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East Coast Reflector Newsletter - December 20, 2021
THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS
If you would like your birthday to be recognized on the air and in the newsletter, please send your name, callsign, and birthdate to mikeshf(at)yahoo(dot)com.
W2DLL, Dana of Buffalo, NY - December 20th
Jesus Christ - December 25th
Happy Birthday to you all!
ECR/YACHT NET THIS WEDNESDAY - By Michael K2SHF
This Wednesday, December 22, The East Coast Reflector will once again be bridging to the YACHT Net. YACHT stands for Young Amateurs Communications Ham Team. If you will have any non-ham youth with you at 8PM Eastern Time, check into this net and let them 3rd party on your station. This will give them the opportunity to chat with other youth from around the world. Also, youth amateur radio operators (up to age 24) are encouraged to check in as well. All adult operators without any youth present at their stations are please asked to standby for the duration of the net for the sake of time. Wednesday, 8PM Eastern. Join us!
MORNING BREW Q&A - By Michael K2SHF
Many thanks to all who checked in to the Morning Brew.
Below are just some of the questions and answers from last week. Here is a breakdown:
Only answers with a count of 2 or more have been listed. As always, thanks to Derby Dan, KD2VNU, for tallying all of the answers from the past week.
What is your favorite salad dressing?
Ranch [15] - Italian [13] - Bleu Cheese [12] - Caesar [5] - Balsamic Vinaigrette [3]
Oil & Vinegar [3] - Thousand Island [3] - Russian [2]- None [2] - All [2]
Ice Cream... Chocolate or Vanilla?
Vanilla [42] -- Chocolate [39] -- (That was a close race, folks)
What do you put on your ideal hamburger?
Cheese [27] - Tomato [23] - Onions [23] - Lettuce [20] - Bacon [17] - Mustard [17]
Pickles [17] - Ketchup [16] - Mayo [14]
Do you have radio equipment with 10 or 12 meter capabilities?
Yes [41] -- No [27]
Windows, MacOS, or Linux... Which operating system do you use with ham radio?
Windows [42] - Linux [13] - MacOS [7] - All [3] - None [2]
AN INTERVIEW WITH ROGER, KO4QMM - By Brian WA5SON
1. What is your name? (Callsign & Location) Roger Welker – KO4QMM – Umatilla, FL
2. How long have your been a ham? 6 Months
3. What class license do you hold? General
4. (If not extra), Do you plan on upgrading your license? Yes, having all the frequencies would be a big plus. I have high confidence if I use the same preparation methods I used for the General exam I can pass the Extra too.
5. What do you enjoy most about amateur radio? There is always communication available anytime of the day, week or year. Even if the propagation conditions are poor I have other options like the ECR to communicate with like minded individuals. In addition Ham Radio keeps my mind sharp as I am always learning something new every day.
6. What radio equipment do you currently have? For VHF/UHF, Kenwood TM-D71a Transceiver getting power from an Alinco DM-330MV Power Supply which all goes to a Diamond 50a Base Station antenna that is 20’ high. For HF, Icom 718 All Band Transceiver that get a kick in RF power from a Ameritron ALS600 solid state power amp which gives me 600 watts. For antennas I have two one is a multi-band vertical Hustler BTV6 which has 40-20’ radials, the other is a End Feed in a Inverted L configuration at 20’ high and spans 122’.
7. What radio equipment do you want? Icom 7300 but I am pleased with my Icom 718. She is a old rig but serves me well, the latest and greatest would be nice though.
8. What got you into the hobby? A little over a year ago me and my dirt bike riding buddy (Adam KO4RPS) were looking for a radio communication solution while in the back country. We first turned to “bubble pack” radios (FRS) and found that if we acquired GMRS licenses it would greatly increase our radio communications abilities. I will say after getting our GMRS licenses we both felt like real radio operators, looking back I chuckle as GMRS barley scratched the surface of a radio operator.
Now that I had a “real” radio I was scanning the 70cm frequencies and stumbled across a Ham Radio repeater transmitting the ECR. I was astounded as I realized I was listening to hams from every corner of the world and thought to myself these folks are real radio operators but was intimidated at first. One day I overheard several seasoned ECR members welcoming a new young ham (Nick KO4PPD) for getting his Technician License which inspired and encouraged me to get me ticket too, I recall thinking to myself “if this young gentleman can do it so can I”.
