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I put the “troublesome” TS-930S back on the bench again yesterday to investigate its PA instability some more.  A few points are worth mentioning:

1. The instability onset power gets lower with increasing frequency.  That is, at 7 and 14 MHz, the instability onset is at about 60 watts output.  At 28 MHz, that drops to 40 watts.
2. I was able to increase the onset power slightly by increasing the resting bias of the MRF-422/2SC2510A pair from 1.1 A to 1.5 A.  I don’t know if that was a real effect or just a coincidence, though.
3. I tried adding 0.001 uF, 0.1 uF, and 4.7 uF capacitors shunting the 28B line to ground to remove RF that I observed on that line during transmit.  I don’t have a good measurement of the amount of RF, yet.  But, I know that it’s the same frequency as the transmitter because it varies as I change bands.

I still need to find that Helge Granberg article from RF Design to locate the references.  Still counting my lucky stars that I haven’t destroyed anything in the course of these experiments.

I have often heard it said that, "If you listen to the radio long enough, you will hear everything." I think that in 30+ years as a Ham, that finally came true the other night.

I was driving home from work and had the Icom in scan mode. It settled on one of the repeaters in New Jersey that is linked for statewide coverage. I heard a Ham relating the following story.

He was driving through a certain town and got stopped by a police officer for going over the speed limit. He was also on the radio at the time. In New Jersey, when you get a speeding ticket a certain "point value" goes on your driving record, depending on how far above the speed limit you were traveling. If you accumulate more than 12 points in three years, your license to drive is subject to revocation. The Ham must have offered some kind of sob story and the officer must have felt sorry for this guy, or something, because he offered him a choice. He had to issue a summons; but was willing to avoid giving the guy the points for speeding if he would take a ticket for using an electronic device while driving. This is New Jersey's cell phone law. If you use a cell phone (other than a non-hands on system) while driving, you get a fine. The Ham agreed to the cell phone ticket instead of the points.

What the officer didn't know, it seems, is that there is a specific exemption for Amateur Radio operators built into that law. As far as the law is written, Amateur Radio is NOT cell phone communications and is therefore permissible while driving.

So our friendly "lead foot" Ham was explaining to his friend on the air how he is going to court to challenge and possibly have the driving offense expunged on the technicality.

I was perturbed. First off, the police officer did this guy a favor. Even though Joe Ham broke the law by speeding, the police officer gave him a break by charging him with a lesser offense with a smaller fine and no points against his driving record. Joe Ham freely admitted his guilt and freely admitted that he was going to try and get out of this on the technicality that the police officer was probably unaware of. How about taking responsibility for your actions and taking your medicine like a man? As it is, he should be eternally grateful to the police officer for not issuing him the speeding points.

Secondly, if this guy's argument works; and he does beat the ticket .... how is that police officer going to treat other Hams in the future? He will have gotten burned by one of us once. Think that's not going to reside in the old memory banks for a long time? Think this police officer is going to be sympathetic to some other Ham in the future? I doubt it.

This kind of thing makes us all look bad. Fortunately, the friend that "lead foot" was talking to on the repeater advised him against his planned course of action. The friend was trying to be the voice of reason and common sense; but somehow I don't think his advice will be heeded. It seems that anything goes these days.

I will keep an ear open to this repeater system over the next few weeks. I will be very interested to see how this turns out.

72 de Larry W2LJ

My little piece of Cold War history arrived today in the form of an NOS telegraph key built for the Soviet military in the 1980’s. For only $18, I had to have one.

Shipping was quick (got here in 12 days) and the key seems as solid and well-built as I was hoping it would be.

For a better description and far better pics than I could ever take, have a gander at Yury’s eBay store.

This’ll be the first straight key I’ve owned/used in three decades so  I guess the folks on the next Straight Key Sprint from NAQCC will be suffering my poor sending come August 11. I’ll try to brush up a bit before then…

Now if I can only figure out how to read these instructions!

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Tonight was my night in the barrel as Fox in the 20 Meter Summer Foxhunt. And in the 5 or so years that I have been a Fox, this had to be my worst performance, by far!

