Month: December 2005

CW advice

From: Barton, Jim
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 2:54 PM
Subject: CW QSO’s

Scott,
If I offered any advice at all, it’d be to just jump in and get on the air. I’m usually on or around the FISTS frequencies on 20m & 40m (14058 & 7058) most evenings CST, (although this pre-Christmas week will be kinda busy). If you hear me banging away on a CQ, or finishing a QSO, give me a buzz and tell me to slow down. We can move up or down to clear the calling freq, and have some fun.

The CCN net is a cool way to break in too; I’m new to that, but do enjoy it when I can.

Getting interested in earning CW certificates from CCN or FISTS or anyone else can be a great motivator to get involved and work on your code speed. About every national club or organization has its ways of recognizing members for doing what they enjoy.

Again, jump on in, ask for a QRS if necessary and have a ball … I’m looking forward to working you both.

Vy 73,
Jim
KE5CXX

QSK

From: Art Burke
To: SolidCpyCW@
Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 12:08
Subject: [SolidCpyCW] Re: My most recent lessons

I’ve never really been able to get used to the QSK (full break-in). Years ago I had a Ten-Tec transceiver and they were/are big believers in QSK technology. I only had it about 6 months and bought a Kenwood TS-520S (this was in the real late 70s).

All the rigs I have today will handle semi-break-in and full break-in, but I tend to stay with the semi break-in. I use it pretty much the way you described.

One approach might work, depending on your radio. If there is any kind of input in one of the circuits available on your radio, you may be able to wire a foot switch. Press the foot switch and hang onto it while you’re sending. You will be able to remain in transmit mode as long as the foot switch is depressed. Look in the circuit for a PTT switch capability.

If your radio has SSB capability, a couple of the pins used for the microphone can be used for the PTT (Push To Talk). You can wire your switch to those pins. If your radio doesn’t have a mike input, you’ll either have to get creative, or learn to use QSK!

The theory behind QSK is that you can just about have a “true conversation,” or semi full-duplex. In semi-break-in, you’re sending and can’t hear anything until the VOX drops out and you go back into receive mode. In full QSK, if the other guy (or, in a round-table there could be several guys) jumps in, you’ll here him immediately and be able to stop, just like you would if you were having a chat over a cup of coffee.

Regardless of the ability of the mode to theoretically stimulate more normal conversation, I’ve never really liked it. I too find the noise between the dits and dahs to be distracting.

Art – K4IRS
Leesburg, FL

From : Art Burke
Reply-To : SolidCpyCW
Sent : Tuesday, January 3, 2006 6:26 AM
Subject : [SolidCpyCW] Re: Question of the week – QSK?

Let me try again with a different approach.

Full Break-In – Let’s assume you’re sending at 10 wpm. In between the dits and dahs, your receiver (transceiver) keeps shifting from transmit back to receive. If you’re in contact with someone else and he wants to interrupt, you’ll hear him between your dits and dahs and can stop sending and start listening. It isn’t full duplex (like a telephone, but it’s pretty close. Every time you tap your key (or paddles), your radio transmits, then goes immediately back to receive until the next dit or dah.

Semi Break-In – Most amateur transceivers use VOX functions to control the delay between transmitting/receiving. Again, let’s say your transmitting at 10 wpm. While you’re sending, your transceiver tends to stay in transmit mode until you’ve stopped sending. (Obviously, this is also a “joint” function between how fast you’re sending and the delay you’ve set on your VOX.) It’s pretty much the same as if you pushed the transmit button while you’re sending and then don’t push it again until you’ve stopped sending. The “semi break-in” mode permits operation without having to continually pushing the transmit button on your radio.

Does that make better sense?

Also keep in mind, if you’re using a linear amplifier you need to make sure the linear will handle QSK (full break-in). Many of them will not do so without some additional hardware.

Art – K4IRS
Leesburg, FL

From : Hugh Mac Donald AC7XF
Reply-To : SolidCpyCW
Sent : Tuesday, January 3, 2006 12:47 AM
Subject : Re: [SolidCpyCW] Question of the week – QSK?

In a rig that has VOX you can increase your VOX Delay and that will increase the time your audio section is cut out. You will technically be in TX but no output. This will cut down on the noise everytime you unkey. Beginners in particular find the burst distracting. As you become more proficient you will find you want to use more and more break in since you will find yourself listening while you are sending.- Makes it nice if the other operator needs to tell you they have to QRT or go QPP !
73
Hugh AC7XF

From : Art Burke
Reply-To : SolidCpyCW
Sent : Tuesday, January 3, 2006 6:29 AM
Subject : [SolidCpyCW] Re: Question of the week – QSK?

