The biggest issue with do-it-yourself maps is being able to print a map that’s larger than 8.5″ x 11″. Not many of us have a printer that’ll handle paper much bigger than that, so if you’re printing your own maps, you’ll likely need several sheets to cover the entirety of your trip. Also, some printers are better than others, and the quality of your self-printed maps may not be as good as you’d like. It’s true that you can still buy the original USGS 7.5-minute quads on paper, but chances are good that you’ll need more than one to cover your trip–the map boundaries are never located where you need them, it seems.

Enter MyTopo.com.

MyTopo.com covers the best of both worlds. You can browse the topo maps online for free (several scales, actually–not just the 7.5-minute quads), select exactly the region you want (spanning multiple quads, if needed), and then order a custom printed map of exactly what you want. Maps can be printed in sizes from 18″ x 24″ (for $9.95) all the way up to 5′ x 8′ (for big bucks). Maps are printed on waterproof paper with your choice of markings like titles and lat/long/MGRS grids, and they’ll deliver them to you either folded or rolled. If you prefer your map printed on glossy paper, or even laminated, you can have that, too. Shipping costs are reasonable–as little as $2.25 for a folded map via first-class mail. Rolled maps more expensive to ship (but still reasonable). There are plenty of shipping options, too, depending on how quickly you need the map to arrive.

Here’s a preview of what you’d receive:

Preview of topo map from MyTopo.com (click for larger preview in new window)

I ordered a map from them last week, covering a section of the Collegiate Peaks wilderness here in Colorado. My map was a 24″ x 36″ folded map for $14.95 that they delivered via USPS priority mail for $5.95 (regular first-class was only $2.25!). I ordered it on Saturday and it arrived on Wednesday–pretty speedy service. The map itself looks great–excellent quality paper and printing with professionally-done legends, folded just like a map you’d buy at your favorite map store. If the weather had been decent this weekend, I’d actually be out in the wilderness using my new map instead of sitting here at my computer telling you about it.

To me, it’s definitely worth spending fifteen or twenty bucks to get the right map for a wilderness expedition, and MyTopo.com definitely did not disappoint. I’ll be using them again for my future map needs.

I don’t make it out for this event every year, but when I do I can usually count on a few curve balls being thrown my way. Usually the pitcher is Ma Nature, but sometimes it’s me. One year it snowed several inches overnight as we slept in our tents. Another year we endured a snowstorm just before the event but were lucky enough to discover bare, dry ground when we arrived at our camp site. Of course, it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect anything different this year.

Steve N0MHQ was my unwitting co-conspirator for this year’s event, and we hit the road early Saturday morning. Destination: the Ute Creek Trail in the Lost Creek Wilderness in Colorado. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the trail head. It usually takes an hour or so of hiking from there to arrive at our campsite on a little-visited ridge line off the trail, but this year would be different.

We began our hike up the trail, arriving at the point where we usually jump off the trail and begin a fairly steep ascent up the ridge line to the area we usually camp. But I was thinking back to ten or fifteen years ago when I decided to hike farther up the trail and subsequently discovered another jumping-off point that allowed an approach to our camp site from the opposite direction. This alternate route was longer but the climb was gentler, and I suggested to Steve that we could go that way if we wanted. Steve was looking forward to the steep climb even less than I was, so he was agreeable.

He should have known better.

Consider the following facts:

1) I’m over fifty years old, and anything that I remember from ten years ago or longer is probably wrong or may not have even occurred.

2) I didn’t bother with bringing a map, compass, or GPS because I had been on this hike (the usual route, not the alternative I’d proposed) about a million times.

So, there I was leading an expedition up the trail looking for a bush-whacking route that I only vaguely remembered from a decade or more ago. Not only would I need to recognize the right spot to jump off the trail, I’d also need to remember how to go cross-country to get to the right destination with no map. What do you suppose the chances were for success?

That’s right: zero. We hiked up the trail well past where I thought we should have found the jumping-off point without any hint of its presence. Finally, after about 45 minutes, I admitted defeat and we turned back, giving back all the elevation we’d gained.

At least it was a nice day for a hike.

We ended up turning an hour hike into about two and a half hours, finally reaching the top of the ridge line about 11 AM, Steve reminding me the whole way that we’d now climbed this twice. We decided on a camp site, dropped our packs, grabbed some lunch, and then we decided it was time to get the ham gear set up and start making some contacts. The first order of business was to get an antenna up in the air, and Ma Nature supplied a bounty of potential antenna supports in the form of majestic pine trees.

