AmateurRadio.com

International Ham Radio News & Opinion

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

May Peace Be With You This Season…

December 24th, 2009 |

...whether you're at home, stranded in a hotel by the airport, or in an unfriendly land far away....if you're with your family, with strangers, or you're all alone....if you have faith, are unsure, or don't have faith....if you had a successful year or if you've been down on your luck....whether you celebrate for tradition, religion, or not at all... May peace be with you this season.

RTTY Got Me Into Amateur Radio

December 16th, 2009 |

Author: Anthony K3NG

When I was a wee little lad in the 70s, I used to go to my grandfather's house on Saturday. He was a ham radio operator since 1956 and had a modest station. There was a 60' tower in the backyard with a Mosley TA-33 Junior tribander and a 6 meter beam at the top and 80 and 40 meter dipoles. His main rig was a set of Kenwood-Trio 599 Twins, probably the last of the silver front Kenwood rigs, with a separate transmitter and receiver. In the shack was also a Clegg Venus VHF rig, a Gonset G-20 6 meter AM rig, and some kind of Hallicrafters receiver from the 60s, all of which he rarely turned on. He was mostly a phone op who would ragchew, though I found out in later years he was quite a CW op in the early days.

After dinner I would be watching TV in the living room (I think Hee Haw or Lawrence Welk was usually on) or perhaps coloring a picture in a coloring book or something little kids would do. Grandpa would be back in the hamshack playing with radios. I'd hear him tuning across an HF band, probably 40 meters considering all of the broadcast station heterodynes you would hear flying by. There might be some phone signals which I always thought sounded funny. And then I'd hear that signal, that undeniable warbling sound. Back then I couldn't really describe the sound, but I always knew immediately that Grandpa would soon be turning on the old Model 15 teletype in the shack.

The Model 15 was nearly spotless and looked new, despite being maybe 30 years old. Grandpa somehow got it after the war, World War II in which he served, brand new in a crate. He built some kind of big metal box that it sat on which contained the electronics to decode the magical signal off the air. It was about three feet tall, about 20" wide, two and a half feet deep, black, and had lots of lights, switches and knobs on it. They weren't those wimpy little knobs and switches you buy today, they were big. Each switch was labeled with a blue colored Dymo label. The big black box had a round CRT picture tube about 3" in diameter that drew a bright green trace on the white screen. The whole box was built like a tank, or at least it seemed to a young aspiring radio engineer like me. The Model 15 was black with a crinkle paint finish and a typewriter-like keyboard on the front with dark green keys that almost looked like bakelight. The keys had the usual assortment of QWERTY keys, but all sorts of other different keys like FIGS, BELL, and BREAK that I never saw on a typewriter but I knew served some special function.

Upon hearing the warbling signal from the living room, I'd drop whatever I was doing and would run into the hamshack. Grandpa would be turning the big knob on the radio to get the signal tuned in just right. He somehow knew exactly what it was supposed to sound like. He would then flip some switches in sequence on the big black box and it would begin to come to life. The CRT screen would warm up and I would see the familiar green dot in the middle appear faintly and then grow bigger and brighter. And then he would flip on a big recessed switch on the Model 15 teletype. The unit would kick on and there was a nice warm hum and whirring sound that would emanate out of it, filling the room. As it warmed up, it had a distinct smell that is hard to describe....that "old radio" smell. The big black box and Model 15 would sit for perhaps a minute warming up, waiting to do its weekly duty.

At the right time, Grandpa would take a cable terminated with a quarter inch headphone plug and plug it into the Kenwood Twins receiver headphone jack. The teletype would spring into action and the CRT display drew all kinds of squiggly lines on the screen, like a madman trying to draw with a spirograph.

I could see and hear the teletype mechanism inside the big Model 15 rhythmically jumping up and down. It was like insides of a typewriter, with little metal arms sitting in a semicircle. The teletype then started tapping away, striking letters on ink tape and writing on the beige colored paper. I would sit there entranced by the whole event, watching the teletype type and looking at the secret message encrypted in the warbling signal travelling over the ether as it was revealed to me. Grandpa might adjust a few knobs on the big black box to tweak the green pattern on the screen.

Sometimes the teletype would make a mistake and miss a letter or two or misspell a word. I would read out the message to Grandpa and figure out what the misspelled words were. Occasionally the teletype would really mess up and would throw a bunch of line feeds out and jump the paper in the middle of a word or paragraph. If the signal was really bad it would start to spew several inches of paper at a time and Grandpa would quickly unplug the jack from the radio, flip some switches on the big black box, or try to tune the signal in better. The show would last 15 or 20 minutes and afterwards Grandpa would sometimes let me put headphones on and tune around the band and listen to Morse code or foreign broadcasts coming in from far off lands.

