AmateurRadio.com

I have a story for you. All of it is true, but I have not changed my name.

Wow! I am always amazed at those moments in my amateur radio hobby when spontaneous joy is had by unexpected events.

Iran worked as ATNO DXCC 2022-APR-14

On Thursday, 14-April-2022, at about 17:30 Universal Time (UT), the unexpected occurred, and it started by accident.

I have been reorganizing my radio shack. Once I moved my main transceiver (the Icom IC-7610) from one desk to another, and had it back in operation, I left it tuned to a random frequency, in the CW mode. It was just sitting there, hissing away with the typical shortwave sounds of a frequency on which no one was transmitting. And me? I was going about reorganizing my radio shack.

After a while, I heard the start of a Morse-code CW signal; the operator was sending a CQ call–a transmission that invites a response from anyone who wishes to have a QSO with the calling station. What I heard was, “CQ CQ DE EP2ABS EP2ABS…”

NOTE: This transceiver, my Icom IC-7610, is listening with the new antenna—the 254-foot doublet up at 80 feet–that was raised up into the air here at my QTH by a fine crew from Hams in the Air.

I looked up EP2ABS on QRZ dot com, because I did not know from what country/entity the EP2 prefix on callsigns belongs. I was excited to see that EP2 is from Iran!

I started answering his CQ call, “DE NW7US NW7US,” for at least ten minutes; each time he sent his CQ, I answered. Finally, I heard him answering me, “NW7US NW7US DE EP2ABS 5NN…”

I answered back, sending my signal report, “5NN 5NN DE NW7US TU”

Soon after that simple exchange, he confirmed our QSO by posting our QSO to Logbook of the World (LotW).

Thus, by accident–as I had simply left the transceiver tuned to a randomly-selected frequency and stayed on that frequency listening while doing my chores–I heard the Iranian station calling CQ. What are the odds!?!?

This is my first QSO with Iran, another All Time New One (ATNO). How cool!

Note: This is a testimony to the work from the crew that did the fine work of getting this antenna installed.  Here is a video presented by Hams on the Air:

73 de NW7US dit dit

A VISUAL + AUDIO AIR CHECK OF DIGITAL MODE FT8 QSOs, ON THE 30-METER BAND

Here is a video capture of the reception and transmission of many digital FT8-mode amateur radio high-frequency (HF; Shortwave) communication signals. This video is a front-seat view of the software operation performed at the radio room of amateur radio operator, NW7US, Tomas Hood.

The software packages demonstrated are installed and operational on a modern personal computer. The computer is connected to an Icom IC-7610 radio transceiver, controlled by the software. While there is no narration in the video, the video provides an opportunity for you to see first-hand how typical FT8 operations are performed. The signals can be heard.

The frequency used for the FT8 communication in this video is on or about 10.136 MHz, in the 30-Meter shortwave amateur radio allocation (or, band). As can be seen, the 30-Meter band was active at this time of day (0720 UTC, onward–local nighttime).

In this video you see (and hear) NW7US make two-way contacts, or QSOs, with stations from around the country and the world.

There are amateur radio operators within the amateur radio community who regard the FT8 digital mode (FT8 stands for “Franke-Taylor design, 8-FSK modulation“, and refers to the mode created by Joe Taylor, K1JT and Steve Franke, K9AN) as robotic (automatic, automated, and unattended) computer-to-computer communications, and not ‘true’ human communications–thus negating the spirit of ham radio. In other words, FT8, in their opinion, is not real amateur radio. While they pontificate about supposed automated computer communications, many of those holding this position have not installed and configured the software, nor tried communicating with the FT8 digital mode. They have perhaps formed their anti-FT8 opinion in a vacuum of knowledge. (This writer has other issues with FT8, but not on this point–see below)

As you watch the video linked in this article, consider these concepts:

+ A QSO is defined (as per common knowledge–see below) as the exchange of at least the minimum information needed as set by the requirements of a particular award, or, as is defined by law–for instance, a QSO would have at least an exchange of the legal call sign assigned to the radio station and/or control operator, the location of the station making the transmission, and a signal report of some kind about the signal received from the other transmitter at the other end of the QSO.

