KR4RO Worldwide Amateur Radio

Update on Mobile Operating, JT65HF and CW

2011-08-15T12:49:00.000-04:00

I really enjoyed the trip to Myrtle Beach. It was so nice to spend time with family and friends in such a wonderful setting. We had family meals and late night card games, and, of course, beach time. The kids, as they usually do, enjoyed the beach more than anyone else. I probably gained a few pounds, but I’ll never know, because I’ve vowed to never step on a scale again. I don’t need the frustration!
I had the TS-480 all set up in the Explorer and it worked well enough with the 20 meter whip. I made a few SSB contacts, one of which was a very nice QSO with a visitor at W1AW. Betty was very concerned about operating the station while the vehicle was in motion, so we had that conversation a few times, and I finally retreated. Yes, I should have let her drive, but it’s just not in my DNA. Maybe as I age more, I’ll be able to so that.

The biggest disappointment was the weak power signals I had hoped to work while at the beach. The problem was not with the transceiver or the antenna, but with the netbook and the software. The screen on the netbook would not quite accommodate the JT65HF, because the software doesn’t allow the window to be resized to fit the screen. Yes, I should have worked with it before I left, but I didn’t, and I learned a powerful lesson. I did manage to work some PSK31 using DM-780, but it was uncomfortable and I decided I need to have a full sized laptop to make all this happen. My $HAM dollars are running low, so this is not going to happen for a while since other $HAM projects have priority.

I am solid into working JT65HF now. I just made my 308th unique contact this morning, and I’m feeling very happy about JT-Alert installed on the computer. The best page for reviewing JT65HF stats is:

http://jt65.w6cqz.org/reports/rxsynopsis.html

KR4RO [ EM95 ]
Count: 337
Bands: 40,20
Avg Sig: -12 dB
Heard in: 65 grids
Best DX to VK3ABC
RB Grid: QF21mm
15955 KM at -25 dB on 20M

I know I need to branch out and go back to working other modes, but JT65HF is a real lazy man’s mode. I find that I can work JT65HF, play hearts, and watch Fox News all at the same time. That’s too much temptation for a retired guy.

Speaking of working other modes, I actually had a CW QSO on 20 meters this morning. KG5WY was kind enough to put up with my left foot keying and my lack of copying skills for long enough to get in a full QSO. It’s been so long for me, I was truly embarrassed at how poorly I did. I still cannot use the Bencher. I try, but it doesn’t respond to my ham fistedness. I used the old NYE Viking straight key I bought in 1988 when I was a novice. I worked a lot of CW in those days, and I became proficient enough to pass the 13WPM general test. I now wish I had hung in there. There is probably no better DX mode than CW.

Double Duty for the Kindle

2011-07-21T13:07:00.000-04:00

I’m preparing to go mobile soon, and I started to gather together all the things I would need to have with me on the road. I put all the cables, adapters and chargers for the both transceivers, the TS-480 and the VX=170, and for my Kindle, Ipod, the Gateway Notebook, and my cell phone into a small shaving kit. (Whatever happened to the days when we just made sure we had the keys when we left the house?) I don’t use a VHF FM transceiver as much as I used to and there are times when I simply can’t remember how to program the darned thing, so I never leave home without the manual. I also like to carry lists of all the repeaters in the TN, NC, SC, GA, and FL areas.

I decided this time to convert all the manuals and repeater lists to PDF files and store them on the Kindle. Of course, if I could convince my wife that we desperately need 3G wireless access to the web twenty-four hours a day, I wouldn’t have to do this, but it’s hard to overcome her arguments when she threatens to make me use $HAM dollars. Besides which, the average person is never more than two miles from a McDonald’s restaurant, and I’ve been known to park next to the building and use their free wi-fi.

Manuals for most radios are available on the web as PDF files and downloading them and transferring them to the Kindle is pretty easy stuff. All you have to do is plug the Kindle into the computer and then to save the PDF file, navigate to the “documents” folder on the Kindle and save the file there. While I’m sure it’s out there somewhere, I haven’t found a PDF file of repeaters. However, copying the details from a website is fairly simple if you have the right tools. I highlight the text I want and then copy (Control +C) the information from the web file and then paste it (Control +V) into Microsoft Word. I then usually change the font size to at least 14 to make it more readable and then save the file as a PDF file (an option on MS Word) to the documents folder on the Kindle.

On the Road Again - Perhaps

2011-07-20T16:16:00.000-04:00

I’m looking forward to a new road trip to Myrtle Beach this summer, and for the first time, I’ll be able to operate mobile. After having dragged my feet for a very long time, I have finally installed (really just roughed in) the TS-480SAT into the Explorer. I have an antenna mount that fits into the trailer hitch of the explorer and I put a MFJ 20 meter whip on that and brought the coax under the lift gate for the time being. I know I’m doing all the wrong things; I’m taking power from the cigarette lighter and the radio is merely sitting on the floor of the rear passenger compartment and for right now, I not concerned. If everything survives the shakedown cruise and I’m able to make some good contacts, I’ll look into making a permanent installation.

I’m really kicking myself for not doing this last winter when it was much cooler, but hindsight is, of course, twenty-twenty. I’m looking for a way to bring wires straight from the battery into the passenger compartment to power the radio. If anyone else with a 2003 Explorer XLT has made this installation and wants to give me a hint, I’d appreciate that. I intend to bring the coax through the spare tire compartment, but, for the time being, it’s just too hot even in the evenings to mess with it. I have a storage space under one of the rear seats and I’ll find a way to stabilize the radio there. I’d like to have a longer microphone cord, and I’ll have to look into that, but it’s not a deal breaker. The control head fits very nicely in the well of the center console. I had no trouble at all getting the whip tuned for 14.175 mHz. It tunes nicely with the autotuner from 14.070 through 14.350.

