I am not usually one to brag, but I just had to tell someone. I know that Digital Man and Deuce (among others) are licensed and lurk here:

I passed the Amateur Extra test on Friday night. I have watched one local
ham struggle with it for some time and thought I would never pass. I figured
if I passed at all, it would be by a slim margin. I only missed 2 out of 50.

BTW, echicken, how is the packet project coming along? I have been away from BBS for a bit lately with happy family times and sad family times. It is possible that I missed a post or two...

73 de Ray W6RAY/AE
Visalia, CA DM06ih




... When all else fails, Ham Radio WORKS!!
--- blueMail/Linux 1.4
■ Synchronet ■ US 99 BBS - Visalia, CA - bbs.quinnnet.org

Re: Upgrade
By: W6RAY to All on Sun Jul 01 2012 01:20 am

I passed the Amateur Extra test on Friday night. I have watched one local ham struggle with it for some time and thought I would never pass. I
figured if I passed at all, it would be by a slim margin. I only missed 2 out of 50.
73 de Ray W6RAY/AE
Visalia, CA DM06ih

Lucky! Waiting on the post man to bring my new 10m/12m Ranger for the truck.

KF5QEO/AG

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■ Synchronet ■ Roach Guts -- kingcoder.net

Re: Upgrade
By: W6RAY to All on Sun Jul 01 2012 01:20:00

BTW, echicken, how is the packet project coming along? I have been away from BBS for a bit lately with happy family times and sad family times. It is possible that I missed a post or two...

I got disgruntled a while back, but will probably get back to work on it soon. It's coming along nicely, and I picked up a bunch of TNCs at the Dayton Hamvention flea market to test with. Thanks for asking - hope all's well with you.

I passed the Amateur Extra test on Friday night. I have watched one local ham struggle with it for some time and thought I would never pass. I figured

Congrats on that! I just passed the (Canadian) Advanced exam last Thursday evening. Quite relieved to have that done with. Next I'll learn code, which won't earn me any new operating privileges but will add an extra shiny qualification to my list. :D

echicken
electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com - 416-273-7230

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■ Synchronet ■ electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com

Re: Upgrade
By: echicken to W6RAY on Mon Jul 02 2012 11:25 pm

Thursday evening. Quite relieved to have that done with. Next I'll learn code, which won't earn me any new operating privileges but will add an
extra shiny qualification to my list. :D

I'm working on that myself. Mainly want it for understanding repeaters.
How are you working on learning it? I'm usin Ham Whisperer's website.
Only on the second lesson, and struggling...

e = .
i = ..
t = -
m = --
a = .-
n = -.

- .. . -- .- -. - .. -- .

I did pick up a pattern to #'s .... All #'s are a combination of 5 dits and dahs. 1-4 starts off with the # of dits for the # followed by a dah, then fill the remainder with dits. 5 is all dits, 0 is all dahs, 6-9 is the # - 5 dah's followed by filling with dits. eg.

---- 0
.-... 1
..-.. 2
...-. 3
....- 4
..... 5
-.... 6
--... 7
---.. 8
----. 9

If I'm not mistaken from memory.... Problem I'm having (writing it down is easy, but for some reason .- and -. are too confusing!)
The rest are pretty easy, but gosh darn it, a and n are UGH!!!!

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■ Synchronet ■ Roach Guts -- kingcoder.net

Re: Upgrade
By: John Guillory to echicken on Mon Jul 02 2012 23:02:51

I'm working on that myself. Mainly want it for understanding repeaters.
How are you working on learning it? I'm usin Ham Whisperer's website.
Only on the second lesson, and struggling...

Well, I actually haven't started yet. So far I've been spending my time looking for a decent training tool. I'll check out the website you mentioned. Good luck!

echicken
electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com - 416-273-7230

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■ Synchronet ■ electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com

Re: Upgrade
By: W6RAY to All on Sun Jul 01 2012 01:20:00

I passed the Amateur Extra test on Friday night. I have watched one local ham struggle with it for some time and thought I would never pass. I
figured if I passed at all, it would be by a slim margin. I only missed 2 out of 50.

