
With a Technician Class license, you will have all ham radio privileges above 30 MHz. These privileges include the very popular 2-meter band. Many Technician licensees enjoy using small (2 meter) hand-held radios to stay in touch with other hams in their area. Technicians may operate FM voice, digital packet (computers), television, single-sideband voice and several other interesting modes. You can even make international radio contacts via satellites, using relatively simple station equipment. Technician licensees now also have additional privileges on certain HF frequencies. Technicians may also operate on the 80, 40 and 15 meter bands using CW, and on the 10 meter band using CW, voice and digital modes.
Don’t do what I did and put it off, and then put it off some more. Get your technician license today and begin to discover the very rich and rewarding world of amateur radio!
Radio in the family… I did have some family connections to amateur radio but I didn’t take advantage of those, being distracted by other pursuits. When he was alive, I did not realize that my uncle, James Salzer W7FBS/SK, was a ham. In his youth, he had the attic room in the family home, with a wire stretched out the window to a nearby tree. Sadly, we lost Uncle Jim before I connected the dots. I would have loved to talk radio with him.
My brother-in-law, Edwin R Hunter KH6JLM/SK, was also a ham and we lost him much too soon. I remember seeing his station in the 1980s as we traveled between the continental United States and Indonesia, transiting through Hawaii. He was proud of his all-Kenwood station.
Boy Scouts… In junior high school, I participated in Boy Scouts. Our troop master was a ham, although at the time I did not know what that meant. When we would go on hikes in the Washington Cascade Mountains and Olympia Mountains, he would usually bring a small radio and a wire to throw over a branch. He would try to make a scheduled contact in the evening with other hams.
Girls trumped radio in high school… I did not participate in the amateur radio club in high school. In fact, I didn’t even know it existed. While radio still interested me, I was much more focused on a girl who would later become my wife. My attention was, during my teen years, diverted away from radio.
Then Earth Science and a career… And then college came and I discovered that my interest in the natural world was expanded through the study of geology. I majored in geology and went about trying to find a job in my field just as such jobs were shrinking. I ruled out oil-and-gas (no interest), coal (not interesting), and uranium (because, well, uranium!). I had a temporary field job doing exploration geology and then landed a full-time job as a mine geologist in Nevada. At this point, I was so far from anything related to radio that there was little chance I could have moved forward*, but I nevertheless remained interested in radio. The evidence for this is the steady progression of portable and not-so-portable radio receivers I enjoyed at the time.
*However, I just checked and there are 44 licenses in Battle Mountain, Nevada where I worked in my first mining geology job. I had no idea there were hams in Battle Mountain. One lesson here is perhaps we just don’t do a good enough job of letting people know we are active in our communities!
Life was busy. Geology jobs were rarely very stable so we moved around a lot: Washington to Nevada, Nevada to Indonesia, then back to Washington. I worked in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, and several other places. It seemed like we were always on the go.
Living on a remote island… My interest in radio sharpened while we were in Indonesia for two years, working in a remote part of the island of New Guinea, high in the mountains. We had no telephone, no television. The company had a telex machine and individuals had shortwave radios. I spent many delightful hours listening to Voice of America and BBC broadcasts. This was a remarkable time for me because it reinvigorated my interest in radio. I decided then that I would find time to pursue it.
Of course, that did not happen immediately. There was no way to get licensed at that time while we were in Indonesia. I changed my career path in 1992, shifting away from geology and entering the world of conservation districts in the remote rural town of Republic, Washington. Life got very busy again as babies appeared on the scene! From Republic, I went to Shelton and Olympia, Washington, then to Clackamas County, Oregon, and then back to Olympia. It was during my Shelton time that I decided to pull the trigger on getting licensed.
Getting licensed
As a licensed amateur radio operator, I’m only 15 years old, just a teenager.