Getting an antenna up in the air in the woods is generally a matter of throwing a line over a tree branch and then hoisting the center of our dipole antenna up the tree. We’ve done it successfully more times than I can recall. Usually, I’ll tie a rock to the end of the line and then heave it over the branch. This day, though, Steve offered me a two-ounce lead sinker that he’d painted fluorescent orange. I took it, fixed my line to it, and prepared to throw. As I stood on the proverbial pitcher’s mound preparing to hurl the sinker, I felt a bit of concern over the fact that I’d not even warmed up in the bullpen before throwing this pitch. I gave it my best effort anyway but the sinker fell woefully short of its target.

Steve, standing by and watching the buffoonery, looked at me with a certain disdain, like he was wondering whether my IQ exceeded that of the lead sinker I’d just heaved. Apparently, there is technique to be used that I had overlooked. Sheepishly, I handed Steve the line and the sinker and asked him to demonstrate.

Steve demonstrating proper technique with the throwing line

Steve began swinging the lead sinker vertically in a circular motion, apparently with the intent to release the line at just the right moment so that the sinker would travel over the target tree limb, taking the line with it. That was the theory, anyway.

The sinker sailed left. The sinker sailed right. The sinker sailed just under the target limb. The sinker once sailed on what looked like the perfect path, only to jerk back to the ground because Steve was standing on the line. Once, the sinker sailed over the limb but refused to fall down the other side far enough for us to reach it. After that toss, Steve decided to use his very thin line instead of my heavier line, and to his credit he was finally successful. We used his thin line as a pilot for my heavier line, and eventually we’d managed to hoist the center of the dipole a good distance into the air (though having taken many more attempts to do so than ever before).

Steve and I began extending the legs of the dipole in an inverted-vee configuration, thinking that the battle was one. All of a sudden the center of the dipole began a free-fall that was interrupted only by another branch in its path. Our success had turned into failure! The zip tie that I’d used to secure the line to the center of the dipole had failed to hold, causing the center to fall.

Curses! I’d had it with this antenna. It clearly did not desire to be hung in the tree. Or perhaps it simply did not want to be forced to radiate. Regardless, it was clear what had to be done. We went to the relief antenna. I suggested to Steve that he put up his inverted Y vertical for 20 meters, and we’d use that to get on the air.

Instantly, our fortunes shifted. Steve erected his antenna efficiently and without fanfare while I took every opportunity to berate my dipole as I repacked it. The dipole gave no indication of embarrassment or remorse, though, as I stuffed it into its bag.

Finally, we were on the air. I pulled out my trusty Elecraft K1, a reliable friend for many years, and within minutes we had bagged our first contact for the event. Steve and I leisurely took turns at the controls, working a station or two at a time in between the various tasks associated with getting our campsite ready for the evening. When not actually at the controls, we left the K1 running so we’d have the melodic CW playing in the background while we set up shelters and enjoyed our peaceful surroundings–in complete contrast to the clownishness experienced earlier.

Steve working a station for QRP to the Field

To be truthful, Steve and I didn’t exactly knock ourselves out trying to maximize our score for the event. We took a relaxed, balanced approach to ensure we enjoyed the outdoor experience as much as the radio play. Between the two of us we barely made more than a dozen contacts, but neither of us ended up being particularly concerned about that. Despite doing everything the hard way–having taken the long way to our campsite, the antenna-launching debacle, and the low score–the weekend was definitely considered a wild success.

(You can see more pictures from our outing here.)

It took me a few tries to successfully install the Windows 8 preview, so I thought I’d document what worked for me. Here we go:

1) Download and install VMWare Player. It’s not hard to install but the download is pretty large and the install takes a few minutes.

2) Download the ISO file for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. I used the 32-bit version (I tried without success to install the 64-bit version). This is a large download (2.5 GB). Make a note of the product key listed on that page, too–you’ll need it later.

3) Launch VMWare Player, and click on the “Create a New Virtual Machine” link to launch the create wizard.

VMWare Player main window

4) In the wizard that appears, the first screen asks how you’ll install the guest operating system. Select “I will install the operating system later.” This keeps VMWare Player from using its “Easy Install” feature. The click the Next button.

5) On the next screen, select Windows 7 as the guest operating system.

