Posts Tagged ‘elecraft kx3’
Where is that blasted noise coming from?
Evil RF noise in Ethernet over power adapters
My internet comes in at a corner of the house. In that room I have my cable modem and a WIFI router. Unfortunately the WIFI is seemingly non-existent at the other end of my house and especially in the upper floor opposite the WIFI router. I tried re-orienting it and different antennas to no avail.As a solution, I purchased an Ethernet over powerline adapter. This routed the Ethernet through the house wiring to receivers plugged into outlets at points where the WIFI was weak, thus providing Internet access to those rooms. The model I purchased also had ethernet ports which I needed for some of my older devices.
Ethernet over powerline seemed like an ideal solution.
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Typical Ethernet over powerline adapter |
The Search
I restored the power and fired up my Yaesu HT which has general coverage receive and tuned it to 7030kHz. I walked around the house and conducted a bit of a fox-hunt for the offending noise. The noise occurred at every outlet in the house !!!I tracked it down to one of the Ethernet powerline receivers. I unplugged it from the wall and discovered blissful silence. I figured it had just gone bad. It was out of warranty so back to the store I went and purchased another set. This time it was a different brand, as the first one was no longer carried.
I installed the new adapters and everything was fine... for a time.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me
This week the noise returned with a vengeance. Being wiser I went straight to the new adapter and unplugged it. Yep it had gone bad again. It was in warranty but I'd learned my lesson. Whatever sort of RF filtering these devices have doesn't last. Something zaps them. I can't plug the receiver into a AC line filter because it stops it from receiving the Ethernet over powerline.So out they came and back to the electronics store I went. This time I purchased a WIFI extender with Ethernet ports built-in. I'm back to blissful RF quiet (to a degree) at my QTH.
The moral of the story
If you have RF noise at your shack and you use these devices, check them out. They could be the S9 noise culprit. If you haven't bought them, take my advice and don't chance it.I didn't think a WIFI extender would work for me because my laptop can't even detect the WIFI in some of my rooms but the WIFI extender (at least the Netgear model) seems to work well. I now have blessed Internet in every room and no more broadband RF noise.
That's all for now
So lower you power and raise your expectations (and rid yourself of pesky RF noise)
72/73
Richard, AA4OO
http://hamradioqrp.com
Portable Ops 11 & 12: Two New States and 2 x QRP!
This post is a two-fer, I didn’t get a chance to write up #11 portable operations, so I just decided to combine them.
Do you ever have one of those QSO’s where everything seems to go wrong?? I did when I worked WB3GCK. Right now I don’t have a true straight key, so I use one lever of the paddles on my KX3 set to HAND mode. Sometimes the contacts don’t make great connection and they dits and dahs sound funny. Well during this QSO this was happening a bunch! On top of that my KX3 started complaining about the voltage level of the battery. So mid QSO I had to attached my external battery which required me to change where the KX3 was sitting – it was just a mess!
But Craig WB3GCK seemed very gracious and we just carried on.
So who did I work??
3/29/13 – I just had about 30 minutes to play between meetings….so just two contacts…
KG7VTO (14714) – Bob had a great signal from Oregon on 20 meters, plus a great sounding fist.
KK6GLP – I have worked Mike before and his signal sounded great as usual from California.
3/30/13 – Had a ton of fun this day! These were all from me calling CQ on 18.080…
N1WPU (1312) – Ted answered my CQ from Maine! He was running 75 watts into a G5RV and had a really nice signal and fist.
WB3GCK (15052T) – Craig came back to my CQ and he was also QRP at 5 watts. Craig is also a fellow blogger, and a blog I frequent! He has just recently obtained Tribune status in the SKCC. From reading his blog it looks like he was bitten by the same SKCC bug I have been bitten by! You can read his blog here http://wb3gck.craiglabarge.com/. This is actually the second time I have worked Craig. The last time was back in 2013 when he was vacationing in North Carolina!
WB1AJX (12872T) – The last contact for the day was with Howard running his KX3 at 5 watts. We had a nice exchange from Rhode Island to Kansas for another nice 2xQRP contact.
So for this day it looks like there was a pipeline from Kansas to the far Northeast of the USA. I had never worked Maine or Rhode Island before – so that is awesome. Plus to have two 2xQRP contacts was a real kick as well!
The main reason I moved to 17 meters was because there was at least one VERY LARGE pileup going on 20 meters – it ran from about 14.035 to 14.057 – completely spread out! I never did figure out the DX everyone was trying to work – but the pileup was destroying the band.
Portable Ops 11 & 12: Two New States and 2 x QRP!
This post is a two-fer, I didn’t get a chance to write up #11 portable operations, so I just decided to combine them.
Do you ever have one of those QSO’s where everything seems to go wrong?? I did when I worked WB3GCK. Right now I don’t have a true straight key, so I use one lever of the paddles on my KX3 set to HAND mode. Sometimes the contacts don’t make great connection and they dits and dahs sound funny. Well during this QSO this was happening a bunch! On top of that my KX3 started complaining about the voltage level of the battery. So mid QSO I had to attached my external battery which required me to change where the KX was sitting – it was just a mess!
But Craig WB3GCK seemed very gracious and we just carried on.
So who did I work??
3/29/13 – I just had about 30 minutes to play between meetings….so just two contacts…
KG7VTO (14714) – Bob had a great signal from Oregon on 20 meters, plus a great sounding fist.
KK6GLP – I have worked Mike before and his signal sounded great as usual from California.
3/30/13 – Had a ton of fun this day! These were all from me calling CQ on 18.080…
N1WPU (1312) – Ted answered my CQ from Maine! He was running 75 watts into a G5RV and had a really nice signal and fist.
