The American Preparedness Radio Net

W7ASA & KI4DKS WINMOR – parked on 7102USB dial freq and will remain there until further notice.

>>> Ok – rather than having to chase around, finding the ‘frequency of the moment’ , let’s do this. Post your callsign and frequency you are parked on in the comments beneath if you wish to participate in a test of WINMOR Peer-toPeer among TAPRN. I recommend 7102.

This way we can ALL try to call any of the callsigns listed. The odds are that we’ll be able to connect with some and get a feel for what times we can do it on forty and with whom. Forty is a good freq for hundreds of miles during the day and transcontinental at night, with dipole, if it’s high enough. (How hi? you’d be surprised how low you can go…)

Meantime, use WINMOR as designed when not parked, sending/receiving e-mail, use the “Catalog Requests” included for weather textx and other thing. Get a feel for ALL of the cool things the program and WINMOR/WININK system can do. As s sailor , I used it for weather downloads on demand. Handy!

de RadioRay …_ ._

The Long and the SHORT of it.

I see many requests that TAPRN expand it’s range. So far, our nets are focused on the eastern third of the continent, because that’s where it all started. We in The South know that it’s really a Southern Net, but because we are firm believers in Southern Hospitality, ‘Ya’ll are welcome to be our guests… ‘ ;^) Either way, the 80m voice net is moving along very well, suits our regional wants and it is recommended that those of you in the western regions just keep the net going as the night-time propagation drifts from East to west: like a relay race, that way the freq is already cleared for you and you can talk with your multi-state region at about the same local time as we do. I’m not really ‘the voice guy’ so let’s move on to the purpose for this posting -

LONG RANGE Comms:

In general, higher HF frequencies travel farther than lower depending upon time of day. Successful communicators select frequencies which are correct for where you want to communicate to, taking into account solar/terrestrial conditions, season and time. For example, if right now at 17:30 Eastern time my station in Virginia is to communicate with a station in Wyoming, the 18 MHz band would be a great bet. Maybe 21 or 14 MHz too. However, I would NOT be heard in South Carolina on those bands, because we are too close, and they are in ‘the skip zone’; meaning that my signal ‘skip’s over them.

CB’ers were lied to. Being IN the skip zone, means that you’re skipped over… not skipped to!
oh well…

Because voice communication is much more difficult than digital, I’ll be opening one or more WINMOR frequencies for long range communication with those in the rest of the continent. This will allow those with an interest in TAPRN to check-in from across the Western States, send/receive bulletins and generally keep in touch in a manner that works both with and without operating commercial infrastructure. There is no need for a net control or sked time etc. because this will be non-real-time, e-mail over radio. If someone is ‘home’ at their station at the time of connection, then you CAN chat one-on-one with rapid exchange of e-mail.

>>> The goal is a WINMOR set-up that scans so that we can communicate with each other using this excellent and private mode. We are right on the brink of going ‘public’ with this, so read the WINMOR posting on this site, download the software and post here when you are ready to try it.

de RadioRay …_ ._

E-Mail Over Radio

Our team of Mad Scientists at the World Famous TAPRN Institute of Technology have been slaving away to help YOU!

Because of the nature of HF radio, not everyone can hear all stations when in a radio net. Also, due to our busy lives (busier during emergencies) we would be well served by a system that would store-and-forward messaging, just like “normal” e-mail on the internet, but our system must work without commercial infrastructure. In organizing an on-the-air mutual support and information system, it became clear that an on the air e-mail system is top of the list, solving probably 90% of our actual needs.

1. Long range communication suitable for on-the-air bulletin board personal and group e-mail.

a. Non-real-time. You don’t have to all be on freq at one time.

b. Store-and-forward. It will pass the message when the other station(s) check-in and/or when you connect to them – automatically.

c. Send & receive messages when it’s most convenient for YOU.

d. Send and receive when the band supports contact.

e. Privacy, using compressed messaging transmitted using, packetized transmission methods.

f. Fully error correcting so that data files, maps, pictures and other useful data can be sent error free, just like ‘normal’ e-mail.

g. Serves as a back-up for ‘normal’ e-mail, allowing you to communicate with the world wide web e-mail system using the WINMOR e-mail system when desired.

