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The LZ CW contest was on this weekend and the exchange the DX stations have to give out are similar to the exchanges in the CQ WW DX CW contest which is on next weekend. This gave me the idea of sitting down at the rig on Saturday to see how my contest copy skills were coming along. The propagation was good, sunspots were not so great but the band was very busy with DX and North American stations. Before I started I had to be honest with myself that my contest practice times have been far and few. Two weeks ago I started my Morse Runner software program and went to the LWCO.net code practice site to get my ears back in tune with the CW contest music!! As the old saying goes "if you don't use it you loose it" I defiantly noticed that my contest copy speed is not the same as it was in the past. I have only myself to blame in that I have not been on the air both with QSO's, contests as well as practicing with the 2 above mentioned CW programs. Now instead of this experience getting me discouraged it has encouraged me to get back up in the saddle and move in a positive direction. But I did find that just a short time away I can get really rusty!

The LZ CW contest was on this weekend and the exchange the DX stations have to give out are similar to the exchanges in the CQ WW DX CW contest which is on next weekend. This gave me the idea of sitting down at the rig on Saturday to see how my contest copy skills were coming along. The propagation was good, sunspots were not so great but the band was very busy with DX and North American stations. Before I started I had to be honest with myself that my contest practice times have been far and few. Two weeks ago I started my Morse Runner software program and went to the LWCO.net code practice site to get my ears back in tune with the CW contest music!! As the old saying goes "if you don't use it you loose it" I defiantly noticed that my contest copy speed is not the same as it was in the past. I have only myself to blame in that I have not been on the air both with QSO's, contests as well as practicing with the 2 above mentioned CW programs. Now instead of this experience getting me discouraged it has encouraged me to get back up in the saddle and move in a positive direction. But I did find that just a short time away I can get really rusty!

LY3H CW decoder logic program MRP40 compared to CW decoder logic by LY3H MRP40                                                                       CW decoder 1. Decodes all speeds up to 60wpm                            Decodes but not mention top decode speed. 2. Has good documentation                                         No documentation 3. Auto tracking very smooth                                      Auto tracking hunts between long letter spaces 4. Text formatting-format mode works great              Only option is manual or auto decode 5. Will not decode when APF is on                             Will de-code when using APF 6. Great weak signal decode S1 and below                 Poor weak signal de-code (not using APF) 7. Great email support                                                 Upgrades come out regularly 8. See's noise as code sends radium letters                  Only sends letters not radium noise as code 9. Does have save QSO but awkward to use.             Just added cut and paste QSO to word or clipboard 10. Has “always on top” option                                  Just added “always on top” option. 11. Added a mini log book                                          No log book as of yet  12. You can send code                                                At this time only able to read code                                                      A more in-depth look at some of the above comparisons: A)   Auto tracking- When wanting to decode a CW signal it helps when the program can lock onto a signal. MRP40 will lock onto a CW signal and stay locked on. CW decoder on the other hand once the CW signal stops or has long gap between letter the program starts to hunt small segments on either side of the CW signal for other CW signals. Once the code starts again CW decoder has to relock onto it and you lose some decoding. If slow code is sent you are in a battle of lock and relock of the code. B)   Text formatting options- with MRP40 you have the option on how you want to decode. - Correct word spacing…..this will attempt to add spacing between decoded words even if sender is running them together. - Expand abbreviations…..KN, AR and DE to mention a few. - Expand Q codes…self-explanatory.          Both of these programs do the job of decoding CW very well, you have more options and customization option with MRP40. CW decoder logic is very easy to setup and in no time you are decoding CW. I have not had a chance to compare both programs in a CW contest situation. The major drawback to each program is….. MRP40…….no matter what test formatting option I used the program when idling would send radium code as it listened to static were as CW decoder logic would not. CW decoder Logic……when the receiving code stopped the program would start “hunting” for other CW signals. This created two issues, the first being if you are decoding slow code I found the program between letters words would start to hunt. When it does this it bounces back and forth from decoding and hunting and your decode is not reliable. The second is if I second CW op appears close to the op you are decoding the program will bounce between the two QSO’s. The major positive of each program is….. MRP40…..it will decode CW that is almost down at the noise floor and do a great job of it too. CW decoder Logic……it will not send random letters when it is not decoding and does a great job of adding the breaks between words and not running them together. Also this program is free. These code programs will always decode what is sent so you must consider if you are reading odd words and letters it may have to do with poor code sending. CW signals that are close to each other (CW contesting) if your rig cannot filter out the one CW signal your decoder will be confused. CW decoder by LY3H free. MRP40 will cost you 50.00 Euro. You can download MRP40 HERE and you can download  CW decoder Logic HERE The picture to the left shows MRP40 trying to decode static.

The picture to the left shows CW decoder Logic and the nice spacing with very few static decodes.

