Posts Tagged ‘JT65-HF’
Multi tasking at the rig.
January 23rd, 2016 | 
Author:  |
| Reading blogs and operating JT65-HF |
JT65 FUN and Easing Back In
This will be a very brief blog update. The last time I updated my blog site was soon after the first of the year. I provided (or tried to provide) an explanation to my long absence both on the bands, the blogosphere and the podcast airwaves. I’m not going to go rehash that as you can read that posting here. However, one thing I did mention in that posting was amateur radio was by no means the cause of my grief, it (among a few other things) just reminded me of it.
Anyway, last night I had a bit of free time and decided to go down to my basement ham shack and switch on the computers, switch on the radios and see what was happening on the bands. My Yaesu FT-897 was parked on 14.076 (right where I had left it almost a year ago) and much to my surprise everything still worked. After syncing my PC clock (it was some 4+ minutes off) I fired up HRD, launched the JT65-HF software and the waterfall began filling up. It was a good feeling answering my first CQ in almost a year.
I’m not sure just how active I will be in the coming weeks or months. My intention is to enjoy the hobby and see where things lead me. Regarding my podcast (The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast), I really don’t want it to just fade away. While it has been 14+ months since I released an episode, the site still gets a lot of traffic and I occasionally still receive emails asking what is going on. But before PARP ever returns, I need to get engaged back into the hobby. I’ve always said I was only at my very best podcasting about amateur radio when I was active and involved.
In closing, I want to thank those of you who wrote to me over the past year. The words of encouragement really helped. I can’t remember who told me this, but one of the comments or emails I received just simply told me that amateur radio would still be here when I was ready to come back. Yep…that’s right!
Until next time…
73 de KDØBIK aka Jerry
Logging and datamodes with PZTLog
Until recently I had only made a small number of voice QSOs on HF and had entered those manually into the online eQSL, QRZ and HRDlog logbooks I maintain. JT65 data mode logging was handled by the JT65HF program itself and for the UKAC and other VHF contests I have been using the MINOS logging program - all in all a bit of a mishmash.
Now my operating confidence has grown I am making more contacts and so I really need to computerise and centralise my logging. After looking at a number of programs I opted to give Charlie Davy’s (M0PZT) freeware PZTLog a try and after using it for a couple of weeks I am very impressed.
The program has a multitude of features but at the moment I am using it to simply enter and log details of contacts, combined with the CAT interface to the FT857-D and the OMNIRIG control the mode, frequency, band and power settings are automatically populated.
The really nice selling point for me was the inbuilt data mode operation. I have tried PSK and RTTY before using other programs but I often found myself confused and intimidated by the interfaces and jargon.
PZTLog uses the MMVari engine to operate PSK/RTTY and it uses a familiar waterfall display. The TX/RX window and QSO macros are easily accessible and I found the interface much more intuitive than other programs I have used. On installation, the macros are already populated and labelled sensibly and are easily editable. By double-clicking received text you can set Callsign, Locator, RST/Serial, Name/QTH quickly and with ease.
In a short time I have made a good number of PSK QSOs as well as a some RTTY contacts, even giving some points away in the fast paced SCC RTTY contest last weekend.
Importing and exporting of logs is very easy and it has inbuilt eQSL uploading, but at the moment I am having trouble making that work reliably but that I think is me rather than the program.
PSK is a great mode, running no more than 30W, often less I have made a number of nice DX contacts and countries including Argentina, Oman, Japan and the Dominican Republic.
Thanks to Charlie’s program I now have a better understanding of how the mode and QSO works so may try some of the more sophisticated programs, or I may just stick with PZTLog for a while. Check out Charlie's page for lots more interesting information as well as some very funny light hearted audio features poking fun at the hobby.
In other news the VHF UKAC contesting is improving. Last week I made a last minute decision to lower the pole and put up my homemade wooden 6m MOXON but glad I did. Conditions weren’t good but still made a respectable number of contacts but not a lot of distance. I’ve climbed to 30th place in the 50MHz low power AL section.
