WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:02.960 This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you 00:00:02.960 --> 00:00:06.379 by Tower Electronics. For connectors, cables, 00:00:06.620 --> 00:00:13.300 and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit pl -259 00:00:13.300 --> 00:00:17.980 .com. And by ICOM, heard it, worked it, logged 00:00:17.980 --> 00:00:23.199 it. Visit www .icomamerica .com slash amateur 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:31.669 for more information about ICOM radios. With 00:00:31.669 --> 00:00:38.429 Neorep, here we go Welcome to Amtoply Calling 00:00:38.429 --> 00:01:01.429 Let's Stop, Neil's your guy Amtoply Hello everyone, 00:01:01.750 --> 00:01:05.209 it's time for another episode of ham talk live. 00:01:05.209 --> 00:01:10.769 It's episode number 290. Sore satellite optimized 00:01:10.769 --> 00:01:16.030 amateur radio. We're recording this on February 00:01:16.030 --> 00:01:21.090 24th, 2022. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. 00:01:21.129 --> 00:01:24.450 Thanks for tuning in to this episode of ham talk. 00:01:24.730 --> 00:01:29.430 Not so live. Tonight we're joined by Mark Smith, 00:01:29.569 --> 00:01:35.689 N6MTS, and on the last episode Jocelyn, KD8VRX, 00:01:35.790 --> 00:01:39.849 Mark, K3POE, and Peter in for PVH. We're here 00:01:39.849 --> 00:01:43.170 to talk about the 80th anniversary of the Voice 00:01:43.170 --> 00:01:47.750 of America's first broadcast special event. So 00:01:47.750 --> 00:01:51.250 I hope you're able to enjoy that. I was on W8O 00:01:51.250 --> 00:01:55.659 on 40 meters for a couple of hours. on the first 00:01:55.659 --> 00:01:58.959 day of the special event. So if you missed that 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:02.299 show, you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive .com 00:02:02.299 --> 00:02:06.379 or on your favorite podcast app or over on YouTube. 00:02:06.700 --> 00:02:10.460 And don't forget, HamTalk Live is rebroadcast 00:02:10.460 --> 00:02:17.400 over on WTWW Shortwave. They're 5 -0 -8 -5 on 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:21.060 your AM dial. Saturday afternoons at about 3 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:24.000 .30 p .m. Eastern time, so make sure to check 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.800 us out over on WTWW. All right, well, I'll be 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:31.539 back with Mark right after this word from ICOM 00:02:31.539 --> 00:02:35.819 America right here. on HamTalk Live. Now is the 00:02:35.819 --> 00:02:39.340 time to spice up your ham shack with ICOM's new 00:02:39.340 --> 00:02:44.400 ID52 handheld. Now shipping. This radio is perfect 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.520 for staying in or venturing out and working your 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:51.139 favorite bands this winter season. The ID52A 00:02:51.139 --> 00:02:54.620 is now shipping. ICOM's newest handheld amateur 00:02:54.620 --> 00:02:58.060 radio is a VHF -UHF dual bander with D -Star 00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:01.479 and FM dual mode functions. This radio supports 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:04.800 conventional FM communications and D -Star simplex 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:07.580 repeater regional and worldwide calls over the 00:03:07.580 --> 00:03:11.340 D -Star internet gateway. The ID52A is the first 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:15.039 amateur radio handheld with a full color 2 .3 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:17.979 inch waterfall display and the ability to send 00:03:17.979 --> 00:03:21.580 photos over with a connected Android device. 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:24.620 Other features include a wideband receiver with 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:28.680 a guaranteed range of 144 to 148 and 440 to 450 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:31.879 megahertz, integrated GPS including grid square 00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:35.439 location, micro SD card slot, micro USB connector, 00:03:35.939 --> 00:03:39.639 and IPX7 waterproof. For more information about 00:03:39.639 --> 00:03:44.939 ICOM radios go to icomamerica .com slash amateur. 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:48.860 The early bird may get the worm, but the second 00:03:48.860 --> 00:03:51.840 mouse gets the cheese. You're listening to HamTalk 00:03:51.840 --> 00:04:15.639 Live with Neil Rapp. Welcome back to HamTalk 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:20.240 Live. Tonight, Mark Smith at N6 MTS joins us 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:23.079 on the Orlando Amateur Radio Club and hamcation 00:04:23.079 --> 00:04:27.279 Zoom line. Mark is the head cheese of Halibut 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:31.660 Electronics and Mark's secret project was recently 00:04:31.660 --> 00:04:33.759 announced that we'll be talking about tonight 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:37.680 and I don't know. Mark, does cheese go with halibut? 00:04:38.550 --> 00:04:41.949 Well, I don't eat either at this point actually 00:04:41.949 --> 00:04:45.689 the cheese or big honcho I couldn't really decide 00:04:45.689 --> 00:04:48.850 between the two so Okay, we'll go with head cheese 00:04:48.850 --> 00:04:51.230 for the time being. All right. Okay. Well, there 00:04:51.230 --> 00:04:54.290 we go Maybe maybe we throw in a tortilla and 00:04:54.290 --> 00:04:58.149 we got a fish taco. So so there we go. Well mark 00:04:58.149 --> 00:05:04.170 Well mark welcome the am talk live and and I 00:05:04.170 --> 00:05:11.319 before I even saw this on Twitter It came through 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:15.220 my email like three times. Oh my gosh, you have 00:05:15.220 --> 00:05:20.899 to go check this out. And, you know, so I go 00:05:20.899 --> 00:05:23.560 to it and look at it and then, you know, and 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:25.500 then I get on Twitter and then it's like, oh, 00:05:25.540 --> 00:05:30.980 here it is. And so there's a lot of excitement 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:36.040 about this project. And this project, you have 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:39.860 given the acronym SOAR. So let's talk a little 00:05:39.860 --> 00:05:43.939 bit about SOAR. What does a SOAR stand for? And 00:05:43.939 --> 00:05:48.009 what does this neat little gadget do? So SOAR 00:05:48.009 --> 00:05:51.670 stands for satellite optimized amateur radio 00:05:51.670 --> 00:05:54.009 It was kind of the working title that I came 00:05:54.009 --> 00:05:56.370 up with when I came up with the idea of four 00:05:56.370 --> 00:05:59.569 years ago or so And I haven't come up with anything 00:05:59.569 --> 00:06:02.209 better. So we're rolling with SOAR. What is it? 00:06:02.209 --> 00:06:07.009 It is an appliance for working FM satellites 00:06:07.009 --> 00:06:12.259 There doesn't really exist Anything right now 00:06:12.259 --> 00:06:15.839 that does all the things that it could do to 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:19.259 make working a satellite Trivial and I don't 00:06:19.259 --> 00:06:21.899 I don't say trivial but make it take all of a 00:06:21.899 --> 00:06:24.600 lot of the complexities and the automation that 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:28.300 isn't really part of you know Talking to another 00:06:28.300 --> 00:06:30.600 amateur radio operator and just kind of automates 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:33.620 it and does it all right? Why cold holding two 00:06:33.620 --> 00:06:36.019 handhelds while you're pointing the antenna? 