Category Archives: ARRL Ohio Section

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Amateur Radio, ARRL Ohio Section, Computing, Ohio Section Journal

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – April 2016 edition

One of the responsibilities of the Technical Coordinator in the Ohio Section is to submit something for the Section Journal. The Section Journal covers Amateur Radio related things happening in and around the ARRL Ohio Section. It is published by the Section Manager Scott – N8SY and articles are submitted by cabinet members.

Once my article is published in the Journal, I will also make it available on my site with a link to the published edition.

You can receive the Journal and other Ohio Section news by joining the mailing list Scott has setup. You do not need to be a member of the ARRL, Ohio Section, or even a ham to join the mailing list. Please sign up!

If you are an ARRL member and reside in the Ohio Section, update your mailing preferences to receive Ohio Section news in your inbox. Those residing outside the section will need to use the mailing list link above.
Updating your ARRL profile will deliver news from the section where you reside (if the leadership chooses to use this method).
Go to www.arrl.org and logon.
Click Edit your Profile.
You will be taken to the Edit Your Profile page. On the first tab Edit Info, verify your Email address is correct.
Click the Edit Email Subscriptions tab.
Check the News and information from your Division Director and Section Manager box.
Click Save.

Now without further ado…

Read the full edition at: http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/2016/04/april-edition-of-ohio-section-journal.html

THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
Jeff Kopcak – TC
k8jtk@arrl.net

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang,

So — Windows 10. This topic was brought up during the after meeting at my local club. Many of you are undoubtedly seeing the upgrade nag-screens. You too might be wondering: what’s changed in Windows 10, might have heard some of the issues surrounding the new operating system, and why the big push to upgrade. This month I’ll cover the new operating system from the perspective of what has happened so far and not from a ham radio perspective. Also to preface this whole thing, Microsoft has never been very clear about their statements and often retracts or goes back on things they’ve said. In other words, any of this may change as we go along.

windows-update-impending-upgradeWhat is Windows 10?… why not Windows 9? There are many theories surrounding the choice in numbering. The named version of Windows hasn’t matched the real version number since Windows NT 4.0. Windows 10 is the successor to Windows 8.1, but not Windows as you know it. It represents a shift in the direction of Microsoft as a company. Microsoft indicated this is the “the last version of Windows.” While they’re not killing it off, Microsoft is moving to a model they call “Windows as a service.” This means Microsoft will deliver innovations and updates in an ongoing manner instead of separate releases (versions) of Windows. The ultimate goal is to have one version of Windows that will run on all platforms. Everything, including Raspberry Pi, phones, tables, HoloLens (wearable, so called “smart-glasses”), laptops, desktop PCs, Surface Hubs (interactive whiteboards), and Xbox entertainment systems. Having one version of an operating system means all of these systems will become integrated and share information easily.

windows-product-family

A large part of this shift includes the use of “the cloud.” The cloud is a fancy term for someone else’s equipment on the Internet. The most common example is ‘cloud storage.’ Services like DropBox, Google Drive, or OneDrive allow you to save your documents and pictures elsewhere. You upload files to these services and you can access those files or share them with others on the Internet. The cloud is heavily integrated into Windows 10. After installing Windows 10, it will prompt you to sign in using a Microsoft Account. This syncs your user profile with the Microsoft cloud. When you sign into another device using your Microsoft Account, your settings will be the same across those devices. You can use Windows 10 without a Microsoft account. The computer will operate in standalone mode similar to previous versions of Windows. Microsoft’s online storage service called OneDrive is integrated into the operating system as well. Other new features include your new personal assistant, Cortana. She will help find things on your computer and the web, set reminders, similar to Apple’s Siri or Google Now.

Universal apps: These first appeared in Windows 8 as “Metro Apps.” This concept is to have developers write one application and have it work the same way on any Windows platform. These apps are found and delivered via the Microsoft Store (similar to the Android Play Store or Apple’s App Store), and again – available on all platforms. Some games and applications that came preloaded in previous versions of Windows have been replaced with Universal Apps in 10.

Edge browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer has been replaced with Microsoft Edge. It’s been touted as a more secure browser. However, this has yet to play out because browser extensions are very limited.

upgrade-is-readyFree upgrade: Legal copies of Windows 7/8/8.1 are eligible for a free lifetime upgrade to Windows 10 until July 29, 2016. There are some stipulations to this free upgrade. “Lifetime” means the lifetime of the device eligible for the free upgrade. When that device fails, you cannot transfer the free upgrade to another device. What happens after July 29th? Microsoft hasn’t said. The free upgrade is expected to become a premium upgrade that you’ll have to purchase, even for a device that was previously eligible for the free upgrade. Versions prior to Windows 7 are not eligible for the free upgrade. To be honest, if you’re running a version of Windows prior to 7, you probably want to upgrade your hardware for 10.

Now reality.

Big upgrade push: Windows users have seen the icon in the system tray nagging them to upgrade. Why the big push? Microsoft is trying to avoid another Windows XP. At the time Windows XP was declared “end-of-life,” it accounted for about 10% of all computers on the Internet. Two years later, about 7% are still using XP. That’s a lot of users running a dead operating system. On top of that, Windows 7 will be 7 years old in July and only supported for 4 more years (until January 2020).