The answer to #1 is WINMOR. This is a FREEware program for your PC soundcard that allows you to do all of the above and more. It is a spin-off of a system developed for long range mariners who needed dependable e-mail over radio even when thousands of miles out at sea.
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Hardware Requirements: If your HF ham station is capable of PSK-31, simply load the WINMOR FREEware program.
That is ALL that is required.
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Tom – KI4DKS and I have been testing this software as a direct: ham-to-ham (“Peer-to-Peer”) setting. We park on a single frequency that works between our two locations. It is amazing to go into the ham shack, and see e-mail waiting for me, to hit the connect key and within two seconds, have his station on-line and then watch the e-mail flow between the two stations – error free, and sign-off automatically. If we are curious about how the band is between us, either one of us can connect and the other’s station will link, transfer e-mail if any then sign-off: all automatically.

Here is what you need to do: Download the program called RMSexpress Set-Up. This is the WINMOR program.

ftp://autoupdate.winlink.org/User%20Programs/

Use WINMOR in the conventional manner that they recommend for ‘normal’ e-mail link between radio/Internet using the WINMOR system that already exists and is not part of TAPRN. Instructions are part of the download. When you are ready to try TAPRN e-mail over radio, let US know here that you are ready and I’ll give you a frequency to begin calling my station and soon there will be a cloud of TAPRN stations who can all interconnect 24/7 using e-mail over radio. All stations can relay & all stations can store and forward.

de RadioRay …_ ._

Ps. Generally we (KI4DKS and W7ASA ) are parked as PEER-to-PEER WINMOR hubs on 7102USB dial frequency. Connect to either of those callsigns in WINMOR and leave a message.

>>> If you are a long range/western station please let me know and I will set-up a test freq and time for you.

This article will get you going in the right direction to build your own “Double Bazooka” antenna. Let me first clear up one thing about this antenna. THIS IS A SINGLE BAND ANTENNA. What we mean by that is, if you build this for 80 meters DO NOT try to use this antenna on any other band then 80 meters. You will destroy some of and possibly all of the commercially available “Double Bazooka” antennas by doing so.

A quick explanation of what happens causing the antenna to fail when operated outside of the band it is designed for. At the feed point of one brand of the commercially available antennas that we have documented there seems to be a heat buildup that destroys the physical connection made between unlike metals used at that point. Mike N8NMJ has took about 8 or 10 of these particular antennas apart for people in just the past year to see if they could be repaired. Every antenna had the same issue so it set his brain in gear on how this problem could be solved. Below you will see one of these antennas pictured that has failed for whatever reason but most likely due to the fact it was operated outside of the band it was designed to operate on.

Now we will explain why we think the failure occurs. This particular brand of antenna is built with 75 ohm coax that has either aluminum or stainless steel wire for the shield. Neither of these metals can be soldered to copper so they make a mechanical bond at the feed point from the SO239 to the shield side of the coax used. Well most of us already know this is a recipe for FAILURE.

My question at this point is WHY the need for the electrical tape??? The answer is real simple. There is no solder used in the making of this particular brand of antenna. Here is a picture of how the mechanical connections are made on this antenna.

Part 2 will be coming soon and we will teach you a much better way to build this antenna then. Will we expose the maker of this very poor quality antenna? Not sure yet but I have had direct contact with this company and in the response by email from the OWNER to me they clearly state that every connection in this antennas is SOLDERED as well as some other questionable claims.

Happy RF’ing Till Next Time
73′s
Dave
W4DMH
Ham Radio Works When All Else Fails

We “HAMS” are always trying to improve our stations and the single most important part of that process is the antenna. The simple truth of the matter is that no matter how much power you put in the coax if the antenna is not up to par you are not going to be heard by others as well as you should be. With our “HOW TO” (roll your mouse pointer on the tab at the top of the page for a drop down menu) articles on antennas you can also chose and build your own antenna. It has been awhile since the last build but below you will see the most recent antenna that has been built for testing. Mike N8NMJ has built his version of the “Double Bazooka” style antenna. We will cover this in a new “HOW TO” article soon.

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Following are some pictures of some items we ordered just for building different antennas. We plan to get busy very soon and will post articles for you to review of exactly how we built these antennas and our opinion of how they performed in a real world environment.

