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Morsemail and LCWO.net

February 23rd, 2012 |

The time has come when I can’t put off learning Morse code any longer, With an interest in vintage amateur radio and the impending restoration of a Heathkit AT-1 I’m going to need to use CW sooner or later.

So I have been checking out resources for learning Morse code and stumbled across two that really intrigue me.

The first is LCWO.net, a web browser based Morse code learning tool that is usable on any internet connected computer. It is available free of charge and there is no software to install. LCWO.net keeps track of where you are in your lessons and where you need to concentrate your effort. The Koch method is the primary tool available but they also offer code group practice, callsign and plain text training modes along with a service to convert text to Morse MP3s for download and use offline.

Once you are on the way to CW proficiency and want to communicate with others you can always fire up a rig and get on the air … What if you don’t have a rig or need a confidence boost before ‘going live’?

Well, you could always send Morsemail using the Morsemail client from http://brasspounder.com:8873/.

Morsemail is, “A simple text format that encodes mark and space times to make it possible to send Morse coded messages via email” but a recently added feature allows for QSOs using a internet repeater hosted on brasspounder.com. You can use a mouse or actual key wired to the mouse or joystick buttons to send CW which can be emailed or sent through the repeater live.

Now I just have to carve out the time to sit down and use these resources!

DIY Magnetic Loop Antenna – Part 2

February 21st, 2012 |

Author: Owen KF5CZO

Part 1 of the DIY Magnetic Loop Antenna covered mostly theory and materials so now its time to move on to designing the magnetic loop antenna (MLA).

If you have priced a commercially made MLA you’ll see prices start at $400 and keep going up, and up. If they cost so much you would think they must be difficult to build or use expensive parts, right? Well, it is certainly possible to spend more and get a higher quality MLA but a low cost MLA will still work very well.

For the purposes of this article we’ll assume that you want to build a loop to cover the 20-10M bands. I’ll run through the calculations required to build the MLA.

The required information for the MLA calculator is:

Length of the loop
The conductor diameter
Frequency/s of operation
Input power to the antenna

Lets pick some starting values

We don’t really know the best length of the loop at the moment so I’ll pick 9 feet circumference as a starting point (It’ll still fit in the trunk of my car)
Since we seem to be having better luck with sunspots now I’d like to try 10M so we’ll start with 29 Mhz as the highest frequency we’ll use.
I have some copper pipe left over from an ice-maker install, it is 1/4 (0.25) inch in diameter.
Input power to the loop will be 100W.

Using the 66pacific.com calculator we get the following:

The comments section informs us that, “The specified conductor length is not idea” and we can go on to read that, “To avoid self-resonance, the conductor length for a small transmitting loop antenna should be less than 1/4 wavelength (less than about 8.23 feet at the specified frequency of 29 MHz).”

Well, I don’t want the wire in the loop to resonate by itself, its designed to resonate in combination with the capacitor. Lets make the loop 8 feet in circumference and while I’m at it I’ll make it out of 3/4 (0.75) inch copper pipe for better conductivity.

Lets see what we have now:

Well, that seems to have fixed the self resonance issue and we’ve managed to bump up the antenna efficiency to 91% from 82% … not a huge increase ( About 0.5 dB) so I could use either diameter copper tube in this case. Everything looks good so far!

How about the 20M band, at 14 MHz how do things look?

So, the specified conductor length is not ideal but the comments section says were under the 1/4 wavelength at 17 feet. What is also tells us is that, “For highest efficiency, the conductor length for a small transmitting loop antenna should be greater than 1/8 wavelength (greater than about 8.52 feet at the specified frequency of 14 MHz).”

That is OK, we know that the MLA is going to be less efficient somewhere in its range and the suggestion of 8.52 feet is close enough to our 8 feet we can ignore it. The 42% efficiency is not the greatest but -3.6dB is about half an S-Unit down so I’ll live with that.

Just for fun I changed the copper pipe back to 1/4 inch and the efficiency dropped to 20% (-7 dB) so I think I’ll stick with 3/4 inch. It makes more of a difference at lower frequencies since more current is flowing through the loop!

