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A visit with a QRP contest station

13 March 2016 | by Richard AA4OO | Leave a Comment (4)

160m Spring Stew Perry Contest - QRP style

I had the opportunity to visit with Paul Stroud AA4XX as he worked the early hours in the 160m Spring Stew Perry Contest. Paul is an avid CW operator dedicated to QRP and QRPp operations. When he works contests he often participates using the Knightlites club call WQ4RP (Note the QRP in the call).

AA4XX operating as WQ4RP during the 160m Stew Perry Spring Top Band contest

160m Top Band

160m (top band) is challenging due to the physical logistics of a suitable antenna. I had the opportunity to assist with a portion of raising the 160m vertical loop antenna at the "Excalibur antenna site" and installing the 24 elevated radials that help make this antenna so effective. There's a lot of wire in the ground system. The antenna site is located in the woods, off grid, and away from electrically noisy homes.

Power to the remote shack is supplied by a quiet Honda 1kW generator operating a couple dozen feet from the shack. Due to the lower power requirements of QRP Paul can run the generator on eco-mode allowing its small fuel tank to provide 8 hours of operation between fill-ups.

Paul uses a Ten Tec Argonaut VI, running 5 watts output into the Excalibur 160m vertical loop. He uses N1MM+ logger software and a WinKeyer interfaced to the software. He also employs a SDR (software defined radio) feeding CWSkimmer signals across the band. An antenna splitter simultaneously feeds the SDR and the Argonaut. The SDR receiver is switched out during transmit by a DX Engineering RTR-1A Receive switch. His CW key is a N3ZN ZN-QRP model.

The N1MM+ logging software keeps track of which stations have already been worked and the CWSkimmer interface displays calling stations on the band being heard by his antenna.

The remote QRP station setup for contesting

In the Stew Perry contest the only information exchanged was grid squares. I'm still relatively new to CW and watching Paul casually copy grid squares sent at 30wpm was impressive. I would have had to ask the caller to re-send their grid squares 5 times but Paul makes it look easy.

Instructions for the newbie

Paul explained to me the in's and out's of operating in a contest. Speed and timing the openings were important, as was persistence. The integration of the software and receiving tools optimized his operating but experience and skill seems to be the biggest factors to success. I could have sat down there using the same tools but I would have been dumfounded with the logging controls and the speed the other stations were sending information. However, not all stations were sending at mach speed. When Paul worked a station sending at a slower or faster speed he would use the interface to Winkeyer to speed up or slow down the sending simply using the Page-up / Page-down keys. He would change frequency to a new station in the skimmer display by clicking on it.

Due to the limited amount of information exchanged during the contest most of the sending is accomplished via macros programmed into the contesting software. Paul rarely had to touch the CW key during the time I was there and his primary physical interaction with the radio seemed to be changing bandwidth or bandpass settings (he tends to keep bandwidth at 500Hz).

Paul demonstrating the contesting software and usage

Why QRP?

This contest was not a QRP-only contest although there were multipliers for working QRP. There were plenty of big gun stations operating and the Reverse Beacon spots showed some of them with 56dB SNR reports pounding the ionosphere with their big amps.

The strongest signal spot last night for WQ4RP was 35db with the average at around 18dB. Paul has worked QRO in the past but the challenge of QRP operation is now in his blood. During a previous 160m CW contest this winter he and Dick Hayter N4HAY worked 3 stations in Hawaii with Excalibur which thrilled them given the current propagation on 160m. QRP adds a bit more challenge and those multi-thousand mile per watt contacts on the top band make it all the more special

Finding the next station to work. (N3ZN QRP CW key in the foreground)

Why contest?

As a new CW operator I'm still getting my feet wet and enjoying the process of improving my CW copy skills doing more ragchews than adding stations to the log or chasing DX. I casually contest with the SKCC weekend sprints and it can be fun to see how many stations I work but I'm not ready for real contesting.

During the time I observed, I could sense Paul's excitement seeing the propagation progress across the band and when a distant station in Russia was heard he looked forward to the challenge to getting that one in the log using QRP. He let the stations running big amps get their fill before jumping in. Ultimately he wasn't able to work that station but he later worked a GW3 station in Wales which was a first for him on 160m. The rewards of contesting seem to be in the accomplishment of something difficult and achieving something new. I can understand that.

What's next?

With summer coming on 160m will turn noisy from atmospheric static and the opportunities for top band contacts fewer. Attention will turn to other bands and challenges for a while. Maybe Paul will decide it's time to get that 40m Moxon back up on the tower as the sunspot cycle decreases this summer.

