Contact:

Rob Leiden, K1UI
21 West Woods Circle
Yarmouthport, MA 02675
robleiden@comcast.net

Assistant Director for Spectrum Protection & Utilization

Introduction

“My role is to bring hams together, with each other and with Headquarters to address Spectrum Protection and Utilization (SP&U) issues using tools such as Zoom and the SP&U and nemesh groups.io lists.

“The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) plans to release standards for power line noise. The ARRL will be heavily involved as well. My goal is to work with the ARRL Lab and Eversource, and provide information and resources to help obtain project funding.

“I have formed a working group including staff from the ARRL Lab, Field Services, a former FCC enforcement head, Eversource, and ARRL division leadership.”

Spectrum Protection

Noise Reduction

The average ham lacks the tools and assistance required to recognize, troubleshoot and eliminate noise that are becoming increasingly more pervasive. More sunspots will make this worse as bands get more crowded.

Noise Identification

The SP&U group will help identify sources of noise using specialized hardware and software. People and training will also be an important component in the fight.

Project Design

Develop an easy-to-use process for detecting, locating and eliminating noise that interferes with amateur radio signals.

Tool Acquisition

Hardware tools to detect, identify and locate noise may be as simple as AM broadcast receivers or as sophisticated as the Fluke 910 or the Radar Engineering RE243.  The use of inexpensive USB software defined radio (SDR) dongles should be explored.  Directional antennas also may be easy to build wire loops or commercially obtained yagis.  Software tools may include audio and spectrum files to identify observed noise, software for SDR’s and databases of noise cases found and resolved.  A starter set of equipment including an Icom IC-705, an HF loop antenna and VHF yagis has been acquired.  Based on a review by the RFI team

Mobilizations, a standard equipment set has been established and is available at RFI Team Toolkit – ARRL New England Division.  Orders for the team equipment were placed in December, 2022, and, upon arrival, training materials will be developed and meetings with the teams scheduled for both training and equipment distribution.

The process needs to be staffed by both hams who can identify and correct noise in their own homes with simple tools and trained personnel that can assist them when needed using more sophisticated tools available to them.  These assistance teams need to have access to tool storage and may include section technical specialists and coordinators, club members and other hams willing to help.  It is anticipated that the needs for staffing may differ from section to section, and Section Managers should have an active role in determining how the process is implemented. All sections have identified team members with some sections creating more than one team.

Deployment

Web-based guidance that reflects the process, tools and teams will form the basis of the roll-out.  This will consist of a simple-to-use decision tree that hams of any experience level can use to find noise sources in their homes.  The tree makes provision for capturing and emailing the results to team leaders for further action by their teams as well as documenting any problems with the process itself.  The web-based process has been developed and is available.  The system has gone live and all RFI teams are in place.  An RFI Team training page with links to training materials has been developed and has been made available to existing RFI Team members.  Additional training materials will be provided as they are developed. 

Lessons Learned

A process review will take place six months after deployment.  The process will then be modified to reflect all lessons learned.

Spectrum Utilization

New England Mesh Networking

Several groups across New England are working on creating local mesh networks for ARES, experimentation and other uses that build on the availability of internet-based software.  We want to provide a way for each to understand the work going on in the other locations and eventually to find a way to link them into a New England-wide network. For the time being, this will rely on the commercial internet, but we seek to solve two issues:

• How to establish a hardware link (backhaul) between networks that doesn’t cause interference to a mesh backbone and
• How to define and coordinate an address space that prevents two nodes on different mesh networks from having the same ip address

A map of New England showing existing MESH sites has been extracted from the ARDEN world map showing all identified MESH network sites.

On 4/27/22 Bill Richardson and Jay Taft successfully tunneled between their NH and ME Mesh networks. This is the 1st time this has been done in New England and is a significant step towards getting the entire Division connected via mesh network.  Bill and Jay have proposed a naming convention for Mesh network owners in New England to use to tunnel between Mesh networks.

The New England Digital Communications Network (NEDCN) is comprised of nearly a hundred linked DMR repeaters and also utilizes mesh networks for some sites.  Mesh network owners are currently performing tests with some repeater site owners to evaluate expansion of existing networks by connecting systems.