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Now that the WINDOM has been tested and fine tuned it was time to take it down and pack it up with the rest of the equipment for going out PORTABLE. You never know when you will need to do that in the real world so if everything you need is stored together it takes way less time to be on your way in the event of a real emergency.

With the WINDOM packed up it is now time to get more antennas up here at my QTH. (Ham talk for my location) Below you can see new items that will be used for building antennas over the next few months. Mike (n8nmj) and myself are always trying to come up with new combinations of antennas to test so it should be fun in the very near future. Of course we will share with all of you what we try and how it works as we go along. You will notice that we use Baluns from Buxcomm.com, yea we could roll our own Balun but these Baluns are reasonably priced and hand crafted right here in the good old USA. Plus they just work really well.

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Alright last for now is the new rope we are trying for supporting antennas. We always try our best to be frugal yet use something that works. We shopped around the internet for 550 Paracord and found a great deal at Camping Survival .com. We will be installing all new support ropes and only time will tell how this works out. The rope that was used in the past was probably 3 times the cost of this and only rated at 200 lbs more. We see no reason this 550 Paracord will not work so we are going to keep you informed of the results. If things work out this is a very cheap alternative to the highly marketed “ANTENNA ROPE” at 3 times the cost or more. We shall see.

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Happy RF’ing Till Next Time
73′s
Dave
W4DMH
Ham Radio Works When All Else Fails

Greetings all, I have an idea that should help us all out. I am starting this post to enable all of us to have a bit more structure to our nets. If you will perform net control duties Please leave a comment as to what day you will do this and what the topic for the net will be. I believe that by posting in advance when you’ll do net control and what topics will be discussed we can all study up a bit on material and by not having to find a volunteer and topic at the last minute will have better discussions. So think it over, get the calenders out and lets make a plan!Thanks, and 73 to all, Bill KJ4PZZ

New TAPRN schedules.

We now have several evenings for holding NETS.

Sunday evenings at:
1930edt (0030 Zulu) for Digital 7.073 USB Contestia 4/250
&
2100edt (0200 Zulu) for Phone 3.818 LSB
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Tuesday evenings at 2000edt (0100 Zulu) for Phone 3.818 LSB
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Thursday evenings at 2000edt(0100 Zulu) for Digital 7.073 USB Contestia 4/250
This digital net is to help beginners.
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We are attempting to build a consistent communications grid for both Digital & Phone nets. We encourage every member to use these frequencies on a daily basis as well as participating in the scheduled nets.

Net topics should stay within the realm of prepping/survival. Topics for any given net will be posted in the chat room prior to the net. Digital net on Thursday will be to help beginners with any problems using the various modes. I would appreciate any and all help with the Digital Beginners Net so we can get these individuals up and running. I would also suggest that beginners using digital modes go to the 40 meter frequency we use 7.073 USB and make adjustments as needed and practice sending data. Use one of the macros , set it up with, TEST, TEST, TEST, your callsign, date, mode or operation and freq….. Everyone needs to practice, that goes for the phone net as well. So lets everyone put our best foot forward to develop a good operating commo site……

Thanks, Werner, kc2axu

///Although The block below Says ‘Author: RadioRay’ I only posted it for Werner , who is the actual author.///
/// I WANTED to add funny pictures but am trying to be an adult about this….. JUST so that you know….. it is not easy. de RadioRay …_ ._ ///

Hello TAPRN’ers…

First of all, we have a lot of listeners, some of whom join in the discussion while others prefer to not transmit. Remember – more are generally listening than transmitting. Enjoy the discussion and mind your personal security, but have a good and informative net.

The Voice Net for 29JAN12 went well. We had the earlier digital net with one check-in from the mid-west, then slid into the voice net after finding a clear frequency at 3834LSB. We had visiting stations from less than 50 miles from my location, extending out all the way down into the deep South and even Dean AC0– made it easily into the mix, relaying in a station from Oklahoma. We even had a bit of SNEAKY practice sending and receiving a message in phoenetic alphabet, by sending the list of all stations in the net and their turn-number in the roundtable discussion. Basically it went like this: “OK – eveyone get your paper and pencils ready, I have a message to follow…. NUMBER ONE IS ALPHA BRAVO FIVE DELTA…. NUMBER TWO IS WHISKY ZERO … …” & etc. and so it went through a list of several stations. Sneaky I know, but necesary and good practice in taking radio traffic by hand. ;^)

The topic of discussion grew naturally while we were discussing recent projects and Mary mentioned the building of Faraday cages to protect her electronic equipment from potentially destructive electro-magnetic fields caused by everything from near-by lightning strikes to nuclear EMP. It was a very good discussion. Dean suggested the use of ‘old style’ metal, galvanized garbage cans to store sensitive electronics, Mary, who actually provided the seed for the discussion talked about her making a Faraday cage instead of knitting socks and other classic home making this weekend – wow how the world has changed, especially post – 9/11… I think that we all had a chuckle at the irony of this, yet we all hope that these preps are never needed.

