| June 3: Ron Talks to a Ranger |
Ron, K7RJ, writes:
I had an interesting Friendship Cruise related experience the week after the Friendship Cruise when my son Dennis (KC7KDX, by the way), and I were back in Canyonlands in the, more or less, Panorama and Hans flat area.Clint suggested we sent a thank you note to Cynthia — and the general Canyonlands ranger staff, I might add. Great idea. They were extremely cooperative, understanding, and easy to work with. Here is an update and a little insight.
When Dennis and I were in the area the following week, below the Flint Trail and nearing the turnoff to Teapot Rock, we ran into a ranger who stopped us and asked about where we were going, supplies, permits, etc. No big deal, but his name and face was familiar to me. It turns out he was with Cynthia. I introduced myself and said that I was one of the hams at Panorama. We then had a 20-minute discussion about the whole event, where we ended up camping, if we had any problems, etc. I told them about finding out that I knew the people who reserved the site and we had a good laugh. At any rate, it turns out that he was very involved in the decisions on how to accommodate us, and he had suggested that we camp off the road and that they do everything they could to allow us to set up the radios. In fact, he thanked us for setting up the gear. He had praises for the ham radio operation and wanted to do everything he could to see to it that we keep coming back. He said that we have save them a great deal of work by having such good communications and, no doubt, have added to the safety of the event. He was anxious that we come back and wanted to know what he could do to help. He was praising us as much as I was praising them for allowing us to “bend the rules.” I left with the idea that we have some good friends there and they are very happy to have us around.
I wish I could remember his name, I think it was Cox. He as about our age (the old guys, not Clint), I'd say in his 50's or early 60's, light colored hair, medium build and height. He was extremely personable and very talkative. [Most likely Gary Cox, Cynthia's husband. -K7HFV] Cynthia remembers us, of course.
Just thought you'd like to have this bit of insight.
73,
Ron
| May 28: Gordon's Ramblings |
It's over for another year! I think we provided communications about as successfully as we could have hoped for. I was very impressed with how both the hams and the Cruise officials had to deal with numerous changes in plans and were able to adapt and keep everything running reasonably smoothly.
On the ham side, Gary sprained his ankle and couldn't go to Green River, so Dick filled in. Lou couldn't go, so Chuck, who originally was going to MGM, went to Mineral instead of Green River. Bill Oberg couldn't go, so Elaine went to MGM after her stint at Green River was over. Kirk and Susan had to leave early, so Dick went to help Mike after his fire station duties were over. Got that? (I'm not making this up!)
On the Cruise logistics side, due to high water on the Colorado, the pullout point changed from Moab to Goldbar to MGM, and finally, on Sunday afternoon, back to Moab. Issues with trailers, Tex's tours, and where to park the fuel truck at MGM were all dealt with professionally and expeditiously.
I'm hesitant to make any suggestions because it seems to me that the repeater system had the fewest problems ever. At Panorama, the only trips to the receive site we had to make were to set up Clint's amazing creation on Friday and tear down on Monday. That's a first! Our only extra trips to the transmit site (about a ten-minute walk from camp) were to start, stop, fuel, or service the generator.
One glitch was a carrier that appeared on our '72 Panorama Point input frequency several times a day for about four minutes. We believe we've eliminated all internal possibilities as the source. It seemed to be getting into the receiver whose beam was pointed toward Green River. We hope it wasn't one of our operators and that doesn't seem likely since it continued on Sunday after everyone in that direction had shut down.
The other problem was a brief period when the Canyonlands Overlook repeater started apparently keying itself up on carrier drops leading to an unending series of ker-chunks. Mike fixed this quickly by changing batteries (a fix that Clint remembered had worked on a previous year). Mike is going to try some tests on a variable power supply and see if he can duplicate the problem on the bench.
Neither problem caused us serious grief, however, and I don't believe there was ever an interruption lasting more than about five minutes.
There was a brief issue with the Grand Mesa repeater coming through '12 on Friday and '38 on Saturday, but both were quickly cured by simply tightening the squelch of the link receivers. Being fully frequency agile would be nice, but forcing Mike to change his link transmitter from the clean rockbound unit he's using might not be necessary. Once we dealt with the Colorado signal, it caused us no problems (that I'm aware of). Its presence on 449.3 is a bit of a guarantee that no other, closer, systems are likely to appear on that frequency. Having a sharing partner we can live with isn't the worst possible situation.
Larry, if you hear any reports that we got into any of the systems listening to Grand Mesa, let us know. That would certainly dictate a change.
I totally agree with Elaine that we need to stress bringing up one's carrier well before one starts talking. We often heard someone try to say,
“Grammarblaf this is Flustersnork”
but all that got through was “Flustersnork” and Flustersnork sat wondering what was wrong with Grammarblaf for not answering. Multiple words were lost before the crossbander, then the local repeater, then the linked repeater all had a chance to come up.