+ Just how much human involvement is required to make a full FT8 QSO? Does WSJT-X software run all by itself, with no human control? Is WSJT-X a robot, in the sense that it picks a frequency, then initiates or answers a CQ call automatically, or is it just powerful digital-mode software that still requires human control?

The video was captured from the screen of the PC running the following software packages interacting together as a system:

+ WSJT-X: The primary software featuring the digital mode, FT8. (See below for some background on WSJT-X software.)

+ JTAlert: Provides several audio and visual alert types based on decoded Callsigns within WSJT-X.

+ Log4OM, Version 2: A full-featured logging program, which integrates well with WSJT-X and JTAlert.

+ Win4IcomSuite: A full-featured radio controlling program which can remote control rigs, and provide control through virtual communication port-sharing.

+ Com0Com: The Null-modem emulator allows you to create an unlimited number of virtual COM port pairs and use any pair to connect one COM port based application to another. Each COM port pair provides two COM ports. The output to one port is the input from other port and vice versa.

As mentioned, above, the radio used for the communication of FT8 at the station, NW7US, is an Icom IC-7610 transceiver. The antenna is an off-center fed dipole that is over 200 feet in total length (end-to-end measurement).

Some Notes:

About WSJT-X

WSJT-X is a computer program used for weak-signal radio communication between amateur radio operators, or used by Shortwave Radio Listeners (SWLers; SWL) interested in monitoring the FT8 digital communications between amateur radio operators. The program was initially written by Joe Taylor, K1JT with Steve Franke, K9AN, but is now open source and is developed by a small team. The digital signal processing techniques in WSJT-X make it substantially easier for amateur radio operators to employ esoteric propagation modes, such as high-speed meteor scatter and moonbounce.

WSJT-X implements communication protocols or “modes” called FST4, FST4W, FT4, FT8, JT4, JT9, JT65, Q65, MSK144, and WSPR, as well as one called Echo for detecting and measuring your own radio signals reflected from the Moon. These modes were all designed for making reliable, confirmed QSOs under extreme weak-signal conditions. JT4, JT9, and JT65 use nearly identical message structure and source encoding (the efficient compression of standard messages used for minimal QSOs). They use timed 60-second Transmit/Rreceive (T/R) sequences synchronized with UTC (Universal Time, Coordinated). JT4 and JT65 were designed for Earth-Moon-Earth communications (EME, or, moonbounce) on the Very-High Frequency (VHF), Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) and microwave bands. JT9 is optimized for the Medium-Frequency (MF) and High-Frequency (HF) bands. It is about 2 dB more sensitive than JT65 while using less than 10% of the bandwidth. Q65 offers submodes with a wide range of T/R sequence lengths and tone spacings.FT4 and FT8 are operationally similar but use T/R cycles only 7.5 and 15 seconds long, respectively. MSK144 is designed for Meteor Scatter on the VHF bands. These modes offer enhanced message formats with support for nonstandard call signs and some popular contests. (The MSK in MSK144 stands for, Multiple Frequency Shift Keying.)

FST4 and FST4W are designed particularly for the Low-Frequency (LF) and MF bands. On these bands, their fundamental sensitivities are better than other WSJT-X modes with the same sequence lengths, approaching the theoretical limits for their rates of information throughput. FST4 is optimized for two-way QSOs, while FST4W is for quasi-beacon transmissions of WSPR-style messages. FST4 and FST4W do not require the strict, independent time synchronization and phase locking of modes like EbNaut.

As described more fully on its own page, WSPR mode implements a protocol designed for probing potential propagation paths with low-power transmissions. WSPR is fully implemented within WSJT-X, including programmable band-hopping.

What is a QSO?

Under the title, CONTACTS, at the Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club’s 2014 Technician Class webpage, https://www.hsdivers.com/Ham/Mod15.html, they teach,

An amateur radio contact (called a QSO), is an exchange of info between two amateur radio stations. The exchange usually consists of an initial call (CQ = call to all stations). Then, a response from another amateur radio operator, and usually at least a signal report.

