-- QST QST QST - All APRS and Digital Radio
enthusiasts --
19th Annual Summer Gathering near
North Bend, WA Sept 10th
2016
The Summer Gathering is a
great opportunity to learn and practice just about anything you can do with a
computer and your ham radio particularly focused on the Automatic Packet
Reporting System (APRS) http://www.aprs.org/. This is a fun, very social and
educational event right here in the Pacific
Northwest. Always
the weekend after Labor Day. Please
share this with your local hams and clubs.
To Attend - Register Here: https://goo.gl/YLfEUm. Contact Teena, below, for housing.
For more information about Valley
Camp, North Bend, WA
http://valleycamp.org/.
To signup for Email updates on the
event:: http://tinyletter.com/nwaprssg,
The location
is a beautiful camp with hot showers and a bunkhouse, tent camping or RV
opportunities. Contact Teena at
info@... for overnight
arrangements. Many folks arrive
on Friday for socializing. The presentations are on Saturday. Arrive for breakfast from 7:00 to 8:30.
Presentations start at 9:00am.
Summer
Gathering happens at Valley Camp ( N47.4680 W-121.6808 ): http://valleycamp.org/ located near
North Bend, Washington 10 minutes off of I-90 at exit 34.
At the bottom of the Exit 34 ramp, turn left (north) and continue 1/2 mile past
the convenience stores and truck stops and watch for the right turn onto SE
Middle Fork Road (County Road sign says Valley Camp 2.2 miles). Continue to the
"Y" and take the left on SE Middle
Fork Road (lower road). Follow until you come to the
stop sign. The entrance to the camp is straight ahead across the small
intersection. The camp call is
WA7VC. Check out WA7VC on
aprs.fi
Valley Camp
is an incredibly beautiful place.
Nature trails and birding opportunities for the family abound along the
Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. I promise you will see Elk and
deer. Bring your thirst for
knowledge, some warm clothing for the evenings, a chair and something soft to
enhance your enjoyment of the picnic-table seats. Saturday, breakfast, lunch and dinner
are being provided by Steve and Tina Stroh to maximize your opportunities for
social and technical interaction. To "rightsize" the food purchased,
number of meals provided, please register your interest in attending SG by
filling out the form at https://goo.gl/YLfEUm. Coffee is provided each day... Breakfast
is 0700 to 0830 – Not to be missed.
The event
runs on donations and we encourage you to donate $25 for the day plus the cost
of the overnight housing. There is
a donation box for the event. If you donated what you would pay for the tasty
meals, we would probably be in great shape. Please help us keep this event go
for another 19 years! This venue is
made available to us at no charge but it cannot continue to happen without your
participation and support.
We are still
working on it, but here is an idea of what the content should be this year – if
you don’t see your favorite topic – propose a presentation on it – we are trying
for a larger number of focused mini-talks with just enough time allotted for
treatment of each topic and questions:
There will be
excellent operating conditions for you to try HF - rigs, computers with lots of
digital modes, interfaces and 3-element Triband antenna or some awesome wires in
very tall trees…Lots of space to experiment with your next antenna project and
excellent analysis tools…Bring your projects for help from knowledgeable folk
and access to great test equipment.
Never done JT65 or WSPR? Want to send some Email with the Winlink2000
system, need help configuring a soft modem or setting up a SignaLink? – we would
be honored to help get you going.
Proposed
Topics:
Getting
Started with APRS - why use digital modes, what characteristics make them so
effective. Software Replacements for Hardware TNCs Direwolf and UZ7HO
Soundmodem. Curt Black – WR5J
Near Space
Balloon Launch and Balloon APRS Adventures – Yep – We said LAUNCH. Still looking for payload components –
contact us if you have a tracker to commit to the project. Due to the Wetside launch location, we
have little confidence on getting the payload back. Paul Verhage,
AF7HL
9600
Baud Packet Demo - a
pair of systems that can do 9600 baud and do many "Internet" things - display
web pages, send email, etc. There will be Raspberry Pis on both ends Steve Stroh, N8GNJ
State of the Science in HSMM/Mesh
Networks for Hams – Yakima is doing it
Update on HamWAN – another year of
amazing progress
Round-Table
Session – Compare and Contrast APRS Clients:
APRSIS - The
Swiss-Army Knife of free Digital Software - Free
SARTrack – New Zealand’s
Gift to the APRS, ARES and SAR Communities - Free
YAAC – Yet
Another APRS Client - Free
APRSPoint –
Still the most polished User Interface – Old School – not
Free.
