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Your Intro to Satellite Comms Plus Ham Color TV

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Contributors

  • Gordon West WB6NOA

  1. 00:00:01
    Welcome to 70 centimeters, the 420 to
  2. 00:00:06
    450 megahertz band. We're at the very
  3. 00:00:09
    bottom of the band. Hams are playing
  4. 00:00:12
    television. Now if you just tuned them
  5. 00:00:14
    in with just a straight ham set,
  6. 00:00:18
    all you would hear is their video. But
  7. 00:00:21
    these are hams that are on live
  8. 00:00:24
    television, on the ham radio frequency,
  9. 00:00:27
    sending pictures back and forth just
  10. 00:00:29
    like watching regular television on the
  11. 00:00:33
    420 to 430 portion of the 70 centimeter
  12. 00:00:37
    ham band. So if you're into television
  13. 00:00:40
    and you would like to be your own TV ham
  14. 00:00:43
    radio operator sending pictures back and
  15. 00:00:46
    forth to other hams, you can do so on
  16. 00:00:50
    the 70 centimeter ham radio band where
  17. 00:00:53
    these signals, 6 This megahertz wide
  18. 00:00:56
    have enough. elbow room on 70
  19. 00:00:58
    centimeters to be allowed to allow hams
  20. 00:01:01
    to send television back and forth on 70
  21. 00:01:04
    centimeters.
  22. 00:01:08
    The 70-centimeter band is full of
  23. 00:01:11
    surprises, making it the second most
  24. 00:01:14
    popular ham radio band of all the VHFUHF
  25. 00:01:19
    bands for a brand new technician class
  26. 00:01:22
    operator. In fact, even general class
  27. 00:01:24
    and extra class operators love hanging
  28. 00:01:27
    out on 70 centimeters, because wouldn't
  29. 00:01:30
    it be nice to sit back in your easy
  30. 00:01:33
    chair with a hand-held radio and talk to
  31. 00:01:35
    another station through a repeater, and
  32. 00:01:38
    that other station is halfway around the
  33. 00:01:41
    world? We do that all the time through
  34. 00:01:44
    internet, radio, linking project,
  35. 00:01:47
    which is big on many areas of the
  36. 00:01:50
    country on the 70-centimeter ham bands
  37. 00:01:53
    And wait, here's Shorty. k six j s i a
  38. 00:01:57
    shorty Shorty, tell us about the wind
  39. 00:01:59
    system. I think something's afoot here
  40. 00:02:02
    that I don't know about. Anyway, good
  41. 00:02:05
    morning. The wind system is an open
  42. 00:02:08
    repeater system with 31 lake repeaters
  43. 00:02:11
    covering California up into Oregon and
  44. 00:02:15
    over into the Midwest and the East Coast
  45. 00:02:17
    over in Australia. In fact, we just a
  46. 00:02:20
    few moments ago had some folks from
  47. 00:02:22
    England talking on our system We have
  48. 00:02:26
    about 350 members and, of course, with
  49. 00:02:29
    a big and open system, everyone's
  50. 00:02:31
    welcome to use it. The IRLP is the
  51. 00:02:34
    Internet Radio Linking Project, which
  52. 00:02:37
    is a system using V-O-I-P or voiceover
  53. 00:02:41
    Internet protocol to allow different
  54. 00:02:45
    repeaters to link together. Of our 31
  55. 00:02:48
    repeaters, about 50 of them are linked
  56. 00:02:51
    via two-way link and radio
  57. 00:02:54
    the balance are linked via the IROP.
  58. 00:02:59
    And shorty, how about telling us your
  59. 00:03:01
    best DX, or the normal DX here on the
  60. 00:03:04
    system? Go ahead.
  61. 00:03:08
    Well, in UHF, we're Peter Mulgrew,
  62. 00:03:12
    and he don't call it DX so much, but we
  63. 00:03:15
    routinely talk to different continents.
