AmateurRadio.com

We are just outside Moncton NB in the smoke path

When I got up this morning and had a look outside it seemed to be a foggy morning. This is nothing new in the Maritimes, living so close to the ocean. This was a very dense fog and as I looked closer out the window it kinda looked like smoke. A fast trip out to the deck confirmed it, it was smoke and not fog. The local weather indicated were were more or less in the center of smoke coming up from the wild fire in Nova Scotia. It was time to keep all windows closed and find something to do inside for the day as I was not going to venture out in the smog.

 Hey all you Icom fans out there, as we all know, the IC-7610 is a great radio, as I have one and am super pleased with it. BUT there seems to be something fishy going on south of the border in the U.S of A. A large Amateur radio supplier in the U.S. called GigaParts is now advertising an IC-7610 ver 22 and an IC 7610 ver 32, but the catch is that the version 32 is $600.00 U.S. more. On GigaParts site, once you click on the ver 32 7610, you are informed it has "enhanced performance". 

Things just don't add up.......
- Icom's website says nothing about a version 32 or lists any enhanced improvements? 
- Icom just introduced the IC-7760, so why add internal competition? 
- To increase the rig by $600.00, which is worth at least a QST page introducing this?
- Dayton or whatever it is called now just pasted without mention of this, and believe me, these things are known well in advance at Icom or whoever. 

What does add up is the U.S. tariffs on electronics from Japan of 25%.  I am not saying the price jump is a tariff, but it is one explanation. You may ask why Icom just does not just say it is a threat; my answer to that is the big baby bear south of the border does not take kindly to that. Icom may just add a few improvements (that in the past were free updates) and call it "enhancements".  In time, let's see if Kenwood and Yaesu add "enhancements".

What are your thoughts on it...... 

Fuzzy stickers on F keys

Over the years, I have learned that with touch typing, it is very important to use the same finger for the same key. Changing up which finger you use only confuses the learning curve, and touch typing will not happen. 
Let's get back to the F keys and my "method" I use, but before that, my preferred keyboard is the XT keyboard. This is a full-sized keyboard, with mechanical keys and the F keys have spaces between the escape key and F1key, space between F4-F5 and between F8-F9. Let me explain why these spaces help me out with touch typing. Without looking at the keyboard, my left hand ring finger moves up to the F key area and finds the space between the escape key and F1, the CQ macro key. When I do that, I move my ring finger on top of the F1 CQ key. 

If I want the F2 exchange key again, my ring finger moves up to the space, then onto the F1 key. My middle finger is now over the F2 key and will drop on top of the F2 exchange key. For the F4, my call macro key, again, my left hand moves up and my pointer finger finds the space between the F4 and F5 key. This finger moves to the left to the F4 key. 

It's the right hand's turn to get an F key workout.  This is where the warm fuzzies come into play. In the heat of the contest battle, there are times I need to send a partial call due to fading or multiple callers coming back to my CQ CONTEST call. This is the job of the F5 key and a key I am still learning its position regarding my pointer finger on my right hand. What I do is, on the F5 key, I put a nice fuzzy furniture sticker there. Without looking, I can place my pointer finger close to the F5 key and move it along, and when I feel the fuzzy sticker, I am there. I do the same for the F10 log key as well. By always using the same finger over time, I can remove the fuzzy sticker and hit the desired key each time. I used this method to learn the F1, F2 and F4 keys. 

There is then the lonely pause key that swaps between VFOA and B for SO2V operation. It also has a fuzzy on it, and the key is at the end of a row with a large space on the right. I feel for the space and then move my hand to the left and find the fuzzy. 

In conclusion, it takes some time for your brain and fingers to figure out the F key adventure. If you want to learn this, it's very important to stick with the same finger, understand that you're going to mess up and as with everything, practice.  
 

 This summer, we have had great weather, and I have had more than my normal share of projects around the house to get done. These have not been minor projects but ones such as replacing all the flooring in the house, renovating the kitchen and so on. For me, these jobs are fun and I very much enjoy them as I am retired, so I don't have to rush around on weekends and evenings to get them done. BUT my radio time takes up time as well, and something has to give. It is time to take a break from doing all the weekly and weekend contesting. I can fit in some contesting here and there, but not the normal full-on effort that I have been doing. I still am able to sneak in the occasional blog post, but for now, it's time to take a break from my contesting. 

 This weekend was the North American QSO CW party, and the on time is 12 hours, and I put in about 1/4 of that. The issue was that it was a great day outside, and the sunshine and great weather was calling my name. The exchange in this contest is your name and state or province. This not being a big international contest, the CW speed varied from a slow 25 to a nice 36 wpm. I had no issues with the radio....well, having said that, now and then I have N1MM+ contest software hang after sending CW. It can get very frustrating, and I have finally narrowed it down to the Silicon Labs software needed for the Icom to communicate with the PC. It has been documented that even milliwatts of power can cause N1MM+ to hang. When you're calling CQ contest at 34-38 wpm, a hiccup like this can get very frustrating. I have good quality ferrite chokes in place, great grounding, but one issue is that my antenna is a bit close to the shack. The stray RF is hit and miss, and then when the ground outside is wet from a heavy rain, there is never an issue. (antenna is the Hustler 4BTV vertical). Now, having said that, during the NAQP I had some hang issues, but then for no reason it all of a sudden just stopped and never happened again during the contest. Anyway, I digress.....during my run, my best QSO per hour was 97 and I love that as it is GREAT for the keyboarding skill, ICR (instant character recognition) and brain training. What I really like is one op comes back to you at 25 wpm, and then the next is 36 wpm. It's great to have this shift, and it really improves your CW contest skill. The other thing is that during these times, the page up and page down keys get lots of exercise. These keys increase and decrease the CW speed. If someone comes back to my CQ at 25 or less, I hit the page down to match the speed. This op may have seen me spotted on a cluster, so my call is known, but the exchange may not populate at his end. It's polite and also less repeats, and in no way do I want to come off as a high-speed op who, if you can't match me, then I move on. Above is the final score for a very part-time effort........BUT anytime in front of the radio is a great time. 
 

