Planet Ham

• FW0NAR blog

73´s, LuisEA1CS

• HK0NA log final (aunque no es el oficial)

Optical treebounce (0.3km total path) 10wpm CW 0.501kHz 35dB S/N

This evening I did some further tests with optical treebounce and what I'd loosely call skyscatter. The sky was cloudless, but a little hazy. My test kit was as follows:  TX (250mA high brightness red LED, 100mm optics in one room of house), RX in another room KA7OEI based head (doors closed, no light leakage) with 100mm optics.  PC running Spectran positioned to minimise light pollution to RX head.

First test was 10wpm CW off the tree (0.3km path length total) with strong signals received 35dB S/N in 5.4Hz bandwidth. Signal v.clear in the earpiece too. I could just make out the red light glow in the distant tree branches. Aiming critical.

Weak QRSS60 signal received by aiming at clear sky

Second test: TX and RX elevated to aim at roughly same patch of clear sky. QRSS60 signal sent from TX. Signals detectable in Spectran in 0.17Hz bandwidth, weakly, but definitely there. It is less clear on the capture than on the real screen. For this second test I made no great attempt to optimise the RX aim,
just aimed at what I thought was roughly the same patch of sky. Now I can't be sure whether the signal is purely from scattering off mist/dust particles or what, but I think it is unlikely signals are coming off other objects as I am aiming quite high into the sky (about 45 degrees up) clearing nearby stuff.

These tests suggest that with very slow QRSS I may be able to get a non line-of-sight optical signal to G6ALB in the next village 3km away. When the weather improves I'll go out /P with the PC and RX and see if I can detect the "forward" scattered optical baseband signal at much greater range (1-3km). With proper cloudbounce it should be better I think.

This reference looks like it should be interesting (about scattering) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering

ZK2C Team/5 febrero 2012- 04.00z

73´s, LuisEA1CS

Center conductor to braid reading

In my last post I commented on not finding the time to get on the radio, so Saturday night I penciled in some radio time for Sunday. All was going well and I was able get the chores done I had planned to and now it was radio time. I sat down at the K3 on went the computer and then the K3 and my CQ began.....then Murphy paid me a visit. I noticed my SWR was bouncing all over the place from 1.2 up to 4.1 and so on!!!! I switched over to

Removing old coax from PL 259

Connector all cleaned up

the dummy load and all was well with the SWR which slowed my heart down from the steady pounding thinking it was  my rig that was acting up. Now it was time to narrow things down on the other side of the rig. I directly hooked my Alpha Delta DX-EE antenna to the K3 and the SWR was good. That meant I was not going to have to travel into the attic anytime soon. It had to do with the interconnections here in the shack. I did narrow it down to a coax patch cord that had a high resistance from braid to center conductor. It was a simple matter of removing the PL 259 and reinstalling it a little further down the coax. The method I use when removing  the coax allows me to heat up the center conductor and pull it out. I then pock the round Weller soldering tip through each hole where the braid is and at the same time pull the braid. I find this removes the old coax fast and clean.

The PL 259 ready to go

There were a few QSO parties this weekend and I made some contacts in them, all on SSB phone. Looks like combined I eeked out 45 contacts in all.

In the Delaware QSO Party I made 5 contacts – 2 on 40m and 3 on 80m.

In the Minnesota QSO Party I made the most contacts of any of the contests with 27 total Qs with 23 of them on 20m.

In the British Columbia QSO Party I thought I’d hear more activity and only ended up with 1o contacts, most also on 20m.

In the Vermont QSO Party I made just 3 contacts, 2 with 1 station.

Now time to watch some football – Go Giants!

K2DSL

DL3PB's "all diode" transceiver

Today I got this most interesting email from Peter DL3PB. Peter must be congratulated on this excellent achievement.

Hi folks,

I'd like to share with you a long-cherished dream, that recently came true, fourty years after I came to read about hams using tunneldiodes to make QSOs when I was aged twelve or so:

Finally I managed a first skywave QSO with my PARASAKI-transceiver, an 'all diode' rig:  Christophe/F8DZY replied to my very first call on 20m band in REF-contest last weekend. I was running 2mW into a temporary vertical dipole on my balcony. Distance between us is  918km - obviously OM Christophe has excellent ears.

