W1AAD DSTAR Repeater Back on the Air

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Admin Admin

Another trip was made by Ted, W1GRI, and Bob, WB4SON, to the DSTAR Repeater site, to install a new UPS for the computer and various other internet devices. The opportunity was taken to remove a bunch of extraneous extensions cords, plug strips, etc that had found their way into the mix over the years. We also discovered the cause of the RF desk shutdown yesterday — a loose AC plug feeding the 12 VDC supply.

W1AAD is back on the air and fully operational with full internet gateway services installed.

W1AAD Antenna

“Back” of rack, showing Linux PC, DSTAR Controller, 2m RF Deck (Top Down)

“Front” of rack, showing the business end of everything!

Happy DPLUS Status Screen showing connection to REF069C and some recent users

W1AAD DSTAR Repeater Off Air Temporarilly

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Admin Admin

The DSTAR Repeater, W1AAD, suffered a hardware failure that left the internet connection down, but the RF part working. The internet section was repaired by John Mills, Ted Wrobel, and Bob Beatty this morning. Unfortunately the RF side is now offline.

Ted and Bob will return to the site tomorrow, install a new UPS, and get the RF side back up and running.

Gardner Island, Officially Activated as RI016S

Posted on August 20, 2016 by Admin Admin

As of 15:35:35 UTC, W1SYE, was ON THE AIR from Gardner Island.currently on 7.238 MHz. By 16:25 UTC Gardner was officially qualified (31 Qs and 4 DX stations). As of 16:31 they had moved to 20 meters, 14.266 MHz. The band wasn’t cooperating well, and the guys went QRT around 17:50 UTC.

Today’s operators were Jim, KA1ZOU, and Pete, W1LAB (Boat Master, and Photographer).

Jim, KA1ZOU, at the operating position on Gardner Island, RI (Note Goblin in background)

4BTV antenna located close to shoreline. Note copper strap leading into salt water.

As the tide went out their ground connection was gradually exposed, which may help explain why signal levels were down a couple of S units on 40m 2 hours later.

Things took a bit of time to setup, it was a long haul to the island, and the harbor master took exception to them being on a private island until they indicated they had permission from the owner.

Upcoming Gardner Island Activation Saturday Aug 20 ~ 10:30 AM

Posted on August 18, 2016 by Admin Admin

Having secured permission from the owner, NCRC Bay Island Activators will activate Gardner Island for the first time this Saturday, August 20th. We’ll start on 40 meters, around 7.235 MHz, at 10:30 (or perhaps a bit earlier due to the tides), then move up to 20 meters, around 14.260 MHz. Why not give us a call and put US Islands RI-016S in your log book?

Gardner Island is in Point Judith Pond.

Gooseberry Island Activation Success

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Admin Admin

The following comes in from Jim WA1ZOU, reporting on the Gooseberry (West Passage, off Hope Island) activation of RI002S (Note, RI002S was originally listed as Gooseberry off of Hazard’s Beach in Newport, for indeed there are two, that second Gooseberry Island will be renumbered in the future):

The NCRC Bay Activators were finally able to activate Gooseberry Island (West Passage) on August 7th. An earlier attempt was abandoned when it became evident that several species of gulls were actively nesting. This activation was our Scarborough Reef—steep rocky flanks with very little surface for our station setup. With clever engineering by Willy, W1LY, we were on the air by 11:00 AM. In response to requests from local hams, we started on 40 meters and it quickly became clear that we were on the downhill side of solar cycle 24. Contacts were slow in coming, but picked up in mid-afternoon on 20 meters with strong QSB. The final log shows 75 contacts and 4 DXCC entities.

Thanks to Pete, W1LAB, who is behind the lens in these photos, and provided transportation for the crew as well as on-air talent.