AmateurRadio.com

Series Three Episode Thirteen of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast. News Stories include:

• Slow Scan TV on 10 MHz
• ACMA cancels Amateur Radio licence
• VK licence figures show strength
• New 80m SDR Receiver
• Two-way contact achieved on 8.97 kHz
• Feedback added to RSGB blog
• Ham enthusiasts abuzz over traffic ticket
• Feds scrambe in Wireless spectrum crunch
• Amateur's spectacular Channel crossing
• GB3LW back on the air
• Intruders in Amateur Radio Bands
• Croatia 5 MHz and 500 kHz
• London to Brighton cycle ride
• Google Exam Practice Test 
• Optimizing wire antennas online
• Apple iPhone Apps

Your feedback, upcoming events and Chris Howard (2E0CTH) talks about pratical D-STAR.

As you might recall, I upgraded the firmware on the DVAP the other week. I hadn’t used it much since the upgrade. This evening I thought I’d play a little D-STAR. I found that I would start transmitting and then I would lose connection and my audio would be lost. One or two other people have been experiencing the same thing. Indeed, Ron, KA2HZO that I was speaking to this evening was having exactly the same issue.

Ron downgraded his DVAP firmware back to 1.01 and found that performance improved. I’ve done the same and things seem better. I had experienced the problem from time to time myself on 1.01 but it seems less frequent.

Of course, it could just be an issue with the internet connection – something else on the PC which the newer version is slightly less tolerant of. I’m sure it will be resolved in due course. But for now, I’ve downgraded to the v1.01 of the DVAP firmware.

Update: 21st June Had an e-mail last night from Nidge, G0WFS. He’d experienced the same problems as me with his DVAP running under v1.04 of the firmware. He reverted back to v1.01 and all is well again. So it looks like there are some issues with v1.04. That doesn’t mean it won’t work for you, but if you do have problems, a simple reversion to the v1.01 firmware should have you back up and running reliably in an instant.

There’s been plenty of VHF Es buzzing around here today. It started off, literally with a buzz on 50MHz as I was driving down to the Post Office in the next village this morning. I heard some TV buzz on 50MHz, almost certainly out of Eastern Europe. A few stations started coming through including YU1EXY, the Belgrade University club station.

After that, I had plenty of things to do and didn’t get to the rig again until around 1530z. There seemed to be a contest going on 50MHz. I worked LZ9W (KN12) and YT2F(KN03) as well as an EA6.

There were some reports of 144MHz Es too. At one stage, I could hear DLs working Es that I couldn’t hear any trace of. At 1735 though, I heard LZ2ZY (KN10) briefly. He was working into Belgium at the time and I didn’t hear him work any Gs. G4MKF, not too far from me, worked a station that I couldn’t hear at all, but the opening seemed pretty fleeting. Though it was a shame not to work LZ2ZY, it was great to hear him!

My favorite QRP group is the Polar Bear QRP gang! We have a good time and enjoy outdoors activities and trying to connect with one another at least once a month with some kind of activity. To escape some of the heat, I got an early start on the day. I wanted to try out a new mini-bac antenna configuration and knew it would take some time to get it up into the trees. BOY WAS THAT AN UNDERSTATEMENT! It was 110 ft doublet with a 40 ft feedline that was setup as a ladder line. Not an easy one to get up single-handed. Thanks to some tall trees, was able to get it up about 40-45 feet in the pine trees. It loaded great on 40m, but was disappointing on 20m so I ended up setting up my W3EDP in an L from my 20 ft Jackite pole to a nearby cedar tree at about 35 feet.  The sun chased me into the treeline where I settled in to chase bears.

Abandoned mini-back doublet feedline hangs in foreground

My xyl Connie took a picture that shows the mini-back feedline hanging in the breeze after I shifted positions and setup the W3EDP in the shade. Grrrrr!

Osprey perched right above my head…cell phone picture

Was able to work a couple of the Polar Bears, Mike W3MC in MD and Guy N7UN up in the mountains on a trail(?) in NJ. I heard VA2SG but he was at ESP level briefly then faded away. I did hear a few others working him though. WA8REI was working Guy but I could not hear him at all and ended up tail ending their QSO to connect with N7UN.

