4662 miles radio email sent w/ VARA HF from Oahu, Hawaii to Queensland Australia

The Winlink Global Radio Email..system is built, operated and administered entirely by licensed "Ham" volunteers. It supports email with attachments, position reporting, weather and information bulletins, and is well-known for its role in interoperable emergency and disaster relief communications. It is capable of operating completely without the internet--automatically--using smart-network radio relays. Licensed Winlink operators/stations use both amateur radio and government radio frequencies worldwide. Support for the system is provided by the Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc., a US 501(c)(3) non-profit, public-benefit entity. Winlink Global Radio Email®️ is a US registered trademark of the Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc.


KH6ML was able to send an email using only an amateur radio and PC. No internet No Problem!

Connection Detail:



Winlink Vara Connection to VK4LM @ 2021/04/09 06:22:47 USB Dial: 14100.000
Station Bearing: 231, Range: 4662 miles   RMS Trimode 1.3.37.0
{SFI = 076 On 2021-04-09 02:00 UTC}
Welcome to VK4LM located at Bouldercombe Central Queensland.

KH6ML, on Oahu Station info: Icom IC-7300 100watts
Using a MFJ-1778M - G5RV Junior Wire Antenna - Multi-Band center-fed dipole antennas. These are multi-band, center-fed dipole antenna capable of 1,500 watts. Designed as 3/2 wavelength antennas for 14 MHz, they provide reasonable performance on many other bands. They cover all bands from 40-10 meters with a wide range antenna tuner. They are 52 ft. long and are designed to be used as an inverted vee or sloper to be more compact. Specifications: Assembled Wire Antenna: Yes Wire Antenna Type: Multi-band, non-resonant Antenna Power Rating: 1,500 Watts Wire Antenna Length: 52.00 ft. Antenna Tuner Required: Yes Feedline Connection Type: UHF female, SO-239 Minimum Recommended Feedpoint Height: 35.00 ft. Wire Gauge: 14-gauge Center Insulator Maximum Rope Size: 0.375 in. Wire Antenna Weight: 2.90 lbs.

HERE is more info on the  K4LM Winlink Gateway in Bouldercombe Central Queensland  http://www.cqara.org.au/index.php/winlink

shed

Winlink hut coming together

site

Site preparations well under way

image1

Toyota loaded to the gills with gravel, about 1.5t. Decided to put 100kg of concrete powder on bonnet to help hold front wheels down for traversing steep road

image2

Mick VK4NHX fitting new hoses to machine

image3

Mick up and running building a new piece of road to negate the existing steep sections on the access road

image4

The crew digging the foundation holes. From left, Les VK4FLES on shovel, Chris VK4FGKO also on shovel, Bob VK4FRC on the water tank hose, Ray VK4XXX on the Dingo digger, arguing with the tough digging work. Ground is harder than concrete!

image11

When the digging gets tough, add more weight :-) from left, Mick VK4NHX, Trevor Bell, Chris VK4FGKO and Ray VK4XXX

image21

Mixing starts, from left is Les VK4FLES (our resident concreter) and Chris VK4FGKO on shovel!

image31

From left, Jack VK4JRC and trusty Dingo pouring in the mix, Chris VK4FGKO observing, Les VK4FLES guiding the mix into the hole and Mick VK4NHX (our resident foreman) supervising!

image41

Les VK4FLES finishing off troweling around the foundations.

photo

VK4LM Jack Picasso handy work :)

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At left, Mick VK4NHX, Les VK4FLES and Trevor cutting out insulation on tray of Landcruiser.

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Chris VK4FGKO and Ray VK4XXX installing insulation.

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It’s up and bolted down :-) Now to start the fitout.
From left Chris VK4FGKO, Mick VK4NHX, Jack VK4JRC and Les VK4FLES.

DJI 0195

Winlink site from the air.

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Winlink site from the air.

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View of winlink shed and what appears to be an abandoned vehicle :)

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Ray VK4XXX chief solar engineer at work!

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From left, Les VK4FLES, Mick VK4NHX (Project Works Foreman) Ray VK4XXX laying out panels on mounting hardware.