Technician in 2009… I was licensed as KF7DGF on June 16, 2009. I knew no one in my local ham radio club, at least not until I took the exam from two grizzled fellows. With the Technician book in hand, I self-studied for the exam. I wasn’t too worried about it because it was just rules and regulations. My weaknesses in the technical and theoretical aspects of amateur radio would become more evident as I tackled the General license.
One of the catalysts in finally getting me to move forward on this was watching my father deal with Alzheimers. I decided that if I was ever going to get my license, I’d better do it sooner — while I have capacity — rather than keep putting it off.
General in 2010… I self-studied for the General, too, and passed it the first time. I had a lot of trouble with the actual electronics bits because up to this point, I had absolutely no experience with microelectronic circuits. I could wire a wall outlet. I could replace a lamp switch. I could jump-start a car. I could not do much else.
Vanity licenses were available. When I passed the General exam, I switched to W3ROK in April 2010. This call sign was in homage to my history as a geologist and could be read two ways: WE ROCK, or WE ARE OK. Some of my “home” ham club folks still remember me by this call sign.
As I began communicating on HF using an old Kenwood TS-520S (purchased from W7FBI/SK) and a home-built OCF antenna, I realized I was creating confusion among some hams by having a “3” call in “7” land. I changed my license to N7ROK in May 2013.
Amateur Extra in 2013… This was a bit ill-advised because I was just about ready to take my Extra Class exam. My Extra license was granted in June 2013. (My weakness in electronics and theory caused me to change my learning method from self-study to taking a class. David Brooks N7HT was an exceptionally patient instructor as I struggled with anything related to theory and circuit design.) The FCC assigned AA7G as my call sign (well, I think they did…it’s been a minute and that particular call is a bit fuzzy in my memory). In hindsight, I think I should have kept that one! In Morse Code, it was a good call:
.- .- --... --.
As I spent more time with radio, I also wanted to acknowledge the importance of my wife’s support, so in October 2014, I was granted a different vanity call: KJ7T. While most hams read that phonetically as Kilo Juliet Seven Tango, for my wife and me, it means Kiss Jan Seven Times. She smiles every time I repeat my call.
Radio modes
I don’t stick with many things for very long. My marriage is an exception. We’ll be married 47 years this coming August. I like to keep learning, and so I am continually fiddling with my gear, trying new modes, and adding to my understanding of amateur radio.
Amateur radio is a hobby of hobbies… Along the way, I discovered that amateur radio wasn’t just using a radio to send and receive information. It was a wide, deep array of topics to explore. It is a hobby of hobbies. There is enough in our hobby to keep me learning throughout my life!
First radios… Soon after getting licensed, I got a Yaesu VX-8 radio and a handheld VHF/UHF Yagi antenna. I spent about a year working satellites from my backyard. I also jumped into 6-meter repeaters with an old single-band mobile radio (an Azden mobile with the wrong microphone, but that’s another story), a battery, and a mag-mount antenna. I didn’t have a great ground plane available so I set the mag-mount antenna on a galvanized steel garbage can in the backyard. That was sufficient to reach the repeater at the top of the mountain I could barely see in the distance.
We established a 6-meter net (I often served as net control) that became fairly popular around Puget Sound until the repeater owner asked us to stop. His repeater was physically difficult to get to (almost impossible in the winter) and during one of our nets, we burned out the finals. After he repaired it, it happened again a few months later.
By then I had built my off-center fed wire antenna which was lifted up in the air on an old sailboat mast. I also mounted a VHF/UHF antenna at the top of the mast. After drilling a few holes in the soffit of my garage, I set up my HF station on my workbench. There was no heat in the garage, so during the winter, I’d be wrapped up in a sleeping bag for weekly repeater nets and when working HF. I kept a plastic sheet over the radio gear whenever I was doing woodworking in the garage, but dust still got everywhere.
I also discovered that RF traveled back into the house. Every time I would key up on 10 meters, my daughter’s lamp in her room would turn on or off. The stereo speakers were also affected. I didn’t worry too much about it at that time because I was usually on the radio when the family was asleep.
