KC8QVO

10th Annual Night of Nights - Commemorating Commercial CW

2009-07-12T00:05:00.003-04:00

The Tenth Annual Night of Nights, an event commemorating the use of commercial Morse code transmissions in the maritime service, will be held starting at 0001UTC July 13th (that is 8:01PM EDT July 12th, tonight).

Check out the article on the ARRL site as well as the Maritime Radio Historical Society for more information.

Bone Conduction Microphones

2009-07-11T18:32:00.003-04:00

This is a new concept to me - in fact, I just found out about it! There is some talk on the HFPack group about light weight headsets. John G8OZH inquired about the application of bone conduction earpieces for use in portable Ham radio operations requiring the lightest of components. They are most certainly more compact than traditional headsets - such as the Heil Traveler, for example. Think of the earphones you get with Ipods and some cell phones these days - the ones that fit right inside your ear. Now imagine one of those, not both (such as for stereo use) that functioned as a microphone as well. I don't think you can possibly beat that for size/weight of an earphone/microphone combination!

Here is one example I found while searching the 'net from Helmetaudio.com. The price seems to be reasonable also, I figured they would be a lot more than that.

The big question is how well do they work with a ham radio?

FT-857D - Super Compact and Low Profile Mobile

2009-07-11T14:26:00.004-04:00

What do you do when you just have to take a radio with you on a car trip but you either can't use or don't want to bother with mobile antennas?

Use HT antennas! The FT-857D is ideal for this. In my situation, I don't like going on road trips where I don't have VHF/UHF and CB capabilities. The FT-857D solves that - I can access repeaters and I can still monitor reports on CB Channel 19 - 27.185mHz AM (such as accident information, detours, and other traffic tie-ups).

My antennas are a Commet BNC-24 for VHF/UHF (though the SWR on 445 is bad) and a rubber duck off a Cobra HH-28 hand held CB.

The configuration with the HT antennas works in a pinch - it is better than nothing, but don't expect it to work as good as antennas outside the car. What I do (hence the remote face plate) is toss the radio up behind the back seat, by the rear window, with the antennas attached. It works out pretty well, considering the circumstances. Bring headphones and you can plug them in right to the control panel (left side).

Then when you get to where you are going bring some kind of portable antenna - a jumper dipole, buddistick, what have you, and play on the HF bands!

I just made a quick over-nigh trek to Chicago the past couple days and brought this with me. It did what I wanted it to do, but again - don't expect it to work "great". I took a buddistick with me, though I didn't get a chance to use it. I was too busy and the hotel we stayed in didn't have a balcony to set up the antenna on.

Counting Grids and Mapping - as Worked from EN39

2009-07-09T09:12:00.004-04:00

I went through my list of grids that I made for working on my VUCC Award, from EN39. The way I did it was I started at the first year in my logs (all paper) when I operated there and wrote down all the grids I worked as I went along. It got to be a pretty big challenge once I hit the fourth year as I had quite a few grids to cross-check!

After I made the list I took a blank grid map and started marking all the grids with a piece of masking tape (my usual method). Apparently, I couldn't read my own writing because I had 9 dupes or mis-marked grids.

Anyhow, here's the map and the list:

I couldn't get DO33 on the map (it doesn't go that high) so other than that one, the rest are good.

The grids with an X are ones I replaced with more current QSO's as I went through, ones blocked out are dupes. Again, I didn't work the rigs while I was there in 2005 and 2006 so that's why those years aren't there. Also, the number circled on the right (last column) is my total - 131 grids! Not too bad.

I know, this is sub-modern technology! But it is fun to sit there at the rig after a run of QSO's and go back through the log marking grids. The computer will do it automatically, but this is the old school method! Now I can keep adding to my map in coming years.

In the past I have always run one map for the year, but I never had a running total of all years until now. This will come in handy!

VHF's Most Wanted Grids

2009-07-09T00:10:00.003-04:00

If you are a serious VHF'er, or just like chasing those grids, you will find this page pretty interesting - Most Wanted Grid Survey by Bill W5WVO and Kevin W9GKA.

It is a PDF. Scroll down the page a bit to the map. It shows the most wanted 24 grids in varying shades of yellow/orange corresponding to how rare they are.

Get a look at CM79 and read the stats! That looks like a fun one for a grid DXPidition. I checked it out - it is only about a mile off of a road that passes by, though the terrain is pretty rugged and gear would have to be hiked in. That would really fun - go on a backpacking/camping trip there for a few days with a rig and a couple beam antennas (6 and 2m). Oh yea! Though I think the likelihood of that happening right now is extremely slim...

Trinidad on 6m!

2009-07-08T19:51:00.003-04:00

I just worked 9Y4VU on 6 meters! I have been watching VHFDX.net for a while today and saw him spotted. So I listened and I could BARELY detect a signal in there. So I figured I would sit on the frequency (50.099 CW) and see what happens.

The map showed him working out West pretty well with very few contacts over towards the middle of the country. As time went on, the E-clouds moved over our way a bit more.

After 15 minutes of listening he was up over the noise well enough that I could copy him. So I called back and he caught a few letters of my call. So I repeated my call twice. He got it! I gave him a 339. FK90 <-> EN80

Just a couple minutes later, no more than two, the band dropped and he was gone!

6 Meter Band Openings, also Grid Count

2009-07-08T17:51:00.002-04:00

6 Meters has been opening pretty good recently. I have worked down in to the Caribbean a bit and all over the US - mostly to the East and South of me (in Ohio). However, I have been watching some spotting sites online - such as VHFDX.net and DXsummit.com - and see that propagation is pretty wild. Right now there are people working across in to Europe and down in to South America.

I have been listening for some of this DX but I am not hearing anything. I scroll around to whatever frequencies are spotted, like right now I am listening for 9Y4VU as there are a LOT of people working him, but I am not hearing a darn thing. I wish I could get some of the action!

I got my grids all counted up. As of right now, the preliminary stats are 140 grids! This past trip really added to the mix for some reason, though I worked more variety in past years. Keep in mind, these were all grids worked while I have been in Canada (EN39) - that is about a week out of the year. If I had time to sit for weeks on end and monitor the bands I am sure I could snag a LOT more than that. I have not counted my grids worked at the home QTH.

On My Way to VUCC - 102 Q's and Counting!

2009-07-08T04:04:00.001-04:00

I figured, just for the heck of it, I would tally up the grids I have worked while in EN39 over the years. I started working 6m from there in 2004, though I didn't get any contacts in 2005 and 2006 (I see mobile QSO's on the way there/back, but none while I was there both years).

Also, I take a grid square map with me (one of the ones from the Icom booth at Hamvention) so I can keep track of the grids I work while I am there - it shows where propagation has been hot to and I can track openings. It doesn't work as well as VHFDX.net does, but hey! Its still fun and works with no Internet.

I have gone all the way up to page 1 of my last trip. That includes 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 (including the ARRL June VHF Contest, a separate log, 2008). I got to the bottom of page 1 of this year and realized it is now just about 4:00am and I am TIRED! I counted the unique grids real fast (I was keeping track the whole time, but I crossed out old QSO's and replaced them with more current ones as I went so I had to re-count slightly)...

102 grids worked so far!

I still have another 7 pages of QSO's to sift through. This is going to take a while. Where is a computerized log when you need it?