Those interested in the cruel details of my circuit, please find attached a schematic and a photo of the pretty ugly setup. The circuit is designed straight-forward with exception of the parametric VXO, derived from Mike/AA1TJ's famous Paraceiver design. (see  http://fhs-consulting.com/aa1tj/paraceiver.html)

The low impedance of the high peak-current tunneldiodes make it very difficult to built a really crystal controlled oscillatorrather than an LC-oscillator, synchronized by the crystal more or less, at least on the higher SW-bands. The Parametric VXO provides a crystal-stable, chirp-free signal on expense of an output power of two milliwatts only instead of ten, but with an amazing spectral purity, no need for a low pass filter or such. Of course it sounds pretty cool making a QSO with a 'bunch of diodes' and a parametrically excited crystal, but believe me or not, I'd preferred to bring that full ten milliwatt into the air - on the other hand that approach allowed  to tune the rig a bit ( ~ 5kHz/per xtal ), which turned out to be much more valuable than a few milliwatts more while being 'rock-bound'.

The receiver in its 'gain-less' version works fine for strong signals - while listening to QRP(p) stations, the moderate gain of the audio amplifier helps a lot. A comfortable frequency shift between receive and transmit is realized by the 5µH inductor at the LO-port of the mixer, with little effect on sensitivity.

Thanks for the bandwidth, OMs, won't bother again you with such mails, unless I make a cross-pond QSO with that rig ( not that likely ) or any skywave QSO with homemade semiconductors ( probably impossible )...

72!

Peter/DL3PB"

The QSO challenge for Day 5 was made on the 80M band at 20.11 utc where I worked DO1HEP - Hermann operating SSTV on 3.730 MHz. I was sending some slow scan CQ Calls when Hermann - DO1HEP received my signal and came back with some of his own slow scan TV images as seen below.
DO1HEP - Hermann was using Yaesu FT-897, 100W into a long wire antenna.I was using 25W from my FT-1000 with a RIGBlaster plus interface and Mmsstv software into my Windom antenna.I don't operate SSTV as much as I would like to and enjoyed making this QSO. Our stations are at a total distance of 515.6 miles apart, I am pleased with my completed challenge of the day. 73

Première activité radioamateur à l'occasion du 70° anniversaire de la création de l'arme des Transmissions de l'Armée de Terre, le radio club F5KIN du 28° Régiment de Transmissions d’Issoire (63) a utilisé l’indicatif spécial TM70TRS. Pour la coupe du REF Cw, l'équipe était composée de F5RQQ - F8DFP - F8NAN - F8CRS venu spécialement d'Alsace et moi même F5IRO en vacances en France... Un temps

Foto que decora el blog de Jacek

De Dx World/Twitter
Jacek SP5APW 4 febrero

73´s, LuisEA1CS

Now this is REALLY Freeze Your Buns Off / Polar Bear Moonlight Madness !!!

QRP'ers - are we dedicated or just plain crazy?



Gatineau Park and the Wolf Trail sure look beautiful!  Thanks Martin, for sharing, you have shown us the quintessential FYBO / PBMME effort.

FYI, the HK0NA DXpedition ended today.  Thanks to the crew and its supporters for their efforts.  I got them exactly once and that's plenty for me.  According to the Team, even after 190,000 +++ QSOs, the pileups were still very deep.  Hope all of you were lucky enough to have worked them, if you were trying.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

This appeared on the KX3 YahooGroup reflector today:

All-

Attached is a photo of KX3 #6. It's an outdoor shot with the backlight off. This unit is in Field Test here, which is its own type of milestone for all those waiting patiently. I'll be writing objective appraisals of this FT unit. That will be my intent, anyway (objectivity). This email is a first cut. Read on.

My personal opinion is that this is the coolest amateur transceiver ever designed, built, or dreamed of. Perfect size, perfect weight, VERY respectable performance. You can *really* take the KX3 with you, and you’ll really want to. Mine’s going everywhere with me, including the workplace! I know my engineering staff will demand to see how Wayne and crew fit it all in, and how well the KX3 works.


