A few weeks ago I ordered the Icom GPS mic from an eBay seller in Canada.

Took a little longer to be delivered than the 6-10 days I was quoted, but I blame the postal services, not the seller.

I wanted to use with the DPRS (digital APRS) & it took a bit of research and even emailing a site owner that his site was down to fine tune the settings.

Using a Combination of the links below I was able to fine tune my settings and have posted some images from the RS-92 software.

As I am usually listening to a repeater the GPS Auto TX is off.

D-PRS Calculator
This page calculates the necessary GPS message (C1 message on most Icom radios) to use your Icom radio in GPS mode (not GPS-A mode) with D-PRS. Your browser must have JavaScript enabled to use this page.

D-PRS Calculator Same as above I found when site above was down.

Cambridgeshire Repeater Group DPRS Setup

Accessing GB7GL

GB7WC.org.uk APRS

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It was well overdue, but I have decided to stop (or limit) using my old online Nickname and will use my Ham Radio callsign instead.

www.gadget17.co.uk now re-directs to www.m0tzo.co.uk

I have also stopped using elsewhere, or at least made dormant for now.

I’ve had my M0TZO callsign for 3 years+ now. I may even end up selling the domain name gadget17.co.uk, but haven’t made up my mind yet.

All the old post from gadget17.co.uk were imported into this blog, and while I will need to go through them and weed out some, they are here for now.

Finally, I hope with only one blog, I might actually get some updates on here.

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MØTZO MØTZO de 2EØHTS 2EØHTS

Thanks for the callback Paul nice to see you on here and Twitter. Your RST is 599 599. My name is Simon Simon, QTH is BAILDON BAILDON in IO93CU [339.3° 293.8km] IO93CU. How copy? nice to get you in the log h.i BTU MØTZO de 2EØHTS k

2EØHTS de MØTZO

Simon, my station
Radio    : IC-756 ProIII, 5Øw, G4ZLP Interface
Software : HRD + DM78Ø v5.Ø Beta
Antenna  : 6-BTV

My QSL is OK via the bureau, LoTW (or eQSL.cc).

EPC #9222

Cool, about seeing me on Twitter, wasn’t sure I would get anything from it

BTU 2EØHTS de MØTZO kn

MØTZO MØTZO de 2EØHTS 2EØHTS

all ok Paul, isnt twitter great!!!

My station: rig YAESU FT-767GX,

Power 3ØR-

Software = PSK31 Deluxe v4.Ø,

P.C – 35ØØ Dual Core, 2Gig Ram, 96ØØGT Graphics – Nomic RIG Blaster.

Antenna 13ØFT Dipole & 2ØM Delta Loop,

Locator = IO93CU

My Site web http://www.hamradiooperator.blogspot.com/

My QSL is OK via eQSL.cc QRZ.COM or via the bureau.

BTU Paul, will tweet you some tweets soon mate,  MØTZO de 2EØHTS K

2EØHTS de MØTZO

Keep Tweeting on Twitter (@mØtzo for those SWL’ing) and this will certainly get a mention on there.

73 Simon Davison & thanks for PSK31 QSO 21 on 8Øm.

2EØHTS de MØTZO sk

MØTZO de 2EØHTS

Ha Ha yeah Tweeting is for Hams h.i

Hello SWLs!!!

73 to You Paul catch you soon on Twitter and thanks for the QSO hope to See U AGN Ioon. GOOD DX GL & GOOD NIGHT..

MØTZO de 2EØHTS Sk Sk

2EØHTS de MØTZO

Maybe I should Blog this as well! LOL

2EØHTS de MØTZO sk sk

MØTZO MØTZO de 2EØHTS EEØHTS

Good idea, will do it too Good night mate

MØTZO MØTZO de 2EØHTS 2EØHTS sK SK

2EØHTS de MØTZO

Night Night!

2EØHTS de MØTZO sk sk

I suggested on air I would blog this, and kept true to my word! Was a good QSO, especially when he mentioned Twitter.

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How did I do? Well I decided to try to beat a previous score from home, and I did more than I planned.

Although the IARU contest was only 24 hours long, was only other contest this year I had done from home.

I had to beat 73 QSOs and 7,535 Points. I exceeded that even notching a few last minute contacts on 40m before my own 11pm deadline.

OK, it’s not the greatest result, but with each new contest I do from the MØTZO shack, I improve the setup and way I operate. Even for this one, I figured out how to activate Radio 2 in Win-Test after you open the window. Made logging so much easier.

All my logs have been uploaded to Logbook of the World (LoTW) and imported into my main log.

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So this weekend I decided to get back on HF using PSK31. Which usually most evenings I spend in front of the PC & radio anyway, so using that mode shouldn’t be that difficult.

Sunday evening I tried, but was drowned out by RTTY stations as I hadn’t planned on the JARTS RTTY contest.

Monday evening, was much better.

After a few hours, I have 6 new QSO’s in my logbook, which while it’s not a great amount, considering how much I normally do in a month, is quite a few for me.

I will continue this week, and see how I do, and who knows might actually get nice QSO’s for a change.