Congratulations! No holes left in your band plan. :-)

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■ Synchronet ■ Whiskey Lover's Amateur Radio BBS

Re: Upgrade
By: echicken to W6RAY on Mon Jul 02 2012 23:25:00

Congrats on that! I just passed the (Canadian) Advanced exam last Thursday evening. Quite relieved to have that done with. Next I'll learn code, which won't earn me any new operating privileges but will add an extra
shiny qualification to my list. :D

And a new mode to your operations! CW is more active than PSK31 and (for me) more interesting.

---
■ Synchronet ■ Whiskey Lover's Amateur Radio BBS

Re: Upgrade
By: John Guillory to echicken on Mon Jul 02 2012 23:02:00

If I'm not mistaken from memory.... Problem I'm having (writing it down is easy, but for some reason .- and -. are too confusing!) The rest are pretty easy, but gosh darn it, a and n are UGH!!!!

For me D, B, V, and U were the ones I drew a complete blank at. I didn't get them wrong, I just couldn't figure out what they were.

The way I did it was I used random drills at 25wpm (wait for entry) until I got
perfect and relatively fast, then I switched to elements sent at 15wpm with the
5wpm spacing between them then slowly cranked up the spacing. Once I switched to the 15wpm, I also started to practice sending using a morse code decoder on my computer - basically sending to fldigi from my own rig using the sidetone.

Practicing twice every day for 15 minutes seemed to be the "right" amount for me.

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■ Synchronet ■ Whiskey Lover's Amateur Radio BBS

Re: Upgrade
By: K6BSD to echicken on Tue Jul 03 2012 10:57:02

And a new mode to your operations! CW is more active than PSK31 and (for me more interesting.

PSK31 was fun when I had a shitty antenna. I haven't touched it in six months or more now - it's basically you and some other guy letting your digimode software exchange signal reports and station descriptions. Boring indeed.

I do hear a lot of CW, and want to be able to join in. Eventually. I think I'll just plug away at it a bit at a time for now.

echicken
electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com - 416-273-7230

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■ Synchronet ■ electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com

Re: Upgrade
By: echicken to John Guillory on Tue Jul 03 2012 09:46 am

Well, I actually haven't started yet. So far I've been spending my time looking for a decent training tool. I'll check out the website you mentioned. Good luck!

think its www.hamwhisperer.com ...

Morse Code word of the day:


- .. -- .

Time

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■ Synchronet ■ Roach Guts -- kingcoder.net

John Guillory wrote to W6RAY <=-

figured if I passed at all, it would be by a slim margin. I only
missed 2 out of 50.

Lucky! Waiting on the post man to bring my new 10m/12m Ranger for the truck.

I have an Icom IC-706 in the truck, a Yaesu FT-857D in my pickup and an 1988-vintage FT-747GX here in the "shack". I
really don't get on the lower frequencies that much. I am mostly on the local 2M repeater, or one of the other bands
connected. I also dabble in DSTAR, as I am one who maintains the server at the repeater site.

I have a Radio Shack HTX-10 here in the shack as well.

73 de Ray W6RAY/AE
Visalia, CA USA DM06ih



... When all else fails, Ham Radio WORKS!!
--- blueMail/Linux 1.4
■ Synchronet ■ US 99 BBS - Visalia, CA - bbs.quinnnet.org

echicken wrote to W6RAY <=-

Re: Upgrade
By: W6RAY to All on Sun Jul 01 2012 01:20:00

BTW, echicken, how is the packet project coming along? I have been

I got disgruntled a while back, but will probably get back to work on it

I get that way sometimes. Especially when things just won't work properly. I
am struggling with making the DSTAR work again as I had a major piece of hardware fail. I guess I will have to place a router in front of the DSTAR computer at the site instead of here. But I have other options that I am exploring.

soon. It's coming along nicely, and I picked up a bunch of TNCs at the Dayton Hamvention flea market to test with. Thanks for asking - hope

That is always nice. It is always best to have extras, especially if you
are designing software and need it to be compatible with multiple pieces
of hardware.

Congrats on that! I just passed the (Canadian) Advanced exam last Thursday evening. Quite relieved to have that done with. Next I'll

Right back at you. I am relieved as well. Now I can work on other projects
and not spend so much of what little free time studying.

learn code, which won't earn me any new operating privileges but will
add an extra shiny qualification to my list. :D

I learned the code years ago, but have difficulties discerning some of the characters each other, so I gave up. Perhaps I will try again, especially
since I am not required to. I can do it just for fun.