I still have one more challenge, beyond the counting and checking, to complete - confirming them. Lets hope all the people I need to confirm these contacts are able to do so (good log records, still alive, etc). I have a few back ups, in some cases about 20, but that isn't going to fly for all 100+ grids!!!

solarcycle24.com, from Kevin VE3EN

2009-07-08T01:21:00.004-04:00

solarcycle24 is a pretty cool site! I found out about it after I worked Kevin, VE3EN, on 6 meters the other night. I told him I was up in Ontario a couple weeks ago operating from EN39. He checked his log and we worked on June 23. That was pretty cool!

Anyway, I looked him up on QRZ and found the link to his site. It is mostly about space weather and the status of the sun. The site is a bit busy, I will admit, but it is a very informative site. Check the pull-down site content menus for easy navigation.

For those that are unfamiliar, the sun goes in, typically, 11 year cycles of high activity. The energy from the sun is what ionizes our atmosphere. This is how shortwave radio signals travel so far - the signals bounce off the ionization in the upper levels (F region) of the atmosphere (also lower level, E layer, affects higher frequencies like 6m).

We have been in a "solar minimum" for the past few years, so radio propagation hasn't been great. It will be interesting to keep a watch on conditions as time progresses. We are surely going to climb back out of the rut! Keep up with the latest with Kevin, VE3EN.

Magnetic Loop Antennas

2009-07-07T19:24:00.002-04:00

These look pretty interesting. I have heard of them beofore - you can make a physically small antenna for the low bands, but they also work well for all HF bands. Different designs yield different levels of efficiency and frequency coverage.

Check out these sites for more:
http://www.alexloop.com/
http://www.standpipe.com/w2bri/

AA5TB has a nice list of a bunch of other sites at the bottom of his:
http://www.aa5tb.com/loop.html

RFSpace SDR-IQ and FT-2000

2009-07-07T02:44:00.005-04:00

If you read my blog you have seen my posts in the past on the FT-2000 and other higher-end radios. The FT-2000 is probably the next radio I will get. It seems all of the newer "higher end" radios all have, or have the provisions of, spectrum scopes - very useful tools for scanning the bands. The IC-756proIII has one built in (probably the most popular full spectrum scope radio there is right now), as well as the IC-7700 and IC-7800, with the IC-7600 now taking the IC-756proIII to a whole new level. Yaesu seems to be a bit behind in the eye-candy department. They seem a bit more in-tune with the knobs, buttons, and meters - what we adjust to make the radio do what we want it to do. Take a look at the FT-2000 and FTdx9000 series radios. The only one of those that has a spectrum scope built in is the FTdx9000D. All the others have the option of the DMU-2000 (for the FT-2000 series, and 950 as well) or the addition of other accessories to the other FTdx9000 series radios.

To make a spectrum scope work, the right way where an entire band can be seen on the screen, not the passband (the RF that is narrowed down to just what you are listening to after the filtering in the IF stages), a very wide RF signal has to be fed in for the device doing the processing to read. If the information isn't there you can't see what is there. The object of a spectrum scope is to see where signals are within a band - all up and down the band, well outside the range that any radio can hear in it's passband.

Most radios have a 15-20kHz front end on them. If the first IF is forwarded on to the spectrum scope's processor you are limited to 15-20kHz of spectrum - not much, considering an FM signal is about 12-15kHz wide alone. So the raw RF has to be analyzed by the processor, pre-stage one filtering. This allows the computer to see everything, filter it to whatever the user specifies, and centers it on the bandwidth selected based on the frequency of the VFO.

Yaesu has a device to do just this - the DMU-2000, which is the same processor from the FTdx9000 series only in a stand-alone box that works with the FT-2000 and FT-950 series. However, as anyone can see watching the scope, the processing speed is pretty slow. The scope doesn't move fluidly - it jumps around and when you scroll the band there is a bit of lag between the spectrum display and the frequency the VFO is on. Watch any of the YouTube videos on the FT-2000 with the DMU-2000 display and you'll see what I mean.

RFSpace has a device called the SDR-IQ that does what the DMU-2000 does - taking raw RF and letting your computer analyze it and display it - only, it does it MUCH faster. Watch the video on the SDR-IQ with the FT-2000, it really is pretty spectacular. The display tracks the VFO very quickly. There is no lag time and it is very smooth, unlike the DMU-2000.

The FT-2000 is most definitely still on my radar - as well as the add-on devices for the spectrum scope. I am not sure if the DMU-2000 is worth the $$ for what it does. It does a lot, but there seems to be some debate with the FT-2000 community as to how good of a unit it is. The quality, speed, and user interface seem to be lacking but it has a lot of features. The SDR-IQ is obviously a higher quality unit, but it is only a signal display device in this case (either a spectrum scope or waterfall). It doesn't have the other applications that the DMU-2000 does, and it doesn't allow for compact flash storage of the radio's parameters.

Note: the SDR-IQ is a software defined HF receiver. It can run as a stand-alone receiver, but in the context of my analysis here I am looking at it as a tracking panoramic adapter for the FT-2000, bringing the spectrum scope to the rig in place of the DMU-2000.

Thoughts on Digital Modes and Computer Applications

2009-07-07T02:03:00.003-04:00

I haven't run digital modes for over a year now. I just got away from having a computer along with the radios. It just seems so much easier to run CW or SSB with a key or a microphone than to wire up a computer to a radio. However, I wanted to give PSK31 a try again. I got a new laptop computer for my birthday last summer and have not run any ham radio applications on it what so ever since.

My RigBlaster Plus came with a CD for digital mode software and other applications. However I got my RigBlaster about 5-6 years ago so the software on the CD is surely out-dated. Rex, W8WZZ, was using DigiPan on PSK31 during Field Day - and apparently it was a brand new version (to me anyway). So I went online and downloaded the new version of DigiPan and tried it out.

My laptop (a Toshiba) doesn't have a COM port on it (the old DB-9). All it has are USB ports. My GPS and my RigBlaster (as well as my TS-2000's data port) are all DB-9's. So I got a USB-Serial port adapter at Radio Shack before we went to Canada so I could use my new computer with the mapping software. It wasn't straight forward to get it set up, but I got it working and was able to directly track my location on the computer in real time.

So back to the RigBlaster. I had to jump through the same hoops getting this USB-Serial adapter to run properly with it. I had a few more bugs to work out with the sound card and the cable from the RigBlaster to the radio, but I was able to get it to work.

I have to say, it felt pretty neat re-visiting the waterfall display and yellow tracers! I worked 20m for a bit and had a lot of fun. I have only worked one station so far, but I know I can get on the mode again. That's pretty cool!

I also loaded a few other applications - WSJT and WinRad. I used to work Meteor Scatter on 6 and 2 meters with FSK441 when I was back at my Dad's house (I had beam antennas on a rotator up on the roof). That was over three years ago now. Anyhow, I downloaded the latest WSJT version to see what was new over there. The modes list on there is about three times as long as I remember - I guess there has been a lot of experimentation (or there is a lot of experimentation) going on!

I still don't have WinRad figured out yet. I saw this was able to be used with the SDR-IQ from RFSpace and is a free program so I figured I would see what it was all about. To get the most out of this program you need to feed an IF signal in to it (what the SDR-IQ does, in conjunction with the proper interface to your radio). Basically, it turns the computer in to your receiver - the radio still works how it works but the RF that goes through the regular radio is split to the computer as well so you can monitor the RF (such as on a waterfall display, spectrum scope, etc).

I don't have any way to feed an IF signal in to my computer, but I can run audio in. The waterfall display is pretty sophisticated and I would be curious to play around with it to see what all it can do. There is something intriguing about watching all the signals flow on a display and move around as you tune the bands!