APRS… My Yaesu VX-8 radio was capable of running APRS and I found that to be interesting and fun. There were not many digipeaters in the area so my measly 5 watts didn’t do a lot of good, but it worked better when I was traveling up and down Interstate 5 in western Washington. Eventually, I picked up a Kenwood TM-D710A and used that for several years while mobile. I think that has been my favorite mobile radio of all time.
Winlink and FT8… I assembled a “Winlink in a briefcase” station with a Yaesu VHF radio, TNC, and netbook. That was a fun little project but without much Winlink traffic, it went into the closet. It was at this time that I started to fiddle with FT8, and through that mode, I was able to get my WAS (worked all states) in short order.
Talkers and tech-ers… You might see a pattern developing. While some hams love to talk, I liked to experiment with the technology. I wrote about this in one of my blog posts, starting with the premise that our amateur radio world seemed to be divided into two big buckets: talkers and tech-ers. As I thought about it, I expanded it to five descriptors. Even that was incomplete because I managed to leave emergency prep/comms out of my self-made system. That just goes to show how complex and varied our hobby is.
Of heroes and Ham Radio Workbench… One of my trusted heroes, Walter Cronkite KB2GDS/SK, was a ham. Sometimes I think his news reporting was the last I really trusted. Other amateur radio heroes are Joe Walsh WB6ACU and Bob Heil K9EID/SK. These two folks got started by working on equipment and building what they needed.
All of the folks who create the Ham Radio Workbench podcast are people I look up to. I think it’s safe to say that my desire to build and repair radio equipment was catalyzed by the HRW crew. They present deep knowledge and experience, and they do so in a way that is warm, humorous, and friendly. Their charisma and chemistry is such that listening to them every few weeks makes them seem like trusted friends.
By the way, I stumbled into the HRW podcast by accident. I’ve always leaned toward textual information I could read (hence this blog). While my wife and I took care of my mother for the last two years of her life, mom lost so much of her sight that she spent a lot of time with audiobooks. Up to that point, I just had no time for audiobooks. But what with long drives and learning to slow down and listen at the pace of an audiobook narrator, I started looking for ham radio podcasts. What a delight to discover the HRW podcast. I recommend it highly.
I don’t know enough… Here’s the problem with me fiddling with technology beyond plugging in parts or modules: I’m not very knowledgeable about circuits or construction. I am slowly learning but it is like swimming upstream in a river of molasses for me. I envy those folks for whom this kind of work seems to come naturally. When I listen to the people on the Ham Radio Workbench podcast, I’m just amazed because I simply don’t have those chops.
Soldering needs improvement… I have tried to build an AllStarLink node from parts but had a lot of trouble with some of the fine soldering. Ultimately, I bought a node built by David Gleason NR9V (allscan.info). I still have the parts on hand to build a node and look forward to trying it again. My soldering skills are better than they were, so perhaps the next time I dive into this build, I can construct a node without destroying the integrated circuit!
My previous soldering experience was a bit of plumbing (copper pipes), and later, repairing microphone cables and other equipment when my spouse was a K-12 music teacher. Kids are very hard on equipment and don’t understand how fragile are the connections and connectors used in PAs, microphones, amplified instruments, and speakers. Every year I would make repairs, but this kind of soldering doesn’t adequately prepare one to work with circuit boards, transistors, integrated circuits, and such.
I bought an old Heathkit Mohican receiver to fix up. My plan is to re-cap it (replace the capacitors). That will give me plenty of experience in removing components and soldering new components in place. The Heathkit board has enough spacing between components to make this a bit less daunting than more modern boards exhibit.
I learn by deconstructing… For me, I learn by doing. Dad would have said that I learned by taking things apart. As a boy, countless toys were “deconstructed” by me as I tried to see how they worked. When I worked for the State of Washington, one of the IT workers nicknamed me “he who breaks things” because I was constantly finding misconfigurations and vulnerabilities in switches, routers, etc. Even today, one of the first things I do with a new computer or radio is take the cover off to look inside. Computer code seems like a mechanical process to me, with reusable blocks that can be operated by various other systems.