After almost 30 years of operating (mostly CW) I guess I must still be in beginner mode! I too find the “burst” distracting.

Not too long ago, I heard a guy sending CQ. He was sending over and over and over, and never seemed to be pausing to listen. It finally dawned on me that he might be operating QSK (full break-in for those who don’t recognize the “Q” signal). Sure enough, I responded and he quit sending and we started a QSO.

Art – K4IRS
Leesburg, FL

From : Robert Ower
Sent : Tuesday, January 3, 2006 10:47 AM
To : SolidCpyCW@yahoogroups.com
Subject : Re: [SolidCpyCW] Re: Question of the week – QSK?

Gary Commer wrote:

>Hi Art
>I am not a beginner at CW but at the same time I am not exactly what you
>would call an old timer at CW. (7 or 8 yrs) You just solved a mystery that
>at times had me very puzzled. I would every once in a while here someone
>continuously calling CQ and wonder how the heck he / she expected anyone to
>answer. It seemed that they would not pause long enough for anyone to get a
>dit or a dah in. They must have been operating in full break in mode. I
>myself usually operate with the rig set for semi-break in.
>
I never thought about that either. I used to hear people sending CQ that way 30 years ago. Thought maybe they were just practicing sending CQ. 😉 My Kenwood wil do full break-in, but I am not sure how it is set. Might be full break-in, because on SKN it was going back to receive between characters. I’ll have to check.
73
—
————————————————————————

Bob Ower
Prescott, AZ

From : Dave Oldridge
Sent : Tuesday, January 3, 2006 2:54 PM
To : SolidCpyCW@yahoogroups.com
Subject : Re: [SolidCpyCW] Question of the week – QSK?

On 2 Jan 2006 at 21:16, Scott Hedberg wrote:

>
> I am trying to get a better understanding of the difference
> between Full Break-In and Semi Break-In – I’ve read Art’s post
> below, but I’m hoping some of you can provide additional
> examples of when to use one over the other.

Full break-in or QSK means that you can hear signals between your dots and dashes. Back in the day when CW was heavily used for handling message traffic this was a necessity. We used to implement it on tube-type stations with electronic T/R switches. Today’s solid state radios do it with relays or PIN diodes. The relays chatter and are somewhat off-putting, but with a good set of noise-cancelling headphones, you won’t hear them much. Not sure how they handle all that physical movement, though.

Unless I’m actually handling message traffic and NEED QSK, I’m more apt to go with the semi, just as you have. It cuts down on the wear and tear on the rig and it’s less noise in the shack.

In commercial radio, we had the ideal way of doing it. We put the transmitter a couple of miles away on a separate antenna and keyed it remotely, receiving on a separate frequency. For example, if a ship called me at VCS on 8363khz, I’d send him to some working frequency, say 8388. He’d be listening to my 5kw Harris on 8440. As long as the Harris was being good and not splattering, I’d never even hear it, except for the rare instance when I’d send a ship to 8440 to get him away from a heavily-QRM infested working band (it’s amazing what 5KW with a marking beacon does to discourage QRM!).

—

Dave Oldridge
ICQ 1800667
VA7CZ

From : Frank N. Haas
Sent : Tuesday, January 3, 2006 2:01 PM
To : SolidCpyCW
Subject : [SolidCpyCW] Re: Question of the week – QSK?

I’m new to this group. I’ve been a ham for 40 years predominantly on CW and have used Full QSK in one form or another all that time.

I chose full break-in because it was (in my view) a requirement for my favorite ham activity: CW traffic handling.

In CW traffic handling the greatest efficiency (measured by the number of messages moved per minute) is achieved by minimizing the amount of time it takes to handle corrections when their needed. The beauty of full break-in comes in being able to IMMEDIATELY interrupt the sending station when an error in receiving has occurred. Without break-in, you might have to ask the sending station to resend the entire message….very inefficient.

I’m not as active in traffic handling anymore. Yet I still like full break-in for my casual QSOs. Even though I mention that I have QSK or Full Break-in few stations I work understand the full potential of it or take advantage of it. If both stations in a QSO have full break-in and understand its potential the QSO can be essentially the same as a face-to-face chat.