Our favorite non-electric farmer waaaaay up north found us by searching the dial and signed-in with an excellent and potentially critical question: ‘ So, assuming no internet, how are we supposed to find the ever changing net frequency?’. He has no internet on their non-electric farm and the ham station is ‘the only compromise’ and is run on home made electricity. This is an IMPORTANT question for all TAPRN’ers because we are dedicated to communication during loss of infrastructure and it’s patently obvious that the loss of our chatroom would make organizing the net difficult. This is a Sword of Damocles dangling over our heads. There was a good suggestion of having THREE suggested frequencies so that when/if someone is searching for us, it greatly narrows the search field. Three freqs +/- a few Khz to slide up/down for interference is much easier to search than the entire 80 meter voice portion. We are open to suggestions. Finding clear voice frequencies on any ham band during prime-time is always a difficulty. Narrow modes such as Morse or digital are EASY to arrange skeds, because a little wiggle room of even a few hundred Hz is more than enough to make a Morse contact, or a narrow band digital contact, as compared to the 3,000 Hz or so of clear spectrum required for voice, at a minimum.

>>> Please post suggestions here for how we can all find the net frequency without dependence upon commercial infrastructure.

As many of you know, my signal on voice from the home station in the past has been poor, often surpassed by my mobile radio with it’s 16 foot military whip. Clearly, there were antenna problems at home. This is no longer the case. All reports were stellar for my 100 Watt signal last night. The change???

I built an Inverted L antenna for 160 meters (and higher…) based upon Dick Cebek’s article in the link below.

http://www.users.on.net/~bcr/files/backyard%20wire%20antennaes.pdf

I had always enjoyed the inverted L. It’s been easy to erect. Simple to feed using the internal antenna coupler on old military radios and etc. but I had been put-off by the idea that was spread that you MUST have a zillion ground radials to make them into efficient radiators (i/e a great antenna). Well, Mr. Cebek is an antenna Guru par excellence, and he is known for his scientific view and measurement of antenna in a laboratory fashion, not merely using hear-say evidence like ‘it works real good’. Instead, when he analyzes an antenna, he’ll show you WHY it does or does not work, based on sound antenna theory. In short, he shows, empirically that the inverted L can be run with a few as four radials, with little degradation of performance, though more are helpful, it is not essential. Mine is presently running 10 short radials (25-80 foot) made of cheap, aluminum wire from the farm supply store & held to the ground using ‘lawn staples’ made from coat hanger wire until I get time to slit the lawn with a straight bladed shovel to put the radials below ground – out of lawn mover range…

The results have been spectacular.

OK – so that is the end of the Voice net report. We had some new stations signing in who either read about us on-line or found the discussion interesting (or horrifying :^) while tuning around the bands. Either way, it’s gratifying to have a good net going and it’s evident that many people are listening and interested, but not transmitting – yet, which is also a good thing.

That’s all for today. Please, let’s all think about how to FIND each other for the Voice Net in the event of loss of commercial infrastructure. That’s what we’re all about: independent communication. In voice, that it is especially rough to find a clear space due to the crowded/ever-changing bands.

73 de RadioRay …_ ._
W7ASA – Virginia

Here is the net report from Ruth KK4CDA for the 1-15-2012 net. Ruth jumped in and got her feet wet as NCS and it looks like she had a real good time with running the net. A big thank you Ruth for running the net and sorry for the delay getting your post up.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Sunday Voice net on Sunday 1/15/12. I enjoyed being your NCS for the evening and hope to hear from ya’ll again in the future.

