John Maag

Photographs from the 2023 Auburn Indiana Hamfest July 30, 2023

Association Events, Hamfests, Photographs /
Auburn Indiana Hamfest Saturday July 30, 2023
 
Congratulations to the committee, crew and vendors for a hugely successful 2023 Auburn Hamfest.  Talk in operators began offering guidance at 7 a.m. Saturday and cheerfully welcomed numerous visitors to Auburn and the beautiful ACD Museum.  Numerous visitors brought their entire families to enjoy the hamfest and the magnificent classic cars on display in the museum.

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Getting Started with Pi-Star

Digital Corner /

GETTING STARTED WITH A PI-STAR

The easiest and quickest way to get started is to use the ZUM Radio Mini 1.3 OLED ZUMspot Kit Mini UHF Hotspot With 1.3 OLED ZUMspot Fully Assembled Kit in my opinion. You can purchase this at Ham Radio Outlet. https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-017832 if you prefer a bigger screen https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-017504 Both are ready to go with the image written on the sd card that is included.

The next step would be to setup the pi-star on the digital format you choose, DMR, D-STAR, WIRESX(ysf), P25, NXDN or M17.  The pi-star is capable of cross modes too being if you have an Yeasu(ysf) FT3 or 5 you can bridge to DMR, thus you are talking into a ysf reflector and it is coming out D-Star. Icom, Anytone and others can do this also. Before you start you need to determine which mode you want by the radio you have or are going to purchase, Yeasu, Icom, Anytone or others that are capable of digital. In our area you will need to program a frequecy between 433.100 and 433.900 for the radio to talk to the pi-star. The pi-star must have the same frequency which you can program in. Here is a link to give you an idea on how to setup a pi-star. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZQGSwKl8fY If you need help on deciding or have a Handheld radio, get in touch with JD, KD9QDL, kd9qdl@gmail.com or Jeff, KB9QG, jdeluce@frontier.com .

 

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Jeff KB9QG’s Antenna Analyzer class on June 16, 2023 at 1st Christian Church in Auburn

Association Events, Photographs /

On Friday June 16 th at 6:30 PM Jeff, KB9QG held a class on tuner and antenna analyzer atthe 1st Christian Church (910 N. Indiana Ave, Auburn In). This was a hands on event to learnhow to use tuners and antenna analyzer in preparation for Field Day. Jeff showed how to use the antenna analyzer and William, AE9EC got to try his hand at it. He also showed how touse the tuner to match the radio to the antenna. Want to thank Jeff for putting this on and Dave, KC9YY, William AE9EC and JD KD9QDL for attending.

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NIARA at Peabody Library Columbia City

Association Events /

Just a short recount on the June 10th event. We had eight association members help out at the event (KC9YY, KB9QG, KD9QDL, KD9MGZ, KD9WAS, KD9WBN, KD9ROJ and KD9WCX). Things went quite well in my opinion. 

We set up an off center fed antenna and a VHF antenna. The QRN on HF was very heavy but also our HF antenna was very close to a high power line which I am sure did not help. I made a contact with W1AW/5. Our VHF antenna and radio work really great, we were a 59 from Columbia City site to our repeater, no problems. The library reported that they counted over 300 people at this event. I would say we had between 175-200 people stop and chat with us about amateur radio. There was a large amount of youngsters that showed interest, along with their parents. Maybe someday Amateur radio will be part of their life, certainly hope so. We were also visited by other area Hams, a couple of people I,talked to let their license expire but indicated starting again. 

I feel this was a super use our trailer and in the future more association members should volunteer and enjoy the camaraderie. The weather was almost perfect for this event and I enjoyed the food trucks.
Dave, KC9YY

TRUCKS ALL TOGETHER NOW

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2m-70CM Digital Radio

Digital Corner /

So, you are interested in Digital Voice Radio!!! This webpage is to help you get familiar and learn about the different mode and how to find an expensive means to use the many modes available to amateur radio operators. The following modes are for digital voice radio :

      1. DMR ( Digital Mode radio )
      2. D-STAR
      3. WIRES X
      4. FUSION (C4FM)
      5. P25
      6. NXDN
     7. M17

Do you have to buy seven different radios??? No!! Using a low-cost DMR radio and a low cost Hot spot, you can use the other digital modes by using what is called a reflector. The reflector is an internet gateway to a distant repeater on DMR which has a bridge to the other
modes and will send back the DMR mode to your hot spot. Here is an in expensive approach. Purchase the following : TYT MD-UV380 radio and a Zum Spot MINI which has a Raspberry Pi 4 computer and has the software already loaded on it.  The cost at the present is under $300.
The P-Star software is free and can be down loaded from the internet. Ham Radio Outlet has instruction on how the setup up the Hot Spot and the radio. There are youtube videos for which also can be used to setup the configuration. If you need any help from the NIARA, Jeff
KB9QG (JDeluce@frontier.com) or JD KD9QDL (KD9QDL@gmail.com) will be glad to help you!!

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NIARA at St. Joseph School in Garrett Indiana

Association Events /

The Northeastern Indiana Amateur Radio Club was at St Joseph School in Garrett
Indiana to demostrate the amateur radio hobby to the 4th and 5th grade students
using the W9OU trailer. Jeff DeLucenay, KB9QG, gave a short talk with the
students about radio transceiver works and how a personvoice is changed to
radiate form the antenna to other radio receivers.

Two radios were setup in the trailer. The ICOM 7300 for the HF bands and the
FTM 400 for the VHF band. The students were shown how the computer can
decode the morse code signals from the ICOM 7300. They were able to talk with
Dan, KD8YNG, who was at Rhome City Indiana via the W9OU repeater, The
students were talking with Dan for about 10 minutes and showed a lot of enthusiasm toward the hobby. A total of 21 students were at the trailer site.

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