Well as I mentioned almost a month ago I was having “issues” with the VA3RCS Wires X Personal Digital Node. After a Windows 11 update the node was no longer functioning….
The picture on the left is my Yaesu FTDM 100 (UHF/VHF/FM/C4FM) radio that serves as the host for the VA3RCS PDN and also a radio for my mobile operations when I use a rental car.
After trying a few different things I found out that the USB cable that goes from the computer to my node radio is at fault. The Yaesu PC Connection Cable SCU-20 has a chip in it that is not supported by Windows 11. Although according to the internet…. there is a way to force an old driver into Windows 11 which will work until Windows realizes the old driver needs updating and then we have crashed again.
According to the internet (and they were right the first time) the easiest (painless) way to fix the problem is replace the SCU-20 cable with the SCU58 WIRES-X Connection Cable Kit for Yaesu Mobile Radios. This in effect is the same interface cable but the 58 has a chip in it that Windows 11 will play nice with.
The cable is available from Yaesu thru Radioworld in Toronto for a modest price plus shipping and taxes etc. I am not going to order one YET but once I finish up (complete) my Yaesu FT891 Portable Station project it will be the next project on my list….
Other options would be to find an older computer with an older version of Windows on it but…. As I hate messing with setting up a computer,just replacing the interface cable seems to be a more enjoyable way to do things.
So that’s it for now… I can go back to chasing POTA and getting ready for the spring when I can warmly activate the local parks.
For me it was a 4 day weekend (Friday to Monday) as I managed to spend lots of time in the shack. To be realistic as I’m retired its a 7 day weekend but on the Tuesday to Thursday time frame less people seem to be on the air.
Although I try not to be as obsessive about POTA as I was in the old days, it seems that most of my 65 HF Contacts on the weekend had a POTA designation for their location. My park numbers also jumped with 12 new parks confirmed in my Hunter log…
For the times that the HF bands were not cooperating I did manage to make a few C4FM Wires X contacts around North America. Its never going to replace HF SSB but the band was up and down this past weekend and it was enjoyable to have a long QSO without repeats due to QSB. Its just another feature we have the choice to use in our hobby.
Thats how my weekend went (Radio wise). How was yours?
Happy Friday to all…. For most of Canada this coming Monday is a Holiday so enjoy your Long Weekend
In the previous blog post I mentioned some overheating issues and the fan I had purchased to let the node radio keep its cool.
I am pleased to comment that the above fan is working fantastic.(slight pun there eh!) I have it wired up so it it comes on whenever the power supply (the one that runs the node radio is turned on… and the fan is behind the Node Radio (FTM100dr) on my desk.
For those who are interested I bought the fan at my local Princess Auto store and it was on special.
I tested it by connecting to the Maritime Fusion Room (60207) for the weekly Maritime Fusion Net (Wednesdays at 7pm ATL or 6pm Eastern). This net and the room lets the Amateur Radio Operators in the Maritime Provinces (if they are C4FM capable) to all link in and join in a net that covers most of VY2,VO1, VE1,VE9.
After they have run thru the above mentioned Maritime call areas then they look for checkins from outside the Maritimes then make their last calls. The net normally runs for a bit over an hour.
That meant my node radio was transmitting non stop (100%) duty ( 5W power setting) for the duration of the net. After checking the radio at the conclusion of the net it was comfortable cool…
For me this low tech way of keeping this cool worked great
Hope to hear you on the air.
73bob
DISCLAIMER….. I OFTEN MENTION PRINCESS AUTO IN MY BLOG. THEY ARE NOT A SPONSOR OR OFFER ME ANY SORT OF COMPENSATION….QUITE THE OPPOSITE…. I TEND TO GIVE THEM MONEY ON A REGULAR BASIS
On the Kingston Wires X scene there is still a gremlin with the internet provider. Every now and then (random) they (the provider) close a port needed for the HRI 200 to do its thing.
When the port stays open the system works fantastic and the audio quality is so good that you can’t tell if a local station was accessing the repeater or it was a station coming in thru Wires X.
It is hoped that the internet provider will stop changing our settings and the room/repeater combination issues will stabilize.
Also in the Kingston Wires X scene my own Personal Digital Node (PDN) operating under the callsign of VA3RCS is currently being tested on a UHF Frequency .
I was planning to run it on VHF but the nodes proximity to my shack radio was de sensing my VHF receiving of the local C4FM-Wires X repeater on 146.805. For now its on UHF.
The Node is still in operation only when I am there to keep an eye on things and also monitoring the temp of the Node Radio.
When the PDN s not in operation I use my MMDVM Hotspot on the same UHF Frequency running in a YSF/FCS C4FM mode. It is stable enough to run un attended and with a low output with an inside antenna you would have to be close to its aprs.fi location just to hear it.
Last weeks testing proved that if I was going to link into a Room that was conducting a net (even at low power) I needed to add a cooling fan to keep the FTM100dr (my PDN radio) from overheating.