Later in my teens I got my ticket and operated mainly phone for several years and got into electronics. Years later when I was in my 20s and off to college and making my way into the real world, I became mostly inactive in amateur radio. The Kenwood Twins were displaced with a Kenwood 820 and Grandpa sold the Model 15 and used the extra space for his computer.

Today I'll sometimes fire up DM780 on the computer and tune in a RTTY signal, but I miss the hum, whirl, and clack-clack of the big old Model 15 that got me interested in this strange old hobby. But perhaps someday I'll have a grandson who I can show Hellschreiber and PSK31 and he'll want to click the mouse on the waterfall and decode strange-sounding signals from far off lands.

Safely Hamming In the Woods In Hunting Season

December 10th, 2009 |

Author: Anthony K3NG

In recent years it's become popular to operate amateur radio while hiking or in wilderness areas, with activities like the Spartan Sprint and Polar Bear Moonlight Madness. On one reflector last week the topic of hamming in the vicinity of hunters came up. (Unfortunately the moderator squashed the discussion.) Non-hunters often are scared of hunters and fear being harmed, and often in my opinion due to lack of knowledge of the law and some simple common sense practices. There's a lot of misinformation going around which doesn't help the situation. Here are some common hunting myths:

Hunters often shoot at noises. It's illegal (and extremely stupid) to shoot at noise and you would be hard pressed to find any hunter worth their salt who shoots at noise. Anyone who does such a thing isn't a hunter, they're a criminal.

Hunters dislike non-hunters in the woods. Hunters don't want non-hunters to disrupt their hunting, but the more people who enjoy the land means more funding and protection for public wilderness in the future.

Hunters have more rights to be in public woods than non-hunters. At least here in Pennsylvania, all citizens have the same rights to use state land.

Hunting is inherently unsafe and/or is unsafe to non-hunters. According to the 2008 PA Hunting Shooting Incident Report there were 35 hunting-related shooting incidents, 3 of which were fatal. 40% of the total accidents were self-inflicted (not involving anyone but the hunter/victim himself). In only two of the total incidents the victim was a non-hunter, none of which were fatalities. Last year there were 3.84 incidents per 100,000 hunters, nearly the lowest rate on record. The chances of getting injured while hunting or doing a non-hunting activity in a public hunting area is quite low, arguably safer than walking down the street in many urban areas.

So what should you do to safely and successfully operate amateur radio in the woods with hunters around?

When in Rome, do as the Romans do; wear fluorescent orange like hunters do. Hunters may not know of hams, hikers, geocachers, mushroom hunters and mountain bike riders in the woods, but they know how to positively identify humans wearing fluorescent orange. Go to Walmart and buy a fluorescent orange hat and vest combo and wear it in the woods during hunting seasons. This hunting season I bought a new hat and vest set at my local sporting goods store for a mere $8. If a hunter sees orange and it's on you, you're a human, plain and simple. Also, if you want to put orange tape on a tree for good measure, it doesn't hurt, but do it 360 degrees around the tree and up as high as you can get it. But absolutely have an orange cap and a vest on and you're safe in nearly all circumstances. Don't wear red as red looks like brown 100 yards away and certainly don't wear just brown in deer season or just black in beer season.

I'm amazed that in 37 years of hunting, I can't ever recall seeing a non-hunter in the woods who wore fluorescent orange. It's such a small investment and exponentially increases one's safety in the woods in hunting seasons.

Know what the hunting seasons are. Google for your state's game commission or fish and wildlife department website and know what's in season before you out.

Look for hunters before setting up. When you go to setup your operating position in the woods, stop for a minute. Look around 360 degrees. Do you see any orange? If not, wait another minute or two and do another 360. If you don't see any orange, setup your station. If you see orange, relocate. If you're having difficulty finding a location without hunters in it, or you're hearing a lot of close gunfire, you may want to reconsider whether this is an area you want to operate from.

In Pennsylvania, turkey hunters and late season (post Christmas) muzzleloader hunters are not required to wear orange while stationary (although they must have an orange tree marker in place), and they're usually camouflaged, so you may not see them. If you're wearing orange they will see you and they will probably flash orange to make their presence known as they don't want you in the area scaring the turkey away any more than you want to be in their area and in potential danger.

If you take a dog with you, put an orange vest on the dog as well. However, it's a very bad idea to let your dog run loose during hunting seasons. Leave Fido at home during hunting season.