After one day using this unit, I've reached the conclusion that the KX3 is basically ready for initial production. As is usual for a 'young' rig from Elecraft, firmware is still a work in progress. This should be no surprise to anyone on this list. The hardware is at near-100% shape, IMHO. There are a few minor issues - mostly features not yet implemented. And I mean minor. If I weren't an engineering manager in the consumer products industry I would not have noticed any of them. The electronics seems solid, and I've done a bit of lab testing for MDS and selectivity. Most of my testing has been on the air though. My lab testing shows MDS better than -136 dBm, but my signal generator can't extend any lower. No problems with rejecting out of band signals (away from the roofing filter's coverage).


On the air: I've had about fifteen CW QSOs, using between 1 and 12 Watts output power. The antenna is a homebrew multi-band vertical, ground mounted. Four of these Qs were on battery power. No differences were found between operating on external and internal power, except for the output power limitations due to batteries. One Q was with an extremely weak QRP station in New Mexico. The APF helped with this, to the point that I could not have pulled him out without the feature. With APF engaged, his signal was 539 with rapid fades to 319. He was running 0.5W and I was running 3 W. Great ragchew, with very few repeats.

Except for Navy-Marine Corps MARS, I'm mostly a CW op. Several SSB contacts went successfully after a false start: I had to finagle the MH3's input connection a bit (a virgin socket seating issue). I set the MIC and CMP values by listening on a second receiver and built in MONitor, giving MIC=18 and CMP=10 as the best combination. Audio reports using the MH3 and this setting were excellent - "clear as a bell" and "good presence”. Output using the internal speaker is adequate, though not amazingly loud. Some of that is probably my 55 year old ears and too many rock concerts when I was younger. The frequency response seems relatively flat and lows are surprisingly well-represented. Distortion is low (< 2% THD the way I hear it).

The FOC and NA contests run this weekend were an interesting environment for first-time ops on the KX3. Lots of strong signals, many in excess of S9+25. A majority of the QSOs mentioned above were near strong signals and with the roofing filter in place I had pretty good luck ignoring the big guns while working weak signals. I have to admit this is completely subjective, however years of experience with the K3 also tells me that the KX3 has similar characteristics in this regard. The best example from on-air testing was the NM CW station I mentioned above. His signal was marginal, meaning the APF was essential for pulling him out of the band noise. At the same time, 3 to 4 KHz up was one of those big guns thumping away. I could even hear key clicks from the contester, but only a tiny amount of blocking from his signal on the KX3. That's what I mean by "similar to the K3". It's not identical though. I found instances where a little bit of a strong station's signal was near- or in-band, and as you would expect some pretty severe blocking occurred. I'd recommend everyone make sure they have the roofing filter on the "essentials" list for purchase. In many ways the roofer makes the KX3 what it was meant to be.

One thing that’s notable and exceptional: I haven’t seen any of the typical issues of a “zero IF” architecture. No image problems, no ripple in the passband (in either SSB or CW), no audio artifacts. The advantage to a zero IF architecture is that there’s no “donut hole” around the IF frequency; there are others too – one single conversion takes less space than multiple conversions, less power consumed, less heat generated.

As a Navy-Marine Corps MARS operator, I’m looking forward to using the KX3 in our ECOM exercises. Its size and power consumption are perfect for such types of portable operation. It’s the item that will take the least amount of space in your Go Kit.


Sorry so much of this is non-quantitative. I'll try to get more out after another day or two.


Standard disclaimer: I am not employed by nor do I have a fiduciary interest in Elecraft.


73,

Matt Zilmer, W6NIA / NNN0UET / NNN0GAF THREE
NMCM RMS Winmor: NNU9ET-5: Upland, CA.


W2LJ is .....trying.......to........remain calm ..........not get.........too...........excited ..........

Not working - not working - not working !!!!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

De Dx World/Twittter

• NOTA: T88ZT es un indicativo reasignado, las qsl antes del 10 de febrero 2012 son vía JA3HZT

Nice comment Paul GM4ULS , Thank you OM .