The above fan was on Sale at Princess Auto and well worth the price
I have the fan wired into the 20amp Power Supply that powers my Yaesu FTM300d as well as my Yaesu FTM100d dual band C4FM Radios. The fan unit is placed behind the two radios and comes on whenever the power supply is turned on which should clear up the overheating (more on this later)
There are a couple of Canada Wide nets coming up this Tuesday and Wednesday so this will be a good chance to see if the fans let the Node Radio operate at a high duty cycle with low heat.
RLCT final comments…. The Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour arrived in Kingston late Saturday in the middle of a heavy rain storm. This forced the organizers to change plans in mid stream and also moved the Communications Team at Queens University to change to an indoor location. This change played havoc with our comms plan as the handhelds we were using were great for receiving the repeater but not so good for hitting the repeater from our indoor location.
The weather was much better on Sunday morning when the tour departed Kingston and returned to Ottawa via Perth Ontario. Operating from the starting line was not an issue as we had previously tested the repeater with a handheld before the event and it worked just as good as before in the great outdoors.
Ride wise…. Ridership was down for this year. The tour had been re scheduled from mid June to the end of July due to poor air from the Canadian Wildfires and many families plan their summer holidays well in advance. This along with a heat wave followed by heavy rain on the start date had to play a part in the low ridership. Radio wise we still had to do the same job whether the rider counts were 600 or 2000. There were no serious injuries reported and all who participated seems to be having fun.
The organizers from the Ottawa Bicycle Club really had to adapt to the changing weather as well as work closely with Queens University who were providing Meals and accommodations for the event. They did a good job considering what they had to work thru.
More on the overheating issues later and enjoy your week…
I received notification that some trees are going to be trimmed back or removed in my neighborhood. I know that my neighbor to the south of me has had some damage to here siding due to the tree branches scraping across her house. This makes sense to me but there is a slight problem for me as well.
The branches that are scraping her place are on a tree that other branches overhang my yard…
These branches provide camo for the thin green wire in the green tree and also provide some support for the wire as well…
As no one has told me to remove the wire…. I guess its proof that it is almost invisible…. I still think it would be prudent to take the wire down while the work is ongoing so the arborists don’t cut it or drop a branch onto it….
When the job it finished I will put some sort of wire antenna back up depending on what they have left me to work with….
Hopefully back on the HF bands in a couple of weeks…. and my YSF hotspot is still connected to YSF77353 (C4FMOntario) which seems to have multiple repeaters and other hotspots connected to it so there usually is lots of activity to listen to.
Its not really spring cleaning or adding to the collection but more aiming my Amateur Radio gear towards a goal….
That goal is to prepare for the eventual move that we are planning in about a years time. We are not sure where we will end up but…. We need a place that is “Senior Friendly” which loosely translates to no stairs… The Condo Garden home we are renting is the right size (in sq feet) but that is shared between 4 floors and the stairs are killing us… Also having to be a bit “stealthy and creative” in my antenna systems here is making me believe a move would mostly be a good thing… With any luck we will find a small bungalow that has a yard that’s antenna friendly at a price that’s pension friendly. Failing that then I guess it will be Seniors Apartment (top floor please) with balcony antennas.
VHF/UHF on the left with the loop in the center
I was thinking that Mag Loop for the HF bands and the existing Arrow GP would be acceptable if I had some altitude…
So getting back to the big change… Where the Yaesu FT950 and the FT7250d used to sit on my desk has been now given over to my new Yaesu FT991A.
My Yaesu FT991a
It has a much smaller footprint and the radio can operate on 70CM, 2M ,6m and the full HF bands of 10m to 160m including 60m. Its modes are FM,C4FM,SSB and CW with provisions for the various Digital Modes
So far its working fine with the SGC237 autotuner I have mounted outside on my fence. I do have an Arrow dual band (70cm/2m) groundplane outside as well but I would prefer at least a couple of horizontal loops for 2m and 6m SSB but they will have to wait for now.
Its really a radio that you should read the manual for so for now its working fine for me and once I actually RTFM it will be even better. So far my received signal reports are almost identical to those I received when using the FT950 so I am more than pleased.
I am still active on HF and C4FM (PiStar Hotspot) so its all good…
A much better review of the FT991a will be posted once I RTFM and figure out what I am doing
73bob
ps…. and IF I have the urge to activate a POTA Park or just work the world from my neighborhood park I do have my XIEGU X5105 along with my choices of the EFHW antenna or the SOTA Beams 6-60m antenna
The result of having way too much time on my hands but as of right now VA3QV/m is as good as I see it being….