A last minute decision to swap the aerial, but worth it! Shame missed out on some E's when got called away :-( #ukac pic.twitter.com/TRarIikVpD
— Andrew Garratt (@nerdsville) August 26, 2014 Last night was the 144MHz UKAC and what a great night it was, conditions were brilliant and it was very busy on the band. Still operating search and pounce mode I snagged just 32 contacts, but with 13 multipliers giving me by best score so far on that band. Operating in the low power AL section as M6GTG it is hard work getting through the pile ups but it was great fun trying.Well that was fun, great conditions and some nice DX even operating as M6GTG #ukac pic.twitter.com/KwTLXiTPDD
— Andrew Garratt (@nerdsville) September 2, 2014Finally I became a licensed ‘foundation level’ amateur a year ago this month (M6GTG), and have since become an ‘intermediate’ (2E0NRD) and have now taken the bold step of applying to take the ‘advanced’ examination next month. I say bold because I haven’t taken a course or studied for it per se but with my background and education I have covered most of the theory even if it was over 25 years ago – with a bit of serious reading, revision and dusting off of the memory banks over the next few weeks I hope to be ready!Well here goes nothing.. best get studying pic.twitter.com/FTDPqTPKSa
— Andrew Garratt (@nerdsville) August 28, 2014 Continuing JT65/JT9 today
When we get back from shopping I shall return to JT65-HF and JT9-1 modes hoping to work more stations. Yesterday, staying on 20m, I worked 4 Europeans running 2.5 or 5W. JT65-HF is very intuitive and works well. Althought I have had JT9-1 QSOs on 10m in the past, I suspect the rig stability is “challenging” and JT65-HF gives me a better chance. JT65-HF is some 4dB worse than WSPR but the TX period is only 48 secs (1 minute TX period but actual TX is less) so may be better with QSB? JT9-1 is a narrower bandwidth mode than JT65-HF and is about 2dB worse than WSPR. Of course, JT65 and JT9 are proper QSO modes.
Sunspot count today is 76 (decent) and 20-30MHz conditions are supposed to be “normal” so there could well be some F2 (as well as Es) on 10m today. JT65-HF and JT9-1 on 10m are calling I think.
The great advantage of WSPR is you can set the rig running and monitor things in another room. JT65 and JT9 seem to require “hands on” operation, which is fine.
More JT65 QSOs
This evening I went on 20m JT65 again and managed a couple of European QSOs in reply to the CQs of others. I am using JT65-HF software that is very simple to use. So far I have used the FT817 at either 2.5 or 5W.
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| JT65-HF screenshot |
If you see a station calling CQ (shows up in green) you just click on it to start a QSO with that station. If he copies you and replies then the started QSO shows up in red – all very simple. Wonder if there is a similar (easy) package for JT9-1 on HF?
Looking on PSK Reporter I see plenty of USA stations were copying me too, so it should not be too hard to work DX with just a little effort even with my compromise antenna. When 10m and 6m are open, DX should be easier still.
With JT65-HF and JT9-1, I have to be in the shack, but at least there is no speaking, saving my poor voice.
Been a busy boy
JT-65HF
I have been using my newly built datamode interface in anger.
As well as running WSPR on occasion I have also been active using JT65-HF.
JT65 is a communication mode developed by Joe Taylor, K1JT, (specification here) originally intended for amateur radio communication with extremely weak signals such as Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) contacts on VHF it has gained popularity on the short wave bands using JT65-HF an adaptation of the JT65A protocol.
Being restricted to 10W it is an attractive method of making contacts. The protocol includes error-correcting features that make it usable even when the signals are too weak to be heard or are being subject to interference.
There are several how-to guides available
Get On the Air with HF Digital (from the ARRL)
JT65-HF -- an 'Odd' but Fun Digital Mode (from eham.net)
A number of software packages support JT65, the most popular being JT65-HF originally developed by Joe, W6CQZ. Sadly Joe is no longer developing the software, but the last version released still works, and is available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/jt65-hf/
Thankfully the project was open source and Beat Oehrli, HB9HQX as developed his own version with the catchy title JT65-HF-HB9HQX-Edition, available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/jt65hfhb9hqxedi/ This is the version I have been using with great success, the colour coding and simple button pressing makes a QSO straight forward and the built in logging and exporting make uploading to QRZ, eQSL and HRDlog painless.
Whilst to a traditionalist amateur operator it is perhaps a little slow, remote and impersonal (each exchange occurs during alternate minutes) I really like it! One advantage is I can set up the radio in the shack with CAT control via HRD and then have QSOs while VNC'ing into the computer from the laptop whilst in front of the TV with the wife and the dogs! (Thanks Tim G4VXE for that suggestion!)
I have been active on the 10/20/30 and 40M bands over the past few weeks making contacts with Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Thailand, Ukraine, USA and Venezuela.
Contesting 'DX' Headset and Interface
I have become hooked on the RSGB UKAC VHF contests, operating on a Tuesday evening on different frequencies (50MHz, 144MHz, 432MHz depending on which week of the month) Whilst my results are small-fry compared to the big guns I have been more than happy with my modest antenna set up and less than ideal location (previous blog posts)
I soon appreciated that using headphones rather than the speaker made life easier but I was still using the stock supplied hand microphone. Several times I have found it difficult to make myself understood and suspected that not only am I plagued by my 'Black Country' accent and poor enunciation but maybe the microphone wasn't quite cutting it.
