We’re on Brandmeister talk group 3126 statewide Michigan for the DMR Tech Net on Monday, April 8th from 7:30pm ET – 8:30pm ET.
Join us as we discuss Monday’s Solar Eclipse and if your amateur radio communications were impacted by it.
Join us as we demystify and have fun with DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) every Monday night!
The DMR Tech Net team is branching out with a monthly show called DMR Tech Net TV on Zoom the third Tuesday of each month from 8pm-9pm ET
- We’ve scheduled Garrett Dow KD6KPC of Repeaterbook.com on Tuesday, April 16, to explain his website and the new changes coming to it.
- If you missed previous DMR Tech Net TV broadcasts, you can watch them on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq4TAnA-_yE7kdcuaKzw8rQ
- If you have a topic or issue you would like discussed, let us know.
We’re also in communication with Chip Cuccio WØCHP to come back on the DMR Tech Net to explain (and answer the questions you have about) the WPST Pi-star dashboard and the M17 Network. Due to family issues, he’s been unable to join us, but when time permits, we’ll change our weekly topic so we can hear from him.
The DMR Tech Net team will be doing a DMR presentation on Wednesday, April 10th at the Hazel Park Amateur Radio Club. The meeting starts at 7:30pm ET. The Hazel Park library is located at 123 E 9 Mile Rd – at the corner of 9 Mile road and John R street. https://goo.gl/maps/CYvGU58SsCLT7Kof9 on Google maps. You are welcome to arrive early to socialize. If you can’t make it in person, join in via Zoom.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88138862760?pwd=YWt4R2Z2RUo3amNDTGowK2Z5dHdrZz09
You can always chat with the DMR Tech Net team on TGIF talk group 31268, the DMR Tech Net channel or Brandmeister talk group 31266, the Michigan Nets channel.
The majority of the DMR Tech Net team celebrates birthdays in April.
Tom April 7, Dana April 13, Stan April 15, Steve April 18, Brad April 29, Brian Sept 27, and Rick Nov 12.
If you have a comment or a DMR topic idea for the DMR Tech Net, please share it with any of us. Send an email to: steve@dmrtechnet.net, stan@dmrtechnet.net, tom@dmrtechnet.net, dana@dmrtechnet.net, brian@dmrtechnet.net, or brad@dmrtechnet.net.
If you want to subscribe to this newsletter, send an email to subscribe@dmrtechnet.net and we’ll get you added to the list.
Here are the Michigan DMR nets we know about.
Please join in & participate on them.
Saturday:
- 7:00pm Arrow DMR Net on BrandMeister talk group 3126
- 7:30pm DMR Trivia Net on TGIF talk group 31268
Sunday:
- 6:30pm UP (Upper Peninsula) Net on BrandMeister talk group 31268
Monday:
- 7:30pm DMR Tech Net on BrandMeister talk group 3126
- 8:30pm Michigan One DMR Net on BrandMeister talk group 3126
The DMR Tech Net team is helping Dustin N8RMA with NCS duties on the Michigan One DMR net on Monday nights. If you would like to help out with our schedule of Net Control Station operators, send an email to dana@dmrtechnet.net. Here’s the upcoming list of substitute NCS’:
- Apr 8 Brian KE8NJT
- Apr 15 Brad KE8WNV
- Apr 22 Bob KB8DQQ
- Apr 29 Ron AC2UL
- May 6 Steve KC8WXM
https://www.michiganonedmr.net/
Ham Radio’s Many Roles During Solar Eclipse
04/05/2024
In one of nature’s most spectacular visual displays, on April 8, 2024, the sun will align with the moon and the Earth, casting a shadow that will transit much of North America.
Spectacular Display and Gathering
Millions will gather along the path of totality – the section where the sun is fully blocked by the moon – to witness something that happens, on average, once every 375 years for any place on our planet. The moon’s shadow path will begin over the South Pacific Ocean, and then it will cross into North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Weather permitting, the first location in continental North America that will experience totality is Mexico’s Pacific coast, at around 11:07 a.m. PDT. The shadow will exit continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at 5:16 p.m. NDT.
Ham radio will be there – operators will participate in scientific experiments, serve local communities that will be overrun with hundreds of thousands of visitors, and provide a valuable tool for communicating if the mobile phone networks become overloaded.