I made a few calls on PSK, JT65 and SSB. I worked two stations, KD0NZY and N0OKS on PSK and had several stations come back to me on sideband, but they were barely able to read me. I had one station answer my CQ on JT65, but we were unable to complete the contact. Twenty meters has been wide open all day and well into the evenings for the past few days, and as a cynic like me would expect the band is way down today when I need to do some testing!

I don’t expect to be able to work stations like I do with my super-duper OCF Dipole a million feet up in the air, but I think things will improve.

I have a new QSL card for eQSL.

Another Project Bites the Dust

2011-07-13T18:12:00.000-04:00

I’ve been trying to straighten up the shack a little bit, but it’s a hard chore. There are too many distractions, and my mind seems to jump from one thing to the other. There are projects that I want to finish, projects that I’m putting off, and projects that just poke you in the eye. I have a very nice CN-801HP SWR and Power meter that I’ve had for some time now, and it does a great job sitting between that big old OCF dipole hanging 45 feet in the air and my monster sized Dentron Super Tuner. The LCD that illuminates the meter had gone out and while that didn’t hinder the operability of the meter, I’d lost that blue-white glow that helped warm the shack on radio nights.

More than once I tried to get up the nerve to open up the meter and simply replace the LCD, but I couldn’t cope with the idea of destroying the meter movement. I found an article in the Technical Correspondence section of the July 2011 issue of QST by Colin Haig, VE3MSC on the very same subject. The article gave me the courage to give it a try, knowing that if I failed it would be $HAM dollars down the drain. With guidance from Colin and a thin blade knife I was able to open the meter casing and replace the LCD. It’s a little thing, but it’s something that has been bothering me for some time. I’m glad to have it done, and now I can move on to the 1000 other little things in shack that bother me. Thanks, Colin.

Another project I’d been working on a little at a time was digitizing my QSL card collection. If you ask me why this is necessary, I couldn’t answer you other than to say I like having digital access to the images, and, well, I don’t know why else. I had been trying to do it with my flatbed scanner and Adobe Photoshop. It does a great job, but it’s a slow process and requires a lot of placing and removing cards. I saw an advertisement for a Pandigital Photo Scanner that was designed for 4X6 photographs. It wasn’t too expensive and besides, my wife has all those old pictures she’s wanted me to scan in for ages now, and that meant that it wasn’t strictly $HAM dollars I was spending. I found one on EBay that was even cheaper, so I ordered it.

This is the definitely the ticket. It worked like a charm. It would scan and produce a digital image as fast as you could feed the cards into the machine. My initial DXCC cards – scanned; my WAS cards – scanned, KA3STI – scanned; and finally KD3IC – scanned. It’s not only the pleasure of having all the cards now in digital format, but I really enjoyed looking at some of those old cards, and many of them brought back fond memories. I’m surprised at how many cards I remembered getting in the mail. Some like the card from Jerry Harley in Greenland (OX3GH) who was my first contact with my General license. I remember calling him in the midst of a pile-up with my “stroke AG” call sign, and he told the other guys, “Wait a minute, I’m about to make someone’s day,” and he came back to my call.

I will admit to being an old analog guy, but I love this digital world. The day I hooked up my 300 baud modem to my old Commodore C64, I knew that someday, QSL cards would be digital. It makes too much sense not to happen. But I still send out some snail mail cards both here in the states and overseas, and if you send me a card with a SASE, you get a card back with your SASE inside. And I make a big production of it, too. I make my card as nice as I can, because I know the thrill at the other end, when that envelope addressed to A.R.S. 2X3 comes in the mail.

This 'n' That

2011-07-11T13:08:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to add a few odds and ends from the last couple of days. I’d like to finish up on the IARU contest by saying that while I don’t routinely use ACLOG from N3FJP ( I did at one time, but I’ve transitioned to HRD and its logging program), I still use Scott’s contest software, and I think it’s the cat’s meow. I bought a full ride to all Scott and Kimberly’s software back many years ago, and with all the updates and great work they’ve done it’s still one of my very best HAM investments. As an uncompensated non-celebrity spokesperson, I highly recommend it.

After the end of the contest, I wrote the results out to two files, an ADIF that I used to upload my contacts to LOTW, eQSL, my QRZ log and to incorporate my contacts into my HRD log and a Cabrillo log that I submitted to the contest robot. (The contest software makes this a breeze!) In HRD, you need to double click on each imported entry and then run the QRZ lookup in order to get the details of the call. Then all you have to do is select “Update” and the chore is done and your log is up to date. I’m a neat freak and this is to me an essential part of keeping a log.

When I set out to tame the wild JT65HF beast I was in it for the challenge, and it wasn’t too long before I started to think this is nice, but it could get pretty boring pretty fast. Since then I’ve made about forty contacts all over the world, but what cinched it for me was this morning when I was able to work Alaska, Australia and Japan all in about half an hour. While these are not new countries for me, they are pretty rare for me. I haven’t worked a Japanese station since I lived in Pennsylvania, and I’ve only worked two other VK stations from here in North Carolina and they were both on PSK-31. Yes, life is hard when you’re restricted to wire antennas! Domo arigato Mister Roboto!

I Really Love a Good Contest. Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel"

2011-07-10T17:52:00.001-04:00

Well, I really enjoyed the IARU contest Saturday. I enjoy working almost all of the big contests, but this one and the CQWW are the best for me. I also like to work some of the state QSO parties, and I especially like the California QSO Party. On most contest days I have a pipeline into California, and that always makes for a big score. For the IARU I made 105 contacts for a claimed score of 13776 points, and that makes me a very little gun indeed. I submitted my log this afternoon without fear of winning any awards, but simply as a check log for all the hopefuls out there.