All in all, though, it was a very successful year for communications. Everyone should be congratulated for a great job.
-Gordon, K7HFV
P.S. Anyone with further observations and/or pictures, feel free to send them along.
| May 28: Ron's Musings |
Ron, K7RJ, writes:
The following is a quick review of the unique situation this year (2008) at Panorama followed by a list of suggestions.Monday, as we were packing up to leave, the group that had reserved the Panorama camp site before that caused us to have change our transmitter site and move our camp site, drove past our site. They slowed down and we waved. They stopped and opened the window. The driver looked at me and I looked at him. Then, the conversation went something like this:
"Ron, is that you?"
"Jay!! What are you doing here?"
It turned out the other party was a friend of mine and his wife. Had we known, we could have shared the camp site and Jay would have gotten a kick out of the radio installation.
Another interesting coincidence occurred on our way out, I called Elaine on the Sinbad system. She promptly answered my call. I asked her a couple of questions and turned it back to her. She could not copy me. It turns out that she was not answering my call but was calling me. She didn't hear me and just happened to call me at exactly the instant that made it sound as if she were answering me. Have we been married too long?
The Park Service was very accommodating for us in spite of being late with our reservations. Understandably, we had some extra restrictions. We were to be extra careful about footprints and low impact camping. We also had to make sure our radio installation was neither seen nor heard from the official Panorama Point campsite. We gladly met both of the conditions. Because it is our nature, we didn't have to alter our camping style to any great extent, but we did need to find a new transmitter site. We set up the main camp on mostly rock and set up our tent in a minor wash area. We parked on rocks and were extremely careful about where we walked. When we left, we raked out as much evidence as we could that we were there. Since we had to find a new transmitter site away from and out of sight from the camp site, we had to carry in some heavy gear, including three heavy (100-pound) batteries a few hundred feet. But, we managed.
The entire weekend was quite windy with very little time with no wind. The wind was gusty and at times very strong. Fortunately, it didn't kick up any dust or sand. But, it did cause one fatality. Monday morning the strong gusts managed to get under our big tent and break one of the main supporting members and the tent collapsed. We had it guyed, but could not stake it very well in the shallow sand. It was also fairly chilly and, at times, the chilly wind felt downright cold.
The evenings were generally very nice in spite of some lingering wind and we were treated to nice star shows. We witnessed a very bright Iridium flare (magnitude -7). We had either clouds or memory loss for the various space station passes so we missed seeing them.
The repeaters worked great. There was a problem now and then with what seemed like a stuck mike button. A few times during the cruise we had a steady, unmodulated carrier lock up the repeater. It always went away after a few minutes, but was a bit concerning. Also, it turns out that our link frequency is shared with a repeater in Colorado. Tightening our squelch and the fortunate lack of traffic on the Colorado repeater made the situation tolerable, but it could have been a real problem. We should consider changing link frequencies next year.
Clint's low power beacon that reported voltage at the transmitter site was a real convenience since the site was about 10 or 15 minutes away.
Fortunately, we had no disasters. Everyone seemed to have a great time. We are lucky to have friends we can spend a few days with on a cold, windy ridge, carrying heavy loads across soft sand and emerge still good friends looking forward to doing it again.
Following are a few of my recommendations. They are in no particular order. Take them for what they are worth.
- The web carrying harness for the batteries was inspirational. It worked great. However, it was a little difficult to install on the 100 pound batteries. After hauling a battery for a few hundred feet, it was really difficult to pick up a new battery and fit the harness around it. I have a bunch of web and am going to build a few of the harnesses so we can keep them on each battery.
- Both Panorama and Canyonlands Overlook needs to make sure to have wind proof gear. The main tent should be guyed and weights put around the inside edge. After I repair my tent, I am going to add features to make it more wind proof.
- The link frequency should be changed. Better yet, it should be field changeable in case we discover another conflict while we are there. Ideally, they should be able to select any frequency!
- A simpler mast for the transmitting antenna may be all that is needed. The little mast we used at the "new" site took only a few minutes to set up and seemed to work fine.
- Was 300 pounds of lead necessary for the transmitter site? If we have to haul heavy batteries, could we do it with only the generator or the generator and a single big battery? Even if we set up at the campground, it would be nice to not have to haul so much weight. That is a technical question for Clint who knows the numbers better than I..
- I think we should try to set up a dedicated 80-meter station and monitor it as much as practical. It is fun to play on the other bands, but between us, we have enough rigs that we can dedicate one to monitoring 80 meters. At least, if we want to play on the other bands, when are done we should return the station to 80 meters and monitor.
- The transmitter voltage beacon was a brilliant idea that became invaluable, especially since it was a hike to the site. It should be always used, even if we set up at the campground. It tells the voltage and you can deduce if it is being charged, but a nifty feature would be for it to directly tell you if it is being charged. An extra beep, a Morse letter, or what ever would make it a lot easier to deduce if it is being charged.