00:06:36.620 --> 00:06:39.639 and trying to do it with a tripod and have a 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:43.800 headset on and try to record everything and watch 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.759 and watch all the past predictions all the same 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:52.230 time while you're making the content. Yeah, so 00:06:52.230 --> 00:06:54.610 all those things and you can definitely hack 00:06:54.610 --> 00:06:56.689 together a system that does that and many people 00:06:56.689 --> 00:06:59.110 have and that's kind of the way you do satellites 00:06:59.110 --> 00:07:01.370 at this point is you take the radio and you hook 00:07:01.370 --> 00:07:04.750 up a Headset to it and a push to talk either 00:07:04.750 --> 00:07:07.990 like a handheld mic or a button on the boom of 00:07:07.990 --> 00:07:11.170 your antenna or You know a foot switch or whatever 00:07:12.349 --> 00:07:15.750 And then you also route the audio over to a recorder 00:07:15.750 --> 00:07:17.730 because it's really convenient to record the 00:07:17.730 --> 00:07:20.250 pass so you can log after the fact. But then 00:07:20.250 --> 00:07:21.829 you still have to keep in hand on the tuning 00:07:21.829 --> 00:07:26.430 knob because Doppler shift is a thing. Or you 00:07:26.430 --> 00:07:28.990 can bring another device that is a computer or 00:07:28.990 --> 00:07:30.730 a tablet or something that's controlling your 00:07:30.730 --> 00:07:32.689 radios, but not if it's an HT. So now you're 00:07:32.689 --> 00:07:36.350 talking about big radios. It's definitely not 00:07:36.350 --> 00:07:39.379 impossible to do this, but... It seems like the 00:07:39.379 --> 00:07:42.319 kind of thing where there should be a radio designed 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:46.040 with all of these use cases in mind. And there 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:48.079 wasn't, there isn't. I haven't been able to find 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:53.319 one. And so I decided to make one, I guess. Yeah. 00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:56.600 Well, some of them have a lot of those functions, 00:07:56.600 --> 00:07:58.740 but like you said, I don't know that any of them 00:07:58.740 --> 00:08:03.480 have every one of those functions. So this could 00:08:03.480 --> 00:08:09.100 make things a whole lot easier. So how did this 00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:12.240 idea come about? You said it was about four years 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:14.519 ago you kind of came up with this. What inspired 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:18.720 the idea for this project? Well, I follow a lot 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:20.620 of people on Twitter who do satellites, who do 00:08:20.620 --> 00:08:24.420 FM satellites. And I wanted to get into it and 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:26.379 I started looking into what was the gear I needed. 00:08:26.620 --> 00:08:29.329 I'm like, oh my gosh. This is such a kludge. 00:08:29.649 --> 00:08:32.250 There should be a device that just does all of 00:08:32.250 --> 00:08:34.509 this for you. Specifically, the one thing that 00:08:34.509 --> 00:08:37.169 really seems to be missing is the Doppler compensation 00:08:37.169 --> 00:08:41.580 automation. And you can get a full duplex radio. 00:08:41.940 --> 00:08:43.860 Full duplex is one of the other things that you 00:08:43.860 --> 00:08:46.000 can't get anymore. There are very few radios 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.480 that do cross -band full duplex. You can do it 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.600 in a mobile rig or in a desktop rig. I think 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:56.179 the ICOM 9700 does it. But there aren't any HTs. 00:08:56.259 --> 00:08:58.460 There aren't anything lightweight, battery -powered, 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:01.899 self -contained that do it. There used to be... 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:06.000 And those radios are becoming unobtainium. You 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.500 know, it's really hard to find a D -72 anymore 00:09:08.500 --> 00:09:11.720 or the old, what was it, the FT -530, the old 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:14.679 Yesu from the 90s did full duplex. And they just, 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:16.639 there isn't really anything that does that anymore. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:21.440 And so I, the four years ago thing was that I 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:24.240 needed to bring, I needed, I was going to Maker 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:28.820 Faire up in San Mateo. And I was invited to the 00:09:28.820 --> 00:09:31.639 bring a hack party afterwards and I'm like, I 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:33.720 don't know. What do I have? And I was thinking 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:35.659 about this at the time. I'm like, all right. 00:09:35.740 --> 00:09:37.419 I'll hack something together really quickly, 00:09:37.700 --> 00:09:41.740 and I bought a couple of DRA818 modules. I got 00:09:41.740 --> 00:09:43.639 a microcontroller off the shelf. I got a small 00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:46.879 display off the shelf. I laid out a board in 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:49.100 an evening, I think, with a little bit of audio 00:09:49.100 --> 00:09:52.600 routing and some WS2812s, because everything's 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:56.179 got to have bling, and an encoder, and just a 00:09:56.179 --> 00:10:00.019 basic layout of stuff. And I sent it off to Oshpark 00:10:00.019 --> 00:10:03.059 to have it fabbed, got it back, hacked it together. 00:10:04.029 --> 00:10:07.350 got it all built and found out that I had all 00:10:07.350 --> 00:10:09.309 kinds of problems with my layout. That's what 00:10:09.309 --> 00:10:11.730 happens when you lay something out this complex 00:10:11.730 --> 00:10:14.230 in an evening and don't really get it reviewed. 00:10:14.710 --> 00:10:17.250 But I had enough to bring a hack to the party 00:10:17.250 --> 00:10:20.169 and I took a bunch of notes on what I wanted 00:10:20.169 --> 00:10:23.750 to do next time and then it squirreled off of 00:10:23.750 --> 00:10:26.049 my brain and I went on to something else. And 00:10:26.049 --> 00:10:28.029 that little project has been sitting on a shelf 00:10:28.029 --> 00:10:31.509 for four years. Earlier this year, or excuse 00:10:31.509 --> 00:10:35.370 me, last year, 2021, my employment situation 00:10:35.370 --> 00:10:40.769 changed. Let's summarize it thusly. And I needed 00:10:40.769 --> 00:10:43.590 a break. And so I left the world of IT and planned 00:10:43.590 --> 00:10:46.429 on just taking some time off and kind of unburning 00:10:46.429 --> 00:10:49.090 out. And while I was doing that, I was planning 00:10:49.090 --> 00:10:50.889 on working on some projects. And this was one 00:10:50.889 --> 00:10:53.230 of the projects that I wanted to work on. And 00:10:53.230 --> 00:10:55.870 a few weeks into the process, I'm like, I could 00:10:55.870 --> 00:10:58.659 turn this into a business. This is a thing. that 00:10:58.659 --> 00:11:02.240 people would want. And I thought about how much 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:03.919 it would cost for me to make it and how much 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:06.019 I could probably sell it for. And I'm like, this 00:11:06.019 --> 00:11:08.960 is a business idea. And then I started thinking 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:10.600 about all of the other projects that I do. I'm 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:13.220 like, I've got a lot of other ideas that I could 00:11:13.220 --> 00:11:17.440 turn into products that I think would help people 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:21.220 enjoy the hobby. And so I'm doing it. I'm starting 00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:24.759 it. I've started Halibut Electronics and we're 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:30.230 gonna see how it goes. All right. Well, let's 00:11:30.230 --> 00:11:33.169 get into a little bit of the design process. 