Author Archive
Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated…
July 9th, 2010 | 
Author: I've been QRT (both radio- and blog-wise) for quite some time as the XYL and I have been planning and, over the past week, executing a move from Robinson to the charming little town of West, TX -- that's West (comma) Texas, population 2,690, which despite the name is nowhere near "West Texas" but just a dozen miles or so north of Waco in the central part of the Republic. According to the FCC database there are 18 licensed amateurs in West, including your faithful correspondent.
The new QTH is an old but freshly renovated 3 bedroom house with a detached garage and (praise Jesus!) trees, giving me antenna possibilities that did not exist at our suburban-hell duplex in Robinson. There's a tripod already on the roof; it's not exactly heavy-duty but it should be adequate for a vertical. Whether I'll put the Cushcraft R7000 back into service or simply mount the Tarheel on the roof remains to be decided. One of my priorities is to at least get a dipole strung up for 6/10/12 meters. Not yet sure if there's room for an 80m wire.
The shack/office is about the same size and layout as at the last QTH. There's a large walk-in closet that I will use as a library to store some of the 8.6 million books that I seem to have acquired over the years and which I hope to have moved for the last time. I no longer have a loud central air conditioning unit outside the window of the office; however, I now live across the street from the main Union Pacific train line that runs through the middle of the state. Being a lifelong fan of model railroading but never having the room, tools or skills to build the N-scale layout of my dreams, I can now enjoy a 1:1 scale road with regular trains that shake the entire house about a dozen times a day like a coin-operated bed in a cheap motel. Must remember turn the VOX off when I'm not at the radio.
Since we're still living out of boxes it may be some time yet before I can get the shack reassembled, antennas installed, and return to the bands -- needless to say, the IARU HF contest is going to have to get along without WW2PT's big signal, and the IOTA test in a couple of weeks will be a long shot, but I fully intend to be up and running in time for NAQP in August.
My NRD-525 and other goodies are on the block…
Fiscal realities are forcing me to sell off more of my JRC collection, this time a mint, new-in-box, untouched-by-human-hands NRD-525 HF Receiver along with likewise mint CMK-165 VHF/UHF Converter and CFL-232 500 Hz Crystal Filter. All three now on eBay as separate auctions.
Sorry to have to do this, but since I'm not a multi-billion dollar corporation I'm not on the list for a government bailout; and a particular deadbeat client of mine is apparently not hip to the most basic of free-market principles, that of monetary remuneration for services rendered (promptly, I might add...) by your faithful correspondent. And so my shack becomes even more desolate.
Let the bidding begin...
March 2010 Wrap-Up
Starting a new job this month has really cut into my quality ham radio time, but these are the sacrifices we make. Other than a few PSK contacts early in the month, all of my operation took place during the two major March phone tests. Only 6 QSO in the ARRL DX SSB, but was able to spend a little more time at the mic for the CQ WPX SSB in which I logged 69 QSOs during a few short operating stints (4.5 hours total), all on 15m which was alive and kicking. For once I was able to work damn near every station I could hear, most of them on one call, and didn't have to repeat my callsign or report too often. In the end, 62 WPX prefixes in 23 DXCC countries for a somewhat lame total score of 8,494.
More important: I finally got to give N1MM Contest Logger a good shakedown and I'm happy to report that it worked flawlessly with the K3. I still like HRD's logbook for general usage, but for contesting it's a kludge. N1MM is super fast by comparison and obviously better suited for contesting. I may comment more on this later.
So... despite a limited amount of radio time, March put three new DXCC in the log --Uruguay (CX), Luxembourg (LX), and Haiti (HH) -- and 16 new DXCC + 9 new WAZ on 15m. I'll take it.
Stats through 31-Mar-2010:
All | 80m | 40m | 30m | 20m | 17m | 15m | Ph | CW | Dig | |
DXCC | 83 | 2 | 43 | 10 | 67 | 13 | 38 | 59 | 5 | 63 |
WAS | 50 | 28 | 49 | 7 | 48 | 19 | 21 | 43 | 1 | 50 |
WAZ | 26 | 3 | 21 | 8 | 23 | 9 | 18 | 22 | 5 | 22 |
WebSDR
My bud Ulis K3LU just turned me onto the WebSDR project. Spent a little time this morning listening to W4MQ's station, which is set up for 160m, 40m, and 20m. Very impressive -- I've steered clear of online remote receivers in the past because they were typically a single radio controlled by a single user at a time (or, worse, by multiple users continuously changing frequency and mode, making it little more than an exercise in hi-tech uselessness). But this is different -- a true server that lets multiple people listen at the same time on whatever band/frequency/mode they want, completely independent of one another. Way cool.