While Windows XP maybe working great, there are reasons to get off of it. Google has been leading a push for a more secure Internet. Windows XP cannot handle many modern security methods in use today. All browsers in XP (except Firefox) will display ‘your connection is not private’ when connecting to a website that has more modern security then XP can understand. Since Windows XP is not a supported operating system, it won’t be updated to handle modern security methods. While the website will still work, your connection will be less secure. A work around for this security issue is to use Firefox. Though no known vulnerabilities exist in XP, best practice dictates users should remove unsupported operating systems from the Internet if it doesn’t need to be on the Internet. Another reason to upgrade is new hardware and software will not have support for old operating systems.

upgrade-is-waitingThe upgrade push for Windows 10 has been nothing short of a disaster. Last year, users eligible for the upgrade began seeing a Windows icon in the system tray saying ‘you’re PC is ready for your free upgrade.’ This deplorable tactic is commonly used by malware and spyware authors to trick you into installing software you don’t want or need. As an Information Technology professional with an interest in cyber security, this is the type of message I tell users NOT to acknowledge. Kind of ironic. Initially this tray icon came in the form of a Windows “Recommended” update. Then Microsoft upgraded it to a “Critical” Windows Update -yet another deplorable tactic. Despite this maneuver, Windows 10 is NOT a critical update. The upgrade popups are very confusing as the clickable options are: “upgrade now,” “upgrade later,” “OK,” or “Get Started.” Oh, it gets worse. Users are reporting they vigilantly closed the prompts to upgrade (clicked the red “X”) but their system was still upgraded automatically against their wishes. They went to bed with Windows 7 and got up the next morning to Windows 10. Surprise.

Once the upgrade happens, you do have 30 days to revert back to your previous version of Windows. The problem here is users have found the roll back frequently fails. Imagine that. ‘Don’t worry, you can go back… if you want. Opps, the roll back just failed! Guess you’re stuck.’ Thanks.

Start Menu: Microsoft tried to remove the Start menu in Windows 8 and replaced it with a full screen tile menu. This was an attempt start a unified experience between PCs and mobile devices. The change worked fine on small screen devices but was a terrible experience on PCs. It was met with much outcry. The Start menu has returned in Windows 10 with something that kind of resembles the Start menu from Windows 7. It’s more of a combined Start menu — “Live Tile” experience. Live Tiles display updates like weather, news, and photos, while others are just a static application icon.

windows-10

Adding to the confusion, there now two places where system settings reside: “Settings” and “Control Panel.” Settings typically run between devices like time zone, personalization, notifications, and user accounts. The Control Panel is mostly desktop specific settings.

Tracking: Microsoft Windows 10 tracks much of what you do and where you go. Their claim is they provided a free upgrade so you can give some information back to Microsoft on your usage. Two problems with this: even if you pay for the Windows 10 upgrade, this information is still shared with Microsoft. The other, this tracking is now rolled into Windows 7 and 8. Privacy advocates feel this is a violation of user’s privacy. The argument on the other side is most use Google or Apple’s services and they know just as much about you. This Ars Technica article explains tracking is a growing trend in technology: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/windows-10s-privacy-policy-is-the-new-normal/

Upgrade tips: create a full system backup using a backup service or create an image of your current installation on an external hard drive before attempting to upgrade. This is a backup incase the rollback fails. Check the vendor’s website of your hardware and critical software applications. Look for driver support or knowledge base articles about Windows 10 before upgrading. Knowing whether your devices and software are supported will help minimize regret because your favorite app or device no longer works.

Certainly some of these concerns have caused me to look at alternative operating systems. I have found in my deployments (I have yet to upgrade all of my desktops) with a little work, I can get 10 to act a lot like (my favorite) Windows 7. Turning off or uninstalling cruft helps a lot: turning off notifications, disabling camera & microphone usage, disable Cortana, remove many Universal Applications, and turn off background apps. I use Classic Shell to return a normal looking Start menu and Anti-Beacon to disable tracking. Links to those applications and ones to disable the upgrade nag-screens are below. Seriously, if you find any of these apps useful, consider donating to the author because we need to support those doing the right thing and allowing choice.

Thanks for reading and 73… de Jeff – K8JTK

Image sources: thurrott.com, zdnet.com, and blogs.windows.com.

As always, use these at your own risk.
Disable Windows 10 upgrade and notifications in Windows 7 & 8/8.1:
Never 10: https://www.grc.com/never10.htm
GWX Control Panel (advanced users): http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/

Start menu replacement for Windows 8 & 10:
Classic Shell: http://www.classicshell.net/
Start 10 (trial): http://www.stardock.com/products/start10/

Disable Windows tracking:
https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking
https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/ (from the makers of SpyBot Search and Destroy, works on all versions of Windows).
A more manual approach is presented: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/windows-10-doesnt-offer-much-privacy-by-default-heres-how-to-fix-it/

Amateur Radio, ARRL Ohio Section, Ohio Section Journal

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – March 2016 edition

One of the responsibilities of the Technical Coordinator in the Ohio Section is to submit something for the Section Journal. The Section Journal covers Amateur Radio related things happening in and around the ARRL Ohio Section. It is published by the Section Manager Scott – N8SY and articles are submitted by cabinet members.

Once my article is published in the Journal, I will also make it available on my site with a link to the published edition.

You can receive the Journal and other Ohio Section news by joining the mailing list Scott has setup. You do not need to be a member of the ARRL, Ohio Section, or even a ham to join the mailing list. Please sign up!

If you are an ARRL member and reside in the Ohio Section, update your mailing preferences to receive Ohio Section news in your inbox. Those residing outside the section will need to use the mailing list link above.
Updating your ARRL profile will deliver news from the section where you reside (if the leadership chooses to use this method).
Go to www.arrl.org and logon.
Click Edit your Profile.
You will be taken to the Edit Your Profile page. On the first tab Edit Info, verify your Email address is correct.
Click the Edit Email Subscriptions tab.
Check the News and information from your Division Director and Section Manager box.
Click Save.

