AmateurRadio.com

After wasting most of the weekend trying to get it to work I have abandoned the idea of monitoring the IBP beacons using Faros. Although I did have it working with my Elecraft K3 I did not want to tie up this expensive transceiver on such a task. But my efforts to get my FT-817 working with this software came to nothing.

The first problem was getting Faros to control the FT-817. It uses a program called Omni-Rig to do this. The solution – no thanks to the developer who has still not replied to my plea for help – turned out to be a bad FT-817.ini file installed with Omni-Rig. I tried other programs to verify that my FT-817 CAT interface was working properly. I even ran the same developer’s CW Skimmer software which also uses Omni-Rig, and which controlled the FT-817 just fine. The idea of looking to see if there was a different FT-817.ini file was just a flash of inspiration.

Having got Faros controlling the radio the second and final problem was getting it and the Yaesu talking to the same sound card. This did work if I used the computer’s built-in sound card, but that is normally used by my K3. I have several radios in my shack, most of which are connected to the shack PC and all of the others use various USB sound devices. Whilst all of my other software – including my own program KComm – produce a drop-down list showing distinguishable names of all these devices, Faros displays a list showing three lines that all say “USB Sound Device.” I tried selecting each one of them in turn, but I could not get Faros to talk to the sound device that was actually connected to the FT-817.

If it was confusing for me trying to choose from identically named devices, it also seemed to confuse Windows, which ended up sending PSK31 audio out of the PC speaker instead of to my K3! I had to reboot the computer to get sound using the correct devices again. At this point I threw in the towel and admitted defeat. Some things just aren’t worth the hassle.

So endeth my attempt at beacon monitoring.

If you are a user of my program VOAProp you probably know by now that it has a problem due to NOAA having made a slight change to the format of the WWV solar data report. I cannot fix the problem in the program as I no longer have the files needed to rebuild it. Thanks to Mirek, OK1DUB a solution was found that involves changing the web address of the solar data file to download a slightly edited version from Mirek’s web site. The Troubleshooting page in the VOAProp help was updated to include this information. Unfortunately hams never read the frigging manual and so I have had to use the holiday absence message of Gmail to send a rather annoying automatic reply directing those with a question about VOAProp to the aforementioned page in order to save myself the even greater annoyance of receiving several emails a week about it. (It would be really nice if GMail’s Filters could include the option of sending an automatic reply only if an email meets certain conditions.)

It occurred to me this morning that I could fix the problem for new installations by including a configuration file containing the address of the file on Mirek’s web site. So I rebuilt the setup file including this extra file and have now uploaded it to G4ILO’s Shack. It will not help existing users if they download the new file as the installer will not overwrite their existing configuration file so as to preserve the user’s settings during an update. As emails about the issue are still coming in I will have to continue sending the automated reply to everyone who writes to me.

I have taken advantage of the poor propagation conditions – the WSPR application waterfall has been blank all day and just two stations have spotted my 10m beacons, while APRS on 30m is only just beginning to receive any other stations – to make available a new version of my logging program for Elecraft transceivers, KComm, which is now version 2.0.

The main difference in the new version is that the Elecraft KX3 is supported (though it could be used in older versions by pretending it is a K3.) I have also added an option for specifying alternative URLs such as QRZCQ.com for looking-up callsigns, so you can now say goodbye to logging in to QRZ.com every five minutes if you want to.

The other changes are all minor bug fixes and small improvements that probably no-one will notice.

My regrets to Linux users but I no longer have a Linux system available so I cannot provide a Linux archive of the new version. I really need a Linux user to install Lazarus and compile the source code then send me a new tar.gz file to put on the web site.

Recently I downloaded the latest version of Lazarus, the rapid application development tool that uses Free Pascal. It’s a clone of Delphi but open source and cross platform. I’ve used it for hobby program development for the last few years, when I was no longer able to get free copies of Delphi. But now I actually prefer Lazarus to Delphi. It’s like how Delphi used to be.

The Lazarus IDE

In Lazarus I have been making a few changes to my logging program for Elecraft transceivers, KComm. Programming again marks another milestone in my return to normality, though in all honesty the time it takes and the number of stupid mistakes I make show that my brain still isn’t firing on all cylinders.

Why write my own logging program when there are so many good alternatives available? For one thing it is the same motivation that makes people build their own gear. For another, it allows me to use a program that works the way I want. If I want a certain feature then I get on and implement it. By limiting its use to the Elecraft community I avoid the troubles encountered by, say, the developers of Ham Radio Deluxe: the problem of dealing with thousands of users. There are probably only a handful of users of KComm, but that’s all right because I’m mainly developing it for my own use.

KComm can speak Russian

An example of what writing my own software allows me to do can be seen in the screenshot above. KComm supports user choice of character set for digital modes. So that if someone sends me a message in Russian (for instance) I can see what they sent (and copy and paste it into Google Translate, since I don’t speak Russian.)