Science
Regular sun and moon watchers will be out in force while many scientists, astronomers, and amateur radio operators will be “working” the eclipse. ARRL has partnered with Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI), a NASA citizen science project, to encourage hams to send and receive signals to one another before, during, and after the eclipse. The project will be led by Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, a professor of Physics and Engineering at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. HamSCI participants will share their radio data to catalog how the sudden loss of sunlight during totality affects their radio signals. All radio amateurs are welcome to participate in the ionospheric research that is being conducted. Information is available at the Solar Eclipse QSO Party on the HamSCI website.
NASA plans to point a large telescope at the eclipse and broadcast the entire event across North America. The agency will host live coverage of the eclipse from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. EDT (17:00 to 20:00 UTC) on April 8 on the NASA YouTube channel. There will be live views of the eclipse from watch parties across the country, and even from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio, which happens to be inside the path of totality.
In addition to NASA’s plans, the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), a collection of radars located at sites around the world, will bounce radio waves off of the ionosphere and analyze the returning signals. Their data will reveal changes in the ionosphere’s density, temperature, and location.
There is also the Radio JOVE project, which is made up of a team of citizen scientists dedicated to documenting radio signals from space, and especially from Jupiter. During the total solar eclipse, Radio JOVE participants will focus on the sun. Using radio antenna kits that they set up themselves, they’ll record solar radio bursts before, during, and after the eclipse.
EmComm
Emergency communications groups, including those affiliated with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®), will be active in the areas near totality. National Weather Service (NWS) offices are closely watching weather patterns in and around the eclipse path for any severe weather that could impact watchers and increase traffic. Many first responders, including law enforcement, medical personnel, and fire departments, will be ready to respond to any emergency that might occur during the eclipse. Those officials represent some of the served agencies that radio amateurs work to support.
Most ARRL Sections within the path of totality have been working with their local served agencies to provide communications volunteers through amateur radio. In New Hampshire, for example, where cell phone and road networks are expected to be overwhelmed, New Hampshire ARES has local groups activated in many communities.
Public Information Coordinator of the ARRL New Hampshire Section Skip Camejo, AC1LC, said members across the state are ready. “A small team pulled from several NH-ARES groups will be providing limited communications support for the American Red Cross, using both HF and VHF. We will have an RV-based station in Lancaster, NH, and another in Pittsburg, both at locations provided by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation,” he said.
In the event of a mass-casualty incident or a need for emergency sheltering, the teams will travel to the scene with a state police escort. They’re expecting 10,000 to 50,000 visitors on Monday in that community alone.
Other ARES groups have been preparing and drilling over the last few months. In the ARRL North Texas Section, a set of criteria has been established as reportable to the local served agencies’ emergency operations centers. Look for more details on ham radio involvement during the eclipse in next week’s The ARRL Letter.
Outreach
Many groups are holding eclipse festivals. Some amateur radio groups and clubs are taking advantage of these gatherings to get radio in front of the curious public. Vice Director of the ARRL Hudson Division Ed Wilson, N2XDD, is preparing an informational display for an event at his local library.
The Suffolk County Radio Club on Long Island, New York, will be participating in the Solar Eclipse QSO Party from the Moriches Branch Library.
Wilson saw radio as a perfect addition to the library’s eclipse activities. “Another club member and I went down to the librarian and spoke to her about the HamSCI event. We asked if we would be able to set up a ham radio station during the course of the day. They loved the idea and approved it, and they invited us to some other events that they’re having in the next few months,” he said.
For clubs that may have a public presence during the eclipse, there are resources on the ARRL website detailing how to help explain the hobby to the uninitiated.
The total solar eclipse will be the last of its kind for more than two decades in the contiguous U.S. The next total solar eclipse on U.S. soil won’t occur until March 30, 2033, and it will be viewable only in Alaska.
https://www.arrl.org/news/ham-radio-s-many-roles-during-solar-eclipse
The solar eclipse is days away. Here’s what you need to know
LANSING — The total solar eclipse is less than a week away, and excitement and a bit of trepidation about the weather are building across Michigan and the United States.
While the Lansing area and much of Michigan will not see the total eclipse — the moon will cover the majority, but not the entirety, of the sun at the peak of the eclipse — thousands are still expected to spend some time outside on April 8 catching a glimpse of the solar phenomenon.