Now without further ado…

Read the full edition at: http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/2016/03/march-edition-of-ohio-section-journal.html

THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
Jeff Kopcak – TC
k8jtk@arrl.net

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang,

It’s been a busy month for yours truly. Things got started off with a drive down to Columbus with my dad N8ETP. We visited the Columbus Radio Enthusiasts Society (CRES) on February 16th. It was touch-and-go for a while due to the weather. Snow hit both areas the night before and hoped it would hold off for the meeting. It did. We made it there and back, no problem. It was our first meeting in Columbus and we couldn’t have had a better time. I was contacted by Steve – N8WL to troubleshoot an RFI issue he was experiencing. CRES_N8ETPWe got to talking and he invited me to come down and speak about, well, myself –what the Technical Coordinator does and projects I’ve worked on. The presentation consisted of: my history in Ham Radio and how I got to where I am, laid out the ARRL and Field Services structures, section level positions and the Ohio Section, my responsibilities as Technical Coordinator, and projects I’ve worked on. In addition gave some pointers for troubleshooting RFI problems. Our Section Manager was on hand and helped answer specific questions about the section. It was an informative meeting. CRES: http://www.w8zpf.net/, presentation: http://www.k8jtk.org/2016/02/16/about-the-arrl-ohio-section-technical-coordinator/

The following weekend I presented at the Mansfield Hamfest during the Digital Forum. Danny – W8DLB, who is in charge of the Hamfest, was at my NBEMS training session in Medina County and asked me to present it during the Digital Forum. The Digital Forum covered voice and text based digital modes. Duane -K8MDA demonstrated FreeDV. FreeDV is a mode used on HF for voice communication. It’s impressive because the bandwidth is about one-third of sideband! I gave a portion of my training session on Narrow Band Emergency Messaging using Fldigi.

K1NAt the LEARA meeting in Cleveland, I showed the video for the Navassa Island K1N DXpedition which happened in February of last year. A DXpedition is an expedition to a remote location, usually uninhabited, for the purposes of activating the location and making as many contacts as possible. Navassa was my first time trying to chase a “most wanted” entity for my log. I was able to log them twice. Bob Allphin – K4UEE has participated in many DXpeditions and has released the story of many on DVD. I had no idea what it took to put on a DXpedition of that magnitude. After seeing his DVD on Navassa, I now have a better idea. It is a phenomenal video that got rave reviews and comments at the meeting. The main video runs about 45 minutes. The wrap-up from the Dayton forum is included which has some great background details. These are great for club meetings, introducing newcomers to Ham Radio, and gifts. Purchasing the video helps supports future DXpeditions and supports other hams: http://t-rexsoftware.com/k4uee/dvds.htm

Last, and certainly not least, Ken – KG8DN instructor at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio has been in charge of the Gilmour Academy Radio Club – ND8GA for as long as I’ve known him. During the school year, organizations are in charge of running Convocation for a week. This is a gathering of the entire school for announcements, happenings, events, and entertainment. Ken asked me to speak at Convocation one morning. This was a different type of presentation than I was expecting. I figured I would be there to talk-up Ham Radio and get kids interested. Nope. It was more about life experiences with a little Ham Radio sprinkled in. Things students could relate to. I have to be honest this was more challenging than I anticipated. A lot of time was spent searching for topics that students would care about, relate to, and how those experiences got me to where I am now. There was a visual portion which included many pictures from my high school years. When looking back on friends and people I shared those experiences with, it make me wish I was back in that time. I’m sure I’ll feel the same way when I look back on today. The presentation turned out great and I have to thank Ken for all of his help. ND8GA: https://sites.google.com/a/gilmour.org/gilmour-amateur-radio-club/

Thank you to everyone for coming to my various appearances and the organizers for asking me to speak with your organizations.

ham_radio_for_makers_2_KB1WNRham_radio_for_makers_1_KB1WNRI received an email from a fellow Trustee of LEARA, Marv – W8AZO, asking if I had seen my name mentioned in a post on a website. I had not. What website did he find my name on? The IEEE website. Now, I know the fine folks over at IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) are wicked smart. Much smarter than I am. They come up with solutions to technical problems which usually turn into established standards. Additionally, they publish one-third of the world’s technical literature. Why the heck would they be talking about me? Stephen Cass – KB1WNR, Senior Editor for the IEEE Spectrum magazine wrote an article titled “Hands on: A Ham Radio for Makers.” He built an FM transceiver using an RS-UV3 transceiver board and Raspberry Pi to take advantage of digital modes. I was mentioned because Stephen used the instructions I posted to compile and run Fldigi on the Raspberry Pi. Super cool! ham_radio_for_makers_3_KB1WNRI emailed Stephen and thanked him for the plug. He was very appreciative of the well written instructions. His article may have glossed over some important points relevant to hams but the goal of the article was to draw others in from the wider community. The article will be in the March printed edition of IEEE Spectrum and should be available by the time you read this. It hasn’t hit the shelves in my local bookstore yet. Online version: http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/hands-on-a-ham-radio-for-makers

That is what ham radio and makers are all about. I wanted to figure out how to run Fldigi on the Raspberry Pi, came up with a way to do it, documented it thoroughly, and shared it online. Stephen came across my instructions and used them as part of his project to create something greater; perpetuating the cycle.

Thanks for reading and 73… de Jeff

Amateur Radio, ARRL Ohio Section, Ohio Section Journal

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – February 2016 edition

One of the responsibilities of the Technical Coordinator in the Ohio Section is to submit something for the Section Journal. The Section Journal covers Amateur Radio related things happening in and around the ARRL Ohio Section. It is published by the Section Manager Scott – N8SY and articles are submitted by cabinet members.

Once my article is published in the Journal, I will also make it available on my site with a link to the published edition.

You can receive the Journal and other Ohio Section news by joining the mailing list Scott has setup. You do not need to be a member of the ARRL, Ohio Section, or even a ham to join the mailing list. Please sign up!

If you are an ARRL member and reside in the Ohio Section, update your mailing preferences to receive Ohio Section news in your inbox. Those residing outside the section will need to use the mailing list link above.
Updating your ARRL profile will deliver news from the section where you reside (if the leadership chooses to use this method).
Go to www.arrl.org and logon.
Click Edit your Profile.
You will be taken to the Edit Your Profile page. On the first tab Edit Info, verify your Email address is correct.
Click the Edit Email Subscriptions tab.
Check the News and information from your Division Director and Section Manager box.
Click Save.

Now without further ado…

Read the full edition at: http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/2016/02/february-issue-of-ohio-section-journal.html

THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
Jeff Kopcak – TC
k8jtk@arrl.net

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang,

I was contacted this month by someone concerned that Fldigi would install a “trojan” on their computer and wanted to know where to get a clean download of the program. Before panic sets in, there is no reason to smash your hard drives. Why did I receive this question? I’ll explain the tech behind the issue.

