AmateurRadio.com

I have decided to shelve the Propeller Beacon project. Actually the project made the decision for itself. Bored with receiving spots for my 250mW WSPR signal on 30m I decided to try 20m where there are almost as many monitors. But after a handful of spots there was nothing. After a while I decided something must be wrong.

I checked that the beacon was still transmitting at the right times and it was. So I switched on the K3, ran the WSPR software and the reason for the lack of spots became clear. My signal was drifting the best part of 10Hz in each two minute cycle!

When I first ran the beacon on the bare Propeller board I had found the signal to be pretty stable after only a few minutes warm-up. After adding the LCD board – which plugs on top of the Propeller board – I noticed that my 30m transmissions were being quite consistently reported with -3Hz drift. The RF amplifier board with its heatsink is separate from the Propeller board and nowhere near its crystal oscillator. I hypothesized that the LCD board is trapping some heat in, enough to make the master clock oscillator drift.

The drift is probably a multiplication factor of the clock frequency so the higher in frequency you go, the worse the drift. Whatever the explanation, the Propeller + LCD combination is not usable as a WSPR beacon as it is.

It seems to me that there are two possible solutions. One would be to make my own Propeller processor board with a temperature controlled crystal clock. The other would be to use the Prop to control a Si570 synthesizer or something like that. Unfortunately I don’t think either of those solutions are within my capabilities just at the moment. So I’m afraid the beacon project will be going on the shelf.

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Unbelievable.....there is a review out on Eham regarding the Elecraft KX3. I was doing a Google search of the KX3 last evening to see what was new. I came across a link to Eham Matt Zilmer, W6NIA posted a great field tester review of the up and coming KX3. Now please correct me if I am wrong but how many of the "other" ham radio manufactures field test their rigs with hams who are not employees?? Ok I get it if you have read my blog I am just an Elecract fanatic... guilty.....but do post a comment if you can come up with a ham gear manufacture who field test rigs with fellow hams or were emails are answered sometimes within the hour or that day....I'm getting side tracked.....Matt gives a technical overview of the rig then moves onto his opinion and finally the nuts and bolts of operating the rig and bragging of his contacts. If you are a follower of my blog then you may have read my post KX3....need or want....there I decided to stick with my Elecraft K2 rig and not spend the bucks on the KX3. But as time goes on and as the rigs get the hands of the eagerly awaiting hams its going to be hard to resist one!







Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

There was a discussion on Google+ the other day about how a particular handheld transceiver has an SMA connector, instead of the venerable BNC connector. I noted that many of the newer HTs are going with SMA, presumably because of the smaller size. In fact, I started thinking about it…I didn’t think you can buy an HT anymore with a BNC.

I took at look at some of the ham radio dealer websites to see if I was right. These radios all have SMA connectors: Alinco DJ-175T, DJ-C7T, DJ-G7T, DJ-G29T, DJ-V17T, DJ-V57T; ICOM IC-80AD, IC-92AD, IC-T70A, ID-31A: Kenwood TH-D72A, TH-F6A, TH-K20A; Yaesu FT-60R, FT-250R, FT-270R, VX-3R, VX-6R, VX-7R, VX-8R. The Wouxun radios are SMA but with a male connector on the radio (opposite gender compared to the other manufacturers…a topic for another day.)

But I did find three ICOM models that have BNC connectors: IC-V80, IC-V82, IC-U82.

The trend line is clear…the BNC is on the way out for amateur radio handheld transceivers.

Do I care?

Well, yes, I do.

I have a collection of extended length antennas that are much more efficient than the standard dummy load rubber duck. These are great for portable operation, mountaintopping, etc. I have not found very many of these antennas available with SMA connectors. Even if they were available, I am not sure I’d want to attach them to an SMA connector on an HT. For example, a 1/2-wave 2-Meter antenna is about 38 inches long — I am skeptical that an SMA provides enough mechanical strength to support it. Even with a BNC, I have always been very careful to not put too much strain on the connector.

We will have to see where this leads but it seems that the BNC will fade away for amateur use. Most mobile and base rigs use PL-259 and/or N connectors so HTs have been the main application for a BNC.

Goodbye, BNC, I am going to miss you.

73, Bob K0NR

Update on Feb 24: I’ve had several people suggest to me “just use a BNC-to-SMA adapter.” This certainly takes care of making a good electrical connection but mechanically they are generally weak.

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

The time has come when I can’t put off learning Morse code any longer, With an interest in vintage amateur radio and the impending restoration of a Heathkit AT-1 I’m going to need to use CW sooner or later.

So I have been checking out resources for learning Morse code and stumbled across two that really intrigue me.

The first is LCWO.net, a web browser based Morse code learning tool that is usable on any internet connected computer. It is available free of charge and there is no software to install. LCWO.net keeps track of where you are in your lessons and where you need to concentrate your effort. The Koch method is the primary tool available but they also offer code group practice, callsign and plain text training modes along with a service to convert text to Morse MP3s for download and use offline.

Once you are on the way to CW proficiency and want to communicate with others you can always fire up a rig and get on the air … What if you don’t have a rig or need a confidence boost before ‘going live’?

Well, you could always send Morsemail using the Morsemail client from http://brasspounder.com:8873/.

Morsemail is, “A simple text format that encodes mark and space times to make it possible to send Morse coded messages via email” but a recently added feature allows for QSOs using a internet repeater hosted on brasspounder.com. You can use a mouse or actual key wired to the mouse or joystick buttons to send CW which can be emailed or sent through the repeater live.

Now I just have to carve out the time to sit down and use these resources!

Owen Morgan, KF5CZO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID, is the founder of Heil Sound and host of TWiT.tv's Ham Nation which streams live each Tuesday at 6:00pm PT (9:00pm ET) at http://live.twit.tv. Contact him at [email protected].

It’s like going from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Tonight a real treat was in store. My CQ on 40 Meters (yes, 40 Meters was quiet tonight, yay!) was answered by K4BXN, Crit who hails from Hendersonville, NC .  Crit and I have QSO’ed a few times before; and as always, listening to his fist is pure pleasure.  Crit was using an old bug with his K3, and if he hadn’t mentioned it, you would have thought for sure that he was using an electronic keyer and paddles.

Perfect spacing and perfect sending – period.  Music to my ears. And sending Morse like that with a bug is no mean feat.  From my own experience, I know it’s so easy to develop a swing. Not that a swing is necessarily a bad thing – but it can be if you’re not careful.  It takes a lot of practice and a lot of skill to be as good as K4BXN.  But boy, is it a treat to listen to!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

I’m pleased to report that Oscar, DJ0MY, has created an open source hardware initiative and kit offering called nanoKeyer.  This project utilizes my Arduino keyer code and the Arduino Nano, a smaller cousin of the Arduino Uno, but fully software compatible.

Oscar is offering the kit at a reasonable price, but also provides Gerber files on his site for those wishing to reproduce the hardware design.  The hardware kit features three memory buttons, a speed potentiometer, a PS2 Keyboard connector, and optically-isolated keying and PTT lines.  The Arduino Nano module that mates with the nanoKeyer supports the K3NG keyer code command line interface and K1EL Winkey emulation via the built-in USB port.  The Arduino Nano is programmed via a typical Windows, Mac, or Linux machine with free software.

This kit offers commercial / contest quality performance and features in an open source package that can easily be assembled by beginners or customized by advanced experimenters.