20 Meters was lousy for me tonight with some local QRN that was horrendous. I took some video, have a look:

Welcome to Handiham World!

Update: Larry Huggins, KA0LSG, Handiham Volunteer, holds the Wouxun HT on cover of Worldradio

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

There seems to be a lot of interest in personal weather stations among ham radio ops. I started my own a little over a year ago after researching what was out there, equipment wise, and I did so thinking it would be interesting to see trends over time here at my own QTH.

What I didn’t realize at the time was how much goes on behind the scenes regarding the data flow of weather info for those stations that are tied to computers with an always-on internet connection. I learned about all that after getting set up and was/am amazed at what occurs without my having to do anything to enable it other than allowing my data to go out into the ether.

I’ll describe it in brief here, and provide relevant links to more detailed info for those considering a similar set-up.

For the record, I have a Davis Vantage Pro II with a USB connection to my computer. It comes with its own software for local presentation of graphical data, charts, etc on your own computer. But instead of that program, I’m running Virtual Weather Station which provides far more options in how and which data is presented. It also allows me to upload my selected graphs to a page on my website.

And it has a free add-on program called VWSaprs that runs in the background and uploads your weather station’s data to the APRS network.

If I didn’t have a 24/7 internet connection, I could feed my weather station’s data to a 2m FM radio tuned to 144.390 MHz and get onto the APRS network that way. To control and convert weather data to audio for the 2m rig, I’d use one of these or one of these or something similarly inexpensive.

Either method gets your weather data onto the APRS network and that’s where the magic begins. By magic, I mean that you are not only sharing your info but are allowing it to be smoothed, compared, evaluated and rated.

This is important for two reasons: it provides you with info regarding the proper siting of your weather station and it provides external weather entities (NOAA, MADIS, Wunderground.com, etc) with an additional source to use for their purposes.

Furthermore, each of these users of weather data provides their own way for you to see how your data compares to what they believe is the correct data for your area and time. By data, I’m talking primarily about temperature, barometric pressure, rainfall and dew point/humidity.

Here is a diagram of the data flow that results simply from you putting your wx data onto the APRS network using either method mentioned above:

The presence of your own station’s dataflow throughout this system can be seen at each step along the way, often accompanied by quality checks and other comparative data derived from other sources. Here’s mine at various steps along the way:

FindU - Wx Quality Reporter – MesoNet or, more easily, here.

Keep in mind that I didn’t do anything to make those links occur – they are simply the result of having data go onto the network either via 2m FM or regular automated uploads to the APRS network.

If you’re considering setting up a personal weather station, this page is required reading. So is this .

Have fun.