73,
Ron, K7RJ
| May 27: Kirk's Evaluation |
The system seemed quite reliable overall this year. My only suggestion would be to move the UHF link off of the Grand Mesa repeater output. That certainly wasn't a big problem this year, but I suppose that if they were particularly active on the same weekend that we are, it could be. In that part of the world it shouldn't be too difficult to find a clear frequency.
| May 27: Elaine's Evaluation |
Elaine, N7BDZ, writes:
Whatever you did for your receive and transmit sites, we heard Panorama at the fire station with NO trouble this year. I know there had been talk of a crossband repeater to boost the signal but it certainly wasn't needed this time — I was able to bring up Panorama with 5 Watts on my HT from the fire station.Getting the additional repeater coverage in/from Colorado wasn't all that beneficial, though. Would it help to re-do the link frequencies?
And, no matter how many times we tell our operators this, we need to tell them again (and possibly several times a day) that they should wait a full second [after keying up] before talking on the linked repeater system, especially if they are getting into the linked system with their own cross-band system. We had a lot of lost ID's and missing syllables from the folks at Mineral, MGM and on the boats. The people at Moab didn't seem to have too much trouble, but they're used to talking on linked repeaters all the time.
73,
Elaine
| May 26: Larry Says Thanks |
Larry Bullard, N0WRK, writes:
Great trip again this year. We had to return Sunday evening for commitments on Monday. We launched early on Friday (Boat 2) so I missed the HAM team at Green River. We spent the night near mile marker 71 above the bowknot. I had good comm with Panorama and Mineral from there. Enjoyed visiting with the guys and getting the "Accu-weather" report from KA7OEI. We spent a second night at Bonita Bend MM 31 and again had comm with every station as everything was linked nicely. I had good comm at the Confluence on the '12 [repeater]. No problems with comm on the ['38 repeater] either.The Green river was rising every day and was floating lots of debris. the Colorado had dropped after its peak and the trip up on Sunday was pretty clean. The Jet Boats had a tough time keeping grates clean this year.
I was very impressed with the entire operation and really enjoyed having the ability to communicate with all of you on the cruise. Thanks to all of you for your help and courtesy and allowing me to visit occasionally.
I heard some discussion about your use of 449.300. GMRA uses this as the hub repeater for the GMRA system. It is on Grand Mesa on the western point. It is linked to several other sites west including Baxter Pass, Bald Mesa, and Abajo. PL is 107.2. If you are pushing good power from a high point you might be hitting the repeater. I also get fair public safety transmissions from Grand Mesa on the 155 MHz VHF range all along the I-70 corridor. The Grand Mesa is a very good reception/transmission point.
Thanks again for everyone's help....
Larry Bullard, N0WRK
| May 20: More Astronomical Thingies: Iridium Flares |
We may soon have to add a separate page for “Things to Look For in the Sky.” Clint Turner, KA7OEI writes:
Hi there,
Here is a list of Iridium Flares that will be visible down there during cruise-time.
This location is sort of in the middle of Island-in-the-Sky, but in checking for both Pano and the overlook, the same flares are also visible.
Due to differences in location, the intensity may be different and the timing may be off by 10 seconds or so, but these should apply to the general area of the cruise.
Clint
Observer's Location: Canyonlands ( 38.4333°N, 109.8667°W) Local Time: Mountain Daylight Time (GMT - 6:00)
Date Local
TimeIntensity
( Mag)Alt. Azimuth Distance to
flare centreIntensity at
flare centre
(Mag.)Satellite 22 May 04:16:18 -2 25° 111° (ESE) 54.3 km (W) -7 Iridium 13 22 May 21:03:57 -6 24° 343° (NNW) 2.4 km (W) -6 Iridium 66 22 May 23:38:57 -2 18° 241° (WSW) 71.6 km (W) -7 Iridium 25 23 May 04:10:10 -7 24° 113° (ESE) 8.7 km (E) -7 Iridium 50 23 May 20:57:42 -5 26° 343° (NNW) 9.2 km (E) -6 Iridium 21 23 May 23:33:03 -4 19° 243° (WSW) 34.3 km (W) -7 Iridium 47 24 May 04:03:59 -1 23° 114° (ESE) 67.4 km (E) -7 Iridium 53 24 May 20:51:27 -2 28° 342° (NNW) 21.3 km (E) -7 Iridium 70 24 May 23:27:09 -7 20° 245° (WSW) 9.2 km (E) -7 Iridium 26 25 May 20:45:15 -4 29° 341° (NNW) 13.1 km (E) -7 Iridium 64 25 May 23:21:14 -3 21° 247° (WSW) 46.3 km (E) -7 Iridium 23 26 May 23:15:18 -1 22° 248° (WSW) 95.1 km (E) -7 Iridium 45 26 May 23:24:11 -1 17° 249° (WSW) 85.3 km (W) -7 Iridium 46
| May 19: Space Station Correction |
Ron Jones, K7RJ, writes:
I corrected for the wrong time for the space shuttle crossing. It will be an hour later than earlier E-mail. Instead of things happening at about 8:** PM they will be at 9:** PM on Friday evening.The following is correct:
I ran the numbers on the Heavens Above web page and discovered that there will be a number of visible passes of the space station during the Friendship Cruise. Most of them will be so low that there the pass will be blocked by the canyon walls, but on Friday evening, at around 9:24 PM the space station will be at its maximum elevation at about 50 degrees above the horizon.