VHF/UHF communications provided by my Yaesu FTM7250D which along with being dual band its also dual mode (FM/C4FM) with output power being up to 50w. If the repeater I am on at the time is part of the Wires X network I can also access that network as well
HF Communications (15m/17m/20m/40m/60m/80m) with my Yaesu FT450d along with a Wolf River coil. The FT 450 has a built in Auto Tuner which I plan to use to extend the bandwidth of the antenna system but so far it has not been needed
In addition I have a hotspot that I tether to my cell phone that interfaces the 7250 with the System Fusion system for Wires X style linking
But getting back to HF Mobile operating…
In anticipation of next year being better than this year is turning out I decided to outfit my truck with a good selection of communications gear so that if we are allowed to travel unrestricted next year communications “home” from wherever we were visiting would be possible
It did take a few remakes but the Wolf River 10-80m coil along with a 90 inch stainless steel whip is working better than expected. I am making contacts (on a daily basis) with stations across Ontario/Quebec and the Maritimes on 40m and 80m ssb. I have also make contacts into Canada’s western provinces using 20m and 40m ssb. In eastern Ontario the guys say that my mobile is almost as strong as my fixed station setup seeing that I have to use a stealth antenna here at home to keep the condo board guessing.
Left pic shows the mount that failed and the one that is stronger is on the right
Now if you decide to go this route for your mobile I do recommend going with a very strong mount on your vehicle. My first mount failed due to the flexing issue with the 102 inch whip (I later cut it down to 90 inches due to height restrictions) and a 16 inch coil driving around the streets of Kingston. Before then the coil was working fine and then the mount failed. After replacing the mount with one more robust it is working just fantastic. I still have some filtering to add to my ignition and charging systems as there is some alternator whine and ignition noise there but I’ve got time before 2021 to get that figured out
The next part of the package will now to get the trailer set up and then make it “Radio Active” in time for Field Day and the RAC Canada Day Contest. The next 2 weeks are going to be a busy time.
Well look back…. On March 14th 2020 Liz and myself drove to Oshawa, bought my 2nd Yaesu FT 450 from VE3FJC…. Looked at a new trailer , but did not sign on the line and had supper at the Belleville Casino….
A day later it all hit the fan…. Pandemic City and the worst two months in our lives…. Fortunately we kept our health and financial security (many lost both) but its changed life as we know it…. and two months later its not getting much better….
As things pertain to Ontario (VE3) the public parks are just starting to open up but right now its only for day use….. Don’t make any plans for Field Day yet…..
I am still planning to operate Field Day but most likely as a 1A station.
Yaseu FT 450, 43 foot vertical, 25 amp power supply and my Champion 1.5k Gas Generator.
Overnight won’t happen but will (should)operate for both days but will be operating under Day Use restrictions.
Now as plans were made to be broken… I will be fairly flexible if the parks suddenly open for general use
However as of today’s date the private campgrounds that cater to the permanent campers will be allowed to start their season… In addition many more businesses are going to able to open up but with some restrictions….
A biggie for me is that the Provincal Parks remaining day use only…. We were still strongly debating the new trailer but we also want to travel with it so…… Hard to travel if there are no Provincal Parks to travel to…. Not really wanting to make the payments with no where to go with it….
Radio wise it might be the year of the Contests or QSO Parties…. DXPeditions for the most part are not going to happen…. Just can’t see some remote area inviting a bunch of old people from a country or countries that have had serious issues with COVID19 to welcome us with open arms….. However I will be the first to admit that sitting in the shack in the evenings and having some chats have taken most (if not all) of the stress from my daily life till the next day when it builds up again…
Hoping you are staying safe and sane through our search for the “new normal”
Well after the help of a few local (Kingston) hams and the computer skills of my daughter Erika its working fine
The hotspot has found a place in VA3QV/m and I have it set up in such a way that I do not need a computer to control it …. However I am also not using it to its full potentinal.
But it is doing exactly what I wanted it to so…. it works for me… And heres how I am using it so far….
I use it to connect to the Canada Wide Room which is part of the VE3ORF/3730 linked Repeater systemThis lets me keep track with the “home town” when I am not within VHF/UHF RF range although most nites I can contact them on 80m SSB on the 3730 group.
Here in Kingston the local Fusion Group has just (in the process of)set up a hotspot on the the Fusion repeater here in town. This (once all is finished) will let me call into my new home town when I am on the road. Once again YES I could do this on HF but its nice to have some communications options.
Now if I was to add a tablet to the system I could use the hotspot to its full potential but for now I don’t want to introduce any more distactions to VA3QV/m and the video display would be doing that. All I need to do is fill in a few gaps in communications (for now). I am planning to get a 2nd hotspot to put in the trailer and that will have more computer control but for now its the KISS principal.
I’m still a newby at this but it is a great communications tool
73bob
PS…. as I write this according to the USPS tracking site my 10-80m Wolf River Coil is somewhere between Chicago and Kingston. It passed through Chicago and so far has not be scanned anywhere since. I am hoping it makes it to Toronto where it will clear customs and then on to me in Kingston
VA3QV and his Amateur Radio Hobby 