KSHB 41 of Kansas City gives us a look at the new Kansas City (Missouri) communications center, located downtown at 1111 Locust Street. KCPD, KCFD, and other agencies recently moved over to the Metropolitan Area Regional Radio System (MARRS), an 800 MHz P25 simulcast system.

By now most of you have made new year’s resolutions for 2012, and some have already abandoned their resolutions. Of those that made resolutions, did you resolve to protect your investments?

Amateur radio investments, of course. Most of us pour a sizable amount of our paychecks into this hobby, and it’s a good idea to make sure that equipment is protected. An article on property insurance that is specific to amateur radio appeared in the November 2011 edition of QST, and I thought it would be a good idea to review some of the points made.

While I haven’t been working in property and casualty claims for a relatively long time, I’ve seen my fair share of policyholders understandably upset because losses they incurred were not covered under their policies, while they originally thought it would be covered. It’s a good idea to read your policy’s declarations and ask your agent (or your insurer’s customer service department) questions every now and then. While most insurers generally use the same wording in the declarations, this column is no substitute for advice from your agent. So let’s lay out the basics:

• A common misconception is that if your radios are bolted into the car somehow (via brackets, consoles, or otherwise), it’s automatically covered. Not so! In fact, my insurer specifically lists “citizens band radios,” “two-way mobile radios,” and “scanning monitor receivers” as exclusions in plain English. So if your radios are damaged in a collision, or stolen, it will likely not be covered, but it can be filed under your homeowner’s (or renter’s) insurance policy, which brings me to…

• Your homeowner’s deductible may be prohibitively high to claim the loss of some mobile radios. A common homeowner’s deductible in the midwest is around $1000, meaning filing a claim for a $600 mobile radio just isn’t going to help.

• Even if your loss exceeds your deductible, your homeowner’s policy may have limits on what they’ll pay for “electronic apparatus” — my insurer’s limits are $1500, and antennas are included in that limit. That may far exceed some mobile HF installations, and certainly most at-home installations.

• Assuming the loss isn’t excluded or exceeding the policy’s limits, your policy may only pay for the actual cash value (ACV), which means you will get paid only for what the item was worth, due to depreciation. For example, my Icom ID-800H is worth less now than when I bought it, due to depreciation. If your policy will pay for replacement cost value (RCV), then your insurer will pay you for the cost to replace the damaged or stolen item with a new item of like quality. Example: even though the value of my ID-800H has declined due to depreciation, my insurer will pay me to replace the radio with a new radio of like-quality, like the ID-880H.

So, if your insurance policies list similar exclusions or limits, it might be a good idea to purchase special property insurance specifically for amateur radio.

The ARRL provides a great insurance program to members through the Hays Affinity Group (http://www.arrlinsurance.com). The ARRL’s insurance program covers radios, accessories, towers, antennas, rotators, computers, and other media. It carries only a $50 deductible and will pay you replacement cost value for damaged equipment. Insurance premiums through the ARRL program are also inexpensive — $1.40 per $100 of scheduled equipment.

To further protect yourself in the event of a claim, make sure you already have the make and model of the equipment, value, serial numbers, and proof of purchase, pictures, or video showing you rightfully owned the property.

With the midwest’s unpredictable spring weather, now would be a good time to get things in order “just in case.” Stop into your agent’s office or give your insurer’s customer service department a call to see what would and would not be covered, and your policy’s limits, if any. And if you don’t feel you are adequately protected, I highly recommend checking into the ARRL’s insurance program.

What a year!

Coming off of two very well-received general meetings in September and October, it’s time for the annual DMRAA Chili Feed & Auction followed by the annual Christmas Party.

While we give thanks and look back on 2011 at these events, DMRAA members have plenty to be excited about
next year. We’ve had a heck of a year, and there’s no sign that we’re going to be slowing down any time soon. Our membership base is continually growing. We’re retaining our current members and attracting new members through VE testing, technician classes, social media, and public events like the DMRAA Hamfest and W0AK Field Day. With a growing membership, we’re able to bring in different perspectives and skills, which makes us a very well-rounded club.

Speaking of those events, the Field Day 2011 results are in and W0AK placed first in all classes for the Iowa section, and placed in the top ten in all classes for the Midwest division, proving to be the most successful W0AK Field Days in recent history despite a rough start in Saturday’s morning rain.

We had a heck of a hamfest, too. We attracted vendors and attendees from all over the midwest and it looks like it was a good move for us to move the event to a larger facility to allow for growth. Next year’s hamfest will provide another opportunity to grow the hamfest even further.

