AmateurRadio.com

Ok so not a radio related blog entry but its worth sharing anyway.

I have for the first time ever now joined the super fast broadband club. Using BT infinity2 I have for the first time broken through the “Up to” 16Mb/s download and jumped straight up to 76Mb/s download.

For the uninitiated this is accomplished by only installing Fibre cable to the nearest cabinet and then the existing copper to the house. The is known as FTTC. (Fibre To The Cabinet). and going forward its quite possibly the only large scale Fibre Optic roll out we will see in the UK. placing Fibre Optic to the home (FTTP – Fibre To The Property) is prohibitively expensive and the last large scale roll out nearly bankrupted NTL.

So how is it ? well to be honest I haven’t really noticed any difference browsing the web. But I have noticed a massive difference when everyone is using a piece of the internet connection. the upload speed has made a massive difference too. Being able to upload videos to YouTube and also working with files (day job) and placing them on remote servers is now much quicker.

The actual speeds I’m getting are not that different to the advertised connection – That being 76Mbs down and 19Mbs up. have a look at the before and after speed tests.

All Photos by W3ATB

Tim W3ATB and I rode our bikes to Eagle Pond along the old rail route. We worked Hungary, Israel, Ukraine, Indiana, and Virginia.

We traveled along the old Northern Rail route about four miles. It’s 60F and a perfect spring day. We skirted back and forth across the Black River starting out in Andover.

We stopped at the covered bridge to enjoy the scenery and rest a bit. About a mile and a half from Andover is Potter Place. The local historical society has turned the old station into a museum.

The route is a perfect bike path. Railroad grades are very slight so there are no hills at all. We come to Eagle Pond after riding 40 minutes or so. It’s glorious. Blue sky, sparkling water and some good DX. I’m running the KX3 with a 33 foot wire. I operate mostly on 15M and 17M.

Here’s my log:

25 Apr-14 1855 21.010 HA9RT CW 599 599 Hungary
25 Apr-14 1900 18.076 EM90WF CW 599 599 Ukraine
25 Apr-14 1910 21.018 HA8FK CW 559 599 Hungary
25 Apr-14 1915 18.091 KA4RRU CW 559 599 VA
25 Apr-14 1922 18.078 4Z5IW CW 559 599 Israel

Tim is sitting about 60 feet away running an HB-1B and the Par End fed wire. He’s operating on 20M. He has a nice QSO with an Indiana station. Amazingly, we don’t interfere with each other even though we have parallel vertical wires in close proximity.

We pack up our gear for the return trip and stop several times along the trail. Our butts are sore and our muscles feel the exercise. We’ll be in better shape next time. We pass a few spots with telltale signs of winter. They’ll probably be gone next time too. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow.

Ray Novak from Icom America came by the AmateurLogic studio with Icom’s newest 2m/70cm, D-Star capable radio. We had the perfect opportunity to host another smack down match. This time it was between the new ID-5100A vs the IC-2820H.
Check it out here: ID-5100A vs IC-2820H

Courtesy of N8NQH

Thanks to Tim, N8NQH for sharing a possible 60-cent fix for the loss of memory problems plaguing some Wouxun radios. He’s created a great little resource page for those looking to tackle this repair. According to him, the problem is a little 8-pin DIP surface mounted 24C64 serial memory IC.

Please note, however, that he makes it very clear that this repair is made at your own risk! Your mileage may vary, but at least it’s a possible starting place.

http://tim-yvonne.com/ham/wouxun-memory/index.htm

Got an answer from Terry G4POP regarding my Log4OM issue regarding the distances being shown in kilometers, rather than miles (even though I chose the miles option):

 “Distance in miles is only for display, when the record is saved to your log it has to conform with the ADIF (Amateur Data Interchange Format) format which requires Km.”

Since I’m not the software or ADIF expert, I’ll accept that answer, although HRD and other logging programs I have played with seem to work around it.  In light of how good the program seems to me so far, it’s a minor inconvenience, and in the scheme of things I can live with that.  What’s more important to me is that the CAT (Computer Aided Tuning) works well.  The KX3 seems to obey whenever I point and click on a frequency.

