Year: 2019

Ironically enough I went out and got a new WRT54 in order to flash HSMM onto it in order to play around with mesh networking again. The problem is the WRT54 I got at the thrift store for $1 was broken / bricked. I was not able to ping it or upload flash. I tried EVERYTHING from every guide and was about to e-waste the box when I read about the “grounding pin 16” technique. This basically means you open the box, ground pin 16 to the antenna ground using a short piece of wire and plug it in. At that point you can use the tftp command to upload a new firmware. I needed to put a SMALL version of dd-wrt firmware on it and then go to HSMM since I was getting upload failures / too large errors going straight to HSMM. I believe I needed to use the NVRAM clearing functions in dd-wrt in order to wipe out memory or bad flash settings blocking the hsmm upload. After I did that I had no more problems.

You can find pin 16 instructions in many places like http://www.thenorth.com/apblog4.nsf/0/668D65A56B02BB4B852570A400535F16

 

 

 

This past weekend I took a short trip to Yosemite National Park. I brought my 2m radio (Yaesu VX-8R) and programmed it with the local repeaters and simplex frequencies. As I went hiking (and biking) around the Valley I mainly stayed on the 2m calling frequency (146.52) with a few trips over to W6BXN repeater. I’m sad to say I heard no traffic at all over the entire weekend. I couldn’t hit the repeater using my handheld from the valley floor or when hiking on the peaks. On simplex I never heard any other callers and never got a call back from any requests on .52.

On the attached map I placed a star for each location I tried calling on 2m simplex or attempting to get into the W6BXN repeater.  Next time I go I’ll try with a mag mount or j-pole but this trip didn’t leave much time for experimenting.

 

I try to always have .52 on when I am hiking but have only once heard anyone calling and that was during the Great Solar Eclipse driving chaos in Idaho! It’s quite possible that an HT just doesn’t have a good enough antenna to send and receive well enough (esp in the Valley or Forest) but I strongly encourage all hams to get in the habit of monitoring it.

 

This March 24, 2019 from 6pm – 8pm local time will be the Spring version of “Light up 2 Meter Simplex”. the aim of this event is to get on 2 meter simplex and chat with other hams. A common place to start is the national calling frequency of 146.52 Mhz (no tone and no offset) Also any other simplex frequency is great as well.

A list of 2m simplex frequencies (for California area at least) can be found here.

I attended BayCon 2019 this past weekend. This is a free one day Amateur Radio event consisting of interesting 30 minute or so presentations, a nice free table and a fundraiser for the BayNet repeater club that puts the day on.

 

 

Some good talks including one on SOTA, solar power, digital radio, a history of Silicon Valley and a tour of Cisco’s emergency communications team and truck.