NCJ: What’s the Best Contest Rig?
The March/April 2010 National Contest Journal arrived yesterday, torn and tattered as always (thanks again, US Postal Service!), and with it the results of K3MD's informal poll of top contesters asking, "What's the best contest rig?" It's by no means a scientific survey, nor all-inclusive, but many of the Big Guns you'd expect participated. No surprise to see the K3 and IC-7800 at the head of the pack. What does surprise me, though, is the absence of even a single mention of the Flex 5000 -- can't figure this out. Contesters, of all operators, rely so heavily on computers and software, and the Flex is clearly ready for prime-time. It's fairly equal to the K3 and 7800 in terms of receiver performance. It just seems like a natural fit. Is it simply because it lacks a tuning dial? Is full PC control too new a trick for these old dogs to learn? Would love to hear theories as to why none of these top contesters have jumped on the SDR bandwagon.
Also surprised to see the Orion get only passing mention (and not in a good way, either). Wasn't that the last "greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread" transceiver just a few years ago?
All that said, I'm happy to see the K3 get the attention it deserves from the radiosport community. Contesters at this level are fickle creatures; you can't pin the fanboy label on them. Price is rarely an issue, considering the equipment on the inside of the shack typically costs a fraction of what is spent on antenna systems. They're not swayed by fancy front panels or clever marketing. If the radio works better than what they last used, they keep it; if something else better comes along later, they'll switch again. It will be interesting to see in ten years or so whether the K3 has the longevity among contesters that, say, the FT-1000D has enjoyed. My prediction: Yes (but then, I'm just an Elecraft fanboy and, worse still, a poseur-wannabee contester). Only time will tell; the zeitgeist changes direction in a hurry, and the DSP and SDR technology is advancing rapidly, so something new could come along next week to knock the K3 off its pedestal.
February 2010 Wrap-Up
Other than the NAQP-RTTY test I was mostly QRT for the entire month due to more pressing concerns unrelated to amateur radio.
DXCC: Picked up one new one each on 40m (Alaska) and 17m (Croatia), and two new ones on 15m (Cuba and Alaska).
WAS: Finally worked KL7 on 40m, only ND now holding out on me for WAS on that band; and 7 new states on 15m -- all thanks to NAQP-RTTY
WAZ: Working KL7 in the NAQP test gave me Zone 1 on 15m and 40m.
Stats through 28-Feb-2010:
All | 80m | 40m | 30m | 20m | 17m | 15m | Ph | CW | Dig | |
DXCC | 80 | 2 | 43 | 10 | 66 | 13 | 22 | 52 | 5 | 62 |
WAS | 50 | 28 | 49 | 7 | 48 | 19 | 19 | 43 | 1 | 50 |
WAZ | 26 | 3 | 21 | 8 | 23 | 9 | 9 | 22 | 5 | 22 |
NAQP RTTY – Feb 2010
QRV 8 hours (though with several breaks), mostly search & pounce but had a few runs. Had to QRT at 0400, my brain was starting to fade. In hindsight I wish I stuck it out for another dozen QSOs or so; had I done so I would have beaten my score from the NAQP SSB test in January. But I came close...
Started on 20m at 1800, then switched to 15m at 1915 and worked just about all stations I could hear -- nice to see 15m coming back to life! After an 1.5 hour break for lunch I spent another hour on 20m before switching to 40m at 2300 and staying there for the remainder, taking a few short breaks along the way.
Really wanted to try 80m again after the good time I had during MAQP SSB. But the Tarheel just doesn't tune up very well down there, and I'm reluctant to try pushing 100W at 100% duty cycle into a poorly matched antenna.
Worked K1SFA, KL7AC, VX6AO, WØYK, and W6YX for the hat trick on all three bands; 28 other stations were worked on two bands. In the end, 6 new states on RTTY (AK, IA, LA, MI, MS and VT); 1 new state on 40m (AK); and 7 new states on 15m (AK, CA, ID, NV, NY, UT and VT). Had a Cuban station call me during one of my runs on 15m, it was the only DX worked in the contest.