The following checked in:

Ray W7ASA VA

Bill KJ4PZZ VA

Tom KI4DKS NC

Mary KJ4UYO VA

Gary KK4CZO KY

Richard KC2WUX NY

Mark KF5HCR TX

Jess W0ECM OK

Bob KD0MOQ MO

David N3GRH PA

Wayne KJ4ZYL VA

Steve W4TTF GA

Ron N8SKB VT

Dean AC0BG IA

Alan K9ARB KY

Matt N3IKM MD

NOTE: This was my first time doing net control for any net ever. I know I at least messed up by not taking a moment midway thru the rag chew (and once again at the close of the net) to check for any late checking stations, so I’m really sorry about that, everyone. If I missed anyone, I greatly apologize, and hope that doesn’t deter you from checking in next week or any time in the future.

Tonight we talked about the following topics:

Issue with Tonight’s DigiNet

Bugout Vehicles/Transportation

Food Preservation/Botchalism

Photovoltaic/Solar Panels

Issue with Tonight’s DigiNet:

I wasn’t on the DigiNet but based on comments, it sounded like everyone had the same problem – folks were doing ok at first but then nothing. Hopefully it will work better for ya’ll next week.

Bugout Vehicles/Transporation:

A lot of folks stated they are planning the same – to Bug-In, so to speak. But there were good comments on if all else failed and folks HAD to leave their Bug-In locations, their vehicles need a good jack, spare tires, spare gas, 4X4, a bugout bag with proper supplies, etc. Also comments about using horses or simply footing it since limited gas wouldn’t get ya far.

Since a lot of folks stated they are planning to Bug-In, a book was suggested: Holding Your Ground: Preparing for Defense if it All Falls Apart

Food Preservation/Botulism:

There were lots of good comments on canning, dehydrators, root cellars, smoking meats and jerky. Several suggestions like simply washing hands and using hand sanitizer before starting your canning is important, following the proper canning procedures, keeping your canning items in a cool location, and checking to make sure your canned items haven’t lost it’s seal in order to avoid botulism. Several books were suggested:

Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving

Putting Food By

Encyclopedia of Country Living

Meatless alternative canned foods that were suggested that have an indefinite shelf life were the following:

Worthington & Lomo Linda

Cedar Lake Foods

Last but not least, for those who are storing metal canned food, a suggestion made was to avoid any cans that have developed a buckle or bulge in the can, because that food will most likely be spoiled and contain botulism.

Photovoltaic/Solar Panels:

The group started whittling down by the time we got to our last subject of the evening, but some stuck around. A few folks have bought the solar generator kits from Harbor Freight and have been experimenting with their solar panel/s. It was brought up that the latest QST magazine had an article on solar power for your ham radios, so check out the magazine or go to www.ARRL.org if ya’ll want to learn more.

Ok, I think that’s it everyone. If I misunderstood anything or left something out, please feel free to correct me or add anything you’d like in the comments section.

I hope to hear ya’ll in the future on TAPRN Voice Net.

73

Ruth KK4CDA GA

Amazingly enough, I am home doing a “pass through” on my way back up to Canada. I did get a chance to listen in on the net on Sunday. Conditions were terrible but Dean did a fine job running things. The discussion was centered around security and from what I could gather, the subject was a good one.

Several of us went to another frequency just to say hello and we discussed a move to another frequency that would get us away from our Spanish friends that have no consideration for our net. 75-80 meter is a tough band but we feel it can be utilized for the net. Werner and Howard are going to try to pin down a frequency before Net time and post up on the chatroom where they are. The default frequency will still be 3.818.
Ray is going full speed ahead with the digital side of things. I finally got a chance to talk to him for a bit and he is definitely a wealth of information and he makes an excellent case for digital and Morse. As I said before, digital will be a part of the setup in the truck. I don’t know if I will ever learn Morse Code. Dyslexia makes that next to impossible.

I am going to be ordering some new QSL cards in a month or so. We have to do a slight redesign since our name change. Keep you posted.

W4DMH is still busy with the job he is working on but has not forgotten about us. I know I have said this many times but we do appreciate everybody that has stepped up recently and kept things going. And we certainly appreciate your patience with the inconsistency form Dave and I!!! But, this project is necessary in today’s world. We have to be prepared for anything. And we have to spread the word. So keep the ideas for topics coming.

Until next time!!!
73
Dave K7DLB
The APRN Roving Reporter
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