To that note, if anyone knows how to get WinRad to read the straight audio input without it's radio simulation or whatever it does send me a message. I can't seem to figure out how to turn that off. The only way I can get anything to go through the WinRad processing is if I hit the "start" button, but that activates the radio simulation. My audio is fed on top of it.

Ham Radio Deluxe is another application I downloaded. I used this to control my TS-2000 in the past, but that was on a couple other computers. The new laptop doesn't have it so I figured I would put it on. This program also allows you to log and there is a really handy DX spotting feature (when connected to the Internet). The spotting feature is probably why I used the program most in the past - you can watch specific bands individually or all bands and as soon as a station is spotted it shows up on your screen. All you have to do is click on the spot and the program (which is a computer control program for radios by design) flips your radio to the exact frequency, no VFO knob to scroll or buttons to push!

For some reason my USB-Serial port adapter is giving me fits with Ham Radio Deluxe. There is a start up screen you get for activating your radio. The computer has to read the operational data from the radio (frequency, mode, user settings, etc) and then once that happens the computer and radio can talk to each other. My first problem was getting the COM port that my adapter was on to show up in the program. Somehow when I closed the program and re-booted it the rest of my COM ports activated in the program so I was able to select the one I needed. However, I can't get the computer to read my radio's initial data. The PC indicator activates on my radio's display saying there is some type of connection/signal, but I can't get the computer to read the data. I tried calibrating the data rate of all three devices (the radio, adapter, and program) but that didn't work. I tried automatically detecting the settings and that didn't work. So I don't know. If any of you have some ideas, fire away! Otherwise I will play around with it some more and see what happens. It would be nice if the computer just had a plain old DB-9!

VE3/KC8QVO QSL Cards - Printing

2009-07-06T03:20:00.002-04:00

I have my card made up and I am working on getting them printed. I have a couple that might get out tomorrow. The way I do them is I print a front and back, trim them, then glue them together. I can't get photo paper double sided so I have to get creative! I have one slight change on the card to do then I will roll off the rest of them, then from here on out I will print to order (I mean, print to SASE). No sense in printing off 50 if I only get 15 SASE's.

If you logged a QSO with me and would like to confirm EN39, or just want my special QSL card, and haven't sent me an SASE yet - do so and I will get a card off to you!

Antenna Work

2009-07-04T12:50:00.004-04:00

I have been having some RFI and antenna issues at the house here. I have experimented with antennas for years. One thing to keep in mind is almost all of my antennas are or have been in the attic - outside antennas are mostly a no-no here.

The first attic antenna I ever used was a 40m dipole zig-zagged around the attic space next to my room (second floor, one wall opens to an attic space). This never did well.

I used a screwdriver antenna mounted to my truck with about 150' of cable running to it for many years - this worked and I worked the world on it, but hooking it up and disconnecting it every time I came home or went back out was a real pain. I still have this option, and I run a lot of mobile HF these days with my FT-857D.

At some point in the past 3-4 years I stuck a 40m dipole in the attic above my room (along the peak of the roof - the best place inside to put it, or as much of it I could fit there). This is a decent antenna. I have made a ton of QSO's on it. However, the antenna covers one band and 40m usually has a high noise level - s5-s9 depending on conditions.

In my quest for a multi-band antenna I took a small piece of wire, very thin (not as thin as magnet wire, this is copper and insulated. I can't remember where I got it or what it was from), and tossed it up over the roof and tied it off to a tree on the other side of the property (mind you, the tree is only 10' high). Then I used part of the gutter system of the house as a counterpoise and loaded it up with a tuner. This worked, but caused some RFI - especially on 20m. I could turn things on and off when keying up that I probably never even found!

So I put up a loop antenna last year. This wraps around the entire attic space above my room - it covers the whole house, as much as the attic covers. I would say it is 200-250' long. I fed this with ladder line and ran it to my tuner. This antenna works pretty well on all bands since it uses the tuner, but it causes RFI - I notice it on my TV on 20m. However, I was using this antenna one day and my neighbor came over and complained about RFI on his TV. So now a whole new can of worms has been opened.

I also put up a 6m ground plane. This little antenna works great when the band opens. I have worked Nevada, Florida, out East to Maine, and most of the South/South East (EM land). It doesn't work as well as a beam antenna, but considering my circumstances it works pretty well.

Then, after the RFI issue with my neighbor I found it happens on 10m for sure. I didn't try any other bands other than 6 and 10. I think I was on 6m when I had the initial complaint and was only working 6 and 10 that day. After a high-pass filter and an Amidon F240-K ferrite core the RFI on 6 was gone but 10 was still there. So I put a ground plane antenna up, resonant for 10 meters. I think I was still getting in to the TV but I checked that before I left for my trip, which was over 3 weeks ago now. I will have to re-visit that one.

So, after some consulting with a friend of mine, Steve, on the RFI issue he suggested I try to get resonant antennas up. Having a resonant antenna with low SWR will go a long way to helping out on the RFI issue. The loop that I was using on all bands was being forced to radiate on non-resonant frequencies - which could be a leading cause of the problem. The antenna works, ham radio speaking, but causes other problems. Being in a compromised situation (the attic space for antennas) really makes this hard - it would be much easier to put a resonant antenna up outside such as a vertical, a set of dipoles, a fan dipole, or the best would be beam antennas on a tower! However, considering where I am - that can't happen.

So the creativity starts. After hearing a few of the odd-ball setups Steve has done in the past (fan dipoles, a vertical grounded to the water heater and run up through the second floor of an apartment, tiny magnet wire strung up in trees with a fishing sinker, etc) I thought the one that would be the easiest to do is a fan radiator grounded to some duct work in the attic. I had my 40m dipole up in the attic so I originally was going to do the fan dipole idea, however that is twice as much work as a set of 1/4 wave radiators. You take half of a fan dipole and run that off the duct work as a counterpoise (1/4 wave radiators on all bands connected to a single feed point).The duct work goes back in the house to all kinds of things, so there is no shortage of a counterpoise. I figured this would do the trick for sure.

I got to work on this (about 4 weeks ago now). I used an SO-239 chassis with the 4 bolt holes. I cut in to the rafter brace for the duct work (which was screwed in to the duct in two places - good electrical connection) for the SO-239 to fit and drilled holes for two bolts. Then I soldered a loop to the center pin (maybe 1/2") so I had room to solder on all of my radiators. Then I started fanning them out and tacking them in place wherever I put them.

Well, it isn't that easy. Apparently there is a lot of interaction between the wires where I strung them up. I have been having a lot of issues trying to tune the mess. One change here affects everything else there.

I had Steve come over yesterday and take a look at everything to see if he could come up with some ideas. After a trip to the attic he said my radiators were too close and to fan them out more. So that will be the next step to my project. I will have to get up there when it is cool enough to work (at night). The attic sure does get HOT!

That sounds easy enough, right? Well I am sure I will run in to some more problems on this one! It really is a mess of an antenna, but if I can get it to work that would be a big relief.

Just for the heck of it, Steve wanted to take a walk around the house to see if there were any other odd-ball things to consider. Sure enough, he found one - part of the gutter system (separated from everything else on the back side) has a downspout that runs a few inches from a spigot. The spigot is connected to the rest of the plumbing (all copper!) in the house = fabulous ground. The gutter system would make a nice radiator, fed against the plumbing, on some frequency.