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As I mentioned in the earlier Field Day 2010 report, the CUARC group built two antennas for the event.  In this post I will describe the first one of these, an off-centre fed dipole. The common place for the feed point of the off-centre fed dipole is at a 1/3 : 2/3 split in the arms. This has the advantage of providing low SWR (with a 4:1 balun) at even harmonic frequencies, such as 20m and 10m for an antenna cut for the fundamental frequency of 40m (around 66ft). Whereas a centre-fed dipole will only have the odd harmonics which for a 40m (7MHz) dipole is 15m (21MHz). Rather than use the traditional off-centre length split of 1/3 : 2/3 for our Field Day antenna, it was decided to follow the design proposed by Richard Formato, K1POO, in two technical correspondences published in QST ^1,2 and followed up with further article with by Dale Gaudier, ³. In this design the feed point is moved closer to the 1/6 point on the short arm, the advantage being stated in the articles that you should get a 200Ω feedpoint there and so a low SWR on 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m bands when using a 4:1 balun, with no need for an antenna tuner unit.  The emphasis on the 15m band is intentional as a low SWR on that band is not usually possible with an off-centre fed dipole with the feed at 1/3 : 2/3 and a 4:1 balun.  Four bands on one 69 foot wire antenna with no tuner looked very attractive for Field Day. The antenna was cut carefully prior to Field Day and the end insulators were added.  When cutting the antenna the length measurement included the ‘pig-tail’ connections that I have on the 4:1 balun. The diagram below shows the arrangement of the antenna. On the day the antenna was installed between two trees at about 35ft off the ground. While the second antenna was being constructed (to be featured in a later post) its SWR was measured with my Autek RF-1 antenna analyzer.  The results were taken by Maria, VA3MMI and Gil, VE3JRY and are tabulated below. _______________________________________________ Band (m)    2:1 VSWR Range (MHz)          Minimum VSWR 40                                                                      3.1 : 1 (at 7.38 MHz) 20                       13.29 – 14.65                            1.4 : 1 15                       21.20 – 22.31                            1.5 : 1 10                      27.78 – 29.25                            1.7 : 1 _______________________________________________ The overall results were very pleasing, although the 40m band was a little disappointing. This higher than expected SWR on 40m was also encountered by Dale, M0AOP/K4DG, and was reported ³ by him to be due to the severe imbalance in the antenna, so requiring a choke balun to remove the stray RF on the coax.  We did not try a choke balun, since we were unlikely to operate on 40m, that was another station’s band of operation.  However we had an antenna tuner unit if we needed to try and tame the SWR. It was very good to see the SWR profile observed in reference 3  was repeatable. On Sunday morning Maria, VA3MMI, returned with a portable analyzer borrowed from work and did a sweep analysis.  The response is below and markers have been inserted to show the minimum SWR associated with the bands. Thanks goes to Maria for the measurement and the plot. It would be interesting to remeasure the SWR response again with a choke balun in place.  I expect the SWR will drop below 2:1 within the 40m band as found by the author of reference 3.  If this does happen then four bands and no tuner needed makes this antenna one for serious consideration on HF. Even without a low SWR on 40m the antenna offers three bands and it performed well on 15m and 10m for us on Field Day. As a final note, I should reiterate the warning by Dean Straw, N6BV, at the end of reference 1 where he warns about using the antenna on 30m, 17m or 24m, as a very high SWR could damage the balun at the feedpoint. References 1. “Improved Feed for the Off-Centre-Fed Dipole” R. A. Formato, K1POO, Technical Correspondance, QST, May 1996 p76. 2. “Off-Centre-Fed Dipole Comments, Part 2″, R. A. Formato, K1POO, Technical Correspondance, QST, October 1996 pp72-73. 3. “Choke the OCFD” D Gaudier, M0AOP/K4DG, Technical Correspondance, QST, September 1997, pp82-83. Note: all three of the above papers are collected together in “More Wire Antenna Classics Volume 2″ ARRL, (1999). The Field Day photographs above are from the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club’s photo gallery.

Various QRP related email reflectors and lists are full of chatter about the Flight Of the BumbleBees (FOBB). Comments about the CW being too fast and the weather being too hot at this time of year make it sound like a broken event. IMHO it is far from being broken! It is probably the premier QRP event of the year. And I say, if it ain’t broke… yep, you guessed it, don’t fix it.

Sunday the bands were full of QRP ops, both home based and portable, so the activity really did make a BUZZ despite band conditions that have not been all that helpful to hf qrp contacts.  The weather was HOT, but hey, find some shade, altitude or water and go for it. Historically this is the time of year for this event and as others have commented, it keeps our activity up during the summer time when vacations and mowing the grass take their toll on ham radio activity.

As far as fast cw, I’m not fast (not even close hi hi), but it sure is fun listening to the buzz on the bands rather than QRN and a high noise level with only a few weak signals. Certainly I am not a hard core contester. My cw skills are still in need of practice, but isn’t that what events like this provide? I often have to listen multiple times to get the callsign and info but that repetition and practice pushes my speed and confidence level up every time I try. After listening to a fast op several times I have the info I need and then I jump in and have fun making a contact at speeds faster than my comfort zone. Most of us slow guys can send faster than we can receive, right? Come on in, the water is fine, and FUN!