I enjoyed the opportunity to watch real CW contesting first hand. It is technically challenging and requires skills I do not yet possess and I look forward to progressing in my CW/QRP journey to the point where I can assist Paul in a contest.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

73/72

Richard, AA400

Richard Carpenter, AA4OO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from North Carolina, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

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PAØRDT Miniwhip Shakedown Continues

13 March 2016 | by Steve VE7SL | Leave a Comment (4)

Those of you that have been following the recent set of four YouTube videos posted in my recent PAØRDT Miniwhip Shakedown blog, regarding the care and feeding of the PAØRDT active e-probe antenna, may be interested in a fifth video in the series, posted by Mike in the U.K.

PAØRDT's recent modification of the isolating transformer, in the miniwhip coupling unit, provides much better immunity to common mode noise-coupling in the HF bands. Mike shows the installation and operation of the new unit along with some additional grounding out at the antenna.

Those of you that are looking for a possible solution to relatively good reception on LF or on the 630m band, might find the answer with a carefully thought out installation such as the one shown in Mike's video series.

Although living in the suburbs often means dealing with a lot of noise, particularly on LF / MF, Mike's system shows that excellent low noise reception is indeed possible. It is important to 'probe' your backyard with the antenna itself in order to find the quietest location for installation.

More information on the PAØRDT miniwhip and other low-noise LF / MF antennas may be found in previous blogs here.

Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

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AmateurLogic 88: March Madness

13 March 2016 | by George W5JDX | Leave a Comment (0)

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 88 is now available for download.

Tommy brings up a 3D Printer Primer, Emile introduces Repo Claus, Peter talks about Raspberry Pi SD card corruption, and George shows another easy way to use copper clad PC boards with solder islands.

1:20:13

Download
YouTube

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

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Winter SOTA Activation of Kaufman Ridge North

13 March 2016 | by Bob KØNR | Leave a Comment (0)

Today, Joyce KØJJW and I activated Kaufman Ridge North (W0C/SP-085) for Summits On The Air (SOTA). We’ve been on the summit before, including the first ever SOTA activation back in September of 2012. This summit is close to our cabin, so it made for a convenient hike. The mountain is not that difficult of a climb but we encountered quite a bit of snow in March, up to three feet in places, which we tromped across with snowshoes.

IMG_0720edit — Joyce K0JJW on snowshoes in typical trail conditions

My blog posting about the next mountain to the south, Kaufman Ridge HP (W0C/SP-081), outlines a good way to access both summits during the summer. However, a seasonal gate closure (December to April) means we needed to find a different route. We approached the mountain from the north, parking our vehicle on Castle Court (a short side road off of Kaufman Road). We quickly crossed what appears to be private property (empty lot, no signs) to get to the US Forest Service boundary. Once we hopped the fence we were on public lands. We intentionally routed to the east to avoid some houses.

Snowshoe route shown to summit of Kaufman Ridge North. We parked at Castle Court, the unlabeled road that connects with Kaufman Road.

I don’t claim that this route is optimal. We had to break a lot of trail, pushing through the snow. We found a section of trail that had recent snowshoe traffic on it but it wasn’t of much use to us heading to the summit. We followed numerous game trails which appeared and disappeared on the side of the mountain. Mostly, we busted through the snow on our own. Surprisingly, the last quarter mile to the summit had little snow, so we removed our snowshoes at that point and just hiked in boots.

My Yaesu FT-1DR has become my favorite rig for SOTA activations. It covers both 2m and 70cm with dual-receiver capability. it has a built-in GPS receiver and APRS capability that facilitates easy APRS tracking. Joyce and I have a pair of these which we’ve been using to track each other’s positions on the few occasions we get separated on the trail.

Bob K0NR knocks out a few 2m fm contacts from the summit

After we made the summit, I made a few contacts on 146.52 MHz. Thanks to Jim KDØMRC, Dave KØHTX, Carl K5UK and Candy KEØDMT for giving me my four required SOTA contacts.

The weather turned out to be better than predicted…partly cloudy and temps around 50 degrees F. On the way back down, we retraced our ascent path so we had more of a snowshoe trail to follow. I have to admit that this trip was a good lesson in how off-trail snowshoeing can really be a challenge. This was many times more difficult than a summer trail hike of equal length and elevation gain. Trip stats: 2.6 total miles, 1300 vertical feet.

