AmateurRadio.com

Santa was, as usual, very generous in his, er, deposits here. There were no specific amateur radio themed gifts this year, as I am well provisioned in that department! I did, however, have a couple of things for my astronomical telescope.

One of these was a Pentaflex ‘Mobile Power Station’. This looks like a giant torch, but is in fact, a great big rechargeable battery. The idea was to use this for my telescope which otherwise uses a gazillion AA batteries to guide the tube onto the correct target and it can go through them pretty quickly! I’ve got more crafty and thrifty about moving the telescope around, but I realised that the PSU for the scope would be a good idea.

Of course, the unit will not just power a telescope! It will be absolutely ideal for powering an FT817 or similar on holiday. It’s relatively portable, though quite heavy – so I don’t think it’s the answer to carting up a mountain for SOTA or similar activities – but definitely a great answer to having plenty of 12v readily available.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve had the 70MHz FM set on when I’ve been in the shack. I’ve probably said, but the set is an converted Philips FM1000 series set.

A few days ago, I called CQ and Dave, G4AQK from Swindon called me and asked if I knew there was a lot of hum on my transmission. I didn’t but, switching on the monitor receivers confirmed the issue. I soon found that if I touched the case, the problem went away. I tried various earthing points without any success. Caught up with Rob, G4XUT a bit later and he suggested that it might have been an RF feedback issue.

Bearing in mind Rob’s suggestion (which I was quietly a little sceptical about, as the issue seemed to be independent of power level) I grabbed a ferrite ring and put it on the power lead, close to the rig. That solved the problem – so I forgot about it.

A few days ago, I called CQ on 70.45MHz FM again and thought I’d check the transmission. Despite the ferrite ring, the hum was back! Tried another ferrite on the microphone lead, but that didn’t do any good! Then the penny droppped!

The outside temperature was around -12C (unseasonally cold in these parts). I think there was ice on the antenna (probably in it too!) and this was affecting the SWR. This morning, outside temperatures had risen and thawed a lot of the snow and ice. The hum has gone! So I’m sure that’s what causes the problem.

Meanwhile, this morning, I heard Chris, G4CCC from near Reading calling CQ on 70.450MHz. Called him back and was surprised to hear him say that three people had come back to his CQ! Two of the others were in Surrey and barely audible up here in the frozen wastes of Oxfordshire – but it’s great to hear more activity on 70Mhz.

Got a 70MHz FM set? Why not hook it up and try and make a contact or two?

I see that on Christmas Day (though of course it wasn’t Christmas Day in Ukraine) the developers of the MixW sound card digital modes software released the long awaited MixW version 3. I couldn’t find much information on the website about what new features it contained. “MixW3 is a next step on the way to the upcoming multiplatform MixW project. It proposes a new Telnet dialog with talk over DxCluster support and a possibility to have a backup copies of your log on our server, dx.mixw.net.” Nothing about what’s new in the version available now. None of these “proposals” are things that I personally want, and I’m not even sure that chat over the DX Cluster will be welcomed by many users – there are enough non-spots cluttering it up already.”

I decided to download the new version to see what I could find. As the screenshot above shows, it looks pretty much like MixW 2.19 which has been looking dated for years. I didn’t see any new modes, nor support for RSID. What is even more disappointing, given the apparent lack of new features, is that this upgrade is not free. The website states “MixW3 upgrade is free for those who stay with us 10 years or more.” I registered MixW a long time ago but not long enough, it seems. An upgrade to MixW3 will cost me the equivalent of $20 plus VAT.

At the time I paid for MixW It really was the premier digital modes software and I felt it was well worth the money. But after a few years it seemed as if MixW was neglected. In the intervening time new, more modern looking full featured competitors came on to the scene like Ham Radio Deluxe and Fldigi, which were also free. I switched to Fldigi a couple of years ago as MixW never properly supported the K3. And nothing I can see in the new version gives me any inclination to switch back, even if I could use the new version for free.

There is nothing wrong with charging for ham radio software. But charging for an upgrade in which the only apparent change is the version number and then expecting buyers to hang on patiently while new features are added won’t work in a market where so many good products are free. Perhaps the multiplatform MixW 4 will be a must-have upgrade. I’m happy to wait and see.

Just wanted to wish my readers a very merry Christmas. Thank you for visiting my blog site. I hope to blog again real soon.

Jerry

Last Summer Gerry, VA3GLT, and myself attended the first Maplecon QRP convention.  At this event Gerry was lucky enough to win one of two HB-1A transceivers that had been kindly donated to the event by Youkits who were in attendance.

Gerry received the transceiver in the post and I recently got to see the rig when he can around to my shack with it.  We connected it up and I had a quick investigation of its capabilities.

This is a small form QRP transceiver of the field portable type like the Elecraft KX1, Hendricks PFR 3, the ATS series by KD1JV and the new dual band Ten Tec QRP rigs (which are effectively the same as the HB-1A but only offer 2 bands).  The HB-1A covers the 40m, 30m and  20m bands and although it is a CW only rig it does allow listening to SSB.  We powered Gerry’s radio from my 13.8V power supply and measure 5W output on 40m and 30m and about 3.75W on 20m.  The receive seemed sensitive and comparable to the KX1 and when the audio was routed through some powered computer speakers (there is ony a headphone jack, no speaker in the radio) the audio was good to listen to.  The CW filter bandwidth was adjustable from 900Hz to 400Hz.

The display was very nice, being a blue LCD as the photograph below shows.  The main tuning dial had a positive ‘click’ as it was turned.

This certainly is not intended to be a review, but I was pleased with what I saw of the performance of the HB-1A and I know Gerry is very happy with it.  It is a good addition to the ultra-portable group of transceivers that are out there on the market and worthy of consideration.

I did not make an audio recording when looking at the HB-1A but below is a video showing the performance by JE1TRV.  If you watch carefully you will see him adjust the filter bandwidth.

If you want to listen to my recorded interview with Yimin, the founder of Youkits then go to this post.

I have just added a new article, Installing APRSISCE/32, to my website G4ILO’s Shack. It is a pictorial tutorial showing how to install the APRS client written by KJ4ERJ and get it running.

Over the next couple of months I hope to add several more tutorials covering different aspects of using the program and connecting it to a radio, in the hope that they will encourage more people to get on to APRS or at least use the information that it can provide.