Summary:
- QSOs: 160
- US States: 35
- VE Provinces: 5
- Total Mults: 71
- Score: 11,360 pts.
Band-by Band Breakdown:
- 15m: 34 QSOs, 10 states, 2 provinces
- 20m: 42 QSOs, 22 states, 2 provinces
- 40m: 84 QSOs, 30 states, 5 provinces
K3 Derangement Syndrome
Seems W9OY is causing some heads to broil on the Elecraft list, thanks to Julian G4ILO stirring the pot. ;-)
I don't know W9OY but I read his blog often because I'm fascinated with the whole SDR aspect of the hobby. He's as much a fanboy for the Flex 5000 as many are for the K3 (including me, I suppose). I have no problem with that, we all like to talk up the equipment we own. W9OY certainly knows his stuff, and even though he may toss out a jab at the K3 every now and then I just take it with a grain of salt -- no burning desire to break out the dueling pistols, it's just a hobby.
Often, though, I've heard hams on the air trashing the K3 as though anyone who owns one isn't just wrong, but stoopid as well. I call it K3 Derangement Syndrome: any mention of the K3 causes them to prattle on about how inferior it is to their radio. They'll harp about the K3's "poor ergonomics," as if pressing a button twice to move from 40m to 20m is somehow more of an inconvenience than having to boot Windoze every time you want to use your radio. They'll talk about the size of the radio, as if the compact box isn't one of the K3's attractions for many owners. They'll nitpick over specs, as if they really make a difference while working the DX. Mostly, it becomes evident after listening for a while that most of these K3DS sufferers have never actually used a K3, but merely heard all these horrible things from someone else. I guess the P3 will give them more ammo because it's smaller than Power-SDR running on a 60" plasma display -- your sophomoric "mine's bigger" kind of argument. Whatever.
Life is too short. We all have reasons for choosing the radios we choose. My big reason for not buying a Flex product is that it relies on Windoze; if it supported OS X, I might have one on my desk right now. But I have enough Windoze headaches in my daily life and don't really want them to be at the core of my radio hobby. As Bones might tell Kirk, "Damn it, Jim! I'm a ham, not a systems administrator!" Those who might actually enjoy dicking around with computers will almost certainly report different mileage. Good for them.
Another good question has already been raised by someone else: What happens in 20 years? I have a garage full of 10-year old computer peripherals that simply won't work with my current PCs and Macs. The Flex rigs, when you boil it all down, are computer peripherals. That it doesn't rely on USB drivers makes it more likely to be supported years down the road, but what happens if FireWire goes the way of 5.25" floppies? Or if future versions of Power-SDR no longer support anything older than the Flex 8000? To me, one of the things I love about ham radio is that people running vintage gear from the 50's and 60's are still able to do pretty much everything a guy with a K3 can do; with proper care and feeding, they can last a lifetime or more. On the other hand, computers and peripherals are throw-away items. Which category a PC-based SDR falls into, only time will tell.
That doesn't mean I won't someday own a Flex 5000 (or 6000 or 9000); maybe I will. Flex Radio Systems is every bit a great company as Elecraft, and their user base every bit as loyal. If I had the cash I'd probably own one now because I love the SDR concept. If someday it no longer works under Windoze 2036 or whatever cruel hoax Microsloth perpetrates on the masses in the future, oh well... out to the pile in the garage it'll go, to be replaced by the newest model. But I won't get rid of the K3 unless and until something else comes out that offers a significant improvement, and whatever may replace my K3 someday will sure as hell have knobs and buttons and be able to operate as a stand-alone instrument without a PC umbilical. These are my requirements; if yours are different, buy what you want.
And while others may take cheap shots at competing radios just to make themselves feel smart or superior to those who choose differently, I won't do that.
(I will, however, continue to take cheap shots at Microsloth Windoze. It just plain sucks.)
January 2010 Wrap-Up
Almost all of my activity in January was limited to contests (RTTY Roundup, PSKFest, NAQP SSB, and BARTG Sprint) which accounted for a lot of new states on 80m and 40m but not too many new countries.
DXCC: Made a big leap from 29 to 42 countries worked on 40m. Worked 2 new (all-band) countries -- Iceland (TF) on 40m PSK and Sweden (SM) on 20m CW.
