I picked up another set of radios for my gear. I purchased my first radio back in June of last year and it is what got me started on my Amateur Radio adventure.
I purchased the UV-5R+ for about $40 on amazon. For the price and what you get it is outstanding little radio. The two new ones I got have the internally upgraded components but the same UV-5R Case. So I'm able to use the same batteries. However, they are the BF-F8
An Important note if you're going to buy these buy them directly from http://www.baofengradio.us or their Amazon store
There are a few reasons for this that I found out. They can not/will not honour the warranty service if there is an issue with one. I had a bad battery ship with mine when I bought it from amazon but it was not from their specific store.
Here's a basic run down on the updated version:
This Radio Has Been The First Uv-5R Radio To Get A Full Internal Upgrade. Like The Uv-82 It Has An Expanded Frequency Range And A Stronger Antenna. It Has A Vfo/Mr Button Found On The Uv-5R Series Not Found On The Uv-82 Series. The Bf-8+ Is The Successor To The Uv-5R Series. 2013 Latest Version. This radio can be programmed with or without a PC to also work on private repeater systems. It is a compact, economical HT that includes a special VHF receive band from 65 - 108 MHz which includes the regular FM broadcast band. Dual watch and dual reception is supported. You get up to 128 memories. Other features include: 25KHz/12.5KHz Switchable FM Radio (65.0MHz-108.0MHz) Large LCD Display Li-Ion Frequency Range: 65-108Mhz (FM Receive Only) 136-174Mhz And 400-520Mhz (TX/Rx)Channel Number: 128Channel Spacing: 2.5/6.25/10/12.5/20/25Khzfrequency Stability: +/-2.5Ppmantenna: High Gain Dual Band Antenna Antenna Impedance: 50 Operating Voltage: Dc 7.4Vmode Of Operation: Simple Or Semi-Duplex - See more at: http://baofengradio.us/baofeng-bff8-black.html#sthash.UyKdqcp7.dpuf - See more at: http://baofengradio.us/baofeng-bff8-black-183.html#sthash.awTdOfra.dpuf
And here's the note about the warranty:
We guarantee that your product will be 100% functional or we will issue you an immediate replacement. In addition, the product is covered by a 1 year manufacturer's warranty which will be honored by us through our office in Houston, TX. Our return policy is 30 days. All returns are subject to a 10% restocking fee and buyer pays return shipping.
The BaofengRadio US warranty is only available to users who purchase directly from BaofengRadio US using our online checkout system. Protect yourself by purchasing only through the links on this page. - See more at: http://baofengradio.us/baofeng-bff8-black-183.html#sthash.awTdOfra.dpuf
So if you order directly from them you're getting warranty replacement, plus free shipping and no tax on items sold through their store.
So I've been looking into meshnet pretty heavily since I discovered it and got my Amateur Radio Operator license. My goal is to be able to set up a mesh network in my county and surrounding area so I've been looking at different software that would work well for file sharing, chat, and various other forms of communication.
There are various types of mesh networks out there but I'm specifically interested in Broadband-Hamnet to be able to set it up locally. With the right equipment I don't think that we would have any major issues in the area I live and getting 54gbps up to 10 miles away in the right conditions. The benefit of the mesh network is that each node can talk to each other node and it can self repair so to speak. The drawback is that it can be rather bandwidth intensive as each node on the network has to know about each other.
My goals are to be able to transfer, voice, video, files, over a mesh network using a raspberry pi(s) as the server on a self sustaining node. Ideally all of this would be decentralized and self replicating but I will have to worry about that at a later date.
Here's a brief run down of the hardware that I'm investigating.
Linksys WRT54G routers
Raspberry Pi
Older Scrapheap cheap PC
Cantenna
Omni Directional/Colliner Antennas
Software that I'm investigating.
GetSimpleCMS - For website to contain basic information on the other services, ability to give out generalized information on events or issues
Openfire - Openfire is a XMPP/Jabber server software that can allow for voice, video, file transfer and text chat
OwnCloud - For setting up drag and drop file sharing functionality.