00:11:33.909 --> 00:11:36.389 So, you know, you said you just kind of put it 00:11:36.389 --> 00:11:38.870 together in one night and then, you know, obviously 00:11:38.870 --> 00:11:42.029 you've made a lot of modifications since then. 00:11:43.370 --> 00:11:46.049 So, tell us a little bit about that process of 00:11:46.049 --> 00:11:48.730 designing it, laying it out and getting the board, 00:11:48.850 --> 00:11:55.330 you know, and putting this all together. I use 00:11:55.330 --> 00:11:58.389 a board layout package called KiCad. It's an 00:11:58.389 --> 00:12:01.529 open source product that's free and it's gotten 00:12:01.529 --> 00:12:03.769 a lot of very active development. It's in really 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:05.289 good shape at this point, a really good package. 00:12:06.389 --> 00:12:08.990 I've been doing electronics not as a day job, 00:12:09.029 --> 00:12:12.950 but as a hobby for decades at this point, since 00:12:12.950 --> 00:12:19.620 the early 90s. a lot of projects for in onesie 00:12:19.620 --> 00:12:21.639 twosies quantities right you know like i want 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:23.360 a thing so i would go off and build the thing 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:26.860 and i'd make one of them and yeah it's done it 00:12:26.860 --> 00:12:30.340 works and and i move on with life uh i mean that 00:12:30.340 --> 00:12:32.200 process is you know you think about what the 00:12:32.200 --> 00:12:34.419 problem is you're trying to solve you think about 00:12:34.419 --> 00:12:38.000 what technologies you know about that you already 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:40.940 know how to how to use and you figure out whether 00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:42.919 any of those can solve those problems and if 00:12:42.919 --> 00:12:46.289 there aren't you go research some other technologies 00:12:46.289 --> 00:12:49.429 that you may not already know and learn about 00:12:49.429 --> 00:12:51.370 them and figure out whether they will solve the 00:12:51.370 --> 00:12:54.370 problems. And eventually you come up, you know, 00:12:54.450 --> 00:12:55.850 you start thinking about, you're like, okay, 00:12:55.950 --> 00:12:57.789 I can do this to solve that problem. I can do 00:12:57.789 --> 00:13:00.029 that to solve this other problem. I don't know 00:13:00.029 --> 00:13:01.470 whether this will solve that problem, but there's 00:13:01.470 --> 00:13:03.330 a pretty good chance of it. Let me go build something 00:13:03.330 --> 00:13:06.049 and test it and see whether it solves that problem. 00:13:06.169 --> 00:13:08.509 And you just kind of iterate on this. And eventually 00:13:08.509 --> 00:13:12.309 you have all the pieces. It's just a matter of 00:13:12.309 --> 00:13:15.269 putting them together and packaging them in a 00:13:15.269 --> 00:13:19.690 convenient way. That's what I've spent the last 00:13:19.690 --> 00:13:26.610 five months -ish doing for SOAR. I knew what 00:13:26.610 --> 00:13:28.409 a lot of the technologies were, but not all of 00:13:28.409 --> 00:13:31.809 them, so I had to go learn some new things. I'm 00:13:31.809 --> 00:13:36.250 still learning new things. It's just a matter 00:13:36.250 --> 00:13:38.710 of packaging it all together in a way that will 00:13:38.710 --> 00:13:42.600 actually address the use cases. All right. Well, 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:45.620 let's talk a little bit about When you think 00:13:45.620 --> 00:13:49.120 this might be ready to go, you know, and I know 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:52.779 that that can change and parts and yep Yeah, 00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:55.679 yeah all that fun. Oh, yeah, but let's talk a 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:58.700 little bit about that and then then maybe we'll 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:02.259 kind of get into You know how it works or at 00:14:02.259 --> 00:14:06.360 least so far Sure. So when will it be available 00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:11.580 that I I can't commit to that my goal is to have 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:15.720 the first batch ready to sell at Hamvention. 00:14:16.899 --> 00:14:18.919 And I don't think I've announced that anywhere, 00:14:19.059 --> 00:14:21.820 so I think you're getting an exclusive. Oh, wait 00:14:21.820 --> 00:14:23.580 a minute, wait a minute. We have to play the 00:14:23.580 --> 00:14:38.799 breaking news music here, so. Okay, there we 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:44.679 go. So breaking news, the goal is Hamvention. 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:47.940 The goal is to have a batch to bring to Hamvention. 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:51.720 Now, I'm not committing to that, but I'm hoping 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:54.639 that I'll be able to do that. What I bring to 00:14:54.639 --> 00:15:00.279 Hamvention will be usable, but early revisions. 00:15:01.309 --> 00:15:03.210 people who are going to be buying these the first 00:15:03.210 --> 00:15:05.950 time around, I'm going to be strongly encouraging 00:15:05.950 --> 00:15:09.289 them to be the type of people or to learn the 00:15:09.289 --> 00:15:11.850 skills to be able to flash firmware on their 00:15:11.850 --> 00:15:15.169 devices. I'm pretty confident the hardware will 00:15:15.169 --> 00:15:17.389 be there. It's the firmware that's going to continue 00:15:17.389 --> 00:15:20.330 to get new features over time and bug fixes and 00:15:20.330 --> 00:15:26.779 improvements and all that fun stuff. Anyway, 00:15:26.779 --> 00:15:29.379 I'm hoping to have it by Hamvention. Later in 00:15:29.379 --> 00:15:32.919 the year, I'll be doing more and iterating on 00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:35.419 fixing little bugs and improving the firmware 00:15:35.419 --> 00:15:37.860 and selling more as I'm able to manufacture them. 00:15:38.279 --> 00:15:40.440 The first batch I'm going to manufacture myself, 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:45.799 but if this goes as well as I hope it will, then 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:48.379 I'm going to quickly outstrip my ability to... 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:51.679 manufacture these things and I'll find a fabrication 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:54.320 house to do all the final assembly as well as 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.539 the board assembly okay so so give us kind of 00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:02.039 an idea of how it goes and this is radio not 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:07.169 not video so we can't see a whole lot. If you 00:16:07.169 --> 00:16:10.190 looked on social media, you saw the one little 00:16:10.190 --> 00:16:13.850 snapshot picture of, you know, and you saw the 00:16:13.850 --> 00:16:16.350 dual frequency display and the little target 00:16:16.350 --> 00:16:20.149 there for, you know, seeing where the satellite 00:16:20.149 --> 00:16:26.210 is. So just kind of walk us through what's the 00:16:26.210 --> 00:16:29.169 process of going through and making a contact 00:16:29.169 --> 00:16:33.139 with this thing. Yeah. So the hardware is relatively 00:16:33.139 --> 00:16:35.360 small. It's about four inches by five inches 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:37.419 by about one inch tall, a little over one inch 00:16:37.419 --> 00:16:39.200 tall. So it's relatively small and lightweight. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:42.259 This version does not have batteries in it. So 00:16:42.259 --> 00:16:46.259 you will need to provide your own DC power. It's 00:16:46.259 --> 00:16:48.279 got a switching power supply on it. So anywhere 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:51.320 between seven and 40 volt input will be fine, 00:16:51.340 --> 00:16:53.580 right? So, you know, any of your quote unquote 00:16:53.580 --> 00:16:55.919 12 volt batteries or 13 .8 volt batteries will 00:16:55.919 --> 00:17:00.740 do just fine. But otherwise, the radio is internal. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:03.919 Both the VHF and UHF radios are completely internal. 00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:09.400 All the microcontroller is in there. It has a 00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:11.619 USB port, so you connect it to your computer. 