W6VIO Calling

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club PO Box 842, La Canada CA 91012-0842

Volume 36, Issue 6 September 2013 President: Jim Marr, AA6QI 3-1528 Emer. Comm. Mgr: Christopher Carson, KE6ABQ 3-3888 Vice President: Eric Archer, N6CV 4-7350 W6VIO Trustee : Rob Smith, W6GRV 3-7937 Secretary: Courtney Duncan, N5BF 4-8336 W6JPL Trustee: Eric Archer, N6CV 4-7350 Treasurer: Chuck Sarture, KG6NF 4-2706 WR6JPL Trustee: Jim Lux, W6RMK 4-2075 Director at Large: Bill Weber, N6CI 4-0490 WR6AZN Trustee: Bill Wood, W6FXJ 760-256-9576

Upcoming Events: • Every Monday: Emergency Communications Net: Noon, every Monday, on WR6JPL 224.08/(-)/156.7 &

445.20/(-)/103.5, or WR6AZN 223.96/(-)/156.7 on Table Mountain. • Sep 13th: JPLARC Board of Directors (BoD) meetings: First working Friday, every month, from Noon to 1pm

in 180-703C. Call-in: 818-354-3434 ID 7373. • Sep 27th: JPLARC Regular Membership meetings: Second working Friday every month from Noon to 1pm

in 180-703C. Call-in: 818-354-3434 ID 7373. • QST, QST, QST: Regular Membership Meeting to be held Friday, September 27th at Noon in

180-703C (Telephone call-in: 818-354-3434 ID-7373). Talk by Ray Jurgens AD6RJ, “Hotel window antennas and other travel hamming secrets”.

• QST, QST, QST: Say “Hi” to JPL’s Juno S/C on October 9th. See http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/hijuno/

In this issue: This issue covers activities through the end of August. • JPLARC Regular Membership meeting August 16th • Moving WR6JPL Cerro Negro repeaters August 23rd • JPLARC Irregular BoD meeting August 30th • How to sign up to receive JPLARC email • Future membership meetings & speaker topics.

Regular Membership Meeting, August 16th By Jim Marr AA6QI

The third JPLARC Regular membership meeting of 2013 was held from Noon to 1 PM in 180-703C, with 22 hams in attendance or on the phone. These were: Eric Archer N6CV, Gary Block KJ6IZX, Chris Carson KE6ABQ, Bob Cesarone WA6JIB, Mike Ciminera W6CA, Walt Ciszczon KK6DUL, Bob Dengler NO6B, Courtney Duncan N5BF, Jorge Gonzalez Jr KI6BJB, Dayton Jones K6DJ, Mark Lysek AG6TD, Jim Lux W6RMK, Jim Marr AA6QI, Walt Mushagian K6DNS, Rich Rebele WK3F, Charles Rhoades WB6KZE, Lorene Samoska KG6MWQ, David Seidel

KC6NRL, Phil Smith WB6LQP, Jan Tarsala WB6VRN, Mike Tope W4EF, Bill Weber N6CI.

Following introductions, Bob Dengler NO6B gave a talk on JPLARC Repeaters, after which Jim Marr gave a Brief overview of the JPLARC status. Both presentations are available upon request to Jim Marr, aa6qi@arrl.org. We hope to have a web site in the near future where Regular Meeting presentations will be posted so as to be available to all JPLARC members who were unable to make it to a meeting.

Guest Speaker:

[ed. Note that in what follows, the Cerro Negro repeaters were moved to the JPL Mesa on August 23rd, the week af-ter this talk was given.]

Bob Dengler NO6B and a member of the JPLARC Re-peater Committee provided an overview of the JPLARC repeater configuration and capabilities.

Bob first defined what a repeater was using the text from 47 CFR 97.3 (a) (40): Repeater. An amateur station that Sim-ultaneously retransmits the transmission of another amateur station on a different channel or channels, followed by a fig-ure showing a typical repeater configuration (Figure-1).

2 W6VIO Calling September 2013

Figure-1: A typical repeater configuration.

What do repeaters do? • Allow non-line-of-sight communications on line-of-

sight frequency bands • Greatly enhance range of low EIRP stations (HTs) • Multiple repeaters can be interlinked, further increas-

ing their range • Operated as an auxiliary station, can serve as a con-

trol point for remotely controlled base station

The first wide coverage repeater was an AM repeater in-stalled on Mt. Wilson by Burt Weiner K6OQK in 1962 (Figure-2), with input on 145.452 MHz and output on 146.000 MHz FM was added in 1972 at 147.535 MHz More (lots more) information about these repeaters can be found at wa6tdd.tripod.com.

