Tiny thermal printer for EmCom

(From W5CWT) The problem: During an ARES activation, passing Winlink messages for a local hospital, we have no way to print the relies for the hospital staff. We were not allowed to log on to the local LAN and use the hospital printers. We thought about bringing our own printer, but some of our stations were running on battery power or were mobile. Additionally, ink notoriously dries up in a few weeks without use which meant buying new ink (up to $30) for each drill. 

The Solution: I bought a tiny portable thermal receipt printer on Amazon for around $40. It operated on 9 volts and includes a 1.5Ah Li-ion battery. It's supports Bluetooth, but so far I've only gotten it to work via the USB cable on Windows. It uses thermal printer rolls which are 58mm wide. It's certainly not large, but very readable. Best of all...no ink or ribbon. The only consumable is the paper and it has a long shelf-life as long as you keep it away from high heat or direct sunshine. 

I charged the batter by connecting the power cable and installed the printer driver (POS 58) which came with the printer. I connected the USB and it found the printer. One issue was finding a paper definition in the printer setting that worked. I finally found "ZPrinter Paper (58mmx3276mm)" which worked well. I believe I had to install the printer driver for the ZPrinter to get this option.

I then exported my Winlink message to a text file and opened it in Notepad. I set the left and right margins to the minimum, the top to 1.0 and the bottom 0.0. Then I set the font to 9pt. Arial which seemed to be a good compromise between readability and size. The best thing is these settings carry over even after closing notepad. Then I simply printed the message and tore off the receipt. See the video for a look at the process. 

New Amateur Radio Licensing Fees

(From ARRL) The FCC Report & Order on new licensing fees that was adopted inDecember 2020 was published on Friday, March 19, 2021. 

As we all remember, the FCC originally proposed to burden Amateur Radio with a licensing fee of $50.00. This was vigorously opposed both by the ARRL and Amateur Radio licensees across the nation. Although we were not successful in persuading the FCC to exempt Amateur Radio completely, the combined efforts of the ARRL and many individual Hams did result in the FCC’s agreement to reduce the $50 fee to $35.00.

Although the majority of the new rules and fees become effective 30 days after the publication of the FCC’s Report & Order — April 19, 2021 — the new fees for Amateur Radio license fees will NOT become effective on April 19, 2021.

The FCC explicitly stated on Page 15061, Paragraph 44 of the Report & Order (https://tinyurl.com/y52ff2zy):

It is further ordered that Commission’s rules are amended as set forth in in the back of this summary, and such rule amendments shall be effective 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register — except for §§ 1.1102, …., — which require notice to Congress and also require certain updates to the FCC’s information technology systems and internal procedures to ensure efficient and effective implementation. Sections 1.1102, …. will not take effect until

(1) the requisite notice has been provided to Congress;

(2) the FCC’s information technology systems and internal procedures have been updated; and

(3) the Commission publishes notice(s) in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of such rules.

 Section 1.1102 is the section of the Report that applies to Amateur Radio.

It is the opinion of the ARRL’s FCC counsel that the three prerequisites will NOT be completed before this summer. But, whenever those conditions have been met, the Report is clear that the FCC will provide advance notice of the actual date the new licensing fees will become effective.

Thus it is not necessary for VECs to collect, or for any new licenses to pay, any license fees until the FCC publicly publishes in the Federal Register the date on which such fees must be collected/paid.

So, encourage everyone to get their licenses before this summer -- it will save them $35.00.

John Robert Stratton
N5AUS
West Gulf Division Director

The club takes a "Gamble" on CW

Don Gamble (KG5CMS) arrived early for the January club meeting with a radio, an antenna and about a dozen keys ready to work the world. After the typical club business, Don assembled his QRP station gave the club a demonstration on CW, otherwise known as Morse code.

The club gathered around as Don demonstrated a typical QSO on CW. He also showed off a variety of keys including several large and small straight keys, a pair of paddles, and a semi-automatic "bug." Club members took the opportunity to play around with the keys and practice sending. 

Don also demonstrated a Sked Page which is hosted by the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) where operators can find someone on the air to make a contact. The SKCC hosts several on-air events as well as training and help both online and on the air. 

Using UZ7HO for Winlink (Updated!)

While there are several ways to access the Winlink system, some are easier than others. One way is to use a "software" TNC (terminal node controller). A TNC is basically a modem for a radio and was originally a piece of hardware. It converted data into tones that could be transmitted to another radio and eventually decoded back into text. But today, even relatively modest microprocessors are fast enough to use software as a means of encoding and decoding tones for radios. In fact, while some will still certainly argue the point, tests have shown that software TNCs can outperform hardware TNCs for many applications including packet radio. 

Software TNCs use a computer's sound card to listen for and play tones to and from the radio. Many modern desktop radios come with USB soundcard built in, which means all you need to use them is a USB cable connected to your computer and some software.

