Ham Radio – QRP 2023-04-25 01:28:00

 TX Relay, Power and TX REQ IN

R&L Electronics sent me a SCU-28 10-pin DIN cable by accident and were nice enough to let me keep it.  Consider shopping from those guys.  They offer great communication and good prices.

This cable is typically used to wire connections for an external amplifier.  I don't have an external amplifier but I wanted to make use of the +12v power and transmit relay for the protection relay I built for my SDR-Play a few years ago.


I had also read that the TX REQ IN pin could be used to switch the radio into a lower power tune mode for use with external tuners. The absence of a TUNE button for external tuners is one of my pet-peeves about the FT-DX10 so I was excited to have one.

Wiring the Break Out Box and TX-REQ-IN

So I used my last spare plastic project box, some female phono jacks and found a push-button that I'd cut off of some other project in my junk box and went to work.


I used some shrink wrap for the momentary switch for the TX-REQ-IN pin.


I wired up 3 phono jacks... One for the TX relay, another for the +12v out, and one for the ALC control in case I ever do get an amp.  I safed the other wires for future use inside the project box.


Partial Success

I connected the box and verified that I was getting power for the relay and that the Relay Switch operated



Unfortunately, the TX-REQ-IN does NOT do what it does with other Yaesu transceivers.  Pressing the button grounds the TX-REQ-IN - the radio does transmit a carrier in any mode (here I tested with LSB) but rather than transmitted a reduced power carrier as it's supposed to, it just transmits at whatever wattage the mode is currently set to.  In this case I had the power set to 50w into a dummy load and it transmitted the full 50w rather than a reduced power 10w or 20w carrier for tuning.  See the power out on the radio's display


In my opinion Yaesu screwed the pooch on this one.  I don't see any reason why they wouldn't operate like they do with their bigger brethren radios when the TX-REQ-IN is grounded.  Some subsequent forum searching turned up posts from others that confirmed that the FT-DX10 does not properly respond to that signal.

My Elecraft KX3 and Ten-Tec Eagle both have a "TUNE" button that sends a low power tuning signal regardless of what the current power setting is at and there's no reason that the FT-DX10 shouldn't do the same.  Having to dive into a menu to change the power setting for tuning an external matching unit is just silly in this day and age.

I have confirmed that my box is working the relay properly to my SDR-Play.  I reference the relay I built to protect the front-end of the SDR-Play in this post https://www.hamradioqrp.com/2017/02/spruce-up-basic-transceiver-with-sdr.html

That's all for now.



So lower your power and raise your expectations





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

A Pop-up Ham Sale

 

April 29 at our Training Site

5746 142 Street, Surrey

Surrey Amateur Radio Communications will be holding a parking lot sale next Saturday April 29th (weather permitting) to dispose of a large quantity of surplus ham equipment. 


Lots to choose from!
 
Items for sale include HF and mobile transmitters, receivers, transceivers, antennas, rotators, test instruments, coax and other cable, swr and power meters, power supplies, tuners, scopes, dummy loads, misc. accessories etc. We also have a utility trailer for sale. 
 
The sale is at our Ops & Training Centre 5756 142 St. Surrey, BC. from 11 am to 2 pm.  No early birds please (Map link: 
: https://what3words.com/daunted.rarity.parrot)
 
SARC/SEPAR members and non-members are also invited to set up a table or sell personal items from their vehicles. There is no charge for this.
 
Before the event, you may also wish to join us for our club breakfast at Denny’s Restaurant 6850 King George Blvd between 7:30 and 9:00 am.
 
Questions? [email protected]

Here is a partial list









































See you there.

 
~


ICQ Podcast Episode 401- MFJ8504 Review and Understanding HF Controls

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and in the episode's feature is MFJ8504 Review and Understanding HF Controls.