Bob then provided a reconstruction of JPL repeater his-tory taken from back issues of W6VIO Calling.

• Feb. 1977: First systems on the air: WR6APQ Mesa 224.04 (-), & WR6AZN Table Mtn. 147.33 (+) & 224.04 (-) Actual 1st repeater @ TMO: WR6AFX 146.76 (-) in-stalled 4/15/1974, owned by W6ZGC.

• Aug. 1977: WR6APQ call changed to WR6APS • Feb. 1978: A 220 MHz repeater list published in the

club newsletter shows WR6AZN on 223.96 (-); couldn’t find when the freq. change was made.

• Mar. 1978: JPL/TMO link, connecting the Mesa 224.04 & TMO 223.96 repeaters, is placed in operation in Bellflower as WR6APQ.

• Aug. 1978: Club private autopatch repeater WR6APR noted on-air on 224.08 (-). TMO 2 meter repeater moved from 147.33 (+) to 145.28 (-) due to interference with Mexican repeater on same freq. (still there to-day).

Figure-2: The first wide-area repeater in stalled in 1962

on Mt. Wilson by Burt Weiner K6OQK. • Feb. 1979: New 220 MHz Super StationMaster an-

tenna installed at Mesa site (was in service until bldg. 35 demo’d recently).

• Nov. 1979: Autopatch on WR6APR 224.08 (-) opera-tional. Repeater status changes from open to private.

• Sept. 1991: 147.150 (+) coordination issued to JPLARC; originally coordinated as WB6IEA but changed to W6VIO/R.

• 1994: W6VIO/R (formerly WR6APS) 224.04 moved to 224.08, WB6IEA/R (formerly WR6APR) 224.08 moved to 224.72.

• June 1995: WB6IEA/R moved from 224.72 to 224.70. • 1996: 440 repeater begins operation on the Mesa on

449.975. • Mar. 1998: 440 repeater moved from Mesa to Cerro

Negro, operating briefly on 440.125 (+) (!), then 447.65 (-).

• 1999: All club repeaters except TMO change callsign to WR6JPL; TMO repeaters get WR6AZN.

• Nov. 1999: 440 repeater moved to permanent freq. of 445.20 (-).

• Feb. 2000: WR6JPL (formerly W6VIO/R) 224.08 moved from Mesa to Cerro Negro; WR6JPL (formerly WB6IEA/R) 224.70 moved from Cerro Negro to downtown LA.

3 W6VIO Calling September 2013 The current configuration of the JPL repeaters is shown in Figure-3. Not shown in the figure is the 224.70 repeater that is currently located and on the air at Bob’s home QTH in Diamond Bar, where he has been troubleshooting a de-sense issue within the repeater. Also not shown in the figure is that the 147.15 repeater is, in addition to being accessible using the PL shown in the figure, also accessi-ble with Digital Coded Squelch (DCS) of 365.

Figure-3: The current JPL Repeater configuration. [ed. Aug 23rd, the Cerro Negro repeaters were moved to the JPL

Mesa in the same cabinet as the 147.15 repeater] A full JPLARC repeater system block diagram is shown in Figure-4. In this figure, links are shown with arrows. The diagram shows the repeater that links Cerro Negro with the Table Mountain 220 machine and the control link radio in building 180-R6 that also provides access to IRLP and Echolink.

Figure-4: A full JPLARC repeater system block diagram. [ed. Aug 23rd, the Cerro Negro repeaters were moved to the JPL Mesa in the same cabinet as the 147.15 repeater] Figure-5 shows a coverage map for the Cerro Negro re-peaters (currently the 224.08 and 445.20 machines) with the signal strength color-coding located in the lower right corner. Cerro Negro is located 2.2 miles from JPL and 1,887 feet above mean sea level. The WR6JPL 224.08 ma-chine (minus input offset; PL 156.7) is a converted Midland 13-509 with a 12-watt transmitter. The WR6JPL 445.20 machine (minus input offset; PL 103.5) is a GE Master II mobile with a 22-watt transmitter. Both repeat-ers are controlled by a LinkComm RLC-3 controller and have an RF link to building 180-R6 that provides IRLP and Echolink capability through a computer connected to the internet.