So I gave this a shot. I got out another SO-239, some wire, a strip of braided ground strap, and a hose clamp and connected everything together. This setup makes an excellent antenna on 20m! It has a flat SWR across the whole band. It even resonates with about a 1.5:1 SWR on 60m (3ord harmonic of 20m). The best part is I don't have any RFI on my TV (which does have a high-pass filter and Amidon F240-K in place). The drawback is it seems to be about 2 S-units weaker of an antenna than the fan spider webby thingy in the attic (run through the tuner). I didn't compare it to the loop. If the SWR is good its worth a shot though, right?

Another idea is to use the spigot as a ground for a few types of antennas - hamsticks, a buddistick, etc, etc. Or, even a fan setup on the outside wall (painted the same color as the house to cammo it!).

I just wish I didn't have to jump through so many hoops. It really is a lot of work, but if I can get this to work without RFI problems and being able to put out a respectable signal it will all be worth it.

VE3/KC8QVO QSL Information

2009-06-30T23:02:00.002-04:00

If you contacted me while I was in EN39 and would like to confirm this grid - send me an SASE to my posted address and I will get a special card out to you. I will update this page as well as my page at QRZ so it shouldn't be hard to find out the latest.

My QSL card will be made of pictures taken during the trip - similar to the ones on QRZ, as I have done in previous years. Please be patient. I usually have my brother make the cards but I am going to try and figure out how to do them myself this year because he delayed quite a while last year. With some luck I can start getting the cards out fairly soon.

As I have posted on QRZ - I DO NOT E-QSL. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. A QSL card is something that arrives in your mailbox, not a picture on a computer screen. I am pretty sure you won't be disappointed with my card!

It Feels Good To Be Home! - EN39, Field Day

2009-06-29T12:24:00.021-04:00

After nearly a full two weeks of non-stop traveling and Ham radio I have arrived home. It feels REALLY good to sleep in my own bed again. Although, I know the bulk of my activities are done for the rest of the year - unless I get out for the September ARRL VHF contest or the Ohio QSO Party. Field Day and my Canada trip (EN39) have been completed!

I did post on here during my Canada trip - which is previously unheard of. Check out my Operation Red Buoy posts. That was a lot of fun - I was able to get an Internet connection up there. I posted some of the beginning snags with the setup over there.

We left for Canada quite a bit later than we planned on Monday. I had worked on an antenna/radio setup with a buddy of mine until about 3:00am and didn't get in bed until around 4:00am so the delay on rolling down the road was VERY beneficial for me. It isn't smart hitting a two day drive with no sleep, but I really had no other choice if I was to get everything in that I needed to do before we left.

There were no major snags (accidents, traffic tie-ups, etc) along the trip there. The wind was not nearly as bad as it was last year. I think it was only breezy once we got up in to Wisconsin and Minnesota, but nothing drastic. We had planned to stop in Chicago to see a cousin of mine, but because of our timing and scheduling it never happened. The good part about that is we got to bypass I80/90 through northern Indiana and the South East part of Chicago - less traffic! The bad part is we never saw my cousin.

I did run in to another Ham operator driving through Wisconsin. He was going home to Colorado, if I remember right, and was taking "the scenic way home". I passed him right before the split at 94/90. I remember talking to a few other Ham radio operators right around the same area in the past. I rarely ever catch any others along the trip, but this junction seems to be pretty popular for some reason.

In the past couple of years we have driven with my Grandpa - the place up in Canada is his summer home. He is in his 80's and we don't like him driving on these multi-day treks. My Mom and I drive him up. Mom goes with Grandpa in his car and I take the truck so when we leave Grandpa has a car to get around in. Last year our trip up was split in three days because we stopped in Chicago to help my brother move then Grandpa tired out and wanted to stop once we got to Duluth, MN. We have always done the trip in two days in the past, so adding another night on the road at a hotel translates in to one less day in Canada.

I was not about to do that this trip. I set a goal of getting all the way up in to Wisconsin the first day so that we would be that much further North to start the day on Day Two, decreasing the chances of Grandpa wanting to stop for another night. We made it to Beloit, WI (right inside the state line, and actually we crossed back in to IL where the hotel was). This was definitely better than staying in Chicago as it was over an hour further North and well out of the city, though I wanted to keep on going. I would have liked to have made it to the Dells, or even Eau Claire. That also would translate in to getting to the Island at an earlier time the next day - which would allow me to at least get all the antennas over to the Island, not just our suitcases and then get the rest the next day (what usually happens).

Customs didn't give us too much of a hassle. I have only had them stop and search everything once (on one of my solo trips about 4 or 5 years ago). Both ways they just questioned us with the usuals - where are you going/from, how long are you/were you there, are you bringing/leaving anything, etc.

We arrived in Nestor Falls around 9:00pm their time (10:00pm EDT) - right when the bugs were out. I got a few nasty bug bites as I was loading the boat to go over. I didn't take all the antennas, just the radios (and other expensive stuff) along with our duffel bags with clothes and any other first-night essentials. I strung up my jumper dipole and set it for 6 meters. I figured this would be a good antenna if I wanted to change bands all I would have to do is lower it, change bands real quick, and pull it back up - no tuning required. I just left it on 6m though there wasn't any activity that night at all.

I brought my Ranger RCI-5054DX 6m all-mode radio. I don't like using this one on the air because it doesn't have any DSP, filtering, etc. The only controls it has are RIT (I think they call it "contour") and RF Gain. The radio also only does 10 or 20 watts. However, it makes a nice stand-by radio. I can leave this one on all night squelched so if the band pops open I will hear it and can jump on another radio. This way I am not leaving an expensive radio on all the time - if the Ranger quits its not as big of a deal. I hooked up an external speaker to the rig and pointed it over towards my corner of the cabin. This worked well. Several mornings I woke up to some squaking on 6m. I think it was tropo scatter mostly - the people would pop in there for a few seconds with S9 signals breaking the squelch and then would be down at the noise floor when I ran over to the station.

Operating position
Front table:
Left to Right: FT-857D (HF/VHF/UHF), TS-2000 (HF/VHF/UHF - main rig), Yaesu G800-SA rotator control box on top. Astron VS-35m linear power supply on the log table below.
Side table:
Stacked: RCI-5054DX (6m all-mode), IC-718 (HF only). Palstar AT1500CV tuner on the side
Heil GM-4 mic on the boom w/foot switch (TS-2000)

Antennas
Beams: M2 440-21ATV on top, Cushcraft 13B2 middle, Cushcraft A50-5S bottom
Hustler 5BTV HF vertical on the roof

I did manage to work back in to EM79 one morning with the same situation - I woke up to someone on 6m and ran over to the radios. He was pretty strong in there so I switched rigs and called back several times. He heard me in there but I was too weak for him to make out my call and all. Then he dropped down below the noise. So I figured I would sit there on the band a while and call CQ right on 50.125 (the calling frequency for SSB). I ran like DX - really really fast "CQ CQ CQ VE3 stroke KC8QVO Echo November 3 9", pause for one second, repeat. It worked. The guy came back to me after about five minutes saying the band picked up and I was in there now. We exchanged grids and the contact was in the log!

For some reason 6m was not great this trip, considering the whole time I was there. I did work two spectacular band openings - I had pileups so thick I couldn't make out any part of any one's call sign that was in the mix. So I just asked for a repeat, snagged a few letters and a number and tried to beat down the pileup. I tried to work a few weaker stations and was successful occasionally. One thing I really hate is being the pipsqueak on the band and getting through but not having the station I am trying to work be able to complete my call, therefore not counting as a contact. So I made sure if there was a station in there I heard that was weaker than everyone else that I paused for them and broke the pile-up giving them the best chance they could, given atmospheric conditions, to make it through. If that didn't work I would snag a couple other QSO's and then come back to the weaker station trying to give conditions time to possibly improve.