And, of course, all the big guns as well as some of the medium guns were there. There were the HQ stations and the real gentleman who was running the W1AW/6 station. For the most part all I heard was courtesy and HAMS helping other HAMS get through the process. There were, as you might expect, a few jerks, some who were just nasty to the new people and others that tune up on the frequencies of the more desirable contacts. One guy bothered me enough that I went to take a look at his QRZ page to see what he was all about. He stated that contesting and competition was all he cared about. One phrase, “If you are reading this because you worked me (probably in a contest) thank you very much for the QSO. It is the people such as you that dial the bands and give out the QSO that makes this fun for all of us.” This struck me as a “Thanks to all the little people” speech, and I’m sure that this is a guy who sleeps alone.

I would normally use my old Kenwood TS-440 for the contest because I really know my way around it, and it’s always done a good job for me. But this time I decided to use the TS-480 and, wow, I’m glad I did. The audio and the filter on the 480 are so far superior to the 440 it’s hard to describe. It seemed as if I could hear everything with much greater clarity. I have the voice module installed and even though I am still clumsy with it, I could go back and pull some of the essentials I missed. That’s something I need to work to improve on.

This is the first contest I’ve been able to use my new twenty-meter vertical dipole. I built a 20 meter wire dipole and dragged one end up to the fifty foot level of a tall tree at the back of the property and let the other end hang down. I tethered the other end at the bottom of the tree. It worked like gangbusters for me. I could switch back and forth between the vertical dipole and the 135 foot OCF dipole I have up at the forty-five foot level and on most signals I could hear better with the vertical, and as my Elmer, WA4IGL (now AG4AF) used to say, “If you can’t hear them; you can’t work them.” For forty meters, you can’t beat the big OCF dipole. I worked a lot of stations on forty in a short period of time.

Lest you think I’m a hard core contester, let me set you straight. I got a late start on Saturday, because, well, I always get a late start regardless of what day it is. (I’m retired, and my entire life is a “Staycation!”) I broke for lunch at two local, took a little nap until four and then worked the contest until midnight. This morning it was all over while I was getting ready for church. I enjoy contesting, but I’m not a late night pizza and Pepsi kind of contester!

I hope you had as much fun as I did. If you didn’t participate, you might want to think about it for next time. I know there’s a big argument out there for and against contesting, and I try to respect everyone’s viewpoint. People, this is not life and death; it’s only a hobby.

Solving The Time Problem for JT65HF

2011-07-07T23:00:00.000-04:00

From all the advice I received concerning my efforts to get up and running on JT65HF, the one thing I learned is that Windows 7 does not and will not keep accurate time. I tried manually syncing to WWV and while that would solve the time problem it was only temporarily. In a matter of minutes, the time sync would drop and I was out of sync. I went back to the forums to look for a solution, and I found that most people doing JT65HF were using some sort of time server. I tried a couple and I won't bother you with the ones that didn't work for me. One I had to run in WINXP mode, another had to be run in administrative mode, and another simply would not work at all. I'm one of those rare HAMS who actually like Windows 7. Sure I have a windows XP partition, but only seldom do I migrate there.

I finally found BktTimeSync http://www.iz2bkt.com/BktTimeSync/BktTimeSyncEn.htm written by IZ2BKT. Quoting from the website, "BktTimeSync adjusts the clock of PC using a time reference server internet ( NTP server ) or by using a GPS receiver connected to USB, serial port or Bluetooth."

Because I never throw anything away, I dragged out my old Garmin LT-20 USB GPS receiver and plugged that baby in. I was writing a program to read the NMEA data from the GPS, when I realized that the time was syncing quite well from the NTP server and was definitely controlling the computer time.

Since then I have worked Hawaii, Greenland, France, Ukraine, several South American countries and a bunch of stateside guys. I've had contacts on 20, 30, and 40 meters, I have yet to hear anyone on 17, 21, or 10 meters. I got to say one thing about this mode, if you are challenged by the 140 letter restriction of Twitter, then the 13 character limit of JT65HF is not for you! I find it amazing how creative HAMS can get with those 13 characters! TU73 10W OCFD is enough to send "Thank you and good luck. I made this QSO with 10 watts from an Off Center Fed Dipole"

If you're ready to get your feet wet, come on in, the water's fine. Remember though that JF65HF is a QRP mode. More power doesn’t mean more QSO's! That's the main reason I switched from my TS440SAT back to the TS-480SAT so that I can more accurately control the power out. Selecting power out on the 440 is analog, and on the 480 it's digital. These tired old eyes don't need to be squinting at those little yellow lit meters!

Like one of the guys I follow on Twitter signs, "QRP - when you care enough to send the very least!"

One of the HI HI moments of this entire exercise is that I've had to reset all the clocks in the shack. It seems that when I set them to coincide with the time on the computer, I was not seconds off, but minutes off!

A New Adventure in Digital Communications (For Me Anyway!) JT65HF

2011-07-06T11:51:00.000-04:00

Finally made a contact!

It's funny how things happen. I'd heard about JT65HF on a blog, and I thought I'd give it a try. I downloaded the software, fired up Ham Radio Deluxe and Digital Master 780, tuned the Ts-440 to 14076 and watched as the stations started to fill the QSO. I answered WA1QIK and after some fumbling around, we finished the QSO. I even got a QSL card via eQSL.cc. I was quite proud of myself. A few days later, I was sitting in the shack and decided I would give it another try. Nothing. I could hear stations sending tones and I could see them on the waterfall. I tried to call... Nada! Zip! Zero! Or in other words... No joy! I had read quite a bit on JT65HF and I knew that computer time was critical, so I downloaded and started running Dimension 4 5.0 to control the clock.

I started asking around for help and found no one locally who was using the mode, so I did a screen capture of the software display and tweeted for help! Bert Hyman, W0RSB took a look at the capture and suggested that I had a time problem. He suggested that I tune in WWV and check my time against that standard.