As soon as the handbell choir lays their bells down for the night and after all of the potluck food has been consumed at the Christmas Party, the DMRAA board and its respective committees will shift into high gear and start planning for next year’s events — to an extent, the planning has already been underway.

Already, we already have our slate of programming ready for the first quarter of 2012. We’ll kick the year off with a presentation on PIC microcontrollers in January, followed by the annual MISA spotter talk in February, and then a presentation on high-altitude ballooning in March.

I am very thankful for everyone that makes all of this happen, from the DMRAA board, club members, visitors to our events, and those that donated their time and energy towards our events.

If you are someone that has an idea for a meeting, wants to help plan an event, or just has general suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact a board member in-person or via our website, because we would love to hear from you. We also have subcommittees that coordinate all sorts of different
aspects of our club that members can join. I am really looking forward to find out what next year brings
us.

It’s a great time to be a DMRAA member!

Puxing has the PX-888 handheld radio, and TYT Electronics has “888″ in their domain name. They, too, have a radio with “888″ in the model name.

Seeing a common thread here, I decided to look a research the significance of the number 888 in Chinese culture. Wikipedia says the word for “eight” sounds similar to the word which means “prosper” or “wealth.”

That’s why the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing was kicked off on August 8, 2008 — 08/08/08. Chinese telephone numbers containing 888 are also considered very lucky and are sold at high prices.

Are these companies putting their faith in the number 888 and hoping for prosperity as their products gain traction in North America?

Oddly enough, the number 7 in American culture is considered lucky, but in Chinese culture 7 is considered bad luck. In the seventh month on the Chinese calendar, it is said “the gates of hell are said to be open so ghosts and spirits are permitted to visit the living realm.”

ARISSat-1, the amateur radio satellite that was pushed out of the International Space Station just last August, is quickly falling back to earth at an increasingly fast pace.

Current calculations for the satellite’s re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere range between now and January 16. On Friday, the satellite was losing approximately 3.6 miles a day in altitude, compared to only 2.5 miles in altitude just three days earlier, UK AMSAT reports. UK AMSAT also reported that the satellite is starting to warm up as it falls closer to the earth. You can check the satellite’s temperature via ARISSat-1′s telemetry page.

The satellite has been plagued with setbacks since launch, including a missing second antenna and a failed battery. In both cases, the satellite is still operable but limited some functions, particularly when the satellite is in eclipse. There may only be days left for hams to work ARISSat-1 before its certain death as it re-enters our atmosphere.

AMSAT has created a Chicken Little contest for the public to predict when the satellite will re-enter the atmosphere. The contest is split into three categories: adults, high school, and kindergarten through middle school. There is also a contest that is geared towards gathering telemetry from the falling satellite. The station that receives the last telemetry report will receive a certificate from AMSAT. Details on both contests can be found on the AMSAT website.

Brazilian ham Roland Zurmely PY4ZBZ is keeping tabs on ARISSat-1 as it falls, including some interesting graphs on its increasing rate of descent.

Three windows of the APRSdroid app running on Android Ice Cream Sandwich: the APRSdroid Hub showing received stations (left), a map of recently-received stations in Des Moines plotted on a Google Map (center), and the message composition window (right). Click the image for a larger view.

Oh, how fast they grow up.

When I got my first Android phone not too long ago, the APRSdroid app was one of the first apps I installed on my device. APRSdroid allows licensed amateur radio operators with a valid APRS-IS registration code to transmit (and receive) position, status, and message packets via TCP/IP, whether it’s over 3G, 4G, or wifi. Nearby received stations are plotted on a Google Map for easy viewing.

You can even use Bluetooth to wirelessly interface APRSdroid with a TinyTrak. The Bluetooth adapter sends/receives data to/from the TinyTrak, and then the TinyTrak transmits/receives packets over the air on the APRS frequency, all while providing the user with a pretty UI on an Android device without the clutter of cables.

APRSdroid is the brainchild of German amateur radio operator Georg Lukas, DO1GL. Georg has worked on this project and provided support for this spare-time project. You can purchase his app on the Android Market to support the project, or you can download the .apk or the source code at aprsdroid.org.

George lays it out in a birthday blog post, which would be of particular interest to Android developers.

I feel like I’ve definitely gotten the $4.49 worth of the Market purchase — I didn’t have any mobile APRS capability since I traded in my last car for the Jeep, and this app held me over until I was able to put a “real” APRS setup in the Jeep last week.

If you haven’t already downloaded the app from the Market, it’s on the list of must-have apps for hams with Android devices. This is the best example I’ve seen so far that has complete functionality and brings Android and ham radio closer to each other than they’ve ever been.

