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Sarah, Evan, and I had the opportunity to go to her parents’ place for the Easter holiday weekend. Since the trip coincided with the Michigan QSO Party, I decided this might be a good test of the portability of the K2. Unfortunately, I was unable to operate much longer than a half hour but I had some fun on 40 meters and tried out N3WG’s (Pignology) HamLog for logging. Neat stuff.

Ethan Miller, K8GU, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Maryland, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Unfortunately, I must report the change of power supply did not correct my issues I had experienced with my Yaesu FT-950.  I blogged yesterday about the chain of events  which took place over the weekend and my intentions of trying another power supply in the event my main unit is going defective.  I had prepared myself for the worse case scenario and unfortunately that is what is going to happen. 

I have boxed up my FT-950 in the original box (thankfully I keep these things) and will ship it out today.  In an earlier telephone conversation with the Yaesu amateur service dept. I should expect a 10 day (or less) turnaround.  As for repair costs, Yaesu charges $35.00 just to look at the radio and then $70.00 per hour labor.   I’ll keep you posted.

I would like to just thank those who reached out to me via email and posted comments with suggestions of things to try.  I’m fairly confident I’ve exhausted all options I’m capable of performing (or feel comfortable performing) on the 950 and all results remain the same.  Something is preventing the 950 from operating at full power on 10 – 20 meters and zero power output on 30 – 160 meters. 

Meanwhile, the 2014 QSO a day challenge does continue.  I still have access to other HF rigs and will do my best to limp along working mostly digital modes and a few SSB QSO’s here and there.  Based on the expected turnaround time from Yaesu, my 950 should be back in the shack well before I’m scheduled to operate W1AW/Ø the week of 21 May.

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].

Ik heb inmiddels de petitie ondertekend.

Paul Stam, PC4T, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from the Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode of Linux in the Ham Shack, Pete goes AWOL. While he’s out being dishonorably discharged, Harrison and Cheryl step in to fill his medium-sized shoes. We also get an interview with Bob, W9YA, current maintainer of YFKTest. He tells us all about the new and exciting world of YFKTest and how it’s not, in fact, dead.

73 de The LHS Guys

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

I thought i would share a quick update on my WSPR experiments at home. My initial setup of the WSPR included what I though was quite a healthy heartbeat from the GPS module. In fact this was incorrect, i had the Serial Data and PPS lines crossed and the U3 thought the Data was the PPS signal. hence why the recalibration sent the Reference oscillator wildly off course.

Now fixed, i don’t have a heartbeat coming from the module, but thats because the GPS module is too close to the U3 and also there is a lack of pull up resistors between the 3.3v and TX pins. both these issues I will fix this week

Another point and is based upon many questions i am getting about the module is what antenna am I running. Well its simple Im using my main shack antenna – this being the MQ26-SR. With the calculated output of the WSPR module(288mW) and the ERP figures of the antenna (6dB), the grand ERP will be about 1.1W-ERP

This 1.1W ERP would account for how well the little module is doing. I have since corrected the DDS instability, by adding a heatSink, only the clock update and calibration need sorting – these both will be corrected when I sort out the GPS module.

This map shows a 8 hour transmission period, transmitting once every 4 minutes. No calibration is done as the GPS module is disconnected. I manually set the Reference oscillator by transmitting a 14Mhz signal and measuring the output on the Oscilloscope. I made the change to the oscillator by making adding the difference to the Ref. Oscillator of how much it was off by. (in my case just 163Hz)

Anyway here is a quick tour around the unit. This video was taken and made before I realised i had the GPS wired up wrong, and before I corrected the instability of the DDS module.

Dan Trudgian, MØTGN, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Wiltshire, England. He's a radio nut, IT guru, general good guy and an all round good egg. Contact him him here.

Boy was I surprised to get this!

It was February 2013 and we just really finished unpacking all our boxes from the move into our new condo and I felt it was time to let some steam off and get on the radio. My new MFJ 1788 loop antenna had arrived and after some tweaking it was setup and ready to go. The ARRL DX CW contest was on and what a better way to give the antenna a workout! I blogged about my ARRL event and the use of the magnetic loop antenna. I was very pleased to see I was getting out and able to be a points giver in the contest. I was more concerned with checking out the MFJ's antennas performance from my condo location than taking the contest seriously. As a wise ham had told me long ago "always submit your contest score" and I did just that......last week a certificate came in the mail. It seems I was first place in Ontario south section for QRP!! No it's not top in the  country or world but for my condo station it was a great accomplishment. To think I was not even trying for an award.....maybe next year I will go for points and see how I do?
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

I truly had a blast this past weekend working 20m SSB contacts and giving away 5 points as a VE during the year long ARRL Centennial QSO Party.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog posting, I will be representing the Centennial State of Colorado when the W1AW/Ø portable operations schedule makes a stop in Colorado.  W1AW/Ø will be on the air from Colorado 21-27 May.  My contest operating is typically limited to Field Day and the Colorado QSO Party, so I wanted to spend some time on the air over the next few weeks brushing up on my “operating a pile-up” skills. 

I spent about 3 hours “on the air” over the Easter weekend and managed to add about 180 SSB contacts to  my log.  If you’ve done any operating the past few days you are well aware that band conditions have been up and down.  I was surprised at the feedback I received regarding my audio quality.  I think fellow hams are surprised to know that I’m running just 100w into a hamstick dipole mounted just above my roofline.  But this is the way for those of us living in HOA-hell.

Of course, I also have some weird issue going on with my Yaesu FT-950.  I promise I didn’t let the magic smoke out, but something is seriously wrong with my SSB workhorse.  You can read more about some of the testing I’ve done here.  As I stated in that blog posting, I do plan to try another power supply.  I’ll be pleasantly surprised if the issue is with my current power supply.  But I’m also prepared to quickly send my 950 to Yaesu California.  I need to get it back in time for when I operate W1AW/Ø.

If I had the privilege to work you over the past weekend, thank you for answering my CQ and I most certainly look forward to working you again soon.

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].