Those who are distracted by receiver “noise” between the dits and dahs should consider adjusting volume, RF Gain, filtering to achieve a comfortable audio level. Here’s how I do it: When I’m tuning the low end of the band listening for CW CQs I keep my filters fairly wide…typically 2.4 kHz. When I find a station with whom I’d like to chat I “zero beat” his signal (subject for another Question of the Week???) and make the call. If the called station responds to me I start narrowing up the filtering to 500 Hz or perhaps as narrow as 250 Hz. I set the RF gain for adequate signal strength and the AF gain for a comfortable level. As I key, I can easily hear the other station if he chooses to break me and we can engage in a more natural conversation.

I admit that over the years I have added a few accessories to my station that make it even easier for me to work full break-in comfortably. My favorite is the JPS NIR-12 Noise and Interference Reducer. The NIR-12 is an advanced Digital Signal Processing unit that connects to the speaker output of your rig and drives a normal speaker or headphones. JPS no longer supports the Amateur Radio market. Originally selling for $329.00, NIR-12’s can be found used for $125 to $175. The NIR-12’s Dynamic Peaking allows me with the press of ONE button to eliminate most of the static while enhancing the single note of the cw signal I’m trying to copy. It’s “no ringing” narrow bandwidth can really improve the performance of a receiver that doesn’t have good narrow CW filters.

The MFJ-616 Speech Intelligibility Enhancer is another accessory that I find useful. The 616 is primarily designed to customize speech audio to one’s hearing but I find it useful for CW as well. The 616 can attenuate the lowest frequencies in the receive audio as well as higher frequencies making for a more pleasing CW experience. The Logikit SCAF-1 from Idiom Press is another very useful audio path add-on that is useful though not as capable as the JPS or the MFJ products.

It will interest some of you to know that I use these add-ons with an Icom IC-756ProII. The ProII has incredibly effective selectivity especially for CW. Yet I find the audio path add-ons improve my CW experience significantly.

The end result for me as a CW ragchewer is the ability to enjoy the most natural conversation experience possible with the most pleasing CW audio and virtually no QRM.

Every CW operator has unique preferences and needs. Finding ways to make the mode work best for you will make working CW the most enjoyable experience possible. I invite your constructive comments.

Happy New Year & 73,

Frank N. Haas KB4T
Florida
See my bio on QRZ.com

From : DON PULLEN
Sent : Tuesday, January 3, 2006 10:45 AM
To :

“Tigertail” HT Counterpoise

by Chad Rudolph, W1CAR

The idea here was inspired by many other amateurs including Ed KE4SKY and Virginia RACES

These parts can all be found at Wal Mart or any hardware store. I found them in my garage.

Parts:
– about 20″ 14-18 gauge stranded copper wire, or equivalent (smaller gauge = easier portability)
– 5/8″ hose clamp (fits BNC well, although larger will work if cut or shortened)
– solder

Tools:
– wire strippers / cutters
– soldering iron
– straight screwdriver
– Dremel with grinding or sanding bit (optional)


Instructions:
(1) Cut the 18 gauge wire to 1/4 wavelength of the designated frequency, for this example I used 19.25 to 19.5″ for 2 meters (and this also works well on 440mhz). Strip 1/4″ of the insulation and twist the fine copper to keep it from spreading apart.
– For 220mhz, use 11.5″ and for 440mhz, use 6.5″
(2) Gauge how you want the hose clamp to seat on your BNC connector first, and tighten it to get an idea where you will solder the wire. Mark it with a pencil, then use a Dremel tool (optional) to sand a spot so the solder will hold to the clamp.
(3) Lay the wire on the clamp or even run the copper through one of the openings on the clamp, but not too much. Solder the wire to the clamp and let it cool. Pull slightly to make sure the wire is firmly attached.
(4) Attach the hose clamp to the BNC connector, and tighten it so that it doesn’t slip off accidentally, but don’t over-tighten and damage the BNC connector.

Theory: (KE4SKY’s explanation here)
– The idea is that an HT using a “rubber duck” has -5db gain compared to a quarter wave antenna that is held at shoulder height. Speaking in terms of effective radiated power, a 5 watt HT with rubber duck antenna held at shoulder height is actually only radiating 1.5 watts on key-down. The stock antenna is a horrible radiator, and it lacks a counterpoise or a ground plane to keep the RF from coupling to your body. Similar to using a 1/4 wave mobile mag-mount and not mounting it to a metal surface.

