Well what can I say…
The band conditions were a bit better… The APRS rig (aprs ssid VA3QV) is back up and running kind of… Never had this happen to me before so… If you can figure it out let me know…:
As long as the ACER Netbook is running off its internal battery the APRS Gear (AGWPE/UIVIEW Softare and the Rigblaster NOMIC interface) works great… Whenever the Netbook is running off the power supply (plugged into 110V) the unit refuses to hear anything from the radio… It will however transmit a beacon whenever I till it to… This is the same Hardware (Radio and interface and USB to serial port adapter ) I have been using for a long time now. I have been using AGWPE and 32 bit UIVIEW for just as long. The only change is that when all these problems started I downloaded a more recent copy of AGWPE and installed it but then the problems were there before the software change and now they are still there…
Darned if I can figure it out but the fact that it only occurs when I am plugged into the wall gives me an idea that it has something to do with the power supply of the Netbook. However according to the company website the power supply is putting out the correct voltage (yes I measured it) and the power supply does not seem any warmer to the touch than it did before so I’m not sure…
I have a back up USB to Serial port adapter so the next step is changing that over to see if thats it… Although its seems a lot of work to see 80 stations on the screen now its bugging me…. it used to work… and as I really changed nothing and only put it away for a while it should work and come hell or high water gosh darn it …. it will work again…
But sorry about the ranting yesterday…
The highlight of todays radio work will be the contact I think I made today with wG0AT who was up on Mount Herman Colorado doing a SOTA Activation. I had seen the “Tweet” from Steve earlier stating he was heading up the mountain and using APRS.fi I had followed him up the mountain so to speak. As his “Tweet” had given his Operating Frequencies I just sat on 18.125 waiting and listening…
The nice thing about following Steve on YouTube is that I know what his voice sounds like and suddenly I hear a voice I have heard before asking if the Frequency is in use… I wait and then hear his first call and go back to him…. I hear his reply but before the exchange could be made I get a blast from a station just underneath us who is way too loud… Not sure if we completed the contact but I know he heard me and I know I heard him so… Thats about as good as it gets in poor band conditions… Ottawa Ontario to Mount Herman Colorado is just over 1500 miles as the crow flies which is not too bad for ssb when one end of the QSO is QRP. I was using the FT450 which was at 100w but Steve was QRP at his end so…
So the rest of today was listening for the CW Beacon of the Project Blue Horizon Flight and just taking it easy… I never did get back into contest mode but I hope the rest of you made lots of contacts…
73bob