In order to tune the loop between 14MHz and 29MHz we look at the Tuning Capacitance value in the last two calculations above. At 29 MHz the tuning capacitance required is 19 pF and at 14 MHz it is 83 pF.

This is well within the capacitance range of a normal air variable capacitor and in fact a larger capacitor with a maximum capacitance of 160 pF would allow you to reach the 30M band with reduced efficiency.

Its important however to look at the voltage across the capacitor in our last two examples. At 29 MHz we’ll see a Capacitor voltage of 2,562 volts RMS and at 14MHz we’ll see a Capacitor voltage of 3,664 volts RMS.

What does this mean? In order to know what kind of capacitor would be best we need to know the absolute maximum voltage it will have to withstand before it arcs between the closest conductors. If the voltage is high enough it will ‘leak’ between the plates of the capacitor by breaking down the air between them and directly passing an electric current … we don’t want this to happen.

The breakdown voltage of air is around 3000V per milimeter (39/1000 of an inch = 1 mm). The voltage above is shown as RMS (Useful for power calculations) but we need to know the peak value which is higher and determines the maximum voltage. The peak voltage = RMS x 1.414 or 3664 x 1.414 = 5181 V peak.

A peak voltage of 5181V will require a minimum spacing of 1.7 mm (peak voltage / breakdown voltage per mm) between the closest conductors in the capacitor. That would rule out an old air spaced variable capacitor from a vacuum tube radio but you could still use a wide spaced variable capacitor from an antenna matching unit or transmitter. A vacuum variable capacitor would be great (watch the minimum capacitance) or a home-made capacitor would also be fine provided you checked the breakdown voltage of the insulating material.

What if all you have is a capacitor with insufficient plate spacing for that voltage? If you reduce the output power to 35W then the voltage across the capacitor will decrease to 2168 V RMS which is 3066 V peak( 2168 x 1.414) This voltage requires a 1 mm plate spacing which is easily achievable with surplus capacitors. At QRP power levels (5 W) the voltage falls to 1160 V peak and requires only 0.39 mm between the plates, suitable for practically any variable capacitor!

The value of 3000V / mm is only an approximation and if possible use a capacitor rated for a higher voltage than you expect to run to prevent damage to your radio. Modern rigs have great protections circuits but they shouldn’t be relied on.

Next post I’ll cover building the loop and coupling it to your transceiver. Hopefully you found this information useful and if there are mistakes or inaccuracies you’ll drop me a line and set me right.

DIY Magnetic Loop Antenna – Part 1

February 17th, 2012 |

Author: Owen KF5CZO

Do you live in a neighborhood with a restrictive antenna policy and despair of having a useful HF antenna?

Can you solder or know someone who can?

A magnetic loop antenna may be the answer and they are not as difficult to build as you might think. Like getting on the air for the first time or taking your license exam there is a certain amount of uncertainty when you first approach magnetic loop antennas, there are a few new ideas to grasp. However, thanks to other hams like Steve AA5TB there are tried and tested designs, calculators & building methods that are known to work and that you can follow.

At the heart of every radio and MLA (Magnetic Loop Antenna) is the resonant circuit. The combination of an inductor (a wire has inductance, but a coil of wire has more) and a capacitor (two conductors separated by an insulator) in a circuit will resonate or ‘ring’ at a certain frequency. Sound vibrations at a certain frequency can cause a piano string to vibrate in sympathy and a vibration of the correct radio frequency will cause a resonant circuit to electrically vibrate in sympathy.
Since there is no such thing as a free lunch, the sacrifice you make with a MLA is that it needs to be re-tuned whenever you change frequency on your transceiver. The frequency range over which it is resonant is very small, typically only a few hundred kilohertz at the most.

The materials you can get your hands on is going to decide the capabilities of your MLA. Ideally you’ll have a loop made from a conductor with very low resistance (usually copper) and a capacitor that can handle high voltages. A variable capacitor is required if you want to use your antenna on multiple frequencies but you can use or make a fixed capacitor if you operate on one frequency, for Eg PSK31.

A MLA calculator like the Excel spreadsheet from Steve AA5TB or this web page from 66pacific.com will help you to decide what size components you’ll need to make your antenna.

