DMR Simplex Sunday 2018
June 17,
2018
DMR Simplex Sunday
is a name
coined by Bill Barber NE1B, when he found out that a number of our club
members were heading out to various hilltops in an attempt to make
long distance contacts using DMR simplex. Bill also helped get the word
out among the NEDECN community.
The goal of the expedition was to push the range limits of DMR into
unknown areas. There has been much
discussion on forums as to how far two DMR stations can
communicate, given that DMR is based on a Time Division Multiple Access
(TDMA) protocol. See the article: In Search of the Range Limit for DMR.
In
September of 2014, New Zealand hams John Yaldwyn ZL4JY and Steve Jepson
ZL2KG set a DMR DX record by working DMR simplex over a distance of
191.7km (119.116 mi) from the slopes of Mt. Taranaki to
Waikanae,
New Zealand. See the article: Kiwi Hams Log Record DMR DX Contact.
Knowing this, we were fairly confident that we could communicate
between Mt. Washington, NH and Mt. Equinox, VT, (at about the same
distance), but anything beyond that was unknown.
WSSM sent two teams to some of New England's tallest peaks. The
first team, consisting of Peter Hatem
KC1HBM and Peter Donovan KC1XT, traveled to the summit of Mt.
Washington, in New Hampshire's Presidential Range. There, they setup a
tripod with a Diamond X50, and used a Connect Systems CS800D for a
transciever. They operated from 9:00am till a little after 1:00pm from
the 6,288 ft.
summit.
Another team, consisting of Tim Watson KB1HNZ and his wife Stefania
K1GJY,
traveled to Mt. Equinox, in southwestern Vermont, where they planned on
operating for an hour or so before continuing further south to Mt.
Greylock, in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. They also used a
Connect Systems CS800D and a Diamond vertical antenna.
Mt. Equinox -
W1/GM-003
KB1HNZ
and K1GJY arrived at the 3,855 ft. summit of Mt. Equinox a little after
9:00 AM. Surprisingly, their first QSO after calling CQ on 446.075 DMR
simplex was with VA2DG, from
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, in eastern Monteregie, in Quebec. After that,
they had QSOs with KC1HBM and KC1XT on Mt.
Washington on both 70cm and 2m DMR simplex. See the log below: |
446.075 DMR
Simplex
VA2DG
QSO with KB1HNZ at 1337 UTC
VA2DG
QSO with K1GJY at 1340 UTC
VA2DG
QSO with WS1SM at 1341 UTC
KC1HBM
QSO with KB1HNZ at 1446 UTC
KC1HBM
QSO with K1GJY at 1447 UTC
KC1HBM
QSO with WS1SM at 1447 UTC
|
145.790 DMR
Simplex
KC1HBM
QSO with KB1HNZ at 1405 UTC
KC1HBM
QSO with K1GJY at 1408 UTC
KC1HBM
QSO with WS1SM at 1413 UTC
KC1XT
QSO with KB1HNZ at 1414 UTC
KC1XT
QSO with K1GJY at 1415 UTC
KC1XT
QSO with WS1SM at 1416 UTC
|
Distances between QSOs:
Mt.
Equinox, VT to Mt. Washington, NH: 118.46
mi / 190.64 km (both VHF and UHF)
Mt.
Equinox to Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, QC: 151.13 mi / 243.22
km (UHF) |
DMR
simplex contact between Mt. Equinox, VT and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC
DMR
simplex contact between Mt. Equinox, VT and Mt. Washington, NH
Above left: View south from the summit of Mt. Equinox. Above right: The
Saint Bruno Scenic Viewing Center.
Mt.
