N7EKB's Radio & Technology Page

Picture of Ed in front of his truck at work.

Introduction

This page is where I (Ed Braaten, aka N7EKB), keep you updated on things I'm doing related to my interests in radio, especially ham radio, and related technologies. If you have any questions or comments on this content, feel free to contact me via e-mail, social-media, or instant messaging.

My introduction to the world of radios began in a police car at the age of 5. I was fascinated by all the chatter and squelch tails coming from the radio console in the front of the car. I got involved with shortwave listening in high school. I collected a number of QSL cards from international broadcasters and listened to a lot of Deutsche Welle.

After several thwarted attempts through the years I finally studied and passed the test for a US Amateur Radio No-Code Technician license in November, 1997. Shortly after getting my Technician license, I taught myself Morse Code and became proficient at the blazing speed of 5 WPM. I passed the 5 WPM Morse Code examination and was able to upgrade to a Technician Plus license in December 1997. My original callsign was "KF6OQI". When the FCC Opened their Gate 4 Vanity Callsign Program in December, 1997, I applied for the vanity callsign "K6EKB". I was inspired to apply for this callsign (which matches my initials) by my Elmer, Ken, "K6KRD" whose callsign also matched his initials. On 7 January, 1998 the FCC granted me the "K6EKB" callsign. Incidentally, Ken later moved to Idaho and his callsign is now "WA7RLZ".

I upgraded to the US General Class license in May 1998. Many years later (April 13th, 2004 to be exact) after hitting the books again and participating in an excellent class held by Jerry Seligman, W7BUN, (Silent Key, Aug 16th, 2006) from the Radio Club of Tacoma, I finally upgraded to the US Amateur Extra Class license.

I've lived in the Pacific Northwest since 2001, but didn't try to update my vanity call to match the "7" call area until I applied for N7EKB on January 31st, 2017. The FCC accepted my application and made the N7EKB grant official on February 18th, 2017.

I'm licensed in GMRS as "WQZY269" and hold the Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit "RR00143515". I'm the technical advisor to the City of Rainier's Public Safety Pool license "WRCT667".

Social Media

You can find me on Nostr as: ed@n7ekb.net. Nostr stands for “Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays”. There are some really cool social media apps built on this protocol. You'll notice a lot of Bitcoin fanatics amongst the users of Nostr. Relax! That's not why I use Nostr. I'm just a "normie" that likes a social media feed that is entirely ad-free and NOT controlled by any algorithm or server administrator.

I've found the best way to find content and people on Nostr is to follow some hash tags: #hamradio, #DMR, #xmpp, etc. There are a lot of client apps for Nostr, but I mostly use Amethyst on my phone and nostrudel on my Linux desktop. I setup NIP-05 on this website and I host my own nostr relay. The web landing page for my nostr relay is here: https://nostr.n7ekb.net.

For instant messaging I host my own XMPP server. You can IM me with any XMPP/Jabber messaging client by using my XMPP/Jabber ID: ed@n7ekb.net. I currently use the Monocles app on my GrapheneOS phone for mobile XMPP instant messaging.

APRS

I have a Raspberry Pi-based APRS digipeater/iGate (N7EKB-10) running in my shack to enhance APRS tracker coverage in the Rainier, WA area. The iGate provides a feed of APRS objects heard over RF to my shack computer running the Xastir program. I sometimes run a tracker in my car, beaconing as N7EKB-9. The APRS packets from my car are beaconed out using a Tytera UV-390 running the OpenGD77 firmware.

My Radio Station

My radio shack is setup in an upstairs room in my house near Rainier, WA. The grid-square is CN86PV and the ICBM coordinates are 46° 54.279' N and 122° 42.118' W. My primary HF antenna is an NI4L OCF Windom Dipole antenna mounted approximately 25ft off the ground. The main HF rig in the shack is a Xiegu G90 (max 20 watts!) which I use for HF voice and digital modes (mostly FT8/JS8Call). The main VHF/UHF radio is a Tytera MD9600 dual band DMR and analog radio running the OpenGD77 firmware. The secondary VHF radio is an Alinco DR-235T for the 1.25m band. Most of my VHF/UHF gear is part 95 accepted by the US FCC so I can operate legally on both commercial and amateur radio frequencies. This allows me to talk directly to my town's Emergency Management on their frequency rather than having to deal with the complications of getting them onto an amateur radio frequency.

Reticulum and Nomadnet

I've converted most of my Meshtastic devices to Reticulum RNode devices. I run the MeshChat app on my Linux computers and the Android Sideband app on my GrapheneOS phone to access the public world-wide Reticulum network.

I run several Nomadnet Nodes based on Reticulum, one on my public TCP host, one in the hamshack, and one in the trunk of my car.

I host reticulum.n7ekb.net for public access to Reticulum as well as to provide a bridge from the public network into my local RF-based Reticulum network. You can connect to my public access Reticulum node by configuring a TCP Client connection to reticulum.n7ekb.net using port 48086 on any available Reticulum client (like MeshChat or Sideband mentioned above).

Linux Only - No Windows

I've been running Linux on all of my home computers including those in my radio shack for close to two decades now. I program many of my radios on my Linux laptop using the CHIRP program or free software from the manufacturers. When the manufacturer's free software is only provided on Windows, I use a Windows virtual machine running on my Linux laptop to install and run that software.

East Thurston County ARES Team

I'm a member of the East Thurston County (ETC) Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Team and serve as the Assistant Emergency Coordinator (AEC). To learn more about the ETC ARES team, follow this link: https://etc-ares.org/.

Memberships/Clubs

I'm a life member of the ARRL. I'm a life member of the Quarter Century Wireless Association. I'm member #4334 of FISTS International. My OMISS member number is 14838. I'm also a member of the Ten-Ten International Net with 10-10 number 69377.