GW0KIG's radio blog

Long overdue!

2011-12-18T11:00:00.000Z

Well I hadn't forgotten about my blog but I moved QTH in September and have been busy. The new house is much older (built around 1920s) and one advantage is I have a garden that is just over 20 metres long. Another advantage is although I still live in the same village as before the new location is a little higher up so is better for VHF.
The disadvantage is a have lots of work here to do, mainly decorating and in the summer I will have plenty of work to do outside. Will I find time for radio?? Of course!
I have already set up the shack

And just to get on the air I have put up a half size G5RV wire antenna with additional Inductors for 80 metres and a small dual band Watson W30 for VHF/UHF.

For my shortwave listening activities the Wellbrook loop is currently propped up in the shack window where it works surprisingly well.
Generally this QTH is quieter electrically I think.

Plans for future include a better VHF/UHF antenna (possible a tri bander covering 6 metres also) getting my HF vertical back up and getting the Wellbrook loop outside. I would also like to get back onto 4 metres (70 mhz). Of course all of this will take time and may have to wait for the spring. In the meantime at least I am back on the air.

A Mystery Solved!

2011-07-16T16:48:00.000+01:00

This blog has been quiet of late. Partly this is due to the fact that I recently had to spend a two week period in London due to my work. Not much chance for radio there but I did bring the tiny Baofeng Handheld radio. Whilst I did hear a few simplex QSOs on two metres and was able to pick up one 70cms repeater activity was pretty low. Things have changed as I recall being in the London 10 or 12 years ago, maybe a little longer than that and then the two metre band was buzzing with activity.
Last weekend I was back at home and since it was a dry calm day I decided to take down the mast that held my Watson dual band VHF/UHF antenna and investigate the SWR problem I had/
I had suspected that as the antenna had been up for 3 years or so perhaps I had a bad connection in the PL259 plug or the coax had completely pulled out of the plug somehow.
Once I got the antenna down the problem was obvious.

What you are looking at is the support tube that the "white stick" fibreglass antenna sits on. The hole in the picture should have a screw in it! The screw goes through the support tube and into the base of the antenna itself securing the two together. As you can see the screw isn't there. This meant that the only thing securing the antenna to the mast was its own weight and the cooax cable that was attached to it. It seems that over the months the antenna was able to rotate enough to unscrew the PL259 plug from its socket. I found the coax cable and the PL259 plug were fine, its just that the cable wasn't plugged into the antenna anymore!
I have used this type of antenna at several QTHs with no problems. It is however a worrying thought that the only thing securing the antenna was this one small screw. The support tube was securely clamped to the mast, but the antenna was no longer secured to the support tube. I have been very lucky here that once the screw failed the antenna didn't simply blow off the mast. I will need to find a replacement and possibly look a a way of stopping this happening again.
I won't be re installing this antenna at the moment anyway as I am using my loft mounted antenna for VHF. It is fairly likely that I will be moving QTH in the next few months so I will re erect this antenna at the new place.

SRC Mobile update

2011-06-18T13:45:00.000+01:00

Although HF conditions in my opinion have not been too good lately, I have now had a little time to evaluate the SRC mobile whip.
It certainly appears to be a robust enough antenna physically and it looks well made. Using my LDG auto ATU I can now tune all bands from 80 to 10 metres. The antenna seems quite lively on receive, within the first few days of using it and under poor conditions I worked a DL station on 20 metres, he was calling CQ and came back to me straight away. I can monitor a local 80 metre AM net on my morning drive to work, although I would think that 80 metres is likely to be the worst band for this antenna.

Because the "Tune" function on my Icom 706 MK1 does not operate on 6metres I am unable to get the LDG atu to work on that band. I have found however that by tuning the whip up on 80 metres and then switching to 6 I get an acceptable SWR and indeed the antenna appears to work reasonably well on 6.

All in All I am pleased with the SRC. It is very convenient having all the HF bands available without swapping whips and the performance does not seem to be noticeably different from the mono band whips I had been using.

HF Mobile

2011-05-26T21:54:00.001+01:00

A couple of weeks back I ordered a multiband HF SRC 8010 mobile whip from Snowdonia Radio Company. It took a while to arrive and a follow up email to the company wasn't replied to but luckily today the antenna arrived. The antenna with the aid of an auto ATU will, according to specifications tune from 80 metres up to 6.
I have tested it briefly on the car today, sure enough it did tune from 80 up to 10 metres and in fact it sounded very lively particularly on the higher bands. On 6 metres my auto ATU doesn't want to speak to my Icom 706 MK1 but I was able to get what appears an acceptable match on that band (by tuning the whip on another band and switching to 6) and was rewarded by hearing a number of stations on 6m SSB as well as accessing a semi-local 6 metre repeater on FM.
The antenna looks to be well constructed. As I understand it the base contains a small balun which help in the matching of the whip. It will certainly be nice to have more choice of HF bands when I am mobile. Up to now I had whips for 40,20 and 10 and had to decide before setting off which band I would operate each day.

I will report back when I have had more time to assess this antenna but first impressions are good.

Below is the base of the antenna

First the bad news.................

2011-05-24T15:25:00.001+01:00

Switching on my 2 metre rig today I noticed a complete absence of signals. Ok I know 2 metres is quiet around here, but I had just come into the shack minutes after pulling up on the driveway where I had been listening to a QSO on the mobile 2 metre rig. Trying to transmit revealed the problem- an infinity SWR. The antenna was fine yesterday- I had a number of local QSOs with it last night. Its still on the mast, no visual signs of anything wrong but it looks like its a victim of the fairly high winds we have had over the last few days. Maybe the cable feeding the antenna has broken loose, maybe the Watson X300 which I have been using (and which always looked a bit fragile to me) has given up. Its been up there for 3 years without giving any trouble so I guess I can't complain too much! Anyway I had intended to replace the pole which the antenna sits on with a thicker/stronger one so now I will have to get on with it. I will be ordering the new aluminium poles in a week or so. Then I will have to wait until ta clear calm day, hopefully when the next door neighbour is not in his garden(!) and do some antenna maintenance. Until then I have a small dual band vertical in the loft which will be fine for local QSOs but I know that it won't work for at least one of my regular VHF contacts where the path between us is not too good.

The better news is a new toy has arrived for me. I have been reading quite a bit lately about a new dual band minature handset from the Chinese manufacturer Baofeng. At £37 from Hong Kong including postage and a dual band antenna I couldn't resist. Mine arrived 10 days after placing the order.

Unpacking the radio and fitting the battery was a surprisingly tricky process. Although I have read a couple of reviews I hadn't expected it to be quite so fiddly. Eventually I managed to get the battery fitted and the back cover of the rig correctly locked back in place. As I said I haven't read of anyone else having problems with this so maybe its just me!

The rig is very compact, you can see it here next to my other Chinese dualbander.

Its also very slim

First impressions are that it seems to be a lot easier to program than my other handie, the manual as usual is of limited use but luckily a few minutes with the rig and the menu system starts to make sense.
The supplied earpiece/mic that came with my rig is of no use- as soon as you try to transmit with it the rig locks in transmit mode- I think other users have also had this problem.

All in all though this seems a nice little rig. I haven't used mine in anger yet (its still charging up) but will post more finding soon.

6 metres

2011-05-21T16:32:00.000+01:00

Whilst in the shack this afternoon I heard a local station on 2 metres saying that 6 metres was open. Well I think I caught the tail end of the opening but managed a 59 report from OZ2KEC who was the strongest signal on the band with me. Not bad for 30 watts to my loft dipole. I think I will have to plug my straight key into the FT857 that I use on 6 metres. I heard quite a bit of CW on the band and surprisingly some of it was slow enough for me to read!

Radio Active

2011-05-15T18:26:00.001+01:00

I have managed to get a fair bit of time on the radio over the weekend. Yesterday I found 15 metres to be quite active and worked several stations including SV7BAY just running 10 watts into my 40/80metre dipole.
This morning I left the rig running 1 watt on WSPR on 10 metres but the I was heard and could only hear one station, in Norway. I had some success on 17 and 15 metres on pSK31 and rounded the afternoon off with a PSK31 QSO with HB9MZI, (pictured above) the only signal I could hear on the band!
Tonight I will try for a CW QSO, probably on 80 metres to continue with my CW practice!

Broadcast QSLs

2011-05-14T18:35:00.000+01:00

Here is my latest QSL card from the shortwave broadcast station- "voice of Nigeria"

I am hoping to get a few more reception reports off to various broadcasters soon. The Aim is to QSL as many as I can before they all disappear!

Fresh Air

2011-05-08T19:30:00.000+01:00

Apologies for anybody expecting a radio related post today- Its something different for a change!

The annual classic car show which is held locally here tempted me out of the shack! The venue is within walking distance so I set out hoping that the rain would hold off. It did luckily and in fact for the couple of hours that I was there we even enjoyed some sunshine!
I brought along my dualband handie and was interested to hear that the masrhalls and stewards at the event were using PMR446 handhelds.
I have had an interest in cars since I was a child and of course at the age of 43 the cars I remember from those days are now regarded as "classics"- I guess this is a sign of old age!
Anyway amongst the familiar Morris Minor, Ford Anglias and Cortinas and MG sportscars was one vehicle that I don't ever actually recall seeing on the road.

Its A Borgward Isabella. According to Wikipedia this model was produced from 1954 to 1962. As you can probably see from the picture this one is right hand drive so therefore was intended for the UK market. I can only guess that they were not that popular!

40 metres

2011-04-29T16:08:00.002+01:00

The YL was busy watching the royal wedding this morning so I had some extra "Shack time". I thought I would see if I could find any of the special MR or GR prefix callsigns. I opted for 40 metres, using the TS830 on SSB for a change. I was going to use the TS450 but I couldn't find the mike! Anyway conditions seemed rather noisy but I did get hold of MR0TMW in Co. Antrim and GR0AXY in Edinburgh. Along with GB2SWF (speyside whisky festival). Later I worked F4ELJ in Brest As the band was pretty poor I fired up the SRW linear on 40. You can imagine my embarrassment when running about 350watts I worked PA/DG8KAJ who was running 10 watts!! Well I don't often use the linear so at least I have warmed it up a little. All in all a pleasant morning and quite unusual for me as I havent worked much on SSB lately.
Generally HF conditions seem poor here today with even 20 metres with more noise than activity.

Icom 706 and 6 metres

2011-04-28T21:58:00.000+01:00

I use an Icom 706 Mk1 in my car. Coupled to an LDG IT100 auto atu it works well. Press the "Tune" button on the rig and the ATU does its stuff. Although I use mono band whips for the HF mobile the ATU is very useful in broadening the useable bandwidth. reading the reviews on Eham I recently saw a reference to this mobile antenna and am thinking about getting one. It seems it is basically a whip with a balun of some sort in the base. Although it would not be likely to be as efficient as a mono band antenna it would, along with the LDG ATU, allow me access to all bands including or so I thought, 50 mhz, 6 metres-a band which I have not used mobile before. 6 metres is output on the same antenna port as HF on the 706
The 706 covers 6 metres as does the LDG atu. BUT as I found out today the 706 will not generate a tuning tone on 6 when you press the tune button. Neither will the atu work on 6 when I generate a carrier from the rig. Why this should be I have no idea. The Specs of the LDG atu state it covers 50 mhz. Now I believe it is a known shortcoming of the MK1 706 that the "tune" button does not work on 6 metres but why the LDG does not react to a 50mhz carrier I am not sure. As it stands though it seems that if I did get the multiband whip I would not be able to use it on 6 metres.