Contacts can be limited to just a minimal exchange of call signs & signal reports generally between amateurs previously unknown to each other. Very short contacts are usually done only during contests while longer, extended ‘rag chews’ may be between newly met friends with some common interest or someone you have known for a long time.

Wikipedia has an entry for QSO, too.

My Issue With FT8 and WSJT-X

I have written in the past, on this website, about an issue that came about during the course of the development of the WSJT-X software package. The development team decided to widen the slice of ‘default’ (pre-programmed) frequencies on which to operate FT8. The issue was how the choice of new frequencies was made, and what choices were implemented in an upcoming software release. Read more about all of this, in these three articles:

+ Land (er, FREQUENCY) Grab (Part 1)

+ One Aspect of Amateur Radio: Good Will Ambassadors to the World

+ In Response — Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Has this issue been resolved? For now, yes. There appears to be more coordination between interested groups, and the proposed new frequencies were removed from the software defaults in WSJT-X. At least, up to this point, at the time of publishing this article.

..

The following footprints are of my CW signals on 2021-March-14 at about 04:00 to 04:20 UTC.

Click on this image to see a larger version of this image:

Location: EM89ad – Ohio
Antenna: OCD (Off-center Dipole)

Description of Antenna:

This is an off-center dipole, with the two legs running East-East-South (approximately 125 degrees of North), and West-West-North (about 306 degrees on the compass). The westward wire (leg) is approximately 107 feet in length, while the eastward leg is about 95 feet in length.

These legs (an off-center-fed dipole) is directly connected to about 90 feet of 450-ohm ladder line, which is hanging directly below, vertically, the feed point. The feed point is 50 feet above the ground.

The ladder line terminates (at the 12-feet-above-ground point) to a 4:1 current balun. This current balun then connects to a 100-foot LMR 50-ohm coax, which is running into the radio shack. It is connected via an antenna switch to my Icom IC-7610 transceiver. I am transmitting a 100-watt CW signal using an Icom IC-7610, in the following format:

TEST TEST TEST DE NW7US NW7US NW7US

The Reverse Beacon Network reports any spotting of this test transmission. The beta mapping interface, at http://beta.reversebeacon.net/main.php, then maps the resulting spots. To learn more about the RBN, visit http://beta.reversebeacon.net/index.php, or, http://reversebeacon.net/index.php.

I show the 20-, 30-, 40-, 60-, 80-, and 160-Meter band footprints.

I’ve been capturing these CW transmission spots, at different times of the day, today. I’ll get data from several days, at regular intervals, and create a overview of how the antenna appears to be working during this month and under these propagation conditions.

73 de NW7US dit dit

..

About a month ago, I asked,

“What is going on with you during this challenging situation?” and, “How do you use amateur radio, now that we are all stuck at home?  Are you using ham radio more, now?  Less?“

I am moved to say, “Thank you, to each of you who commented and even those who made a video response. I sure appreciate it!“

During that video blog (or, Vlog), back a month ago (link: Chat From a Quarantined Software Engineer – Welfare Check!), I mentioned my need for dental surgery. 

I did have to have the tooth removed.  It was completely split down the middle (top to bottom), down to the root.  There was no justifiable way to save the tooth. 

I now am missing two bottom back-most teeth, and one bottom, back-most tooth.  I can report that I have healed up nicely.  I am starting to enjoy a hamburger or two.

Through all of this, I’ve still been working. Also, I’ve been involved with a LOT more ham radio–especially with Morse code activities.

How has the last month treated you?  After watching this new video (below), please leave a comment or two, or three; let hear from you, okay?

More than anything, please leave a comment to let me know how you are doing.  I hope to hear from you.

Here’s the video:

73 de NW7US dit dit

I was first introduced to D-Star some twelve years or so ago.  I purchased the ICOM IC-92AD hand-held and managed to get setup on one of the local D-Star repeaters.  Being one who (at the time) preferred all things HF, my D-Star activities were almost non-existent.  But it was fun to tinker and learn.