It will be going from WSW to the NE starting at about 9:20 and setting at about 9:27. At its highest it will be in a NW direction at about 50 degrees above the horizon, and will be quite bright. It will look like a really bright, slowly moving star.
The times and exact location depend on where you are, but it should be visible at about these times and positions for the Friendship Cruise area.
Happy viewing;
73,
Ron K7RJ
| May 19: More Earthly Forecasts |
Elaine Jones, N7BDZ, writes:
The weather forecast for Cruise Weekend is for scattered thunderstorms Friday, Saturday and Sunday, getting nice on Monday; temps reaching mid 70s in the Green River area, reaching the low to mid 80s in Moab by Monday. So, expect a normal Friendship Cruise — sun, rain, wind, cold, warm, dust, lightning, beautiful, probably all on the same day. Hopefully it will be clear Friday evening because it is really cool to see the Space Station going over.73,
Elaine N7BDZ
| May 19: Space Station May be Visible |
Ron Jones, K7RJ, writes:
I ran the numbers on the Heavens Above web page and discovered that there will be a number of visible passes of the space station during the Friendship Cruise. Most of them will be so low that there the pass will be blocked by the canyon walls, but on Friday evening, at around
8:249:24 PM the space station will be at its maximum elevation at about 50 degrees above the horizon.It will be going from WSW to the NE starting at about
8:209:20 and setting at about8:279:27. At its highest it will be in a NW direction at about 50 degrees above the horizon, and will be quite bright. It will look like a really bright, slowly moving star.The times and exact location depend on where you are, but it should be visible at about these times and positions for the Friendship Cruise area.
Happy viewing.
73,
Ron, K7RJ
| May 19: Last Minute Changes |
John Mabey, W7CWK writes:
Bulletin from: THE DECISION REVISION DIVISION
Last night I received an email from Dick Abbott K7MZ telling me that he was available for the cruise if he was needed. I sent him one back and said sure I could use him.
Today, I got a call from Gary Johnson N7DND informing me that he had severely sprained his ankle. The doctor said no walking/driving etc. for several days. I talked to Dick and he said he would take the Green River Fire Station Site in Gary's place.
I also talked with Chuck Killian WB6YOK and he is going to go to Green River and help Dick instead of coming to MGM. Elaine Jones N7BDZ will be at Green River for a little while and then will join me at MGM. Hopefully this is the end of the changes.
73,
John
| May 16: Additional Repeater |
Brent Thomas, AC7H writes:
Still planning on setting up the repeater on the bluff south of Green River (145.19 T88.5) with an 11-element beam down river.... Even if we cannot hear Panorama on 449.300, the repeater should cover the rescue boats until they get coverage into Panorama.... The Green River hams should be able to communicate to the rescue boats using either UHF or the repeater and if necessary can relay any information via Panorama or HF.
| May 15: It's On! |
Sorry, we're a little late getting the site up to speed this year. The Cruise is on and everyone will be leaving about a week from now. John Mabey, W7CWK, is coordinating the effort this year. He can be reached at 295-3024, or at MABEY7@msn.com.
There have been a few bumps when some people were not able to help and others needed to be found, and when we didn't get the reservation in in time to get the Panorama Point campsite, needed for one of the temporary repeaters. At this point, though, it looks like things are working out and we should be able to provide that communication that's expected of us.
Save your gas receipts for travel to the area. At least partial reimbusement may be possible.
| May 4: Another Radio Operator on the River |
We received the following from Larry Bullard, N0WRK:
Clint...I will be there again this year running my HAM from the Boat. I changed my call sign from 2006 (KC0VWA) to a new vanity call sign N0WRK. Thought it was an appropriate call sign since I retired. I assume all the frequency and PL codes are the same? I will be checking in at Greenriver and will stay in touch during the trip. Thanks for all you do on to support this event.73,
N0WRK....Larry Bullard, Grand Junction, CO
|
| Green River fire station with new tower and VHF/UHF antenna. New 80-meter dipole is hand-drawn. |
| Send further news, additions, or corrections to K7HFV@arrl.net. |