Imagine my chagrin when I found out that my computer clock was off, not by seconds, but by minutes even though I was running the clock regulation program! I set the computer clock manually by ear, a chore I haven't done for many years, and one that brought back some pleasant memories for me (but that's for a later post.)

With my clock newly set, I went back to 14076 and as our friends in F land say, et voile! The QSO area filled with CQ's and 73's and RRR's just as it was supposed to be. I stumbled through a QSO with AC5T and K1LPS and sat back with some pride and viewed my new domain. I'm in!

I went off to fix some coffee and grab a freshly picked South Carolina peach. I sat back down at the computer and took a look at my email and the news. I worked a few stations in PSK31 on 14.070 and then came back to the JT65HF page. No joy! Nada, Zip again! I rolled up to 15.000 and checked the time again. Off by four seconds! I reset the time (manually) and headed back down to 14.076 and worked KB9ILT.

So now I know I have a computer time problem, I'm not sure how I'm going to resolve it, but at least I know what the problem is. I felt like a blind man strolling through the forest in broad daylight. I could feel the heat, but I couldn't see the light!

The most interesting and most frustrating thing about this entire thing was the coincidnece of having the software work properly the first time. If that had not happened, I might have just shrugged it off and gave up. But I knew it could work, and I knew it wasn't working. I couldn't let that pass! Thanks for the help guys, and especially you Bert!

So which is it? Is it a waterfall or is it a front porch?

2011-07-03T15:56:00.000-04:00

It’s astounding how fascinated I’ve become with operating the digital modes, especially PSK. I love everything about it. I love that it’s visual, and while some may think it’s because of my advancing age, let me assure you my hearing is still excellent. I like watching the words appear on the screen as if by magic, and I like having the radio shack silent except for Pandora playing Christian Praise Music softly in the background from my IPOD . I like having the time to put together my thoughts and write them out carefully, and yes, I admit that as I’m reading the incoming mail, I’m typing out the response and adding new thoughts. Come on now, all of you do that don’t you?

Macros are an integral part of digital radio, and I use every one of them that I’ve crafted so carefully using the many tools that DM-780 gives us. I even use the RSID and the VIDEO tools on some macros. When I’m calling CQ in PSK-125 I use RSID for the hams out there that don’t recognize that mode from the waterfall display and would not be able to answer my call. I don’t use it with PSK-31 for the obvious reason that even the newest DigiHead knows what that signal looks like in the spectrum. If you’re using RSID for PSK-31, stop it; it’s not good operating practice.

I don’t know if they give out the “ragchew” award for CW anymore, but I have mine from years ago, and I believe PSK is probably the best mode for rag chewing other than 75 meter 1.5KW arm-chair copy across town old boy chat. I’ve had many a chat that lasted longer than 30 minutes with some lasting beyond an hour. And yes, for every QSO that lasts for an hour, I work 50 that are only an exchange of signal strength (either real or 599), name and QTH. But my point is that they don’t all have to be that way.

This brings me to a sore point. I am a linguist by trade, and languages come easy for me. I know this isn’t true for most people; heck, it’s not true for even ten percent of the population, but that doesn’t mean a ham shouldn’t even try. The beauty of macros is that while you can send a 73 macro in English, you can send that same macro in another language, say Spanish for instance.

His Call de KR4RO

Muchas gracias por este PSK-31 QSO

y Felicidades Cordiales desde North Carolina.

Espero encontrarte en otras bandas y/o modos.

Dios te bendiga.

HIs Call de KR4RO sk sk :)

This macro is just as good as the English equivalent. I work a lot of stations in Central and South America, and I can tell you they appreciate an American Ham using their language.

There are at least a dozen pages on the internet that will translate from English to whatever language you prefer. Build a new macro today, and say Auf Weidersehen to a German ham who has worked hard to understand your language.

That brings me back to the title of this rant. When I’m sitting on 14.070 and calling CQ, I like to think of myself as sitting on my front porch waiting to see who will walk by and perhaps stop in for a chat. When you see me, I hope you’ll pull up a rocking chair and sit for a spell. I don’t care if we worked before, and I’m sure that even if we did we didn’t cover every subject we could have. We share a common interest; we both love ham radio and that should be enough basis for a long chat. We are neighbors in the ether that carries our thoughts, our pictures, and our words around the world on the power of a light bulb (incandescent, of course) and we have antennas, and amplifiers, interfaces, computers, politics and grandchildren to talk about. Waterfalls are for looking at, but porches are where we sit and chat. So if you see me on the porch, stop by and sit down. Let’s talk about how smart my grandchildren are.

Time to Get Serious!

2011-06-29T12:27:00.000-04:00

Well, Field Day is over and I had a blast operating from home as a “1E” on solar charged batteries. I made quite a few contacts, but my operating time was limited by life events like Church and Birthday parties. I love Ham Radio, but IRL I'm a Christian and a Grandfather and that takes precedence. The bands have been very good lately and I've made a lot of contacts. I was working 20 meters into Europe last night at midnight, and that's generally a very good sign that solar conditions are pretty good. This morning has been gangbusters on both 20 and 10 meters.

But, alas, I'm starting to feel unfulfilled. I thought that my Advanced Ticket would be enough for me, after all why worry about a few kilocycles (there I said it and it felt good!) at the bottom of the bands. I've never been very good at math and that's what's been holding me back from trying for the E-Ticket. I got to thinking about why it took me so long to get my Novice Ticket back in the day, and it was because I thought I would never be able to copy 5WPM. I just shrugged it off until I came back from Europe and my brother-in-law, AG4AF (then WA4IGL) encouraged me and I really put some effort into it. I bought an old receiver and listened to the hams having CW QSO's.

I bought a ham call sign book from the Heathkit store in Baltimore (now, if that doesn't tell my age, nothing else will!) and listened for a while every day. I found out that CW was easier than I thought, and I kicked myself for letting it get in my way.

