Antennas – Page 2

Feeding Flights

Today, I received a package that I had been waiting for since last month. I had applied for a FlightFeeder from FlightAware. My request was approved pretty quickly, and it took a while to get it shipped out, but I finally received it, today. For no cost at all, they sent me a FlightFeeder Orange, an ADS-B antenna, filter, and coax. They did this because my geographical area had no coverage on their site, and I have a pretty good location. The nearest person that is feeding data to their site is 83 miles away.

As soon as I got home from work, today, I opened up the box and unpacked everything. since I already had my home brew 1090 MHz antenna mounted on the roof, I decided to just hook it up to that, and get it working. In under 30 minutes, I had it connected and talking to the FlightAware website. Super simple process!

Just in the past couple hours, my stats are rolling in. You can check the current stats out here. On August 17th & 18th, they actually tested the hardware, before sending it to me from Texas. That’s why you’ll see a spike for those days (if you view it within the next couple weeks).

I have the next couple days off from work, so I plan on trying the antenna that they sent, also. I’ll be installing a 10′ mast at the peak of my house, with the antenna they sent near the top. I’ll measure out the cable run, first, just so I don’t have to use anything other than the cable they sent. I have a feeling that I’ll be able to get it up that high without a problem, though.

I am able to get a live view, directly from the feeder, anywhere on my local network. The tracker on their site is slightly behind…. just by a minute or so. Since I am now feeding data, they also gave me a free Enterprise account. That, in itself, is worth about $90 per month (which is what they charge). Lots of little extras come with that.

It still amazes me how much air traffic is 25,000+feet overhead (and lots of others lower). Some days, after working 10 hours, I’d come home and have 200+ planes in the log.

Fun With SDR

A couple weeks ago, I got my first SDR (Software Defined Radio). I’ve been messing around with it, every chance I get, and I’m really liking some of the things it does. At first, I had it hooked up to a discone antenna on my lower roof, and it seemed to work really well.

Within the past week, I discovered ADS-B, which is basically data frames that are sent down from airplanes on 1090 MHz. The information sent includes altitude, location, speed, identification, and more. That information can be received by a program that decodes it, then another program will allow you to visually “see” the plane on a map. Even in the middle of nowhere, it’s amazing to see just how much flies over us.

I got into it so much that I wanted to build a better antenna, just for 1090 MHz, and put it in a better position on my roof. The other day, in under two hours, I had built a ground plane antenna for that frequency, and had it mounted and the wires ran to the SDR. It actually performs a lot better than the discone. Not sure if it’s because of the design or the location, though.

The antenna was built for receive only, so I wanted to see how it performed on other frequencies, too. Since there’s no transmitting, there’s no way I could hurt anything by listening. Amazingly, the antenna actually picks up the local 2 meter repeater better than the discone, too (which really makes me think it’s the mounting location difference).

Yesterday, I wanted to see if I could also pick up any satellites or the ISS with it. I fired up the ISS Detector app on my phone, and started switching through different satellites as they passed over. The only thing I was actually able to pick up was a couple of NOAA satellites. I really wanted to catch the ISS (which passed over, almost overhead at about 10:20pm), but I wasn’t able to hear anything. I’m sure I’ll try again, when I have some time.

In other updates, I have been making more contacts on 10 meters, and started logging them on LoTW. I also sent my very first physical QSL Card. Chad – KD9AXO – asked me if I send them, and I told him that I wanted to, but haven’t done too much HF, and was waiting. He gave me the kick I needed to get something designed and printed. It wasn’t real pretty and not on as heavy of card stock as I wanted, but hopefully he understands. The funny thing is, the first QSL Card that I sent was for a 400 mile contact on 2 meters during a beautiful Tropo event. He was running 5 watts through a vertical, and I was going through the repeater. IMO, it counts.

UPDATE: Chad actually sent me a QSL card, as well. I received it the day after I originally posted this. He sent his out before mine even reached him, so they crossed in the mail. Very nice surprise!

Small Update

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated, so I thought I should let you all know what’s been happening.

Back on April 29th, we attended the Optimist Club Respect for Law and Emergency Services Day which was held at the Buffalo Mall in Jamestown, ND. The attendance was not too bad, considering that the mall, itself, is becoming a lost cause. The local police, fire department, and other emergency services were all there, and all of the kids that came we treated to a movie and given a bicycle helmet.

We set up a trailer in the parking lot, as well as a “booth” inside the mall, and provided information about amateur radio.

