ARRL Hudson Division Awards (2020 & 2021)

Saturday November 13th was the  ARRL Hudson Division Awards Lunch which recognized various achievements across the regional amateur radio community in 2020 and 2021 right here in the Hudson Valley and slightly beyond into Northern New Jersey, New York City and Long Island.

Many prizes related to the ARRL's branding of "Cycle 25" were given out all afternoon as well as the usual ARRL publications, including some donations by a latter to be mentioned award winner.  

Ria Jairam N2RJ, ARRL Hudson Division Director, did a fantastic job in pulling this years event together along with the Orange County Amateur Radio Club and it was great again to have some form of in person event take place which the Amateur Radio Relay League was able to visibly lead.

Joe K1JT accepting an achievement award during the ARRL Hudson Division Awards Lunch from Ria N2RJ (Photo Credit: Joe  CupanoNE2Z)

The first featured guest speaker was  Dr. Joe Taylor K1JT, the inventor of so many of the low signal to noise ratio modes enjoyed by everyone involved in HF data communications via FT8 and FT4 as well as those with loftier goals via meteor, tropo-scatter and "Moon Bounce" communications who diplomatically befriend to make radio contact beyond our atmosphere such as JT65 and others.

Here is the new QRP Labs QDX SDR transceiver capable of FT8 plus other modes which we have Joe K1JT to thank  which Neil W2NDG and Steve K2GOG of HVDN recently received and are
quickly trying to build in time for WFD 2022 (Source:  QRPlabs.com)

Following Joe was David NA2AA, the current ARRL CEO, and he talked about everything from major changes taking place within the ARRL to help modernize communication via video based content to better ways to engage the the population which Hudson Valley Digital Network has already been focused on since our inception in 2017. David's discussion was refreshing and encouraging. 

In 2021,  HVDN has 37% of our audience coming from where the ARRL needs help. David NA2AA wants to find more ways to even more closely focus on the 30-40 year old population.
(Source:  HVDN Leadership Team)

It was really great hearing more about the changes that are needed at the ARRL at the national level and also at the regional level straight from the top.  

With the current ARRL CEO not being afraid to speak about his 11m days openly along with other topics which predecessors stayed away from, it should be exciting to see what is next within the ARRL, including "Project X", which hopefully HVDN can be a beta tester for via our upcoming events like HR3:2022.   

The Hudson Division with Ria N2RJ and David NA2AA have lots of work to do and it was great to see them again in person along with an impressive number of section leaders at a sold out event with approximately 100 people attending.

David NA2AA talked about solar cycle 25 and its importance it can have for the hobby for more than the next 11 years to help us grow during a time where much of the amateur radio community is not getting any younger. (Photo Credit: Joe Cupano NE2Z)

So many amazing awards were given out during the event, including those for technical achievements such as David WO2X's remote station projects using NodeRed and Alan W2AEW's energy put into his wonderful YouTube channel with over 341 videos and 159,000 subscribers.  

Alan W2AEW 2020 Technical Achievement and David WO2X 2021 Technical Achievement winners of the ARRL Hudson Division Awards presented on November 13th 2021
(Photo Credit: Joe Cupano NE2Z)

It was great to see one of the Hudson River Radio Relay leadership team responsible for the 2021 N2S station receive the 2020 Grand Ole Ham Award in part thanks to all his many years of being part of the amateur radio community  Congrats Adam AE2AN on this award!!

Adam AE2AN sharing a few words during his 2020 Grand Ole Ham award reception thanks to Ria N2RJ and her wonderful children who helped keep things on track in the later parts of the afternoon.
(Photo Credit: Joe Cupano NE2Z)

There were many other awards given which can be read about on the Hudson Division and sectional websites next they are updated, but lets close this article by highlighting the amateur of the year in the ARRL Hudson Division for this and last year since COVID prevented an awards meeting in 2020.

2020 ARRL Hudson Division Amateur of the Year:  Richie Cetron K2KNB

Richie is well known to many members of Hudson Valley Digital Network since a few of us used to live on Long Island and became good friends with him over the years, especially through using the wide coverage W2VL 146.850 MHz repeater while commuting or while at home.

Richie won this same award in 2012 for his leadership following the Hurricane Sandy disaster that disrupted life for so many.  Providing communications and social well being after a disaster like that was important and while Richie earned this award, he was quick to point out it was the work of many who made this possible.

Fast forward to 2021,  Richie earned this same award for the year 2020 for similar recognition which also helped ensure social comfort at the height of the COVID pandemic.  

While there were other amateur radio clubs such as the Mt. Beacon ARC and Overlook Mtn. ARC which also held social wellness discussions twice daily, the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club which Richie is President of required a lot more effort to keep it running via many net control operators and many expensive to maintain repeaters which can be heard by all of NYC, Long Island, Westchester and elsewhere.   

Richie is a wonderful recipient of  an award like this and many amateurs can learn much from him in how he leads by example. Being President of LIMARC for now 11 years in itself is no easy task either, so this award is well deserved. Congratulations Richie!