Now, I'm in the same position with the math, and I'm going to lick this and get my ticket. After all, I'm retired and I have almost all the time in the world! Wish me luck, I'm diving in!

Things Are starting to Look Up Here in the Shack

2011-06-13T16:56:00.000-04:00

I have no idea why my Ts-480SAT stopped communicating with the computer, but I have tried everything I can to re-establish the RS-232 link, but to no avail. I have two different null modems and neither one of them works. I also had a problem with working PSK-31 on the rig. The internal digital interface would not operate properly, but I finally figured out that it was operator error. I got it working today using my UCA202 sound card and made a few contacts including a Peruvian Special Event station from Machu Pichu. I hate to have to ship off this radio for repair, but it looks like that may be the final solution to the problem. I'm heading down to Myrtle Beach for a week in July and I hope to use the Ts-480 portable and mobile on that trip. We'll see. In the meantime I have the TS-440SAT up and running fine. The new 135 ft OCF dipole is working like a champ even though it needs to be clipped just a little bit. The bands are a little better today; I made a few contacts on 20 and 30 meters.

It's A Small World After All

2011-06-11T17:00:00.000-04:00

The bands have been terrible lately. Mr. Sun is simply not pulling his weight, and I'm starting to get all my equipment ready for sale on QRZ. I have made a few contacts today on 20 and 30 meters, but it's not easy to cut through the serious QSB. But you know, just when you start to lose heart, something always pops up to bring you back from the edge. I was on 10 meters the other day during the 10-10 contest and I heard a call from K5FBS and when the name Clifford A. Taylor popped up in the log, I just had to know if it was the Cliff Taylor I knew from my Army days in Germany. Sure enough it was him and we had a marvelous chat about our time on the border back in the old cold war days. I remembered at the time he was studying for his license and building a Heathkit SB-101 to operate from Germany. He finally passed his exam and got a German call sign. It tests my memory a bit, but I think it was DL4BO. Cliff, let me know if that's wrong.

The Monster is Ready

2011-05-26T12:59:00.000-04:00

The smell of Solder in the Morning!

Ready to Go Up!

After a lot of research, I've finally decided that an Off Center Fed dipole would be the perfect antenna for my operating habits. I wanted an antenna that covers 160 through 6 meters that I can use with my SB-1000 amplifier without a tuner. I looked at the Buxcomm OCF dipole at $300.00 and then started looking around the shack to see what I had available. I found the dogbones for the end connectors and I had 150 feet of silky wire from the "Wireman" I bought four years ago for another project that never got built. I ordered a 4:1 balun from Universal Radio and started putting together the tools. My 50ft tape measure wasn't going to do the job, so I invested in a 100 ft tape from Lowes ($14.95). I've wanted a butane powered soldering iron for a long time, so this was the best possible time to buy the Bernzomatic Kit ($19.95). So with found items from the shack box and about $60.00 in purchases, I'm ready to haul this 135 foot monster up for a try. It's 90 feet long on the heavy end and 45 feet long on the light end. I have a pulley up at the 50 foot level of a large tree directly behind the house for the center connector and another pulley up for the heavy end. The light end may be a bit of a struggle, but I know it's doable.

Up a Tree without a Paddle

2011-05-05T12:18:00.000-04:00

I work a lot of digital modes, and I've noticed a lot of vertical antennas out there for my fellow digifreaks. I've been wondering how a vertical antenna would work for me, because I do have some local noise, and I've just wanted to give it a try. I had a brand new Unidilla 1:1 balun hanging around from some long-lost hamfest somewhere, so I decide to put it to use making a good solid 20 meter dipole to string up out in the backyard. after some minimal trimming, it worked just like you'd expect a dipole to work. But then I got the jazzy idea to string it up like a vertical. I have this very large tree in the backyard directly behind the shack that's at least 50 feet tall. I already have a rope up there; it's where I have one end of my G5RV attached. so I just hauled one end of the dipole up to the top and tethered the other end to the tree trunk about 20 feet off the ground. Voila! a twenty meter half-wave dipole polarized vertically!
The first thing I noticed is how much better it listens. A lot of the ambient noise I've been putting up with is simply gone. I know it's early days, but either twenty meters opened up a lot or this antenna really has some gain. I was able to feed the coax off the dipole almost horizontally, so that's another problem solved. I'm going to try this for a while, and then think about a fan dipole for 10 and 15 meters up the same tree.

The Big Voice is on the Air!

2011-04-29T18:01:00.001-04:00

The Outdoor Voice!

The shack looks like a tornado came through it today, but the deed is done. I have the Heathkit SB-1000 hooked up and putting out a solid 500-600 watts on sideband. I converted it some years ago to run on 115V so, I try not to crank it all the way up. I've found in the past that 300-400 watts is the most I ever need to crash through any but the most severe pile-ups. I have a nice Super Tuner, but I don't like to have to mess with it, so I prefer to use individual dipoles for 20, 15, and 40 meters. The G5RV tunes all those bands and more, and I found that I never need more than 100 watts on the rest of the spectrum, and the autotuner on the TS-440 takes care of that. I did make and put up a 20 meter dipole to test the amplifier, and it's doing a fine job. I need to take it down and do a little trim work on it, but the SWR was very favorable. I need to get out my antenna launcher tomorrow and get the thing a little higher in the air before I trim it. Now antenna slinging is a chore I really hate. I guess it's enough to just say it involves a sling shot, some .45 caliber musket balls and a fishing reel and line. When I get everything all humming together, it'll be time to straighten out the cables and get the shack looking like the paradise it's supposed to be.