Paul GM4ULS said...
Yesterday I was in a three-way QSO on 10m AM with two American operators. The technologies in use were very diverse. One of the stateside hams was an old Johnson Valiant transmitter, the other was using a Flex 5000A software defined set-up, and I was using a little single-band Chinese rig (Anytone AT5555). It's wonderful how such different technologies can be put to the same use.
73
Paul
GM4ULS


Anytone AT5555


Flex 5000A


Valiant transmitter

See
Software Defined Radio experiment.
Software Defined Radio via Direct Conversions Receivers

23:04 23:16 UTC
Orbit # 271
Max El 37*

Latest reports from the WRC2012 conference suggest the possibility of a secondary amateur allocation between 472-479kHz look "promising" although this hinges on a crucial meeting on Tuesday Feb 7th. Some countries remain against an amateur allocation, but the majority do support one, with caveats. A 7kHz wide worldwide allocation would be a good outcome, so keep fingers crossed for a few more days.

73´s, LuisEA1CS

Valery en su shack

Valery R5GA regresa para estar activo desde Martinica del 13 al 20 de febrero 2012. Participará en el CQ ARRL Dx Cw como TO5X y fuera del test operará como FM/R5GA.
Qsl vía h. call.

73´s, LuisEA1CS

Yesterday a packet from the USA dropped on to the doormat. It was the LCD UI module from Gadget Gangster. The cheap international shipping option is pretty quick!

LCD UI module ready for assembly

On opening the envelope I was taken by surprise as I hadn't realized the module was a kit. But there aren't too many components and they are all through-hole so I should be able to manage it. I will take my time and double check everything to ensure I don't do anything stupid like solder headers on the wrong side of the board. More than a few K2 builders have done that!

The instructions on the Gadget Gangster website are very comprehensive with several colour photos showing different stages of assembly. But on checking the parts against the parts list I found that I was missing one 2x8-pin header socket. Fortunately I found one (a pack of 2 actually) for a couple of quid from a UK based eBay component supplier so I should have it in a couple of days. eBay is my main source of electronic components these days as the usual sources like Farnell or Maplin all have hefty minimum order and postage charges that make ordering the single part you need to complete a project quite uneconomic.

Kits and Parts Universal RF Amplifier

 A few days earlier I received another kit from the USA: a QRP RF amplifier from Kits and Parts. I got this with the idea of using it with my Propeller beacon but it is probably too good for that. The beacon really needs only a simple class C amplifier to raise its output to a couple of hundred milliwatts. I had been tempted to go for a couple of watts but whilst WSPRing on 20m today and monitoring the signal on the K2 I noticed a weak in-band spurious around 14.05 MHz which no low-pass filter will eliminate. So it is probably best to stick to QRPp if using the Propeller as an RF source.

Another new arrival in the G4ILO shack was a GPS module from Hong Kong. This was used, ex-equipment, and cost about £12 including postage. I'm not sure what I am going to use it for but if I don't put it in the beacon to provide a time reference (and locator) for WSPR it would be interesting to try to make an APRS tracker using the Propeller chip.

So many projects! But I am convinced that having this amateur radio hobby to give me so many different and interesting activities is the reason I remain cheerful and positive unlike so many people who have the same health condition and seem to fall into a slough of despond and hopelessness. I may never complete them but at least they give me something to stop me dwelling on darker thoughts.

Laci HA0NAR informa

• FW0NAR log online

73´s, LuisEA1CS

73´s, LuisEA1CS

Provided by Mike Ernst, AE8U
President, Milford Amateur Radio Club

I am pleased to announce that MARC will be holding Technician Classes. They will begin on February 15 and will run for four consecutive Wednesday nights, continuing on February 22, 29 and March 7. They will run from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. They will be held at the same place we hold our monthly meetings, the Faith Church located in Milford on Price Road.

If you know of anyone that you have been prodding to get a license, or someone who has expressed an interest, please have them call or email me right away so we reserve a slot for them. I plan to run an ad in the local newspaper and perhaps on the Enquirer website. I expect this will get some attention and we will get filled up quickly. We already have 6 students form the Red Cross as well as one other person. Please contact me at ae8u@fuse.net.

View Larger Map

With Ten Tec now selling a YouKits version of Elecraft’s KX1 I thought I’d take a look at how the two compare in basic features.