Solar panel brace installed by VK4LM and VK4NJR

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From left Mick VK4NHX, Merv VK4DV, Ray VK4XXX, Les VK4FLES (Concrete engineer) Neil VK4NJR. Taking advantage of cooler weather to get some more site works completed. Installation of the antenna feed point pole, for the sky loop antenna. Coax to shed has been laid underground in conduit. The RT-600 antenna tuner will be mounted on the pole and supplied with 12volts via a bias-t from the solar system.

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Chris VK4FGKO holding ladder for Ray VK4XXX as he slides the remote ATU enclosure up the pole.

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The enclosure final mount point at top of pole.

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Concreting Wireless Internet and VHF beam mounting pole and conduit into trench.
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Neil VK4NJR slaving over a hot shovel!

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Ray VK4XXX on shovel

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Jack VK4LM and Chris VK4FGKO working out 4G panel antenna mount.

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Les VK4FLES checking 4G panel antenna mounting.

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Jack VK4LM feeding cable into conduit.

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Kay VK4FKJW supervising work, Ray VK4XXX sorting cable into conduit
Chris VK4FGKO and Les VK4FLES taking a break.

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Today’s finished job! Battery installed, solar charger installed wired and working great. 19in cabinet in place awaiting equipment install. Loop antenna up and ready for some RF

image21

You can see the 4G patch antenna installed on the pole to the left, at this stage the yagi top left of shed is in use. We are modifying, updating and testing a number of things to make this gateway the best it can be.

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A view from a bit higher up. You can just pick out the VHF (vara fm) yagi atop the pole

winlinksmall

Ver 1

DSC 0080

Ver 2

image11 e1572164098498

VK4LM Winlink node is online and installed in it's final site.

System is scanning dial frequencies 3590 7057 10130 14100 modes Ardop Pactor and VARA HF with a IC7200 connected to a Chameleon CHA SKYLOOP antenna. FT8800 on 144.075FM mode VARA FM on a home brew 3E horizontally polarized yagi. The PC stick has been getting a work out with concurrent connections on Pactor  HF and VARA FM VHF with out a problem.

We have been getting connections from ZL1 ZL2 ZL4 VA VK1 VK2 VK3 VK4 VK5 VK8 JA K7 SA6 as well as our local test team VK4JRC and VK4FLR on most bands and modes with good reports. Jack has been giving 160M a work out mobile also with great results (160M currently offline). Been able to maintain connections mobile on Mt Morgan range as well as Mt Morgan CBD. Capricorn Highway Burnett Highway and Gracemere CBD also work fine. Rockhampton CBD noise floor is a bit much. I have also used the gateway from the mobile on 30M in the CBD during the Emergency Services Day 2019. Watch this space for more mobile and field deployment testing.

Please Note: VK4LM is running VARA HF 4.3.2 and VARA FM 4.0.5

We have dropped support for Winmor. Over the last month (10 - 11/2020) winmor has been locking up VK4LM and has required a restart to release the TNC. Because of this we have been forced to remove it as a supported soundcard mode. Sorry of any inconvenience.

The below from www.winlink.org website.

10 July 2020 -- The Board of Directors of the Amateur Radio Safety Foundation voted in a recent virtual meeting to deprecate the WINMOR HF mode in the Winlink system. We request all HF RMS gateway sysops still offering WINMOR to remove it in favor of ARDOP, VARA HF and Pactor 3 or 4, where permitted by local rules.

The system will fill a big hole in the coverage of VKs East coast and the Pacific Ocean. It is a hybrid gateway so if the internet is down emails will be forwarded via HF radio to a node with internet it will then forward emails to the CMS.

Hawaii Posts with updates on safe travel programs and discuss the current state of tourism with Michael Miller

1st episode of 2021



Hawaii welcomes you back to the islands. Hawaii Posts provideds you with updates on safe travel programs and we sit down with Michael Miller Director of operations and partner of Tiki’s Grill and Bar to discuss the current state of tourism and business is re-opening up in Waikiki in Hawaii abroad.  Also we have a Surf Report weather forecast current events and Tom e Stokes nuggets of knowledge.

Enjoy the show!

Tom-e-stokes


https://hawaiiposts.libsyn.com/e-komo-mai-welcome-to-hawaii



VIDEO - Aloha Net Check-ins 7.088 40meter.net

I took a hike to a mountain top, the view is looking out at Kaneohe bay and back toward Makapu point. Setup and joined the net!