Maine

Contact:  Bill Richardson, NG1P

Maine is planning on deploying up to a 16 node 5 GHz backbone with 2.4 GHz downlinks to cover most of southern Maine. Bill presented the plan, Wireless Mesh using Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network for Maine, at the Maine State Convention in April.  A non-profit partner was been identified to facilitate a funding request to expand the ME network and Bill recently received ARDC funding for the ME network expansion.  Bill and Jay in NH recently demonstrated tunneling between the two MESH networks and were connected to the K1NPT network in RI then disconnected until needed.  A node in CT was also linked in this way.

East Central MA

Contact:  Don Rolph, AB1PH

Walpole area ARES is experimenting with mesh networks to support fixed assets like hospitals during emergencies.

Contact: Dom Mallozzi, N1DM

Dom reports that a team in the Wellsley, MA area is deploying a fixed-asset 900 MHz mesh network.  Nodes are based on 100 mW Lora units that are physically small, require small amounts of power and reside in bird houses.  The group’s plan is evolving but we’re all sure the birds will be happy!  The simple network diagram shows the interconnection between the Lora units and the end user access devices, one of which is the gateway to the commercial internet.

Cape Cod

Contact:  Lem Skidmore, W1LEM

Cape Cod ARES has been deploying 5 GHz mobile mesh networks based on Ubiquiti routers for emergency exercises with portable tower-based node testing using data, IP phone and imagery in Sandwich, Dennis and Barnstable.  Their goal is to deploy a mixture of fixed and mobile nodes for ARES support. A block diagram of the planned network is provided courtesy of Bruce, WA3SWJ.  Recent testing has demonstrated ranges of 20 miles between nodes, over Cape Cod Bay, with sufficient bandwidth to support real-time video.  A presentation given to the Barnstable ARC on 9/5/22 reported on the progress to date.

Rob K1UI has established a tunnel into the ARDEN mesh network from his home QTH in Yarmouthport.  He checks the chat application infrequently.

Rhode Island

Contact: Mike Cullen, K1NPT

Mike has a small mesh network deployed in RI, interconnected with others.  Mike has provided his MESH configuration so that others can see how this was accomplished.  Mike succeeded in tunneling his RI network into Maine and New Hampshire on May 14, 2022.  His network is now interconnected with points west to provide linkage if seaward commercial facilities are down.

Contact:  Paul Fredette, K1YBE

RI is experimenting with mesh network technology using backbones as high as 10 GHz.

See:
* Scouts, Newport County RC Members Set Up Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network at Sites in Cranston and Warwick, RI
* Mesh Nodes Start to Grow in New England

Connecticut

Newington

Contact:

Ed Hare, W1RFI

Joe Garcia, NJ1Q

A mesh network centered at ARRL HQ is operating with plans for extension into the Newington area.  Ed and Joe are making plans to tunnel to the other New England networks.

Woodmont

The Woodmont ARA has established a tunnel into the ARDEN mesh network from their EOC.

New Hampshire

Contact: Jay Taft, K1EHZ

Jay has a 3 node network in the Manchester area.  Jay recently demonstrated tunneling to the NG1P network in ME.  Jay has proposed a node naming system that would promote further interconnection and experimentation.  Jay and Bill, NG1P continue to explore the utility available through tunneling between New England MESH systems.  The status of Jay’s tunnel node as of 5/9/22 will be updated as he continues his investigations.  On 5/14/2022, Mike, K1NPT, tunneled his network to both the Maine and New Hampshire systems, bringing the number of interconnected New England states to three.  Mike has since disconnected the RI network until needed.  There is one CT node also connected via tunnel to the NH mesh.

Bill Barber and Jay have completed the pilot project to combine NEDECN and Merimack Valley MESH sysytems.  An MOU between NEDECN and MVARA has been agreed to.  See the October meeting notes below.

60 MHz joint exercises with government and military agencies

More spectrum allocation information

 A large chart showing frequency allocations for various services from 500 KHz to 4 GHz is available from www.fair-rite.com at no charge.

