Posts Tagged ‘amateurradio.com’
LoRa LoRa Laughs!
December 8th, 2016 | 
Author: Due to the restrictions on airborne amateur radio operation in the UK High Altitude Balloon (HAB) enthusiasts have been forced to utilise licence exempt low power devices in novel ways to make radio trackers for their payloads. I have written plenty on this blog about my HAB tracking, the UKHAS distributed listener network and my own flights.
Until recently the preferred method was to use RTTY transmissions, however the advent of the IoT (Internet Of Things) has seen manufacturers of radio modules develop devices to increase both the range and reliability of communication between 'connected' embedded devices.
One such development are LoRa devices, primarily for devices to connect to a global wide-area network LoRaWAN, more information can be found at the LoRa Alliance in addition there are some open hobbyist networks such as The Things Network using these devices.
Using chirp spread-spectrum modulation these LoRa devices are marketed as being capable of robust, interference and fade resistant communication over longer distances and higher data rates.
The UK HAB community has begun experimenting with these devices and one of their keen proponents is Dave Akerman (M0RPI). Dave has developed both payload software for the "Pi In The Sky" PITS tracker along with Anthony Stirk (M0UPU) and gateway software in collaboration with Robert Harrison M0RJX. The 'gateway' is the necessary receiver element to upload the data to the tracking system. (all software is on the PITS Github page)
Dave gave an informative presentation on LoRa at the UKHAS 2016 Conference which is now available online (starts around 3 minutes in)
I had intended to fly a LoRa transmitter on my 2015 Hamfest balloon but it stopped working at the eleventh hour and hadn't done anything else with LoRa till recently.
Spurred on by the conference presentation and the fact more and more flights are carrying LoRa I invested in one of the Raspberry Pi expansion boards sold by Uputronics and built up another prototype tracker with a working LoRa module.
I have done talks at various radio clubs and societies and demonstrated it working but hadn't actually received a 'real flight' as opportunities have been scarce due to the weather. However in the few weeks I have tracked a couple of flights receiving both telemetry and image data, getting a couple of complete images from the imaginatively named 'SPACE' flight.
Dave Akerman also flew a flight experimenting with multiple payloads using Time-division multiplexing (TDM). It had 10 small of "AVRLoRaNut" trackers (of Anthony M0UPU's design) all set to the same frequency (434.450MHz) and same transmission mode. The trackers took turns to transmit, with each one allocated a particular transmission slot in a 20-second cycle. The cycle was GPS-timed but, if any tracker lost GPS lock then it derived timing from the transmissions from the other trackers (the LoRa devices are also receivers) All 10 trackers were suspended from the same balloon. This was in preparation for the 'Operation Outward' re-enactment next year (Steve Randall gave a presentation on it in the above conference video starts 1 hour 16 mins in)
I successfully received telemetry despite the flight not being local and constantly heading away from me as can be seen in the screen shots.
Always a busy man Dave also flew a flight with an experimental camera setup. The SSDV images this time came from a Nikon compact camera, connected to the Raspberry Pi via USB, and using gphoto2 software to take and transfer images to the Pi where they were stored, resized and converted to SSDV format for transmission. These were large images with a high quality SSDV setting so lots of packets per image, approx 1400 per image in testing.
This flight was using a 868MHz LoRa device, rather than the usual 434MHz due to the IR2030 restriction on bandwidth and duty cycle. Dave was using his Turbo-X or Mode 4 setting which is as fast as LoRa will go within IR2030 bandwidth restrictions (approx 8 packets / 2k bytes per second)
I hastily ordered a 868MHz device and soldered it in the spare slot on my gateway and built a collinear for 868MHz similar to the one I built for ADB-S reception (see video here).
You can see it lashed up just below the dual-band collinear - not ideal mounting and it wasn't tested in anyway, built blind! The less than optimal setup at UHF, the insane data rate and the distance (>100miles) were going to make reception difficult, so I was pleased I did manage to receive telemetry and image packets.