  64. 00:03:18
    On the wind system, we've talked to all
  65. 00:03:21
    seven continents, including Antarctica,
  66. 00:03:25
    with perfectly clear crisp audio, as
  67. 00:03:29
    the FM mode of operation allows, which
  68. 00:03:34
    is a very low noise floor, and very
  69. 00:03:37
    good signal-to-noise ratio audio, so it
  70. 00:03:40
    sounds just like we're sounding right
  71. 00:03:42
    now, and we can routinely talk anywhere
  72. 00:03:46
    in the world There are over 1600 IROP
  73. 00:03:51
    nodes or radios on the
  74. 00:03:55
    system. Wow, now that's pretty good.
  75. 00:03:57
    Well, thanks, Shorty. Now listen,
  76. 00:03:59
    this is good news for those of you that
  77. 00:04:01
    have a dual-band handheld, a single
  78. 00:04:05
    handheld with both 2 meters as well as
  79. 00:04:07
    440, and here on the 440-band all
  80. 00:04:11
    around the country are avenues to get
  81. 00:04:13
    into IRLP through participating
  82. 00:04:17
    repeaters, allowing you to talk to
  83. 00:04:20
    other stations all over the world. Well,
  84. 00:04:24
    let's see who's out there Hello, wind
  85. 00:04:26
    system. Anybody on the other side of
  86. 00:04:28
    the pond?
  87. 00:04:33
    I got him in there, Ian, on the
  88. 00:04:36
    wind system. Good morning or good
  89. 00:04:39
    afternoon. Where are you located? Over.
  90. 00:04:41
    I'm on the wind system, and I'm on the
  91. 00:04:45
    whole main computer. It's on their edge.
  92. 00:04:48
    You're looking up on the internet. Now,
  93. 00:04:51
    I'm on a handheld radio, and he's on a
  94. 00:04:53
    handheld radio in England. via the
  95. 00:04:56
    internet via IRLP.
  96. 00:05:04
    Well, thank you so much, and you say
  97. 00:05:06
    hi to Big Ben when you bicycle-viet,
  98. 00:05:09
    and thanks so much for this great talk.
  99. 00:05:14
    Okay, go ahead, if you're very welcome,
  100. 00:05:14
    I'm a regular advocate to the west of
  101. 00:05:15
    San Diego, enjoy it. Give me somebody
  102. 00:05:15
    help. Can I go on
  103. 00:05:21
    time with a day on night? So there you
  104. 00:05:23
    go. Sixty-one. Five to two hours of
  105. 00:05:26
    this category. Three hundred eight kite.
  106. 00:05:28
    Five six to four mile mile. Well, that
  107. 00:05:30
    is terrific, and that's seeing pedaling
  108. 00:05:33
    his way up Especially around the England
  109. 00:05:34
    on a handheld radio and a little headset
  110. 00:05:38
    going through his repeater tied into the
  111. 00:05:40
    wind system all over the United States
  112. 00:05:43
    for pickup. Wow, what you can do with
  113. 00:05:46
    just a small dual band handheld on the
  114. 00:05:49
    440 to 450 megahertz
  115. 00:06:06
    Now that's the idea of the local
  116. 00:06:08
    repeater John and John where you located
  117. 00:06:14
    Well, that was a pretty nice contact
  118. 00:06:14
    only about 90 miles away but coming
  119. 00:06:14
    through loud and clear. Maybe we'll get
  120. 00:06:14
    somebody a little further away from
  121. 00:06:14
    where I am down here in Southern
  122. 00:06:14
    California on Internet linking huh? Wow
  123. 00:06:14
    Anchorage, Alaska coming in through one
  124. 00:06:14
    of the
  125. 00:06:47
    IRLP nodes tied into our local repeater
  126. 00:06:51
    system here on the wind system of an
  127. 00:06:54
    anchorage alasco over and i asked him
  128. 00:06:57
    what's it like up there
  129. 00:07:01
    isn't that something now the insomnia
  130. 00:07:02
    net that happens
  131. 00:07:05
    all
  132. 00:07:07
    over the
  133. 00:07:23
    country on many different repeaters for
  134. 00:07:25
    those having a hard time sleeping they
  135. 00:07:27
    stay in touch and play trivia games with
  136. 00:07:30
    their ham radio hand set so ham radio a
  137. 00:07:33
    little bit of something for everybody
  138. 00:07:35
    even up here on the four twenty to 450
  139. 00:07:38
    megahertz fans It's going to be running
  140. 00:07:43
    next week, so actually this weekend.