– By using a Tiger Tail counterpoise, you give your HT a missing lower quarter wave and along with a quality aftermarket antenna (flexible 1/4 wave or telescoping 1/2 wave) you succeed in creating a center-fed half-wave vertical dipole, giving the HT much much more effective radiated power. The Tiger Tail can be left to dangle, but is directional and the radiation pattern can pointed in the direction of the station you are attempting to contact for better results.

– I’ve seen these talked about many places on the internet, and most say to use a battery clip to connect the Tiger Tail to the BNC connector of the HT. I have yet to see a picture of one, however…and that left me with a bit of uncertainty about the construction itself and its inherent durability. So instead if using a battery clip, I decided to use the hose clamp because of availability, ease of use, and the ability to tighten it to the BNC to make sure one won’t loose it in the field. This is also a good idea if you have several different antennas for your rig, so you can temporarily or even permanently attach the Tiger Tail to each antenna.

– Try it out and see the difference for yourself.

UPDATE:
Another idea inspired by Ed Harris KE4SKY: For dual-band HTs, try using 2-wire zip cord…of a small gauge, like 18 or even 24. Speaker wire works fine. Cut the wire at the normal 2 meter 1/4 wavelength for the 2 meter side of the counterpoise. Follow the rest of the instructions to finish the single-band Tigertail listed below. Once finished, carefully mark 6.5″ down from the HT antenna connection point and unzip and cut the cord to that length, making a 1/4 wave counterpoise for the 440 band with the shorter of the two wires of the zip cord. Install heat shrink at the split point to keep the zip cord from coming further unzipped.

Olivia – Another Digital Mode

I was looking around for information concerning Olivia and found the following from http://homepage.sunrise.ch/mysunrise/jalocha/mfsk.html

The characteristics of the “Olivia” mode

I developed the “Olivia” mode for weak signal QSO. For this reason I have chosen the MFSK (Multi-Shift Frequency Keying) modulation, as it is a good FEC (Forward Error Correcting) code in itself and its waveform has an almost constant envelope, so that the radio transmitter can work at its maximum power. As well MFSK passes well through the ionosphere made distortions.

The disadvantage of MFSK is that it does not tolerate well coherent interferences and non-uniform frequency response of the transmission channel. Coherent noise is often present on HF and the amateur-grade receivers use low pass filters in the audio chain, thus the “Olivia” demodulator passes the audio first through a spectral preprocessor, which attempts to remove coherent signals and then equalizes the frequency response. This at least partially compensates for the MFSK deficiency in that matter.

The default settings for the “Olivia” mode are to send 32 tones spaced by 31.25 Hz at the rate of 31.25 baud. This results in 1000 Hz of total bandwidth. However, the user can chose to send 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 or 256 tones and the total bandwidth can be set to 125, 250, 500, 1000 or 2000 Hz. The correct baud rate is calculated according to the number of tones and the bandwidth.

After the modulation I have chosen the FEC code on top of it: I decided to try the Walsh functions, which can be easily decoded with the Fast Hadamard Transform (FHT). I have chosen the size to be 64 points (like in the MT63 protocol) so that a 64-bit Walsh function can represent a 7-bit ASCII characters.

To spread the MFSK demodulator errors over several characters, the 64-bits of a Walsh function are placed each in a different MFSK symbol. This defines the block size of the FEC code to be 64 symbols and so one FEC block takes 2.048 seconds to transmit at 31.25 baud. This has the consequences for the tolerance of error bursts or fading.

The overall arrangement results in 5 characters being sent every 2 seconds, thus the typing speed is 2.5 characters per second for the default settings. This corresponds to about 15 words per minute (WPM). For the signal to noise performance, the simulation shows that the transmission can be still decoded when the signal is 10 dB below the noise, where the noise power is measured within the 1000 Hz bandwidth.

More QSL Cards


http://www.netcom.com/~ckuter/kb9rtm.htm

I was first licensed in December 1997. I am enjoying amateur radio more than I thought I would. I mainly worked as a mobile station (parked) due to severe power line noise at my home QTH. This changed in August 2001 when the electric utility finally resolved its problem.

My interests include HF, CW, RTTY and PSK31. I am also involved with QRP radio opertions and kit building. I am also a member of the Society of Midwest Contesters.