My XYL, Connie and I drove over to Honeymoon Island State Park on the Gulf Coast in Dunedin, Florida. This is a very pretty beach, not overly crowded most of the time and has been one of the top rated beaches in the US for several years. The weather cooperated, there was no sign of the BP oil spill that has run so many tourists to other locations, and we snagged a primo spot to operate right next to the water.The only negative, if you call it that, was that the view was sometimes distracting, but sure was enjoyable.

My trusty Sierra and Buddistick provided plenty of action so I never switched over to my mini-bac Delta Loop backup antenna. I also stuck to 20m the whole contest since 40m has been in such poor condition here in Florida lately.

One of the great things about these events is the leveling of the playing field. It is fun to contact the guys that write the articles, create the websites and design the equipment that we use for our hobby. My score was modest at 26 QSO’s, 18 Bumblebees and 17 states and provinces but it was one fantastic day of activity for me! Being able to connect with the big guns of QRP was a thrill too!

For me, one of the highlights was when W8DIZ rode over to meet me as I was setting up my site. Diz lives about 3.5 miles from Honeymoon island and is a regular bicycle visitor of this great beach location. I’ve been a customer of his toroid and kit business and have benefited from the info he has shared, not to mention being one of the movers and shakers of the Famous Flying Pigs QRP group. Diz I was honored that you took time out from a busy family day to swing by and say HI! Thanks for the help getting our screen house up too!

Thanks to Adventure Radio Society and the guys that put this event on for all of us. We appreciate the effort it takes and you deserve the very best of 73′s from all of us.

72,

Kelly K4UPG  BB #10

As always, FOBB taught me a few lessons,

1) Really have to get a Buddipole mast. The plastic insert on my painter's pole can't handle the weight of the Buddistick. Those 10 foot whips add A LOT of weight! It did the job yesterday; but at the end, the antenna was listing pretty badly.

2) Have to finish the Fuchs tuner, so I can play around with an end fed tossed up a tree.

3) It always seems the weather for the major QRP outdoor events will always end up being less than desired. Have to account for all kinds of possibilities. Yesterday's thunder crept up on me very quickly. I was definitely paying too much attention to the radio and not enough to the sky.

4) Have to tear apart the PFR3A and find out why the internal batteries didn't work. One must have gotten jostled out of the battery insert on the trip back from Lake George.

5) Wish I had been able to put in the whole four hours. From what I have been reading on the QRP reflectors, 40 Meters got WAY better during the second half.

72 de Larry W2LJ

Readers who follow this blog regularly (all five of you in straight jackets) have probably noticed that I haven't blogged much recently.  I'm still alive, in good health, and pumping RF into the atmosphere.  In fact, I've emitted more RF into the atmosphere these last few weeks than I have in quite awhile.  Six meters has been hopping and I re-joined the local amateur radio club to participate in Field Day.  I think I may be getting my radio artisan mojo back that I thought I was losing much of the previous year.

In my Blogger drafts area I have 98 articles that I've started but haven't completed or I've completed but just haven't felt like they should see the light of day.  Some are just titles of quick, fleeting ideas I had for an article but just haven't had the time or inclination to further develop.  Several are April Fool's joke articles.  And then there are the rant or soapbox articles.  I hope to polish some of these draft articles in the coming weeks and months and slim down my drafts area.  Hopefully I don't release any clunker articles in the process.

The web animation I did a few weeks ago with virtual radio artisans Bob and Jane was done on a bit of a whim.  I'm working on a second web animation on a different topic with most of the dialog again coming from online amateur radio forums.  I'm entitling this series of web animations Off Frequency.  I intend to add more characters and other sources of dialog, focusing on this strange hobby we all love and the often strange people within in. We'll see where this goes.

On an aside, I have to give a shout out to KE9V for his Cornbread Road podcast.  I'm hooked on the story and I'm impressed with the production quality of the podcast, and I'm not much of a podcast aficionado.  If you haven't been following Cornbread Road, I strongly suggest you check it out.

Nothing says serious contest station like Barney videos and sippy cups.

I was fortunate in this afternoon’s FoBB to have the assistance of my 2-year old granddaughter who is staying with us for a few weeks as her parents (both in the Air Force) tend their duties. Too hot here to go outside anyway, my hat is off to those who endured the heat and set up from afield.

