Blog Archives

March 2017 – Mini EComm Conference

At the March club meeting we had some excellent Mini Ecomm Conference presentations. The presentations were an Ecomm Trailer demo by Theo Thompson K7TWT, Grab n Go Radio Kits by Kent AD7HK and Shirley AD7HL Larsen, Medical/First Aid Grab n Go Kits by Brian Jenkins KF7UOH, Solar Power Buyer’s Guide by Chris Clement K7CTC, 72 Hour Kit Demo by Laurie Littledike KF7DKM, CERT demo by Russ Leikis KE7VFI, and Portable HF demo by Jared Smith N7SMI.

Every year we need to review our Grab n Go Kits and 72 Hr Kits that we have prepared for emergency situations. The review and inventory makes sure that expendable items are fresh, and you have not borrowed something and forgot to put it back. It’s also a good time to check your HTs, portable radios are in good working order, and update any repeater frequencies that might have changed. Also the information presented at the Ecomm Conference could give you ideas to improve or add items to your Grab n Go Kit and 72 hr Kits. So when all else fails, you are ready with your Grab n Go Kit and 72 Hr Kit.

The month of April is when the Great Utah ShakeOut drill is held. This is an opportunity to learn how to be better prepared for major earthquakes and how to protect ourselves during earthquakes. Participating is a great way for you or your organization to gain a better understanding in taking appropriate action to reduce injuries and fatalities during earthquakes, and to recover quickly from big earthquakes.

Be Ready Utah is the State of Utah’s official emergency preparedness campaign managed by the Division of Homeland Security. It’s designed as a bottom-up approach for preparedness with the focus on every individual’s personal responsibility in preparedness first. The web site provides valuable information for individuals and families, communities, and others on how to get started with simple, basic steps to preparedness.



February 2017 – Remote Station Control

The topic for the February meeting was remote station control.  Ted McArthur (AC7II) opened by presenting on rig CAT control, software, connection types, configuring your internet connection, etc.  Ted demonstrated using his Yaesu FT-5000DX with FT-2000RC software by Brend Koch (DF3CB) over Skype.

Next, Tyler Griffiths (N7UWX) presented his remote shack implementation utilizing Team Viewer, Skype, and his Kenwood TS-2000.

Finally, Bob Wood (WA7MXZ) demonstrated using his Yaesu FT-897 with Ham Radio Deluxe over Skype and VNC.

Operating a station remotely definitely has some neat advantages but as we observed during the three demonstrations given, there are a few bits that need to come together for everything to work correctly.  While it takes a small learning curve and a bit of finesse to get everything dialed in for remote operation…  Tinkering on this topic is one of the many things that makes ham radio so fun.

For a more “turn-key” solution, Kenwood has a proprietary feature called Sky Command in some of their radios.



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