We would like to thank Paul Coppin (M0YMJ) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

  • Ria Jairam, N2RJ, joins ARDC Board
  • Your MultiMeter Might be Lying to You
  • Vacuum Tube-Making on the Comeback in the US
  • FCC Takes a Deeper Dive into Satellites
  • Electrocuted While Helping Another Amateur
  • Three Hams Chosen for Artemis Moon Mission
  • RSGB Coronation Activities
  • National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting Open during 2023 Dayton Hamvention

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Blackpool Rally 23th April

 The warmth from the North welcomes all to the Norbreck rally tomorrow.





Further detail click NARSA





Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from England. Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 282

Amateur Radio Weekly

Meteor scatter propagation: How it works & getting on the air
Harnessing meteors for your VHF QSOs.
K5ND

Your radio’s filters may be wider than you think
AM bandwidth confusion: IF filters today vs. yesterday.
SWLing Post

GNU Radio Tutorials
GNU Radio can be used with readily-available low-cost external RF hardware to create software-defined radios.
GNU Radio

FCC warns Portland church to shut down pirate FM station
Because Eastside Free Methodist Church owns the building, it is potentially on the hook for enforcement action.
Inside Radio

MicroHams Digital Conference
This conference is presented each year to inspire, inform, and educate about the leading edge of digital communications.
MicroHams

A beautiful day for SOTA
I woke up that morning, drank a cup of coffee, looked outside, and knew what would be in store the day: a SOTA activation!
QRPer

It’s time for some Pi
Raspberry Pi is all new to me.
VE9KK

Wearable Morse Code trainer
WristMorse communicator can also act as a Bluetooth keyboard.
Hackaday

A surprise new field portable antenna
Some ideas worked, others failed, but now I believe I have found the ideal candidate.
Ham Radio Outside the Box

Video

Radio communication for overlanding
Considerations when traveling to remote locations.
VK3FUR

Ham and Quackers: Episode 1
Building a way for people to connect within the Ham Radio community.
Ham and Quackers

Easy to build vertical no-radial HF antenna
Multiband HF antenna for 20 through 10 meters.
K4OGO

2 meter FM via airplane
Flight from Tacoma Narrows Airport over Olympic National Park.
SOG Pilot

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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.

It’s time for some Pi

 

HamClock

A number of years ago I purchased a Raspberry Pi intending to do something with it. Well, it sat for many years with me now and then taking a look at it and thinking someday I will explore the Pi. A few weeks ago for some reason, I Googled Raspberry Pi regarding weather programs. 

My thought at the time was to get live local weather reports via the Pi. Also, it had been about 3 years since I had seen my Raspberry Pi and was not sure if I had thrown it out during one of my spur-of-the-moment clean-up binges. I eventually came across it after searching everywhere. "I put it where for sure I would know where it was". That did not work so well BUT I have learned that once I do find something I always place it back in the spot where I first looked for it. I degrees.....

My Pi


The box the Pi was in was complete with a power supply, protective case, HDMI cable, micro SD card and a cooling fan. I plugged in the Pi and powered it up with the micro SD card in place, a monitor, mouse and keyboard. Well a red LED light came on but that was it the monitor was blank, and well actually had a floating message "No device connected". I was sure I had downloaded a Pi OS onto the SD card years ago. I did a fast Google search and found out if you have only a red light and no green light (besides the red light) then most likely your SD is either blank, not in properly or defective. 


It was off to the Raspberry Pi site to download the latest and greatest OS and in my case that was bullseye. I did check the SD card and it was blank so I was hoping after the OS was installed and put back into the Pi things would come to life...and they did. I also found out that my Pi was a Pi3 (not Pi3B) the latest and greatest is the Pi4 B. The Pi3 will do me just fine and I am finally going to be using it. 


As stated I wanted to use it for local weather and I ended up finding something better! Local weather, space weather, UTC clock, contest calendar, VOCAP, a world map that has a host of configurations and more. The software is called HamClock by WB0OEW. This package runs very smoothly on my Pi3 and will auto-update, which I have experienced once already. 

