It’s taken me a week to recover from exhaustion after attending the twelfth Hackers On Planet Earth conference (aka HOPE XII) last weekend. This is my attempt to capture all the Amateur Radio related activity that occurred as well as other radio topics presented and share materials that have been archived.
W2H Special Event Station
Center of OCF 80-6M Dipole
W2H Operating Position
Operating again under the call W2H, station setup began late Thursday afternoon with a trip to install antennas and run feedline down to the 18th floor. HF operations used an 80-6 meter OCF Dipole that was at least higher then the tallest person. From there a little over of 100 feet of feedline to our 18th floor operating position to an Icom 7100 and a ThinkPad running WSJT-X for FT8 digital mode.
Since the station is in a high traffic area of people going to/from talks as well as between the DVD and T-shirt sales tables, making voice contacts is difficult hence why we tend to use mostly digital modes. This year HF activities were almost exclusively using FT8 on 80, 40, and 20 meters. On Sunday there were band openings where a few voice contacts were made as far out as Texas on 6 meters and Georgia (US) on 10 Meters.
A 70cm repeater was once again coordinated through METROCOR and setup Thursday night identifying as W2H/R operating with an input of 442.875 MHz (PL 167.9) and output of 447.875 MHz(PL 167.9). The setup was the same kit and configuration as we did for HOPE XI.
VE Testing
The Volunteer Examiners (VE) from the Carnegie Tech Radio Club (W3VC) have hosted FCC exam sessions at many of the HOPE conferences over the years and are very experienced in conducting sessions with large numbers of candidates. This year I finally got around to getting my VE accreditation and was happy to help with the VE session.
I cannot think of anytime in recent history that I was happier to be signing so many papers in a short window of time than I was with signing for newly licenses Technicians (26) and those who have upgraded to General (1) and Extra (4). I’m sure I speak for the rest of the VE team as well. Congratulations once again to you all!
VE Test Session Results
A pre-exam review session for the Technician Class license was conducted by David Cripe NM0S and Jim Fisher AJ3DI on Friday which no doubt helped with the success. Cheers to you both!
Amateur Radio Using Digital Modes Workshop
Well over two dozen folks attended the hands-on Digital Modes workshop I held Saturday morning. For some the workshop was the first contact they’ve made with their license, including some Extras! I’ve archived all the material used so folks can continue at home or perhaps someone would like to host a similar workshop themselves. Many thanks to Jim AJ3DI for his assistance in helping people in the workshop.
Radio Talks
This HOPE had many radio talks in the schedule. Thanks to HOPE, it’s volunteers, and the Internet Society, there are video recordings of each. I’ve listed the talks below as well as where you can find the recordings. No doubt I missed one:
Creating a Radio Time Machine: Software-Defined Radios and Time-shifted Recordings
by Thomas Witherspoon, K4SWL who runs SWLing.com
Mixing DTMF Tones in Space: Illuminating the Aurora with Giant Cat Pics, and Other True Stories about HAARP by Chris Fallen KL3WX, HAARP Chief Scientist
EMP, CME, and the Electronic Apocalypse by David Cripe NM0S
- Recorded Video Stream
- David is also the creator of the Cricket80A Minimalist 80M CW Transceiver
Make Sense of the Ether by Marc DeCosta KD2MMB
How a Hackerspace Built a Legal FM Radio Station by Saint, Hook, Pete Tridish
Tracing Invisible Neighborhoods: The Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map by David Goren
I’d be interested in hearing your experience at HOPE XII as well as any Amateur Radio talks, workshops or other activities you would like to see in the future.
73,
– Joe, NE2Z