I finally put together a desktop 19″ rack that I have wanted to put together to put all the RemoteRig Radio end equipment into. It went pretty quickly. The shelves came with hardware that didn’t fit the threaded holes in the rack. Luckily, I did have enough of the right size to assemble everything, though I need a few more to make all components attached with the right number of screws.

Please pardon the workbench.

At the top is an AC plug strip with individually switched outlets. At some point, I hope to have some other equipment in this rack, so the lone device connected to it on switch 1 will have buddies.

Switch 1 powers the JetStream 25A switching power supply.

The DC output connects to the input of the RIGrunner 4008H distribution panel. I connected one of the 25A outputs to the Icom and one of the 1A outputs to the RemoteRig. I made up a spare power cord to use with either the Kenwood TM-731 or the Yaesu FTM100DR, as they both use the same T-style connector.

After that, it was just connecting the grounds and antennas back to it. For the time being, I have left it in the center of the workbench because it’s permanent home still needs a bit of work to clear out. We’ll see what the evening allows.

I have had some trouble getting a signal all the way back to Fort Worth. In fact the repeater I frequent is pretty much exactly 28 miles away. 50 watts into a 6.5 dBi omni antenna *should* look like 136 watts, but that doesn’t account for the hillside between here and there.

Our property is downhill from the street, but today I used a builder’s level to quantify what I believe to be a significant factor in my limited range towards Fort Worth.

For those unfamiliar with a builder’s level, it’s a piece of surveying equipment used most often to ensure structures are level over long distances, particular stuff like driveways or drainage ditches or houses. I first used one when we were building a sand pad for an above ground pool.

The ground within this circle is 10 inches lower on the left side than the right.

You set up the level on it’s tripod and either leave it where you put it throughout the project or mark precisely where the legs are. Using the bubble level on the device and the adjuster wheels, you set the unit itself level, then using the graduated measuring stick, you look through the little telescope and get the height of the measured point relative to the level plane described by the tool.

This pic shows the view through the view scope. The ‘6’ is very dim, but in this view, the ground at the measured point is just under 6′ 8″ below the crosshairs in the level.

Well, I did not use the measuring stick because I was looking for much more of a thumbnail measurement (and it’s a pain to do without an assistant), but I set the level up on the street out front and took a sighting off the antenna on the workshop.

The level is 5 feet up from the street. Once set, the level sighted the workshop just a few inches below the roof peak. Go down 5 feet from there and it’s about the bottom of the antenna mast.

So… the antenna mast is essentially sitting at street level, meaning the base of antenna itself is only about 9 feet above the ground in the direction of the repeater.

Even with a beam, I will probably need to get some more height.

Lots of little things today.

On the way out of the neighborhood this morning, I had my little SDR running, centered on 145.33. At the house, I saw a pretty strong birdie at exactly 144.000 and it never went away all the way to work, so I presume it’s an artifact from the laptop or perhaps in the radio itself. There was a tiny peak just above the repeater at 145.4125, but it went away by the time I got out to the truck, so it was probably something in the kitchen.

Interestingly, Oncor called me today with an update. Basically, my incident has been assigned to an RFI tech. I can expect to hear from them maybe Friday, but probably next week.

There was talk on the repeater today about a short Fusion Digital net right after the regular Six Shooter Net, so I put the FTM-100DR on the workbench so I could use the big antenna and have the best chances of joining in.

On the FM net, I tried to check in on *every* round and was never heard. I guess I need a beam or some more altitude. With the assistance of GoogleMaps, I have determined that I am 28 miles line-of-sight from the repeater. I am considering a three element beam. It would definitely have enough gain going that direction and would likely be wide enough to reach other Fort Worth area repeaters as well.

I eventually gave up and used the time to upgrade the firmware in the radio. I had plenty of time because it was the first time for a particular lady ham to run the net and people came out of the woodwork to check in for her. By the end of the net, she broke both standing records for length of a Six Shooter Net by three minutes and number of unique checkins by ten, even without mine!

So, the FTM100 firmware update procedure is split into three separate elements, the system, the display/control panel and the DSP. Before any of them, you connect the data cable to the PC and run the update program. It shows directions, which are also explained in an accompanying PDF in greater detail.

For the main firmware, you remove power, set an update switch reachable behind a rubber plug on the top of the radio and apply power. The weird part is that the radio in this mode shows no signs of life. You just click the OK and it starts loading. After it finishes, you are to remove power, set the update switch back, power up, perform a factory reset then verify the version.

The panel is different in that you hold down a two key combination on the panel as you power on the radio. It puts the radio into a mode specifically for panel updates. Then you flip an update switch and press a reset button reachable behind a rubber plug on the back of the control panel. Click ok and it starts loading. When it finishes, you again power cycle, do a factory reset and verify the version.

The DSP is similar to the panel. You hold down a different two key combination on the panel as you power up, then press a key on the panel to get to the DSP update mode and click OK. Interestingly, the DSP update didn’t claim to need a factory reset and definitely showed to be updated by the version numbers.

After the factory reset, you lose the callsign and all your channel memories and any other settings. It’s probably best to backup all to an SD card before the updates then restore from SD afterwards. In my case, I had both the SD card and the programming software.

So far as I can tell, the updates didn’t fix anything that I was aware of 🙂

So by that time, the record-smashing Six Shooter Net on FM had concluded and they had anyone who could do digital do a quick checkin with their location. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t make it, but 16 others did.

Tiny update:

Thank you for contacting Oncor regarding radio interference. Your request has been assigned to the appropriate department. One of our representatives will contact you within the next 2 business days.

So, maybe something will come of it afterall…

Actually, before I update on the noise, I spent literally single digit minutes remotely mounting the control head of the Yaesu.

When I got the radio, I also got the  MMB-98, a universal(ish) suction cup mount that fits several models of Yaesu radios.

I moved my GPS to the windshield, to the right of the rearview mirror, which left this space open on the dashboard. The mount uses a single screw through a pad of fixed radial teeth to provide a secure and adjustable angle. Unfortunately, there is not an angle that precisely matches the angle of my dashboard, but it is reasonably close to level. More importantly, it’s WAY easier to see and operate up here than it was down there.

I am quite pleased.

So, the noise…

I asked on a Thursday night net if there was anyone near my experiencing the interference. There are hams nearby, but none really close. However, on person suggested contacting Oncor Energy about the noise, as such noise is frequently power line equipment related, generally easy for them to locate and resolve and they are apparently pretty good at it.

I chose to contact via a general email. In short, I explained how I noticed and my investigations thus far. For what it’s worth, their email robot replied pretty quickly, assigned me an incident number and suggested that the request will be processed within 48 hours.