The place that Fldigi, Flmsg, Flrig, and all other applications are now hosted is at a place called SourceForge (also abbreviated “SF”). SourceForge is a web service launched in 1999 that offers tools for developers to manage their projects for free. They host source code (for those who wanted to read, audit, modify, or learn from raw code), web pages for the project, mirrors (hosting in multiple locations in case any-one server is down), bug tracking, and many other features. It was the place for hosting free and open-source software. A ton of very well-known projects were (some still are) hosted on SourceForge: Apache Server, GIMP, OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, Audacity, Filezilla, Drupal, WordPress, JT65-HF… list goes on.

Some users were discouraged by the number of advertisements on the site. Though it is an ad-supported free service, there weren’t any viable alternatives.

In July 2013, SourceForge created an optional service available to developers called “DevShare.” Any developer who participated in the service would knowingly push additional unwanted programs to anyone downloading their project. This is commonly referred to as ‘crapware’ encompassing adware, download managers, antivirus programs, browser toolbars, homepage modifications, search engine replacements, and the like.

In May 2015, it was reported that SourceForge seized control of what they considered ‘deprecated or abandoned’ Windows projects. In taking control, they locked out the developer and “updated” project downloads to push similar ad-supported content.

This is a problem because the open-source community is just that, a community. They are made up of enthusiasts that like developing programs. Much like ham radio, they donate their time and do it for free. When a company takes the good name of a well-known project and tarnishes it by installing adware on users’ computers, this doesn’t go over well with the community. Their business practices effectively destroyed what was left of SourceForge’s reputation.

The DevShare project started a movement within the community to find replacements for SourceForge; GitHub primarily. SF since stated they are not taking control of unmaintained projects. It was too-little, too-late. Many developers deleted their projects from SF and moved their content elsewhere. It is up to each developer to make a decision about their project. I’ve provided links at the end of the article that go more in-depth for those into tech stories. SourceForge is not the only site that bundles crapware in downloads. Download sites like CNet’s Download (dot) com and many other free file hosting services also push ads and unwanted programs.

slusbBack to Fldigi. The developer of Fldigi maintained the installer and source files on his own server. Somewhere near the end of last year, his site was hacked. The decision was made to move the files from his server over to SourceForge. Likely in an attempt to be more secure.

This created a problem for many who are aware of the issues with SourceForge. Unfortunately, it is the only place where the Fldigi Suite updates and downloads reside. I have installed many Fldigi updates since the move to SourceForge and have not seen anything to suggest any unwanted programs are included. The issue is something to be aware of.

Good security practice dictates not downloading anything you-yourself didn’t go looking for. If you do download Fldigi and it is prompting you to install an antivirus program, this is a huge red flag. Another example: never click anything that says ‘your plugins, Java, Flash, antivirus, or system… is out of date’ because you weren’t looking for those updates.

In other news, I would like to welcome Technical Specialist Eldon – W5UHQ. If that sounds familiar, it’s because he is the Net Manager for the OHDEN HF digital net. The Ohio Digital Emergency Net meets Tuesday evenings at 8pm on 3585 using OLIVIA 8/500 at 1 kHz. The purpose is to provide statewide communications to EMA and EOC’s in Ohio using sound card digital modes. If that wasn’t enough, he brings an extensive background in communications and electronics to the group. OHDEN net: http://ohden.org/

I will be at the Mansfield Hamfest on February 21. I’ve been invited to present during the Digital Forum at noon. This is assuming the weather is better than it has been the last few days, hi hi. The Digital Forum will contain a presentation on digital voice by Duane – K8MDA and I will present passing messages using Fldigi. Hope to meet you at Mansfield! More: http://hamfest.w8we.org/

Thanks for reading and 73… de Jeff – K8JTK

Articles on SourceForge:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2929732/open-source-software/sourceforge-commits-reputational-suicide.html

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/05/sourceforge-grabs-gimp-for-windows-account-wraps-installer-in-bundle-pushing-adware/

Amateur Radio, ARRL Ohio Section, Presentations

About the ARRL Ohio Section Technical Coordinator presentations

I was asked to give a presentation about the ARRL Ohio Section Technical Coordinator and projects I’ve worked on.

Framework

The framework I chose to use for the presentation slides is called reveal.js. It is an HTML framework meaning it will run in any HTML 5 capable browser. Looks a little better than a PowerPoint presentation.

Navigation

Useful navigation keys in the presentation. In addition to navigating with the keys below, you can swipe (tables/smartphones) or use the navigation arrows on screen in the lower right.

Toggle full screen: press [F11].

Advance to the next slide: press [n] or [SPACEBAR].

Go back to the previous slide: press [p] or press and hold the [SHIFT] key while pressing the [SPACEBAR].

Display presentation overview: [ESC] then use the arrow keys or mouse to select a slide. [ESC] again will exit overview mode.

Links

Clickable links are colored in blue text.

Presentations

Three variations are available: presentation version is viewable in a browser. Printable version for printing or saving in a different format (Chrome, Chromium, and variants compatible only). Finally a PDF version.

They may take some time to load because I left original images untouched and some were a couple MB in file size.

Slides

Version 3

The presentation is about 45 minutes in length.

Presentation version
Printable version
PDF version

This presentation was given at the following meetings:

Version 2

The presentation is about 45 minutes in length.

Presentation version
Printable version
PDF version

This presentation was given at the following meetings:

Version 1

The presentation is about 45 minutes in length.

Presentation version
Printable version
PDF version

This presentation was given at the following meetings:

Amateur Radio, ARRL Ohio Section, Ohio Section Journal

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – January 2016 edition

One of the responsibilities of the Technical Coordinator in the Ohio Section is to submit something for the Section Journal. The Section Journal covers Amateur Radio related things happening in and around the ARRL Ohio Section. It is published by the Section Manager Scott – N8SY and articles are submitted by cabinet members.

Once my article is published in the Journal, I will also make it available on my site with a link to the published edition.

