The VHF & Up Online Register is open to the International community and currently there are over 1700 hams registered with over 4700 station information records. This register is intended to cover any and all types of activity on the bands from 6 meters through light. Since I get a couple of emails a month requesting that I register someone in the database, I felt it was important to write this up.
The first step is to register yourself in the database. Go to http://www.aa1yn.com/vhf/ and click on the first link "Please register here first" and fill out the form. It is important you use a valid email address as the website will email you a registration number. You should use your favorite website login password and not one you use for sensitive information. Barring any Internet problems, you should receive your registration number in less than 1 minute. If you haven't received it within two hours, contact me via my website (click on the “contact me” link). This process is to keep the “less than totally honest” people from swamping the database.
The second step – once you have received your registration number, click on "Please login for changes here", enter your call, your password, and the registration number you were emailed. Now complete the rest of your QTH information. There are a couple of points to note here. First, just below your callsign, you will see a field labeled "Require Registration Number". If you enter "N" in this field, you will not have to remember your registration number. Second point - for privacy concerns, there is a field next to your email address labeled "Publish". If you enter an "N" here, your email address will not be published on either the register website nor the schedule website. At the bottom of the page, you will find two buttons, "Post Update" and "Station Data". Click on the Post Update button to save your QTH Information. Verify your information and if you see a mistake, click on the General Info button at the bottom and make the corrections.
Once you've verified your information, click on the Station Info button at the bottom. If you've never entered any station info, you will see three buttons on the station page. "Add New" is the one we are interested in. Click on it. This will bring up the Station Information Form. Select the mode and band from the pull-down list which best describes a portion of your station. The Station Number is only to make the above two unique so if you have two general-purpose 6m stations, the second one would be #2. You can enter a description of this station and at the bottom you can enter some bragging rights such as States/Grids worked, DXCC, Distance, and Initials. Once finished, click on the Post Update button, verify the info and click on the Station Info button. This brings you back to your station list. Repeat this for the station configurations you have. Consider each band a different station. I have an Icom 746 which I use for general, EME, WSJT, and Digital Weak Signal work. It has 2 VHF bands so I created station info for a total of 8 station setups.
It may take a few minutes to fill out all your information but it will be worth it to both yourself and others. For Instance, if I wanted to find out who is in FM29 on 1296, I could Search the VHF database by Station information and find Bill Lentz, AA2UK. I could then email him and set up a schedule.
The data you enter is extracted for the CALL3.TXT file for use with K1JT's WSJT program. Here it is important to enter an EME station so your information will contain the EME Capable flag. If you rove during contests, you can also register your call with the suffix "/R". If you are going to operate in other countries, you can register your callsign with the prefix and enter information about your operation. If you have one or more beacons, register your callsign with the suffix "/B".
If you have any other ideas on how this register might be used, feel free to contact me with your suggestions. If you want to see what your information should look like, search the database by QTH information for AA1YN and then click on my callsign to see a full webpage describing me.
I hope you find the register useful - and as always, the use of the register is FREE!
73'S Lee - AA1YN