KB6YNO

updated: October 17, 2011

Welcome to the homepage of KB6YNO in Petaluma, California! Here is some information about myself and my station.

I was an active duty member of the U.S. Coast Guard for over 23 years. I was a Radioman (RM) until 1994 as a RM2. I was then a Telecommunications Specialist (TC) Chief Petty Officer (TCC) until 2003. I retired as an Information Technologist Chief Petty Officer (ITC). I am also the trustee of W2AIR/6 is located at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, CA.

I have been a ham radio operator since 1988. I was first licensed, while training to be a CG Radioman. I attended Coast Guard Radioman "A" school at USCG Training Center (TRACEN) Petaluma, which is located in northern California. It was a 6 month course. I currently hold the FCC's "General" amateur radio license. I am active on 2M/70cm FM repeaters, VHF/UHF packet and most digital modes on HF.

I am the SYSOP of a WinLink 2000 station. I scan 17/20/30/40M PACTOR I/II/III frequencies 24 hours a day. They are: 7063.9 10124.9 14063.9 14108.9# 18098.9 kHz (center). The # indicates a PACTOR III only frequency, while the others are PACTOR I/II compatible. I have a 1200 baud VHF packet link. It is located on 144.910 MHz. If you cannot link to it directly, you can connect using the nodes SMRSND, 6TLND or PRSND.

In order to access my, or any other WinLink 2000 station, you will need the appropriate software. The easiest software to load and use is AirMail. In addition to HF, AirMail also has limited capabilities for VHF packet. Currently, it only supports SCS and Kantronics type packet TNCs. More TNC types will be included at a later time. In addition to AirMail, FBB (F6FBB), RLI (W0RLI), and any other FBB compatible software will work. If you don't have any "automated" software, Winlink 2000 supports a limited keyboard set of commands. Type Help at the command prompt to see the commands that are available.

Here is a description of my station:

Software: WinLink 2000, written by KN6KB, N8PGR and W5SMM.

HF Transceiver: Kenwood TS-870SAT, running 100 watts. You gotta love DSP! Scanning is controlled by an integrated software module built into the WinLink 2000 software.

VHF Transceivers: Radio Shack HTX-212 VHF-FM mobile (1200 baud AX.25 packet link), Yaesu FT-211RH 2M mobile.

UHF Transceivers: GE Phoenix SX (9600 baud AX.25 packet link), Icom IC-42A 70cm mobile.

Dual band: Icom IC-2410H (2M/440MHz)

HF Antennas: Ground mounted Cushcraft R-7000 vertical antenna (10/12/15/17/20/30/40M).

VHF Antenna: Radio Shack broadband discone.

UHF Antenna: Radio Shack broadband discone.

Modem/TNC: SCS PTC II multi-mode modem, with 2 optional packet TNCs installed.

Computer: Hewlett Packard Pavilion 7955 1.5GHz desktop computer with 768MB RAM and 40GB HDD.

Internet Modem: Comcast's full-time broadband network connection.

I am a member of the ARRL. Here is a link to the San Francisco Section ARRL page. Here is the link to the Pacific Region site. Both have quite a bit of information that pertains to Ham Radio in the state of California.

For information about FlexNet, go to: http://www.northeastflexnet.org.

For information about APRS go http://aprs.rutgers.edu or http://www.tapr.org for more information and the latest downloads.

If you have any questions about me, or my station, please send mail to:

Packet Message: KB6YNO@KB6YNO.#NCA.CA.USA.NA

E-Mail: kb6yno(at)comcast.net or kb6yno(at)winlink.org.

The @ sign has been replaced in the e-mail addresses, so the spammers won't get the e-mail address automatically when searching the web. They can have the packet one. I would invite a spammer to try sending mail to a packet radio address!!!

73 de Eric, KB6YNO