I will say, though, that running a pile-up, especially one on 6m that could fade in to thin air at any second, really makes it hard to think about anything else. In the two band openings I worked (the big ones) I snagged 85 QSO's in a total of about 4 hours. When the pile-ups were thick I ran about 4 QSO's a minute. I know that isn't fast based on the big time contester's rates, but when you are paper logging and trying to write at the same time as keeping call signs straight it becomes a challenge. I think I said my grid as "EM39" at one point because I had someone reply that "well that doesn't make any sense, you're in Canada". I still don't know if I said "Echo Mary 3 9" or if I said "EM 39", or "EN 39" and just had him think I said "EM 39". In any event, I got it corrected and went on with things. I had a few calls messed up and had to get those corrected. So to everyone who was patient with me and corrected my mistakes - Thanks!

Most of the time on 6m I had to fight for my QSO's. With my FT-857D in addition to my TS-2000 this year I was able to run 100 watts on both 6 and 2 meters (857 on 6 and 2000 on 2). With two radios and two microphones on different bands I was able to double my CQ's talking in to both at the same time. This was pretty handy, but I never had anyone come back to a CQ on 2m the whole trip. For the most part it was an endless chain of "CQ CQ CQ VE3 stroke KC8QVO Echo November 3 9", pause for a second, and repeat. I probably spent an entire days worth of time over the whole trip with CQ's and no replies. Having a drink handy helps to keep your throat and mouth from drying out too much.

Trying to work some late-night QSO's. Not much activity, just keeping the PS nice and warm.

I was contemplating not setting up all three bands (6m, 2m, 70cm). The reason being it is a handful trying to get it all up and down. If there is any band to run it is most certainly 6m. However, since I had the FT-857D with me also I wanted to see how much I could run. I just threw all the antennas up and worked what I could. After racking up about 8 pages of log entries it was all worth it - even if I only made 1 2m QSO.

This guy was keeping my guy line company. I was amazed to watch it stay there in the wind. It flopped around a bit but it stayed put!

I didn't do much fishing this trip. I got my fly rod out a couple times and didn't catch anything. We went walleye fishing a few times and I caught a couple. However, it is difficult to get Grandpa to venture way out on the lake. He is old-fashioned and has to "know" the lake everywhere he goes. If he doesn't "know the lake" we don't go there. Well, I have a GPS and mapping software that can get us around any lake or road in North America and marked some spots on a guided trip about three years ago that are out towards the big part of the lake (closer to the point where MN sticks up in to the lake). We caught a LOT of fish on that trip and I have wanted to get out there again. So I brought my GPS and had the points marked but Grandpa was very sketchy about going out there. We made it to one point, which was at least several miles shy of where I originally wanted to go to.

Early on in the trip (the second or third day) we were coming back from a trip down the lake and spotted some unusual wildlife swimming across the lake. We see deer occasionally crossing the lake, as well as a boat load of loons, some eagles, and some pelicans. However, I don't ever recall seeing one of these, especially swimming across the lake:

So we moved a little further down the lake and stopped and watched the bear for a while.

This was the last picture I was able to get. I tried to follow the bear up on to the island but it was too quick. I had the camera zoomed in and that didn't help any. I tell ya what - after that marathon of a swim the bear sure could MOVE! It is amazing how much energy it had.

Here are some more shots of the wildlife up there, no loons but I got a few eagles and pelicans:

You might want to click on these to enlarge them, then look close.

From what I have heard the pelicans are not doing very well up here. Something has killed a lot of them off - some disease I would imagine but I am not sure. I was surprised to see these two so close. We did see a few others further out on the lake too.

We ate dinner a few times with some friends up there. That was nice. I wish I got to hang out with some of the younger guys up there more than I did, but they were all tied up working.

Our last day was Wednesday. I used the entire day (skipping a fishing trip to do so) to break down the antennas and radio stuff, as well as get everything else packed. After everyone got back from fishing and I had the antennas all taken down my mom and I decided to go around town stopping at a few places to say hi to some other friends of ours. I had only seen a few of the locals the entire trip so this was the last chance for me to touch base with some others. I didn't get to the truck until about 9:30pm to load everything in. I wanted to have as much packed in before I went to bed that night that I could so we would have less to do Thursday morning.

I did leave my TS-2000 running all through Thursday morning on 6m. I made a few QSO's that night on a Buddistick antenna but that was it. The band was pretty quiet. The hardest part about packing was turning the radio off the last time. I really wanted to run another pile-up. I only worked two the whole trip, the rest of the time I was working pretty hard for the contacts. Oh well. I will just have to wait for next year!

For those that I have shared the full story behind my Canada adventures with, I think the saying posted below the fish here says it all:

The only comment I have about the trip home is my ground connection between my exhaust pipe and frame broke at some point and put HF-6m out of commission. As soon as we were on the road Thursday morning I heard what sounded like fuel pump noise (a 9-pulse rise in the noise floor). It was about S1-S2 when we left and at some point between there and Duluth, MN it went to S9. I was trying to figure out what it was while it was going on - I knew something wasn't right. I was thinking about taking the truck to the shop when we got home to have a few things checked out, but it was just in for service a couple days before we left. The first thing that hit me to check was the ground strap.

What this ground connection does is it brings the exhaust pipe near the rear of the truck (right next to the rear axle to be exact) to the same ground potential as the rest of the truck. Any RFI that is generated at the engine, with the pipe not grounded, is free to radiate off. The exhaust pipe is insulated from the frame so it acts like a nice antenna traveling from the engine to the rear of the truck. By grounding it near the end you short out the "antenna" and thus no radiated RFI. Check out my post on curing the noise in the truck for more information on the grounding work I did.

As soon as I had this run through my head and got a chance to stop for gas I dropped right under the truck and poked the ground line... it was broken on the pipe side. This was one repair I wasn't able to swing on the go. It would have taken time to get to all the tools/materials in the back and time to rig it all up. I used stainless self-tapping screws/washers when I installed the strap originally, then sealed it all with PlastiDip so it wouldn't have been difficult - everything should still be as clean as it was when I installed it. I just didn't have the time to do it (and just fixed it today).

We were again going to stop in Chicago to meet up with my cousin, but it was going to be after 10:00pm before we got there. That was a bit too late so we didn't stop. This again meant we could bypass much of Chicago going a different way (which I like!).

It also meant there was no other constraint to the trip. My mom and I were driving back by ourselves - we had two drivers and nothing to stop us between Chicago and home. So, we decided to plow right on through and not stop until we got home. This way we didn't have the expense of staying in another hotel and we got home sooner. I am not sure if this was a good idea or not. We got home at 6:30am EDT. All said and done that is 21.5 hours from the time we left - stopping for customs, food, and gas. From about 12:00am on we were switching drivers every hour. This worked out pretty well. Then when the sun came up we were on the home stretch. I was close enough that I could hit my usual repeater. So I turned it on and tuned in, waiting for the morning crew to make some noise. I jumped right on in and drove the last leg of the trip talking to everyone back in town!

Why I question the idea of going non-stop is Friday marks the beginning of Field Day for me. I had most of my stuff in the truck already, I used it all in Canada. There were still some things I needed to pack up (extra poles, masts, canopies, tents, etc). I also needed to drive out to our site this year and unload it all, then meet up with some of the crew for dinner. Seeing as I got home at 6:30am and really didn't sleep any, I decided to hit the sack and see if I could get some sleep. I was out from 7:30am to 4:10pm. This was MUCH needed rest, but put me a bit behind as I still had an hour drive.

