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KB9MTD  



Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Posts: 2
Location: Dixon, IL U.S.A.

PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 7:01 pm    Post subject: Greetings to everyone Reply with quote

Hello I just recently found this site looking at some station status messages flying by on APRS. It's great that people are still somewhat active in packet comms.

I have a couple questions regarding operation and station setup out here in the sticks. I live in Dixon to the west of all of you and the only digi / station that I can hear direct is WA9CJN. Currently I am set up as a IGate but I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or not being that I can only hear that single station. I have unproto set to just Relay at the moment but I am unsure whether to leave it that way or to just close down the system. I very rarely am able to communicate to stations via RF but I am able to TX/RX to WA9CJN and pass the traffic to / from the internet.

If someone could pass me some advice either through here or email it would be great.

I am currently operating a dedicated server for Igate / webserver / APRS. Radio is Radio Shack HTX-242 to a 3 element yagi pointed East and up about 30'.

I plan on swapping this antenna in the future to an omni-directional (type unknown) to gain better coverage other than to the east.

Thanks for helping the newbie out.. Wink
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ka9vnv  
Site Admin


Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 152
Location: Woodstock, IL

PostPosted: Sat Nov 13, 2004 12:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Setting up an IGate won't hurt, even if it doesn't "help". The main problem is the lack of activity in your area, which isn't helped by the fact that you don't have any local digipeaters. You're in between the Chicago and Quad Cities APRS nets, and we used to have a pretty good digi to your SW that linked the two, but it was taken down years ago.

Now, if you had a good 500 foot tower to put a digipeater on, that would be nice! Smile
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KB9MTD  



Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Posts: 2
Location: Dixon, IL U.S.A.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 13, 2004 8:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well as of right now I am currently looking for a tower to set some equipment on but it will be far from 500 foot. I have local radio / cable stations here but I have not approached anyone about setting up a system, that and the funding to buy the equipment.

The only bad part about this specific area is the town that I am in is way below the surrounding areas but hopefully I will be able to take care of that here in the near future.

We also have a local radio group here in town but the main focus for them is 440 and HF, so that puts me in a hard place about approaching them since I dont know any of them well.

It would be nice if we could get a link between the Mississippi through the northern part of the state. I think it would help during the weather season. Only problem I forsee is the lack of reporting stations from the Mississippi to my area to the west. There is virtually nothing between here and there. I think there are a couple WX stations and myself and a person in the Sterling area. I may approach a local college or the Sterling club to see if we can do something coop to be able to get something set up.. Who knows..

I'll try to keep ya'll posted but if you see an abundance of stations from the west you know what has happened.. Very Happy

Alright off to round up some equipment and a place to set up an antenna!!
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ka9vnv  
Site Admin


Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 152
Location: Woodstock, IL

PostPosted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 12:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just remember that the recommended equipment for a digipeater isn't the Kantronics KPC-3 Plus, like it used to be, although it can do a damn good job of it. [link to obsolete article removed 3 May 2006]

The "best" setup is a TNC-2 compatible, such as the MFJ-1270, with the UIDIGI EPROM (link can be found on the QWP above). This gives the most features of an APRS digipeater, without having to have a computer attached.

If you CAN have a computer attached, any KISS-compatible TNC will work, and you can even link it directly to internet with the proper software.


Last edited by ka9vnv on Wed May 03, 2006 11:44 am; edited 1 time in total
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kb9khf  



Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 4:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi guys.

I am located in Mt. Morris. I was considering setting up a digi. It would have to be mounted either on my house. I currently don't have a tower structure though. I do have the benefit of being on an 'Illinois Mountain'.


Jeff you mention using a MFJ 1270, for the TNC, and replacing an Eprom for it. I have one that was converted for a packet node with some kind of special eprom. They also removed the actual connector for Jumper 6, which controls the Eprom socket changing it from Eprom is type 27256 to not type 27256.

Any thoughts? Sorry, for the hi-jack. Reading this got me to thinking about this project again.
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ka9vnv  
Site Admin


Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 152
Location: Woodstock, IL

PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 10:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can probably use the EEPROM that's in it, since I don't THINK the UIDIGI software takes up any more room than the "average" packet node software does. I don't know exactly what it requires, because I still haven't had time to fire up the MFJ-1270C I bought 2-1/3 years ago to replace the KPC-3plus at KA9VNV-15...