Yaesu 857d, Bioenno Battery, 50 feet of Coax with MFJ-2010, OCFD, 40/20/10/6M, DIPOLE, 300W 40, 20, 10 and 6 Meters, handles 300 Watts


Aloha Net Check-ins 40meter.net
Freq: 40M 7.188 Daily 0900 W / 1900Z

The 40 Meter AlohaNet is a Hawaii-based 40m net, which meets daily at 0900 W. It is a round-table style net with a net-controller. Great place to check 40m propagation, and results of my endless antenna experiments and get acquainted with the characters in the Hawaiian HF scene

Net control uses this website http://www.40meter.net which may be useful for participants to keep track of who’s who.

An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators have been granted an amateur radio license by a governmental regulatory authority after passing an examination on applicable regulations, electronics, radio theory, and radio operation. As a component of their license, amateur radio operators are assigned a call sign that they use to identify themselves during communication. Amateur radio operators are also known as radio amateurs or hams. The term "ham" is a nickname for amateur radio operators. http://www.earchi.org/education/ Emergency Amateur Radio Club - Hawaii would like to assist Oahu residents in obtaining or upgrading their FCC Amateur Radio licenses.

VIDEO - 2021 - ZS6CCY SOUTH AFRICA TO KH6ML HAWAII

]ZS6CCY SOUTH AFRICA TO KH6ML HAWAII 19,312km (11,999 mi) 40M amateur radio contact.

OPERATION POSITION AND DETAILS FOR KH6ML - MICHAEL HE'EIA KEA HARBOR46-499 Kamehameha Hwy., Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744 21° 26′ 41″ N, 157° 48′ 36″ W NOAA NAUTICAL CHART #19359 https://www.charts.noaa.gov/PDFs/19359.pdf EAST OAHU KANEOHE BAY

  https://www.qrz.com/db/KH6ML Hawaii DXCC
ICOM IC-7300 with 100w and a HI-Q Antenna on the back of the truck.

  https://www.qrz.com/db/ZS6CCY SOUTH AFRICA DXCC 


 An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service.

 Amateur radio operators have been granted an amateur radio license by a governmental regulatory authority after passing an examination on applicable regulations, electronics, radio theory, and radio operation. 

As a component of their license, amateur radio operators are assigned a call sign that they use to identify themselves during communication. Amateur radio operators are also known as radio amateurs or hams. The term "ham" is a nickname for amateur radio operators. 

  http://www.earchi.org/education/ Emergency Amateur Radio Club - Hawaii would like to assist Oahu residents in obtaining or upgrading their FCC Amateur Radio licenses.

Net announcement - Windward Oahu Winlink Net.

Aloha Windward Winlink Operators and others,

Join us this Wednesday, March 17, 2021, at 8 PM for the Windward Oahu MID-MONTH Winlink Net.

We will take Voice check-ins then move to digital mode :

  • 147.000+ pl 103.5 repeater will be used to take check-ins VOICE ONLY
  • 145.070 Gateway Feq with VARA FM P2P (NET CONTROL MAIN)
    • ----------------Below may be used as needed ----------------
  • 145.050 VARA FM P2P & Voice secondary
  • 146.505 Voice and VARA FM P2P

ALL amateur operators are invited even if you do not have your radio equipment set up yet. You can still practice and send via Telnet. This is the first step to getting started. 

Here are some video to get you started: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-7mirT-kjfs84FQzLr-qv066Kl94rtYM

In advance, we will ask each operator to prepare at least 4 P2P messages to operators that might be on the net. Feel free to prep more. 

  • WWN MSG1: List the Address of the closest fire station and EMS station to your home. 
  • WWN MSG2: When the power goes out what backup power do you have at home?
  • WWN MSG3: Where and when did you first get licensed?
  • WWN MSG4: What other short questions should we ask each other?

We will try two-hop VARA FM digipeating. Pick a station that you can not reach P2P, if possible.

 Each operator will pick the two Hops that will work the best. 

Be ready to say what stations you will be using. Digipeating stations will work best.