The four pieces of information required are:

What frequency or frequencies do you wish to transmit on?
How large do you want the loop to be (It should have a circumference less than 10% of the design frequency wavelength, both calculators help you figure this out)
The diameter of your conductor (Three quarter inch (0.75 inch) copper pipe is a good start)
How much power you want to use (The voltage across the capacitor is proportional to the input power to the MLA)

A MLA of a certain circumference will be more or less efficient based on the frequency you transmit at. It is worth changing the loop size in the calculator to get the best efficiency possible in your favorite band.

For example, my 30-10 Meter loop is 8.5 ft in circumference and 23% efficient at 10.1Mhz but 91% efficient at 28Mhz. This represents a difference of about 6dB or 1 S-Unit.

The diameter of the conductor determines its resistance and this becomes important due to the large current flowing through the loop. Large diameter copper pipe is better since the radio frequency current flows primarily on the outside of the conductor rather than the core. Typical 3/4 inch plumbing pipe is a good balance between low resistance and weight, Heliax coax is good for portable antennas where the loop has to be rolled up into a compact space.

Probably the most problematic part of the MLA is the tuning capacitor. While everything else can be found in your junk box or on a shelf at the local hardware store the capacitor takes a little more digging. Ideally it should be variable from a minimum to a fairly high capacitance (0-300 pF would be good) it should also be able to withstand high voltages. If you are planning to run 100W then you could expect at least 4000 volts across the capacitor. This is not as bad as it sounds as it takes 3300 volts to jump just 1mm or .04 of an inch.

Ideally you could purchase a vacuum variable capacitor, the Rolls Royce of high voltage variable capacitors. You would expect to pay anywhere from $100 up when buying a 10 – 500 pF unit on Ebay and a LOT more if you buy new. If that is the way you want to go then great, you’re all set. If not then read on …

There are several alternatives to the vacuum variable capacitor that will work almost as well. The primary concern now becomes resistance and plate separation. For QRP power levels you can use the tuning capacitors from old vacuum tube radios, the type that have a set of fixed metal plates and a set of moving plates that mesh into them.

For higher power there are two other types of capacitor that are suitable.

One is the split-stator capacitor, so called because each terminal of the capacitor is connected to a stator that is electrically isolated from the other and the frame. The rotors and shaft form the rest of the circuit so there is very low resistive loss and no sliding contacts.

The other type is called a butterfly capacitor due to the shape of the rotor plates. In this type the stator plates are placed opposite each other with the butterfly rotor in between. When each of the butterfly “wings” are fully meshed between the stator plates the capacitor is providing maximum capacitance, when rotated 90 degrees the wings are completely un-meshed and the capacitor is providing minimum capacitance. Because of the construction of butterfly capacitor there is a higher minimum capacitance that should be noted when planning the frequencies your loop will cover.

If all else fails then you can construct your own variable capacitor. The idea is to have two conductors separated by an insulator, the larger the area of the conductors and the better the insulator the higher the capacitance. Sliding metal plates, trombones of copper tube and even Coke cans have been used as variable capacitors.

A fixed capacitor can be created out of coaxial cable if you intend to operate on one frequency and a table of approximate capacitances for different types of coax is included here, click to enlarge the table below.

You can cut a length of coax a bit longer than the length suggested by the table above and trim it to frequency once it is attached to the loop. Make sure there are no stray pieces of braid between the shield and the center conductor as the voltage rating is determined by the spacing of the two closest conductors.

Part two of this post will continue with calculating the antenna dimensions and performance.

One important thing to remember … If you don’t have access to the best materials then use what you have and improvise. If you don’t have copper pipe then use coax or heavy wire. If you don’t have a high end variable capacitor then use what you can find and keep the power levels QRP. The only antenna that is a complete failure is the antenna you never get around to building.

My Trusty Ol’ Heathkit HW-8

February 16th, 2012 |

Author: Todd NØIP

Reminiscing about my early days in ham radio, one of the things that really stands out is a gift my parents gave me 32 years ago — a Heathkit HW-8, an 80/40/20/15 meter QRP CW transceiver! It was an utter surprise to me; I never had the slightest inkling that it was coming. I was 12 years old and had never built anything like that before. How wonderfully mysterious all those parts looked as I pulled them out and set them on the dinner table!