Ready to Go

2011-04-25T16:26:00.000+01:00

Ok, It does't look much but today I made up a doublet for the HF bands. 40 metre top section, 10 metres of 300ohm feeder and a 4:1 Balun.
Its going to be fun fitting this into the garden, in fact half of it will be in the field behind the house. In any case I am hopping it will be a little better than the shortened dipole is on 80 metres and will hopefully work a bit better on the other bands.
I haven't put it up yet,thats a job for another day.

More work on the TS830

2011-04-16T16:42:00.000+01:00

Here is the 830 minus its covers

One of the replacement 6146Bs

The two valves in Situ

Pa compartment cover screwed back on!

The good news is the 6146bs I had work. The neutralisation process I am not sure about however. As the handbook suggests I tuned the rig up on 28.500, turned the SG switch on the rear off and using my R1000 receiver adjusted TC1 for a minimum "s" meter reading on the R1000. The only problem was that I didn't get a sharp reduction in the S meter reading, in fact it didn't vary much irrespective of where TC1 was. So I left TC1 more or less where it was with the old PA valves.
At present the rig now has healthy RF output with a pa current well within the specifications. Everything seems stable with no fuses blown so far. I may get a local amateur friend to look at the PA neutralisation issue again before I use the rig in anger though!

Time for a change?

2011-04-13T20:49:00.001+01:00

Well it is for these 6146b valves that I pulled from my TS830s tonight. They don't look in good shape

If you don't know how they SHOULD look (I didn't!) I will post a picture of one of the unused 6146s I have shortly. Hopefully you can see that the metal filament in the valve is warped. Both 6146s are basically the same
I think the state of the PA valves may be at least part of my TS830 problems. Next job then is to try replacing the 6146s and going through the neutralisation process.

Matching my speed

2011-04-12T15:02:00.000+01:00

Having finished work a little early today I was sat in the shack, I only had a few minutes as the YL wanted me to take a short walk with her. I decided to call CQ on CW on 15 metres. Now at the moment I am still using a straight key and I would estimate my sending speed at around 12 to a maximum of 14 words per minute. I was only running 25 watts to my 80/40 metre dipole so I wasn't really expecting any instant replies but immediately UR8IB came back to me. Great.............but hold on, I think he was sending at about 20 words per minute. Well I am pleased to say that I got the basics of the QSO, name and report etc but it was a struggle. His CW was good but a bit too fast for me! Still I am making progress it seems.
On my trip home from work today I was also lucky enough to work on 20 metres SSB R50YG in honour of the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

The mystery of the TS830S goes on. Opening the PA compartment I could see nothing that had obviously blown. I removed and reseated the 6146 PA valves and checked and adjusted the bias adjustment as the manual states. I was then able to get a reasonable RF output on 80 and 40 metres into a dummy load. Attempt sat trying to tune on 30 metres and 15 metres resulted in another blown fuse and a dead rig.I am lucky in that we have locally here an amateur who is experienced in working with electronics and particularly valved gear. He has suggested the trying a replacement pair of 6146's first (I have a few spares) if this doesn't make any difference he has offered to take a look at the rig.

Progress................of a kind!

2011-04-06T20:06:00.000+01:00

Well my TS830s isn't quite as badly damaged as I thought.It is now working OK on receive at least. Why is it now receiving? Well I am almost too embarrassed to admit this-but lets just say its important to make sure the fuse holder in the rig is screwed fully home!!
In any case switching on the heater switch shows that I have some plate current to the PA valves but the current rapidly increases within seconds and if the heaters were left on the fuse would simply blow again. The fault here seems to be similar to the one I had with my small SRW linear- that too showed a rapid increase in plate current. That fault turned out to be a combination of a blown capacitor in the finals stage along with a dying resistor. I hope to get some time over the weekend to open up the PA stage of the rig to have a close look.

I spent some time this evening trying to get the data lead I bought to work with my FT1000MP but to no avail. The DIN plug on the lead was indeed incorrectly wired according to the pinout data in the Yaesu manual. Two of the wires (earth and PTT) were going to the wrong pins. I resoldered these to the correct pins but I still cannot get the software to key the rigs PTT. I think I will stick to the TS450 for data-it works well in this mode and is simple to use. I feel a bit annoyed that I am left with a lead that doesn't do what it was bought for-but I guess it could be easily adapted to suit another rig. I have come to the conclusion that the 1000MP is not really suited to the data modes.

Not good news

2011-04-03T19:39:00.000+01:00

With the higher bands opening up nicely over the weekend I thought I would try my hand at some CW on 15 metres. I started to tune up my trusty TS830s when it blew the fuse. Not the mains fuse, the fuse in the rig. Since this has happened before I was not too concerned and i had some spare fuses to hand. I replaced the fuse and a few minutes later as i keyed the rig, everything went dead again. This time replacing the fuse had no effect. A totally dead rig, no transmit and no receive. I checked the mains plug but no, that fuse was fine. In truth I knew something was more seriously wrong as when the rig died this time there was a small wisp of smoke coming from the top cover! I took off the covers, hoping to see something obvious, perhaps a blown capacitor but there was no visual sign of the fault. Opening up the PA compartment again revealed nothing obvious. i guess it is time to download the service manual and try to check some voltages so it looks like I am going to have to devote some time to the 830s and maybe seek the help of one of the more technical locals eventually. Since this rig is around 30 years old now and has never let me down before I should not complain.

In the meantime I have rewired my CW Key so it works on the FT1000MP. I had a QSO on 80 metres CW with it last night. It works OK but it just doesn't sound as nice on receive as the old TS830.

Data troubles

2011-03-26T17:42:00.000Z

I had an idea to try and tidy things up in the shack and reduce the clutter. Why not use my under used Yaesu FT1000MP on data modes? I could then dispense with the little Kenwood TS450 I use for data, I could keep it as a backup rig or maybe sell it and buy some extra filters for the Yaesu.
So, I obtained a very reasonably priced data lead from http://www.radioarena.co.uk/. This arrived two days after placing my order-great stuff! I must say that although delivery was prompt there is no documentation with the interface whatsoever, nothing is labelled, even the two audio leads leave you to guess which is audio in and which is audio out!
Well this lead connects to the 5 pin DIN socket on the back of the Yaesu-labelled "packet"". I soon had the lead connected and was receiving PSK signals.Several hours later however I was still unable to get the rig to go into TX mode using Digipan or any other program. I could get data transmitted by manually keying the rig but no way of getting the PTT to operate via the interface. There could be a number of reasons for this- firstly the interface lead uses a USB rather than serial connector for which I had to install a Prolific driver. Secondly the Yaesu has to be set into "packet" mode for the PTT on the socket to activate, however despite doing all of this -no luck.
When DIGIPAN goes into TX the LED on the interface lights-so it is not a com port problem or a driver problem with the USB interface- the problem appears to be at the rig end. For now I have given up and re connected the little TS450 which works very well on data.This is not the first time I have tried and failed to press the Yaesu into use on Data.
The Yaesu FT1000MP is one of the few rigs I have owned from new. In fact it was the most expensive piece of equipment I ever purchased. For that reason alone I suppose I have tried to like this rig but in reality it is nowhere as good as perhaps I had thought it would be. for CW I prefer my old TS830s- it sounds so much nicer, for general receive I prefer my R5000 receiver, and the TS450 is easier for data. I guess the FT1000 does produce nice quality transmit audio though!

Radio Rallies

2011-02-27T19:57:00.000Z

I attended my first radio rally of 2011 today. Held by the Swansea Amateur Radio Society at the Neath Sports centre.
This is not a particularly large rally but it seemed well attended and it was nice to meet up with some friends old and new. One of the highlights for me was meeting fellow blogger and local CW partner MW0IAN, Ian.
I came away from the rally with a few small items-a couple of BNC plugs, a dipole centre piece and some 300ohm feeder (I am thinking of making an HF doublet).
The next rally for me may be at the end of June (west of England Rally), these radio events are quite thin on the ground now, when I started in the hobby it seemed like there was a rally almost every other week!

Update

2011-02-18T19:49:00.000Z

My confidence in CW operating is slowly improving. As well as a couple of QSOs with local amateur MW0IAN I have also managed a QSO on 80 metres CW with 2E0ROD in Peterborough. This evening I have some time in the shack and I was going to try a few CQ calls. Switching on the HF rig however I was met with S9 of noise over most of the HF spectrum. Lets hope it is only Temporary, it sounds like some localised electrical QRM.
As an extra incentive to improve my CW I have joined the FISTS club. Their website can be found here.

Because I have been concentrating on CW I have not been on the air on PSK31 for some time now, this was a mode which I was using quite heavily up until now. Whilst I am sure I will return to the data modes it is nice sometimes to be able to operate the radio without having a PC switched on. Maybe thats why I am not really interested in SDR at the moment. I have however been using a borrowed "Softrock" SDR receiver connected to the IF output of my TS830 to monitor the CW section of the bands and I find it very useful.

Ongoing project

2011-02-09T19:39:00.000Z

The receiver pictured is a Realistic DX150A. Its a general coverage receiver from the late 1960's/Early 1970s. It is a simple, single conversion analogue set covering from Medium wave up to 30 Mhz. I bought it on Ebay as a "spares or repair/not working". Externally the receiver is complete and in good condition although it was quite dirty!
When it arrived here I connected it up to a 12 volt supply and was surprised to find it does work! It does however need quite a bit of attention, there is a broken tuning core inside and the BFO does not work so it only receives AM at the moment. The receiver has been modified in the past. You may be able to see the two BNC sockets on the rear. One of the BNCs is for an antenna, the other, well I'm not sure but I think the receiver may have been modified to take a digital frequency counter.

I haven't tried to connect the receiver to the mains supply yet. For one reason it has an unusual connector for the AC lead (I think this may be another modification) secondly there is a possibility that the transformer may be for a 110v USA type supply. I have a friend who has a variac and one I have sourced a mains connector we may be able to see what the correct operating voltage is using that.

I am hoping that trying at least to improve the receiver will result in some fun and some learning along the way.

First Step in CW

2011-02-03T20:45:00.000Z

Fellow blogger and local Radio amateur MW0IAN drew my attention to a range of frequencies around 3570 on 80 metres where slow(ish) CW QSOs were to be found. I set up my TS830s this evening on that frequency and was monitoring when I heard a very strong station calling CQ. It was none other than MW0IAN himself! Well I had no excuse, he was sending at a speed I could read, nice clear CW and a strong signal. I had to reply. We had a short but enjoyable CW QSO, my first on that mode for over 20 years!
I felt it was a step in the right direction, I will be a little less nervous with my next contact on the key now that I have broken the ice so to speak
Pictured below is my CW station. Note the straight key- I need quite a bit more practice before I consider using the paddle.

Anyway thanks Ian for the contact, i don't suppose we broke any DX records- probably no more than 1km between us-but it certainly helped my CW progress.