WAS: The NAQP Phone test boosted my 80m WAS total from 1 state to 28 in a single night, as well as bumping my all-band phone state count from 19 to 43. The RTTY Roundup at the beginning of January netted me 30 new states on that mode.
WAZ: No new zones overall, but I added 4 zones each on CW and RTTY modes, and one new zone on PSK.
Stats through 31-Jan-2010:
All | 80m | 40m | 30m | 20m | 17m | 15m | Ph | CW | Dig | |
DXCC | 80 | 2 | 42 | 10 | 66 | 12 | 20 | 52 | 5 | 62 |
WAS | 50 | 28 | 48 | 7 | 48 | 19 | 12 | 43 | 1 | 50 |
WAZ | 26 | 3 | 20 | 8 | 23 | 9 | 8 | 22 | 5 | 22 |
While I was distracted…
Other than working ZL2PW on 40m during a bout of insomnia in the wee hours the other night, I've mostly been QRT all week. However, I left the K3 tuned to 7035 as I usually do just to see what might have been. I wish I hadn't looked.
According to PSKReporter, I missed some needed DX on 40m last night:
- Azores: CU3CP @ 0058
- Austral Is.: TX3D @ 0231
- Angola: D2QMN @ 0503
- S. Korea: 6K5BLW @ 1410
Plus a few Russians -- I actually need both European and Asiatic Russia on 40m digital?!?!? Hmm.
Oh, well... those who snooze, lose.
K3 Weirdness in AFSK-A Mode (SOLVED!)
During the BARTG test I had some weird moments after I QSY'd from 20m to 40m -- DM780 would key the K3's PTT (via HRD IP Server) but there would be no audio into the Line In port, and thus no RF output. Sometimes rebooting the K3 would work, other times quitting and re-launching DM780 did the trick. I'm not 100% certain of the cause but I'm leaning towards software rather than hardware.
Then I noticed low RF output at certain audio frequencies, and this only in AFSK-A reverse (USB) mode; no trouble in normal (LSB) AFSK-A mode, nor in DATA-A normal and reverse. The output power would be OK when the center frequency was set low on the waterfall (+/- 400 Hz, for example) but would drop off at higher Fc setings. And the cutoff point seemed to vary -- sometimes I could get full 100W RF out at around 1500 Hz Fc (I typically use 1530 Hz as Fc for RTTY), other times the output would drop above 900 Hz and be effectively zero at 1300 Hz and above. After some messing around with soundcard and line input levels I seemed to have gotten it somewhat sorted out, but as I did all that in the middle of a contest while in semi-panic mode I didn't take too many notes.
I did some basic tests today by transmitting RTTY diddles at 100W into the MFJ-267 dummy load/wattmeter while in AFSK-A REV mode; mic gain is adjusted for 3 flickering bars of ALC as per the advice of Elecraft. I got full 100W reading on the meter at 2200 Hz Fc, but it steadily decreased as I inched upwards -- at 2300 Hz Fc the output was down around 60W, and by 2400 Hz the wattmeter needle barely moved. But when I switched from REV (USB) to NOR (LSB) I get full output right up to the top edge of the waterfall (2900 Hz Fc) -- pretty much what I experienced yesterday during the RTTY test.
I then shut the whole system off for a while and repeated these tests an hour or so later to see if things changed from a "cold" state: starting out my output at 2200 Hz was down around 10 to 15W. The output then slowly rises as PA temperature (as measured by the K3's built-in PA TEMP meter) reaching full 100W at 43 deg C. But after cooling off (PA: 35 deg C, front panel: 32 deg C) power output remains at full 100W! This is driving me absolutely bat-shit crazy.
I'm not really concerned that I won't be able to transmit RTTY at high center frequencies as my operating style is to find and click on a signal in the waterfall, center it at 1530 Hz, then switch to a narrow filter setting; I'm more troubled by how the cutoff frequency changes, sometimes below 1530 Hz, and apparently is a function of temperature. It doesn't appear to be a PA problem -- the same power drops occur when bypassing the PA unit and running at 10W, and I'm getting full power in all other modes -- so I'm going to guess it's an issue with the DSP board and its handling of audio at the Line In port. More tests to follow, and when I have a better set of test results I'll contact the boys in Aptos.