If you hear close gunfire while operating, don't panic. Just stay put and listen. If you see orange from another hunter, take your orange hat and wave it so they're sure to see you. If you are very concerned, let out a yell or a whistle. Whatever you do, don't get up and approach the hunter or pack up and leave until several minutes later. Stay cool, stay put, and wait a bit.

It's quite easy and simple to enjoy the woods in hunting seasons. Buy an orange vest and use some common sense.

My first 160m contest

December 7th, 2009 |

Author: David K2DBK

If you asked me a couple of years ago whether I’d ever participate in a contest on 160 meters I’m sure I would have said no. If you’d asked me two weeks ago, I would have said no. In fact, I did say no, answering the weekly ARRL website survey. It turns out that I was mistaken.

The main reason why I never expected to participate in a contest on 160m is because I really don’t use the 160m band very much. The two reasons why I tend to stay away are because I don’t really have a very good antenna for that band, and because the relatively few times that I’ve been on it’s always been horribly noisy (mostly from atmospheric noise, though perhaps there’s some man-made electronic noise there as well.) The reason for the lack of a decent antenna is that antennas for that band tend to be very, very long. As a reminder, 160 meters is about 525 feet. Although you don’t need an antenna that long to transmit on the band, what I do have in place (my G5RV antenna) is really too short to operate properly on that band. I can use the antenna tuner in my radio to cause the radio to think that the antenna is suitable for use on that band, but in reality there’s a lot of loss and my signal just isn’t very strong. Despite the relatively short antenna length, I do manage to pick up an awful lot of noise.

160m is primarily a nighttime band. Although you can make groundwave (those that don’t bounce off the ionosphere) contacts during the day, the band is even noiser during the day and it’s just not practical to try to make a lot of contacts. (That’s not to say that the hardcore contesters aren’t out there trying.) The fact that it’s a late-night band worked to my benefit, since I’m a nightowl.

The 160m contest starts at 5PM local time on a Friday and ends at 11AM local Sunday morning. I was chatting with my friend Larry, N4VA Friday afternoon, and he suggested that I try to make a few contacts in the contest. I was going to be home anyway (my son was recovering from a minor surgical procedure) so I figured that I’d at least listen and see if I could hear anything other than static.

By the time I started to listen, it was around 5:30PM local time, which is after dark at this time of the year and 30 minutes past the contest starting time. I was surprised to hear that not only were there a lot of strong signals, but where nobody was transmiting, the band was actually relatively quiet. I figured that I’d see if I could get the antenna to tune and maybe make a few contacts, “giving out points” to others in the contest.

I was surprised that for the first hour, I made around 20 contacts (and that includes a break for dinner; as I mentioned, I wasn’t really expecting to spend a lot of time in the contest.) What was even more surprising was that for the 4th hour of the contest, I was up to 33 contacts for that hour and 30 the next hour. (All those contacts were “search & pounce”, I wasn’t going to attempt to run stations.) While this isn’t “super-station rate”, those 63 contacts are 3 more contacts than I’d made in total on the 160m band prior to the contest. I continued to operate for a while, taking a few breaks and turned in relatively early Friday night. (I’d been up since 6:30 AM for my son’s procedure).

Late Saturday afternoon, I made another handful of contacts, and then, after we came back from dinner with friends, I got back on the air at 1AM (now Sunday morning) and picked up another 17 stations in that hour. At that point, tuning up and down the band all I was hearing for the most part were stations that I’d already worked, which meant it was tough to find “fresh meat” to work. I figured that I’d try to find a frequency to “run” stations, which means that instead of me trying to find stations who are calling CQ, I’d find a frequency and call CQ myself.

If you’re not a contester yourself, I should explain that in most contests, it’s generally the “big guns” (more powerful stations) that “run” other stations. For one thing, it’s generally easier to hear their signals, and for another, it’s a lot tougher for another station to just jump on top of them and start CQing, “stealing” their frequency. Having your frequency “stolen” is unethical and could theoretically be illegal. For US hams, the FCC says that you cannot intentionally interfere with another station, but in a contest, it’s very difficult to prove (especially for a weak station) since when a stronger station “takes over” your frequency they can simply say they never heard you. That might or might not be true, but it’s hard to prove. The simple thing to do, for a “little pistol” station like me, is to simply move elsewhere.

Fortunately me for me, for the 2AM (local time) hour, I was lucky enough to get a frequency pretty low in the band (1808 mHz) and actually keep that frequency for over an hour. (Lower in the frequency is better, usually, since other operators who get on the band to make a few contacts typically start at the lower end of the band and work their way up.) Remember that his is now 2AM local, and most of the stations that I was working were relatively local, within a timezone or two of me. While I didn’t set any rate records, over the next hour I worked almost 30 stations, which was just for me a lot of fun. I probably could have kept going, but at about 3:15 AM I decided that I’d had enough fun and shut down the radio.