An Interesting discovery

2011-01-29T16:11:00.000Z

Following on from my last post it seems I have found the main source of QRM that was caused by one of my PCs at least. In the pic with my previous post you may have noticed the "Black box" Icom PCR1000 receiver, sitting on top of my little HF linear amp. That receiver is connected to the main pc-the one I have moved onto another desk.Having moved that PC I found that the S9 of noise on 10 metres which was always there when the PC was on had disappeared. Today I decided to reconnect the Icom receiver. Since the Icom uses a serial port connector I use a USB to Serial lead out of the PC which connects to serial lead and then to the Icom.
Plugging the lead into my USB hub, Windows 7 automatically installed the USB to serial driver and then............S9 of noise on 10 meters. Moving the lead directly into a USB on the PC reduced this to S6 but unplugging altogether reduced the noise to nil.
I don't know why this lead should be radiating noise like this, but I will try and move the Icom receiver to be controlled by the other PC. Perhaps winding the lead around a ferrite ring would help? I think I have one here and will give it a try.If that doesn't work I think I will be moving the Icom on.

All change

2011-01-28T13:43:00.000Z

I managed to find a space to reinstall the Trio/Kenwood TS830s on the Desk. Now all I need is a three way switch so I can switch my antenna between the three HF rigs. Whilst I was about it I moved the main PC further away from the radios. This has greatly reduced the QRM I was getting from that PC. The older PC which I use for PSK31 still generates some noise. In order to move that I will either need to get extension cables for the keyboard and mouse or maybe pick up a wireless mouse and keyboard set.

When I look at all the gear in the picture here it strikes me that the little Yaesu FT857D which you can see on top of my Yaesu FT1000MP could in fact do everything that all of the other gear could do, all in one tiny box. At present I just use the 857 on VHF. Perhaps I should clear the decks and use a minimalist shack based around the 857? :-)

Learning the hard way.

2011-01-26T19:44:00.000Z

For the last couple of days I have been using the CW GET software to help practice my CW sending. Although it can be quite distressing to see thaT what you thought was good CW isn't. CW GET is not like the human ear. It doesn't make any allowances. If your timing is slightly out your G will appear on CW GET as a T and an N and so on.
One thing is for sure when I do go on air for my first (for 20 years) CW I will use my straight key rather than the paddle- results were a bit better with that! More practice needed on the paddle I think!

JT65a

2011-01-25T13:28:00.000Z

Just downloaded and installed the JT65a software I have been reading so much about. It looks really complex! I have also been reading a handy guide to this mode "The Complete Bozo's Guide to HF JT65A ( a work in progress)"by Andy K3UK. I'm not sure I will get the hang of this mode but will try monitoring first to see how I get on. In the meantime I have also been playing around with the Flidgi software and managed to decode an MFSK16 transmission with it today. I have been using Digipan for years on PSK31, I can see Flidgi is a more versatile piece of software but I think it will take me a while to get used to the user interface.

Quality?

2011-01-24T15:43:00.000Z

When I installed the HF gear in my car last year, it soon became clear that even though the antenna mount was installed on the bootlid (trunk) of my Volvo saloon car with an HF antenna installed it was long enough to hit overhanging tree branches etc. To avoid too much strain on the antenna and mount I purchased a spring on Ebay and installed that. The spring fits between the UNF mount on the boot and the antenna and absorbs a lot of the strain.
Last year I mentioned the disappointing quality of the Sirio antenna mount I had purchased although it still works it is rusting away quite quickly and will need to be replaced soon-not impressive after just around 6 months. That mount by the way is being used for the VHF whip, the 10 year old Diamond mount is being used for HF and still looks as good as new. I can't say the same for the Ebay spring though which had a shiny chrome finish but now looks like this:

Now I didn't pay a great deal for this little item, but it was the only one I could get. It still functions of course but looks awful again after 6 months. Yes it has been outside in all weathers but surely that it what it was designed for! I don't want a rusty thing like this attached to my car! I have now painted it silver with some Hammerite paint so that it looks a little better. I wonder is it possible to get quality antenna items anymore or should be just accept that things are only going to last six months or so?

Little and often

2011-01-18T14:40:00.000Z

I am on leave from work for a few weeks while the YL recovers from an operation.This means a little extra (but not a lot!!) of time for radio in between the household chores and looking after the YL.Some of this time I am using for CW practice, a little time on the CW teaching software on the PC, a little time sending to myself on the paddle key and some time listening to and writing down CW off the air. Added to which when I am in the shack and not transmitting myself I am listening to CW. I am hoping that by doing this for a while I will be able to get back on the air with the key!
In the evenings I am still doing a little work on PSK31, as far as I can see HF conditions are still pretty poor though. I may download and give the JT65 mode a try sometime too.

Software Solution

2011-01-11T19:52:00.000Z

A couple of weeks ago I posted a note on the Transmission 1 radio forum, commenting on the reports of low TX audio that I had received when using my Chinese made Luiton Handheld.
One of the contributors to the forum "Gladiator" was kind enough to post a link to some software to program the rig.
Now I already had some software but this is the Dealer programming software which has further adjustments available, including the changing of the frequency rang both for transmit and receive and more importantly some settings for the TX audio level.

Changing some of these settings has resulted in much better audio reports which rather makes me wonder why the default settings were so poorly chosen. The software adjustments have made this little rig a much more useful piece of equipment.
Also through the post today came my second Shortwave broadcast QSL from another station soon to leave the shortwave bands- Radio Slovakia International.

End of year

2010-12-31T13:54:00.000Z

This is the QSL card and sticker I received from Radio Prague just before Christmas.As a young SWL I used to send reception reports to many broadcast stations (back in the 80's there were quite a few more of them) but its something I have not done for years. When I heard that Radio Prague is to leave the airwaves at the end of January 2011 I thought I would send a report for one of their last QSLs. I am also awaiting a card from Radio Slovakia, another broadcaster about to leave shortwave.

So for 2011 I will be trying to collect QSLs from some of the remaining broadcasters-who knows it may be the last year of major international broadcasting?

One of my radio ambitions for 2010 was to get back into using CW. Sadly, although I have been doing some practice and am able to receive reasonably well I have yet to pluck up the courage to get on the air with the key! So this will become my goal for 2011. I used to love CW and bitterly regret not keeping up my skills with it when I was younger. Now in my forties getting back into the mode seems much more of a struggle.

Anyway a happy and healthy 2011 to you all and I hope to hear and work some of you on the bands in 2011. Who knows it may even be on CW!

A Step Backward?

2010-12-29T20:18:00.001Z

For quite a while now PSK31 has been my main operating mode. I use the "Digipan" software, its been around for some time now but I find it straightforward to use and it runs very nicely on my elederly Windows XP machine.
I was very interested therefore to see on the "MixW" website that there is now a new version of Digipan- Digipan32
Unfortunately the new version is nowhere near as good as the old. It appears to lack a number of functions, including the ability to decode multiple PSK QSOs at the same time, a function that works well in the original version. In fact I cannot see anything that is better than the previous version. Now I know I should not complain as this software is free. But presumably someone has gone to the trouble of releasing DIGIPAN32 its just I am not sure why. I for one will be sticking to the "old" version for now at least!

Radio Review

2010-12-26T13:12:00.000Z

I have had a chance to look at my new Dual Band handheld Luiton. First impressions are that it is a quirky set, rather difficult to program. It is it seems an exact clone of the TYT UVF-1

If you would like to read more about it go here

It should be borne in mind that I am still getting used to this transceiver, but there is no doubt that it is not as easy to use or as logical to programme as your usual Kenwood, Yaesu or Icom gear.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T12:12:00.000Z

This was the scene at the end of my street a few days ago. In fact it still looks pretty much the same so it seems that we will have a white Christmas!
I am looking forward to opening my dual band radio tomorrow (in addition to my other gifts of course) and will post my finding on the new rig in the next few days. I am hoping it will be superior to the earlier Chinese made gear like my KYD 2 metre handie pictured below which I have had for around 5 years. Although it is not an entirely bad little rig it does suffer with low audio (I have enlarged the microphone hole which helps), slow scan speeds and an s meter which either reads full scale or nothing at all.

Anyway I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and best wishes for 2011.

Another one bites the dust!

2010-12-11T17:13:00.000Z

Further to my last entry- I mentioned that Radio Prague allowed you to submit reception reports online. Well not for much longer as it seems that Radio Prague is also about to leave the shortwave bands at the end of 2010. It seems that the days of European Shortwave broadcasters are numbered with the internet taking over. As radio amateurs this may be good news in the long term as it looks as if there will be a lot of empty space on shortwave. Maybe we will get an extra band or two?

reception reports

2010-12-02T16:12:00.000Z

It appears that another international shortwave broadcaster will soon be no more. Radio Solvakia International is to cease shortwave broadcasts at the end of this year. As I was working from home today I was able to tune into one of their daytime broadcasts on the trusty R1000 and I have sent a reception report in the hope of getting one of their last QSL cards.
It seems that the international broadcaster for Argentina RAE may also soon cease broadcasting on shortwave- I will keep an ear out for them. I see that some broadcasters now allow you to submit a report electronically-Radio Prague being an example although apparently they still send a paper QSL.

Do not open until Xmas!

2010-11-30T19:52:00.001Z

I have ordered a new VHF/UHF dual band radio which arrived today. It appears to be a re-badged TYT TH-UVF1. This rig is a Luiton LT-UV.
The TYT version had a favourable review in this months "RADCOM" (The Radio Society of Great Britains's monthly magazine). The TYT was on sale for £99.95 but the Luiton was only £79.99 (approx €95.70).

Anyway since we are close to the Christmas season I have decided that this will be my Christmas present to the shack and therefore it will not be opened or used before Christmas! Expect a short review over the holiday season.

Still here

2010-11-24T15:50:00.000Z

I know I haven't made a post for a little while, partly this is due to having (another) heavy cold and partly because i have been busy with other things. Looking in my logbook a lot of my HF activity has been on 80 metres PSK of late.Strangely enough this is the band on which my antenna is he least efficient since it is basically a 40 metre dipole with an inductor on each leg to bring it onto 80. I am beginning to think that it may not be as good on 80 as my old inverted L was, maybe the vertical component of the L was helping me with the longer distance stuff. Anyway as during the week I am normally only in the shack after dark I am pretty much confined to 40 or 80 metres as the higher bands are still closed in the evenings.
I notice that Ebay is still full of Chinese produced handheld radios. A local amateur here has bought one for use on 4 metres (70Mhz) and is very pleased with it. I see that VHF/UHF dual band handhelds (like the one pictured below) can now be bought in the UK for as little as £79. I wonder is the quality better than the earlier chinese made equipment, as I recall many of their handies had poor TX audio.
it can't be long before the Chinese manufacturers make their way onto the HF side of the market- that will be interesting.

I was in QSO with a few locals on 2 metres the other night and the comment "where are they all?" was made.
In the UK for some years we have had a relatively easy entry into amateur radio vis the Foundation licence. A short basic course and exam could earn you a foundation licence with a power limit of 10 watts and the ability to operate on most of the amateur bands. Foundation licencees can be identified by the m or M6 calls. The strange thing is that as was discussed in our QSO- many local clubs throughout the UK have been running these courses since the introduction of the foundation scheme. Thousands of people must have gained licences, certainly in my local area the radio club has been running courses for years. It seems many people take the course and exam, get their licence and are never heard from again. Certainly VHF is this area is virtually dead. I know there are many M3's and M6s to be heard on the HF bands but I think there are more that we never seem to hear from I Perhaps the current licensing system is not that much of a success.