Most of the current LoRa development in the HAB community has tended to be on the Raspberry Pi due to the use with SSDV and the easy availability of cameras and ready built kit. LoRa is of course available on the Arduino platform and I had purchased a couple of 'Dragino' shields (pictured below) with a LoRa device on.
Dave has done some work on a AVR tracker software and a simple Arduino 'Serial' LoRa receiver. The receiver connects to a host PC appearing as a serial port and by running some gateway software the receiver can be configured via the serial link and received data is sent back to the gateway to be uploaded to the Habitat tracking system and SSDV system - the software can be seen here during the 'Operation Outward' test flight.
This gateway software is written in Pascal using Delphi and is not as functional as the Raspberry Pi Gateway software. Dave has made the source code available but I am not au fait at all with Delphi however I installed the free development IDE and intended to get in and make modifications but it seems to require a non-free(?) library for the serial comms so ditched the idea.
Instead I have spent the last few days developing a C# .NET version using Microsoft Visual Studio (the community version is free) and also have been modifying the Arduino code in the receiver to add functionality, such as storing the SSDV images locally.
It is still a work in progress but I have made a video showing the current state
Anyway as Cilla Black would say it's been a Lorra Lorra Laughs!
Until recently the preferred method was to use RTTY transmissions, however the advent of the IoT (Internet Of Things) has seen manufacturers of radio modules develop devices to increase both the range and reliability of communication between 'connected' embedded devices.
One such development are LoRa devices, primarily for devices to connect to a global wide-area network LoRaWAN, more information can be found at the LoRa Alliance in addition there are some open hobbyist networks such as The Things Network using these devices.
Using chirp spread-spectrum modulation these LoRa devices are marketed as being capable of robust, interference and fade resistant communication over longer distances and higher data rates.
The UK HAB community has begun experimenting with these devices and one of their keen proponents is Dave Akerman (M0RPI). Dave has developed both payload software for the "Pi In The Sky" PITS tracker along with Anthony Stirk (M0UPU) and gateway software in collaboration with Robert Harrison M0RJX. The 'gateway' is the necessary receiver element to upload the data to the tracking system. (all software is on the PITS Github page)
Dave gave an informative presentation on LoRa at the UKHAS 2016 Conference which is now available online (starts around 3 minutes in)
I had intended to fly a LoRa transmitter on my 2015 Hamfest balloon but it stopped working at the eleventh hour and hadn't done anything else with LoRa till recently.
Spurred on by the conference presentation and the fact more and more flights are carrying LoRa I invested in one of the Raspberry Pi expansion boards sold by Uputronics and built up another prototype tracker with a working LoRa module.
I have done talks at various radio clubs and societies and demonstrated it working but hadn't actually received a 'real flight' as opportunities have been scarce due to the weather. However in the few weeks I have tracked a couple of flights receiving both telemetry and image data, getting a couple of complete images from the imaginatively named 'SPACE' flight.
Dave Akerman also flew a flight experimenting with multiple payloads using Time-division multiplexing (TDM). It had 10 small of "AVRLoRaNut" trackers (of Anthony M0UPU's design) all set to the same frequency (434.450MHz) and same transmission mode. The trackers took turns to transmit, with each one allocated a particular transmission slot in a 20-second cycle. The cycle was GPS-timed but, if any tracker lost GPS lock then it derived timing from the transmissions from the other trackers (the LoRa devices are also receivers) All 10 trackers were suspended from the same balloon. This was in preparation for the 'Operation Outward' re-enactment next year (Steve Randall gave a presentation on it in the above conference video starts 1 hour 16 mins in)
I successfully received telemetry despite the flight not being local and constantly heading away from me as can be seen in the screen shots.
Always a busy man Dave also flew a flight with an experimental camera setup. The SSDV images this time came from a Nikon compact camera, connected to the Raspberry Pi via USB, and using gphoto2 software to take and transfer images to the Pi where they were stored, resized and converted to SSDV format for transmission. These were large images with a high quality SSDV setting so lots of packets per image, approx 1400 per image in testing.