LY3H CW decoder logic program MRP40 compared to CW decoder logic by LY3H MRP40                                                                       CW decoder 1. Decodes all speeds up to 60wpm                            Decodes but not mention top decode speed. 2. Has good documentation                                         No documentation 3. Auto tracking very smooth                                      Auto tracking hunts between long letter spaces 4. Text formatting-format mode works great              Only option is manual or auto decode 5. Will not decode when APF is on                             Will de-code when using APF 6. Great weak signal decode S1 and below                 Poor weak signal de-code (not using APF) 7. Great email support                                                 Upgrades come out regularly 8. See's noise as code sends radium letters                  Only sends letters not radium noise as code 9. Does have save QSO but awkward to use.             Just added cut and paste QSO to word or clipboard 10. Has “always on top” option                                  Just added “always on top” option. 11. Added a mini log book                                          No log book as of yet  12. You can send code                                                At this time only able to read code                                                      A more in-depth look at some of the above comparisons: A)   Auto tracking- When wanting to decode a CW signal it helps when the program can lock onto a signal. MRP40 will lock onto a CW signal and stay locked on. CW decoder on the other hand once the CW signal stops or has long gap between letter the program starts to hunt small segments on either side of the CW signal for other CW signals. Once the code starts again CW decoder has to relock onto it and you lose some decoding. If slow code is sent you are in a battle of lock and relock of the code. B)   Text formatting options- with MRP40 you have the option on how you want to decode. - Correct word spacing…..this will attempt to add spacing between decoded words even if sender is running them together. - Expand abbreviations…..KN, AR and DE to mention a few. - Expand Q codes…self-explanatory.          Both of these programs do the job of decoding CW very well, you have more options and customization option with MRP40. CW decoder logic is very easy to setup and in no time you are decoding CW. I have not had a chance to compare both programs in a CW contest situation. The major drawback to each program is….. MRP40…….no matter what test formatting option I used the program when idling would send radium code as it listened to static were as CW decoder logic would not. CW decoder Logic……when the receiving code stopped the program would start “hunting” for other CW signals. This created two issues, the first being if you are decoding slow code I found the program between letters words would start to hunt. When it does this it bounces back and forth from decoding and hunting and your decode is not reliable. The second is if I second CW op appears close to the op you are decoding the program will bounce between the two QSO’s. The major positive of each program is….. MRP40…..it will decode CW that is almost down at the noise floor and do a great job of it too. CW decoder Logic……it will not send random letters when it is not decoding and does a great job of adding the breaks between words and not running them together. Also this program is free. These code programs will always decode what is sent so you must consider if you are reading odd words and letters it may have to do with poor code sending. CW signals that are close to each other (CW contesting) if your rig cannot filter out the one CW signal your decoder will be confused. CW decoder by LY3H free. MRP40 will cost you 50.00 Euro. You can download MRP40 HERE and you can download  CW decoder Logic HERE The picture to the left shows MRP40 trying to decode static.

The picture to the left shows CW decoder Logic and the nice spacing with very few static decodes.

My wet noodle on 40m WSPR on Dec 30 2200 UTC

30m results at 2100 UTC Dec 30th

Over the holidays I was able to get some time to activate WSPR (at 5 watts) using WSJT-X version 1.6 the latest version which now includes WSPR. I wanted to investigate band activity with relation to UTC time from my QTH using my MFJ 1788 loop from the balcony. I started WSPRing on Dec 30th on bands I thought to be the "good" bands such as 15, 17 and 20m. From the UTC times of 1600 to 2200 I netted zero results on these bands!!  It could had been due to poor propagation on these bands as I had very poor results. 30m was my best band of all the test bands for that day. I did confirm that my MFJ loop is just a wet noodle on 40m as I was only spotted by two very local stations on a band that seemed very busy.

17m from  1500-1550 UTC Dec 31

I was on again on Dec 31 testing to see how the propagation gods were treating me that day. It turned out that my faith in 17m and 20m was uplifted a bit with some decent results. and once again 30m seemed to be consistent. It would seem from my limited testing that 30m is the band for me to go to on evenings when I get in from work. Also 20m but it may be more hit and miss. During the day on weekends 17 and 20m seem to be a charm. But then again there is always propagation that plays into the numbers and then just good old luck. I try not to just play these numbers games all the time. In the past (as I am sure most reading this post also have had it happen) there has been times when a band should be shut down and I make an amazing contact against all the odds.

20m from 1600-1700 UTC Dec 31

Win4kSuite up and running

I have decided to change up my rig control software to Win4K3 suite I downloaded the trial version and was very impressed. I would had done it sooner but my PC was not up to the grade to properly run Win4K3 software and to be honest it was long over due for a PC upgrade. The PC was upgraded and if your interested that can be viewed here.  I decided to purchase the Win4k3 software (50.00) and change from my long time N4PY's Pegasus Plus rig control program. Carls Pegasus Plus program is very good and the support that Carl offers is excellent but I found the Win4k3 software was more catered to my Elecraft rigs. Once installed you have full rig control including the Elecraft P3, KPA500 amp and KAT500 tuner and the Sub receiver if you have these installed. (I did have the sub but sold it and I look back on that with regret)  I have the K3, P3 and KX3. The software installation has very good documentation and there are videos as well. Im the type of person who picks up much more from videos than written instructions. With the Win4K3 suite I was able to have PC control of all my K3 functions that some other software programs did not offer, such functions as spot, test, equalizer setup, terminal program, cw decode, Auto tuner and APF just to name a few. I also have the Elecraft P3 and with my PC upgrade I added a VGA capture board and since my P3 already had the SVGA board installed I N1MM contest software and Log40M. (More about Log40M in another post…. great software)

P3 on the monitor

was able to add point and click with my mouse to my P3 and this is great during contests. The SVGA board also allows me to view my P3 on a second monitor and mine being a 22" LCD monitor the P3 looks great on it. This software also has the availability to set up virtual ports. Now in the past just hearing "setting up virtual ports" made me nervous I really never had to much luck setting them up and getting them to work! With Win4K3 suite VA2SFQ makes it almost plug and play with both very detailed easy to follow steps and software that makes it painless…..and best of all IT WORKS!! The 3rd party software I set up to "play" with Win4K3 so far are If you have either the Elecraft k3 or KX3 (I have not setup my KX3 rig with the Win4k3 yet) and you are looking at PC controlled software then consider downloading Tom's trial version and give it a go!