Picture Quality

2010-11-14T14:48:00.000Z

As any readers of this blog have probably noticed one of my favourite modes of operation is PSK31. I have also dabbled with SSTV and modes like RTTY . I do listen from time to time on 3733 LSB where you can find the digital slow scan TV activity, this can be quite a busy frequency in the evenings.. I use the "Easypal" software to decode these pictures, unlike analogue SSTV, you never get a noisy or difficult to see picture , the digital SSTV either gives you a perfect picture or nothing at all. The software is more resource intensive than that for the other data modes and my "radio PC" with its old AMD 1.2 Ghz CPU struggles to run it, but just look at the results. The pictures take a little longer to transmit than standard SSTV and I always felt that the duty cycle was a bit harsh for the rig, particularly if I was to run 50 watts or more. Now I have the SRW linear I could run the rig at 10 watts and get 50-60 watts from the linear, that way I won't be overdriving anything and I may try a few Digital SSTV QSOs of my own.

The power of QRP

2010-11-12T20:02:00.000Z

Listening on my mobile setup this morning to a very noisy 40 metre band. I heard DF2DD calling CQ. His signal was around a 4 and 5 very impressive as he was running only 1 watt! If the band had been a little quieter it would have been an easy QSO. I guess that shows that QRP can really work.

Amplifier Update

2010-10-31T11:10:00.000Z

Well my SRW Linear is back on the Air. A replacement resistor and installation of the spare set of valves got things going although it is not certain that the old valves have expired. Yesterday I was running the Amp, just "tickling" it with 10 watts drive from the rig, giving me around 100watts out. All went well for a couple of QSOs. Then as I was closing down "pop"! The household mains supply went out (The RCD tripped) and the linear blew an internal fuse again! The Cause? A 1500Pf Capacitor on the 30 meter section of the bandswitch blew .

I have replaced this with 2 3300pf caps in series (all I had) and although it is back working again the linear presents the rig with a High SWR on 30 metres- I guess that is due to the slight difference in capacitance but the internal ATU copes with that OK.
This particular Linear appears somewhat fragile and not up to standard of say some of the Yaesu amps. However I am learning from it and am fortunate that I have helpful and knowledgable local amateurs nearby who are willing to help out.
It certainly appears that I will need to note down the values of the various capacitors in this unit and start building up a stck in preparation for the next failure!

Radio Sweden

2010-10-24T15:19:00.000+01:00

Having resurrected the R1000 I was cruising the broadcast bands and stumbled on Radio Sweden on 15735 Khz. They were announcing the fact that from October 31st this year they will no longer transmit on Shortwave. So another well known international broadcaster leaves the airwaves. Interesting my Interner Radio (based on the RECIVA platform) does not seem to list Radio Sweden. Their website at http://sverigesradio.se/international/
doesn't seem to offer any clues either.

New schedule from Oct 31

Short wave disappears, still on satellite around the world, live webcasts, and FM nationally.

10 metre mobile

2010-10-24T13:55:00.000+01:00

I had a short 10 minute journey to make today, just across the village. Since 10 metres was open again I put the 10 metre whip on the car. Actually its an El Cheapo CB whip that I bought from a local Maplins shop.

I relly need to trim it for 10 metre use, but at the moment the LDG auto tunes it nicely. I was rewarded with a QSO with an Italian station, located in Sicily. Can't remember the call though, keeping a log is difficult when you are mobile!
In any case that was my first 28Mhz mobile contact.

More R1000 work

2010-10-24T12:00:00.000+01:00

Looking at the blown S meter bulb in my R1000 I suddenly remembered that I had an old Scrap CB transceiver which I had bought for parts. That had a brightly lit s-meter. A few minutes later I had extracted the bulb, it looked almost identical to the R1000 bulb.

So this morning I removed the power board from the receiver and pulled out the old bulb. The wires are so thin it was difficult to solder the "new" bulb in but I managed it eventually. Here it is on the flying lead that connects to the power board.

And the proof that it works!- here is the R1000 with the meter illuminated

Of course the replacement bulb is I guess almost 30 years old. It will be interesting to see how it lasts. But for now at least my R1000 is back in full operation.

Higher bands open

2010-10-24T11:43:00.000+01:00

I noticed yesterday that 10 metres was open with quite a few signals to be heard on SSB. I managed to work Rob TA4ZN and then moved on to PSK 31 and worked a couple of Russian stations. Its nice to use 10 metres again, I have seen reports of several band openings but until yesterday I seemed to keep missing them!

R1000 repair

2010-10-23T17:49:00.000+01:00

I finally got around to repairing my Trio R1000 receiver which was intermittently locking up with a frequency reading of 39Mhz. Sometimes a good tap to the side of the receiver cured this but the fault always reappeared. Research on the internet showed this was a common problem, normally caused by dry joints on the power board.
I removed the power board and remade some of the joints below the multi way connector on the board. This did not do the trick unfortunately. I then turned my attention to the two transisistors you can see on the heatsink in the picture. Re flowing the solder on the underside of the board here has cured the fault, for now at least and the R1000 is sounding good again. Now I notice that the S meter bulb has blown so I either need to find another bulb or maybe try an LED as a replacement.

QSLs

2010-10-23T11:21:00.000+01:00

Received another batch from the QSL bureau this week. No DX here bit some interesting cards!

Last rally this year

2010-10-17T18:12:00.000+01:00

This morning despite suffering with the start of symptoms for a nasty cold I headed off to the Blackwood and District ARS rally at Coleg Gwent, Crosskeys about 45 minutes drive from here. I wasn't looking for anything particular at the rally, other than some coax cable, connectors and fuses, all of which I found. I also purchased these books from the RSGB stall which looked interesting

I have only had time to have a quick scan through these books but I notice that "Stealth Antennas" has a case study featuring the antennas of a certain G4ILO!

A Learning curve

2010-10-17T17:11:00.000+01:00

A few weeks back I picked up this linear Amplifier on Ebay. Now in the 25 years or so that I have been licenced I have never run more than 100 watts or so maximum RF power and usually less. So why a linear? Well my original idea was to be able to use it on data modes, under running it so that perhaps with 10 or so watts from the rig I would get 50 or so from the amp. Of course I would use it on SSB from time to time. This is a valve linear but the prospect of tuning it up wasn't a problem as I am used to that with my TS830 and other rigs I have used in the past.

When the unit arrived here it all looked OK (and I should point out that I believe it was most likely working properly before it was sent but I don't think a journey through the postal system is good for equipment like this!) so eager to test it out I connected up to my rig and a dummy load and switched on. The next thing I heard was a "pop" sound and I was sitting in darkness, no computer radio or anything- the linear had tripped the household RCD circuit. After a reset and replacing the internal fuse in the linear I tried again. I managed to get around 150 watts into the dummy load before the internal fuse went again, no surprise this time as I needed a 2.0A fuse but had only 315MA available. A few days later I got hold of a 2a fuse. Ran the linear up and before I could apply any RF to it "BANG!!" a capacitor on the output stage blew. I have an amateur friend locally who is skilled at electronics generally and he had a look at the circuit diagram. The blown capacitor was 3600pf, voltage rating unknown.

He worked out that be using four lower rated capacitors 2 pairs in parallell, connected in series that should be ok. well I connected the new capacitors and much to my surprise everything was working well.

So with a certain sense of satisfaction I had repaired the linear. All was well until today when I find that there is no current on the anodes of the valves according to the front panel meter and I can get no RF out of the linear. What has blown now? another capacitor? I cannot see anything obvious so I will be looking for advice from my G3 friend again.
You most likely will not recognise this model of linear from the pictures. I think it was manufactured in the 1980s/90s. It is an "SRW kilowatt loudenboomer" which actually produces a maximum of 400 watts out. If I ever get it working I will write a little more about it as currently there is very little information on the net.

Given my very limited electronics skills this is a real learning curve for me, I am very fortunate that I have an experienced and skilled radio amateur living nearby who is very helpful. I know that many people think that people with a limited technical knowledge/background should not be in amateur radio I of course would disagree! I try to use these things as learning points although I know I am never going to be skilled in the electronics field although I do enjoy learning.

Digital Mode Samples - v2.0

2010-10-03T14:12:00.000+01:00

A very useful little video I found. Thought it was worth sharing.

A dinosaur with a lot to learn

2010-10-02T16:39:00.000+01:00

Although I have been in this hobby for around 27 years I still have a lot to learn. Or mybe its just that I haven't kept up with developments! I started thinking this way a couple of days back when I had a PSK QSO with a station on 15 metres. This was a European station, not DX, at the end of the QSO he asked me to "spot him on the cluster". Now I think I know what this means, I am aware of the DX cluster, but I don't use it and I would not have a clue how to "spot" some one.
A Local amateur friend has a Two HF rigs, both conected to the PC and uses the "Ham Radio Deluxe" software. He has the DX cluster on the screen and if he sees an interesting DX station he can just click on the callsign and the rig is automatically tuned to the DX station frequency. I could do this, there are two computers in the schack and my FT1000MP could be computer controlled. Why don't I do this- I'm not sure-maybe I should. Perhaps I am a dinosaur, I still use a paper logbook and sometimes its nice to use the radio without a PC switiched on.

Conditions generally seem to be picking up. I notice that 15 metres and 17 metres are open more now. My 40/80 metre shortened dipole appears to be working fairly well, it also loads up an all bands from 80 metres upwards.
As far as the mobile HF setup is concerned I have been concentrating on 40 metres. Over the past few weeks I have heard many VK and ZL stations on 40 first thing in the morning with good signals. So far I haven't worked any as they always seem to have big pile ups. I have had some inter UK contacts on 40 mobile though and am enjoying the facility of HF when I am driving.

New Microphone

2010-09-24T20:05:00.000+01:00

I noticed this base microphone on Ebay about a week ago, its a Yaesu MD-11ABJ. After doing a little bit of research (thanks Google!) I found that it had the same pin outs as my Yaesu FT857. As the price was very reasonable I thought I would give it a try. Its a fairly odd looking piece of kit, I think it was aimed at the PMR market, but it works well enough and I am told the audio from it is quite good. Since I mainly use the FT857 on 2 metres FM at the moment I don't know if the mic would be suitable for SSB work. One odd thing about this Microphone-if you look at the picture there is a "PTT "button, a "Lock" button and a "Monitor" button.
We all know what the PTT does, but if you push the monitor button the rig powers down and switches off. The "Lock" button is not to lock the PTT it is to lock the "monitor" button down, as if you do not keep the "monitor" down the rig will not stay on. Not a problem of course-but I wonder what the purpose of this was?

My new inverted V dipole seems to work well enough. On 80 metres I have worked several G on SSB with good reports and into Germany on 80metre PSK with 25 watts. If anything the dipole seems better than my old inverted L, particularly for inter UK on 80. On 40 metres I have heard VK and a couple of stations in the USA it seems quite lively and the background noise is noticeably lower than the end fed inverted L. I still need to get the match on 80 metres sorted out and one leg of the dipole needs to be brought higher and into the clear.

Dipole

2010-09-22T19:43:00.000+01:00

Since I had a days leave from work and the weather was good today I set about making up a 40/80metre shortened dipole using two EL40-XC coils that are intended to allow a half size G5RV to tune on 80 metres.

First impressions are that the antenna works well on 40 metres, maybe not so good on 80 but time will tell, I haven't really had a chance to fully test it. It still needs some work I think and I want to re-position it slightly to get it a little higher. Overall it seems quieter than the end fed inverted L and still tunes from 80-10 metres using the internal ATUs of both my FT1000MP and TS450s

Antenna thoughts

2010-09-12T15:45:00.000+01:00

Before winter sets in I am pondering whether to try replacing my Inverted L that I use on 80 and 40 (and 30 metres) with either a doublet or a dipole. The disadvantage of this is that half of such an antenna would be running through the empty field behind me would not be, as the inverted L is fully contained in my small 10 metres by 10 metres garden. The antenna would have to be supported at its centre in an inverted V style. At an old QTH for a while I used a half size G5RV. It worked fairly well and I even inserted traps and an additional length of wire to allow it to tune up on 80 metres. I didn't have that antenna up for long enough to properly evaluate it, so it may be worth another try.
Long gone are the days when as a young SWL I had a 100 metre long wire, even a 40 metre dipole is too big for my garden!