00:17:12.140 --> 00:17:15.759 And when you connect, like once, well periodically, 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:19.859 you download the TLE data. So TLE, for listeners 00:17:19.859 --> 00:17:21.539 who may not know, stands for two line elements. 00:17:21.779 --> 00:17:26.069 It describes the orbit. of a satellite. And so 00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:29.130 if you know the TLE data, if you know the numbers 00:17:29.130 --> 00:17:32.210 that are in the two -line element, and you know 00:17:32.210 --> 00:17:35.609 where you are on the planet, and you know what 00:17:35.609 --> 00:17:38.269 time it is, what day and time it is, with all 00:17:38.269 --> 00:17:40.930 of that information, you can calculate exactly 00:17:40.930 --> 00:17:43.609 where the satellite is and where it is relative 00:17:43.609 --> 00:17:47.690 to you. All of that is in SOAR. So SOAR has a 00:17:47.690 --> 00:17:50.450 built -in GPS, so it knows where it is and what 00:17:50.450 --> 00:17:54.869 time it is. It has built -in flash storage that 00:17:54.869 --> 00:17:57.609 you can access over USB. So you download the 00:17:57.609 --> 00:18:01.349 most recent TLE data off of Celestrak or NORAD 00:18:01.349 --> 00:18:03.710 or wherever you get it, and you copy it onto 00:18:03.710 --> 00:18:06.569 the internal storage over USB. And now it knows 00:18:06.569 --> 00:18:11.309 where the satellites are. And then it can do 00:18:11.309 --> 00:18:14.529 all of the past prediction for you. So once you 00:18:14.529 --> 00:18:18.839 have all of that data loaded onto SOAR, From 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:22.740 there, there are three main modes. I'll talk 00:18:22.740 --> 00:18:26.660 about four modes called views in SOAR. The first 00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:29.200 view is just standard HT. So it operates just 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:32.440 like a normal radio. You can key up the repeaters 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:35.180 with standard offsets and CT, CSS tones and all 00:18:35.180 --> 00:18:36.759 that fun stuff, right? So it's got to operate 00:18:36.759 --> 00:18:39.059 as a normal radio as well. So it's got that in 00:18:39.059 --> 00:18:41.180 there. That's one of the views. The second view 00:18:41.180 --> 00:18:44.619 is called past prediction. And this is the view 00:18:44.619 --> 00:18:46.759 where it operates like the app on your phone 00:18:46.759 --> 00:18:49.019 that tells you, you know, here are all the satellites. 00:18:49.079 --> 00:18:51.160 It knows where it is, what time it is. You can 00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:53.299 program in a different location and a different 00:18:53.299 --> 00:18:55.119 time if you want to say what are the satellite 00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:57.759 passes going to be when I'm on vacation a thousand 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:00.640 miles away in two weeks. So, you know, you can 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:03.299 do that sort of thing. But it does all the standard 00:19:03.299 --> 00:19:07.200 pass prediction stuff. And then there's the pass 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.539 operation view. And that is where you've selected 00:19:11.539 --> 00:19:14.049 the satellite. It knows where it is and when 00:19:14.049 --> 00:19:17.589 it is and it can do all of the Doppler compensation 00:19:17.589 --> 00:19:20.869 for the satellite pass automatically So you don't 00:19:20.869 --> 00:19:25.009 have to control the frequency of the radio And 00:19:25.009 --> 00:19:27.390 it also calculates the azimuth and elevation 00:19:27.390 --> 00:19:29.930 of where the satellite is at any given time and 00:19:29.930 --> 00:19:33.009 it displays that on the screen Since it also 00:19:33.009 --> 00:19:34.930 knows when it comes up over the horizon and when 00:19:34.930 --> 00:19:38.650 it goes down Past the horizon it automatically 00:19:38.650 --> 00:19:42.660 opens up the squelch when at AOS, acquisition 00:19:42.660 --> 00:19:44.299 of signal, when it comes up over the horizon 00:19:44.299 --> 00:19:46.720 and closes down the squelch when it goes down 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.240 below the horizon. It's also got a whole lot 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:53.660 of internal storage. So it will record the audio 00:19:53.660 --> 00:19:57.099 of the pass. It records the downlink and the 00:19:57.099 --> 00:20:01.019 uplink separately. So it comes out as a stereo 00:20:01.019 --> 00:20:05.099 dot wave file that's on the internal storage. 00:20:06.439 --> 00:20:08.359 And there are two things you can do with that. 00:20:08.460 --> 00:20:10.099 I'll talk about the first one in a second, but 00:20:10.099 --> 00:20:12.119 the other thing you can do with it is that when 00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:14.380 you hook it up to your computer over USB, you 00:20:14.380 --> 00:20:16.660 can copy those files off onto your computer and 00:20:16.660 --> 00:20:19.200 then encode them as MP3 or FLAC or whatever you 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:21.740 want to do with the files once you get there. 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:25.380 But the first thing you can do with those files 00:20:25.380 --> 00:20:33.789 is a fourth view, which is pass playback. Once 00:20:33.789 --> 00:20:35.869 you've done a pass and you've recorded it, it 00:20:35.869 --> 00:20:38.230 records all the audio for that pass. It also 00:20:38.230 --> 00:20:42.769 records what the TLE data was at the time and 00:20:42.769 --> 00:20:45.289 the timestamps and all of that. And with that, 00:20:45.369 --> 00:20:49.630 it's able to play back the pass. And so you can 00:20:49.630 --> 00:20:53.990 listen to the audio from the pass and see on 00:20:53.990 --> 00:20:57.630 the screen what was on the screen at the time 00:20:57.630 --> 00:21:02.670 the pass happened. And so that should help with 00:21:02.940 --> 00:21:06.000 You know logging or or brag rights or whatever 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:10.900 you want to do with that Yeah, my my my experience 00:21:10.900 --> 00:21:14.059 on satellites is mostly okay. I've got the mobile 00:21:14.059 --> 00:21:18.920 rig I stick the antenna out the sunroof I throw 00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:22.299 my iPhone and record mode and lay it there next 00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:26.700 to the speaker and you know adjust the frequency 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:28.480 every once in a while, but every time I started 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:34.190 recording it's like Okay, I'm on A091, it's 1632 00:21:34.190 --> 00:21:38.529 Zulu, and I'm sitting in the Walmart parking 00:21:38.529 --> 00:21:43.829 lot in Florence, Kentucky. So I'm talking to 00:21:43.829 --> 00:21:49.089 myself, so already it's getting weird. And then 00:21:49.089 --> 00:21:52.369 you turn the squelch down and you hear squelch 00:21:52.369 --> 00:21:55.069 for like 10 minutes, and then all of a sudden 00:21:55.069 --> 00:21:58.710 the pass shows up and you get it, and then you 00:21:58.710 --> 00:22:01.740 probably forget to stop the recording, and so 00:22:01.740 --> 00:22:04.019 you hear, you know, listening to talk radio while 00:22:04.019 --> 00:22:06.880 you're driving down the road. And then, you know, 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:11.500 you finally remember to turn it off. If you're 00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:13.359 not lucky, you forgot to start the recording. 