I have just discovered that the link I had to the UIDIGI web page no longer works... But I've found another here that has your choice of languages. I'll have to update the Questionable Web page on this...

You realize, of course, that a digi in Mt. Morris won't cover Chadwick... Wink

To others... this is an inside "joke" for those who are members of the Northern Illinois Jeep Alliance...

Signed
Jeff Brenton KA9VNV

---
"It is not at all simple to understand the simple." - Eric Hoffer
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kb9khf  



Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 10:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ka9vnv wrote:
You can probably use the EEPROM that's in it, since I don't THINK the UIDIGI software takes up any more room than the "average" packet node software does. I don't know exactly what it requires, because I still haven't had time to fire up the MFJ-1270C I bought 2-1/3 years ago to replace the KPC-3plus at KA9VNV-15...

I have just discovered that the link I had to the UIDIGI web page no longer works... But I've found another here that has your choice of languages. I'll have to update the Questionable Web page on this...

You realize, of course, that a digi in Mt. Morris won't cover Chadwick... Wink

To others... this is an inside "joke" for those who are members of the Northern Illinois Jeep Alliance...


Thanks Jeff. I don't know about covering Chadwick though. I've never led, or gotten lost. Last time we were done in by a bad map, showing a road abandoned that wasn't, and one that was abandoned as still being there.
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ka9vnv  
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Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 152
Location: Woodstock, IL

PostPosted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
... bad map ...


The trip to Chadwick last March is the first time I've EVER had Microsoft Streets & Trips route me over a gravel road without me forcing it to take it. It was even in the database as being "unimproved"...

On the way back, rather than taking I-39, I decided to ride up old US-51. It was a much more pleasant trip for me, since I find interstates to be sleep inducingly boring. And I think that tendency will be amplified this coming year, as I do a few "motorcycle mobile" trips.
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kb9khf  



Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 11:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ka9vnv wrote:
Quote:
... bad map ...


The trip to Chadwick last March is the first time I've EVER had Microsoft Streets & Trips route me over a gravel road without me forcing it to take it. It was even in the database as being "unimproved"...

On the way back, rather than taking I-39, I decided to ride up old US-51. It was a much more pleasant trip for me, since I find interstates to be sleep inducingly boring. And I think that tendency will be amplified this coming year, as I do a few "motorcycle mobile" trips.


We used a Delorme paper map for the Oct. trip, and it showed two different roads as being usable, that when we got there were clearly abandoned. And another that was marked as abandoned on the map, was still in use. And this was a map from 2003.

On your way to 251(old 51) you probably came right past our home. We live on IL-64 in the Downtown area of Mt. Morris.

I was messing with the new GPS for my Jeep, and I got a reading of 929 ft. above sea level, when standing on the sidewalk in front of the house. If I get the digi antenna, up on the roof, it should be near 960 ft, I will get fairly good coverage up there.
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ka9vnv  
Site Admin


Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 152
Location: Woodstock, IL

PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
We used a Delorme paper map for the Oct. trip


I've become increasingly displeased with Delorme products in general. While I love the big state atlas books, Delorme hasn't impressed me with a desire for accuracy outside of large urban areas. Just in McHenry county, I have found roads that are shown but have never been built, major roads that are depicted more than a quarter mile from where they actually are, and one road that go over a rather large cliff... I stopped reporting the errors to them when they survived from version 1 to version 8 of Street Atlas, although only half of them appear in the paper copy.

Quote:
you probably came right past our home


Actually, I took a few more back roads on the return, taking IL26 north and passing through Leaf River on IL72. We try to get to Mt. Morris for the Illinois Renewable Energy Fair, but didn't get time this last year.

As for getting the GPS altitude, you might want to check it against the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) maps in WinAPRS. Altitude is the least accurate portion of GPS, moreso as you get close to the ground. I've found that, above 500 feet altitude, it gets pretty accurate (at least, compared to the aircraft altimeter), but the closer to the reflections of the ground, the more it swings around.

Plugging in the Rockford DEM, it looks like Mt. Morris is the "high point" of the area in any case, so a roof-mounted digi antenna should do reasonably well.
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