When I put the TM-D710G radio on its new shelf in the basement, I was slightly worried that the weight of the cables - 5 various I/O, power, and coax, might cause it to go skittering off the shelf. For all its mighty 50W of output, it's pretty small and light (but, of course, its fan is obnoxiously loud). So it was on the list of things to do to secure its bracket to a reasonable base, and now that's done.
The bracket is inverted from the usual position to be underneath the TM-D710G radio. The bracket is bolted to a piece of scrap aluminum plate which, fortunately, was the right size and weight for my purposes with no cutting needed. Two holes for the bolts, and 4 stick on plastic feet, and it's done.
The only chore left in the "Remoting Project" is to replace the stock Kenwood serial cable (on the radio body, for frequency and other control) with a different cable from Amazon. The Kenwood serial cable was a bit short for the route between the basement and the Shack and an extender cable (which I also purchased) would leave a "lump" in the cable bundle that would be awkwardly placed. Bill WA7NWP found a different cable (originally for a... sewing machine, I think it was music synthesizer) that's the same pinout and 10' long, and thus more suitable for the remoting. As with all things Amazon Prime... "should be here Thursday".
Once the "remoting project" is complete, I'll write up a complete list of parts that I used. I'll also take a shot of the radio head in its final new home - DATA15 (you'll understand when you see it).
The Annex Bldg main downstairs doors are open from ~8:45am to 9:00am. Lunch is from 12:30 noon to 1:30 pm at local Auburn Cafes.
Bring your WRT54G and your Bullets for upgrades and Fun.
You will receive your reservation via return email.
73 de Bill KL7B
Although I actually brought some mesh gear, I didn't do much meshing. High points for me were much chatting with my buddies Scott KD7VBS, Kenny KU7M, Bill WA7NWP, and Richard N7RIG. Most of my time was devoted to reconfiguring my now technologically ancient MacBook Pro to be able to do my mainstream Internet Amateur Radio chores:
Monitoring the many Amateur Radio Yahoo mailing lists I'm subscribed to
Blogging to this blog
Monitoring various Amateur Radio blogs
Twitter (@N8GNJ)
Chat (to be determined - it's been a long time)
Much other TBD
The MacBook Pro is pretty old, with an old OS to match It is the first of the MacBook Pro line - the first to have Intel CPUs (2 GHz Intel Core Duo). I spent a fair amount of time determining what's the most advanced Mac OS that it can handle (OSX 10.6.8 if memory serves), and that it can use a RAM upgrade from 1 GB to 2 GB. After that, it'll do just fine for what I needed it to do at Station N8GNJ.
In the afternoon, Bart AE7SJ did an interesting presentation updating us on the progress of HamWAN (technically, the Puget Sound Data Ring). Good progress!
The event broke up at about 17:00, even though Bill KL7BB joked that we didn't have to be out of there until 07:30 Monday morning.
I had a great time at Mesh-A-Palooza III and kudos to KL7BB for organizing it!
My good friend Bill WA7NWP and I keep encouraging each other to get our "collections" of radios and other gear, especially packet radio gear, actually on the air. I know, radical concept, hams having gear that is on the air. Or, as us Amateur Radio Data Geeks say - online.
Bill coined a term - Amateur Time Units (ATUs). ATUs are scarce, roughly equivalent (my approximation) to an undisturbed 4-hour block of time to work on projects. But ATUs are very scarce during the week, and I was bemoaning that to Bill, who replied that when he can't get ATUs, he's content with Mini ATUs, meaning if you can't get anything big done, you can get something done. And, of course, he's right. So, here's my MATU report for this evening.
Re-photographed the rack for the 2014-02-20 post, and updated that post.
Found a suitable base for the TM-D710G, marked it up to drill bolt holes for the bracket
Installed the audio (Kenwood calls it "data") cable for connection to the external TNC
Installed the RS-232 cable (Kenwood calls it "PC" ) cable for connection to a computer for controlling frequency, etc
Wrapped up the 5 cables, partially with the split loom tubing
Will finish the split loom when I receive the audio and RS-232 extension cables from Amazon
Moved the big power supply to the basement (ouch).
Determined that the power studs on the power supply, and the battery, are 1/4".
McLendon's (our wonderful local hardware store for most things mechanical) didn't have a ratchet crimper, so ordered one from Amazon. It'll be here Wednesday, Thursday at the latest.
The TM-D710G head and its eventual 1200 baud TNC will live on DATA15, which is the most convenient shelf for futzing with the controls on the head. It'll be about the only data radio that I'll be futzing with. All the other data radios will be set and forget.
