Well it was a good weekend, weather was decent. Now I just have to unpack the car and get everything sorted again.
However a quick scan of the logs it looks like we worked 26 Lighthouses in total 3 in NZ and 23 in AU.
Propagation is never the best at this time of the year for us however this has been the best weekend since I have operated from this lighthouse. 156 contacts in total. Not world record breaking but good enough.
Will upload the logs shortly.
My main logging software I have been running is Linux based. It is called CQRLOG and it is excellent. However I only have one laptop which is a Mac which means I have to use the logging software via a virtual machine.
However if you work remote that consumes more battery life and more power so I stated looking for something to used as a event/competition logger that would work under MacOS so I could bypass running a VM in the field.
I eventually stumbled upon SkookumLogger http://www.k1gq.com/SkookumLogger/ which looked nice seemed logical and had the competitions that I am interested in. So I downloaded it and it would not talk to my rig for some reason.
On Bill’s K1GQ website he said e-mail me if you have any bugs etc and thought why not I am probably doing something stupid no harm from e-mailing him.
Within a few hours I have a response and over the next few days some test releases were sent my way and I provided feedback etc and eventually he tracked down the issue and we had a working beta copy.
Tonight I fired up the software and it said there is an update as I would expect and in the credit he credited me for the help in identifying the bug and getting it working. I feel so honored been involved in many commercial projects and have never had my name in the credits.
That being said for free software his and his co developers support is excellent. They leave the commercial guys in the dust.
Would highly recommend them if you are looking for a good MacOS logging software.
The year is flying by and I just realised that I still had not finished writing up all the QSL cards so I sat last night filling them out and will get them to the buro hopefully this week.
I also spent a bit of time trying to figure out the LOTW setup for the ZL1MHLH call and I have managed to get that working so if you are a LOTW user then the 2013 and 2014 QSL’s should be matched up now.
Next step to get the logs uploaded into Clublog for some statistics gathering.
Well despite the rain I have managed to get out of the house and take a walk around the town with my cellphone and wifi analyser app and so far on the omni I am impressed.
Remember I live in a ditch however I was still able to get out (although a weak signal) and receive the wifi SSID on my cell phone which lets face it does not have the best antenna about a roughly 1km away from the house.
Tomorrow all going well I will be taking the Airgrid in the car and I will stop at random points and see if I can connect up.
However the current issue I am facing is that the Linksys and Ubiquiti kit is talking however the Raspberry Pi seems very hit and miss at the moment. Although I am not the only one to be having that issues so I will do some more digging tonight and see what I can solve.
Either way omni on a bullet is behaving well.
Now that the rain is back I need to bring that down as I still have not weather sealed it so that concludes today’s testing.
Just shoveling breakfast and the important coffee, then it is of to get petrol for the genset and off to the light house we go.
All going well we expect to be up on the air by mid – morning. For those on the packet network keep an eye out for the packet station node MHLH. feel free to leave us Messages etc on.
Hope to catch you all on the air.
The weather looks good for the weekend. Not to much wind light chance of rain. But much better than last year.
Due to the recent increase in the noise floor it has made HF work from the QTH inpossible I have had to go mobile. This is my new setup and after testing it out today I am loving it.
Only half the station is laid out here inside the case is also a FT-817 and a TNC which allows me to connect to the dx cluster.
The antenna is a MFJ big stick, it does 40m to 6m and the signal reports I get from it are far better than I get on the dipole. I have worked Italy on 5w SSB with that antenna.
This will be the same setup that I will be using at the lighthouse next week.
So today first trip to Jaycar, coax and a few other odds and ends were picked up.
Next up a trip to the lighthouse to test the packet setup. One problem was I forgot that the parking area is down in a ditch and does not have line of sight so I did not bring a portable battery with me. Doh…
At least I could hear the other stations so it should not have any issue getting out with a bit of hight.
Tonight after making up some coax leads it was time to test all the kit. After scratching my head for a bit I have managed to get all the radios connected. Few more things to tidy up over the next few days however we should be good to go now.
Started with a bit of brainstorming this morning working out all the bits and bobs needed for the weekend, followed by a trip to Jaycar to collect needed parts. Only downside was that they did not have the coax I was looking for. However in there ever helpful mode they have said they will get it for me by tomorrow. So tomorrow morning early I will head off and grab some.
So today I have managed to get the FT-817 connected to the TNC and linbpq running on my laptop as MHLH.
I have also managed to get the logging software on the PC to connect via linbpq to the dx cluster on PUKKIE.
I have modified the NOMIC digi board to use the data port rather than the mic port on the FT-875. A quick test found that it put the TX into transmit mode as soon as the tx was turned on. Quickly found that a sharp bit of solder had puntured the insulation and was shorting GND to PTT duh.. Fixed and that seemed to work. Full test tomorrow in daylight.
On the list tomorrow prepare all the antenna coax, test the digital modes and then test the full configuration.
Also on the list to do is service the generator. Should all be doable I hope as next week I am on call again so not much time if I don’t get it all completed by then.
Anyway time for bed early start tomorrow for me.
Just a reminder to all VPN nodes that they need to update the VPN to point to the new DNS name of the server due to DynDNS no longer providing free dynamic DNS names.
The new URL to use is zl1fly.zapto.org
The old one zl1fly.dyndns.org will no longer work in about 5 or so days.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
ZL1FLY 