Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
K3 Killer imminent?
August 20th, 2010 | 
Author: Kenwood Corporation recently announced the October launch of the long-awaited TS-590 HF/6m transceiver. Described in some quarters as a “K3 killer”, the new transceiver uses the novel (for modern Japanese radios) approach of a single conversion receiver with a low (11.374MHz) IF on the amateur bands to give what is claimed to be exceptional dynamic range.
The news release bears careful reading, as what it doesn’t say is as interesting as what it does. The receiver will have a 6KHz roofing filter directly after the mixer, followed by a 500Hz or 2.7KHz filter (both included as standard) after the post-amplifier. But a footnote states that “For 1.8/3.5/7/14/21MHz amateur bands, when receiving in CW/FSK/SSB modes down conversion is selected automatically if the final passband is 2.7kHz or less” which suggests that a conventional (for the Japanese) up conversion will be used for the short wave bands, AM or FM modes, the WARC bands, 10 and 6m.
I think the current obsession with receiver performance figures is absurd. I am far from being a member of the Elecraft fan club, but even assuming the TS-590 does turn out to outperform the K3 on the main amateur bands, I think anyone considering swapping their K3 for the Kenwood on that basis would be foolish.
As far as I know, the Kenwood will not have an option for a second receiver, nor one for a panadapter. It will not have the transverter and external preamp interfacing (which I use to insert the MFJ noise canceller) nor an independent receive antenna input. I doubt that it will have fully isolated audio inputs for data nor a soft ALC in digital modes that allows you to vary the power output in PSK31 without fiddling with computer mixer settings to avoid IMD problems. I’m sure it won’t have an internal 144MHz option either.
Whenever I look at the features of the K3 that I am currently using, I realize that there is nothing else on the market at a price I am willing to pay, nor which would fit on my operating desk, that could do what my K3 is doing.
The price of the TS-590 will be 228,900 Yen, or about £2,000 by the time you have added on VAT (never mind the usual exorbitant UK dealer mark-up.) If it goes on sale here at £2,499 I will not be surprised. Compared to currently available HF radios and Kenwood’s previous HF models including the TS-570 to which this new rig bears a considerable similarity, the TS-590 looks overpriced for what in the end is nothing more than a compact HF/6m radio.
A K3 killer? I don’t think so!
When Everything Has Failed
The main character of the story, Robert Earle, has lost all of his family due to epidemics and other bad stuff, but him and others in the town of Union Grove, NY are attempting to get back to normalcy, or the best that can be expected in this new world. Radio surprisingly doesn't get much of a mention in the story. At the beginning of the story the electricity comes on once every few weeks or months and for very short periods, sometimes seconds, with a household AM radio left on to signal its arrival. Earle is only able to find a few AM broadcast stations carrying evangelists and unfortunately he lacks a shortwave radio. Eventually Earle breaks with the past and his hopes for the old world to return and symbolically turns off the AM radio.
Being the radio artisan I am, my mind began to explore the technical side of this. I think in this post-apocalyptic world some form of amateur radio would survive and would likely be the only network for information and communications. We've proved over the years beyond a doubt that low power operation works, and with energy in such short supply, low power would be a necessity. Even a simple low power radio fashioned much like a Pixie or a Rockmite would be priceless. I envision radio communications networks forming, much like they did in the early 20th century, to pass messages. When the Big One (tm) hits communications won't involve florescent yellow vests and go kits, it will be scrounging wire and parts from landfills and making homemade batteries and generators. Who knows, maybe even spark will make a comeback. In the story it's clear that those with food, energy, natural resources, and people are those with power. Communications would undoubtedly be another source of power and those with the ability to communicate long distances would be an asset to their community, or as was often the case in the story, a feudal lord.
Despite being a story of gloom, pain, and despair, there were times of great joy, beauty, and simplicity. It certainly made me think, especially while reading on a huge hunk of metal in the ocean with nearly 5,000 people on board and enough fuel to power a small city.
Mobile In New York City
Hallowed ground?
But I digress....
XTalset Society, neat articles for new homebrewers
XTalset society has been around for awhile. They are a great starting point for anyone either new to homebrewing or anyone teaching someone who is new to radio (and I’m not necessarily talking about ham radio). Great crystal set projects that truly amaze.
They are also a great resource for purchasing materials to help you on your crystal set journey.
Here are some of the articles I found useful – free for everyone!
How to Read Schematics
The AM Broadcast Band
A Big Ole Hunk of Galena Crystal
Crystal Set FAQs
How Crystal Sets Work
Variable Cap Lineup & Mounting
Equivalent Series and Parallel Circuits
XS-800 Antenna Measurement Bridge
Q of a Coil With Some Unused Turns
Mag-Coupling Selectivity-Sensitivity pdf file.
A Great Teacher: The Crystal Set pdf file, courtesy QEX (ARRL).
Derivation of Step Attenuator R Formulas pdf file.
The Trap Coil Q Measurement Method Revisited (for high Q coils in particular) pdf file.
About Q pdf file, Discusssion on Q Formulas/Measurement.
The AM RF Signal pdf file, Discusssion on makeup of an AM RF Signal.
Anatomy of Crystal Set Modeling: Equivalent Circuit Substitutions pdf file, with spice app.