Overall, I wound up working 251 stations (plus 2 “dupes” who I’d previously worked but who called me when I was “running”). Most of the stations that I worked were in the US or Canada, but I did work stations in Jamaica (6Y), the Bahamas (C6), Netherlands Anitilles (PJ), Turks and Caico (VP6) and possibly (the contact was a little “iffy”, hopefully I am in his log) Martinique (FM). In total, I worked stations in 43 ARRL or RAC sections pluss the 5 other countries), which I thought was pretty respectable.

My final claimed score looks like this:

    Band    QSOs    Pts  Sec
    1.8     251     517   48
 
   Score : 24,816

I don’t think I’m going to win any awards, but I’ve very pleased with my results. And, as I’ve said in the past, the most important thing is that I had a lot of fun.

Polar Bear Goes Deer Hunting

December 5th, 2009 |

Author: Anthony K3NG

Today I participated in another Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event, but this time while deer hunting. Instead of the Yaesu FT-817 and the SGC "I've-fallen-and-can't-get-tuned-up" tuner, I packed the K1 and the venerable BLT tuner. Instead of the heavily modified Whiterook paddle I usually use afield, I was equipped with a homebrew straight key. I forgot how nice of a CW rig the K1 really is and how fun a straight key is. Surprisingly this was the first time I've used a straight key while operating on a hike or hunt. Even with cold, numb fingers I was able to send decent CW unlike when using an iambic paddle. Straight keying is quite a bit more forgiving of timing errors and the irregularity of straight keying is somewhat charming and gives the code more personality.

The operating position

Homebrew straight key and log book

Close-up of the homebrew straightkey

View from the operating position before the snow came

GRRRRRRR and BRRRRRRRR

I made three polar bear contacts on 40 meters, logging W1PID, VA2SG/PM, and WA2FBN. I also heard N0EVH calling CQ but unfortunately he couldn't hear me. 20 meters was dead and I couldn't get anyone on 30. All in all, another good day in the field. Later in the day it started snowing and we got three inches of snow. Yeaaahhh!

Update: Here's a Youtube video from Jean-Pierre VA2SG having a QSO with me... Good stuff!

Waiting for Baudot

November 20th, 2009 |

Author: Paul WW2PT

I just submitted my meager log from last weekend’s WAE RTTY test — just 45 QSOs and a whopping claimed score of 1,530. I only operated for a few morning hours (between 1125-1345 on Saturday and 1245-1700 on Sunday) in order to give DM780 a try at good ol’ fashioned 170/45 Baudot, a mode I haven’t worked since days of yore with the trusty old KAM and a terminal program. High time to give the new technologies a try, said I.

Some random thoughts and observations about RTTY operation with the K3 and DM780 follow…

The DM780 + HRD Logbook combination did fairly well, considering HB9DRV himself says “HRD/DM780 is not contest software.” As such, there is no easy provision for sending or receiving QTC info for extra multipliers, and it wasn’t clear at first how to get DM780 to increment serial numbers in the exchange field (put them in [brackets], I finally discovered). Using a fresh database file for the log (as I do for every contest) lets me use the logbook’s Awards Tracking and Worked Status functions to keep an eye on what stations and countries I’ve worked on each band, but I have to be careful to individually set the other databases (previous contest logs, plus my master logbook) to not figure into the worked status lookups (this is one in the Logbook Databases control panel).

Another limitation from a contesting perspective is HRD Logbook’s inability to output Cabrillo files for log submission after the test, a feature that was available in HRD v4. So I have to use another app (SP7DQR’S nice ADIF2CABR freeware app) to convert an ADIF export file into Cabrillo format, and that only after doing a search-and-replace on the ADIF file to change the tag to that the conversion app is looking for. No biggie, I mud-wrestle data for a living, so this is just another day at the office…

That said… I’m familiar and comfortable with DM780 and HRD Logbook so it all worked just fine for me.

I worked the first day with the K3 in DATA A mode before remembering that AFSK A mode allows DUAL PB filtering to peak the mark and space tones. The DM780 waterfall screenshots below illustrate the difference far better than words:

K3 set to DATA A mode. BW = 400 Hz, Fc = 1530 Hz

K3 set to AFSK A mode. BW = 400 Hz, Fc = 1530 Hz, DUAL PB enabled

Note that the overall bandwidth in AFSK A mode is quite a bit narrower, even though in both cases the K3 was set to 400 Hz, and the distinct notch between mark and space tones is indicative of how effective this filtering mode works. Back in the pre-DSP days with the TS-930S and JST-135/245 transceivers and NRD-525/535 receivers, I used to use a Datong FL-3 audio filter which had a RTTY mode that accomplished the same thing, albeit at the AF stage.