I talked to Adam about Ham Radio and we both decided to attempt to get a Ham license. We studied for a few months and passed the Technician exam. We had the license but was clueless on how to get started, I remembered there was a ECR Zoom room so I joined in and just asked the guys for help. Well I asked and they delivered and feed my craving for knowledge, not much later I was talking on the same repeater that got me started. I would like to give a special thanks to Dick WB2JPQ, Steven K2EJ, Derby Dan KD2VNU, Michael K2SHF and Mike K2CMT for their patience with me as I learned. Without these Elmer's I would not be where I am today.
9. What is your greatest accomplishment in Ham Radio? First I must say after I realized what could be accomplished with HF I swiftly upgraded my license. Then the fun started and as before I turned to my Elmer's for assistance, Steven K2EJ was instrumental as I got started and the others filled in the gaps. In short order I was on 20m and 40m with confirmed contacts who happen to be my ECR Elmer's, what a honor to have them listed first on my log.
I am most proud of my resonate HF antennas and how they don’t require a tuner to make DX contacts, I get a 1.59 SWR or better on all my primary HF antennas. This has allowed me to make contacts in 89 countries and acquire 5 awards, but I am just getting started.
Awards Granted
1) Master of Radio Communication – Europe - 12/5/21
2) World Continents Award - 11/1/2/21
3) United States Counties Award - 10/12/21
4) Grid Squared Award - 10/12/21
5) World Radio Friendship Award - 9/15/21
10. What keep you coming back ECR? There is always there someone to talk to and of course the Morning Brew.
11. What hobbies do you have outside of Ham Radio? Over the past 27 years I have built up my 1969 Chevelle Malibu. It isn’t a trailer queen but will get some heads to turn. It is Hugger Orange with a small block 350 with custom Hotchkis suspension, she is a driver. Actually the other day I needed propane for my BBQ but my late model truck would not start because of a dead battery in the key fob, however the Chevelle fired right up and BBQ was still on the table. Gotta love old cars and the simplicity of them.
12. Tell me about your family. I have two brothers and two sisters, but no hams in anywhere in the family.
13. If you could say one thing to your fellow amateurs, what would it be? We have endless options for resources like YouTube, Elmer's or even a simple Google search. You will be surprised on what you can learn if you take some time to research something new.
A THANK YOU FROM OVER THE POND, THE BIG POND! - By Luke M3NMW
I would like to wish all ECR users a very Happy Holiday for the Christmas season. Even though some of us find this a particularly hard time of year, remember the ECR airwaves are open 24/7 for 365 days of the year and I am sure if you call out that someone will answer you, so you aren’t alone.
I would also like to take this opportunity to say “Thank you” to all of you who take the time to check in to the Morning Brew and for having me (all the way from over the big pond) to be a Net Controller. I have really made some lifetime friends and not forgetting the friends we have lost along the way who will never be forgotten.
Onto 2022, what does it hold for you?
73, Luke M3NMW
ALLSTAR TECH NOTES - By Pres W2PW
"Node 12345... connection failed"
SO aggravating! Here's a couple of things that may be the issue.
First, check your Internet connection. On HamVOIP, use DTMF *A3 to hear your public IP address. If blank, you have a problem.
Solution: see if other devices in the house work. Pay your bill, or troubleshoot accordingly.
Usually however, the node you are calling does not have their incoming IAX port forwarded. The default is 4569 UDP, but that can be changed.
Solution: The other station logs into their router and sets UDP 4569 forwarded to their node. Not TCP. not both, but UDP.
Could be their router has been rebooted and shuffled its internal IP assignments and thus lost the correct forward.
Solution: set MAC address reservation, then set UDP port forward. Do NOT set static IP on the node itself! That will disable wireless access if the node is used portable on a cellular hotspot.
Perhaps the other station has no control over their incoming ports (think satellite, cellular or corporate situations).
Solution: In that case, there are very few solutions except for them to invest in an external VPN (which must also have public-facing, forward-able ports). Note, a STATIC IP is NOT needed! The other possibility is to create a hub, perhaps "in the cloud"; and you make an outgoing call to the hub which will then allow an incoming call back to you.
If "connection failed" resolves itself in around ten minutes, this is a natural effect of Allstar (not HamVOIP) routing calls using lookup lists that are updated every 10 minutes or so.