At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

73, Bob K0NR

The post Winter SOTA Activation of Kaufman Ridge North appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

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

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I will have a BLT please

12 March 2016 | by Richard AA4OO | Leave a Comment (1)

The BLT-Plus Balanced line QRP tuner

I was looking for a QRP tuner for the 1Watter 40m transceiver I am building that would work with both balanced feedline antennas as well as coax feedline. The traditional Z-Match tuner is quite efficient at tuning balanced line antennas and the built-in SWR bridge gives you an all-in-one tuner and SWR indicator without having to take a separate SWR meter along with its inherent mess of cabling a separate SWR meter. The BLT in the name stands for "Balanced Line Tuner".

This tuner kit is available from the fine folks at Pacific Antenna.

The Kit as it comes out of the bag

The kit comes with everything you need except for hookup wire and your soldering equipment. Instructions are downloaded from the qrpkits website.

Why use a z-match ?

Here are some advantages that the Z-match design offers:

Matches balanced loads without the use of lossy baluns.
Being a parallel resonant circuit, the Z-match can provide some band-pass filtering for your receiver and harmonic attenuation for your transmitter.
A well-designed Z-match tuner has a high Q and is more efficient (less lossy) than other types of tuners.
The fixed inductor simplifies construction (no taps or rollers needed).

The secret sauce

Matching balanced line fed antennas is sometimes problematic for a traditional balun and tuner as the antenna can present impedances that are far outside of the balun's design. The Z-Match uses a center tapped coil to keep the complex impedance balanced across the inductor (at least that's how I understand it). I have measured my Elecraft BL2 balun getting appreciably warm at QRP levels when connected to my doublet indicating loss I'd prefer to avoid. The Z-Match design supposedly results in less loss.

Built in SWR indicator

The BLT plus includes a Dan Tayloe N7VE LED SWR indicator which eliminates the need to carry a separate SWR meter. The concept is beautiful. The SWR bridge is switched into "Tune" mode and presents a 50 Ohm impedance to your transmitter while you are tuning so that you don't risk damaging sensitive home-brew finals. The LED lights when the SWR is too high and dims and then goes out as the match is made. It is simple and fast to use. The instructions for the bridge are not with the BLT instructions. Download them from this link.

SWR bridge with LED indicator

Switch to Tune to present a low SWR to the transmitter while matching, switch to Operate when finished

Building

The kit is relatively easy to build with one tapped toroid to wind for the SWR bridge and one 3 winding toroid for the tuner. I faced a few issues that you might avoid:

The kit is provided with really nice water slide decals that give it a commercial look (if you don't ruin them like I did). The instructions recommend applying a clear coat to the decals after they are applied. I used a Krylon matte finish clear coat which indicated it was fine for metals and plastics but it partially melted the decals and caused them to bubble. I'd suggest testing whatever you are going to clear coat them with first.
Don't over tighten the plastic tuner shafts or you won't be able to slide the knobs on (yes I did).
The binding posts have little plastic spacers that separate and it isn't obvious. If you install them and wonder how they don't ground themselves (like I did) you've done it wrong and will have to go back after it's together and try to remove them with all the wiring in place.
The bolts for the binding posts are very soft metal and the nuts can strip them if you apply too much force (yep I did that too).
The main toroid has three sets of windings and they overlap. Pay attention to the instructions about winding them all in the same manner (clockwise or counter clockwise) or you will have to rewind them (yep, I did that too).
The 3 windings on the main toroid overlap so you won't be able to go back and verify your turns when doing the 2nd and 3rd winding so count carefully (ask me how I know).
Temporarily attach the SWR bridge to the front panel to get the spacing correct to solder the LED leads.

The SWR bridge instructions are separate from the kit instructions and simply googling them will give you instructions for an older version. Use the version here.

My tuner toroid ended up being a bit messier than I'd like because I had to rewind it and my resulting leads aren't as short as they could be. I may go back and trim the leads to make it tidier but my least favorite part of winding toroids is heat stripping the insulated magnet wire so I'll probably leave it as is. Initial tests indicate it's working great.