Richard "Richie" Cetron K2KNB was awarded the prestigious 2020 ARRL Hudson Division Amateur of the Year award for his tireless efforts during the heights of the COVID pandemic.
(Photo Credit:  Joe Cupano NE2Z) 

2021 ARRL Hudson Division Amateur of the Year:  Steve Bossert K2GOG

2021 was a tough year and just like Richie K2KNB, the recipient of the 2021 ARRL Hudson Division Amateur of the year award earned this through his work in organizing a safe multi club, multi site special event called Hudson River Radio Relay.

The goal of the event was to help raise awareness for Bannerman's Island since they are funded by donations and tours. The pandemic affected the upkeep of the island and the surrounding communities of the Hudson River.  With eight participating special event stations, the event helped bring together more than ten amateur radio clubs and our local communities in a time of  little in person safe activities.

Steve Bossert K2GOG, one of the co-founders of Hudson Valley Digital Network and main organizer of the event, was given this award and is also the first award recipient in the ARRL Hudson Division for not being a current ARRL member.   It was fantastic that that ARRL chose to honor Steve with this award and is also a great way that shows that the ARRL advocates for everyone involved in amateur radio and not just its current members.

While Steve has only been a radio amateur operator for 23 of his almost 41 years of age, he has learned a lot from mentors like Richie K2KNB and many others who were either at this event or sadly, have passed away into Silent Key land.  Being able to lead and organize an event like this with so many unique challenges and personalities involved was a huge honor.

Success of the Hudson River Radio Relay event is widely captured in the local media and Steve was focused on highlighting so many of the people who helped make a first year event during a pandemic a huge success, even in challenging times, he barely spoke of himself. Here is a video of his acceptance and almost a the very end of a very nice lunch amongst peers of all ages.

 

Best Video Ever: HV BBQ & RDF (OMARC, HVDN, USMA, QSY)

 

Putting the HV on the map with SSTV?

 

For our third SSTV over FM test as part of the Ulster & Northern Dutchess Radio Net on Tuesday September 22nd, we had a lower turnout than past weeks but had the most success in participants decoding images and playing along.

The month of September is National Preparedness Month as sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  This weeks casual round table theme was "low cost, no cost preparedness".

Natural disasters do not wait for a convenient time. Preparing for them shouldn't wait either. Start today by having a look at various alert tools, gather and safe-guard important documents and take other low cost/no cost actions like ensuring your amateur radio gear is functional, programmed with appropriate frequencies and know how to use it without the aid of a manual or computer programming.  

Doing all of this in advance helps lessen the impact of disasters and emergencies for you and your family.

Local Hudson Valley Weather Status

The WXL37 National Weather Service transmitter which serves the area is currently offline.  It is unknown when this will be again online, so should there be a situation where there is internet or mobile service disruptions, a reliable and timely source of weather information excluding broadcast media is not available for our area. 

Hopefully this is restored soon, especially since any weather alert radio receivers will not function until this is turned back on.

UNDR Net Participants on 9/22/21

Acting as alternate net control this week was Guy KD2TLF and our total participation this week was six and spread across the core of the Hudson Valley.  Special thanks to:

• KD2TQS - Ken - Rhinebeck - Dutchess County
• WA2RKN - Jerry - Hyde Park - Dutchess County
• K9JPT - John - Hopewell Junction - Dutchess County
• KD2VAH - Jim - Poughkeepsie - Dutchess County
• KD2TLF - Guy - Xena - Ulster County  (ANC)
• K2GOG - Steve - Poughkeepsie - Dutchess County (NC)

After a brief discussion about no cost planning, we moved to the SSTV over FM test using the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club's amazing WA2MJM 146.805 MHz repeater located high atop Overlook Mountain. 

As a reminder,  UNDR Net is not currently affiliated with ARES, RACES, CERT or MRC but would love to be if it shows we can add value. 

Finding people without giving away details 

This week we started off making the audience think we were going to play a game of tic-tac-toe by sending images using the very fast PD50 mode compared to last week's PD120 and prior PD90.  

Each mode takes approximately the number of seconds represented in the numbers of the mode, so thusly PD50 is nearly twice as fast compared PD120 with the only sacrifice being resolution and image size.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so a video is worth more than that, right?  

Here is a nice video from John K9JPT showing how he used his smartphone to listen to the SSTV audio signal coming from his radio as sent by Steve K2GOG and is then converted in real time to the image.

For the next image, which Ken KD2TQS sent, included the "O" in grid B2 on the tic-tac-toe board.

Here is where we then changed things up from a simple children's game to something of more importance. This was the third image sent:

Using the details sent in the first two images, it was simple for our end users to then overlay the "X" in A1 and the "O" in C2 to help provide travel directions in the least amount of moves so that a meeting near the barrels located in B3 code happen.

If this were a real life scenario and people on the ground had a printed map with grid lines, it would be easy for a control operator to share locations of key assets with those in the field without giving away detail over the airwaves. 