You can receive the Journal and other Ohio Section news by joining the mailing list Scott has setup. You do not need to be a member of the ARRL, Ohio Section, or even a ham to join the mailing list. Please sign up!

If you are an ARRL member and reside in the Ohio Section, update your mailing preferences to receive Ohio Section news in your inbox.  Those residing outside the section will need to use the mailing list link above.
Updating your ARRL profile will deliver news from the section where you reside (if the leadership chooses to use this method).
Go to www.arrl.org and logon.
Click Edit your Profile.
You will be taken to the Edit Your Profile page. On the first tab Edit Info, verify your Email address is correct.
Click the Edit Email Subscriptions tab.
Check the News and information from your Division Director and Section Manager box.
Click Save.

Now without further ado…

Read the full edition at: http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/2016/01/january-2016-issue-of-ohio-section.html

THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
Jeff Kopcak – TC
k8jtk@arrl.net

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang,

Happy New Year. Welcome to 2016! Hope Santa was good to you and left you a new radio under the tree. A white Christmas would be nice but I’ll take the warm temperatures we had for the holidays. I took some MUCH needed time off from work and spent it: sleeping, doing things with friends and family, operating on the radio, and watching NCIS. Got a couple hundred JT65/9 contacts in the log (really because I was slacking the last couple months and to make up for lost time!), played with Yaesu’s System Fusion, and WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporting).

I hope everyone got to spend some time at their local club’s holiday parties. My family and I attended the LEARA (Cleveland) holiday meeting where I won the club’s giveaway of a new Baofeng radio and also a hat courtesy of our own Section Manager! This past weekend (Jan 10), I visited the Wood County Amateur Radio Club (Bowling Green) and attended their Kick-off banquet to begin the New Year! Great to see everyone.

I’ve been invited to visit the Columbus Radio Enthusiasts Society on February 16th. They asked me to present at their meeting on what the Technical Coordinator does and projects I’ve worked on. Stop by and say hi as it’s my first club meeting in central Ohio. More: http://www.w8zpf.net/

slusb

A couple months ago, I decided to see if I could get Fldigi working on the Raspberry Pi with my SignaLink. Fldigi is a modem application that is used for message passing or operating PSK, RTTY, and many other digital modes. I thought the tutorial could be a good resource for those who want to replace large PCs with much smaller Raspberry Pi computers or install digital in their go-kit. It was a success, or so I thought. I hit a couple snags along the way during initial testing. The first problem was a junky USB power supply. The SignaLink would key the radio for a time but would start a key-unkey sequence every second or so. I got what I paid for — use quality parts in your project. I swapped out the power supply. After that, I thought it was good to go.

Unfortunately, Ken W0KAH (from Missouri) contacted me over the holidays and said ‘it’s working great… except for our custom forms.’ I tried it and he’s absolutely correct. I loaded up his forms and ones that Technical Specialist Bob – K8MD created. When selecting these custom forms in Flmsg, the application hangs. The included forms work fine. I tried to first debug and later re-work the process to no avail. If anyone has custom forms working on the Raspberry Pi, please contact me. The build instructions and additional notes about the issue are available: http://www.k8jtk.org/2015/10/13/running-fldigi-flmsg-and-flwrap-on-the-raspberry-pi-2/

Speaking of Bob – K8MD, he wrote in to inform me that he’s been assisting with NBEMS during drills in Medina County. NBEMS (Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System (or Software)) is a set of standards for passing text based messages and files over ham radio. His proficiency and use of NBEMS was noticed by ARES folks in nearby counties. Bob reported on the event:

———-

On Saturday 5 December, Medina County ARES conducted a damage assessment drill with Medina County CERT team. The exercise was centered around the Damage Assessment form that I created for FLdigi. The objective of the exercise was to complete an initial damage assessment of an area that had been hit by a tornado. This initial damage assessment must be completed by the County EMA within 12 hours. This initial damage assessment is used by FEMA, the Red Cross, and other agencies to increase their situational awareness. The information is used to determine the size of the response necessary for the incident.

The exercise was a resounding success! CERT was divided up into six teams. Each of these teams had a mobile / portable ARES station paired up with the team. The CERT volunteers filled out the damage assessment forms and the ARES stations transmitted the forms back to the County EMA. The amount of information passed in a short amount of time was quite impressive.

One of the key things that I think we learned at this exercise was to keep the digital traffic on a separate frequency and separate band from the FM phone net. The traditional FM phone net was established on a 70cm repeater. A two meter simplex frequency was designated for the digital traffic. The portable ARES stations would use the FM phone net to ask permission to send digital traffic on the digital channel. This permitted the normal FM phone net to resume operations while the computers did all the work transferring the digital traffic on a separate channel. It’s critical that the digital channel take place on a different band then the FM phone net, so that the digital traffic receive is not de-sensed from adjacent frequency intermod. It’s also important for the stations doing a digital transmission on an FM phone frequency to announce: “CALLSIGN with tones” before transmitting. One of the digital transmissions went over a repeater and a non-ARES ham that was listening, thought the repeater was malfunctioning and allowing paging signals to be re-transmitted.

Mike Brugger, N8CEY is the ARES EC for Wayne County. He came up to observe the exercise from the Medina County EMA. I helped him get FLdigi and FLmsg installed and properly configured on his laptop, while he helped me with Net Control duties. Mike left with an extremely positive appreciation for the digital traffic handling. He’s planning to take the knowledge back to the Wayne County ARES team and start training on FLdigi.

———-

Thanks for that great report. Bob, Dave – NF8O, Fred – K8FH, and I put together a hands-on NBEMS training session for Medina county. The sides are available online: http://www.k8jtk.org/2015/11/10/vhfuhf-nbems-an-introduction-using-fldigi-and-flmsg-presentations/

Thanks for reading and 73… de Jeff – K8JTK

Amateur Radio, ARRL Ohio Section, Ohio Section Journal

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – December 2015 edition

One of the responsibilities of the Technical Coordinator in the Ohio Section is to submit something for the Section Journal. The Section Journal covers Amateur Radio related things happening in and around the ARRL Ohio Section. It is published by the Section Manager Scott – N8SY and articles are submitted by cabinet members.

