Gruppo Radio Italia ALFA TANGO

This page is dedicated to our hobby: radio communication!

We are prepared for cycle 24: Our new website is based on WordPress. AT-members of 13 division can publish any radio related news and topics here. And we invite You to join discussions by using the comment function!

Well, now go ahead and enjoy our website!

vy 73s de
#213 Martin

Do You want to operate digimodes from Your portable or mobile? You own a iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad?

Well, check the Apple iTunes App Store for iPSK31, iRTTY or Multimode by Luca Facchinetti. While the first two apps run on iOS 3.1.3, Multimode requires iOS 4.0 or later. For more details click here (requires Apple iTunes).

Now, how to connect Your Apple device with Your radio? IK Multimedia has developed an app called AmpliTube. To use this app You have to purchase an interface called iRig.

The interface does exactly what is needed to use the above mentioned apps: An 1/8″ female stereo output mini-jack connector, an 1/4″ female mono input jack connector and an 1/8″ male headset (4 pin) mini-jack connector.

Personally I haven’t checked the apps yet, but there are some example videos available on YouTube. The apps are not for free and the price for the interface is at almost 30 EUR.

Having wasted some hours at the radio and wondering why there was almost no propagation the whole last day, I tried to find some kind of forecast on the web. Surprisingly I found a website dealing not only with the current propagation paths, but also providing some kind of forecast. Beeing skeptical about its accuracy I cross-checked the tables published there and I have to say, that those forecasts are at least a coarse clue.

Take a look at hfradio.org. The link forwards You to an overview site. Click on the links below “Available FOT Charts for”.

The comparison of the last days propagation on 11m and the charts, shows some interesting analogies. Take the chart for Western Europe for example. It was predicted, that there should be propagation to South Africa in the afternoon, followed by some openings to all South America. As we know, there has been openings to the West Indies too, but You know boundaries are fluid – and so predictions are. There is another chart available for Eastern Europe and the picture drawn for that region is completly different, but matches my personal experiences of the last days. My QTH is close to 161 division and I rarely ever had the same propagation, as the guys from 14, 19 or 26 division.

Finally I think, those charts are good to have a clue on what may happen more likely.

It took some time searching the web for a ready to use datacable for digimodes. I found lots of tutorials on how to build a datacable, but they were talking about capacitors to prevent the radio from too much volume input, soldering, et cetera.

Finally I found one at radioarena.co.uk. They are specialised on manufacturing peripherical equipment for radios, like Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu. My cable is compatible with Yaesus FT-817, FT-857 and FT-897.

What You see on the image is, what I received within 3 days after my order. Additionally I needed a small USB soundcard providing a mic-in socket, as my laptop doesn’t has one. They are available online for less then 10 EUR. Mine was at 6,99 EUR at Amazons marketplace.

I set up my digimode program (I use FL-Digi on Mac OS X), plugged the cable and the waterfall started flowing immediately.

The cable is build very professional, the diameter of each cable is not too thin, so theres no reason to worry it may break. The cables length is about 80cm. The package also contains a USB-CAT-cable and comes along with a driver CD. I didn’t need the CD, maybe its necessary to get the CAT-cable going. All together the set is priced at 30 GPB, shipping to Germany was at 8 GBP. This isn’t cheap at all, but in the end I got, what I was looking for and the quality of the cable is worth it.

A very interesting project can be found at vhfdx.info.

The tool displays a map of Your choice. On the map You see different data – again depending on Your selection.

Try it: Select EUROPE, MAP and ES MUF.  A map similar to the right will be loaded.

Now the clue: If You click on one of the numbers surrounded by those green circles a chart will be displayed, showing the current and past hours MUF and other propagation related information for the selected location.

For my last vacation in 2010 I’ve chosen Formentera as destination. From Sunday, 10th of October 2010 until Sunday, 17th of October 2010 I will be active as 49AT/E024. I’ll stay there with my family, so my activity has to be in accord with them.

Furthermore I am planning to be active from S’Espalmador Island signing on as 49AT/E031. The plan is tricky: If WX permits, I will try to pass the sound between Formentera and S’Espalmador by rubber boat. If the plan succeeds I am going to be active for a minimum of 3, maximum of 5 hours on Friday or Saturday (15th or 16th of October 2010).

While beeing in 49 division You can stay up to date by following me on twitter.

QSL Route is via 13AT021, Andre. He will collect all incoming cards for me and forward them to me just in time.

vy 73s de
#213 Martin

While redesigning the homepage of AT Germany I thought about how to include the latest spot from cluster.dk in another way, then using their banner. The offered banners did not match in any logical position on the new homepage.

I ended up in programming a short PHP script, which loads one of the banner-sites from cluster.dk and seeks the linked file line by line for the HTML-tags, which surround the spots data. If such an appropiate tag is found the data is stored into an array.

At the end the array is read out in a loop and data is pushed into my own HTML-construct, which perfectly fits in to the planned position.

Feel free to use my script on Your website. If You’re well versed with PHP and HTML its pretty easy to adapt it for Your needs.

Happy coding & good DX :-)