APRS_Messenger
- Toolkit for Digital Communication – Free
XASTIR –
Wonderful APRS Software and the Best Reason Yet to Move Toward the Light that is
Linux… http://xastir.org/index.php/Main_Page
Trackers and
Systems on a Chip - Raspberry-Pi/Beagle-bone Black vs. Arduino – what platforms
best enhance your use of APRS?
Small trackers and Big Tools AP 510 APRS tracker
Sarguy Digital's Products"
http://www.sarguydigital.com/ including a ruggedized
APRS Tracker and a nice Android App for coordinate translation on the quick and
easy…Coordinates NOW!
Best Practices for setting
up an iGate – Case Study: Hillsboro, Oregon
iGate KI7CRA-10 Craig Kirkpatrick – KI7CRA
Update on use
of FLDIGI-FLAMP – and RMSExpress transporting data from the backcountry for 800
cyclists in RAMROD – (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day) to the start/finish
line. Update on the BIGFOOT200 foot
race – great future opportunity for digital data
transport.
RTL Dongle: Planes and boats and hams (Oh my!) Ken -
N7IPB n7ipb@...
Inexpensive USB interfaces
originally designed for DVB-T TV tuners have
become the poor mans Software
Defined Radio. Usable over
wide frequency
ranges they can receive nearly every
modulation given the appropriate software. This talk demonstrates the use of $20
RTL-SDR dongles to receive ADS-B (Automatic Dependant Surveillance –
Broadcast) aircraft and AIS (Automatic Identification System) for
vessels, displaying them on Xastir.
9.6Kpalousa -- It's time to
move from 1200 bauds (it's been 38 years) John Hays and Brian
Hoyer
NW Digital
Radio will setup a test bench at the Summer Gathering to help get stations operating at 9600
baud packet. This is your opportunity to get your equipment up and running
on 9.6K packet.
We will have spectrum analyzers and
deviation measurement equipment setup to make sure your configuration is
optimal.
Bring your 9.6K capable hardware or
software TNC, your radio, connection cables, and documentation on adjusting the
radio's deviation and TNC levels.
If you don't have a 9.6K
capability. We will be offering the UDRC for sale on site (or
pre-order). You need to provide:
- A Raspberry Pi 2 or 3
- A 9600 baud packet capable radio
with appropriate cable
- Mini Din 6 on the UDRC to your
radio's interface
- We will bring a soldering
station if you need to put a connector on a Mini Din 6
cable,
- A micro SD Card, preloaded with Compass
Linux and direwolf
- We can load your SD Card on
site.
- Power supply for radio and
Raspberry Pi (3A recommended)
There will also be examples of
messaging applications as well as APRS applications available for running on the
Raspberry Pi.
There will be
free beer with every new digital mode you try...there are more than 120 modes
inside FLDIGI alone… Good Luck
exploring those – or watching others try!
There will be
cheesy Sci-Fi Movies and popcorn late into Saturday Night thanks to Bill, WA7NWP
...
Summer Gathering -
Rules Of Engagement
Have FUN! Try out new things! Meet as many new people as possible!
Satisfy your Thirst
For Knowledge!
YOU MUST HAVE A GOOD
TIME - if at any time you
fail to have a good time
please find Curt Black - WR5J, 206 755-4541c tell him what’s up and we’ll work
it…
Please meet your fellow participants.
If you don't know someone, go
find
out what makes them tick - there is a treasure trove of interest
and
experience here -make sure you check it all out
We would like to
reserve the whole north side for presentations -
Please don't set
up equipment on the north side /
please set up demos on
the Pavilion south side tables only
Please socialize
anytime, but during presentations, please move
conversations to the South
Side with the Demos - we want everyone to
be able
to hear our brave and generous speakers
If
you have a QUESTION you would like answered during the Gathering,
please:
1) bring it up during the introductions, and/or 2) grab any of the
presenters or other participants
anytime during the weekend - Don't leave
without getting help or setting up future help.
Please DONATE to Valley Camp to keep this
beautiful venue available to us.
Thom and Teena and the
SG Team (Curt, Paul, Bill, Ken, Steve, Tina, Anna, Brian, Brian, Gerard, John,
Chris, Herb) Thank You!
If you are willing to
act as a topic resource, please put your
interests/areas of expertise on your
name tag
Questions:
Please contact Curt
Black, WR5J, wr5j@...
206 755-4541