And so it begins

The coax going out to my Hustler 4BTV antenna has been with me for a very long time. I would say it is at least 14 years old or more. I felt now that the summer is here and I have some spare time on my hands, it was time to change it out. I did not want to wait for it to start failing, as you know, would be either during a contest in which I was doing better than I ever have or in the dead of winter. This coaxial cable is RG-8X, and it has been performing great without any issues. I will be replacing it with brand-new RG-213 coax, which is slightly larger in diameter and more efficient than the RG-8X. Now, my run is only 40 feet, but RG-213 seemed more robust. 

The old coax RG-8X is underground about 3 feet deep and was placed in a flexible plastic conduit that is used for running electrical wire in a concrete slab during construction. The plan was to cut off the PL 259 on the RG-8X, attach a string to it and pull the RG-8X out of the tubing, leaving the string to be used to pull the RG-213 back through the pipe. Being an electrician and pulling my fair share of cables in metal conduit, metal flex and plastic flex piping, there are some very important things to remember. This is a short run, so a string was fine, but most often it is a fiberglass fish tape. 

Secure at one pulling medium at one end

Anyway....next is to make sure whatever you use to pull the cable, that it is not going to come off as you're pulling. It has happened to me, and it is a sinking feeling, and you have to start all over again. Next, when you are pulling something like thick RG-213, make sure you do not fasten the puling rope to the outside of the coax and then tape it up and start pulling. Because with the pulling rope on one side of the wire or coax cable being pulled, it has a tendency to face downward and rub along the pipe or in my case, the ribbed plastic piping. This will cause the coax to constantly get jammed, and when you are alone, that means going to the other end to pull it back and back to the pulling end....and back and forth. In the case of coax, strip it down to the center conductor and attach the pull string, fish cable or wire to that. This will allow the cable being pulled to stay in the center of the pipe. Finally, if you are using a string as your pulling medium or wire, make sure you absolutely secure the opposite end to something. I have not secured it from time to time, and what happens is that you "think" you have enough string to make it through the pipe. You then go to the other end and start pulling the old coax out, then you remove the string, fasten it to the center conductor of the new coax to be pulled back. You then venture to the other end to pull on the string, and it's GONE! It turns out it was not long enough. As you pulled the old cable out it's now in the pipe, and good luck getting another string fish line through you better have a fiberglass flexible fish. To stop this from happening secure the string at the opposite end, then as you pull, and things come to a sudden stop, you can go to the other end, see that the string has reached its limit, and you can add more. 

Let's talk about putting the good old PL-259 on the coax. I am sure all of us have done this at one time or another, but first, ALWAYS put the barrel on the coax, the part of the PL-259 that threads the PL-259 in place when you connect to the radio. I have in the past done a great job at soldering, and then to realize the threaded barrel is not on the coax! 

Make sure it on and in right direction

 Oh, and another side note, make sure it is right side up, as yup, I have placed it on the wrong side in the past, and it was upside down! Once the barrel is on the coax, put your PL-257 beside the coax with the tip at the top edge of the coax. Now, make note of where the small threaded section on the PL-259 is in relation to the coax. It is at this spot that you will be removing only the outer plastic from the RG-213. I use a razor knife with a brand-new blade to do this. Go slow and carefully, not to cut or nick the braid. I have seen tools to do this, but I just do not do enough connectors to justify the piece. 

Jacket removed at threaded section

With the braid now exposed, your next step will be to solder all or for sure most of it. 

Braid soldered

Get your connector again and lay it beside the soldered braid section again, lining up the tip of the PL-259 with the top of the RG-213. Make note of where the plastic section starts that insulates the center conductor from the shell. Using your razor knife again, cut into the tinned braid to remove the braid and the center plastic, exposing the center conductor. Again, be careful not to nick the center conductor. If done correctly, you will have a nice, clean break between the braid, the plastic insulator and the center conductor. 

Braid and plastic removed

At this point, I will solder tin to the center conductor so it does not come apart while inserting the PL-259.  

It's now time to put the PL-259 body on the coax, and with RG-213, there is no reducer to worry about, as the PL-259 will screw onto the coax. Before you begin this, what I do is I place the PL-259 body beside the prepared coax. I line it up as if it were installed on the coax. I do this so it shows me where the PL-259 will stop on the coax when it is fully seated. At this spot, I place a piece of electrical tape so I know where to stop. I have heard stories where the op keeps turning the PL-259 body onto the coax, and suddenly the plastic insulator between the center conductor and body dislodges from the main body. 

Stop mark when installing PL-259

With the PL-259 fully seated, it is time to again check to make sure you put the threaded part of the connector on the coax and that it is right side up. Then you can solder the braid and center conductor. For this, I have my Weller soldering station on high with the largest tip. 

PL-259 on and ready to be soldered

After the braid is soldered, let the PL-259 cool down and check for shorts (Between the braid and the center conductor). Then, solder the center conductor again, wait for it to cool and check again for a shorts. 

Checking

If the PL-259 is outdoors, put on some self-amalgamating tape and some Scotch Super 33+ as it has a great temperature range to it.