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Talk to the Astronauts and more - on the 2 Meter Band

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Description

Contributors

  • Gordon West WB6NOA

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    The number one ham radio band for
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    excitement with a handheld transceiver
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    or a mobile unit is the two meter band,
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    and we're tuned in to a two meter
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    repeater right now, listening to a
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    couple of hands talking about an
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    upcoming ham radio event. The signals
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    are frequency modulation, they're
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    coming in loud and clear, there's no
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    background static,
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    so this is really exciting, you're able
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    to tune in to literally hundreds of
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    repeater stations throughout your local
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    area on the two meter band with just a
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    little tiny two meter hand held or
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    mobile unit and carry on conversations
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    up to 50, 75 even a hundred miles away
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    on two meters.
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    The nice thing about two meters is when
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    you get on many of the repeaters, it's
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    like family. Everybody hears your
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    conversation at once, and many folks
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    can join in on the conversation. And
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    you never know what you're going to hear
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    on the two meter band. It could be
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    technical conversations, it could be
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    kids talking back and forth, but
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    everything happens on two meters.
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    Great conversations on two meters via
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    the repeaters.
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    casual conversation on two meters, but
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    it helps establish radio pass so you
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    know where the repeater best works into
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    because every so often, especially here
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    in Southern California, we need the
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    repeaters for emergency communications
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    and we have some of those earthquakes
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    Wow,
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    so
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    you can see that ham radio repeaters
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    after a big emergency strikes can be put
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    to big use by emergency radio
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    communicators using two meter repeaters.
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    while building collapse front windows
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    shattered
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    so lots of activities during earthquakes
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    here in southern California on the two
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    meter repeaters
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    so you see that ham radio operators on
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    repeaters can give status reports all
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    over a city
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    listen to this report
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    as you can hear ham radio and local
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    repeaters bring local information and
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    sometimes repeaters will even take
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    information that comes in on one band
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    and relays it to another Not a WV-6008,
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    K-7, J-A, emergency traffic from the
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    Indian ocean hollows. This is relays
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    from the VU-4 RVI. Make a lie once to
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    all hands and operators. Find a sign of
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    local. Major earthquake and likely
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    tsunami in the carrier. For handling
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    only emergency traffic and then out of
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    the east recursion.
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    and this came through on the amateur
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    radio two meter band as an emergency
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    relay and your local two meter band may
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    also take communications from the
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    internet from other licensed hams on a
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    system called echolink and bring reports
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    in from all over the world. Well, I
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    just click on my favorite Echo Link and
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    it comes to eye, I've loaded the
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    software into my computer, my laptop,
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    and my HX here, so I just click on Echo
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    Link and it comes in and then you have
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    to decide which part of the world you
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    want to go to. And for example, it's
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    click on the United States and then you
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    get a list of all the Echo Link stations
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    and you can click on them and go on
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    computer to computer or to a meter and
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    it really is a kick though to go to like
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    a 2-meter repeater in Africa and work a
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    mobile station driving around in Africa.
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    Really do think it's an amazing, not
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    only a ratio but a lot of fun. It
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    certainly is a lot of fun and that is
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    Echo Link just one more activity on the
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    Ham Radio 2-meter band as soon as you
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    get your amateur radio license
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    Now 2 meters is not just local. down at
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    the bottom of the band around 144-200,
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    two meters single sideband via
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    trophospheric ducting is bringing this
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    signal in 2, 500 miles. The island of
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    Oi is 8, 200 foot elevation on the side
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    of a volcano, which is active. This is
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    K-H-6-H image, this name. Yes, he is
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    listening and every summer West Coast
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    ham radio operators communicate with
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    Hawaii on two meters single sideband.
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    Down in the Gulf and in Texas, they
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    talk to Florida on two meters single
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    sideband. And in Florida, they talk up
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    the Nova Scotia on two meters sideband.
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    And New York talks to Chicago on two
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    meters sideband. So there's plenty of
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    long range communications on two meters
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    via single sideband found at the bottom
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    the band around 144.
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    200.
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    And with that same single sideband radio
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    on 2 meters, about 8 or 9 times a year,
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    when we have meteor showers, we can go
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    ahead and bang a signal 100, sometimes
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    a thousand miles away off of a trail of
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    a meteor,
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    KJ7F, WB6, N0854, 544, Delamite
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    13, over. Okay, were you located?
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    Wow, you're pounding in, 5 and 9,
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    good luck. Now that's pretty amazing in
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    that our signals were bounced off of a
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    meteor trail. Well, what do you say we
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    have our signals relayed via Oscar,
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    orbiting satellite carrying amateur
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    radio on our two meter band, 145 800 to
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    1465. OO. the Oscar subband. Now, do
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    you hear how that signal sort of rolls
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    in and rolls out and rolls in and rolls
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    out? Well, that's because the
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    satellite is slightly tumbling in space
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    to keep all of the solar panels cool.
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    And amateur satellite is just one of the
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    many things that you can do on the 2
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    meter band. to tell the students where
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    you are located, where you are located,
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    and how our signal is getting from here
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    to there. Go ahead, go ahead.
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    So amateur satellites, just one more
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    thing that you can get into as a brand
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    new ham radio operator Spacecraft
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    Columbia,
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    go ahead Brian. Wow! All of our
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    spacecraft have Ham Radio on board as
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    well as the International Space Station.