The announcement dated December 27 from Vertex Standard CEO Jun Hasegawa (click here to read the full PDF):

We would like to thank all of our valued customers for your continued support. In this letter, I am pleased to announce a recent corporate reorganization. After four years of joint venture with Motorola, we have decided to transfer the Vertex Standard LMR business to Motorola and focus on Amateur, Marine and Air-band business. The effective date for this reorganization will be January 1, 2012.

Without Motorola’s resources, the status of Yaesu’s foray into the digital radio market in amateur radio seems to be questionable, despite yesterday’s somewhat strange announcement.

Yaesu's DMR publication uses the words "digital" and "communication" four times on the cover alone

The paper basically states that the GMSK modulation that D-STAR uses is outdated and inferior, saying that GMSK “is considered old fashioned and no longer used by [Land Mobile Radio].” Later in the paper, Yaesu explains the benefits of C4FM modulation, used by APCO Project 25, and states “We need to pay attention to the C4FM (4-level FSK) method because we believe this is the most important technology in digital communications. This method will definitely find increasing use in Amateur radio communications within the near future.”

Yaesu drops another bomb under the heading of “Misunderstanding #5: D-STAR is the standard digital communication for Amateur radio”:

This is not true. We are not sure why D-STAR, which uses GMSK, is recommended. However, it is neither good nor appropriate to limit the Digital radio selection to only one method for all Hams worldwide. If only one manufacturer is developing only one type of Digital radio for all Hams, the digital technology would not advance and Hams would be forced to use inferior equipment at higher costs. A good example is the continued use of the older GMSK technology. We see no advantage in pursuing outdated technology when better technology exists.

While they are going head-to-head with the D-STAR protocol (and Icom’s equipment), I do not feel this will be similar VHS vs. Betamax or Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD. Both digital radio protocols have their advantages and disadvantages, and they will co-exist with their own userbases. Everyone will end up winning with more competitive offerings from each company.

I own four VHF/UHF radios. Of them, three are D-STAR capable, and the fourth is APCO P-25 Phase I. That’s the beauty of amateur radio… we’re not stuck with a single mode and we can play with what we want.

D-STAR was the first in the game to promote digital voice and data specifically for amateur radio, and they have quite the stronghold right now — at this moment, there are 835 internet gateway-enabled repeaters and 20,000 registered gateway users around the world. It will be interesting to see Icom’s reaction to Yaesu’s entry to the digital radio market that appears to be inevitable in 2012.

Logic tells me that it would be quite easy for Vertex Standard to re-tool their radios and software and throw a Yaesu badge on their DMR equipment at a relatively low cost.

There’s quite a bit of technical discussion happening in the dstar_digital Yahoo Group. This will definitely be fun to watch — DMR users may finally get an inexpensive front panel programmable DMR radio, and D-STAR users may see some more competitive pricing on Icom’s offerings. If you haven’t read the document by now, head on over there and read it for more juicy details.

We held the 13th Annual Skywarn Recognition Day at the Des Moines National Weather Service office this past weekend and it went rather well. We had stations on 10-20 meters, 40 meters, 80 meters, and VHF/UHF (Echolink, D-STAR, and the MISA linked repeater system).

There was a steady stream of visitors all weekend. For most of Friday night, each station had both an operator and a logger, plus people waiting for radios to open up. It was busy, but everyone that wanted to work the radios got their chance. Tours of the NWS office were also given.

Big thanks to the staff at NWS Des Moines, who are hospitable to us year-round. The central Iowa amateur radio community is lucky to have such a collaborative relationship with the NWS. Shane Searcy N0ZXJ, who is the IT officer for NWS Des Moines, spends most of his Friday during the event getting us ready for that night, even this year when he was in the middle of a big upgrade to Windows 7.

We don’t have an official count of how many stations we worked, but we had a healthy list of QSO’s by the end of the event, including a DX station that Dennis O’Brien KA0DOS worked that was from Japan. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see our QSO numbers increase from last year, even though we suspended overnight operating for the first time this year.

If you want to learn more information about the Mid-Iowa Skywarn Association, which is the Skywarn organization for NWS Des Moines, you can visit the website at http://www.midiowaskywarn.com.

In addition to Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Mount Pleasant, the ARRL Midwest Newsletter now notes that two more D-STAR repeaters have recently been established.

W0MG Waterloo (Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association)
B 442.5750MHz +5.0000MHz

KD0PKU New London (New London Radio Amateurs)
B 440 Voice 446.5000MHz +5.0000MHz
C 147.5750MHz +0.6000MHz