This flight was using a 868MHz LoRa device, rather than the usual 434MHz due to the IR2030 restriction on bandwidth and duty cycle. Dave was using his Turbo-X or Mode 4 setting which is as fast as LoRa will go within IR2030 bandwidth restrictions (approx 8 packets / 2k bytes per second)
I hastily ordered a 868MHz device and soldered it in the spare slot on my gateway and built a collinear for 868MHz similar to the one I built for ADB-S reception (see video here).
You can see it lashed up just below the dual-band collinear - not ideal mounting and it wasn't tested in anyway, built blind! The less than optimal setup at UHF, the insane data rate and the distance (>100miles) were going to make reception difficult, so I was pleased I did manage to receive telemetry and image packets.
Most of the current LoRa development in the HAB community has tended to be on the Raspberry Pi due to the use with SSDV and the easy availability of cameras and ready built kit. LoRa is of course available on the Arduino platform and I had purchased a couple of 'Dragino' shields (pictured below) with a LoRa device on.
Dave has done some work on a AVR tracker software and a simple Arduino 'Serial' LoRa receiver. The receiver connects to a host PC appearing as a serial port and by running some gateway software the receiver can be configured via the serial link and received data is sent back to the gateway to be uploaded to the Habitat tracking system and SSDV system - the software can be seen here during the 'Operation Outward' test flight.
This gateway software is written in Pascal using Delphi and is not as functional as the Raspberry Pi Gateway software. Dave has made the source code available but I am not au fait at all with Delphi however I installed the free development IDE and intended to get in and make modifications but it seems to require a non-free(?) library for the serial comms so ditched the idea.
Instead I have spent the last few days developing a C# .NET version using Microsoft Visual Studio (the community version is free) and also have been modifying the Arduino code in the receiver to add functionality, such as storing the SSDV images locally.
It is still a work in progress but I have made a video showing the current state
Anyway as Cilla Black would say it's been a Lorra Lorra Laughs!
LoRa LoRa Laughs!
Due to the restrictions on airborne amateur radio operation in the UK High Altitude Balloon (HAB) enthusiasts have been forced to utilise licence exempt low power devices in novel ways to make radio trackers for their payloads. I have written plenty on this blog about my HAB tracking, the UKHAS distributed listener network and my own flights.
Until recently the preferred method was to use RTTY transmissions, however the advent of the IoT (Internet Of Things) has seen manufacturers of radio modules develop devices to increase both the range and reliability of communication between 'connected' embedded devices.
One such development are LoRa devices, primarily for devices to connect to a global wide-area network LoRaWAN, more information can be found at the LoRa Alliance in addition there are some open hobbyist networks such as The Things Network using these devices.
Using chirp spread-spectrum modulation these LoRa devices are marketed as being capable of robust, interference and fade resistant communication over longer distances and higher data rates.
The UK HAB community has begun experimenting with these devices and one of their keen proponents is Dave Akerman (M0RPI). Dave has developed both payload software for the "Pi In The Sky" PITS tracker along with Anthony Stirk (M0UPU) and gateway software in collaboration with Robert Harrison M0RJX. The 'gateway' is the necessary receiver element to upload the data to the tracking system. (all software is on the PITS Github page)
Dave gave an informative presentation on LoRa at the UKHAS 2016 Conference which is now available online (starts around 3 minutes in)
I had intended to fly a LoRa transmitter on my 2015 Hamfest balloon but it stopped working at the eleventh hour and hadn't done anything else with LoRa till recently.
Spurred on by the conference presentation and the fact more and more flights are carrying LoRa I invested in one of the Raspberry Pi expansion boards sold by Uputronics and built up another prototype tracker with a working LoRa module.