Spectrum-Protection-and-Use Meetings

A Zoom meeting was held at 7 P.M. on 2/18/2022 a second on 3/18/22 and a 3rd on 4/25/22. The 1st meeting was an introduction to the group.  The 2nd and third meetings dealt with the material below.

April 2022 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

A presentation by myself and Annette, KA1RFI at the August New England/Hudson Division Hamvention is planned. The topic will be the partnership between Eversource and amateur radio to fix power line RFI.

Web-based RFI Process

Rob, K1UI gave a brief demonstration of the web-based RFI elimination process being developed for use by individual hams and the RFI teams forming in each section.  Ed, W1RFI, noted that the sequence of opening and closing breakers for in home troubleshooting needed to be modified and Rob agreed.  A feature provided by Phil, K9HI, is a Google forms input for RFI information that is stored in a Google sheet accessible to the teams and to the ARRL Lab.  Rob continues to build out the web site with additional links to useful pages.  Additional team training material and RFI remediation material has been added.

RFI Team Formation

RFI Team formation was discussed.  There is now a fully-formed team in EMA, WMA, two in CT, NH and three in ME. The RI SM is actively seeking members.  Rob needs to follow up with the RI SM to understand his section’s needs.

3/8 EMC Committee Meeting

Rob briefly reported on the 3/8/22 EMC Committee meeting.  The LAX and Melbourne, FL teams made presentations.  The FL team is using many homebrew equipment items and the LAX team, focused on power line RFI, has used a grant to acquire Radar Engineering (RE243) and Fluke (II910) equipment and antennas for pinpointing and documenting cases of power line noise.

RFI Team Tools

Several different approaches for VHF/UHF yagis/log periodics and HF sense antennas were discussed.  Ed noted that log periodics don’t have the gain of yagis and that small HF loop antennas have the advantage of a sharp null for a point source but aren’t as effective when a line source is present as is the case with some power line issues.  Ed agreed that an arrow antenna would be a good VHF yagi for RFI-hunting but that polarization issues need to be considered.  Ed noted that tape measure beams such as those used for fox hunting were able to be attenuated by folding the elements in but that gain was sacrificed.  Step attenuators are an important accessory to maintain accurate hunting as the team approaches the source. HF loops and VHF yagis as well as an IC705 and a TinySDR have been obtained for use by the RFI teams in addition to equipment that Ed Hare will let them borrow from the ARRL Lab

Mesh Network Coordination

A discussion of how best to link the various mesh networks in New England noted that there were two additional networks, a 900 MHz network starting up in Wellsley, MA and a 2nd one in RI.

The question of how best to connect all into a New England facility was addressed.  Rob noted that, so far, research had determined that point to point and mesh network architectures were incompatible and that near-term, use of the commercial internet for linking appeared the best solution.  Research on alternatives continues.  One interesting paper on the design of Mesh Networks is: Mesh network theory.

Bill Richardson, NG1P and Jay Taft, K1EHZ made plans to connect their ME and NH Mesh networks by tunneling through the commercial internet. Though not a long term solution, this proof of principle and the facility it provides can allow many lessons to be learned before the creation of a fully RF tunnel.

The useful sources I’ve found so far are: https://www.arednmesh.org and Networking Overview — AREDN Documentation 3.22.1.0 documentation (arednmesh.readthedocs.io).  Bill Richardson, NG1P gave a recent presentation on plans for the ME mesh system that shows the potential for these systems.

The next meeting will be held in May.

May 2022 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

RFI Team status – especially ideas for recruiting in sections where there are less than 3 RFI team members.  All sections now have teams except for one.  Recruiting efforts there continue. It was suggested that clubs that perform fox hunts and/or radio direction finding would be a good source of recruits as the skills are similar.  Nancy, KC1NEK, noted that skills-based hiring may be a useful approach.

Creation of RFI audio and spectrum file library – is there an easy standard to use for recordings that we can include on the process? Steve, W1EMI noted that ARRL Audio file formats are specified on the ARRL Lab site – the recording method is included there.  Audacity software is used for analysis.  Waterfall displays are also useful.  SDR Sharp software is useful for for hunting in the field.  Carol, W1CSF, noted that the Artemis database of spectrum files is available and will email that link for publishing.