Figure-6: Coverage map for the 224.08 and 445.20 repeat-ers located on Cerro Negro Peak. [ed. These repeaters are

no longer on Cerro Negro – see next article]

Figure-7: Coverage map for the 147.15 repeater at enclo-sure 35A on the West end of the JPL Mesa. [ed. And now

also the 224.08 and 445.20 repeaters.] Figure-7 shows a similar coverage map for the 147.15 re-peater (plus input offset; PL 100 or DCS 365) located in enclosure 35A on the West end of the JPL Mesa, which is less than one mile from JPL and 1,504 feet above mean sea level. From 1991 through 2012, this repeater was a GE Master II mobile with 50 to 70 watt output. Currently, it is a Kenwood NXR-710 repeater with Crescend 100-watt amplifier. Figure-8 shows a similar coverage map for the WR6AZN repeaters at Table Mountain. It should be noted that the tool used to produce this map doesn’t show diffraction well so the shadow in the upper left is not as strong as shown. The three Table Mountain WR6AZN repeaters are 30.6 miles from JPL and 7,500 feet above mean sea level. The WR6AZN 145.28 repeater (minus input offset;

4 W6VIO Calling September 2013 PL 131.8), installed in 1994, is a “Bill Wood W6FXJ Spe-cial” that uses a modified VHF Engineering transmitter with 25-watt output, and ESP DFS-V receiver. The 223.96 machine (minus input offset; PL 156.7) is another “Bill Wood Special” with 25-watt output. The 447.20 machine (minus input offset; PL 94.8) uses a GE Master II with 40-watt output. All three machines are controlled by a LinkComm RLC-3 repeater controller. While normally only the 223.96 repeater is linkable to the WR6JPL repeat-ers on Cerro Negro, all three are capable of being linked together by a control operator. To link the Cerro Negro and Table Mountain Repeaters, send DTMF code 08961. To unlink them, send DTMF code 08960. Note that 08 are the last two digits of the 224.08 machine output frequency and similarly 96 are the last two digits of the WR6AZN 223.96 machine output fre-quency. Then, add 1 to turn on the link and 0 to turn off the link. Remember, when the link is active, to wait extra time from key down to speaking to give the link time to come up.

Figure-8: Coverage map for the WR6AZN repeaters on

Table Mountain. Bob next briefly described IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project), a VOIP service provided on both Cerro Negro machines. • Highly organized VOIP system specifically designed

to link amateur repeaters & simplex nodes only • Linux-based • Cross-linking to other VOIP services (i. e.

Echolink) generally prohibited; non-radio use strictly prohibited

• Detailed network info available at irlp.net • Detailed info on our IRLP node available at

http://wr6jpl.ampr.org • How it works on our repeaters (224.08 & 445.20):

• Every repeater on IRLP has a 4-digit DTMF address (i. e. WB8VSU Dayton is 4235)

• Our IRLP node uses a prefix of “8” in front of all IRLP addresses

• To access from our repeaters, a prefix is re-quired (33*) to pass DTMF from repeater to IRLP computer

• To access Dayton repeater: 33*84235 • Disconnect code is “73”

• To disconnect from any repeater: 33*73

Next, Bob similarly briefly discussed Echolink, a similar VOIP service also provided on both Cerro Negro ma-chines. • VOIP system for general amateur use

• Runs on Windows or Linux (later via “EchoIRLP”, which is what our node runs), Android OS & iOS

• EchoMac for Mac (compatible w/Echolink nodes)

• Can be used on repeaters, in the shack or even on your smartphone

• Any node can be a conference server • De-centralized nature makes it harder to get

info on available nodes • More info at http://echolink.org

• How it works on our repeaters (224.08 & 445.20): • Every repeater on Echolink has a 4 to 6-digit

DTMF address (i. e. NO6B-R is 614325) • Our Echolink node uses a prefix of “A” in

front of all Echolink addresses • To access from our repeaters, a prefix is re-

quired (33*) to pass DTMF from repeater to Echolink computer

• To access NO6B-R: 33*A614325 • Disconnect code is “73”

• To disconnect from any repeater: 33*73

Repeater access information and user guides for IRLP and Echolink are available on the JPLARC web site: http://jplarc.ampr.org . JPLARC Status Overview:

This presentation by Jim Marr AA6QI was an update to the one summarized in last month’s (August) issue of W6VIO Calling but included updates for changes that oc-curred during the month prior to the regular meeting (R7000 vertical installation at B173 and the new apparent need to move the Cerro Negro repeaters near-term due to a negotiation breakdown with La Canada). [ed. The repeat-ers were moved to the building 35A enclosure on the west end of the JPL Mesa on Friday August 23rd – see next article.]

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Figure-11: Putting up the CX333 antenna for the 224.08 repeater. From left to right: Chris Carson KE6ABQ, Walt Ciszczon KK6DUL, and Jorge Gonzalez KI6BJB.