  141. 00:07:45
    It might happen. I'll just say it that
  142. 00:07:47
    way. I'll see. It's been easily done.
  143. 00:07:50
    It's an exhibition while they get out of
  144. 00:07:53
    Anchorage and maybe they come money when
  145. 00:07:57
    they have a radio.
  146. 00:08:00
    I'll see if we can do something like
  147. 00:08:02
    that.
  148. 00:08:04
    So you're going to learn a lot of things
  149. 00:08:06
    about a lot of people and about what
  150. 00:08:08
    they do and what the activities are in
  151. 00:08:10
    different parts of the country,
  152. 00:08:11
    different parts of the world via your
  153. 00:08:14
    little ham radio set tied into internet
  154. 00:08:17
    radio linking project. And this is open
  155. 00:08:20
    to all ham radio operators, especially
  156. 00:08:23
    up here on the 420 to 450 megahertz 70
  157. 00:08:27
    centimeter ham band Hey, here comes a
  158. 00:08:29
    very special guest in the radio room
  159. 00:08:32
    today. And that's Robert Miller, K2-RM,
  160. 00:08:37
    formerly with Radio Shack now retired,
  161. 00:08:40
    the one that got me into writing ham
  162. 00:08:42
    radio books. Hey, Robert, I
  163. 00:08:44
    understand you're going to Hawaii on a
  164. 00:08:46
    cruise And when you get to Hawaii,
  165. 00:08:48
    you're bringing along what kind of radio?
  166. 00:08:51
    The dual band UHF VHF radio, and we'll
  167. 00:08:54
    be in contact with hands on Four Islands
  168. 00:08:58
    on both UHF and VHF. And all those
  169. 00:09:02
    radios have millions of miles on them.
  170. 00:09:03
    I took them with me on all my trips
  171. 00:09:05
    overseas, four times a year for about
  172. 00:09:08
    30 years. So they have lots of miles on
  173. 00:09:12
    them, not a great number of contacts
  174. 00:09:14
    because they're all low-powered, but
  175. 00:09:16
    lots of fun, lots of miles, and really
  176. 00:09:19
    enjoy using them. Wow, well, thanks,
  177. 00:09:21
    Bob, and you know, when you go
  178. 00:09:23
    traveling with your new ham radio
  179. 00:09:25
    license, most countries will accept USA
  180. 00:09:29
    licensees to operate in their country
  181. 00:09:31
    under reciprocal operating agreements.
  182. 00:09:34
    Some give you permission, even without
  183. 00:09:36
    having to do any paperwork, some
  184. 00:09:38
    countries in Europe, And, of course,
  185. 00:09:40
    Hawaii and Alaska, that's our country,
  186. 00:09:43
    and you can go on over there and start
  187. 00:09:44
    using your VHFUHF handhills like Robert
  188. 00:09:48
    and Sandy will be doing on their
  189. 00:09:50
    upcoming cruise. Now, before we sign
  190. 00:09:53
    off with Robert and Sandy Miller and
  191. 00:09:54
    they head off to the blue seas with
  192. 00:09:56
    their dual-band handheld, I asked
  193. 00:09:58
    Robert what he felt was the most
  194. 00:10:00
    important aspect getting on the air as a
  195. 00:10:02
    brand new ham. If you find another ham,
  196. 00:10:06
    or you find that a ham radio club, and
  197. 00:10:09
    you ask them to help you, don't be
  198. 00:10:12
    ashamed, just ask them for a little bit
  199. 00:10:14
    of help. There'll be a maze in how much
  200. 00:10:16
    information they'll be happy to give you
  201. 00:10:18
    and teach you and help you and elmer you.
  202. 00:10:21
    That's a ham term, elmer, you into
  203. 00:10:23
    becoming a ham. We all startled off the
  204. 00:10:26
    first time not knowing what to do. And
  205. 00:10:29
    usually somebody with experience come to
  206. 00:10:31
    the aid of a new ham and help guide you
  207. 00:10:36
    into a life-long hobby. I have friends
  208. 00:10:38
    that I talk to every day. One of them
  209. 00:10:41
    is almost 90 years old, lives up in Sun
  210. 00:10:43
    City, Arizona. And it's just a
  211. 00:10:46
    wonderful hobby that you can do. Or not
  212. 00:10:49
    do as you choose. It's not like playing
  213. 00:10:52
    a competitive sport where you have to
  214. 00:10:54
    keep it up. So you maintain your
  215. 00:10:57
    ability
  216. 00:10:59
    You can be active in amateur racing.
  217. 00:11:02
    and and have a quiet period and then go
  218. 00:11:04
    back in and never miss a step. So
  219. 00:11:07
    joining the Ham Radio Club is good
  220. 00:11:09
    advice that Robert tells us and again
  221. 00:11:12
    that on the air interview was conducted
  222. 00:11:14
    with Robert just a few hours ago and
  223. 00:11:17
    he's right now on the high seas and once
  224. 00:11:19
    he gets near Hawaii that dual band 2
  225. 00:11:21
    meter and 70 centimeter handheld will
  226. 00:11:24
    come to life and all of you out there
  227. 00:11:26
    will have that same capability as soon
  228. 00:11:29
    as you pass that upcoming test.
  229. 00:11:31
    Incidentally you can learn where to join
  230. 00:11:33
    a ham radio club in my exclusive Gordon
  231. 00:11:35
    West yellow technician class book. We
  232. 00:11:38
    give you plenty of websites to go to to
  233. 00:11:41
    look up local ham radio clubs. One of
  234. 00:11:45
    the hot frequencies to meet new hams on
  235. 00:11:47
    your dual band handheld is the 2 meter
  236. 00:11:50
    channel 14652
  237. 00:11:54
    as well as here on the 440 ban, 446. I
  238. 00:11:59
    bumped in to Heiko 860. Hey, Heiko,
  239. 00:12:02
    what you been doing? Well, for example,
  240. 00:12:04
    we met with Brian for breakfast this
  241. 00:12:06
    morning, next table over, with a hand
  242. 00:12:08
    radio operator from the Huntington Beach,
  243. 00:12:10
    Racy's, CERT folks, and he'd seen
  244. 00:12:13
    Brian and Howard yesterday at the Racy's
  245. 00:12:16
    classes. So, it's a small world. You
  246. 00:12:18
    meet a lot of good people and you have a
  247. 00:12:19
    lot of fun over. Well, that sounds
  248. 00:12:22
    great, Heiko. How about telling the
  249. 00:12:24
    listeners the importance of a dual-band
  250. 00:12:26
    handheld? Well, dual-band handhelds,
  251. 00:12:29
    in general, let you do work with 2
  252. 00:12:31
    meters and 440 and give you the ability
  253. 00:12:34
    to access repeaters. And in some cases,
  254. 00:12:38
    even listen to one more you're talking
  255. 00:12:40
    on the other one. That sounds pretty
  256. 00:12:42
    interesting, Heiko, and what did you
  257. 00:12:44
    do last night? Last night, I did some
  258. 00:12:46
    contesting with some new hams, or some
  259. 00:12:49
    of my brand new hams. And Patty and I
  260. 00:12:51
    both do a lot of traveling with ham
  261. 00:12:52
    radio, so we really enjoy it. Back,
  262. 00:12:54
    886-09 garden your to. OK, thanks,
  263. 00:12:58
    Hiko. And that was on Simplex. That
  264. 00:13:00
    means transmitting locally without a
  265. 00:13:02
    repeater. And that is great for
  266. 00:13:04
    emergency preparedness as well.
  267. 00:13:14
    We got your sign call made. I got some
  268. 00:13:20
    water for you. We're ready. Chip and
  269. 00:13:26
    Janet on the race. OK. I
  270. 00:13:33
    will talk to you at the bottom of the
  271. 00:13:33
    hour. And then keep it on for the
  272. 00:13:33
    finish line. Wow, pretty amazing Chip
  273. 00:13:33
    does the marathon and stays on the air
  274. 00:13:33
    on ham radio. Keep up the good work.
  275. 00:13:33
    So you see, no matter what you're doing
  276. 00:13:35
    on ham radio, you'll have plenty of
  277. 00:13:37
    friends that will be following your
  278. 00:13:39
    every step, even a marathon with Chip
  279. 00:13:42
    and Janet and Dan and Kristen out there
  280. 00:13:44
    on the airwaves. And keeping track of
  281. 00:13:48
    the runners is another part of ham radio
  282. 00:13:51
    via PSK is This digital.
  283. 00:13:55
    a robust communication system for
  284. 00:13:57
    sending data.
  285. 00:14:01
    And this way, all the runners are kept
  286. 00:14:03
    track of at the judging center by ham
  287. 00:14:06
    radio operators using digital techniques
  288. 00:14:08
    on UHF, the 440 band.
  289. 00:14:14
    Here that echo
  290. 00:14:17
    I'm on a satellite listening to myself
  291. 00:14:20
    on UHF. And you can do the same thing
  292. 00:14:23
    when you get your new license and that
  293. 00:14:24
    is take part in ham satellite
  294. 00:14:27
    communications. And with your dual band
  295. 00:14:30
    handheld you can even use a handheld on
  296. 00:14:33
    some of the FM we call them easy sets to
  297. 00:14:36
    make a quick radio call on ham
  298. 00:14:39
    satellites. And here's the difference
  299. 00:14:41
    between single side band, the long
  300. 00:14:44
    range communication system and FM up on
  301. 00:14:47
    the 440 band were tuned into Paul, King
  302. 00:14:50
    Henry 6 Hotel my Kecko in Hawaii. First
  303. 00:14:54
    demonstrating sideband and then FM.
  304. 00:14:56
    Listen carefully.
  305. 00:15:05
    I'm on
  306. 00:15:08
    the sideband now. There's a key handle
  307. 00:15:08
    in 6th Hotel. I might get going. I'm
  308. 00:15:09
    in Hawaii. I'm on the sideband and I'm
  309. 00:15:09
    going to go to the FM right now. Now
  310. 00:15:09
    I'm on FM. This is King Henry 6th Hotel.
  311. 00:15:13
    I can't go on the island of Hawaii
  312. 00:15:17
    saying hello to everybody there in
  313. 00:15:20
    Southern California Now this may seem
  314. 00:15:22
    like, well that's pretty interesting,
  315. 00:15:24
    but it's really interesting because his
  316. 00:15:26
    signal is coming on the 440 band,
  317. 00:15:29
    actually 432, is coming over 2, 500
  318. 00:15:34
    miles away thanks to tropospheric
  319. 00:15:35
    ducting, some of the
  320. 00:15:37
    many modes of communications that you
  321. 00:15:39
    can explore with your new ham radio
  322. 00:15:42
    license
  323. 00:15:45
    if you have a laptop or a home computer.
  324. 00:15:48
    It'll make a nice tie-in to your UHF,
  325. 00:15:51
    even your VHF radio for data
  326. 00:15:54
    communications. Big time on Ham Radio.
  327. 00:15:58
    Paulins is shut down. New Orleans has
  328. 00:16:00
    got major destruction and they've got
  329. 00:16:04
    the roof off the Superdome. They've got
  330. 00:16:07
    water in the business district. They've
  331. 00:16:10
    got, you probably know better from the
  332. 00:16:13
    - Ham Radio played an important part,
  333. 00:16:16
    especially VHF and UHF during the
  334. 00:16:18
    Katrina emergency. And Ham Radio was
  335. 00:16:22
    there on the air. The generators headed
  336. 00:16:24
    towards the affected area, along with
  337. 00:16:26
    100, 000 gallons of fuel. A second
  338. 00:16:30
    shipment of 100, 000 gallons of fuel.
  339. 00:16:33
    So Ham Radio plays an important part,
  340. 00:16:36
    especially the VHF and UHF vans for
  341. 00:16:39
    staying in touch in an emergency or just
  342. 00:16:42
    having fun out on the airways but in an
  343. 00:16:44
    emergency, Ham Radio is there. So
  344. 00:16:47
    let's take a break and then we'll
  345. 00:16:48
    explore some of the higher bands I'm
  346. 00:16:56
    a grand one in the first area.