Some time passed and I experimented with various DVAP type devices that came onto the market.  I preferred using these to the local repeater, since I could connect into reflectors around the world and share in all the fun of digital radio.

Around the early 2016 timeframe, I purchased the Hardened Power DHAP Mini Mega Self Powered Enclosure along with a Raspberry Pi 3 and the DVMEGA Dualband add-on for the Pi.  The DHAP case is a 3-D printed plastic.

Inside there’s plenty of room for the Raspberry Pi, the DVMEGA and four rechargeable batteries.

I setup the Raspberry Pi with a popular image at the time from the Maryland D-Star group.  As I have never claimed to be a Raspberry Pi expert, even though I do own three devices.  One being an ADS-B aircraft tracker and second which has been running SETI@home and then the third running the Maryland D-Star setup.

Anyway, the Maryland D-Star image was easy to setup and at the time (2016) the group was active.  They had a website which contained more knowledge needed to setup the Pi and a very helpful forum community.  I could fire up my DHAP and via my radio connect/disconnect reflectors all around the world, reboot or shutdown the Pi.  It was all very cool.

Burnout

When the burnout occurred in late 2016, I wasn’t doing any form of operating and as a result I shut down the D-Star Pi and placed it (along with the IC-92) in a closet.  It sat there until just about two weeks ago when (like many of you) found myself bored out of my skull from the self-isolation COVID-19 routine.  I decided this was a project that might take my mind off the events of the world and might even help rekindle some of my amateur radio interests.

Power Up

After being sat idle for over three years, everything needed a good charge.  Surprisingly my ICOM batteries all came back to life and even the DHAP powered on just fine.  Everything worked (just as it did when I shut it down) but I figured at the very least I needed to update the software.  That’s when I realized the Maryland D-Star Pi was no more.

Pi-Star

While everything worked (best I could tell), in my hunt for what happened to the Maryland group, I discovered Pi-Star.  The Pi-Star group is an active group and appears to be the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to all things D-Star hotspots.  So I downloaded their latest and greatest image (4.1.0), installed it onto an empty SD card and began noodling around.

Of course “Noodling” around is much like driving around trying to find something without actually stopping to ask for directions.  The end result left me sort of frustrated and wondering if I should just go back to using the old Maryland setup.  At least it worked…for now.  But it’s not like I don’t have time or the mental capacity to figure this out.  So, diving head first into the forums I began to find the answers I needed and more importantly, I knew once I had everything working…it would be a much better setup.

All the Pre-requisites

As my DVMEGA was several years old, one of the first things required was to update the firmware so it could take advantage of all the features in Pi-Star.  This wasn’t as straight forward as I had hoped it would be.  It required some risky soldering of a short wire so the firmware of the DVMEGA could be updated.  I found all the documentation required for performing this risky step located here.  Well…almost!

With soldering iron, wire and some solder in hand, I completed the risky step and proceeded to update the firmware.  However, each time I attempted to perform the update it failed.  What have I done?  Did I ruin the DVMEGA?  I decided to go to bed and then take another stab at it the next day.

With a strong cup of coffee in hand, I proceeded to double-check all my work.  I felt confident in the soldering job, so hardware was all GO!  I then looked at it from the software perspective.  I decided to try using an older version of Pi-Star to rule out some issue with the latest version.

BINGO!

Once I rolled back to version 3.4.17 (from earlier this year), the process of updating the DVMEGA firmware worked just as it should.  In just a few minutes I had managed to update the firmware of my DVMEGA board from 2.19 to the latest 3.26.

More Frustration

With the DVMEGA updated to 3.26 and my Pi running Pi-Star 4.1.0, I began digging into the programming requirements of my radio.  For the life of me, I couldn’t figure  out how I needed to setup the radio so I could still control the system from my handheld.  After a bit of swearing and more digging in the forums, I discovered a fairly significant difference between how the radio needed to be setup from what was required with the Maryland D-Star setup.