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Online version http://www.rsgb.org/rsgbconvention/events_programme.php

• Operating & DXing
  • XML – iCAL - HTML
• Technical
  • XML – iCAL – HTML
• VHF & up
  • XML – iCAL – HTML
• Contest University A
  • XML – iCAL – HTML
• Contest University B
  • XML – iCAL – HTML
• Stream C
  • XML – iCAL – HTML

21/09/2009 Update Number 1 – Most Calendars Changed

28/09/2009 Update Number 2 – Operating & Tech Changed on Saturday – VHF Changed on Sunday

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I guess I had actually sown the seeds of this idea when I got my provisional licence renewed in September 08, but only recently did I have the final part really in place. The money.

I had brought the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) DVD/CD triple pack recently and got in contact with local driving school.

This week will be my first lesson in 8 years. A colleague and myself were being taught by a guy who left our office about 8/9 years ago, and I didn’t continue lessons at that time.

I have also booked my Theory Test for next week and have been studying whenever I can. I even brought some Mock test cartridges for my Nintendo DS. I might do a write about them soon.

Anyway, off to do tonights mock test.

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I didn’t have a target and just worked mostly 20m & 40m on Saturday night and then 10m, 15m and some more 20m on Sunday morning.

Peter M3PHP just had to beat me getting 79 QSOs and 8142 points.

Still, was a bit of practice for the IOTA contest the Whitton Amateur Radio Group (www.warg.info) might be planning on entering as M2W.

From the graphic, it’s obvious I need to get better antenna on 80m & maybe one for 160m as well.

Log already emailed and need to look at doing the QSL cards soon with my Dymo Label Printer.

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Photos are on my Flickr.com page http://tinyurl.com/FN2009

Day 1 - It’s 11pm here in Friedrichshafen and I have spent the evening being the guest of the Slovenians. I have even put my tent up in their camp area.

I’ve had a few beers and now just drinking a cup of tea. The East camp area has a feeling of community even though it’s a large amount of camper vans & tents that will be good in a few days.

The airport is quiet and even at this time of night I can see a Zepplin airship moored in the distance.

Tip of the day:- Get extra bag at airport they supply for liquids & use to store your normal currency when you need to use different currency whilst you’re away.

Day 2 - What a start to the day. Not long after I emerged from my small tent (got some comments about how it looks) I noticed the Zepplin was about to depart. I started the video recording on my phone and got a nice piece of it taking off & the moving into the distance.

After a cup of coffee was time to hit the show.

Wow. It’s big.

Compared to biggest Ham event i’ve been to in UK just the flea markets alone are 4x bigger. Then is another bit for vendors.

A few hours were spent trawling the flea markets, not that I could buy much as not really any space in my bag. Well I brought 2 Friedrichshafen 2x T-shirts with callsign on. Oh & ARRL membership.

At 2pm we went for beers. Was quite a few on our table drinking including 3 Germans, 3 Slovenians, and me. I also enjoyed a Wurst (German) sausage. 2 hours later I had to return to get the T-shirts.

Some of our group the tried the pile-up contest. I didn’t attempt to save me from showing myself up.

We them headed back to Slovenian camp but I was slightly delayed as found out where US exams where happening following morning.

Once back at camp no sooner were beers opened the skies opened and drenched the camp.
We were under am awning but a few leaks had to be quickly sorted. Also one of the beers was almost frozen. Then had a glass of wine made in 1984 when Slovenia played England at football, but I am sure he said England lost. Oh well.

For dinner was a nice pasta dish kindly provided by my hosts again.

After a few more drinks there was a group forming near one of the vans. Upon going round the other side there was some French Amateurs sending what looked like an SSTV image, but showed instantly on the screen when signal was lost and re-established.

A short time later I went to bed.

Day 3 - Started  Saturday early. I was dressed, tent & sleeping bag was packed by 8:30am.

There was a short queue for the “Ham Tram” free taxis to the main event.

Once at there I headed for the admin building to take my US General exam. There were about 12 people taking the exams at the 3 levels. Room was split with almost half taking Technician exam, and most others the Amateur Extra. Only 2 including me were taking General.

I spent some time in recent weeks studying for the exam, either at Hamtests.net or just reading the questions on my Sony Reader.

Well, it helped as I passed.

WØTZO/AG

Now just writing this while deciding what to do. The rain is coming down hard now & I have no more space for purchases.

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I finally decided the time had come, and I had the funds to give D-Star a try. The choice is one I am not regretting (so far).

I purchased the very rig in the photo, it’s an Icom IC-E92D. I should point out that in some countries this radio maybe referred to as IC-92AD but more or less it works the same.

Also as can be seen in the photo the radio doesn’t say D-Star. There is some issue in Europe & Africa which means they call it Digital and not D-Star.

I have mainly worked through GB7AU (www.77hz.com) repeater in Amersham and it’s also the site I used to be registered onto the D-Star system.

I have spoken to stations in other parts of England, Northern Ireland, and USA, as well as a friend locally used D-Star in simplex mode.

The clarity of audio is great when it works, but if you lose the signal slightly it breaks up so nothing is heard, or it’s a garbled mess, but generally it’s been working.

I have also this weekend soldered some more bits onto my MKARS80. I have a few friends who keep badgering me and asking if I am finished yet. This is my first build of something this complex.

Prior to this my most complex build was a morse oscillator I have also posted in this post.

I think I am doing well, and I offer this challenge. If you want to moan at me about how long this is taking (I started in July 2008), then you should build one yourselves first.

A quick calculation in Excel informed me I have completed over 80% of the kit. I have spoken to a friend as I need some un-enameled wire. I have some 22gauge wire from the kit, but my current soldering iron is not hot enough to melt the enamal.

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