Once my article is published in the Journal, I will also make it available on my site with a link to the published edition.

You can receive the Journal and other Ohio Section news by joining the mailing list Scott has setup. You do not need to be a member of the ARRL, Ohio Section, or even a ham to join the mailing list. Please sign up!

If you are an ARRL member and reside in the Ohio Section, update your mailing preferences to receive Ohio Section news in your inbox.  Those residing outside the section will need to use the mailing list link above.
Updating your ARRL profile will deliver news from the section where you reside (if the leadership chooses to use this method).
Go to www.arrl.org and logon.
Click Edit your Profile.
You will be taken to the Edit Your Profile page. On the first tab Edit Info, verify your Email address is correct.
Click the Edit Email Subscriptions tab.
Check the News and information from your Division Director and Section Manager box.
Click Save.

Now without further ado…

Read the full edition at: http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/2015/12/december-issue-of-ohio-section-journal.html

THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
Jeff Kopcak – TC
k8jtk@arrl.net

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang,

By now you have all the decorations up on the tree and house, Christmas cards mailed out, shopping done, right? Anyone? Yeah, me either.

One device you might want to put on your Christmas list for Santa is the YARD Stick One (Yet Another Radio Dongle). It’s a dongle to transmit and receive signals below 1 GHz, which include the 440 and 900 ham and ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) bands. This device was created by ‘hacker turned Ham Radio operator’ Mike Ossmann – AD0NR. He’s the founder of Great Scott Gadgets (http://greatscottgadgets.com/) which makes gadgets like the HackRF One or Ubertooth One.

YARD Stick One

The YARD Stick One is a half-duplex transmit and receive dongle that operates (officially) in the ranges of: 300-348 MHz, 391-464 MHz, and 782-928 MHz. Unofficially: 281-361 MHz, 378-481 MHz, and 749-962 MHz. Modulations schemes: ASK, OOK, GFSK, 2-FSK, 4-FSK, MSK. HAK5 did a getting started video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkTlTCUeec0. If you get one of these devices, let me know what you do with it! More: https://greatscottgadgets.com/yardstickone/.

If you’re more a Raspberry Pi person, the foundation released the $5 Raspberry Pi Zero. It features a processor about 40% faster than the Raspberry Pi A with 512MB RAM, micro-SD card slot, mini-HDMI socket, Micro-USB for data and power, unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2, unpopulated composite video header, and a form factor of 65mm x 30mm x 5mm. More: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/

Raspberry Pi Zero

The Fo Time podcast had an episode that I found very interesting. Fo Time is actually a Ham Radio podcast. Their subtitle is ‘the Other Ham Radio Podcast.’ Episode 38 is titled “Ham Radio-Listening to the Spectrum.” As someone who loves to operate on the ham bands I’m very interested to scan around from time-to-time to see what else I can hear. The episode goes though the allocations and uses of radio spectrum. It is an overview but they will talk about radios to receive frequencies and modulation types. Give the episode a listen. I found it interesting and learned a couple things. At the end, they encourage you to get out there and tune a block of frequencies. You’ll be shocked to learn what is going around you that you had no idea. More: http://amateurradio15.com/38/

I plan to do a rundown of Ham Radio podcasts I’ve found in a future edition of the OSJ. There are many out there and your fellow hams are putting a lot of effort to bring you ham radio related topics — for free.

I had a great time at the NOARS meeting this past November. I presented my program on the Raspberry Pi. It sparked a lot of great questions, discussion, and even correspondence after the meeting about possible uses for the device. Thanks for having me at your meeting.

Welcome to Tracey W8TWL as the latest addition to the Technical Specialists. He brings a lot of commercial experience to the group. He has a GROL (General Radiotelephone Operator License) which allows him to repair aviation, marine, and fixed stations. He is a certified member of the SBE (Society of Broadcast Engineers), and helped track down false emergency calls, pirate radio stations, and RFI problems. I’ve been to a couple SBE meetings. Want to know what it takes to keep an AM/FM/TV station on the air? These guys have all kinds of war stories!

Thanks for reading. Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

73… de Jeff – K8JTK

Amateur Radio, ARRL Ohio Section, Ohio Section Journal

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – November 2015 edition

One of the responsibilities of the Technical Coordinator in the Ohio Section is to submit something for the Section Journal. The Section Journal covers Amateur Radio related things happening in and around the ARRL Ohio Section. It is published by the Section Manager Scott – N8SY and articles are submitted by cabinet members.

Once my article is published in the Journal, I will also make it available on my site with a link to the published edition.

You can receive the Journal and other Ohio Section news by joining the mailing list Scott has setup. You do not need to be a member of the ARRL, Ohio Section, or even a ham to join the mailing list. Please sign up!

If you are an ARRL member and reside in the Ohio Section, update your mailing preferences to receive Ohio Section news in your inbox.  Those residing outside the section will need to use the mailing list link above.
Updating your ARRL profile will deliver news from the section where you reside (if the leadership chooses to use this method).
Go to www.arrl.org and logon.
Click Edit your Profile.
You will be taken to the Edit Your Profile page. On the first tab Edit Info, verify your Email address is correct.
Click the Edit Email Subscriptions tab.
Check the News and information from your Division Director and Section Manager box.
Click Save.

Now without further ado…

Read the full edition at: http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/2015/11/november-edition-of-ohio-section-journal.html

THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
Jeff Kopcak – TC
k8jtk@arrl.net

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang,

During the State Emergency Test (SET), the Medina ARES group had some issues getting Fldigi working correctly. Not because they didn’t know what they were doing but because when you use Fldigi once or twice a year, you forget what to do. I got an email wanting to know if I would develop a training session on NBEMS standards using Flgidi and Flmsg.