Solution: request HamVOIP registration from kb4fxc(at)gmail(dot)com and follow the instructions he emails with it, which is an alternate, parallel registration that works right away using DNS. To check, go to the Asterisk CLI menu and type 'iax2 show registry' and you should see one or both systems successfully registered. Another unfortunate side-effect of using just the ASL registration is that the other end might reject your call if you are not in their list, or you have recently changed your public-facing IP address. Again, HamVOIP registration works around this, and MUST be requested- it is not automatic.
The other station's IAX port in use must agree with their "server" entry at allstarlink.org - that's how the call gets routed normally.
Solution: log onto allstarlink.org portal and check.
One of the least likely issues is a bad router at the other end.
Solution: suggest the other end's router be rebooted, or booted to the curb/kerb.
Finally, if using an odd IAX port (other than 4569) solution is to make an edit to the node entry at the bottom of /etc/asterisk/rpt.conf (after making a copy of the file should you mess up).
Here is an example of a node which has 4573 for an IAX port:
[nodes]
; Note, if you are using automatic updates for allstar link nodes,
; no allstar link nodes should be defined here. Only place a definition
; for your local (within your LAN) nodes, and private (off of allstar
; link) nodes here.
409849 = [email protected]:4573/409849,NONE
1999 = [email protected]:4573/1999,NONE
There will be nothing between 127.0.0.1 and /nnnnn,NONE if the default 4569 is used.
Happy radio checks, and as always, MENU 39!
-Pres W2PW
UPCOMING ZOOM ROOM PRESENTATIONS
Thu Jan 6th 8PM - Loop Antennas, presented by Paul KB0p
Join us for this presentation followed by a Q&A session. Please visit http://bit.ly/ecrdaily to access our Zoom Room, which is open 24/7/365.
If you would like your birthday to be recognized on the air and in the newsletter, please send your name, callsign, and birthdate to mikeshf(at)yahoo(dot)com.
W2DLL, Dana of Buffalo, NY - December 20th
Jesus Christ - December 25th
Happy Birthday to you all!
ECR/YACHT NET THIS WEDNESDAY - By Michael K2SHF
This Wednesday, December 22, The East Coast Reflector will once again be bridging to the YACHT Net. YACHT stands for Young Amateurs Communications Ham Team. If you will have any non-ham youth with you at 8PM Eastern Time, check into this net and let them 3rd party on your station. This will give them the opportunity to chat with other youth from around the world. Also, youth amateur radio operators (up to age 24) are encouraged to check in as well. All adult operators without any youth present at their stations are please asked to standby for the duration of the net for the sake of time. Wednesday, 8PM Eastern. Join us!
MORNING BREW Q&A - By Michael K2SHF
Many thanks to all who checked in to the Morning Brew.
Below are just some of the questions and answers from last week. Here is a breakdown:
Only answers with a count of 2 or more have been listed. As always, thanks to Derby Dan, KD2VNU, for tallying all of the answers from the past week.
What is your favorite salad dressing?
Ranch [15] - Italian [13] - Bleu Cheese [12] - Caesar [5] - Balsamic Vinaigrette [3]
Oil & Vinegar [3] - Thousand Island [3] - Russian [2]- None [2] - All [2]
Ice Cream... Chocolate or Vanilla?
Vanilla [42] -- Chocolate [39] -- (That was a close race, folks)
What do you put on your ideal hamburger?
Cheese [27] - Tomato [23] - Onions [23] - Lettuce [20] - Bacon [17] - Mustard [17]
Pickles [17] - Ketchup [16] - Mayo [14]
Do you have radio equipment with 10 or 12 meter capabilities?
Yes [41] -- No [27]
Windows, MacOS, or Linux... Which operating system do you use with ham radio?
Windows [42] - Linux [13] - MacOS [7] - All [3] - None [2]
AN INTERVIEW WITH ROGER, KO4QMM - By Brian WA5SON
1. What is your name? (Callsign & Location) Roger Welker – KO4QMM – Umatilla, FL
2. How long have your been a ham? 6 Months
3. What class license do you hold? General
4. (If not extra), Do you plan on upgrading your license? Yes, having all the frequencies would be a big plus. I have high confidence if I use the same preparation methods I used for the General exam I can pass the Extra too.