Instead, ground users would simply marry up the points of interest, obstructions and team members from a simple image and draw them in locally to a map.  This would give HUGE situational awareness while maintaining some level of mission privacy.

Here is the fourth image sent in the evening to give more ideas on that. If the goal of "SB" was to move to the smiley face in the shortest number of grid moves, it would be easy to do so.  Overlaying a grid like this against a real map would be valuable and secure.

What is next for SSTV over FM and UNDR Net?

Bob KD2QAK has been talking about giving a presentation on map reading and orienteering with a compass at an upcoming Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club presentation night.  

If this is possible to get scheduled before an upcoming Radio Direction Finding event on October 30th at Ferncliff Forest, its possible we can blend all three topics together to make a really fun event.

If we think back to how Nolan N2WU was able to use APRStt as a way to identify key locations as part of the West Point Triathlon or how Bob Bruninga WB4APR did a case study using grid overlay at a hamfest to help find people, maybe using SSTV is not too crazy after all!! 

Hopefully this is all coming into picture now that amateur radio has some very unique ways to share photos, locations data and valuable information using nothing more than the most inexpensive handheld amateur radio like a Baofeng UV-5R and a smartphone, that may not have internet service but should already have useful applications on it such as ROBOT36, SSTV Encoder and many more which will also be covered in the future on UNDR Net.

Participating in UNDR Net & Activities

If you would like to register to be part of the upcoming RDF & BBQ which the OMARC club is sponsoring on October 30th 2021 at Ferncliff Forest and would like more information about what you may wish to prepare for,  please use the contact form at hvdn.org/undr 

Other Suggested Reading

• Radio Direction Finding Basics

• RDF in the HV with OMARC & HVDN

• What the heck is APRStt?

• SSTV Images from the ISS

• What's in your kit? - SSTV Enabled Missions

• SSTV with the UNDR Net (Sept 2021) 

Grounding: Everything a ham almost needs to know

Channeling the strong Long Island roots of some Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club members like Neil W2NDG and Steve K2GOG who have transplanted to the Hudson Valley in recent years,  we are proud to bring you a fantastic presentation on grounding by Don Kane WB2BEZ who is a member of the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club (LIMARC).

Enjoy the below presentation and feel free to share questions or comments on the new OMARC YouTube Channel. 

SSTV with the UNDR Net?

 

Tuesday September 7th 2021 was my second week being official net control for the Ulster & Northern Dutchess Radio Net and my alternate net control was fellow Poughkeepsie resident, Jim KD2VAH.

Since the name of this net is a bit of a mouthful, perhaps the abbreviation of UNDR NET may catch on, or may not.  What do you think? (Share comments below if you dare!) 

The month of September in the United States is National Preparedness Month as sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and more details can be found at READY.GOV

Every week has a different theme, with the first week being focused on how to make a plan.

With the hurricane season in full effect, most places between Louisiana all the way up the Hudson Valley of New York have had massive impacts from this latest storm and good advance planning is useful should you expect to ever be impacted by natural or other disasters.

Amateur radio and its different ways of providing redundant auxiliary communications are good to be aware of as a way to add comfort to certain situations. 

Some helpful tips from our participants

This week's on air discussion enabled by the wide area Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club and its repeater high above Woodstock, NY on 146.805 MHz had two features this session.

The first feature was some high level thoughts about planning. Here are some top snippets from the 8:00 PM discussion on what to prioritize.

#1 -  Shelter & Clothing - Listen to what Ken KD2TQS has to say here.

#2 - Water, Food, Fuel & Cash/Barter Items - Listen to Bob KD2QAK's thoughts.

#3 - Security & Realistic Capabilities - Bob KD2RFI in Catskill shares some great information

A picture is worth a thousand words - Feature Numbah Two!

Within amateur radio, we have access to privately funded and club managed VHF and UHF repeaters which are great tools that extend communications capability to those with lower powered stations, such as a hand held radio. The end result is wider communications capability with minimal effort and antenna requirements.  

There were 10 total participants during the September 7th UNDR Net and while the focus of the net is to serve the Ulster and Northern Dutchess  Counties of  New York,  because the reach of the 146.805 MHz repeater is so great, this week we had the following local and further away participants:

1. Steve K2GOG (Net Control, Dutchess County New York, Poughkeepsie)
2. Jim KD2VAH (Alternate Net Control, Dutchess County New York, Poughkeepsie)
3. Ken KD2TQS (Dutchess County New York, Rhinebeck)
4. Bob KD2QAK (Dutchess County New York, Red Hook)
5. Bob KD2RFI (Greene County New York, Catskill)
6. Erich KD2VBA (Columbia County New York, Elizaville)
7. Matt KD2GGF (Ulster County New York, Kerhonkson)
8. Lou KD2TVS (Passaic County New Jersey, Hewitt)
9. Bob K2LD (Greene County New York, Tannersville)
10. Jerry WA2RKN (Dutchess Co New York, Hyde Park)

While this repeater is normally only used for analog voice communications, it is also possible to send other narrow band non-data signals in an emergency or at a time which will not interfere with other communications.  

