Weekly Simplex Voice and WinLink Peer-to-Peer Nets are happening on Saturday Nights at 8 PM or 2000 Pacific Time.
The Simplex Voice net is hosted by Vince KD7PVY on 146.550.
The Simplex P2P Winlink net is hosted by Charles KJ7GKQ on 445.550.
Come give them a try!
The PSRG Annual Meeting was a great success! It was well attended and we had a fascinating and mind-blowing presentation by Quentin Caudron on Fractal Antennas.
Update: Copies of his slides can be found here.
Theresa McLaird KG7AII gave her final Treasurer’s Report that PSRG is financially healthy. A copy of the Treasurer’s Report is included with the President’s Report slides.
President Doug Kingston reported on the two major projects accomplished during the last year–slides from Doug’s President’s Presentation are posted here.
Doug Kingston was unanimously re-elected to the position of President and Quentin Cauldron and Allison Dalton were unanimously elected to Board Slots #2 and #4, respectively. At the board meeting following the Annual Meeting, Quentin was appointed Secretary and Allison was appointed Treasurer.
PSRG thanks Theresa McLaird and Jack Wolfe, KI7RMU for their 2 years of service as the Treasurer and Secretary. They both did a great job and have offered to help the new officers get up to speed.
The owner of the IRLP system, has decided to disable the keys for all IRLP systems that are using IRLP via the Allstar system software. This is impacting lots of repeater with dual connectivity, and there does not appear to be an amicable solution. Since PSRG’s repeater control software and the voting system it provides use Allstar, so we have no intention to retreat from our use of Allstar so we have no option but to remove IRLP support from our repeater. Practically, this will have virtually no impact on our users as virtually all our internet connectivity is via Allstar and Echolink, both of which are unaffected.
For those interested in in the background and politics, you can read more on the arm-allstar-irlp email group: http://lists.hamvoip.org/pipermail/arm-allstar-irlp/2020-January/thread.html.
The next PSRG educational meeting is Saturday March 16th (1 week delay due to the Mike & Key Swap Meet). As usual it will be held at the Salmon Bay Cafe in Ballard and starts at 1:30 PM. Due to the February 9th board meeting that was canceled there will be a mini-board meeting first to conduct a few items of business.
Then it’s HANDS ON WITH DMR.
Come and see DMR up-close with a quick review of what it is and then see it in action with live QSO’s. Local talk groups, world-wide contacts and time slots explained.
Have a DMR radio and need help with a code plug? We’ll have some great help available to load your radio with suggested talk groups and contacts.
Already up to speed with a radio that’s programmed? Head to the back tables for a round-robin discussion of tips & tricks to expand your knowledge.
And be sure to see the DMR page on the PSRG website, too as there are additional items to familiarize yourself with.
Update: Talk Groups Revised. Added PS1 and PS2. These are for EMCOMM/Public Service use only. See PNW-DMR website for more details.
From Doug (KD7DK): With material help from Randy (W3RWN) and labor from Casey (AE7SL), the Puget Sound Repeater Group has installed its test DMR repeater at Capitol Park. This repeater is linked to and carries the core PNW-DMR (Pacific NorthWest DMR Group) talkgroups. Please visit their website pnwdigital.net* for more information on the PNW-DMR network, talkgroups, user technical guidelines, and operating best practices.
If you are going to operate DMR in this region, please join the PNW-DMR notification group so you can receive operational notifications and be informed of network changes.
Now the details so you can program your radios: Our repeater is new so its not in the existing codeplugs which you can download from the PNW-DMR website.
RX 440.775 / TX 445.775 (+5.0) Color code 2
Callsign WW7PSR
This is a dedicated narrowband (12.5KHz) channel.
DMR Digital transmissions only.The following talkgroups are supported:
Time slot 1:
Seattle 1 (310477)
Wash 1 (3153)
Local 1 (3181)
PNW 1 (3187)
PS1 (3190)
Parrot (9998) – This is a playback test talkgroup.Time slot 2:
Seattle 2 (310534)
Wash 2 (103153)
Local 2 (3166)
Tac 1 (8951)
Tac 2 (8952)
Tac 8 (8958)
PNW 2 (103187)
PNWR (31771)
PS2 (103190)
Audio Test (9999)
The equipment for this repeater is a Yaesu DR-1X operating at 20 watts into a modest gain antenna. The digital modem is a Micro-Node Teensy-MMDVM connected to a Raspberry Pi 3 running MMDVM-Host and DMR-Gateway to interconnect to the PWN-DMR 2-slot gateway, known as Rex. This is not the final configuration but one the group could launch quickly, and help us gain more information to inform our final equipment choices.
If you have not operated DMR before, please take some time to read some of the information for first time users before keying up.
We have been really pleased with the initial coverage reports. Please let us know how you find the coverage. We are currently running 5 watts, but that was a configuration mistake and it will shortly be set to 20 watts which will probably be the final setting for the test repeater. Send questions and observations to tech@psrg.org.
*Also please note that PNW-DMR is in the process of moving their web presence to a new hosting site and that some of the URLs referenced above may change in the future.
Update
PSRG added a “Voting System” in October 2018. This is a network of remote receivers scattered around the coverage area to enhance the coverage for people calling into the repeater. Although the system is one directional, i.e., the remote units can receive your signal, the output of the repeater still comes from Queen Anne. A more detailed explanation of how the system works has been provided by Doug Kingston, KD7DK: PSRG Voting System. PSRG Voting System.
You can look at the strength of the signals being received by each of the receivers in real time at the PSRG Supermon page.
There is an Extra Class coming up in late October and early November. The class is sponsored by Mike & Key Amateur Radio Club, and it’s FREE.
Details: Dates for the class are October 27th, November 3rd and 10th from 9am-5pm. The class is FREE, but the test at the end of the third day costs $ 15. The class location is
PC Center
2363 NW 80th Street
Seattle, WA 98117
Course materials are available at www.TukwilaRadioClub.org under Training Roadmap and the ARRL Extra Licensing Manual is recommended. The Manual is available for $30 at the class, but you should reserve a copy.
There is also a Technician class at the same location on November 3rd and 10th. If you know anyone looking to get their license, here is an opportunity. Materials are also on the Tukwila site.
If interested in either class, please email Dan Stevens kl7wm@aol.com to sign up.
The September Educational Meeting date was held on September 15, at 1:30 PM at the Salmon Bay Cafe, 5109 Shilshole Ave NW, Seattle.
Part 1 featured Hannah Heyrich presenting a talk on disaster risk reduction. Her focus is in community and public outreach with the goal of helping to build safer and more resilient communities. She offered practical information you can use to be proactive in preparing for catastrophes. Update: Here is a link to Hannah’s slides.
Part 2 featured Jack, KI7RMU and Jacob KI7YAE, showing their portable solar power battery system used recently on Salt Spring Island on a two week camping adventure. This system can also be used for emergency power needs and is relatively inexpensive – about $200.
This part also covered the Anderson Power Pole system used to connect the system parts. Anderson Power Poles are a de facto standard for ham radio power connections.
Part 3 is an antenna party hosted at Sam KD7PWA & Dave’s KD7PWB’s shop which is about three blocks from the Salmon Bay Cafe. For new hams and old hands this was an exciting post-meeting time to build an antenna, build cables with Power Poles and to socialize.
Saturday, July 21 was a lovely memorial for our friend and mentor-to-many, LW, K7LWA. In honor of LW, who was occasionally seen in a tie-died shirt, a few of our members showed up appropriately attired. (Photo by Steve, N7GWG)
Intro to Effective Portable Ops
by N6NBN and WT1IM
Continue reading