The Story so far.

2010-09-04T13:44:00.000+01:00

I am quite impressed with the way my mobile setup for HF is working. This week I have mainly been monitoring 40 metres on my travels. I have worked into Germany and the Orkney Islands despite 40 not being in such great shape. I also had a contact with a station in Cardiff who was able to give me a very useful audio report as I was driving nearby. It seems I don't have any nasty noises, no RF getting back into the rig or anything like that. I do get some QRN from the car on 40 metres but luckily the noise blanker takes care of it.
When I have been out and about earlier, around 7AM I have heard several VKs and ZLs on 40 at quite good strength, haven't worked them yet though, there always seems to be a pile up!

Tuning up

2010-08-28T20:05:00.000+01:00

Here is my LDG IT100- my latest purchase- is an auto ATU that connects to the Icom 706 that I use mobile. Its a compact unit- you can see my mobile phone on top to give an idea of its size.

It is now living in the boot of my car and seems to work well. Its capable of tuning my 20 metre whip on both 18 and 7mhz, of course that whip won't work well on those bands but it gives an idea of the capabilities to the ATU. Basically as long it it gives me full band coverage on the whips I will be happy.
It came with a connecting lead for the 706 (about 15cm long, I had to extend it to about 1.5 metres) and a short patch lead to go between rig and ATU.
Although the ATU instructions say that the unit can be used mobile there are no provisions for any sort of mounting bracket, I have managed to mount it in built in plastic tray that sits in the Volvo boot.
In a quiet shack you would notice this ATU as the relays clatter quite loudly, not a problem mobile of course particularly as its in the boot!

The quality of the unit seems OK, but is does seem similar to the sort of construction of MFJ equipment in other words not really up to the standard of the likes of Yaesu, Kenwood and Icom.

Going mobile

2010-08-24T16:02:00.001+01:00

My mobile setup for HF appears to be working well, on receive at least. I have ordered a small auto ATU to broaden the bandwidth of my mobile whips as at the moment the TX bandwidth is very narrow. Nevertheless on 20 metres I have heard stations In Austrailia, Indonesia and the USA as well as the Carribean, all on 20 Metres, note I say heard the only transmitting I have done so far has been a local QSO in order to get an audio report!
I am happy to report that my car does not seem to generate much QRM at all on HF and what little there was (on 40metres) the noise blanker on the 706 deals with.
I am not so pleased with the boot mount I bought for the HF antennas. It looks like the one below

Mine is unbranded but I have seen these branded as Sirio mounts. The connectors to the centre pin and earth under the mount are not in any way weatherproofed. Worse than that tightening the nut (as I needed to do) around the SO239 connector can cause the coax to disconnect and break away from the mount. This happened to me and I had to remove the mount from the car and solder the coax back on. Yes the mount does work and it holds the HF whip on fine. It is however poorly designed and its a pig to fit! Not clear in the picture is the plastic dome on which the SO239 sits which is mounted on a smaller metal dome. The plastic dome is free to slide over the metal one below altering the angle of the antenna. All very well but there doesn't seem to be a way of stopping it moving. So the antenna will not stay at the exact angle you want.

I guess its a case of you get what you pay for as these mounts are fairly cheap. I am looking for something better now as I don't think mine will last to long!

Intermittent

2010-08-21T14:56:00.000+01:00

My Trio R1000 receiver is working again! I didn't even take off the covers either. It seems the action of removing it from the shack desk has cured it for now, obviously a dry joint or loose connection then but I will have to wait for the fault to re-occur before I can Investigate.

My laptop is running Winrad nicely now with the loaned Elektor SDR receiver attached. I now have three receivers connected to the Wellbrook loop and it is interesting to compare them.
Findings so far are that the Kenwood R5000 is the best receiver, the R1000 a close second and the Elektor a good way behind these two. Weak signals that are audible on the two old receivers are not present on the SDR. It does however sound very lively on Medium Wave so I will give it a try on that band tonight.

This weekend there are many "Special Event" stations on the Air. I believe it is international lighthouse weekend and many lighthouses around Europe have been activated on the bands. I have worked a few, mainly on 80 and 40 metres but band conditions are not too good. A pity as the weather here is so bad its an ideal day to spend in the shack!

Battling with SDR

2010-08-19T14:58:00.000+01:00

I thought I had the answer to my problems with the Elektor SDR yesterday. The Winrad software would not run under Win 7 properly and my base Unit XP machine seems just to slow to cope. As a last resort I dug out my seldom used Win XP laptop, Installed Winrad, hooked up my external soundcard and............It worked! But hold on, the audio is a bit distorted, and now the machine wants to switch off. Guess what? My laptops power supply has died! Oh well, I have ordered a replacement so hopefully I will soon have the loaned SDR receiver in operation. Watch this space!

Update

2010-08-19T14:51:00.000+01:00

Well I have been having fun adjusting my HF whips for 40 metres and 20 metres. On 40 metres all seems to be ok, I have a reasonable bandwidth and pretty much in the middle of the band.

On 20 my antenna seems to want to resonate on 13.9Mhz, there is no moving it, shortening the whip section results in a very poor SWR. This means the antenna is just about useable uo to 14.2Mhz, its a very good match on the CW end of 20 but I am not sure CW mobile is a good idea!
I have heard mixed reviews of this type of antenna, some users have reported they cannot get a reasonable match at all so perhaps I am doing fairly well. In any case I have head Indonesia and a mobile VK station on 20 so far so the antenna is certainly receiving ok.

Both antennas are the kind with a rigid helically wound base and an adjustable steel whip. The total antenna is around 7 foot (2 metres) long with the adjustable whip section being around 4 feet (1.2 metres). I also need to change the site of the HF antenna to the right (offside) of the car, the spot where the VHF antenna is located. The reason for this is the HF whip keeps hitting overhanging tree branches. changing the antennas over will mean re routeing the cables in the car so that may have to wait for a while. I have now added a spring at the base of the mount to give a bit more flexibility.

Reaching Higher

2010-08-17T15:31:00.000+01:00

The photo above shows my old Trio (Kenwood) R1000 receiver. You will see the frequency readout shows 39.545 Mhz.
Now this is not a good thing, the R1000 is only supposed to cover up to 30Mhz. Mine is now locked, it cannot be tuned, the bandswitch has no effect and there is no sound- it has tin fact died.
An internet search reveals this is a common problem with the R1000 as they get older- this one must be close to 30 years old, and it is normally caused by dry joints in various places. I have a few pointers to look for when I get the time, I want to try and get the Elektor SDR running first. Until then my trusty R1000 is out of service.

Computer woes

2010-08-15T19:30:00.001+01:00

In earlier entries I have mentioned the Softrock SDR receivers which I have been loaned and have been playing around with.These little receivers are single band, fixed frequency affairs. Basically you just feed their output into your computer soundcard, chose one of the many SDR software packages and away you go.
My local amateur friend who loaned me the softrock has recently purchased a Flex Radio HF transceiver. I called around to see it in his shack last week and had a quick tune around and it looks an impressive piece of kit. He is still learning how to use it and this is where I think the SDR rigs fall down at the moment. They are nowhere near "Plug and Play". Now thats fine in itself as part of the hobby is about learning and self improvement. The problem here thogh is you don't need to learn about radio its computer knowledge that counts. Knowing which operating system will or wont work with your software, installing USB drivers, dealing with incompatible soundcards, not your usual radio related problems.
I have been dealing with some of this myself this week. My friend having purchased the new rig offered me the loan of his Elektor Hf receiver. Covering up to 30 mhz this little receiver is an interesting device but:

The best way to control it is to use the "Winrad" software to which a file can be added that allows it to fully control the Elektor receiver. The problem is however that my main PC uses Windows 7. Windows 7 doesn't like Winrad- it says it is incompatible. Now Windows 7 isn't telling the full truth as I did have the little SDR working well for about 10 minutes or so before Winrad and Windows 7 disagreed and the PC locked up. Now of course Windows 7 won't even open Winrad, or if it does the software instantly locks and cannot be closed!

This isn't too bad a problem because I have an older PC here, which I use for HF data work that runs Windows XP. The only thing now is it is a slow machine 1.3Ghz CPU and 512Mb of memory, it doesn't seem to want to run Winrad. I am going to try to remove as much unnecessary software as I can from this machine and see if I can get it to work but this may take some time.

My point is this, no doubt many SDR transceivers offer superb facilities. But this morning I was able to pop into my shack- I had a few free minutes and take a quick listen on the bands. I turned on my 20 odd year old Kenwood R5000 receiver. I didn't have to wait for it to boot up, it didn't need to recognise a soundcard or any drivers- it was on- instantly and ready for use! What's more, when I was finished it switched off just as easily. As well as this it doesn't have any noisy monitors or peripherals that cause hash on the HF bands. At the moment I am not sure that there are any SDR radios that rival it!

4 Wheels on my wagon

2010-08-14T19:51:00.001+01:00

Today I have managed to Install the Icom 706HF rig in my car. Actually I am quite pleased with the mount of the Head Unit- it looks quite neat. In order to get the space to mount the head unit I had to remove the factory fitted double size radio/cd unit and replace it with a single DIN sized unit. Here is the old Volvo unit I removed.

And here is the 706 head unit with the replacement CD player below.

The 40 metre whip on the boot mount rather dwarfs the VHF/UHF dual bander!. I am not too happy with the quality of the boot mount I have used, it was the only one a could get at the last rally I went to, I may have to change it later.

Si far I have two HF whips, one for 40 metres and one for 20. I have done some preliminary tuning and managed to get them both fairly close to where they should be in terms of resonance but there is still a bit of work to do. I am thinking of getting hold of an auto ATU which would make life easier. The only problem is I don't know where I would put it. Under the driver's seat is my remote head VHF/UHF rig and now the body of the 706 is under the passenger seat.

Wspring again..

2010-08-07T18:16:00.000+01:00

Various household chores prevented much radio operation this morning. However I set the TS450 to run 1 watt on WSPR on 17 metres- I have been neglecting WSPR of late but I still thinks its a great way to test propagation. not a great deal of activity of note on 17 today but my single watt of RF did find its way into Germany and Austria.
I have at last started the groundwoork for fitting my Icom 706 HF rig into my car. Today I ran a power cable from the engine bay into the car, routing it through to the space underneath the passenger seat where the 706 will be located. I still have to install ther boot mount for the antenna, sort out an external speaker and of course fit the rig itself! I am also considering one of the reasonable priced LDG Auto ATUs which would help extend the bandwidth of my single band HF antennas.

On a totally different note and I apologise in advance for this non radio related snippet, I took a trip to the cinema last night to watch the film version of the TV series "The A-Team". I guess I am giving my age away when I say that the A team, was a favourite series of mine when it was first shown in the 1980's. Action packed fun, with a tongue in cheek approach it was an instant hit with many.
I went to see the film therefore with mixed feelings.Often when a TV series transfers to the big screen, with a higher budget and different actors the outcome is not always a good one. For example I could never get on with the "Batman" films having grown up with the 1960's Batman TV shows starring Adam West and Burt Ward.
With The A-Team I needn't have worried. The film was good action packed fun, the actors carried their parts well and I was able to accept them as their characters quickly, without thinking back to the original cast and comparing. So All in all I can recommend this film!!