This week we experimented with sending small 640x480 resolution photos using slow scan amateur television mode known as PD90.

To send an image in a narrow channel such as the 20 kHz bandwidth that the OMARC repeater uses, roughly about 90 seconds is needed.

Steve K2GOG as net control transmitted three different images he created before the net and sent them using a program called MMSSTV using an Icom IC-705 radio.   Most any radio can be used to send or receive images though.  

In an emergency setting when a base radio and computer are not available, its possible to use an inexpensive handheld radio and your smartphone using an application like Robot36.

Here are the audio files that were sent which translate to pictures, after you  scroll down to click on the links:

The signal level was set to high on Steve's radio so that those receiving the signal would need to adjust reception audio correctly to receive the signals and convert them in real time to pictures.  Future tests will have reduced signal levels to aid in reception by some participants.

Here are some results from a few who participated on the net plus one person who was listening only and sent a reception report to me via email. Thank you Larry (A) , Jim (B) and Ken (C) ! 

Something(s) to think about (Scroll down!)

Based on the discussion and experiment, here are some interesting participant feedbacks to give a listen to which may inspire curiosity.

Hope you enjoyed this article and can join us next week at 8:00 PM on  September 14th for the theme of  "Build a Kit" as part of a preparedness plan.  

Following loose discussion on that topic, we will attempt another SSTV experiment before closing the net.

Also a quick mention that this weekend is the special K2A event at Olde Rhinebeck Aerodrome with details available on the locations website. Feel free to stop by between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM to chat about amateur radio, SSTV,  remote control aircraft or to just have a good time.  

And a final thought,  Winter Field Day is 143 days away and will be again taking place at Ferncliff Forrest in Rhinebeck, so start making plans for that also!!

Until next time....

Steve K2GOG

Awards: Hudson River Radio Relay 2021

 

Bringing together so many amateur radio clubs focused on a single goal was actually a pretty special experience

Lets talk about the event and highlight some amazing achievements by our local amateur radio community who took part in the first annual Hudson River Radio Relay event, this year featuring Bannerman's Island.

HR3:2021 Top Op Award

Our goal as a collective group of 8 stations was to make 2,000 radio contacts in 4 hours.  

While we fell short of this goal and only managed to generate 526 contacts, this was still amazing since that works out to more than 2 contacts per minute!

This year, the N2O station which was operated by the Orange County Amateur Radio Club made the most contacts at 194 in total.

Brian N2BTD, John KD2PTX, James KD2VTM and Dane KD2SSS were the ones who did most of the heavy lifting that day. 

They will have a lot to do next year to beat the score and fend off all other participants. Nicely done N2O OCARC Team!  

From left to right, only a small part of team N2O
John KD2PTX, Bruce KD2PSP, Erica N2TUC, Dane KD2SSS, & Stephen KD2JJY

HR3:2021 Individual Top Op Awards

With the N2O team logging the most collective contacts, it was Brian N2BTD (87) who just narrowly beat out Lloyd K2JVX (83) as part of the N2B team organized by HVDN for the most contacts overall.  Third place goes to John KD2PTX with 59 total contacts.   

What seemed to be the trend for Brian, Lloyd and John was to keep things simple. All only focused on voice modes and spent the majority of the time on 20m, but both John and Brian jumped to other bands and added even more contacts which helped them do so much amazing work.

While Brian and John both operated from fixed position mobile stations talked more about in the upcoming N2O article, Lloyd was stationary on Bannerman's Island  also known as USIAP NY-047, POTA K-2079 and COTA K-00047 which will be talked about in a N2B specific article. 

Lloyd K2JVX operating as N2B from Bannerman's Island - USIAP NY047's 1st activation! 

HR3:2021  Grid Iron Gang Awards

A major focus of the Hudson River Radio Relay (HR3) event during the ARRL VHF Contest which overlapped our special event on June 12th was to see how many grids we could work as a group not only on VHF, but also on HF.

Steve K2GOG, the main organizer of the HR3, faced some disbelief that HF operators would share a grid locator, since that is normally something only done on VHF, satellite and some SOTA or POTA activations. As it turns out, this was not as big an issue as many had said it would be when making contacts on HF.

For the collective group of eight special event stations, a total of 134 grid squares were contacted in four hours and the N2O powerhouse team notched 77 grids.  

The HVDN N2B team reached 61 grids and a third place tie of 44 went to both the N2N station run by the Peekskill & Cortlandt Amateur Radio Association (PCARA)  and the N2S station jointly operated by the QSY Society and the Mt. Beacon Amateur Radio Club. A more detailed breakdown will follow.

Visualization of some of the grids worked per station
as part of the first Hudson River Radio Relay 

HR3:2021 Continental Distance Award

Possibly a surprise to those who were part of the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club who worked very hard to reach a total of 19 contacts was the fact that they had one of the few contacts across North America to reach the furthest.   

All the way on the opposite side of the country in grid CN87 was KB7THX at 2,455 miles away and Al is who to thank for pulling in two of our special event stations in out on the west coast.