NBEMS stands for Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System (or Software, depending who you ask). It is a set of standards developed to define passing email and text-based traffic over Amateur Radio. We have many digital modes available to us. The VHF/UHF standard is MT63. MT63 is a sufficiently robust mode to deal with background noise and poor band conditions. This doesn’t mean you can have a party at your station and still send MT63 messages but it does well with ambient noise. In contrast, HF NBEMS uses Olivia.

This request was right up my alley as I love to operate digital, educate other hams, and help them get on the air. Much of my time this month was dedicated to putting together a presentation covering: digital communication, use case in Emcomm situations, interfacing options, talking about the Fldigi and Flmsg programs used, setting them up, and workflow.

We though this training might be useful to the section so we invited the leadership. Stan N8BHL and Scott N8SY came. There were County Emergency Coordinators (ECs) who were also in attendance. No pressure. We had a lot of people who wanted to learn about NBEMS, Fldigi, and the capabilities we have. After the presentation, we did hands-on demonstrations with Dave NF8O, Bob K8MD, and Fred K8FH as instructors and transmitting stations so students could see transmitting and receiving all in one place. A lot of great questions and discussion was had. Thank you to the instructors and everyone for coming out! The presentation is available: http://www.k8jtk.org/2015/11/10/vhfuhf-nbems-an-introduction-using-fldigi-and-flmsg-presentations/.

DoboyOne of my points during the presentation was always practice with these technologies BEFORE you need use them. Do a class for beginners. Have the students bring their setup –laptops, go-boxes, radio interfaces, and radios. Find some space to hold the class –EOC/EMA building, restaurant, or library. Then walk through the whole nine yards –installing the applications, setting up Windows audio, setting up the applications, and demonstrate the various tasks they would need to perform. Additional instructors who can assist students or send example transmissions (prepare these ahead of time) should be available. Have the students participate by transmitting messages. This will get them more comfortable and it’s easier to troubleshoot on-site than over-the-air. Make plans for some on-the-air meetings to practice ahead of a test or drill. Meet for an hour or so for a couple weeks until everyone is comfortable.

In Cleveland on Thursday nights, I assist with the LEARA Digital Practice Net on the 146.880/R at 9PM (you don’t have to be a member to participate). The net will operate Fldigi for a number of weeks and switch to SSTV for a time. Our net even ran a simulation drill with ICS forms and everything! Turned out to be a HUGE hit. I wrote up some tutorials for our net. They include: getting your radio interface setup with optimal settings, how to use MMSSTV, Fldigi, Flmsg, and Flwrap. The Fldigi suite tutorials are mostly written to FM NBEMS standards. Links are at the end of this article.

signalinkThe OHDEN (Ohio Digital Emergency Net) is on Tuesdays at 8:00pm. 3.585 USB. The net uses OLIVIA 8/500 with PSK31 as an alternate. They do not run voice on this net which might be unusual for some. All checkins and announcements are done using Olivia. More info: www.ohden.org

I encourage groups throughout the Section to start their own digital practice nets on FM, HF, or both! The tutorials are available to modify to fit your net. These are great opportunities to help hams become familiar and knowledgeable about their digital equipment. Do make sure you obtain permission from the repeater Trustee if you plan to use any repeater. If you do have a digital practice net that originates from the Ohio Section, let me know and I’ll put plug in the future.

Earlier, I mentioned Bob K8MD. Bob is the latest addition to the Technical Specialists. Welcome! He has a lot of experience with networking and has been utilizing MESH. Ottawa County is certainly aware of this as he helped their EMA build out a VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) system to use during their incidents.

Tutorials:
Sound card setup: http://www.k8jtk.org/2015/04/16/radio-interface-setup-for-getting-started-with-ham-radio-sound-card-digital-modes/

Fldigi, Flmsg, Flwrap: http://www.k8jtk.org/2015/04/16/getting-started-with-fldigi-including-flmsg-and-flwrap/

MMSSTV: http://www.k8jtk.org/2015/04/16/getting-started-with-mmsstv/

Thanks for reading

73… de Jeff – K8JTK

Amateur Radio, ARRL Ohio Section, Ohio Section Journal

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – October 2015 edition

One of the responsibilities of the Technical Coordinator in the Ohio Section is to submit something for the Section Journal. The Section Journal covers Amateur Radio related things happening in and around the ARRL Ohio Section. It is published by the Section Manager Scott – N8SY and articles are submitted by cabinet members.

Once my article is published in the Journal, I will also make it available on my site with a link to the published edition.

You can receive the Journal and other Ohio Section news by joining the mailing list Scott has setup. You do not need to be a member of the ARRL, Ohio Section, or even a ham to join the mailing list. Please sign up!

If you are an ARRL member and reside in the Ohio Section, update your mailing preferences to receive Ohio Section news in your inbox.  Those residing outside the section will need to use the mailing list link above.
Updating your ARRL profile will deliver news from the section where you reside (if the leadership chooses to use this method).
Go to www.arrl.org and logon.
Click Edit your Profile.
You will be taken to the Edit Your Profile page. On the first tab Edit Info, verify your Email address is correct.
Click the Edit Email Subscriptions tab.
Check the News and information from your Division Director and Section Manager box.
Click Save.

Now without further ado…

Read the full edition at: http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/2015/10/october-edition-of-ohio-section-journal.html

THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
Jeff Kopcak – TC
k8jtk@arrl.net

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang,

Where to start?  Lot has gone on the last month.  First up was the Cleveland Hamfest on the 27th.  The weather was great for a change – which, I thought, brought more people.  Seemed to be more flea market and vendor spaces taken up which is always good.  I heard from HAC that it was a successful hamfest this year.  I got to say howdy to a few in the Ohio Section cabinet.  I know I’ll forget someone but thanks to everyone that said hi and congratulated me.  Helped out with some of the local clubs, organizations, and shot the breeze with them.  Spent a couple of bucks too, mostly on connectors and accessories I was looking for.  You can always use more connectors.  Had just as much fun at the after party.

You didn’t know there is an after party?  Oh, there is… just some of my closest buddies getting together afterwards for some lunch.