I got there in the end

Yep, all appears to be working perfect.  I can easily connect and disconnect from any reflector I have programmed into my IC-92 from anywhere in the house.  While I tend to leave the setup in my shack (basement man cave) connected via Ethernet cable, I also can move the device around the house and use wi-fi.

From within my QTH the device is fully self-contained.  I can run it off the batteries and wi-fi and have coverage anywhere within the house (or even from back deck) should I choose.

Next Steps

I do have a few additional setup steps which I plan to experiment with in the coming days.  With the old Maryland setup I had my smartphone hotspot configured which would allow me to take this mobile.  Pending I had good broadband coverage, I could activate my hotspot, turn on the DHAP and place it all in the car for mobile ops.

Want more info on Pi-Star?

Your first stop needs to be the Pi-Star homepage.  From there you can join the forums, download the software and learn everything you need to know about Pi-Star.  I also found another great source of information on the Amateur Radio Notes blog site which is managed by Toshen, KEOFHS.  He’s a fellow Coloradoan living in Lyons.

Well I think that just about does it for this posting.  I wish you and your family a very Blessed Easter weekend (if you celebrate).  I’ll return soon with another update.

73 de KDØBIK (Jerry)

I was first introduced to D-Star some twelve years or so ago.  I purchased the ICOM IC-92AD hand-held and managed to get setup on one of the local D-Star repeaters.  Being one who (at the time) preferred all things HF, my D-Star activities were almost non-existent.  But it was fun to tinker and learn.

Some time passed and I experimented with various DVAP type devices that came onto the market.  I preferred using these to the local repeater, since I could connect into reflectors around the world and share in all the fun of digital radio.

Around the early 2016 timeframe, I purchased the Hardened Power DHAP Mini Mega Self Powered Enclosure along with a Raspberry Pi 3 and the DVMEGA Dualband add-on for the Pi.  The DHAP case is a 3-D printed plastic.

Inside there’s plenty of room for the Raspberry Pi, the DVMEGA and four rechargeable batteries.

I setup the Raspberry Pi with a popular image at the time from the Maryland D-Star group.  As I have never claimed to be a Raspberry Pi expert, even though I do own three devices.  One being an ADS-B aircraft tracker and second which has been running SETI@home and then the third running the Maryland D-Star setup.

Anyway, the Maryland D-Star image was easy to setup and at the time (2016) the group was active.  They had a website which contained more knowledge needed to setup the Pi and a very helpful forum community.  I could fire up my DHAP and via my radio connect/disconnect reflectors all around the world, reboot or shutdown the Pi.  It was all very cool.

Burnout

When the burnout occurred in late 2016, I wasn’t doing any form of operating and as a result I shut down the D-Star Pi and placed it (along with the IC-92) in a closet.  It sat there until just about two weeks ago when (like many of you) found myself bored out of my skull from the self-isolation COVID-19 routine.  I decided this was a project that might take my mind off the events of the world and might even help rekindle some of my amateur radio interests.

Power Up

After being sat idle for over three years, everything needed a good charge.  Surprisingly my ICOM batteries all came back to life and even the DHAP powered on just fine.  Everything worked (just as it did when I shut it down) but I figured at the very least I needed to update the software.  That’s when I realized the Maryland D-Star Pi was no more.

Pi-Star

While everything worked (best I could tell), in my hunt for what happened to the Maryland group, I discovered Pi-Star.  The Pi-Star group is an active group and appears to be the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to all things D-Star hotspots.  So I downloaded their latest and greatest image (4.1.0), installed it onto an empty SD card and began noodling around.

Of course “Noodling” around is much like driving around trying to find something without actually stopping to ask for directions.  The end result left me sort of frustrated and wondering if I should just go back to using the old Maryland setup.  At least it worked…for now.  But it’s not like I don’t have time or the mental capacity to figure this out.  So, diving head first into the forums I began to find the answers I needed and more importantly, I knew once I had everything working…it would be a much better setup.