Figures-12 through -14 show the completed installation at the end of the day (about 5 PM). While there is a short list of things that still need doing, overall the move was very successful. You may notice some change in the repeater coverage as a result of the move, which is to be expected, but all three repeaters coverage should be somewhat similar to Figure-7 above in NO6B’s talk. Know, though, that there are other location options being considered that will likely also have some compromises in coverage. Should one of those location options work out, the repeaters will be moved to one of these locations when feasible. Jim Lux W6RMK points out that with all three of the local WR6JPL repeaters now at the same location on the Mesa, we have the chance to do some real radio science by com-paring the coverage maps from all three repeaters to see how different they are (diffraction vs. frequency). Thanks to everyone who spent their day helping with the move! It couldn’t have happened without you!

Figure-12: Completed antenna installation showing the

antennas for all three repeaters in the B35A cabinet.

Figure-13: Showing the front of the B35A cabinet. Non-labeled equipment in the upper left is for power distri-

bution.

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Figure-14: Showing the rear of the B35A cabinet.

August 30th Irregular JPLARC BoD Meeting Minutes: By Jim Marr, AA6QI

This meeting was “irregular” in that regular BoD meet-ings are held the first working Friday of each month, while this was the third working Friday of the month. Since the minutes from this meeting haven’t yet been re-viewed and approved by the BoD, this will be a brief sum-mary of the proceedings of the meeting. Attendees included: Eric Archer* N6CV, Chris Carson* KE6ABQ, Bob Dengler NO6B, Courtney Duncan* N5BF, Jim Lux* W6RMK, Jim Marr* AA6QI, Walt Mushagian K6DNS (phone), Chuck Sarture* KG6NF, and Bill Weber *N6CI, where * indicates a BoD member. Since we had seven BoD members present and only five are required for a quorum, a quorum was present. The primary purpose of this irregular BoD meeting was for the BoD to have a discussion about what the BoD thinks should be accomplished during the remaining term of this interim Board. Two other topics were briefly

discussed before going into the primary topic discussion, the first being the 6/7/13 & 8/2/13 BoD meeting minutes that still need to be reviewed (this review was differed to the regular Sept 13th BoD meeting), and the second being a brief discussion about what the Bylaws say about nom-inating and election of next year’s JPLARC officers. Election of the 2014 JPLARC officers: JPLARC Bylaws, Article VII, Sections-2 through -4 (http://jplarc.ampr.org/Bylaw95x.pdf) spells out the process by which the officers of the club are elected. These steps are:

• The President appoints a nominating committee and/or a committee chairperson and announces the members of the committee no later than the membership meeting preceding the November membership meeting (i.e., the October meeting).

• The nominating committee shall prepare a slate of officers (Pres, VPres, Sec, Treas) for coming year and present that slate at the November membership meeting, at which time additional nominations may be made from the floor.

• The Secretary sends ballots to JPLARC members within one week after the November meeting. Ballots will be counted only if returned within 10 days of the mailing of the ballots by the Secretary. If there is only one nominee for each office, the ballot can be skipped and the election held by voice vote.

• The new officers are presented and installed at the January membership meeting.

I will be asking for volunteers for the nominating com-mittee at the September membership meeting and request that you consider whether you might make a contribution to your club by participating in the nominating commit-tee. If you know already that you would like to do so, drop me a note or call me to let me know. Thanks in ad-vance for your help with this important part of keeping our club going. BoD discussion of CY13 work-to-go: We first did a quick review of our one-page status of work that we set out to accomplish six months ago. As can be seen from Figure-15, a lot has been accomplished during these six months (items in green). Some of the orange in-work items are being actively worked (bylaws update, internet services, equipment in-ventory, HF antennas), while others are awaiting direc-tion from JPL Facilities (T-1745 move and B173 move). We will attempt to complete those items that are actively being worked by the end of the CY.

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Figure-15: Status of activities to restart the JPLARC at

the six-month point in time. Green = done; Orange = in work; and Blue = not started.

The remainder of the BoD discussion was focused on our station facilities (HF, VHF, UHF, & repeater capabilities): guiding principles; current status; what’s ready for to in-stall; and where significant obstacles remain. A brief summary table from that discussion is shown in Figure-16.

Figure-16: Brief summary of the status of JPLARC sta-tion equipment and repeaters. Green = in-place and

ready for use; Yellow = have hardware but it needs in-stalling; Red = don’t currently have the gear to do this or

there are significant obstacles to overcome. A set of proposed guiding principles for station capability were discussed as follows:

• Multiple locations so that we are not vulnerable to total loss of capability due to any single event.