00:22:13.380 --> 00:22:17.539 Start it. Exactly. Exactly. And then, you know, 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:20.839 and then so I come home and I play it back and 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:24.119 I sit here on TQSL and punch everything in and 00:22:24.119 --> 00:22:28.150 log it. And it's like, you know, There's gotta 00:22:28.150 --> 00:22:32.990 be an easier way to do this. That's exactly what 00:22:32.990 --> 00:22:36.470 led to SOAR, that thought process of, boy, what's 00:22:36.470 --> 00:22:38.430 with all of these cables and the audio routing 00:22:38.430 --> 00:22:40.950 and the recording and the, you know, and then, 00:22:41.069 --> 00:22:46.589 yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, as soon as 00:22:46.589 --> 00:22:48.650 you said it will automatically open the squelch 00:22:48.650 --> 00:22:51.190 up for you, you know, when you get to a certain 00:22:51.190 --> 00:22:53.940 point, I'm like, ooh. Ooh, that would be nice. 00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:56.839 Right? It's the simplest. That is literally two 00:22:56.839 --> 00:22:58.880 lines of code. One to turn it on, one to turn 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:01.019 it off. But that's one of those features that 00:23:01.019 --> 00:23:04.079 people are like, oh my gosh, why does nothing 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:09.059 else do this? Yeah. Yeah. That could get me out 00:23:09.059 --> 00:23:11.660 of a lot of trouble with the XYL on vacations. 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:16.619 It's always when the squelch is open that's, 00:23:16.839 --> 00:23:20.880 turn that thing down. When there's voices on 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:23.380 there, yeah, okay, it's not so bad, but when 00:23:23.380 --> 00:23:25.700 it's just full squelch, it's like, how do you 00:23:25.700 --> 00:23:31.900 stand that? Well, I'm a ham radio operator. My 00:23:31.900 --> 00:23:40.950 ears are... Damaged, let's go with. Anyway. Well, 00:23:41.269 --> 00:23:43.910 this just, you know, it sounds like a really, 00:23:43.910 --> 00:23:48.569 really cool project and we're going to talk about 00:23:48.569 --> 00:23:50.930 it some more. We're going to take a couple of 00:23:50.930 --> 00:23:53.289 questions that we got ahead of time, but right 00:23:53.289 --> 00:23:55.990 now we're going to stop and take a break and 00:23:55.990 --> 00:23:58.910 we'll be back with Mark right after this word 00:23:58.910 --> 00:24:03.240 from Tower Electronics. Right here on HamTalk 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:09.200 Live. Jerry, what's up, man? I haven't seen you 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:12.119 at Sunbuck's in a while. I used to see you every 00:24:12.119 --> 00:24:15.599 morning getting coffee. What's up? Well, I can't 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:18.559 afford Sunbuck's five days a week anymore. I 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:22.460 had to spend my money on PL 259s. You know, those 00:24:22.460 --> 00:24:25.160 antenna projects I've been meaning to do. I had 00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:28.440 to do them before my HOA finds out I have antennas. 00:24:29.049 --> 00:24:31.809 That's too bad, Jerry. I miss seeing you and 00:24:31.809 --> 00:24:34.210 catching up over coffee. You should get your 00:24:34.210 --> 00:24:37.670 PL -259s from Tower Electronics. They have great 00:24:37.670 --> 00:24:46.130 stuff. Jerry, you're back! Oh, QRM Heterodyne 00:24:46.130 --> 00:24:49.250 Frappuccino. That's a good choice. How's it going? 00:24:49.630 --> 00:24:51.730 Did you get all those antennas up before the 00:24:51.730 --> 00:24:55.470 HOA police showed up? Yeah, I got them all done. 00:24:55.789 --> 00:24:58.049 Thanks for telling me about Tower Electronics. 00:24:58.430 --> 00:25:01.250 Now I can have my coffee. I just saved a bunch 00:25:01.250 --> 00:25:05.369 of money on my PL259s by switching to Tower Electronics. 00:25:05.690 --> 00:25:08.809 Don't get caught without PL259s. Visit Tower 00:25:08.809 --> 00:25:13.529 Electronics online at pl -259 .com or at a ham 00:25:13.529 --> 00:25:17.509 fest near you or give them a call at 920 -435 00:25:17.509 --> 00:25:21.109 -2973 and be sure to pick up some power poles, 00:25:21.230 --> 00:25:26.460 adapters and cables too. Coming up on the HamFest 00:25:26.460 --> 00:25:29.039 calendar for Tower Electronics, March 5th they'll 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:32.039 be in Cave City, Kentucky or you can visit them 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:38.819 anytime at PL -259 .com. Oh yeah, you're talking 00:25:38.819 --> 00:25:43.240 ham radio baby. You're listening to Ham Talk 00:25:43.240 --> 00:26:08.720 Live with Neil Rapp. Welcome back to ham talk 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:12.900 live or ham talk not so live as it is these days 00:26:12.900 --> 00:26:15.599 Hey, be sure to check us out on Facebook Twitter 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:20.019 and Instagram and We're making an effort to get 00:26:20.019 --> 00:26:22.599 the topics out there a little sooner in the week 00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:25.240 Since we're not doing the show live and the call 00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:28.619 -in stuff anymore so you can send your questions 00:26:28.619 --> 00:26:32.369 in on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, so make 00:26:32.369 --> 00:26:36.309 sure you take a look at that and do that. And 00:26:36.309 --> 00:26:39.089 head to HamTalkLive .com. You can see the shows 00:26:39.089 --> 00:26:41.329 that are coming up. So if there's one that you 00:26:41.329 --> 00:26:45.450 want to ask a question, please feel free to do 00:26:45.450 --> 00:26:48.950 that. We'd love to have those. And we will go 00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:51.690 to one of those here in just a second. But right 00:26:51.690 --> 00:26:56.309 now it's time for the N9GSU Ham Radio Joke of 00:26:56.309 --> 00:27:00.589 the Week. Now it's time for the HamTalk Live 00:27:00.589 --> 00:27:03.490 Ham Radio Joke of the Week, the part of the show 00:27:03.490 --> 00:27:06.789 where Rick tells us a ham radio joke. The HamTalk 00:27:06.789 --> 00:27:09.349 Live Ham Radio Joke of the Week is brought to 00:27:09.349 --> 00:27:14.289 you by QRM Labs. Now here's Rick Garrett in 9GSU 00:27:14.289 --> 00:27:22.980 with today's HamTalk Live Joke of the Week. I 00:27:22.980 --> 00:27:26.019 decided I wanted to do some winter POTA activations, 00:27:26.140 --> 00:27:28.279 so I went to the outdoor store to buy some long 00:27:28.279 --> 00:27:30.819 johns. The clerk asked me how long I wanted them 00:27:30.819 --> 00:27:33.839 and I said, well, probably November through March. 00:27:35.339 --> 00:27:38.519 This has been the Ham Talk Live Ham Radio Joke 00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:42.220 of the Week with Rick Garrett in 9GSU. Tune in 00:27:42.220 --> 00:27:48.200 again next week for another joke from Rick. Alright, 00:27:48.259 --> 00:27:54.349 so... Alright, Mark, let's change gears here. 00:27:55.269 --> 00:27:58.029 Let's talk a little bit about FM satellites for 00:27:58.029 --> 00:28:03.670 a minute because, you know, we've had some satellites 00:28:03.670 --> 00:28:06.430 that haven't exactly worked out, you know, the 00:28:06.430 --> 00:28:09.890 way everybody hoped and so, you know, there are 00:28:09.890 --> 00:28:13.789 some beacons and some stuff out there, but as 00:28:13.789 --> 00:28:17.410 far as functioning FM satellites that you can... 