I have done talks at various radio clubs and societies and demonstrated it working but hadn't actually received a 'real flight' as opportunities have been scarce due to the weather. However in the few weeks I have tracked a couple of flights receiving both telemetry and image data, getting a couple of complete images from the imaginatively named 'SPACE' flight.
Dave Akerman also flew a flight experimenting with multiple payloads using Time-division multiplexing (TDM). It had 10 small of "AVRLoRaNut" trackers (of Anthony M0UPU's design) all set to the same frequency (434.450MHz) and same transmission mode. The trackers took turns to transmit, with each one allocated a particular transmission slot in a 20-second cycle. The cycle was GPS-timed but, if any tracker lost GPS lock then it derived timing from the transmissions from the other trackers (the LoRa devices are also receivers) All 10 trackers were suspended from the same balloon. This was in preparation for the 'Operation Outward' re-enactment next year (Steve Randall gave a presentation on it in the above conference video starts 1 hour 16 mins in)
I successfully received telemetry despite the flight not being local and constantly heading away from me as can be seen in the screen shots.
Always a busy man Dave also flew a flight with an experimental camera setup. The SSDV images this time came from a Nikon compact camera, connected to the Raspberry Pi via USB, and using gphoto2 software to take and transfer images to the Pi where they were stored, resized and converted to SSDV format for transmission. These were large images with a high quality SSDV setting so lots of packets per image, approx 1400 per image in testing.
This flight was using a 868MHz LoRa device, rather than the usual 434MHz due to the IR2030 restriction on bandwidth and duty cycle. Dave was using his Turbo-X or Mode 4 setting which is as fast as LoRa will go within IR2030 bandwidth restrictions (approx 8 packets / 2k bytes per second)
I hastily ordered a 868MHz device and soldered it in the spare slot on my gateway and built a collinear for 868MHz similar to the one I built for ADB-S reception (see video here).
You can see it lashed up just below the dual-band collinear - not ideal mounting and it wasn't tested in anyway, built blind! The less than optimal setup at UHF, the insane data rate and the distance (>100miles) were going to make reception difficult, so I was pleased I did manage to receive telemetry and image packets.
Most of the current LoRa development in the HAB community has tended to be on the Raspberry Pi due to the use with SSDV and the easy availability of cameras and ready built kit. LoRa is of course available on the Arduino platform and I had purchased a couple of 'Dragino' shields (pictured below) with a LoRa device on.
Dave has done some work on a AVR tracker software and a simple Arduino 'Serial' LoRa receiver. The receiver connects to a host PC appearing as a serial port and by running some gateway software the receiver can be configured via the serial link and received data is sent back to the gateway to be uploaded to the Habitat tracking system and SSDV system - the software can be seen here during the 'Operation Outward' test flight.
This gateway software is written in Pascal using Delphi and is not as functional as the Raspberry Pi Gateway software. Dave has made the source code available but I am not au fait at all with Delphi however I installed the free development IDE and intended to get in and make modifications but it seems to require a non-free(?) library for the serial comms so ditched the idea.
Instead I have spent the last few days developing a C# .NET version using Microsoft Visual Studio (the community version is free) and also have been modifying the Arduino code in the receiver to add functionality, such as storing the SSDV images locally.
It is still a work in progress but I have made a video showing the current state
Anyway as Cilla Black would say it's been a Lorra Lorra Laughs!
Until recently the preferred method was to use RTTY transmissions, however the advent of the IoT (Internet Of Things) has seen manufacturers of radio modules develop devices to increase both the range and reliability of communication between 'connected' embedded devices.
One such development are LoRa devices, primarily for devices to connect to a global wide-area network LoRaWAN, more information can be found at the LoRa Alliance in addition there are some open hobbyist networks such as The Things Network using these devices.
Using chirp spread-spectrum modulation these LoRa devices are marketed as being capable of robust, interference and fade resistant communication over longer distances and higher data rates.
