Up and Running

The Data Leads for my TS450 Arrived today. As I was working from home this afternoon as I was able to take a quick tea break and test things out!
My first contact using the TS450 on PSK was with SP3AOS on 30 metres. It was nice to know everything was working OK and thanks to EZE (UK) for the prompt delivery of the lead.I think the TS450 will be a very nice rig to use on data modes and with its internal ATU it will be relatively easy to hop from band to band.
Its much colder here today, I think winter is well and truly on its way although in many ways I prefer the crisp cold weather to the damp stuff we have been having recently.

My thoughts are now turning to what is likely to be my last radio related purchase of 2009 (and probably for a while). For some time I have been reading reviews of a receive only active loop antenna made by Wellbrook. The reviews have been very good, particularly in respect of the antennas ability to reject noise and electrical interference. One of the loops is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. I am considering getting one, trying it in the roofspace over the winter and maybe in spring putting it outside. The Main use of the loop will be for my shortwave listening activities although if it proves useful there is no reason why it can't be used as a receive antenna for amateur bands.

Weekend update

I have been  busy playing around with the new addition to the shack the TS450S. Before pressing it into service on data modes I have been tuning round the bands and having a few SSB QSOs on 40 and 80 metres. All in all it seems to work well, it is quite fussy about various settings, the ALC in particular must be kept at a reasonable level or the rig won't operate properly, the Auto ATU works reasonably well (Apart from 160 metres where it doesn't work at all- the manual warns you of this).
As a receiver it seems quite lively, though if you are interested in receiving Medium Wave it wouldn't be much use as sensitivity is deliberately much lower in that part of the spectrum. The connections on the rear include a small 13 Pin DIN socket for use on data modes. Although I made up the leads between my data interface and my TS830 I didn't fancy my chances of soldering up a tiny 13 pin connector so a quick email to Dave G3VFP of EZE UK confirmed a lead for the 450s was available, so that has been ordered and hopefully will arrive soon.I have always liked Kenwood/Trio Gear and am not disappointed with the 450S so far. My main rig is a Yaesu FT1000MP which is a superb rig but I feel its complexity means its not the most suitable rig for data modes.
In the meantime, last night whilst chatting to a few local amateur friends on 2 metres we also exchanged a few pictures on SSTV on 20 metres. The band was otherwise dead, as it seems to be here after dark, but it was interesting to use this mode as it is years since I have used SSTV. The software we used was MMSSTV, which seems to work really well. I have in the recent past also tried digital SSTV using a program called Easypal and the quality of pictures this produces is amazing. It does however seem to be quite a resource intensive program and the old PC which I use for radio applications struggles to run it.In addition I don't think it is a mode which is very tolerant to QRM.If you are interested in receiving Digital SSTV then on 80 metres around 3730Khz in the evenings is the best place. It sounds quite unlike analogue SSTV. As I understand it the software technology is based on the DRM transmissions that some international shortwave broadcasters now use.

A new addition

Pictured is a Kenwood TS450s, not a new rig by any means but the latest addition to my shack. I am hoping to run this rig on the data modes, but tonight I have been running it on 40metres and 80 metres SSB just to test it. The rig seems to be working OK although it has had a slight modification made to it, on the picture of the rear panel you can see an RS232 socket, that shouldn't be there- its a mod by a previous owner. I have tried connecting this this to my PC but Ham Radio deluxe doesn't want to work with this rig. It may be possible to computer control the rig using one of the original ports on the rear, in any case luckily I am not too worried about computer controlling the rig.
First impressions of the TS450 is that it is a little quirky to operate but seems to have a nice receiver.
Next step is to get a lead sorted out between my data interface and the rig.

Spreading the word

Having discussed WSPR with a few local amateur friends we now have 5 local amateurs in this area using the software and finding it very interesting. I had a listen on 10 metres yesterday and had a reprt from France. I tried 15 metres for a short while but heard nothing. Apart from that I have been concentrating on 80 metres where my 1 watt has been heard in the USA. In addition I have also heard fellow bloggers PE4BAS and G4ILO! I note from time of time unusual or impossible callsigns appear in WSPR and am wondering whether this is corrupt data, badly decoded or someone unlicensed messing around?
I note that there is a new version of WSPR, I may download that in the next few days and give it a try.

30 metres again

It is fairly clear now that the 30 metre band is likely to be pretty dead over the winter once we are in darkness.Running WSPR last night on 30 metres I noted that I didn't hear anything past 1930 UTC though the 40 metre band was still very active.
My TS830 is becoming a little temperamental, with a tendency to drift at times, making it very difficult to use for Data modes. This is however an intermittent fault and having consulted the excellent TS830 survival guide I think I know what the problem may be. Even so I am still considering looking for another HF rig for the data modes and semi retiring the 830!

Whilst driving today I was listening to a local 2 metre repeater. Two stations were in QSO and it was clear that someone was trying to jam the repeater and interfere with the conversation. The stations in QSO were aware of this, in fact one station commented that the jammer was wasting his time as both stations could hear each other 5 and 9 on the repeater input!Which rather begs the question why were they using a repeater at all?? It seems locally at least the standard of repeater operation is going downhill-another reason to avoid them I think.

Quiet Evening.

Conditions seemed poor this evening. 30 metres is dead, which seems to be the case often now that winter is coming. I dropped down to 40 metres and managed to work UA1TAN and S51PL (pictured) on PSK31. But even 40 doesn't seem as lively as usual.

Interference

No Luck with picking up Radio St Helena last night. I was not too suprised as its a difficult catch at the best of times but the main problem here was QRM. I Had S8 of interference on the frequency of 11092. Doing a little research from the UKQRM website  it seems the interference I am getting is from someone nearby using the BT Homeplug system to distribute their internet. It seems this QRM is strong across 11 Mhz here, including the more traditional broadcast frequencies between 11.5 and 12 mhz.I Guess I am lucky that this interference is not affecting the amateur bands at the moment, but it is extremely annoying and seems to crop up all over the place, at varying strengths between around 4Mhz and up to 30 Mhz.

Today I took my Sony ICF7600 portable receiver out and walked a little way around the estate here, but I could not trace the interference source. As I understand it it could be coming from anything up to 500 yards away. I Am very glad I haven't got one of these things next door to me as I don't think I would be able to use HF at all.

I will have another go at trying to pinpoint where the QRM is coming from soon and then consider reporting it to Offcom, in the meantime I am just thankful its not wiping out the amateur bands.