Stormy Weather

2011-04-28T10:26:00.000-04:00

Well, the storms have come and gone. We were lucky again, and the tornadoes skipped over us. My prayers go out to the families of those who were taken to God's bosom last night. It's such a tragedy and the property loss is a terrible thing in this economy. We had some wind, but if there was any lighting I didn't see it and if there was any thunder, I didn't hear it. Our concern was that the severe weather was to occur between two and four AM, and we needed a way to listen for warnings. I started to dig out my old WX radio (I think it's in the dry bag with all the rest of our camping stuff), but then WCNC's weather man suggested that we try this new app for the IPOD called weather radio. http://www.wdtinc.com/pages/imapweather_radio

It was just the ticket. One of the things I dislike most about my old weather radio is that you get an alarm for every impending disaster. We don't live in a flood plain and the flood warnings alone are enough to make you turn the WX radio off. But with this new app, you can tailor it to alert only on storm warnings. We got about six or eight storm alerts last night, and I can tell you it was nice to hear that they were only tornado watches and not warnings. We did get to sleep last night, but I can assure you that this afternoon's nap will be much appreciated.

I see that the SFI is 108 and the absorption is down to 1. Looks like it might be a good day for a little DX. I've already checked 20 meters and there's a lot of activity there. I had a great opening into the Caribbean on 10 meters yesterday. Maybe the nap will have to wait!

Those Old Reminders Of QSL's Past

2011-04-27T10:34:00.000-04:00

I spent a good part of yesterday scanning my old QSL cards from my KD3IC and KA3STI days. They bring back a lot of memories. I remember the first SSB contact I had. It was with a British expatriate in Spain on 10 meters. I was so excited, I ran downstairs and told Betty. I had already made more than 100 CW contacts, but as a novice, SSB access was very limited. I soon upgraded to General and worked my first 20 meter SSB contact with a station in Greenland. There are a lot of cards in this collection that can never be duplicated. One, Y21VF from the German Democratic Republic was a particular coup for me.

I wanted to say that scanning these old cards is a labor of love, but it's really just part of the hobby. Everyone should look back every now and then if for nothing else but to see how far you've come.

New Contacts on 17 Meters

2011-04-26T14:06:00.000-04:00

I know that to many of you this is no big deal, but 17 meters is kind of new for me. For one thing, I could never before get my TS-440SAT to tune the G5RV on 17. But since the storm took the antenna down, and I put it back up in close configuration to what it had been, it's become like a new antenna! I am now able to tune all bands (except 160, of course). Today, I worked a few stations in PSK-31 and two stations in sideband, M3JDF in Blighty (Darren Feather in Wickersley Rotherham, and OT4A Theo Bemelmans in Belgium. My next big test is to fire up the Heathkit SB-1000 and run some wattage into 15, 20 and 40 meters. So far, the highlight of my week was having lunch at Amelia's in Charlotte with my granddaughter.

Another Way to Be at Dayton!

2011-04-23T18:14:00.000-04:00

HAMVENTION 2011: W5KUB TO AGAIN NETCAST FROM THE DAYTON
HAMVENTION

Tom Medlin, W5KUB, says that he will one again be streaming
live audio and video from the Dayton Hamvention. According
to Tom, this will be the 9th year that he will be netcasting
live on w5kub dot com beginning with his 550 mile ride from
his home in Memphis, Tennessee, right to the Hamvention site
at the Hara Arena in Dayton.

The W5KUB dot com webcast from Hamvention has become very
popular over the years, especially with folks who have never
attended Hamvention or have no way to get there. Tom tells
Newsline that there are viewers are in over 150 countries
and during the 2010 Dayton Hamvention broadcast, he had over
50,000 hams watch and follow us for the entire show.

And during this years netcast, Tom will also be giving away
over $5000 in prizes to give lucky viewers. Some of the
prize donors include Heil Sound, Kenwood, Yaesu, MFJ,
Kantronics, LDG and the ARRL. That alone is something that
you won't want to miss.

So if you cannot make it to Hamvetion 2011, you can attend
vicariously from May 18th to the 22nd thanks to Tom Medlin,
W5KUB, and his crew at W5KUB dot com. (W5KUB)
Credit to http://arnewline.org

Up, Up and Away!

2011-04-23T12:24:00.000-04:00

I'll be listening for the Transatlantic Balloon Flight. http://www.arrl.org/news/transatlantic-amateur-radio-balloon-flight-postponed You can listen on 30 and 40 meters from April 27th.

Back in the Saddle Again!

2011-04-23T11:40:00.004-04:00

With the death of my beloved Kenwood TS-480SAT in September of 2009 and numerous personal and health problems, I dropped off the air. The shack filled up with unread QST's, CQ's and unopened QSL cards. It became difficult to even enter the room; I had to push aside piles of junk. At some point I became overcome with inertia. Just the thought of cleaning out the shack and getting back on the air was just too much for me.

On April first (how appropriate) I finally got up the gumption to shovel out the shack, pull out my old TS-440, added the new Rigblaster Advantage I bought, and wonders of wonders, my G5RV was still up and working like the champ it is. My first contact was a RTTY contact with Bob Brown, W4YJF in Selma, AL. When I looked at his shack on QRZ.com I saw that I had a Long way to go!

That's neater than any operating position I ever had while working for the feds! Well it gives me a target to shoot for. Of course, now I'm too busy working digital DX to clean up the shack and build the shelves I need. It's a vicious circle!

Well, the next thing I have to do is to get the TS-480 working again. It sends and receives just fine, but the RS-232 has stopped working and I'm unable to control it with my computer.

The 30 Meter Dipole

2008-07-17T17:26:00.004-04:00

I've decided that the best accessory you can have in a ham shack is a fifteen year old grandson. Not only are they smart, they're also strong and I think sometimes they just want to show Opa what they can do.

