*************************************************************************** * ATGP 2019 Report for Hawksbill by Ron, KB5LNC 75 *************************************************************************** Greetings fellow Appalachian Trail Golden Packeteers! BLUF: Hawksbill was online, on time, and eventually digipeating. The new guy didn’t screw it up too bad. At least I hope I didn't. Here is my detailed, post event report for Hawksbill Mountain. This report is coming from the perspective of someone who has never taken part in the ATGP, or used a Kenwood radio, let alone program it for APRS digipeating. Some of this is basic information to most, but it is coming from the perspective of a “newbie” to all the systems I used on Saturday. I hope it might provide information to someone who is on the fence about participating, and how, with a day of preparation, although not recommended, you can pull this off. What started as an email to Bob (WB4APR) to gain his interest and availability to speak about the ATGP, and the recent launch of PSAT2 to the Pentagon Amateur Radio Club, quickly turned into going solo to the summit of Hawksbill Mountain. What a view! When you are up there, you understand why it is called Hawksbill. On the Monday prior to the ATGP event, I sent an email to Bob. In the email I mentioned I had graduated from the Naval Academy (I got there a year after Bob), was a retired Marine helicopter pilot, a ham, and lived in Fredericksburg, VA. I also mentioned I was “thinking” about going to one of the ATGP sites to see what it was all about, and learn more about APRS and packet. I have never met Bob, but I knew of him through ham radio. As you are all aware, all you need to do is search the internet for anything regarding APRS, you’ll find Bob. Bob got straight to the point, “It looks like Hawksbill is still not covered which is a huge gap in the chain. That should not be far from Fredericksburg if you can give up a Saturday morning for the adventure.” I let Bob know I didn’t have a Kenwood radio, and had never been to Hawksbill. Less than 24 hours later, Bob found a radio for me. Where else but in the ham radio community would you find someone willing to loan a brand new, TM-D710A still in the box, and a battery box to a complete stranger. Will (KW4WZ) did just that, and Wednesday afternoon, I left the pentagon for Winchester, VA to pick up a radio and battery box. Work and life events prevented me from working on any real preparations until Friday, but I had the main piece of equipment needed to man Hawksbill. Now all I needed to do was get the radio programmed, figure out what else I needed, and hike up a trail. Right….. From Tuesday through Friday I did what any Marine would do prior to executing a mission, reconnaissance. I pulled up the Hawksbill links on the aprs.org website, and what’s posted on John Huggins website (www.hamradio.me) regarding recent trips to Hawksbill for past ATGP events. I looked at google maps, google earth, information on the trails, parking, and whatever else I could find regarding prior year’s Hawksbill support. Not having been there before and with limited pictures from past events, I wasn’t exactly sure what it would be like or what I would need. What I did find was Hawksbill has had some communication issues in the past. Communications going north were never an issue; it was going south where the problem lies. So here I am, the new guy going solo to Hawksbill, a potential comm void, with a new radio to take part in something I have no experience with. What could possibly go wrong? With some help from Bob on Friday morning, I went out to my vehicle in the pentagon parking lot, programmed the radio, and saved everything into memory. THE GEAR: To prepare, I figured I would start with the basic items required to operate the station, and go from there. I would need a radio, antenna, battery, and coax. Here is what I was starting with: Radio – Kenwood TM-D710A, borrowed Antenna – Diamond X-50, already owned one Battery – Hammo-PWR 12Ah, borrowed Coax – 50’ RG-58, already owned it These were the basic items needed and anything else I brought would have to allow me to operate more efficiently, or get the signal out better. Not knowing what to expect I ended up taking too much with me, but I had what I needed to operate and make Hawksbill function. Additional items I took which I ended up using: 6 x 16.9oz water bottles, frozen 550 cord (rope) towels to cover and keep radio off the ground and out of sunlight food, knife, wrench for antenna bolts tape to hold mast pieces together for travel Stakes THE ROUTE: The shortest route to the top was ¾ of a mile with an elevation change of 690’, Lower Hawksbill Trail. Not a hiker, a 690’ change in elevation over 4,000 didn’t sound like much…..it definitely is when you are wearing a backpack, carrying a battery box, mast sections, antenna, water, and other supplies. Using the benefits of hindsight, I should have taken Upper Hawksbill Trail, which is just over