This should not be taken as a sign that I will start writing new programs again. I’m just making a few changes to programs I use myself. I have downloaded the source code to the last released version of JT65-HF (which happens to have been developed in Lazarus too.) Perhaps one day I’ll see if I can make a few tweaks to that!

Whilst I was scanning the 6m band during my white noise listening experience (or UKSMG 50Mhz Summer Es contest) I started a little googling and came across a tool that I hadn’t used before. From the website description it calls itself a ‘DX cluster (DXC is its name by those in the know) telnet client which attempts to resolve propagation modes from spots and also attempts to calculate sporadic e possibilities purely based on incoming data from the cluster’

It uses a great circle map and a the ON4KST telnet client as well all from the comfort of a single simple desktop. A little screenshot is below for reference based on my settings and a bit of ‘personalisation’

The software seems to be developed for those with an interest in 2m really but works well for 6m as well as I found out to my surprise on Friday evening when I was hit by a wall of QSO’s from all round me. Live MUF showed a whole range of spots almost like a cloud on the screen moving from the south east of the great circle map up to just below me on the south coast where the yellow patches in some cases had turned red.

Whilst I am increasingly sceptical of propagation prediction tools I think as this is based on actual data it has saved me quite a bit of time and heartache having this running in the shack telling me if I am likely to be lucky enough to be involved in any QSO’s.

If this is your thing and you’ve already come across it then this won’t be news to you, but if like me you’re gun is more like a 99p water pistol (And I’m talking about it in a radio sense before we get carried away) then give it a try. As far as I can tell there is no installation as such it just runs an executable file and so could be used portable from a USB drive if you desire. There is also a web based version for those who might like to take a look when away from the shack. Have a look here (ps the site seems to be down at the moment but hopefully not for long).

Cloud RF is something that I stumbled over and to be honest I’m not sure where so if I’m telling you something you already know then I’m sorry, its a function of me not concentrating.

Anyway the blurb from the Google marketplace / Google play site indicates that the app is for all sorts of RF planning and I quote ‘DAB, DVB, GSM 2G/3G/4G/LTE, Marine VHF, PMR, TETRA, PTT, WiFi, WiMax
Groups: Emergency services (Ambulance, Coastguard, Fire, Forestry, Police), Amateur/Ham enthusiasts, Armed Forces/Military, Construction industry, Event organisers, Government, Maritime/Private Security, WISPs.’

For me its a way of simply checking the coverage I’m expecting. there are 2 applications for your Android phone and a web based offering to boot. The programme is squarely aimed at the corporate market and the trial offshoot for hams is either a 12km limited plot for free or for a fiver you get 100km of signal plotting. I guess you could reduce power to minimal levels and attempt to extrapolate but it doesn’t seem worth it if you’re into planning for a RAYNET or emergency communications type situation.

Still for the casual user there is at least something to wet your appetite and the operation couldn’t be simpler on your phone. Use the GPS or map to locate where you are / want to be. Entering in the frequency and power as well as height above ground for the rudimentary settings and press the button to calculate your plot. Other aspects can be changed such as type of ground and the usual modelling parameters that you’d expect from a simplified model that bears a similarity to Radio Mobile that Julian, G4ILO posted a while ago. I’m only guessing but I’d image its a similar if not the same engine that delivers the plots (Irregular Terrain Model).

Have a play with the trial version and see if that takes you fancy and if you dip into the paid for version then let me know what you think.

A couple of days ago I received an email from Mirek, OK1DUB, to let me know that, due to a small change in the format of the Geophysical Alert from WWV (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/latest/wwv.txt) VOAProp is no longer able to process it, reporting that the format is invalid.

Mirek has written a PHP script to run on his server (http://ok1dub.cz/ham/) which reads the original WWV file every 5 minutes and creates a new version using the old format. This file can be accessed at http://ok1dub.cz/wwv/wwv.txt . When I first tried it, the server was very slow to respond and I was afraid that it might not be able to handle the hundreds of daily requests made by the tens of thousands of copies of VOAProp that are out there. But this was apparently only a temporary problem. I have tried the file again today and it loads quickly. Mirek says he is happy to allow public usage.

A page explaining what Mirek has done (and disclaiming responsibility for any error) is here.

What you need to do is:

• In VOAProp, click the Solar Data button to open the window that displays the WWV file.
• In the Data URL field, enter the address of the replacement file which is http://ok1dub.cz/wwv/wwv.txt .

I am grateful to Mirek for providing this solution and hope that other VOAProp users will be too. To those who emailed and did not receive a reply (or received a rather tetchy one) instead of checking the Troubleshooting help page that I updated to point to this post, sorry, but this issue has put me on the receiving end of an unwanted email pile-up.