I was trying to work some PSK31 on 30 meters using my super-duper G5RV, but the SWR was too high and the loading was terrible. The antenna works very well on all the other bands, but 30 meters seems to be its nemesis. I was sitting around the shack when my eyes fell upon a small cardboard box in the back of the closet that contained a 20 meter dipole that I had planned to string up in the attic of the home I had in Georgia in an HOA antenna restricted environment. I knew also that I had some 14 gauge Copperweld around somewhere, so the idea began to form.

I pulled out the old dipole tacked on enough Copperweld to produce an antenna cut exactly for 10.140 mHz. The next day, my grandson, Chris, and I got out the old antenna crossbow that I used for years to string antenna wire in the trees when camping and picnicking and along with a hundred feet of Nylon rope and the muscle power of a teenager brought it up to its full height - flat top at 40 feet. This is the best form of recycling - reusing an old antenna for a new purpose!

We came back into the shack and hooked it up to the TS-440 through the Daiwa CN-801HP meter and called CQ on 30 meters. The meter showed a perfectly flat output on 10.140 mHz! I've never cut a dipole before that didn't need to be re-tuned at least a little, but this one was the Cat's Meow. Of course, no one answered... it was too early and the band was either closed or there was simply no other old retired guys with nothing else to do but listen to dead air available.

Later in the evening the band started to show some activity and I met one of the nicest people I've met on the air, AK8D Wayne McKenzie. He has a lot more experience on these new digital modes than I do and was willing and able to spend some time demonstrating some of the other modes available for amateur use. We tried HellSchrieber which I thought was a bit like facsimile transmission and MFSK16 which he described as the mode used by NASA to send photos back from the Mars expedition. He sent me a couple of pictures. In one I could make out what had to be a creature from Mars, and the other was just grain because the band was dropping out from under us.

So far on this new dipole I've worked France, Northern Ireland and a few stations in the US. I'm sure there will be many more to come.

A Death in the Ham Shack

2008-06-27T08:06:00.004-04:00

The night after Ron, W2RIP and his lovely wife left, my old homebrew computer died. It started out with the USB ports becoming non-responsive, and none of my USB devices would function. For first aid, until I could completely diagnose the problem, I installed a spare enhanced USB PCI card that I had hanging around and that allowed me to complete the most important project - backing up my data!

These USB 2.0 connected hard drives are the trick for back-ups. They are protected from the foibles of an unsteady operating system, and, best of all, they are portable from machine to machine with no hassle. After I had everything backed up, I went off to bed. As I always do, I left the computer running. The little known fact of electrical machinery is that running a piece of equipment in a constant powered state doesn't hurt it as much as turning it on and off. Cycling may be good for your body, but it's not good for electronics.

I came into the shack the next morning and tried to wake Bigboy (as the computer was named on the home network here) and he was unresponsive. His heart had given out and he died peacefully in his sleep. I ran all the diagnostics and found that the motherboard was dead.

As I mourned the loss of my old computing friend (and the loss of the hamdollars it would take to replace him), I had to think of where to go from here. Should I buy a new motherboard and CPU? As an aside, computers are in a way like motorcycles; just as you would never replace a chain on a motorbike without replacing the sprockets, you would never replace a motherboard without replacing the CPU. I hate to throw new money at old technology, so I thought it more appropriate to move from IDE based technology to serial.

As I walked into the door of the local Staples, I sensed that the salesman saw my need to spend hamdollars. It could have been the black armband that tipped him off, I don't know, but he certainly homed right in on me. I'm standing in front of the row of shiny laptops all with their screens bright with swimming fish, so strong in their youthful vigor and I think fondly of Bigboy and his days of glory... But enough of that. I had told myself over and over that if I have to, God forbid, replace Bigboy it would be with a super whiz-bang laptop with bluetooth and Centrino processing and constantly on line with the world from every coffee house in the world.

Fortunately, a cooler head and shrinking hamdollars convinced me that I no longer travel the world (except by radio) and I haven't hung out at coffee shops since my days at the Army Language School in Monterey. Sancho Panza's Coffee House downtown was THE place to meet women. No Wi-Fi in 1962!

To an old computer builder like me, there is no nastier words to hear than "bundled," but there on the floor of Staples was a stack of boxes with bundled kits of Dell Inspiron 530's with a 20 inch monitor for fewer hamdollars than I had figured I'd had to spend. All that new technology in one big package was more than I could stand. I had priced this very machine pretty much in this configuration online at Dell for about 300 hamdollars more than was being offered at Staples. It was that bargain hunters dream - a closeout sale!

I thought the price was fair and decided that I would take it. Rather I decided that the salesman could take it for me out to the car - those bundles weigh a ton! At the register, I presented my Staples Business Owners card and found that the price was reduced by yet another 100 hamdollars. The bargain gets even better! Business owner? You don't have to be it when you apply; all you have to do is say it!

I have spent the best part of two days now dragging off all that junky software they put on the hard drive and installing the good stuff like HRD and DM-780. There are no ports for keyboard and mouse! Everything and I mean everything runs off the serial bus. There are eight ports on the machine (four in front and four in back) and I have an external USB hub. I have two USB to serial port adapters and they posted just fine for radio control and for digital working via DM780.

I had to install a firewire card (from the junk box) and a video card (NOT from the junk box, but from Bigboy himself), and I bought a USB to IDE box to house the old 400gb drive from Bigboy. Sigh, it looks like we're finished for now.

I decided, after a lot of hand ringing, to leave the VISTA SP1 operating system on the machine. I was sorely tempted to wipe the hard drive and start with a fresh copy of Windows XP pro, but in the end I decided that I'd leave it, but the moment it starts getting unstable, I'll jerk it out and replace it with XP in a flash.

Finally I had to name it. That's the hard part part you know. Once you name it, you just can't take it back to the store! I tried several names; Farmer... for Farmer in the Dell; I thought maybe "Little Boy," but that sounded too nuclear, but finally I decided on "John's PC." O.K. so my poet's soul takes a rest from time to time, but the machine doesn't know it has an ugly name, and to me it'll always be "Bigboy II."