Select Guest OS

6) On the next screen, specify the name and storage location for your virtual machine.

Name the virtual machine

7) On the next screen, specify the maximum size of the virtual machine. The default should be sufficient.

Specify the maximum size of the virtual machine

8) The next screen is the last screen for the wizard, but before clicking the Finish button, we need to customize the hardware, so click on the Customize Hardware button.

Almost ready to complete the wizard.

9) First, adjust the memory upward if you have the capacity. I have 4 GB in my system and set the VM memory size to be 2 GB.

Set the memory for the virtual machine.

10) Next, select the “New CD/DVD” item in the hardware list. On the right side, in the Connection box, select “Use ISO Image File” and click the Browse button to specify the ISO file you downloaded in step 2 above. After that, you can click the Close button to return to the final wizard screen. Click the Finish button in the final wizard screen to proceed with creating the virtual machine. VMWare Player should automatically launch the new VM and connect it to the ISO file and begin the process of installing Windows 8 in the VM.

11) The Windows 8 installation is pretty straightforward, but if you need them, instructions can be found in this article on the Ars Technica web site.

12) At this point, you should be up and running with Windows 8 in a virtual machine, including internet connectivity. The only other setup thing you might want to do is install VMWare Tools in the virtual machine. VMWare Tools enhances the virtual machine by improving performance and adding additional functionality. You can get the latest version by going here on the VMWare web site and downloading the latest version (do this from within the virtual machine–that’s where it needs to be installed). Once you have the installer file downloaded, right-click on it, select Properties from the context menu, and then go to the Compatibility tab in the Properties window and set compatibility to Windows 7 and click OK to save that setting. Then right-click again on the file and select Run as Administrator to actually install it. Just accept the defaults and let the installer complete its work.

That’s all there is to it. Enjoy!

First Place, 2011 ARRL DX Contest, CW, Single Op 20m Colorado

Of course, you know what that means:

I was the only entrant in that category from Colorado. For the record, I had 21 QSOs and 17 multipliers, running 100 watts.

I owned this category. Literally.

The source code for EkBoxTester can be downloaded from here. It was written using Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express Edition–a free but reasonably complete development environment for writing .Net applications in C#. You can use the source code as an example of how to communicate with an EkBox via the serial port.

When you launch EkBoxTester, the following window appears:

EkBoxTester Initial View

It’s pretty simple to use. Select the COM port to which your interface is connected, specify the encoder resolutions, and then click the “Start Test” button. When you click the “Start Test” button, EkBoxTester will attempt to open the COM port and send the command to the interface to set the encoder resolutions. If this doesn’t succeed, you’ll see an error message that will describe the specific problem encountered. Otherwise, if everything succeeds, the EkBoxTester window should now look like this:

EkBoxTester after "Start Test" is clicked

At this point, the numbers in red should change as you turn the encoders. If you don’t have any encoders connected, you’ll still see the red numbers but they will not change (obviously), but this is an indicator that things on the board appear to be working correctly. You can click the “Get Errors” button to see how many encoder errors have occurred (generally, none) and the “Get Resolutions” button to query the interface for the current encoder resolutions (which should be the same as what you specified in the inputs toward the top of the window).

Once you’re finished, click the “Stop Test” button, or just exit the program by clicking the red X in the top right corner.

USB Digital Setting Circles Schematic

The kit is much simpler than the serial version–the pull-up resistors were eliminated, the oscillator replaced by a crystal, and a MAX232 chip is no longer needed. The board and encoders are powered by the USB port, too, so no external power supply is needed. The kit includes all the components, including the programmed PIC chip, but does not include the TTL-232-5V cable. The cable must be purchased separately and is readily available from Mouser and Digikey, for about $20 plus shipping.

This kit should work great if you want to run your digital setting circles straight through the USB port of your laptop. However, if your goal is to use a bluetooth connection between your computer/PDA/smartphone and the board, then the serial version of the kit is the one you want to use. Furthermore, this USB version really isn’t adaptable for use with a smartphone or PDA–the TTL-232 USB cable needs to plug in to a PC in order to work.

The day of our visit to Martin came and we took the factory tour before hitting the gift shop. Alas, nothing in their shop was made to fit my guitar’s big strap button. Nevertheless, I found a really nice leather strap while I was there, and I bought it knowing I’d have to find a way to make the hole bigger.