Reporting a noise issue on the RFI team page requires a Google account to use the form, due to the Google drive access needed for uploading spectral files.  We will create a separate form for spectra so reporting without spectra doesn’t require a Google account. 

Team experience so far – any process changes needed? Good contact experience has occurred with some mixed results. Teams of 2 worked well, with one driving and one searching.  Knowledge of the area is important;  engaging a local club should happen if needed.  Teams should look for recent changes in the RF environment. Tom W0IVJ, published a 2014 QST article and a u-tube video that should be included with the training materials. See TomThompson.com. SDR Play allows recording and playback for analysis. Tom W0IVJ noted that the interface with an RFI generator needs careful management.  This also suggests two team members are involved and any negative interaction needs to be avoided.

The group was asked to bring additional tools to AB1OC’s RFI Sunday, June 5,  at 11 AM in Hollis, NH  Please use cell phones to record as much as possible and mail to K1UI for collation and publishing.

In addition to TinySDR, RTL – SDR covers 25-1700 MHz with adapters for down-conversion. Less expensive SDR’s may need filtering to avoid overload. SDR Play has been found to be very useful. Price points for these are between $20 and $200, depending on range and sensitivity.

Creation of block diagram for troubleshooting RFI – check the NK7Z flow chart – see ARRL page for locating RFI.  This nay be a useful RFI Team training page reference.

Dom, N1DM, noted that ULS info for licensee contacts are available.  Licensed service interference needs to be addressed in the RFI identification process.  

Tom, W0IVF is aware of an RFI checklist that he will send to the team to include in the process. 

There was a consensus that clubs needed to be made aware of the availability of RFI identification and elimination tools on the nediv web site. Better links to the RFI Troubleshooting Guide were requested.  This has been done but additional links are being investigated and the use of NTS to further make club presidents aware of the tools is being investigated as well.

June NEMESH Working Group Meeting

A zoom meeting of the group was held at 7 PM EDST on June 6,2022.  

Support needed for grant requests to ARDC

Jay has developed a proposal for a 10 node network expansion proposal to be submitted to ARDC.  He is seeking a non-profit partner for the grant.  Mike K1NPT, suggested seeking a non-profit partner with experience in providing this service professionally.  Normally the administrative fee for this would be between 5% and 15%.

Future plans for tunneling between networks including MA, RI, CT

Jay, K1EHZ, and Bill, NG1P have provided access to several applications including chat, mail.  Jay has provided Rob K1UI, with an ARDEN router that has enabled Rob to tunnel into the NH-ME Mesh network.

Existing Network Progress

Plans for a MESH presence at HamXPO were discussed.  Jay will be working with K1NPT and others to evaluate if a forum could be planned.

Joint Training Activities

The Newport Club is looking at further experimentation including remote radio control over Mesh.  Jay, K1EHZ, agreed to work with them to tunnel to NH so that they could learn the methods used by Jay to perform this function.

July Spectrum Protection and Use Working Group Meeting

The ARDC grant for RFI team equipment was submitted before the 7/15 deadline.  The outcome should be known by September or before.

Two RFI-related forums will be held at HamXposition in August.  One will address the partnership between Eversource New Hampshire and hams and the second will be an RFI team forum to get acquainted with their equipment.

A recent RFI case with some unusual features was discussed .  The case investigation is on-going.

The web process alignment with the information the ARRL Lab may need is in progress so that additional information won’t be needed to involve the Lab if required.

K1UI briefed the attendees re: the upcoming NEDCN/mesh network test in New Hampshire.

August 2022 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

This meeting will be held at the RFI team forum at the HamXposition in late August.  The RFI team equipment will be available as well as equipment available to loan to the teams from the ARRL Lab.

No meeting was held in September due to the two RFI forums presented at the Ham Xposition.

October 2022 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

RFI equipment plan

A review of equipment approved by grant was conducted.  All the requested equipment was approved in the grant submitted to ARDC.  The grant money is expected shortly.  In the interim, quotes have been obtained for the equipment.  The equipment is listed on the page.