And so it begins


Now Raspberry Pi is all new to me and I am learning about Sudo, the command line and what to enter into the command line. At this point, in time I have just cut and pasted commands from websites (such as HamClock) to install the program. The installation process for HamClock can be found under the "Desktop" tab on the HamClock site.
I am just starting my Pi learning curve and would appreciate any advice and program suggestions to run.


Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Hunting For NDBs In CLE291

ZSJ-258 Sandy Lake, ON (ve3gop.com)

This coming weekend brings CLE 291. This is a challenge for all NDB hunters, both new and old and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?

'CLE's are 'Co-ordinated  Listening Events, and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of  the NDB spectrum.
 
With the number of targets slowly being decommissioned, the hunting grounds have been widened...this month the frequency range is for the NDBs whose published frequencies are between 240.0 - 259.9 kHz and 420.0 - 439.9 kHz. 

A good target for all NA listeners is powerhouse ZSJ on 258 kHz, located at Sandy Lake, Ontario. Listen for its upper sideband CW identifier on 258.406 kHz.

When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. Listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are modulated with a 1020 Hz tone approximately.

For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 1054 Hz.

Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.

Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.

All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database. Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.

From CLE organizers comes the following info:

Hello all,

 

This coming weekend we have another chance to enjoy a Coordinated Listening Event. All CLE logs will be very welcome, short or long.

 

Days:                   Friday, 21st April – Monday, 24th April

Times:                 Start and end at midday, local time at the receiver

Searching for:    NDBs in the ranges

240.0 - 259.9 kHz   and   420.0 - 439.9 kHz

BOTH frequency ranges are for ALL listeners.

REU and RNA show that the number of NDBs, each

of them heard by at least 10 or more listeners in the

last 12 months, was:

 

240-259.9 kHz   420-439.9 kHz

REU                      30                         116

RNA                      54                         54

 

Please log the NDBs you can identify that are listed in the ranges, plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

You can find details, lists and maps of the beacons in those ranges, if you go to  https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle.

 

Send your final CLE log to  ndblist'at'groups.io  with “CLE291” and

“FINAL” in the email Subject.

Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:

 

  #   The full Date (or Day no.)  e.g. ‘2023-04-21’ (or just ‘21’)

         and UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC)

  #   kHz (the beacon's nominal published frequency if you know it)

  #   The Call Ident.

 

Other optional details - Location, Distance, etc. - go LATER in the same line (or in footnotes).  Please make your log useful to old and new members alike by ALWAYS including your own location (and 6-character Locator if you know it) and brief details of the equipment and aerial(s) that you were using.   

 

We will send an 'Any More Logs?' email at about 20:00 UTC on Tuesday evening so you can check that your log has been found OK.

To be included in the combined results  your log must have arrived by 09:00 UTC on Wednesday 26th April at the very latest.

We hope to complete making the Combined Results within a day or two.

 Good listening

Joachim and Brian

(CLE coordinators)

If you would like to try some remote listening - you could use any one remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location (and with the owner’s permission if required).

A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, whether local or remote, to make more loggings for the same CLE.

 

CLE's provide several purposes. They:


• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx online database can be kept up-to-date

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are out-of-service or have gone silent since the last CLE covering this range


• will indicate the state of propagation conditions at the various participant locations


• will give you an indication of how well your LF/MF receiving system is working


• give participants a fun yet challenging activity to keep their listening skills honed


Final details can be found at the NDB List website, and worldwide results, for every participant, will be posted there a few days after the event.


The NDB List Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other DXers in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome. As well, you can follow the results of other CLE participants from night to night as propagation is always an active topic of discussion.

You need not be an NDB List member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers.

Remember - 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the NDB List Group or e-mailed to CLE co-ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above. If you are a member of the group, all final results will also be e-mailed and posted there.

Please ... give the CLE a try ... then let us know what NDB's can be heard from your location! Your report can then be added to the worldwide database to help keep it up-to-date.

Have fun and good hunting!

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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