While the N2S station also happened to make contact with KB7THX twice and on 20m and 40m, it was the OMARC team who did it first according to our time stamped log and is why they are crowned the champion for the HR3:2021 Continental Distance Award thanks to this effort on 17m from Kingston Point Park in Ulster County.

They grew an antenna!  The N2H OMAR team getting ready.
Photo foreground of David KD2MQE and Sarah.  Background Jeff KJ2DOC.
Visit the OMARC Facebook page for more details.

HR3:2021 Global Distance Award

The overall global distance award proved to be hotly contested between the N2O, N2B and N2D stations each reaching more than 4,000 miles away.

Beaming towards the east from FN31 was a nice 4,318 mile contact by N2B on 20m CW to Elemer HA9RE in KN08 and on 20m SSB to Matt SP2IST in JO94 for 4,033 miles.  

Just to the south of N2B was the United States Military Academy at West Point station on Constitution Island (USIAP NY073) operating as N2D. They managed to reach Tibi HA7TM using 20m FT8 in JN97 for a total of  4,277 miles.

It seemed we needed to possibly get into a six digit grid square locator to try and see who was the winner since it appeared as less than 41 miles separated N2D and N2B, but it seems that an error in the log that was later found showed that N2O in FN21 magically worked a 10m band opening 4,943 miles away into Brazil in grid GG43 thanks to PU5JVA on the other end.

The Orange County ARC team behind N2O seems like the team to beat next year! 

The N2D team led by N2WU on USIAP NY073 as its first official activation
along with other cadets looking on

Hudson Valley Heart Award

One of the major goals of the Hudson River Radio Relay event is to promote collaboration between our local community. In this case for 2021, the QSY Society and Mt. Beacon ARC worked together to make the N2S station at College Hill Park a success.  

For the future, it is our hope that other pairings of amateur radio clubs or other organizations like local schools, emergency response or other groups can work together to win the next Hudson Valley Heart Award in 2022. 

Here is a nice drone video taken by Sebastian KI2D who helped Scott W2NTV, Frank W2GIO, Adam AE2AN, Shirley N2SKP and so many others make N2S an example for our region.

HR3:2021 Squeaky Clean Award

The exchange for this special event was call sign,  first name and grid square. Many participating clubs have a lot to work on when it comes to accuracy and completeness when it comes to information exchange. 

Having these skills is important should amateur radio ever be needed for realistic emergency communications.  

Details such as a first name and location could be extremely useful for difficult situations, especially if a club callsign was used and its not clear who the operator on the other end was.  

Same goes for approximate location which is possibly even more valuable compared to exchanging ARRL sections as is done during the annual ARRL Field Day event coming up on June 26th and 27th 2021.

Of a total of 72 contacts, the N2N station operated by the Peekskill & Cortland Amateur Radio Association required almost no in depth analysis  based on very complete logs. Random fact checking also proved a high level of accuracy by the PCARA team.  

Team N2N showing how a well organized operating position
helped them possibly win the squeaky clean log award in 2021.
Indian Point Nuclear Power Station is in the distance.

HR3:2021 Digital Achievement Award

Our four hour long special event focused on promoting four different types of amateur radio technology.  

Analog voice and Morse code have been around for a very long time, but newer counterparts such as digital voice modes like DMR or digital data modes like FT8 are growing in popularity and relevance to the modern amateur radio enthusiast.

The Crystal Radio Club who operated as N2V for the event should not fool anyone with its name since all but one of its contacts came on FT8 and split between 6m, 20m and 40m bands.

For the future, we will look at any special event station that is part of HR3 with the highest percentage of  both any digital voice or digital data mode contacts made compared to the overall total they are able to log. Hopefully Paul K2PH and team can share the secrets of operating digital modes from the field so effectively. 

HR3:2021 Hudson Valley Tough Award

Surely, having to deal with loading all the gear on a boat and operate from an island plus having to bring it all up and down more than 70 wooden steps would make for an easy award for N2B, but the Putnam Emergency Amateur Radio League (PEARL)  seemingly had much tougher conditions to deal with as part of the N2U contingent located at Castle Rock Unique area as part of  POTA K-5161 and K-2079 plus COTA K-00825 in grid FN31.

According to Diana KD2AEG, there was nearly 5 foot tall grass that needed to be flattened out to make a clearing for the antenna and operating tent.

After making quasi crop circles with repurposed 4 foot military mast and a length of paracord, they needed to also do some emergency Power Pole repairs to power up the radios.

While they managed only four contacts and three of those coming via Morse code, much was learned and they are deserving of this year's Hudson Valley Tough Award.