Update 26-Jan-2010: I believe it has been solved -- the only things I didn't check until today were the filter parameters in the CONFIG menu. Sure enough, I had FL3 set to 2.4 kHz even though the filter is actually a 2.1 kHz filter. Unsure how or why this caused the problem, but since setting it to the correct setting I am now able to get full output power at the mark frequencies indicated by the K3's MARK-SH setting (2125, 1445, 1275 or 915 Hz). Not sure how the FL3 parameter got changed; perhaps inadvertently while running K3-EZ, or perhaps it was set improperly during my assembly and setup back in January '08. In any case, all's well that ends well. My apologies to Wayne, Eric, Lyle, Don, Greg, etc. for bothering them with what turned out to be user error. I will now sit in the corner wearing my "Dumb Ass" hat as penance.
BARTG Sprint 2010
Spent a few hours Saturday handing out QSO points on 20 and 40. No new ones for me, and I had a hard time working DX. Some weirdness with the K3 (see next post) has me scratching my increasingly balding head...
Summary:
- QSOs: 65
- US States: 35
- VE Provinces: 3
- Total Mults: 23
- Total Continents: 3
- Score: 4,485 pts.
Band-by Band Breakdown:
- 20m: 40 QSOs, 18 states, 4 provinces, 5 DX
- 40m: 25 QSOs, 15 states, 5 DX
HAM Radio?
A perennial annoyance of mine is the use of the phrase "HAM radio." Not "ham radio," mind you, but "HAM radio" with the word "ham" capitalized as though it's an acronym like NOAA, IRS, MVP, UCLA or STFU. It usually occurs in news articles like this one which are obviously written by non-hams, but I also see it used in places like eHam product reviews by people who should know better. While no one can say with certainty how, when or where the term "ham" originated, it is beyond argument that it doesn't stand for anything. It really isn't a life-or-death problem, but every time I see "HAM radio" I have an overwhelming urge to slap someone. Is it just me?
Ooops... gotta run. My CELL phone is ringing.
NAQP SSB – Jan 2010
QRV 9.5 hours out of the 10 hours permitted for single-op class, all search & pounce. Started about 45 minutes late and took 3 breaks. By contest's end at midnight I was pretty exhausted, not sure how people do single-op in the 48-hour tests.
Worked 20m for about 40 min, then switched to 15m for about 30 min to see if the band was open (not so much, only 4 Qs). Spent the next 3h 45m bouncing between 20m and 40m, then took a 30 min break. Came back on 40 for an hour, took another 45 min break, worked 40m for another 15 min. Took a final 30 min break to run to the QuikiMart for contest supplies (cigarettes, donuts, bottled water for coffee, important stuff like that...), then spent the remaining 3h 15m of the test on 80m.
That last stint on 80 was the most enjoyable contest experience I've had since... well, since the last time I worked 80m with a sense of purpose. That would have been back in New Jersey in the late 90's when I had a dipole and 600 watts; now I run 100 watts to an 12' mobile screwdriver antenna that doesn't tune better than 3.0:1. Little pistol station? Hell, it isn't even a .22 target gun! Yet I had a blast. The guys I worked were great and very patient as I repeated my call and exchange countless times. And some QSOs were so easy I almost forgot I was on 80m.
I hit the triple crown five times, working K7RL (WA), N6ML (CA), NC4KW (NC) and NK7U (OR) on 20/40/80, and K4SSU (GA) on 15/20/40.
I'm still not ready to make the big leap to flat-out contesting (trying to work every station I can hear, rack up as many points as I can, sit at the mic/key/computer for the duration, etc.). I'm still in it mostly for the QSLs and ulterior award-chasing motives so I still skip a lot of possible QSOs if the station is in a state already confirmed. But I gotta tell you, each time I play in one of these tests I get sucked in a little... bit.... more...
The numbers in the "worked" column for WAS-Phone went from 19 to 43 in a hurry, and just 12 hours after the contest LOTW has more than doubled the Phone confirmed column (currently at 34 and counting). Doing the search/pounce thing limited me to working only those stations who were running so I missed many needed states that I heard who were strong but also in S&P mode. On 80m, my WAS-Phone count went from 0 to 25 in less than 4 hours.
Summary:
- QSOs: 154
- US States: 37
- VE Provinces: 3
- Total Mults: 84
- Score: 12,936 pts.
Band-by Band Breakdown:
- 15m: 4 QSOs, 3 states
- 20m: 46 QSOs, 23 states, 3 provinces
- 40m: 64 QSOs, 30 states
- 80m: 40 QSOs, 25 states