One of the software packages currently available is written by UZ7HO and is simply called, "Soundmodem". (On the website, the file is called soundmodem105.zip. The hs-soundmodem26.zip is a different program and not what you are looking for.) It has been around for many years but the programmer recently released an updated version which make it even better. Previously, you had to use VOX (voice activated control, or in this case tone activated control) so your radio would automatically switch back and forth between receiving and transmitting. Switching back and forth is called the PTT (or push-to-talk) function. (Another option was to use a Signalink which provides a soundcard and PTT functions.

However, the newest version of Soundmodem includes a new feature that allows you to automatically control most popular desktop radios. Simply download the file ptt-dll.zip from the UZ7HO's website, unzip it and place the files in the same folder as Soundmodem. Then, in the Settings menu, under Devices, you'll see a section called "PTT Port". Choose "CAT" for computer automated and hit Apply. You'll get an error which will be followed by a "Advanced Settings" where you can choose your radio, port, speed and other options. It worked very well with my IC-7100 and really make Soundmodem even more useful!

It's really a longer story, but to use UZ7HO, you simply install the Winlink software and then configure it to use the KISS port on UZ7HO. Then in Soundmodem, make sure to enable the KISS Interface so the two programs can talk to each other.

Club to visit OEM Station

The Rusk County ARC will visit the Rusk County's Office of Emergency Management radio room where the club's HF station is housed. The club will meet at 7 p.m. at the OEM office (behind the Rusk County Courthouse) for the tour and presentation and then will move to the South Main Church of Christ for the remainder of the meeting. Visitors are always welcome!

The OEM station consists of an Icom 7100, an LDG autotuner, a Signlink digital interface and a Pactor-4 Modem feeding into a multiband roof-top vertical.

Club changes regular meeting night

The club has decided to move its regular monthly meeting night from the fourth Thursday of each month to the second Thursday. The change will be effective with the September meeting.

The club originally choose to meet on the fourth week due to scheduling conflicts with the Henderson Fire Department meeting room where the club has met since the club formed. The fourth week did post a few problems such as having to cancel or move the meeting each November and December to avoid the holidays. After some discussion on the email reflector, most of the members finally settled on the second Thursday of the month as a suitable replacement. 

NOTE: Currently we are meeting at the South Main Church of Christ, 402 South Main, Henderson, TX

New Lightning Monitor added to site

We've added a real-time lightning monitor to the club's website. You'll find it on the Weather page just below the National Weather Service's outlook images. 

The data comes from Blitzortung.org which provides lightning data from around th world. Visit their site if you'd like to explore current storms anywhere in the world. 

The information included on this site is centered on Henderson and is often about 10 seconds delayed, but could be more depending on network factors.

In-Person Meeting Planned for June

The RCARC is planning an in-person meeting for their monthly June club meeting. The meeting will be at 7pm on Thursday, June 25, 2020. Due to the Fire Station still being closed for outside use, the club with meet at the South Main Church of Christ, 402 South Main. The easiest parking wil located on the Van Buren side of the building. Look for signs.

All visitors are welcome to attend, licensed or not, you do not have to be a member of the club. The location is large enough for social distancing. Visitors are welcome to wear a mask and hand sanitizer will be available. Here is a page showing the layout.

Louisiana ham fined $18,000 by FCC

From the ARRL - In an enforcement case prompted by complaints filed in 2017, the FCC has imposed an $18,000 forfeiture on Jerry W. Materne, KC5CSG, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, for intentional interference and failure to identify. The FCC had proposed the fine in a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) in the case in July 2018, and, based on Materne’s response to the NAL, the agency affirmed the fine in a March 12 Forfeiture Order (FO).

As the FCC recounted in the FO, an FCC agent “observed Materne causing intentional interference to a local repeater by generating digital noise into an analog radio.” The agent further reported that Materne failed to transmit his call sign, as required.

Materne disputed the FCC’s findings, arguing that the NAL should be canceled because the agent “was mistaken in his determination that the source of the interference was Materne’s station” as his

March meeting planned for ON-AIR

The Rusk County Amateur Radio Club will hold it's regular monthly meeting in March on the air. Due to COVID-19 restrictions implemented by the City of Henderson, the club's regular meeting room at the Fire Department is not available.

So, the club has decided to hold the meeting on the club's N5RCA repeater. The meeting will be on Thursday, March 26. The meeting will start at the typical net time of 7:30 p.m. instead of the normal 7 p.m. meeting time. This will help avoid interference with another net held the same frequency (on a different repeater). The N5RCA repeater is at 147.68 (- offset, PL131.8).

Several members noted that holding the net on the 2-meter repeater complies with the CDC recommends staying at least six feet from each other people to prevent the spread of COVID-19 since two meters is slightly longer than six feet!