73 de Ray W6RAY/AE
Visalia, CA USA DM06ih



... When all else fails, Ham Radio WORKS!!
--- blueMail/Linux 1.4
■ Synchronet ■ US 99 BBS - Visalia, CA - bbs.quinnnet.org

K6BSD wrote to W6RAY <=-

I passed the Amateur Extra test on Friday night. I have watched one

Congratulations! No holes left in your band plan. :-)

Thanks! Now, as a VE, I can give all the tests, not just the Technician.
As I mentioned in another post, I am not on the HF bands all that much.
I check into a couple nets, but that is about it.

73 de Ray W6RAY/AE



... When all else fails, Ham Radio WORKS!!
--- blueMail/Linux 1.4
■ Synchronet ■ US 99 BBS - Visalia, CA - bbs.quinnnet.org

Re: Upgrade
By: W6RAY to echicken on Wed Jul 04 2012 07:34:00

I get that way sometimes. Especially when things just won't work properly. I

In this case most of the guts of the KISS+AX.25 code are working (and will hopefully improve quickly once I start using it more) but I didn't feel like tackling the next bit of work right away. Basically I'll need to write at least a partial telnet client in Javascript before I can move forward and give people what they want. Not a huge amount of work, but at the time I wasn't excited to start it; I feel like I'd be willing to do it now.

Additionally, after I had explained this project here in some detail, somebody came along and said "Wouldn't it be great if we had some javascript objects that we could use to access KISS TNCs and send AX.25 packets? It doesn't seem like it would be that hard. Somebody should work on that." That is precisely what I'm working on, there's code in the CVS that does exactly that and I've mentioned it MANY times. Rage was not a great motivator to continue the work, in this case. But hey, I've calmed down a bit in the past month, so back to work soon. :D :D :D

am struggling with making the DSTAR work again as I had a major piece of

I've never used DSTAR. The price is a bit of a barrier to entry for me. I'd shell out for it if I knew what could be done with it, but details on how it works and so on seem sparse online. Packet's simple enough for a guy like me to understand, so I press onward there.

That is always nice. It is always best to have extras, especially if you
are designing software and need it to be compatible with multiple pieces
of hardware.

In theory I should be able to interface with any KISS TNC with my existing code, but of course I haven't quite fully implemented AX.25 yet, and there will be quirks on some devices I'm sure. It'll definitely help to have some junk around to test with, and I can sell some of it off later if I so choose.

I learned the code years ago, but have difficulties discerning some of the characters each other, so I gave up. Perhaps I will try again, especially since I am not required to. I can do it just for fun.

It'll be less painful without it being required / a pressure, for sure. I'm just barely getting started on learning it, but I can see much annoyance in my future as I try to learn. Good luck with that, if you choose to pursue it!

echicken
electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com - 416-273-7230

---
■ Synchronet ■ electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com

Re: Upgrade
By: W6RAY to All on Sun Jul 01 2012 01:20:00

I am not usually one to brag, but I just had to tell someone. I know that Digital Man and Deuce (among others) are licensed and lurk here:

I passed the Amateur Extra test on Friday night. I have watched one local ham struggle with it for some time and thought I would never pass. I figured if I passed at all, it would be by a slim margin. I only missed 2 out of 50.

BTW, echicken, how is the packet project coming along? I have been away from BBS for a bit lately with happy family times and sad family times. It is possible that I missed a post or two...

73 de Ray W6RAY/AE
Visalia, CA DM06ih

... When all else fails, Ham Radio WORKS!!

congrats!
N8ERC.HAM-RADIO-OP.NET - SARDINIA, OHIO

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■ Synchronet ■ N8ERC.HAM-RADIO-OP.NET

Re: Upgrade
By: echicken to K6BSD on Tue Jul 03 2012 04:21 pm

I've enjoyed my digital modes...before my radio blew up ;) I did get it fixed (Yaesu FT-900) but have not hooked my digital box back up yet. I built mine with a simple plan I found online. Worked out great and a couple other hams from my area built one using the same plan.

I would LOVE to learn CW...and have every intention of doing so. I started learning CW in the late 80's...but life happened and I never picked it back up. I passed my general in the summer of 2007 and my extra in early 2009. I love working HF but haven't been on the air in a while. I have been back on the bands lately, mainly 75 and 40 meters.

Hope to hear some of you on the air!
73 de KG4CNA
Allen

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■ Synchronet ■ thePharcyde_ >> telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin)