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Walker County ARES/RACES

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Category: Net Activity

Published: 30 January 2023

January 30, 2023

While working in the ham shack, I heard a call out for the Walker County ARES/RACES net. So I checked into the net.  I learned that sometimes groups use a different plug for certain traffic.  This time it was a different Tone Squelch code.  After the net I was able to program in the correct code.  Another thing I learned is that I need to keep pen and paper handy by the radio.  The code was given at the beginning of the net but I didn't write it down and just assumed it was the code I already had programmed.  Live and learn, right?  But this is another reason to have nets when there isn't an emergency so we can practice.

Winter Field Day - AllStar Net - Washington County Amateur Radio Group

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Category: Events

Published: 30 January 2023

January 28-29, 2023

This weekend is Winter Field Day, so I thought I would visit some nearby club events on Saturday since my club wasn't participating this year.  I first tried Navasota and the Grimes County club, but their event was cancelled due to the rainy weather.  So I headed on over to Brenham to the Washington County Amateur Radio Group.  I met some really nice folks there.  I got to see a demonstration of the ICOM 7300 and also viewed an ICOM 705 QRP radio.  I also learned about AllStar Net and the RepeaterPhone app.  The Washington County group has a Sunday night net and their repeater is connected to an AllStar node.  So I signed up with an Allstar account and joined their net on Sunday night.  Always enjoyable to meet other folks and learn new things.

While on my travels Saturday, I tuned to some local repeaters and it sure sounded like the Tomball group had a really nice Field Day.  I could hear them talking on the College Station repeater.  I wasn't able to talk at the time or I would have.  Sounded like someone had built a homemade antenna launcher.  I'd like to learn more about that.

Wires-X Success

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Category: Wires-X

Published: 26 January 2023

January 26, 2023

Finally was able to overcome the Wires-X issues I was having.  I noticed in the Wires-X log file the phrase "Canceled call to Analog Node or Analog & Digital Room" when I was trying to connect to the Texas Patriots room.  Wheras when I got the busy error was operating the radio in the Wires-X PDN mode which is for digital only rooms.   In the Wires-X Portable Digital Node Function Instruction Manual, I saw a blurb where "The Portable Digital Node Mode may be not connected to anything other than a Digital Room or a Digital Node.  In order to connect with the analog node station, it is necessary to ue the Portable HRI Mode."  Aha!  Let me try the Portable HRI Mode setup instead.  I didn't know there was more than one way to connect to Wires-X, but apparently there are several ways!  Once I setup the radio into Portable HRI Mode, I was able to use the computer (not the radio) to connect to the Texas Patriots room.  Live and learn.  As far as the mysterious reboot problem I was experiencing, I don't have a good answer for the fix.  Maybe it was a loose cable, maybe it was the USB dropping from my windows virtual machine instance.  I don't know.  If it happens again, I will have to address that, but so far so good today.

ULLWA SkyWarn Emergency Net

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Category: Net Activity

Published: 24 January 2023

January 23, 2023

I put my FTM 300 in scan mode and what do you know, I hear the call QST, QST, QST.  I had forgotten that the Upper Lake Livingston Wireless Association holds a net on Tuesday nights.  I missed the regular net but went ahead and joined the Skywarn/Emergency net.  Given today's weather I am reminded of the need for communications during emergency situations.  Glad to know the nearby counties have emergency nets in place.