KCØGCJ (Jason) and I had built a 10 meter inverted V antenna that was put up next to the trailer in the parking lot. No actual contacts were made, but not for the lack of trying. KCØLAC (Michelle) manned the inside booth for most of the event, and quite a few people showed interest in the hobby, and picked up flyers when they stopped by.

After the event, we had talked about planning for the upcoming Field Day. More on that, next!

Back On The Air

Back on October 13th, I bought a new vehicle (more info here). Since I bought it, I have been working on some electrical “quirks”. Well, today I got enough of them worked out and fixed that I was also able to get the quad-band (10m/6m/2m/70cm) radio and the SSB 11m (CB), radio installed. I’m pretty happy with the installation of both. There’s just a few extras that I’ll need to add.

I mounted the quad-band radio near the mid section of the van and ran the antenna out to the back. Right now, I’m using a Tram dual band (1/4 wave 2m) mag mount, and it does pretty well. The control head of the radio is mounted above the windshield, directly in front of, and slightly to the right, as I sit in the driver’s seat. The display is easy to see and control as I drive. The microphone hooks to it’s mount on the ceiling, just to the right of the driver’s seat.

I mounted the CB radio just below the drink holder that protrudes from the top of the dog house. I used some custom mounts, so that the radio tilts up a little more than it would have with the stock mount that it came with. I wanted to mount it so that the face of the radio would “aim” at me while I sat in the driver’s seat, but instead decided that it looked better “flat”… or facing directly at the back of the van. The display is big enough and easy enough to read, and all of the controls are easy to use, so mounting it that way made more sense.

The one thing that I know that I’ll need to add, at this point, is an external speaker for the ham radio. Since the radio sits about 3 feet behind me, near the floor, the speaker is a little hard to hear, unless I really turn up the volume. If I do that, and there’s passengers in the back, they might get really disturbed. Even the passenger gets the audio from the speaker louder than I do, now. An external speaker should mount just to the left of my head, and slightly behind, without getting in the way, at all.

The next thing (which may be down the road, a bit) is a couple NMO mount antennas. Right now, they are both magnet mount antennas, but they do the job. The NMO mount antennas will look much cleaner on the outside, and should perform better than either of the ones I have, now. At that time, I’ll feel much better about getting a 5/8 wave 2 meter antenna.

There’s still a lot of other things that I want to change/add on the van. I’m also learning a lot about how the whole van is wired for power. I’m starting to feel a lot better about removing and/or changing circuits to do different things than they do, now. I might want to wait until I get the second battery and the isolator installed, though, before I change too much.

Others Interested & A New Radio

From my last post, you know that I bought a new vehicle. I am selling my old vehicle, the 1997 Dodge Dakota, to my youngest son. When I had that truck, I had a Cobra 29 in there with a top loaded magnet mount antenna on the roof. I planned on getting a different CB radio with SSB, anyway, so I figured I would pass the radio down to him. There’s not a lot of activity in the area, so I’m sure he’s not finding it too interesting, at this point.

My new CB should be here on Tuesday, though, so at least he’ll have somebody to talk to. He also told me, yesterday, that one of his friends plans on getting one, too. I know from experience that CB is the gateway radio drug, so things are looking good. He already seems to have some interest in studying for his tech license, which I said that I’d help him with.

uniden980ssb — Uniden BEARCAT 980SSB CB Radio With Sideband And WeatherBand

Back on October 12th, I talked to my brother who lives in Wisconsin. During the conversation, we got on to the topic of radio, and he let me know that he still has his CB with SSB, and just talking about it made him want to throw up his antenna and git it on the air, again. I, of course, made the pitch that he should think about amateur radio, but I figured that a first step back was exactly that… a step toward the next. After talking with him, that day, I wanted to find a good SSB CB radio that I might be able to use to talk to him. I found what looks like one of the best on the market, right now.. the Uniden Bearcat 980SSB. I ordered it and a 35″ K30 and they should both be here by Tuesday.

I’m still looking at the options of where to mount the radio in the new van, but hopefully I can have everything up and running by Friday. My “weird” power problems still exist in the van, but I’ll run the wiring and leave myself enough room to attach everything to a second battery, once I get that installed. I’ll be adding a Stinger battery isolator and a couple Optima Yellow-Top batteries, so I’ll have plenty of power for everything I have planed in the future.

For now (before I install any NMO mounts), I’ll be routing the antenna wire through the third taillight that’s on the top of the van, and running them to the magnet mount antennas that I currently have. The mid-section of the van’s headliner should be able to drop down and allow me to run the cables to the back, while still remaining “out of view”. If not, I’ll run them down the side trim, all the way back.