Not able to afford or justify the purchase of a Heil headset just yet I took inspiration from Charlie M0PZT and his recommendation for a budget solution using a £10 computer headset from CPC (product AV21444).
On the Yaesu FT-857D the microphone connector is a 8-pin RJ45 socket which is behind the removable front panel with the lead coming out of one of a number of openings. Whilst the panel is easily removable I didn't want to keep removing it when switching between microphones, also re-purposing an obvious CAT5 network lead was problematic as they are often thicker than the openings.
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| The lead removed from MH-31, RJ45 on interface |
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| Mic lead connected and headset |
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| The budget 'dx' headset |
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| Yaesu FT-857D mic socket as view from front |
The box also has a PTT switch, this could have simply grounded the PTT line but I wanted to have a LED indication on the box and again I could have just wired a LED and resistor to 5V and to the PTT line so it would light when the switch was closed, pulling PTT to ground and completing the circuit. I opted to use a simple transistor open collector switch to add a little isolation.
The interface works well and I used it for the first time last night in the 50MHz UKAC with my homebrew MOXON antenna...
6M/50MHz MOXON
My first contest back in January was the 50MHz UKAC and as I blogged I made a solitary contact due to antenna issues, i.e I didn't really have one!
I missed the February contest so this month I really wanted to have a decent stab at it which meant building an antenna. I decided early on that a Moxon was probably the easiest to construct, so I downloaded the MoxGen program to calculate the element lengths.
Using 1mm diameter 'garden wire' for the driven element and reflector. I had various bits of flexible plastic pipe kicking about and decided to use them to construct an x-shaped spreader, unfortunately the pipe was obviously from different batches and as soon as it was tensioned by the wire it bent into all sorts of strange shapes due to the different elastic properties so I abandoned that design.
I had left the build to the last minute and needed a quick solution, so yesterday morning plan-B was to go an get some cheap timber from the local B&Q on the way to work and build a simple frame to wrap the wire round.
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| Moxon on garage floor |
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| Coax and common-mode choke, and sturdy support! |
One thing I hadn't appreciated was just how big the final antenna was, it wasn't heavy just big! So last night an hour before the contest started I fitted the choke balun and coax to the terminal block. To be safe I removed the other antenna from the mast and hoisted her up.
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| Up in the night sky |
Moment of truth, thankfully the VSWR was around 1.5:1 at 50.2MHz, rising to nearer 2:1 at the top end of the band. Not ideal but close enough. The VSWR measurements would suggest that the Moxon is a little bit long, interestingly some online Moxon calculators suggested dimensions for a slightly smaller Moxon than the downloaded Moxgen program did? Something to tweak/experiment with possibly using some thicker wire to increase the bandwidth.
50MHZ UKAC 25 March 2014
I was sorted! Moxon antenna up, contesting headset and interface plugged in and a quick scan up and down and I could clearly hear several stations testing and setting up. I poured myself a beer and soon the contest started.
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| Time between QSOs for a 'selfie' |
I was not disappointed in fact I was quite happy with what my 10W, my new headset and home brewed antenna had achieved. The Moxon showed great promise and directional characteristics but for some reason just couldn't get south as the map indicates.
Out of interest I wondered what the line of slight view from my mast looked like so I strapped a camera on to the moxon this afternoon..
Need more height I think, especially if pointing South and a rotator would be nice!
Well that wraps it up for the moment.. 73
Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012
Where did the year go? Like many of you, yes I’m asking myself that question. It seems just yesterday we were saying goodbye to 2010 and hello to 2011. But this is what they say about getting older. Time passes by much faster or certainly appears to do so. I’m sure 2012 will also speed past, best sit down and buckle our seat belt.
My 2011 started off a bit slow in the area of my amateur radio hobby involvement. This partly was due to other work and life commitments. I believe it was sometime in early summer when I really got rolling again both with this blog and my amateur radio podcast. I would have to list both of these (the blog and the podcast) as major accomplishments to 2011. Mainly because they both got very close to extinction. With better focus and organization, I’m proud to say that I kept up my publishing schedule and both will be around for a long time. Here are a few of my other highlights for 2011.
1. Amateur Extra
As my regular readers (and listeners of PARP) know. I was licensed as a technician in August 2007 and upgraded to general in January 2008. Since perhaps January 2008, certainly since January 2009, every one of my annual New Years Resolutions involved upgrading to extra. Of course I failed to accomplish this in 2008, 2009 and 2010. But just like clock work I put it on my 2011 list with somewhat of a soft-target of getting accomplished before June 30, 2012. Why June 30, 2012? Well that is when the current extra class question pool expires. I told myself I couldn’t purchase another study guide and I better just get it done.