Latest Activity

2010-08-05T15:56:00.001+01:00

Most of my recent radio activity has been confined to SWLing and a few local chats on 2 metres.
However today I did a little HF operation and worked 3Z1BLH on 20m PSK. This rather exotic sounding callsign is in fact on Chelminek Island in Poland. Its hard to keep up with callsign allocations sometimes and I wonder why this station didn't have an SP prefix? However I guess the UK allocation with its G's M's and 2's must be confusing too!

Space Pirates

2010-07-29T19:55:00.000+01:00

About 18 months ago or so I bought a second hand computer controlled scanner- an Icom PCR1000. This little set has wide coverage from around 100Khz to 1300Mhz.
Its not too good as a shortwave receiver but it performs well enough as a scanner. I connected it to my backup VHF/UHF antenna- a Dualband colinear in my loft, programmed it up with a few Airband, Marine Band, PMR446 and various other frequencies and it happily scans the bands when I am in the shack and remember to turn it on!
A few months ago I read that there were US military satellites that had outputs around 255mhz, I programmed a few spot frequencies into the Icom and forgot about them, so whilst working from home this afternoon I was very surprised to hear 255.550Mhz spring into life.
What I heard was however not any military type communication, rather it was a CB type conversation in what I believe was Portuguese. You see these satellites have a problem with piracy-the bulk of the pirates that are using the satellites appear to be in Brazil. There have been crackdowns and raids but the problem still goes on.
If you are interested there are more details here and here.

In the meantime I am quite impressed that my little Icom with its loft mounted vertical (which of course is a long way of resonance on 250Mhz) is picking these signals up.

QSLs

2010-07-24T12:46:00.000+01:00

Last year and over the first couple of months of 2010 I had been quite active on HF, largely using PSK31. As I result I had sent out quite a few QSL cards via the RSGB bureau but had received nothing back.
This week I had my first batch, around 12 cards- no DX but its nice to know the bureau is working.
Here are a couple of the cards.

Everything in Moderation

2010-07-18T19:26:00.002+01:00

Just a quick note to say that I have had to enable moderation for comments on this blog. This will mean that if you are kind enough to comment on any of my posts it may take a liitle while for your comment to show up here- not too long as I usually regularly monitor the blog. I regret having to moderate the comments but I seem to be attracting quite a few Chinese "Spam" comments recently!

I'm Back

2010-07-15T19:11:00.011+01:00

There has been a distinct lack of postings to this blog in the past week. This has mainly been due to the fact that I have been away on the sunny island of Fuerteventura. So not much to report on the radio scene then, although I did manage a little bit of SWLing on my trusty Sony 7600 and reel out wire antenna as pictured below.

Apart from the Usual broadcast stations I did pick up a little on the Amateur bands, mainly 20 metres where I heard a JA, a couple of PY stations and a few Europeans. Its always interesting to listen (or Operate) from a different location. Locally the FM band in this part of the world is pretty quiet with 3 or 4 Spanish language stations. Medium Wave is similarly quiet although with the nearest mainland land mass being the Western Sahara perhaps this is not surprising.

As a new departure for this blog I will mention a few non radio bits! When abroad I love to read. Of the Three books I read last week my favourite was written by the now BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans

"Its not what you think" is a book which I found to be written in a down to earth, informative and amusing yet inspirational way. I am aware that many people may find Mr Evans a rather annoying character (personally I find him entertaining) but the book is well worth a look anyway!

And finally for this post, whilst I was away of course Spain won the World Cup. As you can imagine being on a Spanish Island the celebration of this win by the locals was quite interesting. The short video below gives a little example of the kind of celebration that I think would not be allowed in the UK. Bear in mind that I was staying in a very quiet resort in an area which normally had very little traffic. There were quite a few Dutch fans around that night and it was wonderful to see the way in which the Spanish and Dutch were shaking hands and laughing together-very sporting and a good example to us all.

More on the Softrock

2010-07-06T19:27:00.000+01:00

I have been loaned another Softrock SDR radio. This one connects to to the 8.83 Mhz IF output on my Trio TS830. Therefore wherever the TS830 is tuned the Softrock gives me a second receiver with a bandspread of plus or minus 24 Khz from the frequency the TS830 is tuned to. It also gives me all modes AM and FM which the 830 doesn't have. Its a novelty to be able to listed to AM from the 830S.I am playing around with the "Power SDR IF" software which seems to work quite well. All in all very interesting but I still haven't worked out how to properly interface the Softrock for Data decoding.

CAT control

2010-07-04T14:55:00.000+01:00

HF conditions seem to have been pretty poor over the last few days. A few of us locally have been working 6 metres FM as an alternative to 2 metres. 6 seems a very under-used band, unless conditions are good that is when everyone seems to come out of the woodwork.

Anyway there was a bit of PSK31 activity on 10 metres today and I worked I4UUL who has a very good picture of CAT control equipment on his QRZ page- I just thought I would share it here! Now if only I could get one of the shack cats here to pose like that.

Way out West

2010-06-27T20:21:00.000+01:00

Today I attended the West of England Radio Rally held at Frome, Somerset. This is not exactly a local rally as it involves a round trip of around 160 miles (250 Kms) but once you get of the motorway it is actually a very scenic journey particularly with the lovely weather we are enjoying at the moment. Leaving home at around 8am, I arrived at the rally at around 940, in plenty of time for the opening at 1000. At that stage there was already a queue of fifty or more waiting to go in.
The rally itself is relatively small, with the major traders in a main hall under cover and other traders in a car park area at the side of the building. There were a few "main dealers" there but in the main the traders were mainly selling components, antennas and accessories and various second hand items.
I had a successful visit as I managed to get what I was looking for- a boot mount for an HF mobile whip and a 20 metre whip. There were a number of items that I would have liked if funds allowed but they didn't. There was a good selection of portable antennas, masts and fibreglass poles as well as some interesting second hand HF gear.
Sadly as with almost all radio rallies there were the usual few unwashed bodies, the stench from which would clear a room in 30 seconds! I am not sure why this seems to affect radio rallies so much, perhaps the people concerned wish to clear others away from the traders stands to get a better view! It must be said that today those people were in the minority, I have experienced much worse. Why people cannot have a quick shower and change of clothes before leaving home is a mystery, an unanswered question in the same league as- 'if so much CB equipment is advertised on Ebay, why is nobody on 27mhz?'
Anyway a good day, with a pleasant journey and I even got back in time to see the England v Germany world cup game- but now I rather wish I hadn't!

Out and About

2010-06-26T15:21:00.000+01:00

I had the opportunity to go portable again today.The weather was superb and the nice cool breeze on top of the mountain was very welcome. This time I took my old camera tripod and used this rather than the little Buddistick tripod. It was much more stable and the antenna stayed upright.

Here are the things I needed to carry from the car to the operating spot. Its lucky that it was just a 5 minute walk. The Buddistick, a flask of tea and some snacks are in the rucksack along with my 2 metre handie and the MFJ ATU.

I also gave in and took an ATU with me, which made things a lot easier as the Buddistick can be difficult to tune. Here is my Portable shack.

I had a few HF contacts, one on 40 metres, a couple on 20, although there was a contest on and two on 17 metres, a nice band which I should use more. Although the Buddistick is designed to operate on 40 metres, results are rather disappointing although if you consider the size of the antenna perhaps this is not surprising.A better option would perhaps be a dipole or doublet supported by a fibreglass pole for the lower bands. I may make such an antenna up, but no doubt if I do I won't get a chance to do any more portable ops this year! The only problem with such a setup would be finding a way to support the pole when there are no trees or fences nearby.

2 metres was very quiet from this location today. Surprising as it was the weekend and a really good VHF location. In the 1990s when I used to operate from this spot you could spent all day on 2 metres FM, no longer, even the repeaters were quiet-is this a sign of the times?

And finally here is the view from the operating spot. I could keep an eye on my car from here (the one on the left) although this is a quiet location.

General Update

2010-06-23T11:35:00.000+01:00

I haven't made an entry for a while, mainly due to less time in the shack (due to the good weather we have been enjoying) but there have been a few radio related activities going on here.

I am still enjoying playing around with the little Softrock SDR radio. The one I have covers roughly from 7070 to 7020 Khz on 40 metres and is well down in the CW end on 80. I have settled on the Winrad software and am slowly getting the hang on it. Since the Softrock is connected to the same antenna as my R5000 receiver it is easy to compare the two. So far there has been nothing I have heard on the Softrock that I could not hear as well or better on the R5000. Of course the little SDR radio has the advantage of a spectrum display and infinitely adjustable filters but my practical experience is that its not noticeably better than my traditional receiver. From my experience SDR radio is not "plug and play". There is quite a steep learning curve in using the software and I still haven't worked out how I can decode PSK etc as the soundcard is tied up with the SDR rig. I believe I need a "virtual audio cable" and indeed I found and downloaded some software, could i make it work? No! I'm afraid it was beyond me at this stage- further research required.

I have now assembled most of the items I need to install the Icom 706 HF rig in my car. Since it also involves changing the in car stereo unit (to free up space on the dashboard) I am going to have to set at least a day aside to install it. Other commitments hear mean that won't happen for a few weeks yet.Rest assured news of the HF mobile will appear here when its underway. In the meantime the Icom 706 will continue to be my portable rig.

Beefing up the Buddistick

2010-06-16T20:23:00.000+01:00

A fine afternoon after work and the fact that the YL was working late gave me the opportunity to play around with the Buddistick .
Firstly I attached it to my old camera tripod which is bigger and heavier than the tripod that came with the Buddistick. It would be much less likely to blow over than the standard tripod but will be heavier to carry!

Then I cut some quarter wavelength radials, one each for 40 metres, 20 metres and 10 metres, I also added one for 6 but again I could not get the antenna to tune anywhere near 6 metres.

The antenna does now tune more easily on 40, 20 and 10 metres but it is still quite a difficult process to get it just right. I may have to resort to an ATU just to get the SWR down a little more easily.

One thing I have learnt is that the built in SWR meter on the IC706 transceiver is useless. It was indicating a 1.5:1 SWR when two external meters both agreed on 3:1. I just hope the SWR protection circuitry is better than the meter!
And here I am in the garden, with My 706 and the obligatory mug of tea!. Since the camera tripod was supporting the antenna I was using the Buddystick tripod for the camera. It seemed to work!

First Steps in SDR

2010-06-13T20:20:00.001+01:00

I mentioned in an earlier entry how a local amateur friend had purchased an Elektor, general coverage SDR receiver board. After some initial problems , he is up and running with it and it sounds like quite a promising piece of kit.
In the meantime he has loaned me a Softrock receiver board which he built some time ago.
The Softrock is a crystal controlled receiver. This one covers both 40 and eight metres. But only a portion of those bands. With my sound card I get a 96khz section of both bands (largely the CW section).You may not be able to tell from the pic but it is very small in size with lots of tiny components on the board. I wouldn't fancy my chances at building one!

Initial impressions of using the Softrock is that I have a lot to learn! In addition to your receiver and antenna your results are also affected by the quality and type of the sound card you use. The SDR software seems quite confusing to someone like me who is used to turning knobs and pressing buttons. In any event I have the receiver up and running. I have decided to use the Winrad software with this board, after having compared a few programs including the "Power SDR" program pictured.