5. What do you enjoy most about amateur radio? There is always communication available anytime of the day, week or year. Even if the propagation conditions are poor I have other options like the ECR to communicate with like minded individuals. In addition Ham Radio keeps my mind sharp as I am always learning something new every day.
6. What radio equipment do you currently have? For VHF/UHF, Kenwood TM-D71a Transceiver getting power from an Alinco DM-330MV Power Supply which all goes to a Diamond 50a Base Station antenna that is 20’ high. For HF, Icom 718 All Band Transceiver that get a kick in RF power from a Ameritron ALS600 solid state power amp which gives me 600 watts. For antennas I have two one is a multi-band vertical Hustler BTV6 which has 40-20’ radials, the other is a End Feed in a Inverted L configuration at 20’ high and spans 122’.
7. What radio equipment do you want? Icom 7300 but I am pleased with my Icom 718. She is a old rig but serves me well, the latest and greatest would be nice though.
8. What got you into the hobby? A little over a year ago me and my dirt bike riding buddy (Adam KO4RPS) were looking for a radio communication solution while in the back country. We first turned to “bubble pack” radios (FRS) and found that if we acquired GMRS licenses it would greatly increase our radio communications abilities. I will say after getting our GMRS licenses we both felt like real radio operators, looking back I chuckle as GMRS barley scratched the surface of a radio operator.
Now that I had a “real” radio I was scanning the 70cm frequencies and stumbled across a Ham Radio repeater transmitting the ECR. I was astounded as I realized I was listening to hams from every corner of the world and thought to myself these folks are real radio operators but was intimidated at first. One day I overheard several seasoned ECR members welcoming a new young ham (Nick KO4PPD) for getting his Technician License which inspired and encouraged me to get me ticket too, I recall thinking to myself “if this young gentleman can do it so can I”.
I talked to Adam about Ham Radio and we both decided to attempt to get a Ham license. We studied for a few months and passed the Technician exam. We had the license but was clueless on how to get started, I remembered there was a ECR Zoom room so I joined in and just asked the guys for help. Well I asked and they delivered and feed my craving for knowledge, not much later I was talking on the same repeater that got me started. I would like to give a special thanks to Dick WB2JPQ, Steven K2EJ, Derby Dan KD2VNU, Michael K2SHF and Mike K2CMT for their patience with me as I learned. Without these Elmer's I would not be where I am today.
9. What is your greatest accomplishment in Ham Radio? First I must say after I realized what could be accomplished with HF I swiftly upgraded my license. Then the fun started and as before I turned to my Elmer's for assistance, Steven K2EJ was instrumental as I got started and the others filled in the gaps. In short order I was on 20m and 40m with confirmed contacts who happen to be my ECR Elmer's, what a honor to have them listed first on my log.
I am most proud of my resonate HF antennas and how they don’t require a tuner to make DX contacts, I get a 1.59 SWR or better on all my primary HF antennas. This has allowed me to make contacts in 89 countries and acquire 5 awards, but I am just getting started.
Awards Granted
1) Master of Radio Communication – Europe - 12/5/21
2) World Continents Award - 11/1/2/21
3) United States Counties Award - 10/12/21
4) Grid Squared Award - 10/12/21
5) World Radio Friendship Award - 9/15/21
10. What keep you coming back ECR? There is always there someone to talk to and of course the Morning Brew.
11. What hobbies do you have outside of Ham Radio? Over the past 27 years I have built up my 1969 Chevelle Malibu. It isn’t a trailer queen but will get some heads to turn. It is Hugger Orange with a small block 350 with custom Hotchkis suspension, she is a driver. Actually the other day I needed propane for my BBQ but my late model truck would not start because of a dead battery in the key fob, however the Chevelle fired right up and BBQ was still on the table. Gotta love old cars and the simplicity of them.
12. Tell me about your family. I have two brothers and two sisters, but no hams in anywhere in the family.
13. If you could say one thing to your fellow amateurs, what would it be? We have endless options for resources like YouTube, Elmer's or even a simple Google search. You will be surprised on what you can learn if you take some time to research something new.
A THANK YOU FROM OVER THE POND, THE BIG POND! - By Luke M3NMW
I would like to wish all ECR users a very Happy Holiday for the Christmas season. Even though some of us find this a particularly hard time of year, remember the ECR airwaves are open 24/7 for 365 days of the year and I am sure if you call out that someone will answer you, so you aren’t alone.