DATA A and AFSK A each have their advantages. In DATA A (or AFSK A with DUAL PB turned off), I can open the bandwidth up and see a good portion of the band (I generally set DM780 to display 3 kHz on the waterfall and set the K3 bandwidth to match) and all the signals on the air, then select the desired signals with a point-and-click like I do in PSK31 mode. If QRM is a problem, I can crank down the bandwidth and shift the passband center frequency to pass only the station I’m working; once the QSO is complete, a quick tap-twist of the K3’s shift control recalls my wide settings and I’m back on the hunt. I rarely touch the VFO dial, all tuning is done with the mouse.

In AFSK A mode with DUAL PB enabled, however, the K3’s center frequency is fixed at 1530 Hz so all tuning must be done with the VFO. Also, the bandwidth is limited to 500 Hz max (which as shown in the image above is a bit less in practice, more like 250 Hz or so) making VFO tuning very touchy and slow (the 1 Hz fine steps must be used) and renders the waterfall useless for spotting other signals. But the filtering advantage is huge, especially in a contest scenario.

For me, it’s a no brainer — in the latter stages of the WAE contest I found myself using DUAL PB almost exclusively, occasionally switching it off and opening up the bandwidth if the band was quiet or if I’ve already worked the majority of the stations I tune across, since clicking on a waterfall makes it far easier to hunt and pounce.

DM780 facilitates the switch from narrow DUAL PB to wideband waterfall tuning easily: I first activate the center frequency marker (Tools>Program Options>Waterfall menu, or F8) and set it to match the K3 DUAL PB center frequency (1530 Hz). After finding a signal on the waterfall and clicking on it, I can then click the C button just above the waterfall to center it at 1530 Hz (HRD offsets the K3 VFO frequency to do this), and then activate the DUAL PB (press/hold the #6 key on the K3 keypad). The bandwidth is narrowed to 500 Hz, and the mark and space tones are perfectly positioned for decoding. To switch back to wideband, press/hold DUAL PB, and tap XFIL a couple of times to select the 2.7 kHz filter or use one of the filter presets to select my standard wide data setting of 3 kHz. This can perhaps be simplified to a one-button process using the new macro feature Elecraft just added to the latest firmware version; I need to check into that…

Note to K3 users: when working RTTY in AFSK A mode, either the radio or DM780 needs to be set to reverse, as AFSK A demodulates the lower sideband while DM780 looks for the upper. DATA A, however, works in the upper sideband.

Handiham World for 18 November 2009

November 18th, 2009 |

Author: Patrick WA0TDA

Welcome to Handiham World!

Matt in the bucket truck lift
Image: Matt, KA0PQW, and the bucket truck lift operator, Jeff, KC0UOW, ride the bucket up to do some antenna work. Photo courtesy Don Rice, N0BVE, taken during Matt’s antenna work in October. Don had just completed some work on Matt’s 220 MHz antennas, and Matt was headed up to do the final inspection.

It’s always a good idea to get your antenna work done before winter, especially if you live in Minnesota, as Matt, KA0PQW does. One may be blind, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do antenna work. Matt directs and does hands-on work on his antenna projects, and has some great helpers.

I have always recommended having at least one helper available for any antenna project that involves working on an elevated antenna system, whether it is on a roof or high on a tower. The reason, of course, is safety – if something goes wrong, the second person can provide assistance or call for help. Besides, most of these projects really do require at least one more set of hands – and eyes. You can use a spotter to check for hazards like power lines and buried pipes or cables. This goes for any ham radio operator, whether they are blind or sighted. I shudder to think of all the times I have not followed my own advice, but in my defense I was young and stupid. As a teenager, I navigated our family home’s rooftop like a monkey – stringing antennas, hurrying down to test for SWR, then running back up the ladder to the roof to make adjustments – all without anyone else around. When I bought a used tower, I was up and down that thing dozens and dozens of times. I did buy a Klein lineman’s belt but even so, I worked alone all too often. The closest call I ever had was on an old telescoping mast. I had just finished my antenna work and stepped onto the ground when the steel cable holding the top section snapped and the tower telescoped back down. A few seconds delay in getting off would have meant amputated fingers and toes! Worse yet, I did not have a helper around.

Well, I have learned a lot since then. I ask for help, so that I have someone there to do antenna work as well as to help us both stay safe. I plan to stay safe – and you know what? Staying safe means more happy years of ham radio fun!

For Handiham World, I’m…

Patrick Tice, [email protected]
Handiham Manager