All the Pre-requisites

As my DVMEGA was several years old, one of the first things required was to update the firmware so it could take advantage of all the features in Pi-Star.  This wasn’t as straight forward as I had hoped it would be.  It required some risky soldering of a short wire so the firmware of the DVMEGA could be updated.  I found all the documentation required for performing this risky step located here.  Well…almost!

With soldering iron, wire and some solder in hand, I completed the risky step and proceeded to update the firmware.  However, each time I attempted to perform the update it failed.  What have I done?  Did I ruin the DVMEGA?  I decided to go to bed and then take another stab at it the next day.

With a strong cup of coffee in hand, I proceeded to double-check all my work.  I felt confident in the soldering job, so hardware was all GO!  I then looked at it from the software perspective.  I decided to try using an older version of Pi-Star to rule out some issue with the latest version.

BINGO!

Once I rolled back to version 3.4.17 (from earlier this year), the process of updating the DVMEGA firmware worked just as it should.  In just a few minutes I had managed to update the firmware of my DVMEGA board from 2.19 to the latest 3.26.

More Frustration

With the DVMEGA updated to 3.26 and my Pi running Pi-Star 4.1.0, I began digging into the programming requirements of my radio.  For the life of me, I couldn’t figure  out how I needed to setup the radio so I could still control the system from my handheld.  After a bit of swearing and more digging in the forums, I discovered a fairly significant difference between how the radio needed to be setup from what was required with the Maryland D-Star setup.

I got there in the end

Yep, all appears to be working perfect.  I can easily connect and disconnect from any reflector I have programmed into my IC-92 from anywhere in the house.  While I tend to leave the setup in my shack (basement man cave) connected via Ethernet cable, I also can move the device around the house and use wi-fi.

From within my QTH the device is fully self-contained.  I can run it off the batteries and wi-fi and have coverage anywhere within the house (or even from back deck) should I choose.

Next Steps

I do have a few additional setup steps which I plan to experiment with in the coming days.  With the old Maryland setup I had my smartphone hotspot configured which would allow me to take this mobile.  Pending I had good broadband coverage, I could activate my hotspot, turn on the DHAP and place it all in the car for mobile ops.

Want more info on Pi-Star?

Your first stop needs to be the Pi-Star homepage.  From there you can join the forums, download the software and learn everything you need to know about Pi-Star.  I also found another great source of information on the Amateur Radio Notes blog site which is managed by Toshen, KEOFHS.  He’s a fellow Coloradoan living in Lyons.

Well I think that just about does it for this posting.  I wish you and your family a very Blessed Easter weekend (if you celebrate).  I’ll return soon with another update.

73 de KDØBIK (Jerry)

This past weekend (third full weekend in February, February 15-16, 2020) is the ARRL International CW Contest (ARRL DX CW link: http://www.arrl.org/arrl-dx ). This is interesting to my study of radio signal propagation as a columnist and as an amateur radio operator​ because of the contest objective: “To encourage W/VE stations to expand knowledge of DX propagation on the HF and MF bands…” This contest is a good way to get a feel for current propagation–though there are caveats.

Speaking of Morse code and the CW mode on our amateur bands: those of you using CW during contests, do you send by hand or by computer?  Do you copy the code by head, or do you use a computer for decoding?

Just curious about those of you who use CW. Do you send by hand or computer? Receive by head or computer?

In most contests like the ARRL DX CW contest, I copy by ear, and send mostly by rig keyer. If needed, I use a single paddle key with the Icom rig’s internal keyer to answer unique questions and so on.

Below is a quick demo of using the internal Morse code keyer in my Icom IC-7610 transceiver.

V47T, in the Saint Kitts and Nevis Island in the Caribbean, is calling CQ TEST in the ARRL DX CW contest.

Using the programmable virtual buttons, in which I programmed my callsign, NW7US, and other info, I answer and make a complete contest QSO.

In activity like the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC – https://SKCCGroup.com) K3Y special event, it is all manual. I send my Morse code using a WWII Navy Flameproof Signal Key, and decode with my ears.  It is contextual for me.

How do you do contesting Morse code?  Bonus question: How do you do logging while doing contest operation?

73 es best dx = de NW7US dit dit