Out in the open

2010-06-11T16:27:00.000+01:00

Today I had a day off work and since the weather was good I decided to pack up a rig and antenna, a flask and some sandwiches and go portable!
I drove to Bwllch-y-Clawdd, a high spot about 30 minutes drive from where I live. This location overlooks the Rhondda Valley and the views are pretty amazing from here.

I set up the Icom 706 and Buddistick antenna, powered from my portable 20ah battery (weighs around 705Kgs!) and I was ready to go. This is a very peaceful location, for the three hours or so I was there I saw no-one else. I have operated VHF previously from this location and know that its a good site. However I had not tried HF before and I wondered if with my limited small vertical antenna I would be able to work anything. I was able to vary my output power but for the most part I was running around 30 watts.
Initial attempts were not too promising with just a marginal QSO with a mobile station on the Isle of Man on 40 metres SSB.
Switching to 10 metres I had a little more success working into Germany and Italy, one of the Italian stations was running only 900 milliwatts!

6 Metres was also open, but try as I might I could not get my antenna to a good match on 6 metres although it is supposed to work on that band.

All in all an enjoyable few hours using the radio in the fresh air. A couple of learning points too.
1) The Buddistick on its little tripod is prone to blow over in a strong breeze, I need to look into a way of weighting or anchoring the tripod better.
2) The Buddistick whilst a clever antenna can be VERY tricky to tune. I have read that the radial length is important but varying the radial length didn't seem to make much diffeence for me.
3) I could not tune the antenna on 6 metres at all. I need to look into this as I like to operate 6 when the band is open.

I do have a small MFJ ATU which I could take with me but I would like to get the antenna to match as closely as I can without an ATU, after all its just more weight in my rucksack!!

Practising for Portable

2010-06-05T19:10:00.001+01:00

Here is the latest addition to my shack. Well its not actually for the shack. this is the rig that I intend to fit into my car so I can go HF mobile. Its an Icom 706Mk1. Quite an elderly set now but it works well. I have had it running here in the shack and strangely enough it seems more sensitive on 145Mhz than the Yaesu FT857 which I normally use. This is odd as I believe the early 706 had a reputation for being deaf on this band.

I revisited an old friend today in the form of the "Buddistick" USA made portable HF antenna. I purchased the antenna a few years back, it is very well made and can be put up from scratch in a matter of minutes. It can cover from 40 metres up to 2 metres.I haven't had the time to do any portable operation for a while but am hoping to do so this year so I thought I had better familiarise myself again with this excellent antenna.

Here it is in its carrying bag.

And here it is fully erected in the garden

Since the Icom 706 was doing nothing better at the moment I set it up in the garden with the Buddistick and monitored 20 metres in the sun!

SSTV

2010-05-31T18:43:00.000+01:00

Since I was busy this morning in the garden (!) and this afternoon taking my R1000 receiver apart I haven't done much operating today. I did work DH8BQA on 6 metres however. The rest of the time I left my TS450 on receive on the SSTV frequency on 20 metres. It seemed quite active today. Here are a few of the pictures I received.

Kenwood R1000

2010-05-31T17:03:00.000+01:00

The R1000 is a great receiver. I have had mine for years, its easy to use, stable and produces nice audio. It does have one drawback however- it is totally deaf on Medium Wave. Actually when I say Medium Wave I mean anything below 2 Mhz which of course includes tpband, Medium Wave, Longwave and the Navagational beacons. I did find a mod for this problem. It basically involves re-routing the feed from the MW antenna terminal on the receiver so that it bypasses the attenuation that normally switches in below 2mhz. Today I opened up the R1000 and had a try at the mod. It works! My R1000 is now far better below 2mhz, more sensitive than My R5000 which also has a deliberately deaf Medium wave stage!

Pictured is My R1000 with the top cover off. You can also see at the back the little board which provides a 12Khz output for DRM decoding.

QSL Card

2010-05-29T12:29:00.000+01:00

Today I received a QSL card direct from Daniel, HB9TUD along with a nice note. As well as the card the envelope contained something I have not seen for a long time- An International Reply Coupon or IRC. It will be interesting to see if my local post office knows what it is- it is intended to cover the cost of an airmail reply. IRCs were, as I recall, almost a sort of currency at one time in the amateur radio/shortwave listening world. Also compliments must go to the Post Office who managed to deliver the card despite a rather incomplete address!

Phoentics and accents

2010-05-24T19:19:00.000+01:00

Now as someone who has lived in Wales all my life I guess I have a Welsh accent! I don't notice it of course but I have no doubt its there. When operating on the HF bands I always try and use the correct phonetics for my callsign and rarely have a problem. Yesterday and today, taking advantage of the sporadic E I have been operating on 6 metres SSB. Strangely three different stations on 6 have read my Kilo India Golf suffix as Kilo Whiskey Echo, its a funny thing but for it to happen on three different contacts it makes me wonder. On the second call all three stations got my call correctly. How can "India Golf" sound like "Whiskey Echo" ? Or perhaps I need elocution lessons!

If you can't stand the heat.......................

2010-05-23T20:37:00.000+01:00

stay out of the shack!

A little to warm to sit in the shack today so operating time was limited. I did notice that 10mand 6 metres were open this afternoon.

I managed to work DO1SKJ on 10 and OE6BMG on 6.

Antenna work

2010-05-22T18:45:00.000+01:00

The beautiful weather today meant it was time for some outdoor chores. Once these were done I decided to have a go at improving the SWR on my Hygain AV12 ground mounted vertical.

Whilst the antenna seemed to work well on 10 metres the SWR was a little high on 20 on the lower part of the band, meaning of course that the antenna was too short. I took the antenna down and after several trips to and from the shack to check the SWR (it must be great to have an antenna analyser) I managed to improve things across the 20m band. The problem was caused by the uppermost clamp not being tight enough, allowing the 20 metre section of the antenna to slide into the main tube thus shortening the antenna! The SWR on 10 is also nicely low, no need for an ATU on these bands. 15 metres has always been a difficult one on this antenna. Indications are that the 15metre section is too long but I have run out of adjustment on that band, if I want to shorten it any more I will have to use a Hacksaw. As it is the match isn't too bad (Around 1.5:1 SWR) but not as good as the other bands. Whilst I was working on the antenna I took the opportunity to connect the ground radials more effectively as pictured below. A good ground system is essential with the AV12 yet the manufacturers don't provide any easy way of connecting the radials. Here I have used the crimp on connectors that slide over the nuts at the bottom of the antenna.

A new one on 10!

2010-05-21T19:25:00.000+01:00

Had a quick tune around 10 metres this evening at around 1730GMT. Didn't hear anything on SSB but I did hear some signals on PSK and I managed to work OX1XC. Looking at my log I think this is my first PSK31 QSO on 10 metres!

My impressions

2010-05-18T15:17:00.000+01:00

Over the years I have owned quite a few shortwave receivers, and one or two transceivers. Many of these I have sold long ago, but thee are still a few in the shack here! I thought it might be interesting to share my views of some of the more memorable pieces of equipment. To start with I have complied a short view of the Icom PCR1000 computer controlled receiver. Take a look here if you are interested. As time allows I hope to add a few more pages like this. Apologies for the layout but I am not a web designer but hopefully I can fine tune the presentation as time goes on.

Revisiting DRM

2010-05-16T19:17:00.000+01:00

Today the amateur bands didn't seem in very good shape, but I had some radio time. I fired up my old Kenwood R1000 receiver, dug out an old usb external soundcard and did some listening to DRM shortwave broadcasts once I has loaded the DRM "Dream" software onto my main PC.

There are still quite a few DRM broadcasts to be found, I received DRM for four or five different broadcasters today. The sound obtained from DRM is at its worst similar to perhaps mono sound via the internet and at best almost as good as an FM stereo broadcast. The problem is though that you need a very strong signal S9+20Db at minimum to get a readable signal from DRM, or at least that is the case using my elderly modified receiver.

This has brought me round to thinking about SDR radios. I mentioned in an earlier entry how a local amateur friend recently purchased a flex radio transceiver. I have briefly seen it in operation and the receive side sounded very good, with its filtering and good interference rejection. Of course such a device is very expensive and personally I would rather my main equipment is capable of being manually operated, I don't want to have to always have my PC running. An SDR receiver sounds appealing, particularly as I still do quite a bit of shortwave listening but again this is a very expensive proposition. So when another local amateur told me of the Elektor SDR radio which he was buying I was very interested. The Elektor is basically a populated board with all components installed but no casing. My amateur friend has just received his and is in the proccess of setting it up and testing it out. When it is up and running I am hoping to see it in action. if it is any good it will be very tempting at the asking price when you compare it to the other SDRs on the market.

6 metre activity

2010-05-13T19:55:00.000+01:00

I was in the shack a lttle earlier than usual today and had a quick look at the Ham Radio Ireland blog and noticed a recent entry saying that 6 metres was open in EI land. I quickly popped onto 6- at around 1530 GMT and realised it was also open to GW with quite a few European stations at good signal strengths on my loft mounted dipole.

I managed to work SP3DOI, and was heard by OK1NI, but sadly he couldn't quite get my callsign.My time was limited as I had to be elsewhere by 1600GMT, I think if time had allowed I would have been able to work a few more. Still it was nice to have my first 6 metre contact of 2010.
I think it would be fair to say SP3DOI has quite an extensive setup and its not surprising that he was the strongest signal on the band this afternoon. Pictured is part of his HF antenna installation.

Old Versus New

2010-05-09T19:29:00.000+01:00

I had a break from the shack this morning as I went along to a classic car show which is held annually in the village. Luckily we were blessed with fine weather, in fact for the three years that I have attended this event the sun has shone.
Looking at the cars from the 1930's up to the 1990s it is clear just how much the technology of the car has evolved. In terms of efficiency, safety and reliability I think it is fair to say that a car from the 1970s would not be able match its modern counterpart.
I don't think we could say the same for our radio transceivers. A Local amateur who I was chatting to over the weekend told me how he had recently purchased a Yaesu FT101ZD from the 1980's. The rig had been advertised as faulty but after getting it home and cleaning it up it seems to be operating well. I popped onto HF to give him a report and I can honestly say that the transmitted signal is as good as any modern gear. Whilst receiver technology has advanced, particularly with the development of SDR rigs it seems that as far as transmitted signals are concerned the old gear can still hold its own!

On the radio front this afternoon heard some EA stations on 10 metres although they were rather weak. It does look though as if the sporadic E season has arrived and it will be worth takinga regular tune around on 10 and 6. Operating on 10 metres does mean switching off the shack computers however as one of then generates around S4 of noise on 10. Thats going to make operating PSK31 on 10 a bit of a challenge!

10 metre opening

2010-05-03T17:47:00.000+01:00

Hearing a few (Italian and Spanish) stations on 10 metres this afternoon I thought I would try putting out a quick CQ call.
I was rewarded with a reply from IW1ABM, Mimmo in Turin.
So that is my first 10 metre contact of 2010, lets hope thee will be more to come. I did take a listen on 6 metres but nothing heard from this QTH.

Looking over my logbook

2010-05-02T19:24:00.000+01:00

One of my Aims this year was to try to have at least one on air QSO per day. Now obviously there will be times when this is not possible, but for last month at least I achieved it. No DX I’m afraid but then it seems to be that conditions in April did not seem as good as those in March. There are no contacts on 15metres in last months log, but there were quite a few for the previous month.

