2006-2007 ARCHIVES
April 21, 2007: Michigan QSO Party!
12 noon to 12 midnight
Please email msuhamradio@gmail.com with the times you can operate, so we can evenly cover the 12 hour event.
| Hour | Callsigns: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 12PM | KD8BXT | ||
| 1PM | KD8BXT | ||
| 2PM | KD8BXT | NF8M | |
| 3PM | NF8M | WB8LZG | |
| 4PM | NF8M | WB8LZG | |
| 5PM | WB8LZG | ||
| 6PM | W8KAR | K8MAS | WB8LZG |
| 7PM | W8KAR | K8MAS | |
| 8PM | K8MAS | ||
| 9PM | KD8BXT | ||
| 10PM | KD8BXT | ||
| 11PM | KD8BXT | ||
March 22, 2007: KT8X DXPedition presentation
6:00PM in Engineering Building 1225
Two MSU alumni travel to a remote South Pacific island to setup wireless communication with amateur radio stations worldwide! Hear of their travels and difficulties in establishing reliable worldwide communications links to as many locations as possible!
FREE PIZZA AND POP!
Jan 21, 2007: Repeater/Echolink commands
See Repeater page
Jan 21, 2007: Repeater desense
Several dB of desense were noted.
Jan 20, 2007: North American QSO Party
Phone, 2PM local Saturday, Jan. 20 thru 2AM local Sunday, Jan 21.
Jan 17, 2007: Repeater Coverage Map
With the RF receive performance improved, a new coverage map has been made. Click the map for more details and higher resoluation.
Jan 15, 2007: Repeater interference
The formerly offending biz-band transmitter is back on the air, thus far without the interference(!)
Jan 14, 2007: Repeater sensitivity
The preamp was removed from the repeater since its output was not padded, leading to extremely high input levels (nearly 1/4 Watt!) directly into the repeater receiver. Also, the center pin of the input and output cable to the preamp were NOT soldered, leading to open connections that further degraded performance.
After removing the preamp, an immediate increase in sensitivity was noted, on the order of 6dB. This means a station that had to run 3 Watts to be clear now needs less than 1 Watt to be clear into the repeater.
Jan 11, 2007: Repeater interference
I noticed that the interference now was spreading over at least 21.5MHz, possibly right up into the public safety band, as I believe I could hear the system interfering with its own receiver(!).
UPDATE: At about 2PM today, the offending repeater was apparently disabled.
Jan 10, 2007: Repeater Interference
Over the past day or so, the interference has gotten worse, with a continuous loud buzz and distorted voice heard the entire time the biz-band repeater is keyed. Have left a voice mail for them.
UPDATE: Testing with KD8BXT has revealed that the interference is affecting the repeater INPUT frequency as well! This means not only is our repeater's "talkout" being reduced, but mobiles/portables trying to transmit TO the repeater are being interfered with as well!
Firstly, please leave Echolink running on the old right-hand computer by the TS-2000 so that I can observe this remotely when needed. Thanks. The TS-2000 does not need to be left on, because I can turn it on and off remotely, AS LONG AS Echolink is running. Further, though testing with KD8BXT we have found that the INPUT to our repeater is now being affected--that is, someone with a weaker signal can drop right out when the offending biz-band transmitter is on the air. The "chirp" and buzzing hash on SSB (and on FM when someone is transmitting to the repeater with a weak signal) is quite noticeable at W8MSU at 447.900MHz. When I put our repeater in carrier squelch, it is strong and there long enough from time to time to actually key up our repeater! Again, to observe this yourself you need to be scanning between say 442.700 to 443.00 or wider in 5kHz increments with an FM receiver--only sometimes does it land close enough to 442.900. The observed interference with the W8MSU TS-2000 in SSB mode is now over 21.5MHz wide--from about 428.400MHz to 450MHz, whereas before is was only observed to be about 5MHz wide--a corollary to this might be that it could now be interfering with other business band users such as police, EMS, etc. However, since I cannot measure above 450MHz with the current technique that is only speculation. If time permits I may take an off-air spectrum analyzer measurement. The bulk of the interference wanders between roughly 442.700 to 443.000MHz when their repeater is transmitting, but the "chirp" is observable over the entire 21.5MHz from W8MSU. The center of the interference sounds like a loud buzz with very distorted voice. It appears they have either dramatically reduced power or have mistuned their offending transmitter filter, since now the offending repeater is at least an order of magnitude weaker than the other 2 repeaters in their trunked system. However, despite their much weaker desired power, the undesired power interfering with the INPUT and OUTPUT of our repeater has if anything only INCREASED. Have left them a second voice mail about this just now.