The following day, I gave my Raspberry Pi presentation for the Geauga Amateur Radio Club and had a blast!  If you’re on the east side of Cleveland, be sure to check them out.  Made for a long day with work but was totally worth it!  There are two versions of this presentation available for viewing on my website at http://K8JTK.org.

The Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society (NOARS, Lorain Co.) has asked me to put on the Pi presentation for their group too.  I’m scheduled to be the presenter at the November 16 meeting.  If you haven’t seen this thing yet, don’t miss it!  More info: noars.net.

Welcome to Dave KD8TWG as the newest Technical Specialist!  I’ve known Dave since about the time he became licensed because he’s been very active.  In addition to being AEC for Geauga County, he is into embedded systems, computers, and networking.  He plays around with APRS a lot too.

Aside from all that goodness, QSL cards and certificates are coming in from the 13 Colonies and Katrina 10th Anniversary special event stations.  I just dropped off certificate requests and QSL cards for the Route 66 and Pope Francis special event stations.  Groups really put in a lot of work doing these special event stations and do a great job getting the certificates and reply QSL cards out quickly.  The certificates really make great wallpaper for your shack too!  I find special event stations by watching Ham Nation or spots on DX clusters.

The Hurricane Watch Net is celebrating 50 years of service.  It was started in Cleveland by Jerry Murphy – K8YUW as an informal net to provide communication to affected areas.  They activate on the HF bands anytime a hurricane is expected to make landfall.  They can be heard on 14.325 MHz and 7.268 MHz.  Remember to stay clear of these frequencies while the net is activated.  More info: http://hwn.org.

LEARA is in line for a Yaesu Fusion repeater under their promotional deal.  We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the box and can’t wait to get it on the air.  The promotional deal is a great opportunity for your club to replace aging repeater equipment or experiment with digital modes.  I can’t tell you how excited members of the club are to get into System Fusion.  From the other clubs that have contacted me regarding Fusion, the excitement is contagious.  Give it a shot!  The repeater can be configured: full digital (digital in – digital out only), full analog (analog in – analog out only), or auto detect (eg: analog or digital in – analog out, digital in – digital out, analog in – analog out).

Yaesu has extended the promotion once again until the end of the year, so you or your club has some time to decide.  Details and application are available through yeasu.com -> select Products -> click Digital.  Click DR-1X (model of the repeater).  Click the Files tab -> click “DR-1X Installation Program Application form.”

Thanks for reading

73… de Jeff – K8JTK

Amateur Radio, ARRL Ohio Section, Ohio Section Journal

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – September 2015 edition

One of the responsibilities of the Technical Coordinator in the Ohio Section is to submit something for the Section Journal.  The Section Journal covers Amateur Radio related things happening in and around the ARRL Ohio Section.  It is published by the Section Manager Scott – N8SY and articles are submitted by cabinet members.

Once my article is published in the Journal, I will also make it available on my site with a link to the published edition.

You can receive the Journal and other Ohio Section news by joining the mailing list Scott has setup.  You do not need to be a member of the ARRL, Ohio Section, or even a ham to join the mailing list.  Please sign up!

If you are an ARRL member and reside in the Ohio Section, update your mailing preferences to receive Ohio Section news in your inbox.  Those residing outside the section will need to use the mailing list link above.
Updating your ARRL profile will deliver news from the section where you reside (if the leadership chooses to use this method).
Go to www.arrl.org and logon.
Click Edit your Profile.
You will be taken to the Edit Your Profile page. On the first tab Edit Info, verify your Email address is correct.
Click the Edit Email Subscriptions tab.
Check the News and information from your Division Director and Section Manager box.
Click Save.

Now without further ado…

Read the full edition at: http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/2015/09/september-edition-of-ohio-section.html

THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
Jeff Kopcak – TC
k8jtk@arrl.net

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang.

Normally in this space you would find a well put together article written by Jim W8ERW. If you didn’t catch last month’s Ohio Section Journal, Jim is moving on to bigger and better things. That would be Texas. Jim is one of Fort Worth’s newest residents! The fine folks in the North Texas Section have a great guy coming their way. He’s probably enjoying the warm weather down there right now. Congratulations Jim! So ‘why are we seeing this other guy writing in Jim’s place’ you’re probably asking yourself? I don’t know either.

Seriously though, I have to give a lot of credit to my predecessor, Jim – W8ERW and to our Section Manager, Scott – N8SY. These guys are excellent at answering all my questions from my time as a Technical Specialist and transitioning me into the Technical Coordinator position. Thank you.

I look forward to serving the Ohio Section and seeing what you guys have in store. I’ve already received a number of questions on computers, digital modes, and D-STAR. Happy to answer them. My bio is posted on the Ohio Section website if you missed it.

raspberry-pi-intro-640x420Last month, I gave a presentation on the Raspberry Pi computer at the LEARA meeting in Cleveland. This presentation was an introductory look at the device. It included history, hardware specs, setting up the Pi, and ham radio projects. There was a larger than usual turnout for the meeting and even a few non-hams in attendance. The presentation is available on my website if you would like to take a look. I gave a shortened version at the QCWA Chapter 1 meeting in July. If you missed either meeting, fear not! I am scheduled to be at the GARA (Geauga Co.) club meeting on September 28th as they celebrate 38 years! See you there.
Couple events to note… the Cleveland Hamfest is coming up on September 27th. This is in my backyard so I will be in attendance and hope to meet all of you. You can join the Hamfest Association of Cleveland and help out next year via their website hac.org.

The TAPR Digital Communication Conference is coming up October 9th – 11th near Chicago. Want to go to one of these at some point because it looks like another excellent lineup of forums. Topics include: Digital Voice and Network systems, DATV, Arduino CAT controller for the HPSDR, an Amateur Radio Digital Open Protocol, remote operation of your radio, 3D modeling in Ham Radio, and introductory sessions on a number of topics. ARRL’s own Ward Silver – N0AX is the banquet speaker. Head over to www.tapr.org/dcc.html for the complete schedule and to register.

Thanks to everyone who wrote and congratulated me on my appointment. It really means a lot!
Thank you for reading..

73, K8JTK