AmateurRadio.com

As I wrote in a previous post, being used to rigs from over 20 years ago it was quite a culture shock operating both the KX3 and the IC-7200. Knobs all have dual functions and there are menus abound with almost infinite options. RTFM is not an option, it is a must. In the beginning I found that I would often put my KX3 aside and go back to my tried, trusted and familiar TS130V to have my radio fix.

After I got the IC-7200 that changed, because to me the lay-out and functions came a bit more natural. I did have a “duh” moment when I connected a microphone to the set. I didn’t get the stock HM-36 mike but bought a HM-118TN instead, which is supposed to be wired identically. The mike would key the radio but no sound was being transmitted in SSB. Turned out there is a menu option where you can choose what input to use for SSB: the front connector, the USB connector or the rear aux connector. Maybe obvious to most, but it took me the entire evening to find out, resulting in a brand new microphone being completely disassembled and reassembled.

But after that everything was fine and dandy and now after some two months of operating both I can more or less say which of the two sets has my preference. And the winner is…….none at all! Both are fine rigs in their own right, but neither one will become my favourite rig. Here is why (and remember, these are my opinions based on my experience)….

First the KX3, the pros of this rig:

• an excellent receiver for CW and SSB
• very sharp filters
• excellent internal tuner
• easy CW operation and internal decoder
• energy efficient
• config menu system is very clear and arranged alphabetically

and the cons:

• volume is much too low and distorted when turned up
• lousy AGC
• lousy AM reception
• sub par reception below 1800 kHz
• no separate audio out
• no adaptive tuning speed
• clumsy operation for some functions
• inadequate cooling of the finals
• output power only 12 Watts

My biggest gripe with the KX3 is the audio output. I realize that the rig is designed for use with headphones, but I am not keen on using headphones inside the shack. When receiving weak signals I have to turn up the volume high (up to 50) to hear it comfortably (with NR off, because that reduces audio volume even further). If you then encounter a strong signal the AGC doesn’t kick in enough so you get distortion. I tried playing with the AGC settings, but to no avail. I also tried to further isolate the small speaker from the case, but also no improvement. I could use an external speaker, but that defeats the purpose of the KX3 as being a complete package in a small footprint.

Apart from the audio gripe the KX3 is a dream for CW operators. The spot function is so convenient I already miss it when not using the KX3. Even under noisy conditions the 50 Hz filter still produces clear signals. I compared both rigs during the CQ160 contest in January. On the IC-7200 I heard stations, but could not decode them. With the KX3 they came in clear and decodable. If the Elecraft K3 is as good at receiving as the KX3 it might well become my next rig.

Then the IC-7200. The pros here:

• easy to operate
• excellent audio for such a small speaker
• adaptive tuning speed
• one USB connection for audio and rig control
• filters are excellent for digital modes
• excellent reception on medium wave
• 100 Watts output power

and the cons:

• no band up/down buttons
• no PTT button
• narrow filters settings give a lot of ringing under noisy conditions
• lousy internal keyer
• some often used functions are not easy accessible
• sub par reception below 500 kHz

Operating CW with the IC-7200 is not as pleasurable as the KX3. With little noise the narrow filters work fine and give clear audio. But with the noise level going up, so does the ringing and that makes signals unintelligible. The USB cable connection for both rig control and audio is a great feature, but it has its disadvantages: below 10 MHz the noise from my laptop is noticeable and below 3.5 MHz it obliterates most signals, except the strongest ones. Unplugging helps, but that defeats the purpose of the USB connection, of course.

But you have to live with the cons and enjoy the pros, so I will. Need I make a choice I would keep the IC-7200, because it delivers more bang for the buck and the set just “feels” right to me. The KX3 doesn’t give me that comfy feeling when I operate it, but man, it sure can receive well. I don’t need to make a choice, though. I will keep both rigs because the KX3 will be used in my portable shack-in-a-box and the IC-7200 will remain on my desk for daily operations. It’s almost a bit like with cars: a station wagon for daily commutes and grocery shopping, and a sports car for those short drives in the weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrtHzsZMfm8

Aaron Crawford, N3MBH, is in the process of designing a repeater controller using his Raspberry Pi. He’s moved into testing on the RPi and toward designing and refining the circuitry for the radio interface.

What makes this different than other projects I’ve seen is the polish of his web interface. You can tell he’s a web developer — it’s definitely slick!

Aaron describes the project here:

In setting out to develop this project my primary goals and features are to develop a low-cost, low-power, but feature rich duplex repeater controller suitable for setting up a temporary / emergency repeater systems with radios that can be run on portable power. However with a more complete feature set and a modular design, it could also be used as a primary or a backup controller for a permanent installation repeater. With the low cost, modular design, it would make it easy to keep backup hardware (Raspberry Pi, repeater control board, and a cloned SD card) on site for easy service swap-outs.

This is definitely a project to keep an eye on. Kickstarter, anyone?