Looking back on it now, I realize how patient my mother was to let me take over that table in the dining room. As I recall, I worked nonstop to build the little rig and its power supply. Ten days later, on January 3, 1980, it was finally ready. My dad took a look at it and said it was ready for the “smoke test.” You can imagine how I held my breath as we plugged it in and turned it on. I was waiting for something on the circuit board to go up in a puff of smoke! Nothing exploded, so I was ready to take it into the shack and hook it up to an antenna and straight key. “Ready” is an understatement — I was so excited to get that rig on the air I was nearly bursting at the seams!

I picked up the phone and called Dr. Bernard “Bernie” Northrup, KAØDKN, a friend of mine across town, to see if he would get on the air and give me a signal report. Dr. Northrup (later NØCIE, now a silent key) was a professor at Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Minneapolis and a fellow member at Fourth Baptist Church, Minneapolis. Not long before, he had gotten his license after hearing me talk incessantly about ham radio at church (I’m afraid back then I was more interested in ham radio than spiritual things.). Anyhow, I called him (around suppertime, I see by my log!) and he graciously agreed to get on the air.

And sure enough, my HW-8 worked! After a half hour with Dr. Northrup on 15 meters I was ready for my first “real” QSO, as I thought of it. Tuning around the band, I heard ZL4KI. My heart started thumping as I prepared to call him. Could he really hear me even though I was sending with no more power than that of a small flashlight? My hand was shaking as I tapped out ZL4KI ZL4KI ZL4KI DE NØART NØART NØART KN and waited, flushed with excitement. I could hardly believe it when I heard my callsign as he came back to me! To think that the signal from this little radio, built with my own hands, was being heard 8,700 miles away in Invercargill, New Zealand! Amazing!

Other radios have come and gone, but that trusty ol’ HW-8 is still with me. As a boy I brought it with me to church camp and set it up in the lodge, tapping out CW while the other boys played games. Once on a trip to Louisville, KY I set it up on the second floor of my grandparents’ house — with a TV-twin-lead dipole my father had built — and worked a station in Poland. When I moved into my first apartment as a newlywed, I set it up with that same dipole in my (below-grade!) apartment. On a couple of memorable, crisp, autumn days, I brought it to a local park with a thermos of hot cocoa, sat down on a carpet of pine needles, and thrilled to the sound of soft static and CW.

And last summer, when I just couldn’t wait until I got my shack set up at my new QTH, I set it up on the picnic table in my backyard with an OCF dipole tossed into the trees. Even though that antenna was so low its feedpoint rested on the picnic table, I still worked both coasts on 20m with my trusty ol’ Heathkit HW-8! What a great little rig. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for giving me such a great gift!

(Click here to view the HW-8 Manual)

Now I understand – Phase Locked Loops

February 15th, 2012 |

Author: Owen KF5CZO

Every now and then I come across great books or videos that explain a concept in such a way that it becomes immediately obvious what is going on. I’m a great believer in learning by demonstration or even better, learning by doing.
I came across another explanatory video recently that I thought was too good to keep to myself. It covers a topic that was a complete mystery to me: Phase Locked Loops. We utilize them in almost every modern transmitter and receiver yet most people I have talked to view them as a black box that, fortunately, does its job well and usually without interruption.
The video below does a good job on opening the black box and showing just what makes phase locked loops … well, lock.

Heathkit’s first amateur transmitter – Heathkit AT-1

February 12th, 2012 |

Author: Owen KF5CZO

The Heathkit AT-1 represents the commercial embodiment of the simple Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA) transmitter using a crystal controlled 6AG7 oscillator plus a 6L6 final output tube.

Although it was possible to design and build a simpler transmitter, the goals of output power and stability could become mutually exclusive when trying to operate with only one tube. For a novice class license holder of 1951 the Heathkit AT-1 represented a solid performing rig that would be relatively easy to construct and operate.