Those scary clouds and tall grass were just a few more things which  did not prevent
PEARL's N2U station  from operating as part of Hudson River Radio Relay

HR3:2021 Awards Summary

• HR3:2021 Top Op Award - N2O - OCARC

• HR3:2021 Individual Top Op Award - N2O -N2BTD

• HR3:2021 Continental Distance Award - N2H - OMARC

• HR3:2021 Global Distance Award - N2O - OCARC

• HR3:2021 Grid Iron Gang Award - N2O - OCARC 

• HR3:2021 Hudson Valley Heart Award - N2S - QSY Society & MBARC

• HR3:2021 Squeaky Clean Award - N2N - PCARA

• HR3:2021 Digital Achievement Award - N2V - CRC

• HR3:2021 Hudson Valley Tough Award - N2U - PEARL

Since this is the first year of the Hudson River Radio Relay, we are going to allow each winner to create an award in the form of some sort of novelty that can be passed on to next year's winner, likely at some sort of official awards lunch for all those who participated in the 2022 event, for which we already have reserved the same special event callsigns.

Stay tuned for more details from each of our 2021 participants in an upcoming series of articles. The map below shows where all eight stations were located and direction of all contacts made.

Questions?

Steve Bossert K2GOG

Co-Founder, HVDN

Organizer, Hudson River Radio Relay

steve.bossert@gmail.com 

Putting the HV on the map with HR3 and HVDN

HR3:2021 Quick Engagement Results

Yesterday was the first annual Hudson River Radio Relay event. This year our fundraising theme was to support Bannerman's Castle Trust via GoFundMe and we managed to raise $1,418 in total with over $300 of that coming in the hours leading up to, during and just after the four hour event which took place from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM Eastern US time on June 12th

While we await the final logs from all eight of our participating special event stations to get compiled and posted to the HudsonRiverRadioRelay.com website, an initial estimate from casual discussion with most all the participating locations sounds like we should end up around 500 to 600 total contacts as a collective group.

There are so many positive things that will get mentioned about this event that will get published in the coming days along with lots of pictures and videos, but here is a quick snap shot just based on who visited each special event web page as well as the QRZ.com page for each of our eight callsigns.   

Both metrics were measured from between May 13th and June 13th at 10:00 AM EST.

It was expected the N2B station would possibly gain the most attention as a never before activated USIAP island NY047, but the N2O station rivaled our flagship location mainly due to its various USIAP, COTA, POTA and SOTA designations along with an amazing number of enthusiastic members that promoted what they were doing.

Our three stations that were not aided by affiliation of the different "on the air" categories like islands, parks or summits such as N2H, N2S and N2V seem to have also been very popular too over the last 30 days of measurements and deserve a lot of credit also.

The three lowest elevation stations, some only a few feet above the river such as N2U, N2D and N2N are hidden gems that deserve much more attention considering how hard they worked and are all actually very rare locations that we need to help promote even more for next year. 

Between these three stations, there was a brand new USIAP NY-073 on a US Army facility plus POTA K-2079, K-4582, K-5161, COTA K-00825 and the former home of the founder of Paramount Pictures.

What's Next?

Now that we have an official website visit metric posted just after the event, please go and learn more about each club and location they operated at during this special event by visiting HudsonRiverRadioRelay.com 

More detailed articles from each station highlighting each sponsoring club and a list of total event contacts plus the winner of our Xiegu G90 package raffle will be coming soon, so please follow the HVDN blog for more details between now and ARRL Field Day which is just under two weeks away.

May 2021 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

Our May 2021 summary of the HVDN Global Digital Repeater Roundup marks our 9th edition in this series which tracks the evolution of digital voice mode popularity within the amateur radio community.

Starting back in October 2016, a fellow local club in the Hudson Valley was firm in not wanting to invest in a digital mode repeater until they knew based on fact, which was going to be the most popular mode to promote to its membership and find ways to fund. This is what spawned HVDN.

Hudson Valley Digital Network compiles data on repeaters based on freely available information found on the repeaterbook.com website.  While repeater deployments only tell a fraction of the story relating to the overall use of digital voice, they also are a great way to measure the health of amateur radio communities in certain locations around the world.

Repeaters are expensive to build, manage and operate  

The Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club in New York operates two analog FM VHF repeaters, with one of those being considered a wide area repeater. 

This sole wide area repeater has proven to be a major resource in creating a social and positive atmosphere which attracts new membership to this club and offers an alternative for those not happy with overall "repeater culture" found in other area organizations. 

This repeater is also credited with providing a valuable mental health benefit during the early and dark days of the COVID situation. 

Without examples like the OMARC 146.805 MHz repeater, many other clubs around the world would find it hard to show value to its membership unless they are involved in other public awareness aspects beyond repeaters of any type.

Adding digital repeaters to the right club, enhances its  membership reach and community value but adding a digital repeater to the wrong club does nothing other than to deplete the club treasury.  

Careful decisions need to be made when considering how a repeater will be funded, managed and operated.

Not a New York or a Hudson Valley thing, but a global thing!

If clubs fail to innovate or provide services to its membership, they fail to grow.  When a club fails to grow,  its area competitors stand to take advantage in attracting new members or create reasons for  alternative organizations that can help educate or attract new amateur radio enthusiasts. 

Repeaters are often the lifeblood of many amateur radio clubs and need to be carefully considered. 

The above chart and table shows that DMR is by far the most popular digital mode with a staggering 148.42% growth over the last 5+ years globally.