Besides the periodic local QRM there were also several thunderstorms in the area with their static crashes making the copy tough at times. Strongest station by far was Seab AA1MY (quick MP3 here), however by the last hour, QSB had rendered everyone as barely copyable here.

Here’s the log, such as it is…..

Anna likes the K3 but hopes that I have better antennas on 40 and 160 meters by the time DX season rolls around again. I’ll see what I can do.

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The whims of Cycle 24 presents a challenge for my low power, low profile station. Likewise, the difference between a vertical antenna and a horizontal wire antenna, is most notable during the summer from my location. The difference is becoming evident in terms of logged contacts during an event between summer and winter.

Polarization?
My production slopes toward the negative or dwells at the bottom in the summer. Winter conditions are favorable for my vertical antenna system and its low take-off angle. Additionally, I recently read W1ZR's article on Antenna Polarization -- What Does it Mean and When is it Important?

I'm curious if my vertically polarized signal takes a beating during the summer? I had a dickens of a time during the IARU HF World Championship against horizontal antenna systems. I logged a stunning 7 contacts in 5 hours of operation on the high bands. Perhaps, my doublet is better at focusing radio frequency energy, during the summer when it is really critical given conditions?

Shackadelic Update.
I thought again about a QSL card and Fred, KI6QDH inspired my approach given time budget and resources. Likewise, neither Global QSL or Cheap QSL, are sponsoring my recommendation. However, I chose Global QSL as my bureau manager for DX contacts and Cheap QSL for their thrifty price per unit (10 cents per card) for 100 cards.

Why our stateside bureau(s) are not moving into the space of domestic QSLing is something to think about given today's austerity. The cost of confirming a domestic contact would fall dramatically when factoring bulk mailings.

I would gladly trade a little more patience for the price of one pound bulk mail. Would staff at the bureau(s) be willing to help out in driving down cost?

TS850S.
I have a few payments left and the shack relaxation zone will sport a used Kenwood TS850S in the near future. My FT100 will move into a pelican case for portable operations especially for 6m during the summer.

73 from the shack relaxation zone.

is in full swing on the bands. I worked IS0B in Sardinia and ZF2JT in the Cayman Islands (QRP, of course). The Butternut HF9V is a wonderful antenna!




All this while sniffing around for a ragchew that I never found. Tomorrow is the Flight of the Bumblebees and a family commitment has come up that might severely cut into my operating time. With any luck, I should at least manage to get one or two hours in towards the end of the contest. Keeping my fingers crossed.

72 de Larry W2LJ

Here it is, almost 10:00 PM local time and it is still 87 F (30C) outside! It reached just shy of 100 F (37C) today and promises to be even hotter tomorrow. So it seemed that discretion was the better part of valor, which dictated a nice trip to my cool basement shack, where the temperature remains a pretty constant 69 F (20C) throughout the summer.

The trip yielded two nice ragchews on 40 Meters - the nice part just above 7.100 MHz. The first was with John WB4OFT in Advance, NC. John was using a Kenwood TS570 to and Inverted Vee. He had a nice 599 signal. He is SKCC 958 was was using a Schurr hand key. As mentioned, we exchanged SKCC numbers, and I think he was a bit taken aback by my low number (49), which caused him to ask for it again. John and I are pretty close in age, only two years apart; but John has been a Ham for eight years longer than me.

After bidding our 73s, I tuned down the band just a few KHz and called CQ, as John was being tailended by another station. My CQs yielded a call from Gary VE1/K3OMI.



Gary was operating from his summer home in Lockeport, NS and was using an Icom IC-7000 to an Inverted Vee up at 35 feet. Gary informed me that it was hot today in Lockeport with a high temp of 80F (26C). A far cry from the hot and humid weather in NJ. And from the looks of the above picture, Lockeport looks to be a really beautiful summer home location.

I haven't had the opportunity to sit down and ragchew for quite a while, it was nice to pound brass in a leisurely, conversational manner.

72 de Larry W2LJ