My core goal with these is to make the setup a simplified as possible and hand out the information for my club members to be able to set up their own nodes or software. Making it as simple as possible and step by step which I will be posting here also.
So I'm looking at PSK31 as a mode that I might want to start playing around with.
I found a link to this post about a Dirt Simple PSK31 sound card interface cable. However, the link was dead. I'm reposting the article I found on the wayback machine so that it can still be found online easier by other Ham Operators.
Also found a pretty cool website for the various sounds the different modes make. http://www.w1hkj.com/FldigiHelp-3.21/Modes/
Setting up an FT-897D for PSK31
Dirt Simple, Dirt Cheap
Digital Mode Interface
For the FT-817
Can it really be THIS simple?!? Yes, I built a Digital
Interface for the FT-817 for almost no cost and
almost no effort! As you can see from the photo,
the entire interface is built on the Xmit/Rcv switch.
I am using this with DigiPan II, but it should work
with virtually any soundcard software for PSK,
and for other digital modes also!
The Windows volume and recording levels are
used to set transmit and waterfall (receive) drive
levels, but a trimmer is also included to adjust the
transmit drive. A standard Windows Mouse plug
fits the FT-817 data port, I used a cable cut from
It's been a while since I've posted anything relating to much of anything so I thought I'd try to start a new series of posts.
First things first,
Bitcoin has had a great run the past year or so. However the largest exchange Mt Gox has gone bankrupt. I knew this was going to happen and if I hadn't been so lazy you would have seen the video "Stop Using MtGox" some months prior to this event.
I'm now a licensed Amateur Radio Operator (or Ham Radio Operator). I have had my license since October 2013. I took the Technician test and went for the General after passing the Tech test and got both. So I started out on a good footing with it. I'm learning a whole lot about radio and how things work and giving me a better grasp on wifi and antenna design. I expect a lot of my posts will be about what I'm doing in Amateur Radio
Servers, I've been working to shut down my hosting account and I have a grandfathered google apps for business so I'm moving everything over to that as I'm tired of the spam. I bought myself a nice IBM server that is now a VM server I run from my house. I bought it with Bitcion actually through a friend.
Just bought my first 4x4 truck and hoping to do a lot of back woods camping with it. At some point I'll be attempting to build myself my own truck camper, but for now we're just going to settle for a tent that fits into the truck bed.
So there is a quick update as to what I've been up to over the last few months (year?).
I thought I'd write a small little blurb here. It has been some time since I made a new bitcoin video but I decided to make one a few weeks ago.
Here it is:
I enjoyed making it and hope you find it rather informative. I'm hoping to do a few more in the future. If you've got any comments or questions please feel free to post them to the video with attention to DdraigX. I would be very happy to answer them.
I hope you find the end part rather useful about dollar cost averaging and I hope to update the spreadsheet soon.
Update: I've added the relevant pictures that were taken. (Album: http://imgur.com/a/nBu4B#0)
12:50 - first entry. March 6th 2013.
So the snow has taken out our power.
It flickered all night and went out at about 9:00
The only things with power are the iPad and phones.
We weren't thinking last night as we forgot to fill the bath tub with water. But we have plenty of snow. I think the last time the power went out we were able to take a small shower, but silly me went to the bathroom and used all the pressure up in our pressure tank. So right now we have little to no running water. We have 6 gallons of water stored that we are using to make lunch right now. With the sterno and fondu pot.
We broke out our supplies for cooking from the camping equipment. However that's just a small single burner thing like this. It works really well and highly recommend it for backpacking or camping.
I will be updating this more as we go but right now it is 10 to 1 in the afternoon. I spent most of my morning sharpening my knife as I figure I will have to go look for downed trees at some point. My wife is cooking as I type this, but we have already identified some issues that need to be sorted.
Communication, we have a radio to hear that 13,000 people in our county are without power. I think they said the total region wide was over 100K. However, since the power is out and we have heavy wet snow, We have no cell phone reception. So we are unable to contact family. To be honest that doesn't bother me as we have radio, but my new job requires me to open up an emergency shelter. They have my cellphone as contact, and my home phone is out since it is vonage and over our Internet. Maybe time to invest in a single local phone line? Or maybe just get my ham radio sorted out.