Rex, W8WZZ, had invited us (the OSU Amateur Radio Club) to join their group at Sandy, KB8WQ's place. We were looking for a site as we didn't want to operate on campus again and the guy that has hosted our Field Day's before was out of town. Rex's, along with the rest of the crew's, invitation was welcome relief - and turned out to be a spectacular weekend!

The only drawbacks to the weekend, for me, were 1 (and the big one): I just got home from Canada, and 2: it is about an hour drive. I also felt a bit weird joining in on someone else's Field Day, but I knew it was the best idea given the circumstances.

I got there around 7:30 to unload my truck. I got all the metal out (antennas, masts, etc) and left the radios and things that I didn't want to leave out in the truck for the morning. The location was great - lots of land with trees everywhere for wire antennas (maybe too many - our G5RV's were getting caught on all kinds of branches and the only place that was clear for my VHF beams was right next to the parking area), it was secluded back quite a ways from the road, and we didn't have to deal with trains rolling past every hour. There were three towers for extra antenna supports, plus the antennas that were on them - mostly a big tri-band beam.

I am not sure who these guys are. My VHF tower is just to the left of them, if you look close you can see the elements against the foliage. There is a dual band vertical on the top of Mark N8VJF's. Note there are NO cars parked there. I wouldn't want to be there either - lotsa metal and poky things if something went wrong (nothing did, it all went up and down fine).

Rex W8WZZ, Brian KD8KCG, and myself went to dinner after I got the stuff out of the truck. This was fun - I brought my computer and shared some pictures from the Canada trip while eating the best burger I had in two weeks since my adventures started - the place had Bleu cheese to put on the burger, not Bleu cheese salad dressing! I really like Bleu cheese and really like Bleu cheese burgers - but I can't stand it when a restauront shows a Bleu burger on the menu and has SALAD DRESSING on it. It has to be real chuncked and melted Bleu cheese. So I always make sure I ask and figure out what it is before I get it. Most places don't have real Bleu cheese.

I stayed over at Rex's place for the night, just down the street. He offered since I had an hour drive but I could have set up my tent instead. I figured Rex's offer was too good to pass, so I crashed there and helped him load up his truck and horse trailer for the weekend.

Our set up started at about 9:00am. Rex and I drove over to Sandy's and got things rolling on set up. There weren't too many people there yet, just Sean KA8UCD. Mark N8VJF and Brian KD8KCG showed up a little while later, and then the crowd formed. I think there were about 20 people by late afternoon.

Rex set up his station in a horse trailer (cleaned out! and minus the center divide). This was pretty cool. The front of the livestock side has a tall shelf where the computer and power distribution was then the table with the monitor and rest of the gear was next to it. The very front of the trailer is a fully enclosed compartment where we put boxes of supplies.

Brian KD8KCG racking up QSO's on 20m I believe.

Sean brought the old pop-up camper for his station.

I set my station up under my canopy right next to Rex's trailer. Rex set up a canopy next to his trailer so I thought if we combined the two canopies together we would have a larger sheltered area. Mark N8VJF set up under here as well for the first part of the operation.

Rex W8WZZ in the black shirt, Mark N8VJF at the far station, and Chuck (call?) at the closer station (all my stuff) running CW. The other guy Rex is talking to I don't remember his name/call.

This worked out pretty good. Though, we did use tarps for extra protection from the sun mostly. It was forecast to rain so we were prepared as much as we could be. I started packing everything for rain before it got dark so I had time to play with it. I dropped the canopy to half height and then tossed a big tarp over it. This way rain couldn't blow in from the sides. One side of the canopy had an extra side piece, but three of the sides were still exposed so the tarp and Rex's canopy solved that.

Luckily we didn't get any rain. Everyone was prepared if we did, though. We all had a great time and racked up 942 QSO's - SSB, digital, and CW. I think we got about 300 some CW and 500 some SSB. Rex W8WZZ ran PSK31 and racked up a few, but compared to CW and SSB they were minimal. We ran as a 4E station since we used the towers and the big tri-bander. Sean KA8UCD had the tri-bander plugged in to his IC-746 the most of the time. All the radios were run off of a generator and the lights/fans were run off of commercial power.

I would really like to do Field Day over there again. I had a lot of fun and I met some pretty cool people, and I know the other OSU guys feel the same. Field Day is the one event that, with the right mix of people and location (and it usually happens that way), brings out the very best of Amateur Radio and the community of which we are a part of. We need more Field Days.

So thats about it for the Canada trip and Field Day. I spent a couple days putting this post together. I like to write and share events and ideas, but especially after finnishing my marathon of sorts I couldn't possibly sit down all at once to do this. Its like the EN39 operation - I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it!

Operation "Red Buoy" #2

2009-06-22T18:07:00.004-04:00

This will probably be my last post on here for the remainder of the trip. The plan is to take off Thursday morning, early. That means I need to use Wednesday to take down the antennas and pack the truck.

I will have an antenna and radio running on 6m through Wednesday night, I just won't have the beam antennas.

We are going to dinner with some friends tonight so I am not sure if I will get a chance to catch the evening band opening on 6m, but I will certainly try. I will have tonight and tomorrow night to really bring in the QSO's (it is very nice having beams!). Though, I should still be able to snag a few Wednesday evening.

The past two nights have been spectacular on 6m. I sacrificed dinner one night to run the whole opening and I am glad I did. The openings that I have caught have been to the South East - from Central Texas to North Carolina, mostly EM's with some FM's and EN's in the mix. I would like to catch some DN's, DM's and maybe even all the way to the East and West coasts. So far I have set my antennas to about 135deg and been content.

In the past two big openings I have run in to pileups so thick I have had to ask for repeats as I didn't catch any part of any one's call out of the mess. At times I have hit QSO rates of 1 every 15 seconds. I haven't been too quick with the QSO's overall though, maybe I should speed things up so more people get a chance to complete a QSO. I just don't want to be a jerk and run everyone through the "blender" like big DX.

So lets see what happens the next couple nights. I haven't made any QSO's on the higher bands yet. I want to at least get a few QSO's on 2m. I have been calling quite a bit on 144.200, both USB and CW (mostly CW as I can fire up the auto-keyer and let it run while I am doing something else). I have not had any replies as of yet. I will keep a radio on 144.200 even if I am rolling on 6m, so if there is a pile up on 6 jump on 2 and make some noise! I might just take a break from 6 and snag a few on 2m.

I can't believe the trip is almost done! This is a real effort for a week - 4 days total of travel, all the setting up, and all the tearing down - but when I am sitting there working the pile ups it all becomes worth it (and why I do it year after year!). If I didn't get much out of it I certainly wouldn't put the effort in to it. Out of all the ham radio events I operate this is right up there with Field Day (next weekend!).

Operation "Red Buoy"

2009-06-20T13:21:00.003-04:00

I found out about a secret Internet connection up here. I was told to go to the "Red Buoy" and I should be close enough to hit it. So, I am anchored right off the "Red Buoy"...

...and sure enough... I have an Internet connection!

The good part is I can get online. The bad part is I still have a boat ride to get there. At least I don't have to dock the boat, jump in the truck, and drive 5 miles up the road.

Everything is up and running. The VHF bands haven't been great. I have worked about 5 grids so far on 6m and haven't heard anything on the other bands.