The next closest contender is Yaesu's single vendor ecosystem Fusion System at a still impressive 106.91%.  

The oldest digital voice mode offered by the limited dual vendor ecosystem behind Icom D-Star comes it at a slow and steady 20.72%, even though it had a huge head start over its competitors for more than 10 years prior to 2016.

Since our last update in October 2020, DMR repeaters globally grew 7.97% compared to Fusion's 7.32% increase.  In contrast, Icom's D-Star only added 1.43% growth in the same time period.

With these three amateur designed and amateur only digital voice systems representing at least 9,146 global digital voice repeaters, its clear that the total number of next generation repeater systems is catching up fast to the approximate 17,000 total of analog repeaters world wide which has had about a total of 40 years to get to that point.

Should you still invest in DMR?

Every digital radio today supports legacy analog FM mode along with its newer digital friend be it DMR, as found in the popular Anytone D878 series of radio or any of the Yaesu, Icom or Kenwood counterparts capable of Fusion or D-Star.

Commercial standards like P25 are technically fastest growing mode at 157.27% over the last 5 years whereas NXDN is growing at 91.46%, but both lack consumer grade equipment and prices to really capture the hearts, minds and wallets of many amateur enthusiasts.

Since October 2020,  P25 global repeaters increased another 6.82%. NXDN grew at 13.76% but this is still mostly only happening in parts of the south eastern United States and is not considered true global growth.

All five of these modes do require licensing of the underlying technology to bring a new radio to market which impacts pricing and vendor ecosystem support.

There is a totally new open standard based on FDMA technology called M17 being developed by the amateur radio community which has a goal to circumvent some of these issues.

While most repeaters capable of supporting 9600bd data rate communications with 2.5PPM or better stability can be converted to work on any digital mode,  hand held or mobile radio equipment is not as ready to modify. 

Not having  ready made M17 capable radios are needed and not yet available. M17 wont be impacting new buying decisions of the amateur community in the near future.

Exit M17: Is the future here?

The M17 project which is supported by HVDN  as well as by a massive investment by Open Research Institute and a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications is unique since its developer community has found ways to modify DMR radio equipment such as the popular TYT MD-380 to transmit and receive M17 signals. 

The OpenTRX alternate firmware along with some hardware modifications are needed but is not a fully mature approach yet.

This is interesting since TDMA based DMR is very different than M17's FDMA architecture. More details on this can be found on the M17 Integrations summary page.

It is not likely that any of the Yaesu Fusion, Icom or Kenwood D-Star equipment will permit this type of modification, so purchasing any one of the many DMR products available today not only gives you the most popular digital voice mode along with legacy analog access, but could in the future be useful for M17 as it gains prominence.

To date, there are believed to be two M17 capable repeaters in development, but there is already a digital backbone being developed to support the future of digital repeaters and the many more hot spots that will likely result. 

Summary

So summarize all the above is easy:

• DMR is still the most popular digital mode

• DMR is not likely to be passed by anything in the near future

• There are more DMR capable radios to choose from and not as impacted by supply chain issues like Yaesu or Icom.

• If you travel, DMR is likely where to find more activity excluding the use of a hotspot.

• The latest Anytone D878 which has AX.25 packet (APRS) is by far the best $299 USD utility radio to invest in for now and the near future.

• Upgrading from an older TYT MD-380 or Radioddity GD77 to an Anytone or Alinco may give a good reason to modify your old radio to be used on M17 in the near future.

• Supporting the future of the hobby via the M17 project will ensure relevance for the future to show alternatives to HF or analog VHF for terrestrial communications.

Hacking in USB CAT control to the Kenwood TS-50

The Kenwood TS-50 was a great radio in its day and still holds its own against modern radios over 30 years later.

When Kenwood released this mobile 100W HF radio back in 1993, it was in the early days of modern computer aided transceiver or CAT evolution.  

This article explains how to add USB based CAT control to a vintage Kenwood TS-50 and maybe squeeze some extra life out of this great radio when it comes to digital modes.

Gathering Supplies

The bottom of the TS-50 has a small removable plastic disk that allows the user to access a 6 pin connector which the no longer available (and expensive) Kenwood IF-10D computer interface connected to along with the also expensive (and no longer available) Kenwood IF-232C serial converter.  

The original Kenwood IF-232C accessory permitted the inverted TTL communications native on the TS-50 to work via standard RS-232 serial communications at a blazing 4800 baud which is more than fine for simple communications between a radio and computer.

While there are some other aftermarket solutions still available in 2020, there is a cheaper way.

For less than $20 in parts, you can add modern CAT control to your TS-50 for easier use of digital communication modes like PSK31, FT-8, FT-4, JS8CALL and so much more. 

We will also not need to be removing that little plastic disk, so leave that alone.