Apart from the occasional 40 metres SSB contact the vast majority of my operating has been on PSK31 on either 17 or 30 metres and locall on 2 and 4 metres FM. The image above is of Adam M6RDP’s EQSL card, received following a very enjoyable 40 metres QSO in April.

Lets home the new month will bring an improvement in HF conditions and maybe some good weather too! I have a few antenna related jobs to do- my Hygain AV12 vertical needs some adjustment for 20 metres, where the SWR is a little high. I also may try and improve the wire antenna I have been using for inter G working on 40 metres, but as Julian G4ILO points out I run the risk of the “Improvement” being a step backwards!

In The meantime I have been looking again at the difference in performance between the HF rigs I have here. I have the Yaesu FT1000MP, Trio TS830S, Kenwood TS450S and the Yaesu 857D. The 857 however at the moment is only in use on VHF/UHF. I will elaborate in a later post about this but at the moment, as far as I am concerned the TS830s has the nicest receiver of them all. In fact this Twenty odd year old rig would give any piece of modern gear a run for its money.

A surprise contact

2010-04-30T15:05:00.001+01:00

Last night I was tuning around the 40 metre band when I came across a station just signing off at the end of a QSO. The callsign sounded familiar- it was fellow blogger Adam M6RDP.
Adam and I had a pleasant contact and it was great the put a voice to the name. Lets hope it will be the first of many contacts. Perhaps we should introduce a "worked all bloggers" award!
I used my old TS830s and "random shortwire" for my contact with Adam. Whilst European stations and those farther afield are usually stronger on my inverted L I have noticed that inter-G contacts are normally better on the horizontal wire. This shouldn't really be since the wire is quite low down, not resonant and literally thrown over the random shrubbery in the empty field behind my garden. Of course the inverted L on 40 metres is largely vertically polarised, which is better for the longer distance stuff.
I think it may be worth my while getting the random wire cut to a resonant length for 40 metres and trying to get it a little higher as it seems to be an effective inter G antenna.
I doubt I will have the chance for any antenna work this weekend however as the weather has already reverted to bank holiday mode-wet and windy!
HF conditions seem to have declined, it is some weeks since I have had a qso on 15 metres, there still seems to be fairly regular activity on 17 metres, over the last few evenings I have heard Stateside stations on PSK and a 4X4 on SSB.
I try to make a point at the moment of tuning across the 6 metre band and from time to time 10 metres in the hope detecting some sporadic E openings but so far I have not heard anything.

Pictured is the TS830S and MFJ tuner, note the frequency, at this time the 830 was doing duty as the PSK rig, now replaced in that mode by the TS450.

Keeping an ear open...

2010-04-25T14:31:00.000+01:00

The recent sunny weather here in the UK has mixed blessings. Its great to get outside and see some sunshine, but all the gardening and outdoor chores mean less time for radio! still I have been managing to keep an ear on the bands, have a few QSOs and still do a bit of CW practice. I haven't found the higher HF bands to be very lively of late. As a result its been back to 30metres for much of my operating. Still lets hope the Sporadic E season brings us some activity. I hope we will see some 10 metre and six metre activity soon. When 6 metres is open it can be an amazing band. Even with my simple loft dipole on 6 metres last tear some of the signals on the band were very strong. Looking back at my logbook I see that most of the sporadic E contacts I had were in June and July so perhaps we have a while to wait. The most surprising contact of 2009 was for me on 70mhz (4 metres) FM where I worked S51DI (Slovenia) using an indoor wire dipole!, it was a true chance contact, he was calling on 70450 we managed to exchange reports and then he was gone.

Speed

2010-04-21T19:08:00.000+01:00

As part of my CW practice I have been listening to CW on the bands (mainly 40 metres). What has struck me is the speed of some of the CW being sent. Much of it I would estimate is in excess of 25WPM. I remember the first time around when I used CW on the bands it was relatively easy to get a QSO at around 12 WPM or so, today the average speeds seem much quicker! Personally I will happy if I can get to a reliable speed of around 20WPM. I wonder how much of this morse is keyboard/machine sent.Personally I don't really see the point of machine morse. The reason CW appeals to me is mainly its simplicity- no PC required. If I was using the PC I would rather send PSK or RTTY or another data mode.

More Awards

2010-04-16T20:47:00.000+01:00

I was pleased to see that a few days after my blog referring to the problems with the EPC award software, the system seems to be back up and working again. Pictured is one of my latest EPC awards.

Generally speaking as far as I can see the HF bands have been in pretty poor shape over the last few weeks. As I result I have migrated back to the 30 metre band where I am operating PSK31. Even 30 Metres has been quiet from time to time. here's hoping that conditions will pick up again soon!

Bingo!!

2010-04-13T20:23:00.000+01:00

Whenever I am in the car, as a matter of habit I tun on my mobile VHF/UHF rig and let it scan the bands. I have various frequencies programmed into the rig- repeaters 2metre and 70cms frequencies, some marine band frequencies and so on.
One of the frequencies in the rigs memories is 433.050- this is a repeater frequency, fiorgive me but I cannot remember which repeater, but I can occasionally hear it when in the Cardiff area, about 20 miles away from where I live.
Yesterday as I was just about to arrive home I heard a VERY strong signal on 433.050. Initially I thought that there must be a very good lift on 70cms, but hang on this didn't sound like an amateur radio repeater.
"Two and Two 22" "on its own number 8", and then "please leave your empty glasses at the bar" and then a sudden cry of "House!!" Now it can be no coincidence that at the time I was driving past the local social club, it was around 4pm and my guess is that there was an afternoon game of bingo going on. But why was this appearing on 433.050? Are they using some sort of wireless microphone system?
A mischievous person could I suppose sit outside with a 70cms handheld and add some confusion into the bingo game. I had heard of unlicensed Low Power devices being allowed within the 70cms band but I didn't think that would include wireless PA systems. I'm just glad I don't live near this club as I should think 20 watts of UHF would probably wipe their system out.

Software Troubles

2010-04-11T20:27:00.000+01:00

The European PSK Club (EPC) of which I am a member runs an extensive programme of awards for those who like to work data modes. All the awards must be applied for using their "Ultimate EPC" software, into which you load your electronic logbook.
Intially this worked fine for me and I successfully applied for a couple of awards. However over the past month or so the software appears not to run properly. I have tried using both my windows 7 and windows XP based machines. The software keeps telling me it is out of date-even though I am using the latest version, uninstalling and reinstalling a fresh copy does not work. So for now my EPC awards collection is on hold.The software provided by the 30 metre Digital Group "U30", although very similar in design seems much more robust and user friendly its a shame the two software authors can't get together. If anyone reading this uses the EPC software perhaps you can let me know if you've had problems.

Dreaming...

2010-04-10T20:11:00.000+01:00

Pictured is my Trio R1000 communications receiver. I bought this from Ebay years ago, its a good little receiver but nothing really remarkable but this one is slightly different from the usual.
A few years back I purchased a little circuit board, which when fitted to the R1000 gives me a 12Khz output from the IF of the receiver. This output can then be connected to the input of a PC soundcard.
The reason for doing this was in order to decode something called DRM. Now this is not another amateur radio data mode, nor am talking about the digital slow scan TV which is sometimes referred to as DRM, although I think the software technology is similar. This DRM is a transmission used by International Shortwave broadcasters. This mode was supposed to revolutinise shortwave radio. it offered the potential of clear, FM- like transmission, even in stereo with a text display similar to that seen in todays DAB receivers. And when it works, it is impressive. The first time I decoded a DRM transmission I was amazed at the quality, better than the sound you get from web based streaming for example. So what happened? Why hasn't DRM taken off? Well for one thing Shortwave has been overtaken by the internet and many of the larger broadcasters have left the Shortwave spectrum. The other problem is that receivers for DRM are not and never have been widely available. Some PC based SDR type radios (like the WinRadio for example) have the facility to receive DRM but apart from that it is not possible to buy DRM receivers easily. Lastly and perhaps more importantly the mode isn't at its best on Shortwave. Like many digital mediums any interference or fading and the reception breaks up very quickly. To illustrate this, in my experience a signal strength of around S9+10db would be a minimum for reliable reception. If you want to hear a DRM signal try tuning arround 6090 khz, if you can hear a sort of "white noise" thats it.
I think Medium wave would have been the best band for DRM, allowing us to have high quality reception on the band, but for some resaon DRM on the Medium Wave just didn't happen. So for the present quite a few international broadcasters put out these DRM signals. Who is listening? Very few I suspect!
Pictured below is the "DREAM" software I use for DRM decoding.

Paddle your own boat!

2010-04-06T21:07:00.000+01:00

Here is the latest addition to my shack. A Kent Paddle key, which will connect to the keyer mentioned in my earlier blog entry. For someone like me who a) Is re-learning CW and b) Has only ever used a straight key in the past learning to use the paddle is quite a challenge, but it is fun. So far I have not ventured on the air with CW, and I wont do so for a while yet, not until I feel relaxed with the mode. In the meantime I will practice off air with the paddle.

A local amateur has recently purchased a Flex Radio transceiver. This is one of the new generation of transceivers that is controlled entirely by the PC. I had a quick test QSO with him on 10 metres this evening and it sounded very nice indeed. He tells me that the receive side is excellent, pulling out signals that he can barely hear on his more traditional HF rigs. I hope to get over to his place and take a look at the rig sometime this week and hopefully find out a bit more about it. However personally I would not want to have to use a PC to control all of a rigs functions, sometimes it is nice to switch the computer off! It may be though that this is the way of the future, who knows?

New additions

2010-04-01T17:08:00.000+01:00

Here are a couple of new additions to my shack, courtesy of Ebay. First up is an antenna splitter which will allow my Wellbrook loop to feed both my R5000 and R1000 receivers. It in fact has provisions to connect up to four receivers. I have been on the look out for one of these for a while. These devices are surprisingly expensive when new but I think I have had a bargain with this one and it has had better reviews than some of the more commonly available units. I will have to decide now how to fit the R1000 back in the "Shack area" as it is currently sitting on top of a bookcase behind me.

Second is a keyer. In order to use a paddle key you need one of these. Many if not most modern rigs have built in keyers. My Ft1000MP does but my old Kenwood TS830S and the slightly more modern TS450S dont. Since the TS830 has excellent filtering for CW use I thought I might use that rig for CW, hence the keyer. Of course now I need a paddle key and I need to learn to use it! More about that soon.

Code Keys

2010-03-27T20:00:00.000Z

I am still practising my CW, trying to bring my speed up using a combination of PC based training and on air listening. In the meantime I have been considering getting a "paddle" Key. In the past when I first used CW on the air I just used a straight key, the one in fact that is pictured above. I tried a paddle belonging to another amateur, but at the time it seemed to me that it would take some time to get used to using such a device. So I am monitoring a few suitable keys on Ebay and hopefully I will get a suitable one.
If you look at the key in the picture you will notice that:

1) It is dusty- maybe I should have dusted it BEFORE I took the picture!

2) It has a large wooden knob which makes the key much easier to use.- this type of key normally came with a flat, round knob about the size of a ten pence piece. The wooden one in the picture was handmade for me by a kind local amateur (now sadly silent key) who was a member of the Port Talbot Radio club- the first radio club I joined as a youngster some 25 years ago or so. In those days the older radio amateurs very much encouraged and helped the new younger ones. I hope that this still goes on today, although of course its also important that they new amateurs want to learn! That is not always the case.