(Note that for most of us, working on computers means using programs, plugging in new/replacement modules, or coding. Very little involves actual soldering. Once upon a time, I did bring a rack-mount server home and repaired the power supply on the kitchen table. The server was out of warranty and was no longer made, so it was a repair it or junk it situation. That was one repair that worked!)
Focus on digital… Given my background managing technology for a state agency for several years, focusing energy on digital modes comes much more naturally to me than the mysteries of RF and circuit design. I spent most of my time in the “rabbit warren” (my descriptor for our apartment complex) where RF interference reigns supreme. This also pushed me firmly into the digital realm. Complicating this is my internet is not the best. It has plenty of speed and bandwidth, but it hiccups randomly. We’re at the end of the line, behind several boosters, so our signal to the apartment is boosted as much as it can be.
AllStarLink… AllStarLink has become a mode that I spend a lot of time with. I jumped on ASL because of the RFI at my QTH. For the most part, that has worked out well, except for the occasional lost bits here and there. I also maintain an ASL node on a cloud server located in Seattle. I have a Hamshack Hotline phone (one in Portland and one in Olympia). I have a Hams-over-IP line.
DMR, D-Star, YSF… I’ve built a couple of hotspots for DMR. I have radios capable of D-Star which I monitor when I’m mobile. It’s time for me to dive into Yaesu System Fusion, something I’ve been looking forward to because I have leaned toward Team Yaesu in my radio library. I like the solidity and logical menus of Icom radios. I love my Kenwood radios. While the Yaesu menus aren’t always very logical or clear, they seem to make sense to me.
LoRa… I’m also interested in LoRa radios, and particularly in APRS-over-LoRa. I have a few units that I’m experimenting with (translation: deconstructing!). I also have a microTik router so that I can get started with AREDN. I anticipate a bright future for AREDN, and being located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, this is a natural next step in my exploration.
And computer things… And then there is Node-Red, another rabbit hold to explore. I think I’m ready to dive into the Python coding language, too. I used to code whole website systems in PHP with MySQL backends, and Python looks, well, interesting!
I still love analog radio… I’m not all digital, all the time. My go-to handheld radios are a Kenwood TH-D74A and Yaesu VX-6R. These two platforms work well for me and one of them is always with me when I travel. I often carry a small shortwave receiver, too. Usually, it is a Tecsun PL680 that offers AM/FM/LW/SW, Air Band, and SSB.
As noted above, I’m going to fix up an old Heathkit receiver. I have a number of other old radios, too, waiting in line to be touched up.
I have barely scratched the surface of the wide, deep river we call amateur radio. I know enough now to recognize I can spend the rest of my days learning more about amateur radio and increasing my knowledge and skills. Being a lifelong learner, this is one of the things that I find deeply satisfied about amateur radio.
What is your story?… So that is a summary of my amateur radio journey. I’d love to hear your story. What stimulated you to become a licensed ham? How did you get started with your station and where did you stumble along the way? What new aspects of this hobby do you want to explore next?
73 to all!
Hi Tom. First, thanks for keeping your blog up and active! I know it takes time and thought, and I appreciate it! I look forward to your articles along with Zero Retries each week!
I thought I was the only one to love the little UV-3. I’ve got a couple and it’s just such a handy little thing and so easy to misplace (why I have two).
My ham story is told on my QRZ page (which I always encourage new hams to populate) and my website richcasey.net so I won’t repeat it here but I too enjoy the many aspects of the hobby. As you can see, I’ve been at it since I was a kid.
I’m a big fan of Yaesu Fusion and lucky enough to have several fusion repeaters here in Dallas, and also use a hotspot here and at our townhouse in Hot Springs Village Arkansas.
73 Rich N5CSU
n5csu@arrl.net