Once I got home, a little research told me I’d need a leather drive punch to make the right-sized hole in the strap. I used my caliper to determine that the hole needed to be 7/16″ in diameter, and I found a suitable drive punch at eLeather Supply. The punch set me back about $15 after shipping and handling.

With drive punch in hand, the moment of truth was at hand. Any time I endeavor to modify an otherwise fine piece of workmanship, I do so with some trepidation. Thankfully, I had a cheap suede leather strap on which to test the punch before I committed to punching holes in my nice new strap. I determined that the best technique was actually to lay the strap on the concrete floor and whack the punch with a hammer. The trial with the cheap strap was a success, and the fit on the big strap button was excellent. So, I proceeded to punch the hole in my new strap and achieved the same success.

I share this here only so that others faced with the same problem might also use this solution. Now all I have to do is figure out how to play a guitar standing up!

Now it was time to get it all hooked up and functioning.

The BT232B adapter needs to be powered. There are three options:

1. a USB cable (only for power, not data)
2. an external 3V – 5V battery (not included, but a small cable and connector are included)
3. 5V at pin 9 of its DB9 connector

I chose option 3. Since my DSC interface board already has a 5V supply available, it’s a simple matter to feed it to pin 9 of the DB9 connector (note, however, that this combination will consume more than double the current of the DSC interface by itself, so you’ll want to use something bigger than a 9V battery to provide power). Here’s a photo of how I installed a small jumper wire on the underside of the board to provide the 5V at pin 9 (click to enlarge):

DSC board with jumper to provide 5V to pin 9 of the DB9

Be careful that the jumper wire doesn’t short with any other circuit board traces.

Once the board is providing 5V to pin 9 of the DB9, you’ll need to set a switch on the BT232B. There’s a switch that determines whether it’s expecting power on pin 9 or from the USB or external battery. Set the switch so that it expects power from pin 9. As a test, you can plug the BT232B into the DSC board (using the gender changer) and then power up the board. The BT232B Power LED should glow red, and the Status LED should flash blue.

The next thing you’ll need to do is configure the BT232B for 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, and no flow control. The included instructions tell you how to do this, but the basic procedure is to set it for DCE (there’s a switch on the side to change it between DCE and DTE, depending on whether your plugging it into a computer or another device like the DSC board), plug it into a serial port on your computer (or through a USB-serial converter), give it power (the USB cable is convenient for that, but change the power selector switch), and then connect to it using Hyperterminal at 19200 baud, 8 bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, no flow control. you can then type commands in Hyperterminal that will change the configuration of the BT232B.

First, type “AT” (without the quotes) and hit the Enter key. The BT232B should respond with “OK” (again, without the quotes). If not, double check your settings and switches and try again.

Then type the following commands:

• PARITY=N
• FLOW=N
• BAUD=9600

After each command the BT232B should respond with some sort of confirmation of the command. However, after you set the new baud rate, Hyperterminal will no longer be able to communicate with the BT232B because the baud rate was changed. Don’t sweat it–you’ve done everything you needed to do.

Now you should be able to disconnect the BT232B from the computer. Set it for DTE and for getting power from pin 9 of the DB9, and plug it back into the DSC board, and power it up. If your PC doesn’t have built-in Bluetooth, you’ll need to insert your USB-Bluetooth adapter into a USB port (don’t forget to install any drivers if needed–check the documentation).

Now turn on Bluetooth on your PC and connect to the BT232B. Usually this is done by right-clicking on a Bluetooth icon in the system tray and selecting Connect from the menu. Windows will search for nearby Bluetooth devices and give you a list from which you can choose the serial Bluetooth adapter. Once it’s connected, it will hopefully report which COM port it’s configured as. If not, go into the Device Manager (right-click on My Computer in the start menu and select Properties from the context menu) and look at the list of ports to determine which port number is assigned to the serial Bluetooth adapter.

If you want, you can use Hyperterminal to connect to that port (9600 baud, 8 bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, no flow control) and test the connection. Once Hyperterminal connects to the port successfully, the flashing blue LED on the BT232B will stop flashing and glow steady blue. Try typing “H” and “Q” (without the quotes) and see if you get a response from the interface. If not, go back and double-check your steps and try it again.

Now you’re ready to use your favorite astro software with the DSC interface via Bluetooth. Just make sure that you set the COM port in the Settings to be the one for Bluetooth.

Let me know how it goes.