So, that was 1 MATU completed. (Update - Bill says it was more than 1 MATU... I'm humbled :-)
Update: Finally had a correctly rotated photo of the rack (below), and removed the rant about TypePad.
My wonderful wife Tina KD7WSF graced me with a Kenwood TM-D710G for Christmas. Her procurement of it could have been a real irritation, but I'll distill it down to a blanket recommendation that the Portland (area) branch of Ham Radio Outlet are great folks to deal with when buying Amateur Radio equipment.
Unlike most owners of this radio, my primary interest in it is that it's a plug and play 9600 bps "packet radio" and I plan to use it in fixed (base) operation. The built in APRS capabilities are... interesting, but it's the packet radio capabilities that got me interested in it. Credit is due to Bill WA7NWP for making the case (though, in fairness, it took years...).
The travails of bending the TM-D170G to my preferred mode(s) of operation will be in a future post. But two amusing asides... the TM-D710G was so new at Christmas 2013 that I could only find passing references to it online, and mostly on Amateur Radio dealer websites. Kenwood did not have the manuals for the TM-D710G online, but the TM-D710G had shipped with a CD-ROM of documentation, so I had to dig out a DVD drive and get that up and running on my office computer to be able to open the CD-ROM and find out some absolute basics of changing modes on the TM-D710G. It was so... 1990's... to not have been able to find this same information online :-)
My TM-D710G has been making 9600 baud APRS packets on the Seattle area 9600 baud APRS channel - 440.80 MHz since Christmas 2013. One thing quickly became apparent - the radio module (it's two pieces - a head that's remoted from the actual radio) is incompatible with my otherwise reasonably quiet office / shack. The TM-D710G has a fan that is triggered by the radio transmitting, and stays on for more than 30 seconds. The fan running is not related to temperature, so it starts running every time the transmitter is keyed. In packet operation... the transmitter gets keyed a lot. There are fans funning in my office, but not like this one. It's fast, it's on a lot, and its pitch is what is apparently a resonant frequency with my particular ears. So, it's annoying. Not merely mildly annoying - major annoying.
So, before the TM-D710G could be settled into a suitable place in "the stack" (another future post), the radio module would have to be remoted out of my hearing. Fortunately, the TM-D710G is designed to be remoted; the Kenwood PG-5F is a complete kit of parts and cables to extend the distance between the two units an additional 4m.
So, my TM-D710G radio now lives in my basement, approximately six feet below my office.
Most important, it's totally acoustically isolated from my office/shack. The TM-D710G's fan can run continuously if necessary, and it won't bother me one bit any more.
So, here's the project list of what got done:
Finished installing two shelves in the basement rack
Moved TM-D710G radio to basement rack
Tested remoted TM-D710G in a QSO with WA7NWP
Project of remoting noisy TM-D710G radio (fan noise) to basement was a success. No TM-D710G fan noise heard in the office!
And what still needs to be done:
Secure TM-D710G bracket to a heavy base; currently it's just floating on the shelf
Install audio cable from TM-D710G in basement to office for a future project - external TNC to use second radio in TM-D710G for data
Install serial cable from TM-D710G in basement to office for a future project - computer control over radio frequency, etc.
Sheath together the five TM-D710G remote cables running from basement to office
Clean up TM-D710G head installation in office, including dual speakers and microphone clip
de N8GNJ
About Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Truth be told, to my fellow Amateur Radio Operators, Amateur Packet Radio was my first love. It combined three of my technological passions - radio communications, computers, and data communications. When I moved to the Seattle area in 1987, I fell in with a bad crowd which over the decades has become known as the "WETNET Mafia". That group built a number of Amateur Radio data repeaters (full regeneration) operating at 9600 bps, and operated TCP/IP (concurrent with the opening of the Internet to "civilians"). I wrote about that network in an article The Puget Sound Amateur Radio TCP/IP Network (Circa 1995).
I've sporadically written about Amateur Radio data communications over the years, including periods of writing for (and very briefly, editing) the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter, and a column in CQ Amateur Radio magazine.
As of 2020, I'm semi-retired and living in Bellingham, Washington and devoting much of my time to exploring Amateur Radio Data Communications.
I'm the Editor of Zero Retries Newsletter which discusses technological innovation in Amateur Radio.
N8GNJ Blogs
N8GNJ.org Station notes for N8GNJ in Bellingham, WA, USA
SuperPacket SuperPacket is N8GNJ's "Big Picture of Amateur Radio" blog.