The DX Cluster and the loading and downloading to and from eQSL and LotW work especially well. Callsign lookup is lightning fast. In short, Log4OM is easy to use (it has a very short learning curve), it makes sense, works well and is aesthetically pleasing too. It’s easy on the eyes and to many, that may be superfluous, but to me it is important. 

Another big plus is that the Website offers for download a comprehensive User Manual that is complete, but is still a manageably sized document that I can keep on my tablet for easy reference.

The evaluation of logging software is very subjective. What works for one person is useless to another. Log4OM works very well for me, and if you’re looking for something new, or a nice package, be sure to check it out.  It might not be your cup of tea; but then again it might.

Here’s a VERY COOL special event that is going on tomorrow. I want to help spread the word:

“A Special Event honoring 20 years of the AZ ScQRPions QRP Club will be held April 26, 1400-2330 UTC at the unique relic of the cold war nuclear deterrent: the TITAN MISSILE MUSEUM in Green Valley AZ dedicated by Ronald Reagan to creating an ongoing awareness of the Armagedon that would result from a nuclear exchange. Everyone should be guided through the silo andcontrol rooms to get a sense of the reality of it all.

The CLUB will use the site’s primary antenna — a broadband 90′ DISCONE with a fairly flat SWR from 1.8-30 Mhz, with low nodes in most of the ham bands. We will operate with QRP rigs such as the KX3, K3, QRP+, ICOM-703, ATS-4, Wilderness Sierra and who knows what else. QRP frequencies will be used to the extent they produce steady contacts. Otherwise take note of the following operating Fregs: SSB — 14270Mhz, 18130Mhz, 21280Mhz, & 28370Mhz, +/-20Khz; c.w. –14020, 18072, 21030, 28015, +/-10Khz. We will call ” CQ TITAN de K7T”.

Details and photos of the DISCONE monster can be viewed at the following links:

http://www.wa0itp.com/titandiscone.html
http://www.wa0itp.com/ttm%202010.htm

http://www.gvarc.us

Special QSL on receipt of your QSL to:

Ade Weiss W0RSP, 810 N. Placita la Canoa, Green Valley, AZ 85614

QRO stations certainly invited to let us know we’re getting out — and to practice copying weak DX signals and local QRP signals! Win-win!

Check http://www.QRPSPOTS.com for most current frequency info.

Simultaneous operation of three stations on the Discone is planned using a triplexer and bandpass filters. An in-band SSB 20m – 10M experiment will be attempted with additional antennas separated from the Discone. Note that 12M, 17M CW/SSB and 30M may also be used as this is not a contest, but an outdoor operating event on a nice 90F+ spring day!

Drop by for a QSO! Make our day! CU de TITAN!

Also …… tomorrow, Saturday April 26th is International Marconi Day.  You may hear a lot of stations on the air around the world using an “IMD” suffix.  That’s what that is all about.  You can read more about it on the ARRL Letter, if you get that, or by going here:  http://g4usb.net/IMD/the-award/award-classes/

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

TX Factor, the UK’s first TV show dedicated entirely to amateur radio has launched TXtra, a regular supply of extra features with new and exciting content related to amateur radio and associated technology.

Ok. I got the eQSL and LotW procedures figured out and running. The only minor bug is the distance thing. Even though I have the “Show distances in miles” box checked off on the settings page, the distances are still being shown as kilometers. Not a deal breaker, but something I would like to resolve. I posted an update to my query on the Log4OM forum. We’ll see what kind of answers I get, if any.

Other than that, I am very pleased with the software. It is running very smoothly. Everything I need is displayed on one screen, which I like – very much. Actually using the program to record QSOs is very easy and straightforward. Log4OM is missing a few of the bells and whistles that HRD has, but for $00.00, I can live with it.

I was testing the rig control feature out and saw JT1AA/3 spotted. I clicked on the call and the KX3 actually jumped bands to get to the proper 17 Meter frequency. I threw my call out after listening for a few minutes and was actually heard after my first try! Not a new DXCC entity for me, but a new country for 17 Meters for me. And that’s good enough for tonight.

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