The training and distribution plan was discussed.  Rob and Dan Brown are working on incorporating the appropriate sections from the IC705 manual into a training program to be performed during meetings with each team to distribute the equipment. Dan noted that some of this development would be deferred until the equipment was in hand.  Dom, N1DM agreed to participate in an equipment review with the EMA RFI Team once the equipment was in hand.  Rob and Dan will set up the meeting.  It was noted that the Newport County Radio Club could incorporate the training into a club equipment build meeting and this type of meeting could provide other clubs in New England similar opportunities.

The use of the on-line web pages for teams, especially to capture the case information was discussed.  Dan, W1DAN, noted that links to spectral files can be included in the spreadsheet and that Google drive can house these.

The best process for incorporating lessons learned was discussed.  It was proposed that the process be reviewed after 10 cases were completed and again when at least 25 cases were completed and then feedback provided to the EMC Committee.

Dom, N1DM noted that the next phase of the RFI effort may require more sophisticated tools than deployed in phase one.  It was agreed that Steve Anderson, W1EMI, would see if the ARRL Lab had any suitable for loan and Dom would investigate the market further.

It was agreed that establishing credibility with prospective grantors will be essential for future grant consideration.

The following metrics were discussed:

• hams impacted,
• team members involved, hams helped using equipment
• number of cases resolved
• pictures, spectral files

The recording of the meeting is available above for those unable to attend.

Rob briefed the working group on the progress made by the NH mesh-NEDECN linking project.  The link is up and passing DMR traffic.  More information is available from a recent post.

November 2022 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

The November meeting on the 5th at 7 P.M. focused on three presentations:  Bill Richardson, NG1P, from ME and Seth Blais, W1SGB, from RI, presented their plans for implementing their recent ARDC grants and Jay Taft, K1EHZ from NH and Bill Barden, NE1B discussed the partnership between the Merrimack Valley ARA mesh network and the NEDECN repeater network.  The link below goes into the discussion in more detail.

December 2022 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

The December meeting on the 13th at 7 P.M. focused on the status of the RFI team project.  The link below goes into the discussion in more detail.

January 2023 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

The January meeting on the 24th at 7 P.M. focused on a presentation by Mark, N2MH, an ARDEN Ambassador.  The link below goes into the discussion in more detail.

 

Febuary 2023 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

The Febuary meeting on the 27th at 7 P.M. focused on a presentation by Steve Anderson, W1EMI, from the ARRL Lab talking about solar energy system RFI and the status of working with manufacturers to mitigate RFI from their products.

On-going case work was reviewed by team leads, in EMA by Dan Brown, W1DAN and in NH by Annette Conticchio, KA1RFI.  Significant progress has been made.

Rob, K1UI, reported on the progress of training on and deploying the RFI equipment funded by the ARDC grant.  4 of 7 sections have received training and their equipment.  The CT session on 2/25 at ARRL HQ was well attended and supported by Steve, W1EMI and Ed, W1RFI at the ARRL Lab.  Another session is scheduled for April 29 at Nearfest in Deerfield, NH.  All the remaining equipment is assembled and staged for delivery.

The best way to store .png and video files sent by hams and generated by the teams was discussed.  This needs further study.  Steve, W1EMI, was asked to inquire if ARRL HQ could host any of these files in anticipation of more need as the RFI program matures.

March 2023 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

The March meeting on the 28th at 7 P.M. focused on the status of mesh network expansion in New England, including projects funded by the ARRL Club Grants program and the ARDC.  Paul, K1YBE presented the Newport, RI club’s efforts to incorporate sensors into a local mesh network as part of educational initiative.  The need for a coordinating function for Division-wide networks was discussed and the status of ARDC grants in NH, ME and RI was provided.  Subsequently, Cory, KU1U, has updated the ME project status with the specific equipment being purchased. The link below goes into the discussion in more detail.

April 2023 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

The April meeting on the 25th at 7 P.M. focused on software written by Jef, W4DD, that maps RFI at one second intervals. Jeff has used the software to successfully locate and fix power line RFI in his Georgia neighborhood.  The link below goes into the discussion in more detail.