Numbers don’t tell all but they’re a good place to start:

Some other differences:

• The KX1 offers a built-in autotuner for an additional $120. This greatly adds to the convenience of a rig designed for portable use given the wide variety of antennas that may be implemented by owners.
• The HB1B is already assembled. This is a major advantage to those who have no interest in building their own equipment.
• The HB1B also has a 4-pole filter. This may not seem like a big advantage over the KX1′s 3-pole but the KX1 does suffer from adjacent sideband interference of strong signals.
• Elecraft’s support is well-known and universally respected. Their online forum is also extremely helpful for those needing it. Tough to put a $ value on that asset…until you need it! How will Ten Tec’s support be for the HB1B? Not being a kit, similar levels of support probably won’t be required.

I have a 3-band KX1 and have taken it on many business and backpacking trips (most recently here). It’s a fine, reliable rig and, with its built-in tuner, offers a complete station in a single box – but at a price. A 4-band KX1 with tuner is a whopping $510. Add Elecraft’s paddles for the KX1 and you’re up to $580.

The KX1′s everything-in-one-box is a wonderful thing but it comes at the cost of flexibility, ie the KX1′s internal autotuner can only be used with the KX1. If I had it to do over again, I’d be very tempted to opt for the HB1B, an Elecraft T1 autotuner (that could be used with any QRP rig) and a set of paddles from Whiterook.

 .

.

I am very excited about ham and have a great time in radio contests,  calling CQ on QRP frequencies, outdoor op's , sitting down at the work bench and building projects and last but not least reading radio blogs.  Is it just me or am I the only one that has a hard time finding the time during the week to do the above radio adventures!!! I'm up at 4am during the weekdays to head out to work and home around 5:30. Then there is the lunches for the next day to be made, the dinner to get going and some house cleaning heck I'm in bed around 9pm so not much time left to do anything else!! There have been times when I do sit in front of the
radio but to be honest I am just to tired to put forth the effort for a CW QSO. It is fantastic as I read Larry W2LJ blog who has made a commitment for 2012 to make at least one contact per day. Then as I read Anthony EI2KC blog and he is bagging DXCC countries daily. I have this past week given some thought on to how to get my beloved radio time in. There are the weekends and at times they can be busy but to prearrange some time and not just hope it will happen may help. During the week I do have about 45 minutes before I have to start work. I was toying with the idea of setting up the K2 in the car along with the mono band mobile antennas  and spending that time to get some QSO's in. But boy oh boy I just don't know how hams do it to be very honest..........

Updated by Mike Nie, W8VMX at WARN

The annual severe weather spotter training sponsored by the Weather Amateur Radio Network has been scheduled for Friday, March 30 at 7:00pm. After many years at the old location, we are excited about a change of venue. This year the training will be in the Golder Conference Rooms at Bethesda North Hospital at 10500 Montgomery Road. Up-to-the-minute information on the class can be located at WARN website. As always, amateur radio operators are encouraged to attend this spotter training session, but it is open to the public, so you do NOT have to be an amateur radio operator to attend. The same training content is included as all spotter classes taught by the National Weather Service office in Wilmington.

With the change in venue, we’ll have to keep an eye on how many people will attend. So, we’re doing online registrations for the class to track how many people will be there. Please register each person that will attend. We’re only asking for 3 pieces of information – Name, phone number, and email address. The sooner you register, the better.

We’ll be updating the training page referenced above with more information on the new venue in the coming weeks.

We think everyone will like our class location. We’ll send updates as necessary.

—

Provided by Steve Lewis, N8TFD

Please see the WARN website for the announcement.

Note the *change of venue* and the request to register so WARN can comply with the person-limit of the room(s).

This announcement is going to ham radio operators before other members of the public.

-73- de N8TFD/Steve

THE BUTLER COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION (BCARA), will be conducting an amateur radio “special event” February 18-26, 2012 to commemorate a historic Washington’s Birthday amateur radio message relay which was conducted on February 22, 1916 by members of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL); formed in 1914; and members of the Radio League of America (1915-1921).

The special event will be conducted from BCARA’s club station W8WRK located in the original station building of Special Land Station “8ZU” (1915-1919) which was one of the twenty-seven primary receiving and sending stations used for the February 22, 1916 radio message relay!

For more information on this special event station operation, please go to www.bcara.net

Quelques nouvelles de Darko J28AA concernant son activité radio en Somalie: aujourd'hui il va acheter son billet d'avion et doit récupérer normalement son visa si tout se passe bien.