Eyeball

2008-06-26T16:06:00.006-04:00

I wrote earlier about having Ron Foster, W2RIP help me get my signal cleaned up on PSK. He showed great patience and specific knowledge on how to get a clean signal into the ether from my PC. I mentioned to Ron that if he should ever be in the area, look me up, and he replied that he, in fact would be in the area soon. He had to make a trip to Charlottesville to see his daughter and would be coming down I77 on his return. We arranged to meet on Tuesday, June 24. I was, needless to say, excited about the visit. So I shoveled out the shack (even vacuumed the floor!) , stacked all the old QST's on the shelves in what I would consider a neat pile and made sure that all the gear had been dusted off at least on the outside. I met Ron in the parking lot of Lowe's down at exit 42 on I77 and he followed me to the house.

It has been a long time since my wife and I have met such pleasant people. Ron's wife, Betty and my wife, also Betty found that they had so much in common and they talked about photography, camping and wildlife for the hours that Ron and I talked about radio. Ron and I spent some time in the shack going over the software and the equipment, but it was the conversations that were so pleasant. Ron was really impressed at how well DM-780 ran on my super-go-fast PC that I had built from scratch, and that made me feel good.

We ended the visit with a trip down the road to Troutman to Julia's Tally House. Julia's is one of those home-cooking places you just don't find when you're traveling. It's a family place that serves good down home food and lots of it. The fried chicken is the best I've had anywhere, and I'm sure the Colonel could learn something at Julias!

We bid them a reluctant farewell and watched them head south on I77. This "eyeball QSO" was one of the truest pleasures I've ever had. See ya Ron!

In case you were wondering, Ron is the handsome one. Yes! The one on the right!

A Labor of Love

2008-06-16T19:36:00.003-04:00

There's a stack of reference books on the floor next to my desk, all of them have either Dreamweaver, PHP, MySQL or something similar in the title. I wanted to put my QSO log on my website http://www.kr4ro.com/ . I'm sure that there are easy ways to do this, but I don't know them, and I don't know anyone who could tell me. Hence the stack of reference books.

Actually, I had done it once before, but it was so long ago, I simply couldn't remember how I did it. I guess I could have checked the documentation I made after that labor of love, but, of course, I didn't document anything at all.

Well, it's done now, and I'm glad it's over. Now all I have to do is remember to update it on a regular basis. It's a nifty little program; you can see the entire log or you can see all the entries for a particular callsign. For instance, if you want to see if I've worked St. Brandon, you could enter 3B7C and the QSO would pop up. Yes I did work them and I got the card! It sits on my bulletin board in a place of honor along with the card from K8DAR a Boys and Girls Club station that I hear from time to time on twenty meters.

Well, go check it out. For my next "labor of love" maybe I'll build a database of all my QSL cards... yeah, that's the ticket...

This is what it's all about

2008-06-13T08:09:00.002-04:00

I've been hammering away on PSK and RTTY on 20 and 30 meters for days now, making beaucoup QSO all around the world, but last night I though I'd slip down to 40 meters and see what was shaking. This was my first time on 40 and fortunately I ran into Ron, W2RIP from Gainesville, GA. In the back of my mind, I knew that in PSK, power doesn't mean the same thing as it does in SSB or that old southern favorite, AM. I tried to keep the power output to about 50 watts thinking that would solve the problem and to be quite honest, I was knocking 'em dead and filling up the log, so it must be right, huh?

Ron worked with me for 45 minutes teaching me about the linear flow of audio from the sound card to the ether. By the time we were finished, my IMD was 27-28 dB and my signal was perfectly readable at Ron's shack. I finally had to pull the plug and head off to bed. This old body doesn't do late nights like it once did!

But overall, my point is that in this hobby, hams help hams to do better in the hobby. I know that people help each other in other hobbies; I see it all the time, but for me this is special because THIS is MY hobby. Thanks Ron!

I didn't spend much time on the air yesterday; it was my older son's birthday. As I was out buying an "over the hill" balloon for him, it struck me that one of my children is now 41! There is little in the world that makes you feel older than that. I asked one of my grandsons to suggest a game for the Xbox my grandchildren and my son huddle around in the evenings; I wanted to have a special present that played to the closeness of Stan with his children. One wouldn't think a game with the title of "Gears of War" would bring family closer together, but it does. After the gifts were opened and the ooohs an ahhhs were done, my youngest grandson, Chris, tapped me on the back and said, "Thanks Opa." I knew it had hit the spot.

Going Digital

2008-06-12T08:34:00.001-04:00

When I was first licensed back in 1988, I had great thoughts of building a truly digital station. I tried to get started with my (then brand new) Commodore 64 and an interface I bought at the York County (PA) Hamfest. Too new to understand what loose RF in the shack could do, I tried to get it on the air. Every time I keyed the TS-820 I had, the C-64 would reset and I'd lose everything. The most important thing I lost was my enthusiasm for digital communications.

You'll have to read my old blog http://jenniferway.com/Blog.html to see why I was off the air for so long and all about my rush to get back on the air, but suffice it to say, I'm back, I'm grounded, and the electronics have improved exponentially.

If I had to pick out the single thing that has pulled the amateur digital communications experience all together for me, I would have to say it was the software. Ham Radio Deluxe and Digital Master 780 opened the digital door for me, and I've walked right through it.

I want to give Simon Brown's website a plug http://www.ham-radio-deluxe.com/ if you haven't been there then go there. The web site is well written and the programs and help are spectacular.

Needless to say, my log is now filled with interesting PSK, RTTY, SSTV and CW QSO's. I'm still active on sideband voice, but in the evening hours when 20 meter SSB is dead, i'm working Iceland on 14.070.15!