I hit a snag putting up the antennas. I forgot to extend one of the driven elements on the 6m beam. I found it when I was raising them. I have to get the tram high enough so the 6m beam clears the top of the main mast, otherwise it will get hung up on it. As soon as I got the antennas up that high I saw the short element.

So, I dropped them a bit and used an extension ladder leaning against the cabin to get up to it so I didn't have to drop them all the way. It worked and now everything is up and running!

I will have a radio sitting on 14.342.5 USB for the most part (the HFPack calling frequency on 20m). Give me a call on there. I have a Hustler 5BTV vertical on the roof.

FT-450

2009-06-15T11:55:00.002-04:00

I had a chance to play around with an FT-450 yesterday. One of my friends got one as his first HF radio. Within the past year or so I had the chance to sit down with one at Universal Radio and I liked it then, but I couldn't remember much about it - how to use the features and the feel of the radio.

For some reason I thought the radio was a bit bigger than it is. I had it sitting right on top of my TS-2000 and it was REALLY small, comparatively.

The first thing I noticed about the radio, besides the size, was the feel. The knobs are really well engineered - they are very smooth-spinning and the main VFO knob has really good grip on it. The selector knob had a real quality incremental movement to it - the notches didn't click or wobble any, they were stiff and smooth.

For a radio of this size to have the following features was really amazing - IF-DSP and FRONT PANEL CW key and headphone jacks! The IF-DSP works pretty well. I would have to sit down with it for a while and do a direct A/B comparison between that and my TS-2000 to have something to compare to better, but with how much I used it I was pretty impressed. I wish more radios in it's class would do that (companies probably will start putting IF-DSP in smaller radios now - the TT Argonaut V also had IF-DSP, though not a 100w class HF-6 transceiver). The front panel headphone and key jacks really are nice. All my other radios have front panel headphone jacks, but none have front panel CW key jacks. This is one feature I really would love to have since I operate CW. I always have to either pull the radio out or lean way over the desk to reach back behind to plug in my keys. For such a small radio it really is cool that Yaesu thought to do this.

The menu system is not too expansive. This is good for people just getting in to the hobby that may be a little hesitant to get a menu-driven radio. I didn't find the main menu to be difficult to navigate (my TS-2000 and FT-857D are much more in-depth in comparison). The front panel took a little getting used to. I had to look in the manual to figure out how to engage the CW break-in (you need to hit the function key and then VOX). Once you get the hang of how to select menu items and DSP items and then use the selector knob to control the features then it is pretty easy. I would say that getting the feel for how the interface works with the selector knob was the most challenging, but it wasn't overly difficult.

If any of you are looking for an entry level HF radio (and one that does 6m also!), I highly recommend you check out the FT-450. It isn't a perfect radio by any means (I don't think there can be a perfect radio), but it is a REALLY good starter radio. If they had one of these out 10 years ago when I got my IC-718 I would have jumped on it - it costs less (compared to what the 718 was 10 years ago), has IF-DSP, is smaller, AND it does 6m!

Trip Update

2009-06-15T11:40:00.002-04:00

Well it is noon and we still have a little bit to go before the wheels roll.

Yesterday was a REALLY long day for me - I didn't settle down for the night until 4:00 this morning. I spent last night from about 6:00pm-2:15am working with a buddy's new radio and antenna. It was fun and I wish I had another two days to spend doing that! Oh well, we got him up and running on 6-40m with a jumper dipole and his new FT-450.

As it turns out, we will be stopping in Chicago again this trip. I hate the traffic there so I am not looking forward to it because of that, but we are going to make a stop and visit some more family. After all, that is the real reason for the whole trek. My radios just come along since I have the opportunity!

Depending on what happens tonight in Chicago, we might be able to jump up in to Wisconsin after dinner. That would be nice. The more we get out of the way today the less we have to drive tomorrow.

Again, I hope to work you all on the air! If you hear me out there, PLEASE POST ON THE REFLECTORS! That will help a bunch. Also, spread the word.

FT-857D Inrad Filter Installation

2009-06-10T15:08:00.006-04:00

This just happens to be my 100th post. Cool!

I decided to put some filters in my FT-857D. I originally was going to get the W4RT set - 2.3kHz SSB and 300Hz CW. However, I found out International Radio sells a 2.0kHz - narrower for more QRM rejection in crowded bands. So I went with that one instead and also got the 300Hz CW from them as well. The stock Yaesu filters are just way too expensive. I saved well over $100 going with the Inrad set (even the W4RT's would have been cheaper than the Yaesu's).

The filters took two days to get here. I ordered them on Monday and they are here today (Wednesday).

First, you need to remove the top cover of the radio. I took both off but you can do it just by lifting the top. If you just lift the top you need to pull the screws out of the sides because they hold both the top and bottom.

NOTE: Be careful of the speaker wire. The lead is not very long so be careful not to yank on it too hard. There is no lock on the plug, just pull it out carefully.

In the above picture I put a red box around the location of the filters. That is the top side.

The installation is really straight forward. I didn't even need the manual to do it, but I looked in there just to see what it said. It does not matter which slot you put the filters - the radio will detect the filters and you can select them individually from the front ABC menu.

I put a red box around the installed filters.

Now, put everything back together and it is ready to go!

You do not need to do a hard reset or anything. The radio senses the filters are installed and the menu for the selection activates. Hit the function button momentarily to bring up the front menu selection. Menu "n" is for the crystal filter selection. "CFIL" will be highlighted showing that neither crystal filter is engaged. By pushing B or C you can select the installed filters. Note that B and C now show either 300 or 500 (depending on which one you put in) and 2.3, before the filters went in they would show N/A. The 2.3 is obviously the SSB filter. However, the Inrad filter is 2.0kHz, not 2.3kHz. Keep this in mind!

Once you engage the filters the rig will remember them with the mode selected. You can, of course, manually over-ride that and take the filter out if you want to open up the passband to hear everything on CW for example.

So far the filters seem to work. I notice the biggest difference with the 300Hz filter on CW. It does a GREAT job! The 2.0kHz filter is noticeable when I switch it in but I can't tell too much of a difference in the usability of the rig. I will have to wait for a contest to put it through its paces. Though, it does narrow the noise in the passband the affect on the signal you are listening to is not too much.

Edit: After playing around with the radio for the rest of the day I have found the CW filter to really make a difference. It takes a noise floor on 40m of S8 down to S0! Once I kick the filter on the noise floor drops way down on the meter, it still pulses up to about S4 but the S-meter doesn't consistantly read S8. This is pretty cool!

The SSB filter still doesn't seem to do a whole lot. I will have to test this out in a crowded band to get a real handle on it. Maybe the VHF contest will be a good test ground - 6 meters should get crowded I would assume.

Solar Cycle 24 - Looks Like a Low One

2009-06-03T07:43:00.002-04:00

Based on the recent article on the ARRL site it looks like Solar Cycle 24 is not going to be very active.

For those that are not familiar, the sun goes in roughly an 11 year cycle of sun spots. Currently, and for the past few years, there have been VERY few sun spots, if any. Occasionally we have one pop up but for the most part all has been quiet.

So what do sun spots have to do with anything? Well, these are a major cause for ionization in our atmosphere. The energy that is released by the sun with these spots gets trapped and filtered in our atmosphere, leaving charged particles (ions) up in the sky for radio signals to bounce off of. The higher the ionization level the easier radio signals bounce off of the atmosphere and the more predictable radio wave propagation becomes.

When I got my first license in 2001 propagation was pretty good on the bands, though I wasn't able to get on HF. In 2002 when I got my General license and was able to use the HF bands propagation was still pretty good, but it has gone down ever since. For the past few years propagation has not been great. There have been a few openings, I was able to work Japan on 17m mobile a while back - that is a good sign.