Check out my website for various pieces of information about amateur radio in the Chicago area. There is also information about building a portable mast and an inexpenseive QSL logging and printing program that uses MS Word.

Please QSL to above address, and I am good in the buro and Logbook of the World!

73 and hope to CUA.





See my previous entry about this QSO.


http://fmyers.com

Using Weather Monitor II with UI-View

From : Mullen
Sent : Thursday, December 22, 2005 10:16 AM
To : kd7pjq@xx
Subject : Re: Using Weather Monitor II with UI-View

Hi Scott

I am using the WX Monitor II to provide wx data thru the UI-View system. UI-View does not directly handle the data. I use Weather Display to generate the data file that UI-View sends out. You do have to have a connecting piece of software as UI-View does not generate the file. Weather Display is an awesome program and I have been really pleased with it. There are other programs that will work but this is the one that I am familiar with.

What ever software program you use to generate the file, install it in your Peak Systems folder so UI-View can find the file.

If you have other questions let me know.

Linda <>< AD4BL SEC ALASKA From : Joe Stepansky Sent : Thursday, December 22, 2005 5:05 PM To : kd7pjq@xx Subject : Re: UI View and Weather Monitor II Scott, Weatherlink is not the most APRS friendly software. I had to write a small Visual Basic program to get everything formatted properly. If you'd like it I can modify it so it'll run on your system. There's other software which will do APRS a lot better, such as Ambient Virtual Weather software. I’m thinking of purchasing it, but haven’t gotten around to it.

But let me know how you’re using Weatherlink (are you downloading weather observation packets?) and I’ll step you through from there. The UI-View part is easy, it’s the Weatherlink part that’s the pain.

73, Joe KQ3F

Weather Display

Weather Display is the software to get the most from your weather station. Not only does it support a huge range of stations from all the major manufacturers but it’s also stacked with features and options. These include real time, auto scale and graph history graphing, FTP of the weather data to your web page, pager and email notifications of extreme conditions, web download, Metar/ Synop emails, averages/extreme/climate/NOAA reports, web cam upload, grouped file uploads, FTP downloads, decoded metar downlaod’s, APRS output (internet and direct com port as well), WAP, direct web cam capture, animated web cam images, weather dials, weather voice, weather answer phone, use of Dallas 1 wire sensors (like lightning counter, solar sensor, barometer sensor and extra temperature/humidity sensors with any weather station), use a Labjack to add extra temperature or humidity sensor to your existing weather station (USB)… and lots more!

Weather Monitor II®

The Weather Monitor II is a powerful computer weather station with all our most-requested features. Monitor wind speed, direction and wind chill. Track the barometric trend along with inside humidity and inside and outside temperature. With the complete station, you’ll also get dew point and daily and accumulated rainfall. Station includes anemometer with 40′ (12 m) cable and external temperature sensor with 25′ (7.5 m) cable. Cables are connected to the console through a junction box with 8′ (2.4 m) of cable. Console includes AC-power adapter with battery backup (battery not included). Backlit display for easy viewing.

This is what Santa brought me!

AO-51 Digipeater function enabled

From the Southgate ARC:

The Digipeater function on AO-51 has been turned on for a ‘Trial Test Session’. The test may be paused at any time.

Please keep your digi packets down to a reasonable level as this is a shared resource. Only one uplink is in use, so the PBBS users and digi users are going to be on the same uplink frequency. This is a shared uplink and downlink with
the PBBS, so do not overload it with continuous, or high duty rate, beacons or broadcasts.

This is not the 10 watt plus transmitter that is on the ISS. It will take a higher gain receiving station to hear the 9k6 signal of AO-51. You will not need a strong signal for the uplink though, as AO-51 hears very well. Note that the uplink and downlink are both at 9600 baud.

Downlink: 435.300 FM 9600 baud
Uplink: 145.860 FM 9600 baud
Digi Callsign: PACB-1

If you are using TlmEcho there is a bug in the program regarding the Digipeat Status display. That has been fixed in the new version, and a number of new features added as well. A new version of TlmEcho is expected to be released soon.

For the time being, if you monitor the 9k6 downlink you can use the LSTAT status message to verify that the digipeater is turned on. If the message contains “d:1”, then the digi function is enabled. If it contains “d:0” the digi is turned off.

Mike, KE4AZN, added, “I want to personally thank Jeff, KB2M, and Gould, WA4SXM, for their help in testing the digipeat function.”

Mike, KE4AZN