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:22.259 access with a handheld and talk through, it's 00:28:22.259 --> 00:28:27.140 kind of limited. And, you know, some of them 00:28:27.140 --> 00:28:29.640 are having some issues with batteries and that 00:28:29.640 --> 00:28:32.839 kind of thing. So are you concerned about that 00:28:32.839 --> 00:28:39.220 with your product coming out? No, is the short 00:28:39.220 --> 00:28:44.900 answer. I mean, it's Really, AMSAT is always 00:28:44.900 --> 00:28:47.240 putting up more satellites. I mean, not as fast 00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:49.619 as we would like and some of them are, you know, 00:28:49.779 --> 00:28:51.240 little CubeSats that are only going to be up 00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:54.380 there for a few years and then they'll come back 00:28:54.380 --> 00:28:59.200 to Earth the hot and exciting way. But I don't 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:05.259 think we'll ever not have FM satellites. And 00:29:05.259 --> 00:29:10.579 to say that... SOAR is only an FM radio is technically 00:29:10.579 --> 00:29:13.259 true, but remember that there are other modes 00:29:13.259 --> 00:29:18.059 that can be encoded on top of FM. For example, 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:22.400 packet. You know, packet radio is AFSK, audio 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:25.180 frequency shift key modulated, meaning it's an 00:29:25.180 --> 00:29:28.240 audio signal that is sent over an FM radio. So 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:32.220 there are packet transponders or APRS transponders 00:29:32.220 --> 00:29:35.359 that are on satellites. I think ISS may be the 00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:36.859 only one, but that's the one that I know of. 00:29:37.380 --> 00:29:40.400 There's also SSTV, slow scan television, which 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:45.380 is again, an audio signal put on top of FM. So 00:29:45.380 --> 00:29:48.859 there's more than just the FM repeaters in orbit 00:29:48.859 --> 00:29:54.700 that SOAR will work natively with. Now, here's 00:29:54.700 --> 00:29:58.279 more speculation that I cannot commit to. I am 00:29:58.279 --> 00:30:03.079 doing everything in my power to make the audio 00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:08.019 frequency response of SOAR as wide and flat as 00:30:08.019 --> 00:30:12.680 possible in the hopes that we might be able to 00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:20.059 use it to do some GMFSK modulation. For example, 00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:27.859 M17 is a free and open digital audio codec that's 00:30:27.859 --> 00:30:30.640 coming up. It's kind of like DMR or System Fusion 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:34.559 or D -Star, but all of those are patent encumbered 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:38.849 and belong to a particular manufacturer. D -Star 00:30:38.849 --> 00:30:40.950 technically is an open standard, but it still 00:30:40.950 --> 00:30:44.950 uses the Ambi codec. And so M17 was a project 00:30:44.950 --> 00:30:47.990 that was started by a bunch of amateurs, mostly 00:30:47.990 --> 00:30:49.690 in Europe, I think, although a lot of people 00:30:49.690 --> 00:30:51.869 have taken it up in the U .S. as well, to come 00:30:51.869 --> 00:30:55.950 up with a free and open source, non -patent encumbered, 00:30:56.089 --> 00:31:00.750 hackable, playable protocol. And underneath the 00:31:00.750 --> 00:31:05.750 hood, it uses GMFSK encoding. And this is kind 00:31:05.750 --> 00:31:09.819 of like 9600BOD packet. 1200 bod packet you can 00:31:09.819 --> 00:31:12.640 do through any old radio but 9600 bod packet 00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:15.460 you need to have a special connection to the 00:31:15.460 --> 00:31:19.259 radio One that doesn't do pre -emphasis and doesn't 00:31:19.259 --> 00:31:22.059 have the frequency filtering the audio bandpass 00:31:22.059 --> 00:31:25.059 frequency filtering that FM normally puts on 00:31:25.059 --> 00:31:30.140 a radio and so I'm Hoping I haven't tested this 00:31:30.140 --> 00:31:34.779 yet that the FM modules that I'm using when I 00:31:34.779 --> 00:31:37.380 turn off all the filters that they have in software, 00:31:37.859 --> 00:31:40.640 and as long as I'm not additionally filtering 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:45.759 anything, that I will have enough bandwidth to 00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:49.640 the FM modulator in this module that will be 00:31:49.640 --> 00:31:53.559 able to do any constant amplitude modulation. 00:31:53.799 --> 00:31:58.579 like GMFSK or any of the other FSK modes, we 00:31:58.579 --> 00:32:00.960 will not be able to do single sideband, we will 00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:04.240 not be able to do CW, we will not be able to 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:08.000 do PSK, because all of those are not constant 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:12.779 amplitude. But the other constant amplitude digital 00:32:12.779 --> 00:32:18.259 modulations like FD8 or what is it, MST -40. 00:32:18.329 --> 00:32:21.710 or 144, can't remember exactly what the acronym 00:32:21.710 --> 00:32:24.930 is on those. These are a lot of encoding techniques 00:32:24.930 --> 00:32:28.430 that might be possible with SOAR. And I'm doing 00:32:28.430 --> 00:32:31.390 everything I can to not rule it out on my hardware, 00:32:31.450 --> 00:32:33.970 but there are some potential limitations in the 00:32:33.970 --> 00:32:39.009 RF modules that we have to live with. Sounds 00:32:39.009 --> 00:32:41.650 like you're trying to put everything in here. 00:32:41.930 --> 00:32:44.470 Well, let's get to a question here from a listener 00:32:44.470 --> 00:32:50.450 on Twitter Chris W6YBW wants to know is this 00:32:50.450 --> 00:32:54.630 a full SDR radio or is it an external controller 00:32:54.630 --> 00:32:58.170 to use with separate radios? So we've kind of 00:32:58.170 --> 00:33:00.069 talked about that but why don't you elaborate 00:33:00.069 --> 00:33:03.829 a little more on that? Sure Thank you for the 00:33:03.829 --> 00:33:07.769 question Chris. It is neither Technically, it's 00:33:07.769 --> 00:33:09.730 more the first than the second, though. It is 00:33:09.730 --> 00:33:14.589 not an SDR. I do not have arbitrary control over 00:33:14.589 --> 00:33:17.230 the waveform, like I was just mentioning. I can 00:33:17.230 --> 00:33:21.529 send audio into an FM modulated radio. Having 00:33:21.529 --> 00:33:25.569 said that, the radio modules are part of SOAR. 00:33:25.650 --> 00:33:28.089 They are built into SOAR. This is not just a 00:33:28.089 --> 00:33:33.519 controller for another radio. So, you don't have 00:33:33.519 --> 00:33:36.700 to provide another radio for it. But at the same 00:33:36.700 --> 00:33:39.559 time, I don't have full SDR control over it. 00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:43.819 However, it will have, not at launch, but these 00:33:43.819 --> 00:33:46.160 are features that I intend to add. Remember earlier 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:47.940 when I said I want people to be able to update 00:33:47.940 --> 00:33:50.079 firmware? This is one of those things that you're 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:52.819 going to get with updated firmware. It's going 00:33:52.819 --> 00:33:55.279 to be connected to a USB, or if you connect it 00:33:55.279 --> 00:33:57.339 to your computer over a USB port, it will show 00:33:57.339 --> 00:34:02.279 up as a sound card. the FM audio you get to and 00:34:02.279 --> 00:34:05.119 from the radio will be available on that sound 00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:09.980 card. So it's a lot like the modern HF rigs, 00:34:09.980 --> 00:34:14.460 you know, the ICOM 7300 or the 9700, which is 00:34:14.460 --> 00:34:18.119 a VHF UHF radio, where the audio can come in 00:34:18.119 --> 00:34:22.940 and out of your computer, but it is still FM 00:34:22.940 --> 00:34:27.019 under the hood. It is not sideband or arbitrary 00:34:27.019 --> 00:34:31.059 IMQ waveforms or anything like that. All right, 00:34:31.059 --> 00:34:34.900 very good. Well, you know, this is this is just 00:34:34.900 --> 00:34:39.400 kind of The the beginning of this there's a little 00:34:39.400 --> 00:34:43.599 more to it So so fill us in on a little more 00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:48.280 of the depth here into sore Sure. So when most 00:34:48.280 --> 00:34:50.780 people work FM satellites or a lot of people 00:34:50.780 --> 00:34:53.420 they use a handheld antenna and so one of the 00:34:53.420 --> 00:34:56.219 challenges you know, and I say challenge in the 00:34:56.219 --> 00:34:59.300 it could be fun sort of way as well is to know 00:34:59.300 --> 00:35:01.280 where to point it and that's one of the reasons 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:03.639 why you're looking at your satellite tracker 00:35:03.639 --> 00:35:07.500 app on your phone is to know where to point your 00:35:07.500 --> 00:35:09.059 antenna and then of course once you get it close 00:35:09.059 --> 00:35:11.420 enough you can kind of hear the signal strength 00:35:11.420 --> 00:35:14.320 change as you're moving the antenna