D-Star DVAP with laptop tether to cell - Amazing!

Last night I was sitting in my hotel room, thinking about how ridiculous it is that any hotel would charge $20/day for internet access.  $35 for "fast" service.  What a joke...

So, for the first time, I decided to tether my phone to my laptop and just use my cell data connection for my internet access.  Seemed to work OK, actually was better than I thought it would work.  In fact, I'm using it right now to update this page :)

Anyway, when I travel I always take my IC-92AD and my DVAP (red).  So, I got it out, plugged it in, and connected to the internet.  Wow, that was easy - it just worked (like I've grown to expect!)

My local club, Richmond Amateur Radio Club (RARC), located in Richmond, VA has a D-Star net that runs on Wednesday evening at 8pm (EDT).  I took a break from my Morse Code practice to join the net and it WORKED GREAT!

I've heard of folks using their cell connection in their car traveling all around the country staying in D-Star contact, but this is the first time that I'd ever done it.  It's more fun than it sounds.

So, no R2D2 during the net and it was awesome being able to chat with my buddies - just like I was local.

73 de KJ4WLH

RARC Presentation - Remote Operation

Well, last Friday night - August 10th, 2012, I had the opportunity to present in front of the Richmond Amateur Radio Club.  Talk about intimidating!  I'm a noob, all of 2+ years in the hobby and I'm looking out at guys with 30, 40, even 50+ years of radio experience - I mean, really, WHAT in the world am I able to tell THEM?!?!?!

The group was very civil, though I was nervous, and the presentation went along fairly smoothly.  I suppose one might say it even went well, but I still know there are some things that I would have done differently (and therefore better!)

Two buddies of mine, Armand (WA1UQO) and Tom (KC4CMK), and I re-installed a 20 meter antenna that had fallen a few years previously at the church where the RARC meetings are held.  That was really nice, part of my demonstration was receiving PSK31 on 20 meters while the club members filed in and chit chatted before the meeting started.

Anyway, I enjoyed discussing my experience with Icom's RS-BA1 software package and how I use it around the house and travelling.  There was quite a bit of Q&A and the presentation was very interactive - I guess that's the kind I like best, it keeps folks engaged in the conversation.

Here's a link to the Remote Operations presentation.

73 de KJ4WLH

I found my 6m loop problems...

Very disapointing... My loop is fine, my Icom 9100 isn't :(

The 9100 has 2 different HF inputs, input #1 is connected to my Palstar AT2K and input #2 is connected directly to my m2 6m ho loop.

I swapped the antenna and was able to tune it just fine. That was bad news..

I got out my Bird wattmeter and got 100+ watts from #1 and NO watts from input #2.

I guess I will pack it up and ship it to Icom on Monday.

On a positive note, I have my 7000 setup in the shack and it's working pretty well. No dstar, but such is life!