I would also like to take this opportunity to say “Thank you” to all of you who take the time to check in to the Morning Brew and for having me (all the way from over the big pond) to be a Net Controller. I have really made some lifetime friends and not forgetting the friends we have lost along the way who will never be forgotten.
Onto 2022, what does it hold for you?
73, Luke M3NMW
ALLSTAR TECH NOTES - By Pres W2PW
"Node 12345... connection failed"
SO aggravating! Here's a couple of things that may be the issue.
First, check your Internet connection. On HamVOIP, use DTMF *A3 to hear your public IP address. If blank, you have a problem.
Solution: see if other devices in the house work. Pay your bill, or troubleshoot accordingly.
Usually however, the node you are calling does not have their incoming IAX port forwarded. The default is 4569 UDP, but that can be changed.
Solution: The other station logs into their router and sets UDP 4569 forwarded to their node. Not TCP. not both, but UDP.
Could be their router has been rebooted and shuffled its internal IP assignments and thus lost the correct forward.
Solution: set MAC address reservation, then set UDP port forward. Do NOT set static IP on the node itself! That will disable wireless access if the node is used portable on a cellular hotspot.
Perhaps the other station has no control over their incoming ports (think satellite, cellular or corporate situations).
Solution: In that case, there are very few solutions except for them to invest in an external VPN (which must also have public-facing, forward-able ports). Note, a STATIC IP is NOT needed! The other possibility is to create a hub, perhaps "in the cloud"; and you make an outgoing call to the hub which will then allow an incoming call back to you.
If "connection failed" resolves itself in around ten minutes, this is a natural effect of Allstar (not HamVOIP) routing calls using lookup lists that are updated every 10 minutes or so.
Solution: request HamVOIP registration from kb4fxc(at)gmail(dot)com and follow the instructions he emails with it, which is an alternate, parallel registration that works right away using DNS. To check, go to the Asterisk CLI menu and type 'iax2 show registry' and you should see one or both systems successfully registered. Another unfortunate side-effect of using just the ASL registration is that the other end might reject your call if you are not in their list, or you have recently changed your public-facing IP address. Again, HamVOIP registration works around this, and MUST be requested- it is not automatic.
The other station's IAX port in use must agree with their "server" entry at allstarlink.org - that's how the call gets routed normally.
Solution: log onto allstarlink.org portal and check.
One of the least likely issues is a bad router at the other end.
Solution: suggest the other end's router be rebooted, or booted to the curb/kerb.
Finally, if using an odd IAX port (other than 4569) solution is to make an edit to the node entry at the bottom of /etc/asterisk/rpt.conf (after making a copy of the file should you mess up).
Here is an example of a node which has 4573 for an IAX port:
[nodes]
; Note, if you are using automatic updates for allstar link nodes,
; no allstar link nodes should be defined here. Only place a definition
; for your local (within your LAN) nodes, and private (off of allstar
; link) nodes here.
409849 = [email protected]:4573/409849,NONE
1999 = [email protected]:4573/1999,NONE
There will be nothing between 127.0.0.1 and /nnnnn,NONE if the default 4569 is used.
Happy radio checks, and as always, MENU 39!
-Pres W2PW
UPCOMING ZOOM ROOM PRESENTATIONS
Thu Jan 6th 8PM - Loop Antennas, presented by Paul KB0p
Join us for this presentation followed by a Q&A session. Please visit http://bit.ly/ecrdaily to access our Zoom Room, which is open 24/7/365.
| FACILITATORS Dick WB2JPQ Henry WB4IVB Emil WA2UPK Bob KB3SNM Tony W2KJV Kevin VE3BZ Paul W4END David KB4FXC Kevin KE7K Joe KO4FRR Mike K2CMT Michael K2SHF Steven K2EJ Keynon KB5GLC |
ECR ACCESS IRLP 9050 AllStar 27339, 45192, 45225 Echolink 57780, 375103 DMR Brandmeister 3129973 DMR TGIF 9050 System Fusion 44444, 92805 DStar coming soon! HamShack Hotline 94049 NETS Tech Net Tuesdays 8PM ET Morning Brew Mon-Fri 7AM ET YACHT Youth Net Wednesdays 8PM ET |
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