• Each location to have: HF, VHF, UHF, computer, emergency power, and wireless Ethernet that connects all locations and can also connect to the wired Ethernet if it is functioning.

• HF Shares capability at all HF locations (if can). • At least two repeater locations with good local

coverage, emergency power, and wireless Ether-net control capability.

As can be seen in Figure-16, we currently have two oper-ating HF stations (one in B173 and one in the Comm Van parked next to building 310), four operating VHF/UHF FM locations (B173, 310-106, Comm Van, and 180-R6), and all repeaters except the new Kenwood NXR-810 are on the air. For the yellow items, we have all or most of the hardware needed to bring that capability on line but will need work parties and possibly some help from JPL Facilities. The first yellow item is to add a 40m/20m fan dipole on a pushup mast just to the southwest of B173 (Figure-17) that would allow using the Ameritron AL-82 amplifier (we can’t use it with the R7000 without the danger of burning the traps in the antenna). This antenna would take about half a day to put up and tune, so expect a work party soon to get this done. This is a great opportunity for new hams to learn how to setup and tune dipole an-tennas.

Figure-17: Layout for a 40m/20m fan dipole at B173. The feedline would replace Hardeline#2 into B173.

Figure-18: Alpha-Delta DX-CC layout concept for B310.

9 W6VIO Calling September 2013 The second yellow item is to get an HF rig up and running next to JPL’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in building 310-106 (Figure-18) where the TM-642A tri-band VHF/UHF rig already sits. We have the radio (our sec-ond FT-1000D), the antenna (an Alpha-Delta DX-CC 80m through 10m fan dipole), coax, and lightening arrestor but still need some mounting hardware to allow the an-tenna to be set up as an inverted-V on the existing tower on the roof of building 310 with non-penetrating roof mounts. JPL may help with the antenna and coax instal-lation (still working on this). The third yellow item is to provide a hookup local to the Rohn tower on the Mesa to allow the Comm Van to use the TH-7DX and XM240 beams, as well as the 75m/80m inverted V and 80m loop antennas. There are some re-pairs that may need to be made to the antennas and rotor but we think we have everything that would be needed to make this a possibility. Again, some work parties will be involved and some JPL Facilities work (that we’re also still working on obtaining).

Figure-19: Concept for an R7000 HF and CX333

2m/1.25m/& 70cm antenna at 180-R6. The fourth yellow item is to install an HF antenna and auto tuner next to 180-R6 to allow operation of the FT-847 that’s already there in 180-R6 to operate on HF. The club’s second R7000 is currently nearly finished being rebuilt and should be able to be installed on the structure just to the east of 180-R6. At the same time, a CX333 (2m, 1.25m, 70cm) vertical will be installed on the same structure. There is also a backup battery cabinet just outside of 180-R6 in which we could install the wet cell NiCad batteries

that we took out of the Cerro Negro installation that would provide at least a short-term emergency power ca-pability for 180-R6. The fifth and last yellow item is to install the new Ken-wood NXR-810 440 MHz repeater in the 35A cabinet. The duplexer and power amp are already up there so it would not take a lot to install this repeater. We could use the GP9N 2m/70cm vertical antenna that we took off of Cerro Negro that is now in T-1745 for this repeater. The BoD concluded that this was a feasible set of station capabilities to accomplish over the next four months so we should go ahead and try to get it done. If you would like to participate in any of this, please let any of your BoD members know so we can contact you as the work gets scheduled.

How to sign up for the JPLARC email reflector: By Jim Marr AA6QI

The JPLARC maintains an email reflector (also called an email exploder) that allows members to post questions or comments that will reach the entire JPLARC membership. Only subscribed members can post to this reflector, avoiding spam from non-members. Sign up using the form located at http://wr6jpl.ampr.org/mail-man/listinfo.cgi/jplarc. This is a moderated group with a busy moderator so be patient after signing up.

Future Meetings By Jim Marr AA6QI

All JPLARC meetings are being held on Friday’s from Noon to 1 PM in 180-703C for the time being. Call in is via MeetingPlace 818-343-3434 with ID 7373. Slides will be broadcast via http://meetingplace.jpl.nasa.gov also with ID 7373.

Oct 25th:

• Introduction of the JPLARC Nominating Committee chair and membership.

• Guest speaker: Building and using a 10GHz station – Brian Thorson AF6NA

Nov 22nd:

• Finalize candidates for the CY14 club officers (Pres, VP, Sec, Treas) in preparation for elections over the next two weeks.

• Guest speaker: Setting up your own amateur radio re-lated web site – by Rob Smith W6GRV

Dec 20th: TBD