The next solar eclipse is more than 20 years away, expected in 2045.
Here’s a guide to events taking place this week and on Monday, how to safely view the eclipse, and where to find the glasses with which to do so.
When is the eclipse and what will I be able to see?
The path of totality will stretch from Mexico, across Texas, slanting northeast across the U.S. to Newfoundland, Canada. The path will be about 125 miles wide and will cross parts of Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
In the Lansing area, the eclipse will begin a few minutes before 2 p.m., reach a maximum at 3:12 p.m. and end about 4:25 p.m., said Shannon Schmoll, director of Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.
“We won’t see the total eclipse from Lansing; it will be 96, 97% coverage,” Schmoll said. “We’ll see a little crescent of sunlight still at that point, The whole event will be about 2½ hours long.”
What events are happening this week?
There are numerous events at local libraries this week, and Abrams Planetarium is hosting viewings of “Totality.” The film explores the science behind how eclipses happen, the history of eclipse viewing and how to view one safely. Showings will run at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4 p.m. Sunday. You can buy tickets at www.abramsplanetarium.org.
Want to get creative? Staff at Briggs District Library, 108 E. Railroad St. in St. Johns, will teach people how to make their own “alternate viewing devices” to use during the eclipse. The event will be from 4-5 p.m. Friday. No library card or registration is required to take part.
Want to attend a viewing party?
The Charlotte Community Library, 226 S Bostwick St., will host an eclipse viewing party from 1-4 p.m. Monday. The library is also offering eclipse viewing glasses while supplies. Learn more at https://charlottelibrary.org. Libraries in DeWitt, Okemos, Haslett, Grand Ledge and Delta Township are also hosting viewing parties.
Will the weather cooperate?
Nathan Jeruzal, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Grand Rapids Service office, said it’s too early to give an exact forecast for the much-anticipated day, but there’s a chance Lansing area residents will be able to see the eclipse.
“There is a chance that there’s going to be sky conditions that would be favorable,” he said. “I don’t want to say 50-50 by any means. I would say probably the way the weather pattern looks, maybe just a little bit better chance than not that there’s going to be some sunshine around and the eclipse will be available to see.
Where can I get eclipse glasses?
Looking directly at the sun during an eclipse without proper protection can damage your eyes. Here’s where you can get a pair of eclipse glasses locally:
Eclipse glasses are available for free from all Capital Area District Libraries now through April 8, while supplies last.
Other local libraries, including in Grand Ledge and Delta Township, will give out glasses and some businesses are giving them away or selling them for a nominal cost.
Stores including Meijer and Menards are also selling them. Here’s where you can find more information on glasses and how to use them safely.
I’m not in the Lansing area. Where can I find the eclipse time where I’m at?
The distance between your location and the path of totality will determine how much of the sun will be covered by the moon. Many places in the U.S. — Rochester, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; and Austin, Texas; to name a few — will see a total eclipse. Lansing and many parts of the Midwest will see a partial eclipse.
Here’s a handy Zip code finder that gives you an idea of what you’ll be able to see and when.
Still willing to travel?
Many areas in prime viewing path of the eclipse are expecting traffic jams, and some areas have even declared a local state of emergency.
But there are still opportunities to get a room within reasonable driving distance of an area that will see the full eclipse. Here’s the latest on what may be available near Toledo and Sandusky, Ohio, and other areas.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2024/04/02/solar-eclipse-april-8-events-path-glasses-weather/73176973007/
World Amateur Radio Day is April 18, 2024
03/29/2024
World Amateur Radio Day (WARD) is celebrated each year on April 18.
The theme for 2024 is, “A Century of Connections: Celebrating 100 Years of Amateur Radio Innovation, Community, and Advocacy.” The global event covers all of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) regions and spans 2 days: Thursday, April 18, 2024, 0000 UTC to Friday, April 19, 2024, 0000 UTC.
On April 18, 1925, the IARU was formed in Paris and will celebrate its centenary in 2025. American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim was the organization’s first president.