Sample plan:

  1. NH6XL send      P2P KH7HO     Via 1  KH6LT    Via 2  WH6EQU
  2. _____   send     P2P ______      Via 1 _______  Via 2 _______
  3. _____   send     P2P ______      Via 1 _______  Via 2 _______

Mahalo, Michael Miller (KH6ML)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t98Ar4sSmoErTVrowNVXNXzxIUddtAevOo5KoBSn7-c/edit?usp=sharing


****NO tsunami threat**** POST - Tsunami Watch PROPAGATION CHECK

There is NO tsunami threat for MARCH 4, 2021  to the State of Hawai'i

Still you should know your Hawaii Tsunami Evacuation Zones: https://dod.hawaii.gov/hiema/public-resources/tsunami-evacuation-zone/

But we were very concerned on Thursday 3/4/2021 with this first message. 

ZCZC
WEHW40 PHEB 041938
TSUHWX
HIZ001>003-005>009-012>014-016>021-023>026-042138-
/O.NEW.PHEB.TS.A.0001.210304T1938Z-000000T0000Z/

BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER   1
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
938 AM HST THU MAR 04 2021

TO - EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IN THE STATE OF HAWAII

SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WATCH

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS ISSUED FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII EFFECTIVE AT
0938 AM HST.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

   ORIGIN TIME - 0928 AM HST 04 MAR 2021
   COORDINATES - 29.6 SOUTH  176.0 WEST
   LOCATION    - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
   MAGNITUDE   - 8.0  MOMENT

EVALUATION

 BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A TSUNAMI MAY HAVE BEEN GENERATED BY
 THIS EARTHQUAKE THAT COULD BE DESTRUCTIVE ON COASTAL AREAS EVEN
 FAR FROM THE EPICENTER. AN INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY TO DETERMINE
 IF THERE IS A TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.

 IF TSUNAMI WAVES IMPACT HAWAII THE ESTIMATED EARLIEST ARRIVAL OF
 THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS

                     0435 PM HST THU 04 MAR 2021

FURTHER MESSAGES WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS
WARRANT UNTIL THE THREAT TO HAWAII HAS PASSED.

======

The morning after the watch I wanted to test my winlink HF station and skills in case they were needed.

Here are a few of the stations I was able to send and receive email messages. I would have tried for more but needed to get to work.

MAP from my home to the US Mainland. Using 100w on a ICOM IC-7300 and a G5RV jr antenna*

Here is the final message:

Image

The Tsunami Watch triggered by a magnitude 8.1 earthquake near New Zealand, has been canceled for the state of Hawai'i.
The Watch was issued at 9:38 a.m. Thursday, according to Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. However, by 12:20 p.m., the agency canceled the alert.
"Based on all available data, there is no tsunami threat to the State of Hawai'i. Therefore, the Tsunami Watch for Hawai'i is now cancelled," the update read.

Winlink Global Radio Email is a network of amateur radio and authorized government-licensed stations that provides worldwide radio email using radio pathways where the internet is not present. The system is built, operated and administered entirely by licensed "Ham" volunteers. It supports email with attachments, position reporting, weather and information bulletins, and is well-known for its role in interoperable emergency and disaster relief communications. It is capable of operating completely without the internet--automatically--using smart-network radio relays. Licensed Winlink operators/stations use both amateur radio and government radio frequencies worldwide. https://www.winlink.org

* G5RV Junior Wire Antenna - Multi-Band center-fed dipole antennas. These are multi-band, center-fed dipole antenna capable of 1,500 watts. Designed as 3/2 wavelength antennas for 14 MHz, they provide reasonable performance on many other bands. They cover all bands from 40-10 meters with a wide range antenna tuner. They are 52 ft. long and are designed to be used as an inverted vee or sloper to be more compact. Specifications: Assembled Wire Antenna: Yes Wire Antenna Type: Multi-band, non-resonant Antenna Power Rating: 1,500 Watts Wire Antenna Length: 52.00 ft. Antenna Tuner Required: Yes Feedline Connection Type: UHF female, SO-239 Minimum Recommended Feedpoint Height: 35.00 ft. Wire Gauge: 14-gauge Center Insulator Maximum Rope Size: 0.375 in. Wire Antenna Weight: 2.90 lbs.

Michael KH6ML