Loose Notes 6/7/15

Yet another quick run-down on what's happened over the past week:

• The UHF 444.950+ (114.8 PL) repeater in White Bear Lake has experienced...something. I used to be able to reach this machine from my car, and even with an HT/stock duck indoors. This week, though, it takes a much better signal to even "ker-chunk" it. Even 5W with my exterior whip antenna is just ignored by the receiver. My 10W mobile has about 50/50 odds of "ker-chunking" the repeater now, when it used to be completely reliable driving around Plymouth.  It still seems be transmitting fine, as I get S9 here when I use sufficient power. The VHF .390 is working great, as always.

• The VHF repeater in Becker -- 147.345+ (85.4 PL) -- is also apparently down. This is a 600-foot powerhouse repeater that I've had QSOs on with under 10W, and now 50W into a beam results in only silence. 

• The VHF SNP HandiHam repeater on 145.230- (114.8 PL) is also performing much worse over the past week. Usually it came in here at least S6 with the exterior whip, but now it's barely above the noise floor at S3.

• The MGRC's feeble 443.700+ repeater seems to be off-air. Since it usually only came in at S2 from eight miles away, it's hard to tell. It was never listed on RepeaterBook, so there's nothing to update.

• Unknown to the parties involved, N0BVE (Don) has pulled the WIRES-X link between two other repeaters and his 444.925+ C4FM repeater: the 1.25M  223.900- (100.0 PL) and the UHF 442.175+ (100.0 PL) machines. WIRES-X is still working on the .925, as I just had a conversation with KG7NKG (David) in Idaho on the C4FM hybrid machine yesterday. The two de-linked repeaters still remain linked to each other, however.

•  I finally got the EchoLink node on the 145.370- (107.2 PL) repeater to work. K0MSP-L (node 9975) has never worked for me, but yesterday I switched from "Relay" to "Direct" mode and I was allowed in. Currently, it's connected to a conference server in Ireland, though there's no traffic on the repeater, and nobody else is allowed in. Weird...

• Speaking of EchoLink, KC0VRV (Matt) has set up a simplex node on UHF 446.025 in Hugo. Range is estimated at 5 to 8 miles. 

• Meanwhile, the TCFMC's putative node (mentioned on their site) has been continuously down for at least 18 months, and only working for about two weeks over the past two years. Is it really a node if it's never logged in? 

• There's a new APRS gateway in Ramsey. KE0BRY-10 has been in operation a few days, and is providing coverage on Hwy. 10 between Anoka and Elk River. it's also gating digipeated packets well into the metro. On the other hand, the KG9B gateway in Hudson has gone dark, and the AE0RF-10 RX-only gateway in St. Paul has switched to an experimental mobile gateway mode that may not be working as intended.

•  Previously, I mentioned running in to the 147.360+ (136.5 PL) repeater in Hampton during a road trip. K0JTA (Mike) felt confident that I could reach this repeater from my home in Plymouth during our conversation, so this past week I tried to do just that. I put my flimsy 2M Yagi on the tripod and aimed it, as best I could, toward Hampton. To my great surprise, I not only "ker-chunked" the Hampton repeater, but I carried on an extended QSO with Mike. I started out at 25W, and worked down to only 5W. I was still readable at 5W, though 15W worked better. The machine itself came back at S6. Even if you don't have a good enough antenna or enough power to work the .360, it has EchoLink (K0JTA-R). 

• I usually watch the 2M propagation maps daily, and last week had some very good conditions. It's not uncommon for the W0YC-5 gateway to reach Duluth, and for the N0AGI gateway to reach Mason City, IA! These maps work on the APRS signals received, and packet generally doesn't go as far as voice, so the actual conditions are probably better than what's shown. And, APRS is FM, so SSB will generally work farther, as it's a "weak signal" mode. Still, I've had no luck with my 2M beam running horizontally on 144.200 SSB or CW. 

• Yesterday (6/6) KE0NA and I had a chat on the local DMR repeater -- 442.425+ -- and we both noticed that the interference from the .850's remote receive site had decreased significantly. Not sure what was done, if anything, but I was able to get in to the repeater using an indoor whip from Plymouth while there was activity on the 145.850 machine. Dave noticed no packet loss, and we didn't get the "deny" tone indicating that the DMR receiver was swamped by the TX of the remote receive site. 

•  Also regarding DMR, KE0NA (Dave) now has fully-licensed Motorola programming software and working code-plugs. So, if you've hesitated about picking up a Motorola HT because you couldn't get it programmed, that's no longer an issue. There are also code-plugs available for the Connect Systems CS-700 DMR HT. They will soon be available on twintrbo.com, or you can just email me for the CS700 version. A code-plug is just a programming file that you load on to the radio. With DMR, programming is a lot harder than it is with an analogue FM radio, so it's nice to have something ready-made that is known to work. 

• With Field Day coming up, I've ordered a 15M dipole to set up in my brother's back yard. Look for me on 15M CW, because I'm a Tech. I'll be running QRP, and not contesting. I have options for 6M and 10M, too, so a "sked" can be set up if you want to experiment.

• N0BZZ (Randy) has informed me that LSAC is in danger of losing several of their sites, including the once-popular Isanti 443.325+ site. Per Randy, Verizon has been selling off towers to raise money, and these towers are used for several LSAC repeaters. The new owners (ATC) seem to be disinclined to allow other equipment on their new acquisitions. While this was supposed to be the time of year to rebuild the network, instead everything is up in the air. The Isanti site is the crucial link between the northern MN network and the metro area. This is potentially disastrous news for the future of linked networks in the state.