Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B)
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Thu Jun 02 2022 21:19:09

SKYHUBLINK CONNECTS NEWSCOMERS, LIGHTS UP 'QUIET' REPEATERS

PAUL/ANCHOR: When is a linked repeater system more than just a linked 
repeater system? When it's called SkyHubLink, as we hear from Neil Rapp, 
WB9VPG.

NEIL: There's more to the Colorado-based SkyHubLink repeater system than 
meets the ears. The interlinked repeaters and their internet connections 
bear the fruit of the efforts of broadcast engineer Jack Roland, KE0VH, 
and Skyler Fennell, W0SKY, whose name is familiar as Newsline's 2016 
winner of the Young Ham of the Year.

With Jack as system administrator and Skyler as chief engineer, the 
network has specific goals, as Jack told Newsline:

JACK: One of the premises of SkyHub Link is to connect to repeaters that 
get little or no use on a daily basis, link them to others to bring 
traffic to them and activate them. You know, so many repeaters are quiet 
and really don't see any use anymore. As I am fond of saying:  "What is 
the use of a quiet repeater?"

NEIL: As Jack tells us, the more active the repeater, the more value it 
has to everyone, especially newcomers.

JACK: We encourage new hams to get on and ask questions and get 
information from those of us who have maybe been in the hobby for a long 
time. You know we as old hands, old timers, need to be more like this as 
much as we can in amateur radio. SkyHubLink is a welcoming system to new 
hams and we always want them to feel comfortable  coming on, getting on 
the repeater, asking questions and feeling like they are welcome and 
wanted in the community.

NEIL: Connections are made through Allstar, DMR, Yaesu System Fusion, 
Wires-X, D-Star and P25. The system also supports M17, IRLP and Echolink 
protocols, has a weather net with trained weather spotter Gary NC2WX, a 
system-wide net on Monday night run by Jack and an international Wires-X 
one on Saturday evenings.

Visit skyhublink.com for more details.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.

**

LOW-BAND EXPERIMENT TESTS GROUND WAVE ON 630M

PAUL/ANCHOR: What are you doing on weekends at 9:30 a.m. local time? One 
ham would like you to do some very low-band operation, calling CQ, as part 
of an experiment. George Zafiropoulos, KJ6VU, has those details.

GEORGE: Clark, AA8SH, is calling it his ground wave experiment: He wants 
hams everywhere with 630 metre access to get on 474 kHz every Saturday and 
Sunday at 9:30 local time and try to make contacts. He'd like them to 
monitor other transmissions and post signal reports in the forums section 
of QRZ.com Clark, who has been testing 630m operation from his shack in 
West Virginia, told Newsline he's hoping this experiment can provide a 
sense of what kind of local range 630m has in each community. He hopes the 
results help grow a greater interest in 630-metre band.

Clark said that based on ITU findings, a 630m signal of a certain strength 
can travel about 150 miles, presenting communications options unavailable 
on 160 and 75, which have a shorter range at the same signal level. Power 
limits are set at 5watts EIRP by the ITU and the FCC. Clark said the 
potential for the band remains untapped for amateur radio but his own 
transmissions, conducted at a strength of 3 to 5 watts, are promising: 
They've been heard in Cincinnati, Ohio, about 100 miles away, and 
Marietta, Ohio, about 90 miles away.

Clark told Newsline in an email [quote]: "I want as many participants, 
both transmitting and receiving, as possible. The more the merrier!" 
[endquote]

Morning operation is best, he said, because the band is quiet and free of 
static crashes so common in the evenings.

Clark told Newsline: [quote] "There's nothing like hearing a signal to 
make one sit up and listen!" [endquote]

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm George Zafiropoulos, KJ6VU.

(CLARK AA8SH)

**

BREAK HERE:  

Time for you to identify your station.  We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, 
heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the Spokane, 
Washington UHF Repeater of K7TMF and K7MMA on Fridays at 5 p.m. Pacific 
Time.
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32
 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33)

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