Ham Radio is
Radioactive!
Shiawassee Amateur Radio Association [SARA]
Established: January, 1958 an ARRL Affiliated Club since 1961
"Whiskey 8 Quack Quack Quack"
Meets at: James P. Capitan Center, Lower Level; 149 E. Corunna Ave.; Corunna, MI 48817 Monthly: 2nd Tuesday @ 7:00 PM
Club station located in the James P. Capitan Center - Lower Level.
IARU: 2 Grid Square EN72wx Latitude: 42.9819 N Longitude: -84.1164 W Alitude: 760 ft.
Contact us at: SARA / W8QQQ <Email>
You're invited to a club meeting! 7:00 PM the 2nd Tuesday of each month in Corunna, MI.
Quick Information:
SARA Calendar from the W8SHI site.
Details: VE Testing.
SARA Club Items
Download SARA's Excel Files:
- Transmission Line Calculations ~ File Download
- Bearing Calculations ~ File Download
CONTACT US: SARA / W8QQQ <Email>
Quickly Find Something! Select your Search Range ~ either choice opens in a new Window.
SARA Reference Materials
Follow the links below for better understanding of things and to assist in your design efforts:
Electronic and Physical References / Files
- SARA's Capacitor Reference ~ Disc / Monolythic Markings Guide and Basic Information.
- SARA's Electronics Reference ~ Basic Electronics Materials for Hams.
- SARA's Mathematics Reference ~ Fractional Equivalents, Formulas and Math Links for Hams.
- SARA's Coaxial Cable Reference ~ Coaxial Cable Characteristics and Stubs.
- Transmission Line Calculations [SARA] ~ File Download.
- YB0EM's Coax Data ~ Great Data site for cable characteristics.
- Bearing Calculations ~ File Download
- dBm - volts - watts Conversion // return loss vs VSWR ~ from Mini-Circuits - see them for great support and parts.
- VSWR / Transmitted Power (Mini-Circuits) ~ App. Note AN40-013 from Mini-Circuits.
Zumspot Nextion Pi-Star [Hotspot]
A couple of SARA members bought 'Zumspot / Nextion Pi-Star Kits' and we are sharing information and links for the setup here. Hamvention 2019 was a good time! Have more fun! Here are some papers and links to get moving with a ZUM spot / Nextion Display / Raspberry Pi 3B.
First, get this document: Ham Radio Outlet's ZUMSPOT 2.4 Nextion Startup Guide and follow their excellent directions, is is simple to get going. The following links are 'cleaned' and re-shown below for further reference.
Pi-Star is great software for digital voice hotspots and repeaters. It can handle DMR, D-STAR, and YSF, as well as P25, NXDN, POCSAG, and some cross modes when used with a multi-mode digital voice modem that supports those modes. Read about it in Playing with Pi-Star by KE0FHS, an additional paper on configuring and using Pi-Star.
- MMDVM Yahoo group: ~ MMDVM Yahoo.
- Pi-Star support Forum: ~ A UK Support Forum.
- Pi-Star Fackbook support group: ~ Pi-Star Facebook Group.
- Pi-Star Wiki: ~ Pi-Star Wiki.
- ZUM Radio Interface Facebook group: ~ ZUM of Facebook.
In general, members found the ZUM spot easy to use.
Shiawassee County HSMM/BBHN
Highspeed Multimedia [HSMM] ~ Broadband Ham Network [BBHN] efforts are ongoing by individual members (not a 'club' sponsored activiity). Members provide the operating site networking for the club's Field Day activity. Usually three to six stations, each using a computer logging program on the 'linked system' for smooth operation. Networking details are captured here to assist members in keeping things coordinated for ease of setup.
- Shiawassee HSMM-BBHN Efforts ~ What we have been doing.
- Router Setup ~ Details on converting Linksys WRT54G to BBHN.
- Shiawassee HSMM Standard ~ Standards for Shiawassee County BBHN for better linking support.
SARA previously utilized the BBHN hardware for Field Day logging and linking of the various station positions. It was a great way of keeping things synced up in the field. We did not continue to expand into a 'county-wide' BBHN emergency network. We decided we did not have enough resources to make it functional. We have thus closed the topic (for the foreseeable future).
Raspberry Pi [RPi] ~ References
A large amount of Raspberry Pi information links:
- RPi Quickstart Guide ~ The Raspberry Pi organizations 'official' guide to get started learning RPi. Great for first time and begining users.
- RPi Projects ~ Many 'project' concepts and implementations.
- RPi Orgs Documentation ~ Documentation on the various RPis.
- RPi Forums ~ A place to voice your questions and expect answers to be provided.
- MagPiI Magazine issues and RPi books (Free). ~ The complete pdf file downloads area for RPi topics (free). Includes Beginners books; Essentials "topic" - where topic is Bash (Command Line), C, Camera, etc.; Link is 01 through 86, Try a web link to https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/issues/XX/pdf {where XX is two digit issue number).
- HackSpace Magazine Issues Page ~ Downloadable Issues of "HackSpace" magazines (Free).
- Windows on RPi ~ Run Windows (Uses RPi 4).
- Genesee County ARC Presentation - April 2018 ~ Microcontroller/Microcomputer Presentation by WB8GUS.
That is a couple of years worth of reading on RPi...GREAT 'FREE Information"! Enjoy.
Arduino / AD9850 / AD9851 / Si5351 Projects & References
If you want to start working with Arduinos then the following may interest you.
- Arduino / AD9850 VFO Project {SARA page} ~ Take off from BITX-40 to a DDS VFO project.
- RPi / Arduino / Linux Tutorials - Top Tech Boys Site - Great Learning site for beginners.
- Adafruit Web Site - Projects and Tutorials (and purchase parts).
- Virtual Breadboard (Windows) ~ Simulate your bread board on a Windows computer. Great for checking out Arduino projects.
- You Tube Videos of Virtual Breadboard ~ Good information ... I like: Create PCB Shield Breakout form Virtual Breadboard files.
Amateur Packet Reporting System [APRS] Shiawassee County, MI and GPS
- APRS Beginners Guide ~ KC8ETW ~ Project to make small APRS Tracker Boxes.
- "u-center" Windows (GPS) ~ GPS Development / Evaluation Software.
