KL1V
Another Alaskan Ham
04 June 2024
Hermes Lite 2 on the air
16 May 2024
HF APRS IGate
Nothing like a simple fix to a problem you've been banging your head against for months to humble you...
As a bit of background, one of the APRS systems I manage for the KL7AA club is an HF APRS igate, running robust packet (RPR) on 30m at 10.1473 USB. Its not my favorite mode, given its closed-source nature, but I will grudgingly admit it performs well. Having a free software modem version available helps make it more accessible, but that's a rant for another post.
This system has been down for most of the winter, and given the harsh winter storms we've had, I believed the issue to be with either the feedline or the antenna, and began to troubleshoot. Another club member happened to be close by, and we began discussing the issue. It was at this point they asked 'is this cable supposed to be plugged in?'
It was the interface cable from the modem to the radio.
All winter this cable had been unplugged, making me chase my tail for months trying to troubleshoot it. Plug it back in, and the packets immediately started to flow again.
Putting my silly moments out there helps keep me humble.
KL1V
30 August 2023
Milestones
Fiber is pulled all the way through the conduit, into the garage and house. Confirmed as good end to end with equipment connected on both ends. Next step is to get radios and hamputer relocated, everything on a UPS, vlans set up, etc etc. The important takeaway though is I now have a working layer 1 between house and garage!
~shotgun moose
20 August 2023
Shotgun Moose goes off half-cocked
Somewhat expensive lesson to learn, but learn it I did. Always pull cables by their jacket, not their termination.
Internet out to garageshack will (eventually) be provided by a fiber run. I had purchased a pre-terminated length of fiber with LC connectors on each end. Off I go, eager to get operational, and I make the mistake of tying pull line to just the LC connector, and not the cable jacket too.
Half way though, the pull line gets really light, and all that comes out the other end is the LC housing, sans any fiber.
Don't be like me! Learn from my mistake!
~shotgun moose
10 July 2023
Meshtastic
~shotgun moose
07 July 2023
KL7JFU Field Day 2023
06 July 2023
Hello World
Welcome to my little corner of the internet. Here I plan to mostly document my ham radio forays, although there may be the occasional rant on here as well. More to come soon.
~shotgun moose