I don’t actually plan on converting the van, right away. Next summer (after a trip to Colorado), I should be able to start taking things out, and really making some changes. The wife and I are taking three of our grandkids to Colorado, so I want to keep the interior pretty much intact, until after that trip. The chairs, seatbelts, and bed/couch all work the way they should, so for the safety of the kids, we’ll keep it that way, for now. After I convert it, it will still be safe, but it will be more “geared” to just the two of us, and our maximum enjoyment.

A New Mobile Hamshack

Last week, I found a new vehicle and like anybody that get’s a new vehicle, I’m really excited about the possibilities ahead. I had been “in the market” for a used conversion van for a couple months. I used to own a 1984 Ford conversion, and for some reason (probably gas mileage… it had a 351 Windsor), I traded it off about 15 years ago. I loved that old Ford, and all of the space that it had inside.

Over the past few years, my wife and I have been taking vacations to various places, for the purpose of “getting away from it all”. We would drive our crossover (Acura MDX) and sleep in a tent at various campgrounds. We had also become pretty good at boodocking in the back of the SUV in rest areas along the way. We love the mountains and forests of western Montana and northwest Wyoming. There’s a lot of other places that we plan to visit (and re-visit) in the future.

Anyway… last week, I bought a 1992 Ford Econoline conversion van. We had to drive about 300 miles to pick it up, then drive both vehicles back home. The van runs great, although it could use a tune-up. For a full-sized van, it gets amazing gas mileage, too (still working those numbers out). There are some mechanical things that I have planned, like a new exhaust (or, at least muffler), and some new tires before next summer’s trip. I also need to work on some of the van’s electrical “quirks”. Virtually everything in the van is “powered”… locks, windows, seats, interior lights, the bed/couch in the back… everything. Some of the coach electric is a little “weird”, though, so I’m going to run through all of the grounding points before I start eliminating some of the circuits, altogether. Bad grounds can cause some really strange things to happen in vehicles. Eliminating some of the circuits would be good, though, since I want to run things my way.

Before I bought the van, I had a couple mobile radios in my Dodge Dakota. Before I got the van, I thought about how much more room I would have to work with when it came to installing radios. I really liked the idea of a larger cab and more space for the electronics (not to mention the extra interior room in the back… that’ll be another post, down the road). What I really didn’t think about was the height of the van, and how that would effect the way I installed antennas. This past week, I’ve been thinking about different ways I could mount antennas, but none of the alternatives seems to be as optimal as mounting them with an NMO mount on the roof. I was just worried about the height, if I did that.

Tonight, I stepped outside, at work, and was thinking about it, again. That’s when I looked over to the corner of the parking lot and saw a Herzog rail testing truck. I realized how much higher the truck was, compared to the van, and realized that I actually have nothing to worry about. The Herzog truck, itself (with air conditioners) is 12′ 6″ high. On top of that, there were a couple antennas. My van is about 7′ tall, so even if I add an antenna that’s 5′ tall, it still wouldn’t be as high as that Herzog truck. It really just made me realize that I don’t need to think about any other way to mount antennas, as long as I am aware of the overall height of the vehicle with the antennas up there. A 5/8 wave 2 meter antenna or a full size K40 for 11 meters would work just fine.

Down the road, once I upgrade my ham license, I may want to add a screwdriver antenna, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. I already have ideas about that, though, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. From some of the things I hear on 3840.00 kHz, though, I won’t be pushing myself to upgrade, too fast. It’s like the “CB” frequency of ham radio… but then again, so is the 147.435 repeater in SoCal, at times. With as quiet as it is on our local 2 meter repeater, I sometimes tune in to listen to the “Los Angeles Renegade Repeater”, but then I realize how nice the peace and quiet is. I can only take so much of that.

Anyway… I’ll have more to come on the progress of the van. I plan on doing so much more that just add radios. I actually plan on converting it into a vacation and weekend camping van. Right now, it’s pretty much a stock Waldoch conversion. In the future, it should have most of the conveniences of home. My wife and I plan on living in it for about three weeks out of the year, during our vacations, so I plan on making it as comfortable as possible. Among others, I’ve been following Seth’s blog (check out this post and others) and his YouTube channel. From everything I’ve seen, I actually like the way he’s done his van build more than any others out there. I’m sure that I’d change a few things (due to the radios), but his setup really makes use of the space available. My only different consideration would be the windows that are in my van.