Jan 8, 2007: Echolink Down
Windows is being reinstalled by DECS, we hope to have Echolink back in service this weekend--if DECS gets the computer back to us.
Jan 5, 2007: Repeater Interference
The biz-band licensee has called back and they seem to understand the problem. They recently had increased power, and their radio service person was part of the conversation as well.
Jan 3, 2007: Repeater Interference
The biz-band licensee has been called and a voice mail left. Will wait a day or so for response before proceeding further.
Jan 2, 2007: Repeater interference
The business-band transmitter causing interference to the 442.900 repeater has been located and work is underway to resolve this inteference.
Dec 23, 2006: APRS Satgate setup
Is anyone interested in setting up a Satgate satellite station using our existing equipment to relay data packets from the ANDE and RAFT satellites just launched?
Dec 22, 2006: [Tentative pending possible schedule change] Space Shuttle landing audio
We plan to offer landing audio rebroadcast on 147.400MHz, PL 103.5Hz for the currently scheduled landing around 2:30PM on Friday, Dec 22.
Dec 9, 2006: Space Shuttle audio rebroadcast
The space shuttle launch audio worked very well.
We offered this audio on 147.400MHz, PL 103.5.
Dec 7, 2006: Space Shuttle audio rebroadcast
We are tentatively planning to offer space shuttle audio as it launches on or about Dec 7th, shortly before 9:30PM local time.
This would take on place on 147.400MHz, with coverage generally as shown at http://home.gwu.edu/~mvolz/rf/coverage/w8msu.html
Nov 20, 2006: ARRL Phone Sweepstakes Results
We placed very competitively, with instantaneous rates approaching 150 QSOs per hour at times.
Oct 2006: APRS W8MSU-10 transmitter failure
The APRS radio for W8MSU-10 has experienced a transmitter fault. It is unknown how long this has been in a failed condition, with extremely low transmit power.
The radio has been taken offline for examination for possible repair.
Nov 18-19: ARRL Phone Sweepstakes
We would like to have a rough schedule of times operators will be available to coordinate our participation across the 24 hour contest window.
Please email the times you can operate.
Nov 6: CW Sweepstakes Results
Here's the final tally fer the CW Sweeps. QSO's = 185. Sections = 57. Total score = 10,545pts x 2 = 21,090. Power was 100 watts es abt 12 hours of operating time. I would like to thank all those who came out to help with operating , logging, es moral support.
Matt Palmer KD8DAO
Phil Perreault W8EKR
Mike Shanblatt K8MAS
Bob Berger K8RDN
Rick Klingensmith WA3TUU
Andrew Temme KE7ESD
This years effort was lots of fun. Had quite a few gud laughs with the crew. Seems we were always disagreeing on the number being sent in the exchange, but that made for some lighthearted humer.We had an interesting development right at the start of the contest. The Dupe Sheets had dissapeared ! We managed to make up one es this didn't hinder our progress any. ( we suspect U of M spies were trying to sabotage our operation) Hi Hi Our recently adjusted 80m dipole played beautifully. Got everyone on the 1st call. If u didn't get a chance to join the fun, you can still get in on the phone SS in 2 weeks.Consider coming out and having a gud time with the gang!
A special thanks to Dr. Shanblatt for bringing the pizza on Saterday evening. The guys in the trenches can't put em in the log without pizza!
See u in the Phone Sweeps
73, Gregg WB8LZG
Nov 4-5: ARRL CW Sweepstakes
We now have a retuned 80m dipole to enable better resonance on the lower portion of 80m. The control computer was repaired in time.
Oct 21: Jamboree on the Air
The MSUARC participation in Jamboree on the Air with the Boy Scouts was a real success. David KD8BXT spearheaded the effort, spending much of Friday and all of Saturday making the
event a success. The Red Cedar Log, MSU's Yearbook, sent a photographer on site to capture action photos for the Yearbook.
40 meters provided the best performance for the event, as Scouts communicated in droves for several hours at the Camp Kiwanis site.
While the main mode used was voice, digital modes such as PSK31 were also utilized.
The Echolink connection was not utilized this year, due to more help needed at the Camp Kiwanis end--too many Boy Scouts and too few operators. However, we did get useful data
to improve the performance in the future, but having enough operators is definately the limitation--very exhausting to operate for 8 hours straight.
Sept 21-26: ISS Contacts
Anousheh Ansari to make random school contacts from International Space Station from Thursday, Sept 21 through Tuesday, Sept. 26.
You should be able to easily hear this with an outdoor antenna of any sort.