My messy toroid winding... but it's working fine

Operation

Connect your transmitter and antenna.
Choose the appropriate switch in the back for coax or balanced line antenna (Up for coax, Down for balanced line).
Start with the inductance switch on the back set to low-impedance (Low-Z) because it is the most efficient. It uses the 6 turn secondary rather than the 12.
Switch the front switch to "Tune"
Key the transmitter and be sure you are using 5 watts or less
Turn the "Load" knob first until you see a dimming of the LED then the "Tune" knob to make it go out completely
The knobs interact so you'll need to go back and forth between them to achieve best match
If you can't get a good match switch the inductance switch on the back to "High Z" and try again
Don't apply power too long at a time during tune because the 50 Ohm resistors are heating up in there during the Tune process
When the LED goes out or gets very dim you have a very good match. Switch to "Operate" and enjoy a well matched antenna

Photos

Result of having to rewind the secondaries made it messier than I'd like

Dimensions

Remarks

Qrpkits offers a great little kit that results in a commercial looking product. You end up with a small portable tuner plus SWR indicator that reduces the complexity of your portable operation. Pacific Antenna is very responsive to questions. I sent a question concerning the incorrect instructions I'd downloaded for the antenna bridge and James answered me the same day with a different link (included above).

So if you have a QRP radio that needs an antenna tuner I recommend this kit. It's well thought out and works well.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

72/73

Richard, AA4OO

Richard Carpenter, AA4OO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from North Carolina, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 102

12 March 2016 | by Cale K4HCK | Leave a Comment (1)

First look: Tytera TYT MD-390 DMR HT
The Tytera TYT MD-390, the successor of the popular Tytera TYT MD-380 DMR HT, has arrived.
amateurradio.com

Just one more db
See if you can hear the difference between each 1 db increment.
VE7SL

Mobile AREDN Mesh Networking
I built a Mobile Mesh Node. It consists of 2 Ubiquiti Rocket M2 units – one for the AREDN node, and the other to act as a local wireless access point.
VA3QR

ARRL 2016 August UHF Contest Cancelled
Many commenters expressed dissatisfaction with the timing of the contest, occurring as it does at the hottest time of the year.
ARRL

Embed APRS position on your website
Paste the following HTML code on your web page, and you’ll have an automatically updating real-time APRS Google Map running in minutes.
aprs.fi

Find the signal in the noise
GPS signals are very weak, coming in at about 120 dBm which is below the thermal noise floor of ~100 dBm.
Software Defined GPS

ARRL really needs to reach out more effectively
I don’t believe that they’re doing enough to attract new members and retain existing members, and a few recent incidents have only solidified my opinion.
KB6NU

Supporting disaster communications from space
We owe it to these volunteers to do everything we can to support their work to help communities bounce back when disaster strikes.
FEMA.gov

CW call sign weight analyzer
A useful tool when trying to figure out how long it will take to send a call sign using CW.
RadioQTH

Listening to an astronaut transmit from the International Space Station
A fun and educational use of the RTL-SDR.
TRL-SDR.com

Amateur Extra Query Tools
AE7Q

Video

Rowetel FreeDV SM1000 in action
A transmission of the weekly WIA Broadcast in both SSB and then FreeDV.
YouTube

Introduction to the Icom IC-7300 HF/50/70MHz Transceiver
Icom’s first Software Defined Radio (SDR) HF radio.
Icom

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

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The big ‘secret’ to successful DXing

11 March 2016 | by Matt W1MST | Leave a Comment (5)

Jim Heath, W6LG, has launched a new video series about the art of DXing. He should know about the subject — he’s been working DX on 20-meters with great success for over 50 years.

“It doesn’t take a huge station to work DX, and it doesn’t take a lot of money,” Heath says. “You can have a lot of fun with a very modest station.”

He says that one key to success is not getting caught up following the crowd. “The skill is not getting onto a DX net and putting your call sign in and waiting for your turn to work a guy in Japan. That’s not working DX — that’s being spoon-fed DX,” he says. “If you’re new to DXing, go for the easy countries: the guys who are calling CQ.”

Most people who have real success working DX do a lot more listening than talking. “A DXer listens, listens, and listens some more and learns about propagation and knows when the band is going to open to certain parts of the world,” he says.

Hans, SM5BUS

“A good example of a guy who has a tremendous signal out of Scandinavia day after day is SM5BUS,” Heath says. “If you’ve tuned 20-meters, you’ve more than likely heard him. He knows propagation really well. He’s learned over the years when the band is open and he listens a lot.”
chimney-two-element-yagi “While you might think because this guy is the only thing you can hear out of Scandinavia, that he has an antenna at 100 feet and 1,500 watts behind it. It’s not true,” Heath says. “He’s got a two-element Yagi attached to his chimney 10 meters above ground, but he knows when propagation is good. He’s there to work the propagation, to work the band opening. He does it over and over again and that’s been true for decades.”

If you want to learn more secrets of DXing, watch Jim’s first video below and subscribe to his YouTube channel.

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

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