The UK HAB community has begun experimenting with these devices and one of their keen proponents is Dave Akerman (M0RPI). Dave has developed both payload software for the "Pi In The Sky" PITS tracker along with Anthony Stirk (M0UPU) and gateway software in collaboration with Robert Harrison M0RJX. The 'gateway' is the necessary receiver element to upload the data to the tracking system. (all software is on the PITS Github page)
Dave gave an informative presentation on LoRa at the UKHAS 2016 Conference which is now available online (starts around 3 minutes in)
I had intended to fly a LoRa transmitter on my 2015 Hamfest balloon but it stopped working at the eleventh hour and hadn't done anything else with LoRa till recently.
Spurred on by the conference presentation and the fact more and more flights are carrying LoRa I invested in one of the Raspberry Pi expansion boards sold by Uputronics and built up another prototype tracker with a working LoRa module.
I have done talks at various radio clubs and societies and demonstrated it working but hadn't actually received a 'real flight' as opportunities have been scarce due to the weather. However in the few weeks I have tracked a couple of flights receiving both telemetry and image data, getting a couple of complete images from the imaginatively named 'SPACE' flight.
Dave Akerman also flew a flight experimenting with multiple payloads using Time-division multiplexing (TDM). It had 10 small of "AVRLoRaNut" trackers (of Anthony M0UPU's design) all set to the same frequency (434.450MHz) and same transmission mode. The trackers took turns to transmit, with each one allocated a particular transmission slot in a 20-second cycle. The cycle was GPS-timed but, if any tracker lost GPS lock then it derived timing from the transmissions from the other trackers (the LoRa devices are also receivers) All 10 trackers were suspended from the same balloon. This was in preparation for the 'Operation Outward' re-enactment next year (Steve Randall gave a presentation on it in the above conference video starts 1 hour 16 mins in)
I successfully received telemetry despite the flight not being local and constantly heading away from me as can be seen in the screen shots.
Always a busy man Dave also flew a flight with an experimental camera setup. The SSDV images this time came from a Nikon compact camera, connected to the Raspberry Pi via USB, and using gphoto2 software to take and transfer images to the Pi where they were stored, resized and converted to SSDV format for transmission. These were large images with a high quality SSDV setting so lots of packets per image, approx 1400 per image in testing.
This flight was using a 868MHz LoRa device, rather than the usual 434MHz due to the IR2030 restriction on bandwidth and duty cycle. Dave was using his Turbo-X or Mode 4 setting which is as fast as LoRa will go within IR2030 bandwidth restrictions (approx 8 packets / 2k bytes per second)
I hastily ordered a 868MHz device and soldered it in the spare slot on my gateway and built a collinear for 868MHz similar to the one I built for ADB-S reception (see video here).
You can see it lashed up just below the dual-band collinear - not ideal mounting and it wasn't tested in anyway, built blind! The less than optimal setup at UHF, the insane data rate and the distance (>100miles) were going to make reception difficult, so I was pleased I did manage to receive telemetry and image packets.
Most of the current LoRa development in the HAB community has tended to be on the Raspberry Pi due to the use with SSDV and the easy availability of cameras and ready built kit. LoRa is of course available on the Arduino platform and I had purchased a couple of 'Dragino' shields (pictured below) with a LoRa device on.
Dave has done some work on a AVR tracker software and a simple Arduino 'Serial' LoRa receiver. The receiver connects to a host PC appearing as a serial port and by running some gateway software the receiver can be configured via the serial link and received data is sent back to the gateway to be uploaded to the Habitat tracking system and SSDV system - the software can be seen here during the 'Operation Outward' test flight.
This gateway software is written in Pascal using Delphi and is not as functional as the Raspberry Pi Gateway software. Dave has made the source code available but I am not au fait at all with Delphi however I installed the free development IDE and intended to get in and make modifications but it seems to require a non-free(?) library for the serial comms so ditched the idea.