Water, that's going to be an issue. Right now not so much as we have snow and maybe 2 or 3 days bottled. Longer term we need a way to pump from our well. There technically speaking is no water pressure to do anything. So that means no flushing toilets etc. However we do have the snow so we will use that melted in pots for extra water for cleaning and flushing mostly. The bottled water will be for food and drinking.
Heating is our third hurtle. We insulated the house some years ago. You can check that video on right right. That has helped to trap a lot of heat, but I can feel it getting cooler in here. It is not uncomfortable, about 69 right now and power has been out for 4 hours. We have closed doors to keep the heat in and we have blankets and hot packs on standby. Should the temp drop more outside (It's 34 degrees) then I expect it to get colder as the day goes on.
I will type more ideas as I think of them, it is time to eat.
7:04
The rest of the day has been fine. I am now writing this entry in the bedroom under candle light. The snow has melted considerably and the roads are fine to drive. After lunch we got kitted up and walked our long driveway to try and dig out the car. We did not have to do too much other than clear it off and dig around front. Ended up just driving right out without any issue. I suspect work will have a 2 hour delay tomorrow. I was supposed to go with my dad to Indiana but that's not going to happen so I may just go in. After the adventure outside we were worn out, even if it was only about 10 minutes of work. I had to haul a 35lb bag of biljack up the quarter acre drive way. Ended up falling asleep on the sofa as my wife did a crossword. Eventually I just read my book, Orbitsville by Bob Shaw. I had rescued that from my fathers collection i discovered at in my grand parents house on a trip to Wales. Pretty good so far and apparently a trilogy.
Anyway we back to the topics.
Communication still down I did manage to drive up the road to get enough of a signal to text. But I had to type the text, drive up the road for it to be sent and received as there was no good spot to pull off. Also, managed to go to where they open up the emergency shelters. Right now they have 1 person so I ended up going home. Not that I could stay as my wife was only expecting me gone for a few minutes.
Temperature in the house has dropped about 4 degrees last I checked to 65/66 and outside has warmed up.
Food right now seems to be ok it is cold enough in the fridge, but we put some snow in ziplock bags to help lower the temp. Things in the freezer are still frozen, but we do not have much if any meat due to dietary needs, that if it thaws, it won't be too bad. Cooking hasn't been that big of a problem using the sterno, but not having water or trying to conserve it is critical. Trying to minimize use of cutlery is important. Short term solution would be for us to simply have used paper plates and plastic cutlery.
Water again is something I am thinking about that is critical. We have used 1 gallon today. I expect that to increase tomorrow. We have two people, two birds, and two dogs that need water. This evening we opened the second gallon for water for the dogs. We definitely need a way to pump water from our well and then pressurize the tank. Going to the bathroom is interesting since I got too large pots of snow there is still a considerable amount of it and the toilet tank is still not full enough. Hence the need to be able to get water. If I had given it more thought I would have started a fire outside to melt the snow in the pots and dump it into the tub for toilet use.
MSR Camp Kettle..Tea is serious business
So right now I think I will let the dogs out one last time, maybe make a cup of tea, and see if I can get in a bit more reading. I suspect it will be an early night for sure, which is not characteristic of my normal routine.
March 7th 10:15
So last night got reasonably cold, when I woke up it was about 58 degrees. Ended up freezing until I put a hot pack behind my back to warm up my midsection. Since I was supposed to go to Indiana my dad is still thinking of going. I will join if he does. However he isn't sure since he is without power as well. I got up at 7:30 and my wife and I packed everything up to basically head over this way to see. She also needed to do work in town so she dropped me off here.
Of course whenever I decide to take a vacation of any length of time crap hits the fan at work. People panicked cause they can't get the internet, or to a specific program, or decide that 1 of the 9 public computers that has been down has got to be back and running immediately. Wouldn't have that last problem if Microsoft didn't change the way they install office 2013' and give oh so helpful error messages like "Something went wrong".