I even printed out some log and dupe sheets and dug out my old clipboard. I noticed the clipboard still had a square of hook-and-loop material that I used to use to hold my old Handspring Visor PDA in place for logging. Ten years or so ago, I wrote a Palm contest logging application that I named GOLog, and I designed and constructed a companion device I called the Serial CW Sender that interfaced GOLog to my transceiver to handle contest keying. All in all, it was a pretty neat system. Its chief drawback was that data entry on the Visor (and other PDAs, for that matter) was pretty awkward–you either used Graffiti or the onscreen keyboard. While it’s true that you could buy nifty fold-up keyboards for these PDAs, it wasn’t possible to use a keyboard and the Serial CW Sender at the same time, since they both wanted to occupy the single serial port on the Visor. I did, however, pick up a Targus keyboard at the time so that I could make sure that GOLog would work with a keyboard (GOLog could be used with or without the Serial CW Sender).

I hadn’t used my Handspring Visor in years, and since I bought my new notebook computer six months ago, I didn’t even have the Palm Desktop synchronization software running on any of my computers. I wondered if I could even still use this stuff–after all, the hardware is more than ten years old. So, naturally, I gave it a shot.

Palm Desktop is still available for download from Palm’s website. It turns out that Palm Desktop won’t run properly on a 64-bit Windows 7 computer, so that eliminated using my new notebook. Instead, I installed on my MSI Wind netbook running 32-bit Windows 7. Palm Desktop runs like a champ on that platform.

My Handspring Visor is the original Visor Solo, and it came with HotSync cables for both serial and USB. Once I got Palm Desktop installed and running, I connected my Visor to the netbook using its USB cable and initiated a HotSync on the Visor. Much to my surprise, Windows 7 found a driver for it and installed it! I thought for sure I’d have to go hunting for a driver for the thing.

I wasn’t out of the woods yet, though. The HotSync process kept causing a fatal exception on the Visor. Apparently the Palm Desktop software was trying to sync with an application that didn’t exist on the Visor. I fixed this by turning off synchronization of all the apps. It would then HotSync, but nothing was being transferred. (Later I went back and enabled selected applications for synchronization–it’s safe to enable Date Book, Address Book, To Do List, Memo Pad, Install, and Backup. Enabling Package Installer caused the Palm to lock up, so leave that disabled.)

Next I re-enabled the application installation feature so that I could at least install the GOLog application, and that went without a hitch. GOLog was up and running on the Visor, but it’d been so long since I used the software that I had to consult the user’s guide (that *I* wrote) to remember exactly how to set up for a contest. So far, so good.

I had no intention of using the Serial CW Sender, but I thought I might try the Targus keyboard to see how that’d work for Field Day. Miraculously, I still had the CD containing the installer for the Visor keyboard driver. The installer wouldn’t actually run–it said it couldn’t locate the executable for Palm Desktop–but the driver file itself was located on the CD and was easily installed manually. Once I figured out that I had to reset the Visor before the keyboard would work, everything was up and running!

The last test was to see if GOLog would properly synchronize with Palm Desktop. When I wrote GOLog, I also wrote a conduit that transfers GOLog’s log files from the Visor to the PC as a text file. Thankfully, the conduit worked like a charm, and I was able to get a sample log off the Visor and onto the PC. All was set!

My first opportunity to try the system under actual contest conditions was the monthly Spartan Sprint, conducted by the Adventure Radio Society. While the Spartan Sprint doesn’t offer anywhere near the activity of Field Day, it did give me enough to shake down the setup and assess it for Field Day use. I managed about 10 contacts in an hour or so, with no surprises from the equipment. The keyboard made it a breeze to use the Visor for logging, and GOLog did a great job of handling logging and dupe-checking. Since I operate in search-and-pounce mode during Field Day, I wouldn’t really miss the Serial CW Sender’s ability to handle the contest keying.

One of the best thing about the Visor and other old monochrome LCD PDAs is that you can run them for an entire weekend on a couple of AAA batteries. This is a definite contrast to more modern color devices that drain batteries pretty quickly. Also, with the Visor, you can swap batteries in the field if needed. Almost all modern devices use rechargeable batteries that are built-in and can’t be changed. In this case, older technology is definitely better suited for my needs.

So I’m all set for Field Day, at least for my radio gear. No one will be able to accuse me of running the latest and greatest stuff. I’ve definitely turned the calendar back about ten years or so.