Instead I have spent the last few days developing a C# .NET version using Microsoft Visual Studio (the community version is free) and also have been modifying the Arduino code in the receiver to add functionality, such as storing the SSDV images locally.
It is still a work in progress but I have made a video showing the current state
Anyway as Cilla Black would say it's been a Lorra Lorra Laughs!
This is not the wattage you’re looking for… move along
Getting hot under the collector/base junction
Where did my power go?
My Elecraft W1 power meter has been absent from the antenna chain for a while due to a jumper cable shortage when I last reconfigured my shack. But now the W1 meter is back in the chain and it revealed something a bit worrisome about the 1Watter transceiver...
My Elecraft W1 power meter has been absent from the antenna chain for a while due to a jumper cable shortage when I last reconfigured my shack. But now the W1 meter is back in the chain and it revealed something a bit worrisome about the 1Watter transceiver...
I've had a bunch of QSOs using the 1Watter both in the shack and in the great outdoors. The 1Watter is my first home built transceiver (albeit from a kit) and has been a great learning experience. It is called a 1Watter (or 1H2O as Diz calls it) because it nominally produces an output of 1 watt.
The Elecraft W1 power meter is a nice, inexpensive QRPp to QRO meter because it measures from 150 watts all the way down to 150mw.
The little 1Watter transceiver does indeed produce just a hair over 1 watt when it's first powered up. Tonight I tossed my call out on 7030 kHz and was promptly answered by N4DR up in Maryland. He was running a YOUKITS TJ5A at 5w. When we started the QSO my W1 meter showed that my 1Watter was outputting between 900mw and 1w to my mighty attic antenna.
Then by the second exchange in the QSO I noticed my output power dropping down to 700mw. By the end of our ragchew my 1Watter output had dropped to 500mw.
 |
| Power meter in background showing 500mw by the end of the first QSO |
As I ended that first QSO I was called by another station (AF4YF) who was running a 2 watt homebrew xcvr. And by the end of that QSO the 1Watter was producing less than 300mw. I felt that some investigation was in order.
Heat is the enemy
The 1Watter uses a 2N5109 NPN RF transistor for a final. Transistors really are not fans of heat.
The maximum power output available from a power transistor is closely linked to temperature, and above 25°C falls in a linear manner to zero power output as the maximum permissible temperature is reached.
My 1Watter kit included a friction fit heat sink, seen at the top of the photo below. But apparently this heat sink either saturates quickly or doesn't have sufficient surface to conduct away the heat. My enclosure is not vented but it is alumunium and I don't feel any appreciable temperature rise above ambient so I don't think venting is in order yet.
I allowed the 1Watter to rest for 30 minutes following the QSOs, still powered but not transmitting. That only resulted in the output power getting back into the 700mw range. I'm considering increasing the bias to start with a higher transmit power so that it will maintain 100mw but I'm afraid of destroying the transistor. I might also try some conductive paste but it's messy and I'm not sure it will help if it can't be pressed between two surfaces.
I'd appreciate any constructive suggestions. I'm still a noob at this electronics stuff.
But the real moral of the story is...
 |
| Band conditions on the evening of this QSO |
So as I sat here wondering why my 1 watt radio was only producing a 1/2 watt now, I reminded myself that I was having extended QSOs using a (now) 500mw radio with other QRP operators (5w and 2w). I was also using my attic antenna, not some multi-element beam on a tower. Band conditions on 40m were also a limiting factor tonight (see snapshot at right).
These were not simply swap 599 TU QSOs, we were exchanging information on multiple go-rounds with solid copy.
So if you're reading this blog you likely have some interest in QRP. Hopefully this is just yet another reminder that we often don't need as much power as we think we do for communications. I was getting discouraged this summer due to the decreasing sunspot cycle and thinking "I'm gonna need to operate QRO more and likely get a real antenna put up in my yard".
But it's times like this with my 1Watter that keeps reminding me to lower my power and raise my expectations.
But it's times like this with my 1Watter that keeps reminding me to lower my power and raise my expectations.
