Double Duty for the Kindle

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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?

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.