Uprating the 857

I have owned my Yaesu  FT857D for about 9 years. I bought it to use portable and apart from a stint in the shack as a 6 and 2 metre rig that is what it has been used for.
However portable work usually involves less than efficient antennas, or at least the way I do portable does! In the past I have used the Buddistick and now I have the Pro Whip vertical, for what they are the antennas work quite well but are not as effective of course as my doublet at home.
To make the best of things then I need to use CW. My CW is still a bit hesitant but is coming along and of course I need to practice more! The 857 however doesn't have a CW filter and the standard SSB filter is a bit wide for CW when the bands are busy.
So I decided to bite the bullet and order and fit the 500hz CW filter for my 857.

it arrived today

So eager to install it I set about removing the top cover of the rig. I have never needed to take the cases off the 857 before, but I thought it would be easy enough, just remove the screws at the top......................but wait....the covers would not come off! The Answer? Read the manual, you have to remove these screws which are attached to the bottom panel too!

Once the covers were off it was an easy matter to drop the filter in

There is still space for another filter so I could add the 300hz one but I don't think I will need it and they are very expensive.

Anyway I put the rig back together and switched on:

As you can see the rig has recognised it has a 500hz filter so all is well. The filter makes quite a difference so it should give me an incentive to operate CW on holiday!

Testing...

Since I am hoping to take a trip to Cornwall for a few days shortly I thought I would assemble and test out my portable station. The fine weather this evening provided the ideal opportunity.

First I dug out the Yaesu FT857, removing it from the shack an replacing it with this old Yaesu FT211 which is fine for 2 metre FM use.

Next I took out my 12 volt portable pack and set up the FT857, Buddistick antenna, MFJ tuner and my "new" mini CW key and set it all up in the back garden.

The Buddistick was set up on the lawn and tuned for 40 metres

After tuning around a very lively 40 metre band I tried listening on CW. I was rewarded by a QSO with G0NXA. I was running 25watts and got a 559 report, not bad for the tiny Buddistick with two radial wires laid on the lawn!
At least I know the setup is working, hopefully I will have time to use it when I am Away.

Key decisions

Following on from my last post I had also decided that I might try some CW operating when I next use the portable gear. In the past I have worked SSB only but with my very limited antenna system I should get better results with CW. I have two keys here in the shack, both my paddle key and the straight key are too large and possibly too fragile to take along in my portable kit. I mentioned this fact in a conversation on 2 metres a few days ago and a local GW3 friend told me he had three keys that he would be interested in selling.
A few days later he called around with the keys, leaving them with me to try them out and choose the one I liked.

You can see my own "Straight Key" at the rear to give some idea of the size of the smaller keys. Although initially I liked the look and feel of the key on the left,and it had quite a weighty base it wasn't the one I chose. I found it very difficult to adjust and wasn't too happy with the way that the lead that connects it is on the right hand side of the key rather than at the rear. The little key at the centre was my final choice although I really need to find a base for it now. Note the lever to the right of the key. Moving this closes the contacts so that the key is continuously  "down". I wonder was this designed to help "tuning up" so that you don't have to press the key down?

Matching my speed

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.

Not good news

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.

Update

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.

First Step in CW

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.

Little and often

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.

Speed

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.

Paddle your own boat!

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

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

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.

Awards

Back in December I applied for some awards from the European PSK Club (EPC) as I am a member and had been quite active on PSK last year. I sat back and waited, expecting perhaps to receive an email notification about my award apllication, but nothing came. Today I remembered Adam M6RDP telling me I needed to check the member site of EPC as notifications aren't always emailed.
But each time I went onto the EPC website I couldn't find the members area! Eventually I established the reason why. I use Google Chrome as my web browser. Its quite fast, simple to use and I can't get on with Internet Explorer 8. As far as I can see in the current explorer Microsoft have hidden the most useful icons and functions. It seems the webmaster of the EPC site has issues with Google Chrome and therefore the site is designed not to work properly with that browser. However I opened up IE8 and sure enough was able to log in and obtain my first EPC award.
My CW learning continues, slowly and I think it will take many months! I have been able to copy some bits and pieces of HF cw Qso's though and that has lifted my CW spirits a little! UU1CC has suggested that I should listen to CW wherever possible, as if it were background music. I am taking this advice and listening to a CW QSO on 40 metres as I type this!

The picture at the foot of this post is entirely non radio related. On a  work related trip to London on Wednesday, this is the view that greeted me opposite the Temple underground station- the first time I have seen snow in Central London. Needless to say the snow I had left at home in South Wales was much deeper but it did seem strange to see London with its white covering!

2010 and all that

Well here it is- my first post of the new year!
Happy 2010 to all who read this. I am not a great believer in new years resolutions but I do have one radio -related resolution and that is to start using CW again.

I obtained my first amateur radio licence back in 1984. In those days passing the radio amateurs exam earned you a class B radio licence which allowed you to operate on 144Mhz and above. In order to use the HF bands you had to pass the morse code exam both receiving and sending morse at 12 words per minute. I did this and obtained my existing callsign in 1988.
I learned morse code at my then local radio club. The tutor was a very enthusiastic CW man and made me promise that my first ever contact on HF would be on CW. I kept this promise and for the first couple of years used morse fairly regularly.
Over the years for various reasons my amateur radio activity was a little patchy. When I did get back on the air properly I had lost confidence in my CW skills and switched to operating on SSB and in more recent times the data modes. what I need to do now of course is to set some time aside to re-learn my morse receive skills!
Morse is an interesting mode and it can enable a simple low power station to work much further than an equivalent equipped SSB station.
So that's my intention, watch this space to see if I have any success.
Radio operation here has been limited over the last couple of days. I have been using WSPR, mainly on 80metres and was very pleased to see that my 1watt signal had been heard in the USA. The funny thing is that I haven't ever worked the U.S from here on 80 metres, even with 100 watts. I guess that just shows what an amazing mode WSPR is!