Birthday parties for 8 year old daughters are fun, but soooooo tiring. My plan was to get up early on Sunday morning and take full advantage of the daylight path to north America for the ARRL DX Contest. But Saturday was the day of the long awaited party and we outdid ourselves entertaining all the little guests, until we drove them home in the evening. So when I opened my eyes on Sunday it was already 10 local time and when I crept behind the set already after 11. Most of NA in the dark, so I didn’t expect much from 15 and 10 meters.

But boy, was I wrong! The 15 meter band was wide open and I logged two new states: Louisiana and Iowa. Georgia also yielded two new stations, despite it being after dusk there for a while already. Strangely though, the 10 meter band didn’t show any sign from NA, but 20 meters did and in the middle of the day I was able to log two stations from the west coast with excellent signals. And the last thing that really surprised me was the discipline in this contest. I didn’t encounter any rude behaviour and stations didn’t spill over into other portions of the bands. Kudos to all the operators who took part. It sure was fun!

Clint Bradford, K6LCS

Many hams don’t have the financial resources to buy some of the more exotic equipment you see in the full-page QST ads. Don’t worry, you don’t have to feel left out! What almost every ham DOES have is a dual-band HT. Clint Bradford, K6LCS, has created an excellent THE go-to resource to show you how you can easily work the FM birds with minimal equipment — most of which you probably already have! His site is truly a wealth of information.

He shared this with me:

It has been my mission in life the past 8+ years to show those who have never worked an amateur satellite that they CAN do it – with equipment they probably already own. I mean, when I first saw an AMSAT table at a hamfest several years ago, I just walked on by, wrongly believing that I needed 100W of TX power, multiple Yagis on the roof (which has led to divorces in my state), and that expensive Yaesu rotator.

Clint lays it out step-by-step:

• Radio options
  
  Clint uses a Yaesu FT-60R with a speaker mic, but you can use most dual-band HTs that feature the ability to program “split frequencies.” Ideally, you could use a second radio (or scanner) and work in full-duplex mode. According to Clint, there are discontinued HTs which support full-duplex including the Kenwood TH-D7/TH-D79, Icom IC-W32a, and the Yaesu FT-470/FT-51/FT-530.

• Antenna options
  
  Clint recommends the Arrow Antenna Model 146/437-10WBP or Elk Log Periodic Model 2M/440L5, but these very nice (but expensive) antennas aren’t your only option. He suggests that you could build a simple and inexpensive tape measure beam with very acceptable results. Just want to listen?  Well, Clint shares that although it takes more patience and finesse to work satellites with “lesser” antennas, one of the first 2-meter reception reports from the ARISSat-1 was from someone using the stock antenna on his Yaesu VX-9 HT!

• Find an “easy” satellite
  
  Clint recommends starting off with SO-50  or even the ISS (International Space Station). He has a great satellite schedule page on his site which lists the current status/availability of each bird and the necessary frequencies and CTCSS. Of note, some birds may require the transmission of a certain tone to activate a timer. After that, a different subaudible tone is used for the duration of the QSO. He does note that SO-50 can be a little “finicky” — for best results, work it full-duplex.

• Track the satellite
  
  You have to know both when the satellite will be “visible” to you, and where you’ll need to point your antenna. Clint has a tracking page on his site which lists some of the programs and apps he recommends. While there are a variety of commercial options, he offers some good free options including AMSAT’s Online Satellite Tracking and Heavens-Above.

• That’s it! Have fun!

If you haven’t already done so, download and print his 4-page PDF guide called Work FM Satellites with your HT! to use as a reference. Thanks for the hard work, Clint. We appreciate it!

BCD436HP Sentinel Software won’t read SD Card

Like many, I was excited to know that Uniden was coming out with a new line of scanners. As someone that owns many of their products as well as their HomePatrol I have really liked the direction they have been going with easy of programming (like GRE has done for some time) and the ability to use GPS to automatically update locations is another great option.

Well, you have read enough about the scanner and I will do my own review at some point, but this post is about the fact that there has been a nagging issue that I have seen others have and unfortunately, I ran into the same issue.

For some reason Uniden did not format their SD Cards in the same format so there has been some of us with both the UNIDEN BCD536HP as well as the BCD436HP that have had SD Card unreadable or not recognized by the Sentinel software.  I have read many posts out there about people getting frustrated and sending theirs back as defective units which I was concerned about when I read this, but alas after trying several cables, different computers with Windows 7, Windows 8 and even Windows 8.1 I found a very simple solution.

http://nicktoday.com/bcd436hp-sentinel-software-wont-read-sd-card/

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 63 is now available for download.

Tommy and George visit the Jackson Amateur Radio Club’s 2014 Capital City Hamfest and bring back some unique stories. A special appearance by the guys from Ham Dynasty. Peter talks All About Radio. Tommy shows us simple tips to Secure Your Pi. And George brings us some Soldering Tip Tips.

1:04:52 of ALTV with the usual suspects.

Download

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