XS-OB1 Kit Manual (updated 05-01-08) pdf file.
Different OAT BOX COILS pdf file.
XS-801 Kit Drawings pdf file.
Mechanical Dimensions for Mounting Variable Capacitors pdf file.
To take a look at these articles, head over to their site at:
http://www.midnightscience.com/article-index.html
Or their front page at:
Non-Ham / Non-Radio Enthusiast Wants Simple 2m Radio (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?)
"I'm part of an emergency response communictions team in my retirement community. After I got my ticket, I went looking to buy a 2 meter band radio. A note: I am not a "ham" or a "radio amateur" or "enthusiast"; the only time I would get on the air would be in an emergency."The reader goes on to talk about the complexity of "feature rich radios" and how a recent QST radio review touched upon the issue of "technology bloat" and how this affects usability which struck a chord with the reader. He goes on:
"I would want a radio that can be operated out of the box by anybody within seconds, not after reading the fine print of a manual...... This begs the question: Why don't they make a simple 2 meter radio for people like me who use their radios only for emergency use?"Admittedly I'm not a big fan of emcomm, but as I've mentioned before I respect its place in amateur radio when it's actually beneficial and not merely a way to play radio and pretend we're important, but this letter flabbergasted me. If you're not a "ham" or a "radio enthusiast" (despite being an FCC licensed radio amateur) and all you want is a simple push-to-talk radio to communicate, why do you need a ham license or a ham radio in the first place? Just get a set of business radios and file the FCC forms for a Part 90 or Part whatever license, send in your check for the nominal fee and be done with it? One of the purposes of amateur radio can be emcomm, but it's not intended to be yet another way to get a batch of handie-talkies that mindless drones can operate. That's why there are several tests and there are technical proficiency questions in these tests. Furthermore, ignoring the technical skillset that is germane to amateur radio for a moment, is it unreasonable to expect emergency response communications team participants to actually read a radio manual and understand the basic functions of the radios regardless of complexity before an emcomm event occurs?
I'm sure the reader has good intentions, however there is clearly a mismatch here between the nature of amateur radio and this emcomm application .
Back From Vacation
Things have been noticeably quiet here on the blog and in the shack this past week because I was on vacation. For the first time me, the XYL, and the harmonic went on a cruise. I think it was the first time I've been on a real vacation in 15 years where I could actually get away from work. I didn't even touch a computer, though admittedly I had my Blackberry along which fully worked when we were in port and also worked with voice and SMS (no EVDO) out at sea as the ship was equipped with its own cellular service. No, believe it or not, I did not bring a ham rig. I figured I wouldn't have enough time to use it and I was right. It was also great not having direct access to the news or normal TV broadcasts so I could fully disconnect from the crisis du jour.
We took Princess Cruises' vessel Caribbean Princess out of New York City and went up the coast and stopped at Newport, Rhode Island; Boston, Massachusetts; Saint John, New Brunswick; and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ship is an amazing engineering feat for us geeks. The ship has a passenger capacity of about 3,600 and a crew complement of 1,200. It's powered by six diesel generators, totaling 64 megawatts of capability, if my calculations are correct. The main propulsion is two 18' propellers in the aft powered by electric motors. There are also forward and aft thrusters that can be rotated much more freely than the rudders which enable the ship to spin on a dime in a tight harbor. Fuel capacity and usage is measured in tons and not liters or gallons, with the capacity about 3,500 tons. In talking with one of the navigation officers, I believe he said the trip from NYC to Halifax consumed 1,800 tons of fuel. (He was Italian and there was a bit of language barrier.)
I could write a book about the trip and the excursions, but I'll close by saying if you can afford it and have never taken a cruise, I encourage you do it because you'll have the time of your life.
First contacts with the Warbler
Olivia QSO with VE3FMC using a Warbler
Despite Summer not being the best time of year for 80m QSOs I have made a couple of contacts over the last two nights with the recently completed Warbler.
The first was a PSK31 contact with AE1Q who was about 285 miles away in Belgrade Lakes, Maine. The next was an Olivia 8/500 contact with VE3FMC in St Thomas, Ontario, about 325 miles away. Both QSOs proved to be tougher copy for the other stations as the Warbler puts out only about 2 Watts. However, they were successful QSOs and as can be seen by the picture above the Warbler receives well.
AE1Q gave me an IMD report which was -24 dB which is reasonable given the simplicity of the rig, but I would like it to be below -30dB.
I was fortunate and pleased that the second contact was using Olivia. This is a nice mode for QRP. For those wanting to try Olivia I recommend you read the information on the Olivia website by Gary, WB8ROL, including his QST article. Gary writes great articles (including one in the recent amateur radio edition of Linux Journal) and I have enjoyed a few Olivia QSOs with him.
Finally, if you do want to try Olivia or any multifrequency keying mode with the Warbler, you must remember that you are operating on LSB with the Warbler. Most digimode operators will be using USB so the frequencies will be reversed. The digimode software, Fldigi, offers a simple solution to this, you must select the “Rv” or ‘reverse’ button (see the lower right of the Fldigi window above, which is selected and green). You do not need to worry about this button if you just use PSK31 as it is symmetrical about a centre frequency.