a mile in length with a 520’ elevation increase. Maybe next year. The route I chose took me approximately 1.5 hours and I was up on the top by 0900 setting up the gear. THE SITE: After looking at the highest point of Hawksbill, slightly to the south and approx. ¼ mile away, I decided to stay with the lookout even though it was lower than the summit. The difference was only around 40 feet, but the summit was surround by tall trees and it didn’t have great access. SITE BUILD: With no good area to support an antenna mast, I remember a previous post where the team used a bungee cord to go through the drainpipe and over the wall to support the mast. I lugged up five, 4’ sections of military tent poles with the plan to get the antenna up as high as I could. I used the 550 type cord doubled through the drain and over the wall to secure the top and bottom sections of the mast to the lookout wall and some stakes to “wedge” in between the mast and the drain wall to keep the mast base from moving. One end of the looped 550 cord was around the base of the mast, went through the drainpipe, up the outside of the wall, then over the top of the wall and around the mast again. This was approximately 3’ from the ground. Once I got the antenna assembled and clamped to a different section of mast, I connected the coax and temporarily lifted the antenna and an additional section of mast to do some initial comm testing. The base of the antenna was up 12 feet with the top of the antenna approximately 17’ above the lookout base. OPERATION: I laid a towel on the ground to protect the radio and connected it to the battery box, the coax, turned it on, and waited. In less than a minute, I heard AOMTN-5 and could read what was sent. I was glad to hear something, so I was pretty sure the radio got programmed correctly. It wasn’t long after that I was able to pick up stations 1-5, and CAMLBK-9. Yes, that is correct, 1-5, and 9. From what I can remember, I was getting a great signal coming in from both north and south. 5/9 from the south (AOMTN), but don’t remember the reading for CAMLBK. TROUBLE ON HAWKSBILL – TO SQUELCH OR NOT TO SQUELCH: By 1100, I wasn’t very confident the radio was transmitting, or digipeating. I could see information being received, but I would never see Will’s radio transmit. Not being able to raise anyone on UHF (more on that later), I sent a text to the “Shack Potato” and after a little trouble shooting the issue was resolved. Apparently, you have to have the squelch on for digipeat and/or beacon to function. Never even crossed my mind. Once I adjusted the squelch knob, and performed a beacon test, the radio came alive. I could see the radio transmitting and at least felt a little better that I didn’t kill the ATGP efforts for the entire team. I had the power set to high and didn’t try it at any other power level setting. It was working and I brought along a spare, 9AH battery just in case. I never needed it. One other issue which popped up was the HOP settings programmed in the radio. It wasn’t until we switch to 9600 that I was notified I had it incorrectly set to HOP7-7,HOP7,7. I’m not completely sure what this does (Limits hops to a max of seven for the original packet, and an additional seven to get station 15?) THE ENTIRE TRAIL: Shortly after 1230, I believe after station 8 came alive, I started seeing the more northern stations, and by 1345, I heard 1-15. END GAME: I tried to follow the flow of information, but was confused on when I needed to look at the main screen or look at the list of messages to read them. I have no idea what was sent in the “Golden Packet” or when it digipeated through my node. I do know I had to figure out how to switch to 9600. I started seeing messages regarding 9600, and was working to switch when I received a text from the “Shack Potato,” I assumed the GP went through fine on 1200 and 9600. Thank you “Shack Potato!” I never did hear anyone on UHF. I had the “B” side of the radio set to 445.975 with a tone of 100. After I got home I looked at the information I had received, and depending on which one I looked at, there were two frequencies, 445.925 and 445.975. I was on .975, and I assume everyone else was on .925. I may have that backwards. THE HIKE DOWN: The trip down the mountain was a little bit quicker than it was coming up. I didn’t have the 6 bottles of water to carry, and with the 12 AH battery being drained to 43%; it was 57% lighter. Not to mention, it didn’t require any work on my part to go down the trail. According to my high school science teacher, gravity was doing all the work….tell that to my legs, joints and feet. FINAL THOUGHTS: What a great learning experience. I understand what we did, and why we continue to do events like the ATGP, but I don’t completely understand APRS and all of its capabilities. I still have a lot to learn. Hopefully, if the time aligns again next year, I’ll do a bit more planning, organizing, and I can make the trek to Hawksbill Mountain again. 73, Ron KB5LNC