Got to work a few others through the QSB and poor signal strength on 20m including Pastor Les, K4NK in SC, KE5SBZ, Ed in TX, N1FJ in MA, and Phil W3HZZ in Atlanta so it was a nice way to spend a few hours outdoors in the heat.

Connie brought me a picnic lunch and we enjoyed the osprey and bald eagle show as they fished Lake Fredrica.

Had to drink extra coffee to copy speedy W3MC's signal

This is the life… outdoors and ham radio…making QSO's…PTL!

I enjoyed our hamfest in Santa Maria, California this morning and my opportunity to chat up with Richard Norton, N6AA.

We talked about what it takes to move to the next level and he shared a few stories about his 9Y4VT operation as well. The key to successful RadioSport, according to N6AA, is operate as much as possible, guest operate where possible, and call CQ alot even if one is low power, low profile.

Richard mentioned both the art and science of the game will surely follow as one pursues a Box score. I wanted to listen for hours however his duties were first given the hamfest, perhaps, next time N6AA will continue recounting his adventures to 40 zones stretching across the globe.

73 from the shack relaxation zone.

P.S. I purchased a Palomar R-X Noise Bridge and a 2009 ARRL Periodicals CD-ROM with QST, QEX, and the National Contest Journal.

I did a quick lash-up of the UHF FM transmitter module I received a few days ago which I was planning to use in a low-power Echolink node, mainly just to see if it worked. It did, but I discovered a small snag. The audio output isn’t squelched.

The Echolink software requires either normal squelched FM audio or a carrier operated squelch signal on one of the serial port control lines. As neither of those is provided I guess I am going to need to generate a squelch signal derived from noise. But as I am not knowledgeable enough about electronics to design my own circuit I am going to have to find one first. This appears easier said than done, though there seem to be a surprising number of patents on the subject.

It isn’t an urgent problem as I’m not in any hurry to build this project. I’ll probably have more enthusiasm for it once the gloomy autumn weather starts.

Someone commented in the eHam ratings for my blog that I spent too much time complaining about retailers. I’m sorry about that, I only tell it how it is, but it appears that no-one in this country is capable of doing their job properly. Perhaps the government’s policy of sending 50% of people to university means that most people are over-qualified for the job they do and are too bored by it to actually think about what they were doing.

Phase 2 of my shack renovation was completed earlier this week. It should have been finished a couple of weeks ago. Olga designed and ordered a system of wall units including shelves, cupboards and a bureau with a door that drops down to form a working surface. This bureau is to be my workbench – now I can start something and when I have done enough for one day I can just close the door on it so everything stays looking tidy.

The consignment arrived consisting of all 11 boxes as marked on the shipping labels. However as we started to assemble it we found that a few bits, including the entire bureau, were missing. On contacting the retailer they were sure that 12 boxes had been sent, but the bureau was never discovered and they had to order a new one from Sweden – hence the delay.

My workbench is now separate from my operating area so I can no longer use the Diamond power supply that powers my radios to power my projects. So I needed a variable power supply for the workbench. Yesterday I was pleased to win in an eBay auction a refurbished variable power supply from Rapid Electronics for about half what a new one would have cost. The courier delivered a large parcel this morning which was labelled with my address, but when I opened it I found four retractable mains cable extensions that had been ordered by Workington Sixth Form College, together with their invoice. So now I have to wait in while Rapid arranges for its courier to collect the mains extensions. Whether I will ever see the power supply, or whether it will just vanish like our original bureau, remains to be seen.

I’m sure some readers must be thinking “take a chill pill, mistakes happen.” But mistakes seem to happen rather too often, if you ask me. If you were in the mail order business, wouldn’t you put systems in place to ensure mistakes like this don’t happen, because they annoy your customers and cost money to rectify? Rapid Electronics “operates a Quality Management System to BS EN ISO 9001:2008.” What a load of spherical objects that is.

While on the subject of retailers, last week I sent an email to a company that advertises notebook PCs with Linux installed, asking for a quote for a system for my business. I have not received a reply. Why does that not surprise me?