So lower your power and raise your expectations...
72 / 73
Richard, AA4OO
Review – BTech APRS-K2 Cable (TRRS/APRS)
by John ‘Miklor’
APRS-K2
It’s long overdue, but there’s finally a TRRS/APRS cable available for radios using a standard Kenwood style K2 connector.
I’ve been wanting to get involved with APRS for a while now, and this made it extremely easy.
APRS-K2 interface cable
The APRS-K2 cable allows you to interface your handheld transceiver with your existing mobile device, including. iPhone, iPad, and Android.
One end of the cable uses the Kenwood style K2 connector, while the opposite end is 
terminated with a TRRS connector. Also included with the APRS-K2 is a Reverse Adapter to insure compatibility with all devices. This adapter allows cable to connect to earlier 3.5MM TRRS standards, such as Nokia.
App Driven
The APRS-K2 cable uses a virtual TNC found in several apps, such as APRSDroid, APRS.fi, and Pocket Packet. Plug in the cable, turn on the VOX, and you’re pretty much set to go.
Product Description
BTECH APRS-K2 TRRS / APRS Cable A simple way to start using APRS by using devices you already own. The BTECH APRS-K2 Cable will quickly connect your radio to APRS by using virtual TNC (app driven) on your tablet or device. The APRS-K2 cable is built with a custom circuit board that will automatically adjust the audio for clear packet transmissions with minimal adjustment; along with protecting your devices from strong over modulated signals.
Along with allowing APRS functionality the APRS-K2 cable can provide a simple interface gateway to allow several features to your radio!
Easily record radio conversations:
By connecting the APRS-K2 cable between your radio and any recording (line-in) device.
Use the APRS-K2 cable as a Mic In Connector:
Set up VOX on your radio to accept any form of incoming audio – such as a Push-to-talk application on a Phone – or a Line-out application from your computer.
Use the APRS-K2 cable to push transmissions over a speaker system:
Easily play audio over a intercom or speaker system from your handheld.
With a backup radio and your own ingenuity, the APRS-K2 cable can serve as an interface for a variety of applications for any amateur. Compatible with Kenwood K2 Accessory Slot Radios (such as BaoFeng, BTECH, Wouxun, TYT) Compatible with all phones, tablets, and computers with 3.5MM Audio In/Out Ports
Includes:
APRS-K2 Cable
Reverse Connector Adapter
Quick Start Guide
Conclusion:
The cable comes with a simple one page instruction sheet which should have you up and running in about 10 minutes after the appropriate app is loaded.
– Plug in the cable
– Set your handhelds volume control
– Turn on the VOX
– Set your handheld to 144.390 (US)
– Activate the app
That’s all it takes. If you’ve been considering building an APRS cable, you might find this an easy Plus and Play alternative.
The APRS-K2 can be ordered from Amazon, or if outside the US, you can go to their website and contact them directly. Baofeng Tech
Too many toys, too little time.
John ‘Miklor’ K3NXU
http://www.miklor.com
Head Copying CW
There's more to using Morse Code than Learning Morse Code
It's been about 18 months since I started learning Morse Code in order to use it for making CW contacts in amateur radio. Learning the code allows you to recognize the letters, numbers and punctuation but it's akin to when you learned your "letters" when you were a child. Knowing the alphabet is just the first step to "reading". So it is with learning Morse Code.
When I started making contacts using CW it was fairly formulaic. I even had my QSOs written out with regard to what I was planning to send and what I expected to hear during each exchange.
But then my copy and sending speed increased beyond 17-19 words per minute and I could no longer type or write down what I copied fast enough to comprehend and I began to head copy.
Head Copying
Head copying is when you stop transcribing what you hear and listen to it as you would a conversation and only take notes on salient points. This was a big step for me and it has been a difficult transition.