Based on the article, the predicted peak of cycle 24 is 90, the lowest peak since 1928. I wonder what this is going to do for us in a few years as we head back up the hill. I am sure it will be better than none! Some are better than none, the more the better!

When You Leave The Power Cable At The Trail Head

2009-06-01T18:06:00.003-04:00

Use tent stakes and a stick!

Hey, it works.

I was working 40m CW. I don't know what contest was last weekend, but the band was clogged. I played around on 20 and 17 sideband a little also, too much going on down on 40.

MORE on Radios - TS-2000 vs. IC-756proIII, also FT-2000

2009-05-29T09:21:00.005-04:00

I was over at Universal Radio last night to pick up some things. I had to plan it for yesterday because I am taking off today for another backpacking trip in Southern Ohio through Sudnay. The drawback to going to Universal yesterday was that my last class ends at 4:18 - which puts me right in to rush hour traffic. I battled some stop and go traffic on my way in, maybe a half hour total.

I didn't intend on spending a whole lot of time in there as I needed to get back home. However, with the traffic on the way in I figured I would vegetate in there for an hour and a half or so. They ended up being open until 7:00 that day anyway.

While I was there I took the time to play with the IC-756proIII some more. I compared it to the TS-2000 several months ago when I first started searching for other radios. I did a direct A/B comparison then and found the IC-756proIII to not be too spectacular over the TS-2000, though its been long enough that I couldn't remember what all I did with the DSP on the pro.

So I took the time to really sit down with the rig yesterday. I varied the filter widths and adjusted the skirts with the Twin Passband Tuning (a cool feature), as well as the shape (only sharp/soft selectable in the menu). I also played with the Digital Noise Reduction and CW pitch (which is basically a whole passband shift like RIT but it moves EVERYTHING - filter, frequency).

I tuned around 20 meters and found some weaker CW signals. Then I would synchronise both radios to the same pitch and switch the antenna between the two real quick. I found that I could tweak the IC-756proIII to pop the CW tone out of the noise better.

Usually it was the CW pitch control that did it. I closed down the 250hz filter with the twin PBT, centered it over the signal, and rolled the pitch control until the frequency of the tone had the most cutting affect through the noise.

This control is very unusual for me. I have the ability to adjust my CW transmit tone (and it moves the received tone also, unfortunately) on my TS-2000 in 50hz steps from about 400hz to 1000hz. I usually use the VFO to adjust my received tone and keep my transmit tone around 600hz. For some reason I can't get the same frequency-popping affect. With the proIII it is almost like there is a point at which you hit a special harmonic that pushes the signal up over the noise better.

For those of you that are familiar with narrow filtering, you know that most of the time you tend to get ringing below 250-300hz, depending on the radio. The TS-2000 is a good example. Though you may be able to close the filter down to 50hz, the affect of that on the signal you are trying to hear is pretty bad. You go from having too much noise with a clean signal to very little noise and a "ringing" tone. The best way I can describe it is if you know what reverb is on an electric guitar amp. The affect makes it sound like you are playing in a hallway with a large amount of "echo" (it isn't the kind of record-and-play-back delay type echo, it is a ringing reverberation). Take this control and crank it all the way up and then play a few individual notes. They almost blend together.

The 756proIII was not immune to ringing, though it was better than the TS-2000.

Though the debate is still valid that I wasn't using the rig to it's full potential, I definitely spent some time with it and went over it with a fine-tooth comb as best as I could with my knowledge level and ability to figure out controls. My test was not a scientific test, but a sit-and-play session that had a real purpose for me - analyzing the two radios to see how they would compare with each other using different receiver paramaters.

My conclusion on the IC-756proIII is that, in my test, I was able to bring weaker CW signals out of the noise better than the TS-2000 within the operating environment I experienced.

While I was there I also took the chance to ask about the FT-2000 a bit more. I guess they don't have a very large market for this radio and it is sketchy when and if they will even have a new one in stock, let alone a used one in on trade. Getting a test-drive session is pretty much out of the question at this point in time. Maybe in the future that will change, but right now that's the way it is.

If you have an FT-2000 or FT-2000D, are between or near Central and Western Ohio, and wouldn't mind a sit-and-play session (like what I did comparing the IC-756proIII and TS-2000) let me know! I am really eager to see what this radio will do. It is one thing to look at specifications, reviews, and what not on the rig, but until I sit and hear what one will do with the controls avalible it will be impossible to get a real "feel" for the radio. I did get to spin the knobs at Dayton, but anyone that has been there can tell you that is not a great place to test-drive a rig - 20,000 people, a noise level inside that would rival a football game, and everyone bumping in to you wanting to shove their hands in on the radios also... I just want a real sit-and-play session where I can hear what the features do.

FT-2000

2009-05-25T13:23:00.004-04:00

This might just be the right radio. After rekindling my interest at Hamvention and the recent fix Yaesu did with the firmware, this looks like a good radio now.

It seems there are a lot of people that are really put off by Yaesu's lack of support until now, so I can see where the dissatisfaction would be. Also, since Motorolla bought a controlling share of Vertex Standard (the parent company of Yaesu), and surely not for the Amateur line, there is concern of future support for their Amateur radios.

No company is perfect, and there surely is no such thing as a perfect radio. However, there seem to be a lot of people that are really pleased with how Yaesu upgraded the firmware. I am sure there will be some more improvements over time as well. For what it is, the FT-2000 seems to be a "good" radio, not perfect, but good.

One point I would like to bring up, again, is the fact that this IS NOT a $10,000 radio. Yeah there are better radios than an FT-2000 out there, but I challenge you to find a radio that has the features that the FT-2000 has (or provisions of - DMU), along with the size and feel of a base radio, that costs less than $2500. In fact, find me a radio that costs less than $7000 that satisfies those requirements (I am thinking of an IC-7700 here, the TT Orion II isn't in the "feel" ballgame). Until another radio comes out on the market, there just is no other option that comes close to this (as a full-featured quality base radio) in the price class it competes in. That's all there is to it. I have a feeling that, any way you slice it, the FT-2000 WILL BE BETTER than my TS-2000. I can get in to the base radio scene without stepping in to the major leagues.

I have noticed, more so in the past than now though you still see it happening, that there are a lot of these radios on the used market. People buy them as an addition to a mega station they already have and find they don't like the FT-2000 the moment they plug it in because of its "quarks". They end up boxing it right back up and selling it. The radios are, for all intensive purposes, brand new (maybe a month old), never been off of a desk (too big for most portable operations), and probably still have the plastic over the display. For what they go for on the used market I could get the rig, data management unit, and a display screen for what the radio itself costs new, maybe less, and in the same condition I would get if I went to the store and bought brand new.

After looking through the classifieds online I found the 10-15 year old FT-1000D (the precursor to the 2000) is worth more than a new, less than a month old, FT-2000. What's up with that? I think it reinforces the used value - you get a big bang for your buck.

I would really like to sit and play with one of these radios on the air. It's one thing to tune around at Hamvention, but taking the time to learn the radio and, hopefully, do a direct A/B comparison between it and my TS-2000 would be more valuable than any 5 minute tune around 20m at Hamvention. Since Universal Radio won't open one up for me (I've been there and tried HI, and I've been buying radios there for 10 years) I'll have to go somewhere else. If any of you have one you would allow a sit-and-play session on, let me know! I won't be buying one any time soon, so no rush.