The half way point of 2011 came and went and I hadn’t really made any progress towards extra preparation. The book was on the bookshelf collecting dust. Then one Tweet from Twitter in early August changed everything. From this tweet I learned about an online (via Echolink) extra class study group which planned to meet twice a week. This was hosted by the South Coast Amateur Radio Service. I signed up and it was exactly what I needed. Even before the 6 week class was finished, I was passing sample tests and on Saturday, 28 August I attended a local VE session where I passed the amateur extra exam.
2. New Amateur Radio Club
I’ve always believed in the importance of belonging to a local amateur radio club. I talk about this on a regular basis on the podcast as I feel it is the best way for new amateur’s to gain experience and also share a common interest with likeminded individuals. Having said that, I certainly realize not all amateur radio clubs are created equal. I’ve heard some real horror stories and while I must state I’ve never experienced any rude behavior towards other hams, I had grown extremely bored with my old club and simply had stopped going to monthly meetings.
Sometime in early September I was invited to attended a club meeting with the Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Radio Association from Bob Witte, K0NR. I attended my first meeting in September and proud to say this is my new home. In addition to Bob being a member, I’m also extremely fortunate to also share the club with Steve Galchutt, WG0AT. I’ve certainly learned a lot from both.
3. Summits On The Air (SOTA)
I certainly couldn’t end the previous paragraph of talking about Steve and not mention SOTA. I’ve previously explained how I stumbled onto SOTA and will let you read that blog posting if you haven’t already. As we all know, the amateur radio hobby is extremely diverse in what it offers those who participate. SOTA has been a way for me to combine the love of the great outdoors with amateur radio. I’ve completed two SOTA activations and am counting the days until I can get out for #3. If you would like to learn more about the Summits On The Air program, please listen to episode 50 of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast.
4. JT65
JT65 is the weak signal mode that has a lot of our fellow amateur’s talking and for the right reasons. The QSO’s I’ve been able to make and not even always in the best band conditions, really have me excited about this mode. Since I started running JT65, I’ve worked a little over 350 different and unique call signs and it continues to gain in popularity. In addition, JT65 has been successful at allowing me to work many new DX entities. If you would like to learn more about JT65, please listen to episode 46 of PARP.
5. Worked All States
Now one might think having been licensed for over four years I would have collected multiple WAS certificates by now. Especially after holding a general class license with its great HF privileges for almost the entire duration of this time. Yes it is true I’ve also seen many brand new amateurs obtain WAS within their first year or so.
To be perfectly honest, it was never really anything I looked into until just this year. I set my sights on obtaining the basic (mixed mode) version of Worked All States as a New Years Resolution and begin mapping out how to accomplish it. With the help of both my HRD logbook and both eQSL and the ARRL Logbook of the World systems, I identified what I had versus what I needed.
Of course what I found was I had worked many of the states I needed and in some cases multiple times. However, the contact had not been confirmed in either eQSL or LoTW by the other operator. Around the late summer timeframe I worked both the Colorado and Texas QSO parties and along with just casual operating I had managed to get my list down to just two remaining states Wyoming and South Dakota.
Wyoming went into the logbook and was confirmed in early November. This just left South Dakota. Up to this point I had worked and confirmed 49 of the 50 US States without the need of a sked. I had hoped to do this with South Dakota, but time was running out. So in early December I contacted a fellow ham in South Dakota who routinely operates JT65 and asked if he would be willing to work me for SD. He agreed and between me getting sick and the Christmas holiday, we finally managed to complete the sked and South Dakota was in the logbook and confirmed on 26 December. Ironically, two days later I worked another station from SD completely random on JT65. So I suppose even if the sked wouldn’t have been possible, I would have still earned WAS in 2011.
Final Thoughts…
In closing, 2011 has been a very good year for me in the area of amateur radio. As I approach my 5th year of being licensed I’m reminded of what this hobby truly is all about. The friendships I’ve made over the years and especially those who I interact with on a regular basis are truly very important to me. It is these friendships made possible through this hobby which truly help to complete who I am as a person.
The hobby of amateur radio and those who participate in it, are often referred to as ambassadors. We are ambassadors who are not restricted by political, religious or even geographical boundaries. We do what we do and are who we are as individuals because of a common shared interest. It is my wish for the new year for all of us to use this common shared interest and our roles as ambassadors to continue to bridge peaceful relationships around the world.
Until next time and next year,
73 de KD0BIK