WB3GCK (15052T) – Craig came back to my CQ and he was also QRP at 5 watts. Craig is also a fellow blogger, and a blog I frequent! He has just recently obtained Tribune status in the SKCC. From reading his blog it looks like he was bitten by the same SKCC bug I have been bitten by! You can read his blog here http://wb3gck.craiglabarge.com/. This is actually the second time I have worked Craig. The last time was back in 2013 when he was vacationing in North Carolina!
WB1AJX (12872T) – The last contact for the day was with Howard running his KX3 at 5 watts. We had a nice exchange from Rhode Island to Kansas for another nice 2xQRP contact.
So for this day it looks like there was a pipeline from Kansas to the far Northeast of the USA. I had never worked Maine or Rhode Island before – so that is awesome. Plus to have two 2xQRP contacts was a real kick as well!
The main reason I moved to 17 meters was because there was at least one VERY LARGE pileup going on 20 meters – it ran from about 14.035 to 14.057 – completely spread out! I never did figure out the DX everyone was trying to work – but the pileup was destroying the band.
BLT+ Balanced line tuner at Excalibur
Another portable test of the BLT+ tuner
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KX3 operating on internal battery. What a fantastic portable rig. |
I took the BLT+ balanced line tuner out to the Excalibur antenna site to try it out on the doublet antenna that we put up last Saturday. This was the first test of that antenna (40m and 80m using a common feedpoint).
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BLT+ connected to open wire line (under the gloves) going to ta 40m Doublet at 65ft |
I used the BLT+ to tune the 40m/80m doublet. Balanced line antennas perform better with a tuner designed for balanced line and this was a good test for both the tuner and the new antenna.
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Portable shack, courtesy of three plastic chairs |
I quickly matched the doublet using the BLT+ using the lowest impedance setting which is also the most efficient. I was glad to see that the BLT SWR LED indicator is bright enough to be seen in direct sunlight. I was wondering about that but you can definitely tell when it dims even in direct sunlight.
Performance
AA4OO sitting back and listening to the QSO
The Doublet's feed line has not been brought to the shack yet so I was just sitting under the antenna. The open feed line is running along the ground for a bit which certainly didn't help the signal but we haven't installed the posts to carry the feed line over to the shack and I was too lazy to move the chairs far enough away to keep the feed line in the air.
In the foreground is some saw-grass common on the NC coast. I'm not sure why it's growing this far inland.
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Portable shack at the Excalibur antenna site... The Doublet is 65 feet above my head |
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Waiting my turn in the QSO... holding the Palm Single Paddle. BLT+ tuner in the chair to the right |
Video
Summary
1 Watt and a Wire… in the Attic
You can't always get what you want, but you try sometimes...
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Key lineup... Palm Single (paddle), Vibroplex Bug (circa 1970s), Kent Hand key |
It only seems pointless until you try
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1 mighty watt |
My assumptions are often incorrect
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http://www.hamqsl.com/solar.html |
Video
Just stand up
The "Nifty Accessories" KX3 stand
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Nifty Accessories KX3 stand |
The Elecraft KX3 is naturally at home in the wild
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The upward facing display of the KX3's short legs is ideal for remote, portable operations |
But on the desktop it's short stuff
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The KX3 on my homebrew stand |
The KX3 "Iron Throne"
One Suggestion... replace the paper clips
Rock ‘N Radio — QRP Style
Operating QRP
Can mean operating from a "Quiet Restful Place"
I had the day off today and it was a beautiful morning. I decided to spend part of it at Lake Wheeler Park in Raleigh, NC operating QRP from a stone bench under a tall oak tree.![]() |
rock 'n radio |
I threw a line over a tree using a throwing weight. I hit my mark the first time, untied the weight, tied on the end of the antenna, and hoisted the 31 foot end-fed up exactly where I wanted it with the feed point a couple of feet off the ground.
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31 feet of wire end-fed by a 9:1 balun. A kite string winder holds the throwing line A metal stake with a bit of rope anchors the balun and the other end of the rope |
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Another view of the end-fed with 9:1 balun, stake and coax |
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QRP operating position |
I called CQ on the 20m QRP calling frequency (14.060) and had a brief QSO with a lot of QSB (fading). I didn't hear much activity that early in the morning on 20m so I dropped down to 40m and worked the QRP calling frequency (7.030) and had my call answered right away. After that QSO another station jumped in there calling for a specific station so I moved on. 40m was busy. Every time I thought I'd found an open frequency someone would jump back in or if I called QRL? I'd get an R R.
The Palm key has a clip-on, magnetic base which I use to temporarily attach it to my clipboard when I'm not sending. When I'm ready to send I simply pull it off the clipboard and hold it in my left hand. As I noted in an earlier review of the Palm Single Paddle it can be used as a straight key if you turn it on its side. The long ragchew I had on 30m was with a gentlemen who sent me his SKCC number in the first exchange so I quickly turned off the electronic keyer in the KX3's and turned the Palm Single on its side. That station sent me a nice compliment on my straight key FIST; so the little Palm Single key can serve duty as a paddle into a keyer or (in a pinch) as a straight key. I far prefer to use my Kent Hand Key if I'm operating manual key but it's too big to bring along for portable operations and I can't quite picture myself trying to hold onto the giant Kent Hand Key with one hand whilst operating it with the other like I can the Palm Single.
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The Palm Single Paddle works great in portable operating positions |
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What could be finer than to be in Carolina in the Mooo-oor-ning |
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Enjoying the last nice days of our Fall... birds singing and morse code beeping |