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    How do you copy us? Oh, you're
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    outstanding. Loud and clear. One of
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    the best stations that we've heard ever
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    since we've been in orbit. The attitude
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    of the spacecraft is just perfect of
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    course. They're looking right straight
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    down over Melbourne at just about this
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    moment. This very moment. And this is
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    on the 2-meter band. Doctor, we can
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    maintain a backup copy. John is right
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    behind me, and he's been looking
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    forward to saying hello to you all We're
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    having a say hello to you through the
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    backup ham system, and he's giving us a
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    thumbs up signal right now, Brian. So,
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    Brian, we appreciate the chance to talk
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    with you. Go ahead, over. So, wow,
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    another exciting thing on ham radio
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    2-meters, and that is the International
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    Space Station that is regularly on the
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    air, talking to hams and school
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    children, as well as the space shuttles
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    headed toward the space station Here's
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    another one, the Atlantis. Let's see
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    if we can get a hold of. Atlantis Ocean
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    America
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    you're not clear port Atlanta sir. Say
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    your phone call sign please over. This
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    is your instructor Gordon West whiskey
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    Bravo six Nancy Ocean America. Good job.
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    Keep up the good work.
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    I bet
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    there
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    are some pileups which are hundreds of
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    hands calling the International Space
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    Station or the Space Shuttle as they're
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    a headed up there on their mission. So
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    all of this on the 2 meter ham radio
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    band that has a licensed ham you'll be
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    able to talk to astronauts in space
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    The call letters of mirror when it was
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    in space and the mirror was sending down
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    on the 2-meter band pictures of the
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    earth. That's right called slow scan
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    television and that's very active on the
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    2-meter band. You can send images to
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    another hand pal via slow scan
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    television.
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    What's that? That's called automatic
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    packet position reporting system,
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    A-P-R-S. This is on the 2-meter band
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    144-390.
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    And here we have hams with the entry
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    level license sending their position to
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    other hams via packet radio in data
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    bursts. And if you have the right kind
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    of receiver and the right kind of radio,
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    You can actually receive on a GPS.
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    green where other stations are located
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    around you. All of this happening on
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    the 2-meter band APRS, Automatic
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    Position Reporting System.
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    Well, it sounds a little bit pinched
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    audio, doesn't it?
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    It's digital audio thanks to D-Star, a
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    new digital communications method found
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    on the 2-meter band from 1455 to 1458,
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    tied into the internet. So digitally
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    speaking, these hands could be talking
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    across the country on D-Star
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    Hey, hi, Brian.
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    What that means is that your voice is
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    only an analog form as it enters the
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    radio, where it's converted into
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    digital form, and sent out over the air
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    digital as digital data. On the
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    receiving end, the digital data is
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    turned back into voice. Now the remote
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    end can be a repeater user in your city,
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    where it can be someone in another state
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    or even in another country, so it's got
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    a lot of capabilities that use the
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    Internet to route this digital data far
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    away So this not only saves precious
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    radio bandwidth, but it enables you to
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    have lots of new features, like the
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    Colphane routing I described, sent the
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    WB6NOA into your radio, and it finds
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    Gordon and figures out what repeaters
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    he's on, and the voice comes on the
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    other end.
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    Wow,
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    that's really something. I'm currently
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    in contact with France, Germany, Italy,
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    and have regular QSOs with the folks up
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    in the Bay Area to keep in touch with
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    what they're doing up there, as well as
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    Texas, where the international hub is
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    located for G-Star. No kidding. Yeah,
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    we have a great site that should help
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    you get started. wwwf-o-a-r-aorg and
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    click on the D-Star button Wow, that
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    was really something. That was digital
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    audio. Nice and crisp coming from
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    D-Star. Thanks, Brian. You know,
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    your VHF 2-meter radio is just amazing.
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    Hear that tone in the background of this
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    conversation?
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    This is what your radio does. It gets
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    rid of it.
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    Pretty magic, huh?
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    tone is called subaudible tone and it's
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    necessary for many repeaters in major
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    repeater metropolitan areas and that
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    allows the repeater to only pass the
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    conversations that are directed to it
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    even though there may be two repeaters
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    on the same frequency. So if you hear a
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    sort of a hum behind someone's signal
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    that's completely normal on the 2 meter.
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    and some of the other ham radio bands.
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    Wow, now what's that tone? Well,
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    that's your alternator. That's why you
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    want to wire your radio.
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    Directly to your car battery, if you've
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    got a mobile radio, and that way you
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    won't be getting that particular whine,
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    which is not normal, on-ham radio. And
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    you're going to have plenty of folks
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    that are going to help you install your
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    radio. In fact, here's one right here
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    that's pretty expert on getting things
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    A very, very comfortable format for you
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    this evening, as usual, and it only
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    gets better with time. Hi, your
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    co-host, Mark, KB6SRT, along with.
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    So you never know what's out there until
  285. 00:16:37
    you turn on the radio. So hurry up and
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    get your radio, and when you buy that
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    new, probably dual-band handheld radio
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    You get a program by someone that knows
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    that radio with some of the local
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    repeater channels so you can immediately
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    jump right in and begin listening, and
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    then, beginning to transmit on some of
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    these fun nets like this, the trivia
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    net here on the 2-meter band. Two
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    meters! A little something for every
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    hand.