So I am just waiting and emailing as that is the only thing that will go through. To see what is going on with the power, and if we are going to go to Indiana or not. I could use the break, but it never really is one it seems.
Anyway to update it is cold as hell inside. Only a 10 degree difference 57 inside 46 outside.
Make sure that you have wet wipes and some air fresher handy to keep in the bathroom as well. I suspect that gas from the septic is coming up through the toilet making a rather unpleasant oder.
Back to my tea, and shivering.
7:18
So my dad decided not to go after much hemming and hawing. We ended up going in to town to pick my mum up for lunch and got subway. Had the wife stop by and discuss what the plans were and that is where it was decided not to go on our trip.
I stayed there for other hour or so as my wife went to get her hair done, and finish up on some school work. The importance of feeling clean shouldn't be underestimated.
Communication seems back to up to normal. I could surf with the iPad, and now call out. Watching all the alerts come in for my server equipment. I am hoping my NAS box is ok, it seems to have gone offline. Have you ever know a red light to be good, how about a blinking one? Kevin my intern seems to be working well and is holding the fort down. I may not be in tomorrow at any rate as they are saying 17,000 people with my electric company are still without power and won't be back up completely until Sunday night.
That is going to be a cold weekend for sure. However for this evening I broke out the solar blanket. Not something I wanted to do because I have no idea how to fold it back up. Although I figured if I was going to use it now is a good as time as any. We taped it to two blades of our ceiling fan and the back of a picture frame to make a reflective canopy over the bed.
My parents called at about 6 or so and said they got their power back. So I am optimistic that we will have it tonight. Another reason against the solar blanket, but that would be going against our basic need to get warm.
Food is always a challenge for me since I have PKU and makes meals an issue. I tell you what, shivering uses a lot of energy on top of things that have to get done. With that said the diet is mostly out the window tonight. I made a great omelet that my dad showed me how to do, that my granny used to make. So we both made our own. I had mushrooms in mine,and my wife had apples and cinnamon in hers.
Now mind you it isn't a typical omelet either. Two eggs two slices of bread, mixed till it is a liquid with little to no chunks. Add your bits, like mushrooms and tomatoes, peppers, apples whatever. Then fry in a frying pan with oil, preheated with works best for stainless steal. Then tease it up as your going to flip it once it doesn't break apart you know it is ready to flip. I like to posh the edges of it so it is nice and round whilst I wait.
Along with the omelet we had some sausages. All of this I should not be having technically, but I am. I have used a lot of energy so I need to replenish it. I also don't usually eat breakfast or eat a lot in general anyway.
So now that we are stuffed we are under our space age canopy, with our Aussie on the bed curled up at our feet as we wind down for the night. I have finished my book Orbitsville, and now need to get the next two in the trilogy. My dad asked where I had gotten it and I said I liberated it from your collection. I found that amusing. He is now wanting to know if I have any of his Heinlein or the two timers by Bob Saw. Apparently he had had a few of them where he used to work at his office, and before he could go back and get them the next day his replacement had thrown out all of his books. I don't know how someone like that is able to be that careless with others items, let alone throw out books!
Anyway, this is more like a mini book. I will leave at this for now. Go and check to see if I do have the books. Then call it an evening.
March 8th 8:36AM
I have been online now for about an hour or so. Our power came back at 11:00 last night so we were able to get some decent sleep and not shiver. The power flickered at about 6:00 but so far we have been stable. Looks like something is going on with my NAS box so I've been doing work on that most of the morning. I'll probably end up going into work this afternoon, or whenever the water in the tank heats backup. Last night I was mistaken. My wife said that that my parents called back and said their power had just gone out. Checking facebook it looks like the power is still out.
So ends my adventure, learned a lot of things that need to be sorted out, but many of them are minor comfort things.
(or so I thought, just as I was about to update this the power blinked out again....so we'll see how things go today. At any rate I think we're returning to a semblance of normalcy.)