All radio amateurs are invited to take to the airwaves to enjoy the global friendship with other amateurs and to show their skills and capabilities to the public. WARD is not a contest but rather an opportunity to talk about the value of amateur radio to the public and fellow amateur colleagues. It is also a great opportunity to talk about local radio clubs and amateur radio in local media as a lead-up to ARRL Field Day, which is held each year during the fourth full weekend in June. You can also promote your personal WARD activities on social media platforms like X and Facebook by using the hashtag #WorldAmateurRadioDay.
For more ideas and information, visit World Amateur Radio Day (arrl.org).
https://www.arrl.org/news/world-amateur-radio-day-is-april-18-2024
If you want to donate to BrandMeister to help them run their DMR network, Corey Dean N3FE shared the following links:
3102 and 3104 donations https://www.nfoservers.com/donate.pl?force_recipient=1&recipient=n3fe%40repeater.net
3103 donations https://www.nfoservers.com/donate.pl?force_recipient=1&recipient=w7xm%40w7xm.com
Robert Bretzman K4WZV of the TGIF network mentioned this if you want to donate to their network:
The servers that run the TGIF Network draw money from a coffer fund. We pay for much of it out of our own pockets, so we very much appreciate any donations. If you wish to donate, you may do so by clicking the donation link: https://www.paypal.com/donate/
If you want to donate to RadioID.net, Glen Bizeau VE9GLN said you can subscribe to his website for additional features: https://radioid.net/account/membership.
You can also purchase RadioID.net merchandise at https://store.radioid.net/.
Garrett Down KD6KPC of Repeaterbook.com shared this if you want to donate to his website:
To run a website like Repeaterbook.com, revenue is needed to keep it active on the web. There are bills to be paid, hosting companies to be paid, SSL certificates to be purchased, and other expenses that go along with the research and development of the data. The costs add up.
Repeaterbook has committed to keeping access to its data completely free. Since we don’t charge for the data or access to the site, we decided to incorporate ads into the site. The ads generate revenue that has been sufficient to pay the bills (most months). With the advent of ad-blocking technology, we began to see ad revenue slip. We get it. Many people don’t want to see ads and our stats indicate that up to 30% of our site visitors are using an ad blocker. Some say the performance on the site has even suffered waiting for ads to load. And come are concerned about Internet tracking through the ads (yes, Google does it).
We think we have found a solution to meet in the middle.
You can now subscribe to Repeaterbook and obtain a membership that will silence the ads on Repeaterbook. This form of obtaining revenue while quieting ads is used on qrz.com.
So now we have two option to fit your preference:
- Enjoy Repeaterbook completely free, while enduring the ads that appear.
- Sign up for a Repeaterbook subscription and silence the ads.
To take advantage of this offer, you must be a registered user in good standing.
Look at our Subscription Plans.
https://www.repeaterbook.com/index.php/en-us/ad-free
Finally, join and become a member of your local amateur radio club. They can use your dues to help defray the costs of running the club and repeater.
Topics for future DMR Tech Nets:
- Go over the Digimon feature to explain what it is, how and why to use it.
- Private calling on your DMR radio. How to set it up on your equipment.
- What’s involved with being a NCS (Net Control Station)?
- Do you contribute to the DMR networks/modes you utilize? Why or why not?
- Firmware and software radio updates.
- Hot Keys. What are they, why use them, and how to set them up.
- DMR tips. Like what Steve KC8WXM mentioned to better (and faster) utilize DMR features.
- Adding or changing DMR channels via keypad programming.
- How to update your DMR digital contacts via https://radioid.net/
- Asking check-ins what they know now that they didn’t know when they started with DMR that would be helpful to other beginners (Elmering).
- A timeline to get started of essential things to do with DMR and why.
- Which DMR radio do you use the most & why?
- Proper DMR practices & procedures to use on-air.
- DMR text messaging
- Advanced features of the Anytone 878 handheld and 578 mobile radio.
- Going over the different DMR networks (Brandmeister, TGIF, M17, DMR+, YSF, etc).
- Useful radio accessories to use with your DMR equipment.
- Unique names used instead of the amateur radio alpha codes.
- Antennas for handheld, mobile, and home radios.
- Logging software.
- QSL cards Do you send them out?
- Repeaters, hotspots, or both? Which do you use and why?
- WPSD hotspot dashboard.
- APRS & GPS setup and usage.
- Custom call signs.
- What are your predictions for the DMR world in 2024?
- What networks and talk groups do you use, and why?
- What features do you wish your DMR radio had?