June 2023 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

The June meeting was held at 7 P.M. on June 28.  

The status of existing cases was discussed including the municipal lighting in the town of Pepperell, MA and a power line RFI case in Reading, MA.

W4DD has adapted his software for use with the Icom 705 GPS and Najm, AB1ZA is also developing software with similar functionality.  The software will be distributed to the teams for testing when Jeff makes it available, including installation instructions.

Script development and video creation is in progress to improve ham awareness and use of the RFI Troubleshooting Guide.  We hope to have this available for the Ham Xposition in late August.

Team training – including how, what, when, e.g. use of RE243, 245 is planned to be included in the team forum at HamXposition.

A discussion of what the teams would like to include in the Forum in Marlborough in late August was held.  Included will be a software demo, team training and a casework discussion.

A separate forum is being added to those planned for RFI hunting.

A grant status report to ARDC was issued to close out the grant.  There has been no further inquiries from ARDC.  Under consideration for future grant requests are acoustic equipment and additional team equipment sets as need dictates.

September 2023 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

The September meeting was held at 7 P.M. on September 18.  Attending was Orv Beach, W6BI, who provided lots of extremely helpful technical information re: mesh developments.  Jay Taft, K1EHZ noted that an additional 33 mile link at 5 GHz in support of the NEDECN repeater network was about to go on line.  This will be the subject of a Division website post in the near future.  The ME mesh deployment is proceeding to plan now that equipment delivery delays have been overcome.  The RI educational and Fusion repeater support mesh networks are deploying to plan assisted by both ARDEN and ARRL grants. 

One of the most interesting developments was the long distance mesh links that have been established in CA using 10 GHz Mamosa equipment.  This band has the potential to be used for a long distance NE-wide mesh backbone to link NEDECN repeaters and serve as a general purpose, commercially-independent EMCOMM facility for high speed, multi-media communications.

November 2023 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

The November meeting was held at 7 P.M. on Tuesday, November 28, 2023.  The status of the mesh expansion efforts in ME, NH and CT were discussed.  MA has yet to organize an initiative to expand the small number of mesh activity into a state-wide effort, perhaps in cooperation with NEDECN, as is happening elsewhere.  K1UI will try and organize a team to begin this effort.  A Zoom meeting will be held on Monday, December 18 to convene this working group.  ARDEN-related information was shared at the meeting along with information re: amateurs interested in joining a MA mesh effort.  Those unable to attend can catch up by viewing the link provided below:

February 2024 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

A meeting of the nemesh iogroup was held on Zoom at 7 P.M. on Monday, February 26.  A recording of  the meeting is available by using the link below.  The agenda included the status of mesh deployment in three New England states, plans for mesh build out at ARRL HQ, expansion of mesh networking in Massachusetts and the evolution of 10 GHz Mamosa equipment for long-haul communication between nodes.

March 2024 Spectrum Protection and Use Team Meeting

A meeting of the RFI team was held on Zoom at 7 P.M. on Tuesday, March 26.  The agenda and discussion are as follows:

Casework in progress

It was determined that the teams should provide technical assistance and not act as intermediaries between hams and their neighbors.  This is especially important since hams with RFI issues may be in close proximity to their neighbors in retirement communities and HOA’s causing neighbor’s domiciles to be a greater potential source of RFI in a potentially unsympathetic environment.

Mobile powerline RFI detection software experience

Rob has used the W4DD soiftware to troubleshoot RFI experienced by a local ham/contester.  Several locations will be investigated further using VHF equipment and an ultrasonic dish.

Process/equipment improvements

Bob, K1YO noted that Cornell University has an app that identifies birds by their sounds/songs.  This may offer an approach to storage and identification of RFI sounds/spectra and should be investigated.

HamXpo meeting in August

Rob has requested a forum at HamXpo to discuss the use of laptops and transceivers/gps units to identify powerline noise sources.

Additional Items

Jeff, W4DD, provided information about an inexpensive ultrasonic noise source for training users of ultrasonic dishes.