To add modern USB CAT control to a Kenwood TS-50 you will need:

• CP2104 USB-TTL UART Serial Adapter
• JST ZH 1.5MM 6 Pin Female Single Connector with Flat Wires
• Some ingenuity to mount the CP2104 in your TS-50

Both items can be easily sourced via Amazon.com and you will even end up with 9 more sets of wires and matting PCB mount connectors that you can save for some other projects. Mounting inspiration is illustrated and detailed below.  

A small donation from the purchase link of either item is also headed to the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club located in the Hudson Valley to help them maintain its famous 146.805 analog FM repeater and to add to its treasury for future additions like a DMR repeater or advanced APRS digipeater plus support great events like ARRL Field Day, Winter Field Day and other special outdoor events.

Connections on the TS-50

The below photo diagram illustrates which  of the six pins on the Kenwood TS-50 offers what function.

On the CP2104 USB-TTL UART serial adapter, we are going to need to attach the following wires.

For this to work, matching up the TX to the RX and RX to TX pins are needed between both devices.

While some other less detailed guides made it seem that only the TX, RX and GND pins were needed, on the recommended UART serial adapter, we also need to connect the 5V line for a total of 4 wires used. The remaining two wires from the 6 pin pigtail were just left for future use and taped up.

You will see the onboard green LED blink to show that communication is happening between the radio, TTL adapter and computer. You will not be able to see this LED since it will be hidden inside your radio if you install it the way that I did.

Mounting the CP2104 inside the TS-50

After removing all the outside case screws, go ahead and remove both covers of the TS-50.  You may wish to use a piece of painters tape to hold the TS-50 speaker in place while you flip the radio chassis over.

There are not many places to put the TTL adapter inside the Kenwood TS-50 unless you want wires hanging out of the TS-50 which looks messy and unsafe, so now is the time to get organized. If you wish to be neat with this modification, you will need to cut a hole into the side of your TS-50 on the side of the bottom cover.

The support bracket  for the TTL adapter was fashioned out of a brass corner bracket on hand and was insulated with a piece of heat shrink to ensure the metal to did not contact any PCB traces on the bottom of the TTL adapter.

Some zip ties were used to hold the TTL adapter in place, but another piece of heat shrink was used during final assembly to hold things in place. A screw and double nut were also used to attach the bracket to the radio for mechanical strength, but this is optional if you trust glue 100%.

Finally, some epoxy was used to fill up some small gaps left behind from cutting the TS-50 case so that the TTL adapter PCB can add additional structure to the finished modification.

To complete the assembly, simply route the connector end of the 6 pin wire between the front face and main chassis near where shown below.

You can then plug the connector into the radio and reassemble your radio carefully.

If cutting a hole in the side of the bottom cover of your radio, be sure to make sure your mounting bracket or the TTL adapter will not accidently squish board level components such as the picture toroid's.

Using the TS-50 CAT Upgrade

When using software like FLdigi, you can use the "hamlib" for control and select the TS-50 from the menu of supported radios. This is the easier path for CAT control. 

Be sure to set your speed to 4800 baud and you select the correct COM port. Most other settings should be automatically found when using FLdigi and most other software.

After you have the software configured, then go ahead and power up your radio after connecting the USB cable to the TS-50 and into the USB micro port. 

You should be easily be able to change frequency on the radio and have it track correctly in your software of choice. 

Using a TS-50 on digital modes with CAT control

Adding CAT control only offers control of frequency and some other basic functions of your TS-50.  This upgrade does not route any transmit or receive audio, nor does it offer PTT control.

It is possible to use the TTL adapter and a simple 4N26 optocoupler with the CTS wire to add on PTT, but its possible to accidently trigger transmit while the radio powers up or down when the USB wire is connected between the radio and computer, so this feature was left out of this article on purpose. If you wish to enable this convenience, that is up to you.

You can follow this article by HB9AMO  to add PTT if you wish and by using the extra wires we taped up before from the 6 pin connector.  

Routing of audio signals and PTT is done via the 8 pin microphone connector through your interface of choice such as a Rigblaster, Signalink or something like those devices.

 Summary

So now that we have near total control of the TS-50 using only two sets of wires, one for CAT and one for audio/PTT, the old Kenwood TS-50 is much easier to use for digital modes. 

It was decided that the Kenwood TS-50 was the perfect radio to use as part of an inexpensive dedicated digital data station for the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club and joint HVDN special events. 

Given that the radio, computer, power supply, antenna tuner came from inventories held by both organizations, this was the perfect project to show how old and new can be used together to aid in digital awareness of amateur radio in the Hudson Valley and beyond.

If you enjoyed this radio, please support HVDN or OMARC with a small donation via the links below:

Support the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club - 501.c3 charitable organization

Join Hudson Valley Digital Network as a supporting member

And, if you happen to be looking for a great portable case for your own go kit digital or otherwise, the Kenwood TS-50 along with its supporting cast of support components as a self contained digital station has a new home in this great 4U Gator Case and if purchased, a small donation also goes to the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club too!  

You can see this in action at the upcoming COVID compliant Winter Field Day event at Ferncliff Forest in Rhinebeck between the hours of 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM Saturday January 30th and from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Sunday January 31st 2021.