Using Morse Code to communicate at speeds faster than it can be written straddles the weird place between hearing and reading. We learn morse code by its sound but at slower speeds, say below 30wpm what we are "hearing" is letters, not words so we are having to buffer those letters in our head to spell words. When we "listen" to someone speak we are not hearing them speak letters but complete words, when we "read" our brains are not looking at individual letters but at complete words. When we hear Morse code at 20-25 wpm we are hearing very slowly pronounced words and it is a new skill that has to be learned.
This skill is necessary for ragchewing. A ragchew is a long QSO between two amateur radio operators. This is generally what amateur radio operators are doing on the radio when they're not contesting, ...
How to practice for a ragchew
So after you learn the code, how do you learn to use it in a conversation?
I struggled with copying ragchew QSOs at 20+ words per minute for most the spring and early summer of 2016. Just listening to QSOs alone wasn't cutting it for me. During my lunch time at work I began regularly using my CW training application on my phone to send the top 500 words at 25wpm and it has been a big help to me.
I had to learn the skill of not just recognizing letters but holding what I was hearing in my brain long enough to turn it into a word and just as importantly not to get hung up on a word that I couldn't immediately recognize but let it go and pay attention to the next. To me, this has been a bigger learning curve than recognizing the alphabet and numbers at speed.
In addition to learning to buffer the letters until they form a word I must also keep the slowly accumulating set of words in my head until it forms a sentence or makes sense as to what is being communicated.
THIS IS COMMUNICATION with Morse Code and it is different than anything else we are familiar with so treat it as learning a new skill.
Now if all you are trying to do with CW is contests, you don't need this skill. You just need to be able to copy a call and whatever designators are sent after it for the contest rules (state abbreviation or a contest number or grid square) and get it copied into your logging program. But if you want to communicate at speeds above 20wpm you will need this new skill.
Next steps
After you've practiced with machine sent top 100 or top 500 words you'll still need time copying actual QSOs because more often than not, most operators you will communicate with have lousy spacing and run their words together or use so many abbreviations that you'll have to learn to hear the abbreviations as new words. When I work an operator who runs things together I'll first try to really exaggerate my word spacing during my exchange to give them a hint and if that doesn't work I ask them put more space between their words. Some will comply, but some folks just don't seem to know how to leave space so I'll catch what I can, politely respond to what I could understand and then move on.So if you're getting discouraged when you reach a wall of comprehension, try the steps above and with time I think you'll find your comprehension during a ragchew improving and it will take you to a new place in the hobby.
That's all for now
So lower your power and raise your expectations... and put extra space between your words!
73
Richard AA4OO
Update 11/7/2016:
KA8BMA pointed me to a nice reference created by W0XI for the top 100 "Ham Words" used in QSOs... check it out most common ham words Matthew
To all my friends/readers in Florida, Georgia and The Carolinas ........
Earnest prayers that Matthew leaves you as un-battered and un-bruised as possible - AND that all your antennas stay up in the air.
Be safe; and have those batteries charged and those "Go Kits" locked and loaded!
And special prayers go out for our friends in the Carribean nations who are dealing with the aftermath.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Earnest prayers that Matthew leaves you as un-battered and un-bruised as possible - AND that all your antennas stay up in the air.
Be safe; and have those batteries charged and those "Go Kits" locked and loaded!
And special prayers go out for our friends in the Carribean nations who are dealing with the aftermath.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Matthew
To all my friends/readers in Florida, Georgia and The Carolinas ........
Earnest prayers that Matthew leaves you as un-battered and un-bruised as possible - AND that all your antennas stay up in the air.
Be safe; and have those batteries charged and those "Go Kits" locked and loaded!
And special prayers go out for our friends in the Carribean nations who are dealing with the aftermath.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Earnest prayers that Matthew leaves you as un-battered and un-bruised as possible - AND that all your antennas stay up in the air.
Be safe; and have those batteries charged and those "Go Kits" locked and loaded!
And special prayers go out for our friends in the Carribean nations who are dealing with the aftermath.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
