ahh... now that i think about it... you must be refuring to the 10 minute rule. i was thinking of tcp/ip over ham

huh? you can absolutely surf the internet using your ham license. the only no-no would be any websites that requires SSL encryption (eg: https)

please explain what you mean by your staitment of illegality

Speaking of which...

I went to my local Lowes/HomeDepot and nobody there had a clue when I was asking for a 'ground/grounding rod'.

Can I just buy an 8' piece of rebar, slam it into the ground and attach one of those electricians 'clips' to it and Im good to go?

Well one option might be to build this 2m Yagi that is made from a FM/TV antenna you buy at Radio Shack for like $20 bucks. I built it about a month ago in a couple hours time. Call around to your local Radio Shack...it's one of their standard items:

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/9907034.pdf

One of the last steps is to remove the elements and reposition them at specific lengths. Instead of permenantly attaching them to the boom you could attach them with bolts or something so it would allow you to move the elements up and down the boom

You could probably even increase the boom length by simply adding another section of square tubing.

I have no idea how you would measure the output though...thats for somebody else to figure out

Good luck!

> [root@hnllhi1-ar1-4-65-062-161 w4mdl]# tqslcert
> tqslcert: relocation error: /usr/lib/libtqsllib.so.0: undefined symbol: OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms
> [root@hnllhi1-ar1-4-65-062-161 w4mdl]#

most likely the tqsl library is older or newer than the one tqslcert was built with since tqslcert is looking for a function that doesnt exist. Are you building from source or using a pre compiled binary?

Im not using tqsl so Im just going from experience with other linux stuff

Im in the finishing stages of building my first release of AutoHAM.

AutoHAM uses a soundcard interface (like a rigblaster) to accept DTMF on a specific amateur radio frequency and then fire off perl functions/scripts based on the DTMF code. At the moment it handles software based DTMF decoding and text to speech using festival.

Beta1 release handles all sorts of weather related topics. For example you punch in 1# and it tells you the local temperature for your zipcode, etc...etc..

I plan on adding an automated SSTV sender. eg: You punch in 9# and it will send a radar or satelite image via QSSTV.

It could be used for a home automation system if you were hooked up with X10 or something similar.

Anyway..why I bring this here?

Im looking for opinions on any "watch our for this." or "Make sure you do X" or any ideas on "cool" things it could do. Like maybe grab the latest ARRL news headlines and read them back to you.

If the system is *NOT* beaconing and will not execute a command without DTMF input it shouldn't need to send it's callsign except when in use, right? No need to have an auto-shutdown, etc, etc.

Thoughts?

I've not run a RigRunner but I have run the MFJ equivalent to my Deep Cycle/Marine battery. No problems. Not sure what issues you would be concerned with though.

Sorry nobody has responded since now. Im not the APRS expert but I have set my system up.

If all you want to do is APRS you dont need an expensive TNC. Any old thing will do. Im using an old PK-232 tnc I got for $100. You might want to try using soundcard packet radio (http://www.qsl.net/soundcardpacket). It basically turns your PC's sound card into a TNC. You should be able to setup 'receive' APRS capability without much effort or special cables. Simply plug the speaker/headphones output of your radio to the input of your soundcard and you should get the idea if you want to keep getting into APRS using the soundcard. (read up before you do this as there are some warnings about overdriving your soundcard and doing damage and what not)

I've tried APRS with 4 different radios from a mobile dual band to a hand held and they all work fine for APRS, assuming you have the right cables

If you are good with Linux you might want to consider buying a cheap TNC and installing Xastir (www.xastir.org) as your APRS gui interface. It can igate to and from the Internet.

Internet bandwidth is of minimal concern unless you intend to be *THE* gateway in your area. As a new APRS sysop I would recommend that you simply 'use' APRS for a while until you get the hang of it. I've been playing with APRS for about 2 months now and I did look into being an igate and decided to adventure someplace else in the ham space

-Tyler
KI4BUM

I have my Yaesu 2400H (2m/50w) plugged into my TNC usually 24/7 and it works just dandy on APRS.

A couple nights ago I unplugged it from the TNC and had it keying up the local repeaters and checking in some of the local nets.

Afterwards I plugged everything back into the TNC and it's been that way for a couple days now.

So tonight I unplugged everything from the TNC, put the microphone into the radio and tried to checkin to a local net. They tell me Im VERY low on the audio and they cant hear me..only faint whispering.

So I go get another radio and tune to a clear frequency and start running tests to find out what the problem is.

My other radio can recognize me transmitting but I near nothing but static.

I plug in my TNC cable and I can hear the "boo..beep" of my packets being transmitted on the radio.

I plug in my microphone and nothing. I blow into the microphone and I can hear my blowing clear as a bell. I try to talk and nothing.

Whats the problem?

I dont have a spare microphone to test with, the DTMF buttons work and the PTT works and what not. It just wont transmit my voice.

I guess I should have been more specific, but I didnt figure anybody cared what I was wanting to do. Looks like it caused more confusion than it helped. anyway...

I do SkyWarn stuff during storm season and it would be useful to me to have access to my weather system and alert information at my base station while out driving around.

APRS is not an option since I cant get 'back fill' data when I power up the laptop, so my APRS display wont fill with county alerts and the like. I need the ability to grab the last hour or so of weather data and then keep it updated while Im out.

I have a home PC that keeps a full log of local APRS data and has access to the NWS satellite weather feed for radar images, full text weather alerts, etc.

The ability to pull up that data would be helpful. I can use a cell phone dialup system but if the cell system goes down I dont have access anymore. 1200baud is fine sine 99% of the data I want is text. The occasional compressed radar image would be nice but may be too painful at 1200baud

I really dont care if somebody else pulls up the data, it's public domain data anyway. I do system security for a living so 'unintended' access wont be an issue.

The other option, though for me more difficult, would be to have some kind of computer controlled radio (like an autopatch/repeater) where I could punch in a command code have the computer 'read' me the latest alerts and local weather info.  Then again if I had this 'service' local hams could use it whenever they wanted. hurm....this might be the better solution.

-Tyler
KI4BUM

that wasnt exactly my question but thanks for the advice.

Im actually looking at getting access to some information that is on my home network while in my car. I dont really even need to get to the 'Internet' just my home TCP/IP network.

Has anyone setup, or know if it's possible, to 'surf the web' from your mobile radio by hitting a packet base station that either proxies or NATs your traffic onto the Internet for you.

I have several 2m radios, a PK232MBX TNC and some junk computers I wanted to try this one but I thought I'd ask first.

I just built this yagi for roughly $20. All from an FM antenna you buy at Radio Shack. it rocks.

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/9907034.pdf

But to answer your question. No I havent

I want to mount a 2m Yagi and a 2m Whip from the same mast. How far below the Whip should I put the Yagi? Does output watts matter?

and/or

I want to mount two 2m Yagi antennas on the same antenna. One with the elemants vertical and one with the elements Horizontal. How should these two be mounted?

Yeah..I thought I could save money and learn something at the same time by building my own 2m kit. Boy was I wrong.  Thanks for all the pointers.