The Novice remained the primary entry license until the Morse code requirement was eliminated for Technician licenses in 1990. On HF it permitted code transmissions only, with a maximum power of 75 watts, (input to the transmitter’s final amplifier stage) on limited segments of the 80, 40 and 15 meter bands.

For $29.50 and the loan of a few tools you could get some use out of that new novice license

The earlier MOPA circuit from the ARRL handbook of 1941 below shows a layout remarkably similar to the circuit of the AT-1 although it is designed for plug in coils rather than the band-switching arrangement of the later Heathkit transmitter.

MOPA transmitter using a 6L6 and an 807 as the power amplifier (ARRL Handbook 1941)

For a little added complexity MOPA transmitters generally offered better stability of frequency and keying waveform than single tube crystal controlled or self exited rigs. The straight forward design of the AT-1 should have looked familiar to novice class hams after studying the ARRL handbook or other radio publications.

Heathkit AT-1 Circuit diagram showing band-switching arrangement and link coupled output

Once the novice had upgraded his license the AT-1 could be expanded by the addition of the Heathkit VF-1 variable frequency oscillator to allow transmission on any frequency within the allowed band.

The Heathkit VF-1 Variable Frequency Oscillator

The VF-1 covered 160-80-40-20-15-11-10 meters and used an OA2 voltage regulator tube to provide a stable voltage for the oscillator. Ceramic coil forms, solid construction and high quality components were used to help increase stability.

It was recommended that to correctly couple an antenna to the AT-1 you would use an antenna coupler such as the Heathkit AC-1 which also included a low pass filter.

The Heathkit AC-1 Antenna Coupler. Designed to attach to a single wire by the insulated post on the front panel.

Heathkit AC-1 Antenna Coupler circuit diagram

Although Heathkit did not produce a AM modulator for the AC-1 there is provision for modulator connection on the rear panel. The earlier ARRL manuals have several suitable circuits for modulators that would work with the AC-1. Most functioned by driving a modulation transformer with the output from an audio power amplifier. The secondary of the modulation transformer would be carrying the DC plate supply for the power amplifier tube plus or minus the instantaneous voltage of the audio waveform. By changing the plate voltage to the final amplifier tube the radio frequency output would be controlled by the amplified audio frequency resulting in amplitude modulation.

South Texas Balloon Launch Team launches balloon aimed at China

February 11th, 2012 |

Author: Owen KF5CZO

My daughter and I made the short trip to the No Label Brewing Company in Katy TX to watch the South Texas Balloon Launch Team launch a helium balloon aimed at Nanjing China. Thanks to Tom AE5QB for letting us know about this event!

To track the balloon in real time go to : http://aprs.fi/?call=a%2FKT5TK-11&_s=mb

From the press release of the South Texas Balloon Launch Team:

The South Texas Balloon Launch Team is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of its twenty-eighth, helium-filled, unmanned balloon in twenty one years. The purpose of this flight is to establish a world record for distance by floating a balloon from Katy, Texas to Nanjing, China.

The balloon will be released at approximately 3 P.M. CST on Saturday, February 11, 2012. The site of the launch is at the western end of the No Label Brewery complex at 5373 First St., Katy Texas, near the old rice grain silos.

The public is invited to this free event, with a special invitation to science students and teachers. Free helium-filled balloons will be available to the first 100 students. Sorry, no pets allowed in the balloon area.

The balloon payload package weighs only about five ounces (150 grams) and contains a high altitude GPS tracking system and a VHF amateur radio transmitter. To conserve weight and battery life, no camera equipment will be on board. The maximum altitude is expected to be above 100,000 feet, with horizontal speeds between 100 and 150 MPH. The balloon size will increase from about five feet to about 39 feet at maximum elevation. Recovery of the payload package is not expected.

Individuals may follow the balloon’s progress on the Internet by logging onto APRS, filling in the “track callsign” field with “kt5tk-11”, and change the “show last” to 24 hours.

The South Texas Balloon Launch Team is composed of about twenty active amateur radio “Ham” operators from a variety of occupations who donate their time and expertise.

We appreciate the continued support by No Label Brewing Company for our amateur radio projects.