around and 00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:17.639 you rotate it to match the phase or the polarization 00:35:17.639 --> 00:35:23.500 excuse me and fun things like that but SOAR calculates 00:35:23.500 --> 00:35:30.250 the azimuth and elevation data if you or I, as 00:35:30.250 --> 00:35:33.130 the case may be, and I'm planning on doing this, 00:35:33.530 --> 00:35:37.570 make a tiny microcontroller that can mount to 00:35:37.570 --> 00:35:42.210 the boom of the antenna that has an accelerometer 00:35:42.210 --> 00:35:47.289 so it knows which way down is, and a magnetometer 00:35:47.289 --> 00:35:52.309 so it knows which way north is, and a serial 00:35:52.309 --> 00:35:56.219 connection back to SOAR so it knows what the 00:35:56.219 --> 00:35:59.039 azimuth and elevation is for the satellite, and 00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:01.139 then put a little tiny display, or not a tiny 00:36:01.139 --> 00:36:04.340 display, but put a display on this microcontroller 00:36:04.340 --> 00:36:07.900 with a SkyMap, or like a targeting computer, 00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:10.760 or a targeting display. So I'm calling this the 00:36:10.760 --> 00:36:12.679 targeting computer, and it's gonna be another 00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:15.199 product that I'm going to sell, I'm gonna make, 00:36:15.260 --> 00:36:17.760 develop and make and sell after Sora gets out 00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:21.289 there. It will... help you point the antenna 00:36:21.289 --> 00:36:24.969 or know where to point the antenna using an accelerometer 00:36:24.969 --> 00:36:27.429 and a magnetometer and the azimuth and elevation 00:36:27.429 --> 00:36:33.250 data from SOAR. Well, so that's the accessory. 00:36:34.489 --> 00:36:39.110 And wow, what an accessory. You can just tell 00:36:39.110 --> 00:36:42.489 where to point the thing and you're good to go. 00:36:42.889 --> 00:36:45.750 Yep. So like I said earlier, it's a matter of 00:36:45.750 --> 00:36:47.670 thinking about what the problems are, what the 00:36:47.670 --> 00:36:50.949 challenges are. What technologies do you have 00:36:50.949 --> 00:36:53.789 in your toolbox that you could use to address 00:36:53.789 --> 00:36:56.030 those problems and then figuring out how to package 00:36:56.030 --> 00:36:58.090 it? I know how to talk to a display. I know how 00:36:58.090 --> 00:37:02.349 to talk to SOAR. I know it's possible. I've never 00:37:02.349 --> 00:37:04.750 done, used a magnetometer and accelerometer, 00:37:04.769 --> 00:37:06.610 but I know that technology is out there and I 00:37:06.610 --> 00:37:09.190 could go learn it. You put all of that together 00:37:09.190 --> 00:37:11.889 you do a little bit of vector math and you can 00:37:11.889 --> 00:37:14.630 display on a screen Mounted to the boom of the 00:37:14.630 --> 00:37:16.449 antenna, you know move it up a little bit move 00:37:16.449 --> 00:37:18.170 it to the right the things moving through the 00:37:18.170 --> 00:37:20.730 sky move You know, and it just kind of helps 00:37:20.730 --> 00:37:22.670 tell you where you should be pointed at any given 00:37:22.670 --> 00:37:30.449 time That's just a really cool idea well Anything 00:37:30.449 --> 00:37:32.530 else that you want to you want to talk about 00:37:32.530 --> 00:37:35.889 this before we kind of venture off into? Maybe 00:37:35.889 --> 00:37:40.420 some other things that are coming up No, but 00:37:40.420 --> 00:37:42.679 if anyone's got any more questions about SOAR 00:37:42.679 --> 00:37:46.420 or what it does, hit me up on Twitter, and I've 00:37:46.420 --> 00:37:48.679 also got a groups .io group that I've started 00:37:48.679 --> 00:37:52.300 recently. The subscription box for that is on 00:37:52.300 --> 00:37:54.539 my website, and we'll provide all of those links, 00:37:54.579 --> 00:37:57.119 I assume, in the show notes and maybe at the 00:37:57.119 --> 00:38:02.269 end here. Yep, absolutely. You know, this was 00:38:02.269 --> 00:38:05.670 the secret squirrel project. So are there other 00:38:05.670 --> 00:38:11.550 secret squirrel projects coming up? Yes, lots. 00:38:12.070 --> 00:38:15.829 But the one that I'm talking about already is 00:38:15.829 --> 00:38:20.949 at QSO Today Ham Expo in August of 2021, the 00:38:20.949 --> 00:38:26.590 fall of 2021 QSO Today Ham Expo. i gave a presentation 00:38:26.590 --> 00:38:29.650 about measured completely unrelated to sore sorry 00:38:29.650 --> 00:38:32.570 let's let's let's break here uh... i gave a presentation 00:38:32.570 --> 00:38:35.590 there about measuring common -mode current jokes 00:38:35.590 --> 00:38:38.150 or what people will often refer to as a one -to 00:38:38.150 --> 00:38:40.670 -one balance or a flying isolator these are all 00:38:40.670 --> 00:38:43.690 kind of the same thing uh... and there's lots 00:38:43.690 --> 00:38:47.329 of literature about how to uh... how to design 00:38:47.329 --> 00:38:50.469 them and how to make them but i didn't find any 00:38:50.469 --> 00:38:53.590 literature about how to measure them or there 00:38:53.590 --> 00:38:56.690 there was some but not a lot and it was it was 00:38:56.690 --> 00:39:01.829 anyway the presentation I gave was let's go build 00:39:01.829 --> 00:39:04.869 a rig use this snazzy device that everyone's 00:39:04.869 --> 00:39:08.250 got in their pocket now called a nano VNA and 00:39:08.250 --> 00:39:12.849 there's one piece of test rig that you need to 00:39:12.849 --> 00:39:17.309 build to be able to use a nano VNA to measure 00:39:17.309 --> 00:39:20.949 how effective a common mode current choke is 00:39:21.130 --> 00:39:26.650 And so I described that test rig in this presentation 00:39:26.650 --> 00:39:28.730 and then I measured a bunch of different common 00:39:28.730 --> 00:39:30.969 mode current chokes or balance and presented 00:39:30.969 --> 00:39:34.489 the data and showed how to use those measurements 00:39:34.489 --> 00:39:37.409 to design your own to meet the requirements. 00:39:38.070 --> 00:39:41.349 Or you can just trust my data and use the designs 00:39:41.349 --> 00:39:44.889 that I showed. But I had a lot of people asking 00:39:44.889 --> 00:39:47.369 me after the presentation, where can I buy that 00:39:47.369 --> 00:39:50.400 test rig? And I'm like, All right, I don't, you 00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:53.780 know, this was back in August before I started 00:39:53.780 --> 00:39:55.599 Hallibut Electronics. I'm like, I'm not in the 00:39:55.599 --> 00:39:57.400 business of selling these things. Well, guess 00:39:57.400 --> 00:40:03.539 what? I am in that business now. And so I designed 00:40:03.539 --> 00:40:07.079 a kit that is that test rating. It's got a couple 00:40:07.079 --> 00:40:09.500 of SMA ports out to the VNA and then it's got 00:40:09.500 --> 00:40:14.000 SMA, BNC, PL259 and N connectors on the other 00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:16.619 side. So you can hook up just about any kind 00:40:16.619 --> 00:40:20.960 of RF cable to it. And it will put the signals 00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:22.639 in the right place to be able to measure your 00:40:22.639 --> 00:40:24.960 common mode current chokes. So that's actually 00:40:24.960 --> 00:40:27.139 probably the first product that Halibut Electronics 00:40:27.139 --> 00:40:28.900 is going to sell just because it's so much simpler 00:40:28.900 --> 00:40:31.380 than SOAR. And I'm going to use that as kind 00:40:31.380 --> 00:40:34.940 of my hello world product to get a online shopping 00:40:34.940 --> 00:40:37.139 cart up and running and get all the bugs figured 00:40:37.139 --> 00:40:41.360 out before trying to do the same thing with SOAR. 00:40:41.760 --> 00:40:45.469 So that's one that's coming up. I've talked on 00:40:45.469 --> 00:40:48.230 the ham radio workbench about this kind of contesting 00:40:48.230 --> 00:40:51.849 audio console where when I do field day, the 00:40:51.849 --> 00:40:54.190 club I do it with, we usually have one person 00:40:54.190 --> 00:40:56.909 operating the radio and another person logging 00:40:56.909 --> 00:41:00.610 the conversation. And so you got two people wearing 00:41:00.610 --> 00:41:02.289 headsets and they both want to be able to hear 00:41:02.289 --> 00:41:04.110 it, but they also want to