Greylock - W1/MB-001
Later
in the day, KB1HNZ
and K1GJY arrived at the 3,491 ft. summit of Mt. Greylock, in western
Massachusetts. From there, they were able to contact Bill NE1B, in
Hudson, NH, KC1HBM and KC1XT on Mt. Washington, NH, and Rick K1RJZ on
the summit of Gunstock Mountain, in New Hampshire's Lakes Region. See
the log below: |
446.075 DMR
Simplex
NE1B
QSO with KB1HNZ at 1651 UTC
NE1B QSO with K1GJY at 1716 UTC
NE1B QSO with WS1SM at 1716 UTC
KC1HBM QSO with KB1HNZ at 1654 UTC
KC1HBM QSO with K1GJY at 1656 UTC
KC1HBM QSO with WS1SM at 1657 UTC
KC1XT QSO with KB1HNZ at 1708 UTC
KC1XT QSO with K1GJY at 1709 UTC
KC1XT QSO with WS1SM at 1709 UTC
|
145.790 DMR
Simplex
NE1B
QSO with KB1HNZ at 1656 UTC
NE1B QSO with K1GJY at 1657 UTC
NE1B QSO with WS1SM at 1657 UTC
KC1XT QSO with K1GJY at 1712 UTC
KC1XT QSO with WS1SM at 1713 UTC
K1RJZ QSO with KB1HNZ at 1724 UTC
K1RJZ QSO with K1GJY at 1717 UTC
K1RJZ QSO with WS1SM at 1725 UTC
|
Distances between QSOs:
Mt. Greylock, MA to Mt. Washington, NH: 145.56 mi / 234.25
km (both VHF and UHF)
Mt. Greylock, MA to Gunstock Mountain, NH: 109.42 mi / 176.09 km
Mt. Greylock, MA to Hudson, NH: 91.18 mi / 146.75 km (both VHF
and UHF) |
DMR
simplex contact between Mt. Greylock and Hudson, NH
DMR
simplex contact between Mt. Greylock and Gunstock Mountain
DMR
simplex contact between Mt. Greylock and Mt. Washington
Above left: Veterans War Memorial Tower, Above Right: Bascom Lodge
Above left: View of Adams, MA, Above Right: Stone engraved with a quote
by John Bascom
Mt. Washington - W1/HA-001
Peter
KC1HBM and Peter KC1XT activated from the 6,288 ft. summit of Mt.
Washington, in New Hampshire, arriving a little after 9:00 AM. They
setup KC1XT's Diamond X50 on a tripod, and also setup an HF station,
which they used between DMR QSOs. During the day,
they worked KB1HNZ and K1GJY on the summits of Mt. Equinox and Mt.
Greylock, K1RJZ on Gunstock Mountain, Bill NE1B, in Hudson, NH, and
more.
See the log below: |
446.075 DMR
Simplex
KB1HNZ QSO with KC1HBM at 1446 UTC
K1GJY QSO with KC1HBM at 1447 UTC
WS1SM QSO with KC1HBM at 1447 UTC
KB1HNZ QSO with KC1HBM at 1654 UTC
K1GJY QSO with KC1HBM at 1656 UTC
WS1SM QSO with KC1HBM at 1657 UTC
KB1HNZ QSO with KC1XT at 1708 UTC
K1GJY QSO with KC1XT at 1709 UTC
WS1SM QSO with KC1XT at 1709 UTC
|
145.790 DMR
Simplex
KB1HNZ
QSO with KC1HBM at 1405 UTC
K1GJY QSO with KC1HBM at 1408 UTC
WS1SM QSO with KC1HBM at 1413 UTC
KB1HNZ QSO with KC1XT at 1414 UTC
K1GJY QSO with KC1XT at 1415 UTC
WS1SM QSO with KC1XT at 1416 UTC
K1GJY QSO with KC1XT at 1712 UTC
WS1SM QSO with KC1XT at 1713 UTC
|
Distances between QSOs:
Mt. Greylock, MA to Mt. Washington, NH: 145.56 mi / 234.25 km (both VHF
and UHF)
Mt. Equinox, VT to Mt. Washington, NH: 118.46 mi / 190.64 km (both VHF
and UHF)
 
Above:
KC1HBM and KC1XT's setup on the summit of Mt. Washington, NH |
 
 
Wireless Society of Southern
Maine, P.O. Box 6833, Scarborough, ME 04074
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