be able to talk to 00:41:04.110 --> 00:41:07.650 each other. But only one of them audio should 00:41:07.650 --> 00:41:10.750 go to the radio. And so I kind of designed this 00:41:10.750 --> 00:41:12.969 like three input, three output. Oh, you're reading 00:41:12.969 --> 00:41:16.449 my mind. Mixer console. Exactly. Right? Yeah. 00:41:16.469 --> 00:41:17.949 Like how many people have looked at this and 00:41:17.949 --> 00:41:21.329 gone, why doesn't this thing exist? Well, guess 00:41:21.329 --> 00:41:24.309 what? I've already had one of these things. Wow. 00:41:24.469 --> 00:41:26.969 I built this several years ago. I built one of 00:41:26.969 --> 00:41:29.170 them, just like I said, right? Like I described, 00:41:29.309 --> 00:41:32.949 I built one for my use. And as I describe it 00:41:32.949 --> 00:41:34.170 to other people, they're like, that's really 00:41:34.170 --> 00:41:36.010 cool. I want one of those. Well, guess what? 00:41:36.090 --> 00:41:37.650 I'm in the business to sell that kind of thing 00:41:37.650 --> 00:41:40.329 now. So that is going to be a product that I 00:41:40.329 --> 00:41:44.820 will start putting together and selling. Hopefully 00:41:44.820 --> 00:41:46.980 later this year, maybe early next year, we'll 00:41:46.980 --> 00:41:50.619 see how much of my time SOAR takes up. But, you 00:41:50.619 --> 00:41:55.539 know, those kinds of projects. I've thought that 00:41:55.539 --> 00:41:59.719 for so long. It's like, if there were only a 00:41:59.719 --> 00:42:05.619 way, and there you go, you read my mind. So I'm 00:42:05.619 --> 00:42:08.679 sold on that one. So put me down for the first 00:42:08.679 --> 00:42:16.159 order. All right. Well, Mark, thank you so much 00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:19.360 for being here. Let's make sure everybody knows 00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:24.260 where to find you on the web and on Twitter and 00:42:24.260 --> 00:42:29.360 all that stuff. And maybe even, well, I don't 00:42:29.360 --> 00:42:31.320 know if you've reserved anything for Hamvention 00:42:31.320 --> 00:42:35.480 yet, but whatever you got out there. Go ahead 00:42:35.480 --> 00:42:38.059 and fire it out there and I'll get it in the 00:42:38.059 --> 00:42:41.219 notes as well. As well as we will put a link 00:42:41.219 --> 00:42:45.179 to the announcement of SOAR, the video that you 00:42:45.179 --> 00:42:47.360 had on YouTube, we'll put a link to that too. 00:42:47.440 --> 00:42:50.719 So if you want to see some things and get a little 00:42:50.719 --> 00:42:53.380 bit more on it, you can watch that. But tell 00:42:53.380 --> 00:42:55.610 everybody where to find you. Sounds good. Yeah, 00:42:55.610 --> 00:42:59.730 so on Twitter is the place that I'm most active 00:42:59.730 --> 00:43:06.630 publicly I am at Smitty halibut SMI TTY H a li 00:43:06.630 --> 00:43:10.570 but How a bit like I said, it's been my been 00:43:10.570 --> 00:43:13.710 my brand for several decades So I got Smitty 00:43:13.710 --> 00:43:18.400 halibut, you know as soon as I could That is 00:43:18.400 --> 00:43:20.460 my personal account and there will be more than 00:43:20.460 --> 00:43:22.420 just ham radio stuff going on there. If you're 00:43:22.420 --> 00:43:24.699 just interested in the ham radio stuff, then 00:43:24.699 --> 00:43:32.760 you probably want to follow Halibut Elec. Halibut 00:43:32.760 --> 00:43:34.519 electronics was apparently too many characters 00:43:34.519 --> 00:43:40.179 for Twitter. was is the twitter handle for hell 00:43:40.179 --> 00:43:41.980 of an electronics and i'll be talking about sore 00:43:41.980 --> 00:43:45.780 there uh... i don't have much of a web page right 00:43:45.780 --> 00:43:48.940 now the u r l response but i don't have any content 00:43:48.940 --> 00:43:51.800 there uh... the website is going to be electronics 00:43:51.800 --> 00:43:56.360 dot halibut dot com But if you are interested 00:43:56.360 --> 00:43:59.000 in signing up for the groups .io, that's where 00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:02.739 to go to do it. The groups .io is halibut -electronics 00:44:02.739 --> 00:44:06.559 at groups .io. There's a subscribe box on the 00:44:06.559 --> 00:44:10.199 webpage, which is electronics .halibut .com. 00:44:11.300 --> 00:44:14.619 That's pretty much it, I think. All right. Then 00:44:14.619 --> 00:44:17.059 I'm going to be looking for you at Hamvention 00:44:17.059 --> 00:44:21.420 because, you know, the reason why you end up 00:44:21.420 --> 00:44:24.059 with. The reason I was chuckling about that is 00:44:24.059 --> 00:44:26.179 I'm going to go to Hamvention no matter what, 00:44:26.280 --> 00:44:27.940 even if I've only got a couple of prototypes 00:44:27.940 --> 00:44:30.980 to show off. Right now I'm trying to coordinate 00:44:30.980 --> 00:44:34.619 with George Zaforofoulos from the Ham Radio workbench 00:44:34.619 --> 00:44:38.000 because I want to get a booth as immediately 00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:42.760 next to his as possible. And the Hamvention reservation 00:44:42.760 --> 00:44:45.460 system is weird because it says everything's 00:44:45.460 --> 00:44:47.960 reserved already, but nothing is confirmed or 00:44:47.960 --> 00:44:49.659 very little is confirmed. I'm like, okay, well, 00:44:49.659 --> 00:44:52.929 how do I ... I don't understand. So anyway, there's 00:44:52.929 --> 00:44:55.429 an email thread that needs to happen there between 00:44:55.429 --> 00:44:59.690 George and me and the Dayton club to go figure 00:44:59.690 --> 00:45:01.750 out exactly how all of that's going to work. 00:45:02.030 --> 00:45:05.789 Yeah. Just was through that hamcation with, you 00:45:05.789 --> 00:45:07.590 know, trying to do double duty and can you put 00:45:07.590 --> 00:45:10.670 us next to this, you know, so, so we can have 00:45:10.670 --> 00:45:13.170 somebody watch both at the same time. Yep. So 00:45:13.170 --> 00:45:15.820 that'll, that'll be good. And, uh, And we'll 00:45:15.820 --> 00:45:19.139 have to harass Jeremy that lives down the road 00:45:19.139 --> 00:45:21.780 here, who I still have only seen at Amvention 00:45:21.780 --> 00:45:26.519 for one minute. But we'll have to get that done. 00:45:27.780 --> 00:45:30.460 But anyway, Mark, thanks so much for coming on 00:45:30.460 --> 00:45:33.360 the show, talking about this project. It sounds 00:45:33.360 --> 00:45:38.159 very exciting, as well as your other ones. And 00:45:38.159 --> 00:45:42.260 I look forward to seeing, you know... the final 00:45:42.260 --> 00:45:45.900 product and get everything going and look forward 00:45:45.900 --> 00:45:49.360 to seeing you at Hamvention. Yeah, perfect. Thank 00:45:49.360 --> 00:45:51.139 you so much, Neil, for having me on. This has 00:45:51.139 --> 00:45:55.119 been a lot of fun. All right. Thanks, Mark. Appreciate 00:45:55.119 --> 00:45:58.559 it. Well, that is a wrap for this edition of 00:45:58.559 --> 00:46:01.579 HamTalk Live. Thanks to my guest, Mark Smith 00:46:01.579 --> 00:46:06.599 in 6MTS and everybody out there in cyberspace 00:46:06.599 --> 00:46:10.630 for listening tonight and some writing in. And 00:46:10.630 --> 00:46:13.210 invite you all back next time when Tim Duffy, 00:46:13.210 --> 00:46:17.170 K3LR, will be here to talk about Dayton Contest 00:46:17.170 --> 00:46:21.329 University 2022, a new chapter. So we're going 00:46:21.329 --> 00:46:24.030 to talk about some changes that are going to 00:46:24.030 --> 00:46:27.269 happen with this year's Hamvention version of 00:46:27.269 --> 00:46:30.130 the Contest University. And for a list of all 00:46:30.130 --> 00:46:32.829 of our upcoming guests, just go to HamTalkLive 00:46:32.829 --> 00:46:36.849 .com. So for now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, 00:46:36.989 --> 00:46:42.699 saying 7 -3. 7 -5 and may the good DX be yours. 00:47:07.400 --> 00:47:10.960 I've been taught for hours and hours I've completely 00:47:10.960 --> 00:47:16.099 forgot you're a ham I don't know your power or 00:47:16.099 --> 00:47:19.559 the height of your tower Frankly, I don't give 00:47:19.559 --> 00:47:26.019 a damn So 73's, to you and your family I'll be 00:47:26.019 --> 00:47:30.519 seeing you further down the line Your 73's, to 00:47:30.519 --> 00:47:34.159 you and your family I'll be seeing you further 00:47:34.159 --> 00:47:34.900 down the line